A Hero from Londonderry: Major Hazlett Samuel Allison 1894-1917

A number of the Allisons who settled across Northern Ireland became physicians.  Hazlett Allison (1851-1925), named for his mother Rachel Hazlett, was born at Drumnaha, the same farm that had been in the Allison family for generations.  He became a doctor and joined the Indian Medical Service.  He and his wife Mary had three sons and one daughter.  Their first child, Hazlett Samuel Allison (1894-1917) was born at Fort St. George (now known as Chennai) in Madras (now Tamil Nadu), India.  Fort St. George was the administrative seat of British power in India and was built in the 1600s as the first British settlement in India.  It was rebuilt in the mid-1700s and is now used as an administrative building for the state legislature of Tamil Nadu. 

Fort St. George

In 1873, Hazlett Allison joined the Indian Medical Service as a surgeon, arriving at Fort St. George in 1874 where he took up his post.  He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, distinguishing himself as a Professor of Anatomy at the medical college and became a fellow at Madras University in August 1892.  In June 1891, Hazlett married Mary Hunter Woods, and they both went to live in India. It was while he was posted in Madras that Hazlett and Mary welcomed their first child, Hazlett Samuel Allison, born in 1894.  From July 1901 to December 1903, when he retired, Lt-Col. Hazlett Allison was the surgeon general at the hospital in Madras (records indicate the family had already re-settled in Ireland in 1901 by the time of Lt.-Col. Allison’s retirement). 

Hazlett Samuel spent his first years in India before his parents returned to their home in The Shola, Portrush, Ireland in 1901.   Noreen Mullan, a local historian, has written an account of Hazlett Samuel Allison’s life and notes that at the age of 10, young Hazlett entered school at Campbell College Belfast.  The school was still quite new, having been established in 1894, and was at that time primarily a formal boarding school, with significant grounds and facilities, located near the Northern Irish Parliament at Stormont.  He graduated in 1911 and that same year entered Jesus College Cambridge.

By all accounts, Hazlett Samuel was an athlete, demonstrating prowess in rugby and golf.  While he didn’t continue in rugby while at Cambridge, he did continue to indulge in his passion for golf.  N.Mullan’s account includes a golfing incident that made it into the local papers.  The incident took place in 1913 in the final round of the President’s Cup, a foursome competition.  The team was reportedly Mr Lloyd Campbell / Mr H V Coates and Mr H S Allison / Mr R A Cramsie.  The local paper reported:

The players were all square playing to the seventeenth (or gasworks) hole, approaching which the ball driven by Mr Allison wedged between the wire netting, which is placed round the green to prevent balls going out of bounds, and the top or guiding wire of the fence.  The local rule says that a ball outside the fence is out of bounds, and the rules of golf on the subject are that a ball is "out of bounds" when the greater part of it lies within a prohibited area.  In this case the ball was exactly centred; and a diagram has been drawn by Mr Vint, the secretary, showing the exact position of the ball, with explanatory notes, to be forwarded to the golfing authorities for decision.  If it is held that the ball was within bounds, Mr H S Allison and Mr R A Cramsie would be the winners by one hole.  After the incident above described two further holes were played, each of which were ties.

At both Jesus College and at Campbell College, Hazlett Samuel was part of the Officer Training Corps (OTC), which would not be unusual for students, and certainly not for someone like Hazlett Samuel whose father was himself a member of the British military.

In 1914, Hazlett Samuel Allison graduated with his B.A. from Jesus College Cambridge.  His intent was to follow his father in medical studies, and he wrote his first exam for medical school the year of his graduation - the same year the war broke out.  At the age of 20, having spent his formative years in Madras surrounded by soldiers, and training with the OTC since he began his education in Ireland, Hazlett Samuel Allison must have felt duty-bound to join up.  He enlisted on August 8, 1914 and was given the position of Second Lieutenant to the Royal Irish Rifles (‘D’ Company, 7th Battalion).  Before the end of the year he rose to Lieutenant.  His Battalion was posted to the French theatre of war in December 1915.  In April 1916 he had gained the rank of Captain and that December, Major.  At that time, he was one of the youngest Majors in the Army. 

