Category Archives: History 2023

WINDSOR CRIER LLOYD SMITH – CARRYING ON ANCIENT TRADITIONS (March 7/23)

Lloyd Smith’s role as a town crier began in Windsor in 1978 when he was with the CFAB radio station – a role he says began “accidentally” and not by his choice.

Smith was the manager and the on-air voice of CFAB when Windsor’s Sam Slick days were being organized. As a radio celebrity, he was a natural choice to play the role of Sam Slick. Then, in 1978, the provincial government attempted to re-introduce town crying by organizing an international competition.

“They’d hired a British crier to set it up,” Smith recalls. “At the last minute, town officials advised me that I was enrolled in the competition representing Windsor.”
Despite his total lack of experience – he had to ask what a town crier does – Smith went to the competition and figured he didn’t do badly at all. “Out of 13 criers I placed 12th,” he says, “so I wasn’t on the bottom.”

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EBENEZER COX WAS HAILED AS A MASTER SHIPBUILDER – HERE’S HIS RECORD (February 7/23)

In his day he was hailed as a master of his trade, designing and building some of the finest ships ever to slide down the ways at Kingsport – and in Canada as a matter of fact.

This was Ebenezer Cox (1828-1916) who in 1864 began shipbuilding with his brother, William. The Cox shipyard in Kingsport turned out some of the largest sailing vessels in Canada; one of these vessels, built in 1891 was the 2,137-ton Canada. The Kings County, hailed as one of only two four-masted vessels built in Canada, was launched in 1890.

The shipbuilding career of Ebenezer Cox has never been fully told. However, an attempt was made to tell his story in 1903 when Cox was interviewed and his record published in Middleton’s weekly newspaper, the Outlook – he was 75 at the time. In 1904, the article was reprinted in the Wolfville Acadian. I learned about this account of Cox’s career from the Windsor historian L. S. (Larry) Loomer. Mr. Loomer copied the account from the Acadian and sent it to me, along with an explanatory letter. That was 20 years ago.

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POSTCARDS – YESTERDAY’S EMAILS – ONCE WERE CIRCULATED BY THE MILLIONS (February 21/23)

Just over 100 years ago, in 1900, the Canadian Kodak Company introduced a novelty, a camera made to produce postcard-size negatives. The camera sold for roughly $20.

At the time Canadians were mailing more than 25,000 postcards a year. Within a few years, after the postcard format was changed by the post office, the number had ballooned into the millions.

These figures are questionable, but research by deltiologist Larry Keddy confirms the numbers, and it’s possible they’re underestimated.

The study and collection of postcards – deltiology – was the topic of a presentation Keddy made at the bi-monthly meeting of the Kentville Historical Society in January. In the talk, Keddy referred to postcards as yesterday’s email, noting that their popularity began over 150 years ago – in 1869 – when they were first introduced in Austria.

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IRISH IN YOUR GENES? CHECK OUT THESE BOOKS AND ONLINE SITES (January 24, 2023)

In a census conducted by the province in 1766, Windsor’s population was 243, of which 60 were from Ireland.

So writes L. S. Loomer in his book on the history of Windsor, which in the index has at least 20 references to the Irish and Ireland.

Elsewhere, circa1860, the population of East and West Dalhousie was about 50 percent Irish. Near Kingston, between 1880 and 1920, there was an Irish community called Irishtown. In her writing, historical author Hazel Foote (the history of Woodville) refers to a substantial Irish settlement at Black Rock in Kings County. And as I mentioned in a recent column, Centreville and Atlanta, in Kings County, also had Irish settlements.

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IRISH IMMIGRANTS OFTEN FORCED TO SETTLE IN OUT-OF-THE-WAY COMMUNITIES (January 10, 2023)

As a historical writer, Mack Frail has done a considerable amount of research on the Irish that settled in Kings County, around Centreville, Sheffield Mills and Atlanta especially, and in a corridor under the north mountain above these communities.

Frail wrote me recently to comment on the November column about the Irish in Hants and Kings Counties, and to tell me about some of his findings.

His research indicates that beyond a doubt, the Irish somehow found their way to northern areas in Kings County towards the Bay of Fundy. Banes Road, which runs behind Centreville to Canning, has been of special interest to Frail. His research indicates that Atlanta, a little-known community along Banes Road, was the site of an Irish settlement. However, “settlement,” as used here, may be incorrect. Atlanta may have had no more than a few Irish families strung out along a community road. Which, until determined otherwise, most likely was the case.

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