Liverpool, founded in 1760 as a fishing port, benefited from the piratical activities of its privateer ships during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and went on to become a major seaport, second only to Halifax. But its rise was checked with the growth in the timber trade, which gave Pictou an unrivalled advantage. Methodism had become well-established in the town of Liverpool by 1804, although the minister struggled to cope financially, since the congregation was poor and he had not received his full allowance for several years.48 Writing in 1818, a Methodist minister found the Liverpool inhabitants to be “in general very respectable and very friendly … it is a Maritime town and their trade is chiefly in lumber and fish.”49 This assessment was corroborated by Lord Dartmouth:
Liverpool is in all respects a most striking contrast to Shelburne. The houses large and clean and handsome, many new ones building, the streets broad, gay and bustling in work, the people wealthy and confessing themselves to be so. Their concerns are mercantile and in the Labrador fisheries. They do trade to the West Indies but on a small scale; they were fortunate in privateering speculations during the war with America and keenly bent on that pursuit against the States.50
Anglicans established their first congregation by 1820, this being the only part of Queens County where the Church of England attracted significant support.
Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Liverpool, built in 1821.
Immigration to the province had reduced to a trickle during the mid1760s but increased dramatically between 1772 and 1775, when around nine hundred people from Yorkshire and nearby parts of northern England took up residence on both sides of the isthmus connecting Nova Scotia with New Brunswick. A combination of high rent increases in Yorkshire and the desire to benefit from Nova Scotia’s agricultural potential were the main driving forces, although many were Methodists seeking a safe haven in which to practise their faith. Having been enticed to the Chignecto Isthmus by the availability of rich marshland, they joined New Englanders who had already established themselves at Amherst, Cumberland, and Sackville51 (see Map 7). The Yorkshire settlers effectively doubled the population of the isthmus and, by bringing their advanced farming techniques with them, greatly enhanced the economic development of the area.52
When he visited Cumberland County in 1829, Thomas Haliburton observed the rivers “emptying into the Bay of Chignecto, upon which there are extensive tracts of alluvial land, and flourishing settlements. On the Maccan and Nappan rivers are to be found many substantial farmers, composed of Yorkshire men and their descendants.” Many more were situated along the River Hébert, “up which the tide flows thirteen miles, enriching it with 1,800 acres of excellent marsh land.”53 Yorkshire settlers were also to be found along the River Philip, farther to the east (see Map 8). Eleven years earlier, when our roving reporter Lord Dalhousie had arrived on the scene, he described their farms in glowing terms: “The large fields, extensive crops and gardens about their houses show them strangers in this country and more industrious than others of their class.”54 He had seen their New Canaan settlement, established in 1798, indicating that further contingents of Yorkshire people had followed the initial groups of the early 1770s. Undoubtedly, the Yorkshire farmers were in a class of their own and, according to his lordship, were “more rich and comfortable” than people in the rest of the province.
However, success had come at a price. Having recently lost his father, John Harrision wrote to a cousin he had had not seen for thirty-six years, to try to reconnect with his long-lost Yorkshire past. He recalled how he and his family had first brought an untamed wilderness into cultivation:
I settled here on this River [Maccan] about 23 years ago [1787] upon lands that had never been cultivated, all a wilderness. We cut down the wood of the land and burnt it off, and sowed it with wheat and rye, so that we made out a very good living. Here we make our own sugar, our own soap and candles and likewise our own clothing. We spin and weave our own linen and wool and make the biggest part of it into garments within our own family. This I suppose you will think strange but it is merely for want of settlers and more mechanics of different branches.55
But he was so very lonely: “Dear cousin, I could wish to see you once more to talk with you face to face.” Having left as a fourteen-year-old, he hardly knew his cousin, but he inquired whether they could now begin to correspond “every year or at every opportunity.” John was also deeply troubled by the shortage of people in the Maccan River area: “If there are any young men have any notion of coming to this country, of an industrious turn of mind, there is no doubt of making out very well for himself, for if he does not like this part he can soon earn money to carry him out again for wages are very high here.” Also, his two grown-up sons each needed “a good industrious wife.” Likewise, thinking beyond his needs, he wrote, “Pray send out a shipload of young women, for there is great call for them that can card and spin. The wages is from five to six shillings a week.” Like his brother Luke, who “oftimes visits Rillington”56 in his dreams, John would never forget his Yorkshire origins.
The naming of New Canaan, with its biblical connotations, suggested a people who hoped to find their “promised land” in Nova Scotia. Having strong Christian beliefs, they had been drawn specifically to Methodism because it “was of that strenuous type which must give expression to its faith in hearty song and lively preaching.”57 Even during the Jenny’s sea crossing in 1775, the eighty passengers were called by the captain “to come to his cabin, morning and evening” to pray together.58 Many of the Yorkshire families who came to Nova Scotia had been influenced by John Wesley’s teachings and sought to live according to the Christian disciplines that he had enunciated. Their great spiritual leader, William Black, only a boy of fourteen when he emigrated in 1775, would devote his life to the Methodist cause.
Like Henry Alline, who was twelve years older, Black had suffered from a sense of profound guilt over his perceived wickedness. But he experienced a dramatic conversion one day in 1779 “when his guilt was removed” and “a sweet peace and gladness were diffused” through his soul.59 Feeling himself to be saved, the nineteen-year-old Black went on to become a preacher, concentrating initially on the Yorkshire settlers on the isthmus. Embarking on a single-minded mission “to save souls,” he travelled far and wide, bringing the message of redemption to many hundreds of people across Atlantic Canada. Known affectionately as Bishop Black, he was often referred to, long before his death in 1834, as the father of Methodism in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.60
United Church, River Philip (Cumberland County), built in 1862. It replaced the original log-built Methodist meeting place that had been constructed in 1827.
The Reverend William Black, Methodist minister.
Although he was more anxious to save souls than build organizations, Black secured the appointment of further preachers, thus establishing Methodism firmly in many parts of