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Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Posted: 8 Sep 2008 1:41AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 2 Feb 2015 10:23PM GMT
Surnames: Kevin, Shinnick, Colford, Cashen
My primary interest is the Kervin and Shinnick line from Cains River NB. The Kervin's married into the
Shinnick, Colford and Cashen lines.

I have am currently working on the Colford line. Patrick Colford b. 1846, (s/o Edward Colford and Anne Doyle) married Alice Cashen October 24, 1874 if I am reading the Drouin Collection correctly. She died in 1895 and he remarried according to the 1911 Census to Mattie. Does anyone have any information on Mattie?

Re: Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Posted: 1 Feb 2012 1:02AM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi. I would love to know more about these families. My interest is that my O’Connell family came from Cain’s River. My mother said that one of them, David O’Connell was friends with a Cashen. (He may have had some fishing camps in the area?)
I would like to learn more about Shinnickburn, and how the town originally was set up. I am wondering if the Catholic church was involved as it was an Irish community. Sometimes the church was behind some of these ventures, working with counterparts in Ireland to relive the situation there.

Re: Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Posted: 28 Dec 2012 8:34PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hello:

I am somewhat familar with Shinnickburn. I know of Doug Cahen who was the father of Jim Cashen. The last I heard of Jim, he was in a retirement home. He has a couple of sisters. One is Shirley and the other is Ilene. Ilene is living in Fredericton, NB. I am not sure where Shirley is living.
With respect to the Kervins. There are a few Kervins living in the Cains River area or between Doaktown and the Cains River Road.
I don't know if there are any permanent residents living in Shinnickburn anymore. I haven't been there for a few years but intend to find my way back. It is a wonderful area to spend some time.

Re: Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 2:30AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 29 Dec 2012 2:31AM GMT
My wife and I went up to Cains River last May. It did not look like there was any one living in there any more.... just some old fishing camps that looked overgrown and some more or less abandoned houses. We did not drive to the end of the road as we would have become stuck and would probably still be there today!
I may have met a Colford while at Blackville. He was an older guy who goes to the "cofee hour" every morning at "...pines" restauraunt. Some of the older guys knew my O'Connell family. I would love to go back ther sometime soon.

Re: Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 2:54AM GMT
Classification: Query
I have intentions of going back there too. My father, Dr. Colin Lythgoe owned the Harry Boyce property and intend to go back and work the land. I don't know if Byron Moore still goes over to the Cains or not.
The old fishing camps you are talking about belonged to James Cashen. His daughter became the power of attorney and I think she sold all of James's land. I think he had 600 acres there. The bungalow at the foot of the Cains River road as you go down a long hill facing the river belonged to George Wilkins and Shirley. I was informed that George passed away a couple of years ago and so I suspect that Shirley moved out when that happened.
There are a lot of Colfords in the area. When I was around the Cains River I used to hear the name George Colford alot.
Basil Kervin was living in the old Kervin estate at the mouth of the Mazerolle Brook. I spent a very nice evening (December 10) with Basil and his girlfriend. They had the Christmas tree decorated and the house was really cozy. Of course, the tree didn't have lights on it for they didn't have any power to the house. The tree did have tinsel on it though and it looked lovely. Basil had a lattern in each window that was lit.

I have a lot of good memories of the area as I would fish there in the spring and fall from 1978 to 1987. I plan to return to the property either by transferring down to New Brunswick or when I retire.

Re: Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 3:09AM GMT
Classification: Query
My GG grandfather John O'Connell owned the lot behind Basil's on Muzeroll brook. John's mother Bridget and his brother Edmund had the lots accross the Cains River at the mouth of six mile brook. That is where the family originaly setteled in about 1852.

Re: Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 8:35AM GMT
Classification: Query
I heard the name O'Connell quite a few times during my time around the Cains River.

Harry Boyce and I would fish the six mile pool in the fall and in the spring we would stop there to have a look around. We used to boat up river for a few hours in the spring and then fish back down to the camp property. I think we would boat up to the an old farmstead called the Arbeau farm. I don't remember for sure but you could still see the foundation to the house. Apparently, at one time, there were many families living on the Cains River.

