Liz's Response to Ami's Question

Hi folks,


In Ami's recent blog post, she wondered why our folks immigrated to Lincoln, Maine. Will we ever know the reason for sure? I don't know. I do know that they immigrated to other areas in Maine, Iowa, California and Ontario as well. During the 1920's when our greats and great-greats held their reunions, Kingsley Ballantyne was the Family Historian. I wonder what happened to Kingsley's writings. Does anyone know? He only had one daughter, Ruth, and she died quite young. 

Anyway, I thought Liz put a lot of effort into her answer, and even though I added it as a comment to Ami's post, I am going to post it here so you won't miss it.

"I wondered, too, about the number of people who immigrated from New Brunswick, Canada, to Maine - and to other areas in the USA as well. While researching my 2X Great Grandmother, Carrie Holmes Steeves, I was amazed to see how many with the name Steeves who were born in New Brunswick, Canada, were listed as living in the Boston area in about 1890. The link to Wikipedia's description of the Petitcodiac River . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petitcodiac_River#Resettlement_and_modern_history_.281763.E2.80.93present.29


. . . explains what happened to cause an economic depression in the Moncton area in 1860. Apparently the
railway line to Moncton was extended to Saint John, which caused Moncton to be 'just another stop along a
railway line.' And the article also says that 'this coincided with the failure of Moncton's shipbuilding industry, and a population drop from a peak of 2000 to about 500. The town declared bankruptcy and was
unincorporated in 1862, although it got back its status in 1875.

This may have been a key factor in precipitating an exodus away from the New Brunswick area, along with the fact that the 'industrial age' was picking up steam about that time. I suppose the highly populated areas like Boston would have offered more diverse job opportunities . . . and even a small town in Maine, like Lincoln, would have been attractive as well, because of its closeness to New Brunswick and its access to good farming and logging opportunities.

 Your picture on the lake of the Holmes siblings (with your ancestor William and my ancestor Carrie) looks very much like other photos our side of the family has of Holmes reunions on the lakes and of pictures taken at 'Holmes' cottages' on the lake. It also might have been taken at the Ballantyne cottage on Mattanawcook
Lake called 'Springside,' which was very popular with family members well into the 1930's. It's nice to think that many of the Holmes siblings in that large family did try to maintain their family ties, with frequent visits and
reunions even in their later years."

Liz