Farmer, author, agricultural pioneer, historical researcher, Mason, teacher: People will remember the late Ernest Eaton in these and other capacities but he was probably best known in the Annapolis Valley as an amateur historian. Mr. Eaton had a lifelong interest in the history of this region and Kings County in particular, devoting his retirement years to researching the Acadian period.

I had the honour of knowing Mr. Eaton personally and had many long talks with him over a 30-year-period. Eaton amazed me again and again with his detailed, intimate knowledge of the dykelands and Acadians and I regret that I hadn’t recorded our conversations.

Recently I heard an Ernest Eaton story and it illustrates his persistence when it came to researching. The story, told to me by a local history buff, goes that workers ditching a piece of Eaton’s dykeland near the Canard River uncovered a massive pine log. Mr. Eaton determined that the log came from an ancient forest now covered by the waters of the Minas Basin. Based on several factors, which are mentioned below, Eaton estimated the age of the pine log to be about 1,500 years.

Mr. Eaton donated a large piece of the pine – perfectly preserved from being buried in fine silt – to the Kings Historical Society. The plaque accompanying it mentions the ancient forest, points out an inaccuracy in local lore regarding the property where the pine was found, and explains Mr. Eaton’s reasoning on determining its age.

“This specimen collected in 1975,” the plaque reads, “was one of many encountered when opening a drainage canal at Upper Canard (on land) then owned by Mr. Kenneth L. Ells.

“It is estimated that the land surface must have at least 10 ft. higher than at present to have matured a forest of this size. The land in question was reclaimed from the sea by the Acadians in 1755, or some 300 years ago. The tree has about 200 annual rings. Adding these three periods together, we have an estimated age of not less than 1,500 years for these trees.”

Mr. Eaton’s estimate of the pine’s age was also based on another factor mentioned in the plaque – evidence that the sea in the Minas Basin has been submerging land at the rate of one foot per century. Mr. Eaton apparently determined where the Acadians started their original dyke work and factoring in the rate of rise of the sea, concluded that a pine forest once stood where the log was unearthed.

Knowing the factors involved, this is a reasonable estimate. However, there is a P.S. to the pine log tale. I’ve been told that a piece of the pine tree was sent to Ottawa for carbon dating. This procedure indicated that the pine tree once stood in a forest with others of its kind some 900 years ago. From what I’ve read, carbon dating is not a precise science and is often off the mark by two, three and four hundred years. Mr. Eaton’s educated guess of the pine log’s age is likely the most accurate estimate.

Where Were They?

An ad in a 1902 directory indicates that H. S. Dodge once ran a dry goods store on Island Road in Kentville. And in 1933 Kentville had a Bell-Air Terrace. Island Road and Bell-Air Terrace as name places have disappeared but someone might know where they were. Any input a reader might have would be appreciated.

“Every town in the Annapolis Valley has its claim to fame,” a speaker once noted at a local service club. “Canning and Windsor as great shipping and ship building ports, Wolfville and its University, Berwick and apples, and Kentville for hanging two innocent men and naming a hill after one of them.”

The speaker was referring to Joe Bell Hill, better known as Gallows Hill today, where a legal execution took place in 1826. There’s evidence that a man named Powell not Bell was hanged on Gallows Hill, but Joe Bell is part of Kentville’s folklore and always will be.

Kentville is not the only town with a grisly memorial of its past; however, it has more than a couple of public executions as its “claim to fame.” Beginning with the Micmacs, continuing with the Acadians and Planters, Kentville has a varied and interesting history. This history has a light and a dark side and Kentville history buff Louis Comeau prepared several trivia quizzes that take note of both. As promised in last week’s column, here they are:

An Easy Quiz

1. What was the Cornwallis River’s earlier name?
   Horton/Grand Habitant/Les Mines.
2. What was Kentville previously called?
   Hortonville/Horton Corner/ Terry Creek.
3. What was the old nickname for Kentville?
   Sleepy Hollow/Moccasin Hollow/Devil’s Half Acre/Little Hamlet.
4. What is the shortest street in town?
   D’Ell/Highland View/Condon.
5. How many newspapers were published in Kentville?
   2/3/4/5/6/7.
6. If you visited the Centennial Building, what would you be there for?
   A game of hockey/A Friday night bingo game/Hardware supplies/None of these/All of these.
7. What was the Dennison Diversion?
   A decoy maneuver used by the British at the Battle of Moccasin Hollow/An early scheme to divert Mill Brook so a mill could be built/Park Street, which replaced west Main Street as the main thoroughfare.

