Trade and Commerce 25 Agriculture:

The shipbuilding industry had helped to open up and develop Souris West. But by late 18008, it was over. Many Shipwrights, carpenters and blacksmiths and others connected with the trade left looking for work in other places.

Fortunately, a large proportion of the early settlers were farmers who formed a stable economy. Many, like the Scottish to the north of the Lot, combined farming with fishing. Among the names prominent in the farm- ing and community development in Souris West were those of Alexander Leslie and the Macgowan brothers, John and William. Other farmers’ names on the executive of the first Souris Farming Club formed in 1840 include Patrick Scully, Thomas Perkins, Felix Finn, James Mullally, Ronald McCormack and Luke Deagle. Alexander Leslie was in the chair at this meeting held at the home of John Coughlan of Souris and was nomi- nated its first president.3

Alexander Leslie of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, his wife Jane Stevens and nine of their children came out to Charlottetown on the brig, Four Sisters, in 1833. A son, Norman, was born in Charlottetown in November, 1833. Two more children were born after they settled on a farm in Souris West in 1834. Before emigrating, Alexander Leslie had a salmon fishing business which supplied a fresh product to the London market. However, he felt the New World offered better opportunities for advancement. Soon after his arrival he was made Souris’ first magistrate. He was High Sheriff of King’s County for a time and a Justice of the Peace for forty years. His case book, with entries which date from 1828 to 1846 has been preserved. The last ten years of entries give an interesting account of misdemeanors of the period.

Alexander Leslie was a busy man. No one, it seems, allowed any offence, no matter how trivial, to go unpunished. Even a threat to “knock a person’s head in” was punishable by being “bound over to keep the peace.” Lines between properties were frequently in dispute. Violence stands out in the pages of the case book. A stake was usually the threatening weapon, var- iously described as being thick, large or of hardwood. Women were not above violence. One woman “maketh oath before me that, while sitting peaceably, wife of a neighbour came into her home and struck her a blow with a thick stick.” Leslie also performed marriages and inspected taverns. All in all, he had his finger on the pulse of the early colony. But he was considered a fair man and many cases were settled mutually, fines were paid and cases dismissed.

Two of Alexander’s sons, Andrew Conan and James Reid married Thomas Perkins’ daughters, Susanna and Emily. His oldest daughter, Lillie, became John Knight’s first wife.

Son William Leslie, invented a revolving kiln for drying grain which was patented in both Canada and the United States in 1886.4 He firmly believed that someday men would ride the air, but his machine to prove his theory was not a success.

William, earlier, restored the dam at what was then known as the French Mill Bridge on the site of the present day farm of Hallie MacEwen of Rollo Bay East.5 Here, he distilled whiskey. But, because high taxes made the business unprofitable, he sold out to his brother, John, who brought a man out from Scotland to operate a carding mill and weave cloth.

The property, which changed hands several times, was owned at one time