William B. Huestis [H126]
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William B. Huestis [H126] (1828-1900) m. Adeline Betts
William B Huestis was a merchant in Wallace during the great boom years. He was the youngest of the children of Joshua's first wife, and he was only a few years old when his mother Sarah died. Four or five years later Joshua re-married and began another family, eventually adding seven more children to his original six. William would have been brought up by his step-mother, and I expect that the household was a raucous one. There is no doubt, however, that it was also a cultured household, and all of the children were well educated. Ms Marjorie Whitelaw of Wallace, in researching her house, discovered the following information in the files of Francis Grant, the Wallace historian. He quotes a letter written by Joshua Huestis, then Postmaster, to his son William.
"We have four mails weekly from Halifax, three from Pictou, 3 from Tatamagouche, 3 from Pugwash, 3 from Amherst, one from Londonderry and one from River Philip, besides all our way office mails, make up and despatch 23 mails weekly and receive the same number, of course by stage coach." Francis Grant continues:"The letter was written to Mr Huestis' son William, encouraging him to come home, as Wallace was then booming, with 14 ships being built that year, 1854. The son, who was working in New York, came home at once and built the store which is now owned by Millard Charman. Of course Millard has added and improved (it), but it is still the original building." This building is now Charman's Home Hardware. I have a picture of the building (then and now) in the section on Wallace images, off the main page. The A.F. Church map of 1868 shows William's store and the house beside it, on the main street of Wallace. I was in that house in the 1980's when it was reduced to being a warehouse for the hardware store next door (it has since been torn down) and it was a lovely and elegant dwelling. I expect that William prospered as Wallace boomed. "A rising tide lifts all ships", as the old saying goes, but a falling tide lets them all settle as well. As the shipbuilding industry of Wallace wound down, I expect that some of the merchants found themselves unable to compete. There just wasn't enough business to go around. However, there was a rising industrial town not far away, at Londonderry in Colchester County (about 40 miles through the woods from Wallace). This was also known as Acadia Mines, and for a time it was the largest community in northern Nova Scotia. There was a very rich iron ore deposit in the area, and there were coal mines at Springhill and River Hebert-Joggins, and the new railroad was being pushed through, and so they were all joined by the railway and Acadia Mines grew to be another boom town. This was apparently the first North American installation of a Bessemer-process steel mill, in which air was blown through the molten iron to burn off the carbon and thereby easily and cheaply make mild steel (and by extension, any carbon-steel or other alloy steel). The entire industrial revolution was made possible by the development of consistent-quality steel to replace wrought-iron, which was full of carbon fibres and thus too weak to withstand the pressures in steam boilers, for example. At some point, William moved his family to Acadia Mines / Londonderry. In the 1871 census he is at Wallace, age 42, with his wife and four children. In the census of 1881 he is in Acadia Mines, age 52, with his wife and four children, and again he was a merchant. I expect that he went to Acadia Mines in part because his older brother Edward was living and working there. Edward had a grocery store there in 1880 and 1881, and perhaps the brothers were partners. It was from Acadia Mines that his children began to marry: Ida married George Truman in 1884 (he died within a few years). The Londonderry iron ore deposit turned out to be small and difficult to mine, and the town began to shrink almost as fast as it grew. By the 1991 census William and family are living in Amherst. William (age 62) and Adeline (56) also had their two daughters with them: Mabel, the youngest, was 20; and Ida Trueman (30) was by that time widowed. The boys were gone. Fred was still around the province, I think (he married in 1898) but Harry was likely gone to USA. William must have been fairly prosperous, as the household also included Mary Gamble, age 19, a domestic servant. I cannot be very sure of the events of the next 10 years. By the time of his death in 1900 William was living with his daughter, as described below. Both of the daughters married a Mr Casey (cousins, perhaps) and perhaps one of them stayed and lived with William in his house. More research is needed in the Amherst archives, and I may get to it this fall (2007). Obituary: W.B. Huestis in the Amherst citizen: W.B. Huestis, Esq. passed away at the residence of his son-in-law, C.E. Casey, Esq., on Jan. 23, 1900 at the age of 71 years. The deceased was one of the oldest and most active Justice's of the Peace in Cumberland County, NS, and for over 40 years a consistent member of the Methodist Church at Wallace, Cumb. Co.,NS, his native town and Amherst, NS, where he has resided for the past ten years. Two sons, Fred of Wentworth, Cumb. Co., and Harry of Providence, Rhode Island, USA and two daughters, Mrs C.E. Casey of Amherst, NS and Mrs A.C. Casey of Providence, Rhode Island, USA are the surviving children of the deceased. Rev. S.F. Huestis and M.B. Huestis of Halifax, N.S.; George A. Huestis of Springfield, Mass.; Mrs Angus Livingstone and Mrs C.W. Morris of Wallace, NS; Mrs Holland of Bedeque, PEI; Mrs (Rev.)Jon. Warner of Granville Ferry, NS; Mrs (Rev.) A.W. Nicholson and Mrs. Dr. Kennedy of New Glasgow, NS are surviving brothers and sisters of the deceased. Frederick Warren Huestis [H1264] (1865-1945) m. Adeline J. Betts (1875-1965)
Fred Huestis married Adeline J Betts, known as Addie Jane and settled eventually in Wentworth, her home. On his wedding license he lists his occupation as telegrapher, and perhaps he worked at Wentworth Station, which was a very busy and prosperous place. A few years later Fred was the manager of the Atlantic Grindstone Company in Lower Cove, which is near Minudie, which is in turn near Amherst. There was a huge industry there making grindstones, but that industry was eclipsed by steel grinding machinery within a few years. Fred and family were there in the 1901 census, and still there when the 1907 McAlpine's directory for Nova Scotia was compiled. By about 1910 Fred and family were building a house on land provided by his wife's family, and he seems to have worked the next thirty years as a commercial traveller, based out of Wentworth. I do not know that Fred and Addie had any grandchildren. Harry Fraser Huestis [H1265] (1868-1932) m. Mary Agnes Elisabeth Fales (1872-1955)
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