BGCHA Newsletter

Issue 6 Fall 2000

President’s Report

Our Association has been involved in several fund raising activities this summer. We had two lots at the Sussex Flea Market in August and a booth at the Queens County Fair in Gagetown in September staffed by volunteers from our membership. The fair booth was one of the more popular in the exhibit building with a display of pictures of the schools and homes from the Base communities. The sale of tickets on a cruise to Alaska in 2001 for $5. each are available from our executive members. Contact Frank Queen at 506 849-8616 or Verna Arnold at 506 847-8830 if you wish to participate in the sale of tickets. The winner will be drawn on May 12 2001 at our Sussex  jamboree.

We employed two students for 6 weeks this summer under government programs conducting oral interviews and  computer data entry of school records. We have secured the necessary equipment through the Millennium Fund for the recording of historical documents, pictures and the transcription of oral tapes. Additional volunteer help will be required to complete this project by March 31 of 2001.

There are presently 230 on our postal mailing list and over 60 subscribed from all across North America to our Internet e-mail list. To subscribe to the this  list send an e-mail to bgcha-subscribe@eGroups.com and follow the instructions when you get a reply back. The associated web site has most of the church records for the area and several hundred archived messages since the list was started a year ago.

At our last executive meeting at Roachville in September  several committees were established to plan for the 2003 celebration on the August 4 weekend in the Village of  Gagetown. I would request that all our members forward their family mailing list to our Secretary, Mary Queen so that we can send out some preliminary information this coming year to anyone who may be interested in attending the 2003 event. Mary’s mailing address is Apt 2, 199 King St. E. Saint John NB E2L 1H2 and e-mail mjq@nb.sympatico.ca

The following are comments from a post on the NB Roots Mail List by a couple who had completed a 4000 mile round trip this summer  searching out their ancestral roots in the Saint John River Valley of New Brunswick.

 

....I want to say that this area is some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen, and we have traveled most of the USA, and England.  Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I felt such a peace as we drove through the hills and trees.  It is a very rural area. We tried to figure out the economic situation and could see lots of potato fields, lumbering, quarries.  My husband and I decided that the people of New Brunswick (even in the larger city of St. John) were the kindest, most courteous people we had encountered in a very long time.  My regret is that our stay was so short and that it is so far away that I'm not sure when we might be able to return.  What a precious corner of the continent......and thanks to all who helped make our trip a delight.  There is nothing quite like standing, perhaps, in the very same spot that your ancestor once stood.

Penny from Nebraska

 So send us all those addresses of your friends and relatives from all across the continent so that we can invite them to sample this  hospitality in 2003.

David McKinney, President

 November 11 Service and Meeting

The traditional Remembrance Day Service will be held at the Cenotaph in New Jerusalem with Rev. Malcolm Beckett participating  and Maintenance Company from CFB Gagetown hosting the reception after the service.

Our Association will hold an executive meeting the same day at 2PM in the Queenstown Community Hall. All members or anyone interested are welcome to attend. The Lodge is catering to a ham, bean and scallop supper from 4:30-6:30 PM ($7. for adults, children 6-12, $3.) at the same location. Range Control will endeavor to have the Central Hampstead gate open to facilitate the shorter travel distance to Queenstown from New Jerusalem.

Volunteers are needed to conduct oral interviews, transcribe school records,

data entry and computerizing family genealogies.

Don’t forget to turn in your money from the sale of cruise tickets to the fundraising committee.

Start planning your family reunion in 2003.

Submit interesting items for  future newsletters to our Secretary, Mary Queen.

  

From The Past:

The following are excerpts from  History Of The Families Of Andrew Kee, William Burgess, Colonel William McLeod by William Burgess Kee of New Jerusalem , April 1960

William Burgess, born 1780, died 1849, and his wife, Mace Puckering, born 1785, died 1871, both from Yorkshire England came to  New Jerusalem in 1817. Family, John who died on journey, William born in Saint John, died in Westfield Jan. 30 1892 and Robert, first white child born in Jerusalem Settlement  Nov. 22 1819, died Jan 13 1894.

....They came up the Saint John River in a rowboat from Saint John to Hampstead Village, came to New Jerusalem on a bridal path on what is now the road from East Jerusalem schoolhouse to Hampstead, Mrs Burgess with baby on horseback and Mr. Burgess on foot. They settled on a 300 acre grant of land known as the Moses Jones Grant on which the East Jerusalem schoolhouse stood. The land fronted the Jerusalem Road to Mill Road. They built back from the road handy to a spring, first a log house, then a large farm house which was burned around 1860. They furnished up a two story flat roof  wood house for a dwelling, this house and other farm buildings were in use on the farm in 1952.

