They lived, as we do, in exciting times. Some left their homes, setting out under difficult circumstances, in frail craft, across treacherous seas, enduring life-threatening conditions, to build homes and raise their children on unknown shores. Others stayed and built great families in the lands of their birth. These were not the characters of fiction. They were our people.

Our family, like every family in the world, is comprised of many families.
Each time two people unite to procreate, the union includes a whole new string of ancestors. Finding out who these probably were is a fascinating study.

To learn the background of our strain of Dicksons one must make the acquaintance of not only Dicksons, for instance, but also the families of Wishart, Horsbrough, Begbie, Baynes, Dairsie, Brown, Keddie, Aitken, Thomson, Wallace and Hay.

Then there are the Rutherfords, and their antecedents, Crawford, Elliot, Smart, Moffatt, Whyte, Aikman, Manuel, Sleigh, Shiel, Wightman, Brown, Johnston, Mason, Hislop, Williamson, Notman, and many more:

Behind the Leslies, one finds the families of Runkin, Wolfe, Wentzell, Hannsler, Fraser, MacGregor, Webber, Starratt, Armstrong, Balcom, Bent, Rice, Felch, Parker, Dodge, Stone, Moore, Dugwell, Blackadore and Harlow.

And the Moirs had ancestors named Warren, Murray, Jost, Church, Morash, Shaw, Rigby, Yorke, Stanton, Case, Fones, Ward, O'Blenus, King, Kilburn, Cochran, Smith, Archibald, Taylor, Miller, Anderson, Fraser, Monteith, Bryden, Nurse, Hunter, Moore, and Putnams back to the year 876 AD.

Legend has it that rough and coarse-wooled sheep from other parts of Scotland will grow fleece as soft as silk after a season on the Island of May, fishermen have but to drop their nets off its shores to haul in bountiful catches, and barren women become fruitful after a stay on this fabulous Island.. The magic of The May also accounted for a remarkable birth which occurred there in 516 A..D..

King Loth, the semi-pagan ruler of the Lothians, having received his kingdom from King Arthur, had a daughter, Thenow, who was a Christian.. When Thenow was discovered to be with child but without a husband, her father became enraged and ordered her to be thrown headlong from the summit of Traprain Law as a punishment for her sin.. The reputed father of her unborn child was Ewen, a scion of a royal house, son of Eufurien, King of Cumbria..

Thenow survived the descent from the cliff and was thereupon declared to be a witch and set adrift in a wee coracle, at the mercy of the waves, in the wild North Sea.. Escorted by vast schools of fish, Thenow in her coracle reached the Island of May where she immediately gave birth to a son.. Found by shepherds, Thenow was placed under the care of St Serf, Abbot of Culross, and the baby grew up to become Saint Kentigern, patron saint of Glasgow..

The May consists of 140 acres, just over a mile long, by half a mile at its widest point.. High western cliffs rise 150 feet, the tilted plateau sloping to a low rocky shore on the east side.. Along the west cliffs, the sea has carved a spectacular series of rock stacks, arches and caves while the east coast is broken by many small inlets and offshore reefs..

Originally a Crown possession, the May was given by King David I, (1124-1153), to the monks of the Benedictine monastery at Reading, Berkshire, in exchange for the services of nine priests to say masses for his soul, and the souls of his predecessors and successors.. He erected a chapel, the Priory of the May, dedicated to the memory of Saint Adrian, an Irish missionary who worked among the Pictish people in the east parts of Scotland.. Adrian had first expelled the demons and monsters from The May and then retreated there for uninterrupted devotion and, in 870 A..D.., marauding Danes attacking The May in their long boats, killed him..

Early in the 13th century the island was sold by an Abbot of the Priory to William Wishart, Archbishop of St Andrews, who died in 1279.. In 1318 the Island of May was the property of the See of St Andrews but the monks soon deserted it for another at Pittenween claiming that The May had become a waste, despoiled of its rabbits whose warrens were destroyed by incursions of Englishmen.. Eventually The May became a sparsely inhabited part of the Parish of Anstruther Wester..

In the middle ages the island received pilgrimages and visits by royalty.. King James IV was a frequent visitor.. In June, 1508, he arrived with a shooting party and, as recorded by the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, sixteen pence was paid to "ane rowboat that hed the king about the Isle of Maii to schut at fowlis with the culveryn.."

The first lighthouse in Scotland was erected on The May in 1636; 40 feet high, using a ton of coal each night, three on a very windy night, hauled up by rope and windlass, burned in a large raised grate in the parapet.. The coal was paid for by a levy on all ships using the mouth of the Forth..

At the time of the 1715 Jacobite rising, the Earl of Strathmore and about 300 men found refuge on The May from where they kept the pursuing English ships at bay, and managed to escape under cover of darkness.. The Jacobites were the adherents of the exiled English king James II, and later supported his descendants and the exiled house of Stuart..

By the 18th century The May was the site of a small fishing and smuggling community, its caves providing splendid hiding places.. By 1814 ten acres of The May were enclosed for cultivation of barley and root vegetables.. Sheep, cattle and goats were also kept.. In February 1816 a new light tower came into use, one storey high, called the Low Light.. Despite this addition, many ships have come to grief on The May and its reefs..

During the two World Wars, The May was garrisoned with the Royal Observer Corps.. Nobody lives there now except keepers of the light.. Access is by boat from Crail and Anstruther for day visits in summer, tides and weather permitting.. A National Nature Reserve, The May has one of the highest densities of seabirds in the North Sea.. The name of the island is from the old Norse words már ey, meaning seagull island..

All that remains of the village that once was on The May is evidence of a small cemetery with one solitary tombstone, dedicated to John Wishart who died in 1730 aged 45, the last person to be buried there.. Births, deaths, and marriages of numerous Wisharts are recorded in the old parish records of Crail, the closest mainland parish to The May..

Other prominent Crail families at that time were the Horsbroughs, one of whose members, Eupham Horsbrough, married John Wishart, the first recorded marriage in this line of our family..

John Wishart was born in 1685, died in 1730, and is buried on the Island of May.. On October 21, 1710, he married Eupham Horsbrough.. One of their daughters was: 6.. Margaret Wishart, christened Jan.. 7, 1727..

As John Wishart was buried on The May, we presume he lived there and that his children were raised there.. Since the Wishart family had at one time owned the island, Wisharts may have lived on The May for centuries..

The Dicksons descend from Richard Keith, called Dick, of the family of Keith, Earls Marshall of Scotland, said to be a son of the great Marshal Hervé de Keth, (died 1249), and his wife Margaret, daughter of William, third Lord Douglas.. The sons of Richard (Dick) Keith were known by the name of Dickson..
Accordingly, the Dicksons carry in their arms the Chief of Keith Marischal and are entitled to wear the Keith tartan.. Prior to 1700, in the days of the Foraging, or Riding Clans, the Dicksons were among the principal Border Clans of the East Marches, and were called "the Famous Dicksons"..
Early in the 18th century, possibly long before, there were Dicksons on The Isle of May, one of whose members, George Dickson, married Margaret Wishart and their first five children were born on The May..

