HARKINS, JOHN (1790-1837)

HARKINS, JOHN, churchman and benefactor; b. Ireland, c1790; m. 1831, Sarah Richey; d. Newcastle, 7 Jul 1837.

John Harkins was a well-to-do member of the Presbyterian congregation in Newcastle who extended his financial support to both religious and educational endeavors. He was a liberal contributor to the fund for rebuilding St James Church after the original, unfinished structure was lost in the Miramichi Fire. He was a member of a special committee appointed in 1832 to build a Presbyterian manse in Newcastle, and he helped defray construction costs. He was present at a meeting in 1833 at which the Rev. James Souter was authorized to conduct a boys' school for four days each week because of a lack of educational opportunities for the youth of the town, and he was in attendance also at a meeting held in 1835 at which Souter was requested to discontinue this work because of its interference with his ministerial responsibilities. When he died, two years later, his will provided for the establishment of a trust fund, the income from which was to be used for the lifetime support of his widow. After her death the fund was to be turned over to the trustees of St James Church for use in building and operating a parochial school.

More than twenty years elapsed between Harkins's death and the passing of his widow, during which time she determined that she needed an annuity from the trust fund for her personal maintenance. Wrangling between her lawyer and the trustees' lawyer ensued, but the trustees held firm, and after her death in 1860 a substantial fund remained for a school. Following a further six-year delay the school was built, and opened in the fall of 1867.

The original "Harkins Seminary" was of wood construction. It served for twenty-six years; then burned to the ground in 1893. From funds remaining in the Harkins trust it was replaced in 1894 by the stone building known as Harkins Academy. This structure did not take on its present appearance until 1909, however, when an architecturally-tasteful extension was added to the front of it. Although privately built, Harkins was conducted as a public school from 1871 onward. For a number of years the province paid nominal rent for its use. Later the church's interest in it was formally conveyed to the province.

Sarah (Richey) Harkins was a native of New Park, Co. Antrim, Ireland, who came to New Brunswick in 1823. Eight years after her immigration she was married at Newcastle to John Harkins, who proved to have only six years left to live. In the Newcastle census of 1851 she was enumerated as a widow, living with an eight-year-old nephew and two servants. She was sixty-nine years old when she died on 18 October 1860.