Dear Shirley: In the booklet you mentioned is a Daniel John McLaughlin or his wife Eliza Baillie (Smith) McLaughlin mentioned among the benefactors? They were my paternal grgrandparents and I believe staunch supporters. The first Matron Caroline Frost is also in my family tree on my mother's side. Thanks, Bev Guy

Hi Bev, I copied certain pages of the booklet and what I have does not show the names of Daniel & Eliza McLaughlin - but I did find the following - A picture of Sarah Caroline Frost - first Matron of the Home: Chapter 3, P12 Chapter 1, P5: "The number o children resident in the home in the first few years seems to have averaged about 12 or 13, and one historian of the early years, Mrs. David McLellan, tells us that the whole number of children accommodated during the first six years of its existence was 39. In the late 1850s, a more commodious building was obtained in Peters Street. In July 1861, the elderly house-parents resigned and a matron, Miss Sarah Caroline Frost, was engaged. It was decided that she would work under the general direction of a ladies' committee chaired by Mrs. H. Kinnear, and this arrangement seems to have continued for some years with success." Chapter 3, P11, 12 "The Great Fire - Wednesday, June 20, 1877, began like any other day in the lives of Miss Frost and the 13 young orphans who were in her charge in the Home at the corner of Carmarthen and Britain streets. It was a warm day, and about noon a northwest wind blew strongly until by early afternoon it was approaching gale force. About 2:30 p.m. a fire broke out in a building owned by Joseph Fairweather in York Point, Portland. The fire was about one mile from the Orphans' Asylum and, with water in between, seemed to give no cause for alarm. But it spread to adjoining buildings and, fanned by the fierce wind it was soon racing along Smyth and Dock streets to the foot of King and the whole orthern side of King Street was quickly in flames.... and, by evening, was destroying Carmarthen and Wentworth streets, so that the Orphans' Asylum lay directly in its path... the Orphans' Asylum among the hundreds of properties destroyed,,, and Miss Frost must have watched the advancing cloud of smoke and flame with horror and acute concern for her small charges. At some point in the afternoon she must have taken the decision to move the children to a place of safety. How the hurried arrangements were made under extreme stress is not recorded, but by nightfall she and the children had been given refuge in the General Hospital which had been built in 1865, and the "Millidge" Building" whihc had been their home for 13 years had been reduced to ashes... All minutes and records of the Asylum were destroyed by the fire. Three days later, the directors rented a building in Albion Street, formerly occupied by the Reform Society, and there the children remained for about a month.... a letter was received from Graham V. Ayt, director of the "Home for Little Wanders" in Boston, Mass., offering to take the Protestant Orphans' Asylum children into the care of that Home until such time as they could return to Saint John. The directors decided to take advantage of this generous offer, and the sum of $100 was provided by the Relief Committee for Sufferers from the Fire to provide all that was necessary for the matron and orphans to be fitted out for the journey. Free passage to Boston was provided by the Canadian Pacific Railroad." Shirley On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 3:06 PM, Bev Guy <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Shirley: > > In the booklet you mentioned is a Daniel John McLaughlin or his wife > Eliza Baillie (Smith) McLaughlin mentioned among the benefactors? They > were my paternal grgrandparents and I believe staunch supporters. The > first Matron Caroline Frost is also in my family tree on my mother's > side. > > Thanks, Bev Guy > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > List Announcements can be found at > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nbcharlo/nblistann.htm > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >