The Chignecto Isthmus and its first settlers Part 1

Chignecto Isthmus; First Settlers.

by Howard Trueman.

PREFACE.

For some years past I, in common with many others, have felt that all letters of interest and accessible facts in connection with the early history of the Truemans should be collected and put in permanent form, not because there is anything of interest to the general public in the records of a family whose members have excelled, if at all, in private rather than in public life, but in order that the little knowledge there is of the early history of the family might not pa.s.s forever out of the reach of later generations with the death of those whose memory carries them back to the original settlers. In getting together material necessary for the work, numbers of interesting facts concerning other families came inevitably to light. In order to preserve these facts, and at the same time give the book a slightly wider interest, I decided to write a short history of those families connected by marriage with the first and second generations of Truemans, and also, as far as material was available, of the first settlers in the old township of c.u.mberland, which now includes the settlements of Fort Lawrence, Westmoreland Point, Point de Bute, Jolicure, Bay Road, Bay Verte, Upper Tidnish and Port Elgin. Finally, as a kind of setting for the whole, I have prefaced these records with a brief outline of the early history of the Isthmus.

That the work falls far below the ideal goes without saying. Anyone who has made the effort to collect facts of local history knows how difficult it is to get reliable information. In almost every case where there was a conflict of opinion I have endeavored to verify my facts by light thrown on them from different directions; but doubtless mistakes will be found. By keeping the work in preparation for a longer time, more matter of interest could certainly be added, and perhaps corrections made; but to this there is no end, as the discovery of every new item of interest reveals a whole series more to investigate.

To all who have given me a.s.sistance warmest thanks are tendered. To Dr.

Ganong, of Northampton, Ma.s.s.; Judge Morse, Amherst; W. C. Milner, Sackville; and Dr. Steel of Amherst, grateful acknowledgment is especially due for their ready and cheerful help. To Murdoch's Nova Scotia, Hannay's Acadia and to Dixon's and Black's family histories I have also been indebted.

INTRODUCTION.

This book needs no introduction to the people of the Isthmus, whom it will most interest. I shall therefore attempt only to point out the plan the present work will take in the general history of Eastern Canada.

Mr. Trueman does not profess to have attempted a complete history of the Isthmus. The earlier periods, prior to the coming of the Yorkshiremen, are so replete with interest that a many times larger work than the present would be necessary for their full consideration, but Mr. Trueman has treated them with sufficient fulness to show the historical conditions of the country into which the Yorkshiremen came.

It is the history of these Yorkshiremen and their descendants which Mr.

Trueman treats so fully and authoritatively, and withal, from a local standpoint, so interestingly; and his work is the more valuable for the reason that hitherto but little has been published upon this subject.

Some articles have appeared in local newspapers, and there are references to it in the provincial histories, but no attempt has. .h.i.therto been made to treat the subject as it deserves. Those of us who are interested in history from a more scientific standpoint will regret that the material, particularly of the earlier part of the Yorkshire immigration could not have been more doc.u.mentary and less traditional, but that it is as here given is not Mr. Trueman's fault but a result of the nature of the case. It is not impossible, by the way, that such doc.u.ments may yet be discovered, perhaps in some still unsuspected archives. It is to be remembered, however, that to a local audience, doc.u.ments are of less interest than tradition, and the genealogical phases of history, here so fully treated, are most interesting of all.

Mr. Trueman seems to have sifted the traditions with care, and he certainly has devoted to his task an unsurpa.s.sed knowledge of his subject, much loving labor, and no small enthusiasm. I believe the local readers of his work will agree with me that this history could not have fallen into more appropriate hands.

It does not seem to me that Mr. Trueman has exaggerated the part played by the Yorkshiremen and their descendants in our local history. While it is doubtless too much to say that their loyalty saved Nova Scotia (then including New Brunswick) to Great Britain by their steadfastness at the time of the Eddy incident in 1776, there can be no doubt that it contributed largely to that result and rendered easy the suppression of an uprising which would have given the authorities very great trouble had it succeeded. But there can be no question whatever as to the value to the Chignecto region, and hence to all this part of Canada, of this immigration of G.o.d-fearing, loyal, industrious, progressive Yorkshiremen. Although they and their descendants have not occupied the places in life of greatest prominence, they have been none the less useful citizens in contributing as they have to the solid foundations of the upbuilding of a great people.

It is of interest in this connection to note that Mr. Trueman's book, although preceded in Nova Scotia by several county histories, is for New Brunswick, with one or two exceptions (in Jack's "History of the City of St. John," and Lorimer's pamphlet, "History of the Pa.s.samaquiddy Islands") the first history of a limited portion of the Province to appear in book form, although valuable newspaper series on local history have been published. May it prove the leader of a long series of such local histories which, let us hope, will not cease to appear until every portion of these interesting Provinces has been adequately treated.

W. F. GANONG.

CHAPTER I

THE CHIGNECTO ISTHMUS.

