Ten thousand years ago, our ancestors lived on the coast of Norway, according to my son Erich's matrilineal DNA test he took, back when DNA testing first came out. They say those original tests weren't that accurate and they have been taken down, but it makes sense to me. That means 1000 years ago they were Vikings, exploring the unknown seas and terrorizing coastal communities. They had equal rights for women, relatively speaking, so our foremothers were out attacking and plundering too.
See Spence, Rushton, West, Scholfield Pedigree Charts
On left, John Harrison of Driffield, aged above 23 years and a batchelor, applies for a license to marry Sarah Lovell of the parish of Hornsea, aged above 22 years and a spinster. 20th day of November 1753.
Matrilineal Ancestors
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Anne Elizabeth Sulzbach |
Anne Augusta Robertson |
Bessie Spence |
Phoebe Esther Rushton |
Hannah Susan West |
Pheby Scholfield |
Hannah Ward |
Elizabeth Grant Flintoff |
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Born |
Born |
Born |
Born |
Born |
Born |
Born |
Born |
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1964 |
1918 |
1893 |
1868 |
1832 |
1807 |
1774 |
1752 |
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Long Island |
Boston |
Springhill, NS |
Roslin, NS |
Prince Edward I. |
Horton, NS |
Kings County, NS |
Yorkshire |
How is it that Vikings ended up in Nova Scotia? Well, it turns out that around 700 to 1000 AD, the Vikings conquered and settled all of Yorkshire in Britain. Why did they stop all that war-making? They started farming. Farming tends to settle a person down, all that staying in one place and patiently waiting for crops to grow.
Fast forward 700 years to Lady Day 1758 in Rillington. Lady Day, March 25, is the Feast of the Annunciation when Gabriel announced to Mary that she was going to be the mother of Jesus. In England, it was the start of the new year and a time for contracts between landowners and tenant farmers to begin and end. Hence this baptism register goes from one Lady Day to the next. Our girl Sarah Harrison, first on the list, was baptized April 9th. She is the daughter of John Harrison, husbandman (and his wife Sarah Lovell). A husbandman is a farmer who works someone else's land.
I bring up contracts, tenant farmers, and husbandmen because things were not going well for them in England. Although they might have wealth, as I believe the Harrisons did, they had no independence because they had no opportunity to own land, and were dependent on the whims of their landlord. Landlords at the time were raising rents to torturous levels; therefore they were called rack rents. Sarah Lovell Harrison, her husband John, and their 9 children, ranging in age from 4 to 20, emigrated because they were "over-rented in their land."
On left, John Harrison of Driffield, aged above 23 years and a batchelor, applies for a license to marry Sarah Lovell of the parish of Hornsea, aged above 22 years and a spinster. 20th day of November 1753. Below, Marriages, on the 21st of November 1753,
"John Harrison & Sarah Lovel the former of the Parish of Driffield, the latter of the Parish of Hornsea by virtue of a License as above"
The Harrison family arrived in Halifax between the 14th and 16th of May, 1774 on either the Thomas & William or the Prince George. The following year, their son Luke, typical teenager, wrote back to his cousins how terrible it was in Maccan, especially the muskeetoes, who only bit the English and left the Indians alone. He couldn't wait to return. Of course, once in his 20s, Luke decided it wasn't so bad after all. He went on to marry and have 10 children on his own 500 acres or so of land. A happier assessment came years later from his brother John to his cousins in England. (not sure why I only have pieces of each letter). If you look at their mother Sarah's will on the Where There's a Will, There's a Way post, you can see that Sarah dies a yeoman, a land-owning farmer. The Harrisons achieved what they came for.
Between 1772 and 1775, 1000 Yorkshire people emigrated to Nova Scotia. Sarah and John Harrison aren't our only Yorkshire immigrants. James Brown came a little earlier on the Two Friends. Imagine sailing the Atlantic in February! James was also a husbandman, age 17, "going to seek a better livelihood" along with other Browns who DNA has proved are his sister, brother, sister-in-law, and 1-year-old niece. James settles in Maccan among the Harrisons and marries Sarah and John's daughter Sarah, whose baptism record is above. See The First Harrisons Marker post for more info.
While on board ship, did James get to know the Ward family, Elizabeth and William and their 18-month-old son Moses, because the babies played together? The Wards were also "going to seek a better livelihood." Elizabeth probably regretted it immediately, because not only did she have a baby to take care of, but she was newly pregnant. Tiny ship, winter, ocean, no sanitation, belowdecks, first trimester. It makes me nauseous just to think of it. Things turned out okay, though, because they settled in Beech Hill, Kings County and had 11 children altogether. Maybe building a home out of the wilderness was easy after a winter sea journey while pregnant. 78 years later, Sarah and James Brown's grandson Thomas Rushton married Elizabeth and William Ward's great-granddaughter Susan West.
Love the beautiful handwriting on this passenger list! If only every clerk wrote this way! The Wards and Browns are about midway, only one passenger apart from each other. You can see in the right hand column, passengers give their reasons for emigrating.
More fun info for you:
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