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Archives provinciales du Nouveau-Brunswick

Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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PERCIVAL, JOHN (1781-1864)

PERCIVAL, JOHN, business manager, businessman, and churchman; b. Little Salkeld, Addington parish, Cumberland, England, 13 Nov 1781, s/o George Percival and Alice Goulding; brother of Catherine Percival; m. 1815, Judith (Collins) Brown, d/o Patrick Collins and h/w Bridget, and wid/o John Brown, all Miramichi residents; d. Chatham Head, 3 Jan 1864.

According to the census of 1851 John Percival entered the province in 1809. He was skilled in carpentry, and around 1812 he built a store at Chatham Head for Alexander Fraser Jr which was still standing in the 1890s. For a great many years he managed this store, while also acting as bookkeeper or business manager of Fraser's lumbering and sawmilling enterprises. "He was first the servant," it was stated, "and finally the master," for when Fraser's business failed in 1851 he came into possession of many or all of the assets. Soon afterwards he turned the Chatham Head sawmill and store over to his son-in-law Robinson Crocker, but he continued to own a good deal of property in the county. When he died in 1864 his estate had an appraised value of $24,500.

Percival was among the first vestrymen of St Paul's Anglican Church, and in this capacity, in the 1840s, he stood against those who would have ousted the Rev. James Hudson as missionary. He supported Hudson's efforts to have St Andrew's Church erected at Newcastle. Indeed, "towards the building, endowment, and maintenance" of the church he was "a munificent contributor." During the later years of his life, when it was inconvenient for him to attend services at St Paul's, he crossed the river on the ice to worship at St Andrew's, and the church has a stained glass window in his memory.

Percival's wife, Judith (Collins) Brown, was the mother of seven children who lived to adulthood. After her premature death in 1833 his sister Catherine Percival, as elsewhere noted, assumed responsibility for raising the children and overseeing the household. The children included Robert Percival, who became a lawyer in Fremont Co., Iowa; Bridget Percival, the wife of George Burchill; and Alice Percival, the first wife of Robinson Crocker.

Sources

[b/m/d] Percival Genealogy / Advance 14 May 1903; Ganong Collection (NB settlements); Gleaner 30 May 1846; Manny Collection (F6); Spray (DK)


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