Visits to Prince Edward Island – 2012 and prior

James & Catherine Meiklejohn’s time on Prince Edward Island

A summary of of a visit to PEI in August 2012 by Des & Glenys Meiklejohn

My visit in August 2012 to PEI enabled me to bring together information gleaned by the following on their visits which I have been able to supplement –
Ian & Pam Sclater
Stan & Gordon Beals – visit in 1999
Sue & Graham Mansergh – visit in 2007
(The 1920’s letters to their NZ family from two of Cordelia’s sisters were of great help.)
I was also greatly helped locally by –
Nora MacDonald – President of the Cardigan Heritage Museum
Donna Collings – Curator of the Garden of the Gulf Museum at Montague
Fred Horne – Archivist of the PEI Genealogical Society at Wyatt Properties
The Hector Exhibit Centre & Archives at the McCulloch Centre Pictou NS also assisted.
Gayle, Gloria & Gary Llewellyn of Georgetown
(Stan & Gordon had also spent time at the Public Archives & Records Office at Charlottetown as had Sue and Graham at the Cardigan Museum.)

Background to area
1) Three Rivers
These comprise the Brudenell, the Montague and the Cardigan. The Cardigan was the largest of the three, navigable for five miles above Cardigan Point and smaller vessels a further two miles.
Each of the rivers feed into Cardigan Bay which lies between Panmure and Boughton Islands.
JSM’s first ship where he was owner was launched in 1852 from the upper reaches of the Cardigan River. However PEI records state that he was the builder of the ‘Prince Albert’ which appears to have been launched in 1840. The nominated builder was the owner – a Daniel Brenan.

2) Ship construction
A total of 396 ships were built on the Three Rivers area of PEI between 1787 & 1920 – the end of the wooden ship era with the building of the ‘Anna MacDonald’.
In the period 1836-1876 the main woods used were –
Hulls below water line – the hardwoods of yellow beech and beech
Above water line – spruce, tamarack, pine.
In the ‘Gallery’ there is a photo of the ‘Sela’ – which was built at Cranberry Point near Charlottetown in 1859. Quote – “Its workmanlike lines and versatile rig well suited the British colonial trade”. The ‘Union’ may well have looked like this. The ‘Sela’ was 198 tons and 110 feet in length. The ‘Union’ was 131 tons and 91 feet in length. The photo is from ‘The Age of Sail’ – de Jong and Moore. It should be noted that the 1856 registry of PEI ships shows the Union to be 173 Old Tons and 131 New Tons. (Legislation passed in 1855 redefined how tonnage was expressed). I am unsure whether the Sela tonnage is new or old. The Sela was never registered in PEI, it was partially rebuilt in the 1870’s and ended its time in the 1920’s.
There is nothing remaining of the shipyards in the Cardigan area.

3) Cardigan River and Muckle’s Yard
The Owen shipyard where JSM was a foreman was about a half mile below the current Cardigan Bridge and Heritage Museum.
Cordelia’s sister, Melinda Hubert, stated that the JSM yard was at the head of the Cardigan River – beside Shore Road – and visible from the Alley homestead – Lot plans of 1880 show properties owned by George and Charles Alley – presumably the old homestead area that they had inherited. These two properties are adjacent to the causeway on Alley Mill Road.
Prior to 1862 the Cardigan Bridge must have been up river from the JSM yard and, presumably, is now replaced by a causeway that is part of Alleys Mill Road that runs north/south from Pooles Corner at Roseneath towards Suris. The first shipyard in Cardigan was one half mile downstream from the original bridge with a second the same distance further on. The first ship built in Cardigan was the ‘Cambridge’ – launched in 1826 – built by Arthur Owen.
JSM was to build four of the nine boats launched at Cardigan between 1851 and 1856.
In 1862 a new bridge was located where the current bridge is. The new Cardigan Heritage Museum is immediately adjacent. As a result the upper river shipyards were not viable. Whether planning for the new bridge had any impact on JSM deciding to move away would be conjecture.

Stan & Gordon extracted from the book –
Shipbuilding on Prince Edward Island –
Enterprise in a Maritime Setting 1787 –1920
(by) Nicholas J. de Jong & Marven E. Moore
Published by Canadian Museum of Civilization @ 1954 Quebec
(Page 298)
“ . . . Also, six vessels constructed here were transferred to ports in New Zealand and Australia. Those sold in Australia were the aforementioned Willie Mc Laren, the brigantine Union, 171 T, built at Three Rivers in 1856 and sold at Sydney in 1858 . . .”
(Page 299)
“The Brigantine Union is noteworthy since she was crewed by Captain James Meiklejohn and his family. Meiklejohn emigrated to PEI from Scotland, circa 1830, and spent some 20 years farming. In 1852, Meiklejohn, a trained shipwright, began building vessels. With the help of his sons he launched the schooner Isabel 153 T in 1852, the brigantine Bee 96 T in 1853, the brigantine Success 165 T in 1854. Members of the family sailed these vessels to Liverpool to be sold. The brigantine Union, however, was built expressly to carry the family to New Zealand. She sailed from the Island in June 1856, crewed by Captain Meiklejohn, his wife, and his sons James, Alexander, William, Robert, Lemuel and Septimus. After trading with the vessel for a year, they arrived in New Zealand early in 1858.
Reference: Islander, August 28, 1857”

