* Nancy Ann Smith and Christopher Atkinson had 8 children.
* Catherine Goodwin and Christopher Atkinson had 3 children.

(Nancy & Christopher's) All children born in Sackville, Westmoreland, New Brunswick, Canada

Most of the children remained in New Brunswick.

* Robert Atkinson and Ann Brown were Yorkshire settlers arriving in Nova Scotia in 1774, initially settling in Francklin Manor, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. They rented land from Lt. Gov. Michael Francklin. They were parents of 7 children all who were born in Francklin Manor (including Christopher Atkinson)

Excerpt from FamilySearch.org -
Christopher Atkinson was the sixth child of Robert Atkinson and his first wife, Ann Brown. Christopher and his younger brother Joseph were the two principal branches of the Robert Atkinson family through which the family name was carried on in New Brunswick. Of the seven children of Robert Atkinson and his first wife, three were girls. Of the four boys, Thomas died at the age of 15, John apparently never ever married, and only Christopher and Joseph married and had families. Of the eleven children of Robert Atkinson and his second wife, three died as children, two daughters married and remained in New Brunswick, but the other six children, including all four sons who married, took their families to Ohio about 1833.
Christopher was born on f4 December 1782 at Francklin Manor, Nova Scotia.' Before he was eight, the family moved from their original home at Francklin Manor to Sackville, New Brunswick, and at about that same time his father remarried. As was the practice at that time, he probably assisted with the family's farming activities, and he attended school in Sackville to the limited extent that educational opportunities were available then.

The Two Marriages of Christopher Atkinson
At 23 years of age, Christopher married Nancy Smith and established his own family. Their marriage bond was posted 4 February 1805 in Halifax'
Nancy Smith was born 1 August 1786 in Cumberland Township, Nova Scotia. She was the 5th of 12 children born to John Smith and Jane Chapman Smith. John Smith, the eldest of the five children of Nathaniel Smith and his wife Elizabeth, was born in 1754. He died at the age of 77 on 15 November 1831 and was buried in Sackville.' Jane Chapman, the wife of John Smith and mother of Jane Chapman, was born about 1759 to William Chapman and his wife Mary, Jane died 20 March 1820 at Fort Lawrence, Nova Scotia.'
Nancy Smith was 19 years old when she married Christopher Atkinson. They were married for 15 years and during that time had eight children, which was not unusual for that era. Nancy died at the young age of 34 on 30 April 1819. She was buried in the Methodist Burying Ground in Middle Sackville near Crane's Comer where the family home was located. Her death was undoubtedly connected with complications of child birth, since her 8th child, Nancy, was born April 12 — just two and a half weeks before her untimely death.

One year after the death of his first wife, Christopher Atkinson married Catherine Goodwin on 21 March 1820 . Catherine was born about 1791, thus she would have been about 29 at the time of their marriage. Christopher Atkinson was 38 years of age. Catharine Goodwin was the widow of Isaac Goodwin, and they were the parents of one child, Stephen Goodwin. Christopher and Catharine Goodwin Atkinson had three sons.
Catharine Atkinson died at the age of 84, on 12 November 1875 in Sackville and was buried at the Mount Whatley Cemetery.

Involvement in Community Affairs

Christopher Atkinson lived in the Sackville area for his entire life. He was involved in the community and in various local improvement projects. He joined his father and other citizens in petitioning for the creation of a board of sewers for the draining of marshes in the area in order to permit farming of the rich marsh lands and to permit easier movement of people and animals through the lowlands' He seemed to be particularly interested in educational improvement. About 1820 he provided a lot at Crane's Corner for the establishment of a school. The completed square one-room building accommodated 30 pupils. Somewhat later an effort was made to build another school, and Christopher Atkinson was one of the "subscribers," local citizens willing to contribute to the cost of construction of the new facility. Unfortunately, however, the attempt had to be abandoned.
When the Sackville and Westmorland Agricultural Society was organized in 1825, Christopher Atkinson was one of the leading local citizens who participated in the founding of the organization. The Society promoted agricultural interests in the area, and was an agricultural cooperative for the purchase of seed and other agricultural inputs.

Perhaps more than anything else, however, Christopher Atkinson is remembered for his sale of a piece of property to Charles F. Allison in 1840. Allison was a local entrepreneur who played a prominent role in the early development of the economy of Sackville and the surrounding territory. In 1836 he was converted to Methodism, and in 1839 he proposed to the annual meeting of the Wesleyan Methodist ministers of the New Brunswick District that a school be established "in which pure Religion is not only taught, but Constantly brought before the Youthful mind." He proposed that the school teach "not only the elementary but higher branches of education." Allison proposed to purchase land in Sackville, to have suitable buildings constructed at his own expense, and to provide £100 annually for ten years for the school's expenses. The Methodist district meeting unanimously accepted Allison's "liberal offer.' By February 1840, Allison had acquired the needed parcel of land from Christopher Atkinson: "No deed has survived to document the purchase, but its extent was a little over five acres, located near the centre of Sackville, on the rise of ground which would shortly afterwards come to be known as Mount Allison."' The land was originally owned by Amasa Killam, had been purchased by Robert Atkinson from his father-in-law, and it was then purchased by Christopher Atkinson from his father.

In 1843 the Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy was formally opened for young men, and in 1854 the Mount Allison Academy for Females was inaugurated. Mount Allison was the first women's college in Canada and the first institution in the entire British Empire to grant a bachelor's degree to a woman. The university developed a particularly strong program in the fine arts, music, and the liberal arts. Today the university has over a thousand students, principally focusing on undergraduate education, but with graduate programs in several areas.'

After selling his property in Sackville to Allison for the Mount Allison Academy, Christopher Atkinson purchased a farm and moved to Point de Bute, a small community just east of the town of Sackville on the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border.'s Christopher'Z' Atkinson died on 5 October 1849 at the age of 67 years, and he was buried in the Methodist Cemetery in Mount Whatley, near Point de Bute.