Alexandrina Haggart Clark lived with Reverend JJ McCaskill, his wife, and son at 5 Alexandra and is one of the first inhabitants of the house.
Alexandrina Haggart [sometimes spelled Haggard], was born ca. 1858 to James and Catherine Haggart and was raised in Barney’s River, Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Alexandrina’s father died in May 1871 after the census was taken. We find in the 1871 census Alexandrina [called Elexena] living with her parents and siblings including two sisters of different ages called Catherine [likely an enumerator error] who is particularly important in a later lawsuit over Alexandrina’s estate.
I did not find Alexandrina in 1881 the census, but I did find Alexandrina’s widowed mother living with some of her children as farmers in Nova Scotia suggesting Alexandrina had left home.
While I did not find Alexandrina in the 1891 census, I can assume she had moved to Saint John because in 1890 we know Alexandrina was sued for non-payment of $1,475 to The Saint John Building Society.
Apparently, Building Societies were established in parts of the UK and subsequently Canada to solicit funds through small subscriptions that could be accessed by members to purchase freehold or leasehold properties. We know that the province even had an Act to regulate Benevolent Building Societies, i.e. the 1866 An Act to Regulate Benevolent Building Societies. The Saint John Building Society was created early 1860s and liquidated 1890s.
Alexandrina appears to have married once and did not have any children. The census records in 1891 show Alexandrina’s future husband Robert Clark [sometimes spelled Clarke], a teamster born in Scotland, living with wife Catharine and daughter Edith in Saint John. In July 1892, Cassie [Catherine] Clarke, daughter of David Floyd and wife of Robert Clark, living at 69 Adelaide St., died of stomach cancer and her body was subsequently taken by train to Bloomfield, Kings County for internment. On 8 Dec 1893, one year after Robert became a widow he married Alexandrina Haggart. In the 1901 census, Robert, Alexandrina, and Robert’s daughter Edith were living together in Saint John.
Edith, as noted in another blog, died in 1905 and sadly, on 5 Jun 1907, Edith’s father Robert Clark, age 70 also living at 69 Adelaide St., died. Both Robert and his daughter Edith are buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Saint John.
In the 1911 census, widow Alexandrina Clark is living at 69 Adelaide Street with boarders while the McCaskills are not found in the census. The 1911 and 1912 directories list Alexandrina Clark at 69 Adelaide. Alexandrina is recorded in the 1913 directory living with the McCaskill family at 5 Alexandrina St.
Very soon after Reverend J.J. McCaskill returned to North America in 1919 after serving in The Great War, Alexandrina Clark, age 65, died on 1 March 1920. At the time of her death, Alexandrina was living at 65 Adelaide St. and buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery. Alexandrina’s sister, Mrs. Austin was the informant for her death registration while Rev. McCaskill organized her internment in Cedar Hill Cemetery – it is unclear if a tombstone was erected. See death notice in newspaper from 2 Mar 1920.
