Notable in Malignant Cove

Early log cabin

When John MacNeil Breac moved from Merigomish to Malignant Cove around 1798, he was not the only former member of the 82nd Regiment to move to the settlement. Under an entry for Malignant Cove in Historic Antigonish Town and County, his name came up in a short write up about the settlement: "The history of the settlement of Malignant Cove is more straightforward. Soldiers from the 82nd Regiment numbered among the earliest inhabitants of the farming and fishing community at Malignant Cove, most notably John MacNeil Brown and John MacNeil Breac."

Not only does this statement confirm our John MacNeil's new settlement but it points out that he was notable in some way. Perhaps it was because both he and John MacNeil Brown were the founders of long family lines in that area. In fact, John MacNeil Breac and his wife Margaret MacDonald were the parents of Catherine, the first white child born on the Gulf Shore according to Rankin's genealogies.  

Another deed provides more information about John and Margaret's settlement in Malignant Cove. In 1826 John Brack MacNeil and his wife, Margaret, sold 110 acres in Malignant Cove for £70, a lot more than the £10 that John had been paid when he sold his 100 acres in Merigomish in 1798. What was particularly interesting was the origin of this parcel of land which the deed spelled out. It stated: "being the same lot piece or parcel of Land granted by government to said John Brack MacNeil in the year one thousand Eight Hundred and twelve..."

A timeline of the documented events in John Brack McNeil's life would be helpful at this point. I have started one below. There is quite a gap between him giving up the grant in Merigomish in 1798 and obtaining another in Malignant Cove in 1812. What was he doing in the intervening 14 years? Was he one of the men who helped build the first Catholic church in Arisaig in 1792, a place not far distant from Malignant Cove?

By 1826 he had married Margaret MacDonald as she was named as his wife on the 1826 deed. When had the marriage taken place? Perhaps a record of the date of the birth of the first child on the Gulf Shore can be found and maybe there are more documents that will fill in more data in the timeline.

Sources:

Campbell, G.G. A History of Nova Scotia The Ryerson Press, Halifax, 1948

Family Search film 008189474 image 402 Deeds, vol. 2, 1771-1860. Canada, Nova Scotia, Pictou – Land and property

Family Search film 8546854 image 55 Deeds v. 6-6a, 1825-1832. Canada, Nova Scotia, Antigonish – Land and property

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

Stanley-Blackwell, Laurie C.C. & R.A. MacLean Historic Antigonish Town and County: Images of our Past. Nimbus Publishing Limited, Halifax, N.S. 2004