THE TRUEMANS.
WILLIAM TRUEMAN was born in Yorkshire, England, in the year 1720, and
emigrated to America with his family in the year 1775. They were
probably passengers in the ship JENNIE, Captain Foster, which came to
Halifax that spring with a number of emigrants from Yorkshire. The
family consisted of William Trueman, his wife Ann, and their son
William, an only child, a young man in his twenty-fourth year.
Billsdale* was the name of the township they left in the Old Country.
They were Methodists in religion, but had been members of the Episcopal
Church and brought with them the prayer-books and commentaries of that
communion.
[FOOTNOTE: *Billsdale, Westside Township, is a long moorland township
of widely scattered houses on the west side of the Rye, extending from
six to eight miles N. N. W. from Helmsley, and is mainly the property
of the Earl Haversham. Its area is 4,014 acres; its land rises on lofty
fells at Rydale Head. Hawnby parish includes the five townships of
Hawnby, Arden, Billsdale, Westside, Dale Town, and Snillsby, the area
of the parish being 24,312 acres. END OF FOOTNOTE]
In addition to his business as a farmer, William Trueman, senior, had
taken the legal steps necessary in England to enable him to work as a
joiner if he were so inclined. The son William had been engaged in the
dry goods business a year or two before coming to Nova Scotia.
After landing at Halifax they came by schooner to Fort Cumberland, and
very soon after settled about four miles from the fort at Point de
Bute, then called Prospect.
There does not seem to have been many of the name left in Yorkshire at
this time, and those who were in Billsdale and vicinity shortly moved
to other parts of the country. A nephew of the first William, named
Harmon, moved to another township, married, and had a family of ten
children. Mary, Harmon's youngest daughter, married a man named Brown,
and they called one of their sons Trueman Brown. Charles, a son of
Trueman, spent a year at Prospect in the eighties, and Harmon, a
brother of Charles, visited the home in 1882-83. I have not been able
to trace the family in Yorkshire in any but this one branch. There is a
photograph at Prospect of John Trueman, a son of the Harmon here
mentioned, which shows a strong likeness to some of the family in this
country.
A family of Truemans living in Ontario came to Canada about the year
1850, but we have not been able to trace any relationship.
The first purchase of land by the Truemans in Nova Scotia was from
Joshua Mauger. This property was conveyed to William Trueman, sen. The
deed reads: "I, Joshua Mauger, Esq., of London, in Great Britain, Esq.
member of Parliament, of the town of Poole, in the county of
Dorsetshire, for and in consideration of the sum of ninety pounds
lawful money of the Province of Nova Scotia," etc., etc. This ninety
pounds was paid for eighty acres of upland and fifty-four acres of
marsh adjoining a wood lot on Bay Verte Road, and a right in the great
division of woodland, so-called. The deed was signed at Halifax by the
Hon. John Butler, as attorney for Joshua Mauger, on the 8th September,
1777, and the money paid the same day. Thomas Scurr and J. B. Dight
were the witnesses, it was proved at Fort Cumberland on the 31st of
Sept., 1777, by Thomas Scurr, and registered in New Brunswick by James
Odell, May 3rd, 1785.
The next purchase of real estate was made from Thomas Scurr, the place
now called Prospect Farm. Six hundred and fifty pounds lawful money of
the Province of New Brunswick was the amount paid. Between the first
and second purchase the Province had been divided, and that part of the
township of Cumberland in which the Truemans settled had gone to New
Brunswick. The number of acres in this last purchase was estimated at
eight hundred, including nearly five hundred acres of wilderness land.
The deed was witnessed by Thomas Chandler and Amos Botsford. Mrs. Scurr
did not sign the deed, and the following is the copy of a document
found very carefully laid away among the old papers at Prospect:
"VIRGINIA, PRINCESS ANN COUNTY,
"June 25th, 1789.
