The Fillimores are a long-lived race of men, and have shown themselves well able to hold their own in the competition of life. The name has given a president to the United States.
MINER.
Sylvanus Miner, the first of the name on the Isthmus, was of New England stock. He and Robert King, "Schoolmaster King," as he was generally called, came from Windsor on foot to Mount Whatley, N.B., about 1810. Mr. Miner's father died when he was a boy, and his mother apprenticed her son to a blacksmith. His mother was a Miss Brownell, of Jolicure.
When young Miner had completed his apprenticeship he came to Jolicure by invitation to see his uncle, and afterwards settled at Mount Whatley. He was twice married. His first wife was a Miss Church, of Fort Lawrence; his second, Miss Styles, from Truro, N.S. The sons, James, William and Nathan, now represent the name at Mount Whatley. Mr. Miner was an upright man, and successful in his business of blacksmith and farmer.
DOBSON.
The Dobsons were among the first of Yorkshire emigrants to arrive in Nova Scotia. There were two brothers, George and Richard. George brought with him a wife and grown-up family. His daughter Margaret was married to William Wells before the family left England. Richard was a bachelor, and tradition says he had been a soldier. George purchased a farm in Upper Point de Bute. Neither of the brothers lived long in their new home. Richard died in February, 1773, and George in July of the same year. George's will is dated the 24th July, 1773, and is recorded the 24th November by John Huston. It is witnessed by Mark Patten and J. Allen.
George had four sons, George, David, Richard and John, and two unmarried daughters, Elizabeth and Mary. George and John settled at Point de Bute. Richard sold his share of the homestead to John in 1795, and moved to Cape Tormentine, where he secured a large tract of land and became one of the substantial men of the place. A large number of his descendants are in that locality at the present time. The Dobsons, of Cape Breton, N.S., are descendants of Richard. John sold his farm and moved to Sussex, King's Co., N.B. George Dobson, of Sussex, is a grandson of John. David went to Halifax. George remained on the homestead at Point de Bute, and the Dobsons of Jolicure are descendants of George by his son Abraham.
Mrs. Dobson, the widow of George (first) married a Mr. Falkinther. He did not live long, and Mrs. Falkinther, who was said to be a very fine looking woman, had one of her grand-daughters to live with her during the last years of her life. Her grandchildren called her "Grandmother Forkey."
"Old Abe," as Abraham was familiarly called, was a character in his day. He used to make annual and sometimes semi-annual trips to St. John to dispose of his butter and farm products, and was the kind of man to get all the enjoyment out of these journeys that was in them. It was said that he had large feet, and that early in life one of them was run over by a cart wheel, making it larger than the other. One day, while sitting in a St. John hotel, with the smaller foot forward, a man, noticing the size of it, said, "I will make a bet that that is the largest foot in the city." "Done," said Old Abe. The bet was made, when Mr. Dobson brought forward the other foot and won the wager.
Abraham was one of the best farmers in the township. He named his eldest son Isaac, and had Isaac name his eldest son Jacob. Perhaps the likeness to the old patriarch ended here. He had a large family of boys, to all of whom he gave farms. His youngest son, Robert, was drowned in the Missiquash Valley one December morning as he was skating to his farm on the Bay Verte Road.