The Chignecto Isthmus and its first settlers Part 9

These extracts from the journal will show the character of the record.

In March, 1804, there was a three days' snowstorm--"fell nigh two feet." An attempt was made this year to aboideau the Aulac River, where it runs through the farm now owned by R. T. McLeod.

The Aulac at that time was one of the largest of the rivers emptying into the c.u.mberland Basin. It was a great undertaking to dam its waters with an aboideau, and to make matters worse, the place chosen proved to have a quicksand bottom, which made it almost impossible to build a firm foundation. For nearly four years they worked at this aboideau, and finally had to abandon it. Dated Dec. 27th, 1808, there is this entry in the journal: "Working at the aboideau. Storming in the morning. Snow six inches deep.

"Dec. 28th--Working at byto; very fine day. The hole nigh filled up."

On March 20th, he writes: "Concluded to give up the Byto." There is a reckless disregard of rules in spelling the word "aboideau," but doubtless the p.r.o.nunciation was as varied then as now. Being obliged to let this work go must have been a great disappointment and a great loss as well. It was not till 1829, more than twenty years after, that the aboideau, now known as the "Trueman Byto," was built.

A night's experience during the building of the first aboideau was long remembered by the family at Prospect. The following is the only reference made to it in the journal: "June 7th, 1804--The sluice went adrift; was up to Nappan." On the 9th: "Got back as far as c.u.mberland; wind favorable in coming back."

The sluice referred to is a large wooden box or waterway, which is placed near the centre of the aboideau and as near as possible in the bed of the river. The great height of the tides, and the rapid current that runs up and down the stream twice in twenty-four hours, make it a most difficult operation to get one of these sluices bedded. The sluice would be about fifty feet long, fifteen feet wide, and five or six feet deep.

The men were hard at work after the sluice had been got into its place, trying to make it secure with the weight of mud, but the tide coming too quick for them lifted it out of its bed. Four of the Trueman boys sprang on the sluice as it floated down the river, in the hope of saving it in some way. It proved, however, to be a most unmanageable craft, and they could do little to stay their course down the river, and in spite of every effort were carried out into the Basin. Night came on and their only chance of safety was, if possible, to stick to the plank box in the hope that the currents might carry them to some point where they could get safely to sh.o.r.e. Next day their unwieldy craft grounded near Nappan, and they at once landed and were hospitably entertained at a farm-house near by. After getting supplies and sending word to Prospect of their safety, they again boarded their strange vessel and succeeded that day in getting back to the mouth of the river, and finally back to their starting point.

Mrs. Trueman never wholly recovered from the nervous shock of that night. There was little hope in the minds of any that the men would ever get safely to land.

Thirty years had pa.s.sed since the family had left England. The letter given below shows how warm an interest the friends there still had in them:

"DEAR COUSIN,--We received yours dated Jan. 15, but not till late in September, 1804, and we are glad to hear that you and your family are all in good health and enjoying prosperity in your affairs of life. We had heard by your last letter of the death of your mother. My kind husband died something more than six years since. Your Aunt Sarah Bently died some time before my husband. Your Aunt Mary Flintoft is yet alive and enjoys as good health as can be expected, her age considered.

Your Aunt Ann Trueman is yet alive and well as can be expected. Your Cousin Harmon married and is doing very well. He lives at Kelshaw, in the west of Yorkshire, and has a large family and keeps a public house.

Alice is married and lives at Woodhouse Croft and has only one son. Ann and Sarah both live at Hornby and enjoy good health. I and my eight children live yet at the old habitation, namely at Helmhouse, and enjoy a sufficiency of the necessaries of life. Jane Chapman and Ann are both alive and enjoy as good health as most people at almost 80 years of age, and desire their kind love to you and your wife. James Hewgill and wife do the same. They never had any children. The last summer's crop of corn was poorly laden, so that wheat is now from ten to fifteen shillings per bushel, and is like to be more, as war being carried on makes taxes very high; but still, thanks to a kind Providence, industrious people may yet live above want. And soon shall all worldly calamities be over, and then if we are prepared for death we shall know woes and calamities no more. Pray write again when opportunity serves.