Answers

1. Grand Habitant.
2. Horton Corner.
3. Devil’s Half Acre.
4. Highland View, located off Highland Avenue.
5. Five – The Advertiser, Western Chronicle, Wedge, Orchardist, New Star.
6. All of these. The fire hall, arena and Calkin’s hardware store were called centennial buildings.
7. Park Street.

A Tougher Quiz

1. How did Klondyke Ward make his fortune?
   He supplied lumber and supplies to Yukon miners/He staked a claim and struck it rich/He ran a saloon.
2. How long the Red Store Grocery stay in operation?
   100 years/132 years /164 years/None of these.
3. In what year did the Red Store open?
   1799/1828/1849/1869.
4. Did a curling team from Kentville win the Canadian championship, the Brier?
   Yes/No.
5. Who was Kentville’s first Mayor?
   R.S. Masters/J.P. Chipman/J.W. King/H.B. Webster/None of these.
6. When was the last public execution in Kentville?
   1896/1904/1912/1921.
7. Why did the Roman Catholics build their church on Chapel Hill in 1842?
   No land available in town/Chapel Hill was an ideal location/The Irish Catholics weren’t permitted to build in the town limits.
8. When did the Duke of Kent visit Kentville?
   1783/1794/1805/1815/1826.

Answers

1. Ward struck it rich.
2. 132 years.
3. 1828.
4. Yes.
5. J.W. King.
6. 1904.
7. In that period Irish Catholics weren’t permitted to build in town.
8. 1794.

I’m in Louis Comeau’s kitchen watching him trying to remove paint from a Graves apple juice can. It looks like an ordinary can but Louis tells me there’s something special about it. “These cans are hard to find today,” he says. “I have no idea how old it is, the pre-70s probably, but it comes from the period when Canada Foods Ltd. operated in Kentville and it’s part of the town’s history. Juice cans with ‘Kentville’ printed on it are scarce; I hope I can restore it.”

While he works with the paint remover Louis tells me he searched several years for a Graves can. He’s looked unsuccessfully for a old Graves pickle jar – “apple juice and pickles were the only products Canada Foods made in the town” – but he’s had better luck in collecting souvenirs from other early Kentville industries.

Louis showed me some of these souvenirs when he tired of working on his juice can and we went to his basement. I said basement but it’s more like a museum in miniature. On the wall an 1819 Brown Bess musket. A massive studio camera used around the turn of the century by Kentville’s famous photographer, A. L. Hardy. A Kings County Canadian Hussars badge once worn by Captain Robert S. Masters, who served as Kentville’s sixth mayor from 1895 to 1897. On the walls, in display cases, in stacks of photo albums, in filing cabinets are hundreds of artifacts from Kentville’s past.

It’s an amazing, organized collection and there isn’t anything like it in this area. But even more amazing is the lore Louis has at his fingertips. “What’s this?” I asked, pointing at a bottle. Louis responded with a brief history of the Morris Bros. Bottling Company. Established around 1912, located on the site of the old Methodist Church on Main Street, Morris Bros. bottled and sold several varieties of “pop” before Pepsi bought them out.

“This is a Chipman’s Golden Glow cider bottle and one of their apple wine bottles,” Louis said. “An 1890 photo of Masters Drug Store; they operated at least until 1903 on Main Street,” he continued. “A medicine bottle from Masters’ store that’s over 90 years old. Invoices, labels, envelopes from the same store.”

“How do you keep it all straight?” I asked.

“Everything’s in my computer’s database,” Louis replied. “I have a list of all my Kentville artifacts, over 5,000 of them. Histories, data on town streets, descriptions of 831 old photographs, post cards, newspaper clippings; even your column is in there.”

“I’m flattered,” I said, “but why do you do this? Collect stuff on Kentville, I mean?”

“I’m interested in the subject,” Louis said. “It’s my hobby. My father started the collection and I’ve continued his work, organizing and cataloguing everything.”

Louis turned to his computer. “Look at this,” he said.

On the screen flashed a history of Kentville starting with the Micmacs using the crossing where the bridge spans the Cornwallis River. “It’s a computer slide show,” Louis said.

Using the mouse I clicked through Kentville’s Acadian period, the time of the Planters, the catastrophes, the glorious and less-than-glorious moments in Kentville’s past. On the screen a historical quiz came up. “Try it,” Louis suggested. “The first part is easy, the second part … well, maybe you won’t have any trouble with it.”

I squinted at a question on the screen. How many streets in Kentville are named after former town mayors? “I didn’t know any were,” I mumbled, settling down before the computer screen. Next week, the quiz.

