Middleboro | genealogyhistory

Middleboro

Middleboro is a country community several miles southwest of Pugwash. The Wallace River flows through the centre of this community, and has played an important role in its history. Originally the river was called Remsheg and Middleboro was called Hillsborough. That was changed in about 1846.

History reveals that the earlier settlers of Middleboro or Hillsborough, the French, English or United Empire Loyalists may have come here by two or more means of travel: by water, by foot or by horseback over trails from Halifax.

By water, they travelled the northern shore of N.S. entering the harbour and river which they called Ramsheg. Ramsheg Bay was an extension of Tatamagouche Bay and Tatamagouche was prominent in Acadian History because it was on the direct route from Grand Pre to Quebec.

By land, there were several trails over the mountain by Truro. The more common trails were the Acadia Trail, the Purdy Trail and the Indian Trail. The Acadia Trail followed the eastern shore of the Ramsheg River to near Fox Island. It crossed the river there and up a gulch to land granted by Colonel Fanning in 1792 and up the western shore of the river. The Purdy Trail followed close to the Angevine Lake, east of the river and on to the property of Bamford Woodland, Avonville, now Wallace Station. The Indian Trail was on the east side of the river and extended along the shore over land later owned by Jacob Benjamin and John Totten Seamonds.

The first grant of land along the west side of the river in the vicinity of the now called Middleboro was a grant of 1000 acres to John Pugsley on Feb. 2, 1787. It was surveyed by Charles Baker in March, 1786, and he commented: “the above track of land surveyed by John Pugsley, Esq., is in general good and timber being a mixture of spruce and hardwood such as birch, maple, black birch and elm with a small quantity of pines, the greates quantity of pines being on the east side of the river above his grant, but the land on that side is in general very poor.” With this grant is a sketch of his intentions to establish a mill about a mile above the sharp bend of the Remsheg River.

The next grant recorded was 1000 acres including Fox Island, granted to Edmund Fanning, Lt. Col. Of the American Regiment on Dec. 17, 1792, This land extended south of that owned by John Pugsley.

Farther south, settlers such as Fulton and Stevens were located about 1800.

Fulton, born in 1781 at Folly in Colchester County near Truro came to the Remsheg River on the west branch near Pleasant View, now West Wentworth and entered the woods with an axe and, in time, cleared a lot and built a farm. He hadn’t any neighbours and he had hard luck. For some time, the frost destroyed his crops in the summer and the mouse pest was hard to contend with. His cattle died, but he preserved and tanned the skins and made boats, sold them to buy seed grain and later, after all these hardships, he became well off. He never went to school but was called a master of figures. He could write shorthand, read Greek and also write any legal document. In later years, Rev. G. Huestis, a retired minister spoke of him thus: “There was nothing but he knew and I never knew him stuck for an answer to a fool, a wise man or a scholar.” He built the first house in Pugwash for George Burgmman and made his tools to build it with. Mr. Fulton was father of James Fulton, author of “Things Worth Knowing” published in 1912. An inquirer once asked of Mr. Fulton, “Have you ever seen anyone your equal?” Mr. Fulton replied “I am certainly not as clever as Levi Stevens.” The “Stevens” in question was the son of Benjaming and Catherine Huestis Stevens, pioneer settlers of Ramsheg River. The family consisted of nine boys and four girls. Descendants live here.

Levi Stevens married Elizabeth Treen and had ten children. They all got a living by hard work. They cut down trees and made farms, a great benefit in turning the wilderness into fruitful fields. Levi Stevens was a genius. He built the first grist mill ever in existence on the Ramsheg River. He had no learning, no one to teach him, and the country was mostly woods, just a small farm here and there. The small amount of grain they had was ground in a hand mill called hand for the top stone had to be turned by hand. The “Stevens” Water Power Mill was produced in 1840 showing that necessity is the mother of invention. Levi Stevens never worked in a shipyard but went to sea 2 days with a sea captain aboard a ship asking questions, then came home and with his boys built a vessel, loaded her with lumber from his own sawmill, which he had previously built and sailed for Quebec. When he came home, he built another vessel.

Another ship builder and pioneer was Joe Kerr (better known as Carr). Mr. Kerr’s daughter married Henry Pineo, son of H. G. Pineo, pioneer and for whom Pagweak and Pineo Lodges at Pugwash were named. Ned, another son of H. G. Pineo, sailed in 1851 for New Zealand with George Eaton on the vessel “Charlotte Kerr” manned by Captain James. The vessel was later lost off the New Zealand coast. C. E. Kerr had a grist mill, a saw mill, and a carding mill.

A dam and raceway were built. The name of “Slabtown” was given to the territory along the river. During operations of the saw mill, a number of men were engaged rafting logs down the river. Thomas A. Ralston lost his live by drowning in Ramsheg River while rafting logs. The late B. W. Ralston, mayor and postmaster of Amherst was a son; the late Hon. Col. J. l. Ralston of Montreal was a grandson of the above-mentioned Thomas A. Ralston.

