Helen and Charles Bent
William Malcolm Bent’s Autograph Book
In the fall of 1888, Mack (William Malcolm) Bent – or his book – went on a trip. His autograph book had signatures from his American cousins Helen Bent of New York and Charles E Bent of Kansas.
The Victorians of Paradise travelled often, easily and well – probably more conveniently than we do. Ambrose and his friend Benjamin Starratt, and others in the apple co-ops accompanied the huge shipments of apple barrels to England. And people in Nova Scotia went often to the United States to places such as New England California, or to the western USA as it opened up.
The ‘Age of Sail’ was waning, and new steamships travelled several times a week from Annapolis, Digby, or Yarmouth. Hop the train in Paradise to one of the above, and you were on your way to St. John, Portland Maine, Boston, or New York.
An ad from 1887 said, “The Yarmouth arrived at Boston in 17 hours, and full of passengers. This is a short sea voyage and many passengers [500 on one trip from Yarmouth] are apparently taking advantage of it”
We don’t know if Mack travelled on the Yarmouth, but it was an interesting ship.
From Wikipedia: “When launched on 28 February 1887, Yarmouth was designed to be the finest steamship on the route between Eastern Canada and the United States. She was first registered in Glasgow by the shipbuilder and took just 9 1/2 days to sail the Atlantic on her maiden voyage. On 3 May in 1887, she arrived in Yarmouth and under the command of Captain Harvey Doane and Pilot S. F. Stanwood, she made her first trip to Boston a few days later on 7 May.”
This ship had a large part in the development of Yarmouth.
Or Mack and/or Ambrose might have booked passage on the St. Croix, or State of Maine or another there were a number of steamships leaving Nova Scotian ports several times a week.
Cousin Helen was probably born in New York. Her father was Ambrose Bent’s brother George, who married Ellen MacSweeney, possibly an Irish New Yorker, and records show one of Helen’s brothers (who had come home to Nova Scotia when he was dying) had been born in New York. Helen did not marry, or at least had not married as of 1907. She was familiar with Nova Scotia, as she was here in 1907 as “the guest of Mrs. Campbell Willett” [relationship unknown to us]. Mack’s father Ambrose valued his relationship with his brothers- at least some of them. He named Helen in his will.
We also don’t know who if anyone went with Mack. Surely someone did- hopefully his father. He was just 13.
In November of that year there is an entry from a cousin Charles from Larned, Kansas. Perhaps the autograph book travelled to Kansas and not Mack, as some other entries suggest he was back home by the end of October. Or perhaps it was the autograph book that visited Helen too. Hard to know. But somebody, if not the book, went to Larned.
Larned, Kansa was developed near the site of Fort Larned, on the Santa Fe trail. It was in the very centre of the tragic struggle with the Plains tribes fighting the encroachment of their traditional lands, including the darkest of episodes such as the Chivington massacre of Cheyennes. The Santa Fe Trail by 1880 had become a railway, and at some point in here, Helen’s brother Charles made his way to Larned. His perfect beautiful handwriting and warm affectionate message give no hint of the violence in such recent history of his place of residence.
Ambrose in his will mentions a niece of Helen’s, a Flora, or Florence, living in Kansas, and we might assume she was Charles’ daughter. Flora moved to Boston, perhaps even to Nova Scotia.
Written by Barbara Bishop