Figsby Fortunes

by Mary Ducharme  (April 2020)

“The underlying story has yet to unfold,” said Henry Ernest Figsby in a 1920 letter to his friend Charles McKay. Writing from Alberta, he added “and I do not mind unfolding.” He remarked how Hemmingford unjustly regarded him as neglectful. In 1890, he went on to explain, his parents William Figsby and Mary McNown cast him out into the world with no family support. He was fourteen, the youngest of six children and he had ambitions for college.

His Grandfather McNown had made a provision in his will for a $500. trust for his education, but his father William loaned most of it to Uncle Thomas Figsby, merchant of the village who was in financial difficulty. This left Henry with no reserve of funds for college or for “the struggle for existence” and he went to Montreal with virtually empty pockets. His young age and inexperience were not in his favor but he survived. Years later the money that was rightfully Henry Ernest’s was repaid – and his father used it to buy a lot of land. “Mother then took the next rise out of me by loaning $150. of this money to a renegade cousin of hers” – who never paid it back.

Henry Ernest enlisted in the military and endured five years of misery and loneliness. He wrote home regularly, never receiving a letter in return. After honorable discharge, Henry became a successful manager for Dunlop Rubber in Montreal, producing rubber boots and tires. While he visited his family for years, sometimes draining his savings to help his elderly parents, his siblings were continually asking for loans which they never repaid, and he stopped his visits. When his parents died, he was not a beneficiary.

The story of an earlier will originates with pioneer Henry Figsby, grandfather to Henry Ernest, a farmer who immigrated from Ireland in 1804. He and his wife Sarah McNown bought 500 acres of Crown Property. He built a large stone house in the 1840’s for his growing family of nine children. He died of leukemia in 1882, and his wife died in 1892.

Nineteen years after he died a Declaration of Death was received by Notary Public J.A.V. Amirault, delivered by Francis (Fanny) Figsby, sister to Henry Sr. This 1901 document stated that there were no changes from the original 1882 will in his last illness. In notes at the beginning of the document, Henry had declared that “it is not my intention to make any bequest in favor of any of my children other than those named.”

Daughters Frances (Fanny), Eliza, Amanda, and Sarah inherited a varying amount from $100 to $500 with Fanny receiving the most with an added bonus of a sewing machine. His son Henry Jr. (born 1840) received all the remainder of the estate; sons William and Thomas were executors but not beneficiaries. When Henry Jr. died unmarried in 1902, the estate went to a nephew Charles Braithwaite, son of Sarah Figsby (sister of Henry Jr.) and Joseph Braithwaite of Henrysburg.

The estate at this time included 220 acres of land, the stone house, assorted outbuildings. Moveable goods were valued at $3,242. Meanwhile Thomas who borrowed the trust fund from his brother William (Henry Ernest’s father) was running a business drowning in unpaid debt.

The fates did not smile for Thomas. His wife Jane Gordon died in 1870. He married Elizabeth Cochrane in 1872 and she also passed away, and his third wife Mary Ann Forrest died in 1901. Forrest, at the age of nineteen, was working unhappily as a clerk for his father when the death of his mother Mary Ann broke the last thread holding him to Hemmingford.

The narrative of James McCanse loaning Thomas and Forrest $50 so that they could seek their fortunes in the states is a favorite in Hemmingford. In Horatio Alger fashion, by dint of hard work and character, Forrest became a millionaire as a founding member of the accounting firm of Ernst and Ernst. Forrest repaid the $50. by buying a new car for McCanse, and he donated over a thousand dollars for what is now the Forrest Figsby Memorial Hall.

The fascinating story of the Figsbys is much broader than can be suggested here. A full background is waiting to unfold as future research and information from family historians comes to light.