The marriage of George Dickson, fisherman, of The May, to Margaret Wishart on October 27, 1752, was registered in Crail.. One of their sons was:
2.. George Dickson II, christened.. Feb.. 4, 1755..

In Crail, on either January 22 or February 22, 1717, George Begbie married Grisell Baynes.. Their third son was:
3.. Alexander Begbie, christened April 30, 1721, m.. Mary Dairsie, 1753.. ..

Alexander Begbie first married Margaret Law on January 6, 1750, who died after the birth of their son.. After the death of his first wife, Alexander Begbie married Mary Dairsie, on September 24, 1753, at Anstruther Easter.. The eldest daughter of Alexander Begbie and Mary (Dairsie) Begbie was:
3.. Grissel Begbie, born September 2, chr.. September 5,1756, witnesses George Begbie and Baillie Thomas Young.. She married George Dickson II in 1783..

In Crail, on May 9, 1783, George Dickson II married Grizel (Grissel) Begbie, daughter of Alexander and Mary (Dairsie) Begbie..Their first, of eight children, was:
1.. George Dickson III, christened February 27, 1785, witnesses George Dickson and Bailly George Brown.. He married Catherine Brown in 1807..

The following letter, written in a beautiful cursive handwriting, has been kept in the family for over 180 years.. On the reverse side of the time-worn and yellowed sheet is a round 1807 postmark and the address: Catheren Broune, Ardrie By Craill..

"Leith May the third 1807
Dear Catheren I Hae the Opportunity of writing yu this few lines in Order to perform the promise that I made unto you of writing in Course of fourtin days Dear Love I am in good helth At present and i am in hops that yu are in the same when this may arive in your presence Dear catheren I hope that you are in the same mind that you was in when I left you Dear I can live here verey hapey but not so hapey as if you were along with me but I hope that you will return me an answer of your heart and mind and if it be your desire to cume here you will be so good as to tell me now when you will wish to cume so as I may look for A furnished Room and that I likewise may have time to aquaint my people Dear I have not got the birth that I suhld have got upon the account of Lord Celley writing away before that he nowed of me but I will get the same wages Dear You may remember me to all my aquaintence in Ardrie and let me now how they all are when you write you will direct for me to the Care of John Boon Shipmaster or Carpender any of the two will do Siteydaill Leith I remain your ever duteful George Dickson You may just make it Shipmaster Siteydaill Leith"

George Dickson III was a seaman.. His letter of proposal was apparently successful because he and Catherine Brown were married in Crail, in the spring of 1807.. Their seventh child was:
7.. Archibald Dickson IV, born at Crail Feb.. 17, 1817, chr.. Feb.. 23, 1817, witnesses George and Thomas Brown..

On November 19, 1788, James Keddie married Elspeth Brown at St Andrew's Parish, Fife.. On November 30, 1788, their marriage was recorded in Crail, as between James Kiddie and Elspa Brown.. Their son was:
1.. James Keddie II, christened March 28, 1790, at Kingsbarns, Fife, a joiner (cabinetmaker) in Fife, married Jane Aitken.. They were both alive September 25, 1856.. when their daughter, Elizabeth, died.. Their seven children were all born at Newburgh, Fife.. Their second daughter was:
1..2 Elizabeth Keddie, chr.. Sept.. 21, 1823..

Archibald Dickson IV, christened February 23, 1817, a grocer, fish curer, ship owner, coal agent, died May 1, 1892 at 5 Maitland Street, Newhaven, Leith, certificate signed by Isabella Watterston Dickson, granddaughter.. He was married, November 30, 1847, to Elizabeth Keddie, Kingsbarns, Fife, who died September 25, 1856, and is buried at Crail.. Their first son was:
1.. George Dickson VI b.. Nov..24, 1848, bap.. Dec.. 10, 1848..

When his mother died, George Dickson VI is believed to have lived with his uncle James Dickson of Greenock..

On October 8, 1858, at Greenock West, in the Free Church of Scotland, Archibald Dickson IV married his second wife, Janet Jessie Wallace, a daughter of David Wallace, market gardener in Crail, and Catherine Hay, a midwife.. Janet Jessie Wallace died Feb.. 1906, in Edinburgh..

David Wallace, market gardener in Crail, married Catherine Hay, midwife.. Their second daughter was:
2.. Catherine Wallace, born c.. 1841.. Catherine Wallace's daughter was
2..1 Catherine Thomson Wallace, born November 23, 1861, at 64 Lothian Road, Edinburgh..

A law clerk, manufacturer's agent, ship owner, public servant, and musician, born November 24, 1848, George Dickson VI died, after a week's illness, of rheumatic fever November 30, 1891 at Roger Street, Anstruther Easter.. His death certificate was signed by his father, Archibald Dickson IV, who died five months later..

On March 25, 1873, at Anstruther Easter, George Dickson VI married Isabella Watterston who died June 1, 1873, two weeks after the birth of their daughter:

George Dickson VI was a popular public servant in the East of Fife, holding the offices of Registrar and Inspector of Poor in the parish of Kilrenny, and was the Inspector for West Anstruther.. He was the Honorary Treasurer of the Royal National Lifeboat Inst.., Anstruther, also lending assistance to other societies and clubs..

George Dickson was well known as an accomplished musician, annually presenting oratarios and other classical selections to the community.. He was skilled on both cornet and violin and his musical services were called upon in other parts of the county, notably in Kingskettle.. He was of cheery and genial disposition, greatly esteemed wherever he went.. The Freemasons turned out in full force at his funeral..

On January 27, 1880, George Dickson VI, a widower with one daughter, married Catherine Thomson Wallace, of Crail.. Catherine Thomson (Wallace) Dickson died March 12, 1889, of hemorrhage during childbirth, at Anstruther Easter.. The youngest child of George Dickson VI and Catherine Thomson (Wallace) Dickson was:
4.. David Wallace Dickson II, born June 18, 1887, married Christina Smart Rutherford..

When the surviving children of Catherine (Wallace) and George Dickson VI became orphans, their mother having died March 12, 1889 and their father November 20,1891, Archie Dickson, aged 11, went to sea, Catherine Dickson, 9, went to relatives at Bridge of Allen, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Keddie Dickson, 7, went with relatives in Anstruther, and David Wallace Dickson II, 4, was taken into the family of Andrew Ross II, who lived with his wife, his four children, and his mother, Agnes (Fraser) Ross, at Ivy Bank, New Scone, Perthshire, Scotland..

