It was a dreary July Sunday at the York Sunbury Museum ….

Provincial Archives of New Brunswick P14-4 Harvey Studio Fonds

I don’t necessarily mind yucky summer days at the museum … we tend to have lots of visitors when the weather is bad making our day a little busier and usually a little more interesting.  Our summer hours are 12 to 5pm on Sundays but I had decided to open early since my daughter who had come in to help out at the York Sunbury Museum insisted.  Three lovely ladies showed up at the door and were delighted to see we were open … I believe they walked up to the museum to check our hours.  Enid, Mary and Janet were looking for information about the Phillips family genealogy in York County, New Brunswick and maybe something about their Loyalist ancestor Cornelius Ackerman the owner of the Golden Ball Hotel/Ackerman Tavern in late 1700’s in Fredericton.  

"Thanks again for the wonderful time that we had at the Museum in Fredericton. We were especially happy with our tour by your daughter." ~ Janet

Our Sunday morning guests took a tour of the museum guided by my daughter who has taken an interest in my work and in history.  They tried on the Loyalist soldier costume, the Acadian outfits and enjoyed the many artefacts that we have on display.  As they explored I kept thinking about the name Ackerman … where did I come across that name recently?  I was doing admissions so I couldn’t stray to far from the office but when they came down from exploring the galleries I enquired a little more about their research and it came to me!

We were in the middle of preparing our Museum Treasure: A Celebration exhibit where we were putting out some of our special artefacts and some of our more unusual ones as well.  The unusual ones don’t always fit neatly into a theme and are not placed on exhibit very often.  Some of the unusual artefacts include a piece of coronation cake from 1911 and an iron border marker from when New Brunswick was larger and Maine was smaller!  Pretty cool!  We were also putting out some of our newer items such as a part of the Dr. Likely collection and a pair of little shoes made by a New Brunswick blacksmith for his son.

Cornelius was Enid's third great grandfather.

One thing that the staff and volunteers stumbled on last Spring while working in the collection was a large and heavy corner beam.  It doesn’t look like much, big squared pieces of hewn lumber with a corner joint … actually it is amazing to think about the skill that would have gone into constructing a corner like that without the aid of modern tools and measuring devices.  As it turned out, this corner joint was part of the Ackerman Tavern that Cornelius Ackerman owned and operated in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s.  Located somewhere between Queen and St. John Streets this building was built by Olivier Thibodeau and was one of the first buildings in Fredericton.  Oliver sold it to Cornelius and Abraham van der Beck both Loyalists from the 3rd New Jersey Volunteers.  It was the home of the first Governor and his family while they waited for their house to be built!  Unfortunately, it was torn down in the 1960’s.

Janet and Mary are descendants of Cornelius Ackerman and his wife Fanny Lawrence, through their daughters Elsy Ann (Phillips) and Mary Elizabeth (Stevens). Cornelius Ackerman is their 4th Great Grandfather.

These ladies were thrilled!  The artefact was handy since we were preparing to put it on exhibit and so I had Matt help to haul it out … it weighs A LOT!!  To think that this family’s ancestor owned the building that this artefact came from was amazing and it was a thrill for them to see it.  They took several pictures, some of which are included in this blog, examined every inch and were so happy that by chance they came to my door and by chance we were open even though we would have normally had been closed.

Enid, Mary and Janet were very happy that I brought my daughter to work with me that day.  The exhibit is now open … if you’re in Fredericton you should drop by and check it out!!

~ Ruth