Individual Details
GARDNER COREY
(31 Jan 1825 - 25 May 1901)
From New Canaan, Gardner moved to Salisbury Parish (near Petitcodiac), where he is found in the Salisbury 1851 census, aged 25, newly married tp Susanna, aged 17. They were cousins, Susannah being the granddaughter of Hannah Corey Jones.
Family tradition says that Gardner and Susanna then moved to the Newburg area of New Brunswick, near Woodstock, where he lived with his family until 1862. However, the Newburg census does not show this family.
On 2 Aug 1861 Gardner entered into an agreement with the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company for the purchase of Lot 5, one hundred acres on the Nackawic River, with provision for a further purchase of the rear 100 acres of this same property. Improvements were made, and grants completed in 1866 and 1874. This land remains in family possession to the present day. Family tradition relates that in August 1861 Gardner began clearing his land, living first in a "camp made of birch bark," then in 1863 "he moved into his new log house, bringing with him five children. He started a new life, and named the community 'Temperance Vale', which it is still called today. The first child born in the new cabin was Samuel, and at the time of his birth, his mother Susannah was in bed with a broken leg."
The name of Temperance Vale has caused some speculation. Gardner is said to have named the place, which, as a religious man, he hoped would encourage sobriety.
It was this family that took a special interest in the Drake ancestry of Gideon Corey in a search to connect them with Sir Francis Drake, the English circumnavigator and pirate. The Bartletts briefly summarize the situation.
"Early in the Twentieth Century, Elizabeth Drake Corey's Drake-ancestral line had been of particular interest to a number of New Brunswick residents in the Temperance Vale area. Briefly, as the story was relayed, some of Gideon Corey's descendants believed that they might claim a share of Sir Francis Drake's fortune because of a direct relationship to Thomas Drake, Sir Francis Drake's brother and heir to his wealth. Sir Francis Drake had accumulated a fortune from his sea-faring adventures during Queen Elizabeth's reign. The interesting condition of Sir Francis's will was that his brother. Thomas, would possess the estate for 90 years, his children as long as they lived; and thereafter, the estate was to be distributed to the children and heirs forever. When Sir Francis's inheritance was released for disbursement by the British crown in the early Twentieth Century, some of Gideon's descendants thought it worth while to send reprentatives to England in order to make inquiries and bring back records that would support their claim. Unfortunately, the results of their quest appear to have been lost; and no further developments occurred, to our knowledge."
The Bartletts conclude that the sought-for connection is unlikely.
It should also be remembered that in the early Twentieth Century the "missing heir racket" was one of the great swindles of genealogy. Fortunes were made, not by the heirs, but by crafty con artists:
"Persons purporting to represent interests in an inheritance have claimed that that inheritance has been tied up for some time due to lack of contact with missing heirs. They entice people, even of modest means, to employ them to seek the legacy. After the client's funds are depleted, the case is declared hopeless and the client is left financially drained." [Helmhold]
It is not known if this Corey family was subject to this swindle, but the warning should always be given - the probablity of finding unclaimed fortunes in British banks to be picked up by newly-discovered descendants is remote in the extreme.
Gardner is found in the 1901 census, living with his son, Allen. He was by then a widower.
References: Bartlett, Cynthia L. and M. Fred Bartlett, "Gideon Corey, his Drake Ancestors," Generations 41, Sept 1989, pp. 2-10; F. Wilbur Helmhold, Tracing Your Ancesty, Oxmoor 1976, p. 173; NBSouthampton census 1871, 91, 1901; David Corey Genealogy Files. [Corey Book]
Family tradition says that Gardner and Susanna then moved to the Newburg area of New Brunswick, near Woodstock, where he lived with his family until 1862. However, the Newburg census does not show this family.
On 2 Aug 1861 Gardner entered into an agreement with the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company for the purchase of Lot 5, one hundred acres on the Nackawic River, with provision for a further purchase of the rear 100 acres of this same property. Improvements were made, and grants completed in 1866 and 1874. This land remains in family possession to the present day. Family tradition relates that in August 1861 Gardner began clearing his land, living first in a "camp made of birch bark," then in 1863 "he moved into his new log house, bringing with him five children. He started a new life, and named the community 'Temperance Vale', which it is still called today. The first child born in the new cabin was Samuel, and at the time of his birth, his mother Susannah was in bed with a broken leg."
The name of Temperance Vale has caused some speculation. Gardner is said to have named the place, which, as a religious man, he hoped would encourage sobriety.
