Low Down Articles
Echoes from the Past
Article 86 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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The Diary of a Farmer
My family came from England to New England, early in the 17th century, settling in the province of Massachusetts. I was born there in 1760 where I was occupied in farming and grazing.
In 1800 I was one of the Wright party which came to settle in the Hull area which was at that time virgin forested land. There were one or two men who had tried to scratch a living on the other side of Grand River with only moderate success.
We had lived on our Massachusetts farm for several generations. As each generation was large in the number of its members; and each son would expect to be left a portion of the farm, it was not long before each son's holdings diminished in acreage so that my sons, of which there were four, each would only have four acres, more or less, not large enough, by a long way to support a growing family.
The daughters of the family, as was the custom, when reaching marriageable age, took the step, and became the responsibility of her husband. Meanwhile our sons acquired spouses in their turn. It became imperative that new land be sought elsewhere. The Wright enterprise was just what was called for.
The year of our arrival, in the spring of 1800, was a busy one indeed. Easy family had to clear part of the land of trees and to use the logs to construct our crude dwellings for man and beast. Every man, woman and child had to turn to and help. Not only had shelters to go up, but we had to get our crops planted as the supplies we had brought with us would not feed us for the next winter, a few short months away.
Meat was not the problem as deer, moose and small game abounded. Fish and feathered game were readily available.
We managed to plant and raise vegetables and roots, among the latter was about 1000 bushels of potatoes which I put into the group (to keep them through the winter) so deep that I lost the lot of them by rot. We prepared some land for fall wheat, and sowed about 70 bushels, and a further 30 acres were prepared for spring wheat and peas. In spite of all this we had to find time for a small party to return to Montreal for provisions we were unable to supply ourselves.
1801: This spring finished our spring wheat; sowing the month of March about thirty acres. I had the second year of my clearing, 100 acres of the best wheat I ever saw.
Farmer revealed in Part Two of this echo.