At twelve, while still living with the Ross family, David Wallace Dickson went to work at the Jelly Works where Andrew Ross II was the manager.. As a teenager, David studied at night school and in his early twenties obtained a position as accountant and office manager for an insurance company in Glasgow.. In April, 1912, at the age of 24, he went to Canada, having been appointed plant and office manager and secretary of Thomas Davidson Manufacturing Co.. Ltd, Montreal.. They manufactured the McClary line of stoves, refrigerators, and kitchen appliances, as well as galvanized and enamel kitchenware..

At St.. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Montreal, on June 10, 1916, he married Christina Smart Rutherford.. They lived at 56 Windsor Avenue, Westmount.. In 1924, for the sake of his wife's health, he moved the family to Oakland, California where he sold insurance for the Sun Life Assurance Company.. Six months later he returned, alone, to the Thomas Davidson Co.. Ltd in Montreal and after six months, in 1925, he bought 648 Belmont Avenue, Westmount, Quebec, and moved his family back to Canada..

After the 1928 amalgamation of several companies including Davidson, to form General Steel Wares Ltd.. (GSW), David became Plant and Office Manager of the GSW Montreal branch.. Retired from GSW at age 65, he became general manager of the Raymond Aluminum Extrusion Company in Lachine, Quebec, continuing in active business for another fifteen years.. He lived his last years in Ottawa, sometimes with and sometimes close to his son, and died April 8, 1982.. According to his wish, his ashes were scattered on the family evergreen plantation near Shawville, Quebec, and a memorial stone bears his name in the Shawville Cemetery..

The only son of David Wallace Dickson and Christina Smart Rutherford was:
3.. David Rutherford Dickson, born November 15, 1919, at Montreal..
married Rosaleen Diana Leslie..

"The Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames", published in 1862 by Clifford Stanley Sims, states that the name derives from the Castle of Leslyn in Hungary, and that the family is descended from Bartholomew Leslyn, or Leslie, son of Walter de Leslyn, a Hungarian noble, who came to Scotland with Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm Canmore, in 1068..

Crossing a river swollen by floods, the queen was thrown from her horse and was in danger of being drowned when Leslyn plunged into the stream, seized hold of her girdle and, as he brought her with difficulty towards the bank, she frequently exclaimed, "Grip fast".. Afterwards she desired that he should retain those words as his motto, which he did, as do Leslies to this day.. Leslyn married the sister of Malcolm Canmore who then appointed him Governor of Edinburgh Castle, Lord Leslie and Earl of Ross..

Many Leslies travelled from Scotland to continental Europe to fight in a perpetual series of wars.. Notable among these were General Alexander Leslie and Count Walter Leslie, each of whom had family members with them.. Our Leslies may derive from these sources, but George Gaspar Leslie of Spry Bay (1791-1842) told his children that some ancient Scottish Leslies were transported to Normandy, France for the crime of stealing sheep.. They made their way to Würtemburg, where the name came to be spelled Lässle, which is pronounced the same as Leslie..

The first of our Leslies to arrive in North America was a Würtemberg carpenter.. Würtemberg was a kingdom of Germany, then ruled by Charles Eugene, whose persecution of Protestants may have precipitated Marcus Gottfried Lässle's decision to cross the ocean to an unknown continent..

Marcus Gottfried Lässle was born in 1729 and died September 11, 1804.. In 1751, at the age of 22, he sailed on this ship, the Gale, from the port of Rotterdam, Holland, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.. Würtemberg, Germany was named as his place of origin and he was listed as single, and a carpenter.. He arrived in Halifax in September and was married eight months later, on May 12, 1752, to Anna Barbara Rünkin, born 1733, died January 15, 1803, another European Protestant who arrived in Halifax between 1750 and 1752..

Shipmaster of the Gale was Thomas Casson.. Passage cost fl 70:17:8.. This sum plus a cash advance of fl 1:2:0 was loaned to Marcus by John Dick, agent in Rotterdam acting for the British government in recruiting Central European Protestants for the colonization of Nova Scotia in 1750, 1751, and 1752.. One ship, the Ann, crossed in 1750.. Four ships, the Speedwell, the Gale, the Pearl and the Murdoch, crossed in 1751.. Five more crossings to Nova Scotia were made in 1752 by the Speedwell, the Betty, the Pearl, the Gale and the Sally..

Marcus and Anna Barbara were moved to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, in June, 1753, along with 1,451 other European Protestants, 92 troops and 66 rangers.. Lunenburg was so named by the Council at Halifax in May, 1753, changing it from its Indian name of Merliguish.. The name was taken from the title of King George II of England, Duke of Brunswick-Lunenburg..

One of the first ministers to look after the spiritual needs of the European Protestants in Lunenburg was Rev.. Jean Baptiste Moreau, formerly a Roman Catholic Priest and Prior of the Abbey of St Matthew at Brest, France.. He arrived in Halifax in the frigate Canning in 1749, was received into the Communion of the Church of England and appointed a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), went to Lunenburg with the settlers in 1753, and died there in 1770 at the age of 59.. Another early minister was Rev.. Bruin Romcas Comingo (called Brown), who was born at Leuwarden, Holland in 1723, a grantee at Chester, ordained in Halifax in 1770, and died January 6, 1820..

In the years 1753 and 1754 Marcus Gottfried Lässle was recorded in the Lunenburg Returns of Arms and of Divisions, with the Zouker-bouker Div.. A-12, notation 'Uniprooct'.. In 1757 those victualled at Lunenburg numbered 1313.. Marcus was a private in the Indian Patrol of 1758..

He is listed in the Registry of Town Lots, Lunenburg, Steinfort Div.. c-9; in the Registry of 30 acre lots, South E.. 12; and in the drawing for 300 acre lots, Second Division he is recorded on November 7, 1763 as having drawn Lot F-15, allotted a 30 acre farm lot in 1753-54, No.. A-13 at La Havre, Nova Scotia, and received a 390 acre Township Grant, June 30, 1754..

Terms for the Lunenburg settlers were: 50 acres free of tax or rent for ten years plus 10 acres for each family member.. The settlers were to receive arms, amunition, housekeeping and cleaning supplies, materials for erecting habitations and for promoting fishery.. They were also to receive bread, meat, pease, rice, hulled oats, molasses, rum, stockings, shoes, shirts, other clothing, household utensils, agriculture implements, and £5 cash.. They were to clear and work, within three years, 3 acres for every 50 granted, or drain swamps, or erect a building 20'x16', and support 3 head of cattle per 50 acres, or dig a stone quarry, or establish a mine employing one man per 100 acres..

Marcus Lässle built a house on Lot 12 and half Lot 13, letter e, in Feltzen South Peninsula, plan of 1788.. In August, 1989, it could not be found.. An elderly resident of Feltzen South, speaking with a markedly German accent 230 years after the advent of the Europeans in the district, told us the Marcus Leslie house could not possibly still be standing.. Unable to find out where Lots 12 and 13 are located on the peninsula, we could not search the actual site.. Midway across the peninsula in an area now covered in brush, a George Leslie home is recorded on the 1865 map of Feltzen South..

