It is nice having Saturday Night Genealogy Fun to look forward to every week, especially in the midst of the pandemic when the days seem to all blur together.

Randy Seaver has issued his weekly challenge:

2) What is your mother’s father’s matrilineal line? That is, his mother’s mother’s mother’s … back to the most distant female ancestor in that line.  Provide her ahnentafel number (relative to you), and her birth and death years and places.

1. My maternal grandfather is  #6 Vernon Tarbox Adams (1899-1968).

2. Vernon’s mother was #13 Annie Maude Stuart (1874-1940) who married Charles Edwin Adams (1877-1922). Annie was born in Meddybemps, Maine, married in Worcester, Massachusetts and died in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

3. Annie’s mother was #27 Elida Ann Hicks (1833-1914) who married Charles Augustus Stewart (and she changed the surname spelling!) Elida was born in Buctouche, Kent, New Brunswick, Canada, and married and died in Calais, Maine.

4. Elida’s mother was #55 Abigail Carlisle (1793-1871) who married Israel Hicks. Abigail was born and married in New Brunswick, Canada and died in Meddybemps, Maine.

5. Abigail’s mother was #111 Catherine (MNU) and one of my persistent brick walls with no clues, other than her family was most likely Loyalist. Catherine was born in 1761, place unknown, married c1785 probably in Parrtown (St. John), New Brunswick, Canada and died 1843+, probably in Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada. She married Robert Carlisle, who fought with the Royal Fencible Americans in Nova Scotia during the American Revolution.

I have repeatedly looked for clues as to Catherine’s family, but none have turned up. A list of refugees with the Royal Fencibles included several Catherines, but after investigating all of them, none appear to be good candidates to be my 4X great grandmother.

Her age and death year are known from her application to receive a pension in Canada as the widow of a soldier who served the King during the Revolutionary War. Her year of marriage is estimated because Robert Carlisle sold land in Parrtown (now St. John) in 1784 with no release of dower by a wife. He sold a second piece of land there in 1785 and Catherine released her dower rights. Also, their first child was born c1786.

Thanks, Randy, for this week’s challenge. 🙂