Memories of Kedgwick River
 
B. M. Broderick


Once the meal was finished, the adults sat around the table drinking their tea and talking. Cliff and I took off to play hide and seek.

When Cliff was hiding behind the commode, Gramp came into the bedroom, pointed to him and barked, “Stowaway with a five dollar price on his head!”

We thought we had done something terrible.  We ran down the stairs as fast as we could.

Nineteen year old, Michael Bernard Broderick, a native of Cappoquin, County Waterford, Ireland, was a stowaway on the Stormy Petrel as it sailed out of Galway Bay on Friday, September 6, 1899.  On the third day at sea, he was discovered and he became a member of the crew.

Upon arriving in Campbellton, the vessel took on a cargo of lumber. In the middle of the night, Michael lowered himself by a rope, over the side of the ship and hid in the woods, as there was a price to be paid for returning a deserting crew member. Thus began a lonely new life in a strange land. 

He was taken on as a farmhand with the MacDougal family in Broadlands near Matapedia and later found employment as a handyman with the Restigouche Salmon Club.

In 1900, he married Isabella MacDonald. They became the caretakers for the Roger’s property on the Kedgwick River. Here they raised their nine children. The door of their home was always open. A yearly event was the visit of the owners of the property accompanied by guests who enjoyed the angling season. This was followed by the lumber crews who needed to be fed and lodged.

Memories of Kedgwick River’ by their son, the Rev. Bernard Michael Broderick, presents interesting insights into the history of northern New Brunswick but first he takes the reader on a journey to discover the life his father left behind in Ireland.

Father Broderick also explores the opening up of the area of the province that was at the turn of the century, a wilderness known only to the trapper, the hunter, the angler, and the lumberjack.

Fascinating stories of characters who shared and participated in its development are related. You will meet Isaac Farrar, Uncle John MacDonald, W. C. Teagle, Clyde Hynes, James Michael MacDonald and others in the pages of this 1994 publication which is available in several libraries in New Brunswick.

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Query 1071
Given - Orr - Carr:
  James Given was born in Ireland about 1829 and married Margaret Mary Orr, the daughter of Thomas Orr and Margaret Carr, in Saint John on 01 March 1851. They purchased a farm in Bloomfield, Norton Parish, Kings County in 1861. Their family consisted of 15 children. James died on Erin Street in Saint John in 1901. Margaret was residing on Erin Street at the time of her death in 1920. I would like to determine the place of origin in Ireland for both James Given and Margaret Orr as well as the names of their parents, siblings and descendants.
Paul Given 
Email  pagiven@gmail.com

Query 1072
Sharp-Marshall
: Arthur Busby Sharp married Margaret Marshall 1883 in Sussex, New Brunswick.  He died in 1914 in British Columbia. His children were Elizabeth, John and Sarah. Who were his parents?
    -Roberta Kincaid, 365 Shackelton Pt. Rd., Bridgeport, NY, 13030, USA. E-mail  
Rkinc61940@aol.com.

Query 1073
Maria - Ballard
: Isaac Marsh was a private in the 76th Regiment with the British Army serving in Nova Scotia in 1855 when he met and married Maria Ballard in Halifax. The following year they had a son, Isaac George born in New Brunswick. I am looking for any information concerning the family or any references to the regiment’s service in Nova Scotia.
    -Robert Marsh, 38 Sandalwood Ave., Woodlands, 6018, West Australia. E-mail redcar@iprimus.com.au.

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