Abraham Cunard (1756 – January 10, 1824) was a

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec and governor general of the Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North Ameri ...

carpenter, timber merchant, and ship owner from

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, best known as the father of shipping magnate

Samuel Cunard Sir Samuel Cunard, 1st Baronet (21 November 1787 – 28 April 1865), was a British-Canadian shipping magnate, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who founded the Cunard Line, establishing the first scheduled steamship connection with North America. ...

Biography

Abraham Cunard was a descendant of

Thones Kunders Thones Dennis Kunders (c. 1654 – September 1729, Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an early settler of colonial Pennsylvania. Biography Kunders was born in Mönchengladbach, Holy Roman Empire, and was a citizen of Krefeld. A dyer ...

, a German

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

who immigrated to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in 1683. Abraham Cunard enjoyed youthful success as a timber merchant and shipowner, but his entire fleet was confiscated by rebels in the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and Cunard came to Halifax with the

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

migration in 1783. Cunard worked as a foreman carpenter with the British Army. In 1799 he was appointed master carpenter of the Royal Engineers at the Halifax garrison by

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (Edward George Nicholas Paul Patrick; born 9 October 1935) is a member of the British royal family. The elder son of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, he is a grandson of George ...

, the commander-in-chief in British North America. Cunard held his post until he retired in 1822. Cunard also pursued a private business career, building and buying wharves, warehouses and considerable land holdings. In July 1812, he founded the firm of A. Cunard and Sons to enter the timber and West Indian trade. Cunard acquired valuable timber holdings in Nova Scotia's

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Cumberland, historic county *Cumberl ...

and later in

Hants County Hants County is a historical county and census division of Nova Scotia, Canada. Local government is provided by the West Hants Regional Municipality, and the Municipality of the District of East Hants. History Formation The county of Hants ...

where one of his employees was Jacob Hall, father of William Hall, the first black recipient of the Victoria Cross. Cunard provided timber to the Royal Navy's Halifax Naval Yard and to export markets in Britain and the West Indies. He also owned ships and traded to the West Indies as well as acting as an agent for other shipowners. Cunard prospered during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

: he purchased captured ships and cargoes and he supplied British forces with risky but rewarding wartime trading. One of his ships, the schooner ''Margaret'' was captured by American privateers in 1814 but recaptured and returned to Cunard.

Legacy

In 1783, Abraham Cunard married Margaret Murphy (1758-1821), another Loyalist whose family had immigrated in 1773 to

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. They had nine children, two girls and seven boys. His sons, William,

Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

, Edward,

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, John, Thomas and Henry“Samuel and Susan” Part 4, ‘’Blue Pete.Com’’
/ref> followed into the family firm as well as founding their own ventures. Abraham's son Joseph Cunard became a major timber merchant and politician in

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. However it was Abraham's second son

who emerged as the leader in the family firm. Using his father's company as a base, Samuel Cunard launched his own shipping empire after his father's death which eventually became the famous

Cunard Line The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been r ...

. Abraham Cunard retired in 1822 and moved to the family's country home at Rawdon, Nova Scotia, in East Hants County. His wife Margaret had died in 1821. Abraham died in 1824. He is buried with his wife at the St. Paul's Church graveyard at Rawdon.

References

Bibliography

External links

“Samuel Cunard's Forefathers” Blue Pete.Com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunard, Abraham 1756 births 1824 deaths 18th-century Canadian merchants Canadian businesspeople in shipping People from Hants County, Nova Scotia United Empire Loyalists Businesspeople from Halifax, Nova Scotia Loyalists who settled Nova Scotia

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...