His rise in the ranks was due to extraordinary courage and initiative, evidenced by the war diaries and by his mention in despatches.  On the night of June 27, 1916, the 7^th Irish were in the trenches in Hulluch, France.  Then Captain Allison and another officer, 2^nd Lieutenant M.J. Hartery, left the camp and crossed the enemy’s wire to look for gaps.  Their inspection revealed no gaps, but a spot along the wire which was thin and able to be cut.  Soon enough they were seen and fired upon, so returned to camp with their report.  The enemy fire at the camp was reportedly weak and erratic, so a couple of days later, Captain Allison commanded another patrol which was mentioned in Despatches in the London Gazette on 4 January 1917.  The Despatch commended Capt. Allison for gallant and distinguished service in the field.  The official record says:

Near Hulluch, on the night of 31 July - 1 Aug, he was in charge of an enterprise against the German trenches. Shortly after the return of his party, the enemy made a bombing attack on our saps. Capt. Allison immediately returned to the saps and organized a counter-attack, which not only drove off the Germans, but followed them up and bombed them back into their own trenches. During the past nine months Capt. Allison has repeatedly shown great courage and resource whilst leading patrols, and has set a splendid example to all ranks.

Article from Weekly Telegraph November 25, 1916 p.7

There were five major offensives at Ypres, Belgium.  The army was seeking to take high ground and eventually take back this northern part of France, Belgium and Holland.  The attacks would ultimately lead to the battle at Passchendaele.  By the summer of 1917 when Major Hazlett Samuel Allison and the Royal Irish Rifles marched in, the Battle for Messines was about to commence.

The war diaries of the 7^th/8^th Battalion recount movements in and around Ypres, through trenches, to small towns to train, bathe and be inspected, get prepared for offensives, and be subjected to constant shelling and artillery fire that was unpredictable in its intensity.  Over the course of that summer leading to the battle at Passchendaele, the weather deteriorated and the trenches became soaked, the field mud, and any effort at attack gained inches at best.  

On May 16, 1917, Major Allison left on leave, returning May 30 when his Battalion was stationed at Butterfly Farm.  Just two nights before, the Farm had been subjected to heavy shelling, resulting in two wounded and one soldier suffering from shell shock.  At the end of May, the unit’s strength was 40 officers and 940 other ranks.

The first week of June, the 7^th Battalion was issued Order Number 118 (June 6, 1917).  The Battalion was to be part of the Battle of Messines:

Whilst moving to assembly position and when finally in position, every care is to be taken to avoid arousing the suspicions of the enemy.  Smoking, striking of matches, flashing of torches and unnecessary talking are forbidden.

The Battle at Messines was intended to draw German troops away from the embattled French forces and capture German defences on the ridge that ran through Messines and Wytschaete.  This would allow the British a high ground from which to command their attack on Passchendaele, and ultimately drive the army up the coast to Holland.  It was a first strike preparing for the Third Battle of Ypres in July.  In the Battle of Messines, the troops were to use a creeping barrage, which is a slow moving artillery attack which provides cover for infantry behind it.  In this case, the attack would start with mines. 

The Royal Irish were to provide Brigade Support on the right and left of the attack on Gil Trench (the Mauve Line).  They would take over in the event the attacking 9^th Royal Dublin Fusiliers became otherwise engaged.  Royal Irish were to move to a position at Vierstraat Switch.  Once the Mauve Line was taken, they would need to work quickly to consolidate their line.  Having received their orders, the Battalion prepared for the assault.  The evening of June 6, the Battalion was inspected at their position opposite Wytschaete.  They marched to their position opposite Vierstraat Switch, arriving by 2 am.  3:10 am was zero hour.  The mines went up, artillery opened fire and the attack commenced.

