According to family tradition handed down to a grandson (Dougald) who settled in the St. Louis area of New Brunswick James came to the New Brunswick /Prince Edward Island area via the St. Pierre and Miquelon islands. In the late 1700s, it was common for Irish "servants" from the Newfoundland fishery to escape to the nearby islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon where they could practice their religion. It is believed that some also went further afield to the Magdalen islands and to Prince Edward island.
James married twice once around 1788 and again in the early 1800s but both times to Scottish lasses . This explains why some census records show PEI Nowlan/Nolan descendants as being of scottish origin.
More Information on James, unknown and children:
Around 1787, James' first wife, two brothers, John and Angus McLellan, their families, and two sisters left South Uist, one of Scotland's werstern islands, bound for Upper Canada. However, upon arriving in Charlottetown in what was then known as St. John's Isle (Île St. Jean), the captain of the ship, hearing of disease in the port of Quebec city, decided to let off his passengers without going any further. It was in Charlottetown that the McLellans met Lt. Colonel Robert Stewart, part proprietor of Lot 18. Upon learning of their situation, he advised them to settle upon his estate, telling them that, at the mouth of Indian River, they would find a deserted French house.
In the late 1700s, there was no Catholic church in Indian River but the faithful did attend Sunday mass at a French missionary chapel serving the Acadian and native population some 6 miles across Malpeque Bay on present-day Lennox island. The priests serving the mission were a Father Beaubien from Quebec and an Abbée de Colonade from Charlottetown. This is likely where James first met and married the McLellan sister. It is also likely where their son, Angus, was baptized around 1789. By the late 1700s, the mission chapel across the bay was abandoned and a new church built in Indian River.
In 1798, James and his first wife were living on Lot 19, on the south side of the Indian river. Most neighbours were of Acadian descent but there were also a few English-speaking settlers such as Dugald Steele who eventually became James' brother-in-law, marrying another McLellan sister.
Children of JAMES NOWLAN and McLELLAN sister:
- Angus (c1789) married Isabella McIsaac in 1822 and, in the 1841 census, we find them on Lot 46, at the eastern end of the Island, with 6 boys and 2 girls all under the age of 16. It is believed that these were not all their children but that some were nephews and nieces, such as Daniel (c1833) and possibly John (1826) and Jacob (c1833), sons and daughters of his step-brother John Nowlan (c1807) who worked in the woods of New Brunswick and whose first wife had died sometime around 1837.
Dugald (1835-1904) m1. Marie Gallant, 13 children; m2. Marie-Anne Butler, 5 children. Dugald initially moved to the Richibucto area of New Brunswick sometime before 1860 and probably worked in the forestry industry. Sometime around his second marriage in 1886 he seems to have relocated to the St. Louis, St. Charles and St. Ignace areas.
Christina (1836)
Daniel (1838)
Peter (1841) seems to have accompanied Dugald to the Richibucto area as we find him there in 1866 as godfather to one of Dugald's sons; his name also appears on an 1873 land grant map for a lot upriver from St. Louis-de-Kent.
John (1844)
More Information on James, Margaret and children:
Children of JAMES NOWLAN and MARGARET CAMPBELL:
John (c1807)
m1. unknown-wife, Children: Daniel (1833); possibly also John ( 1826) and Jacob (c1837)
m2. Mary Dougan, Children: Helen (1840), William (1843).
Like many islanders in his day, John seems to have gone to work in the woods of New Brunswick to meet the needs of his family. His family, however, seems to have stayed behind on PEI, perhaps in the area of Brae, in the northwest part of the island where we find his son Daniel (c1833) farming in 1881. Around 1837, John first wife (name unknown) died leaving behind several children who, according to family tradition, had to quickly learn to fend for themselves. It is believed that the younger children went to stay with John's step-brother, Angus, and his family for, in the 1841 PEI census, we find Angus listed with his wife and 8 children, believed to be too many to have been all his own. John (1826) and Jacob (1833), like their assumed father, also worked in the woods of New Brunswick. John settled down in the area of North Esk, NB, and Jacob in the area of Elgin, NB.
In 1838, John remarried, marrying Mary Dougan, and they seem to have initially lived in the area of Buctouche, NB, where, in 1840, we find Helen, daughter of a "John and Mary Nolen", being baptized in the Buctouche church. The "Margaret Nolen" listed as the godmother is believed to have been the child's grandmother, i.e. Margaret Campbell, second wife of James Nowlan of Indian River, PEI. By 1842, John and Mary seem to have returned to PEI since this is where their son William was born. They seem to have settled in the area of Cardigan, PEI, where we find, in 1872, the widow Mary and her son William. By then, this William had established himself as a storekeeper and Mary and William were selling the family property to a farming neighbour by the name of Patrick Ryan. The following year, in December 1873, a William Nowlan, believed to have been the same one, bought a 58 acre lot upriver from St. Louis, NB, where his assumed nephew Peter, son of Angus, had earlier purchased a lot, supposedly to log it and to supply lumber to the ship-building industry. As it happens, both St. Louis and the Cardigan river area on PEI were major shipbuilding centres at the time.
William (bef 1810) m. Margaret McLellan
Children: Christy (1827-1895)
Peter (1811-1905) m. Elizabeth McDonald
Children: Margaret (1842), John (1845), Mary-Jane (c1846), Joseph (c1847), Mary (c1849), James (c1851), Fabian (1854), Catherine (1856), Daniel (1858), Elijah (1860)
Donald (1814) ...
Christy (c1817) m. Thomas STONE
Children: William (1841), Catherine (1845), Margaret (1846), Catherine (1848)
Simon (bef 1820- aft. 1852) m. Mary Doyle
Children: James (1836), Bridget (1845), Charles (1846), Matthew (1847), Simon (1848), Mary-Ann (1853)
Contact for Family Story #1:
Roger Nowlan (E-mail)
Contact for Family Story #2:
Roger Nowlan (E-mail)
