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  As you know, the ancestors of the Chisholm’s came from northern Scotland, not far from the town of Inverness to the northeast; or from Loch Ness to the east and southeast. It appears from history that they (the people) lived there from Roman times. The Romans called them the "Picts" or painted ones because they painted their bodies and were very warlike. The Romans never were able to conquer them and finally left the British Isles around 400 BC. Of course, they weren't known as the Chisholm’s then because first and last names as we know them weren't used. We don't know what language they spoke at that time. Around the year 500 the Scots came over from Ireland (yes, they were called Scots) and brought the Irish language with them. Eventually, all of the Scottish highlands spoke the language. The Picts were also assimilated by the Scots. (Even today after 1500 plus years there is a very recognizable similarity between Irish, as spoken in Ireland and Gaelic spoken in Scotland).

 

  The name Chisholm first appeared around the year 1254. When William the Conqueror invaded England in the year 1066 he brought a lot of knights, etc. with him. Over the course of the next decades, many of them went up to the north of England then into the highlands (Grants, Frasers, etc.). The story of the Chisholm family name thus starts with John De Chisholm, named in an edict of Pope Alexander IV at that time. He and his family were given large land grants or married into monied/land rich families. Over the next several centuries the Chisholm’s acquired large tracts of land in the Strathglass/Strathfarrer/Glen Affric/Glen Morriston area, spoke Gaelic and the common people became a Clan. The people all took the Chisholm name and differentiated themselves with a first name and when they had the same first name used patrilineal designation (my grandfather was known as Johnny big William Chisholm to differentiate him from all the other John Chisholms in the area), Gaelic was never much as a written language, history and tradition being handed down orally. (I saw this in my own father who only had a third grade education but could recite long. long poems from memory). Over the centuries from 1300 to 1700 the Chisholm Clan was involved in a series of little wars with their neighbors, stealing each others cattle, etc. During this time also, in early 1600, the Chisholm built a small castle, called Erchless Castle which still exists today (I visited it a few years ago at a Clan reunion). Because the Chisholm lands would not support a large population, the Clan remained small compared to other Clans around it. When other Clans were forming alliances, the Chisholm’s managed to stay independent and sometimes played both sides of a dispute or skirmish. The Clan also remained Roman Catholic when so much of the rest of Scotland converted to Protestantism.

 

The highlands of Scotland also were trying to shake off the British. Several wars were fought in 1689, 1719 and the last one in 1745. Each time the Highlanders lost and paid the price. The Chisholm Clan was involved in each of these wars, sometimes on both sides. The people had to suffer loss of life, confiscation of cattle and other property. As it was, the people lived a hard life. They lived in houses we would describe as hovels. The diet consisted of some pork or beef, oats, turnips and whiskey. Life expectancy was about 40. Schooling did not exist. Since by this time war and the need for fighters were out of the question, the Chiefs required rents from the people to support them. Being poor, however, these people could not pay much. Also the birth rate was creating more people than the land could support. All of these developments were reasons that caused later migrations out of the highlands. Many, but not all of the people were hopeful for a new life in the New World.

 

 In the early 1700s, the British built roads into the area, making access easier. Many Clan Chiefs were enticed to send their sons to school in England. The people had no work and towards the middle of the 1700s many joined the British army. A large number of them fought against the Americans during the Revolutionary War. They brought back stories of cheap land in North America. About this time also the Chiefs and their close relatives got used to the good life and needed more money than they could get from their tenants. The Chisholm Clan was among these.