"On this day personally appeared before me, Dennis Dooley, Justice of
the Peace of the said county of the commonwealth of Virginia, Elizabeth
Scurr, and voluntarily relinquished her right of a dower in a certain
tract or piece of land in the town of Westmoreland and Province of New
Brunswick, viz.: Three eighty-acre lots, Nos. sixteen, eighteen and
twenty, with the marsh and wilderness thereto belonging. All in
division letter B, and described fully in a deed from Thomas Scurr to
William Trueman and on record in Westmoreland, No. 142.
"Given under my hand and seal this day as above.
"DENNIS DOOLEY.
"The within Elizabeth Scurr doth hereby voluntarily subscribe her name
to the within contents.
"ELIZABETH SCURR."
Dennis Dooley, Justice of the Peace of the commonwealth of Virginia in
the year 1789, was a good penman.
James Law owned Prospect Farm before Thomas Scurr. The deed conveying
the property from Law to Scurr is still among the documents at
Prospect. As Law was early in the country after the expulsion, it is
probable he was the first to get possession after the removal of the
Acadians.
Thomas Scurr, sen., left the country soon after selling Prospect Farm.
The old chronicles say he was a man very much esteemed for his piety.
He represented Cumberland township, for one session at least, in the
Legislature at Halifax. In 1785, "in opposition to the advice of a
friend against going from a place where was wanted to a place where he
was not wanted," he removed to the South, and purchased an estate near
Norfolk, Virginia. He repented too late, for nearly all the members of
his large family fell victims to diseases peculiar to southern
climates.
There was another Thomas Scurr in the country at this time, probably a
son of Thomas Scurr, sen., who married Elizabeth Cornforth, of
Sackville, in August, 1787. Mrs. Scurr lived only a week after giving
birth to a son. The boy was called Benjamin, and was taken care of by
his aunt, Mrs. Jonathan Burnham. Thomas Scurr, after the death of his
wife, left Sackville with the intention of going to the West Indies,
and was never heard from after. It was supposed he was lost at sea. The
Scurrs in Sackville are descendants of the boy Benjamin.
William Trueman, sen., was above the average height, and rather stout,
with head, shoulders and face that indicated strong character. In
personal appearance his grandson Robert much resembled him. He was
fifty-five years of age when he came to Nova Scotia. His wife was eight
years his senior. She, too, was tall, with a countenance showing a
great deal of reserve power.
William, the son, was a small man, with round features and dark hair.
His son John was said to resemble him closely. He must have retained
his youthful appearance well into mature life, for after he had been in
this country some years he went to Fort Lawrence to poll his vote and
was challenged for age by the opposing candidate. His youthful
appearance had led to the belief that he had not arrived at the age to
entitle him to exercise the franchise. His left arm was partially
withered, or had not grown to its full size, from an injury received in
childhood through the carelessness of a nurse. The family brought with
them from England some furniture. There is still the old arm-chair at
Prospect, and the old clock keeps good time for the fifth generation.
There is no record of the impression the new country made upon the
family, but judging from a letter received by William Trueman, sen.,
the year after his arrival, and copied below, it must have been
favorable:
"SNILLSWORTH, February 9th, 1776.
"DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER,--
"These are with our love to you and to let you know that we are in a
tolerable state of health at present.
"We have many of us been poorly, but are much better. We received a
letter from you last November, which gave a great deal of satisfaction
of mind on your account, because we had been informed that you had
nowhere to settle in, but as you have given us a particular account
concerning your situation and how you were settled and that you liked
Nova Scotia and was all in good health of body it was much to our
satisfaction, and I hope you will let us hear more particularly from
you how your chattle and corn answers thee, and how and what product
your ground doth bring forth, and what sort of grains your ground
answers best for, and what chattle you keep, and what you can make of
your chattle and how much milk your cows give and what is the most
profitable things you have.
"Now, dear brother, let me know the truth and nothing but the truth
when you write.
