Properties and People MCGREGOR TO WILFRED DENNIS & OTHERS ( S 16) Archibald and Christy Ann McGregor were the first occupants of this farm, having emigrated from the Parish of Fortingal in the town of , Perthshire, Scotland in 1808 on the ship Clarendon. The date that this land was conveyed to the McGregors is uncertain. In the Montgomery ledgers beside Archibald McGregor 's account it is written, "Invoice #182,100 acres. Vide remarks in last year's account. He gave a bill many years ago for the amount but the bill having been protested and either kept too long in Britain or here, McGregor lost recourse."' Archibald and Christy Ann had eight children: Alexander, Catherine, Margaret ( Mrs. John MacLean ), Christian, Jane (Jean), Grace ( Mrs. Andrew Carr ), Isobel , and Robert. In February of 1839, Archibald died as newspapers of the day reported "from the effects of being frostbitten on the 8'h inst."2 Archibald's will, written "at present in a weak state of health, but of sound memory and judgement," bequeathed to his youngest son Robert, "all that tract of land now in actual occupation and situated on the north bank of the River Hillsborough ."3 Robert inherited this land on the condition that he keep and care for his mother and sister Christian during their natural lives. If Robert was to not fulfill the conditions, the executors ( Alexander Stewart and William Scott ) were to sell the land, 2/8ths of the clear price to go to Alexander and l/8th each to Katherine, Margaret, Christian, Jean, Grace, and Isobel .4 Christy Ann 's occupation in the 1841 census was listed as "widow." She outlived her husband by thirty-seven years, and died in Marshfield on May 12, 1876 at ninety-seven years of age. It is not documented why Robert did not take over the farm, but a land conveyance record relays that in 1873, it was Christy Ann that conveyed the land to Thomas Stetson and her daughter Isabella MacGregor , his wife.5 Thomas, born in 1832, was the son of John and Mary Bell who had sailed from Hull, England on the "Valiant" in 1817. They both came on the same ship and were married in 1822. John was the sixth child out of thirteen, raised in North Bedeque and Freetown .6 Thomas and Elizabeth were married on the 9 July 1857.7 In the 1881 and 1891 Census, Thomas and Isabella and their children, John, Elizabeth, Henry A. and Gordon, are recorded as living in Lot 34. Horace MacEwen was the next owner, and remained on the farm until 1911. At this time, Enoch Dennis bought the property, and four years later sold it to his son Herbert Dennis .8 Herbert (Herb) Dennis married Hilda Darrach , daughter of his former neighbour, Duncan Darrach . Herb and Hilda had two daughters, Helen and Shirley. Herb kept the property until 1952, at which time it passed through the hands of C. Herman Dignan , and then Dorothy C. Wakelin .9 In the year 2000 the property is owned by Wilfred Dennis , Everett Wakelin Construction Ltd. and MacKay Construction Co. Ltd. Submitted by Juanita Rossiter 1 Lawson, James P, "Montgomery's Lands 1833: Land Records and Genealogy," in the Island Magazine (no.32, Fall/Winter 1992), p.34. 2 Royal Gazette . 26 February 1839 or The Colonial Herald, 2 March 1839, p.3. 3 Will of Archibald McGregor , Hillsborough River . Liber 4, Folio 18. Registered 6 April 1839 (PARO). 4 Ibid. 5 Liber 2, Folio 192. Registered 10 November 1873. (Land Records Office). 6 Freetown : Past and Present. Freetown Historical Society (Summerside: Williams and Crue , 1985), 433-434. 7 Marriage License Book #4. 1851-1863. 8 Liber 67, Folio 658. Registered 4 May 1915. (Land Records Office). 9 Liber 130, Folio 879. Registered 24 June 1952. (Land Records Office). -316-