Cousins, John

From: An Island Refuge- Loyalists and Disbanded Troops on The Island of Saint John, The Abegweit Branch of UELAC, 1983

John Cousin became a Loyalist following the American Revolution. The Cousins were originally French Huguenots from Normandy, and an early Prince Edward Island spelling of the name is given as Couzens.
John, a young man of about twenty-six, settled at Park Corner, Lot 20, and took up farming. On October 23, 1786 he married Mary Townsend, daughter of James and Elizabeth Townsend, a farmer at Park Corner. Mary, aged seven at the time, was a passenger with her parents and brothers and sisters on the ill-fated schooner, Elizabeth, which was wrecked off Lot 11 in November, 1775.
John Cousins and Mary Townsend practised the Presbyterian faith and it is told that early Presbyterian services were held in their home. The date of their marriage and their children’s births are given in Margate United Church records. John prospered and became one of the largest local landowners with seven hundred acres. A body of water adjoining his property is known as Cousins Pond. John and Mary had seven children: James, Sarah, Elizabeth, John, Alexander, William and David. John’s will, prepared in 1832, named all of these children except Sarah.
John, the Loyalist, died on January 26, 1840 at the age of eighty. His wife, Mary, died on August 17, 1850 at the age of eighty-two. Both are buried in Yankee Hill Cemetery, New London.