In the spring of the year 1784, seven men, with their families, removed from Truro to Upper Musquodoboit, and commenced a settlement there. Their names were John, James and Samuel Fisher, sons of William Fisher, Stewtly Horton, who was married to Hannah Fisher, Thomas Reynolds, John Holman and Robert Geddes.
In the same spring (1784), eight men, with their families removed from Truro to Upper Stewiacke to make a settlement there; their names were Thomas Croker, Samuel Fisher, William and Samuel Fulton, of the Lower Village, Samuel Taylor, John Archibald, and Charles Cox, Matthew Johnson having removed and settled there in the fall of 1783. In 1785 Richard Upham settled at Otter Brook, and after this time there were others removed and settled in Upper Stewiacke. Samuel Creelman was the next settler there. Archibald and Robert Gammell, Robert and Hugh Logan, John and William Johnson, David Fulton, William Cox, and William Smith were among the early settlers.
The Rev. Daniel Cock was the first who preached to these people in Stewiacke. He first preached in Mr. Samuel; Fisher's house, about the year 1787. After this, Mr. Cock, Mr. McGregor, Mr. Munro, Mr. Ross and Mr. Waddell, continued to visit them and preach to them. Mr. Munro remained with them about two years, from about the year 1793 to 1795. In the year 1799, they began to make efforts to obtain a settled Minister to labor among them. A number of others had removed from Truro and elsewhere, and had settled in Middle and Upper Stewiacke, and in Middle and Upper Musquodoboit; these all joined together to obtain the services of a minister, and they resolved to give the Rev. Hugh Graham a call. (Mr. Graham came from Scotland in the year 1786, and was settled in Cornwallis until 1799. The call to Mr. Graham is dated August 26th, 1799, and is signed by the following persons, in presence of the Rev. John Waddell, Moderator, and John Simmons, 3rd, Witness. Robert Archibald, Eliakim Tupper, Alexander Stewart, Matthew Johnson, Samuel Tupper, William Kennedy, Robert Geddes, William Putnam, Samuel Fisher, Adam Dunlap, Samuel Fisher Archibald, Matthew T. Archibald, William Archibald, Elizabeth Dickey, Thomas Croker, Simeon Whidden, John Pratt, Robert Morris, Eddy Tupper, Mahew Tupper, William Smith, William Cox, James Dunlap, John Fisher, Thomas Brenton, Eliakim Tupper, Jr., Robert Hamilton, James Johnson, John Archibald, 3rd, Alexander Henry, Alexander Stewart, 2nd, Margaret Ferrell, Thomas Reynolds, John Holman, John Dean, James Kennedy, John Kennedy, John Bonnell, David Dickey, Robert Kennedy, David Archibald, 8th, Samuel B. Archibald, Edward Brydon, Samuel Fisher, Samuel Nelson, John Scott, Peter Hynds, John Archibald, Adams Archibald, John Nelson, James Guild, George McLeod, John Moore, John Higgins, David Archibald, 5th, Hugh Archibald, Jonnson Kaulback, Robert Nelson, John Geddes, Richard Upham, John Smith, Alexander McN. Fisher, James Whidden, Wm. Skeed, Hugh Logan, Michael Geddes, and Robert Geddes. There is a seal affixed to this call by each of the signers, and it is certified on the call by William Dickson, Deputy Registrar of Deeds for the District of Colchester, that it was duly Registered on August 2nd, 1805, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, persuant to the Laws of this Province, on the oath of John Simmons, recorded in Lib. 4, folio 444. This call was accepted by Mr. Graham, and he was removed and settled over the Congregation of Stewiacke and Musquodoboit.
He continued to have the charge of this large and scattered Congregation for about ten or twelve years. Then Musquodoboit was set off as a separate congregation, and obtained the services of the Rev. Mr. Laidlaw as their first Minister. Mr. Graham continued the remainder of his life, labouring faithfully and zealously, in the Congregation of Stewiacke. As soon as the people of Middle Stewiacke got a settled Minister, they commenced building a Meeting House. But about the time they got the inside finished, it caught fire and was burnt down, They built another about the year 1804. In it they worshipped until about the year 1848, when the present one was built.
The Rev. Hugh Graham was born in Scotland in the year 1754, and removed to Nova Scotia in the spring of the year 1785, when he was 32 years old. He was soon settled in Cornwallis. (And on August 2nd, 1786, the first Presbytery of Nova Scotia was formed by the Rev. Daniel Cock, of Truro, Rev. David Smith, of Londonderry. Rev. Hugh Graham of Cornwallis, Rev. James McGregor, of Pictou, and Rev. Mr. Gilmore, of Hants County, and John Johnson of Truro, and John Barnhill, of Londonderry, Ruling Elders.) He was married to Elizabeth, daughter of John Whidden, Esq, of Cornwallis, in 1792.
