Alexander Freda (1827 - bef. 1881)

Born 1827 in Nova Scotia

Ancestors

Husband of Angeline (Millett) Freda — married 4 Dec 1849 in Chester, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Died before 1881 before age 54 in Chester, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada

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Biography

Alexander "Alex" Freda (Jr.), who also went by the Anglicized surname "Friday," was born in Nova Scotia in 1827. He was the son of Alexander Freda and Elizabeth Marriott. He spent most of his life in Chester, Lunenberg, Nova Scotia.

Both of Alexander's parents were born in Nova Scotia, and seem to have come from farming families who were well-established in the Chester area. His father was of Germany ancestry, and his mother seems to have been 1/2 French (Acadian?), 1/4 German, and 1/4 Swiss.

In 1849, Alexander married Angeline Millett, whose came from a family of Loyalists from Massachusetts Bay who had relocated to Nova Scotia during the Revolutionary era.^[1]

As a result, he comes up frequently in books about Angeline's family, one of which discusses a John Verge(?), who was a United Empire Loyalist, having moved from Boston to Chester, Nova Scotia. John's father had come over to New England "during the Puritanical troubles in England."^[2]

John had married Unice Millet, the daughter of George Millet and Mary Houghton and granddaughter of Captain Timothy Houghton. Like John, much of the Millet (or "Millett") family moved from Massachusetts to Chester. Unice's brother, Francis Millett, who was born in Chester, became Alexander's father-in-law. ^[3] (Angeline's mother, a native of the Chester area, was of Swiss and German ancestry.)

On the 1871 census, 44-year-old "Alex Friday" identified as a Baptist farmer of German origin. Angeline did the same. Alex was listed as unable to read or write, and was shown living with Angeline, their seven children, and his elderly parents in Chester. (In the 1881 census, Angelina and her children identified as Baptists of English origin.)

On the same page, a neighboring "Friday" family is listed, this one headed by 57-year-old James, who also identified as a Baptist farmer of German origin. James was likely a close relative of Alexander, probably his brother James Freda (1817-bef.1881).

An 1869 directory for Chester had listed an Alexander Friday and a James Friday both working as coopers; presumably these were the same men, advertising their service as coopers in order to supplement their farming income, but they could have been similarly-named relatives.

Alexander died at some point between 1871 and 1881, likely at his family's residence in Chester, Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. He probably died in 1880, as an "Alexander Fredea" is listed as having been buried in Chester during that year.^[4] If so, he was in his early 50s at the time.

Sources

1. ↑ Alexander Freda in "History and genealogy of the Houghton family," pages 44-46.
2. ↑ Alexander Freda in "History and genealogy of the Houghton family," pages 44-46.
3. ↑ Alexander Freda in "History and genealogy of the Houghton family," pages 44-46.
4. ↑ Alexander Fredea in the Cemetery Inscriptions for Lunenburg, Queens and Shelburne Counties, Volume III, South Shore Genealogical Society, 1985.

• http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1871/jpg/4396278_00336.jpg mother is living with him
• Alex Friday in the 1871 Census of Canada.
• Angeline Friday in the 1881 Census of Canada. (Angeline is listed as a widow, and Alexander does not appear on it or on future family censuses, so he must have died prior to the time this census was taken. See Angeline Fredy in the 1891 Census of Canada.)
• Alexander Freday in the Massachusetts, U.S., Marriage Records, 1840-1915.
• Alexander [Freday] in the Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988.
• Alexander Freda in "Genealogy of the Descendants of John White of Wenham and Lancaster, Massachusetts: 1638-1900," page 661.
• Alexander Freda in "History and genealogy of the Houghton family," pages 44-46.
• Alexander Fredea in the Cemetery Inscriptions for Lunenburg, Queens and Shelburne Counties, Volume III, South Shore Genealogical Society, 1985.