Ruby M. Cusack

Although Gram had cooked in many a lumber camp and had been involved with a lumbering business family for many years, she was adamant that the younger generation should not follow this line of work which she considered to be a very dangerous way to make a living.

Over in Yarmouth in 1860, a group of people felt the same way about keeping their kin from continuing to follow the sea so they decided to move to an area of New Brunswick far from the ocean and take up farming. Thus the Campbell, Cook, Doucette, Frost, Gayton, Hobbs, Kenney, Ricker, Simms, Spinney, Wheaton, and Whitehouse families sailed in a schooner to Saint John. From there, they embarked on a steam boat named “The Bonnie Doon” and steamed up the Saint John River to Hartland. Thence by ox cart they went through the forest to the settlement they would name Knowlesville in honour of the minister of the church they left behind in Nova Scotia.

Very soon after the community was established, other families began to arrive to claim land.
 
 John Avery came from Cornhill, Kings County.

 William Henry Carle and his wife Amy Alward had been residents of New Canaan before making their way up the river.

 David Frazier came from Maine to Skedaddle Ridge in about 1864.

 Thomas Harrison was born in Ireland in 1823 and arrived in Saint John at age 12. He lived with a farmer at Waterborough and there met and married Ann Elgee.  By 1861, after the birth of five children, the family was living in Knowlesville.

 Robert Samuel Henderson came from Scotland with his wife Eliza Ewing and their eight-month old son, Robert Francis. They took up a grant in Kings County and later came to Armond.
 
 Four Hemphill brothers came to Knowlesville and a descendant, Roy Hemphill had a collection of more than 300 clocks.
 
 Alfred Corey and his wife Eloma Lucretia Kierstead lived in Queens County, Maine and Woodstock before being in Knowlesville when their daughter, Sadie was born on February 7, 1872. Their descendant Judson M. Corey spent several years researching the history and the families of the settlements. In 1985 with the help of a committee, he published “The Story of Knowlesville - The Community and Its People”. This 242 page book provides detailed information on Knowlesville and the nearby communities. It also includes family charts for the families of Avery, Branscombe, Brewster, Carle, Corey, Doucette, Frazier, Frost, Gayton, Hemphill, Henderson, Hobbs, Kenney, LaPage, Lawson, Manuel, Philips, Simms, Spinney, and Whitehouse.

In “The Story of Knowlesville - The Community and Its People”, Judson M. Corey and the Knowlesville committee created a portrayal of the community in word and photograph. Although the alder bushes may replace the tilled fields and the wild rose bushes are all that is left to silently mark the empty cellars, Knowlesville and its residents will be remembered.

Ruby M. Cusack is a genealogy buff living in Saint John. Send your queries to her  at rmcusack@nbnet.nb.ca.  Include your name and mailing address for the benefit of those who do not have access to E-mail. Please put Family Surname followed by the word 'Query' in the subject line. That is "Smith & Jones" - Query.