Letter from James Harvie (1803-1890) in Nova Scotia, Canada
to nephew Walter Harvie (1843-1932) in Sydney, AustraliaNEWPORT Sept. 1st 1862Dear Div.,
Yours of the first of March came to hand about a month ago and you will excuse me for not writing sooner. We were all glad to hear from you, where you were, and what you were doing, and particularly that your health was good. We are enjoying a favourable share of health, your sister is very well, she is a very steady girl and has got an excellent place so I am told. She is living with Mr. George Sweet at St. Croix, we saw him last Sabath at meeting in Newport where we frequently see him. Your Grandfather Harvie is no more. He departed this life in May 1861, and we have reason to believe that he departed this life in full profession of that peace which is the profession of those who have an inheritance at the right hand of GOD and him in Heaven above. Your Grandfather Burton and family are all well, we frequently hear from them, and we often see your uncle James Burton and wife at meeting in Newport. You wished to know something respecting your father's estate of which I cannot speak correctly, but as a rough estimate it is worth about four hundred pounds, one third of it being claimed by your stepmother as her Dower and there are considerable expenses in the way of Dyke rates.
Dear Walter you spoke in your letter of arriving in Australia and of going to California, now dear Div, I hope that wherever you go, in whatever you are engaged, endeavour to do all in accordance with the will of God, knowing as you must that (in whatever you are engaged) that GOD seist me. Now whether you remain in Sydney or not I hope that you will remember the Sabath and keep it holy, endeavour as far as possible to meet with the people of GOD on the Sabath and worship with them in the Sanctuary. Although Sidney is a country far from us we are not entire strangers to its doings, and frequently have accounts of the doings of the Presbeterian Church in that place, and as your fathers (Nova Scotia) your native home, and your connections were all more or less connected with that Church, I hope that wherever you will be you will endeavour to meet and worship with them, and whether you can meet with the Church or not do not neglect the worship of GOD particuarly on the Sabath day. Please write to us as often as convienient, I would like to hear from you often say every six months or at least once a year.
and remain yours affectionately To Walter Harvie
James Harvie
Sidney
NEW SOUTH WALES
COMPILER'S NOTE: The original of the letter is understood to be held by Mr. Robert P. Harvey of Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. James Harvie (1803-1890) was an older brother of the Walter Harvie's father Daniel (1811-1851) and was Walter's court appointed guardian. It is said when James Harvie died in 1890 he had been an elder of the Presbyterian Church for 50 years 1. When the letter was written in 1862 the addressee at 19 years of age was 40 years his uncle's junior. The ‘Div’ form of address is likely an archiac abbreviation of the word divaricate (meaning - branch, diverge, seperate widely etc.). The term ‘connections’ was in general useage in the 19th century to refer to relatives.
In respect of the "more or less" involvment of Walter's Harvie ancestors with the Presbyterian Church, deed records suggest it was Walter Harvie's Burton connections, more so than his Harvies', who were involved with the Presbyterian Church in the Newport and Windsor area - at least in the early 1850s. Those records show the land on which St. John's Presbyterian Church of Windsor was erected was conveyed to the trustees by James Robertson on 10 March 1810 (Hants County Registry of Deeds Book 8 at page 418), and St. John's church was consituted under an Act of the provincial legislature by deed dated 28 March 1829. Later when doubts arose as to the validity of the original consitution St. John's it was reconsituted on 29 September 1853. Of the 28 names appearing on this latter deed none were named Harvie !
The name of Walter Harvie's grandfather Walter Burton (or his son Walter Burton Jr.) appeared as a signatory as did that of his uncle William Burton with whom Walter later wrote that he had lived with in the Latties Brook/Burtons area for two years from about 1856-58. The deed also appointed his uncle William Burton one of the five trustees of the church charged with administering its civil affairs.
The name of another of Walter Harvie's uncles James Burton, also mentioned in the above letter, appeared on the 1873 communion roll of the St. Croix Presbyterian Church which was not organised until 1864 hence the reason why in 1862 he would have been attending St. John's in Windsor.
The letter writer James Harvie should have known the estate of his late brother Daniel Lockhart Harvie was worth much more than four hundred pounds ! In 1866 the real estate alone was valued at £1086. Dyke rates were payable to maintain the dykes. However such should have been covered by receipts from the rental of the land - seemingly payable by uncle James Harvie who an asute reader will note was not offering in the letter any encouragement to his nephew to return to Nova Scotia to claim his inheritance.
SOURCES:
1 Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly #4 of 1976, Robert P. Harvey, John Harvie (1730-1822) of Newport Nova Scotia, Three Generations of Descendants.
Compiled by J. Raymond, Brisbane, Australia, 2000
