Pioneer Home of William Wilson Still Stands on Campobello

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Is Oldest House in Busy Fishing Port of Wilson's Beach. Still Remaining as Originally Built

(Article contains a picture of the house. Below the picture is the following: )

The oldest house at Wilson's Beach as orginally built by William Wilson, pioneer settler of that part of Campobello Island. The house is now occupied by Mrs. Addie Babcock, 84 who is a granddaughter of William Wilson. The house is located at Pollock Cove and must be well over a century and a half old.

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Campobello, like other islands of the Passamaquoddy Bay region has several homes of historic interest and much has been written about them, especially those of the Welchpool district. Although the adjacent small island situated between Campobello and Deer Island justly boats of the first white man's residence in this section of Charlotte County, that of James Chaffey, pioneer fur-trader and storekeeper of Indian Island at a time when only red men inhabited Deer Island, Campobello and Grand Manan, the original buildings have fallen into disuse and some of them have disappeared altogether.

At Wilson's Beach however, the pioneer home of William Wilson, as orginally built, remains in a good state of preservation considering its age of well over a century. It is the oldest house on Wilson's Beach, with the single exception of the reconstructed and modernized home of the late Alvah Brown located near the village breakwater. This house was the first built on the Wilson's Beach peninsula. The Wilson house is located at Pollock Cove, and at the time of the collecting of this data it is occupied by Mrs. Addie Babcock, a descendant pf the late William Wilson already referred to.

Hand Hewn Timber

It is a one storey structure and during the many passing years since its pioneer owner erected it, it has maintained its original shape remarkably well. Only hand-hewn heavy timber was used in the building of homes in Passamaquoddy Bay during the eighteenth century, and the beams and the dimension material would make enough present day structural timber to build several houses the same size as the one shown in the picture.

William Wilson was an enterprising settler and he made many fishing trips to New Foundland (sic) and the Magdalen islands, as later did his sons William, James and George. A daughter named Thankful married the late John Calder of Wilson's Beach. A granddaughter, Mrs Beverly Lank, with her husband lives near the old homestead at Pollock Cove.

Skilled Fisherman

Even from the first days in the history of Wilson's Beach fishing has been the chief occupation of its people and nowhere along the Atlantic seaboard cab be found a more industrious and expert class of fishermen. The port boats a fine fleet of fishing boats these days all power driven craft of large size, but it is ever held first place among other centers engaging in inshore fishing in regard to its fishing fleet. Many of the older residents of today will recall the days when as fine a fleet of sail boats were built and owned at Wilson's Beach as ever sailed forth from any port in Canada or the United States.

The name Wilson has always been linked up with the progress and development of Campobello, but in recent years only a few residents of that name are living on the island. Death has removed some, while others have moved away to mainland towns and cities. Despite this fact however, the original ancestral home stands intact on the little plot of land only a small part of the larger tract pioneered by William Wilson as grown to be almost a town in itself, and it is a busy spot during the fishing season. This year many fish have been caught by residents of Pollock Cove.

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Note: The date of September 3 1936 is handwritten in the margin of the paper. The name of the paper is not provided. I assume it was written possibly in the Eastport Sentinal Newspaper.

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