Hugh McLaren (1817 - 1895)

Born 1817 in County Derry, Ireland

Husband of Elizabeth (Megarrity) McLaren — married 1845 (to 4 Jan 1890) in Upham, Kings, New Brunswick

Descendants

Died 19 Apr 1895 at about age 78 in Barnesville, Upham, Kings, New Brunswick, Canada

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Biography

Hugh McLaren was born in 1817 in County Derry, Ireland. He passed away in 1895 at Barnesville, Upham, Kings, New Brunswick, Canada.

Hugh McLaren was a native of Londonderry, Ireland. He apparently came to New Brunswick as a young man with the McGarrity (Megarity) family. It is unclear when they arrived as the 1851 census has the McGarrity's arriving in 1831 and Hugh McLaren in 1839. According to Hazel McLaren Blizzard the McGarritys brought Hugh McLaren to New Brunswick at the urging of their daughter Elizabeth. Possibly a member of the McGarrity family may have gone back to Ireland for Hugh.

The story has been told that Philip and Mariah had a child aboard ship as they crossed the seas. If they had arrived in 1831 it would have been their daughter Mariah.

On July 3, 1845 Hugh married Elizabeth McGarrity. They established a farm close to the McGarritys and proceeded to populate the household with children. In 1846 Hugh's father Joseph and mother immigrated to New Brunswick; sadly his mother did not survive the voyage. According to my grandfather, Earnest McLaren, the name Ritchie was the maiden name of one of our grandmothers. Possibly Joseph senior's wife's maiden name. Joseph lived with his son until his death in about 1861.

By 1881 the house is full of children and most are helping on the farm, but Mary is a teacher. Joseph, Robert and William have moved out of the house. On January 4, 1890 Elizabeth passed away. By 1891 all of the children had moved away except Irvine, Maria and George who are still living on the farm with their father Hugh. Hugh Mclaren passed away April 24, 1895. He is buried with his wife at Saint Barnabas Anglican Cemetery which is adjacent to the Barnesville Presbyterian Cemetery in Barnesville. The St. Peter's Anglician cemetery is up the road a few miles where other family members are buried.

Memories

Hugh McLaren immigrated from Ireland together with the McGarrity family. He later married Elizabeth McGarrity at St. Peters Church in Upham. They settled across the river (Hammond River) from Upham, and the McGarrity’s lived on the farm below the McLarens and later moved to the back settlement. The McLarens were in mixed farming, grew vegetables, raised cattle, pigs, hens and sheep, carding their own wool for knitting the men’s clothing. Pork fat was used for making doughnuts, molasses cake and cookies. Grandmother, Elizabeth, cared for the geese, ducks, turkeys, hens, and chickens. They made their own butter and the buckwheat crop was ground into flour. Grandmother pitted and cored the apples and hung them to dry on strings strung between two poles, for the making of pies, puddings and applesauce. Jams, jellies, pickles, bread, yeast, soap, and laundry starch were all made at home. Grandfather’s horses won prizes at exhibitions and fairs; they were shown by my father, George. No other relatives of my great grandfather came to Canada. My McLaren grandparents are buried at the Barnesville Presbyterian Cemetery, as are my McGarrity grandparents. My husband Charles is also interned there and I will be also, as arranged with Reid’s funeral parlour.

( the above has been edited from notes by Hazel McLaren Blizzard by Arthur D. Mosher and his wife Jean in Etobicoke, Ontario, 1999.)

Sources

Granddaughter of Hugh wrote story about the family which was shared with me.

Daniel F. Johnson : Volume 98 Number 3044^[1]

Date April 27 1895
County Saint John
Place Saint John
Newspaper The Daily Telegraph

d. Upham (Kings Co.) April 19th, Hugh McLAREN, age 78 years, a native of County Derry, Ireland and a resident of Upham for about 50 years, left seven sons and three daughters.

"Canada Census, 1871", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4MN-H4R : Thu Mar 07 16:29:59 UTC 2024), Entry for Hugh McLaren and Elizabeth McLaren, 1871.

"Canada Census, 1881", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MV64-DZ7 : Fri Mar 08 21:31:57 UTC 2024), Entry for Hugh McLaren and Elisabeth McLaren, 1881.

"Canada Census, 1891," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWKF-HK3 : 3 August 2016), Hugh Mclaren, Upham, Kings, New Brunswick, Canada; Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario; Library and Archives Canada film number 30953_148103

Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics https://archives.gnb.ca/Search/NewspaperVitalStats/FullTextResults.aspx?culture=en-CA

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/131339536/hugh_mclaren