Properties and People COTTAGE TO WOODMERE (N5) Samuel Westacott of Barnstaple, England and his wife Mary (Garneau) first leased this property from the Montgomery's in 1823. Samuel farmed, as well as being a cabinet maker and fence viewer. His position as fence viewer may be questionable, given the advertisement in the Royal Gazette , December 31,1839. STRAYED away Ten SHEEP, the tips of right ears cut off and short tails. Also Six SHEEP, a hole punched in the right ears, and a cross Tar mark on the Rump. Whoever will give information to the Subscriber shall be rewarded. SAMUEL WESTACOTT Cottage, Dec. 28M839 The Westacotts named their home Cottage. One daughter, Matilda, married Thomas Burnett and settled on the 1-1/8 acre lot of land on the southwest corner of this property (refer to property N 6). Samuel Westacott , died in 1860, aged 65 years. His widow Mary married Abraham Gill Sr. , widower of Little York in 1866. Elizabeth (Wildon) Burnett and her son George, brother of Thomas, leased this property in 1853. The Burnetts moved to Marshfield after having had a family tragedy at their previous home in Fort Augustus . An inquest held in Charlottetown , in 1840, revealed that Elizabeth's husband Matthew had taken his own life by hanging. Matthew and Elizabeth were both natives of Yorkshire , England . In 1859 George Burnett married Ann Gibson of the Marshfield Gibson family. They had three children, John, Mary J. and Elizabeth. Upon the death of Ann, George married Margaret Ferguson in 1867, the witnesses being Susannah Ferguson and Alexander MacBeath . Margaret was the eldest daughter of James Ferguson , St. Peters Road . In the 1891 census George and Margaret are listed as having seven children: Lewis, Mary A., Carry and George H., in addition to the three from George's first marriage. The Examiner of 1868 contains the death notice for Elizabeth Burnett at the residence of her son George, St. Peters Road , age 83 years. At this time the 68 acres were transferred to George. The property was transferred to son Lewis Burnett in 1905, then to Edward (Teddy) Chappell in 1910. Edward was a carpenter (Chappell Construction ) who built the Marshfield School in the 1890's, as well as several other houses in the area including the house of Sheila and Walter Fobes , plus the house on the property where Randall and Barb Morgan live today. The property was transferred to son Robert in 1911, who married his York neighbour Katie Mallet in 1915. Their son Clifford was born in Marshfield while daughter Irene (Jewell) was born in York , Robert having sold the farm and moved to York in 1923. Ernest (Ernie) Foster purchased the farm from the Chappells in '23 and "batched" it for a few years, before marrying Pearl Johnson in 1933. Ernie worked for the Federal Department of Agriculture as a potato inspector for many years. Ernie and Pearl were community spirited and very much involved in Central United Church and the school. Pearl will be remembered for her beautiful flower gardens, having come from a family of florists. They had two daughters' Irene and Elizabeth (Betty). Helen (Brooks) Bishop purchased the farm in 1965, changing it from a mixed livestock and potato farm to one of horses only. Helen and her partner Tony came from Presque Isle, Maine with a few standardbred and many quarter horses. They built a large riding arena where Helen gave riding instructions. She loved her horses very much and paraded them at every opportunity throughout the Maritimes. Helen was a school teacher by profession and became quite involved in the community. Wallace and David Wood in 1976 purchased the property, they in turn selling the back 50 acres to the Mallets of York the same year. The house and lot were sold to Gordon and Donna Carr the following year. The Woods demolished all the old buildings leaving only the arena and the hip-roofed barn which Ernie Foster had built just before retiring. They boarded some riding horses for the first few years but quite quickly moved to the breeding of standardbreds. Wallace ( Wally ) and his wife Doris bought David's interest in the property in 1990. Wally and -981-