A Will Adds Dates to the Timeline

In the hunt for John Brack MacNeil legal records have been a boon. It is often difficult to find any documents when searching for a line back around the turn of the 19th century. So far, I have been able to track his movements by using deeds which show the sale of land, first in Merigomish and then in Malignant Cove.

Usually parish records can be a good resource, but although John and his wife Margaret lived not that far from St. Margaret's Church in Arisaig, Nova Scotia, and probably worshipped there, records for that church aren't available for before 1845. This means that other vital dates, like the baptisms of their children, can't be pinpointed. I also haven't been able to find a date for the birth of the first white child on the Gulf Shore, which was how Rankin's genealogy labeled the birth of John and Margaret's child, Catherine. I have been able to surmise an approximate date for John Brack MacNeil's death, however, because he left a will.

A copy of the will has been in my possession for years but I had never transcribed it nor did I have a copy of the third page of the will. The transcription of this, the last page, leads me to surmise that John Brack MacNeil died either early in 1836 or perhaps lat in the previous year. The transcript reads:

The will itself, which was drawn up in October of 1831, is interesting as he names his wife, Margaret, which means that he probably predeceased her. His son James was named as executor and bequests were left for his younger sons Michael, Alexander and Stephen. He also indicates that these sons should live on his farm with their brother James until they come of age and assist in working the farm and supporting their mother.

The will gives me a lot of clues to follow up on, like the relative ages of the boys and confirmation of at least some of the children's names. It is too bad that he didn't leave bequests for the rest of his children thereby confirming their names and, in the case of married daughters, their new surnames. I'll see what else I can glean from this document but, in the meantime, it means that the timeline can be updated.

Sources:

LDS film 593982 Antigonish Wills 1821-1866 Vol A p133

Rankin, Rev. D.J., A History of the County of Antigonish, Nova Scotia (1929). Global Heritage Press/GlobalGenealogy.com Inc., Milton, Ontario, 2003. p329

Image:

By Anonymous - Hill’s Manual of Social and Business Forms (https://archive.org/details/hillsmanualofsoc00hill_0/page/20/mode/2up), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86982841