| Notes |
- George was born in Clementsvale, & grew up there. As a very young man, however, he displeased his father by leaving a gate open & letting some cattle go free. His father had a bad temper & was a hard disciplinarian, so George packed his things, kissed his mother goodbye and left for the USA. He worked there for several years, mostly on farms. It was there that he met & courted his future wife, Fanny Fraser, also from Nova Scotia, who was working there. When they decided to marry, they came back to Fanny's church in West Gore.
The first winter, they spent with George's parents in Clementsvale. His father quite approved of his new daughter-in-law, as she was a Baptist and a liberal.
In the spring, they went back to Fanny's home, to be near her mother. He bought a farm from adams, & while Fanny stayed with her mother, George went back to the USA - Maine - to make enough money to pay for the farm. He built a new house on the property, when he came back & he cleared the land. The barn - one of the tallest around - he built when his youngest son was about four years old. He also worked for many years in a grocery store, first in oldham, then in Elmsdale, owned by Evan Thompson. He was a valued employee, as he had a very keen memory, & was quick at arithmetic.
As his family grew he often travelled on the train to halifax, where he worked on many of the buildings there, including the Nova Scotian hotel & St Matthews church, as a building foreman. At one time, he was given the job of building highway bridges, in the county. He was made justice of the peace, & his law books & legal documents were still in his desk, when a fire destroyed the home, many years after his death.
He was still a fairly young man, when after working too long in the rain, he took a serious inflammation, & infection of the prostrate gland. He was operated on, but the poison had spread & he died.
He had worked hard all his life to support his family in an affluent style. He was interested in politics, & worked diligently for his party, had a strong community spirit & was much involved with the church & other community affairs, a highly respected man.
As a young man, in his home area, he was known as port wright,rather than George, from his second name Devonport. He was always a fearless man, ready to tackle anything. As a boy, one night he had been visiting his uncle, & as the evening wore on, the grown-ups had been telling ghost stories. It was late & dark, when little port started for home, thinking about the tales he had been told. Suddenly in the dark field, he spied something large & white & he immediately decided it must be one of those ghosts. Instead of doing the usual thing - running for his life - port decided to attack the ghost! He made for the white shape & was going to hit it with a stick, when the ghostly appearing shape leaped to its feet & ran away -- an old white horse!
In later years his home was known as a place where a hungry traveller could find a meal or a bed for the night. He was always ready to help a neighbour & although he was far from his own relatives & saw them seldom, he was always good to Fanny's relatives & made them his own.
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Old Dead Relatives
1866 - 1931 (65 years)
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
