Down Home Visit - 40
By 1816 Betts and his immediate family were experiencing serious financial difficulties and while it is not known when or where he died, property originally owned by him was certainly for sale by 1825 when the area’s second citizen of note arrived from Scotland by way of Blackville. Robert Doak (b. April 4, 1785) had been born in Ochiltree, Ayshire, the son of Agnes (Duncan) and Robert Doak, Senior. In 1808, he married Jane Kirkland and in 1815 when he was only 30, he and his family arrived on the Miramichi where he worked for several years as an innkeeper. In 1818, however, his elder brother James and his family joined Robert on the Miramichi. The brothers formed a partnership with Alexander MacLaggan who was operating a sawmill in Blackville. In the early 1820s, while continuing their partnership with MacLaggan, the Doak brothers moved twenty miles up river where their father, Robert Doak, Senior, had recently settled. Here in what was to become known as “Doaktown,” they acquired a considerable amount of property (some of it from the family of Ephraim Betts) and established water-powered carding and grist mills, a sawmill, an oat mill, and an extensive farming operation.
Robert Doak, rather than his elder brother James, became the settlement’s leading citizen, serving not only as the community’s largest employer but also as a School Trustee, Town Clerk, Clerk of the Market and Justice of the Peace. Such was his prominence that he became known far and wide as “Squire” Doak.
Down Home Visit - 40
By 1816 Betts and his immediate family were experiencing serious financial difficulties and while it is not known when or where he died, property originally owned by him was certainly for sale by 1825 when the area’s second citizen of note arrived from Scotland by way of Blackville. Robert Doak (b. April 4, 1785) had been born in Ochiltree, Ayshire, the son of Agnes (Duncan) and Robert Doak, Senior. In 1808, he married Jane Kirkland and in 1815 when he was only 30, he and his family arrived on the Miramichi where he worked for several years as an innkeeper. In 1818, however, his elder brother James and his family joined Robert on the Miramichi. The brothers formed a partnership with Alexander MacLaggan who was operating a sawmill in Blackville. In the early 1820s, while continuing their partnership with MacLaggan, the Doak brothers moved twenty miles up river where their father, Robert Doak, Senior, had recently settled. Here in what was to become known as “Doaktown,” they acquired a considerable amount of property (some of it from the family of Ephraim Betts) and established water-powered carding and grist mills, a sawmill, an oat mill, and an extensive farming operation.
Robert Doak, rather than his elder brother James, became the settlement’s leading citizen, serving not only as the community’s largest employer but also as a School Trustee, Town Clerk, Clerk of the Market and Justice of the Peace. Such was his prominence that he became known far and wide as “Squire” Doak.