NELSON
family
of Sunny Bank
| Thomas Nelson, a United Empire Loyalist, moved to
Nova Scotia in the 1780’s, where settled with his
wife, Elizabeth Hools. James was born there in 1789. When
still young, he spent some time in Maine, and finally
settled in Shigawake about 1815. There he opened the
first shoemaker shop on the Gaspe Coast. James and his
wife Mary Rafter had a family of three children, James,
Thomas and Samuel. In 1854 Thomas Fitzallan Nelson, while still a teenager, left his home in Shigawake and married Mary Eleanor Grant. They settled on lot 19 in Sunny Bank. Thomas and Mary built their home on the hillside and raised a family of 8 children. Apple trees still mark the spot where the homestead once stood. No Nelson’s remain in Gaspe today, but their descendants are numerous among the Patterson and Miller families. The following chart shows the ancestors of Thomas, pioneer of Sunny Bank. |