The Chignecto Isthmus and its first settlers Part 19

Other pa.s.sengers on the VALIANT were: John Milner, settled in Sackville; John Towse, settled in Dorchester; Robert Morrison, settled in Suss.e.x; Robert Mitten and family, settled in Coverdale.

EVANS.

Isaac Evans came to this country, probably from the United States, shortly after the close of the Revolutionary war. The family was originally from Wales. He was married to Miss Lydia Jenks, and settled within a few rods of the old Botsford place at Westc.o.c.k. They had seven children, all born in this country--James, Isaac, William, Lydia, Mary, Ann and Beriah. James married Miss Barnes, and Mr. Isaac N. Evans, the only man of the name now living in the parish, is a son of theirs. His name and his brother William's are to be found in the list of students attending Mount Allison Academy in 1843. Isaac drowned off Grindstone Island when twenty-four years old, in 1819. William married a Miss Estabrooks, and they had ten children--James Isaac, who died recently at Shediac, where his family still live; Evander Valentine, who lived in Sackville and was well known as Captain Evans; Jane, who married Marcus Trueman, and now lives in California; William Murray Stuart, who at one time had charge of the Westmoreland Bank in Moncton; George Edwin, a mechanic, who moved early in life to the United States; Henry, who served on the side of the North in the War of Secession; Charles, who married a daughter of the late John Fawcett, but died young. Lydia married Lewis Jenks; Mary never married, but lived to be old, and was known by her friends as "Aunt Polly"; Ann married John Boultonhouse, and Beriah married John Stuart. Isaac Evans, the original settler, was drowned off Partridge Island, St. John, June, 1798, aged thirty-four. Lydia, his wife, died November 11th, 1842, in her seventy- fourth year.

WOOD.

William Wood was from Buriston, near Bedale, in the West Riding of Yorks.h.i.+re. His wife was Elizabeth Clarkson. They emigrated to America with the first Yorks.h.i.+re contingent (1772-3). Shortly after coming to this country Mrs. Wood died, leaving three children--a son and two daughters. The son was born on St. Valentine's Day, and was named Valentine. Mr. Wood's second wife was the widow of an officer who had served at Fort c.u.mberland. Mr. Wood was at the "Fort" when the Eddy rebels attacked that place, and distinguished himself by his bravery.

He was drowned in the Bay of Fundy.

Valentine Wood married and settled in Point de Bute. His family consisted of eleven children: William, who died in boyhood; Edward, Rufus, Joshua, Cyrus, Thomas, Albert, Mary Ann, Cynthia, Amelia, and the youngest, Rebecca (Mrs. Thompson Trueman, of Sackville, N.B.)

Edward was named for an uncle in England. He made his home in Bay Verte, N.B., and became a most useful and acceptable Methodist local preacher. Two of the Wood family were teachers. Thomas W. was a prominent and successful educationalist. The Wood family were more than ordinarily gifted intellectually. Albert, the youngest son, became celebrated as a skilful and successful sea captain. He published a book, ent.i.tled "Great Circle Sailing," that quite changed the methods, in some particulars, from which s.h.i.+ps had been navigated previously.

Captain Wood finally settled in California, where he now lives, and is an enthusiastic temperance worker and writer. Joshua was musically inclined, and taught the old fas.h.i.+oned singing school. He possessed characteristics that made him quite a hero with many of his friends.

Most of the descendants of William Wood bearing the name have removed from the country.

HARRIS.

The Harris name is one of the oldest in Canada. Arthur Harris came from Plymouth, England, to Bridgewater, New England, in 1650. He removed from there to Danby, and from Danby to Boston in 1696. His son, Samuel, was with Captain Ben Church's expedition to Acadia in 1704, and shortly after Acadia came into possession of the English he settled in Annapolis. Michael Spurr Harris, a grandson of Samuel Harris, was born at Annapolis Royal in 1804. His wife, Sarah Ann Troop, was born in Aylesford in 1806. Michael Harris started in business in St. John in 1826; in 1837 he removed his family to Moncton and opened a general store and carriage building establishment, and soon after added s.h.i.+pbuilding to the business. After his death the business was very successfully conducted for many years by his two sons, the late John Harris and Christopher Harris.