General Charles Lawrence was the individual who figured most prominently in the population movements in and out of Nova Scotia during the 1750s.. The son of Lt Gen John Lawrence, he was born at Portsmouth, England, December 14, 1709, and died at Halifax, October 19, 1760.. He entered the army in 1727 and served in the West Indies and Flanders.. He was present at the successful attack on Louisburg, Cape Breton, N..S.., in 1747, where he served as a major with the 45th Regiment.. In 1758, while Governor of Nova Scotia, he commanded a brigade at the siege of Louisburg..

In 1753, Lawrence was placed in charge of the installation, maintenance, and protection of the European Protestants at Lunenburg.. His correspondence of the early 1750s indicates his low opinion of these settlers whom he regarded as lazy and uncooperative in performing the necessary work of erecting block houses and warehouses for the protection of the people and of the stores against the Indians, the French, and the weather.. The settlers were preoccupied in furthering what they perceived to be their own interests, building their houses and cultivating their fields..

Lawrence, in spite of many difficulties, completed the settlement of Lunenburg and dealt effectively with the insurrection mounted by the inhabitants in December, 1753.. In 1754, he was appointed Lt Governor of Nova Scotia.. In 1755 he was the chief proponent of the deportation of the Acadians and took an active role in its accomplishment.. In 1756 he was promoted to Governor and, after the British victory at Louisburg in 1758, his main concern became the settling of New Englanders and the Irish on the farmlands vacated by the Acadians..

Marcus Lässle took part in the Cattle Expedition of 1756 at which time the Lunenburg people went to Grand Pré to round up the cattle left at large after the Acadians were deported in 1755.. 120 head of cattle were found, of which 60, plus some horses, were successfully herded back to Lunenburg..

He helped build the Lutheran church in 1770, and earned 2s 6d per day of which he donated 6d to the church.. He signed the membership roll of 1775 and appears in the church account book 1772-1785.. He dictated a will, which was written into the registry of wills by a court clerk as follows:

"I, Mark Godfrey Lessle of Lunenburg in the Province of Nova Scotia, Yeoman, considering the uncertainty of this Mortal Life, and being of sound mind, memory and understanding, blessed be Almighty God for the same, Do make and Publish this my Last Will and Testament, in Manner and Form following that is to say:

"Imprimis, I commend my soul into the hands of God who gave it me and my body to the earth from whence it came to be buried in a Christian like manner and as for that Worthy Estate wherewith it has pleased to bless me after paying my lawful debts and funeral expenses I dispose thereof as followeth:

"First I give devise and bequeath unto my two sons John George and Henry Lessle.. ......" (the division of property appears here) "...... upon the following and express condition that they, the said John George and Henry Lessle shall find and provide for their mother, my loving wife Anna Barbara good and sufficient meat, drink, washing, clothing, and good warm and comfortable lodging and all other necessary's requisite in sickness and in health during the term of her natural life and after her decease to defray all the funeral expenses.."

He bequeathed various monies and properties to his other children, son George Adam, daughters Margareth Rembie, widow of George Rembie, Ursula Lehrey, wife of Frederick Lehrey, and Elizabeth Wolff, wife of John Wolff.. He set his hand and seal to the document on July 27, 1800.. and it was filed in the County of Lunenburg Court of Probate, September 17, 1804..

The fifth of nine children of Marcus Gottfried Lässle and Anna Barbara (Rünkin) Lässle was:

5.. George Adam Lässle, baptized in the Zion Lutheran Church, January 20, 1762, who became a carpenter, and moved from Lunenburg to Eagle Head, Queen's County, where his first property was registered to him in 1799..
Around 1785 he married Anna Marie Wolfe, born 1761, a daughter of Nicholas Wolfe, one of the European Protestant immigrants who came to Nova Scotia in the early 1750s.. Anna Marie died December 8, 1824 and is buried in Beach Meadows Cemetery, Queen's County..

The German spelling of the surname Lässle gradually reverted to the Scottish Leslie early in the 19th century, with George Adam's grandchildren.. They had 12 children, including:

4.. George Gasper Lässle, who later spelled his name Leslie, born September 13, 1791, at Lunenburg, died at Spry Bay, Halifax County, August 25, 1842, buried at Bollong Point Cemetery, Popes Harbour..

The name Gasper, sometimes spelled Kaspard in Germany, was also variously spelled Gasper, Gaspard, Caspar, Casper and even Jasper..

In 1826, George Gasper Leslie was one of five men who applied for a land grant on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia..

George Gasper Lässle married Mary Elizabeth Wentzell who was born at Lunenburg January 16, 1792 and died at Spry Bay Septembere 7, 1867.. She was a daughter of Lorentz Wentzell and Marie Elizabeth Hännsler..

In her will, dated June 9, 1866, Mary Elizabeth (Wentzell) Leslie left all her real estate and farming tools to her youngest son, John Charles Leslie.. The residue of her personal property was divided equally among all her children.. Mary Elizabeth (Wentzell) Leslie signed with an X, the will was probated March 11, 1868, and her son William Gasper Leslie was executor..

Mary Elizabeth (Wentzell) Leslie was known to family and neighbours as "Grandmam Leslie".. In 1826 she and her husband and four children moved from Eagle Head, Queens County, to Shoal Bay, Halifax County, where her fifth child was born.. The name of Shoal Bay was changed to Pleasant Harbour May 11, 1886, at the request of local residents who thought the old name, suggesting a shallow bottom, would scare off coastal shipping..

George Gasper Leslie later moved the family to Pope's Harbour, Halifax County.. They were buried in the Anglican Bollong Point Cemetery, at Popes Harbour.. All Saints Anglican Church at Pope's Harbour came into use by 1840, was finally completed in December 1844, and consecrated November 3, 1852.. The early Leslies were buried in its cemetery but when the Spry Bay church was built in 1875, the Pope's Harbour cemetery fell into disuse.. It has since been abandoned, the stones have fallen over and the whole area is overgrown, but we found it, scraped off the lichen, and photographed the following message: "In Memory of GASPER LESLIE who died Aug.. 25, 1842 aged 52 years.."

Following George Gasper's death, Mary Elizabeth (Wentzell) Leslie left Pope's Harbour, and built a home in Spry Bay.. In 1843, two of her sons, George Lawrence Leslie and Henry Leslie, formed a partnership which built schooners, fished, bought and sold fish, and traded in supplies for the fishermen of Spry Bay.. In 1850 their brother William Leslie was made a partner and the business became known as W..G.. and H.. Leslie which, during the next decade, became the largest dry fish establishment between Halifax and the Magdalene Islands..

Their vessels traded dried fish for salt and supplies from Halifax to Prince Edward Island and the Magdalenes, and traded dried fish for salt, molasses and rum in the West Indies.. In a corner of the Leslie warehouse at Spry Bay stood an open cask of West Indies rum, with a ladle hanging from a nail within easy reach, so none of those Leslies ever went thirsty!