1852, eight years before the American Civil war. In 1860, the moose population in New Brunswick was reduced. The moose were being killed for their leather. The Yankees needed the leather for gun holsters, belts etc. for their uniforms.

Getting back to Basil's, there is a camp across the road from where Basil was living. The group would come down from Ontario and fish for two weeks in the fall. I can't remember if they were part of the Kervin's or not. Willy Kervin was around for a few years. I don't know if he is still in the area or not.

Re: Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 2:39PM GMT
Classification: Query
There are O'Connells up there but they are from two or three other O'Connell/Connell/Connelly families from the Chatham/ Newcastle and Bartibog areas. The last of our Connells passed away in 1967. However, any of the older Kirvins may know of my family and I would love to learn what they know of them. When I went there last spring there was a man named Emery Brophy, who came from Cains River. He remembered the last of our O'Connells, David and his sister Maggie. He also said that the original settler at the mouth of six mile brook was a widow who landed at St. John and took her kids overland the roughly 100 miles, through the woods to Cains River. I told him that was our family and that my grandmother used to tell us that story. I found it interesting that some people in the comunity still remembered that story even though the O'Connell family is long gone from the area. I guess the story was considered noteworthy even back then. (Most people in that area landed at Chatham and came down the river)
My grandfather, who married into the family used to vacation at Doug Cashens camps when they went up there to see Davie O’Connell when he was still alive. He would fish on the family land at Muzzerol Brook. He said there were lots of trout there. One time in the fall he was fishing early in the morning and a big bull moose came out of the woods and stopped 10 feet in front of him. Neither one of them dared to move for quite some time. Eventually the moose wondered off.

Re: Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 8:12PM GMT
Classification: Query
James Cashen was the last to look after Doug Cashen camps. Jim used to mow the lawn in there and would rent the camps out but since he went into the retirement home, no one has been looking after the camps.

Reg Cashen, Jim's cousin was living in the old homestead right next to where George and Shirley were living, but he burned to death one year when his house caught on fire.

Willy Kervin was living on Route 8 in a blue house. He moved back from BC and he would come in and fish the Cains River in the fall. He owned some land in on Cains River but I know he had it up for sale. He owned about twenty acres right next door to Doug Cashen's homestead. Ilene was living there until she moved to Fredericton. Her son works for the City of Fredericton as a small engine mechanic. His name is Kevin.

Willy lives about half way between Doaktown and the Cains River road. His house is about 200 yards off Route 8 and I think there is an old sawmill next door to his property.

I was last into our camp about five years ago. I had to go in and fix the chimney on our camp.

Apparently, the fishing was really good the year before. The best it had been in forty years. No one knows where the fish came from because up until that year, the fishing was in decline.

I have never really fished the Muzzerol brook for trout but it is on my wish list of places to fish. It is a wonderful brook.

I find some of the people in the area know the history and the families and there is a long history in that area. I would think today however, we are losing the verbal or pass me down history as the older generation have passed away. Old deeds still retain some of who lived on what properties.

There is a lot of moose in the area. I know around our camp property I have seen a lot of moose. On some days I saw a couple of moose in the upper bogon and a couple in the lower bogon. I could see them from standing in front of the camp.

The Cains River is a wonderful place to be in the spring and in the fall. I found in the last few years that I was there that the river had widened out and during the summer, the water really warmed up a lot. There was a lot of algae growing in the river. I noticed that the bald eagles were making a comeback tough.

Re: Kervin/Shinnick/Colford/Cashens of Cains River

Posted: 30 Dec 2012 12:16AM GMT
Classification: Query
My mother in-law went over to Cains River a few years ago and visited Basil Kervin. At that time he was living in the Kervin homestead built by Cornelius Kervin. This is all wonderful information. Most of the older generation of Kervin's have died. There is one cousin living in Linneus, Maine and another living in Hartford, Ct from my husbands line. Thanks for your comments.
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