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*Newsletters Archive*
| March, 2002 | |
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South Shore Genealogical Society PO Box 901 68 Bluenose Drive Lunenburg NS B0J 2C0 Phone : 1-902-634-4794 Ext. 26 ssgsoc@hotmail.com www.rootsweb.com/~nslssgs Winter Office Hours: Wednesday & Thursday 1:00 to 4:30 PM and Evenings by appointment Zellers - Club Z#: 840345301 |
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This issue has 2 pages.
Index to Lunenburg County Vital Statistics from Local Newspapers on Microfilm, Pre-1900 February 11th was a great day. Finally we were able to produce the first book in the series Index to Vital Statistics in Lunenburg County Newspapers from Microfilm. This the the Pre-1900 volume. The data was compiled by two staff members obtained through an HRDC grnt. The volunteers in our society put in more that 1,400 ours to consult (meetings), proof, edit and publish this volume.
We, the volunteers, have learned a great deal about publishing a book. We could probably write a book on this topic alone!
Many, many thanks to everyone who participated in this venture.
There are copies for sale through the Society's office at a cost of $35.00 plus shipping and handling.
....Sheila Chambers .
The Loss of the "Welcome" The spars lay along the water and the vessel was on her beam end, a mighty sea breaking over her....Israel Spindler
On August 10,1883, Benjamin Himmelman, managing owner of the 45 ton, two masted schooner Welcome, watched his vessel leave the port of Lunenburg for the fishing grounds off PEI.
On board were his three sons: Albert, Skipper; Eli; George and his two nephews: Henry Himmelman, a son of his brother Henry and James Stannage Himmelman, son of his brother Jacob. There were five others in the 10 man crew off on a routine fishing trip in mid-summer in a sturdy vessel built seven years earlier in nearby LaHave.
The Welcome arrived safely in Souris Harbour, PEI, a week later. The crew dug clams for bait on the tidal flats of Souris River and took on a supply of salt and fresh water. They headed out around East Point to the fishing grounds off the north shore of the Island. They caught mackerel by trawl lines and gutted and stored them in salt in the schooner's hold.
On August 29, 1883, the Welcome was lying about four miles off St. Margaret's Chapel, PEI. The Lunenburg Progress-Enterprise published crewman Israel Spindler's account of what happened next:
"I Can Hold On No Longer"
"The fish bit well and were plenty. Along with two other schooners, at dusk, we hove-up our anchor and beat up to double East Point, intending to run for Souris."
At first, there was a strong breeze from the east-south-east, but around 10 PM, the wind hauled into the north-east and began to blow harder:
" We sailed until 11 o'clock, the storm which had been threatening was on us with plenty of rain. We tacked at 11 o'clock, and stood off to the eastward with East Point light directly astern. Suddenly our jib and mainsail gave way and we run, obliged to lie-to under two-reefed foresail. The other vessels were lying-to under jib and foresail and doubled the point which we were unable to do owing to the condition of our sail."
Spindler and the rest of the Welcome crew thought they were bearing safely south of East Point light. In fact, they were off Black Point, still on the North side, caught between the wind and the coast.
" We lay-to until daylight, working about the deck all night, mending our sails, keeping a lookout and tidying things when the sea would go over the deck as it occasionally did. About seven o'clock we headed S.E. and wore round to N.W. I went aft and stood alongside the skipper Albert Himmelman, who was at the wheel... We ran comfortably half an hour, the wind moderating, but a very heavy sea running. I saw an unusually high sea rolling toward us and called to the skipper to keep her hard away. He turned the wheel and looked at the sea until he saw the vessel was going over, when he left and ran forward to the dories. I never saw him again.
" 'I suppose all hands will be drowned here,' the Captain called as he left Spindler. Then the wave struck, hurling the Welcome onto her beam ends. As she went under, the main hook broke, smashing away the dories and Albert Himmelman along with them.
"As the vessel turned I grasped the davit on the lee quarter and went under, but by good fortune I caught the mainsheet and hauled myself up and over the taffrail. When I came to the surface I hear the men in the cabin - Gabriel Spindler, Alvin Zinck and Stannage Himmelman, who was in the forecastle, cry out once, and then their voices were all hushed in death.
"I now drew myself around to windward, the spars lay along the water and the vessel was on her beam ends, a mighty sea breaking over her. Carefully and by inches, I drew myself along the side of the rail to the main rigging and then clinched out the mast-head thinking to be able to hold on better because there was more rigging there, and there I was joined by Henry Moser, George Himmelman and Alvin Conrad. Eli Himmelman was sitting at the shear-pole.
