Enoch Lewis PALMER

• General Notes
  • http://www.okcm.ca/vsouthmtn.html
    
    Kings County Vignettes
    
    On the Brow of the South Mountain
    Along the brow of the South Mountain are communities with which many are not familiar. They are just places to pass through on the way to Lake George.
    South of Kingston is Tremont and South Tremont or Conquerall Settlement. Driving east are Rockville Notch, Harmony, Nicholsville, Factory Dale, Morristown, Rockland and Prospect. There are sections of the old Canaan Road which was a military trail from Windsor to Annapolis long before roads were laid out. Each community is individually scenic and there are many panoramic views of the valley. All are full of history.
    The names of the places are interesting. Tremont is probably named for the old section of Boston. Rockville Notch is truly descriptive. Steep hills from west and east dip down to an old iron bridge over the Fales River. This tumbling stream was not always an artist's and fisherman's dream, but a bustling community of lumber mills, log drives and the attending industries. Harmony suggests peace and harmony, but Dr. Kirkconnell, in Place Names of Kings County, says the name is more likely derived from Harmony, Pennsylvania and New Harmony in Indiana, the world famous sites of idealistic socialist communities founded, in 1805 and 1814, by German immigrants under George Rapp and Robert Owen who were leaders in socialism and trade unions.
    The area of Nicholsville was granted in 1797 to five members of a Barclay family but gets its name from the large number of Nichols families who later settled there. The first was Elisha Nichols who came from Horton Township. Morristown was named for a provincial Surveyor, General Charles Morris, in 1859. It was originally written as two words, Morris Town.
    Factorydale was so named as it was once the thriving center for much lumber related business. It is part of Morristown community and was originally written Factory Dale. The names Rockland and Prospect are descriptive but Dr. Kirkconnell says there are ten Prospects in the United States, many of them in Connecticut.
    South of Tremont is an interesting, nostalgic area, now abandoned. It is known as Conquerall Settlement. This was once a thriving community where thirty-two children attended the school. By 1920 not one family remained. Lumbering was the source of income with small farms to provide food. A man named Craven once had a large fruit farm here with apples, pears, plums and even grapes. All that remains is overgrown cellars, twisted fruit trees twined with vines, and escapees from gardens of the past. An artist who enjoys painting such scenes would enjoy a visit to Conquerall Settlement.
    Factorydale is another spot of interest to artists and fishermen but was once humming with activity. In early days the "River Drive" was an exciting event. Logs were cut during the winter and hauled to the edge of the South River. When the ice broke up in the spring, expert river drivers rolled the logs into the stream and, with peeves and poles, floated them down to the mill pond at Factorydale and on to Millville. Log jams occurred and separating them was skilled and dangerous work. As logs came through the sluice at Factorydale, people came from all around to enjoy the scene. Children were given a half day free from school to watch and were treated to molasses cookies from the cook house.
    At one time there was a saw mill, a dowling and sash factory and a carding mill, as well as a blacksmith shop at the site. One of the first steam mills in the province was operated here by Archibald McNeill. Hartley Hiltz had a store in his home and later in another building and had a thriving business.
    In 1920 the town of Berwick built a power dam and plant at Factorydale to provide power for the town. In 1921 Factorydale and Morristown organized a power company and bought power from Berwick until it was sold to the Avon River Power Company and later to Nova Scotia Light and Power.
    Each of these communities could have a history written of early settlers, early industry and present day descendants. Many of these people are influential in the life of Kings County today. Hard work and dedicated support of church and school were a way of life. Rev. Dr. Charles Tupper, father of Sir Charles Tupper, was an eminent theologian and was the first minister in Morristown-Factorydale.
    In 1962, Mrs. Muriel Palmer Nichols and Miss Hazel Francis Roland wrote A Brief History of Morristown School Section. This was sponsored by the Morristown Home and School Association. It has a wealth of information in it and should be reprinted. Miss Roland is now Mrs. Haskell and lives in Grand View Manor, Berwick. The Roland family is of German descent and came to Morristown from Wilmot in 1858. Mrs. Haskell's brother was a professor of Botany at the Nova Scotia Agriculture College for many years. In 1967, in collaboration with Dr. E. C. Smith of Acadia University, they compiled the book Flora Of Nova Scotia which was published by the Nova Scotia Museum. This book, which is a major reference book for botanists, has between forty and fifty thousand plates and took fifteen years of study to complete.
    In 1986, John A DeCoste and Twila L. Robar-DeCoste wrote a History Of Aylesford Township and has valuable information on communities near Aylesford. The following two paragraph from the above sources illustrate the spirit of adventure of the early settlers.
    The Palmer family, who were United Empire Loyalists, had a grant in Shelburne in 1783 and later in Aylesford Township. In 1810, Enoch Lewis Palmer received a grant in what is now Morristown. He left his home in Aylesford with all his worldly possessions he thought necessary in a sack, and followed a trail up the South Mountain. He walked east until he found a spring of bubbling water and built a log cabin. In 1811, he married Margaret Robinson who was also from a United Empire Loyalist family. She was a remarkable woman. They had fourteen children in the log cabin and, in addition to helping her husband with the farm work, she taught her children reading, writing and arithmetic.
    The early Cogswell family were also enterprising. Hezekia Cogswell came to Horton Township as a New England Planter in 1761. The family later bought property in Morristown. Their descendants tell of the Cogswell family clipping the wings of large flocks of turkeys and driving them, on foot, to market in Halifax.
    The Hutchinsons are another Loyalist family who had a grant in Aylesford, but in 1836, Francis Hutchinson moved to Morristown. The Hutchinson orchards are show places today. One writer described the orchards of Morristown as "drilled battalions" on the gently rolling slopes.