Robert West, Merchant and Stephen Willett, farmer: the search for a Baptist Connection
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
I've been working through an 1860s Nova Scotia cover and thought I'd share where the research has taken me - partly to get feedback, and partly as a record as I try to run down other sources.
The cover itself:
- Franked with the Nova Scotia 1¢ "One Cent" stamp (1860-63 issue), grid-cancelled
- Addressed to "Robert West Esqr., Bridgewater, LaHave, N.S."
- Sender's docket, in a different hand: "S.B. Willett, December 20, 1862"
- Two backstamps on the reverse: "Bridgewater" and a partial strike beginning "BAR...", plus an embossed four-leaf clover seal on the flap
The postage clue:
The 1¢ stamp was specifically the Nova Scotia drop-letter (local delivery) rate from 1860 until the 2¢ local-rate stamp was introduced in 1863. A letter travelling any real distance between two different post towns would have needed the 5¢ rate. That means this letter was very likely mailed and delivered within the same town i.e., a genuine Bridgewater drop letter -which raises real doubt that "Barrington" would be a reading of that partial backstamp.
The recipient:
Robert West turns up clearly in the records:
- 1871 Census - age 49, born 1822 in Nova Scotia, merchant, Baptist, residing in Bridgewater with wife Sarah and several children
- 1861 Census abstract, Lunenburg Co. Polling District 9 - household of 8 (4 males, 4 females), consistent with the family at an earlier stage
- Ancestry record - born May 17, 1822, Aylesford, Kings Co.; married Sarah Ann Cara Zeley in Lunenburg, 1844; children born in Bridgewater 1850-1868; died 1891, buried in Bridgewater
The sender:
A search of every Willett household head in the 1861 Nova Scotia census (13 total, province-wide) turns up exactly one match for the initials "S.B.": Stephen B. Willett, a farmer in Nictaux, Annapolis County - and no Willetts at all in Lunenburg or Shelburne County. That's a strong, near-unique identification.
Ancestry records give his full name as Stephen Bamford Willett, born April 12, 1826, in Annapolis County, son of Joshua Willett (1788-1861) and Catherine Durland (1792-1861). He married Salome Parker in 1851. The 1861 census records him as head of household in Annapolis County - just a year before this cover was sent, and the 1871, 1881, 1891, and 1901 censuses all consistently list him at Nictaux, Annapolis County, occupation "farmer", religion "Baptist". He remarried Lavinia S. Taylor in 1874 after Salome's death in 1872, and died in 1910, buried at Nictaux.
Loyalist origins:
A published genealogy traces the family further back. Bamford's grandfather, Samuel Willett (1756-1839), was a cornet in a loyal cavalry regiment during the Revolutionary War and came to Nova Scotia in 1783 as a United Empire Loyalist. In 1786 he married Leah Gallaudet de St. Croix (1759-1834), daughter of a French Huguenot Loyalist family "of good family and some note" who had settled in the county at the same time. Their son, Joshua Willett (b. 1788) married Catherine Durland (1792-1860) in September 1811; census and Ancestry records list nine children, of whom Stephen Bamford Willett, born April 12, 1826, at Lawrencetown, Annapolis County, was the second-youngest surviving son - confirming the birth year and placing S.B. Willett within an established Loyalist family with a documented military and Huguenot heritage.
Marriage and later life:
"Descendants of Captain G. Barbour", Vol. 7 (E.D. Barbour), confirms Stephen Bamford Willett married Salome Parker (b. Oct. 19, 1829) on October 16, 1851, with no children from that marriage; Salome died September 9, 1872, after which he married Lavinia Taylor and lived at Nictaux. (This source names his father as "Stephen Willett" rather than Joshua - likely a compilation error, since the Ancestry record's Joshua Willett identification is well cross-sourced against census and vital records.)
