Following Back

Long gravel roads wind through the hills around River Philip, Nova Scotia. My ancestors had plots of land up here that are easy to find on old maps, but hard to reach in reality. Rocks and black flies kept me from driving or walking to my destinations — turning me back around. While my great-grandparents

Home of the Colburns

Clinton Colburn left this home in Collingwood Corner, Nova Scotia, in 1894 with his neighbor Alberta Ripley and started a new life in America. They were both 21 and yet unmarried. My great-great grandparents Alex and Kitty (Wethered) Colburn raised Clinton and his nine siblings here — half of whom moved far away. Clinton emigrated

Royal Fencible American

The story of my grandmother’s family, the Colburns, starts here in the barracks of Fort Cumberland in Aulac, New Brunswick, bordering Nova Scotia. Richard Colburn was listed as a “Private” here in 1783, serving with a local militia called the Royal Fencible Americans. The “Fencibles” were among the British defenders of the Fort from a

Abandoned

In 1784, Richard Colburn was granted 200 acres around here in North Wallace, Nova Scotia — compensation for his military service at Fort Cumberland, New Brunswick. Back then, this area was called Remsheg, and Richard, who was a 4th great-grandfather of mine, had served as a private for the Royal Fencible American Regiment. There were

Canadiens

Clinton Colburn and Alberta Ripley, my great-grandparents, came from rural northern Nova Scotia, Canada —specifically, the little farming and timber town of River Philip. Settled in the 1770s, the town is still populated by its immigrant families. They were Methodists from Yorkshire, England, who acquired land grants to settle this “wild” area. The two 21-year-olds

Ipswich Immigrant

Edward Colborne was an immigrant from Cornwall, England and probably walked these fields in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He was a farmer for the wealthy Saltonstall family in the early years of his new life in America in the 1640’s. Edward did not come by himself – his brother Robert emigrated on the same ship, landing in

Wrong House, Right Place

Perhaps my earliest ancestor in North America was Edward Colborne who sailed to the New World from England with his brother Robert on the ship Defense in 1635. He landed in Boston and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, taking a job as a farmer for the wealthy Saltonstall family. I was excited to find that this

Builder

My great grandfather Clinton Colburn built both of these houses in the Washington Park section of South Providence. He built the one on the right, and lived there while he built the other on the left—his eventual home for the rest of his life. He described himself as a carpenter when he was a young