The MacKenzie Family Genealogy Page

Welcome

Welcome to my site. My aim is to provide genealogists, both professional and amateur, with access to the family histories of my ancestors, and others in the area of Northumberland County, New Brunswick.

I am currently in the process of updating this site with new information and more photographs. Please check back again.

The MacKenzies
My interest in genealogy can be traced to Junior High School, where, under the direction of Mrs. Helen (Jenkins) Jones, I compiled my first Family Tree. Thus began my love for everything old and historical. I began my research with my Father's side, principally the MacKenzies of Little Branch, Black River Bridge, New Brunswick. From my first, seven-page genealogy of that family, descending down from Rodrick MacKenzie (1808-1893) and an unknown first wife (now identified as Katherine MacKenzie), came a thirty-plus page document delving into almost every aspect of the lives of Rodrick and Katherine's descendants.

In December 2007, I published "From the Highlands...To the Hardwoods," a more comprehensive history of the descendants of Alexander MacKenzie and Annabella Watson of Assynt, Sutherland, Scotland. My great-great-great grandfather, Rodrick, was one of their sons.

Click HERE to view two photo albums from the MacKenzie collection and a great deal of genealogical data.

Genealogy Tid-bit
William A. MacKenzie was born 31 July 1877, the only son of John and Elizabeth (MacKnight) MacKenzie of the MacKenzie Settlement, Black River Bridge, N.B. Losing his father at age nine and his sister when he was only nineteen and she twenty-one, Will's early years were difficult. He spent the years 1898 to 1906 searching for his fortune in the goldfields of the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. Shortly thereafter, he returned to Black River. He married Elmira Loggie of Point Aux Carr in 1911, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Loggie, and settled in Napan. His mother lived with the family, which contained seven children by 1925, as did his younger, and only surviving sister, Janie. Will became a widely known and greatly respected citizen of that community, and his funeral held after his death on 29 March 1957 was one of the largest seen in the community in memory. **Elsewhere on this page, see a link to an essay containing more details about Will's life.

See a photo of "Klondike Will" in his early twenties, reportedly taken during his travels West.

The Watlings
When I joined forces with two cousins on the Watling side (my paternal grandmother is Lorna (Watling) MacKenzie) to organize the 2001 Family Homecoming of the descendants of Donald and Barbara (Dick) Watling of Black River, I developed a zest for research on the Watling family of Black River as well. Before that, I had my hand in many genealogical pies, but focused on different families as my genealogical mind possessed me. It was around this point that I began to collect the vast number of pictures sampled below.

I am currently working on collecting data and photographs for a book on the Watling and Ullock families (the descendants of both my great-great grandfather Donald M. Watling and my great-great grandfather Thomas Ullock III). My great-grandfather James T.D. Watling, Donald's youngest son, married M. Ruth Ullock, Thomas III's youngest daughter. Extensive information on, and photographs of, the siblings of my great-parents and their respective descendants survives. In the future, with the collaboration of many other Watling genealogists, I hope to prepare a book on the descendants of Jubal Watling Sr., and another on the descendants of Thomas Ullock Sr. This would bo going back a further two generations.

Click HERE for a selection of photographs and genealogical information dedicated to the Watling family of Black River Bridge, especially the children of Donald and Barbara (Dick) Watling.

The Barrys
I descend from the Barry's through my maternal grandfather, Richard Barry. Our ancestor was Peter Barry, a native (we suspect) of County Cork, Ireland, who came to the New World in 1807, settling in the Bartibogue area. In 1813, he married Ellen Lyons, the daughter of Martin Lyons of Bartibogue, the earliest Irish settler on the Miramichi. The couple resided and raised their children in Bartibogue, across the mighty Miramichi River from Chatham-town. The Barrys of the latter descend from Peter and Ellen's son, James, the husband of Margaret (Mead) Barry. It was their son Richard that brought our Barry line to the south side of the River.

In 2007, I published a genealogy of the descendants of Peter Barry in preparation for a family reunion which commemorated the bicentennial of his arrival on the Miramichi. It has since been updated.

