*************************************************************************
Banks Family
**
Contributed
by Donald Fleming
**************************************************************************
Valerie Verafern
Banks, was born on December 14, 1904 in the village of Greenfield
Settlement in Sunbury County, New Brunswick. Greenfield Settlement was a
small farming community in between Burton and Upper Gagetown, in Sunbury
County, across the river from Sheffield, where the family of my great great
grandmother, Frances Hunter settled in the 1790’s. Greenfield was settled
in the early 1860’s, but is now a part of CFB Gagetown.
Valerie was born
when her father, Abraham James Banks, was 42, and when her mother, Julia
Anna Smith Banks was 40. Valerie was probably the youngest of 7 children.
She had four older brothers and 2 older sisters. The names and birth dates
of the family members can be found on the 1901 census of Burton Parish,
pages 17 & 18.1 The census provides a snapshot of the family 3 years
before my grandmother was born.
Abraham, born 15
September 1862 in New Brunswick, of English origin, occupation: farm
labourer, religion: Baptist
Julia, born 15
January 1864 in New Brunswick, of Irish origin
Edward, born 30
March 1886
George, born 2
October 1888
Louisa, born 4
February 1892
Willie, born 6
December 18962
On one side of
Valerie’s family lived the family of Abraham’s older brother, Eliphatet, who
were also Baptists.
Eliphatet Banks,
born 23 January 1857, occupation: farmer
Lavinia, born 27
November 1849
Oren, born 28
February 1885
Herbert, born 5
November 1886
Kinsman, born 5
February 1889
Arthur, born 1
September 1890
Mary, born 22
February 1894
Elizabeth,
(Bessie Burpee) mother of Eliphatet, born 1819, in Sunbury Co. New
Brunswick
On the other
side of Valerie’s family lived the family of another of Abraham’s older
brothers, Edward, whose list of children isn’t complete in the copy of
census I have. The family’s religion was listed as Methodist.
Edward, born 20
October 1852, occupation: labourer
Elizabeth, born
15 May 1862
Georgina, born 5
July 1888
Burlis (?) born
18 May 1890
Evalina, born 17
march 1893
Thomas, born 22
August 1894
For whatever
reason, Valerie’s birth was not registered when she was born, and her birth
certificate wasn’t issued until 21 February, 1948, and the certificate was
not registered until 27 February, 1954, when she was 49. Between
Valerie’s birth and the issue of her birth certificate, there are few
details known about her family, which I’ve listed below.
1. Her brothers
Edward J. and Harry M. both moved to St. John
2. Her brother
Hazen H. moved to Ontario
3. One sister
married Norman Gordon and moved to Ontario
4. Her other
sister married L.B. Perry and moved to St. John
5. Some of her
sisters and brothers had children, listed as Abraham’s grandchildren in his
obituary
6. Her parents,
and presumably her whole family, moved to Blissville, in Sunbury Co. in or
around 1910.
7. Her mother
moved to St. John in 1944, and died at the age of 81, on 26 June 1945 of a
cerebral hemorrhage, due to arteriosclerosis. Her address at the time was
35 Sewell Street.
8. At the time
of her mother’s death, Valerie was living at 50 Celebration Street, in St.
John, under the name of Mrs. V.V. Peebles.
9. Her mother
was buried in Blissville, on 28 June 1945.
10. On 9
February 1946, Valerie’s father Abrahm died at the age of 83. He had worked
as a farmer or farm labourer up until 1943. According to his death
certificate, he had been living in St. John for 3 years. His address at the
time of his death was 94 Wall Street, which was the home of his son Harry.
According to his obituary he was born at Burton Sunbury Co. presumably in
Greenfield Settlement, as is recorded on Valerie’s birth certificate. He
was buried in Blissville on 12 February 1946.
11. At some
point it would appear that Valerie moved to Ontario, and worked in a family
run retail store. That could have either been a store run by her brother
Hazen or her brother-in-law, Norman Gordon. It is likely that there that
she met Howard Dennis Moore, and with him traveled out to B.C. where their
two daughters were born. By 1931 Howard and Valerie had separated, though
both were living in the Nelson, B.C. area. Valerie left my mother with
friends in or around Nelson and my aunt Barbara in Calgary. At some point
she became involved with a man by the name of Peebles, and may have married
him. However, she may have simply taken his name, since on my mother’s
birth certificate she had listed herself as V.V. Moore, when she was still
legally V.V. Banks. Nothing more at this time is known about Mr. Peebles,
except that he was from a family in the Nelson - Trail area. By 1945
Valerie had returned to St. John.
Valerie’s
ancestors are identifiable from vital statistics documents received from Rob
Gilmore, archivist the PANB in Fredericton.
Valerie’s
Father: Abraham James Banks
His father:
Timothy Banks, born in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia
His
mother: Bessie Burpee , born in Sunbury County, New Brunswick
Valerie’s
Mother: Julia Anna Smith
Her father:
John Smith, of New Brunswick
Her mother:
Namanoi Jordan, of New Brunswick
|