Adam Porter brings a new life.

It is said that Adam Porter met Esther Cox while she was in Amherst jail, but I found no evidence of that.  Esther was sent to jail in November 1879 for theft and was released on December 20^th, even though her sentence was to be for 4 months.  We do know that Esther was still in Amherst in August of 1881 from a newspaper story about a bizarre incident when she was called on as a witness in the Amherst courthouse.   Esther married Adam in March of 1882. Both Adam and Esther were living in Springhill at the time of their marriage. 

Adam was previously married to an Olive Porter of Hants County in 1871 who died  but Adam was originally from Westville Pictou County.   He was one of 10 children of a second generation Scottish Presbyterian immigrant. By 1881 Adam Porter was living with his sister and brother in law Robert Conn and working at Albion Mines.   Adam moved from Pictou to Springhill, presumably to work in the Springhill mines, settling in with  his mother, sister and brother in law some time after 1881. His Brother in law Robert might have been related to the Conns of Conns Mills.  Robert and his wife are buried there.

Porter was 14 years older than Esther.  She bore him a son James in 1883. Adam and Esther’s son James went to Brockton Massachusetts with Esther and her second husband Peter Shanahan.  James married Nellie.  They both worked at the shoe factories in Brockton, he as a finisher and she as a stitcher. 

 I have never been able to find out what happened to Adam Porter in Springhill, nor have I been able to trace his son James in Brockton any later than 1905. Someday something will show up.

It's a new year!

And I'm turning over a new leaf.  Hoping to get back to my favorite pastime, researching stories from the past, mostly Amherst of course.  I received this wonderful photo once from a friend.  Although I had left Cumberland County Museum and Archives, as would often happen, an item would be put into my hands for my viewing while grocery shopping or at a yard sale.  This is one such item, and unless the Museum already has a copy, it will go to them.  I love the many Acadian names in this St. Charles Baseball Club 1913.  White, Cuvilier, Burke, Blanch.  Baseball was in its heyday then, even I (the physical activity hater) played with my brothers in the empty lot in our neighbourhood in my girlhood. In the days of this photo, baseball church leagues were popular.  Everyone in our area had heard of the Springhill fencebusters, particularly my family since both parents grew up in Springhill. A neighbour of ours once told me that my father was a pretty good ball player in his younger years, high praise for that generation.  If you recognize anyone, let me know.