A steel bridge known as Carr’s Bridge was erected across the river.

On the eastern shore from Col. Fanning’s grant, 500 acres of land was granted to John Angevine Sr., Sam Angevine received 200 acres, John Angevine Jr. 200 acres in 1828 and 300 acres were granted to Samuel Chandler. John Angevine Jr. was grandfather of E. P. Angevine, Wallace Station, noted naturalist writer and wood carver. The Angevines were pioneers originally from Normandy, France. Their name was written Le angivine. Others claim the ancestors of the Angevines were United Empire Loyalists from New York. The lands of John Angevine Jr. were later sold to James Canfield. Near this property was Fox Island, supposed by many to hold the secret of a buried treasure.

Near these lands were the lands of Jacob Benjamin, including Boar’s back, high hills between brooks that meet the river. On this Boar’s Back are two graves with handmade slabs of stone for monuments. The graves are those of Jacob Benjamin’s wife and child who died of diptheria. Later J. Benjamin married the widow of John Angevine Jr.

Next was land owned by John Totten Seamonds (later spelled Seaman) a constable. He was father of John Seaman and grandfather of Benjamin F. Seaman.

In 1827, the Baptist Church was built.

Pioneers to arrive on July 28, 1828 were Andrew McKinnon and David Montrose. David Montrose lived near the bank of the river, one half mile downstream from Carr’s Mills and kept an inn. Near this inn and on the bank of the river was a sawpit such as used before saw mills were known of. A hole was dug in the ground and the log hauled across it. One man stood in the hole and pulled the saw down while the other fellow, called the “top sawyer” stood beside the log and pulled the saw up, thus ripping the log lengthways.

Much of the lumber made was used in making frame houses. The first two frame houses to be built were by Adolpheus Purdy and a house built by David Montrose. Adolphus Purdy also had the first cooking stove and first oil lamp.

On September 21, 1832, Robert O’Brien of Onslow purchased 20 acres of land from Eli Angevine which was originally part of the Pugsley grant. He paid 20 pounds. A large tract of land north of John Pugsley’s and west of the river was granted about 1840 to the O’Brien Brothers, Robert, John and William, all sons of Barney O’Brien of Onslow, pioneers and United Empire Loyalists.

In 1860, the Methodist church was built.

James Fountain and David Slack were store keepers, dealers of dry goods and groceries. Slack’s Store was situated near the property owned by Charles Fountain. Asa Reed also kept a store further west at a corner now known as Silas O’Brien’s. Among the first blacksmith shops was one by H. Hurd, near Wallace Bridge. He was born about 1800.

James Chapman had a blacksmith shop on property formerly owned by David Montrose. It was with James Chapman that George Thomas, a blacksmith, learned his trade. George Thomas was so eager to start in business early that when he was a small boy, he nailed shoes on a little calf.

Elisha Higgins had a tan-vat used for tanning hides and making leather erected near a brook. On land further north, David S. Higgins resided and made shoes and other leather goods.

Robert Howard learned the tailor trade at Amherst and later bought a farm on the eastern shore of the river. It was on this farm that J. C. Ayer built his lobster factory in 1876. The factory and ice house was at Shay’s Point. The lobsters were brought up the river by the boat “Black Hawk.” They were cooked, cooled and packed in ferkins - a wooden keg slightly larger than a nail keg - holding about 2 ½ buckets. These ferkins were then filled with white wine vinegar and sealed. They were shipped to the USA and other points.

Other pioneers about the year 1846 included Howard Bros, Ephriam, Robert and David, the sons of Simeon Howard. They had a grist mill about a mile upstream from Fox Island on Ramsheg River. Robert had a nail factory. They obtained farms from land previously granted to Col. Fanning and John Pugsley.

The first school was built on the property of David Montrose, North Middleboro, near a brook now know an Thomas’ Brook. It was apparently at this time, about 1846, that the name Hillsborough was changed to Middleboro as school sections were formed and named South Middleboro and North Middleboro. The South Middleborough School was opened in 1864.

The IC Railway was built in 1872. Before that mail was taken on horseback. Even the women thought very little of riding horseback to Truro and back over the trails. When Mr. Alpheus Purdy was married, he went by horseback to marry Miss Atkinson. They went on their honeymoon in a coach drawn by four horses. They went by Parrsboro, Truro and to Wallace River.

The Short Line Railway, built in 1882 - 1890, employed a large number of men in laying track, including a number of Italians. It passed through the farms of Adolphus Purdy and Mr. Robert Woodland. The Italians camped near Robert Woodland’s farm and on Sunday morning they would parade the road and play musical instruments.

Before the short line railway was built, all mail, freight, etc. not coming by water had to be brought from Greenville.

Excerpted from an article in the Thursday, June 24, 1948 edition of The Oxford Journal titled “Middleboro District Was Once Called Hillsborough” and “History of Middleboro” by Lena J. O’Brien in 1911