Campobello: An Historical SketchWells, Kate Gannett
History
Campobello: An Historical Sketch
Wells, Kate Gannett
Campobello Island (N.B.)
=Tyn-Y-Coed.= In this same record book he writes that the farm called
Tyn-Y-Coed, or The House in the Woods, is so named from "the estate in
Montgomery shire, late of Owen Owen, Esq., and Sir Arthur Davies Owen,
his son, and William Owen, the youngest son, let to John Gregg, for ten
years on his life, at the rate of (6-1/2 s.) six shillings and
sixpence." On the oldest map owned by the present Company, drawn by one
John Wilkinson, in 1830, the Tyn-Y-Coed and also Lake Glen Severn are
designated. The land opposite the Tyn-Y-Coed, where now is the Wells
Cottage, used to be called Mount Pleasant.
The Admiral's domains extended beyond Campobello to Head Harbor, Pope's
Folly, Sandy, Spruce, and Casco Islands. Since his reign some of these
islands have been sold, while Casco Island was given to Chief Justice
Allen, of New Brunswick, by Lady Owen. When the little fishing vessels
and ferry boats, which ply between these islands, and the big schooners
and large steamers, are now counted on any one summer day, it is
difficult to realize how comparatively uncrossed were these waters in
the Admiral's early years of Island life.
=First Steamboat.= The first steamboat in New Brunswick was not launched
till April, 1816, and then it went only as far as Portland; and a second
steamer was not added till 1825. The first New Brunswick newspaper
fortunately was issued in 1783, so that it must have been able to
announce this new maritime project with due sensational headlines.
=First Telegram.= Not until April 30, 1851, was the first telegram sent
from St. John to John Wilson. Curiously reads his answer from St.
Andrews: "Being the first subscriber to the Electric Telegraph Company,
I am honored by the first communication from your city announcing the
great and wonderful work God has made known to man by giving us the
control of the lightnings."
=The Church.= Neither steamboat, newspaper, nor telegram could make
Campobello aught but a narrow confine for the social and political
ambition of the Admiral. An exile because of poverty that compelled him
to accept the royal gift, he felt that he must devote himself to
controversial discussion and the erection of a new Episcopal church.
Before this day the people had been Baptists; personal loyalty
anglicized the religion of all those around Welch Pool.
=Wilson's Baptists.= The people at Wilson's, however, never abandoned
their Baptist tenets, which they brought with them from the neighboring
islands as they settled around Head Harbor. Those along the North Road
rowed over to the larger settlement for baptisms and Sunday services,
which were first held in the schoolhouse, for the church itself was not
built until some thirty-eight years ago.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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