I mentioned in last week’s column on historical trivia that Kings County incorporated most of Hants County before 1871 and erroneously said it may have included parts of New Brunswick in its boundaries. The date was a typo (mine) and should have read 1781.

In history buff Leon Barron’s possession is a copy of a map showing the original size of Kings County. This map indicates that while Kings County didn’t reach into present day New Brunswick, it did extend across the Bay of Fundy to include part of what is now Cumberland County and also part of Colchester County; the original boundary of Kings County extended as far as Springhill.

There’s no doubt that Kings County was once king-sized. In fact Kings was one of the five original counties in Nova Scotia, which according to Barron’s map were laid out in 1759. The other original counties were Annapolis, Cumberland, Halifax and Lunenburg.

My memory didn’t serve me well at all when I wrote that Kings County may at one time have extended as far as New Brunswick. I was confusing this with the fact that Nova Scotia’s original grant included part of New Brunswick, what is now Prince Edward Island, the Gaspe and a portion of northern Maine. The grant by James 1 to Sir William Alexander in 1621 also included the full rights to all metals, minerals, mines, quarries, woods, marshes, waters and fisheries.

Imagine the furor if Nova Scotia should seek, through international courts, the return of its original territory. A ridiculous idea, of course, but such an action has been suggested, and not with tongue in cheek. A full page article that appeared in a provincial daily newspaper years ago argued that Nova Scotia actually might have a case.

Getting back to Kings County and the original five divisions of Nova Scotia, readers might be interested in knowing when other nearby counties were formed. Digby County, once part of the original Annapolis County, came into existence in 1837. Queens, Shelburne and Yarmouth Counties, once part of Lunenburg County, were created in 1762, 1784 and 1836 respectively.

For trivia nuts, here are the dates when other counties in the province were created: Colchester, Pictou, Inverness and Richmond, 1835; Antigonish, 1784; Guysborough, 1836; Victoria, 1851; Cape Breton, 1820.

More Oxymora

In reply to my request for oxymoron examples from readers, here are a few submissions: Flat busted, awful good, spendthrift, a dull roar, dry beer, student teacher, mobile home, random order, tight slacks, original copy, recorded live. Then there’s the classic Shakespeare oxymoron, “parting is such sweet sorrow.”

Boot Revisited

Author Douglas Eagles, Sarnia, writes to comment on the Boot Island columns (column 1, column 2) which ran last fall. Mr. Eagles spent some of his youth here and in 1977 he published a genealogical history of Long Island. This book, which has several references to Boot Island, is out of print but is available in the library at Acadia University.

In this column a year ago I mentioned the reams of Nova Scotia history to be found on the Internet. Most of this information is posted on the ‘net by people who want to share their interest in history with others. One such person is retired Canning school teacher, Ivan Smith. Mr. Smith has written volumes about local history and since I first mentioned his efforts a year ago, he has continued researching and posting his finds on the Internet.

In addition to supplying ‘net addicts with a wealth of information – about such things as the history of Valley telephone companies and electric utilities, for example – Mr. Smith has also provided links (connections) to other historical sources. I checked Mr. Smith’s ‘net site recently and discovered a link called Nova Scotia Historic Notes which was compiled by Tourism Nova Scotia. This site contains mostly what I call historic trivia; in other words, interesting (and sometimes odd) tidbits from our past about events having no great impact on the course of history.

Here’s one example: The first North American documented sighting of a UFO occurred in New Minas on October 12, 1786.

The Historic Notes site and other links from Ivan Smith’s history page contain other trivia as entertaining and as curious as this old UFO report. For readers not on the Internet, here’s some of the more interesting stuff that I found.

Until 1841 anyone committing a criminal offense in Nova Scotia could have their ears cut off.

At one time Kings County was larger than it is today and incorporated much of Hants County (and may have extended across the Bay of Fundy to parts of New Brunswick, if my memory of old-time history serves me). This was the case until June 17, 1871, when Hants County was created. Hants County, reads the ‘net site, is a “curious redundancy.” Hants is short for “Hampshire” and “shire” is the equivalent of county.

New Zealand’s Scottish culture was established by Nova Scotia’s Rev. Norman McLeod with 200 families in 1851 at Waipu. (An interesting bit of ‘net trivia about Nova Scotia’s connection with New Zealand, but it contains a slight inaccuracy. McLeod was born in Scotland in 1780, emigrated to Pictou in 1817 and later lead his religious followers to New Zealand).

One of Canada’s first automobiles was manufactured at Hopewell, Nova Scotia, in 1898 and named “The Victorian.”