Some of the schooners built by the partnership were the James McNabb, Victoria, Napoleon, and Brookside.. Several brigs were also built.. In 1860, when gold was discovered at Tangier, Spry Bay prospered.. A road along the eastern shore was completed in 1862 and a coach service from Halifax was inaugurated..

All the children of George Gasper Leslie and Mary Elizabeth (Wentzell) Leslie were tall and strong.. Their second son was Henry Godfrey Leslie, known as "Maple Hill Henry", was born August 29, 1818, at Eagle Head and died August 27, 1896, and is buried in the Anglican churchyard at Spry Bay.. Henry Godfrey Leslie stood 6 feet 5 inches, weighed 220 pounds and was of powerful build and strength.. His daughter, Sarah Conrod, said he could stand with arms folded and there wasn't a man of his acquaintance who could knock the cap off his head!

Henry Godfrey Leslie was a man of many talents.. He could sing all night and never sing the same song twice.. He was so big and strong that he could grasp and lift a large cannon ball with one hand, using only his fingers, the palm of his hand on top of the ball.. He was a farmer, a ship builder, master mariner, traded fish for rum, molasses and salt from the West Indies and ran the first Post Office at Spry Bay from his home, Maple Hill House..

The road from Halifax, known as the Back Road, passed Spry Bay about one mile north of the village.. The mail came by horse and wagon from Halifax, the horses being changed at several places along the route.. At the place where the Maple Hill Road met the road from Halifax there was a wooden mail box built on a post, where the coach driver would daily exchange Halifax and Spry Bay mailbags.. In later years the main Halifax road was built through Spry Bay, coming down over Walsh's Hill past the school house.. The post with the mail box is long gone, but the spot where it stood is still known locally as the Mail Box, and the Maple Hill road goes from the Anglican Church to the Mail Box..

The Leslies were Liberals and the Post Office changed hands at Spry Bay whenever the government changed, going to the Henleys, who were Tories, when that party was in power.. The Post Office at Spry Bay was one of the latest home post offices to close.. It had been operated by Henry Godfrey Leslie's grand-niece Marion Leslie for twenty years, when it finally closed in June, 1971..

Henry Godfrey Leslie married Sarah Fraser January 21, 1843.. She was the daughter of Alexander Fraser II, whose parents Alexander Fraser and Alice Flora MacGregor, both born in Scotland.. Family lore is that both were on the Hector, though the only MacGregor on the passenger list was John MacGregor.. Either the existing list is incomplete, or Alice Flora MacGregor arrived on some other ship..

The brig Hector, in its famous voyage of 1773, started from Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland, where she embarked three families and five single men, then sailed north to Loch Broom, Rosshire where 33 more families and 25 more unmarried men, plus the recruiting agent, John Ross, were taken on board.. The ship set sail from Loch Broom July 10, 1773, arriving in Pictou Harbour 9 weeks and 4 days later, on September 15.. There were 189 passengers including 27 children under two years of age, 44 children between 2 and 9 years..

Eighteen people died enroute, mostly children, and mainly from smallpox and dysentery.. Since 1767, Pictou, as part of the Philadelphia plantation, had been haphazardly settled by the fourteen Scottish grantees of the Philadelphia Company.. In 1772, settlement of Pictou was actively promoted in Scotland.. Land was offered on easy terms with free provisions for one year, and one way passage on the Hector at a price of £3/5 per adult.. Most who accepted the offer came from Ross and Sutherland, and most were tenants, escaping high rents, bad harvests, and strictures against the wearing of the tartan and the playing of the bagpipes, considered to be signs of rebellion.. By Highland standards the Pictou colonists were not poor..

In 1775, when the Revolution broke out in the American colonies, Alexander Fraser left Pictou and joined the Loyalist forces at Halifax, serving until 1783, when he was discharged and granted land at Sheet Harbour.. Legend has it that he walked from there up to Pictou, married Alice Flora MacGregor and brought her back through the pathless woods, a distance of over thirty miles, carrying her over streams and swamps, and for a great part of the distance on his back.. Another version is that went back to Scotland after the American Revolution, fetched Alice Flora MacGregor, returned with her to Pictou, thence through the pathless woods to Sheet Harbour.. This would account for her name not being on the passenger list of the Hector.. Flora died at 75, in June, 1827, and Alexander died at the age of 95 in July, 1830.. Their tombstone stands in the Church Point Cemetery, Sheet Harbour..

Henry Godfrey Leslie and his wife Sarah Fraser had eleven children, the 9th being , always called "R..J..", born February 28, 1862, and died at sea December 5, 1905.. The name Jamison was given to boys of the area as a tribute to the family of Rev.. Robert Jamison, from Ireland, who was ordained Deacon and sent as a missionary for the Propagation of the Gospel to the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.. Jamison selected Ship Harbour as the center of his 120 mile long parish.. By boat, and by footpath through the woods, in all weather, he kept up regular services and remained on the Eastern Shore for 44 years.. He and his wife Matilda had five children, born between 1838 and 1848.. Two became doctors, one a minister, and these three served the physical and spiritual needs of the people of the Eastern Shore with their father for many years..

Robert Jamison Leslie married Bertie Starratt, whose great, great grandfather, Peter Starratt, was born in Scotland, emigrated to Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, then to New England, where he married Eleanor Armstrong of Maine.. They moved to Granville, Nova Scotia, and farmed near Paradise, Annapolis County, around 1780..

Bertie Starratt's mother was a direct descendant of Captain John Parker, a tall, large-framed militiaman, who was at the capture of Louisburgh, 1758 and at the taking of Quebec, in 1759.. Elected captain of militia in Lexington, he commanded the Minutemen there on April 19, 1775.. His cousin, Jonas Parker, was the first man killed in the American Revolution, having been bayonetted during the skirmish which followed the confrontation between British regulars and the local militia on the Common in Lexington, which lies on the road to Concord, Massachusetts..

Captain John Parker was the one who said he did not wish for war, but "if we must have war, let it begin here!".. In the early hours of April 19, he placed his tiny force of less than eighty men out in the open on the Lexington Common and gave the order that no one was to fire until, or unless, they were themselves fired upon first..

Meanwhile, the advance party of the British force, a detachment of light infantry under Col.. Pitcairn, moved on Lexington and made contact with Parker's men on the Common.. Orders to the British advance party were likewise not to fire unless fired upon.. Nevertheless, and it has never been ascertained by whom, a shot was fired, and a general action ensued in which several militiamen were killed and a number wounded.. The British, with some 800 men in the field, then reformed ranks and proceeded to their objective, Concord, where they destroyed some stores and military equipment, then started the return march to Boston..

