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David was the fifth son of John & Euphemia. He was a carpenter in the hamlet of Bernera, Inverness-shire, Scotland, when he married Betsey Sinclair on 12 July 1816. Within weeks, the young couple had set sail for Canada. Below is the record of their marriage from the old parish register of Glenelg, Scotland.
Deedie takes up the story:
Elizabeth Sinclair, a girl of aristocratic birth, married David MacIntosh when she was only sixteen & came out from Scotland with the MacIntosh family. The ship was almost wrecked and they had a very bad passage, being four months on the way. The supply of water was very low. Elizabeth was pregnant & so deathly sick everyone on board ship was troubled about her. Two young sailors, who admired her beauty & refinement, dipped a table napkin in the dwindling water supply & brought it to her cabin for her to suck.
The family lived in Montreal and Quebec for two years[1] before their grants were changed. The two oldest children, Christina and Neil, were born there.
Before the Galloway fire [1925 or 1926], the family still had a little brown cupboard they brought from Scotland, also a brass-studded hand trunk. Great-auntie Ann used it for her trousseau when she left home. The claymore that great-great-grandfather carried at Quebec was also brought out when the family came from Scotland. Aunt Christie MacBeath had it & it stood by her fireplace & was used as a poker. "The night of the destructive Campbellton fire [1910], the piano and other furniture were moved three times as the wind changed. Nothing escaped, & the last seen of the old sword, it was piled on top of the piano with some other cherished things & there the story ended in smoke and flames." (extract from a letter from Cousin Anna)
A leather-bound book, containing the family records & written in beautiful long-hand by great-grandfather's older brother, Angus, was destroyed in the Galloway fire. The names were written thus:
Christina, first-born daughter of David & Elizabeth M. Neil, second-born son Florrie (Flora), third-born daughter etc.Great-grandfather lived to be 95. He slipped on the steps down into the kitchen at Black River and was in bed six weeks before he died. When they were young, his sons were known as "handsome Angus, proud Duncan, & sweet Archie." Aunt Bell & Aunt Annie both remember great-grandfather. He was a small, neat man & Duncan resembles him. He was very particular about his appearance, and very orderly. He had a chair for his clothes when he undressed & hung one sock on the right arm of the chair & one on the left. He wore a sealskin cap with a shiny new visor and gloves trimmed with a sealskin band. He held family prayers every night. He had a chest in his bed-room and used to keep maple sugar in it to give to the children. Aunt Bell & Aunt Annie used to fight over who should call him to his meals when he was out sawing wood.
Every one of great-grandmother's children named a daughter Elizabeth for her. She died on the day Aunt Bessie was born. She was a tall woman."
David and Elizabeth's children were: [2]
David and Betsey are buried in the old burying-ground at the top of MacIntosh Hill, on Black River (about 3 km north of Bouctouche). The stones read:
David MacIntosh |
Elizabeth, wife of |
These original stones were replaced in the early 1970s with a single monument.
[1] The land grant petition seems to indicate that
it was closer to one year, 1816-1817.
[2] The precise birthdates for most of these
children are known only from the work of the late Jack Harper and sources derived
therefrom. Apparently a family bible survived among
Flora MacLelland's descendants
with this information, but has since been lost. Census records and other independent
documentation mostly provide only birth years, but largely corroborate this source.
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This page last updated 2003 March 25.