Royal Doulton’s famous dinner pattern, “Blossom Time,” depicts the famous May Blossoms of the Annapolis Valley. (Tourism Nova Scotia should add that the Blossom Time pattern was invented by a Kentville native, Robert Palmeter).

The opening of the Windsor Branch Railway took place on June 3, 1856, and ran from Windsor to Windsor Junction. This was the oldest constituent of the Dominion Atlantic Railway.

On June 2, 1398: The possible landing of Prince Henry Sinclair at Chedabucto Bay in Nova Scotia. (Sinclair is believed to have been the first European explorer to reach these shores, beating Columbus by almost 100 years).

The Micmacs were North America’s first native Americans to receive a European education at French schools from 1633 to 1653. A Micmac was the first native American in North America to return from Europe as a teacher.

At the foul line the basketball player made his first free throw and missed the second. Commenting on the play, the sports announcer blandly informed viewers that the foul shooter had “made the front end of a one-and-one and then threw up an air ball.”

Even if the commentator had been on radio and it wasn’t a televised game, basketball fans would have understood the sequence of events. The lingo would have puzzled someone learning English, however. The “one-and-one” and an “air ball” could be explained to the learner but he’d have difficulty with “front end.” How could one possibly explain that only in English can the front also be the end and you don’t even have to talking about something that has a physical front and end.

I think they call these figures of speech “oxymora” (meaning contradictory terms that are joined together) and our language has many such crazy inconsistencies and puzzling figures of speech. We used to see them all the time at the newspaper and chuckle over them. Examples of oxymora (the singular is oxymoron) can also be seen any time at your local food store where they often feature “fresh frozen” meat and fish and my favorite which I see occasionally, “jumbo shrimp.”

While I’m not an oxymoron collector I can’t help notice how much they’re used in everyday speech. They’re so common and people are so unaware of their contradictory nature that I decided to devote this column to them. At Tim Horton’s the other day, for example, someone at a table next to me smacked their lips after sipping cappuccino and exclaimed, “That’s awful good.” Then there’s my old buddy who habitually exclaims “good grief” when startled or puzzled. Tell him he’s using an oxymoron and he looks even more startled and puzzled.

In my favourite card game, poker, an oxymoron is commonly used with most players being unaware of it. When the game is high-low, the pot is split between the best high hand and lowest hand. Among the players declaring “low,” the best worst hand (no kidding) is the winner. In fact, when we were playing recently one of the guys claimed his share of the pot with the comment, “I’ve got the best worst hand.” Another poker cohort, talking about hands, often uses the oxymoron “even odds.”

On the national news we occasionally hear the oxymoron “peace offensive.” A favourite military oxymoron in troubled parts of the world today is “war games.” But we don’t have to read newspapers or catch the evening news for oxymoronic examples. Listen closely to your friends, your fellow workers, your neighbours; you’ll hear them saying such things as “that’s pretty ugly,” “that’s old news,” and the most irritating oxymoron of all, “same difference.”

The other day the chief cook and bottlewasher at our household turned the house “inside out” looking for a lost item. She scolded our grandson for running around the house “half naked.” Not that long ago she was concerned about some food having “freezer burn.”

Recently a friend told me something he said was an “open secret.” Another friend bought some equipment “sight unseen” but he wasn’t about to spend a “small fortune” on it. When the Senatorial absentees in Ottawa were in the news, a national reporter used an oxymoron, “conspicuously absent.” Someone used an oxymoron humorously to suggested that our absent Senators were on “working vacations.” And on the financial pages a few days ago there was a piece on “negative growth.”

As I said, the oxymoron is alive and well and in common use. Perhaps a reader has a favourite example she or he would like to share with us. Your submissions are invited.

As well as being gratifying, reader response to this column is often helpful, educational and enlightening. In the past year, for example, reader comments about these columns expanded on my topics, offering tidbits of information not generally known which otherwise might never have been recorded.

Many of the topics in this column reached print only because people were willing to talk about their interests, hobbies and fields of expertise. At times I must have been a bit annoying to people like Louis Comeau, Leon Barron, Joe Patterson and Marie Bishop for constantly asking questions and borrowing from their files and scrapbooks. Without the assistance of these four history buffs and avid collectors, and without the input of dozens of other readers, many of the columns on local history could never have been put together.

In addition to appreciating the assistance of people who have interesting hobbies and a wealth of local folklore at their fingertips, I value the letters, telephone calls and comments from readers. So let’s start the New Year off on the right foot by saying thanks to everyone. I look forward in ’98 to talking with you about local history and folklore, interesting trivia and your hobbies.

