Digging Down East: MacKay Flora Jane

Saturday, December 5, 2015

My Canadian Branches ~ My Clan MacKay and My Shelburne County Roots

Alexander MacKay, my third great grandfather, arrived in Canada from the Scottish Highlands as a young man of 29. A few years later, when he married Eleanor Brown, he was living in Jordan River, in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia. These pictures (made into postcards) have my great grandmother's writing on them.

The young couple, with their first three children, Isabella, Catherine, and John, were living in Ragged Island, by the 1871 Census of Canada. The next 30 years, however, saw the family resettling and living in Upper Stewiacke, in Colchester County. There were six children in all, the first three born in East Jordan, the younger three born in Upper Stewiacke. The oldest, Isabella Fulton MacKay, is my second great grandmother.

Standing: Hugh Dunlap MacKay, Catherine Margaret MacKay,
John William MacKay, Isabella Fulton MacKay, George Alexander MacKay.
Seated: Flora Jane MacKay, Alexander MacKay, Eleanor MacKay (Alexander's wife).

Alexander MacKay (1830-1901)

Eleanor Brown MacKay (1835-1924)

Their Children:

Isabella Fulton MacKay (1861-1945)

Catherine Margaret MacKay (1864-1927)

John William MacKay (1866-1945)

George Alexander MacKay (1872-1955)

Flora Jane MacKay (1874-1941)

Hugh Dunlap MacKay (1878-1934)

Alexander and Eleanor MacKay are buried in the Burnt Hill Cemetery, in Upper Burnside, Nova Scotia. My great grandmother took this picture many years ago:

A recent photo by a findagrave volunteer shows the monument today:

Sources:

1871 Census of Canada; Census Place: Ragged Island, Shelburne, Nova Scotia; Roll: C-10547; Page: 41; Family No: 132. http://ancestry.com

1881 Census of Canada; Census Place: Upper Stewiacke, Colchester, Nova Scotia; Roll: C_13175; Page: 4; Family No: 12. http://ancestry.com

1891 Census of Canada; Census Place: Upper Stewiacke East, Colchester, Nova Scotia; Roll: T-6311; Family No: 124. http://ancestry.com

1901 Census of Canada, http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/ViewFrame.jsp?id=8896&highlight=38.

Colchester Historeum Marriages 1864-1914, http://colchesterhistoreum.ca/search/.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 4 Dec 2015), memorial page for Alexander MacKay (1823-1901), Find A Grave Memorial no. 124797256, citing Burnt Hill Cemetery, Upper Burnside, Colchester County, Nova Scotia.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Flora Jane MacKay, my 2nd great grand aunt, was born on this date in 1874, in Upper Stewiacke, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada, the fifth of six children born to Alexander MacKay and Eleanor Brown, and their third daughter.

She grew up on the farm in the Stewiacke Valley, and at the age of 25, married Robinson Ellis, a young man also born in Upper Stewiacke, in 1899 in Truro.

Together, Jane, as she was called, and Robinson, had five children, all born in the Valley, whether it be Upper Stewiacke, Eastville, or Springside:

Hugh MacKay, b. 1900

Hedley Alexander, b. 1903

Alvin Winter, b. 1905

Florence McDonald, b. 1907

and

Adella May, b. 1909

Tragically, son Hedley died accidentally at the age of 13, from a ruptured blood vessel.

Jane, Jessie, Maggie, Bella MacKay

The above photograph shows Flora "Jane," cousin Jessie Fulton MacKay, Catherine Margaret "Maggie" MacKay, and Isabella "Bella" Fulton MacKay, down east in Nova Scotia. Bella is my 2nd great grandmother and is the oldest of the foursome.

"Jane" MacKay Ellis passed away on January 2, 1941, in Eastville, Nova Scotia. She is buried in the Eastville Cemetery. Her husband would follow her five years later.

Sources:

1881 Census of Canada; Census Place: Upper Stewiacke, Colchester, Nova Scotia; Roll: C_13175; Page: 4; Family No: 12, Jane Ellis.

1891 Census of Canada; Census Place: Upper Stewiacke East, Colchester, Nova Scotia; Roll: T-6311; Family No: 124, Jane Ellis.

1901 Census of Canada; Census Place: Upper Stewiacke East, Colchester, Nova Scotia; Page: 5; Family No: 49, Flora J. Ellis.

1911 Census of Canada; Census Place: , Colchester, Nova Scotia; Page: 7; Family No: 71, Flora J Ellis.

1921 Census of Canada; Census Place: Upper Stewiache East, Colchester, Nova Scotia; Page Number: 1, Jane Ellis.

Nova Scotia. Historical Vital Statistics. Registration Year 1899, Book 1807, Page 144, Number 167. Robinson Ellis and Flora J. McKay. (https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ItemView.aspx?ImageFile=1807-144&Event=marriage&ID=21470) : accessed 13 July 2014).

Nova Scotia. Historical Vital Statistics. Registration Year 1872, Book 1804, Page 133, Number 186. Robinson Ellis. (https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ItemView.aspx?ImageFile=1804-133&Event=birth&ID=18403) : accessed 13 July 2014).

Nova Scotia. Historical Vital Statistics. Registration Year 1941, Book 196, Page 160. (Mrs.) Flora Jane Ellis. (https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ItemView.aspx?ImageFile=196-160&Event=death&ID=288266 ) : accessed 13 July 2014).

Nova Scotia. Historical Vital Statistics. Registration Year 1946, Page 4558, Robinson Ellis. (https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ItemView.aspx?ImageFile=1946-4558&Event=death&ID=320309) : accessed 13 July 2014).

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This is the 28th in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small.