In the years from 1856 to 1858, a gentleman by the name of H. S. K. Neal attended Horton Academy in Wolfville. In 1924, when he was in his eighties, Neal wrote a letter to historian W. C. Milner describing the Wolfville of his boyhood school days and reminiscing about the people he met in the town and studied with. Excerpts from Neal’s letter follow. His first reference is to a prominent Wolfville merchant who successfully ran for the Liberals, representing the township of Horton from 1859 to 1863; we get a glimpse of election rivalry in those far off days.

“The political contest between John L. Brown and his brother (Dr. E. L. Brown) was a hot one. I’m not sure whether it was 1856 or ’57, but it was about planting time for I often listened to John L., who was a farmer as well as a merchant. He made no bones about giving Edward (his brother) a call down everywhere he went to speak. Edward retaliated and the war raged until election day. I think it was a close election but John L.’s prestige among farmers and those who dealt with him won the day, but they were bitter to each other for quite a length of time.”

Several references to John L. Brown are found in the Wolfville history, Mud Creek, including one that tells us he “left his mercantile business in Grand Pre in 1847 and moved to Wolfville to the west half of a surgery of his brother Dr. E. L. Brown.” The Wolfville history tells us that Brown’s residence, which was built in 1852 is “the Acadia University president’s house of today.”

Neal’s letter is gossipy and undoubtedly would never be printed in a formal history of Wolfville since he makes personal observations and comments. However, the letter is far more interesting, at least to me, than the often boring details in most history books. His comments on John L. Brown’s election campaign illustrate what I mean; a few more examples follow.

In Wolfville Neal writes there lived “Mr. Fowler who kept a house where people put up for a while; he had a son Elijah and one or two daughters, and an adopted boy… whose father was an old Baptist minister. Near by Mr. Fowlers was a Mr. Blackadar, who had quite a large furniture whareroom. T. R. Patillo kept a store next to Blackadar, dry goods, groceries, and stationery and books. I think he came from Lunenburg or Queens County, of Italian origin. A very smart and keen business man.”

Then there was “James Patriquin (who) kept a barber shop, but his original trade was a harness maker, a fine fellow, well liked and well patronized. He came from Cumberland County. William Thompson kept a hotel, put up travellers as they came along for shelter day or night. He was an Irishman, clever and attentive to all. Wet goods could be had at a cheap rate at that time, although most of the people talked prohibition. Whether they practised it or not, I do not know.”

An example of how explicit, and perhaps unkind, Neal was in this interesting letter can be found when he writes about a Wolfville character, Scotchy S…, who “kept a little speak easy at Mud Creek.” During Brown’s election campaign Scotchy “tried to drown himself three times in one day, but was pulled out. I do not know whether he finished the job another time or not. He had a son, deaf and dumb; he published the Avon Herald, I think that was the name.”

In his letter, Neal recalled the names and origins of students at Horton Academy and Acadia University for the period 1856 to 1858. The list is probably incomplete since Neal apparently depended on his memory to compile it, but it should be of use to anyone looking for information on their ancestors.

From time to time I’ve mentioned a general history of this region by W. C. Milner, The Basin of Minas and its Early Settlers. This is a lengthy, detailed work which was first printed in the Wolfville newspaper, The Acadian, and later bound into a hardcover book. A book which, by the way, was once circulated in the Valley’s library system but now can only found in Acadia University‘s Kirkconnell Room and occasionally in auctions of rare books. A few copies are also owned privately, of this I’m sure. Last year when I mentioned the book, a reader scanned a page from it on militia units and e-mailed it to me.

As I said, Milner has an amazing amount of detail in his book, much more than is found in Eaton’s Kings County history. Milner appeared to have had access to many private papers as well. In several instances, he quoted entire historical essays and recollections on the early days of towns such as Windsor, Kentville and Wolfville. He apparently had access as well to historical documents that must have come from provincial government archives.

Several months ago I decided to do some research on Mr. Milner. Who was he? Why wasn’t he better known as a historian? So far I’ve found few answers. In a recent telephone conversation, historical author L. S. Loomer, Wolfville, suggested I might find Milner in a book called Nova Scotians Abroad, but this was a dead end.

W. C. Milner appears to have been a native of New Brunswick. Several histories on towns and communities in New Brunswick, Sackville for example, exist with W. C. Milner named as the author. A brief mention of Milner can be found on the Internet, but a search of book auction sites for his Minas Basin history turned up nothing.

As for Milner’s knowledge of Nova Scotia and especially Annapolis Valley history, this may be explained by something I found when I did the Internet search.

Milner’s name came up in connection with a website devoted to the history of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association. The first attempt to organise an Association was made in 1918 at Acadia University. This was short-lived but another attempt to organise an Association was made in 1922, again at Acadia University. And says the website, the president was W. C. Milner, who was the “Archivist, Halifax branch of the Public Archives of Canada.”

This explains how Milner was able to write a detailed history of the Minas Basin area. As a chief archivist, he had access to countless documents and private papers, much more so than Eaton when he was preparing his history of Kings County. When you read about similar topics in the two history books, the land grants to the Planters in the Valley, for example, you find that Eaton barely scratches the surface while Milner elaborates on an on, giving details almost to the point of being boring.

Of the two history books, Eaton’s, in my opinion, is the better. Read Eaton and we can see an orderly progression of events from the time of the Acadians onward and understand how we became what we are today.

Since his work covered several centuries of history, Eaton by necessity had to gloss over many events, mentioning them in passing so to speak. Milner, on the other hand, delved deeply into whatever he was writing about and his attention to details was meticulous at times. Read Eaton for a grand overview, but if you want the occasional bit of nitty gritty and historical overload, read Milner.