By 8 am, the Battalion received orders to move to the Chinese Wall, which took them an hour and a half, and they remained there through the day.  The fighting was intense, but the German defence had been devastated by the mines and shelling.  The Irish Rifles as part of a larger force were able to take their objectives as the remaining German forces eventually either surrendered or retreated.  On June 8, the battalion relieved the 47^th brigade on the Black and Blue lines and installed their battalion headquarters in a dugout in Wytschaete Wood.  The Battalion was later relieved and moved to Vierstraat Switch with HQ at The Ribb. 

It wasn’t until June 11, after four intense days of fighting, that the Battalion was withdrawn from the line and marched to Clare Camp.  Throughout June, the Battalion engaged in the cycle of trench warfare: marching, billets, parades, inspections, training, and fighting.  On June 29, they arrived at Rubrouk for much needed baths.  At the end of June, the battalion strength was 39 officers and 969 other ranks.  The Battalion had lost an officer when their HQ was hit with artillery fire.

The Commonwealth forces had managed to take the Messines Ridge in June, but then started a long slog through trenches with little gain. July was much the same as June, with weather getting worse, affecting trenches and the ability to make any ground forward.  On July 26, 1917, Major Allison and some other officers left Camp Watou Area No 1 to reconnoitre the front.  On July 30, the Battalion was getting ready as corps reserve (order No 129).  The Third Battle of Ypres was about to start.  This battle was intended to move closer to Passchendaele by taking the ridges south and east of Ypres.  The Royal Irish were in their ready position on July 31 at 11 p.m.  At 3:40 am the battle commenced.  

Excerpt of trench map showing Frost House and Frezenberg

The battalion was attached to the 44^th Infantry brigade for the attack.  Under heavy fire, the Battalion was in position on August 1 waiting for relief, when at 6 pm they heard that they would not be relieved until the situation in front was “cleaner”.  They received orders to stand and be ready to hold the German front back.  The commanding officer understood that the Germans may have broken through north of Frost House.

The orders to remain and hold the position continued through August 2.  At 4 am that morning the Battalion was ordered to send out guides to bring back the 47^th Brigade from a meeting point at Potijze Chateau.  The guides went out as ordered, but no battalion showed up for them to guide back.   Finally, at 2:10 pm that day, the battalion was ordered back Toronto Camp, arriving at 7:15 pm after three exhausting days of fighting.  But they were never far from danger.  After a rest and baths, they marched to railways near Brandhoe and then continued on to Ecole.  There was often artillery fire, and on August 7 they were heavily shelled.  They arrived at Frezenberg Redoubt to continuous bombardment.  On August 8 the Battalion HQ was hit and everyone who was in there at the time was either killed or wounded. 

It was here, at Frezenberg Redoubt, after a week of heavy fighting, marching, exhaustion and confusing orders that Major Hazlett Samuel Allison of B company was killed – August 9, 1917.  He was buried nearby, but the location of his grave was never found again.  His company had to leave him behind when, on August 15, they headed to the trenches to join in the attack on Frezenberg Ridge.

The Passchendaele Archives describes Major Allison’s death:

On 7 August 1917 the 7th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (48th Brigade, 16th Division) marched to the frontline and relieved the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers. D Company was positioned on the left of the Ypres-Roulers Railway, near Frezenberg. The next day the Germans shelled the frontline during the whole day. They hit the battalion Headquarters, killing or wounding all the runners and observers. On 9 August 1917 Major Allison was killed, probably by a shell. He was buried near to the place where he was killed, but afterwards his body was never found. 

excerpt from Battalion war diaries showing entry for Major Allison's death

Before the Third Battle of Ypres, at the beginning of August, the Battalion counted 36 Officers and 862 other ranks.  By the end of the month, there were 18 officers and 606 other ranks.  The month had been devastating not just for Major Allison, but for so many who died in the fighting:  the 7th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles was not the only one that had suffered significant loss: the official total of losses for British Commonwealth forces numbered greater than 244,000.