The possible Baptist connection:
Both Nictaux and Bridgewater had active Baptist congregations, and Robert West is recorded as Baptist in 1871. The Acadia University Archives hold a documented 1866 letter of certification sent from Nictaux Baptist Church to "the Church worshipping at Bridgewater," confirming these two "close communion" Baptist congregations exchanged formal correspondence - membership certifications and likely other church business - in exactly this period. (Close communion in Baptist practice means that the Lord’s Supper (Communion) is limited to members in good standing of a particular Baptist church, rather than being open to all baptized Christians or even all professing believers.) Nictaux was also a large "mother church" with a long tradition of circular and corresponding letters to sister congregations going back to the 1810s.
The Bridgewater Baptist congregation itself was formally organized in 1848 (14 founding members) and opened its own meeting house in 1854 - still a young, growing church by December 1862, the kind that would have leaned on established congregations like Nictaux for support and correspondence.
Confirmation from a primary source:
M.B. DesBrisay's *History of Lunenburg County* (1895), p. 216, has an obituary notice for Robert West that fills in the picture nicely:
"Robert West died suddenly at Bridgewater October 7, 1891 aged seventy one. He had resided here for nearly fifty years, having removed from King's county about 1843. He was engaged in a general mercantile business in which he continued to the time of his death. The Baptist Church had in him a prominent member and he was a Justice of the Peace, and a son of temperance. His strictly honorable conduct in all his dealings ensured for him universal respect. One who had extensive transactions and frequent settlement with him, said that 'his accounts were always right to a cent.'"
This confirms his Kings County origins, his lifelong mercantile career, and, notably, describes him as a "prominent member" of the Bridgewater Baptist Church, not just a rank-and-file congregant. It also confirms he was a Justice of the Peace, which helps explain the "Esqr." on the cover. (DesBrisay's age-71 at death implies a birth year of about 1820, slightly at odds with the Ancestry-sourced birth date of May 17, 1822 - a minor discrepancy typical of period record-keeping.)
Family background:
Robert West was one of fourteen children born to John West (1784-1870) and Jane Neily (1776-1830) of Aylesford, Kings County - married in 1802. Siblings ranged from George (b. 1804) down to Lucy Ann (b. 1838), with Robert (b. 1822) roughly in the middle. Jane died in 1830, when Robert was about 8. (A few of the recorded children's birth years fall at or after 1830, which likely reflects either a second marriage not distinguished in this record or a minor date error - not something that affects the postal history research, but worth flagging for anyone using this as a genealogical source.) This Kings County/Aylesford origin matches DesBrisay's 1895 obituary note that West "removed from King's county about 1843."
Where it stands:
The evidence points toward this being inter-church Baptist correspondence - possibly a membership matter - between S.B. Willett of Nictaux and Robert West of Bridgewater, rather than personal or business mail. West's standing as a "prominent member" of the church makes this more plausible still, though I still haven't confirmed a specific church office (deacon, clerk, etc.) or a documented direct link between the two men.
The next lead:
There's a local history book - *Fifteen Decades and Counting: A Story of Bridgewater Baptists*, by Joyce Fraser (Bridgewater, NS: Langille's Print Ltd., ca. 1983) - that isn't available online. Its Chapter 3, "The Lord Added," covers 1858-1875, squarely bracketing this cover's date, and its supplement on "Ministers and Assistants" names Stephen March - the same name attached to the 1866 Acadia Archives letter - suggesting Fraser drew on the actual church records.
On the Willett side, the 'Atlantic Baptist Archives at Acadia University' hold records for the 'Nictaux United Baptist Pastorate' (Annapolis Co., retrieval no. D1900.218) - six folders of textual records spanning 1856-1986, covering the churches of Nictaux, Bloomington, North Williamston, and Torbrook. One folder specifically covers 1856-1903, squarely bracketing this cover's date. Related deposits (D1900.0219, D2011.034, D2012.28 for Nictaux church specifically; D1900.311, D2001.050 for Torbrook) may also be worth checking at Acadia's Vaughan Memorial Library for membership rolls, minute books, or correspondence naming Willett.
Will post an update if either lead turns up anything on West or Willett.
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