Birthday Sunday - September 30th - Esther Barnhill, Isaac Brown, Teresa McCabe Harrigan, Margaret Symons

If you were born on September 30th, you share a birthday with many of our relatives and ancestors.  These include:

Esther Logan Barnhill was born in Chiganois, Colchester County, Nova Scotia on September 30, 1819 to James Barnhill Esq. and Esther Putnam. On her mother's side, she was a descendant of Rebecca Towne Nurse who was hanged for witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.  In December 1939, she married Alexander Boyle William McNutt.  Alexander could trace his roots back to the original Alexander McNutt, who orchestrated the settlement around Cobequid Bay on the Bay of Fundy, by the Ulster Scots from Northern Ireland and New England.  Esther and Alexander had seven children who grew up in Onslow, near Truro.  Esther died in 1898 in Truro and is buried in the Robie Street Cemetery there.

Grave of Isaac Brown
Wallace Bay Cemetery

Isaac Brown was just a baby when his life changed forever.  His mother, Amy Ann Wilson,  died when he was born on September 30, 1789, and the following year he lost his father and older sister during a thunder storm when they were both struck by lightening.  His father, John Brown was originally from England and after emigrating to Long Island, New York sided with the British during the American Revolutionary War.  The family relocated to Nova Scotia in 1783 at the end of the war.  Baby Isaac was taken in by the family of Alexander Peers and Mary Bolding (my 5th Great Grandparents) and raised as their son.  In young adulthood, he married Mary Peers, the daughter of Alexander and Mary.  Isaac became a farmer and the couple raised nine children on their Wallace Bay farm.  Isaac died on September 28th, 1864 at Wallace Bay and is buried in the Wallace Bay Cemetery.

Teresa McCabe
Harrigan

Dan Harrigan's farm
Caledon

Teresa McCabe came into this world on September 30, 1869 in Adjala Township, Simcoe County, Ontario.  Her parents, Peter McCabe and Ellen Keenan were just a generation away from County Cork, Ireland and part of an active Irish Catholic Community in and around Caledon.  In February of 1890, she married Daniel Joseph Harrigan (1st cousin, 3 times removed) and the pair had five children.  Teresa lost her husband Daniel, in 1918 from Liver Cancer but she carried on, living with her family and taking part in church and charitable activities until 1936.  The Harrigans had come to Caledon in about 1832 from Cork, Ireland and by 1850, half the family had relocated to Kinkora, near Stratford.  Caledon was not a particularly easy place to farm, as it is hilly and rocky but Dan and Teresa persevered and eventually passed the farm on to their sons.  Both are buried at St. John the Evangelist Cemetery at Albion, Ontario and many of their descendants still live in the area.

Margaret Wood Symons

And September 30th is the birthday of my favourite daughter-in-law, Margaret.