Many instances have been related of the privations of this period, some of which are here subjoined. Hugh Fraser, after having exhausted every means of procuring food for his family, resorted to the expedient of cutting down a birch tree and boiling the buds, which he gave them to eat. He then went to a heap, where one of the first settlers had buried some potatoes, and took out some, intending to inform the owner. Before he did so, some of the neighbors maliciously reported him, but the proprietor simply remarked that he thanked God he had them there for the poor old man's family. On another occasion when the father and eldest son had gone to Truro for provisions, everything in the shape of food being exhausted, except an old hen, which the mother finally killed, for the younger children. She boiled it in salt water for the benefit of the salt, with a quantity of herbs, the nature of which she was totally ignorant. A few days later the hen's nest was found with ten eggs in it. Two young men set off for Halifax, so weak from want of food, that they could scarcely travel, and when they reached Gay's River, were nearly ready to give up. However they saw there a fine lot of trout, hanging by a rod, on a bush. They hesitated to take them, thinking they might belong to the Indians who would overtake and kill them. They therefore left them, but returned, when the pains of hunger prevailed. Afterwards they discovered that they had been caught by two sportsmen, neither of whom would carry them. Alexander Fraser, then only sixteen, carried his sister on his back to Truro, while the only food he had for the whole journey was the tale of an eel. On another occasion the supply of potatoes, which had been brought a long distance for seed and planted, were dug up by the family and some of the splits eaten. The remembrance of these days sank deep into the minds of that generation, and long after, the narration of the scenes and cruel hardships through which they had to pass, beguiled the winter's night as they sat by their comfortable firesides.
During the first winter, the first death among the emigrants was a child of Donald McDonald, and the first birth was a son of Alexander Fraser, named David, afterwards Captain Fraser. When the following spring opened they set to work to improve their condition. They sought out suitable spots on which to settle, judging the land by the kind and variety of trees produced. They explored the different rivers, and finding the soil near their banks to be the most fertile, and capable of being more easily improved than the higher lands, they settled upon it. Difficulties were thrown in the way of getting their grant. The first grant obtained was to Donald Cameron, who had been a soldier in the Fraser Highlanders at the taking of Quebec. His lot was situated at the Albion Mines. This grant is dated February 8, 1775, and besides the condition of the king's quit rent, contains the following:
"That the grantee, his heirs or assigns, shall clear and work, within three years, three acres for every fifty granted, in that part of the land which he shall judge most convenient and advantageous, or clear and drain three acres of swampy or sunken ground, or drain three acres of marsh, if any such be within the bounds of this grant, or put and keep on his lands, within three years from the date hereof, three neat cattle, to be continued upon the land until three acres for every fifty be fully cleared and improved. But if no part of the said tract be fit for present cultivation, without manuring and improving the same, then this grantee, his heirs and assigns shall be obliged, within three years from the date hereof, to erect on some part of said land a dwelling house, to contain twenty feet in length by sixteen feet in breadth, and to put on said land three neat cattle for every fifty acres, or if the said grantee, his heirs or assigns, shall, within three years, after the passing of this grant, begin to employ thereon, and so continue to work for three years then next ensuing, in digging any stone quarry or any other mine, one good and able hand for every one hundred acres of such tract, it shall be accounted a sufficient seeding, planting, cultivation and improvement, and every three acres which shall be cleared and worked as aforesaid; and every three acres which shall be cleared and drained as aforesaid, shall be accounted a sufficient seeding, planting cultivation and improvement, to save for ever from forfeiture fifty acres in every part of the tract hereby granted."
All were not so fortunate as to secure their grants early. As late as January 22, 1781, in a petition to the government, they complained that a grant had been often promised but never received; but finally, on August 26, 1783, the promise was fulfilled. It contains the names of forty-four persons, some of whom were not passengers on board the Hector; conveying the lands on which they were located, the size of the lots being regulated by the number in the family. The following is a list of grantees, with the number of acres received and notices of situation of their lots:
On West River: David Stewart, 300 acres; John McKenzie, 500; Hugh Fraser, 400; William McLellan,—; James McDonald, 200; James McLellan, 100; Charles Blaikie, 300, and in another division 250 acres, 550 in all; Robert Patterson, 300, and in an after division 500 in all; James McCabe, 300; Alex. Cameron,—.
On Middle River, East Side: Alex. Fraser, 100 acres; Alex. Ross, Jr., 100; John Smith, 350; Robert Marshall, 350; James McCulloch, 240; Alex. Ross, 300; Alex. Fraser, Jr., 100; John Crockett, 500; Simon Fraser, 500; Donald McDonald, 350; David Urquhart, 250; Kenneth Fraser, 450; James McLeod, 150.
On East River, East Side: Walter Murray, 280 acres, and 70 acres in after division; James McKay, 70; Donald McKay, Jr., 80; John Sutherland, 180, and 70 in after division; Rod. McKay, Sr., 300, and in after division, 50; James Hays,—; Hugh McKay, 100; Alex. McKay, 100; Heirs of Donald McLellan, 260; Hugh Fraser, 400, and in after division, 100; Wm. McLeod, 80; John McLellan, 200; Thomas Turnbull, 220, in after division, 180; Wm. McLeod, 210, and in after division, 60; Alex. McLean,—; Colin McKenzie, 370.
On East River, West Side: Donald Cameron, 100 acres; James Grant, 400; Colin McKay, 400; Wm. McKay, 550; Donald Cameron, 100; Donald McKay, Sr., 450; Donald Cameron, a gore lot; Anthony Culton, 500.
The following is a list of passengers that arrived on board the Hector, originally drawn up, about 1837, by William McKenzie, Loch Broom, Nova Scotia:
Shipped at Glasgow: a Mr. Scott and family; George Morrison and family, from Banff, settled on west side of Barnys River; John Patterson, prominent in the settlement; George McConnell, settled on West River; Andrew Main and family, settled at Noel; Andrew Wesley; Charles Fraser, settled at Cornwallis; John Stewart.