The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor (46 page)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSW
RITING THE STORY
of Charlotte Taylor was a fascinating and frustrating voyage into archives, family stories and history books. I am indebted to many who assisted me in my quest to get as close as possible to the
veritas
in the life of this intrepid, wily woman.First, my thanks to Anne Collins, editor, publisher and mentor, whose reputation for turning raw prose into readable story is unparalleled. And to my agent, Michael Levine, for making sure my manuscript landed in such capable hands.
Many of Charlotte’s descendants were helpful in this odyssey. From snowshoeing with me to try out the method Charlotte used in her 1776 trek, to taking me “up river” and “down shore” by boat to test drive her terrain, Mylie and Loraine Wishart and Bertha Wishart were wonderfully supportive and a fount of information. I am also grateful to Mary Lynn Smith, who is the keeper of the key to the
Life and Times of Charlotte
Taylor
(
www3.bc.sympatico.ca/charlotte_taylor
). Her meticulous research was invaluable to me.Gilbert Sewell, the Mi’kmaq storyteller, was patient with my many questions and generous with his time. The braid of sweetgrass he gave me hung over my computer for the two years it took to shape the story I wanted to tell.
I am also indebted to Mary Wolfe, Donna Clinch and Margaret McKay, who despite hordes of mosquitoes and boggy terrain tramped through cemeteries with me searching for clues. And to Barry MacKenzie, for guiding me to the precise spot where Charlotte and John Blake lived on the Miramichi. He takes no credit for the bear we encountered on the way.
I also want to thank Doug Young, Mary Ann Rogers, Antony Marcil, Doady Armstrong and Susan Shalala, who works in the New Brunswick Archives in Fredericton, for their help with the research for this book.
My thanks go to botanist David Appleton for his advice on the survival rate of a packet of seeds tucked away in a trunk for decades, to sailing expert Peter Cowern, to food historian Liz Driver and to Pat Allen, whose careful reconstruction of the travels of Commodore George Walker was very useful. And I am grateful to Olga Davis, whose sharp eye deciphered the scrawl of Charlotte’s two-hundred-year-old letters.
In a special category of thanks all their own are those who encouraged me to take on this project and gave me their unwavering support: Cynthia Good, Ernest Hillen, W.J. Hogan and Charlotte’s great-great-great-great-grandchildren, my own three treasures, Heather, Peter and Anna. Thank you one and all.
SOURCES
OOKS, PAPERS AND ARCHIVES
Allen, Patricia. “Commodore George Walker at Alston Point, Nepisiguit: 1768–1777” (New Brunswick Manuscripts in Archeology, 2003).
Arbuckle, Doreen Menzies.
The Northwest Miramichi
(Ottawa: Western Printers Ltd. 1978).
Biggar, Mitch. “The Revolutionary War”
at
www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/9002/war.htm
.
Branch, Kimberly. “Charlotte: Mother of Tabusintac” (University of New Brunswick, term paper, 1995).
Cooney, Robert. “A Comprehensive History of the Northern Part of the Province of New Brunswick” (Joseph Howe, 1832), found in Esther Clark Wright’s
The Miramichi
(Sackville: Tribune Press, 1945).
Daigle, Jean, ed.,
The Acadians of the Maritimes
(Centre D’Etudes Acadiennes, Université de Moncton, 1982).
Denys, Nicolas.
The Native People of Acadia
(retold by Ian Maxwell, 1993) (Champlain Society, 1908).
______,
The Description and Natural History of the Coasts of North America
(retold by Ian Maxwell, 1993) (Champlain Society, 1908).
Foxe, John.
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
. Edited by William Byron Forbush. Chapter 15 George Wishart at
www.ccel.org/f/foxe/martyrs
.
Fraser, James.
By Favourable Winds: A History of Chatham, New Brunswick
(Town of Chatham, 1975).
Fraser, James A.
Loggieville: Child of Miramichi
(Fredericton, 1973).
Frink, Tim.
New Brunswick: A Short History
(Stonington Books, 1997).
Ganong, William F. “The History of Caraquet and Pokemouche.” Reprinted from
Acadiensis
at
http://ahcn.net?histoire/ganong/neguac-bc.htm
.
________, “The History of Neguac and Burnt Church.” Reprinted from
Acadiensis
at
http://ahcn.net?histoire/ganong/neguac-bc.htm
.
________, “A Monograph of Historic Sites in the Province of New Brunswick”
(Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada
, Section 11, 1899).
______, “Gamaliel Smethurst’s Narrative of his Journey from Nepisiguit to Fort Cumberland”
(New Brunswick Historical Society Collections
, 1905).
______, “The History of Tabusintac” (Acadiensis, vol. vii, no 4, October 1907, p. 314–331).———and Richard Denys. “Sieur de Fronsac and his settlement in Northern New Brunswick”
(New Brunswick Historical Society Collection
, no 7, 1907).
_______, “The Official Account of the Destruction of Burnt Church”
(New Brunswick Historical Society Collections
, no 9, 1914, p. 301–307).
_______, Ganong Papers (New Brunswick Museum).
Gibbon, Mary.
Miscou Island: Vulnerability and the Generations
(Mary Gibbon, 2001).
Givan, Fredrica. “Breaux and Savoy, Acadian Settlers at Tabusintac” at
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/Acadian-Cajun/1998–11/0911594515
.
