Some families made their fortunes in the lumber trade both in Canada and the U.S. England was hungry for lumber so often the ships brought new immigrants - often the very poor England wanted off the Parish poor rolls - and returned to England with lumber. My Dad used to tell about cutting wood with his brothers. They would cut in a wood lot and haul the wood to someone who needed it for heating, etc. Horse and sleigh were used and this was one way to make a bit of money. Had two uncles who ran a sawmill in the Gault, Ontario area. This area is now called Cambridge, Ont. Think my late uncle told me that they cut the timbers that were used to help build the Toronto subway. No idea if that was a true story or not. Know they had a sawmill as one of my uncles was killed when a log rolled on him. Lauraine > > From: "Betty" <bbffrrpp@comcast.net> > Date: 2009/09/27 Sun AM 05:33:33 CDT > To: <can-usa-migration@rootsweb.com> > Subject: [CAN-USA-MIG] "Lumber" Exporting it to Where you Want to Build > > Hello, > > I thought I would start a conversation on - lumber ! I read earlier this > month about people either carrying wood / lumber a long distance in order to > start building a house or building. Or, if a train was available, lumber > was brought to them that way. And, of course, if very early settlers had > a "horse & wagon," they could use them. > > And, if you read on the early history of New England, and probably the > Maritime Provinces, important trees were found here. And people in > England wanted some of that wood ! So, businesses were started ! > > If you watch "Antiques Roadshow," you often hear the furniture experts > mentioning the special wood that a piece of furniture was made of. If my > memory is working correctly, "White Pine" is one that is mostly found in > New England. Are there special trees which are found in Canada and not > so much found in the US? > > Of course, the very early houses / cabins / shacks in the 1600's on the East > Coast and 1700's after people starting heading west of there -- had to > become lumbermen ! If they wanted a house to live in, they needed to cut > down / chop down a few trees. Think of all the tools these settlers > would have needed in order to get the wood into a shape which was needed to > build a cabin. > > How many of you have ever cut down a tree? Or skinned the bark off of a > tree? I have. In the 1950's, my father was fortunate enough to find > a piece of land in MA but on the NH border which was available for sale at a > reasonable price. It was all woods. In order to have a clearing to > put tents on, or build a small shack, my siblings and I had to help cut > down a few trees. We learned about "2-man saws." And then he had one > sister and I build a very small A-frame house. With his help, we did it. > Once built we could set up the cots and sleeping bags inside it. > > And, he found that land because it was a couple miles from a "State Park" > which we visited all during the 1950's and 1960's. "Willard Brook State > Forest" had 4, authentic Log Cabins in it, and people could rent them for a > week or 2 - at a very reasonable price. As children, we loved those > cabins. In the 1950's there were "no" utilities. So, we were > "roughing it." > > And, how many of you had an ancestor who had a sawmill or worked at one? > My Calvin KIDDER from southern NH went to New Brunswick ~1784. He was 18 > or 19, and we don't know how he spent the next 15 years. But, when we > first find him, he was a part-owner of the "Harmony Sawmill" on the shore of > the (then) Schoodic River. I was told that, when you were a part-owner, > that meant you owned which part of the day you were allowed to use the > sawmill. For instance, maybe he was able to use it from 2 am to 4 am. > He sold it around the time he got married to Mercy GREENLAW in the summer of > 1798. > > Betty (near Lowell, MA, USA) > > List Administrator >