This firm was always abreast of the times, and the city of Moncton owes much to its enterprise and farsightedness. The late Mrs. John A.

Humphrey was a daughter of Michel Spurr Harris.

MAIN.

The Mains are Scotch. The family tree goes back to the beginning of the fifteenth century, one branch including the present Lord Rosebery and Sir William Alexander, who are one time owned Nova Scotia and gave the Province its name. David Main with two of his sons, John and James, emigrated from Dumfries. Scotland, to Richibucto, New Brunswick, in the spring of 1821, and settled at Galloway, on the farm now owned by Robert Main, a grandson of David, and son of James. James married Jane Murray, of Shemogue. James Main, of Botsford, is also a son of theirs.

John married Jean Johnstone, and lived in Kingston, now called Rexton.

Mary Jean Main, wife of Howard Trueman, is his daughter. The late David Main, of St. Stephen, was a son of John Main.

SHARP.

Four brothers named Sharp came to the Isthmus from Cornwallis, N.S., about the year 1812. Matthew settled in Nappan, William in Maccan, Allan in Amherst, and John in Sackville. Samuel Sharp, who married f.a.n.n.y Trueman, was a son of William Sharp.

WELDON.

Two of William Trueman's sons married into the Weldon family. I am not able to give any more information about the Weldons than is found in the "History of the Blacks," which is as follows: "A Mr. Weldon left London for Halifax in 1760. The vessel in which he sailed was wrecked on the coast of Portugal. Returning to London, in 1761, he found that his wife and family had sailed for Halifax, where he joined them in the fall of the same year." Mr. Weldon settled first in Hillsboro and later removed to Dorchester, where the name has remained ever since.

Dr. Weldon, Dean of the Halifax Law School, belongs to this family.

SCOTT.

Adam Scott was from Langholm, Dumfriess.h.i.+re, Scotland. He emigrated to New Brunswick with his wife and family in 1834, landing first at Quebec. He settled in Shemogue, Westmoreland County. His wife's name was Janet Amos. He had eight children. Two of the sons and the eldest daughter, Janet, married into William Trueman's family. The daughter, Mrs. Joseph Trueman, is still living, bright and cheerful, in the 84th year of her age. Mr. Scott was one of the most prosperous farmers in the district in which he settled, and lived to be ninety-nine years of age.

BENT.

This name is believed to have come from bent gra.s.s, "a stiff, wiry growth, little known in America." John Bent, the first of the name in America, was born in Penton-Grafton, England, in November, 1596. He came to America in his forty-second year, and settled in Sudbury, Ma.s.s.

The Bents came to Nova Scotia around 1760. The names of Jesse and John Bent are found on the list of grantees for the towns.h.i.+p of c.u.mberland in 1763, to which reference has previously been made. Sarah A. Bent, daughter of Martin Bent, married Edward Trueman.

JEWETT--COY.

Mary Jewett, who married Alder Trueman, of Sackville, and Asa Coy, who married Catherine Trueman, of Point de Bute, were of the New England emigration that settled on the St. John River in 1762-3.

HARRISON.

John Harrison, of Rillington, Yorks.h.i.+re, England, and his wife, Sarah Lovell, of the same place with their family arrived in c.u.mberland County, Nova Scotia, in the spring of 1774, and settled on the Maccan River. They had family as follows: Luke, born August 25th, 1754, married Tryphena Bent, November 22nd, 1789; John, married twice, first wife Dinah Lumley, of Yorks.h.i.+re, England, and second Charlotte Mills, of the State of New York; Thomas born March 28th, 1762, married Mary Henry; William, born March 25th, 1770, married Jane Coates; Mary, married Matthew Lodge; Sarah, married James Brown; Nancy, married John Lumley; Hannah, married John Lambert; Elizabeth, married Henry Furlong.

