PART 2--Found in the January 9, 1975 issue of the Saint Croix Courier
1. The Kinneys
James: (Feb. 8, 1858-July 6, 1942)
Wife: Hortence (Munson) (Dec.8, 1858-May 11, 1935)
12 children. Left Piskahegan around 1901. Settled at Elmcroft, near Second Falls.
2. The Kavanaughs
Charles: (Feb. 7, 1854-Oct. 20, 1921)
Wife:, Margaret (Munson) (Dec. 29, 1860-March 2, 1951)
9 children. (Five buried at Piskahegan)
Left Piskahegan around 1905; settled at Rolling Dam.
3. The Cornings
Josiah T. Corning (1840-1900)
Wife: Victoria Nason
6 children: 5 girls
(son) Josiah: (1880-1964) unmarried
Left Piskahegan 1907. Settled at Rolling Dam. Buried at Brockway.
4. The Bryants
Steve Bryant and his wife Susan (Lee) Bryant.
(Apparently no children by this union.)
Left Piskahegan 1908.
Settled at Elmcroft for a few years. Then in 1911 moved to Greenoch.
Susan died in 1912.(Buried at Rolling Dam, in the George Lee lot. Her gravestone merely says "Grandmother".)
5. The Munsons
Daniel: (Dec. 21, 1824-July 7, 1896). (Buried at Piskahegan)
Wife; Cynthia (Corning) (April 18, 1832- ?)
3 children. (girls)
Mrs. Munson moved to Rolling Dam around 1909 or 1910.
6. The Lords
Samuel: (1871-1953)
Wife: Sarah (Corning)
7 children.
Left Piskahegan, 1912. Settled at Pleasant Ridge.
7. The Townes
Victoria (Nason) first marriage to Josiah T. Corning.
They had 6 children--5 daughters and a son.
Victoria's second marriage was to Arthur Townes. He died at Piskahegan and is buried there.
Mrs. Townes and her children left Piskahegan in 1913 and this is the last family to have moved therefrom. They settled at Tweedside, near Brockway, as far as this writer has been able to find.
The respective descendants should correct, or more fully complete, this listing of Piskahegan's last families.
There may have well been others, who departed in the latter years of Piskahegan's history, whose names have not as yet come to this writer's attention. However, the following list of names may well be recognized by the "Courier's" readers of this account: David Briant, Wm. Patterson, George Mosley, Tobias Lee, Charles Lee, Gorman Frost, Daniel Morrison, David Stewart, Bob Ash, and Alec. Davis. Other "surnames" mentioned were: Spinney, Stone, Fish, McClymont, McCarthy, Hillyard and Campbell (two families). One may be certain that 19th. Century Piskahegan claimed many more families that this brief and general study could ever hope to list.
Finally, but by no means least, the name of Gillmor has been clearly associated with Piskahegan's history; and although I have not as yet acquired very much information this well known family (or families) I would like to include such as I have received through the courtesy of Dr. K.G. Williamson of Bonny River. "Adoniram Gillmor Sr. and his wife Ellen (Boyle) had 10 children: Elizabeth, Almira, Adoniram Jr., Fred, Almeda, Amelia, Rose, Rebecca, Edward, and Gorham. (Adoniram Jr. And his wife Mary (Colbert, had 6 children).
An article in the Saint Croix Courier, dated in January 1911, carried the following account upon the passing of Mrs. Ellen Gilmor: "Last week the oldest resident of Charlotte County passed to her rest. In the person of Ellen, familiarly known as Aunt Ellen, relict (widow) of the late Adoniram Gillmor of Second Falls. Her age was given at one hundred and five years, but one of her closer relatives claims she had reached the one hundred and ten mark. If so she undoubtedly was the oldest in Canada. Her maiden name was Boyle, and both she and her husband were well known throughout the County by the middle-age and older residents".
Most certainly many descendants of these families have full and accurate records and hopefully, some of them may one day construct their own respective "family trees". It is a most intriguing challenge to garner in bits of hitherto generally unknown ancestral data, and thus gradually formulate something of a family history. It is amazing how easily this can be done, and how satisfying and personally rewarding such a pursuit becomes. How sad it is to see our loved ones laid away, but how unfortunate if we turn away and leave them almost forgotten to posterity: each life has left behind its own unique history and impact upon the lives of us all. The least we can do is to remember them and try to perpetuate their good names and their significant lives, --by passing on to others the little we may know about them, and thus to enrich the lives which follow ours.
In closing, I wish to express my appreciation to all those who have assisted me in sharing what they knew so that I have thus been able to pass on to you a composite story of "Piskahegan's Pioneer Days".
My special thanks is extended to the staff of "The Saint Croix Courier" for publishing these notes in the public interest.
My person gratitude is also hereby expressed to my wife for her untiring efforts in preparing this script for the local press and assisting me in the accumulation of much of the materia.
APPENDIX:
1. There are several tiny, but scattered burial places throughout the Piskahegan area, -- at least one of which, on the old David Corning farm, is clearly identified by its engraved stones. There are eight graves of Corning, Munson, and Spinney families. Very likely there are others buried in this plot as seems evident from burial site contours.
2. The main residential area of Piskahegan covered about four miles in length extending from the Magaguadavic River to Lower Niles Brook; and most of these plots contained 100 acres each,-- with some owning two or more lots adjoining one another.
3. "Magaguadavic", a Maliseet-Passmaquoddy Indian word meaning "River of Eels". "Piskahegan" means "Main Branch", -- as of a river. (Ganong's "Origin of names"). The Piskahegan River, at least on one very old map, is named "Little Magaguadavic" and on another early map as "Grand Forks", (Sproules Map of 1786). Digdeguash means "meandering".
4. A study of census records is always important in similar research but in Piskahegan's case it's names appear as residents of Pleasant Ridge, although its school rolls are properly identified as "School District No. 10, Piskahegan". Or, some may be listed according to their postal addresses.
5. The following are the names of some applicants for governmental permits to cut logs, apparently upon Crown lands, in this area in 1818:
Kidron Brook- John Goss
Piskahegan River--George McKenzie, Tyler and Moses Shaw
Other stream areas of Charlotte County that were lumbered in 1818 were:
Canoose Stream--Henry Scott
Digdeguash River--James Brown, Donald Morrison, George Smith, Donald Witmore, Wm. Thompson, Gordon McKay, and Donald Cameron
Goldsmith's Lake--Leonard Bartlett, Wm. Cookson
Jones Brook--Malcolm McFarland
Lake Stream--John Connick
Lower Trout Brook--David Bassitt (The probable builder of the Magaguadavic Block House. He also owned land in Pleasant Ridge.)
Magaguadavic River--Peter Clinch ("Below the head of the meadow")
Mud Lake--Stephen Lawrence
6. Others who lumbered (in 1818) in Charlotte County were:
Samuel Gardner, Benjamin Hansen, George Baldwin, John McKenzie, John McLeod, John Smith, Peter Morrison, John Cotteral, Alexander McLean, Andrew Southerland, Charles McLean, Joseph Munro, Rufus Brockway, Duncan McFarland, Daniel Maxwell, Daniel Whitney, Paul Whitney, and Lawrence Williams. (It may be presumed that many of these men used others, or crews of men, to accomplish their lumbering enterprises.)
DATA,--items 5 and 6, -- from files in the Legislative Library, Fredericton also, from a document held by the "Department of Municipal Affairs, County Records, General Inventory" in the Archives of the old Library, U.N.B.
Written by permission of the Saint Croix Courier. Transcribed by Charlene Beney.