Thorburns of Nova Scotia

10/07/2024

This man is a legend; like so many ambitious hard-working fishermen.

09/28/2024

 YOUR voice matters. It matters who represents this district at the council table.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION WILL BE SOUGHT IN THE NEAR FUTURE ON MUNICIPAL PLANNING AND OUR BYLAW REVIEWS. The Province Of Nova Scotia has mandated minimum planning of all 49 municipalities in the Province Of Nova Scotia.

How do you envision your community into the future?
Lend your voice to this upcoming public process. Be involved.

05/31/2023

To the community members of the District of the Municipality of Shelburne:

As of Saturday, May 27, there is an out-of-control fire covering close to 19,000 hectares of our community and beyond. The fire is extremely active and community members should prepare to be in this wildfire situation for an extended period.

We are very grateful to the many individuals and resources that have been deployed to protect our community and its residents. This includes over 50 Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR) staff, over 40 volunteer firefighters, four helicopters, two CL 415 air tanker, and much more. Crews have recently arrived from PEI to join us in fighting this fire.

We understand residents are worried about their homes and properties, and while we have confirmed that some structures—including homes—have been destroyed, and some are still threatened, there are no firm details on the numbers yet. Right now, the main priority is the safety of residents and fire crews. Updates will be forthcoming once it is safe to access the affected areas.

Power has recently been shut off on Shore Road. We understand community members were checking in on the status of their homes and properties via security cameras, however, it is important to note that camera feeds may stop due to ongoing power outages.

We will post separate updates regarding food, shelter, accommodations, and evacuation registration. We appreciate the help being provided by various organizations and community groups. Please check this page and www.novascotia.ca/alerts often for continued updates.

We all must abide by the evacuation notices and not return to the evacuation zone unless authorized to do so. It is important residents do not use waterways in the evacuation zone as this can impede fire suppression operations. These waterways are for access by the water bombers only. Please stay out of the waterways.

Drones must not be flown anywhere within the evacuation zone. They are extremely dangerous to aircraft and personnel. Drone use results in the grounding of air resources and fire suppression operations.

Earlier today, some residents of Birchtown received misinformation from the RCMP about a possible evacuation. The RCMP asked that we extend apologies on their behalf to residents for this miscommunication and reiterate that no new evacuation orders were announced today.

We strongly encourage residents to have go-bags and emergency kits prepared. We will give as much notice as possible for any new evacuations, but please be prepared so you can evacuate in a safe and timely manner.

We have heard from residents that more information is necessary and have increased our resources and approach to delivering timely and relevant information to the public in a more efficient manner. Please be mindful that this is a fluid situation and updates can only be provided once all information has been confirmed with the relevant authorities. Please refer to information on this page and from emergency officials for accurate information and do not spread misinformation.

Please continue doing your part in supporting one another and be prepared to evacuate if necessary.

04/03/2023

10/31/2022

Community building, community connections, community sharing it’s history and building it’s future.

Please join our fishermen and families for our first SANDY POINT annual BLESSING OF THE FLEET with a community potluck supper at the LIGHTHOUSE afterwards 4 - 7 p.m.

Contact Mike Holmes or any other St Peter’s By The Sea executive for further information; Bev Burke, Wayne Butler, Agnes Abbott, Ruth Thorburne, Ellen Nickerson, Phyllis Antonio or myself.

Please share.

10/03/2022

I received a phone call this morning from our County representative, Nolan Young- MLA for Shelburne County. I have received these calls consistently since NOLAN has taken the reins, representing Shelburne County.

I am heartened by his work ethic and by his acknowledgement that his allegiance is to the residents of Shelburne County. There will always be competing interest in politics and as a new counsellor myself, I fully understand this.

This morning Nolan was checking in with our municipal position on recycling out of the construction and demolition site. As a municipal unit and a council, it was decided that given the risk and liability to the municipalty as the only remaining unit in the province of Nova Scotia, we were the only unit to remain open to scavenging. The risk was decided to be too great.

Out of this, in my district, there is a citizen that started a recycle Facebook group and cudos to that individual for that initiative, and ultimately at the C&D site, there is no sourcing material from this site.

Nolan and I discussed healthcare, some of the current challenges and some solutions. I think as citizens generally, we can see the challenges that we face. It is not good enough to complain. We need to bring solutions to the table and then ultimately land these solutions with the appropriate decision makers.

The last thing we talked about was offshore wind developments. This is a particular concern of mine, particularly given the prospect of a wind development project in Sandy Point, that was not given the greenlight on this phase of procurement.

REGARDING ANY OFFSHORE WIND DEVELOPMENTS, it is critically important as the feds move forward with the province that OUR fisherman are at the decision-making table, the Canada Nova Scotia offshore petroleum board will be incorporating big wind, as well, into this board. As I write this, I do not know what stage the decision makers are at, if wind is now incorporated into this decision making body.

