My Family Tree

This part of the McArthur family is a work in progress. In the absence of records, some of this is based on naming patterns. Something to consider, but not to copy to your own tree!

Local histories agree that Gilbert was a son of the first Hugh McArthur to settle in Prince County. There were 7 males in the household of Hugh in the 1798 census, which leaves room for him. We don't know from this census if there was more than one family in this household. I am making the assumption that Gilbert would be around the same age as his wife, Kitty, although he could have been older.

An unsourced document from a descendant said that Gilbert's father was William. There wasn't a William McArthur in the 1798 census, but also possible that Hugh had grandchildren in his household.

Gilbert's wife Kitty was the daughter of Donald and Janet Forbes, and Gilbert is said to be a son of Hugh McArthur. You would expect children named Donald, Hugh and Janet. It bothers me that there is no son Hugh, although a child could have died young.

In 1806, a Gilbert McArthur was the Constable of Cascumpec District. He wrote a petition to the governor of PEI to receive payment for his services, as he was a poor labouring man. He signed the petition with an X.

Gilbert and Kitty are listed in the book Climbing the Hill, and three of their children were in the PEI Baptismal Index. Climbing the Hill says an 1809 survey of Lot 13 includes Gilbert's farm, and he was on a list of Seymour's tenants in 1824, with the notice that he had left in January 182?, insolvent. The next settler on the land was Dougald MacArthur.

Gilbert left the area. His son Gilbert was in Lot 16 in 1861, so that was perhaps where he and Kitty settled next.

In Gilbert's family I am including some McArthurs from PEI who settled in Kent, New Brunswick, if they named a son Gilbert - not a common name. There was John McArthur from PEI (1815-1905) who went to Kent, New Brunswick where he married Elizabeth Marsh. John and Elizabeth named a daughter Catherine, and their eldest son was Gilbert. Similiarly, Donald McArthur born PEI, living in Kent, NB also named a son Gilbert, so he is included too. Jane McArthur, from PEI was in Kent, New Brunswick in 1861 with her mother Catherine. Emily, or Amelia McArthur married Andrew Dale in Kent, New Brunswick. Isabella McArthur was a witness, and an Isabella McArthur from PEI married Charles Lawson in Kent County. Margaret McArthur was in the PEI Baptismal Index, and I believe she married David McConnell. She died not long after the birth of a daughter, Margaret Jane McConnell, in 1850 - Margaret was living with Jane in New Brunswick.

I might be wrong in the assumptions I have made regarding the children of Kitty and Gilbert - but the ages (most fertile women had children about every 2 years in the days before birth control) and names fit the traditional naming patterns of the day.

Gilbert was not in the 1861 census as a head of household. I believe Kitty went to Kent, New Brunswick, and is the Catherine McArthur living with her daughter Jane, and grand-daughter Margaret McConnell in the New Brunswick 1861 census.

There were no land transactions under the name Gilbert McArthur, and no will or administration papers under his name.