92

Martha Owen, the oldest daughter of Mr. Arthur Owen and immediately moved to Rose Hill Farm at Lot 16. Two years prior, he had purchased the Rose Hill property from his uncle, Thomas Archibald who wished to resettle in Lisbon, Portugal.18 Thomas Archibald’s wife was a sister of John’s mother, Nellie Montgomery.

The young Ramsay couple built the current house on the Rose Hill property. John and Martha were among the first English-speaking settlers on the Lot 16 side of Malpeque Bay. The Prince Edward Island Atlas of 1880 stated that they “experienced many inconveniences at the outset.” A letter, which John wrote to his dying mother back in Malpeque in Dec. of 1815, explained one of the difficulties they faced. The wording, punctuation, and spelling has not been altered. Several words in the original were not able to be determined.

Rose Hill 3rd December 1815

My Dear Mother

I have anxiously looked for you last week but was disappointed — and as I have no prospect of seeing you before the great bridge is made, I am now set down with the intention of entreating you not to sink with grief under the affliction which God in his providence has sent unto you but rather to rejoice in tribulation and look forward with hope unto that happy day when he shall appear whose brightness will ———- and whose counten- ance will dispel trouble and bring much peace, for although the fig tree should not blossom ——— should be no fruit found in the vine ————-yet we have reason to rejoice ————— who is the comforter of the distressed the rock of ages and everlasting portion of his people.

I think it would have been much better to have told Grandmother of it, for it will slip out abruptly some time or other by some person who is unaware of her igno- rance of it. Martha continues to get better every day the child is also very well- We will no doubt be in the mouth of the public but we can ——- it ourselves in our innocence and look our accusers in the face — I am very uneasy until I hear how Father got home as he got hurt before he

LOT 16 UNITED CHURCH AND ITS PEOPLE