They were harried by the militiamen all the way back to Lexington and British losses were starting to assume serious proportions when their day was saved by British reinforcements from Boston, who mounted a cannon on a hill behind Lexington and quickly reduced the opposition.. During the battle Col.. Pitcairn was dislodged from his horse, which cantered over to the militia lines.. Pitcairn's saddle holsters and pistols were removed and given to General Israel Putnam, who kept them for his own use throughout the war..

Captain John Parker led his men to Boston where they took part in the Battle of Bunker Hill and the siege of Boston although Parker himself was too ill to ride.. Shortly thereafter he died of tuberculosis..

Sorting out the Parker family, we found that somewhere in Massachusetts, in the mid 1600s, Deacon Thomas Parker and his wife Amy had a son, Hananiah Parker, whose son John Parker, married Deliverance Dodge, and their eighth child was 8.. Lt Josiah Parker, born April 11, 1694 at Reading, Massachusetts.. Josiah married Anna Stone and one of their eight children was 6.. Captain John Parker IV, born July 13, 1729, at Lexington, Massachusetts..

Captain John Parker married Lydia Moore, third daughter of Thomas and Mary Moore of Lexington, Massachusetts.. Their daughter 5.. Ruth Parker, born Dec.. 7, 1765, died March 12, 1838, was married on November 14, 1787, to David Bent II, whose mother was Mary Felch, daughter of Ebinezar Felch of Massachusetts..

The great great grandfather of David Bent II, was John Bent, who, in 1638, had embarked from Penton-Grafton, 70 miles south west of London, England, on a journey which took him to Sudbury, Massachusetts.. His son was Hopestill Bent, and Hopestill's son was Micah Bent.. In 1737 Micah Bent married Grace Rice, daughter of David Rice, and by 1760 they had settled in Bentville, Nova Scotia..

The youngest child of Ruth Parker and David Bent II was 7.. Rebecca Bent, born 1800, who married Joseph Starratt on September 27, 1826 and one of their sons was 2.. George Starratt II, born March 1, 1829, who married Mary Blackadore, daughter of Charles Blackadore, from the United States, who was working at the dockyards in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1784 and for many years thereafter..

George Starratt and Mary Blackadore had eleven children.. Henry was their eighth, said to have been born in the year 1800, highly likely though unrecorded officially, because his older brother, Joseph, was born in 1795, then there was a sister, Sarah, was born, then Henry, followed by Elizabeth Susanna, born in 1802..

Henry Dugwell worked in His Majesty's Shipyards in Halifax.. On October 21, 1834, at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, he married Mary Harlow who suffered and survived typhoid fever in 1840 when she was 33 years old and her daughter Emily was four..

Emily Dugwell, born 1836, was a talented artist.. She married twice.. After her first husband, Rev.. Samuel N.. Bentley died leaving her with two young sons, she married George Starratt II.. The first of their four children was Rebecca Bertie Starratt, born 1863, died 1940, who married Robert Jamison Leslie..

Leslie-Starratt
Rebecca Bertie Starratt was born and raised in the gentle village of Paradise in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, studied at Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts and taught at Spry Bay, Halifax County.. Among her pupils, was a friendly, handsome, and disarmingly charming mature student, Robert Jamison Leslie, was a shipmaster at 18 years of age and sailed for several years from foreign ports.. He was two years older than his teacher when he arrived at the Spry Bay schoolhouse, but he wanted to learn what he needed to achieve some of his life's goals, one of which was to conquer the lovely young school teacher..

After she taught him all she knew, he enrolled at Dalhousie University in Halifax.. When they announced their intention to get married, Bertie's parents persuaded her to go back for another year at Wellesley, hoping no doubt that she would sever her Spry Bay connections.. Bertie completed her year at Wellesley, R..J.. completed his at Dalhousie, and then they were married..

Rebecca was always called Bertie, occasionally spelled Burtie, except at Wellesley where the registrar listed her as Bertha.. She had a lasting respect for learning, and donated her books to the Spry Bay School.. When they lived in Quebec City, 1904-5, while her husband was a Member of the Quebec Legislature, she took her children to many lectures and concerts.. Bertie also maintained high spiritual values.. She was a strong family person..

Robert Jamison Leslie loved life, loved people, and had a strong sense of family responsibility.. He cared for and looked after those who depended on him.. He owned a fish factory and general store on the Magdalene Islands, Quebec.. He was also a partner in Leslie, Hart & Co.., Halifax, traders, and was part owner of the Magdalene Island Steamship Co.. Ltd.. whose vessels plied from Pictou, Nova Scotia, to Souris, Prince Edward Island, and Amherst Island, in the Magdalenes..

In the Quebec Provincial general election of 1904, while R.. J.. was in Scotland securing another ship for his line, he was nominated and elected Liberal Member to the Quebec Legislature for the Magdalene Islands and Gaspé Peninsula.. This election brought the Liberal Government of Premier Gouin to power.. Leslie Village and the Leslie Post Office, at the north end of Grindstone Island in the Magdalenes, were named for R.. J..

R..J.. Leslie loved the Magdalene Islands.. He sailed on his company's last trip each year, carrying provisions to see the islanders through until spring.. The Islanders looked forward to this annual event because when R..J.. was around good times were had by all..

The vessel in use in the winter of 1905 was the Lunenburg, registered December 8, 1891 as ship no.. 100,166, built at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, by Titus Langille for the Lunenburg and Halifax Steam Packet Company.. In 1898 she was bought from that company by James A.. Farquhar, master mariner, of Halifax, for $13,500, and was fitted out and sold by him on January 23, 1900, to Robert J.. Leslie and Guy C.. Hart of Halifax, merchants, for $19,500.. The Lunenburg had one deck and a round stern, was schooner rigged with two masts and had a vertical compound steam engine developing an estimated 56 h..p.. She was 124..9 ft long, 23..5 ft wide, and 12..5 ft deep with a displacement of 266 tons and registered tonnage of 113..

Sunday morning, December 3, 1905, the Lunenburg left Pictou with seventeen men on board.. The trip from Pictou to Souris, P..E..I.., was uneventful and they left Souris at 4 p..m.. on Sunday with fine weather.. As night came on a storm arose and the vessel steamed cautiously until about 58 miles had been recorded on the taffrail log.. The captain thought he had ten miles to spare on the run so didn't take depth soundings..

Weather became thick and the sea was rising.. They were off Amherst Island before daylight on Monday, December 4, intending to proceed through the passage between Entry Island and Amherst Island.. The wind was blowing at gale force from the north-east.. There was a tremendous sea running but it was the blinding snow storm which caused the Lunenburg to lose her way and run aground on a sandbar off Amherst Island, about two miles from the roadstead, at ten past two in the morning..

Captain Pride signalled for help but the sea prevented boats from putting off from the shore.. At 10 a..m.. the captain called for volunteers to attempt a landing in one of the lifeboats with the first and second mates.. After an hour's hesitation, the second engineer and two firemen volunteered.. All five reached shore..