"I desire that you would let me hear from you at any opportunity
whenever it suits your convenience for I think we shall never have the
opportunity to see each other's face any more here below, but I desire
to hear from thee and I hope thee will do the same by me as long as our
lives shall be on this side eternity.
"Farewell, I conclude with my love. Sarah Bently and John Bakers are in
good health and send love to you all."
The following extract from another letter received at Prospect about
the same time, will be interesting to some:
"SNILLSWORTH, Feb. 19th, 1776.
"DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER AND NEVY,--
"These are salutations of love to you all, expecting they may find you
in good health as they leave us at present.
"We received your letter November last and was glad to hear from you,
but more especially that you were all in good health of body and that
you like 'Nove' (Nova Scotia) very well because we have had many slight
accounts that you were in a very poor situation, but heard nothing to
our satisfaction, and that you would have returned back to Old England
but had nothing to pay your passage with, which gave us both me and my
wife a great deal of distraction of mind. So we consulted with sister
Sarah Bently and more of our friends that we would raise money to pay
your passage to Old England, but dear brother and sister, as we have
had a few lines from your own hand that you like the country well, so
it has put and end to that consultation."
It would be difficult to answer at once some of the questions asked in
these letters. They had only arrived in America the previous summer,
and unless thy purchased cows on their arrival, they could not at this
date have had much experience in dairying, and it would be the same
with grain. There is a tradition that the stock, ten cows and a number
of other cattle, were purchased with the Scurr farm, but this farm was
not bought until some years after. The Truemans probably followed the
course taken by many of the first settlers at that time, which was to
lease a farm for a term of years, in that way gaining experience in the
country before finally purchasing land themselves. After the family had
been two years in the country, William Trueman, jun., married Elizabeth
Keillor, a daughter of Thomas Keillor, of Cumberland Point, or No. 1,
now called Fowler's Hill. The Keillors came from Skelton, Yorkshire, to
Nova Scotia in 1774, and settled on the farm at present occupied by a
great-great-grandson, Charles Fowler.
It was near the date of this marriage that the Eddy rebels were
terrorizing the settlers around Fort Cumberland, and shortly after the
event Mr. and Mrs. Trueman went to Mr. Keillor's to spend the Sabbath.
During the day the house was surrounded by the rebels, and the inmates
kept prisoners until the next day, when the rebels dispersed, and the
young couple made their way home as quickly as possible, to relieve the
anxiety at Prospect.
The Keillors and Truemans had been friends in England, and were related
in some degree. Elizabeth Keillor was but nineteen when she consented
to take charge of a home of her own, and, as subsequent years proved,
well did she discharge the duties that devolved upon her in that
relationship. Though below medium size, she had a nervous force and
will-power that enabled her to accomplish more than many of stronger
build. It is told of her that on a Sabbath, when the family were all at
church, she noticed something wrong with the cattle, and on going to
see what caused the trouble, she found a cow so badly injured by some
of the larger animals, that to make the carcass of any value it would
have to be slaughtered at once. Mrs. Trueman went to the house, got the
butcher-knife, and bled the cow to death.
Nervous force, like any other force in man or woman, has its limit, and
if used too fast it will not be there when wanted in old age. Mrs.
Trueman did not live to be very old, and her last years were full of
suffering. Overtaxed nature had given way, and the penalty had to be
paid.
The family never separated, but all moved into the house on the Scurr
farm, and began in earnest to face the battle of life in the New World.
Halifax was at that time the market for butter and beef, so after the
wants of the settlers and the commissariat at Fort Cumberland had been
supplied, such produce as could be sent by schooners to Halifax was
forwarded in that way, and the cattle, for beef, were driven overland--
a long and tedious journey.
Mills for sawing lumber or making flour were scarce. The stones are yet
to be seen in Sackville with which grain was ground by hand-power.
The Truemans soon began to experiment in mill building. Their first
venture was a mill driven by horse-power. A windmill followed, and was
located on the high ground at the corner where the Point de Bute road
turns at right angles, leading to Jolicure. This must have been an
ideal spot for such a structure. There is no record of how long this
mill stood, but it could not have been long.
