The Pye Plate

William and Isobella Carmichael had 8 children but I have only been able to discover information on three of them. The others are still a work in progress.

I touched briefly on James and Francis in the previous blog, and now want to include one of their sisters, Isabel Carmichael. Isabel was b. 1757 in Aberlour, Scotland and married James Murray from Mortlach, Scotland. They had 8 children. One of their younger sons, Robert Murray, married his first cousin, ^^Isabel Carmichael, d/o Francis and Elizabeth Carmichael in 1823 in Nova Scotia.

Francis and Elizabeth Keillor had 9 children:

*Thompson (1796-1861), b. in Banff, d. in Bridgewater, NS, m. 1826 (in Lunenburg NS) Elizabeth Barbara Hubley (1806-1881) – 15 children

Mary (1791-1874) m. Unknown McCabe

David (1799-?)

Robert (1800-?)

^^Isobel (1801-1864) m. c 1823 Robert Murray (1792-1884) – 8 children

James (1803-?)

Elizabeth (1804-1877) m. 1829 William Mahy (1801-1873) – 1 child

John (1806-?)

Isaac (1808-1887) m. 1831 Jane Hamilton (1818-?) – 9 children

*Thompson and Barbara are my gt. gt. grandparents. Barbara’s grandparents arrived in Nova Scotia from Eppingen, Rhineland, Palatinate in Germany, an area that was once called Prussia. They arrived here in 1751 as passengers on The Pearl. Her parents were Johannes and Anna Maria Kahler Hubley. The Hubley family lived in Lunenburg NS for several generations. Thompson and Barbara were married in Lunenburg in 1826. Earlier research about Barbara Hubley Carmichael has been discredited. The first is that they were from Switzerland, but it has been established that they were from Germany. It has been stated that she was a physician, the first female doctor in Geneva, Switzerland. There is simply no evidence to support this or any evidence that she ever left NS, to study or to live in Switzerland. What is probably more accurate is that she was a mid-wife/nurse. The only known connection to Switzerland was that Barbara’s grandmother, Anna Barbara Leigh (also spelled Ley) was b. in that country in 1726. Barbara was born in Nova Scotia, a 2^nd generation from the immigrant Jacob Ulrich Hubley. She was born at St. Margaret’s Bay, a large bay on the southern shore of NS with its western shore in Lunenburg Co. and it’s eastern shore in Halifax Co.

Elizabeth Barbara Hubley Carmichael

Thompson and Barbara had 15 children, one who died at the age 7, another who died at 19 and 5 others that seem to have no information available about them. Thompson supported his family by teaching school and held various posts in various places over the years. Often times he was posted in an area where the residents were poor, thus they struggled for survival on a teacher’s salary. In 1860, he petitioned the government for 100 acres of land, stating his long service as a teacher and that he had taught 1600 students during his 27 year teaching career. Thompson died in 1861 in Bridgewater, NS and is buried there in the Bridgewater Cemetery. I have found nothing that states the government awarded him his request or that it was given to the family posthumously. There seems to be no information on Barbara until the 1881 census when she is found living with her daughter, Mary Jane Carmichael Hardy who had married Thomas Hardy in 1875. In the 1881 census, Thomas, Mary and three children are living with them, although the older one is too old to be Mary Jane’s, suggesting that Thomas was married before. Also living with them was his father, Richard Hardy and Mary’s mother Barbara Carmichael.

Thompson and Barbara Carmichael had children:

Henry Edward (1827-bef. 1850)

Frederick Hubley (1830-1911) m. Jane Faulds (1833-1921) – 11 children

John George (1831-?) m. 1869 Terrisa Shaw (1850-?)

James Thomson (1832-1881 in Medway, MA) m. 1862 Susan Roberts (c. 1832-?) – 6 children

William (1833-1852)

Alexander Francis (1835-1927) m. 1867 Ellen Dillon (1841-1922) – 7 children

Daniel (1837-?)

Charles (1839-1846)

Christine Isabella (1842-?) m. 1870 Robert Gordon (1841-1882) – 7 children

Hannah C. (1845-1937) m. 1872 Thomas Gordon (1842-1940) – 4 children

Mary Jane (1847-1894) m. 1875 Thomas Hardy (1849-?)

Barbara (1849-?)

*Henry Gordon (1850-1910) m. 1873 Mary Ellen Scarr (1853-1923) – 8 children

Elizabeth (1851-?)

Andrew (1552-?)

Frederick Hubley Carmichael was a coal miner at a large mine at Springhill, NS. Fred and his family were living near the mine where he and three of his sons were working. Early in Feb. 1891, Fred was injured in a work-related accident leaving him with a broken arm and collarbone. He had been confined to his bed and for this reason he was not in the mine on Feb. 21 1891 when there was an explosion, killing 125 miners, including three of his sons. Many of the miners were children between the ages of 10 and 13. Frederick lost his sons, Andrew, William and John, who had a wife and 4 children. Since Frederick couldn’t leave his bed, the coffins were brought to his home, so that he might say good-by to his sons before burial took place. Frederick and Jane lost a fourth son about three years before this. Their son James, was struck and killed by lightning as he stood in the doorway talking to his mother. It would seem that bad luck followed this ill-fated family.

Frederick Hubley Carmichael

John was a sea Captain but there seems to be no information about him, beyond his marriage to Terrisa Shaw.

Capt. John Carmichael

James was a carpenter who moved his family to Medway MA in the 1870’s. Their two youngest children were born there. James died in 1881 of Phthisis or a form of tuberculosis.

Alexander Francis was also a carpenter, having started on that path building ships. He met and married his wife, Ellen Dillon in Nova Scotia, and soon thereafter he also moved to Medway MA. By 1877, he had settled his family in Orr Springs CA. In 1882 they moved to Mendocino CA. Alexander became known as an architect even though he didn’t have the schooling for it. He built many of the Victorian homes in Mendocino and Fort Bragg, CA.