Peter Andrew Jeffrey (1813 - 1902)

Born 10 Oct 1813 in Scotland

Descendants

Died 1902 at about age 88 in Bagdad, Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada

Biography

Peter Andrew Jeffrey was born in Scotland in Oct 10, 1815 and had eleven sisters. (Names unknown at this time.) At the age of 18 he enlisted with the 104th Royal Light Artillery as a gunner and was stationed for seven years at Fort Doncannon, Ireland. While there he married Elleen Cooney probably in 1833. In 1834 their first son Robert Eden Jeffrey was born in Welsford County, Ireland. Two more children were born: James William and Euphemia. Queen Victoria was anxious to have the boundary lines between Canada and the United States settled. The queen came to the barracks in Ireland to pick out and detail men of the regiment to come to Canada, Peter Andrew Jeffrey was one of those men. He was described at that time as being 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed in excess of 200 pounds, and with red hair. The descendants of those settled in the Grand Lake Area of Queens County, N.B. Little is known of Euphemia but it is believed she died in the barracks while in Halifax. This move was in 1842 and the time of the Ashburton Treaty. Peter Andrew Jeffrey was first sent to Halifax, then Saint John and then Fredericton. During this time Elleen moved first to the barracks in Halifax and twins James and Mary were born and then the family moved to the barracks in Saint John. After 19 years of army service he retired and shortly after Elleen died and she was buried in the Old Burial Ground in Saint John, NB. Peter Andrew J took up the shoe making trade and with the twins moved to Connecticut, USA and worked in a shipyard and married Mary McCarty. Very shortly Mary died. There were no children from this marriage. He then rejoined the army for a few years then returned to New Brunswick and settled in the Grand Lake Area. Queen Victoria had granted land in the Jeffrey name from Grand Lake to Washdemoak Lake in Queens County, NB, and the Jeffrey family built homes and settled there. Peter Andrew came back and lived with his son James William Jeffrey at Bagdad, Queens County, New Brunswick. He died at age 89 in the year 1902. He is buried in the Saint Luke's Cemetery, Youngs Cove Road, near Bagdad, in Queens County, New Brunswick. The spelling of Jeffery and Jeffrey does not seem to have any distinction. Even within families, the spelling varies without reason. That is similar to the situation of MacLeod and McLeod, I believe.

• Fact: Burial Saint Luke's Anglican Church Cemetery , Waterborough, Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada

Sources

• Peter Jeffrey (1813-1900) on Find A Grave: Memorial #134419135 retrieved 24 July 2021

Thanks to Nancy Reardon, who directed me to http:www.jeffrey.com which had details of the life of Peter Andrew Jeffrey

Research

His gravestone has a wife, Julia, d. 1882, not otherwise mentioned, connected as the mother of his sons.