Elusive family

[kathboon]

An old story that has come down from previous generations of our family, is that some members of the Donkin family were given land in Nova Scotia by the British Government in the mid 1700's.  I am now trying to find which member of the family actually came to Nova Scotia, but don't know where to start looking.
On checking marriage records in England I find that a William Donkin married Ann Scott (which I think are the ones) and then they just disappear.  I cannot find any children belong to them in any other records, and there are no deaths for them either.  They came from a farming area of England, so I presume that they would have been farming in Nova Scotia.
Could anyone point me in the right direction.

Thanks, Kath   

[polarbear]

Here is a link to the Nova Scotia Vital Statistics website. I don't know how far back the records go. I would simlpy put in the last name and see what turns up. Full images are apparently available.

https://novascotiagenealogy.com/

Polarbear

[kathboon]

Hi polarbear
Thanks for that link.  Unfortunately it only starts in the 1800's, so it doesn't give me much.  What it does give me is confirmation of some of the information I already have.
Kath

[polarbear]

Ah, that's too bad. Glad to hear some info from there was helpful though  .

I wonder if these folks might be able help ... have you tried them?

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/GANS/

PB

[Jacquie in Canada]

The Nova Scotia Archives has a database for land petitions from 1783-1843 (http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/land/) but no hits for the surname Donkin.

I found a reference to the Nova Scotia Historical Review having an issue with an article entitled "William Donkin, Northumbrian, and his Nova Scotia Descendants" (1990, Vol 10 - 1, pp88-) in a family tree for William Donkin and Ann Scott at Ancestry (there were a number of trees posted). You would need to contact the Nova Scotia Archives regarding back issues of the Nova Scotia Historical Review. Here's a link to their website:
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/

Also here's a link to a website that has a family for William Donkin and Ann Scott included which uses the publication as a source:
http://beals-genealogy.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I02775&tree=Beals
According to this site, his parents were Robert Donkin and Margaret Hunter and he was born in 1734 in Ovingham, Northumberland.

Jacquie

[valeriec]

If you look at the early bmd's that are available at novascotiagenealogy.com, most are located in Cumberland County so I went to the Cumberland County Genealogical Society in Amherst, Nova Scotia.

Will Book "A" has several Donkins listed and some of the names are William Donkin. The records include will, debts, appraisements, etc. You can look at the index of names before purchasing.

http://www.ccgs.ednet.ns.ca/wb/index.html

www.ccgs.ednet.ns.ca/pubs.htm

[valeriec]

I did some more research on the Yorkshire Immigration and Land Grants and the name William donkin came up so he definitely went to Cumberland County in Nova Scotia. I will give you some sites that you can look at to try to find more information. Some of the sites have links to online books, census, etc. so you may find a fair bit of information to follow up on. In the 1700's Cumberland County took in part of what is now New Brunswick so keep that in mind when looking for information.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nscumber/
Cumberland County Nova Scotia Gen Web

http://www.libris.ca/yrkfam/
http://www.libris.ca/yrkfam/yrkfam.htm
Yorkshire Immigration
Immigrants from Elsewhere

Donkin
William Donkin
See "William donkin of Northumberland" in Nova Scotia Historical Review, 10 (1) June 1990. Howard Trueman (116) writes that the donkins were a Yorkshire family but this is erroneous. Despite the fact that William received lands from the "Yorkshire Grant" he and his wife Ann (Scott) emigrated from Ovinham, Northumberland.

Under Links

The Chinecto Isthmus and its first settlers by Howard Trueman is available to read on-line. (Gutenberg Project)

www.blupete.com/Library/History/NSHR.htm
NSHR volume 10 No 1 (1990) and Volume 10 No 2
"William Donkin, Northumbrian and his Nova Scotia Descendants. Corrigenda by Marian D. Oldershaw

Hopefully, some of the above will give you the answers you are looking for. There is also a Cumberland County Museum in Amherst and many local books are avilable to purchase on local families.

[valeriec]

Do you live in the UK or Canada?

www.canada411.ca
is an on-line telephone directory and there are still Donkins listed in the area of the Yorkshire Immigration - Fenwick, Amherst, Fort Lawrence and Nappan.

[valeriec]

The Sprague Project
hope the sites work
http://www.sprague-database.org
put in Donkin under last name and search

http://sprague-database.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I348353&tree=SpragueProject

From Helen gibson, correspondent, not of July 24, 2009
William Donkin came out from Yorkshire, england to Nova Scotia in 1772-1774. with him were his wife Ann Scott (1734-1807) their son Robert and daughter Barbara. Barbara is given as being baptized in Ovingha, Northumberland, England so it can be assumed that at least the family were living in Ovingham or thereabouts in 1767. Only Barbara and Robert were on the ship to Nova Scotia so it can be assumed that the other children were either born in Westmorland or River Philip. William donkin settled for several years at Westmorland near Fort Cumberland and afterwards at River Philip.

(I haven't found the ship they arrived on as yet. Westmorland and fort cumberland would now be approximately the border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. River Philip is closer to Oxford, Nova Scotia.)

In case the site doesn't work, i wrote down this info.
William Donkin
1734-1811
b. 1734, chrsitened 26 June 1734
d. 31 Oct 1811, River Philip, Cumberland Co. Nova Scotia, age 77 years
father - Robert Donkin
mother - Margaret Hunter
             m. 18 May 1730
spouse - Ann Scott
b. 1734
d. Feb 1807, River Philip, age 73 years
m. 18 May 1758, ovingham

children
1. Robert Donkin
b. Dec 1758
d. 12 Oct 1832, Amherst, Cumberland Co, NS, age 73 years
m. Janet Crawford

2. Barbara Donkin
b. 1767, Ovingham
d. 19 June 1831, River Philip, age 64 years
m. John Black

3. Margaret Donkin
b. about 1774, Nova Scotia
d. 9 August 1832 age 58 years
m. John Ripley

4. thomas Donkin
b. about 1775, River Philip
d. 6 Nov 1831, River Philip age 56 years
m. Esther Ripley

5. William Donkin
no other information

I included the information from the tree as it gives you the names and possible dates and places to research. I don't take anything as gospel unless I can verify the information but it is something to work with.