As documented in [a recent] column, the first poorhouse or poorfarm opened in this area over 100 years ago. It’s difficult to believe that poorhouses were necessary in a time when most people lived off the land and were mainly self-supporting. However, there were three in this area in the late 19th century, operating as mini-farms and looking after the destitute and mentally incapacitated. In 1922 the three poorhouses were closed and amalgamated into one at Waterville. Here’s the announcement of that opening from the December, 1922, issue of the Wolfville Acadian:

“The amalgamation of the Poor Districts of Cornwallis, Horton and Aylesford in this county has now been effected and the new building for the accommodation of the unfortunate poor which has been under construction during the past summer is now completed and has been taken possession of by the officials who have charge of this responsible and important branch of the municipality’s affairs.

“For a number of years back the proposition to place all the dependants of the county in one central institution and care for them in a manner creditable to the people of such a highly favored section has been under consideration and we feel sure that in carrying out such work no mistake has been made. If the affairs of the Home are conducted in a proper manner, with due regard to the interests of the ratepayers, the burden of taxation should not be unduly increased. If conducted in a business-like manner it ought to be good economy to carry on one institution in place of three.

“The site selected for the new home is at Waterville in the central part of the county. The selection of the farm, as well as its cost and the expense of building, has come in for considerable criticism and with regard to these matters we have nothing now to say. If the change made in the end makes for the public good to the extent we confidently anticipate it will more than repay for any mistakes that may have been made.

“The new edifice is situated on elevated ground and commands a fine view of the surrounding country. The main structure which faces the south is 36 x 37 feet with a wing on the north-east and 36 x 48 feet. It includes a large basement, main floor and attic. The main floor has a large plaza on the south about 75 feet in length. Adjoining are the men’s smoking-room, kitchen, dining room and recreation room on the east -end, with the apartments for the superintendents and officials in this wing at the same end. At the west-end are similar rooms for women for sewing, recreation and dining rooms. The men’s and women’s recreation-rooms are connected by folding-doors which may be opened when required for any special occasion. There are two fireplaces for the men and the same for the women. Some of the wards or rooms are also located on this floor.

“On the second floor are the dormitories for both males and females, the latter using the western part. A long hall running the entire length of the building divides by three doorways and provides as far as is possible for the plan for the segregation of the sexes.

“The attic provides quarters for the help. There is also a promenade with fire-escapes located at either end. The basement is of concrete and is divided into furnace-rooms, work-shops, morgue, etc., with ample provision for fuel storage.

“Adjoining the Home there is a large barn 42 x 65 with 16-foot posts and completed cement cellar. An artesian well provides an ample supply of excellent water.

“Mr. and Mrs. Slaughenwhite,(sic) who for a number of years have efficiently conducted the home at Billtown, have charge of the new home, and the inmates of the three old homes were installed in their new quarters last month.”

In 1864 Ambrose F. Church embarked on a project that would earn him the undying graditude of a multitude of genealogists.

Community by community, road by road, Church mapped out the entire 18 counties of Nova Scotia. The work took Church nearly a quarter century and when it was completed, we were left with a unique series of maps; unique in that the location of residences on county roads were pinpointed, along with the names of the principal householders. Each map also contained a business directory and a list of businessmen, professional people and farmers, another feature genealogical researchers and historians would find invaluable.

About seven years ago I did some research on Ambrose F. Church and wrote two columns on my findings for this paper. Except to rehash my findings – which I’ll do farther along – I have nothing new to add to those columns. However, there’s a new publication available at the Kings County Museum that makes it simple for anyone to search for ancestors on the Church map of Kings County.

Some background first. Ambrose F. Church produced his maps for the provincial government. His contract called for supplying the government with 25 copies of each county map but in the case of Kings County, between 200 and 300 copies may have been made. Church sold subscriptions to his maps, which apparently was part of his deal with the government, and subscribers were listed in his directory. Count the merchants, tradesmen, professional people and farmers listed in the Kings County map’s directory and this should give you a clue as to the minimum number of copies that were made.

It’s likely that only a few hundred copies of the Kings County maps were produced; and it’s also likely that few of these maps exist today. Church’s Kings County map can be found at the Kings County Museum in Kentville, in the municipal office, and the Randall House Museum, Wolfville; I know of only three copies privately owned but there must be more.

This dearth of Kings County maps is what makes the new “book” I mentioned such a great tool for researchers. Recently the community history committee of the Kings Historical Society published the Church map for Kings in letterhead size by dividing it into 14 sections, reproducing it in the same scale (one inch equals one mile) as the original. The result was a bound volume of some 50 pages that is much easier to access than the original map.

The community history committee didn’t stop there, however. As well as reproducing the map in 14 sections, the committee also listed the heads of households that Church printed on his original. Thanks to this feature, one can easily find an ancestor that lived here in the 19th century. After determining that my great grandfather’s residence was in section three, for example, it only took me a minute to find him in the listings

Another feature that will make things easy for researchers is the inclusion of Church’s original business directory listings. On his original, Church also included a number of smaller maps of areas such as Wolfville, Kentville, Sheffield Mills, etc. These are also reproduced in this volume.

I’ve used the word “invaluable” a couple of times in reference to this easy-to-use reproduction of the Church map of Kings County and I’ll say it again: An invaluable addition to the historical publications on Kings County.

The publication is now on sale at the Kings County Museum in Kentville.

