Back to The McNairns of New Brunswick.

The McNairns of Galloway (New Brunswick)

Anthony and William McNAIRN settled near Richibucto, Kent County, New Brunswick in 1817. To the best of our knowledge William never married, and all the McNairns in the region -- indeed, most of them in the province -- are descended from Anthony.

Anthony married Jane McNEIL sometime between 1817 and 1820. They had the following children:¹

• Jane (abt 1819-1875), married Thomas JOHNSON and moved to Mill Creek near Buctouche.
• May or Marion (1821-1905), married James JOHNSON and moved to Washington state. Anthony Johnson descended from this line; he and his wife assembled their genealogy into a book in 1975 which I will not copy here.¹
• Eliza (abt 1823-bef 1861), married Jacob FERGUSON. See below.
• James (28 Feb 1825-1914), married a succession of three McBEATHs and lived at Mill Creek.
• William (28 May 1829-1916) also lived at Mill Creek, where he married Isabella Matilda Wathen McBEATH, and later Mary GIFFORD
• Anthony (abt 1833-1918), married Mary GIRVAN. See below.

Anthony (Senior) passed away on 11 March 1858 aged 80 years. His brother William died 14 October 1864 at age 83, and his wife Jane on 25 July 1877 aged 84. All three lie in the West Galloway Cemetery near Rexton.²

Eliza and Jacob Ferguson

Anthony and Jane's third daughter Eliza married the Richibucto merchant Jacob FERGUSON (born about 1824). Eliza apparently died and Jacob remarried sometime between 1852 and 1861 to Agnes DICKIE.

The evidence I currently have in hand regarding this family is:

1. "Elizabeth Ferguson, wife of Jacob Ferguson" is mentioned as a daughter in Anthony McNarin's will of 1852.³
2. 1861 census returns⁴ list Jacob (age 37) with wife Agnes (23) and children:
   • Sarah, age 11,
   • John, 9,
   • Elizabeth, 7,
   • James, 2, and
   • William, 9 mos.
3. Birth records for Jacob's daughters Ella (1869)⁵ and Agnes (1876)⁶ name Agnes Dickie as the mother.
4. 1881 census returns⁷ list Jacob as a widower, with the following children at home:
   • Eliza, age 26,
   • James, 22,
   • William, 19,
   • Charles, 17,
   • Annie, 16,
   • Fred, 13,
   • Ella, 11, and
   • Agnes, 4.
5. Ida McNairn indicated that Eliza & Jacob Ferguson had children Jane, Eliza, and John.⁸

Anthony (Jr.) and Mary Girvan

When the old Anthony passed away, his Galloway farm was taken over by his youngest son Anthony (Jr.) Sometime about 1859 he married Mary GIRVAN, probably the daughter of Samuel Girvan the co-petitioner with Anthony Sr. in 1817.

In 1861, besides his wife and two eldest children, Anthony's house was home to his mother Jane (McNEIL), his uncle William McNAIRN, and two young labourers Jeffery and Samuel POWER.⁹ By 1871¹⁰ his family had grown to six children and his uncle William had passed away (14 October 1864)². In 1881 all six children were still at home, and one more besides.¹¹

Anthony (Jr) and Mary's children were:^9-14

• Elizabeth "Lizzie" (1859-1945) married the widower Robert LITTLE on 27 December 1911.^1,15
• James (1860-1939), married Flora DIXON of Mill Creek, lived at Galloway and had three daughters,
  • Harriet "Hattie" (1899-1976), married the later-famous K. C. IRVING and had three sons.
  • Mary Lulu "Lou" (b.1902)
  , a teacher, never married.
  • Elva Dixon (b.1905)
  , a secretary and genealogist, never married.
• Anthony L. (1862-18 December 1911) married Elizabeth DIXON of Upper Rexton. A jeweler, he died childless.
• Mary Ann (1864-1933) never married.
• Jane "Janie" (1867-) married Thomas GIRVAN and had four children.
• Marion (1869-) married Jim MITCHELL of Rexton and had one son.
• Isabel (1872-19 February 1874) died young.
• Ella (28 Dec 1875-10 Feb 1975), married her cousin Lawrence McNAIRN
• William Allison (1882-23 May 1950) married Margaret Cail IRVING and had three sons. They lived in Galloway until a fire in 1935, then moved to Pugwash, NS.

Many in this branch preferred to spell the family name "McNarin".

Mary died on 9 April 1903 and Anthony on 5 August 1918. They are buried in the West Galloway cemetery beside their daughter Isabel. Their daughter Mary Ann was laid beside them in 1933.

¹Anthony & Sydney Johnson, "The McNairn, MacNarin, McNarin & MacNaran Family in America" (photocopied typescript, 1975).
²Deborah MacDonald Hale, Cemeteries of Kent County, transcribed at http://www.rootsweb.com/~nbken/CemGalloway.html.
³See http://www.rootsweb.com/~nbken/McNairnAnt.html.
⁴1861 Census of New Brunswick, Richibuctou Parish, Kent Co., page 87, lines 1-7. NAC film C-1002.
⁵Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB), Index to County Birth Registers (RS141A2/2). Microfilm F14036, CD 8, book 4, p.193, #486. Ella's birthdate was 13 September 1869.
⁶PANB, Index to Late Registrations of Births (RS141A1b). F18763, code 1876-F-4. Agnes' birthdate was 26 May 1876.
⁷1881 Census, Richibucto Parish, Kent Co., New Brunswick (division 34-d-3), page 36, household 160. NAC film C-13185. Searchable at www.familysearch.org.
⁸Ida McNairn, "McNairn Ancestry" (photocopied typescript, 1974).
⁹1861 Census, Richibuctou Parish, p.25, #33-40.
¹⁰1871 Census, Richibucto Parish, sub. c-3, p.33, family 104.
¹¹1881 Census, Richibucto Parish, sub. d-2, p.33, family 145.
¹²1891 Census, Richibucto Parish, sub. e-2, p.21, family 90.
¹³1901 Census, Richibucto Parish, sub. e-2, p.1, family 4.
¹⁴Johnson op cit. pp.42-44
¹⁵PANB, Index to New Brunswick Marriages (RS141B7), F15943, Ref.B4/1911 no.2453.

Back to The McNairns of New Brunswick.
This page last updated 2006 November 7.