John lived in Prince Edward County.105
from "The Tale of a Grandfather":
"My sister Polly aged 13 took charge of the house and did the best she could. We fared hard, a new farm, no schools, luxuries, pleasures, parties, no holidays except Christmas, New Years, Easter. No stationed minister in Prince Edward County[.] The Rev. McGlaughlin married my parents and baptized me when a child. He was a Church of England minister and resided at Bath in Ernesttown, so by birthrite [sic] I was a member of that church but my parents catechised their children, such as the Lord's Prayer, Ten Commandments, The Apostle's Creed, and some good moral lessons. First Honesty, second Truthfulness, third Punctuality, fourth Benevolence, fifth Industry, sixth Manliness, seventh Prudence, and above all that the Bible was true, to fear God and honor the King.
"As there were no roads and the settlements were far apart we had no schools and the children were taught at home to read and write. As many of the settlers were men of good learning some became teachers afterward. Then there was the want of books. The Dilworth Spelling Book, The English Reader, The New Testament, Johnson's Dictionary were our stock in store ... .
"The County of Prince Edward was early settled, being nearly surrounded by water. In the absence of roads nearly any point could be reached by water, which abounded in all kinds of fish. The woods were filled with wild animals, Bears, Wolves and Deer. The woods and water offered great assistance sustaining the settlers until the land could be cleared. Potatoes and turnips were the first things to grow. A man by the name of Dyer brought a few potatoes from the States in a napsack [sic] and in two years he raised 600 bushels. The land being new was very productive. Two or three crops of wheat could be raised on the same ground in succession. There were no mills nearer than Kingston. There was plenty of wheat but of times no bread on account of the difficulty of getting the wheat ground. People lived in plain humble style."105 |