The discovery of America added nearly a third to the then known land surface of the earth, and opened up two of its richest continents. If such an extent of territory were thrown into the world's market to-day, the rapidity with which it would be exploited and explored, and its wealth made tributary to the world's requirements, would astonish, if they were here, the men who pioneered the settlement of the new country and left so royal a heritage to their descendants. To those who cross the Atlantic in the great ocean liners of our time, and think them none too safe, the fleet with which Sir Humphrey Gilbert crossed the sea to plant his colony in the new land must seem a frail protection indeed against the dangers of the western ocean.

Perhaps in no way can the progress made since the beginning of the nineteenth century be more forcibly brought before the mind than by comparing the immense iron steamships of the present day with the small wooden vessels with which commerce was carried on and battles were fought and won a hundred and fifty years ago.

The Isthmus of Chignecto separates the waters of the Bay of Fundy from those of Bay Verte, and const.i.tutes the neck of land which saves Nova Scotia from being an island. It is seventeen miles between the two bays at the narrowest point, and considering the town of Amherst the south- eastern limit, and the village of Sackville the north-western, it may be put down as a little less than ten miles in width.

The southern slope is drained by four tidal rivers or creeks, namely, La Planche, Missiquash, Aulac and the Tantramar. These rivers empty into c.u.mberland Basin, and their general course is from north-east to south-west. In length they are from twelve to fifteen miles, and run through narrow valleys, the soil of which is made up largely from a rich sediment carried by the tide from the muddy waters of the basin.

These valleys are separated from each other by ridges of high land ranging from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet above the sea level.

The Tidnish River, and several streams emptying into the Bay Verte, drain the Isthmus on its northern slope. The Missiquash and Tidnish rivers, each for some part of its course, form the boundary between the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The tides at the head of the Bay of Fundy rise to the height of sixty feet, or even higher, and are said to be the highest in the world. The mud deposit from the overflow of these tidal waters, laid down along the river valleys, is from one foot to eighty feet deep, varying as the soil beneath rises and falls.

Between Sackville and Amherst there is an area of some fifty thousand acres of these alluvial lands, reclaimed and unreclaimed. Some of this marsh has been cutting large crops of hay for one hundred and fifty years, and there is no evidence of diminished fertility, although no fertilizer has been used in that time; other sections have become exhausted and the tide has been allowed to overflow them. This treatment will restore them to their original fertility.

Cartier was the first of the early navigators to drop anchor in a New Brunswick harbor. This was in the summer of 1534, and the place was on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near the mouth of the Miramich River. This was on the 30th of June. Landing the next day and finding the country well wooded, he was delighted and spoke of it in glowing terms.

The first white men to visit the Isthmus with a view to trade and settlement came from Port Royal in the summer of 1612.

In 1670, Jacob Bourgeois, a resident of Port Royal, and a few other restless spirits, were the first to make a permanent settlement. These were followed by another contingent under the leadership of Pierre a.r.s.enault.

In 1676, the King of France gave a large grant of territory in Acadia to a French n.o.bleman, Michael Le Neuf, Sieur de La Valliere. This grant included all the Chignecto Isthmus. Tonge's Island, a small islet in the marsh near the mouth of the Missiquash River, is called Isle La Valliere on the old maps, and was probably occupied by La Valliere himself when he lived on the Isthmus.

From this date Chignecto began to take a prominent place in the history of Acadia, and continued for a hundred and fifty years to be one of the princ.i.p.al centres of influence under the rule both of France and Great Britain.

It was here that France made her last stand for the possession of Acadia. It was here that Jonathan Eddy, twenty years later, raised the standard of the revolted colonies, and made a gallant but unsuccessful effort to carry Nova Scotia over to the rebel cause.

From 1713 to 1750 was the most prosperous period of the French occupation. The population increased rapidly for those times. The market at Louisbourg furnished an outlet for the surplus produce of the soil. The wants of the people were few. The Acadians were thrifty and frugal, the rod and gun supplying a large part of the necessaries of life in many a home. The complaint was made by those who at that time were interested in the circulation of the King's silver that the people h.o.a.rded it up, and once they got possession of it the public were never allowed to see it again. The houses were small and dest.i.tute of many of the furnishings their descendants now think indispensable, but perhaps they enjoyed life quite as well as those of later generations.

Bay Verte at this time was a place of considerable importance. The Abbe Le Loutre lived here a part of the time, and owned a store kept by an agent. The trade between Quebec and Louisbourg and the settlements on the Isthmus was carried on through the Port of Bay Verte, and from there the farmers of Chignecto shipped their cattle and farm products.

The Acadians were quick to see the benefits that would arise from reclaiming the rich river valleys, and they drew their revenues chiefly from this land. They did not readily take to the cutting down of the forests and preparing the upland for growing crops; they were more at home with the dyking-spade than the axe. A description of their methods of dyking and constructing aboideaux, written in 1710, is interesting to those who are doing the same work now.