The Maillets
It is from the Maillet's that I draw my French lineage. First landing at New Brunswick, the Maillet family soon settled near Richibucto and saw several sons immigrate to Prince Edward Island. Calixte Maillet, the son of one of these men, in my great-great-grandfather. It was his generation that first began the usage of the spelling Myers. Calixte (or Calais) married Mary Arsenault, who died when the eldest son, Narcis, was fourteen. Jospeh Narcis Myers, born 31 Janaury 1878, married Mary Lenore, daughter of Gregory and Adele (Doucette) Poirier; Gregory died young, and left Adele a very young widow with a large family to support. My family descends from Narcis's eldest daughter, Mary Adele Emma, who married Richard Barry of Chatham, NB.

Recently, a detailed genealogy of the ancestors of my great-aunt, Dora (Myers) Kenny was compiled by Sheila Peckham, including the Poirier and Myers families right back to their first settlement in Acadia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, respectively. It is now up to me to gather information on the descendants of Narcis and Lenore (Perry) Myers. A genealogists work is never done!

Click HERE to view a myriad of photos and information regarding to Myers and Poirier families of Lot 1, Princes County, Prince Edward Island.

Genealogy Tid-bit
It is interesting to note that in their golden years, the widower Calais Myers and the widow Adele Porier, married, and it came to be that the children of Narcis and Lenore had only one set of grandparents. Narcis' life was one filled with challenges as well. Following the birth of four children (Emma, Calais, Clara and Dora), in 1919 Narcis moved the family to Chatham, New Brunswick, where he and his brothers had worked years earlier. The family was hit with the Spanish Influenze while living on Centre Street (on "the Hill"), and Emma (Myers) Barry recalls the doctor prescribing medicine for Lenore and the children and whiskey for Narcis. Narcis and Lenore returned to the Island in the late 1920s; Emma married Richard Barry of Chatham; Calais married Annie Guthro of Chatham; Clara married Ronald Cobham of Saint John; and Dora married Edward Kenny of Tignish, PEI. On 29 Janaury 1940, Lenore died at the age of 55. In 1943, Narcis remarried, to the widow Celeste (Laviolette) Gaudet on 9 June 1943. He was widowed again in 1975 when he lost Celeste; Narcis' own death followed a few months later. He was in his 97th year, and was bright and alert until the very end.

See a photo of Joseph Narcis Myers(1879-1975), aged 18 years.

Enjoy this journey through my family's past, and check back often for additions and updates. I refer your attention particularly to the photo albums contained in linked pages above, and the link to "The Family Herald" my genealogical newsletter.

With this, I give you the genealogies of my ancestors, "That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children." Psalm 78, Verse 6.

The Photo Albums

Linked above are pages that contain a great number of photograps from "the good old days." I have digitized largely my family collections, drawing from the collections of George M. Loggie, the late John L. MacKenzie, Wilhemina R. MacKenzie, Katherine J. Campbell, M. A. Emma Barry, the late D. Harry Watling, and Barbara Livingstone. I offer great thanks to these indivudals for allowing me to copy these photos over the years.

Photographs provide an amazing insight into the lives of our ancestors. They add so much to a family history, so I will attempt below to give a sampling of the many members of my extended family, both those living in flesh, and those only in the pages that follow. As long as we preserve the photographs of our families, we will be successful in preserving their memory.

If there are photos lying around your home, in albums or boxes, whether the images be old or new, please ensure that they are properly cared for and preserved. Also, remember to write any available details on the reverse, for although the pictures may remain pristine, one's memory always does not, so names often come in very handy years down the road.

If you have any photos you would like to see added to the albums, please feel free to contact the Administrator. For further information, see below.

The Family Herald
Click HERE to download issues of "The Family Herald", an occasional newsletter published by myself and my genealogically inclined cousin, Janet E. Watling. Check back often for upcoming issues, which are posted monthly.

The MacKenzie Settlement
Click HERE for an essay detailing the story of the MacKenzie Settlement at Little Branch, Black River Bridge, New Brunswick.

Links
The Family Chronicle - Don Glendenning

Canadian Census Records Online - 1851, 1901, 1906, 1911

About This Site
Website Maintained by Barry R. MacKenzie, B.A.

Read about the Administrator

Last Updated 3 April 2009

Contact the Administator

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws