Thompson Trueman was in his forty-fifth year.He was a heavy man, quite different in build from his brothers.The writer was but eight years old at that time, and so has learned about him mainly from others.He seems to have made a great many friends, and was looked upon as an upright man.One who knew him well said, when he heard of his death, this passage of Scripture came to his mind: "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, and the faithful fail from among the children of men."The years that followed were trying ones at Prospect.The blight that ruined the potato crop in 1846, and the loss of the wheat crop a few years later by the weavil, were felt more keenly because of the loss of the controlling mind.To give an idea of the financial loss, I may mention the fact that in 1843 two thousand bushels of potatoes were grown on the farm, and in 1847 not enough were grown to supply the table.In addition to the great failure in these two staple crops, at that time the price of beef, pork and butter went down to a very low point.A pair of oxen that would girth from six to six and a half feet could be bought for forty-five or fifty dollars.Pork went down to 4and 4 1/2 cents per lb., and butter to 12 1/2 cents, or a York shilling.In one of the best settlements in Nova Scotia a majority of the farms were mortgaged to carry their owners over these hard years.
Those who remember the period in New Brunswick history will not be inclined to complain to-day.
Samuel Davis, with the help of Mrs.Trueman, managed Prospect Farm until the sons were able to take charge.Mr.Davis was a most faithful and kind-hearted man, and is remembered with the liveliest feelings of gratitude by the writer for the numberless ways in which he tried to make up to him a father's loss.
It is doubtful if the saw-mill, which was built in 1843, was ever a paying investment.