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The Skelton Immigrants to Nova Scotia, Canada. 1774.
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The Isthmus of Chignecto, Nova Scotia.
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After the British were victorious in the Seven Years War 1756 to 1763, the French were driven from large parts of what became Canada.
Settlers were eventually invited from Britain to Nova Scotia
A large group, called the "Yorkshire Immigration", went there between 1772 and 1775
More than 20 sailing ships during that period carried around 1,000 people in voyages lasting about 7 weeks to a new, hard, but better life.
The descendants of these brave pioneers are still prominent in the area.
These Yorkshire folk arrived just before the American War of Independence, 1775 to 1783.
In Nova Scotia there was rebellion against British rule, led by a Colonel Eddy, who attacked Fort Cumberland.
This uprising was put down by British troops, but the loyalty of these newly arrived pioneers at that time is believed to have saved Nova Scotia for the British Crown.
The "Chignecto Isthmus" is a neck of land that connects Nova Scotia to Canada.
In a book of that name, written by Howard Trueman, first published in 1902, there are references to people who emigrated from Skelton-in-Cleveland and experienced the "Eddy Rebellion".
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Thomas Keillor came to Nova Scotia from Skelton, Yorkshire in 1774.
His wife's maiden name was Mary Thompson.
He settled near Fort Cumberland on the farm now known as the "Fowler" homestead.
They had 5 children, John, Thomas, Thompson, Elizabeth and Ann.
After the Trueman family had been in the country 2 years, William Trueman jun married Elizabeth Keillor who was aged 19 at the time.
It was at the date of this marriage that the Eddy rebels were terrorising the settlers around Fort Cumberland and shortly after the event Mr and Mrs Trueman went to Mr Keillor's to spend the Sabbath.
During the day the house was surrounded by the rebels and the inmates kept prisoners until the next day, when the rebels dispersed and the young couple made their way home to relieve the anxiety at "Prospect" [The Trueman home]
The Keillors and the Truemans had been friends in England and were related to some degree.
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On April 25th 1811, Elizabeth's mother, Mary Keillor [nee Thompson/Thomson] died.
Her husband Thomas had died some years earlier.
There exists a copy of a Power of Attorney given by Mrs Keillor to her "trusty friend", Stephen Emmerson, [of Hollybush Farm, Skelton] to act for her collecting rents and selling claims in Skelton, England, in connection with the property owned by her late husband.
Mary had two other married sisters, Jane, the wife of John Carter and Ann, the wife of William Trueman.
They all came to Nova Scotia with the "Yorkshire Immigration".
Thomas Keillor and his wife, Mary [nee Thompson] set out for a new life when they were quite old for that time, 45 and 40 respectively.
Mary had been born in Skelton. Her parents were John Thompson, also born Skelton in 1710 and Mary Sunley, born Hemsley in 1705.
Thomas and Mary had married in Skelton in 1757 and all their children were born there.
At the time of their Atlantic voyage Elizabeth was 17, Mary 16, John Thompson 14, Thomas Charles 12, Robert Thompson 10 and Ann just 4.
The father Thomas Keillor died, aged 48, just 3 years after emigrating, but Mary lived to be 77.
They are buried on the land where they had settled which was then near Fort Cumberland and now known as the Fowler homestead.
Mary's younger sister, Jane, emigrated at the same time, aged 37.
She had married John Thomas Carter in Skelton in 1745 and had 3 children, all born in Skelton, who also made the voyage, John B aged 10, Thomas 7 and Christopher 3.
She married secondly William Chapman.
Jane died, aged 76, in Point de Bute, Westmorland County, New Brunswick, Canada.
William Trueman and his wife Ann emigrated in 1775 to the same area with their son, also called William.
They were 54 and 61 and their son 22 at the time. William the elder is recorded as a joiner and farmer of Hawnby in Bilsdale, N Yorks, but William junior's birth is recorded in Skelton in 1752.
As mentioned in the book above, he would marry the Keillor's daughter Elizabeth in 1776.
Elizabeth's mother, Mary Thompson had a sister Ann. William Trueman is married to a lady called Ann. The book says that the Truemans and the Keillors were related somehow. I am trying to find out if this was Mary's sister and if Elizabeth married her cousin. Family researchers please help.
[Dorothy "Dot" Harris of Saltburn by Sea, N Yorks, found this information while researching the Keillor family.]
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