Early
Loyalist - Saint John
The Origins of New Brunswick
Politics 1783-1786
The
sky was overcast with the blue jays screeching “Rain, Rain”.
Dad came to the conclusion it would be a good day to pull out the
grindstone onto the barn floor and sharpen all the tools.
Cliff dipped a pail of water from the puncheon and brought it along
with a tomato can which would be used to pour small amounts of water on
the grindstone.
I was not too pleased to get the job of turning the wheel but after a
few words of praise on what a great job I was doing, I kept that wheel,
just a whizzing.
Dad sat on an old stool and one by one sharpened the hoes, axes,
shovels, cutter bars, spoke shavers, turnip knife and finally the
scythes.
He carefully ran the scythe blade up and down on the grindstone,
working on the underside of the tool to produce an upward-cutting edge,
while Cliff poured water over the wheel to keep the metal cool. A final
touch was given with the whetstone.
As he worked, he explained the early farmers on this land were probably
the slaves and hired hands of the Loyalist, Judge Upham although he
doubted the Judge knew much about the actual labour work of cutting the
hay and buckwheat.
Suddenly, I noticed a shadow and there stood Gramp who looked and
sounded like he had crawled out of bed on the wrong side.
First he grumbled about the snath of the scythe having a crack in it
and should have had a new handle. Next he started to lecture on the
types of scythes. It seemed the ones made in Europe should not be
sharpened on a grindstone as the heat took the temper out of them.
His train of thought changed quickly as he began to talk about the
early Loyalist settlers in Saint John with a shortage of fresh water to
drink, little cordwood for the fires, poor sanitary conditions,
illness, the difficulties in getting the promised supplies and their
efforts to move from the area to become self sufficient as soon as
possible with little more than an axe, hammer, shovel, hoe and a scythe
to construct shelters and to plant and harvest food.
Plus they had to set up a government.
The origin of New Brunswick
politics from 1783 to 1786 is discussed in D. G. Bell’s the Early Loyalist - Saint John
published in1983 in chapters titled, The Lost War, Exodus, The Origin
of Discord, Spem Reduxit, The Triumph and Suppression of Political
Dissent and Loyalist Against Loyalist. Many unknown facts are revealed
in detail in this publication.
D. G. Bell states in the preface, “This is an introduction to the
history of Loyalist New Brunswick drawn from sources which in great
measure, are brought together for the first time.” . . “In a sense this
study begins where E. C. Wright ended - with her insight that the
Loyalists were rather ordinary people subjected to an extraordinary
experience - and it follows their life in New Brunswick during the
first three years. Its focus is Saint John because it was there the New
Brunswick political and social experiment began and it was there most
Loyalists - no matter where they eventually settled - spent the early
stage of their exile.”
The folk doing genealogy will be very interested in the appendices with
their alphabetized list of names, such as the Refugee Loyalist
Households which can only be described as a trunk filled with fifty
pages of much sought after information giving the head of household,
former trade, former home, unit and ship, the number of family members
actually on board Refugee ships in New York before sailing and other
household statistical information after arriving in Saint
John.
****
Query 1614
St
Philip's AME Church - Rev. Brown: Student of Black history
seeks information about the now defunct St Philip's AME Church
(formerly at Carmarthen and St James) in Saint John, New Brunswick -
its history, records and ministers, especially Rev Henry B. Brown,
pastor from September 1896 until unknown date.
Barry Cahill
E-mail yorkhill@eastlink.ca
Public Archives, 6016 University Av
Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H 1W4
Tel 902 424 6085, Fax 902 424 0628
Query 1615
Sullivan - Titus:
I am seeking information on the siblings and parents of Johannah
Sullivan born circa 1822 in New Brunswick,
possibly the daughter of John and Johannah Sullivan who were enumerated
in the 1851 census in Upham Parish, Kings County, NB. By the mid 1850s,
Johannah and her husband James Titus, possibly formerly of Titusville,
Hampton Parish, Kings County, NB were living in Wisconsin.
E-mail UserPasta@aol.com
Query 1616
Maycock - Middlemore Home
Children: I need help in finding information on my Great
Uncle Samuel Maycock who arrived in Halifax with his brother Arthur
Maycock on the Sicilian in June, 1901.. I have tracked Arthur Maycock
to Ottawa and then to his death in WW1. But I cannot find Samuel
Maycock who was 11 when he arrived.
Barbara Lloyd
UK
E-mail barbielloyd@hotmail.co.uk
Query 1617
Strange
- Mays: Who were the parents and siblings of Henry
Smith Strange 1842 – 1889 and Clarissa ( Clara) Mays Strange 1844 -
1876 who were married in Prince William, New Brunswick 15 Jul
1867? A child Vivian Peabody Strange was born in York County, New
Brunswick on 08 Aug 1871. The Strange family may have been Loyalist.
Bruce Strange Dole
10900 Midwest Industrial Blvd.
St. Louis, MO, 63132, USA
E-mail bdole@autco.com
Query 1618
MacLean: Was Arthur
Brunswick MacLean born 05 May 1882 in Nashwaak, New Brunswick the son
of Roderick MacLean (born 1860) and Mary J. (born 1860) who
immigrated to USA in 1882. I'm also searching for the marriage of
Roderick and Mary and the names of their parents and siblings and any
other family information that is available.
Rose Chagnon
E-mail w.chagnon@comcast.net
Query 1619
Fenimore: Seeking
information to connect Richard Fenimore, Ensign West Jersey Volunteers.
who came to New Brunswick in 1783 with a wife and four children to
Richard Fennemore who was granted land in Col. Wm. Spray's Grant in
Jemseg and / or Richard Fennemore who was resident of Sussex Vale,
Kings County in 1796.
E-mail crk9@cox.net
Ruby M. Cusack is a genealogy buff
living in New Brunswick, Canada. Send your New Brunswick genealogical
queries to her at: rmcusack@nbnet.nb.ca. Please put "Query"
followed by the surnames in your query as the subject. For more
information on submitting queries, visit http://www.rubycusack.com/Query-Instructions.html
