The Well–Watered Garden: The Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton, 1798–1860, by Laurie Stanley

The Well–Watered Garden: The Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton, 1798–1860, Laurie Stanley, [Sydney, Nova Scotia: University College of Cape Breton Press, 1983.], 239 p; ISBN: 0–920336–16–7.

I purchased a copy of this book on the off chance there might be a reference to an ancestor. I was not disappointed. On page 95, John McLeod of River Inhabitance is mentioned. He is my 2nd great grandfather and patronymic ancestor. His father–in–law, Hon. William McKeen of Mabou gets much more space on pages 28 and 39. William’s eldest daughter, Margaret, is my 2nd great grandmother. Margaret died in 1848 and is buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Wallace, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. John died in 1899 and is buried with his second wife, Juliet Ann Grant, in Grantville Cemetery near Cleveland, Cape Breton Island.

I found Esther Clark Wright’s Saint John Ships and Their Builders to be interesting for the introduction where Dr. Wright describes her sources. This book is interesting for the depth of research and excellence of writing. I wish I had the time and money to travel and spend weeks on end going through archives of old newspapers, diaries, letters, etc. that shows in this work.

You can get a flavor of the research I’ve done so far by going to my web site and exploring. The pictures might be interesting to you. I have a picture of the store and hotel in Cleveland that may include John McLeod himself among the people standing in front of the store.

I’ve purchased several local church histories. They tend to be quickly written with limited research. The thorough research and sympathetic treatment of the subject in Laurie Stanley’s book was refreshing. So much history written these days has a politically correct bent with no attempt to understand the social, economic, or political context in which the people were operating. My own sympathies are with the Evangelical and Free Kirk Presbyterians as my own conviction is that John Calvin and John Knox are closer to the mark than anyone else. This conviction might in part be due to the line of Pictou McLeod Free Church Elders and the Swiss Reformed Elders that I am also descended from.

For those interested in Norman McLeod who stirred up people from Assynt, Sutherland to Waipu, New Zealand by way of Pictou and St. Ann’s Nova Scotia, there is an excellent chapter.

Of particular interest is the descriptions of the social, economic, and political conditions of the time and place of this history. This background may be more interesting to some. This consumes a good part of the book and creates a context for any history of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton in particular. Poverty and stubborn independence seem to be the rule in early Cape Breton which would not make the conditions much different from the Highlands where most of the settlers left. The difference was that land was not held as a tenant but as a free holder and that made all the difference.

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Saturday, 08-Sep-2018 11:41:52 MDT © Copyright 2000-2002 Stephen Daniel McLeod