Joseph Alexander was born in Brechin, Angus, Scotland on 15 April 1795 to John Sievwright, a lawyer in Brechin and Helen Lowe.
He was mentioned in his mother's will as residing in "the island of Demerary" ca 1830. This I suspected was British Guiana, now Guyana in Central America, well known for sugar plantations. Was my ancestor a slave owner?
Today a new data base was published online of people who claimed compensation from the British government after the abolition of slavery in 1833 and there he is, guilty as charged. He made 3 claims and received over £700 in compensation, a small fortune in those days. British Guiana claim no. 697 suggests that Jos. Alexander Sievwright was a resident attorney.
At the age of 46 he married Catherine Howe the daughter of the late John Howe, Deputy Postmaster General of Canada on 23 November 1841 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a bachelor and she a spinster (although gravestone information suggests she was previously married to Samuel Hoyt)
In 1851 census he was a farmer living at King's Norton with wife and 3 daughters, 4 Irish lodgers, servants, and his unmarried sister Marjory. One of the Irish servants was 12 year old Bridget Blaney whom Joseph took on from the Saint John Almhouse in New Brunswick on the 17th May 1848, her father and mother were in hospital. They had arrived in 1847 on the Portland. This information is from Peter D Murphy in Poor Ignorant Children click here will download a pdf file
1851 census
He died on 7 July 1854 and is buried at St Paul's Anglican Church Cemetery, Lakeside, Hampton, New Brunswick.
Here he is on my tree