Luke Harrison (son of John) and his wife Tryphena Bent, had family as follows: Jane, married William Bostock; Margaret; George, married Sarah Hodson; Hannah married George Boss; Amy, married Thos. Dodsworth; Eunice, married Amos Boss; Elizabeth, married William Smith; Joseph; Jesse, married Elizabeth Hoeg.

John Harrison (son of John), whose first wife was Dinah Lumley, and second Charlotte Mills, had family as follows: Sarah, John, Maria, Lovell, Mary, Charlotte, Rebecca; William, married Elizabeth Brown; James.

Thomas Harrison (son of John) and his wife Mary Henry, had family as follows: Luke, married Hannah Lodge; Sarah, married Martin Hoeg; Clementina, married Joseph Moore; Harriet, married William Coates; Thomas, married Clementina Stockton; Tillott, married Eunice Lockwood; Mary, married Gideon Trueman; Ruth, married Hugh Fullerton; Henry, first wife Phoebe Chipman, and second A. M. Randall.

William Harrison (son of John) and his wife, Jane Coates, had family as follows: Sarah, married Robert Oldfield; Thomas, married Elizabeth s.h.i.+pley; Edward; William, married Mary Tait; John, married Jerusha Lewis; Ann, married David Keiver; Joseph, married Jane Ripley; James, married Mary Lewis; Robert, married Hannah Wood; Jane, married Nathan Hoeg; Luke; Brown, married Mary Ann Coates; Hannah, married David Long.

Luke Harrison (son of Thomas and Mary), was born August 10th, 1787, and died November 12th, 1865. He and his wife, Hannah Lodge, moved from Maccan River, N.S., to Dutch Valley, near Suss.e.x, N.B., and had family as follows: William Henry, married three times, first wife was Sarah Slocomb, second Rebecca Slocomb, and third Lavina M. Knight; Charles Clement; Mary Ann, married J. Nelson Coates, of Smith's Creek, King's County, N.B.; Thomas Albert, married Isabel Stevenson, of St. Andrew's, N.B.; Joseph Lodge, married Charlotte Snider, of Dutch Valley, Suss.e.x, N.B.

William Henry Harrison (son of Luke Harrison and Hannah Lodge), was born July 20th, 1813, at Suss.e.x, N.B., and died May 2nd, 1901, at Sackville, N.B. He had no family by his first and second wives. He and his third wife, Lavina M. Knight, daughter of Rev. Richard Knight, D.D., of Devons.h.i.+re, England, had family as follows: Richard Knight, married to Anne Graham, of Suss.e.x, N.B., living at Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.A.; Hannah Lovell, dead; William Henry, of Sackville, N.B.; Charles Allison, dead; F. A. Lovell, of St. John, N.B.; Albert Thornton, of New York City; Mary Louisa, married to T. Dwight Pickard, of Sackville, N.B., living at Fairview, B.C.; Frank Allison, of Sackville, N.B., married to Flora Anderson.

John Harrison, of Rillington, Yorks.h.i.+re, England, who settled at Maccan River, N.S., Canada, in 1774, was a relative of John Harrison, born at Foulby, in the Parish of Wragley, near Pontrefact, Yorks.h.i.+re, May, 1693. John Harrison, of Foulby, was the inventor of the chronometer, for which he received from the British Government the sum of L 20,000.

He died at his home in Red Lion Square, London, in 1776. The chronometer accepted by the Government from John Harrison was seen in July, 1901, at Guildhall, London.

The following letters were written by members of the Harrison family to friends in England.

William H. Harrison, a descendant of John Harrison, visited Yorks.h.i.+re about the year 1854, and received the letters from friends there, bringing them back to Nova Scotia, where they were written so many years before. They are interesting as giving the experience of the emigrant in the new country. The first was written by Luke, a young man twenty years old, who had come to Nova Scotia with his father and had been in the country but three months. The second was written by John Harrison, a brother of Luke's, in 1803, after they had tested the country.

