BORN: Abt 1779, Pennsylvania?
MARRIED: 1804, Macnaquac, York Cty, New Brunswick
DIED: 17 Oct 1845, Macnaquac
BURIED: Macnaquac Cemetery, Gravestone
SPOUSE: Mehetable McKeen, b 1784/85, New Brunswick; d 13 Aug 1855 Macnaquac, York Cty, NB; buried Macnaquac Cemetery, Gravestone
FATHER: Isaac Kilburn, b abt 1753 England?, m abt 1777?, d 8 May 1781 Pensacola, Escambia Cty, FL
MOTHER: Mary (last name unknown)
PERSONAL DATA: Francis Isaac Kilburn was the son of Corporal Isaac Kilburn and Mary. An Isaac Kilburn, butcher of York, 21 years of age, sailed from London to Maryland in 1774 as an indented servant, where he landed 4 September. We have no further records of this Isaac, until he, or another Isaac, enlisted in the Pennsylvania Loyalists sometime in 1777. This Isaac, promoted from Private to Corporal by July 1778, fought with the Regiment through 1778 and then sailed with them to Pensacola to defend the town against the Spanish. He was killed in battle 8 May 1781. We have no record of his marriage or the birth of his son, nor where they remained during the war. His wife and young child arrived in New Brunswick in 1783 or 84, where he grew up, probably in the Kingsclear area just upriver from Fredericton.
The first record of Francis Isaac is in 1803 when he petitioned for and obtained 1500 acres of land in the Macnaquac area with five other men, one of whom was William McKeen who eventually became his father-in-law. Francis' share of the land was 300 acres. He soon married and had 11 children in Kingsclear and Macnaquac on the St. John River, where his last farm was located. Flooded by dam construction in 1975, this farm is now part of Mactaquac Provincial Park with its 18 hole golf course, camping and marina. The original farm can be seen from the 1945 aerial photos.
Francis Isaac's son youngest son John was my Kilburn ancestor and his son Hiram was my grandfather. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick, took a position in a bank in Maine, and became a US citizen.
REFERENCES:
1. See Ch. 1 of the author's book Fathers and Mothers, 2002, 328pp available from the author at 6695 Terry Court, Arvada, CO 80007 and email: [email protected].
2. Muster rolls available from the Canadian Archives in Ottawa give father Isaac's Loyalist record during the war and record his death The Pennsylvania Loyalists are found in microfilm roll C-4224.
3. The best source for information on the Penn Loyalists can be obtained from the On Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies by Nan Cole and Todd Braisted (www.royalprovincial.com/military)
4. The two best books describing the Battle of Pensacola are J B Starr, 1976, Tories, Dons and Rebels, which provides a detailed description of the battle and the American Revolution in British West Florida; and W S and H P Coker, 1981, The Siege of Pensacola, 1781, in Maps providing maps of the exact point of the battle.
5. Several family accounts provide the mainly accurate story of Isaac (called Francis),the early years of Francis Isaac, the eleven children and their offspring.
6. The Provincial Archives of NB, Fredericton has a wealth of genealogical information including land grant applications and maps, census records, marriage records, church records, newspapers, all of
which can be studied there, and many of which are available on interlibrary loan.