MCBEATH, ALEXANDER (1798-1856)

MCBEATH, ALEXANDER, stagecoach and hotel operator; b. Kildonan parish, Sutherland, Scotland, 6 May 1798, s/o William McBeath and Elizabeth Gunn; m. Isabella M. Wathen, of Kent Co., N.B., a native of Prince Edward Island; d. Richibucto, 30 Apr 1856.

When Alexander McBeath's mother died in 1837, leaving his father a widower, a touching tribute was published in the Chatham Gleaner. "After a union of forty-six years," it stated, "distinguished by increasing love and virtue, Death has at length torn asunder the venerable pair. The homes of their parents having been contiguous, they spent the morning of their days enjoying the society of each other in the land of their birth, Sutherlandshire, North Britain. Twenty-eight years after their union, they emigrated with their three sons and two daughters to Miramichi and settled in Black River where they since dwelt in peace together."

It was in 1819 that the McBeath family came to the Miramichi. In 1825, the first post office was established at Chatham, with James Caie as postmaster. A number of months afterwards a new road was opened between Chatham and Richibucto, and in 1827, Alexander McBeath was carrying the mails on this route. In 1831, he announced the introduction of a weekly stagecoach capable of transporting passengers in comfort. He stated that he would be using "an easy and commodious Waggon until the approach of winter," when it would be "superseded by a large sleigh, abundantly provided with Furs, and drawn by two excellent Horses." His advertisement conveys an impression of agreeable travel conditions, but the road was little more than a muddy trail, often blocked by windfalls. One day in June 1832, it took him two hours to remove debris from the path between Black River and Napan before the stage could get through. The next week he had to cancel the trip because of windfalls all the way to Richibucto. On a day in March 1833 the road was so full of snow and ice that he needed the help of four men with shovels to get far enough to exchange mailbags with his brother Donald McBeath, who was coming from the opposite direction. When this had been accomplished, his horse gave out from exhaustion and had to be stabled overnight.

In 1835, Alexander and Donald McBeath were operating a weekly stage service between Chatham and Dorchester, and their brother John McBeath gave notice that he would be running a stage between Miramichi and Bathurst. They added a vehicle in 1839 so two trips could be made each week between Dorchester and Bathurst. In conjunction with the business, Alexander McBeath operated a hotel at Black River. In 1839, he turned this over to his brother Donald, and he took a lease on James White's hotel in Chatham.

Everything appeared to be going well for McBeath until the approach of the provincial election of 1842-43, when he allegedly switched his political allegiance at the last moment from John T. Williston to Alexander Rankin. This provoked John Hea to accuse him of "perfidy," and a mob smashed the windows out of his hotel. Whether for this reason or not he was soon out of the hotel business in Chatham. The whole courier and stage service was reorganized in the name of Donald McBeath & Bros, but all three brothers declared bankruptcy in January 1844. They were succeeded on the Miramichi-Dalhousie mail run by William Johnston and on the Miramichi-Dorchester route by James M. Kelly, the father of William M. Kelly.

Alexander McBeath was a leader of the Presbyterian congregation at Black River and head of the committee formed in 1834 to build the first church. He was also a school trustee for Glenelg parish. In 1837 he was issued an auctioneer's license. From 1839 onward, he was a captain in the 1st Battalion of militia. He continued to reside at Black River until 1849, when he and his family moved to Richibucto. When he died in 1856, at age fifty-seven, he was survived by his wife, Isabella M. Wathen, and eleven children.