Adam J. Beveridge | William D. Kearney | Charles McLauchlan | Michael Tighe

Adam J. Beveridge was the enumerator for the Parish of Andover. He was born on 28 Dec 1826 in Fossaway, Kinroshire, Scotland, the son of William and Amelia.  He moved to New Brunswick in May 1840.  In September 1851, at the time when he was enumerating Andover Parish, Beveridge was living in Middle Andover with his wife Amanda E. Murphy (born in New Brunswick), his 2-year old son William H., and his six-month old son Adam J. His occupation is listed as "clerk," which would help explain why he was chosen to conduct the census; the 1861 census informs us that the family was Presbyterian.

Four months later, in January 1852, St.Francis Parish was enumerated by William D. Kearny.  At that time, Beveridge and his family were living in St. Francis in the far western reaches of settlement, having moved there sometime in the previous four months (they are one of a number of families that show up two times in the 1851 census). At that time, Adam's profession is listed as "merchant," indicating that he had made the move perhaps in the hopes of establishing a business in that settlement.  Ten years later, in 1861, the family was still living in St. Francis, though Adam is listed as a "farmer." By the time of the 1871 census, they had moved back to the Andover region, and are living in Gordon Parish; Adam is again listed as a "farmer." Amanda died in 1873, and in 1876 Adam remarried to the widow of Aaron Murphy.  He died on 7 Oct 1907 at the age of 82. [sources: "The Press Newspaper 1907: Index of Names," from the Carleton County Home Page.]

William D. Kearney (enumerated St.Basile, St. François, and St. Leonard). William Dumphy Kearney was born in 1825 and died on 7 January 1873, in Grand Falls.  He was the 11th and last child of Samuel Kearney and Mary Nevers, who were married on 30 October 1800 in the Anglican Church of Maugerville, Sunbury County, New Brunswick. Samuel was the son of Alexander Kearney, a Loyalist from New Jersey, who fought the American colonists as part of the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers. 

By the time of William's birth the family seems to have been living in Grand Falls. William was married in about 1847 to his first cousin Martha Jane Kearney.  By the time of the 1851 census, the couple seemed well established in St.Leonard Parish, Victoria County, just upstream from Grand Falls.  Though the large majority of the population of St.Leonard were French-speaking descendants of Acadians and Quebecois, there was also a significant minority of Anglophones living in the parish.

At the time of the 1851 census, William's mother Mary and recently-widowed sister Isabella were living next door to him.  A month or two after the census (on 8 December), Isabella would marry James Craven.  

That William was chosen to survey the population in the three of the four French-majority parishes of the County indicates that he was known to the county authorities well enough to be chosen to be the enumerator. He probably also had studied French; though there are some misspellings of French names, overall the 1851 census is a striking contrast to the 1850 US census of the French-speaking communities across the river, which was undertaken by men who clearly were totally unfamiliar with French.  The William was educated is also indicated by the fact that he wrote an epic poem published under the title "The Open Hand: An Epic Poem Dealing With the Early Settlement of Maine and New Brunswick," (Presque Isle, Me.: W.S. Gilman, 1884)

Charles M. McLauchlan was the enumerator for the Parish of Perth. He was born in Scotland around 1795 and came to New Brunswick in 1805. He served with the 104th (New Brunswick) Regiment during the War of 1812.  Following the war, he along with other veterans of the American War received lots of land in what became Perth Parish, but was then part of Kent Parish in Carleton County. In 1817 he was granted two lots of land. At that time he had a wife and one child.  By 1851 he was the Captain of the Militia in Perth, and had apparently remarried; he's living with his 34 year old wife Marguerite and their seven children.  He appears to have died sometime between the censuses of 1871 and 1881.

Michael Tighe was the enumerator for Madawaska Parish. He was from Ireland, son of James and Sarah Cuffper, and came to New Brunswick in 1823. By 1830 he had settled in what became Madawaska Parish, having married Angélique Fournier at St. Basile church on 22 Nov 1825. In 1851 he was living on the bank of the St.John River with his wife and eight children. By the time of the 1861 census ten years later, both Michael and Angélique appear to have passed away.

If you have any information on any of the census takers of the 1851 census of Victoria County, please

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Last revised 24 Aug 2004
©2004 C.Gagnon