182 A Bridge To The Past 
     
    
   
   
    
     One of the daughters married a Mr. Mercier of Norton, N.B. Another 
     
     daughter married John Cameron of Boston. 
     
    
   
   
    
     It is uncertain whether the above-mentioned James, or a James born 
     
     in 1861 and dying in 1937 (according to an old scrapbook) was the father of 
     
     Alphonse and the six other brothers and sisters. It seems improbable that 
     
     the latter James is the correct father because relatives inform us that 
     
     Alphonse was born on July 1, 1868, one year after the Confederation of 
     
     Canada. We do know however that a James Connell of Wilmot Valley mar- 
     
     ried Sarah Gay and had the children listed in the latter part of this account. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Their children attended Wilmot Valley School, and Alphonse, who 
     
     was a colourful conversationalist, with lots of Irish wit, often spoke fondly 
     
     of these days. He spoke often of being hailed in the morning by his father’s 
     
     shout: “Get up, boys! Your breakfast is in the brook!” Alphonse also told 
     
     of the sheepskin shoes they wore, which alternated, depending upon the 
     
     wetness or dryness of the weather, from being large and floppy to being 
     
     shrunken and hard. James and Sarah (Gay) Connell later moved to Well- 
     
     ington. They had a family of eight children: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Alice married J. Archibald Barlow of Wellington. 
     
     Leonora married Moore Smith of Victoria West. 
     
     Annie married Harry Harvey and lived in Massachusetts, U.S.A. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Alphonse first married Annie Crossman of Bedeque. Later he married Irene 
     
     MacArthur Rix of Tyne Valley. Alphonse was born on July 1, one 
     
     year after the Confederation of Canada. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Marquis or Marcus lived in Mattapan, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 
     
    
   
   
    
     James moved to the western part of U.S.A. when he was young. 
     
     Joseph lived in Boston and died young. 
     
     Henry married Margaret Cotton and lived in Miscouche. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The fifty-acre farm which belonged to the Connells in Wilmot Valley 
     
     was sold prior to 1880, with thirty-two acres owned by Samuel Burrows 
     
     and eighteen acres owned by Laughlin Mclnnis in that year. The land south 
     
     of the marsh later belonged to Edgar Sobey and now belongs to Lyman 
     
     Huestis. 
     
    
   
   
    
     BARRETT 
     
    
   
   
    
     Lawrence Barrett was one of the Loyalist settlers who was brought to 
     
     P.E.I. from Shelburne, N.S. by William Schurman in 1784. Along with his 
     
     fifty acres located between the Red Bridge and Read’s Corner, Barrett also 
     
     received two hundred and fifty acres of land on the north side of the