Major Allison was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, and Victory Medal, all of which were sent to his father at The Sholes, Portrush, Ireland on September 12, 1919.

Hazlett Samuel Allison did not live to see the victory at Passchendaele, which occurred in November, but his contribution to this fight is commemorated at the Menin Gate.

Menin Gate Ieper. 
Above right, inscription on Panel 40.

Every evening at the Menin Gate in Ieper, The Last Post is sounded in memory of the thousands whose names are engraved on the panels inside the memorial.  These are names of those without graves who died between October 1914 and October 1918 in Belgium, including Major H.S. Allison.  

Major Allison is also remembered at memorials through Jesus College Cambridge, Irelands War Memorial Records 1914 – 1918, Portrush War Memorial, Holy Trinity Church, Portrush, Campbell College, Belfast, and at the Family Grave, Ballywillan (Old) Graveyard.

On this Remembrance Day 2019, I will remember Major Hazlett Samuel Allison of the 7^th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles – born in India, excelled in College, a keen rugby player and talented and committed golfer, and an extraordinary officer.

From UK, De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, 1914-1919, p.5

References and acknowledgments:

Thanks to Noreen Mullan for her excellent research and some photos (used with permission), and to Dr. James Allison for his contributions.

Trench maps National Library of Scotland. https://maps.nls.uk/

De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, 1914-1919 p.5

Original War Diary 7^th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers

CCWG https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-cemeteries-and-memorials/91800/ypres-memorial

Images of Menin Gate used in this article are originals.  Please seek permission to re-use.

Image of HS Allison memorial at Menin Gate: http://www.instgreatwar.com/page17.htm

Mention in Despatch available at: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/5beca90e-bb8b-4ae7-86fd-16c6edc893e2

Jon Sandison’s article about his visit to the Menin Gate: http://www.scotlandswar.co.uk/pdf_At_The_Menin_Gate.pdf

Menin Gate in photos:   http://thebignote.com/2014/11/03/the-menin-gate-memorial-to-the-missing/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_St._George,_India

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fort-Saint-George

https://www.ciroca.org.uk/first-world-war-links/infantry-regiments-1914-18/royal-irish-rifles/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Messines_(1917)

Making a Family History Book

What to do with your hours of research, mounds of photos, and hundreds of fascinating documents?  How can you share your research with your family in ways that will make them interested in your research, not drive them to avoid you in conversations?  An engaging family history book has worked for me. 

I completed my first book for someone not related to me.  I only needed to research aspects of the tree for the book.  It was also more of a collaborative approach as there was a family history association in Finland that had completed much of the research on one of the branches of the tree, and had written a family history already (in Finnish mind you).  I had to fill in the gaps for the Canadian branch, collect some additional stories, seek help with translations, and then it was done.  There was also a very limited amount of research and information available, so I knew the book would be short.

As you may have read in my blogs associated the Allison family, there is lots of information available.  I learn something new every day associated with the family, and while I have had some help from time to time, mostly I have been compiling the information related to my branch of the tree myself.  Stories have been written and posted to this blog, which meant some of the more entertaining aspects of the family book had been completed.  That being said, the family tree and some of the stories had lots of holes; these had to be filled before I could publish.  

Before you start your book, do your research.  Be relatively confident about what you know (and what you don't know).  Once the book is published and family members have it, they will be using it as their source of information.  If your family tree is peppered with guesses (or more often other people's poor research on which you have relied) then your family will pass down through the generations inaccurate family tree information.  The more I have learned about research, the more accurate has become my family tree.  I rely on primary sources.  Anything without a primary source is a guess and I make it clear that it is a guess.

