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ALEXANDER C. CHRISHOLY [to Allan McLean] : 1886 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT HANDWRITTEN LETTER OF A MEMBER OF THE GLENDALE RIVER INHABITANTS MISSION, AND CATHOLIC COMMUNITY ISOLATED IN THE DEEP WOODS OF CAPE BRETON ISLAND, NOVA SCOTIA

4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. On offer is a letter from an isolated and small community in 19th Century Nova Scotia. From the Catholic Glendale, River Inhabitants mission, this letter is dated January 11th, 1886 and details the recent events in the life of one of its members. The author of the letter is one “Alexander C. Chrisholy” to his friend “Allan McLean”. The letter concerns Mr. Chrisholy and the events leading up to the holidays and New Year of 1886. “I would have written two you long since,” Alexander writes, “only Christopher was taken sick the day ou was over yourself and I was four weeks with him at the strate before I got him home, and you may defend that I was nervous enough in that time...He is getting little better but very slowly.” He moves on to news of people they both know. Mr. Isaac, coming home from the Rocky Mountains who gives Alexander a very poor account of the hard times there; John McInnis who writes to let Alexander he has no plans on returning home from Winnipeg; John McMaster who has just come home from Montreal and tells Alexander that he has seen a friend in Montreal working on a contract “of that big Bridge in Montreal” [most probably the Saint-Laurent Railway Bridge] and a few other stories of characters from Glendale. The letter ends with Alexander thanking Allan for “ the paper you sent me” and for encourages his friend to “let me no all the news you can. I must come two an end by sending you and George and Mary my best wishes of the New Years.” The letter itself is 4 pages long on one piece of folded paper. The paper itself is in good shape, showing only creases and no rips or tears. The handwriting is done in blue ink that has faded to a purple color. It does not affect the legibility of the script. The content itself is occasionally difficult to read because of the handwriting and the common misspelling of words. This is a lovely document of a small and fascinating part of Nova Scotia’s history. Overall. G+ (Background: In 1854 Glendale, River Inhabitants was a mission of Creignish (located in Inverness County on Cape Breton Island near the mouth of the Strait of Canso) and with one short period when it was a mission of McNair’s Cove/Mulgrave (fall of 1857), it continued as a mission of Creignish until 1875 when it got its first resident priest. Almost 100 percent Catholic, Glendale was isolated. A direct route from Creignish was a long and hard trek through forested black bear country (“Indian Hunting Country,” c. 1767).. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

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