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St. Andrews - Serpents and Celebrities

I think Gramp should have changed the name of his farm from Brookside to Do Drop Inn as during the summer months Aunt Sadie had to add an extra plate or two at almost every meal.

It was great entertainment for me, just to sit at the dinner table and listen to the conversations.

Gramp had met many people from varied backgrounds in his lumbering business. All were invited to partake of a meal when they dropped in to visit him.

When today's supper guest came into the house, he shook hands with Gram and told her he had been a lawyer and had worked with Gramp at several lumber mill camps. The large man had wide leather braces that fastened to his trousers with buttons. His left arm seemed out of alignment and his hand showed several scars. He wore his breakfast on his tie, which had seen better days.

After piling his plate with beans and pouring molasses generously, he took two slices of raisin-brown bread and buttered them well. He then slickly manoeuvred the beans onto his knife, ignoring his fork. Three teaspoons of sugar were stirred into his steaming cup of black tea. Then he poured some of the tea into his saucer and, to my amazement, drank it straight from the saucer.

When the stomachs were filled, the men reminisced with many interesting stories.

After his departure, I asked Gram why a lawyer would be running the big saw in the mill? She laughed and explained he was a sawyer not a lawyer.

As Aunt Sadie cleared the table and scraped the dishes, she said, "Hopefully this is the end of summer visitors."

It was much different for folk living in St. Andrews. They looked forward to the many summer visitors who, I might add, spent money freely.

David Sullivan, who is a freelance writer and innkeeper living in St. Andrews, has collected an extensive amount of information about the history of the town, drawn mainly from the local newspapers, of which St. Andrews had seven. Some of these articles show the other side of St. Andrews - life as it was lived day to day, not just during the summer term when the town was populated by the rich and famous. He has not only published his collected information in books but has made much of it available through his website at http://www.pendleburypress.ca/.

According to David Sullivan, summer visitors probably began with Sir Leonard Tilley and Sir Charles Tupper, who purchased summer homes in St. Andrews in 1871. They were followed by such notables as Sir William Van Horne, Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, Sir James Dunn, Senator Robert MacKay, C. R. Hosmer and many more. St. Andrews became truly a hangout for the rich and famous.

While many notable figures were connected with the railroad business, there were others as well - architects such as Edward Maxwell, painters such as George Innes and William Hope, Harvard professors and big city editors, millionaire baseball players and glamorous movie actresses. In the days before the automobile, many arrived by private rail car piled high with steamer trunks. They would stay at the Algonquin for the entire summer--or rather, the families would, the husbands tended to be workaholic who only peeped in now and then to see how everyone was getting along.

In the days before the automobile, many arrived by private rail car, piled high with steamer trunks. They would stay at the Algonquin for the entire summer. Often the families would stay; the husbands tended to be workaholics who only peeped in now and then to see how everyone was getting along.

As I browse through David Sullivan's pendleburypress website I'm reminded of a group of men who gathered around the pot bellied stove in the old general store to discuss current events and reminisce of old times. Sullivan's website relays the neighbourhood news and activities of the past.

On June 11, 1896, it was reported lightkeeper Maloney believed he saw the St. Andrews Serpent. It swam like a racehorse through St. Andrews Bay.

On July 23, 1896,John Bailey, of Vanceboro, Maine contacted the newspaper to say that twenty-five years previously while fishing off the Sand Reef light about daylight with John McWeany, he saw the serpent. He was going down the bay at the rate of forty miles an hour. The water was calm and smooth, but he went so fast that he churned up a sea like a steamboat. He stood two feet out of the water.”
   
In the Beacon of August 18, 1910, it was reported that Mr. C. R. Hosmer of Montreal bought the Julius T. Whitlock property known as Elm Corner and that the present occupants, Misses Mowatt and Campbell, are to be permitted the use of it during their lives. The purchase price is said to be $5000.

The Beacon on July 6, 1893 announced “Mrs T. R. Wren enjoys the distinction of introducing the first lady’s bicycle into St. Andrews.”

Topics covered on the pendleburypress website include: Minister's Island, The Summer People,  Hotels, Newspapers, Arts & Entertainment, Historic Places, Local Business,  Crime & Court,  Stirring Events, Town Improvement, Sickness & Health, Humour, As Others Saw Us, Fashion, The CPR, The Algonquin Hotel, Passamaquoddies, Executions, Black Population, Local People,  The Railway Fires, Water Street 1878,  The Wars,  The Irish,  The Poor House, The Garrison, St. Andrews Land Co., Old St. Andrews and The Old Gaol.

David Sullivan has written the following books on local history: 1) The Algonquin - On Passamaquoddy Bay, 2) Minister's Island - Sir William Van Horne's Summer Home in St. Andrews, 3) St. Andrews - An Historical Scrapbook and  St. Andrews In Pictures.

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Query 1753:
Campbell-Stewart-Young: I am seeking information on Barbara Stewart, daughter of Andrew Stewart and Mary Campbell, who was married at Bass River, New Brunswick, in 1866 to James A. Young, son of John Young.
C. Seidl, Nevada, U.S.
Email arcticBosun@gmail.com

Query 1754:
Vincent-Battles: Edward Vincent lived in Saint John, where he owned a candy factory, in the mid-1800s. His mother may have been Ellen Battles.
Lynn, New Jersey, U.S.
Email nyylynnc@aol.com



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


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