Joshua Vincent & Hannah Treen

Joshua is the 5th child & third son of George Vincent & Mary Higgins and he married Hannah in 1833 at Wallace, NS - Joshua is my 5x grandfather.

Joshua & Hannah had 12 children, all born in Wallace, NS and at least 32 grandchildren:

• Benjamin Treen who married Samantha Darling & Laura Worcester and settled in WA
•  John William who married Mary Ann Rogers (my line)
• Elizabeth Ellen who married John 'David' Muirhead & Thomas Walsh
• George 'Josh' who married Matilda Swallow
•  James Edward who married Nancy Heather
• Levi who married Catherine Quillivan and settled in MA
•  James & Charles who died at approx 20 years of age
• Mary Jane who died at the age of 5 & Henry at the age of 7
• Mary Jane (the 2nd) married a Christopher McLean
• Philip never married and followed his brother to WA

Based on GR's booklet, it appears Joshua settled down in Wallace once he married. Beforehand, he travelled to the various towns working on, if not building, various mills in the area as he was a carpenter by trade.  

He was the family's business representative given that he was the only one of his father's family who could read or write and based on the censuses, he made sure all his children could do the same.

By all accounts, Joshua was a hard worker and perhaps he was not as successful as he would have liked or he was overwrought with grief to explain the report of his miserly behavior with his daughter-in-law.

George 'Josh' Vincent married Matilda Swallow in 1859 and died of consumption shortly after the birth of his daughter at the age of 24 in 1861. 

As Marilyn Symonds wrote on her blog, "Something To Bragg About":

"My sense is that Matilda's life was not a happy one.  Being widowed at 22 with an infant to care for must have been difficult in those days. After George's death, there was a documented family battle over settling his debts and paying for Matilda's board and room at the home of Amos Purdy in Wallace River. Joshua Vincent, George's father, charged the 180 pound estate 120 pounds belonging to her for his time and labour in putting in a crop at their New Annan Road farm and 45 pounds for the time and materials required to build a barn - leaving her with next to nothing."

Whatever transpired between Joshua and Matilda to result in this bitter battle is hard to say but she had to resort to petitioning to keep a few animals to provide for her and her daughter.

The surname Vincent may mean to conquer but surely conquering a young widowed mother was not the intention. I'd like to think there was more to the story - staying naive has it's advantages!