Some Family History As Told To Fred Matheson By His Father Archibald Daniel Matheson

Grandfather Lauchlin Matheson emigrated from Portree, Isle of Skye, with quite a few of the clan to Prince Edward Island as a young man. All spoke only Gaelic. They settled originally in the Belfast area, known then as Murray Harbour Road. After a short period of time, some of them came to the Dundas area, which later was divided into smaller school districts. Others moved to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, among them my grandfather Lauchlin.

Angus and Norman settled in Forest Hill; James and Alexander in the Matheson Hill (Upton); Malcolm in Albion Cross. Lauchlin came from Cape Breton to visit brothers and sisters in the Dundas area, fell in love with his first cousin Elizabeth, married, and bought 200 acres of woodland in Albion Cross.

Angus, Lauchlin and James were Grandmother Elizabeth's brothers; Norman, Alexander and Malcolm were Grandfather Lauchlin's brothers. There were other members of both families, but I do not remember if I was told of them or not.

Grandfather and Grandmother lived in a log cabin until my father came home from Massachusetts, USA in the 1870's and built them a frame house and barn, for which he received 100 acres or half of their holdings, plus one horse and one cow. There were only five acres of land cleared on this 100 acres. The cooking was done in an open fireplace. (1 still have a part of the swinging crane of the fireplace.)

Dad had become a first class carpenter when in Massachusetts, but as was common for families living in noorly ventilated cabins, it was impossible to avoid tuberculosis. When one of Dad's brothers, Johnnie, and a sister, Margaret, contracted the disease and died, Dad's parents wrote and asked him to come home and build them a frame house. He left a promising future and acceded to their request --a big task. as all the lumber had to be cut down, hewed by hand, and the studding whipsawed --all manual labour.

When he completed this task, he started to build his own buildings. After several years and many acres cleared for cultivation, he married, raised and educated ten children, built homes, a church and a school, and was a leader in church, school and community life. He was a local Justice of the Peace (J.P.) and often court was held in our home. He was a constable and there were several amusing incidents he related to me that occurred while he was on duty.

A common occurrence was the conviction of persons selling liquor illegally, and if the person did not pay the fine imposed, the constable was given court order to arrest and jail the offender. On one occasion Dad and another constable were sent to arrest a woman for this offence. When they came to her home she immediately stripped herself stark naked and defied them to take her to jail The two men took a blankel and started to wrap her in it and carry her to their vehicle. She changed her mind and begged them lo give her lime to dress, so they landed her in the county jail at Georgetown fully clothed.

On another occasion a storekeeper, a Mr. MacDonald in Souris, was convicted and three men were sent to arrest him. He chased them away and the warrant was given to Dad to make the arrest. Souris was 14 miles from our home. Dad drove there, went into the man's shop, bought three pairs of shoes for some of us children, paid for them, then placed his hand on the man's shoulder; showed his badge, and arrested him. The man was so impressed with Dad's courage that he paid his fine at once and caused no further trouble.

Many times Dad was able to help settle domestic differences between in-Iaws of different families and, as Justice of the Peace, do their legal agreement without charge.

He was an extremely healthy person, and he and I worked the farm together from the time of my late teens, and later when Anita and I took charge of the farming operation. Until he suffered a stroke in his 90th. year he was always lending a helping hand. He passed away in December of 1944 in his 94th year.

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard