Building The Approaches And Foundation 23

their hopes. Although his record gives a mere outline of what the good folk of Wilmot Valley were doing during this time yet the census reports are a valuable source of information.

Families, whose names are familiar to the local community are classified mainly as natives of Prince Edward Island, with the exception of seven persons over the age of sixty who were natives of other lands. This means that the early settlers had nearly all passed away and the younger generation is taking their place.

The members of this younger generation are quite definite in their religious beliefs and their church affiliation favored “the Presbyterian Church of the Lower Provinces", while the Methodists and the Baptists were in goodly numbers with a few Roman Catholic, Church of England and Kirk of Scotland adherents.

The greater acreage of their land was held in fee simple, especially in Lot 25, but where leases were involved they were usually for a period of 999 years and the majority of these were in Lot 19. The number of sheep exceed-

ed the number of cattle and every householder had three or four horses. The area was without a lime or brick kiln, a fulling or dressing mill, and there

was only one carding mill. There were no fishermen, no barrels of herring or alewives, no quintals of codfish or hake. There was no manufacture of tobacco, no breweries nor distilling establishments.

But the people were busy in other endeavors. They were growing various crops; wheat was in fair supply and the bushels of buckwheat (produced) exceeded the bushels of barley. Oats was the top crop and potatoes were in good volume but there was very little clover seed. Some farmers were producing over 200 pounds of butter and a smaller amount of cheese. The majority of householders were tanning their own leather, especially in Lot 25. The one tannery, located in Lot 19 and owned by Mrs. Alexander Waugh had 700 pounds of tanned leather in stock. Nearly everyone was weaving and had quantitites of yard goods on hand. James Waugh had 100 yards of fulled cloth and William Curtis, William Hacker and Herbert Hogg had over 100 yards each but some of this hand~woven material was waiting for a fulling frolic. There were two grist mills in opera— tion and the three saw mills were keeping a stock of lumber on hand.

The census taker has presented a moderately clear view of the activities of our ancestors and it does not require much imagination to look behind the scenes to the hard work and careful husbandry that was necessary to produce that two hundred pounds of butter and the fifty yards of fulled cloth.

The women in the homes, although the only indication that they ex- isted was that numerical listing under female, were the ones who saw to it