As Remembrance Day approaches, it seems fitting to remember two of my granduncles who served in the World War I. Although not from Earltown “proper”, they grew up a short distance east at College Grant and were well known to the folks in the eastern parts of Earltown. Their names were Alex and George Murray and they belonged to the tribe otherwise described as the “Craig” Murrays.
Their parents were Robert Murray and Annie MacLean. Robert was born and raised on the Craig to the south of Loganville and close to the Berichon. His wife Annie was a MacLean from MacIntosh Road. The family farm was located on MacIntosh Road on the south side of the Nabiscamp Brook. The buildings, although abandoned, are still standing today.
The two eldest sons, Dan and Alex, at an early age acquired a steam powered threshing machine and serviced farms in College Grant, East Earltown, Clydesdale, West Branch and Loganville. The revenue from this business enabled them to purchase a portable sawmill to keep them busy for the remainder of the year. This endeavour took them to various sites in West Pictou. Their crew included younger brothers Johnny and George as well as their sister Maggie as camp cook.
Dan, later known as “D.W.”, was the entrepreneur of the two while Alex was the “hands on” component of the partnership. Around 1910 DW took a trip to the Annapolis Valley after conducting some business in Halifax. He came across a mill/factory for sale in the town of Hantsport and proceeded to acquire it. It was the Hantsport Fruit Basket Company which provided baskets and crates for the Annapolis Valley. It was a business that thrived for over fifty years.
Alex, for the time being, remained in College Grant assisting with the family farm and possibly continued with the portable mill on his own. In 1913 D.W. was finding the growing business too much for one man and summoned his brother Alex to manage the woodland operations and oversee sawing.
Being single, Alex took leave of the business in August of 1915 and enlisted in the army at Aldershot. He was placed in the 40th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, a reserve battalion which trained replacements for other units depleted by casualties. He arrived in England on October 28, 1915. In March of 1916 he was attached to the 8th Battalion and sailed to France on April 5th. He joined his new unit in the field on April 14th.
The field posting was to the trenches in the vicinity of Ypres in Belgium. While subject to constant shelling over the following six weeks, there was no full engagement until the enemy launched an attack on an allied strategic position on Mount Sorrel overlooking the city of Ypres on June 2nd. Some trenches were lost to the enemy and it was then that Alex was taken prisoner. He was initially reported missing in action but later unofficially reported as a prisoner at Dulmein near Dusseldorf.
With most of their young men in the army, the Germans had a labour shortage in the lumber industry and were experiencing a shortage of lumber. One day a German officer went through the camp asking if any of the prisoners had sawmill experience. Alex indicated that he was a millwright by trade. He was shipped off to work in a mill in East Prussia near Heilberg. (Heilberg is now known as Lidzbark and is located north of Warsaw, Poland).
The narrative of his sisters indicated that Alex felt he was better treated working in the mill than sitting around a prison camp. That appears to have been sugar coated spin to alleviate worries at home. His grandchildren tell that conditions were not much better in the mill camp.
By December 18th, 1918, Alex had arrived back in England and was stationed at a camp at Seaford, Sussex. He was cleared to return to Nova Scotia in February of 1919 and was discharged in Halifax on March 8th. Papers of the day reported that Alex Murray, POW in East Prussia, returned to Hantsport and was welcomed in celebration by the townfolk.
Alex married Odessa Frizzell and had three sons. He returned to his duties at the factory and also found time to chair the school board, serve on town council, and become involved in lodge and the United Church.
D.W[1]., long time mayor of the town, was equally active in civic duties and also sat on the board of other business concerns[2] in the region.
Alex died November 4, 1947 at the age of 65.
George Murray began his work life barrowing sawdust in his brothers’ mill. While his eventual calling would take him in a much different direction, he always spoke with fondness of his days in the lumber camp. One of his camp acquaintances was Keiller MacKay of Plainfield whom he would later meet on the battlefield.
George was attending university in Halifax during the 1914-1915 term. One winter day, some of the lads were discussing whether they should enlist. A dare or challenge to enlist came forth and off the lads went to an enlistment drive downtown. What may have started out as an act of youthful bravado, quickly evolved into an act of enlistment.
He was attached to the Canadian Army Medical Corp and was immediately sent to the 1st General Hospital in England. By June he was promoted to Corporal. He remained on medical duty in England for the next two years. In August of 1917 he was posted to the 85Th Battalion, (Nova Scotia Highlanders), in France as a Captain. He eventually ended up on the battlefront near Ypres in Flanders.
A notation in the War Diary of July 5th, 1918 quotes the London Gazette :” For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty, when all the officers of the attacking company had become casualties, he led his platoon forward to reinforce and overpowered the enemy’s resistance. he took command of and reorganized all troops on the objective and sent in a valuable report”. For this he received the Military Cross.
In a 1976 interview, he spoke of some awful situations he found himself in. He was often on stretcher duty retrieving the wounded from the trenches and field. He was wounded not once but twice in a two-week period during the autumn of 1918. The second wound was serious and he was shipped by to England for treatment in Manchester. He returned to duties in England when able in late January 1919. He returned to Canada in the summer of 1919 and was discharged with the rank of Captain.
George returned to his studies towards becoming a Presbyterian minister. By 1922 he was an ordained Presbyterian minister. The West Branch Congregation held a special service that year to wish him well in his posting to a missionary position in Trinidad. The Trinidad mission had strong ties to West Pictou. It was founded in 1870 by Rev. K.J. Grant of Scotch Hill.
While on furlough in 1924, George was visiting his brothers in Hantsport and was invited to a social function just prior to returning to Trinadad. There he spied a lady from Mount Uniacke who took his fancy. There was no time to make a proper acquaintance but upon his return to Trinadad, George took up correspondence with Miss Sadie Robertson. This resulted in a proposal by letter which was accepted. The couple were married shortly thereafter in Trinadad.
Upon church union in 1925, the Trinadad mission was transferred to the United Church and Rev. George transferred as well. His rural upbringing served him well in the field as the missionaries were active in promoting improvements in gardening and agriculture.
After his retirement from the field, Rev. George served in interim positions with pastoral charges in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. His full retirement was spent in Halifax. In recognition of his work in the missionary field, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree from Pine Hill Theology College.
He died in Halifax on March 22, 1977.
[1] D.W. and Alex set up an electrical utility for the town. The steam driven generating equipment, used for the plant machinery, would be switched over to the town grid after hours.
[2] D.W. was involved with several of Roy Joudrey’s companies including Minas Basin Pulp and Paper.
earltown 