I came across the 10th Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge on Janice Brown’s, Cow Hampshire: New Hampshire’s History Blog. Genealogy poetry challenge? Count me in! The poetry challenge is sponsored by Bill West of the West in New England blog. You can find the particulars of the challenge here.
I have been researching my grandmother Velma Jane Moore’s early life in Economy Point, Nova Scotia for the past year, so I went to the Poetry Foundation website to see what I could find on the subject of Nova Scotia. “Two Winds on Nova Scotia” by Marshall Schacht called to me immediately as the voice of my family’s experience in the region.
The Moore family had been in Colchester County since William James Moore’s arrival in 1769. By the first quarter of the twentieth century, four Moores from my great-grandfather’s farm in Economy Point had been wooed by the wind from the south to leave Nova Scotia for Massachusetts: Jane Melissa (1870-1950), Esther Leila (1875-1962), Fred Laurence (1894-1971), and Velma Jane (1897-1975).
The Moores Together in Economy Point before They Heard the South Wind’s Lusty Song (c. 1901)
Sources
Gauffreau, Katharine Brown. The Ancestry and Life of Velma Jane Moore Brown. Unpublished manuscript, December 2013.
Schacht, Marshall. “January 1938: Two Winds on Nova Scotia.” Poetry Foundation. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=21912. Originally appeared in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, Vol LI, No. IV, January 1938.
This Is Us 
That’s a great family photo! Lots of women in the family, I see. Were there more men or boys off-camera?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good question, Brad! There may have been. I’m not sure. Family pictures I have taken during that time period show mostly women, now that you mention it. George Baxter had only two children, Velma and Fred, and his four sisters were spinsters.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Do you have a theory as to why all his sisters remained spinsters? One or two wouldn’t be unusual, but all of them? That seems like more than a coincidence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know that one of them had a failed romance that soured her on men. My guess about the other three would be slim pickings of eligible men in their rural community. I’ll have to see what else I can find out!
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Holding the Bay of Fundy in its curve” – a lovely poem and so atmospheric. Plus such a clear 1901 photo!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Marian! The Bay of Fundy line resonated with me as well.
LikeLike
I have never thought about such a poetry approach regarding ancestry matters. Interesting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was very excited to see the Genealogy Poetry Challenge. I believe that there are certain aspects of our ancestry, their place in the world, and our own that are best expressed through poetry.
LikeLike
I love this very descriptive poem! You can almost feel the wind being described in the poem. I like the idea of a poem challenge. I will have to check that out!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you will! There are still a couple of days left to participate this year.
LikeLike
I enjoyed the imagery in the poem and your photo. Some of my West ancestors lived in Nova Scotia in the late 18th century.
Thanks for taking part in the Challenge!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad you enjoyed the poem. Thanks for hosting the Challenge!
LikeLike
Love the descriptions the poet used to describe the land. The lusty song and hungry storm aptly describe the weather on the Bay of Fundy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed!
LikeLike
What a beautiful, descriptive poem! Favorite line “But the wind from the southeast blows a lusty song”. So evocative of what your family may have experienced.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That line was my favorite as well. I’m so glad the Poetry Challenge prompted me to look for poetry about Nova Scotia.
LikeLiked by 1 person