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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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CUNARD, HENRY (1803-1885)

CUNARD, HENRY, businessman and gentleman farmer; b. Halifax, N.S., 1803, s/o Abraham Cunard and Margaret Murphy; brother of Joseph Cunard; m. 1830, Elizabeth Duffus, of Halifax; d. Chatham, 27 Jul 1885.

Henry Cunard arrived in Chatham in 1820 or soon after that date and became a partner of his brother in Joseph Cunard & Co. He stayed with the firm until about 1841, when he withdrew and went into business on his own with a sawmill, brickyard, and store at Clarke's Cove. He advertised bricks for sale for many years, as well as other products in bulk, such as molasses, tea, tobacco, and grass seed. In 1857 he sold his sawmill to Lestock P. W. Desbrisay of Richibucto, and he would appear to have wound up his other business activities before 1865.

Cunard served as immigration agent at Miramichi, beginning in 1832, and he was active in agricultural and educational organizations. He was a director of the Northumberland Agricultural Society, a school trustee for Chatham parish, and a member of the board of the County Grammar School from 1837 to 1868, longer than any other lay member. His most controversial role was as warden of the Anglican church in 1845-46, when he associated himself with the unsuccessful attempt to have the Rev. James Hudson removed as missionary.

As Cunard gradually withdrew from business and public life in the 1850s and 60s he devoted more and more time to the farm which he owned east of Clarke's Cove, where his home, "Woodburn Cottage," was located. In his later years, "he pursued with great interest and delight the avocation of amateur farmer [taking] especial pleasure in his farm work and in trimming trees, cutting down dead wood, and removing everything that interfered with the pleasant walks and improvements he was constantly designing."

Cunard had few, if any, enemies in the end and was judged to be "a really good man in very many ways." He and his wife, Elizabeth Duffus, had two daughters, one of whom, Elizabeth Cunard, lived to maturity and became the wife of James P. Street, MD, a son of John Ambrose Street.

Sources

[b] church records (Chatham) [m] Acadian Recorder 2 Oct 1830 [d] Advocate 29 Jul 1885 / Commercial World 31 Jul 1947; Fraser (C); Gleaner 10 Jul 1832, 23 May 1837, 14 Apr 1840, 30 May 1846, 6 Jun 1846, 3 Oct 1846, 26 Oct 1847 (ad), 21 Oct 1854 (ad), 22 Feb 1862 (ad); Hutchison's; World 29 Jul 1885


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