1860s

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

Ever since his meeting with Sir John A. Macdonald in August, Joseph Howe evidently had carried on further correspondence with the Prime Minister at Ottawa regarding “Better Terms” for Nova Scotia. As has been previously stated, much thought and anxiety about this matter was experienced by Howe at Fairfield where he must often have mulled over the situation before making perhaps the most important decision of his whole political career. Early in 1869 he left for Ottawa.

The news broke on January 30th when a dispatch from the Capital announced that Joseph Howe had been sworn in as a member of the Conservative Government. This meant that he was abandoning further efforts to seek repeal of Confederation, and was also abandoning the Liberal Party. One or two of the latter group bolted with him. As was the usual practice of the time, Mr. Howe was obliged to seek re-election in his constituency of Hants in order to be confirmed in his Cabinet position. The great difference was that he would now be running as a supporter of Confederation instead of on the ticket of the anti-Confederates, as he had been in the 1867 Dominion election.

Hundreds of Howe’s’ former followers in Halifax County and elsewhere, immediately organized their scattered forces to defeat their old leader in a political campaign of vengeance that lasted the whole of February. Powerful Liberal newspapers like the “Nova Scotian” and “Acadian Recorder” joined in the battle by publishing column upon column of abuse which denounced him as a deserter and a traitor to the party. The gist of the charges was that he had not submitted his “Better Terms” proposals to the Liberal Convention, and that in dealing with Prime Minister Macdonald, Howe had assumed functions which properly belonged to the Government of Nova Scotia.* (See Duncan Campbell’s History of Nova Scotia.)

The 1869 winter campaign in Hants County was mostly a test of bodily endurance. Howe’s opponents no doubt realized that he was their superior both intellectually and oratorically, and consequently they resorted to practices of physical persecution. The bitterest of his enemies openly declared that they were endeavouring to wear him down and even to bring about his death.

Joseph Howe was successful in that Hants by-election but the strain and suffering of the drawn-out meetings so shattered his constitution that he went back to his seat in the House of Commons at Ottawa, only a shadow of his former self.

From personal letters written to Sir John A. Macdonald after Howe returned to Dartmouth in the month of March, one gets an idea of the hardships he endured in the election campaign:

. . . At the outset had pamphlets printed and sown broadcast throughout Hants County . . . opponents came in great force to the Windsor meeting in a special train . . . had to make three speeches in a cold barn of a Court House, and to sit for hours in an atmosphere but a few degrees warmer than that of the streets . . . my room in the hotel filled with organizers until midnight. This sort of thing went on for fifteen days … at the hustings always had to reply to relays of adversaries brought in to speak against me.

The last place of meeting was at Welsford on the Shubenacadie where three Counties adjoin . . . drill shed had a ground floor, no fire, doors opening at both ends—rarely ever closed.

To sit for five hours in such a place saying nothing would have been punishment enough, but I had to speak one hour, and then sit three, and afterwards reply to Annand, Jones, etc., in an atmosphere every breath of which I felt to be cutting my throat.

Next day I spoke my hour. I then rolled myself up in a coat and lay down on the platform until Jones, Goudge and (name illegible) had exhausted themselves, and then having wiped out their slates, went off to a farmhouse where I lay for a week completely prostrated from repeated colds and chills ….

Mr. Howe was afterwards confined to bed for some days at his home, according to a letter written to the Prime Minister on the 19th which stated that he had been out only once, and that for a short half-hour sleigh-ride.

Finally on March 23rd after being for nearly six years a tenant of “Fairfield”, Joseph Howe left secluded Dartmouth to take up residence at Ottawa; and Windmill Road saw him no more.

Other Dartmouth items of interest in 1869 tell us that the Steam Boat Company intended erecting a new station house in place of “the present dilapidated structure on Halifax side. The new building will contain a spacious waiting-room which will be warmed by stoves and lighted by gas.”