 

During the late 1700s emigrations started. North Carolina was at first a magnet for many Chisholm’s. Also many began settling in Canada after the Revolutionary War. The Chief of Clan Chisholm was offered a lot of money to open up his lands for sheep raising. But he first had to get rid of the people. At first he held fast, primarily due to his daughter, but soon the lure of money got to him. In 1801 a large number of Chisholm’s were put on ships at Fort Augustus and many landed in Pictou, Nova Scotia, about 6-8 weeks later. From there the headed to an area that later became Antigonish County. Among these were the grandparents of my Grandfather, John William Chisholm. Again in 1818, a further clearance of the land took place, many of whom also went to Nova Scotia and followed the first group of Chisholm’s to the same area. Among this group were the Grandparents of my Grandmother, Mary Angus (Minnie) Chisholm (Many others went to the American South and to Australia and New Zealand. The British government wanted to populate all these places and passage on the ships was very cheap). However accommodations on the ships were miserable. The passage was stormy for the little boats of that time. Rotten food, when available, was the common fair. Water was contaminated; sanitation almost nonexistent and the passengers were crammed in and almost always wet and cold. Thus, many died on the passage over, among who were predominantly children. And so, the Chisholm’s who are our ancestors arrived in the New World; no money; no food; could only speak Gaelic and were given each 200 acres of land in the dense forests of Glassburn (a gaelic related term for black river) Black Avon, Pomquet and other places in the area.. Their fellow Chisholm’s and others helped them through the first year. They gave the areas they settled in names they new from their former homes in the Highlands: Glassburn, Inverness, St Andrews, Arisaig...The list goes on and on.

 

When I left off last, our Chisholm’s had arrived in Nova Scotia - the first group, on my grandfather's (John William) side in 1801, and again in 1818 a second group on my grandmother's (Minnie) side.

 

They, like most of the other Scots, landed in Pictou harbor. A lot of the good land along the coast and the local rivers had already been taken and they eventually moved up the trail to the next available land (the current Route 4 from Pictou to Antigonish and beyond  was a trail cut through the woods that eventually went past Heatherton and down towards Guysborough). Remember, the people had few belongings, no money; many could not read or write, spoke only Gaelic and found themselves in a vast, dark forest. However, there was an abundance of deer and other animals and the rivers were teeming with fish.  

 

  At first they looked around and settled on areas no one else claimed. They were squatters. Then claims were made at the government land office and so they received their 200 or so acres. Initially, the provincial government provided them with some tools and provisions, but eventually they were on their own. At first, they stayed with friends and relatives from the old country, but after the first winter cleared a patch of land and built their first houses out of logs with mud placed in the spaces between. No machinery, no horses, cows, sheep or pigs. No plumbing or electricity and a limited diet. They lived off the land. All of them were Catholics, but there were in the first years no priests or churches.  

Fortunately, by the early 1800s, the local Micmac Indians did not present a problem.

The first crop they grew was wheat, planted around the stumps of the trees they cleared, but they had no way to grind it so had to haul it many miles through the forest to someone who had a hand mill. All supplies had to come along the north shore from Pictou or be carried on their back through the forest. In a few years they grew wheat for bread, ate lots of fish, deer meat and berries and planted potatoes. It was a few years later before cattle and sheep were introduced. Their main tool was the axe and the hoe. In general they cut a little clearing, planted some wheat or eyes from a potatoes in the Spring and harvested in the Fall. After a few years - in the 1820s and 1830s - enough land was cleared and the crops were sufficient that they could introduce sheep and cattle, and farming, as we know it, was widespread. Our ancestors worked hard in the old country also, but it was for someone else's benefit. They probably worked harder in the new land but it was their land, for their own benefit.

 

  In the early days, marriages were contracted before a magistrate, children grew up unbaptized and church was a meeting held in somebody's house. Eventually, the few available priests would make the rounds every couple of months. Then they would baptize the kids and marry those who had gone to the magistrate previously.  It would be many years before roads would be built. Mail was carried by the Postman traveling many scores of miles on foot. Eventually the trails became paths and wooden sleds were drawn by men at first and later by oxen. In the winter many of the men went off to Pictou, Truro or Halifax to earn some money. The labor of clearing the land went on. Soon the demand for lumber created work for many of the men.

