Name/Title
Trigger Guard, Indian Island, New BrunswickDescription
Possible artifact donation
From hartlandnavy@gmail.com on 2023-06-15 01:55 Details Headers
Dear Mr French,
I got your name from Mark Borton as someone who might be interested in a couple of artifacts in my possession. One is a cannon ball that I found on the beach on Indian Island below the salt box house, owned at that time by Janet Pope, who had been looking for it for some time. She told me it had been fired by an American privateer during the war of 1812, at a couple of British schooners anchored at Indian Island. The other is a trigger guard from a fowling piece that I found in a “secret” room in the center chimney cape at the top of the field, above Mrs Popes house. At the time, the house was owned by my mother and the room was formed by the three fireplaces on the first floor and was accessed by removing a panel in the back wall of the front hall closet. One suggestion was that the guard came from a weapon used in the Fenian raids and, being loose, had been hastily pulled off and left behind. I have no idea if this is a possibility , but the room was intriguing and the piece has become one of my treasured possessions, along with the cannon ball.That being said, my wife rightly pointed out that eventually these artifacts would become meaningless to future generations of our family and really should be in a museum or historical society, to which I reluctantly agreed. Mark suggested the Tides Institute as a good place for them to go, and I am hoping you would be interested in them. I will be at the Institute on July 1st, along with Mark, to celebrate the publication of his book and would be happy to bring the cannon ball and trigger guard, if you are interested.
Looking forward to meeting you on the 1st.
Sincerely,
Dexter P. Cooper, III
Sent from my iPad