The new cemetery of St. Peter’s parish on Victoria Road at Tulip Street was formally blessed by Archbishop Connolly on Sunday afternoon, August 7th. There must have been 4,000 persons of various denominations in the cemetery where a fine stage canopied and decorated with forest branches was erected in the middle of the two-acre square. “The view from the grounds was magnificent,” said a newspaper report, “and this combined with a fine day, and elegantly dressed persons made the scene a memorable one. Crowds surrounded the platform on which stood His Grace and the assisting clergy.”

On the other side of the street at the northeast corner of Victoria Road and Tulip Street, Rev? Alexander McKnight then lived in a large new residence. St. James Church got a new pastor in 1889 when Alexander Falconer came from Charlottetown. He lived at the southwest corner of Prince and South Streets before erecting the residence now belonging to Mrs. R. H. Murray at 289 Portland Street. Two of the best known of this family are the late Sir Robert Falconer and Dr. James W. Falconer. The latter is still in our midst, and has often furnished us with valuable information concerning his own and Robert’s school days in Dartmouth.

Mount Thom near the present Brightwood Club continued to be a popular spot for picnics of Halifax Sunday School classes. Boat loads of young people from the City rowed over to Sandy Cove for beach-bathing. The soft shore fronting the present Dominion Molasses Factory was a more convenient one for Dartmouthians. About this time velocipedes were coming into use. The large room in McDonald’s building was used to teach beginners.

The Saxby gale predicted for October 4th by Lieutenant Saxby, did not turn out to be as violent hereabouts as had been expected, but the tide rose to an unprecedented height. In other parts of the Province, however, and in New Brunswick, a wind and rain storm caused considerable damage to wharves and shipping.

The unlighted streets of Dartmouth gave rowdies an opportunity of destroying property and even of attacking people. Groups of tipsy soldiers travelling back and forth from Fort Clarence, made that lonely road a particularly risky one at night. Then, as now, forest fires occurred in spring and often got out of control. Burning houses, remote from a water supply, were hurriedly pulled down with grappling irons. Every year the inhabitants were obliged to perform statute labor, or else pay the equivalent in money.

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

From 1863 onward, lists of inhabitants in large settlements are available in Nova Scotia directories. For instance, we learn that among Dartmouth residents of 1863 were the two political giants, Hon. Joseph Howe and Hon. J. W. Johnston. Hon. Michael Tobin of the Legislative Council was living at “Brookhouse” in Woodlawn.

(You can find Howe and Johnson listed in the Dartmouth Business Directory for 1864 too, also check out Lovell’s Province of Nova Scotia directory for 1871 as it concerns Dartmouth)

Mrs. John Esson, whose late husband had won the 1859 election for Halifax East, was still residing at “Balmoral” at the extremity of Esson Road. Colonel Robert Bligh Sinclair, Adjutant General of the Militia of Nova Scotia, was then occupying “The Grove” which he had acquired in 1856.

Mrs. Sinclair’s father, Colonel George Pelzant Dawson, evidently did not remain many years hereabouts, but he has left his name and that of his son-in-law on three adjacent streets on his former property at “Fairfield”. These two men are said to have been the first to appreciate and popularize the advantage of Cow Bay beach (Silver Sands) as a summer resort.

We learned the above from a history of that district written in the Dartmouth newspaper of 1901 by H. W. Hewitt. His interesting and informative stories, many of which were probably gathered from old folks during Mr. Hewitt’s term of teaching at Eastern Passage, are extremely valuable for their records of people and experiences in the pioneer days. Here is the 1901 Cow Bay story:

The history of Cow Bay as a summer resort began about 35 years ago. Some of the first to go to Cow Bay for pleasure were Colonel Dawson and his son-in-law Colonel Sinclair. They used to have rooms in the house of Daniel Moser senior. Colonel Barnaby also rented rooms a few years afterwards. From that time, more and more persons began to come regularly to Cow Bay, so I will say nothing of any others except the two first mentioned.

Colonel Dawson was a very tall and corpulent man. He served for a short time in the Crimean War. He was very wealthy, and on his return from the Crimea he left England and came to Dartmouth. He bought a property near the Ropeworks, and laid out streets, etc. One of these streets is named after himself.

