John Smith (1729 - 1783)

Born 1729 in Preston, Kirkbean Parish, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland

Husband of Jannet (Sturgeon) Smith — married before 1756 in Kirkcudbright, Dumfries, Scotland

Descendants

Died Aug 1783 at about age 54 in Horne Bridge, Middle River (Alma), Pictou Co, Nova Scotia

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Biography

John Smith, whose father was possibly David Seymour Smith, was born in 1729 in Scotland. In 1774, at the age of 45, he emigrated from Scotland to Georgetown (Three Rivers) Island of St John, Prince Edward Island on the Lovely Nelly.^{[1] [2]}

In 1756, John married Jannet Sturgeon in Colvend, Kirkcudbright, Scotland. They had 9 children: Mary, Jan, Janet, Agnes, Isabella, Nelly, Catherine, John and William.

John Smith age 45, and his wife Jannet Sturgeon (age 37) immigrated in 1774 with six daughters, Mary 16, Jan 9, Jannet 6, Agnes 5, Isabella 3, and Nelly (1).^[3] Their additional children were born in either Georgetown, PEI, where they landed, or in Alma, Pictou Co, Nova Scotia, where John Smith Sr. settled. There are no formal birth records for the children born in PEI or Pictou Co, Nova Scotia, as there was no infrastructure to create records at that time. George Patterson's History of Pictou County stated there were no known descendants of John Smith and other books written later incorrectly copied those remarks.

When he was only 54, John Sr. drowned. The incident took place around where the Horne Bridge is now on the brook - which was on or close to his own property in Alma, Pictou Co. He and a daughter were taking his grandchild upriver to be baptized by Rev. James MacGregor. John Sr's land was subsequently sold to the neighbouring Marshall family and most of the remaining Smith's (including John Smith, Jr) then removed to Merigomish. The one daughter who remained in Alma had married a Marshall and they lived on that (Smith) tract of land.

John was possibly buried in Alma Cemetery, Alma, Nova Scotia in 1783. There is no headstone there today.

Sources

1. ↑ Viola Root Cameron, "Emigrants from Scotland to America, 1774-1775", Baltimore 1976, pages 96-97.
2. ↑ https://sites.rootsweb.com/~pictou/lnell1.htm
3. ↑ Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild,Snow Lovely Nelly

• Hon. Frank H. Patterson, Q.C., D.C.L., "Tatamagouche, NS 1771 - 1824", Truro, Nova Scotia 1971, pages 35-37 and 117/
• Rev. George Patterson, D.D, "A History of the County of Pictou, Nova Scotia", 1877, Chapter 5 Arrival of Hector and Settlement of her Passengers
• George MacLaren, "The Pictou Book", 1954, pages 50-51
• Viola Root Cameron, "Emigrants from Scotland to America, 1774-1775", 1976, pages 96-97