Their youngest son, Robert, married Margaret, the daughter of  Col. McCleod of Oak Point on June 18 1845

....He bought 100 acres of land in Jerusalem from Henry Sharp, built a two story building on west side of brook, lower story blacksmith shop, upper story woodworking shop. He and wife and daughter Mary born 1846 lived in upper story while house was being built. The house was built on a stone basement with hewn tamarack frame, whipsawed boards, shaved shingles and cut wrought nails. Barn and other buildings were built the same without basement. All the trim in the house was hand made with jointing planes, jack plane, smoothing plane, molding , matching, halving and window sash plane, quarter -round and halh-round planes. (I have these planes at present). The house had 9 rooms with front and back stairs and hall, ell for kitchen and pantry, cooking done by open fire place with brick oven heated by coal, house heated by two fireplaces, two story woodhouse attached with general country store in rear part of woodhouse. He bought another 100 acre farm from Henry Sharp around 1860 and moved the Sharp house down  for a granary, wagon shed and used the upstairs for a paint shop.

Robert Burgess was a blacksmith, wheelwright, and carriage builder as well as a farmer. In the 1860s and 70s there were manufactured on this farm , concord and desk backed carriages, express wagons, farm wagons, slovens, ox-carts, sleds, slays and pungs, woodwork and wrought iron for horsepower and woodcutting outfits, harrow and plows, wheel barrows and hand sleds.

The carriages, sleighs and pungs were painted, striped, goldleafed and varnished; the paint was crushed and ground in, mixed with oil, and turpentine added as needed. There was a machine shop with horse power rip-saw, jig saw, cutting-off saw, and grindstone; steam vat for steaming the wood for rims and shafts etc., lathe for turning wheel hubs, the spokes were hand shaved and tenoned and hubs hand mortised.  The first wheels were made with square tenons for the rims, later they had the hollow augers. There were employed 4 men, carriage builders, 1 a blacksmith, 1 a painter, 5 in all. They made horse shoes and shoes for oxen and put them on.

Robert Burgess assisted in building the Headline Episcopal Church, also assisted in building the first Methodist Church and parsonage in New Jerusalem. He and his family attended the Headline Church on the Sundays that there was service and the church at Oak Point on other Sundays. There were no cars in those days - the conveyance was a two horse three seated express wagon. I think they must have gotten up quite early on Sunday morning to drive 12 miles to morning service at Oak Point. It was a 5 mile drive to Headline.

 

Patrick Murray at age 14, his parents and 4 sisters emigrated from Balllymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland in 1927 and settled in Enniskillen. The following is an account  by our Treasurer, Carol Murray of  their family trip to Ireland in September of this year.

In September Patick Murray returned to Ireland for a three week trip. Although this would be his fourth trip to Ireland this one was different. He traveled with sixteen family members. Five of his sons and their spouses which included Carl and Carol, Ron and Elizabeth, Ralph and Marlyne, Morris and Jackie, Allen and Shirley, and four grandchildren which included Christine Murray, Amy Murray,  Michael Murray and his wife Jennifer, and Heather Dube and her husband  Pierre.

 We arrived in Dublin and spent a day sightseeing as well as met with the ambassador to Ireland from Canada. Dublin is busy city.  We visited Dublin Castle the first of many we would see on the trip. Some of the group managed to get a look at the Book of Kells at Trinity college.

From Dublin we moved on to Bangor where we spent four nights at Tara House bed and breakfast. We visited Ballymena where Patrick was born. We saw the home that he lived in and the church where he was baptized. His brotherJohn had run a pub in Ballymena which is still in business so we visited it and checked out the local beer.  We met John's daughters and families and new friends were made among the younger generation and old ones renewed. This was one of the special moments of the trip.

We left Ballymena and traveled to Sligo with a stop in Enniskillen on the way. While in Sligo we traveled to Donegal and visited another castle and got our first look at Beleek china. We had a wonderful tour of Yeats country with a wonderful guide who was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor. Oh yes ! There was another castle on this tour.  From Sligo we traveled to Galway .Half of the group left us to return to Dublin and home.