There was a good stream on the farm for a water-mill, but it was not
utilized for this purpose for some years, probably for the want of
means. Their first work in this line was the building of a small mill
on the brook that formed the ravine at the south-west side of the farm.
A dam was thrown across the stream at the head of the ravine, and the
water carried in a flume some distance farther down the brook; the
great fall of water enabling them to use a large over-shot water-wheel.
It is only quite recently that the main shaft of the wheel has
disappeared.
A long dam was built across the stream that leads to what is now called
the Upper Mill, for the purpose of turning the water to the new mill,
and also forming a reserve pond. This dam can be plainly seen at the
present time, although covered with quite a growth of timber. The mill
in the ravine did not stand long either, and the next move was to dam
the water on the main brook, now called the Trueman Mill Stream, and
put up a large and substantial grist-mill, that proved a great
convenience to the whole country for many years.
Beside this large expenditure in mills, most of which was made in the
lifetime of the senior William, there was a large outlay made for
dyking and aboideau building. Piece by piece the marsh was being
reclaimed from the tide and made to yield its wealth of hay and pasture
for the support of flocks and herds.
I find a record showing there were seventeen cows on the farm in 1790,
and for the benefit of some of the members of the younger generation
who live on farms, here are their names: Cerloo, Red-heifer, Spotty,
Debro, Beauty, Madge, Lucy, Daisy, White-face, Mousie, Dun, Rose, Lady
Cherry, Black-eye, Spunk and Roan.
The following letter, received at Prospect in 1789, tells of a more
cheerful spirit in business in England, but shows that they had floods
and troubles of that kind then as now:
"HELM HOUSE BILSDALE, Augt. ye 15th, 1789.
"DEAR COUSINS,--
"I received two letters from you in the course of the last year, and am
exceeding glad to hear from you and that you do well and are well, and
tho I have long delayed writing yet it is not want of respect, but it
was long before I could have any certain inteligence from Mr. Swinburn,
So I now take the oppertunity to let you know how I and my Sisters are
situate. I married Helling the daughter of Richard Barr, by whom I have
had 3 boys and 2 girls all liveing and healthfull. Aylsy is married to
John the son of James Boyes and lives at Woolhousecroft, has no
children. Sally is married to John Cossins and lives at Hawnby where
Robt. Barker lived. She has 3 children the two last were twins they
were born about Candlemas last and one of them is a very weakly child,
my mother is married to old Rich'd Barr my wife's father and lives at
Huntington nigh York. I think we most of us live pretty well. Mr. -----
has advanced his land a great deal but since the peace the times are
pretty good we have this summer a very plentiful crop and we have a
fine season for Reaping the same, but in the beginning of haytime we
had an excessive flood as almost ever was known so that much hay was
swept away and much more sanded. Many bridges were washed down and in
some places much chattle drowned. My cousin John Garbut is married to
James Boyes' widow and lives at Helm house. So I shall conclude with my
and my wife's duty to my unkle and aunt and our kind love to you and
your wife and children and subscribe ourselves your very affectionate
cousins,
"JOHN AND HELLING TRUEMAN."
There was no break in the family by death until 1797. That year William
Trueman, sen., died, aged seventy-seven years, twenty-two of which he
had spent in America. The Mauger farm, his first purchase, was left to
Harmon, his eldest grandson. The family of his son William had grown by
this time to six sons and two daughters, and success financially, in
some measure at least, had been achieved.
With milling, dyking and general farming, there was work at Prospect to
keep all the members of the family busy, besides a large force of hired
help.
It was decided this year (1797) to build a new house and barn, and the
site fixed upon was about one hundred yards south of the Scurr house,
where they had lived since the place came into their possession. The
barn was put up the next year, and measured eighty feet long by thirty-
three wide, with thirteen foot posts. A part of this barn is still used
for a stable. In 1799 the house was built, the main portion being made
of brick burned on the marsh near by. It fronted due south, and was
twenty-seven feet by thirty-seven feet, and two stories high, with a
stone kitchen on the west side. The cost of building was eight hundred
pounds. This was before the days of stoves, there being six fire-places
in the main house and large one in the kitchen.