Shortly thereafter the Lunenburg began to break up and the captain decided to chance another landing in a lifeboat.. Again he had difficulty persuading the cold and shivering men to risk their lives in launching a boat from the weather side of the steamer.. A crowd of worried observers had gathered on the stormy shore, incapable of offering assistance..

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the twelve men still on the Lunenburg finally boarded the lifeboat, R..J.. being the last to leave.. The others were a passenger, Samuel Vigneau of the Magdalenes, chief engineer Ronald McDonald of Pictou, steward Harding Gerhardt of Lunenburg, cook James Josie, purser J..W.. McConnell of Port Hilford, cabin boy Beverly Hamm of Lunenburg, seamen Vital Chaisson, Peter Doucet, Joseph Bourgeois and Samuel Vigneau, all of the Magdalene Islands, and Captain Pride of Sherbrooke..

As they approached the shore, breakers forced them to alter course back out to sea and, when they were about six hundred yards from the wreck, a wave broke over them.. The boat was swamped and turned over like a barrel.. Holding to life lines, all aboard came up with the boat which then tossed about in the icy turbulence for about three hours.. Not a man said a word about what their fate might be, except Hamm, the cabin boy, whose concern was for his poor mother.. R..J.. Leslie was continually cheering the party with the assurance that help would come from the shore, but it was not to be..

One by one, the men dropped off.. One of the last to drop was R..J.. In the end there was only the captain left, who had lashed his arm to a thwart.. One report had it that the sea had righted the boat and he was inside when rescued.. He was picked up, unconscious, by a dory from the shore at five o'clock in the afternoon five miles from the wreck and a mile from the shore..

The men ashore, risking their lives to take a dory out to rescue the lone surviver of that second lifeboat thought they saw R..J.. Leslie clinging to the boat.. Watching from the shore in that raging storm all they could make out was R..J..'s large fur coat, but on that occasion it was being worn by the captain.. A grandson of one of the rescuers, who was a small boy on the scene at the time, states unequivocally that nobody would have taken the risk had they known it was not Leslie..

Amherst Island went into mourning.. They built a cairn on the hill to commemorate R..J.. Leslie and when his body washed up on shore they kept the coffin at the cairn until spring, when it was shipped to Halifax for burial in Fairview Cemetery.. The Halifax newspapers carried the story of the Lunenburg disaster on their front pages, with ramifications and accounts from all quarters, through many issues.. R..J..'s wide gold wedding ring was returned to his widow and has been passed along in the family, now being worn by his great-grandson, Andrew Moir Dickson..

The widows and children of the deceased got on with their lives.. Bertie Starratt Leslie moved into her new Halifax home, at 56 Young Avenue, with the children, Eric, Kenneth, Robert, Marjorie and Emily.. In the Halifax street directory for 1914, the family is listed at Princes Lodge.. She later lived on the farm in Woodville..

The first son of Robert Jamison Leslie and Bertie Starratt died in infancy and their second and third sons, twins, died at birth, but they went on to have five other children, one of whom was Kenneth Malcolm Leslie

Kenneth Leslie and his wife Beth Moir
(He had three subsequent wives, but Beth Moir was the mother of his children..)

Born October 31, 1892, died October 7, 1974, Kenneth Leslie first attended the one room Arnold School in Halifax, where he played rugby and cricket.. He was mistaken for a telegraph boy when he entered Dalhousie University at the age of 14, still wearing short pants.. He graduated in Philosophy and taught in a one-room school on the Prospect Road for a year.. On the long walk to the school every Monday morning, and back to his mother's home in Halifax on Friday night, he would compose poetry and songs, in his head.. When he got to his desk he would write them down..

He went to Colgate Theological Seminary, Hamilton, New York, then to the University of Nebraska for a Masters.. He sent his thesis on "A Modern View of Mysticism" to Harvard, was enrolled in their PhD program, studied under Josiah Royce expecting to graduate in 1916 but was not able to pass the language requirements.. He sang well and played the violin.. When performing at concerts in Halifax, his favourite accompanist was Beth Moir..

A graduate at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Beth Moir also attended Emerson College in Boston.. There she learned the Emerson method of oratory and fitness as well as the Delsartian system of calisthenic exercises consisting of graceful and dramatic poses.. This was popular among the more enlightened young ladies of the time..

During World War I, Beth Moir performed for charities and fund raisers for the war effort, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the boys overseas, and sang in a number of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas for which she won rave reviews in the Halifax papers.. Her parents eventually put an end to her performances, feeling that being on the stage was not entirely decent.. Beth also taught calisthenics at the YWCA until her parents discovered that the girls at the Y did their exercises in bloomers without skirts.. Even her marriage, on September 27, 1916, to the engaging young poet, musician, aspiring minister, did not meet their approval.. Kenneth Leslie served briefly as assistant pastor to Rev.. Albert B.. Cohoe at the First Baptist Church, Providence, Rhode Island, and later worked at the Moir's chocolate factory in Halifax.. After the Halifax explosion it was his responsibility to go through the factory and get the workers out..

He tried farming at Granville, in the Annapolis Valley with Gravenstein apples and Holstein cows, several horses, a windmill to bring up water for the livestock, a huge dog named Mike, oil lamps, cold water from the pump which was heated on the stove and carried upstairs for bathing, a crank telephone, a crystal radio, a fence along the river so the children wouldn't fall down the slippery mudbank, an old crank Chevy, and hired help who were always ailing and had to be nursed by Beth, who also made butter to sell, tended chickens, pigs and a kitchen garden, and coped with Leslies and Moirs..

After a few years of farming, Kenneth Leslie started a buttermilk store in California, organized and played fiddle in a jazz band, went to live in Greenwich Village, New York, and wrote songs.. His "Cape Breton Lullaby" has been recorded by several famous artists, and he wrote many other popular songs, some in collaboration with his brother Bob.. He peddled these on Tin Pan Alley, with the help of Beth, who made the arrangements, scoring manuscripts by hand.. He also preached at the Manhattan Avenue Baptist Church, and for a while he wrote news for the Canadian Press.. Meanwhile becoming known as one of Canada's major poets, a founding member of the famous Song Fishermen, Kenneth Leslie also won the Governor General's Award for poetry in Canada in 1938 for his book By Stubborn Stars..

Some of the Leslie children had bronchitis so his father-in-law, James Moir, sent the family to Ashville, North Carolina, then Summerville, South Carolina where the girls had ponies to ride, and eventually to the Swiss Alps, via Paris, and to St-Martin-d'Uriage near Grenoble where Kenneth Leslie studied French at the Sorbonne University.. After a brief stint at the local school, his daughters were placed in a French Roman Catholic Convent in Paris, and later the four children were left with a governess in a chalet in Switzerland while their parents toured around Europe..