Colonel Sinclair of the 42nd Regiment, known commonly as the Black Watch Regiment, did not care to leave his wife, so when the war broke out he sold his commission and came to Dartmouth to avoid the censure which this act would entail. His father-in-law bought him the property once occupied by Rev. Mr. Morris as the Church of England Rectory. After Sinclair’s departure about 35 years ago, the place was made an Inebriates’ home. A dissipated young Englishman, known only as Lord Newton, the son of a wealthy nobleman, married a lady below himself in social standing. His father sent him to Dartmouth. One night he became intoxicated and was the cause of an accident which resulted in his death by fire.

But to come back to Colonel Dawson and Sinclair. Colonel Dawson took a fancy to Cow Bay. He thought that the island in Cow Bay Lake, being completely surrounded by water, belonged to nobody. He camped on the island, and thought it his own. He had a folding canvas canoe and a sailboat which he used frequently on the lake and outside the beach. He used to put an awning over the boat and sleep in her.

To make a long story short, both Dawson and Sinclair left Dartmouth and Cow Bay about 35 years ago, and their property passed into other hands. “Jock” Patterson, whom Colonel Sinclair had brought with him as servant, remained. All have heard of Jock Patterson, the Piper, veteran of the Crimean War and of the North West Rebellion in Canada.

Another impression of Mrs. Sinclair is gathered from a letter in a Halifax newspaper of 1861 wherein a writer stated that a certain Dartmouth woman had gone to the fish market at Halifax to obtain the family supply of fish. That the man at the market had carried the fish to the ferry gates, at which point the lady requested the ferry officer to put the fish on board the boat. “He not only refused but stood quietly by, watching a lady lugging her not very touchable commodity”. The writer suggested that such ungallant action deserved severe retribution.

A few days later, Captain James Graham wrote that he was the officer at the gate, and that the lady was Mrs. Sinclair. He indignantly declared that carrying fish was not within his line of duty, and that no other family in Dartmouth received as many favors on the ferry as did the Sinclairs.

The circumstances that influenced Hon. Joseph Howe to remove from Halifax to Dartmouth in 1863, are set forth in a letter written in October of that year to his sister in Digby, inviting her to visit his new home lately leased from Colonel Dawson at “Fairfield”. The complete letter is in the N. S. Archives Report for 1953. Here is the part dealing with Dartmouth:

You may remember a pretty place just below Albro’s on the Dartmouth side, that Bob Story had many years ago. At his death it was purchased by Martin Black who made it his summer residence for many years. When Martin died it fell into the hands of an eccentric Yorkshireman (Mrs. Colonel Sinclair’s Father and Pater also to some gay girls, the Misses Dawson, that you may have heard about) who fitted it up in very nice style for his own family. When just ready the ladies determined to go to England. This happened just when I was looking out for a place a little out of town, and balancing between the suburbs of the City and Windsor. He offered it at a moderate rent and I have taken it for three years. For £50 sterling I get a House with kitchen, Dairy, Cellars and all manner of conveniences on the ground floor with covered veranda for the Servants looking out on the Harbour. Over this we have Dining and Drawing Rooms, a Library, Bed Room and any number of Pantries and closets. Upstairs there are four bedrooms with nice views of the harbour. A verandah, covered in like a Hotbed runs along the whole front of the place, where we live half the time, and get the Music of the Bands from the Ships and from the Wellington Barracks for nothing. Here I sit with my Book and my cigar when evening comes without the noise of wheels or newsboys horns, or gossiping idlers to disturb me. It is the old North West Arm over again with a livelier outlook by night and day. . . .

More of our flourishing industries in 1863 were Mott’s Factory, Moyes’ Boiler Works, Greig’s Foundry, Symonds’ Foundry, Turner’s Tannery, Allen’s Tannery, Elliott’s Tannery, Albro’s Nail Factory, Dooley’s Gristmill, S. A. White’s Gristmill, Chebucto Marine Railway, Adams’ Machine Shop, Mumford’s Foundry, Laidlaw’s Ice, Falconer’s Distillery, Glendenning Brothers syrups and cordials, Duncan and Robert Waddell’s ballast boats, Young’s Shipyard.