The History of McAdam
Mum had told us to go to Gram’s house after school as she was going to be there with a group of ladies working on a quilt.
Cliff and I entered the house as quietly as little mice and sneaked up the back stairs to the room over the kitchen where the quilting was being done. We thought it would be great fun to hide by the door and listen to the conversation of the ladies.
It seemed they had just made a roll and Mrs. Carson was busy drawing the quilting patterns. The pulling of the chairs closer to the quilt seemed to loosen the tongues of the ladies as they were talking a mile a minute. Each sentence seemed to always start with, “Do you remember?” which led to lots of reminiscing.
Sadie asked Claretta if she remembered the player piano in the old Methodist Parsonage which somehow led into a great discussion of there ever being a steeple on the Baptist Church.
Grace mentioned to Mum that Alice Patterson, who was now Mrs. Titus was her teacher in about 1910. This comment evoked memories of the students in the school and lots of other stories.
Bernice told of standing at Robertson Crossing on the day Phoebe boarded the train for the States. It seemed everyone then had a story to tell of trips on the St. Martins train. I liked Mabel’s story of the shoppers and visitors travelling home on Christmas Eve the best.
Cliff and I had thought we might hear some really juicy gossip but instead it sounded like a meeting of a historical society.
Now that I think about it, I wish those ladies had written down their memories for future generations before they were lost in the passing of time.
In 1979 the McAdam Senior Citizens Historical and Recreational Club did just that and published a 180-page book, “The History of McAdam 1871-1977"
From the publication, I learned that the McAdam area was once known as “City Camp’ because of the large number of lumber camps in the vicinity.
The Honourable John McAdam, who was born on 28 March 1807 in County Antrim, Ireland and came to New Brunswick when he was ten years old was one of the prosperous lumbermen. On 19 April 1835, he married Miss Jane Ann Murchie, daughter of Daniel Murchie and his wife, Janet Campbell, both of Scottish origin and residents of St. Stephen
When Odbur Stannix came to McAdam, there was only one store which was kept by Jimmy Haddock. If something was not available, Mr. Stannick hopped on a section hand car and pumped his way over to Vanceboro.
It was said the first Sabbath Service was held in the waiting room of the Salon. Permission was granted through the kindness of Mr. Hoben.
The earliest minutes of St. George’s Anglican Church show that a business meeting was held in the I. O. O. F. Hall on 7 August 1899. The names of the persons present were recorded.
The two Cleghorn brothers and a Jamieson fellow were very agile. Thus, they made good “stake cutters”. When the train stopped at the River Landing, they would run out and chop off the stakes which were holding the logs on the cars. When the last stake was breaking, the men would duck under the car as the logs rolled into the river.
The first Postmaster in 1870 was James Haddock, followed by Charles F. Hoben, James W. Green and William J. Gaynor who built a small building in front of his house on Saunders Road to serve as a Post office. A Federal Building was erected in 1934.
Daniel Fiske had 29 pupils on the school register for the summer term ending 31 October 1877. The youngest student was the Lindsay child who was only four years old. Annie McKinnon, Mary S. Hogan, and Mary Doherty were aged five. James McCormack was the eldest at age thirteen. The teacher for the next term was Tom Halliwell Siddall.
W. H. Painter was the architect when the Canadian Pacific Railway built the new station in 1900. Two additions were added.
The information and memories of schools, trains, churches, lumber camps, post offices, doctors, hospitals, banks, Board of Health, Fire Departments, Air Raid Protection, Pintch Gas, War Veterans, Sir Sanford Flemming, The Alice May, explosion of 1908, attempt at destroying Vanceboro Bridge, several photos and the names of the folk associated with the events that were collected by the McAdam Senior Citizens will assist genealogists and future generations to know something of the origin and development of the McAdam area.
“The History of McAdam 1871-1977" is available for viewing at several research institutions in New Brunswick.
Information on McAdam http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nbpast/YO/McAdam/McAdamHist.html
A copy of the book is for sale at Book-McAdam
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By the way, if you are interested in DNA and genealogy, David Fraser’s presentation to the meeting of the Saint John Branch of the New Brunswick Genealogical Society on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lions Den of the Loch Lomond Villa, will be "DNA - New Clues for Linking Families Together".
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Query 1248
Nason - Carr: I am trying to locate proof of marriage prior to 1814 between Simon Nason and Mary (Polly) Carr when he received a land grant in Kings County. One son was Samuel Nason and I would like the names of his siblings.
VIRGINIA R. NASON
PO Box 218, Island Falls
Maine 04747, USA
E-mail vrnrn@ainop.com
Query 1249
Fowler - Bostwick: Hiram G. Fowler was born in New Brunswick in 1837 based on the census. He married Martha Bostwick. Any further information on Hiram and his wife and their ancestry will be greatly appreciated.
ANN K. NOYES
227 Bay Road Duxbury, MA
02332, USA
E-mail winsorlane@aol.com
Query 1250
Ross: I am searching for George Arthur Ross, probably born in 1863 in Saint John, New Brunswick. He retired from the Boston Post Office in 1928.
MIKE PATNODE
16 Balfour Street
Lexington, MA
02421, USA
E-mail mike.patnode@teradyne.com
Query 1251
Montgomery - Ellis: Matilda Montgomery was born circa 1815 in either New Brunswick or United States. Her marriage circa 1836 to Ephraim Ellis of Digby, Nova Scotia may have taken place in New Brunswick. Their son, William Ensley Ellis was born 1837 in Pittsfield Corner and became a Lighthouse Keeper at Point Prim in Bay View, Digby County, Nova Scotia.
VERILEA ELLIS
1037 Lucknow Street, Apt. 31
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada, B3H 2T2
E-mail verilea@yahoo.ca
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