 

  Soon also, little chapels were built from about 1816-1820 on, along the narrow roads. People got engaged and married like they did in the old country. A young man wanting to get married took a friend with him and a bottle of whiskey to the house where there were one or more marriageable daughters. Soon the bottle is passed around and eventually the friend tells the father that the wife-seeker desires to marry one of his daughters. The father takes the young intended aside and tells her that the young man wants to marry her. If she says no, then the matter is ended. The young disappointed swain and his friend go on to the next house. But if she says yes, they are allowed to get together for a chat and settle the matter. They are then considered betrothed. It wasn't done so superficially as it seems, for the people all knew each other. Weddings were another ceremony accompanied by much dancing and consumption of alcohol. Initially the houses of our early ancestor settlers were separated 2 or 3 miles apart, connected only by a path through the woods. When looking for land, one sought a place that had a stream nearby and where a well could be built. This was a key consideration. Neighbors visited each other frequently, walking for miles through the woods. Especially in the winter, neighbors would often visit. The visit would be spent telling stories about the "olden times". Our Chisholm ancestors were more superstitious than we. Many of these tales were about spirits and ghosts. The kids grew up listening to this and many a night, after sitting around the fire, went to sleep scared. They passed it on when they grew up. I remember when I was young, listening to relatives talk about these things; but the art of storytelling has died out.

 

When I left off last, the Chisholm’s and other early settlers from the Highlands of Scotland were getting into farming and starting to make a better life for themselves. But who were these Chisholm’s and where did they live?

Before we get into the family tree, let me explain that you will see a lot of Chisholm’s marrying other Chisholm’s. They were Catholics and the Church would not allow anybody to marry another relative closer than a second cousin. This was never a problem, however, since there were so many Chisholm’s who came over from the old Country. You will also find that there were a lot of John Chisholm’s. (One Summer - 1952 - I spent in Glassburn I looked at the list of voters in the area and over half were named John Chisholm). To identify these people, they were given names related to their family or where they lived. "Johnny big Duncan" or "Tom the Schoolhouse", etc. Another item to note was that most families were large by our standards, usually six to ten children. This abundance of kids was to have later consequences. Also, the areas, such as Heatherton, Frasers Grant, Glassburn, Lower South River, Saint Andrews, Meadow Green had all been settled and were no more than 15 miles from each other. The first of our ancestors to settle in the area of Glassburn (Black River), was Alexander Chisholm . He married a Janet Chisholm.

 

 Among their large family was a John Chisholm, born about 1820. He married a Catherine Chisholm and they had six children, among whom two grew up to be priests (Rev Donald, 1844-1916, who was parish priest in Heatherton; also Rev. Finlay Chisholm, 1848-1939, who was parish priest in Cape Breton). 

 

  About this time also, the young people started to speak English, although the use of Gaelic still predominated. Sheep and cattle had been introduced and farming was what a good ninety-five percent of the young people aspired to. Agriculture began to pick up and farmers could sell their excess produce. Cooperatives were formed and money began to come in, although nobody got rich. Schools were beginning to be built. This was the one room school, where all grades were taught by men at first, and then later by woman, because the pay was not very good. About this time also (1842) the first Church was built in Heatherton 

 

  John and Catherine's youngest son, John Chisholm (my great-grandfather for reference) married a Kate MacIntosh of the Lower South River MacIntoshes. They had nine kids, among whom was my Grandmother, the famous "Minnie", born in 1878. The second oldest daughter, Cassie married a Pat Gillis and they had fourteen children. When she passed away some years ago, all fourteen kids were at her bedside.  The seventh child of John and Kate, Janet - Minnie's sister - married an Alexander MacDonald from Fraser's Grant.

 

 I mentioned the fact that most families had many kids. The aim of parents was to buy land so their kids could also start up a farm. But there were too many sons to buy land for and daughters to marry off. Population reached it high point about 1880. About this time also the economy was booming in New England and this became a magnet for the excess population, especially the City that the people called the "Boston States" I mention the foregoing to lead into the family of the man whom Minnie would marry. My great-grandfather was "Big Duncan" Chisholm. He married a Catherine Chisholm. One of their sons, Alex migrated to the States to Providence, RI. Several of his relatives followed. He drowned and his brother, my grandfather, John W Chisholm (1866-1935) took the body back to Nova Scotia. He remained there and took over "Big Duncan's" farm form his dad. The farm was located down the hill from and almost next to the farm that belonged to Minnie's. This was about 1896 or so. He married a woman who my Aunts told me was "sickly". They had one child who died and so did his first wife.

