Anglo-Celtic Connections Spring 2013 Issue

Once again, the BIFHSGO’s journal is full of news about the society, and the articles in this issue are of interest to me because two of them take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, my home city and province.

The first article is by Faye Kert and is entitled Prize-making in the War of 1812, Relatively Speaking.

It concerns the privateers who lurked around the Nova Scotia coast to catch ships that plied cargo and people (immigrants) back and forth to England. And one of the ships that was caught in the war was the Magnet on their way from Ireland to New York, and it was a ship full of Irish immigrants.

The ship was captured, and had to put into Halifax, where it was auctioned in April 1813.

It so happen that a person in Nova Scotia, Amanda Lightbody, who saw Faye’s notice about the talk that she gave at BIFHSGO’s monthly meeting on exactly the same topic that was covered in Spring edition of Anglo-Celtic Roots. Amanda got in contact with BIFHSGO, and another article was born - The Search for James Lighbody and the Magnet’s Passesger List.

She couldn’t find any information on the ship Magnet until she saw the BIFHSGO notice on the website, and then it all fell into place.

James Lightbody, one of the 100 immigrants, who landed in Halifax, spent most of his time between Maine and Nova Scotia, but other members lived in the Truro area of the province.

The remainder of journal include In Search of Hugh by Christine Woodcock, and Genealogy: the Motivations, the Investments, the Rewards by Leighann Neilson and D.A. Muise.

To go to BIFHSGO, click on to the www.bifhsgo.ca