Misc. Notes
McCaie is a diminutive/shortened version of "McCaille" which was an attempted French spelling of McKay. Henri McCaie was the first one to be officially baptized with the spelling "McCaie" in 1887 in Rogersville, New Brunswick, Canada. Interview with Henri McCaie, son of Francois X. McKay/McCaie and Helene Richard, held at 23 Steadman Street, in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, on Saturday morning 08 September 1962. Henri McCaie confirmed to Reg McCaie (Jr.) that Alexander MacKay (Sr.) was the son of William MacKay and Margaret Fraser, and that they were all from Inverness, Inverness, Co., Scotland.
®4162“My grandfather Henri McCaie is the one who told me years ago that our Scottish Ancestor was from Inverness, Scotland, and that his parents were William MacKay and Margaret Fraser. I remember also my grandfather having said that our Scottish Ancestor had fought on the Battle of the Plains of Abraham of 1759 in Quebec City. After the War was over in 1763 he later married a young French-Canadian women whose father was a shoemaker in Quebec City. Henri had further mentioned that the bride's sister was Alexandre McKay Jr.'s godmother. She apparently had first married an Acadian by the name of Joseph Girouard whose family had been deported to Quebec City during the Great Deportation of the Acadians in 1755. Henri stated that she had lost three children by drowning. After her first husband died, she remarried Louis-Roch-Augustin Tremblay from Les Eboulements. And that is where Archange Martel lived of which Henri McCaie had also mentioned to me.Some years later research was done to bridge the gaps in our family history. Marie-Anne LeClerc-LeBlanc was helpful in untangling some of the webs we had in our family tree. Her second husband originally was from the Gaspe region of Quebec which turned out to be a blessing. She was familiar with Gaspean Genealogy because of her husband through his mother who was distantly related to Francis and Samuel MacKay of St.-Eustache, Quebec. Quebec genealogist Bona Arsenault (now deceased) had stated in one of his books that Alexander MacKay (Sr.) had married an Angelique Rigaud. Ironically Bona Arsenault was a descendant of Alexandre McKay (Jr.) through his daughter Marie-Anne McKay who married Ignace Arbour. Their daughter Anastasie Arbour married Georges Arsenault who were Bona Arsenault's paternal grandparents. We had assumed earlier by searching through the Tanguay Dictionary that Angelique Rigaud was the daughter of Francois Rigaud and Marguerite Nadeau of Beaumont, Quebec. Marie-Anne LeClerc-LeBlanc soon discovered that Alexander MacKay (Sr.) had married an Angelique Demolier from Quebec City. And the rest stated to flow unlocking memories I had forgotten but started remembering from years ago.
Angelique Demolier may have actually married a third husband by the name of Jean Rigaud (born around 1751) from New Carlisle because I seem to remember Henri McCaie having said she was married three times. However, the wedding entry is not listed in the New Carlisle registers unless it was lost or they were married somewhere else. That might help explain why Bona Arsenault has her listed as having married a Rigaud. Time will tell. In order to validate Henri McCaie's claim that Alexander MacKay was the son of William MacKay and Margaret Fraser a genealogist from Edinburgh, Scotland, was contacted way back in 1980. He successfully found the baptismal record for Alexander MacKay.”
®4162 “Some contact definitely was maintained throughout the years because Purissima McKay visited Henri McCaie in Moncton, New Brunswick during the month of August of 1965. She had retired as a nurse, if I remember correctly, which makes sense because she would have been 65 years of age. Henri would have been around 77 years old. I spoke to her briefly. My grandfather made the point that her husband Hector (when alive) was distantly related to Robert Goulet the actor/singer. She was on her way back to Montreal by train. My grandfather had phoned her a taxi because his car was in for repairs. She invited us to go see her in Montreal saying there were few McKays left. She must have known she was the last one of her line. I never saw her again after that at my grandparents house.”
®4162