Chignecto Isthmus; First Settlers | Page 4

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.
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 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.
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
Passamaquiddy 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.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Chignecto Isthmus
CHAPTER II.
The New England Immigration, 1755-1770
CHAPTER III.
The Yorkshire Immigration
CHAPTER IV.
The Eddy Rebellion

CHAPTER V.
The First Churches of the Isthmus
CHAPTER VI.
The Truemans
CHAPTER VII.
Extracts from Journal and Letters
CHAPTER VIII.
Prospect Farm
CHAPTER IX.
Families Connected by Marriage with the Second Generation of
Truemans
CHAPTER X.
The First Settlers of Cumberland
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 constitutes 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
Cumberland 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