"I remain your very loving cousin, "ELINOR TRUEMAN.

"Helmhouse, Billsdale.

"March 7th, 1805."

The first marriage in the family at Prospect was in July, 1805. The entry in the journal is: "Thomas and Mary were married by Rev. Mr.

Perkins." Mr. Perkins was a minister of the Episcopal Church.

In 1806 I find this entry: "Mr. Bamford preached in the Stone Church, and Mr. Perkins administered the sacrament." This must have been before the Methodist minister was allowed to administer the sacrament.

Mr. Trueman was evidently mistaken in the name of Thomas's wife. He calls her Mary. Her name was Policene Gore; but as she was always called Polly, the mistake no doubt occurred in that way.

From a letter received from Rev. Wm. Black at this time, the following extract is taken:

"I give you joy on the marriage of your son Thomas, and as I hear John is on the point of being married, too, I also wish you the same blessing on him. It would afford me much joy to hear that all your children were made acquainted with the saving benefits of religion. For parents to see their children well settled in this world and seeking the world to come must, I apprehend, be an unspeakable satisfaction.

Oh, let us pray more and advise them to turn to the Lord with all their hearts.

"Please to remember me kindly to all the family. I do feel a sincere regard for you all and wish to meet you in the Land of G.o.d.

"Farewell, "From your unworthy friend, "WM. BLACK."

Policene Gore's mother had a more than ordinarily eventful life. Her grandson Edward writes:

"My grandmother was born in the United States, then the New England colonies. Her first husband was Captain Ward; their home was near the garrison on Grattan Heights. Captain Ward arrived home from sea with his vessel the day before Arnold made his attack on the garrison, and, joining in the defence, was fatally shot. Mrs. Ward's next husband was my grandfather Gore, who was also a sea-captain. Some years after they were married Captain Gore took his wife to Fort Lawrence, Nova Scotia, where they had friends, and her husband returned with his vessel to make another voyage, but was never heard from after. It was supposed the vessel was lost with all on board."

After living some years in widowhood, Mrs. Gore married a Mr. Foster, a school-teacher. They lived for a time in a house on the school lands in Jolicure. The schoolmaster did not live long to enjoy his married life.

His successor was a Mr. Trites, of Salisbury. He only lived a few months after marriage. Mrs. Trites' fifth and last husband was a Mr.

Siddall, of Westmoreland Point. After his death Mrs. Siddall lived with her daughter, Mrs. Trueman, where, in the words of her grandson, "she lived eighteen years, a happy old woman and a blessing in the family."

She was in her eighty-fourth year at the time of her death.

Mrs. Siddall's house was the only one in the village not burned during the battle of Grattan's Heights. It is still kept in repair, and called the Gore House. Harmon, a grandson, visited the Heights a few years ago, and was present at the one-hundredth anniversary of the battle.

Recently a letter came into the possession of Edward Trueman, written by his great-grandmother to his grandmother. Among other things, she writes: "I hear that you are married again, and that Policene is also married. I have not heard either of yours husbands' names; do write, and let me know them."

Policene Gore was born in 1788, and Thomas Trueman in 1786, which would make them seventeen and nineteen years old when the marriage knot was tied--a young couple to start out in life.

John married Nancy Palmer, September 12th, 1805, William married Jane Ripley, January 22nd, 1806, and Harmon, the first-born, married Cynthia Bent, June 8th, 1807. The four eldest sons were married within the year and a half, and on April 14th, 1808, Sallie, the eldest daughter, entered the matrimonial haven. This was thinning out the old home pretty fast. The sons, however, all settled near Prospect, and were several years getting finally located in their own homes. Harmon took the Mauger farm left him by his grandfather; Thomas, the Patten farm, joining the glebe. John settled at Mount Whatley; Willie took the mill property and farm now in possession of his grandsons, Amos and Johnston Trueman.

