Catherine died soon after James, and in January 1864 the Shigawakers bought a half-acre from Will Skene Sr. and began work on St. Paul’s Church. The first recorded service was held in 1865, and the building was finished in 1867.
Jim’s first wife, Margie, and their two children, Catherine and Mary Jane, all passed away before 1870; no record of the reason exists. Soon afterwards, Jim married Mary Ann Macpherson and they produced ten children — the eldest, John, and the youngest, Eric, father of the author.
The graves of James and Catherine, and her mother Eleanor Garrett, are no longer marked in St. Andrew’s churchyard, New Carlisle, save by a memorial bench placed in 2006 next to the church wall by their great-grandson. And thus they lie undisturbed in the native soil of their beloved Gaspé.