Finding Sarah Davis of Cardigan, New Brunswick
In June of 1819 a number of Welsh families settled in York County, New Brunswick.
Among them was the family of William Davies/Davis and his wife Margaret. There were 8 children at least in their family. Information I received from the Welsh Sociality of center New Brunswick gave most of the children’s first names. They are as follows:
Sons were John, David and William and
the daughters were Ann, Mary Margaret and Sarah.
There is still one more whose name is not known to me at this time.
York County has an area named Cardigan for the Welsh settlers that had came from Great Britain. William had Lot 10 on the Royal Road to Cardigan.
In Dec. 1830 William made his will. It was probated in March of 1831. He was leaving his property to his daughter Sarah. This was done with the approval of his wife Margaret and two of his other children: John Davis and his wife Jeanett, and Mary Davis Smith and her husband Aaron Smith.
In September of 1835 Sarah sells part of the land to Richard Boucher. I tried to find Sarah in 1851 census but was not able to find her. I next looked at the early marriages for York County, New Brunswick.
There were two Sarah Davis who got married:
Sarah Davis to Thomas BOULTER on Oct. 17, 1822 in
Fredericton, York, New Brunswick and
Sarah G. Davis to John PEPPARD on May 11, 1837 in
Douglas Parish, York, New Brunswick.
There were no parents listed for either couple.
I found Thomas and Sarah Boulter in the1851 census and she was from Wales, since she married before William Davis’s death I could eliminate her because William, left everything to his daughter Davis and there no mention of Thomas Boulter.
I looked at First Families of New Brunswick and found a listing for John Peppard and his wife Sarah Davis. They lived in Cardigan, New Brunswick and Debert, Nova Scotia. The First Families listed Sarah as a child of William and Margaret but stated Sarah was born in Nova Scotia.
So to see if I could confirm or dispute the claim Sarah Davis was born In Nova Scotia, and a child of William and Margaret, I went to: www.familysearch.org/
When you type in www.familysearch.org/ into your browser it takes you to their home page. On the upper right hand corner is a world map. I click on Canada and it gives you the option to pick which province you want to work in. I picked New Brunswick. I then click to view all files that were available listed for New Brunswick.
I when to the county deeds records of New Brunswick.
Click on York County and options of view either the deeds themselves or the indexes. I when to the Index and reviewed all the land deeds for William Davis in file 1784-1849. Checked to see the land William gave to Sarah was lot 10 in Cardigan. AND then check in 1835 land deed when Sarah had sold the farm land to Richard Boucher. Sarah kept the homestead and the land around the house but sold the rest of the farm.
I then when back to deeds index for York for period covering the 1850-1873 and did not find Sarah Davis selling her home but she was not in the 1851 Census.
I then check for anything for John Peppard. Found him in 1861, John and his wife Sarah of Nova Scotia were selling lot 10 in Cardigan to Edmund Phillips.
I when back to the Deed Index of 1784-1849 and found John Peppard had in 1837 after his marriage to Sarah G. Davis brought back the actually farmland from Richard Boucher.
According to the First Families article the family moved back to Nova Scotia in 1850 and return to John’s home town of ‘The Great Village’ in Colchester County, Nova Scotia.
By researching the deeds I found that John Peppard had married the daughter of William and Margaret Davis daughter Sarah. Checking the census records for Nova Scotia 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 found Sarah with John and in census she states she was born in Wales.
