Mischievous Senior

River John, Pictou Co, Nova Scotia

My 4x grandparents were John William Vincent and Mary Ann Rogers and they are a bit of a mystery.

Mary Ann Rogers was born in River John, Nova Scotia and was the daughter of a David Rogers and Hannah Henley / Healey.  She is buried at Mt Hope Cemetery in Boston.

John William Vincent (JW) was born in Wallace, Nova Scotia and was the son of Joshua Vincent and Hannah Treen.

The story passed down about JW was that he fled Ireland on the wrong side of the law and this plays nicely into the Irish heritage.  How exciting....if only it were true.  All the records show that he was born in Nova Scotia.  There goes that trip!

However, JW's father Joshua had a brother John - eeps, here we go with the name game - anyways, this Uncle John is reported to have gone to Ireland with a couple of brothers to live for a short time.  Could it be that my JW is being confused with his Uncle John?  Uncle John did marry a nice Irish girl, did he have to flee?  Either way, both Johns were born in Nova Scotia.

Another story was that JW was never allowed to return to the United States for unknown reasons.  Again, wonderful finger-rolling intrigue, but alas, it appears to be false as well.  We have a letter dated 1903 New York from him....sigh....

Unless that occurred after 1903 but I am not sure how much trouble a 68 year old man could get into?  Oh wait, the London Jewel Heist involved a 70 year old!

It is true that the family breaks up around 1881.  Robert and John L head west; some of the children and Mary Ann end up in Boston and John William is not found on a census with Mary Ann again.  In fact, Mary Ann indicated that she was a widow on the 1900 Boston census - remember that 1903 NY letter?  What became of John is still a mystery; he may have ended up in Manitoba with his son Robert.

It seems sad given that this little family hammered out a life in northern Nova Scotia.