 

When we last left off, my grandfather, John W Chisholm, had become a widower. He was about 32 years old and this was about 1897. Most of the Chisholm’s and their offspring were almost all involved in farming, although a few of the younger folk had begun to go west or to the States looking for work. Most of the available land was settled and the farms would not support large families. Besides, people were looking for a better life. On the adjacent farm was my grandmother's family farm. There, John Chisholm and Kate Mackintosh had 10 children among whom was Minnie. Born in 1878, she was about 20 years old and 12 years younger than my grandfather when they married. Over the next 17 years, they had 9 living offspring. Of the nine, all except one were at one time or another in the States. Before moving onto the kids, I will tell you what I know about my grandparents. Although they understood the Gaelic language, they were brought up speaking English. And none of their kids spoke Gaelic. It was considered a backward language at the time and to be "in" English was spoken.  My grandfather John William died in 1935. I never got to know him. I have a letter he wrote to my dad in 1931 telling him that he should come back to Glassburn because there were farms to be had cheap (remember this was during the Depression in the USA).  

 

Minnie was a very gentle woman. I was told she balanced out my grandfather who tended to be very strict with his family. His word was the law. The summers I spent on the farm, she would play cribbage or poker with me at night. She became the Postmistress for Glassburn and had a small room in the house set aside for this purpose. All the surrounding neighbors would come and pick up or deliver their mail. Every afternoon we had tea and cake or cookies with jam. They lived on the farm and raised their growing family. Every Sunday they went to church in Heatherton. Automobiles had not yet come on the scene and so it was with the horses and a wagon they traveled, except in very deep snows in the winter. Their neighbors were mostly relatives - Minnie's brother, Dan on her old homestead and a cousin, John J ("Johnny Archie") Chisholm on an adjacent farm. Nova Scotia during this time had begun to encourage the young people to get some schooling and every one of their children attended school for at least a couple of years. This was in the one room school up the road. During the First World War the kids were too young and my grandfather too old to serve in the Canadian Army, fortunately. Minnie’s sister, Florence was a schoolteacher, but I don't know at what school.

As late as 1948, the farms in Glassburn had no electricity and no bathrooms. At night, oil lamps were used. A windmill supplied energy to a battery which powered a radio. If one wanted to go to the bathroom, the outhouse was about 100 feet away, Water came from a well. In the house a pump was used to get water. All of this changed around 1950, when electricity and bathrooms (for some folks) came to Glassburn. At some time prior, my uncle, Colin, bought a truck. During the 1950s, a group of farmers got together and purchased a tractor which they rotated from farm to farm during the harvest, etc.  

 

You asked about your mother's uncles and aunts on my father's side and I will go down the roster, from the oldest to the youngest. Most left the farm and came to the States/Boston to find work. The men became lineman (working with electric high tension lines) and most of the woman worked as domestics. Nova Scotia produced a great number of linemen, especially from Antigonish County. One guy left to work in central Canada or the States and brought another after him, and so forth. Canadian woman were sought after as domestics by the well-to-do because they were clean, hardworking and spoke English 

1. Catherine (Cassie) was the oldest, born in 1899. She left for the States - to Providence RI I believe - at an early age and never returned home to my knowledge. She was a very proud woman and held no affection for life on the farm. During WWII she worked, as a secretary, for some big shot in the Army in DC. She retired in the late sixties and moved to Florida. There, at 75, she married a Gerry (?) Clark from Pittsburgh PA. The last time I saw her was in Florida about 1979. She passed away in 1980.

2. Margaret (1900-1985) also left the farm and moved to Boston. She married a man named Joseph Dunn (1903-1970) from Prince Edward Island. They lived in Brighton and had 5 children. One of the boys, Donald, died in 1977. Jack (not married), Robert, Paul and Jeannie all live in the Boston area.

