He was one of the Annapolis Valley’s first major merchants. He opened what may have been the first super-sized retail store and mill in Kentville; and in the days before the chartered banks arrived, he may have been the county’s first financier.

Henry Magee was a prominent early merchant but before he settled here he lead an adventurous life. In two earlier columns last winter (column1, column2) I wrote about Magee’s flight to Nova Scotia during the American Revolution and about his career in the Valley as a merchant and entrepreneur. A Loyalist who lost heavily during the Revolution, Magee was compensated with cash and a land grant which he apparently parlayed into a prosperous business in Kings County.

As well as being an astute businessman, Henry Magee was also a meticulous keeper of records. And for this contemporary historians are grateful.

While researching for the columns on Henry Magee, I found several references to his old store ledgers. The story goes that the ledgers had been discovered when his son’s former home in Aylesford was being renovated. The ledgers were donated to the Nova Scotia Historical Society. Some 50 years ago the ledgers were said to have been the subject of several detailed articles in the Society’s quarterly magazine.

The Kirkconnell Room at Acadia University holds various old Historical Society publications and it was there that I discovered a volume with an article on the Magee ledgers. Published in 1953, volume 33 of the Society’s quarterly magazine has an extensive analysis of the Magee ledgers by Rev. Kennedy E. Wainwright. The article – “A Comparative Study in Nova Scotia Rural Economy 1788-1872” – looks at Magee’s ledgers, 1788-1806, the ledger of an Aylesford merchant, dated 1865-1867, and the desk book of Lyon’s Inn, Kentville, dated 1867-1872.

After a brief overview of the period examined, Wainwrights’s article accomplishes exactly what is indicated in its title. In his examination of the ledgers, Wainwright gives us an illuminating look at life in the Valley through the 18th and 19th centuries simply by telling us what our ancestors ate, what they wore on their backs and what they did for entertainment.

About Magee’s store, for example, we hear that it “dealt in everything from a needle to a plough, not to mention such items as wheat, gaspereaux, rum, snuff and even a New Testament.” From an itemized list of the goods and transactions recorded in the ledgers, said Wainwright, it is almost possible to reconstruct the economy of the period, the decades immediately before and after 1800.

I hope I’m not accused of being biased by noting only what the ledgers say about men’s clothing in those all-revealing decades. Taking the ledger’s at face value, we find that men favoured beaver hats, took snuff, smoked clay pipes, wore corduroy breeches, cherry coloured waistcoats, had buckles on their shoes and had a penchant for silk stockings. Full Wellington boots were popular with men and they apparently carried umbrellas. For outdoor activities, the men of the period donned gray homespun flannel shirts which were well stocked by Magee.

As well as rum for the men, Magee’s store stocked several varieties of tea and coffee. According to ledger entries, tea was four times as expensive as coffee.

Next week a look at what Magee’s store stocked for the ladies of Kings County and a bit about some interesting entries in the ledger of Lyon’s Inn.

Canning owes its origin to the potato, Clara Dennis wrote in her 1933 book, Down in Nova Scotia. In making this observation, Ms. Dennis must have used Eaton’s Kings County history as a reference source. Eaton said in his 1910 history that “modern Canning owes its existence largely to the potato industry of Cornwallis.”

Eaton expands on his potato reference, quoting an earlier historian who said in effect that Canning’s establishment on the Habitant River was due to several factors. Dr. Benjamin Rand observed that Canning sprung up where it did because of a convenient bend in the Habitant and the nearby meeting of roads and a dyke. The roads and dyke may have been of Acadian origin, but this is speculation on my part.

Along with Kingsport, Canning later became well-known for shipbuilding. By the middle of the 19th century, Canning was a thriving town, its success perhaps due to the potato, perhaps to shipbuilding and perhaps to its strategic river location which Rand said was a “natural one.”

According to Eaton, seven stores opened in Canning between 1839 and 1853. Since Canning was swept by a number of disastrous fires, the first in 1866, it’s unlikely that few of the original stores remain intact today. One of the oldest Canning stores was established before the first great fire and was rebuilt after being destroyed. The store is still in operation today and may be one of the longest operating, privately owned retail firms in Canning and perhaps in Kings County.

L. Newcomb’s Chinaware was established by the Kennedy family before 1866. James K. Kennedy, the original owner, sold china and household necessities such as groceries. Kennedy’s son, James E., took over the store after his father’s death. His daughter, Gladys, was the third generation to own the shop, assuming operation in 1946 when her father died.

In 1964 the store changed hands again. Lois Newcomb has owned and operated the china shop since the 60s. Previous to purchasing the business she worked in the shop for several decades. “Fresh out of school and good with numbers,” as she puts it, she was hired by James E. Kennedy as a clerk in 1938. Newcomb clerked in the store until she purchased it in 1964 from Gladys’ widower.

Writing on Canning and the Newcomb store in a 1990 Advertiser story, Heather Frenette observed that “passage through the shop doorway transports the browser into another time.” Inside the store, Frenette said, prices are about the only things that have changed. In 1938 when Newcomb began clerking in the store, a Royal Albert bone china cup and saucer sold for 90 cents. Some 50 years later, when Frenette did her story the price of the cup and saucer had reached $36; today the regular retail price is $59.

Lois Newcomb has indeed seen many changes in Canning since she began to clerk in the china shop 62 years ago. But while Main Street Canning and the business district has changed drastically, the interior of the store remains practically the same as it was more than half a century ago. The general decor of the shop is quaint in an old-fashioned way, the shelving and paneling reminiscent of our grandparent’s time.

