Fennell (Eigg Mountain Settlement History)

Thomas Fennell (Antigonish yeoman G_G_052)

Thomas Fennell of West River died without a will in 1830 and his widow Catherine was administered his estate (probate records).

John Fennell (Antigonish yeoman G_G_052)

The 1838 census shows a farmer in Dorchester district, (here John Fennel is a mariner in Sydney County), however this must be a different John Fennel (see below).

John Fennell who was granted “a lot of land containing 300 acres situated between the Hartshorne Grant and the back settlement of Knoydart,” died in 1828 and all of his lots in Sydney County (i.e. Antigonish) were sold to cover his debts.^[1]  These lots are probably not the ones he was granted (lot 230, lot 246).  Lot 230 is closer to the right size (250 acres), but he sold it to John Tobin in 1817.  In 1817 he bought two 200-acre lots (lot 316, lot 222).  These, totaling 373 acres, were presumably the ones sold at his death.

Fennell was a merchant living in Tracadie and presumably held the Eigg Mountain lots for the timber rights.

William Fennell was one of the administrators of John Fennel’s estate.^[2] John Fennell does not appear in the probate records for Antigonish County.^[3]

Joseph Fennell (Antigonish yeoman G_G_052), 1838 census shows a farmer in Dorchester district

^[1] The Acadian Recorder, February 16, 1828, vol. 16, no. 7, page 4.

^[2] The Acadian Recorder, February 16, 1828, vol. 16, no. 7, page 4.

^[3] Email, Joe D. MacDonald, March 10, 2018.