On their return from Europe, the Leslies lived in Washington, D..C.. where the children were placed in the Maret French School, and later returned to Halifax, moving in with the Moirs at 103 Inglis Street, from where Kenneth was called to assist Rev.. Albert B.. Cohoe once more, this time at the First Baptist Church in Montclair, New Jersey.. While the family was in Montclair, Irish sculptor, poet and playwright Seamas O'Brien came to dinner and stayed for a year.. Other frequent long-term house guests included Liam Fitzgibbon who taught all the children Irish jigs, reels and hornpipes, Kenneth's sister Marjorie, brother Robert, and transient ministers and priests..

Beth stuck with Kenneth through his many adventures, providing moral and financial support for whatever he wanted to accomplish.. One of his crusades was to revive the Gaelic language, first in Halifax, then Cape Breton, and later in New York City.. He had a radio program on station WOR, Newark, New Jersey, with Gaelic songs as well as violin music, poetry, and stories, performed by him, his daughters, and Beth at the piano.. He did a club and resort circuit bringing Gaelic culture to the stage, including Scottish and Irish dancing by the daughters, dressed in ethnic costumes manufactured by their mother.. Wherever they went, members of the audience would stay on after the concert, mesmerized by Ken's charm, as he continued reading his poetry into the night, long after Beth and the children had retired..

After Montclair, they moved to Manhattan where Kenneth Leslie published The Protestant Digest, with an editorial board of prominent church people.. By 1934 his marriage was over.. In 1936 the divorce was official..

Beth continued to live in New York City with her children, becoming the confidante of a wide circle of friends.. She was elected president of the New York Women's Canadian Club with offices in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, performed official duties on behalf of the Canadian community in the City, entertained Canadians who visited New York, including the then Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Hon.. William Lyon McKenzie King.. Beth's close friends were politicians, playwrights, musicians, opera singers, actors and scientists and she helped many young Canadians who came to New York..

A consummate student, Beth Leslie read five New York newspapers every day, continued to play the piano, keeping up with the latest popular music all her life, and was always able to charm her peers by playing and singing the songs of earlier times.. She loved the theatre, rarely missed a Broadway play, and always intended to write one.. A novel, too, was in her long range plan, but her time ran out before she reached the old age during which she intended to embark on these projects..

Beth was actively interested in the occult, astral travel, reincarnation, and extra-sensory perception.. She studied oil painting with the New York Art Students' League.. After several heart attacks, one of which occurred in Sweden, forcing her to remain there for a year recuperating, she eventually succumbed, at the age of 57, while on a visit to Rochester, New York.. The funeral was from the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, in Manhattan, and burial was in the Friends Cemetery in Westbury, Long Island.. Beth Moir Leslie will always be remembered as a brilliant and elegant person..

Kenneth Leslie wrote hundreds of poems to her, for her, and about her.. He insisted to his dying day that all of his poetry was inspired by Beth.. For ten years he published the Protestant Digest, complete sets of which are in the Nova Scotia Archives and in the Dalhousie University Library, in Halifax.. The purpose of the magazine was to expose and condemn injustice.. One of his highly controversial projects was the Textbook Commission to remove anti-semitism from the text books of the United States..

A commanding figure and spell-binding speaker, Kenneth Leslie called the shots as he saw them, treading on the toes of many people in high places.. On the editorial board of his magazine were the great liberals of the day, writing hard-hitting criticism.. Eventually he had offended so many established politicians that he was labelled as a fellow-traveller, and, along with such liberals as Charlie Chaplin, Leonard Bernstein, Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Norman Mailer, Arthur Miller and many others, was advised by friends to leave the United States.. To prevent the McCarthy Commission from destroying him, his family and his associates, he returned to Canada..

After Beth divorced him, Kenneth Leslie undertook two more marriages and divorces, suffered a stroke which left him partially paralyzed, struggled to a complete recovery, and drove to California to marry Nora, the widow of his friend, Judge Steenerson.. They lived in Pictou, then Halifax, where he died October 7, 1974 and is buried in the Leslie plot, Fairview Cemetery, Halifax..

Kenneth Leslie's writings, political activism, and private life, continue to intrigue students of Canadian literature.. His poetry is in most Canadian anthologies..

Beth Moir Leslie's full given name was Elizabeth Putnam Bryden Monteith Archibald Ward Moir, knowing which helped considerably in tracing the family tree..

One branch on the Moir side of her family has been traced through the Richard Warren who arrived in 1620 at Plymouth Rock, on the Mayflower, back to Alfred the Great, born in 872 AD, founder of the English constitution, the legal code, and British sea power!

On the Archibald side, they go back to Henry I, son of Otto the Illustrious, Emperor of Germany, Duke of Saxon, King of the East Franks, born in 876 AD.. Beth Moir Leslie's first ancestors on this branch of the family tree to arrive in North America came on the Hector to Pictou in 1773..

Kenneth Leslie and Beth (Moir) Leslie had four children, one of whom is Rosaleen Diana Leslie who married David Rutherford Dickson..

David Rutherford Dickson was born in Montreal on November 15, 1919..A King Scout, he cycled through England and Scotland in his teens, staying at Youth Hostels, and visiting relatives.. He studied accounting at McGill University in Montreal, and qualified in 1939 with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Province of Quebec and joined the firm of Price Waterhouse in Montreal.. Throughout this time, David continued his interest in cycling.. At a youth hostel in Northfield, Massachusetts, while bicycling in New England in 1939, he met Rosaleen Diana Leslie of Halifax, Nova Scotia, a university student on holiday, who later became his wife..

In February, 1941, at the age of 21, David enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, qualified as an Air Observer (navigation, bombing and gunnery), taught Astro-Navigation with the Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and was posted as Navigator to the RAF Ferry Command, taking aircraft across the ocean for use in Britain..

On October 28, 1942, in Westmount, Quebec, he and Rosaleen were married.. David was then posted to England where he completed a tour of operations with the RAF as a Navigator with 214 (FMS) Bomber Squadron, attaining the rank of Flight Lieutenant.. After the war David obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.. After graduation, David worked four years as an income tax assessor with the Federal Government in Ottawa..

In 1953 he moved his family to Shawville, Quebec, incorporated Pontiac Printshop Ltd.., and published the weekly newspaper, THE EQUITY (founded in 1883), now owned and operated by his eldest son, Ross.. In 1982, he bought Custom Printers of Renfrew Ltd, in Renfrew, Ontario, now owned and operated by his youngest son, Andrew..

David Dickson served as chairman of the Pontiac Community Hospital, founded the Pontiac County Social Planning Council, chaired the Pontiac County Ground Observers Corps, built a 16 foot Petrel sailboat, raised horses, and always maintained an insatiable curiosity about the origins of humanity on this planet.. During his sixties, he took on the task, with his wife, of editing "Avenging in the Shadows," a book published in England about the RAF squadron in which he had served, and then co-authored "The Dickson and Leslie Family Histories," the research for which required considerable travel in Nova Scotia and Scotland..