The Sharp Farm, originally uploaded by Aldon.

Two hundred years ago, my great, great, great, great uncle, Samuel Sharp bought a 200 acre farm from his father-in-law, Isaac Parlee. Isaac was my great, great, great, great grandfather. His daughter, Elizabeth was my great, great, great grandmother’s sister. Samuel built a farmhouse for his bride Elizabeth and the farm is still in the family today.

The Parlees were descendents of Jean Perlier, a ship’s pilot from LaTremblade, Saintonge County, Maritime Providence, France. The story goes that when Louis XIII came to power and there was the crackdown on the Huguenots, Jean and his family attempted to flee to North America. He ‘met an untimely death’, but his wife and children made it to America. His son was married in New York in 1696. They had a son, Jean Perleir the third who was born in New York in 1703. He moved to New Jersey in 1736. One of his sons was Peter Parlee. Peter was born in 1736 was a loyalist. After the revolution, he settled in Kings County, New Brunswick Canada. Peter’s son was Isaac Parlee, whom I mentioned above.

The farm has stayed in the family and Samuel’s great grandson still lives in the farm house. On August 14th, the Kings County New Brunswick Historical and Archival Society will observer Heritage Day. There will be registration and viewing of genealogical information at the Lower Millstream Community Hall followed by an open House at the Sharp Farm and visits to the United and Baptist Churches. Then, at the hall there will be a beans and brown bread super followed by a ghost walk tour of the Lester Cemetery.

It is a ten and a half hour drive from Woodbridge to Lower Millstream, so I suspect we probably won’t make it. Yet amidst all of the turmoil of modern day life, the long conferences in New York and the thousands of unread emails, it is important to remember one’s history and the turmoils our ancestors faced.