BEDTIME GENEALOGY 12

Word of the events at Lexington and Concord reached the Essex
County expatriates along the St Johns River by late April or early
May. Many had brothers or fathers among the Minutemen and
there was sentiment among many to join the rebellion. There
was a 12 man committee formed to write resolutions in support
of the rebels and to declare their desire to be henceforth part of
the state of Massachusetts. (At this time, Massachusetts included
most of what is now the state of Maine so extending the border
north into Canada would have seemed possible.) The committee
sent two delegates to Boston with familiar family connections: one
was Asa Perley and the other Asa Kimball.


The two men were well received and sent back to Maugerville
with arms and ammunition for the cause. But the attempt to win
control of the province was doomed by the failure of a series of
futile attempts to seize Fort Cumberland and other points along
the river as are detailed here. One of the rebels was the Pastor of
the Maugerville church Seth Noble and this might have been the
cause of some trouble among the congregation. A new covenant
fwas drawn up in 19 Jun 1779 and Moses Coburn and his wife
Hannah are among the names that appear upon it.

The rebel movement in New Brunswick ultimately faded away
and in 1783 the Essex County settlers faces an influx of expatriate
American Loyalists and after a period of uneasy adjustment the
area settled down back into the business of everyday life. Moses
Coburn and Hannah Burpee raised two sons and their descendants
lived for the most part around Sheffield, New Brunswick, Canada.
Three of them also were named Moses.


I wonder if my ancestor Moses Coburn ever met or corresponded
with his Canadian kinsmen and namesakes?


I’d like to credit the Sunbury County RootsWeb Site where I found
much of the information in these last few posts.

BEDTIME GENEALOGY 11

As I mentioned last time in my post about Maugerville the
name Mose Coburn was mentioned several times, mostly
in transcriptions of church documents.


Now my father’s mom Cora Berthella Barker was descended
from a Moses Coburn and wife Esther Spaulding (Spalding)
of Newry, Maine. Our Moses was also originally from Essex
County, Massachusetts, so I wondered about a connection.
I tried Family Search first and it seems the Moses Coburn of
Maugerville was related. He was born in Dracut or Tyngsboro
Ma. on 1 Jan 1702 and died in Sheffield Parrish, New Brunswick,
Canada on 27 Apr 1800. He married Hannah Burpee on 31 Dec
1767 in Sheffield and they had a family of seven children.

Hannah’s father is given as Jonathan Burpee and one of the
leaders of the Maugerville Settlement was Deacon Jonathan
Burpee.

Further googling led to more information as to why this Moses
Coburn would have left Essex Co., Ma. for Canada. On 15 Apr
1762 he’d married Elizabeth Peabody but she died a year later.
Apparently they had a son Stephen but I find no other mention
of him so he might also have died. About this same time the Essex
County colonists would have started leaving for Canada and it
must have seemed like a way for Moses to leave painful memories
behind and start a new life. So in 1767 he moved to Maugerville
and marriedHannah Burpee later that same year.


But while the Essex Colonists had started a new life in Canada the
events to the south would have an impact on them, which I’ll leave
for next time.

BEDTIME GENEALOGY 10

As I mentioned earlier, I discovered something unexpected
while surfing the web last week I googled for any information
on the Ruth Perley (E)ames incident and while looking into the
Perley family came across Israel Perley who moved from Rowley,
Ma. to settle in Canada in a town named Maugerville along the
St. Johns River. The website contains more detail but apparently
after the French and Indian War the British were seeking settlers
to replace the Acadians they’d expelled and an invitation was sent
to colonists in New England to move north. Some 200 families
took up the offer of a new life and made the move and most of
that number came from Essex County in Massachusetts.


There’s a list of the family names of many of the settlers and
at least a half dozen listed could be related to me including Barker,
Dow, Estey, Coburn, Kimball, Richardson and West. If you have
Essex County ancestry you might want to check out this Canadian
connection.


The name Moses Coburn appears several times on the website
and I’ll go into that a bit more next time. The nor'easter is still
howling outside and bed beckons.