Marriage in Pictou County in 1831

The Colonial Patriot (Pictou newspaper) recorded the marriage of JSM and Catherine Mustard on the 28 September 1831 – a Tuesday – by the Rev.K.J. Mc Kenzie.
Family history states that James & Catherine met onboard the Barq ‘Industry’ – see logs that the family had restored. The full name of the ship as stated in Sylvia Moore’s – A Short History of a Pioneer Family – is ‘Industry of Dundee’.
The source – www.theshipslist.com/ships/arrivals/novascotia – has the ‘Industry’ arriving in Pictou on 17 September 1831 after a 43 day voyage from Inverness. The JSM log has the ship offshore PEI on 10 September 1831. The marriage ceremony occurred 11 days later. Inverness is close to the Black Isles area of Scotland where the Mustards lived.
Pictou was the main entry point of Scots migration into the Canadian Maritimes. The first ship arriving at Pictou with Scottish settlers was the ‘Hector’ in 1773.
Cape Breton Island, home to the Waipu migrants is 130kms from Pictou – with the St Anns/Baddeck settlement of Norman McLeod’s group a further 130 kms from the Port Hawkesbury causeway. The ferry from Caribou, near Pictou town, to Wood Island on PEI takes 75 minutes and the journey is 20kms in distance.
The St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Pictou was built in 1823 in time for the arrival of the Rev. K.J. McKenzie the following year. Rev. McKenzie served in Pictou from 1824-1837. In 1831 the Rev. McKenzie established the newspaper the Pictou Observer. The Colonial Patriot closed down in 1835.The announcement of the marriage of James & Catherine in the Colonial Patriot does not name which church but if it was at St Andrews then its history is of a wooden church built in 1823, replaced by a wooden and stone church in 1866, a fire in the interior occurred in 1893.
I note that Rev. McKenzie married another couple the previous week at Caribou – some 10kms from Pictou.

Also noted was the fact that Pictou was the original site selected for settlement by Norman McLeod and his Assynt settlers – arriving 1817. McLeod left in 1820 to survey possibilities in Ohio however storms drove his craft into St Anns on Nova Scotia and he chose this area to settle in until his departure in 1852 in the first of six craft to make that journey.

Notes prepared by Les Meiklejohn had JSM working in Halifax on Nova Scotia for a period.
During the course of researching material I have noted that in Les Meiklejohn and Sylvia Moore’s writings that JSM is said to have been an only child with a half-brother. I wonder how this has had currency when we have birth entries for his siblings. Indeed two of JSM’s sons – Robert and William – bear the same names as JSM’s brothers. His mother’s christian name – Isabella – is shared by his sister and one of John’s daughters and was also the name of one of his ships.

Note: September 2024 – recent research disclosed that JSM had three siblings that died in early childhhood.

Site of farm property

James & Catherine lived at Roseneath within Lot 52 on Georgetown Road. The land was 100 acres in dimension – 12 chain by 81.5 chain and extended towards the Cardigan River.

Sue Mansergh’s research found a February 1838 advertisement for sale of the farm that allowed her to more closely identify the block of 100 acres on the Georgetown Road – 6 miles from Georgetown.
Subsequent follow up in 2013 has identified the purchase of 100 acres on Georgetown Road on 1 September 1838. Which block was bought is unknown.

The centre of Roseneath is Pooles Corner. Alleys Mill Road runs north from this roundabout. The Georgetown Road runs east/west through the Poole Cnr roundabout. The Pooles ran a garage at the roundabout.

John & Cordelia post the departure of the ‘Union’

John & Cordelia were married at the residence of William Alley on 30 July 1856 – some 5 weeks after the sailing of the ‘Union’ on 24 June 1856. They were to live on a property within Lot 53.
Information from PEI has Bertha and Drucilla (Vida) being baptised at the Trinity First Methodist Church in Charlottetown in 1859. Vida’s baptism was to take place about 12 months before they sailed for New Zealand. Charlottetown is 47kms from Cardigan or Lot 53.

Family connections

Alley
There is very limited information on the Alley family in current museum records. Alley Mill Road is their lasting reference. However Duncan & Emily (Alley) McLaren were prominent in the local shipbuilding history. Emily (Cordelia’s sister) was very active in the community. Her daughter, Dellie Scrimgeour, was the telephone operator for the district for 60 years.
William Alley was the first Postmaster in Cardigan – 1863-1867.

A biography of Emily is as follows – Emily (Alley) MacLaren (1852-1923)

Emily Frances MacLaren was the youngest of twelve children born to William Alley and Margaret (Aitken) Alley who lived at Cardigan Bridge, Cardigan, PEI. She married Duncan MacLaren and they moved into the house which Duncan built on the Cardigan River. Along with looking after her husband and four children – Robert, Fred, Winifred and Dellie, Emily also kept boarders, among them Dr. Allan, John A. MacDonald, Peter Murphy. Perhaps there are some in this year, 2001,that remember the bell Emily would ring at noon as signal to Duncan who would be working on the shipyard around the corner. No doubt others also heeded this dinner time signal. In the early 1900’s, this house became the central office for the PEI Telephone and all the Cardigan & area calls were routed through there until 1977 when the dial system was introduced.

