The Keillors and Truemans had been friends in England, and were related in some degree.Elizabeth Keillor was but nineteen when she consented to take charge of a home of her own, and, as subsequent years proved, well did she discharge the duties that devolved upon her in that relationship.Though below medium size, she had a nervous force and will-power that enabled her to accomplish more than many of stronger build.It is told of her that on a Sabbath, when the family were all at church, she noticed something wrong with the cattle, and on going to see what caused the trouble, she found a cow so badly injured by some of the larger animals, that to make the carcass of any value it would have to be slaughtered at once.Mrs.Trueman went to the house, got the butcher-knife, and bled the cow to death.
Nervous force, like any other force in man or woman, has its limit, and if used too fast it will not be there when wanted in old age.Mrs.
Trueman did not live to be very old, and her last years were full of suffering.Overtaxed nature had given way, and the penalty had to be paid.
The family never separated, but all moved into the house on the Scurr farm, and began in earnest to face the battle of life in the New World.
Halifax was at that time the market for butter and beef, so after the wants of the settlers and the commissariat at Fort Cumberland had been supplied, such produce as could be sent by schooners to Halifax was forwarded in that way, and the cattle, for beef, were driven overland--a long and tedious journey.
Mills for sawing lumber or making flour were scarce.The stones are yet to be seen in Sackville with which grain was ground by hand-power.
The Truemans soon began to experiment in mill building.Their first venture was a mill driven by horse-power.A windmill followed, and was located on the high ground at the corner where the Point de Bute road turns at right angles, leading to Jolicure.This must have been an ideal spot for such a structure.There is no record of how long this mill stood, but it could not have been long.