If, as the saying goes, “good fences make good neighbours”, the Williams’ have always had both. The first fences to be erected were patten-rail, made of cedar so resilient to the weather, the rails can remain in fine shape for centuries.

Caleb and Gloranah’s neighbours to the east were John and Mehetebel Cooper. John was a son of Obadiah Cooper who came to Prince Edward from Dutchess County, New York in 1802. He was a relative of Fennemore Cooper of Coppertown, New York, the author of “The Last of the Mohicans”. Obadiah fought in the War of 1812-1814 and his flint-lock rifle was used in “the killing of the last bear in The County.”* It was considered such an important rifle that a member of the Williams family purchased it several generations later.

I relayed the details of the shooting in Emma Field, Book One…with one major mistake pointed out to me just this past spring…what the heck was a non-polar bear doing out of hibernation on Christmas Day?

*Merton Yarwood Williams’s The Samuel Williams – Jemima Platt Family