Happy Canada Day: Finding the Old Family Farm in New Brunswick

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian readers! I'm happy to say that I too can celebrate Canada Day and it's not just because I love their national pastime of hockey. I can trace my family tree back to my fifth great-grandfather, Christian Feero. Christian, like some colonial Americans, chose to side with the King of England during the Revolutionary War. Naturally, after Britain was defeated and the U.S. won its independence, it was pretty awkward for Christian and the other defeated Loyalists (also called "traitors" or "Tories" by the other side). Christian and the rest of the unwanted Loyalists made their way up to Nova Scotia and eventually settled in New Brunswick (which was part of Nova Scotia at the time). Christian made a life as a farmer in Southampton along the Saint John River with several generations of the family remaining in New Brunswick before many moved to Maine. 

Much of this information I gained from the book "Christian Feero, loyalist of New Brunswick, and his descendants" by Gloria Bullock. The detailed book goes over the many generations of family after Christian Feero, leading up to my father's generation (with lots of information on my great-grandmother's family). It's a great read that is unfortunately out of print. Luckily, a year ago, I was able to find a copy in the Los Angeles Public Library of all places and I was allowed to scan all of it. Amazingly, I was even able to use the old map in the book and Google Maps to find exactly where Christian Feero's old farm is located today. Interestingly enough, when you look at the overhead shot of the area on Google, you can still make out the boundaries of many of the farms that existed some two-hundred plus years ago. There seem to be two homes located on the old plot now. I wish I could contact the people that live there currently and ask if they are related at all to the Feero family as my aunt told me that many years ago they had repurchased the land. 

Thanks to a distinct part of the river I was able to find the farm on Google

The view from the street now. What a lawn!