3. Florence  born in 1903 also moved to the States and with her younger sister worked for a very rich New York family as a domestic. Summers in Newport RI and Winters in Manhattan. She married a man by the name of Gottfried. He was killed in an accident in Germany in 1945/46. In the 1960s she went back to Canada to care for her mother, who was up in years, and lived on the farm for a while with her mother and brother who ran the farm. When they gave up and sold the farm, they all moved to Heatherton to a house across from the old church. When the others passed away she moved to Antigonish. Florence was a serene person, and gave the impression she was putting on airs, but she was really a nice, down to earth. Her death in 1993 caused a little incident. She left a little bit of money - almost $80,000. A short time prior, a woman lawyer, obviously preying on a 90 year-old woman, got her to put this lawyer in her will and she, the lawyer, received most of the money. I was asked by Canadian cousins, who will remain unknown, if I would participate in a lawsuit to try to get the money back, but I declined as I had no right to any of it.

4. Colin, (1904-1973) was the oldest son. He came to the States in the early 1920s and worked as a lineman. He was very active young man and had a motorcycle and then a roadster. He never married. During WWII he was a corporal in the Army, but released because of a prior motorcycle injury. In 1944 or so he returned to Glassburn to take over the farm. He was my mentor/buddy when I spent summers in Glassburn. Sundays we would go to church with grandmother, Minnie, and with me and others in the area riding in the back of the truck (He had benches for the passengers). Once a month or so we got to "go to town" in Antigonish to buy whatever was needed, get a haircut, etc. In the 1960s he, with his mother and sister, Florence sold the old homestead and moved to Heatherton. His health deteriorated and he passed away in 1973.

 

We pick up now, continuing with the children of John W and Minnie Chisholm, 

your great-grandparents. Remember this was the period from about 1920 to 1940 

when the young people in Glassburn (indeed in all of Antigonish County) were 

leaving the farm and coming up to Boston to find work. First, in the 1890s, 

it was just a few. But the word soon got back that life was better up here  and

one could find work and a better life. This is the background of how we all

ended up here in New England.

 

We last discussed my uncle Colin.

 

5. John A Chisholm (my dad) was the next child, born in 1906. He only 

attended a few years of grammar school at the one room schoolhouse and grew up

helping his dad on the farm. My grandfather sent him off to Agricultural College

in Truro, NS sometime in his teenage years to learn modern farming methods.

But dad left the farm and came to the States in 1926 as a twenty year old. He

got work as a lineman (like many others I mentioned in the last segment) in

Providence and Boston over the next several years. He showed me once where he

lived for a while in the South End of Boston. Anyway, he took several trips

"back home to Glassburn" over the years. One time in 1928, he went back with

his brother Colin and sister Jenny for a visit. It was there that he first met

my mother, Mary Long in East Renville, Guysborough County (we’ll talk about

the Longs in a future segment). Jenny, set up the meeting, a visit to my

other grandfather, Joseph Long, and my mother happened to be also home on a

visit, from her job in Truro. The rest you know, so I won't go into my dad’s life

any more deeply. My parents got married in 1933, during the great 

depression. Under the tough economic circumstances at the time, they just got married

at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. They didn't tell anyone, just went off and

got married. No wedding as such, which kind of disappointed their siblings

especially Dad's sister Jennie. They lived on Forest Street in Roxbury,

across from St Patrick’s Grammar School where I was born a year later, in 1934. In

the early years of their marriage they used to go to dances where other

Canadians and Irish also congregated. You are familiar with the rest. Dad passed

away in 1977. 

6. Jenny C. Chisholm was the next child born in 1908. Because of the age 

groupings in the family, Jennie was closest to my father and her older brother, 

Colin than to the others. For instance, they learned to smoke cigarettes and 

drink whiskey or beer together, ever mindful not to get caught by their

strict father. In spite of this, she was the "glue" that kept the family together.

