‘6 i i

P.E.I., according to (the Beairsto History of America), was Hannah, b. 1777, who married George Aitken, Panmure Island in 1789. They had twelve children, Hannah D. 1858 and is buried in Lower Montague.

In the Land Record of P.E.I. at Charlottetown are numerous recordings of land grants between 1808 and 1824 to several members of the Beairsto family. The spelling is usually Bearsto or Bearstoe. The grant to Johnson an d William by the Earl of Selkirk on Nov. 29th, 1805, shows a conveyance of a hundred acres to George Beairsto from Charles Stewart, in township 18,

which is in the Malpeque area and may well have been in Baltic where an old Beairsto home and grist mill was located.

It is not known whether George and Margaret Riley or Jame and Ann

Keir, built the house and grist mill, but it is certain that James and Mary Ann Keir lived in this Baltic home.

BEAIRSTO

James Beairsto, son of George and Margaret Riley, was born in 1810

and the stone in Malpeque cemetery reads “Died May 10th in his 72nd year”. He was married to Mary Ann Keir.

Quoting from “The Beairsto Family In America” by Harold King Beairsto, “I do not know whether George and Margaret Riley or James and Mary Ann Keir built the Baltic home and grist mill. What is certain however, is that James and Mary Ann Keir lived in the Baltic home and all their seven children were born here. James was a farmer, miller, merchant, and probably a brewer. The house was made of stone and was situated on, the Mill .Road near where Bruce MacKenzie now has his home. Tall Lombardy Poplars surrounded the property. Beyond this, around the pond were a two-story grist mill, a saw mill, and a store.’ ’

The children of James Beairsto and Mary Ann Keir were: Margaret, b. 1837, married Rev. James Sinclair, d. 1905 in Bridgeville, Nova Scotia; John Keir, b. 1940, became a Presbyterian Minister, married 1) Janie Patrick, 2) Janie Barnes, (1. 1912, in Glassville, N.S.; George, b. 1842, married Annie MacGougan. They had one son and six daughters. They lived in the Baltic house and all seven children were born there. George was the farmer of the family and he and Annie were the last Beairstos to live at the Mill house. They are both buried in Winnipeg. Their children were;

Lila, B. 1875; Lucy, b. 1876; James William, b. 1879; Gertrude, b. 1881, Annie, b. 1883; and Bertha, b. 1885.

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