The drain on the home place to start for themselves so many of the family, and in so short a time, must have been considerable. Harmon had a house, and barn to build. Several entries in the journal refer to his getting out timber. On July 16th, 1806, Harmon raised his house. This house, yet one of the most comfortable in the place, is at present the property of A. C. Carter. Mrs. Carter is a granddaughter of Harmon.

April 22nd, 1806, I find this entry: "Robert d.i.c.key and Nellie Chapman married. Started to frame the new mill."

"May 3rd--Saw mill and barn raised."

No mention is made of building a house for Willie, so probably there was one on the place. John and his wife lived for a time in the Scurr house, and for a time with Willie, before finally settling at Mount Whatley. Sallie married Gilbert Lawrence, of Westmoreland. It is said Sallie had an admirer who lived in Halifax, and occasionally visited c.u.mberland, and who in later years became a prominent official in the executive of that city.

In the early days and admirer a hundred miles distant was at a great disadvantage, and the "Fooler lad," as Sallie's mother called young Lawrence, won the prize.

Amos Fowler, of Westmoreland, or Fowler's Hill, married Miss Keillor, a sister of Mrs. Trueman. He was a Loyalist, and after living in this country some years, he visited the old home in New England, and on his return to New Brunswick brought with him his nephew, Gilbert Lawrence.

After his marriage Gilbert settled at Amherst Point, and from there moved to Maccan, now called Southampton, where he was a very successful farmer for many years. He left the Maccan farm to a son a few years before his death, and bought a farm in Nappan. Here he spent the last years of his life, honored and respected for his sterling character.

CHAPTER VII

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL AND LETTERS.

Some extracts from the journal as a beginning to this chapter will, I hope, be interesting to some of the descendants:

"Aug. 2nd, 1802--Richard Lowerison's barn burned.

"Aug. 7th--Mr. Milledge preached at church. Got upland hay all up.

Have 60 tons good hay in barn and in stock.

"Aug. 28th--Quarterly meeting at our house.

"Sept. 10th--Mr. Albro dined at our house." (Mr. Albro was a Halifax man who traded in cattle.) "Dec. 28--John McCormick, apparently in good health, died instantly at night.

"May 10th--Mr. Marsden started to-day for the Conference.

"June 26th--Mr. Bent arrived at our house to-day and went over to Tantramar.

"June 27th--Mr. Bent preached his first sermon in Tantramar.

"May 3rd, 1803--William Bennet started for Conference.

"Dec.--Mrs. McMonagle's house was drawn from the plain to Mount Whatley.

"Jan. 9th, 1806--W. Wood Fillmore was married to Nancy Patterson, of Cole's Island.

"April 5th, 1806--Tolar Thompson brought a large birch log across the marsh on the ice, and also a load of grain to the mill and returned the next day.

"June 16th--Harmon had the old shop drawn to his house, had 17 yoke of oxen.

"William Allen was buried at the churchyard at Camp Hill, attended by a large concourse of people. Mr. Mitch.e.l.l preached the sermon.

"Nov. 29th--Mr. Roach lost his vessel; the Capt. and two men were drowned; 515 firkins of b.u.t.ter saved.

"Jan. 12th, 1806--This day Wm. McKenzie was found dead, sitting in his chair, supposed to be frozen to death.

"June 3rd, 1808--Wm. Black came to our house and Mrs. Black and son, Martin Gay. Mr. Black preached at Stone Chapel.

In February of same year, "Mr. Foster came to mill in a cart and John Patterson from Cole's Island with a sled."

"Jan. 19th, 1808--Mr. Bamford moved to our house.

"Jan. 25th--A meeting to confer about the Byto*; nothing was done."

"Jan. 3rd, 1809--Martin Black married to f.a.n.n.y Smith."