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Ruby M. Cusack
The Loyalist Collection - Harriett Irving Library
Marianne Grey Otty database


It was a beautiful warm Saturday in October - just like summer - but all Dad was talking about was getting everything ready for winter.

Ken was good with the saw and hammer so his job was to close up the cellar windows.  Cliff was busy wheelbarrowing and ranking the kindling wood.

I got stuck with cleaning at least ten of the storm winter windows with a cornstarch paste, while Mum cleaned the outside and inside of every window in the house.

Dad was busy getting the stakes cut and the boards ready to make a form to fill with sawdust to bank the house to keep out the cold.

Gord had gone to the pasture and cut a small Spruce tree and was up on the roof cleaning both flues

Dad had made a list of all the preparation that needed to be accomplished before the cold weather arrived.

Speaking of lists, many a family researcher has been jotting down notes on a “to-do” list of resources that could be worked on during the cold days and dark evenings of winter when spending hours outdoors comes to an end - I am no exception.

At the Harriett Irving Library, on The Loyalist Collection site at http://vre.lib.unb.ca/motty/, the Marianne Grey Otty da
tabase has transcriptions of Anglican Church records from the Gagetown, New Brunswick area. It states on the website, “The original nine record books were kept by a series of travelling ministers and covered the years 1786 to 1841, containing lists of marriages, baptisms, and deaths. The records centre geographically on Gagetown, Queen’s County and particularly focus on the New Brunswick communities of Fredericton, Saint Marys, Lincoln, Grand Lake, Waterborough, Long Island, Wickham, Hampstead, Maugerville, Petersville, Sheffield, Kingston, Springfield, Greenwich, and Saint John. The communities are mainly located in King’s, Sunbury, and York Counties of New Brunswick, but entries as far flung as Nova Scotia, Ontario, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York are included.”

“The original materials are held by the New Brunswick Museum Archives (NBM Inventory No. 438) and were transcribed by author and local historian, Marianne Grey Otty (1890-1963).”

“The Marianne Grey Otty Database will prove useful to genealogists, historians, and students alike. The entries particularly feature Loyalist settlers and their descendants. The database offers an opportunity to explore family connections, as well as providing a glimpse into eighteenth and nineteenth century New Brunswick.”

By the way, Marianne Grey Otty, author and local historian, was from Gagetown, Queens County, New Brunswick

Some examples from the database:

On February 1, 1795, James Watson, the son of John and Ann Watson was baptized.

Sarah Lunt and Samuel Leydekker were married on February 9, 1813.

Deborough, age 79, the wife of Samuel Scovil, Esq. was buried by Rev. Abraham Wood on April 19, 1839

If you get cabin fever and want a day’s outing, then visit the Harriett Irving Library, UNB, Fredericton in person, where there are now more than 3,400 reels of microfilm and 700 microfiche in the Loyalist Collection - arranged by five categories of material: Church Records, Family Records, Military Records, Public Records and Special Collections

Descriptions of the microfilm reels can be found at http://www.lib.unb.ca/collections/loyalist/browse.php

I found some very interesting information in the “Family Records” pertaining to James Hannay’s, New Brunswick Reports on 34 Burying Grounds, 1908. In some recordings, details of family relationships are given.

In the Bates Family, a number of papers are those of Walter Bates (1764-1842), who became High Sheriff of Kings County, New Brunswick. The papers relate primarily to the attempts of certain Kings County residents to have him dismissed from the position of Sheriff, and to his interest in an inmate of a Toronto jail, whom he believed to be Henry Moore Smith, an "escape artist" on whom he had written a book.

Don’t fret about the long cold winter ahead, just make your list and escape to the land of genealogy research were time flies.
*****
QUERIES

Query 1842
Sinclair - Sherrer: I am searching for information about Patrick Sinclair and Eliza Sherrer, both born in Ireland, and immigrated from Antrim County, Ireland, to New Brunswick, Canada, in 1822, with their children.  I need information so that I can trace Patrick’s line in Ireland. 
Send info to carolh555@hotmail.ca

Query 1843
McCoy: The New South Wales Death Certificate of James McCoy states that he died aged 88 in 1916 - that would mean his birth date would have been in 1828 - and that he was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. He was referred to in his obituary as arriving here 24 Aug 1853 at Melbourne from New York. He settled in Shellharbour, New South Wales, where he was a blacksmith, owned and leased small holdings and raised cattle, and owned a grocery store. Tradition says that his family came from Ireland because of the Potato Famine and they settled in Saint John - eventually moving  to Boston where James did an apprenticeship as a blacksmith.
That is all we have unfortunately so we are asking for any information that someone might have.
Fred Grigg, Australia. Please contact by email fred.grigg@bigpond.com


New and Used Genealogical and Historical books of
New Brunswick for sale.

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