HIGGINS

The story of the Higgins family of Stanhope begins with two brothers, David and Cornelius, who came to the Island of St. John in 1764 or 5, to work in the fisheries. Family tradition has it that they came here in 1762 from County Wexford in Ireland, but it is more probable that they were New Englanders with connections in Boston; the family may well have come originally from County Wexford.

In any case, David Higgins was an American shipmaster, married to Elizabeth Prince, daughter of Job Prince of Boston, with whom he had business connections. David was associated from 1764 on in fishing and trading enterprises with Cathcart & Spence, merchants of London, and with John Mill and Hutchison Mure, merchants; before the township lottery of 1767, Lot 59 was reserved and assigned to Mure, Cathcart and Higgins. In 1769 David Higgins entered into a trading operation with Sir James Montgomery, to export fish and timber from the Island and import trade goods from the States and Britain.

Both brothers were much involved with the Montgomery settlers and with Sir James’ agent in Lot 34, David Lawson. Cornelius married Isabella, daughter of David and Helen Lawson, and moved to Stanhope, renting land from Montgomery, while David remained in Lot 59. He was responsible for supplies for the Stanhope settlers, which were shipped to Three Rivers (now Georgetown) in Lot 59, and transported thence to Stanhope. (For more on David Higgins, please see the separate section below.)

So it is with Cornelius Higgins that we are concerned in the early settlement of Stanhope. He was born in 1735, and he and his wife Isabella Lawson, who was born on November 11, 1751 in the parish of Monzie, Perthshire, had seven children; they were married in 1776. In 1789 they were renting 250 acres of land at the tip of the Stanhope peninsula and another 120 acres just across the bay in what is now West Covehead. In the rent roll of 1789 Cornelius paid 96.5.0 and £1.10.0 for these lands. In the census of 1841 we find three of Cornelius’ and Isabella’s sons as heads of families and farmers: David, the eldest, farmed 190 acres of Montgomery land, and was married to Mary Bovyer, with seven children; the second son, Cornelius Jr., was married to Margaret Bovyer, Mary’s sister, with five children, and was renting 100 acres from the Montgomerys. Son Peter, who married his cousin Christianne Lawson, was renting 58 acres at the tip of the Stanhope peninsula, and had five children. Cornelius Sr. was a magistrate for nearly fifty years, and also High Sheriff of the Island; he was a member of the 2nd Assembly of the Island in October, 1774, and of the 3rd Assembly in July, 1779.

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