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New World Ostles
The New Brunswick Ostles
Most of the research on the Canadian side of this family has been carried out by
Gail Browne. Gail is a descendant of James Forster
who was a brother of the Mary Forster who married Jonathan of Seaville and Richibucto.
I am deeply indebted to Gail for her help also for the pictures of the Ostle graves and the
field map of Richibucto.
Many thanks also to Betty Telford of the Cumberland Mailing List, Bill Morris of the
Kent County website, and Susan Chandler, another Ostle relative by marriage, for their help.
Peter Ostle.
Thomas and Jonathan Ostle were second cousins; both great grandsons of Jonathan and his wife Jane Saul. Thomas was born in Maryport, Jonathan came from Seaville (pronounced Civil). Complete details of their families can be found on the Saul Ostles pages.
Thomas married Pheobe Saul at Wigton in March 1822; she must have been a distant cousin of his. Jonathan's wife was Mary Forster, their marriage has not yet been traced but her family may have originated from Whetheral, near Carlisle.
Shortly after the wedding Thomas and Phoebe set sail for New Brunswick in Canada where Thomas had already purchased some land; there are records of sales made in 1819 to a Thomas Ostle in both Buctouche and Wellington, NB. The Ostles may well have left from Maryport, Jonathan probably sailed with them. At the time, there was an extensive trade in timber between the West Cumberland ports and New Brunswick. They could have sailed on the Hannah, a brig of 223 tons burthen, launched from the shipyard of Peat and Co at Maryport in 1818. Her captain was John Newby and, each year, she would make two regular voyages. In the autumn and winter months she sailed to the West Indies and back, making a shorter trip in the summer to one of the Canadian timber ports.
She was certainly not the only ship engaged in this timber trade. The Shipping Intelligence column of the 'Cumberland Pacquet' for these years is full of such voyages. In just one week, it lists The Nymph sailing to Richibutco, The William to Miramichi, The Fortune to St. Johns, all in New Brunswick, and The Commerce to Quebec.
The voyage would have been hard, especially for Phoebe who must have been pregnant with her first child, a boy whom she was to call Wilkinson Ostle after Thomas's grandmother and his cousin who ran a drapery business in Maryport. According to Loris Russell, in those days a westward Atlantic crossing could take anything from twenty-five days to over two months. Even in the best ships there were many discomforts but in the converted lumber vessels living conditions were incredibly bad. Crowded sleeping space, bad ventilation and sanitary arrangements, poor food, inadequate and fouled water supply, drunkenness and brutality among passengers or crew, all made the passage a ghastly experience. There were often epidemics, on board or after landing, of cholera, typhus, diphtheria and smallpox. It seems that Phoebe suffered badly and may never have regained her full health.
Wilkinson might have been born on the ship but, by February 1825, he was dead at the age of two and Phoebe was pregnant again. After this tragedy, Thomas and Phoebe decided to return to England. Perhaps Thomas sold his property in Buctouche to finance the voyage. They were back in Wigton by August when their second child, Martha was baptised. In June 1826, their third child, Frances, was born but, sadly this was to prove too much for Phoebe and she died on July 14. Frances lived for only ten weeks.
Thomas returned to Canada but seems to have left Martha at home in Wigton. On December 17, 1830 he remarried in Richibucto to Euphemia McIntosh. They may have had a daughter Margaret, who is buried with her husband, James Murray in Rexton, across the river from Richibucto. The monument to Phoebe and her children, in Wigton Churchyard, says that Thomas died on April 21, 1866 in Richibucto. In the 1861 census there, he is living alone and his occupation is given as a servant.
After such tragedy, it is a relief to turn to the other member of the family who left for New Brunswick with Thomas. Jonathan married Mary Forster and the settled in Richibucto where Mary's family owned quite a bit of land, as can be seen from the map below:
They had a large family. Elizabeth was born in 1826, Jane in 1827, Matthewman in 1829, Jonathan in 1832, Fanny in 1838, Isabella in 1840, Mary in 1843 and Margaret in 1847. Sadly, her mother, Mary, seems to have died shortly after Margaret's birth. They also brought up an Elizabeth Rowbotham Ostle who may possibly have been adopted from some of Mary's relatives.
Matthewman was called after his great grandmother, Mary Matthewman. Details of her family can be found on the Saul Ostles page. He was a painter and doesn't seem to have married; in 1861 he was living with his sisters, Elizabeth and Fanny. He died in 1862 at the age of thirty-three. His brother Jonathan died at twenty-two as did Mary. Fanny and Elizabeth both died in their thirties. Their father also died at a comparatively early age, the sad story is traced on their memorial in Richibucto cemetery.
Sister Jane was made of sterner stuff. She married John Thompson a boat builder in Richibucto. They had at least eleven children, the fourth of whom was christened Matthewman Ostle Thompson thus perpetuating the name for another generation.
They didn't just use Ostle names for their children. In 1858, John built a fifty-three ton schooner which he named the 'MATTHEWMAN OSTLE'! She was still sailing in 1892 by when she was registered at Quebec under the ownership of one Sylvanus Powell of Richibucto. Perhaps she's among the ships below. . . .
John Thompson died in 1890 at the age of sixty-seven. Jane was eighty when she died in 1900. Today there are no Ostles living in New Brunswick and, unless Thomas and Euphemia had a son who moved away, the family name has died out in this line. However, Jane's line – the Thompsons – must still be alive and kicking somewhere in Canada or the USA.
The sun has set on the Ostle's first adventure in the new world, but many more were to follow in the footsteps of Thomas and Jonathan.
Detailed references available on request.
Bibliography:
The Maritime History of Maryport by Annie Robinson (Published privately)
Everyday Life in Colonial Canada by Loris Russell (Batsford, 1973)