Hugh their eldest son, was born March, 1793. He was married to Janet, daughter of James Kennedy and Janet Dickey, November, 1819. He settled on the farm that Mr. Wm. Logan now resides upon. He removed and settled on the mountain, on the south side of Stewiacke River, where they reared their family and spent the remainder of their lives. He died there January 18th, 1857, aged 64 years, and his wife died July 26th, 1832, aged 37 years. Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Hugh and Janet Graham, was born March 17th, 1818. She was married to George, the third son of Henry Miller and Sarah Wright, December 2nd, 1839. They had three sons and three daughters. She died March 23rd, 1859, aged 41 years. Hannah Prescott, their second daughter, was born October 13th, 1820. She was married to David, the third son of David Fulton and Martha Ellis, his wife, February 9th, 1843. They had nine sons and three daughters. Eleanor, their third daughter, was born April 9th, 1823. She was married to James, son of Murdock Frame and Isabel Wilson, March 12th, 1846. They had two sons and two daughters. They reside on what was his father's farm at Middle Stewiacke. Hugh, the only son of Hugh and Janet Graham, was born March 12th, 1826. He removed to New Brunswick, and was married there to Susan Maynord in 1852. They had two sons and four daughters. They returned and settled on the Mountain South of Stewiacke River.
John Whidden, the second son of Rev. Hugh Graham and Elizabeth Whidden, was born February 22nd, 1795. Rebecca Croker, his wife, was born February 15th, 1800. They were married in the year 1821. Hugh, their eldest son, was born November 25th, 1822. He was married to Hannah Thomson, of Musquodoboit, in the year 1848. They had three sons and three daughters. David, their second son, was born in Stewiacke July 14th, 1824. He removed to the United States and was married there. John W., their third son, was born January 28th, 1826. He was married to Mary E. Albee, of New Brunswick. Thomas, their fourth son, was born May 25th, 1827. He was married to Jessie McKenzie, of Pictou. They had three sons and four daughters. Peter, their fifth son, was born February 21st 1829. He was married to Margaret Samson, of New Brunswick. They had one son and two daughters. Robert Blackwood, their sixth son, was born July 11th, 1831. He removed to New Brunswick, and died there a bachelor in the year 1855, aged 24 years. William Wilberforce, their seventh son, was born November 25th, 1832. He removed to New Brunswick, and was married there to Sarah Caswell. They had three sons and four daughters. Eliza, their only daughter, was born December 17th, 1835. She died when she was quite young. James, their eighth son, was born February 3rd, 1837. He was married to Lois Allen, January 9th, 1868. They have one son and one daughter. He and his brother Joseph A. are now carrying on business as merchants at Brookfield. Joseph Alison, their ninth son, was born January 20th, 1843. He was married to Emily Allen February 4th, 1871. The above named John W. Graham did at Stewiacke, June 22nd, 1867, aged 72 years, and his widow, Rebecca, died June 15th, 1869, aged 69 years.
Isabell, daughter of Rev. Hugh Graham and Elizabeth Whidden, was born December 25th, 1799. She was married to James, the eldest son of Samuel Tupper, Esq., and Rachel Dunlap, February 29th, 1820. They had two sons and five daughters. She died December 18th, 1864. Elizabeth Graham was born in 1797. She died about the year 1813, aged 16 years.
William, the third son of Rev. Hugh and Elizabeth Graham, was born August 1st, 1804. He died a bachelor, June 15th, 1849, aged 45 years.
James, the fourth and youngest son of Rev. Hugh and Elizabeth Graham, was born April 30th, 1808. He was married to Rachel, the third daughter of William Creelman and Hannah Tupper, March 4th, 1845. Allen, their eldest son, was born June 19th, 1846. Samuel, their second son, was born May 1st, 1848. William, their third son, was born May 28th, 1850. Bessie, their eldest daughter, was born August 19th, 1852. David, their fourth son, was born June 14th, 1854. Frank, their fifth son, was born April 28th, 1856. Isabell, their second and youngest daughter, was born May 4th, 1863. The Rev. Hugh Graham died at Stewiacke, April 5th, 1829, aged 75 years. His wife died June 12th, 1816, aged 42 years.
The first settlers of Stewiacke had many difficulties to contend against. On September 8th, 1792, there was the great freshet, which carried away a large part of their wheat, which was standing in stock in the field. Many of their houses stood on the interval, and were in danger of being carried away. Many made rafts of boards from the floors of their houses and pushed off for higher land, while those who had canoes were busy saving the people first and afterwards the cattle and sheep. After this, they very prudently built more of their houses on the upland.
The people in Brookfield also sustained great loss by this freshet, both in wheat and other crops.
At the same time all the interval and marsh between Truro and Onslow was flooded, so that they could go to Onslow from Truro and back in boats. By looking at the date of this freshet, it will be seen that it would be most disastrous to the farmers of those places.
Then, on the evening of the 12th of November, 1813, was the great hurricane, known by the old men as the "big wind," which devastated the woods, levelled the fences, and very many of the buildings were either blown down or unroofed. Many of the settlers suffered severly.
But long before any of these disasters, the crops of the first settlers of these places were destroyed by mice. This year was called by the old settlers as the year of the mice, and a year or two either before of after this, they had a summer so cold that none of their crops came to perfection. Here are four epochs which the old men to the present day often heard their fathers talk about, viz: The year of the mice, the cold summer, the big wind, and the great freshet, and I believe there has been nothing like any one of them since.
Then, on the 7th October, 1825, there was the great fire in Miramichi, in which 160 people perished, 595 buildings burned, and 875 horses and cattle lost. The total loss of property was estimated at $994,092, and 8000 square miles of country laid waste. In Great Britain, United States, and the British Colonies about $174,428 were subscribed for relief of the sufferers.