“I try to keep things old style if I can,” Lois Newcomb says of her shop. She stopped selling groceries when a supermarket opened down the street, but the fine English bone china is still on her shelves.

In a recent letter via e-mail, reader David Webster, Kentville, said he notes a tone of disparagement when I write about the Planters in this column; and writes Mr. Webster, I appear to have a racial bias in my interpretation of events.

Mr. Webster has also taken me to task for using the word “stoned” and “stoning” in a July column that dealt with a 1763 run-in between settlers and a native Indian. In the column, I had quoted from a 1979 article by Keith Hatchard in the Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly.

“In your column of July 21“, Mr. Webster writes, “you used the word ‘stoned’ or ‘stoning’ five times. Eaton’s History of Kings County, the ultimate source of your information, uses the word ‘beaten.’ Based upon your column, it appears to me that Mr. Hatchard’s account does not agree with his source of information. By repeating Mr. Hatchard’s misleading account without comment, you imply that his source contains substantially the same information.

“The Planters figured prominently in the history of this region but, on those few occasions in which they have been mentioned in your many historical columns, disparagement seems to predominate. I regret to say that I suspect you have a racial bias in your interpretation of events.”

“We are led to believe,” Mr. Webster continued, “that a dispute between settlers and a native revealed a racist attitude in colonial people and the tendency of historians to overlook events which put them (the settlers) in a bad light.” This is what I wrote in the column and this was my interpretation, rightly or wrongly, of the dispute between the settlers and the native Indian.

Concluding his letter, Mr. Webster asked for answers to two questions. “Where in Eaton’s History is the word ‘stoned’ used to describe this incident? Where in this history is there any indication that (the Indian) was being tormented?”

In reply to Mr. Webster I wrote as follows:

You are correct in your statement that Eaton does not use the word “stoned;” nor is it indicated in the history that the Indian in question was “tormented.” Both words were used by Hatchard in his account as per my quotes. Mr. Hatchard may have made an error when he talked about the “stoning,”, but he also may have had another source other than Eaton. I’m interested in knowing the facts here – was (the Indian) actually stoned? – and am writing Mr. Hatchard through the Nova Scotia Historical Society for a clarification. I will be glad to pass the results of my inquiry along to you.

As for my bias, I take the stand that historians tend to glorify events and historic figures a bit too much and some skepticism is healthy. I note that you said nothing about the fact that people like Burbidge and other notable figures of the time kept slaves. And finally, tell me that the incident involving (the Indian) and the settlers would be thrown out of court today simply because someone apologized.

In an e-mail reply to the above, Mr. Webster’s astute comment places the settlers-native affair and the slavery issue in context:

“This is a very long and involved subject,” Webster wrote, “but, in few words, the actions of an individual in some past era should be judged within the context of the conditions which prevailed at that time as opposed to current conditions.”

So what did they do for recreation around here a century ago? How did our ancestors entertain themselves, and what did they use for communications? How did the “basic necessities” of the average household today compare to, say, the average household 100 years ago?

We’re all interested in history and curious about how our ancestors lived. This is probably why Bria Stokesbury, the curator of the Old Kings Courthouse Museum in Kentville, decided that an exhibit with the theme “what a difference a century makes” would be appropriate and interesting. Called Museum Millennium Mania, the exhibit features items that were in general use at the “dawn of a new century (in) 1900.”

Many of the items in this exhibit come from the collection of Louis Comeau. who has continued and expanded on the work of his father, Lin, began decades ago. As Louis points out, he is very active in collecting documents, photographs and artifacts concerning Kentville. To date, he has collected over 6,000 items on the town’s history, most of which he has researched, catalogued and preserved.

Now, a brief description of the exhibit; here’s what you’re missing if you don’t get into the museum:

If you like looking at photographs a century and more old (and most people do) the exhibit has a display from the Comeau collection. For example, from downtown Kentville are photographs of various stores in the years 1885 to 1900. Included is a photograph of a longtime Kentville landmark, the Red Store. Opened in 1852 by James Edward DeWolfe, the Red Store, which stood on the corner of Main and Cornwallis, was a grocery for most of its existence. The store was demolished in 1960 and was replaced by a pharmacy.

Before the movies, before radio and television, what did gramps and granny do for entertainment? Stop thinking naughty; I mean, what did they do for musical entertainment. One answer is the Gramophone. The exhibit has a Gramophone from the Comeau collection that was made in 1900 by the Talking Machine Co. A brief but interesting history of early “talking machines” is included with this exhibit.

A century ago young mothers took the wee one out for some fresh air in what we call a baby stroller and granny called a perambulator. The perambulator (a donation to the Museum from the Malcolm Eaton family of Canard) old chairs including a Victorian wheelchair, coins, the early telephone, bicycles of a century ago and much more are included in the exhibit.

This exhibit is on until the end of August but there’s much more to see in the Museum. The Museum was once the County courthouse and the upstairs courtroom is little changed from the time the Robinson murder trial was held there in 1904. Adjacent to the courtroom is a dyke exhibit, a miniature reproduction of how the dykes and aboiteaux appeared in Acadian days.

There’s also the Planter kitchen, the Victorian parlour and the “living fossil” display. If you’re interested in reading about local history, the Museum offers various papers and books about Kings County. Visitors can also access genealogy files which have been compiled by the Kings Historical Society.