It was this family that took a special interest in the Drake ancestry of Gideon Corey in a search to connect them with Sir Francis Drake, the English circumnavigator and pirate. The Bartletts briefly summarize the situation.
"Early in the Twentieth Century, Elizabeth Drake Corey's Drake-ancestral line had been of particular interest to a number of New Brunswick residents in the Temperance Vale area. Briefly, as the story was relayed, some of Gideon Corey's descendants believed that they might claim a share of Sir Francis Drake's fortune because of a direct relationship to Thomas Drake, Sir Francis Drake's brother and heir to his wealth. Sir Francis Drake had accumulated a fortune from his sea-faring adventures during Queen Elizabeth's reign. The interesting condition of Sir Francis's will was that his brother. Thomas, would possess the estate for 90 years, his children as long as they lived; and thereafter, the estate was to be distributed to the children and heirs forever. When Sir Francis's inheritance was released for disbursement by the British crown in the early Twentieth Century, some of Gideon's descendants thought it worth while to send reprentatives to England in order to make inquiries and bring back records that would support their claim. Unfortunately, the results of their quest appear to have been lost; and no further developments occurred, to our knowledge."
The Bartletts conclude that the sought-for connection is unlikely.
It should also be remembered that in the early Twentieth Century the "missing heir racket" was one of the great swindles of genealogy. Fortunes were made, not by the heirs, but by crafty con artists:
"Persons purporting to represent interests in an inheritance have claimed that that inheritance has been tied up for some time due to lack of contact with missing heirs. They entice people, even of modest means, to employ them to seek the legacy. After the client's funds are depleted, the case is declared hopeless and the client is left financially drained." [Helmhold]
It is not known if this Corey family was subject to this swindle, but the warning should always be given - the probablity of finding unclaimed fortunes in British banks to be picked up by newly-discovered descendants is remote in the extreme.
Gardner is found in the 1901 census, living with his son, Allen. He was by then a widower.
References: Bartlett, Cynthia L. and M. Fred Bartlett, "Gideon Corey, his Drake Ancestors," Generations 41, Sept 1989, pp. 2-10; F. Wilbur Helmhold, Tracing Your Ancesty, Oxmoor 1976, p. 173; NBSouthampton census 1871, 91, 1901; David Corey Genealogy Files. [Corey Book]
Events
| Birth | 31 Jan 1825 | New Canaan, Brunswick Parish, Queens County, New Brunswick |  | ||
| Marriage | 31 Mar 1851 | Salisbury, Salisbury Parish, Westmorland County, New Brunswick - SUSANNA LAURA BURNHAM | | ||
| Death | 25 May 1901 | Temperance Vale, Southampton Parish, York County, New Brunswick | |
Families
| Spouse | SUSANNA LAURA BURNHAM (1834 - 1900) |
| Child | HANNAH B. COREY (1852 - 1875) |
| Child | ALEXANDER COREY (1855 - 1861) |
| Child | JOHN CALVIN COREY (1856 - 1928) |
| Child | CHARLES BRADFORD COREY (1857 - 1931) |
| Child | CHARLOTTE A. COREY (1858 - 1875) |
| Child | ANNABELL COREY (1862 - ) |
| Child | ALICE ABIGAIL COREY (1864 - 1864) |
| Child | SAMUEL G. COREY (1864 - 1932) |
| Child | MINA MAY COREY (1866 - 1898) |
| Child | SUSANNAH F. COREY (1869 - 1910) |
| Child | THURSA COREY (1871 - 1944) |
| Child | IDA JANET COREY (1874 - ) |
| Child | ALLEN WILLIAM COREY (1876 - 1933) |
| Child | ELLEN COREY (1878 - ) |
| Father | WILLIAM COREY (1801 - 1850) |
| Mother | ELIZABETH MACDONALD (1801 - 1867) |
| Sibling | DONALD COREY (1822 - ) |
| Sibling | JAMES COREY (1826 - 1901) |
| Sibling | THOMAS D. COREY (1831 - 1901) |
| Sibling | ISRAEL COREY (1832 - ) |
| Sibling | DELILAH COREY (1833 - ) |
| Sibling | WILLIAM ALLEN COREY (1837 - 1882) |
| Sibling | ALEXANDER COREY (1840 - ) |
| Sibling | JANET M. COREY (1841 - ) |
| Sibling | MALCOLM COREY (1842 - ) |
Endnotes
1. RYDER GENEALOGICAL FILES.
2. RYDER GENEALOGICAL FILES.
3. RYDER GENEALOGICAL FILES.