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Genealogies of the First Families
at the
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick


By the time Cliff and I got up, it was a scorching hot morning yet Mum had a good fire going in the wood stove to bake four loaves of bread. She was always planning ahead for supper so potatoes and eggs were boiling to make a salad. Furthermore she had a mixture simmering to use to make the filling for squares.  As soon as the bread came out, she had pans of biscuits ready to pop into the oven.

Although she didn’t keep any notes as to what needed to be done, Mum was certainly organized.

Sometimes when visiting a research institution, even when one is organized, there are just too many things to remember to look at. Thus, some files with information get overlooked.

The New Brunswick Genealogical Society has made it easier to get ready for a visit to PANB by placing the Genealogies of the First Families at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick compiled by Robert F. Fellows on their website at www.nbgs.ca.

This compilation contains information on 7,414 of the first families to arrive in New Brunswick, which were donated by genealogists, who wished to have their work preserved for the use of others.

“Many of the descriptive Family Entries contain the name of the head of a household, his date and place of birth, the date of his death, the names of his parents, and the name of the community, parish and county where a family settled. Next is listed the date and place of marriage, the name of his wife, the date and place of her birth, the date of her death and the names of her parents. The names of each of the children, their dates of birth and death, the names of their wives, their dates of birth and death and names of their parents are listed.” Reference is given as to sources and where the file can be found.

“The amount of data in each Family Entry depends upon the thoroughness of the researcher who submitted the genealogy.”

“In addition, over the past four decades more than 3,000 private individuals, professional people, businessmen, politicians, and various organizations have donated collections to the Provincial Archives. Scattered through these collections is a wealth of family history information.”

For example, the entry on John Lloyd tells us he was born circa 1790 in County Tipperary, Ireland, married Julia Copley, who was born in 1788, died 25 Aug 1866. He came to New Brunswick in 1818 and settled in Simonds Parish, Saint John County. Children mentioned were: 1) John Farmer Lloyd born 1821, died 18 Sep 1879, married 5 Apr 1853 in Saint John to, Mary Ann Collins. He settled in Saint John. 2) Thomas Lloyd born 1823. 3) Marie Honora Lloyd born 1825. 4) Andrew Lloyd born 1829, moved to British Columbia. 5) Margaret Lloyd married Henry Anthony of Red Head in Simonds Parish. 6) Julia Anna Lloyd born 1834, died 3 Apr 1857. Three sources are given.

Heather Long’s Good Green Hope: the Irish Catholic settlers of Albert County, New Brunswick, page 249 provided the details for Michael Quigley who settled on the New Ireland Road in Alma Parish, Albert County. He married 6 Dec 1852 at Saint John to Catherine Harding.

Four sources are given for James Martin who was born 18 Jul 1759 County Down, Ireland, died 11 Feb 1842: came to New Brunswick in 1783 as a Loyalist: married 15 Apr 1787 at Cornwallis, Kings County, Nova Scotia to Prudence Wickwire born 16 Nov 1764 at Cornwallis, died 9 Aug
1851, daughter of Peter Wickwire and Rhoda Schofield. His family consisted of eleven children.

The information online at http://nbgs.ca/firstfamilies.html on  “first families” could help you in your genealogical research as well as present an opportunity to plan ahead for your visit to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.
New and Used Genealogical and Historical books of
New Brunswick for sale.


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.  Include your name and mailing address for the benefit of the readers of the newspaper who do not have access to E-mail but could have information to share with you. Please put "Query" followed by the surnames in your query. For more information on submitting queries, visit http://www.rubycusack.com/Query-Instructions.html
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