Some
ancestors are easy to track. You find one document and suddenly it leads you to
an entire history of a family line. Then there’s the ancestors who you can
spend years trying to find documents for with very little to show for it. My 4th
great grandfather, Enoch Marshall, falls into the latter category. I’ve seen certain
information for his death and marriage to my 4th great grandmother,
Jane Hanspiker, on people’s family trees on ancestry.ca, however, they didn’t
give a source for the information, and I have been unsuccessful in finding
documentation to confirm that information.
This line of
my ancestry is on my maternal line, through my great grandfather, George Angus
Grant. I do also have a Marshall line on my paternal side, who lived in
Scotland until my 2nd great grandmother, Ann Marshall moved to
Canada with her husband, Peter Williamson in 1905… but I digress… back to this
Marshall line…
They came up
from Massachusetts. Isaac and Mary (nee: Robbins) Marshall settled in Nova
Scotia in 1760. Their son, David Marshall and his wife, Elizabeth (nee:
Beardsley) had a son, Enoch Marshall, who I’m writing about today.
Enoch was
born in 1807 in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. The next record I found for him
is the 1838 Census. From this document, I know he was already married to Jane
Hanspiker and that they had a total of six people in the household. Besides the
two of them there is 1 boy and 1 girl under 6 years old, and 1 boy and 1 girl
under 14 years old. On the 1861 census for Annapolis, there is an Enoch
Marshall listed, and there are 3 males and 3 females in the household. In
Hutchison’s Nova Scotia Directory, 1866-1867 a farmer named Enoch Marshall is
listed as living in Wilmot. Also in McAlpine’s Nova Scotia Directory,
1868-1869, there is a farmer named Enoch Marshall listed as living in Wilmot. As
this is the only Enoch Marshall I found, it is likely the same person.
I was also
able to find marriage registrations confirming 3 children, one being my 3rd
great grandmother, Samantha Marshall, as well as 2 other children:
·
Ebenezer
(1841-), m. Barbara Grant (1846-)
·
Samantha
(1843-1931), m. John Grant (1843-)
·
Mary
Eliza (1845-1922), m. Samuel Bent (1841-)
Looking at
the 1838 Census in conjunction with these three marriage registrations it
appears that Enoch and Jane had at least 7 children, assuming the 4 children
living with them on the 1838 Census are their children, and taking into
consideration that the latter 3 were born after the 1838 census.
This, sadly,
is the extent of personal information I have found on Enoch. However, since he is
listed in the Hutchison’s Directory for 1866-1867 we know that he and his
family were living in Nova Scotia when the colony joined Confederation. This
was an interesting time in Nova Scotia as many opposed joining, especially those
involved in the prosperous shipping, shipbuilding and farming industries. Enoch
was a farmer. Was he opposed too? Journalist and politician, Joseph Howe, was a
vocal opponent to Confederation. He felt Nova Scotia would be a neglected
member of a much larger country, and believed the colony would flourish on its
own. He and those who agreed felt much closer familial and economic ties to the
New England states than to Canada West (Ontario) and Canada East (Quebec). He
thought the people of the colony of Nova Scotia, a population of about 350,000 should
make the decision. Despite popular opposition, the Nova Scotia delegations in
the 1864 Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences committed to the colony joining
Confederation, believing it would be beneficial in securing against a possible American
expansion, a wider domestic market for Nova Scotia trade goods, as well as financial
help to construct a national railway linking the Atlantic colonies to Ontario
and Quebec. Two years later, Premier Charles Tupper, who had led the Nova
Scotia delegates, used his government’s majority in the colonial legislature to
pass the terms of Confederation agreed to in Quebec. The decision to join the
Confederation sparked protests, and anti-Confederation Nova Scotian’s fought
for 2 years to repeal the union but they were unsuccessful. Nova Scotia
officially joined the Confederation in 1867, and was one of the founding
provinces, along with New Brunswick, and the former province of Canada, which
became to separate provinces: Ontario and Quebec.
So, although
I am frustrated at the lack of personal information I have found on Enoch, it
is helpful to know where he was and what his profession was at the time of
Confederation. It gives me an idea of what it would have been like living there at
the time, which is always interesting to learn. I do know that I could learn
more by hiring someone in Nova Scotia to do local research for me, however, it is my hope to do that myself one day. Researching is my
favourite part. Having someone else do it would spoil the fun!
Until next
time, happy hunting, fellow gene geeks!
Sources:
1861 Census of Canada
Ancestry.ca
Census Returns, Assessment & Poll
Tax Records, 1767-1838
History of the County of Annapolis
Hutchison’s Nova Scotia Directory,
1866-1867, Nova Scotia, Canada
Library and Archives Canada
McAlpine’s Nova Scotia Directory,
1868-1869, Nova Scotia, Canada
North America, Family Histories,
1500-2000
Nova Scotia Historical Vital
Statistics (novascotiagenealogy.com)
The Canadian Encyclopedia
(thecanadianencyclopedia.ca)
