The Original Passenger List

Unfortunately, an “original" Ship Hector passenger list does not exist and records for the time period are scarce. The two lists that historians have used to trace the passengers were known as the McKay list and the McKenzie list, drawn up by William McKay around 1820 and William McKenzie around 1837. Given the time span between the arrival of the Ship Hector and the lists being made, it is very possible that either of these lists have errors and/or omissions.

Fortunately, there are many similarities between the two lists, with only a few discrepancies. The McKay list groups the names into age groups and identifies the father of the children under 2 years. Some accounts of the McKay list in published books and online have the children mistakenly listed as the father which can make the lists confusing to understand.

Using family genealogies, interpretations by Dr George Patterson (author of History of Pictou County, 1877) and other (hopefully reliable) sources, the Ship Hector Descendant Project has organized the known passengers into family groups and added pertinent information, such as birth & death information. A few children appear to have been omitted from the lists, and are noted as such on the family groupings.

Additional source information included gravestones, wills, and obituaries to try to confirm family members & relationships and solve the passenger puzzle. Not all pieces of the puzzle have been solved to date. The Passenger List page of the website will be updated as new information is found. If you have information to contribute, please get in contact.