 Before coming to the States, her father decided that she would be the school

 teacher at on of the local one-room schools, in the adjacent Guysborough 

County, I believe. She related to me during a long talk (after uncorking the

second bottle of wine) some years back that she didn't' want to teach and

indeed was afraid of some of the young louts who were in her classes. But her

father decided and she had no choice. Among these "louts” was a youth destined to

become my uncle, Richard Long. This was the reason she visited Joseph Long

in 1928 where my father met my mother. She related that at the time she

thought my mother, Mary Long too "skinny", but my dad disagreed as they discussed

the visit on the way home to Glassburn at the time. Jenny never married. She

also worked for the same rich family in New York as her older sister,

Florence. She frequently visited all her siblings both in the states and in Nova

Scotia and was often at our house in Winthrop Street. If one wanted to know what

was going on in the family, Aunt Jenny knew. After many years as a domestic,

she retired to Florida where she passed away in 1988. 

7. Mary was the next child, born in 1912. I first met her in 1939, when she 

was a Registered Nurse visiting the States? At that time she was engaged to a

Ronny "Lauchy" MacDonald from Heatherton. They married and built a house

also across from the church in Heatherton. Ronny, her husband ran a gas station.

They had five children, the first of which died at birth. They had four

other kids, Basil, Gail, Judith (never married) all who are retired and now live

in Halifax, NS; and Gwen who lives with her husband in British Columbia.

Ronny passed away around 1951 and she was left raising the kids and running the

business. When the Transcend Highway was built she gave up the gas station.

After all the kids were married or moved out, she eventually moved into a

senior citizens home in Antigonish. Aunt Mary knew everyone in Heatherton and

the surrounding district and was a real font of information.  She passed away

in 1998 (?).

8. The next child was a boy, Bernard, born in 1913. I don't know much about 

him, except he worked on the docks in Halifax for some years. He returned in 

1952 and bought a farm about a quarter mile downs the road from the Chisholm 

homestead (I visited him when he was fixing up the old house on the farm in 

1952). Soon thereafter he married a woman, Mary Quirk and they had - in quick 

succession - five children. Several of my Aunts, listed previously. were not

in favor of this marriage, and were not afraid to say so. In any case, Bernard

died in 1970 of a brain tumor. [I believe you were with my father when he

visited Bernard in the hospital]. Mary and her kids lost the farm and moved

into the old schoolhouse where all the Chisholm kids had gone to school. Today,

the youngest of my cousins, Jerome, from this family still lives in the

schoolhouse. Of his brothers, two work in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and two are in the

Antigonish area.

9. Anne was the youngest child, born in 1915. (She will be 90 years old next

month, March 2005) She also emigrated to the Boston area.  About 1947 she

married Angus MacDonald (from Prince Edward Island).  They had two children,

Elaine and John. Angus died in 1951 and Anne had to raise the two kids alone. All

currently live in Melrose MA in the same house with Elaine’s husband, Mike.

John has never married.

 

This then is a brief rundown of your mother's uncles and aunts on my 

father's side.

 

The time that our Chisholm ancestors spent in Nova Scotia was roughly 100 

years. They went from being primitive farmers in Scotland to modern farmers in 

Nova Scotia to trades people to what you see today in your generation. From

being semi-illiterate, speaking only Gaelic, to your generation where most

people have a college education. The one thing that was their trademark was: hard

work and a desire to see that their kids had a better life.

 

Starting off with my mother's family, the Long lineage. We know that they came from County Cork in Ireland, from a place called Bantry. If you look at a map of Ireland, Bantry is located on the southwest corner of the country, about 70 miles southwest of Cork on Bantry Bay. Because of their proximity to the ocean, many Longs were fishermen and some say the name comes from the Old Irish word Longaigh which means fisherman.

 

In any case, they left Ireland around 1845 having heard of a better life in the - at that time - young nation of USA. Times were hard in Ireland at the time and the potato famine had set in. Under English rule, the Irish couldn't make a decent living for themselves, since most of the industry and land was owned by a few Irish and a lot of English.

