“How
Well I Remember Speerville, New Brunswick”
The
hot sun beamed on us, the sweat ran down our foreheads, the mosquitos
were trying to eat us alive, our arms and legs were scratched from
climbing through brush piles plus my arm was bleeding as I had fallen
over a rotten stump, but the thought of raspberry pie covered in
whipped cream as well as raspberry pudding with brown sugar sauce kept
us at the task of filling the two mixing bowls with wild raspberries.
Probably the Speer children in Speerville also picked raspberries
for their mother. They too, may have been bitten by the mosquitos,
scratched by the barbs, and scorched by the hot sun.
According to “How Well I Remember
Speerville, New Brunswick” by Murray Hubbard, published in 1991,
John Speer was born in Ireland in 1766 and with his wife Mary had a
family of several sons and one daughter. The sons, Andrew, John, James,
John S., Joseph, Samuel and William, along with their cousin Robert,
founded Speerville.
Samuel Speer married in 1842 to Sarah Hemphill, who had been born in
Ireland, the daughter of William Hemphill.
James Speer married Jane MacBeath in 1834. He received his grant of
land in 1835.
John S. Speer married Margaret Hemphill, the daughter of William
Hemphill. One of their sons, William Knox Speer, went to the
Yukon and was never heard of again. Daughter, Sarah, married
William Gibson.
The tombstone of Joseph Speer gives his place of birth as County
Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland. His wife was Rebecca Hemphill, daughter of
William Hemphill, born in Ireland. They built their home on Oak
Mountain. Rebecca died in 1883 at age 78. Her picture as an elderly
lady, wearing a bonnet, can be found in the book.
I have never visited Speerville nor met the folk who lived there. But
while reading Murray Hubbard’s, “How
Well I Remember Speerville, New Brunswick”, I felt as if I had
grown up in the community and personally knew of the joys and sorrows
of his neighbours, their ancestors and their descendants.
Query 1333
Drost
- Hathaway: In the 1851 census, Jane Drost, who was born
circa 1845, was living with her grandparents, Eleaser and Susanna
Hathaway. In the 1861 Sunbury County census, she was enumerated in the
household of her uncle Calvin Hathaway. I would appreciate any
information on this person.
SHIRLIE PHELPS
1288 Rte 119
Rindge, N.H.
03461, USA
E-mail shirlie7425@yahoo.com
Query 1334
Johnston:
Jane Johnston, who was born 11 Apr. 1839 in Ederney, Fermanagh, Ireland
and her siblings - Elizabeth (died Saint John at age 18), Mary Ann
(died Saint John 25 Feb. 1907), Cathryn (died in New York 19 Nov.
1890), James, Joseph and Robert, migrated from Derry to Saint John, New
Brunswick in 1852 on the MARY ANN 1. Any information about this
family history appreciated.
W. CHERRY
POB 68
Mill Valley, CA
94942, USA
E-mail winkycherry@comcast.net
Query 1335
Religious
Intelligencer: Searching for original copies of the
Religious Intelligencer, the official newspaper of the Free Baptists in
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia from 1853 until 1906. Rev. Ezekiel McLeod
, born in Sussex in 1812, was the founder and first editor of this
bi-monthly and then a weekly denominational paper published in Saint
John, New Brunswick.
BARBARA F. PEARSON
476 Pearsonville Road,
Pearsonville, NB
Canada, E5P1S6
Telephone 506-433-3569
E-mail barbara3@nb.sympatico.ca