With sound research, you then have to determine what your focus will be for the book.  Maybe you want the whole family tree?  That depends on how extensive it is, how much effort it will take, and so on.  One of my key lessons is to decide when enough is enough, and to do that you need to ask yourself a few questions:  

• Who is your audience?  If it's just family, then you can include some details about the youngest family members.  If it's intended to be public, then keep identifying information about living people out, or at least to a minimum.
• What is your focus?  Determine whether you are studying one branch of your tree, a surname, or a particular person's ancestors.  Perhaps what would interest your audience is only the family history from a particular country, or a particular time period.  Your focus will be determined by your audience.  I wrote my first book about a branch of one family tree.  My second was based on a surname, and my third (now available for purchase through this blog) was based on the ancestors of my grand-mother.

Organization is the key to making an engaging and informative family history book that people will actually read.

• Find photos, documents and sources to put in your book and bring your story to life.  Many documents collected by genealogists are important for genealogical proof, but your audience will be less fascinated.  Sort through your boxes of material for the documents that tell a story or include surprises.
• arrange your files electronically so that you can assemble your book easily.  Your filing system could look a lot like chapters of the book.  Put electronic versions of your documents, stories and materials into each folder.  Doing this will help you see whether how you have arranged things will make sense to the reader.



A sample file organization showing chapters and including all source material

• Prepare any narrative in separate files.  This means that as you assemble the book, you will have backups.  I write my stories and chapters in Word files.  I load them onto the book making platform and keep the originals, just in case anything goes wrong.

You will need to choose your platform for creating the books.  Think about whether you want to be the one printing off the book and distributing it to family members, having it bound and published more professionally, or just available electronically for limited sharing.  These factors will help you determine which platform.  Here are just some of the choices:

Cover made using FTM

Cover made with Bookwright/Blurb

• Most family history software includes book creation options.  These are usually limited in terms of design, but will result in perfectly sound books relevant mostly to the genealogists in your family.
• Online photo-book creation platforms like Shutterfly and Picaboo offer plenty of options.  My choice continues to be Blurb because of its many format and paper options, its templates, and its ability to adapt well to text-heavy documents.  
• Blurb has the added bonus of being a distributor for self-published books, so I can make some of my books available publicly or with limited distribution.  Consider whether you want the book for sale or for limited distribution.

I sometimes do workshops on book creation, so I costed out the cheapest option of creating the book on Word, then printing it out with a basic plastic binding and cover.  To be honest, the cost differential between that and the same sized book professionally published through Blurb was not that great.  If you are budget conscious, consider developing it on a platform that will allow for the creation of a downloadable .pdf version for distribution. There are limitations to all of the platforms.  The one you choose will meet your book's needs best.

I picked this document because family
would appreciate seeing evidence of
our ancestral history from so long ago

Your book's design will be about your taste, and also about your audience.  When you pick a design, think about who is reading it.  Consider that they may pick it up and flip through it first, so include an interesting mix of photos, documents and stories arranged in a compelling and thoughtful way so that the reader will actually read the book.  Consider what your table of contents will look like.  If there are other contributors, ensure they receive appropriate acknowledgment.  What colour theme will you use?  Don't make it too busy or people won't read it.  Similarly, don't be too text heavy throughout the book as it will be intimidating to those unfamiliar with genealogy.  

As a genealogist, I ensure my research is accurate.  I have primary sources to back up my family tree, and subscribe to the genealogical proof standard.  If your book's audience is other genealogists, then text heavy, appropriately footnoted and sourced articles is perfect.  If you want the rest of the family to be interested in what you did, consider keeping the sourcing to a minimum and keep a file of source materials available to anyone who asks.  Focus on the stories and interesting tidbits.  

There have been a few challenges I have dealt with in the three books I have completed.  The first is how to present a family tree diagram in the most interesting way.  Definitely focus on parts of the tree.  In the surname book, I arranged the book by generation, so I could use excerpts of the tree for each generation.  In the book about all of the ancestors of a particular family member, that didn't work because I was working with multiple branches of the tree.  So for that one, I did relationship charts, showing the person I was talking about and their relationship to the one family member through the generations (and there were 13 generations to deal with).  I have done the charts in different ways and I suspect I would need to invest in expensive design software to really make it look terrific.  Play with your ideas and see what you come up with.

