| Vol. 1
No. 1 January 1997 |
| The
Coubrough Times |
|
Do you know who you came from?
Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Coubrough Times. I am Myrna
Coubrough MacKay (Lockie Coubrough was my grandfather) and I have been
investigating the roots of the Coubrough family tree for about fifteen
years. This past summer, I made an amazing discovery: I was not the only
one digging! There are actually others who are interested in learning who
we came from.
Through my grandmother, I learned that two of my second cousins had ferreted out all
kinds of names. At about the same time, I learned that Queen's University
(conveniently located in 'my' city of Kingston, Ontario) has microfilm copies
of Canadian census records from 1841 to 1901 (the last year for which the
records have been released). With my cousins' name lists as a starting point, I was
able to add a few branches to the tree, and a few leaves in the form of
facts about the family besides their names and birthdays. I later used
some of these facts to write a small story which I sent to Cousin Mary as she
seemed to be the main "keeper of the bones." She thought that other people
might be interested in reading the story too: the newsletter idea is all
hers.
For future issues, I plan to pass on any other information I dig up,
but all submissions are welcome. I would be pleased to include your stories
(either from your own experience or tales told in your family) or whatever
else you can come up with that might be of interest to other Coubroughs.
I hope to eventually include photos of both people and places, a Dawn township
map showing the relative locations of the known farms in the story and
a bit of history of the area.
I hope to publish this newsletter twice a year (January and July). Hard
copy (paper) subscriptions may be had for $5 per year to cover paper and
postage by e-mailing me at the address at the bottom
of the page. I can not provide electronic copies as the files are too big to
e-mail, but anything in these pages may be freely downloaded.
The name
This is the history of our name, as far as I can tell. If you can add
anything to this story, I would like to hear from you.
Scottish surnames are of infinite variety, having been derived from
and influenced by Scandinavian, Celtic, Old English and Norman French languages.
The use of surnames in Scotland is believed to have begun in the lowland
Scottish towns in the twelfth century. Today the surname Coubrough and
its variants are not very common. Coubrough is mainly found in Lanarkshire
and Midlothian, while Coulbrough and Cowbrough are in Stirling. They are
shortened versions of Mac Coubrey, itself an anglicized form of Mac
Cuithbreaith. It is a patronym indicating "descendent of Cuthbert." Cuthbert
is a personal name from the Old English words "cud" and "beorht" meaning
"bright fame." The earliest use of this surname is from 1515 when David
Cowbratht witnessed a testament of inventory for Cathrine Lander. in 1669,
one Euphame Cubrighe lived at Badow, in the parish. In 1699, William Cubrigh
was a Perthshire heritor and John Couburg lived at Balglairosh, parish
of St. Neneans.
The beginning
Everyone knows that Jim and Annie Coubrough were the first of our line
to move to Canada, that they settled in Western Ontario, and that we are
all descended from their son Mathew and his wife Elizabeth. But did you
know that they probably lived in Nova Scotia and possibly New Brunswick
first, and that they actually had four children? And that Matt and Liz
were neighbours nearly all their lives before they were married? That the
children born in Dresden were actually born in Kent County, not
Lambton? (No, the county line has not moved: It's in the same place as
it was in 1849 when the Western District was split into the two counties.)
Here is the story so far that I have pieced together from the available
census records. If you have the answers to any of the questions, please
feel free to share with the rest of us.
1861
In 1861 James (Jim) Coubrough and his wife, Annie MacDonald, owned
a 50-acre farm in Lambton County, Ont. They had previously lived in Halifax,
N.S. where their second child, Flora Jane (Jenny), was born February 8,
1856. Before that, they had lived in New Brunswick, where their oldest
child, Mathew, was born on January 8, 1854. (The family oral history that
I heard insists that Matt was born in Halifax. The story is that they landed
just in time for Liz to be rushed to the County, hospital for his birth.)
They finally settled in Lambton Canada, where both of their younger daughters
were born: Mary (known as Minnie) on May 13, 1858 and Barbara in 1860.
(Her birthday was likely sometime after May 11th, judging by the way her
age is given in the census records--does anyone know for sure?)
According to the 1861 census for Lambton County (February/March, 1861),
James would be 30 on his next birthday, and Annie would be 35. They were
the only family living in their one-storey log home. They were members
of the Free Church, but at the time there was no church in the area. Mathew
had just turned seven, and he and his five-year-old sister Flora (known
as Jenny) were 'attending school within the year.' As for the babies, Mary
(Minnie) was going to be three on her next birthday and Barbara was only
just 'born in 1860.' No 'Persons over 20 years of age who could not read
or write' lived in their house.
The page listing livestock is blank, but the agricultural census for
1861 says they own two 'bulls or oxen over 3 years of age'; one 'steer
or heifer under 3 years of age'; one 'milch cow' and no horses, sheep or
pigs. Their livestock is worth a total of $78.