The ship carrying the original settlers was headed for Boston. On board was Joseph Long (1783-1871) with his wife Catherine (nee Nylon) and their four kids. Passage through the north Atlantic was harsh, lasting up to ten weeks. Conditions were not all that different from what the Chisholm’s had to endure some thirty years earlier. Along the way, the ship got lost and landed at a place called Country Harbor, in what is now Guysborough County on the east coast of Nova Scotia. They decided to stay in Nova Scotia and settle there (probably, to get away from conditions on the boat). The remains of the cellars where they built their first houses still exist I am told, but I never inquired further where that is. During this time the Irish tended to stick together. The names of the spouses of the children - Mulchahey, MacKinnon, Sullivan, etc. attest to this.  Early on, there was a town called Bantry, named after the town in Ireland and a book exists describing it, but I have not gotten a copy. In any case, Joseph and Catherine had three more children in the New World.

 

Among their seven children was my great-grandfather, Edward Long, born in 1835. Edward married, in 1860, a Margaret White. The Long and White families were close friends.  The union of Edward and Margaret produced ten children. The sixth child was Joseph Long (1875-1965), my grandfather.

 

Here we have to pause on an issue that none of my Long ancestors ever talked about. It appears that Edward Long had a liaison with a Micmac Indian woman, since Joseph Long had Indian blood in him. This is somewhat conjecture, but the Indian blood is definitely there. Many of us asked over the years, but no one ever gave a satisfactory explanation.

Joseph Long worked for a while in a gold mine. He had his eye on a woman, Sarah Gillis (1880-1959) from Meadow Green (adjacent to Glassburn where the Chisholms lived). Her father was John Gillis, whose family also came from Scotland a few decades earlier. Her family was dead set against her marrying this miner who they considered below her station. But romance triumphed and they were married in 1901. It appears this was a "shotgun wedding" since their first child Mary, who died in infancy, was born about the time they were married. They lived for a time in a place called Forest Hills, later moving to East Erinville, where most of their nine children were born. Their existence was very spartan. They were considered poor, even by Nova Scotia standards of the time. Most of the kids left home early to seek a better life elsewhere, many in the Boston area. As may be inferred from our reading of the Chisholms in the area, there was a significant number of Canadians in Boston and environs at the time. These people tended to get together and party, go to dances and even work for the same companies. As with the Chisholms, many of the men worked as linemen.

After Mary, who died, there came John ("Jack Long" 1904-1974) who emigrated to the States in the 1920s. He was a lineman all his life, working his last years for the Boston MBTA. He married a woman of Polish descent, Helen Sobocinski (d. 1991). They had three daughters. Two - Rita and Barbara - passed away recently in 1993, but the middle daughter Patricia currently lives on Cape Cod with her family.

 

Next came William "Bill" Long who followed his brother to the Boston area. He also was a lineman. He fell for a woman from Canada - who shall remain unknown - but she left him for another emigree from Cape Breton. He then married Margaret MacLellan, also from Cape Breton (her father was a lighthouse keeper). They had five boys. The three oldest, Billy, Jimmy and Johnny are married with kids, the fourth, Tommy got married recently. The youngest, Bobby never married.

The next was Margaret "Peg" (1907-1998?). She married Edward Rogers who was described as a very nice, personable guy. They had one daughter Mary, who died in infancy. They adopted a daughter Josephine, "Josie", who has become a focal point for all the original thirty grandchildren of Joseph and Sarah.

 

The next child was my mother, Mary Long (1909-1990). I won't go into details as you know pretty much all about her. I mentioned the fact that the Longs were poor. When my mother was fifteen years old in 1924, her father put her on a wagon and sent her to Truro to work as a waitress in a train station. She never forgave her parents for that. In 1959, on her mother's death bed, they discussed it, and her mother told her it was wrong, but times were tough. In 1929, she came to the States and stayed for a time with her older brother, Jack, in Arlington MA. She already knew my father, having met him a year earlier when he and Jenny visited them (see Family History VI}. They went out together for a time and got married in 1933. No wedding or party for them, this was during the great depression and money was scarce. One was lucky to have a job. They set up house at 9 Forest Street in Roxbury where I was born in 1934. Having learned no office skills, my mother worked off and on as a waitress most of her life except when she was rearing her five children. I still remember the parties they threw when I was only 4 or 5 years old. My mother was always the wild one; my father was more conservative and quiet. Anyway you know pretty much about her, having lived with her for almost ten years.

