Murdock & Hughie MacNeil

ock MacNeil. I cannot recall much about his an- cestors, but they arrived in the late 1700’s when the few Scottish settlers squatted on the land given up by the French. It should be noted that the French farm— ers did not own the land; they were tenants just as much as many Islanders were in the early days of our province. It is noted that Lord Selkirk sold his land outright and that no one failed to pay for their farms.

I remember Murdock (who was a first cousin of my grandmother, married my grandmother’s niece) telling me some stories of his father and the early days of mov- ing along the blazed trails. One of his stories was of a teacher from Pictou arriving at this shore. He was to teach in Glen William. He was shown the trail to Murray River but got lost, and his remains were found a couple of years later in a swamp in Hopefield.

Murdock had one of the better farms in Little Sands and he and his ancestors must have done a lot of work Clearing big fields. He had a badly swollen leg and I can see him, sitting in the sleigh going to church, sitting with his legs straight ahead. He was regarded to be very care- ful with his money. In his older years he did the raking of the hay. I can see him chasing small wisps of hay; nothing useful was left in the field. He drove the horse in the sling, lifting the hay into the barn loft (hayfork).

Tm next farm to my grandfather’s was that of Mur— d

29