Low Down Articles
Echoes from the Past
Article 56 of 111
This article first appeared in the "Echoes from the Past" column of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
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Philemom Wright Continues his Account of the First Settlement of Hull Township
1801... I returned to Woburn in Massachusetts and carried my men home, according to our agreement, and paid them. off; but the greater part of them came back again the same winter, and by arrangement took lands... they finding the lands much better in the Township of Hull than in the State of Massachusetts. This spring finished our spring wheat; sowing in the month of May about thirty aces. I had the second year of my clearing, 100 acres of posts... it was not large enough, I had seven stacks left over. There must have been 3000 bushels. There were 40 bushels per acre. Starting the 2nd of July, with ten men I surveyed the Township of Hull. By the 9th of October we had placed 377 square posts; it was a township of 82,429 acres. The survey cost me about 900 pounds.
CROPS EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS
In the autumn I secured all my crops; they exceeded expectations, and all without the help of manure. In Massachusetts we used to go to Boston where we paid $3.00 per load. After closing our fall work, I issued a notification that any person who understood farming and wished to obtain land might apply to me... on the most advantageous terms, and I would lend them wheat and other seed until they could raise a sufficient quantity on their own farms to repay me. Then the settlement commenced by several persons in that part of the township to which I was entitled... I started building mills, there being no mills nearer than 80 miles. Before I built my mills, it cost me twice as much to get my grain ground as it did to raise it. I then built a sawmill which cost me 800 pounds and about 500 pounds in other buildings... I also cleared about 100 acres of land this year and laid down in grass about the same quantity.
The next paragraph explains Wright's experience in growing hemp, which I described in an earlier column. While the experiment was a success in growth the effort did not bring in enough cash.
(1801 was the year that Philemon's older brother Thomas died, leaving a wife and several children to cope. This year he also lost his very good, friend, Nathaniel Chamberlin, three of whose children married three of Philemon's children.)
1803... I extended my improvements in land clearing to about 380 acres, generally sowing down grass on the land that had borne two crops of corn, in order to obtain good timothy and clover hay for wintering my cattle. I am much surprised that the inhabitants do not grow grass seed... the cattle would go into their farns fat.
1804... This year commenced building a blacksmith's shop, which was large enough for four men to work in... it contains four pairs of bellows (worked by water) also four forges; likewise a shoemaker's shop and a tailor's shop; with a large bakehouse. All these establishments gave employment to a great number of workmen. Before I constructed these different branches I had to go to Montreal for every little article in iron‑work or other things which I needed.
Until I commenced these branches 1 employed about 75 men. These worked in different mechanical businesses, trades and agriculture. I also started up a tannery for tanning leather on a large scale. I obtained from New York a cylinder for grinding bark, also worked by water. We also cleared a quantity of land, commenced making roads and
built several bridges.