 

The next in line was Daniel Long (1913-2004). He also became a lineman, working for a time in central Canada. He had a long time girlfriend who came from Fraser's Grant (near Heatherton). For some reason or other she didn't want to get married. She ended up marrying another man. I remember one time I went down for a Clan Chisholm reunion and she was there. She questioned me quite extensively about Uncle Dan and how he was doing, not knowing I knew who she was and about her long relationship with him. In any case, Dan married, in 1961, a Mary MacPherson who had been a nurse. They had one daughter, Joann, who is currently living in Halifax with her husband Noel Sampson. The Sampsons have an adopted son. Dan and Mary lived for many years in Antigonish. In 2003 they moved to  Halifax to be near their daughter. Dan passed away in 2004 at the age of 91, the last surviving sibling of my mother.

 

Richard Long (1916-1984). Dick was the wild man of the family. He grew up without too much schooling. You may recall he was a student of my dad's sister Jenny (see family history VI). In his early 20s, he was drafted in the Canadian Army and fought in the WWII for almost 6 years. he was wounded twice. During the War he met a woman in Scotland, Millicent Piethy. They were married over there and in the 1950s, he came to the States. Uncle Dick stayed with us until Millicent arrived from Scotland some months later. They had five kids over the next fifteen years. Dick had a drinking problem and he and Millicent separated. Eventually he returned to Nova Scotia, living in a cabin, not far from his sister in Boylston, Guysborough County. When I visited him there, he had all his walls filled with many hundreds of books he had read. His kids have scattered. The oldest, Millicent lives in Montreal with her daughter. One boy is in St Louis, a daughter lives in Dorchester and the rest I have lost track of. Aunt Millicent lived in Dorchester also but may haved moved.

 

Catherine Long (1919-2003), "Aunt Kay" was also an adventerous soul. I recall she came to the States on a visit, sometime around 1940 and she and my mother went around town visiting all the stores, having a few drinks on the way, which greatly disturbed my father. The next thing I recall - sometime in 1949/50 - was that she was expecting a baby, as yet not married. This precipitated many phone calls I recall among various family members. Anyway, she married the father,  John MacGillivary. They moved out to western Canada, and raised five children. John passed away some years ago and Kay moved out to Watrous, Seskatchewan to live with her daughter Sarah and her family. One of their sons, Daniel was killed in a car crash in 1996. All the other kida: John, Deborah and Janet were living in western Canada, last time I checked.

 

Edith Long (1921-1991) was the youngest of the family of Joseph and Sarah. She married a local man, Donald Connoly and together they had five children, one of whom died as an infant. The other four all live in Nova Scotia. For many years they had a store in Boylston, down the road from Guysborough. Today his oldest son, also named Donald, has taken over running the store. After Edith died Don soon remarried, to the consternation of some in the Long family. Don was very active in almost all the civic, religous, and societal organizations in the area. But he soon passed away at 84 in 2002.

 

Joseph and Sarah Long, parents of all of these eight kids also adopted a girl, Geraldine, who grew up with and is considered part of the family. She is married and has six children of her own.

 

Like the Chisholms, the original Longs came to Nova Scotia (by accident) looking for a better life. Half the kids eventually moved to the Massachusetts area and their descendants - for the most part - still live in New England. The other half remained in Nova Scotia and their descendents still reside in Nova Scotia or, in the case of Aunt Kay's family, in western Canada. Thus, for a majority of them, Nova Scotia was a way station; from the Old Country to the States or elsewhere, their stay lasting some 70 years, similiar to the Chisholms.