History of Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Canada
It has long been felt that an effort should be made to write a History of Inverness County. Many wished to have it done, but none seemed prepared to undertake the work. The almost total absence of public or private records germane to such a project made the under- taking peculiarly difficult. At length the Municipal Council officially lent its countenance to the enterprise, and a Board of Editors was designated of which we happened to be an humble member. Immediately thereafter we plunged into the actual work.
Our principal aim was to perpetuate the names and memories of the brave, intrepid men and women to whom we are indebted for the opening up and reclaiming from the bondage of the wilderness of this favored region of fine and free country. The lives of people in the woods are usually uneventful; but their noble sacrifices have eternal life.
Matter for ordinary history was not likely to be abundant here. What little there was could not readily be found, because of the dearth of original records and the death of the old people. We know that our haphazard endeavor can only be remarkable for its pathetic failure and defects. Yet, we indulge the hope that even our poor attempt may move abler pens to cure those defects in days to come. For ourselves we can only say that, in the untoward conditions, we did our little best, and "the best can do no more."
Our first formed plan was to give the whole of the country's history in District sketches. Contact with the actual work required us to modify that preconceived plan. We found that many general subjects common to the whole county could not be treated appropriately in District Sketches. For that reason we dealt with these general subjects by themselves, and they form the major portion of Part I, of the Book.
We would not that our friends should ever know from experience how tedious, tiresome and perplexing was the labor involved in our venture. Often did we fear that our weary, waning, strength was not equal to it, nor would it, but for the splendid assistance given to us by valued friends in different parts of the County and Province.
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The writers of the following pages are neither historians nor literary artists. They are but plain, simple, home-made men with some red blood in their veins, who cherish a wish to perpetuate the virtues and memory of their departed fathers. Their modest aim is to give, from the crude and scant data now available, a fairly accurate portrayal of men and things in the county of Inverness since it first assumed the white man's burden. Ordinarily, there would not be much matter for history in the lives of men who lived in the wilderness; but Moses does not say so. Our pioneer settlers came hither to reclaim this land from its wilderness state, secure the title to their holdings in fee simple, and build up happy homes for free and honest men and women who would know God and fear Him.
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