PREFACE

In June of 1982, the authors purchased the former Stewart and Vivian McNevin house on the Crosby Mill Road in Bonshaw. During that summer and the subsequent ones we were regularly visited by Milton McRae, and David and Maj orie Gibson (nee McRae). From these visits we began to appreciate that the Bonshaw of the 1980s was a pale image of the Bonshaw of the past. As we began to restore the house we had purchased, we wished to obtain early photographs of it, to show the details of the veranda posts etc.. It was with this search for photographs that this project began.

As the number of photographs of Bonshaw grew, the idea of printing a pictorial history of the village became a possibility. The search for information with which to caption the photographs produced a lot of information, so the project grew and the result is what you see presented.

We have endeavoured to be as historically correct and accurate in our information as poss1ble, as 1s shown by the numerous references supplied for each chapter.

This book, unlike many other village histories, does not contain the genealogies of the villagers. It is a history of the village itself. However there is some genealogical information contained in it and many of the references will assist those wishing to learn more about any of the individuals. Maybe some other village resident may wish to undertake a second volume of the Bonshaw history, the people!

The source documents ,if not specifically noted otherwise, can be found as follows; The Robertson Library at the University of P.E.I. - newspapers, census records. The Public Archives of P.E.I. (PAPEI) - pre 1900 land records, shipping registers, Atlases, Colonial Office correspondence, Journals of the Legislative Assembly, Supreme court records, baptism records, Business Directories, 1935 aerial photography. The Land Registry Office - land transaction records after 1900. (Note the details in the references i.e. Liber #, folio # (volume and page) are the specific details needed to access the documents.)

William M. Glen and Elizabeth A. Glen Bonshaw P.E.I. 1993