In 1839 the stone kitchen was pulled down and one of wood built on the
north side. In 1879 an addition was made, and now (October 2nd, 1900),
it is as comfortable a dwelling as it has ever been. Five generations
have lived in it. Three generations have been born and grown to manhood
and womanhood within its four walls, and they have never known the
death of a child, nor, with but one exception, the death of a young
person.
On the 29th January, 1800, Mrs. Trueman, sen., died in the eighty-
eighth year of her age. Although sixty-two years old when she came to
America, she lived to see the birth of nine grandchildren.
In 1801, Thompson, the youngest son, was born. The family now numbered
seven sons and three daughters. This year William Black, known in
Methodist history as Bishop Black, was one of the family at Prospect
from November 17th, 1801, to April 13th, 1802. One week of this time
was spent in Dorchester, for which a rebate was made in the board bill.
The bill was made out at the rate of five shillings per week.
In 1802, Mr. Trueman began to keep what he calls "a memorandum of
events." The records chiefly refer to home work, the weather and
neighborhood happenings. As a record of the weather, before
thermometers and barometers were in general use, it must be as perfect
as possible. As a record of farm work it is quite minute, and gives the
reader an almost exact knowledge of what was done on the farm each week
of the twenty years.
To those who live in the age of steam and electricity, when it is
possible to be informed at night of the doings of the day on the other
side of the planet, it is hard to realize how little interest was taken
a century ago in anything outside of the community in which one lived.
This accounts in part, no doubt, for the scant references in this
journal to public events. Only very rarely is an election mentioned,
even in the writer's own county. Only once is there reference to war,
although the war of 1812 and the battle of Waterloo took place during
the years of the record, and must have had a marked effect upon the
trade of the Provinces at that time.
Mr. Trueman made several trips to Halifax each year, and met, while
there, many of the leading Methodist men of the city. The Blacks and
the Bells were his friends. His house was the home of the ministers of
his church during all his life, and many of the public men who visited
Cumberland were his guests at different times.
The first entry in the journal is dated May 5th, 1802, and reads: "wind
N.W.; cold stormy day. Planted some apple trees; frost not out of the
ground.
"May 6th--Wind N.W.; ground covered with snow two inches thick;
disagreeable.
"May 8th--Wind N.W.; cold, backward weather. Mr. Marsdon preached his
farewell sermon at the Stone Church."
"July 5th--This day was appointed by the Government as a day of
thanksgiving for the blessings of peace. Mr. Bennet preached at Amherst
Court House, from Psalm 12, 1st verse, to a crowded and very attentive
audience.
"July 12th--Started for Halifax with thirty oxen. Returned on the 22nd;
had a very good time."
(Ten days was the usual time taken on these trips. The drovers would
start some hours, or perhaps a day, in advance of Mr. Trueman. He would
go on horse-back, in knee breeches, and with the old fashioned saddle-
bags.)
"Sept. 28th--Started to Halifax with twenty-four cattle.
"Oct. 2nd--Arrived at Halifax Sunday night. Wm." (his son) "taken sick
with measles. Monday, and Tuesday, very sick. Wednesday, some better.
Thursday, walked the streets. Friday, started for home.
"Oct. 13th--High winds; very high tides; marshes much flooded.
"Sept. 14th, 1803--Stephen Millage died of shock of palsy. Mr.
Oliphant, Methodist minister, arrived this month at our house.
"Nov. 12th, 1803--Election at Dorchester. Mr. Knapp goes in without
opposition."
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 Cumberland 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 pronunciation 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 Cumberland;
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 shore. 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 passed 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 God.
"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 Dickey 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
Cumberland, 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.