Many is the time I’ve pored over the individual volumes of “New Brunswick Vital Statistics from Newspapers” at Bangor Public Library, the University of Maine’s Fogler Library or Maine State Library in Augusta. The series was published by the New Brunswick Genealogical Society.
Yes, I’m fond of books, but I certainly appreciate a database that is available to me by computer. When he died in 2005, Daniel F. Johnson already had compiled a database of this information, and it was his relatives and others who carried the project through and put it online.
We also have the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick to thank for making the database available at http://archives.gnb.ca/APPS/NewspaperVitalStats/.
I had used the books some years ago to fill in a bit of information on my Steeves ancestors from Hillsboro and Saint John, New Brunswick. Recently I decided to have another look for daughter-in-law Amanda Wilcox Saucier’s Wilcox, Twist and Bull ancestors.
We seem to be stuck on William Wilcox, 1809-56, so I’ll save him for when I have more time.
Amanda appears to have possibly two lines to Bull ancestry. In one of them, John Twist, born July 1836, was married to Mary Bull, born July 1849.
Mary’s father was Abner Bull, born Dec. 21, 1811, died on or about Jan. 16, 1889, Bull’s Creek, Woodstock, Carleton Co., New Brunswick. In The Daily Telegraph, the notice read “d. Bull’s Creek (Carleton Co.), 16th inst., Abner Bull, age 78.”
The notice in the Carleton Sentinel was a bit longer: “The sudden death of Abner Bull, Esq., at his residence, Lower Woodstock, was announced Wednesday morn. Mr. Bull was a farmer, was one of the oldest residents of the parish.”
Abner’s wife, Frances (Perley) Bull, died the same year. She was listed, “d. Lower Woodstock, 28th July, Frances E. Bull, relict of Abner, age 70.” We know that the term relict, as does widow, connotes that the wife outlived the husband.
Here are the simple instructions for using the Daniel F. Johnson database of vital records in New Brunswick newspapers.:
Click on Name Index, and the page that comes up will ask you to pick the letter of the alphabet for the surname you want to search — say “B” for Bull. Next it will ask you to fill in the rest of the name. Fill in “ull” rather than the whole name. Then click on “apply filter.” When the page comes up again, add the first name if you like — or browse all available pages of Bull entries!
You may choose to do an “index” search, looking for the name you choose as the person who is the subject of the vital record. Or you can choose to look for the name anywhere in the text of the item.
Other resources by Daniel F. Johnson, and the libraries where you will find them are:
— “Passengers to New Brunswick: The Custom House Records, 1833, 34, 37 & 38,” MSL and Fogler Library.
— “The South African War, 1899-1902: New Brunswick Men at War,” co-authored with Byron E. O’Leary, Fogler.
— “The St. John County Alms and Work House Records, 1843-1850,” MSL, Bangor Public Library and Fogler Library.
— “World War I: Canadians at War, New Brunswick: Victoria & Carleton Counties: Military Biographies of the Men Who Enlisted in World War I from the Counties of Victoria and Carleton, New Brunswick, Canada,” MSL and Bangor Public Library.
— “The New Brunswick Census of 1851 for Victoria County,” MSL.
— “Rideouts in New Brunswick, 1836-1880: as Derived from ‘New Brunswick Newspapers, Vital Statistics,’” co-authored with Arnold E. Palmer, Bangor Public Library.
— “The Cedar Hill Extension Cemetery: Saint John, N.B., Canada,” MSL.
— “Irish Emigrants & Their Vessels, Port of St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 to 1849,” Bangor Public Library.
— “Irish Emigration to New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841-1849,” MSL.
— “The New Brunswick Genealogist,” two volumes, MSL.
— “New Brunswick Lineages: the Ancestral Charts of over 250 Researchers Who Trace their Lineage to New Brunswick, Canada,” MSL.
For information on researching family history in Maine, see Genealogy Resources under Family Ties at bangordailynews.com/browse/family-ties. Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402, or email familyti@bangordailynews.com.