I remember my father saying he gave a doubloon to the man who married them.They moved to Maccan very shortly after they were married.When grandmother Humphrey died they went to the funeral on horseback (thirty miles), and took John with them, then a young babe.(The baby, John, was the late John A.Humphrey, of Moncton.) I have heard mother say she took me to her father's funeral when I was four months old, another long ride on horseback."Mrs.Bishop is the only one of the family now living.
Returning to the family at Prospect, Betty, the youngest daughter, was married to George Glendenning, in 1823.Her name was to have been Elizabeth, but one day previous to the baptism the minister was at the house and asked Mrs.Trueman what baby's name was to be.She said, "Oh, I suppose it will be Betty," meaning to have her baptized Elizabeth, but to call her Betty for short.When the minister came to the baptism, he did not ask the name, but baptized the baby Betty.The mother did not feel very well pleased about it, but Betty it had to be.
George Glendenning, George Moffat and George Dickson, three Dumfrieshire farmers, came to America in the spring of 1820.They had talked the matter over during the long evenings of the previous winter, and finally determined to try their fortunes in the New World.
The agricultural distress that prevailed in Ireland at that time affected Scotland also, and the wages of farm laborers was only a shilling a day in harvest time.No doubt the love of adventure and a desire to see more of world also had something to do with the decision of the young men.Passages were secured on the ship ABIONA, bound for Miramichi, at which port the young men were safely landed early in May.
John Steele was also a passenger in this vessel.He went to Cumberland and settled on the gulf shore near Wallace.Rev.Dr.Steele, of Amherst, is a grandson of John Steele.George Moffat also went to Cumberland, and settled at River Hebert.Beside managing a farm he did a large business in sending beef cattle to the Halifax market.Mr.
Moffat was a fine, honest man, "a canny Scot," who was always as good as his word and expected others to be the same.
George Glendenning had a brother living in St.John, and after landing at Miramichi he went direct to that place, where he had a short visit.
There was not much in the surroundings of St.John that was attractive to the eye of a Scotch farmer, so the young emigrant decided to try another locality.He turned his steps toward "Old Chignecto," a long, hard walk.He made several attempts to get work on the way, always without success.At a farmhouse in Dorchester he might have got employment, but did not like the appearance of things about the place.
Before leaving Dorchester he had become much discouraged, and remembering his early training in a godly house, determined to ask direction and guidance from his Heavenly Father.And so, falling on his knees, he prayed that he might be directed in his way so that by another night he might find a place where work could be had.After this earnest prayer he started out with more heart, but in the long walk through the Dorchester woods to Sackville, then on the "Four Corners,"no work was found, and so the marsh was crossed and Prospect Farm was reached just as it began to grow dark.He would try his fortune here.
An old man answered his knock at the door and bade him, "Come in," but in answer to his request for work said, "No, I do not want a man, but you had better not go any further to-night; we will keep you here." In the morning the proprietor of Prospect reversed his decision of the night before and decided to give the young Scotchman a trial.The result was that he remained with the family for three years, and when he left took with him as his wife the youngest daughter.
Mr.Glendenning settled on a new farm in Amherst Head (now Truemanville), and soon became one of the most successful farmers of the district.John Glendenning, of Amherst, is his son, and Rev.George Glendenning, of Halifax, N.S., and Robert Glendenning, M.D., of Mass., U.S., are his grandsons.
