"I have just received your card requesting information respecting my family.In answer I may say that my late father was a native of North Yarmouth, near the city of Portland, United States.He emigrated to this country in the year 1813, located in Moncton, and was engaged in mercantile pursuits until the time of his death in 1851, paying one hundred cents on the dollar.After taking the oath of allegiance he was appointed a magistrate, the duties of which he discharged with great fidelity until the time of his removal from earth.
"My father was a sincere Christian and a deacon in the Baptist Church, and died much lamented.His family consisted of twelve children, six sons and six daughters.May, the eldest, married a Mr.Gallagher and had several children, most of whom are dead.Emily, second daughter, married Mr.John Newcomb, father of the distinguished astronomer, Prof.Newcomb, of world-wide reputation.Joseph married Miss Harris.
Harriet married Mr.Thos.Trueman.William has been an accountant in the railway offices of this city.John's wife was Miss Embree, of Amherst, and his second wife is Mrs.Cynthia, formerly Mrs.Mariner Wood.James resided in St.John; George and Henry, both dead.George never married; Henry resided in Truro at the time of his death and married to Miss Raine, daughter of Capt.Raine, a retired naval officer.Rebecca, Sarah and Ruth never married.
"As a family we were all as well educated as the circumstances would admit.My father's people in the United States were nearly all Congregationalists, and my great-grandfather Prince was a minister of that body.He was pastor of a church in Newburyport, and is buried in a vault under his pulpit.A few years ago I visited that place, partly to see the church, which was built by my great-grandfather.When Sabbath morning came I went to the church; reached it just a little after the minister in charge had commenced the service.Seeing that I was a stranger, with somewhat of a clerical appearance, he came out of the pulpit to the pew where I was sitting, and said, among other things, 'We are going to have the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to-day, and Iwould be glad to have you stay and assist,' which I did.At the close of the service I remarked to the minister that I was very much interested in being present, as I was informed that the remains of my ancestor were in the vault under the pulpit, and that I was his great-grandson.He seemed much surprised and announced the fact to the congregation, and further said that I would preach in the afternoon, which I did.He then directed the sexton to show me down into the vault.In this vault there were the remains of three ministers in their separate coffins.One was a coffin containing the remains of the immortal Whitfield.In the coffin just opposite was the remains of the Rev.Joseph Prince, and in another the remains of another former pastor of the church, Rev.Mr.Parsons.I certainly was very much impressed by my surroundings, for it was a scene the like of which I never hoped to look upon again.This vault, I was told, had been visited by thousands, who came to look upon George Whitfield's bones, for there was nothing but bones.Whitfield died a very short distance from the church, and the window of the house where he breathed his last was pointed out to me.I remember with what strange feelings I lad my hand on the shade of my ancestor.This man had twelve sons, and there was one thing about them the pastor said he knew, and that was 'that they were all Princes.'
"We can trace our ancestry back three hundred years, and the head of the family was Rev.John Prince, Rector of a parish in Berkshire, Eng.
I have a photograph of the stone church where he ministered.His sons were Nonconformists, and John Prince, the first to come to this country, was persecuted and driven out of his country by the cruelty of Archbishop Laud..
"Yours very truly,"JOHN PRINCE."
CHAPMAN.
William Chapman was one of the Yorkshire emigrants that came to Nova Scotia in the spring of 1775.He brought with him his wife and family of eight children, four sons and four daughters.He purchased a large block of land near Point de Bute corner, with the marsh adjoining, and on this property at once settled.
William Chapman was one of the early Methodists, and it was in 1788, on an acre of land given by Mr.Chapman, and deeded to John Wesley, that the first Methodist church was built in Point de Bute.Later, Joseph Chapman, Esq., a grandson of William, gave an additional piece of land, and the whole at the present time comprises the cemetery at Point de Bute.
The following letter from James Chapman, in Yorkshire, to William Trueman, at Prospect, will perhaps be interesting to some of the descendants.It was written in 1789:
"Dear Friends,--What shall I say to you? How shall I be thankful enough for that I have once more heard of my dear old friends in Nova Scotia.When John Trueman let me see your letter it caused tears of gratitude to flow from my eyes, to hear that you were all alive, but much more that I had reason to believe that you were on the road to Zion, with your faces thitherward.I am also thankful that I can tell you that I and my wife and ten children are yet alive, and I hope in good health, and I hope most of us are, though no earnestly pressing, yet we are feebly creeping towards the mark for the prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus.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.