The old poor houses once common in the Valley were also called poor farms, apparently because the hapless residents often had vegetables gardens, livestock, and were in effect small farms.

Other than this minor similarity, there appears at first glance to be no connection between poor houses and farming. At least, this is what I thought until what I found recently in the history files at the Kings County Museum revealed that there is.

But first some background. When leafing through the files I found a two-page document on early industries of Kings County and a three-page review of poor houses. The poor house review contained information I didn’t have when I did a column on this subject several years ago. I photocopied this material and the overview of early industries to read at my leisure, with the intent perhaps of incorporating the information in a future column.

When reading the documents at home later I learned that Kings County has had an agricultural society or federation for over 200 years. “Regarding agriculture and fruit raising,” the industry document reads, “a society for promoting agriculture was set up in November, 1789, in Halifax. (On) December 10, 1789, Kings County Agricultural Society began its career. It celebrated its centennial in 1889 by a dinner at the American House in Wolfville.” Later it was noted that by 1898 no less than nine agricultural societies existed in Kings County.

As mentioned, the poor farm history runs to three pages, (actually to be accurate, it’s just over two pages) and its author apparently accessed various sources to prepare this paper. As I also mentioned, there are details on poor farms not found in other reference sources – Eaton’s Kings County history, for example, and Edythe Quinn’s Greenwich history. Quinn’s book is the most detailed work on poor farms now in print. Ms. Quinn must have consulted government records in preparing her excellent history of the Greenwich poor farm.

But back to the not so obvious connection between poor farms and farming in Kings County. The document from the history files mentions the connection, as does Edythe Quinn since I checked her history after reading this document. The overview on early Kings County industries also mentions the connection and it’s found in the following paragraph about the Kings County Agricultural Society:

“Following the agricultural centennial (in 1889), certain general reforms were recommended. Within a few years, a memorial from the Society to the Municipal Council led to the purchase of a Poor Farm for the township of Horton, which resulted in greatly improving the condition of the poor.”

This is the connection and it seems to have been a charitable and wise move indeed. The history file document notes that the purchase of the farm was made “to improve the lot of the destitute,” but that it also “decreased the financial costs of the people’s maintenance.” You can read this last part as meaning that people relegated to the poor farm would henceforth be expected to look after themselves. No more handouts, in other words.

It was a generous, humane gesture by the Agricultural Society in more than one way. Before the poor farm system was established, the poor and needy were often farmed out or boarded in private residences where they worked as labourers and kitchen help. The abuse of this system and the abuse of the people in it undoubtedly prompted the Society to set up the Greenwich poor farm.

In a cabinet at the Kings County Museum – the history files – is a one-page document saluting Thomas Timmis Vernon Smith, the man who played a major role in building the railway through the Annapolis Valley.

“Vernon smith was the son of an iron founder who built some of the first steam engines in England,” the document begins. “Before coming to Canada, he worked with the London Southwestern Railway Company until 1847.

“Dr. Charles Tupper appointed him Chief Engineer of the proposed Windsor and Annapolis Railway, and he took up residence in Kentville… Vernon Smith was a vigorous, impatient man and he planned not only to develop the railway, but also steamship facilities at Yarmouth and Digby. He personally surveyed the sites for the railway and the construction of the bridges over the Avon and Gaspereau Rivers.”

Except to add that the railway was completed in 1869 and he moved on to supervise the building of the railway to Yarmouth, there is little else about Vernon Smith in the document. Much more could be written about a man who was the driving force behind the building of the railway. Smith hasn’t been entirely ignored by railway historians, but recognition of the role he played as a pioneer builder is practically non-existent.

No date is mentioned in the document on Smith’s appointment as Chief Engineer of the fledgling railway. However, Marguerite Woodworth gives the date as May 21, 1867, in her history of the Dominion Atlantic Railway. From this history we learn that Smith was involved from the beginning in efforts to finance the railway, which had a rocky start and was stalled for a long time when an economic depression struck England.

Woodworth’s book has numerous references to Vernon Smith and while they paint a skimpy picture, there’s enough to reveal his personality and some physical characteristics. Of his physical presence, for example, Woodworth writes that “the short, stocky figure of Vernon Smith… became a familiar one to the people of the Valley in the winter of 1868. Daily he was to be seen, alone or in company with one of the engineers, walking the section of the staked right-of-way. Snow and sleet had no terrors for him. He would drive with horse and sleigh to a point near the sections he wished to inspect, then with coat collar turned up, his stick swinging, walk from eight to ten miles over the rough roadbed.”

On his personality, Woodworth reveals that he was an energetic man who was often “at odds with his colleagues over details of the work,” but who had a dream. That dream was the building of a railroad system that “would one day reach through Nova Scotia, opening up resources, developing agriculture and populating the vacant lands – a line that would own branches and its fleet of steamships.”

Smith’s dream was to be eventually realised but not before many trials by weather and financial problems. Woodworth documents the disastrous effects the Saxby Gale of 1869 and the winter of 1870 had on the progress of the railway. These climatic quirks were costly and a railway that was already underfinanced felt the strain. While the Windsor & Annapolis Railway was up and running in 1870 and had overcome many operational and financial problems, the strain had proved too much for Vernon Smith. He resigned in 1872, moving to the newly formed Western Counties Railway.

More on railway builder Vernon Smith in a future column.