HUDSON QUALTROUGHS, CANADA
The Hudson/Qualtrough Family of New Brunswick
by Ralph Hudson, near Fredriction, New Brunswick, Canada
Where is New Brunswick, Canada? It is located on the east coast of Canada and is one of the Maritime and Atlantic provinces. It is boarded by the Atlantic ocean, state of Maine, USA and the Province of Quebec.
The Hudson family is connected to the Qualtrough family throughChristian Sarah Faragher, daughter of James Faragher and Catherine Qualtrough. All are from the beautiful Isle of Man. (See Chart 9)
John James Hudson, my grandfather was born at Ballaby, [Ballabeg?] Arbory, Isle of Man, June 22 1865. On October 23, 1893, he was married at Warrington, Lancashire, England to the above-mentioned Catherine Sarah Faragher, born October 15 1868 at Colby, Arbory, Isle of Man. Christian was the daughter of my great-grandparents James Faragher, who died in 1944 and is buried at the Malew Church Cemetery, IOM and Catherine Qualtrough.
James and Catherine (Qualtrough) Faragher had at least 4 children:
Christian Sara , Jane who died in 1963, Beatrice and Bella, all born at Colby, Isle of Man.
Sometime in the early 1900s Grandfather (John James Hudson) decided to come to Canada. There are two dates as to when he arrived in New Brunswick. One of the dates is that he sailed on June 13 1907 aboard the "Empress of Ireland". In a letter to my sister Dorothy, Jane Faragher’s daughter states the following "I was only 3 years old when Aunt Christian took the family to live in Canada to join her husband John Hudson, who had emigrated about a year before." That would put the year 1909 because Grandmother Hudson (ie Christian Sara) arrived in New Brunswick in 1910.
There is a belief that one of John Hudson’s brothers may have come with him and went to Newcastle, New Brunswick. We have never been able to find out if this is true.
On April 10 1910 Grandmother Christian Hudson and family of five (5) children, Catherine Isabella, Christian Jane, John James, Margaret Daisy and Eleanor Nellie sailed from Liverpool, England aboard the "Empress of Ireland" arriving at Saint John, New Brunswick. The Hudson family was on their way to Grand Falls. It was not a very good trip across the Atlantic for them because the youngest daughter, Eleanor died aboard the ship of appendicitis and was buried at sea off the coast of Newfoundland.
The family settled in the town of Grand Falls, NB, buying a house at the lower end of the town, which was known as the Portage. Life in Grand Falls in the early 1900s was not the life that either Christian or her husband were used to. The town was just over a hundred years old when they arrived. Yes, there were roads, a railway line, streets and stores, but no electricity in the town till 1913 – then it was only turned on at dark and shut off at 11pm. On moonlight nights, it was not turned on. This policy was maintained until the town had its own power dam completed in 1928.
We have no idea as to why the family left Warrington, England and came to Canada.
Grandfather, John Hudson, died September 1 1923 at Grand Falls, NB and is buried at the Pinehill Baptist Cemetery, Grand Falls.
It was shortly after that, when Christian, John Hudson’s widow, moved to Westport, Digby County, Nova Scotia to live with her oldest daughter Catherine. Before she left, Christian sold the land to her eldest son John and his wife with a few conditions- to keep, maintain and support her during her natural life in the conditions that she was accustomed to living.
This included suitable meat, drink, clothing, footwear, washing, lodging, medicine, medicine, medical attendance, repair of clothing, fire and fuel and all other things that were required for the support of a woman of her age. And any conditions which were not followed meant that the sale was void!! Another provision of the sale also included a payment of one hundred dollars a month!
Grandmother Christian (nee Faragher) Hudson died October 15 1947 at Westport, Nova Scotia and is buried on a little Island called Bear Island.
While five children came to New Brunswick with Christian Sara Faragher in 1910 (one, Eleanor, dying on the voyage from England) a sixth child, Joshua Edward ("Eddy") was the only child born in Canada. He was referred to by Christian as "my little Canadian baby"
Today the descendants of Catherine Qualtrough and James Faragher, parents of Christian Sara Hudson, nee Faragher, are spread all over North America and in Australia.
February 2002
© Copyright by Malcolm Qualtrough, Elizabeth Feisst and the late John Karran Qualtrough.