It’s really too bad that Milner’s Minas Basin history isn’t available to the general public. I’m sure history buffs would enjoy reading it.

If you appreciate witticisms and what the Celts call wry humour, you’ll enjoy this book.

On the other hand, if you enjoy reading about the early days of a few generations ago, about the pains of growing up in the period just before the second world war, then you’ll also enjoy this book.

Or maybe you’re just country, and like reading about country and how country people lived before television, modern roads and fast foods arrived. If so, then you’ll also enjoy, even cherish Scott Sheffield’s book.

In Musing of a Country Boy, Sheffield looks at growing up in Advocate, Cumberland County, in the 30s, the “dirty 30s” of the depression era when, as the author put it, “a dismal economic pall (was) hanging over everyone in our community.” Sheffield’s book was launched recently at the Kings County Museum; it was praised at the launching for its humour and earthy stories by several speakers, but the heart of the book is its realistic look at a way of life that exists now only in the memories of senior citizens.

However, the humour was fine and Scott Sheffield has a knack for telling a good story. To repeat myself, the book’s best feature is the authors’ sketches of life as it was in an isolated rural area of Nova Scotia. I enjoyed the humour, but Sheffield’s recapturing of life in hard times is what makes the book. Writing of his boyhood and his boyhood friends, for example, Sheffield says, “we were, to say the least, a ragtag group of country children burdened somewhat by our parent’s economic worries. It was 1933 with a dismal economic pall hanging over everyone in the community.”

In another part of his work Sheffield writes that “we groped and grubbed our way through the great depression of the 1930s. I expect it has marked us for life; having experienced the worries, frustrations and anxieties of our parents. I clearly remember on one occasion my mother didn’t have the three cents she needed for postage. She was upset, crying and embarrassed.”

Life in the 30s wasn’t all gloom and doom, however. Sheffield tells us of the happy times spent fishing and learning skills that in the computer age seem arcane and ancient. Such as cattle hunting, cattle herding, milking, gathering firewood, which today Sheffield says are “requirements of only a very few.

You’ll find that Sheffield’s nostalgic, sometimes witty and always realistic look at rural life in Advocate in the 1930s makes his book good reading. The title is a bit of a misnomer, however. A country boy Scott Sheffield isn’t. An Acadia graduate with a B.A. and Masters degree, Sheffield spent some 35 years as a teacher, administrator, school inspector, director of special studies and projects and director of inspection services with the Department of Education.

As I mentioned, Sheffield excels as a storyteller and has a wry sense of humour. Which is perhaps best illustrated by one of the stories he tells in his book. When he was in Advocate a few years ago a visitor asked him where he was born. “I pointed to the Sheffield house and said, ‘in that house.’ I was perplexed by his next question. ‘Why?’ I hardly knew how to answer, so I merely said I wanted to be near my mother.”

Sheffield’s book is available through the Kings County Museum.

When it was published in 1910, Eaton Kings County history was hailed in local newspapers as a great work of “deep interest” to those with Planter and Loyalist ancestors. Eaton’s work was praised in several local newspapers and I reproduce one announcement here for its historical interest and the light it sheds on the author. An appreciation of John Frederick Herbin in an announcement of his demise in 1924 also follows, along with an interesting tidbit from 1850 on the railway.

From the Berwick Register, November 24, 1910 – “The history of Kings County… comprising about 900 pages is just published. Dr. Eaton, the author of the work, an Episcopal clergyman and a literary man of much prominence, has given three years to the writing of it, and in its pages will be found a graphic account of the county’s varied history, from the earliest French settlement to the present time.

“Five years after the expulsion of the Acadians a large number of families of the utmost importance in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, attracted by the offer of the rich lands of the exiled French, removed to Nova Scotia, and from these planters the present population and many notable persons in the United States, and other parts of Canada, are sprung.

“To the story of this migration Dr. Eaton has devoted many pages of his book, and it is not too much to say that in his treatment of it, what to many people will be an entirely new episode of American history, will be brought to light.”

From the Toronto Globe, January 16, 1924 under the heading Apostle for Acadia – “One of Acadia’s most acceptable and persistent spokesmen has passed with the sudden death of John Frederick Herbin of Wolfville, N.S. Mr. Herbin was known as a collector of Acadian relics, and as a poet and novelist with subjects which breathed something of the sadness of the exiled race. He was said to be the only direct descendant of the French Acadians of Grand Pre remaining in the land of Evangeline.

“His history of Grand Pre is an exhaustive treatment of the small community which has been made known to millions through Longfellow’s poem. He also wrote several novels, including ‘The Marshlands’, ‘Heir to Grand Pre’ and ‘Jen of the Marshlands.’ These carried the subtle spirit of the beautiful and romantic Minas Basin region, but did not attain notable heights from a literary point of view.

“Mr. Herbin conducted a jewelry and optical business in Wolfville, of which he had been Mayor, and to visitors he extended a kindly welcome. Those in search of knowledge of local happenings would quickly unloose his enthusiasm and find in him a fount of knowledge which they would remember long years after.”

The Globe concluded the announcement of Mr. Herbin’s passing with one of his poems, Across the Dykes, calling it one of his “best contributions to Canadian verse.”

From a report delivered at a railroad convention in Portland, Maine, on July 31, 1850. – “Kings County Wants a Railway: A meeting of the inhabitants of Kings County was held in the Court House at Kentville… for the purpose of ascertaining the views of the inhabitants of said County in reference to a railroad from Halifax to Digby.

“It is the opinion of this meeting that the inhabitants of this County will cheerfully furnish the land that is necessary for a Railroad passing through it; also aid with their money, labour and materials to the utmost of their ability, in shares amount to 25,000 (Pounds).”

Kings County was represented at the Portland convention by John Hall, MPP, and Samuel Chipman.