Early New Brunswick, Probate Records, 1785-1835

by R. Wallace Hale  Available On CD

Since Dad had gone to visit one of the neighbours, Mum decided it was a good time to read the Farmer’s Almanac. She pulled the morris chair in front of the kitchen stove and placed her feet on the oven door and read and read. As soon as Dad returned, she proceeded to tell him about an article on the ‘right’ time to cut alder bushes and immediately started thumbing through the book, looking for the story but to no avail.

One need no longer thumb through R. Wallace Hale’s 1989 publication, “ Early New Brunswick, Canada, Probate Records, 1785-1835". He came up with a solution to extract data relevant to any particular topic by placing the entire collection of estate file abstracts into a single file, viewable, and searchable, with any quality web browser. This digital presentation on CD permits keyword searches, copying and pasting of text as required.

The more than two hundred year-old will dated 9 November 1787  by Alexander Fairchild of the Parish of Kingston, Kings County left very important identifying information for the family researcher. It was proved 14 February 1788. Wife Anne £14 in movables.  My "Honored Father" Thomas Fairchild articles of personal clothing.  Sister Sarah £15.  Brother Thomas decent clothes and his passage paid out of my Estate to Long Island in the State of New York.  Brother-in-law Jehiel Lamb articles of personal clothing and 40 shillings.  Executors to sell house and lot where I now live and residue of movables. Wife Anne the use of farm in York County on north side of River St. John . . . . . purchased of Isaac Adams and his wife Rhoda while my widow, she to support my daughter Clara.  Land and any residue of estate to daughter Clara at wife's death. In the event of daughter's death, one half of the land to wife Anne, the other half to brother Thomas and my sisters Huldah, Sarah, Mary and Clara.
Wife Anne Fairchild and friend William [Crawford] executors.  Witnesses:  Ephraim DeFortest Isaac Perkins, Jonathan Ketchum.

Copies of all abstracts pertaining to slaves, servants, indentured servants and freed slaves were collected into a single file to facilitate searching.  In addition, I. Allen Jack's paper, "Slavery in New Brunswick," published in the "Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada," 1898, has been included
The records contain several estate files of women and copies of those abstracts were placed in a single file.

Locating mentions of vessels of various types required reading every estate file. In an attempt to avoid a repetition of this tedious process, copies of all probate abstracts containing mention of ships were collected together, separated according to the type of vessel.

A section on the CD is devoted to the currency in circulation during the early days of the Province, with a reasonably lucid explanation of such terms as "lawful money," "Nova Scotia currency," etc.

Also traced is the evolution of the counties and parishes, from the original creation of Cumberland County, prior to the division of Nova Scotia, down through the period covered by the probate records of 1785 to 1835.

A limited number of copies of the CD “ Early New Brunswick, Probate Records, 1785-1835" are presently available. Feb 2014 - now available to view online at  http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/MC3706/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA

If you wish to purchase the book on “ Early New Brunswick, Probates 1785 - 1835", it can be ordered from Heritage Books Inc., Publishing House, 1540-E Pointer Ridge Place, Bowie, MD 20716, USA who maintain a web site at http://www.heritagebooks.com

By the way, I suggest you visit R. Wallace Hales’s Fort Havoc  as there is lots of “free” information available.
 Feb 2014 Fort Havoc material available for viewing at http://archives.gnb.ca/Exhibits/FortHavoc/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA

1) Muster roll of the men, women and children of the disbanded 74th Regiment of Foot (the Argyll Highlanders) at St. Andrews, N.B.

2) The1778 Banishment Act of the State of Massachusetts with names of many New Brunswick Loyalists.

3) An edited and corrected version of Edwin Tappan Adney's ‘The Sharp Family’ published originally in 1908 with descendants of Alexander Sharp, Loyalist, in Carleton County, N.B.

4) Some descendants of William Elihu Shea of Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland, and Northampton, Carleton Co., New Brunswick.

In the spirit of a true genealogist, R. Wallace Hale continues to provide  excellent information for the searching of New Brunswick ancestors.

R. Wallace Hale Feb 2014 Fort Havoc material available for viewing at http://archives.gnb.ca/Exhibits/FortHavoc/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA CDs ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASING. The Fort Havoc Archives, Volume I, is available on CD. Contents include Loyalist Claims, Hannay's History of New Brunswick, Dr. W. O. Raymond's Scrapbook, extracts from "Acadiensis," the Winslow Papers, the "Collections of the N. B. Historical Society," and various other items. The link leads to a complete table of contents *** The Fort Havoc Archives, Volume II, is available on CD, featuring a revision of Lorenzo Sabine's Loyalists of the American Revolution, and includes a complete transcript of Baird's Seventy Years of New Brunswick Life, in addition to other material. *** History of New York During the Revolutionary War, on CD, featuring a complete transcript of Judge Thomas Jones' 2-volume work of that title. Judge Thomas Jones (1731-1792) of Queens County, Long Island, New York, devoted the last years of his life to the compilation of a history of New York during the American Revolutionary era. The manuscript was edited by Edward F. de Lancey in 1878 and published by the New York Historical Society, in 1879, in two volumes, a total of 1,534 pages, including index. Although a Loyalist, Judge Jones seems to have been an unbiased witness to events in the Revolution, castigating the leading men on both sides of the War, which perhaps accounts for the passing of a century before his work was published. *** An Essay on Field Fortifications, by J. C. Pleydell, 1st edition, published 1768. This CD contains both a complete transcription of Col. John C. Pleydell's 184 pages of text, in HTML format, with links to the 40 plates, and images of the original pages. Topics include laying out works on the ground, necessary material and calculation of quantities, fortifying churches, castles, villages, towns and cities, and the construction of small mines. ***

Ruby M. Cusack is a genealogy buff living in Saint John. Send your queries to her at:  rmcusack@nbnet.nb.ca. 
 For more information on submitting queries, visit http://www.rubycusack.com/Query-Instructions.html