Yorkshire 2000 Video
Celebrating the Forgotten Migration
By Ruby M. Cusack
Cliff and I did up the supper dishes while Mum drove the cows up the lane to the night pasture. I think she wanted a break and a chance to listen to the peeping of the frogs.
She seemed to be gone a long time and we were thinking of going to check on her, when we heard her foot steps in the porch.
On her walk she met Mrs. Titus. During the conversation the using of yeast cakes in bread-making had been discussed. Mum used the cube yeast cakes. Mrs. Titus told her about the dry fast rising yeast that she used in the West. It was now available at the General Store kept by Fred and Laura. It was a different way but the end result was still homemade bread.
While I was walking to the Library, I happened to meet Connel who told me about a video that had been made on the Yorkshire Migration. Telling history through the making of a video is new and different, but the end result is still the same - preserving our heritage.
Once I purchased my copy, I was most anxious to view it but first I must feed the family.
I left the supper dishes on the table and sat down to watch the video. The opening scene of the wind blowing the marsh grass and the sound of the pipe whisked me to the Tantramar.
As Al Smith read a letter written in 1774 by his ancestor, Nathaniel Smith, to his brother Benjamin, I realized I had found a treasure trove of information on the struggles of a forgotten migration.
It was interesting to hear of a comment recorded in a journal, concerning the horrible black flies and mosquitos that attacked these folk who were not familiar with this type of insects.
The Yorkshire marsh hay-barn with its two doors provided a drive through for the team of horses.
Between 1772 and 1775, more than one thousand people left the east coast of Yorkshire, England bound for new lives on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, settling in the Tantramar region of present day New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Today their descendants are scattered around the world, perhaps unaware of their Yorkshire roots. The video Yorkshire 2000 celebrates what has become for many, the forgotten migration.
The story is told through the voices of those emigrants' descendants. Viewers will journey with them to many of the Yorkshire sites on the Tantramar. Visit the exact spot where the first schooner landed at Fort Cumberland on May 21, 1772. Join Yorkshire descendants as they search through marsh grasses on a windy hill near Fort Beauséjour for their ancestor's final resting place. Tour the fort and learn about the Eddy Rebellion. Meet members of Danks Rangers, historical re-enactors camping at Keillor House in Dorchester. Visit Chapman House and the Point de Bute Methodist burial grounds. Learn about the roots of Methodism in North America and the beginning of Mount Allison University. Travel to River Philip and Oxford, Nova Scotia. Roam the Tantramar with its Yorkshire barns and visit what was once a thriving harbour and shipyard, now reduced to dry marshland.
During fifty minutes, the video, “Yorkshire 2000 - Celebrating the Forgotten Migration”, explores the immigration and settlement of these families, but, most of all, it celebrates their rich Yorkshire heritage and their many achievements.
The video was produced in New Brunswick by Midwood Media and can be purchased for $19.95. To order call toll free 1-866-728-1243 or e-mail to midwood@nbnet.nb.ca.
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Query 957
Sanderson: Desire any information on George Sanderson, elector in
Moncton in 1885. I seek the names of his parents, his dates of birth and
death. Was he from Ayrshire, Scotland? What exactly did
an Elector do?
-David N. Strickland, 14533 Hague Drive, Farmers Branch,
TX, USA, 75234. E-mail to dstrickland@optekinc.com