I went from a basic chart format (on the left) to
the family tree version above.

An excerpted page from the genealogical report.
It's mostly just a report, but illustrated with the
occasional document or photo

Make sure, before you finish, that you have time for editing, checking accuracy, proof reading (more than once - there are always errors and the more proofreading you do the more likely you will find them).  One other thing I always do:  even though my intended audience are not genealogists, I always include a complete and accurate genealogical report at the back.  The font is small (to reduce the number of pages and therefore the cost) as I don't anticipate that the readers will pay much attention to it.  However, given that this book may be available to other family members over time, it is a way of ensuring the research itself, even in its more basic form, is not lost.  I throw in a few pictures and documents to make it more interesting, but its more about including the details for future generations than ensuring reading.  A little peace of mind for me I guess.

Be sure that you are not using any copyrighted materials, that you seek permission on anything you publish, and that you are happy about the finished product before it is distributed.  Then be prepared to enjoy the fruits of your labour in the form of flattery...  and requests to create more books.  

The Maugerville Settlement

Well before the influx of Loyalists to what would become New Brunswick, New Englanders decided to leave their home in Massachusetts to set up a new settlement in the Colony of Nova Scotia along the Saint John River. The governor and council of Nova Scotia were working to procure loyal citizens to take up settlement for the areas from which the Acadians had been expelled most cruelly. New England was an excellent source of such settlers, as they were seeing increasingly less land available for settlement and they were from hardy settler stock themselves. They would be somewhat familiar with the climate and prepared to take on the work necessary to create a community.

After welcoming these newcomers for more than a century, the First Nations were beginning the see how continuing with a friendly greeting was not serving them well – so they objected to this plan. The British colonial government therefore took steps to dispossess Wəlastəkwiyik indigenous peoples[1] from their territory, inconsistent with previous Treaties and Royal Proclamations. The indigenous First Nations objected to the first survey party’s efforts, so the surveyors, led by Captain Peabody, moved downriver and surveyed an area of 100,000 acres, 12 miles further along the Saint John River. The Wəlastəkwiyik peoples were unaware of the activity, so the survey was completed and the land registered for settlers from New England.

Riverboat Landing Maugerville 1915
New Brunswick Archives

The surveyors were looking for larger lots of land for farming, land that was becoming more difficult to come by in their homeland. The settlers were looking to create a new livelihood just as their forebears had done in the wilderness of New England. In 1763, 200 families travelled in four vessels to establish a new township named Maugerville. These 800 people made up the first full settlement on east bank of the Saint John River after the defeat of the French at the hands of the English. When these New England settlers first arrived they were threatened by the Wəlastəkwiyik peoples – but an amicable arrangement was reached two years later in 1765. From this point onward, the First Nations of the area saw their way of life diminished as the settlers made their imprint on the land.

The settlers were descendants of the Puritans, members of the Congregational Church, and considered “Protestant Dissenters.” They settled in a wilderness: no roads, no established trade routes, no town centres, no schools. The families were each allotted land with river frontage, and were required to clear it for agriculture, build schools and churches, and make their homes. They remade their lives and established their values in what was then Nova Scotia, at a time when the colony was on the brink of the massive change that would come with the Loyalists.

Among those who first settled in Maugerville was the Estey family. Richard Estey (1706-1791) was a well respected member of the community, and one of the first elders of the Puritan church. The church, in fact, was one of the first community buildings constructed by the settlers, finished in the first year of their arrival. The church covenant read, in part:

​

And respecting Church discipline it is our purpose to adhere to the method contained in the platform for the substance of it agreed upon by the synod at Cambridge in New England Ano. Dom. 1648 as thinking these methods of Church Discipline the nearest the Scripture and most likely to maintain and promote Purity, order and peace of any.