It is important fir me to recognize citizen scientist John Davis who requested advocacy from our Municipality on this matter. Our municipal unit did connect on an advocacy level with Jonathan Wilkinson, federal minister for Natural Resources. As citizens, we need to understand that our fisherman are protected, protected through recognition that there must be no disruption to our lucrative fishing grounds. Our fishermen require a voice at that particular decision making board, the CNSOPB. Our fishing grounds are a NATURAL RESOURCE asset that we must protect, from an economic sustainability perspective, as we move forward on the energy front. Our fisheries must not be collateral damage.

I wish to recognize our MLA NOLAN YOUNG for his service, his work ethic and his representation of his constituents at the provincial decision making table.

Thank you, NOLAN YOUNG.

05/09/2022

CALLING CLAN THORBURN

PLANS WILL BEGIN FOR A THORBURN REUNION 2023

05/09/2022

On Saturday, we all got to reminisce on all that Lynes meant to each of us.

03/30/2022

I screenshot this from Ancestry.ca but it is available from the NS Historical Vital Statistic’s page. The delayed birth registrations were done, retroactively as people applied for pensions, perhaps other documentation too. So most delayed birth registrations in NS are full of details and usually several pages. Very valuable for family geneologists.

I like this page of data for all the information it provides on my great grandfather Lewis Thorburn and his parents William Thorburn and Letitia Hewitt. We know that as of 1926, William has passed, that he was a Master Mariner. William was born in Jordan Bay and that his ancestry was Scotch. We are shown the link also to our great, great grandmother Letitia Hewitt.

In 1926, the year that Lewis applies for his birth registration. Lewis lived here in Sandy Point,100 years ago and now, I as his great granddaughter, live in the home of Lewis and Helen. It did not feel like my home for a while. It does now.

What this document is so important for is the link to Lewis’ parents. I recommend going to the NS Historical Vital Stats page. type in just ”THOR …” and their robust search engine will give you every variant spelling of Thorburn and in that way, by casting your net wide, you will capture every spelling.

03/24/2022

I need you. To spread the word. To join me.
We all live busy lives. There’s no doubt about it. Within those busy lives and hopefully as we step out of the fog of the pandemic, Who is interested in contributing and in attending a Thorburn reunion in southwest Nova Scotia?

We’ll gather together our resources and have the mother of all family reunions?? How does 2023 sound? Being flexible of course but beginning to make this as plan A!?

03/15/2022

There may be some repeats records here, but I find the Ardella an interesting record. I see it is built in Sand Point, often referred to as Sand Point, aka Sandy Point.

My approach as I review any of these records is examining the names and size of the boat, who built it, how large was the vessel, who owned the boat, the master who commandeered the vessel and the records of names on the second page, including the notes of the registry. If the vessel is stranded, lost at sea, whatever, thought to be lost and returns, all of these notations are recorded under the vessels ON #, the unique number given every vessel, even today. Even today, boats are sold in shares I am told, 64 shares.

The Ardella is bought by John Hewitt Thorburn at some point, she is launched in June of 1892 and do you know what else is happening then as this boat is launched? Half way around the world, the Willie McGowan, a Shelburne built schooner, with Nova Scotians, likely also CB and NFLD fishermen aboard the vessel, they leave CB in December of 1891, rounding Cape Horn and arriving in Victoria in May of 1892 ready to join the sealing fleet in the Behring Sea. The Willie McGowan is captured in July of 1892 and the men are thrown into a remote village, nearly starved and news of their plight reaches Nova Scotia. Telegrams are sent to Britain and the Canadian feds, as the Nova Scotia families are pleading to get their men home before winter occurs. They come home and this capture of their vessel goes to a Paris Tribunal. The Russians were picking off the British, aka the Canadian Nova Scotian, fishermen, left, right and center. You see there was a million dollar industry for seal skins, bid and sold in the London auction houses, a multimillion dollar industry. Our fishermen would have lost their wages that year, imagine! Years later the tribunal demands payment, to the boat owners.I find some records of miniscule compensation for the fishermen. This could NOT have compensated the fishermen, adequately???

Occasionally there are other factoids to be gleaned from these records. There is a George J Thorburn, I need to find him in the family tree, but he dies ”intestate”. This is a legal term, meaning he dies without a will.

There is so much material and I will continue to put it up for each’s use as you will build your own history. What is interesting is the records that sit in Boston and Gloucester, in Waltham, Mass. The vessels are recorded coming in to port, there may the the ON and the name the Rialto, or the Eva L. H. that one recognizes through research and I already know whose on board because of these records …. It is the biggest puzzle ever, this research.

I am just throwing up data. I will collate but not now. You go right ahead with your own ideas. It is for us to share.

03/14/2022

This is part of the 1791 poll tax, I believe. Someone posted this but I have seen it several times before. Jones Harbour. So in a review of property records, one should be able to find where John lived, if he owned property. So there is much tracking of records. I have already done a great deal of photographing the original source records.

So the biggest influx of Loyalists land in 1783, some in May and later in the year, also. What we do not know is how John arrived. He had to have arrived with Martha?? Much still to discover.

John and Martha are our progenitors in Nova Scotia. That is a certainty. From Martha’s death record, you can see that she was born in County Down, Ireland.