Campobello Cemeteries & Island Genealogy

As I continue work on my "Charlotte County Interment/Burial Database" I am now a few week into entering data for cemeteries on Campobello Island. At the moment, the database contains over 25,410 entrries, and I have just completed entries for burials at the Old Wilson's Beach Cemetery, the new Wilson's Beach Community Cemetery (aka Head Harbour Cemetery) and the North Road Baptist Cemetery. I am now in the midst of entering data for the St. Anne's Anglican Cemetery at Welchpool.

As with Deer Island (and all communities in Charlotte County for that matter), I learn much about the area while entering data. Entering data is not simply taking info from cemetery transcriptions (either my own or transcription made by others), but it is also researching each burial using government and church records to determine full dates of death and birth, as well as the names of parents and spouses. So for each entry, I spend a little time getting know the person for which I am making an entry for. Multiply this by the complete population of a cemetery and the process gives one a great perceptive of the community.

And for Campobello, this has certainly been the case. Common surnames such as Brown, Calder, Matthews, Lank, Malloch tend to be a part of the majority of the entries. While the communities are mostly made up of fishermen and their families, a few island "farmers" and summer residents also make up the population. One aspect that you must deal with it comes to genealogy and Campobello: the fact that many of the island residents were born, married and died in the neighbour community of Lubec, Maine. This can make research a little more tricky as vital record with regard to Maine are not as easily accessible as they are with the Province of New Brunswick.Another interesting aspect that I have noticed is that many of the island's men married women that were a little older. While marriage on the mainland was typically between an older man and a younger women, this does not seem to be the common case on Campobello. Even headstones tend to identify with the woman/wife first: "Mary Jane Batson, wife of John H." whereas the majority of headstones in mainland cemeteries identify the man/husband first. While wife being listed first on headstone tended to be more common in the late 1800s, this tend continues in Campobello to the present day. Perhaps it took a slightly more mature, dominant wife to take care of a Campobello fisherman?!

As my project continues, I have found the GEDCOM database of Heather Waddingham's "My England & Canadian Roots" to be of great assistance. Heather, who is also the coordinator for the Rootsweb site for Campobello, has help me on a couple items with respect to understanding the naming of the cemeteries on the island. As with Deer Island and Grand Manan, some cemeteries have changed names over the years. Thanks Heather!

On The Book Shelf...

For the last number of years, I have been researching Charlotte County's involvement in the First World War so imagine my delight when I was put on the trail of a memoir of a former Charlotte County resident retelling his days as a soldier in the war. So a special thanks to former Mayor of St. Andrews, John Craig, for putting this book on my radar and into my library.

"As It Was Then: Recollections 1896-1930" is a short, 106 page book written by Prof. Dr. Arthur O. Hickson, and besides telling an interesting story of his life, it provides details into life on Campobello in the early 1900s but more so, it offers insight into life as a solider in the First World War. The book was written in 1984 and published in 1988 by Acadia University.

Dr. Hickson was born on Campobello Island on 22 January, 1896, the son of Arthur Wellsley Hickson and Alice Blanche Taylor. In 1912 a young Arthur Hickson moved with his family to Saint John, as his father accepted a teaching position there. Prior to start of the First World War, Hickson joined the Militia in Saint John. Most of the book is focused on Dr. Hickson's war experience; from the training camps in Canada and England, to the front lines of Vimy and Passchendaele.

After the war, Arthur Hickson enrolled at Acadia University. After graduation, Hickson then onto teach at Brown, receiving his PhD there. Soon after he went on to teach at Duke Universi88ty, retiring in 1965. Dr. Hickson died on 14 October 1989 and is buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Durham, North Carolina, with his second wife.

As It Was Then: Recollections 1896-1930

Hickson, Arthur Owen. 1988, Acadia University Press. ISBN: 0-921476-01-9

On The Book Shelf...

Though published in 1975, Passamaquoddy: Genealogies of West Isles Families still represents the most recent cumulation of family genealogies for the Parish of West Isles of Charlotte County, New Brunswick. Author Martha Ford Barto has compiled a comprehensive report on over 70 surnames from the areas of Deer Island, Campobello Island and various other smaller islands, as well as points along the mainland of both Canada and the state of Maine. However the 348 page books does not jump immediately into a genealogy report; Barto first offers the reader a wonderful reflection on the history of the Passamaquoddy area, from the early settlements of the Passamaquoddy People and Champlain’s settlement at St. Croix Island to the establishment of island communities by early settlers. From reading Barto’s sources, it is easy to see that she put many years of research into this single, soft bound book. Not only does she utilize several local history books that have been long forgotten or simply lost with time but also incorporates the rarities of family bibles from local families and church records, something that not every researcher would have access to. Overall, Passamaquoddy: Genealogies of West Isles Families is an asset for anyone interested in families from the Fundy Isles or general history of New Brunswick. However good luck in acquiring a copy as this book has been out of print for several decades and is quickly become one of those long lost books that Barto herself used as reference.

Passamaquoddy: Genealogies of West Isles Families

Barto, Martha Ford. 1975, Lingley Printing Co. Ltd. 348 pages