The writer of 1710 says: "They stopped the current of the sea by creating large d.y.k.es, which they called aboideaux. The method was to plant five or six large trees in the places where the sea enters the marshes, and between each row to lay down other trees lengthways on top of each other, and fill the vacant places with mud so well beaten down that the tide could not pa.s.s through it. In the middle they adjusted a flood-gate in such a way as to allow the water from the marsh to flow out at low water without permitting the water from the sea to flow in at high tide." The writer adds that the work was expensive, but the second year's crop repaid them for the outlay. This is more than can be said for present-day experience in the same kind of work.

The land reclaimed on the Aulac was confined princ.i.p.ally to the upper portion of the river. The Abbe Le Loutre saw that the benefit would be great if this river were dammed near its mouth, and he was at work at a large aboideau, for which he had received money from France, when the fall of Beausejour forever put a stop to his enterprise.

Wheat seems to have grown very abundantly on the marsh when it was first d.y.k.ed, judging from the census reports of those days and the traditions handed down.

The old French maps of 1750 and earlier show settlements at Beauba.s.sin (Fort Lawrence), Pont a Buot (Point de Bute), Le Lac (Jolicure), We-He- Kauk (Westc.o.c.k), We-He-Kauk-Chis (Little Westc.o.c.k), Tantramar (Upper Sackville), Pre Du Bourge (Middle Sackville), We-He-Kage (Amherst Point) and Amherst or Upper Amherst, Vill-La-b.u.t.te, and La Planche.

There were settlements also at Maccan, Nappan and Minudie. The statement that the village of Beauba.s.sin, in 1750, contained a hundred and forty houses, and a population numbering a thousand, seems improbable under the circ.u.mstances.

Fort Lawrence, the site of old Beauba.s.sin, contains to-day less than forty houses, and not more than three hundred inhabitants, yet more land is under cultivation now than in any previous time in its history.

It is highly probable that the whole population on the south side of the Isthmus was reckoned as belonging to Beauba.s.sin.

There is good reason for saying that the population of the district embraced in the parish of Westmoreland, excepting Port Elgin, was much larger from 1750 to 1755 than it has ever been since.

The Seigneur La Valliere was, no doubt, the most prominent man, politically, on the Isthmus during the French period. He was appointed commandant of Acadia in 1678, by Count Frontenac, and just missed being made governor. He was a man of broader views than most of his contemporaries. He encouraged trade, and was willing that others beside his own countrymen should reap the benefits if they were ready to pay the price. He antic.i.p.ated the MODUS VIVENDI system now in force between this country and the United States in dealing with the fisheries, and instead of keeping a large fleet to patrol the coast and drive the English from the fishing ground, he charged them a license fee of five pistoles (about twenty-five dollars) for each vessel, thus giving them a free hand in the business.

La Valliere's farm was probably on the island marked on the old maps, "Isle La Valliere," and here he lived when not in other parts of the colony on public business. He had a son called Beauba.s.sin, who was always ready to take a hand in any expedition that required courage and promised danger. In 1703, this Beauba.s.sin was the leader of a party of French and Indians that attacked Casco and would have captured the place but for the timely arrival of a British man-of-war.

On the 11th April, 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed. This gave all Nova Scotia, or Acadia, comprehended within its ancient boundaries, as also the city of Port Royal, now called Annapolis Royal, to the Queen of Great Britain. The English claimed this to include all the territory east of a line drawn from north of the Kennebec River to Quebec, taking in all the south sh.o.r.e of the St. Lawrence, Gaspe, the Island of St. John, and Cape Breton. The French contended that Acadia only included the southern half of the present Province of Nova Scotia.

Views so divergent held by the contracting parties to an agreement, could scarcely fail to produce irritation and ultimately result in war.

In 1740, the Abbe Le Loutre, Vicar-General of Acadia under the Bishop of Quebec, and missionary to the Micmacs, came to Acadia to take charge of his mission. It soon became apparent that the Rev. Father was more anxious to advance the power and prestige of the King of France than he was to minister to the spiritual elevation of the benighted Indians.

The course pursued by the Abbe defeated the end he had in view. His aim was to make Acadia a French colony; but in reality he helped to make it the most loyal British territory in North America.

The successful raid of de Villiers, in the winter of 1747, convinced the English that so long as Chignecto was in possession of the French, and was used as a base of operations to defy the English Government, there could be no lasting peace or security for settlers of British blood. Taking this view of the matter, Governor Cornwallis determined to take measures to drive the French from the Isthmus. The unsettled state of the French population through the Province contributed to this decision.

In November, 1754, Governor Lawrence wrote to Shirley, at Boston, that he had reason to believe the French were contemplating aggressive measures at Chignecto, and he thought it was quite time an effort was made to drive them from the north side of the Bay of Fundy. Col.

Monckton carried this letter to Governor Shirley. The governor entirely agreed with the suggestion it contained, and had already taken some steps to bring about so desirable an end to the troubles the Government was experiencing on the Isthmus.

The matter was kept as secret as possible, but efforts were immediately made to raise a force to capture Fort Beausejour, the new fort built by the French on the high ground overlooking Beauba.s.sin, on the north-west side of the Missiquash. So successful were they in getting up the expedition that, on the 23rd of May, everything was ready and the force set sail from Boston.