My 64 ~ Researching My Fourth Great Grandparents : Jacob Steeves and Eleanor Bleakney

My fourth great grandfather, Jacob Steeves, was born on May 3, 1788, most probably in Hillsborough, Albert County, New Brunswick, the first son of Matthias Steeves and Sophia Beck, and the second of thirteen children. He was the grandson of Heinrich Stief and Regina Stahlecker, who settled in Hillsborough 250 years ago.

My fourth great grandmother, Eleanor "Nellie" Bleakney, was born in the early 1800's, the daughter of William Bleakney and Barbara Jacques. She was the granddaughter of David Blakeney and his wife Elizabeth, who were part of a group of South Carolina Loyalists who had arrived in Canada in late 1782.  I wrote of her grandfather in 2015, in my blog series My Canadian Branches.

The couple were married in Westmorland County on November 12, 1818. They settled on the Pollett River, a tributary of the Petitcodiac, undoubtedly near where the Bleakney clan had settled. This map shows the area very well.

According to Esther Clark Wright, they had four children, two sons and two daughters. I have found William Bleakney and Jacob, Barbara and possibly Eliza:

Barbara, b. abt. 1821

William Bleakney, b. abt. 1823

Eliza, b. possibly 1827

Jacob, b. abt. 1828

The Steeves House Museum lists two additional children, a son George Bleakney Steeves, born abt. 1832, and a daughter Catherine Bleakney Steeves, b. abt. 1834, but further research is needed on these.

Daughter Barbara married Andrew Anderson, and is buried with him in Boundary Creek Cemetery in Moncton.  William Bleakney married a granddaughter of Henry, Christian's son, Charlotte Ann Steeves, and is buried with her in Hillside United Baptist Church Cemetery in Hillside.

The graves of Jacob and Eleanor are unknown.

Map Credit:

Roe Brothers, (A.D. & W.B. Roe), base maps are from British Admiralty charts and National Surveys [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Petitcodiac-river-map-closeup1.png)

Sources:

"Canada Census, 1851," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW5B-TDL : accessed 21 May 2015), Eleanor Steeves, Coverdale, Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada; citing p. 2, line 35; Library and Archives Canada film number C_994, Public Archives, Ontario..

Canada, Marriages, 1661-1949," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F2P9-PMD : accessed 30 December 2014), Jacob Steves and Eleanor Bleakney, 12 Nov 1818; citing Westmorland,New Brunswick, reference ; FHL microfilm 847,576.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Nov 2016), memorial page for Barbara Steeves Anderson (unknown-1874), Find A Grave Memorial no. 119762001, citing Boundary Creek Cemetery, Moncton, Westmorland County, New Brunswick, Canada.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Nov 2016), memorial page for William B Steeves (1823-1899), Find A Grave Memorial no. 158435290, citing Hillside United Baptist Church Cemetery, Hillside, Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada.

Wright, Esther Clark. Samphire Greens: The Story of the Steeves. 2nd ed. (Hillsborough, NB: The Steeves Family Inc., 2001), p. 63.

Treasure Chest Thursday – My Steeves Plate

I still have quite a bit of genealogical research to do on my Steeves ancestors, but I feel fortunate to have one of these plates.

Matthias Steeves was born in 1761. He died on May 21, 1848 He married Sophia Beck, and together they had 13 children. One of their nine sons, Jacob Steeves, was born on May 3, 1788.

Jacob and Eleanor Bleakney had four children. One of their two sons, William Bleakney Steeves, was born in 1823. He married his cousin Charlotte Steeves on October 22, 1846, and they had one daughter, Robina Elizabeth Steeves, born in Elgin, Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada.

Robina Steeves married James Henry Smith (who also had Steeves roots) on Nov. 3, 1873, and together they had 7 children, the eldest of which is my great grandfather, Wylie Herbert Smith.