Just another Day on the Farm

We first hear of Lt. William Graves (1) in the Township of Granville, Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada.  In a Confirmation of Land Grants, 1764, William Graves was given lot number 11 in Granville Township.  This land grant was awarded to William as a result of his military service in the French and Indian Wars which ended in 1763.

It is believed that the parents of William may have been Thomas Graves and Ann Stone.

Massachusetts Officers in the French and Indian Wars, edited by Nancy S. Voye, shows William Graves having two tours of duty.  His rank is Lt.; residence in Massachusetts is Weston.  From Nov. 2, 1759 until July 1, 1760 (43 weeks, 5 days) he was in Annapolis, Nova Scotia, in Capt. Daniel Fletcher’s Company, under Colonel Frye.  He signed on for another tour of duty, remaining in Nova Scotia, stationed in Annapolis Royal in Capt. Jabez Snow’s Company from July 2, 1760 until Dec. 16, 1760 (33 weeks).

It is not known whether William returned to Massachusetts at the end of his duty.  He married Elizabeth Williams in 1760 in Granville.  No exact date of marriage has been found.  Their first child, William, Jr., was born Sept. 1761 in Nova Scotia.  This would seem to indicate that William never returned to the Colonies (at least not for any length of time) after being stationed in Annapolis during the Wars.

A Nova Scotia 1770 census for Granville, Annapolis Valley, lists “Lt. William Graves and family of 1 woman, 2 boys, and 1 girl: 5 Protestants from America”.  Nova Scotia land records state that William applied for land “on the river of Annapolis Royal” sometime before 1777.  In 1783 William and his eldest son, William, Jr., crossed the Bay of Fundy (the body of water separating Nova Scotia from New Brunswick) and joined the Loyalist settlers in New Brunswick.  They arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick, and received a grant of 2,000 acres bordering on Kennebecasis Bay on the outskirts of the loyalist city of Saint John.

The Story of Sussex (New Brunswick) and Vicinity by Grace Aiton states “the two Williams (father and son) made their way up the Kennebecasis in Indian canoes and camped on the site now occupied by the Penobsquis United Baptist Church before settling at Springdale.  From there they spread up the Portage Valley and were the first to make use of the upper reaches of the river for the operating of mills.  William, the son, was the noted strong man of his day, and he thought nothing to harness himself to a sled loaded with farm produce and haul it over the frozen river’s surface to Saint John.”

“love that qoute, even 9 generations ago the men where built like bulls LOL”

Since William’s wife, Elizabeth, did not accompany him and their son to New Brunswick, it is assumed she was deceased.  Family stories say she died in Nova Scotia and was buried there in Annapolis Valley.  No death record or marked grave exists to verify this.

A book written on the history of Granville in Annapolis Valley states that William and Elizabeth’s other son and daughter remained in Nova Scotia.  They both married, had children, and a few of their descendants remained in Nova Scotia at the time this book was written (in 1888).  An Elias Graves, born 1766, was granted land in Aylesford Township in 1810.  There he married Miriam Parker in 1792 and raised their children.  Since it is recorded he moved to Aylesford from Annapolis, it would seem very likely this Elias was the other son of William and Elizabeth listed in the 1770 census.  There is also a record of Sarah Graves, born about 1768, who married Joshua Fowler on 26 Feb. 1792.  She may have been the daughter of William and Elizabeth.  There are no birth or baptism records to verify these assumptions.

It is not recorded when or where Lt. William Graves, Sr., died, but it is assumed to be in New Brunswick, probably in Kings County where he had settled with his son, William Jr.

Then cross over to the armstrong side of the family.. as well as over the sea and you can track it back to the 11th century..

The origins of this powerful Border family are said to go back to a “Siward Digry” (sword strong arm) who was the last Anglo-Danish Earl of Northumberland and a nephew of King Canute, who reigned in the 11th century. The name became widespread in the north of England and the Scottish Borders but their main power base became Liddesdale in the Borders. Gilbert Armstrong was a steward of King David IIand in 1363 acted as an ambassador to the English court of King Edward III

The family grew in strength and could muster 3,000 horsemen and virtually controlled the whole Border region at one stage. This meant that they were in a more or less constant state of conflict with the English lords and earls on the other side of the border with England.

The power of the Armstrongs became a perceived threat to the monarch of Scotland and King James V (who reigned from 1513 to 1542) tricked John Armstrong of Kilnockie into meeting him at Hawick – and promptly hanged him. A few years later, however, the Armstrongs refused to support King James V’s invasion of England. It is possible that this made a difference at the Battle of Solway in 1542, which cost King James his life.

The Union of the Crowns in 1603 brought an official end to the cross-border conflicts but old habits died hard. In 1610 the Armstrong laird was hanged for a reiving (cattle rustling) raid on Penrith. The Armstrongs were scattered at that time and there has been no chief of the clan since then. Many Armstrongs moved to Northern Ireland and also around the world.

The most travelled Armstrong has to be Neil Armstrong who was the first man to walk on the moon.

The Armstrong motto is “Invictus maneo” which means “I remain unvanquished”.