EXTRACTS FROM OLD LETTERS OF THE HARRISON FAMILY.

"TO MR. WILLIAM HARRISON, "Rillington, Yorks.h.i.+re, "England.

"June 30th, 1774.

"DEAR COUSIN,-- "Hoping these lines will find you in good health, as we are at present, bless G.o.d for it. We have all gotten safe to Nova Scotia, but do not like it at all, and a great many besides us, and are coming back to England again, all that can get back. We do not like the country, not never shall. The mosquitos are a terrible plague in this country. You may think that mosquitos cannot hurt, but if you do you are mistaken, for they will swell you legs and hands so that some persons are both blind and lame for some days. They grow worse every year and they bite the English the worst. We have taken a farm of one Mr. Barron, for one year, or longer if we like. The rent is L 20 a year. We have 10 cows, 4 oxen, 20 sheep, one sow, and one breeding mare. He will take the rent in b.u.t.ter or cheese, or cattle. The country is very poor, and there is very little money about c.u.mberland. The money is not like our English money. An English guinea is L 1 3s. 4d. In Nova Scotia money a dollar is equal to 5 s.h.i.+llings, and a pistereen is a s.h.i.+lling. In haying time men have 3 s.h.i.+llings a day for mowing. The mosquitos will bite them very often so that they will throw down their scythes and run home, almost bitten to death, and there is a black fly worse than all the rest. One is tormented all the summer with mosquitos, and almost frozen to death in the winter. Last winter they had what was reckoned to be a fine winter, and the frost was not out of the ground on the 20th day of June, which I will affirm for truth. I shall let you know the affairs of the country another year, if G.o.d spare life and health. Dear cousin, remember me to my uncle and aunt and to all that ask after me.

"From your well wisher, "LUKE HARRISON.

"Direct your letters to John Harrison or Luke Harrison, at the River a Bare, nigh Fort c.u.mberland, Nova Scotia."

"TO MR. JOHN HARRISON, "Rillington, near Motton, "Yorks.h.i.+re, England.

"Maccan River, N.S., "June 24th, 1810.

"DEAR COUSIN,--

"Long ago I have had it in agitation of writing to you and now an opportunity is just at hand, which I gladly now embrace, hoping these lines will find you and your family all in good health, as me and my family are the same, thanks be to him that ruleth over all. I am now going to give you a little sketch of our country, of Bonny Nova Scotia, and the advantages and disadvantages. I settled here on this river about 23 years ago, upon lands that had never been cultivated, all a wilderness. We cut down the wood of the land and burnt it off, and sowed it with wheat and rye, so that we have made out a very good living. Here we make our own sugar, our own soap and candles, and likewise our own clothing. We spin and weave our own linen and wool, and make the biggest part of it into garments within our own family.

This, I suppose, you will think strange, but it is merely for want of settlers and more mechanics of different branches. There were twenty- five pet.i.tioned to the Government for new lands when I settled here, and we all drew 500 acres of land each. I bought 500 acres joining mine, which cost me about eighteen pounds, and my part of the grant cost eight pounds. I have lived on it ever since and make out a very good living. We milk ten cows, keep one yoke of oxen, three horses, betwixt twenty and thirty sheep. I do not doubt but that in the run of ten years more I shall be able to milk twenty cows. We generally kill every fall six or eight hogs. We use betwixt four hundred and five hundred pounds of sugar every year for tea and other necessaries. The disadvantage we have here is in the winters being so long. There is six months to fodder our cattle, and what is worse than all the rest, the snow falling so deep, sometimes four feet. The last three or four winters have been very moderate, which we think is owing to the country and woods being cleared more away. We have very much trouble with bears, as they destroy our sheep and cattle so much.

"JOHN HARRISON.

"N.B.--I have two sons, up young men. Pray send them each a good, industrious wife. Pray send out a s.h.i.+p-load of young women, for there is a great call for them that can card and spin. The wages are from five to six s.h.i.+llings a week."