McMurrays Immigrate to New Brunswick!

The 1861 Canadian census tells me that James and Mary McMurray came to New Brunswick about 1850 or right after their first son was born.

Their son James was born about 1849.  James was born in England.

Lets review the 1861 census which states the following:

The Canadian Census of 1861, Kent Co., New Brunswick, Parish of Weldford, sht#15, line 15, James McMurray, w, head of family, age 30, Scotch Beulowman, mason and farmer, Presbyterian, 3 children in school; Mary Jackson McMurray, f, wife, age 33, English, Longtown; James McMurray, m, son, age 12, English. Newcastle…

1.  James McMurray was from Beulowman, Scotland

In searching at Google, I find nothing except this blog’s reference regarding this term.  It is probably the best guess of the census taker and if you add a Scottish brogue to it the term “Beulowman” could be many things and if given by a family member it gets even more problematic.  My Legacy database geo locator gives me so many options but nothing close to this spelling.  So more investigation is needed.

2. Mary Jackson McMurray was born in [Longtown]. The brackets mean I am guessing because the handwriting was not clear.

There is a Longtown in Cumberland and one listed in Herefordshire, England in my Legacy geo database.  Let us see what options are available for the son.  I do need to study the census and see if I cannot determine other spellings.  I can read the Long part of the town name but I cannot make out the ending.

3. James McMurray the son, was born in Newcastle?

We find the Legacy geo locator gives two options, Northumberland and Shropshire, but nothing that is the same as his mother?  That is not necessarily a problem for it appears the family moved around.

4.  The remaining children, including Charlotte were born in New Brunswick, although we don’t know if the location is Weldford Parish in Kent Co.

So more research is needed to find birth records of the children who were born in New Brunswick, deeds to see if James moved around any, estate files.  English records will need to be studied for marriage, birth and other documents.

There is a writer by the name of Lucille Campey who has been collecting information about the Scottish immigration to Canada.  She has written several books on the subject and will be branching out to other immigrant groups.  I think it is very important to know about her work for it can be of great value.  There are others who have also written about Canadian immigration and I will touch on those in future posts.

Book:  “The Axe and the Bible, The Scottish Pioneers of New Brunswick,” 1784-1874, The Natural Heritage Books, A Member of the Dundurn Group, Toronto, 2007.

Ms. Campey has her books listed at this site but you can do a search in Google or at other book dealers to find them elsewhere. Here is her website “English to Canada:”  http://englishtocanada.com/index.htm  She is transitioning from the Scottish immigration to the English side and a new book will be available soon.

As you can see I have a Scottish 2nd great-grandfather Jame McMurray but I also have an English Mary Jackson and son James.  How long was James McMurray in England?  Did he come from Scotland down to England as a man or is he another generation back?  So I might have to wait for her new book to learn about the English immigrants?

There is work to be done!