THE YORKSHIRE IMMIGRATION.
Yorkshire is grouped as one of the six northern counties of England.
Jackson Wray calls it "one of the bonniest of English shires." It has an area of 6,076 square miles, making it the largest county in England.
Its present population is a trifle over three millions.A coast-line of one hundred miles gives its people a fine chance to look out on the North Sea.The old town of Hull is the largest shipping port.Scarboro, on the coast, is the great watering-place for the north of England.
Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Bradford are the largest towns.It is the principal seat of the woollen manufacture in Great Britain.The people are self-reliant and progressive.In Yorkshire to-day are to be found the oldest co-operative corn-mills and the oldest co-operative stores in England.The practice of dividing profits among purchasers in proportion to their trade at the store was first adopted by a Yorkshire society.This is just what might be expected from the people who, in 1793, passed the following resolution: "Resolved, that monopolies are inconsistent with the true principles of commerce, because they restrain at once the spirit of enterprise and the freedom of competition, and are injurious to the country where they exist, because the monopolist, by fixing the rate of both sale and purchase, can oppress the public at discretion."Another resolution passed by the same corporation, but earlier in the century, shows our ancestors in a somewhat different light.A day of thanksgiving was appointed for the success of the British forces.The corporation attended divine service in the parish church, after which it was agreed to meet at Mrs.Owen's, "at five of the clock, to drink to His Majesty's health and further good success," the expense of the evening to be at the corporation's charge.
The old Yorkshire men liked a good, honest horse-race, and fox-hunting was a favorite sport with them.It is told of a Mr.Kirkton that he followed the hounds on horseback until he was eighty, and from that period to one hundred he regularly attended the unkennelling of the fox in his single chair.Scott's "Dandy Dinmont" could scarcely overtop that.No one can read the "Annals of Yorkshire" without being struck with the number of persons who at their death left bequests to the poor, widows getting a large share of this bounty.
John Wesley, very soon after he began his life-work, found his way to Yorkshire, and nowhere had he more sincere or devoted followers, many of whom were among the first emigrants to Nova Scotia.To the England of the eighteenth century America must have presented great attraction, especially to the tenant-farmer and the day-laborer.The farmer in that country could never hope to own his farm, and the wages of the agricultural laborer were so small that it was only by the strictest economy and the best of health that he could hope to escape the workhouse in his old age.In America land could be had for the asking.
The continent was simply waiting for the hands of willing workers to make it the happy home of millions.The reaction in trade after the Seven Years' War made the prospect just starting in life gloomier than ever, and many a father and mother who expected to end their days in the Old Land, decided, for the sake of their children, to face the dangers of the western ocean and the trials of pioneer life.
Charles Dixon, one of the first of the Yorkshire emigrants, writes of England before he left: "I saw the troubles that were befalling my native country.Oppressions of every kind abounded, and it was very difficult to earn bread and keep a conscience void of offence." Under these circumstances, Mr.Dixon and a number of others decided to emigrate.It is not surprising then, that when Governor Franklin, at the invitation of the Duke of Rutland, went down to Yorkshire in 1771, to seek emigrants for Nova Scotia, he found a goodly number of persons ready to try their fortunes in the new land.
Governor Franklin did not stay long in the northern district, but left agents who, judging by the number that came to Nova Scotia during the few ensuing years, must have done their work well.
Among the first of the Yorkshire emigrants to sail for Nova Scotia was a party that left Liverpool in the good ship "DUKE OF YORK," on the 16th of March, 1772.The voyage lasted forty-six days, and at the end of that time the sixty-two passengers were all landed safely at Halifax.From that port they went by schooner to Chignecto, landing at Fort Cumberland on the 21st of May.
Charles Dixon, with his wife and four children, were passengers on the "DUKE OF YORK." Mr.Dixon's is the only record I have seen of this voyage, and it is very concise indeed.He writes: "We had a rough passage.None of us having been to sea before, much sea-sickness prevailed.At Halifax we were received with much joy by the gentlemen in general, but were much discouraged by others, and the account given us of Cumberland was enough to make the stoutest give way."Mr.Dixon does not seem to have allowed these discouraging reports to influence him greatly, for by the 8th of June he had made a purchase of 2,500 acres of land in Sackville, and moved his family there.
Other vessels followed the "DUKE OF YORK" during 1773 and the two following years, the largest number coming in 1774.By May of that year, two brigantines moored at Halifax with 280 passengers, and three more vessels were expected.By the last of June nine passenger vessels had arrived.The ship ADAMANT at this time was the regular packet between Halifax and Great Britain.