Annie and Jim lived on Lot 7, Concession 15 of Dawn Township. Of their
50 acres, 10 were under cultivation: 1 acre 'under crop in 1860', and 9
acres 'under pasture in 1860'. There was also ¼ acre 'under orchards
or garden', with the remaining 40 acres 'under wood or wild'. This would
be a pretty small orchard, and they never confessed to raising any fruit,
so this was likely the kitchen garden. The Coubroughs must have been at
least comfortably well off : The cash value of the farm was $400, with
$18 worth of 'farming tools or implements.' Since they owned the land outright
and they hadn't been there long enough to homestead (if there even was
such a thing in Ontario), they must have bought the place for cash. At
a time when a farm worker made less than $100 in a year, $400 would have
been a lot of money. Jim did not have any wheat, rye, barley, peas, oats,
buckwheat, Indian corn, potatoes, turnips, mangel wurzels, carrots, beans,
hops, clover or grass seed listed, but since he had 1 acre under crop,
he must have grown something. He did have one 'ton (2000 pounds)' of hay
that year.
Dawn Enumeration District # 102, where Jim and Annie lived, was 102
square miles and had a population of 716. The census enumerator was Nathan
Kerby, sworn in on February 15, 1861. The commissioner certified the census
as complete on March 23, 1861. (A lot of riding in a little over a month!)
Mr. Kerby made a few notes about the community on his way:
'The land is very wet which prevents getting in crops until late and
the early frost in the fall kills before coming to maturity
The soil is excellent all it requires is draining and Emigrants to clear
up the land and then there will not be a finer Farming Township in Western
Canada
One log School House on lot 15 in the 7 concession capable of holding
about 50 pupils. Average attendance this winter 16
There is very little beef as the fat cattle are sold and driven away
before killing
I could not get a correct statement of the quantity of oil from the
wells of Ian McWilliams but from my own observation, I should say there
was 3000 barrels at least hauled away to the railroad valued at the well
taking the lowest estimate at $12000.
To be continued...
Survey says
For those of us familiar with the land survey system on the prairies,
the systems in use in Ontario seem a bit odd. Amazingly though, there is
a method to the way land was divided. Mostly based on the experience of
the surveyors, the survey in Ontario is not consistent throughout the province.
There are at least four different methods in current use.
Dawn township uses the 'double-front' system. A township is six miles
square--same as on the prairies--but the sub-divisions ('farm lots' or
just 'lots') are smaller--only 200 acres each. Each lot is 30 chains (chain
= 66 feet) by 66.67 chains and there is a north-south 'concession line'
between every two rows of lots. East-west 'side roads' run every five lots
so there are road allowances around every group of five 200-acre lots.
Originally
the land was granted mostly in half-lot parcels (100 acres), but as settlement
increased many lots were further divided into 50-acre lots. The Lambton
County area had been surveyed at least 30 years before Jim and Annie got
there, but the county had only been created about six or eight years earlier
(January 1, 1850) when the Western District was split into Lambton and
Kent Counties. By the same Act, the counties were divided into townships:
Brooke, Dawn, Bosanquet, Enniskillen, Euphemia, Moore, Sarnia, Plympton,
Warwick and Sombra made Lambton County. This Act also provided for the
establishment of 'Municipal Corporations and Regulations of Police, in
and for the several Counties, Cities, Towns, Townships, and Villages in
Upper Canada, effective 1 January 1850.' It is interesting to note that
while the township on the prairies is merely a survey division, it remains
an active level of municipal government in Ontario. For example, I live
in Kingston Township which is right next to the City of Kingston. The township
is our first level of local government and has nothing to do with the city
government across the road, even though it performs the same function.
There are also two sets of utilities: one for the city, one for the township
and you can't pay bills for township services at a city office. The next
level of government for both is the County--Frontenac for us--then the
province.
1997
That's all the news that is news for now. At last count (December,
1996), there were approximately 1100 known individuals in the Coubrough
Family Tree. If you know of anyone who might be missing, or if you know
anything about another branch, please let us know.
Here are some of the other questions I am researching:
1. What were Jim's parents' names? Annie's?
2. Did he have any brothers or sisters? Did she?
3. When were Jim and Annie married? Where?
4. We know about when Jim and Annie arrived in Canada (1854), but when
did they leave Scotland? Did they come directly to Canada or did they live
somewhere else first?
5. What did Jim do before he came to Canada? He seems to have been a
sailor, but was he in the navy or was he on a merchant ship? Was he an
officer or did he sail before the mast?
6. What did Annie do before she was married? Did she live at home or
did she work somewhere?
7. Jim and Annie lived in Eastern Canada for less than four years before
moving to Ontario. Why did they move to Ontario? Did he buy his farm or
get it by a crown grant?
8. Are we related to any of the other Coubrough families I am in contact
with? (Contrary to popular belief, there are Coubroughs in Canada who are
not
descendants of Matt and Liz!)
9. There are also many Coubroughs in the US. Did Jim and Annie possibly
move there as children with their parents? Did Jim have other relatives
there?
Other branches
There are thought to be about 60 families worldwide bearing the Coubrough
surname. I am convinced that all
bearers of the Coubrough surname (and its variations) are related somewhere
along the way and I am working to try to prove this. If you have any information
or if you would like to help, if you know the answers to any of
the questions in the story, or if you have questions or comments about
the newsletter, please e-mail me at: myrna@coubrough.com