MC1847: An account by Alexander Machum of New
Jerusalem, New Brunswick: [1893]
Dates of creation: Photocopied [ca.1990]
Physical description: 18pp. of textual records
Biographical Sketch / Administrative History
Teacher, merchant, and farmer, Alexander Machum,
the son of Margaret Carson (1796-1878) and Alexander Machum, Jr., (1797-1868)
was born 5 September 1819 in Saint John, New Brunswick. Alexander and Margaret
Machum left County Derry, Ireland, for Saint John aboard the "Aurora" in May
1819. The family settled first at Belleisle, Queens County, until November
1824 when Alexander Machum, Jr., obtained a land grant in Jerusalem Settlement,
Queens County. In addition to Alexander Machum III, the creator of this record,
they had 6 other children: Martha (Hutchinson, 1822-1876), Ann (Kerr, 1824-1862),
James (b. 1826), Samuel (b. 1829), John (1832-1856), and Mary Jane (Brown, b.
1835).
In 1839, following completion of his early schooling,
Alexander Machum became a school teacher. In the early 1840s, he received formal
teachers' training in Fredericton at the Normal School. Alexander Machum taught
at Hampstead and Jerusalem, in Springfield Parish, and elsewhere until at least
1848. He then returned to New Jerusalem where he ran a general store and operated
a farm. He went back to the classroom in 1872, teaching at Jerusalem, Welsford,
Hampstead, Coote Hill, and Nerepis.
Alexander Machum married Elizabeth Frances Inch
(d. 1891), the daughter of Nathaniel Inch, of Jerusalem, on 18 January 1849,
and they had no fewer than eight children: James Alexander (b. 1849), Thomas
William (b. 1851), Eliza Ann (b. 1853), Amelia Jane (Nugent, b. 1855), John
Samuel (b. 1859), George Alfred (b. 1862), Edwin Robinson (b. 1864), and Harry
Wilford (b. 1868). Alexander Machum died on 27 March 1897.
Source: An Account by Alexander Machum of New
Jerusalem, New Brunswick (1819-1897)
Scope and Content
In 1966 D. A. Machum transcribed and typed Alexander
Machum's account of his life and family history, written in July and August
1893. Alexander Machum offers a brief history of the Machums of Ireland and
Queens County, ending in 1893. He discusses his years as a teacher and his
formal education in some detail, and touches on the Miramichi fire, New Jerusalem's
early history, local churches, and his family's religious affiliations.
INVENTORY
MS1 An account by Alexander Machum of New Jerusalem, New
Brunswick (1819-1897), written July-August 1893.
(Photocopied typescript, 18pp.)