" We had been there about an hour when a heavy sea swept Alvin Conrad away. We encouraged one another as best we could and prayed for salvation. The boys grew weaker but continued to pray as long as they had strength. Several times I reached after little George when the sea tore him away, and helped him up again but eventually he was lost. Henry Moser was the last on the mast but after an hour and a half, the sea took him as well. I now left my place and went in to Eli, telling him to hold on and we might still be saved.He was praying, exhausted, but sea tore him away. I held on for 26 hours."
During the storm, spectators at Campbell's Cove watching the distress of the schooner four miles out, saw her suddenly disappear from view.
Early Friday, when the storm had eased, John H. Campbell and John McPhee rowed out to the capsized Welcome and found Israel Spindler still clinging to the wreck. He was taken ashore and, after care and rest, was able to attend the inquest and burial on September 2, 1883.
The news of the tragedy was telegraphed to Lunenburg, but it was the following Tuesday before Benjamin Himmelman was able to reach Souris. Bejamin had been in the same gale aboard the steamer Edgar Stuart which had rescued the schooner Active, disabled off Betty's Island and towed her into Halifax on Saturday. In the meantime, the people of King's County, did all they could to show their sympathy.
Early Lunenburg County History ...Bridgewater Bulletin, January 2, 1923
"Doings of the Pernetts in 1755"
In "Occasional's" letter in the Recorder, December 9th, the name of Joseph Pernett occurs in connection with building a highway along the South Shore, from Halifax to Lunenburg. Colonel Pernett is connected in Nova Scotia history with more important incident than building a highway.
In the year of 1755, Pernett was an office in Goreham's Rangers. Whilst the Governor and Council debated the question of the removal of the Acadians from the lands they occupied in Acadia, the young officer mentioned above awaited orders in the ante-room of the old Government House. When the historic document was completed, deciding the fate of the Acadians, it was placed in the hand of Lieutenant Pernett, with instructions to deliver it to Captain James Murray, the commander of the post at Fort Edward Windsor.
The young officer rode out from Halifax to Fort Sackville, at the head of Bedford Basin, with an escort of Rangers, and took the road through the forest that had been cut by the British to connect (Pisiquid) now Windsor, with Halifax. The deputies who had come by the summons of the Governor, after being examined by the H.M. Council before Boscawen and Moyston, the leading admirals in America of His Majesty George II, were imprisoned on George's Island.
On that fateful summer day, the troops rode over hill and dale, and never pulled bridle until the orders of the Council ordering Murray, Winslow and Moncton to collect the Acadians in various districts and hold them in readiness to be put on board the transports that were on their way from Boston to scatter them in the various quarters of an alien land.
Pernett carried out his orders faithfully and so did Murray, Winslow and Moncton, with the result that one of the saddest events in history was to stain the annals of our province. Pernett was a soldier and he had to obey orders, but whether he ever felt any compunction for the minor part he played in the tragedy, we have no means of knowing. However, he was handsomely rewarded for his services in the expulsion, for he received a very extensive grant of land along the LaHave River, where some of his descendants still live.
On July 1, 1761, Joseph Pernett and A. Hinshelwood were the two members returned for the County of Lunenburg, and S. Zouberhuhl and Phillip Knaut for the township. One of Joseph Pernett's daughters married the third, Hon. Charles Morris, Surveyor-General and member of H.M. Council. The first Garret Trafalgar Miller and John P. Miller of Bridgewater.
The land at Purcell's Cove descended to Joseph Pernett from William Russel, who received the first grant of it. I believe, but am not sure, that Pernett married a daughter of William Russel.
Fighting for $250,000,000 ...Lunenburg Progress, March 11, 1879
(from the Philadelphia Record)(This article takes twists and turns from the US across the ocean and has descendants in Nova Scotia (Lunenburg Co.). Refer to the Progress for more details.)
The Van Horn and Anneke Jans heirs think they have stumbled on a new bonanza. Both bodies have, for the last year, been actively engaged in tracing their genealogy for a century back.
The Anneke Janses claiim a large portion of the land upon which New York is founded, or what is known in that city as the Trinity Church estate.
