on of the County of
Saguenay. There were two sons, Thomas and John. Thomas, the elder, was
to get the estate at Murray Bay; for John India was talked of; but his
mother could not let him go--"our family has been too unlucky by going
there." In 1826, when a youth of twenty, Thomas made a tour in Europe.
Then, or later, the young man fell into dissipated habits and he died in
early manhood. There remained only John. When he came of age in 1829 he
too travelled in Europe; in April he was at Rome and there saw the
newly-elected Pope, Pius VIII. He returned to Canada quite a man of the
world and for a time lived in Quebec, engaged in business. But in 1834
when his father Peter McNicol died[25] John's prospects changed. The
seigniory belonged to his mother, during her lifetime, but he was the
heir. It seemed desirable that the name of the first seigneur should be
continued and, in 1834, by royal warrant, John McNicol adopted the name
and arms of Nairne. Once more was there a John Nairne. In 1837 we find
him empowered to take the oath of allegiance from the habitants--to show
that they were not in sympathy with the rebel Papineau. His mother, the
old Colonel's last surviving child, died in 1839. She was a kindly
woman, of genial temper, with a fine faculty for friendship; so intimate
was she with Malcolm Fraser's daughter that she wrote "I do believe, nay
am sure, she has not a thought with which I am not made acquainted." She
never lost her sympathy with young people and her delight in their
"innocent gaiety."

As in 1762, so now again in 1839, a John Nairne ruled at Murray Bay. The
young seigneur soon took a wife. In 1841 he married Miss Catherine
Leslie, of a well known Canadian family, a bride of only seventeen, and
then settled down at Murray Bay to live the life of a country gentleman.
He became Colonel in the militia, took some part in politics on the
Conservative side, and studied agriculture. He was resolved to keep up
the dignity of his position and set about rebuilding the manor house.
The work was begun in 1845 and completed by the autumn of 1847; the new
structure with little change is the present Manor. It is of stone
covered with wood, a capacious dwelling with some fine rooms, and
admirably suited to its purpose. To John Nairne an heir was born in 1842
and named John Leslie Nairne and the prospect seemed excellent for the
final establishment of a Nairne dynasty in the seigniory. But, alas,
this was not to be. T