The mysterious birth place of Mr James Heard

I went looking for Spey Lodge in Withington today. 

I know that it was on Palatine Road and had been there according to the census return from at least 1871 when it was still called Northenden Road.

It was somewhere down from the White Lion but so far I have yet to find it.

What drew me to the house was a far more intriguing mystery and that was why Mr James Heard who lived at Spey Lodge should describe his place of birth as Scotland on a number of official documents and yet his grave stone says New Brunswick.

Of course there may be a New Brunswick in Scotland but I have yet to find it so a Canadian link seems likely especially as his wife was born in the United States of America.

Added to this in 1871 he gave his occupation as an "American Merchant" and a decade earlier as a "Commission agent dealing mainly with the USA."

Now I also know that in 1845 Mr and Mrs Heard were in the USA because their eldest son was born there but three years later they were in Manchester.

So that North American connection seems strong and as yet I have not found any reference to his birth in Scotland, which just leaves me to go looking in Canada.

It has been a fascinating little piece of research commissioned by my friend Ken who came across the headstone in Saint Wilfred’s and wondered on the story of the man born in New Brunswick who was buried here in south Manchester.

Now I can add that when he died in 1894 he was described a “gentleman” and left £10,832.

So all that is now left is to go looking in Canada and wait also for someone to come up with some information on Spey Lodge.

But there is a Fochabers in Moray in Scotland, ten miles east of Elgin, which fits with the gravestone and moreover as someone has pointed out does have the River Spey flowing through it,but it still doesn't explain the NB.

All of which is made more messy by the discovery that William Davidson who settled  in New Brunswick "was originally called John Godsman and was born at Cowfords near Fochabers in Moray. 

As a young man he worked in the salmon fisheries in the River Spey. Some time before 1865 he seems to have changed his name to William Davidson, which was the name of his maternal grandfather, and in that year he left Scotland for Canada. 

There he and a partner obtained a land grant of 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares) forming a strip along either side of the Miramichi River, with fishing and lumber rights. In return he was obliged to clear and improve the land and bring in large numbers of settlers."*


Picture; the gravestone of M Mr and Mrs Heard, St Wilfred's graveyard, 2014, courtesy of Ken Fish

*William Davidson, Undiscovered Scotland, http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/d/williamdavidson.html