The Van Horns also claim a tract in close proximity to the former, alleging that their ancestors, a century or so ago, leased this property for ninety-nine years, moved into Pennsylvania, failed to collect the rents, and gradually allowed their title to be lost sight of, but now their heirs say they have made some new discoveries.
The Anneke Janses have married into the Van Horns, and vice versa, until some of the Van Horns are claimants to the Anneke Jans estate, and vice versa. More than this, they think they have ascertained that both bodies are the legal heirs of another New York property known as the Lord Waldron's estate, as well as to another property in Holland, which in itself is valued at $82,000,000.
The efforts to perfect titles to the properties are, the heirs say, proceeding satisfactorily. The Trinity estate once belonged to one Wolfert Arnant Webber, a grandchild of King William IV of Holland, who came to this country in 1649.
Wolfert secured a grant of 62 acres of land, fronting on North River and running through Chatham Street, near to Catham Square, from Peter Stuyvesant. In turn, he became dissastisfied with the property and conveyed it to his aunt Anneke Webber, who came to this country with him. She leased it to Governor Lovelece, the first English Governor of New York, by whom it was released to the then Trinity Church authorities.
Meanwhile, Anneke married a man by the name of Jans, and had progeny. When he died, she took unto herself a man named Borgardus, by whom she had children.
The families married and were given in marriage and today their descendants are hunting up old deeds and ransacking worn out trunks to find some documents by which they can give a fair showing of their genealogy from either the Jans or Borgardus families.
Wolfert Webber, when he came to America, left considerable property in Holland. The entire property, they say, was willed to the fifth generations of the second grantees and the sixth generation of the first ones. These generations have now arrived once more in the persons of the Van Horns.
It is calculated that the amount of the property for which a fight is shortly to be made in both the old and new worlds, will not fall much short of $250,000,000.
{The claims of the above estate in this Province are the descendants of Mr. Minddert Vanhorn, who was the son of Richard and Patty Vanhorn, of Newark, New Jersy. Minddert came to this town about the year 1784, and from the records we learn he married Susannah Harlow in 1788. They had seven children, viz: Richard (resides at Tusket, Yarmouth Co.); Reuben; Alexander; Patty (married Oliver Millard); Edward; Jane (married Robert Robertson) and Cornelius
Edward's family is still residing in this town (Liverpool) and the adjoining county, Lunenburg. The wives of Mr. John Leighrizer and Mr. Edward Thompson are his daughters... Liverpool Advance }
...submitted by Mary Saul
Searching for Black Sheep in your Family Tree? Try scanning the Prisoners list from "Individuals Associated with the Provincial Penitentiary, Northwest Arm, Halifax, N.S. 1841-1880" compiled by Heather Watts, 2002. Prisoners listed from Lunenburg and Queens Counties were as follows:
Boyd, Thomas, 19, Queens County, 4 years, larceny, June 12, 1880, transferred to Dorchester 1880 (AR)
Enob, Eli, Queens County, 5 years, receiving stolen goods, June 12, 1880, tranferred to Dorchester 1880 (AR)
Landers, Joseph, Lunenburg County, labourer, Easter term 1844, 15 months, larceny, employed cooking and clearing land, conduct good, pardoned 1845 (AR)
McKay, 29, Queens County, sailor, 2 years, larceny, June 20, 1879, transferred to Dorchester, 1880 (CR, AR)
McLean, William, Lunenburg County, labourer, October 24, 1845, 2 years, larceny. In 1846 he was put in irons for striking another prisoner and swearing at the Governor, but later he was employed labouring about the establishment, and his conduct reported good (JHA, RG)
Mennock, William, Lunenburg, completed sentence, 1880 (CR)
Morine, Edward, 17, Queens County, labourer, 2 years, larceny, June 20, 1879, transferred to Dorchester, 1880 (CR, AR)
Potter, Lucy, Lunenburg County, April 11, 1844, 2 years, concealing a birty, employed knitting, washing, spinning, conduct good (JHA)
Rafuse, James, Queens County, larceny, 1852 (RG)
Sharpe, William, 20, Queens County, 4 years, breaking and entering, June 18, 1878, transferred to Dorchester, 18980 (CR, AR)
Sources: AR - Acadian Record; CR - Convict Register; JHA - Journals of the House of Assembly; RG - material dealing with the Provincial Penitentiary, RG 27, Vol 6-9, PANS
...to be continued next issue - other convicts, not living in Lunenburg or Queens counties but with surnames that could have South Shore connections.
...Joan Parks-Hubley
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