Gray, Charlotte.
The Museum Called Canada: 25 Rooms of Wonder
(Toronto: Random House Canada, 2004).
Klein, Kim. “A ‘Petticoat Polity’ Women Voters in New Brunswick Before Confederation”
(Acadiensis
, xxvi, Autumn, 1996, pp. 71–75).
Larracey, E.W.
The First Hundred
(Moncton Publishing Company, 1970).
Long, J.
Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter and Trader
. Originally published in London, England, 1791. Reprinted by Coles Publishing Company Toronto, 1971.
LeClercq, Father Chrestien.
New Relation of Gaspesia With the Customs and Religion of the Gaspesian Indians
. Translated and edited by William F. Ganong (Toronto: Champlain Society, 1910).
Macmillan, Cyrus.
Gloosekaps’s Country and other Indian Tales
(Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1967).
MacNaughton, Katherine Flora Cameron.
The Development of the Theory and Practice of Education in New Brunswick 1784–1900
(University of New Brunswick, 1947).
MacNutt, W.S.
New Brunswick: A History: 1784–1867
(Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1963).
Maillet, Antonine.
Pelagie: The Return to Acadie
(Toronto: Doubleday, 1982).
Manny, Louise. “Scenes of an Earlier Day.” Records of Northumberland County New Brunswick, 1935.
Paul, Daniel N.
We Were Not the Savages
(Black Point, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing, 2000).
Piesse, G.W.S. “The Art of Perfumery (1879)” at
www.saponifier.com
.
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick: Deeds, letters and petitions. Fredericton.
Rand, Rev. S.T.
Micmac Grammar
(Truro, Nova Scotia: Specialty Printers, 1999).
Raymond, W.O.
The Marston Diaries: Benjamin Marston at Halifax, Shelburne and Miramichi at http://
ultratext.hil.unb.ca/Texts/Marston/articles/Shelburne_notes.html
.
Raymond, W.O.
The North Shore: Incidents in the Early History of Eastern and Northern New Brunswick
(New Brunswick Historical Society, Collections).
Robertson, J. Logie.
The Poetical Works of Robert Burns
(Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1896).
Running Wolf, Michael and Clark Smith, Patricia.
On the Trail of Elder Brother: Glous’gap Stories of the Micmac Indians
(New York: Persea Books, 2000).
Savoy, Gail.
A History of Tabusintac, N.B
. (Tabusintac: Tabusintac Centennial Memorial Library, 2005).
Stymiest, Carl.
Down by the Old Mill Stream: A Stymiest Chronicle
(Victoria: Trafford, 2001).
Taylor, Jonathan. “Light Fittings in Georgian and Early Victorian Interiors”
(The Building Conservation Directory
, 1998).
Theriault, Fidele.
George Walker et son Etablissement a Nipisiguit
(New Brunswick Archives, 1999).
The Canadian Indian: Quebec and Atlantic Provinces
. Indian and Northern Affairs (Ottawa, 1973).
“The Church in New Brunswick: An Early History” at
www.knightsofcolumbus-renous.ca/church_history/miramichi.html
.
The Diary of Simeon Perkins
(Toronto: Greenwood Press, reprint, 1969).
The Diary of Simeon Perkins, 1766–1780, 1797–1803, 1804–1812 (Champlain Society).
The Winslow Papers CD Archives, volume 1 at
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/halew/Winslow.html.
Voices United: The Hymn and Worship Book of the United Church of Canada
(The United Church Publishing House, 1996).
Waugh, Alec.
The Sugar Islands
(New York: Farrar Strauss, 1949).
_____,
A Family of Islands: A History of the West Indies
(New York: Doubleday, 1964).
Webster, J. Clarence.
Historical Guide to New Brunswick
(New Brunswick Government Bureau of Information and Tourist Travel, 1947).
WWilson, James. “Narrative of a Voyage from Dublin to Quebec, In North America” at
http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/voyages/dublin1817.html
.
EB SITES
Acadian History Time Line
http://users.andara.com/-grose/acadianh.html
Cargo Ship Mayflower
www.americanrevolution.org/may4.html
Chronology of the Abolition of Slavery
www.blackhistoricalmuseum.com/chronology.htm
Food Time Line
www.foodtimeline.org/foodpuddings.html
Hearth to Hearth: Hunting the Welsh Rabbit
www.iournalojantiqu.es.com/hearthmay.htm
Order in Council Establishing New Brunswick
http://
webhome.idirea.com/-cpwalsh/nb/aas/ukoic1y84.htm
The Importance of Food in Eighteenth-Century Louisbourg
http://fortress.uccb.ns.ca/behind/food.html
.
The Life and Times of Charlotte Taylor by
Mary Lynn Smith
www3.bc.sympatico.ca/charlotte_taylor
The Micmac Creation Story
www.indigenouspeople.net/crmicmac.htm
The Mi’kmaq. Nova Scotia Museum
http://museum.giv.ns.ca/arch/infos/mikmaqi.htm
The Stymiest Family History
www.wizardsrealmcentral.com/stymiest/id20.html
SALLY ARMSTRONG
is an Amnesty International award-winner, a member of the Order of Canada, a documentary filmmaker, teacher, author, human rights activist and contributing editor at
Maclean’s
. She has covered stories in conflict zones from Bosnia and Somalia to Rwanda and Afghanistan. She lives in Ontario.
