Howard Trueman

“ The continent was simply waiting for the hands of willing workers to make it the happy home of millions. The reaction in trade after the Seven Years' War made the prospect just starting in life gloomier than ever, and many a father and mother who expected to end their days in the Old Land, decided, for the sake of their children, to face the dangers of the western ocean and the trials of pioneer life. ”

“ The inhabitants of the town of Cumberland, in Nova Scotia, beg leave to congratulate Your Honour on your appointment by His Majesty to the chief command of this Province and in your safe arrival therein. Although remote from the Capital, and perhaps last in our addresses, yet we flatter ourselves not the least sincere in assuring Your Honour of the happiness we feel in finding ourselves under your government. ”

“ Trueman's fault but a result of the nature of the case. It is not impossible, by the way, that such documents may yet be discovered, perhaps in some still unsuspected archives. It is to be remembered, however, that to a local audience, documents 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 unsurpassed knowledge of his subject, much loving labor, and no small enthusiasm. ”

“ To think what Canada would have been without the Loyalists helps one to see more clearly how fortunate it was that the Eddy rebellion was crushed.
The British Empire may owe more to the loyal Yorkshire emigrants than has ever been fairly accorded to them. Canada as a coterie of colonies furnished Great Britain with a training school for her statesmen that she did not otherwise possess. In this way British North America has been the prime factor in placing Great Britain first among the nations of the world in the government of colonies. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The local historians of those times claim that these English settlers, arriving as they did just before the Revolutionary war, saved Nova Scotia to the British Crown. If that is the correct opinion, and we are more disposed to believe it is true than to question its accuracy, then the British Empire is more indebted to these loyal Yorkshire immigrants than history has ever given them credit for. ”

“ This would have placed them in infinitely worse circumstances than that body of noble men and women of another race that twenty-eight years earlier in the century had been driven out as exiles to wander in hardship and want on that same New England coast. These Loyalists brought to Canada the sterling principle, the experience in local Government, the sturdy, independent manhood and business experience and energy which this northern land needed to make it one of the most prosperous and best governed countries in the world. ”

“ Up to this time the government of Nova Scotia was vested in a governor and council. This year, 1758, it was decided by the Home Government to allow the Province a Legislative Assembly. The Assembly was to consist of twenty-two members, twelve to be elected by the Province at large, four for the township of Halifax, four for the township of Lunenburg, one for Dartmouth, one for Lawrencetown, one for Annapolis, and one for Cumberland. Fifty qualified electors would constitute a township. The township elections were to continue during two days, and those for the Province four days. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence arrived at the Isthmus with a strong force, consisting of the 48th Regiment, and three hundred men of the 45th Regiment. "The Indians and some of the French were rash enough to oppose the landing of so formidable a body of troops, but they were driven off after a sharp skirmish, in which the English lost about twenty killed and wounded." A short distance from where they landed Colonel Lawrence erected a picketal fort with block-houses, which was named for himself. A garrison of six hundred men was maintained here until the fall of Beausejour. ”

“ Of the twenty members of the second generation now living, the women outnumber the men thirteen to seven. Five of the twenty are octogenarians, two—Martin Trueman, of Point de Bute, and Thompson Trueman, of Sackville—have reached the patriarchal age of eighty-seven years. The former in one particular is like the late Mr. Gladstone—he takes his recreation with the axe. He has prepared many cords of wood for the stove in the last few years.
The first Trueman family were not strong men, but they were persistent workers, and could accomplish more in a given time than men of much stronger build. ”

“ John Wesley, very soon after he began his life-work, found his way to Yorkshire, and nowhere had he more sincere or devoted followers, many of whom were among the first emigrants to Nova Scotia. To the England of the eighteenth century America must have presented great attraction, especially to the tenant-farmer and the day-laborer. The farmer in that country could never hope to own his farm, and the wages of the agricultural laborer were so small that it was only by the strictest economy and the best of health that he could hope to escape the workhouse in his old age. ”

“ Not a man of the first generation could talk ten minutes on a public platform; and the second generation are in this particular not much of an improvement on their forbears. This, in part, no doubt, accounts for the fact that a family which turns out elders, class-leaders and circuit stewards in such numbers has not produced a minister of the Trueman name.
Agriculture was the work to which the family set their hand in the new country. The children were taught that manual labor was honorable, and that agriculture was worthy of being prosecuted by the best of men. ”

“ 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 God-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. ”

“ What is important, what is essential,if freedom is to be won and maintained, is that the people understand their rights and have the courage to maintain them at any sacrifice. It was the leaven of freedom working in the lump of the British people that gave the world the Magna Charta, Montford's rebellion, Cromwell and the Commonwealth, the Revolution of 1688,and the still greater Revolution of 1776. ”

“ Hants and King's County, in Nova Scotia, got a part of this immigration. Those who came to Cumberland were too late to secure any of the vacated Acadian farms before others had got possession, these lands having been pre-empted by the New Englanders and the traders who followed the army. Those who had the means, however, seem to have found no difficulty in purchasing from the owners, and very quickly set to work to adjust themselves to the new conditions. So effectually did they do this, that almost every man of them succeeded in making a comfortable home for his family. ”

“ The most considerable addition to the population of Nova Scotia after the Yorkshire immigration was in 1783 and 1784, when the United Empire Loyalists came to the Province. They left New England as the French left Acadia, without the choice of remaining. The story of their removal and bitter experiences has been told by more than one historian. They were the right stamp of men, and have left their impress on the provinces by the sea. Among the names of those who settled at the old Chignecto were: Fowler, Knapp, Palmer, Purdy, Pugsley. ”

“ 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 petitioned to the Government for new lands when I settled here, and we all drew 500 acres of land each. ”

“ He knew every knoll and hollow of the old farm. He thought everyone who had the Trueman blood in him ought to feel on excellent terms with himself after hearing so many nice things said about the family.
"Prof. Andrews, who followed, agreed with Dr. Allison in thinking the race was not degenerating, and claimed if the people to-day would spend as much time out of doors as did their fathers, they would be even stronger. He gave some proofs that actually the race is improving physically. In the old times the weakest all died off, and only the tough old nuts remained. ”

“ 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. ”

“ He had never seen a wooden house until he came to this country, and it stirred old memories to stand again under the shadow of a brick house that reminded him strongly of his grandfather's house in Yorkshire. If people here want to see Englishmen come to Canada they must do away with snake fences, sulphur matches, and bad roads. Agriculture is done for in England, and the fathers realize that their sons must come to Canada. No Westmoreland man would complain if he knew how well off he was. ”

“ 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. ”

“ My son, Thomas, now lives at Hawnby, and follows shoemaking; he is not married, nor any of my sons. I have three daughters, Ann, Mary and Hannah. Ann succeeds her uncle and aunt, for they are both dead. Mary and her husband live on a little farm at Brompton, and Hannah at Helmsley. My son James is in the Excise at London. William and John are with me at home and George has learned the business of Cabinet maker. Prudence keeps a farmer's house in Cleaveland and Betty is at home and she is Taller than her mother. ”

“ The acquisition of a profession presents such an immensity of labor that it would seem to require a lifetime to become proficient, especially when the small amount of energy that I can command is brought to bear upon it. However, I am not disposed to find fault with the labor so long as there is so much that is intensely interesting and I can make respectable progress towards the grand crisis of a student's life. "New Haven is equally as attractive as it was during my college life and I feel more at home here than in any other place in the United States during the present summer so far. ”