Notes related to the history of Eatonville
Also View on this website:
– Harper’s Weekly 1891
– Chignecto Ship Railway
– The book Sawpower by Barbara Robertson states that D.R. and F.R. Eaton started lumbering and shipbuilding in Eatonville (called Three Sisters until the Eatons arrived) in 1864. However the first land transaction that I (Kerr Canning) could find in a. search of the Registry of Deeds office in Amherst is dated 5 Jan. 1870 and the transaction is: Terence McHugh ( Gentleman) of Parrsboro to David R. Eaton and Charles F. Eaton of Cornwallis, Kings Co.
– The Eaton family of Nova Scotia, 1760-1929
By Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, Doctor of Civil Law
PRIVATELY PRINTED 1929, THE MURRAY PRINTING COMPANY
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. The link is to the full text on the Internet Archive.
– On David Rupert EATON
Received from Keith Berry, Oct 17, 2006
“For your records.
“We record with deep regret the unexpected death of David Rupert EATON at Lower Canard, Cornwallis, N.S. on 20th inst., senior member of firm D.R.& C.F. Eaton who in addition to the culture of two farms in Kings Co., have for a number of years carried on a large lumbering and ship-building operations at Eatonville, Parrsboro and Five Island. Their ships include the “Chignecto”, “Theodore H. Rand”, “S. Besnard” and “Fred S. Scammell”. Mr. Eaton, about 53 years old, leaves a widow, six sons and three daughters and only one brother, C.F. EATON.
“For many years he served as one of the Governors of Acadia College. About 34 or 35 years ago, about 22nd Nov., his father died suddenly at Lower Canard, age 54. As the eldest son, then age 19 or 20, life’s heavy toils fell heavily upon him. But a few days before his father’s death he, with his only brother, gave himself to Christ. A few Sabbaths after his father’s death, Rupert and Charles, with three of their sisters, were buried in baptism and united with the Baptist Church at Canard.”
The Axemakers of Cornwallis Township
by Robin H. Wyllie on Early American Industries Association CHRONICLE ARCHIVE, Dec 3, 2020. “Cornwallis Township is one of the townships comprising Kings County. It lies on the upper Bay of Fundy on the shores of the Minas Basin. Sheltered by the North and South mountain ranges of the Annapolis Valley, its fertile meadows, saltmarsh and mud flat were first settled by peasants from Western France…The New England settlers were farmers and craftsmen who brought with them all of the goods and chattels necessary to re-establish their comfort-able colonial lifestyle in the new lands. David Eaton of Tolland, Connecticut, was a typical example. Attracted by the six hundred and sixty-six acre land grant he settled down to prosper and found a dynasty. He, his fellow planters, and the well-to-do Yorkshire farmers across the basin were responsible for the foundation of much of Nova Scotia’s 19th century industry. The growth of these industries, in particular those of shipbuilding, lumbering, farming and mining, was stimulated by the American Revolution and the cessation of trade with New England. Forced into an isolated economic pocket, the Nova Scotians began to “make do” for themselves. The sheltered Minas Basin became a major shipbuilding area and, because of demand and availability of raw materials in the surrounding counties, shipwrights and blacksmiths flourished. It was but a matter of time before someone began to specialize in the manufacture of edged tools…”
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