THE FIRST SETTLERS OF CUMBERLAND.
IN the early part of the last century several emigrants from the Old Country found their way to Prospect Farm, with whom family friendships were formed and remained unbroken for many years.The Davis family is one of these.
Daniel Davis came from a small town near Bristol, England.He was a weaver by trade, but owing to the introduction of the power loom in Great Britain, which ruined the hand-loom industry, Mr.Davis came to America in the hope of finding some other means of gaining a livelihood.He with his wife and one child came to Prince Edward Island in 1812.They were greatly disappointed with the appearance of things on the island, and Mrs.Davis says she cried nearly all the time they stayed there.After a year on the island Mr.Davis moved to Point de Bute.Although he was a small man and not accustomed to farm work, he remained in Point de Bute for ten years and made a good living for his increasing family.At the end of that time he got a grant of good land in Little Shemogue, on what is now called the Davis Road.On this land Mr.Davis put up a log house and moved his family there.After undergoing most of the privations incidental to such an experience, success came, and with is a comfortable and happy old age.In his later years Mr.Davis made a trip to his old home in England, and received a substantial legacy that awaited him there.He had a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters.Henry, the second son, was a member of the family at Prospect for fourteen years, and came to be looked upon almost as a son.John settled in Leicester, N.S., and was a successful farmer, with a large family.One son is a Methodist minister in the Nova Scotia Conference, and another is stipendiary magistrate for the town of Amherst.
Henry Davis was a miller, and settled first in Amherst.One of his sons, T.T.Davis, is a professor in a western College.The other sons of Daniel Davis were farmers, two of whom remained at the old home in Shemogue, where some of their descendants still live.
John Woods was another of the early emigrants who found his way to Prospect.He was a Manxman.After a time he bought a farm at Tidnish, N.S., and subsequently moved to the Gulf Shore, Wallace.Mr.Woods visited Prospect Farm in the seventies, and was greatly delighted to see the old place again.
Samson Clark was also a member of the family for a time.He was a brother of the late Alexander Clark, D.D.When he left Prospect he located on a farm on what he called the "Roadside," back of Amherst, N.S., now Salem.Samson, although a strong man physically, and with plenty of brains, did not make life a success.He became blind in his later years, and never prospered financially.Politically Mr.Clark would stand for a countryman of his who, when asked soon after landing in America what his politics were, answered, "Is there a government here?" He was told that there was."Then," said he, "I'm ag'in the government."Isaac Vandegrift came from Halifax to Point de Bute.His mother was a widow.He married Miriam Smith, from Sackville, and the ceremony took place at the "Brick House," Prospect.Isaac settled at Hall's Hill, but afterward moved back to Point de Bute.He was an excellent ploughman, and was one of the drovers north when the Richibucto and Miramichi markets were supplied with beef from the Westmoreland marshes.He contracted consumption and died comparatively young.Mrs.Edward Jones, of Point de Bute, is the only one of his five children now living.
A family named Ireland came to Prospect early in the centry, and Mr.
Trueman took some trouble in assisting Mr.Ireland to locate.These entries are found in the journal: "May, 1811--Robert goes to Amherst for Mr.Ireland's goods," and, later, Mr.Trueman "goes with Mr.
Ireland and Amos Fowler to Westcock for advice." Mr.Ireland moved to King's County, where he farmed for a time.Later he went to Ontario.
The late Hon.George Ryan, when at Ottawa, met some members of the Ireland family and renewed old acquaintanceship after a separation of forty years.
COLPITTS.
Extracts from the historical paper read at the re-union of the Colpitts family in Coverdale, Albert County, Sept.6th, 1900:
"In the spring of 1783, immediately after the close of the Revolutionary War, there came to Halifax, from Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, a tall, stalwart Englishman with his wife and family of seven children.The name of the man was Robert Colpitts, as far as we know the only one of the name to come out from the Mother Country, and the progenitor of all on this side of the Atlantic who bear the name.What his occupation or position in society was before his emigration we can only conjecture.Strange to say, there does not exist a scrap of writing which throws any light on these questions, and tradition is almost equally at fault.Later in life Robert Colpitts was a captain of militia, and it is thought he had some connection with the army before his emigration.Whatever his occupation was he must have been possessed of some means, as among the articles brought from England were things which would be counted as luxuries rather than necessities for a new settler among the wilds of New Brunswick.For instance, among these articles were three large clocks.
"Tradition says that this was not his first visit to Canada.Before the outbreak of the American Revolution he had been over, it is believed, in connection with a survey of the Bay of Fundy.At this time he had made a small clearing on what is now the Charles Trites' farm, in Coverdale, and put up a small cabin on the place.He then returned to Newcastle-on-Tyne, and closed up his business with the expectation of returning with his family.In the meantime the war between England and her American colonies had broken out, and he could not reach Nova Scotia until the trouble was settled, which was not for seven years.
