Isaac Hartley, General Store Owner

Nova Scotia # 8 on April 21, 1863 unsealed folded sheet from Halifax to New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Addressed to Isaac Hartley Esq, New Glasgow. Barred oval cancellation. Backstamps from HALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA, AP 21 1863, NEW GLASGOW, AP 22 1963. The 1c rate was for unsealed circulars, handbills, and lithographed matter. This particular use of the 1c franking is odd since the interior of this folded sheet is blank. It may have contained a second printed sheet. Any written matter would have required the full 5c rate.

Nova Scotia # 10, top marginal stamp with partial marginal inscription. on July 27, 1864 cover from Halifax to New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Addressed to Isaac Hartley Esq, New Glasgow. Barred oval cancellation. Backstamps HALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA JY 27 1864, NEW GLASGOW NS JY 28 1864.

Isaac Hartley was in his late 40s and proprietor of a general store in New Glasgow when he received these letters from Halifax. The 1c franked letter probably contained a price list from a Halifax wholesaler.

Isaac was born July 6, 1817 in Gosforth, Cumberland, England, the son of Jonathan Hartley (born 1791) and Anne Tyson (born 1791). Jonathan and Anne had been married March 20, 1812 and emigrated to Nova Scotia with their young family in 1822, apparently settling in Pictou where Jonathan appears in the 1861 census. Also in the 1861 census is another Jonathan Hartley, merchant in Guysborough, likely a son of Jonathan and brother to Isaac. By that time, Isaac has married Hannah (born 1818) and settled into business of his own in New Glasgow.

The connection between Isaac Hartley and Jonathan Hartley of Guysborough is confirmed since Isaac Hartley of New Glasgow and Jonathan Hartley of Guysborough are both listed as owners of the schooner "Commerce" built 1849.

In the 1861 census of Pictou County, Isaac is head of a household of 1 male and 1 female between the ages of 20 and 30.

Hutchinson’s Nova Scotia Directory, 1864-1865, Hartley, Isaac, general store, George n Provost, h Glasgow cor. Kempt

Lovell's Gazetteer 1871, New Glasgow, Hartley Isaac, storekeeper

Hutchinson’s Nova Scotia Directory, 1866-1867, Pictou County, lists Hartley, Isaac, merchant

McAlpine’s Nova Scotia Directory, 1868-1869 for New Glasgow lists Isaac Hartley, merchant

In the 1871 census for New Glasgow, Issac Hartley, 50, merchant, is living with Hannah Hartley, 51, and his widowed mother, J. Ann Hartley, 80, also in the household are John Henderson, 55, merchant, Henry Henderson, 26, merchant and Annie Henderson, 27. John is Isaac's widowed brother-in-law and the two children are his nephew and niece.

By 1881, Isaac's mother has died, and his neice has married. The household consists of Isaac, 63, Hannah, 65, John Henderson, 66, and Henry Henderson, 35.

In 1901, Isaac Hartley, 85, retired general merchant, is living in Pictou in the household of his mephew, Henry H. Henderson, his wife and their 5 children.

Isaac Hartley's will was probated April 16, 1907. He divides his estate between his nephew Henry Henderson and niece Annie Henderson Bell.

New Glasgow in 1889