10384 Highway 1: The William Henry Bishop House

Architecture Style: Colonial

Built: 1865

This house was a gift to a homesick New England bride.  The original Bishop home, on the north side of the road, was part of the James Armstrong farm bought in 1826 by William Bishop (Jr.), great-grandson of Connecticut Planter Peter Bishop, who came to Horton in 1760.  Deeply affected by the sweeping  “New Light” movement of the time, Peter and another believer were the first in Nova Scotia to be baptized by immersion, in 1763. “Deacon” Peter dedicated all his life to the Baptist cause in Horton; generations of Bishop deacons and workers would serve as he did.

William Bishop (Jr.) married Rebecca Morse, daughter of Massachusetts planter Abner and Nancy [Chipman] Morse. Their son William Henry went to Bangor, Maine, to apprentice as a carriage maker at 15. In his 20’s he married Martha Durgan, of a fine New Hampshire family. When he was called home to manage the family farm, Martha resisted; she loved New England. To persuade her, William promised to build a beautiful New England-style home in Paradise! In 1865 he built Martha’s house. He also built a carriage shop and ran it for 50 years. He was Captain of the Militia and Justice of the Peace.

Some of William and  Martha’s nine children went to New England or California, but Frederick William, a teacher, agreed to take the farm and orchard.  He and Caroline [Shaffner] built their own home just east of this one and first lived there. Fred was a founder and President of the United Fruit Company, and an organizer of the Canadian Horticultural Council. His contributions to the apple industry were so significant that he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire.  He was a Deacon and church leader all his life, and a beloved storyteller, genealogist, and local historian.

Next came tireless workers, Irving Frederick and Freda [Messenger]. She was dedicated to Women’s Institute and church choir, he to County Council, School Board (as Chair), and church (as Deacon and Treasurer). Their son Lawrence, with  Iona [Barteaux], farmed and bought land. The stately evergreens of his tree farm covered all traces of the old era: no one would ever know there had once been a Planter farmhouse, a Bangor-inspired carriage shop, and every May, acres of apple blossoms that buried the village in beauty.