I mentioned Ivan Smith of Canning in this column before. One of Mr. Smith’s interests is the history of local telephone and power companies. Thanks to Smith, much of this history is posted on the Internet. If you’re on the ‘net, look under Nova Scotia history (http://alts.net//ns1625/) and you’ll find an enormous amount of info on these topics. And it’s constantly being updated and added to as Mr. Smith continues his research.

When I wrote a column recently expressing surprise about finding my father’s war record on the Internet, Mr. Smith called to make an interesting observation. Posting war records on the Internet is important, Smith said. He referred to the history of Canada’s World War One black battalion, which he has referred to extensively at the Nova Scotia history site. “Black participation in this war is denied in certain quarters,” Smith said, “but posting it on the Internet authenticates it.”

Smith’s point is that the posting of the enlistment papers of over 600,000 Canadians who fought in the first war reinforces Canada’s participation and makes us aware of the country’s contribution.

A history of the community Scott’s Bay is currently being prepared and William Poole is seeking the assistance of anyone who may have information on the shipbuilding period from the mid 1800s to the turn of the century. I assume anything on the history of the Bay, in addition to the shipbuilding period, would also be welcomed by Mr. Poole.

“I am working on a … paper outlining the history of Scott’s Bay and continuing to the present day,” Poole writes. “My starting document is a historical record written by Abram Jess, circa 1940s.”

Sounds interesting. I’m looking forward to reading the completed book. Readers who can help Mr. Poole can reach him via telephone at 902-582-1229 or e-mail him at poole@ns.sympatico.ca.

Comments on this column can be addressed me at edwingcoleman@gmail.com.

The origin of some surnames is obvious. Baker, Smith, Fowler and Brewer, for example, are family names that must have originated because of occupations.

On the other hand, there are family names with spellings that offer no clues to their origin. In Riverside Cemetery at Hantsport, for instance, is a headstone marking the resting place of Esther and Mary Coalfleet, mother and daughter, who died during a shipwreck along the coast of Nova Scotia. The couple froze to death when on January 3, 1881, the Hantsport barque Happy Home, captained by Hiram Coalfleet, capsized after striking a ledge in a storm 14 miles off Yarmouth.

Coalfleet is an unusual surname and it is unique to Nova Scotia and Hantsport in particular where it is believed to have originated in the 18th century. Captain Hiram Coalfleet was the grandson of Peter Coalfleet, who is said to be the first person to carry this name. The story of Peter has been passed from generation to generation and while some of the details are unclear, it appears he was orphaned when a small fleet of coal barges from England were wrecked during a winter gale on the coast of Cape Breton.

The story goes that after the gale subsided, Micmacs discovered baby Peter strapped to his dead mother in wreckage that was floating off shore. Word of the coal fleet disaster and the succor of baby Peter by the Micmacs spread, reaching the authorities in Halifax who had the boy removed to this city. Here is how Hattie Chittick described Peter’s rescue and the origin of his unusual surname in “Hantsport on Avon,” her 1964 history of the town:

“Many years ago a fleet of coal-barges, from Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, was wrecked off Nova Scotia, near Chebucto, in a heavy gale. A piece of wreckage was seen by some Indians from shore, who put out and got it. They found to their surprise it was part of the boat’s house and in it was a woman with a tiny child bound to her chest. This woman was dead and after her burial …. they took the child and cared for him until one Edward Barker, who had heard of the tragedy, went to Halifax and brought the child to Half-Way River (now Hantsport), giving him the name Peter Coalfleet, the last part of the name having been suggested by the circumstances.”

Thus began the Coalfleet line, a family that for several generations played various roles in Hantsport’s history and its connection with the era of sailing ships. While Peter apparently never went to sea, his sons and grandsons became master mariners. In Chittick’s book is a list of Hantsport master mariners and there are eight Coalfleets. Several of these were the sons of Peter, the balance grandsons or great grandsons. One of those named in the list was Hiram, Captain of the Happy Home, and he is known to be a grandson of Peter.

Another grandson, Abel, who was Hiram’s brother and sailed with him for a while as mate, is included in Chittick’s list of master mariners. Abel was sailing with Hiram on the Providence when the latter pulled off a spectacular sea rescue, receiving recognition for his feat in 1869 by the Governor General of Canada.

While preparing this column I did a quick search of the telephone book, looking for the Coalfleet surname. I was unable to find it.

St. Clair (Joe) Patterson of Hantsport has been researching the Coalfleet family for years; Patterson tells me the last of the Coalfleets died in Hantsport in the 1960s and the surname is no longer carried. Hopefully Patterson’s work on this illustrious and unusual family name will one day be published.