Rushtons in Rockley Cemetery, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia

 This one is easier, I promise.

Rockley is a place on Pugwash Road next to Roslin in Cumberland County.  Here several Rushton families had their land, and I am still trying to figure out who, where, when, and why.  It is down the road from the Rushton Family Cemetery (see Rushton Family Cemetery post, see Rushton Pedigree Chart).

You will remember that Grannie Phoebe was born here in Roslin and lived with her parents Susan West Rushton and Thomas Rushton.  Across the road, I think, lived Thomas's brother Jasper, his wife Mary, and their two sons, Peter and Albion.  Peter was blind, but he was in charge of the household.  My mother recalled that he moved about like a sighted person, cooking, cleaning, washing, and doing other chores.  You would not be able to tell that he was blind.

Their son Albion was nicknamed Tuner.  He married his first cousin Jane from across the road (Phoebe's sister).  Aunt Connie shuddered at how emotionally abusive Tuner was to Jane.  The phrase "barefoot in winter and pregnant in summer" fit their marriage.  He kept getting her pregnant; it wasn't socially acceptable for a pregnant woman to be seen in public, so that would mean she couldn't leave the farm.  Not only wouldn't he let her go anywhere, but he made their many children call her "Jane," not "Mama."  He made them call his own mother, Mary, "Mother."  This may have been because Jane had had a child when unmarried, according to Aunt Connie, but I cannot find any evidence of that.  Jane went to live with her children once they became adults. 

 Here they are with 4 of their children, Elias, Ira, Martha, and Robert.

Another one of Jane and Tuner's children was Wilfred, who married his cousin Eva Spence, Grannie Phoebe and Grampa Bill's daughter.  Eva came to live on the family farm, where they had 5 daughters and 2 sons:  Meda, Betty, Esther, Vivian, Mac, and Denzil.  This is the grave marker of daughter Phillis I. Rushton, who only lived a year.  Although the family came to live in New York during the Depression, Wilfred told Howie that he could never leave the farm for good because Phillis was there.