Aitken
The passing of Fred Aitken, whom the Sclaters had met, within the last few years seems to have dimmed the Aitken connection. His wife, Marjorie, still lives at the Aitken home in Lower Montague.
This house was built in 1824 and has stone walls 3 feet thick. It has a view across the Brudenell to Roma Point – site of the French settlement of Roma – and the more distant Georgetown.
I was fortunate to visit the home and meet Marjorie and to be shown the Aitken trunk – a leather box in the Aitken family since the 1600’s.

Mustard
Interestingly John Mustard of Calgary, Alberta had been to the Cardigan Museum in the week prior to my visit to formally present a sextant and chronometer belonging to his great uncle, James Mustard- Catherine’s brother. A newspaper article covering the presentation is attached.
With the help of Nora MacDonald contact has been made with John Mustard.
As we know James Mustard married Jessie Gordon and her brother, John, married Barbara Mustard – sister to Catherine. James and Jessie initially lived on Panmure Island then moved to Head of Cardigan – a property at 165 Lorne Valley Road.
It is noted that Barbara (b.1812) was still living with her parents at Eathie (near Cromarty in Scotland) at the time of the 1841 Scottish census. She married John Gordon before 1846 – he was born on PEI.
James was born in 1820 and his first child, John, was born in 1845 – presumably on PEI where his wife was from. Follow up research suggests that her mother – originally Isabel Mustard – traces her lineage back to an Alexander Mustard b.1650. This family appears to have lived at Balmungie Farm near Eathie on the Black Isles. Her father – John Mustard – so far is traced to William Mustard b.1741. His family appears to hail from Fortrose – 10kms nor’east of Inverness and south of Rosemarkie .
Exchanges on ancestry websites have the Mustard family living on Balmungie Farm – 6 miles north of Rosemarkie in Scotland.

Other comments
Gordon in his research believed that there was a fifth ship built by JSM. A letter from the PEI Provincial Archivist to Don M in the 1970’s states that JSM was the builder of the ’Prince Albert’ for a Daniel Brenan. The PEI Ships Registry shows the registration of a ship with that name and Daniel Brenan as owner and builder in 1840. It was not out of the ordinary for the shipwright not to be shown as the builder. The vessel was 232 tons.

In the publication ‘Highlights of Cardigan Area’ Beth Brehaut uses the name Muckljohn to state the builder of the Isabel and Bee. However the 1838 property advertisement uses the Mucklejohn name. The youngest of Cordelia’s sisters married a Brehaut
Photos placed on the BOMHT website in relation to my visit to PEI are –
Marjorie Aitken with the Aitken Trunk
The exterior of the Aitken Homestead at Lower Montague– built 1824
Two photos of properties on Georgetown Road within Lot 52
The Cardigan River upstream from the ‘new’ bridge
The Cardigan River from its upper most reaches – near Alley Mill Road and the causeway
The Cardigan River looking towards the river entrance – the Owen yard was to the right around the bend
The Cardigan Museum – exterior and interior
Welcome to Cardigan sign on alley Mill Road
A photo of the 1862 Cardigan Bridge – date of taking photo unknown
Photo of 1859 built ‘Sela’

Contacts

Nora MacDonald of Cardigan Heritage macdonaldnora@hotmail.com
Donna Collings of Garden of the Gulf Museum dcollings@islandtelecom.com
Pictou County Genealogy & Heritage Society pcghs@gov.ns.ca

Website References

www.CardiganHeritage.com Cardigan Museum
www.mccullochcentre.ca Pictou County Genealogy & Heritage Society
www.PEIancestry.com
www.WyattHeritage.com – home to PEIGS and the Summerside history museum

Book references

‘Shipbuilding on PEI – Enterprise in a Maritime Setting – 1787 – 1920’ Nicolas de Jong and Marvene E Moore 1994
‘The Aitkens of King County PEI’ – Alice Fraser 1978
‘Historical Atlas of PEI 1860s’ – plan of Lots/properties/owners
‘Sails of the Maritimes – The Story of the Three and Four Masted Cargo Schooners of Atlantic Canada 1859-1929’ – John P Parker 1960
‘Launched from Prince Edward Island: A Pictorial Review of Sail’ – Nicolas de Jong & Marvene E Moore 1981
‘The Age of Sail –Master Shipbuilders of the Maritimes’ – Stanley T Spicer 2001
‘Masters of Sail – The Era of Square-rigged Vessels in the Maritime Provinces’ – Stanley T Spicer 1968
‘Shipbuilding & the Forests of PEI – The Analysis of the Types & Amounts of Wood used in Island Ships’ – Douglas Sobey 2011
‘Highlights of Cardigan Area’ – Beth Brehaut 1987