MACKAY, WILLIAM (1803-1888)

MACKAY, WILLIAM, lumberman and innkeeper; b. St Mary's parish, York Co., c1803, s/o Duncan MacKay and Margaret Sutherland; m. 1833, Ann Cameron, d/o Kenneth Cameron and Janet MacKenzie, formerly of St Mary's parish; d. Boiestown, 24 Sep 1888.

William MacKay's father was a native of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, who served in the 42nd Highland Regiment during the Revolutionary War and later settled with other members of his regiment along the Nashwaak River.

MacKay was one of the early lumber operators on the Southwest Miramichi, and he maintained an involvement in the industry for most of his lifetime. In 1847 he supplied the lumber for the construction of the first bridge at Doaktown. By this time he was also the proprietor of MacKay's Inn at Boiestown, which provided travellers with lodgings and "wholesome country fare." He was enumerated as an innkeeper in the census of 1851, when he and his wife had six children at home. In 1854 he was one of many innkeepers and lumber operators in the county who were issued tavern licenses. In 1861 there were ten lumberers, probably employees, staying at his place, along with his own family. The hotel burned in the summer of 1878.

In 1842 MacKay was appointed as the first keeper of the Boiestown postal way office. He resigned ten years later and was succeeded by Miles MacMillan. He was active in the militia and was promoted to captain and appointed quartermaster of the 3rd Battalion in 1848. He was made an honorary captain upon his retirement in 1865. In 1868 he was appointed as one of the original county almshouse commissioners. He was eighty-five years of age when his death occurred in 1888.

MacKay and his wife, Ann Cameron, had a son James D. MacKay, who was an employee of J. B. Snowball & Co. and manager of the Snowball sawmill at Red Bank. He later lived in Fredericton, where he had a seat on the city council. Their daughters included Amelia A. MacKay, the wife of John L. Murray, who was hostess of the Murray House hotel at Doaktown; Janet MacKay, the wife of Alexander MacMillan, who ran "a very nice hotel" at Boiestown; and Annie MacKay, the housekeeping manager of the luxurious Hotel Ponce de Leon in St Augustine, Florida.