Among the signatories of this covenant was Richard Estey, dedicated, along with his Puritan brethren, to watch over the community to ensure maintenance of these values and ideals. The church members took seriously their need to discipline their members for breaches of the church doctrine, and a number of records point to Richard Estey being among those who witnessed sins being committed by community members.

Zebulon Estey (1742-1806), Richard’s son, was a deacon in the Baptist Church in Maugerville. He also received one of the land grants for the Maugerville settlement. A 1783 report on his claims for land described him as “a good man, his character very loyal”. He had a wife and eight children.

Joshua Mauger

The New England settlers had to fight for their land in Maugerville three times. The first, their original settlement in the lands surveyed by Captain Francis Peabody at the behest of the colonial government. Then they found that their settlement had been allocated to former British soldiers. As a result, they petitioned Joshua Mauger, an agent of the colony who had been ten years in Nova Scotia as a merchant. Mauger worked on their behalf in London and succeeded in having their original claims confirmed – and the settlement was thereafter named in his honour. This was the year 1764, and the order confirming their allocation reads:

​

At the Court of St. James the 10th day of February 1764. Whereas the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantation have represented to his Majesty at this Board that a memorial has been presented to him on behalf of several disbanded officers of his Majesty's provincial forces in North America, setting forth that induced by several encouragements they have sold their lands in New England and settled themselves and families upon the St. John River in his Majesty's province of Nova Scotia, at the distance of 200 miles from any other settlement belonging to his Majesty's subjects, and praying that the possessions of the lands upon which they have settled themselves at a very great expense may be confirmed to them by his Majesty.

The Governor of Nova Scotia is ordered to cause the land upon which they are settled to be laid out in a Township consisting of 100,000 acres 12 miles square, one side to front the river. Also to reserve a site for a town with a sufficient number of lots with reservations for a church, town house, public quays and wharves and other public uses; the grants to be made in proportion to their ability and the number of persons in their families, but not to exceed 1,000 acres to one person.

That a competent quantity of land be alloted for the maintenance of a minister and school master and also one town lot to each of them in perpetuity.

Upon the arrival of the Loyalists, the settlers had to defend their titles, and their religion, once again. As the next chapter will show, the population boom that ensued meant that what was once a generally homogeneous settlement had become crowded with members of other churches and new values. The influx meant the creation of a new colony of New Brunswick, in which the Maugerville residents were an out-of-place minority.

In 1802, Maugerville residents, including one Zebulon Estey, had to petition the Legislature for the right of their duly elected Ministers to solemnize marriages. They also had to individually prove their claims to land in order to maintain their original allocation. The fight for Puritan values, however, was already lost when their population was overwhelmed by other denominations.

Among the children of Zebulon Estey and Molly Brown were two daughters: Elizabeth Brown Estey and Dorothy Dolly Estey. Elizabeth married Samuel Upton, and Dorothy married David Currey. Their children (first cousins) Ann Upton and John Currey respectively would marry, bringing together these branches of the family tree. Their child, David Samuel Curry (1825-1896) married Martha Elizabeth Hay, daughter of William and Eliza Hay[2].

NOTES:

​

[1] Also known as the Maliseet First Nations: the people of the Wəlastəkw (Saint John River) from its mouth to its sources.

[2] After much searching about the Hay ancestry, the facts are inconclusive as to the origin of the Hays. Even the birth and death dates of William and Eliza are conjecture. There is a well-known Hay family with a Loyalist heritage, however the facts don’t fit our Hay connection. For example, the William Hay in that Loyalist family was a baker in Saint John, whereas we are confident that our William was a farmer. A marriage record shows that William Hay married Eliza Hayh. It seems odd that they would have a similar surname, however marriages between cousins were not uncommon. It is also possible that the wrong surname was recorded. Without additional facts the ancestry of Martha Elizabeth Hay, beyond the fact that we know her father’s name is William Hay, will remain a mystery.