New England Families

On 18 Feb 1745/6, Thomas Hills, constable of Malden warned John Polle
to depart Malden. On 19 Mar 1745/6, John Sprague, constable of Malden,
"carried John Polle who has been warned, to the town of Medford whence
he came."

John and Jemima were married 18 July 1746.

On 22 Nov 1755, Stephen Pain, constable of Malden, warned John Polly
[Polley] and Jemima his wife to take their three children, viz.
Nathaniel, John and Jemima and depart.

In 1755 the British evicted the French speaking population of Acadia
(Nova Scotia), and soon began plans to repopulate the areas with
mainly English speaking Protestants who would be loyal to the British
crown. The second proclamation offering the vacant land to New
Englanders went out on January 11, 1759. By April of that year, agents
were in Nova Scotia to inspect the lands and on July 24, 1759 the
Council of Nova Scotia ordered the erection of the township of Onslow.
On October 18, 1759, Council passed an order granting rights in Onslow
to a group of New Englanders on the understanding that some would
settle there by September 30, 1760, some by September 30, 1761, and
some by September 30, 1762.

According to some sources, a group of about twenty men began
preparations for the settlement of Onslow and Truro in the fall of
1759. Many of them had taken part in the siege of Louisburg and the
driving out of the French. The men returned to New England for the
winter, but came back in 1760 with their families. In the fall of 1760
all but one of the women went to New England, but in the spring of
1761 they and a new group of families arrived in Nova Scotia. In the
spring of 1762 the New Englanders in Onslow and Truro were joined by
settlers from the North of Ireland.

John "emigrated in 1761 from the Malden/Medford area of Massachusetts"
Source: American Ancestors, Fall 2011, vol 12, no. 4, page 9 "Letters and Feedback". In a letter from the publishers of "Planters and Grantees of Cobequid, Nova Scotia, 1761-1781" (Colchester Historical Society, Truro N.S., 2011).

 

John and Jemima Polly and family were among these early settlers of
Onslow. Their last child recorded as being born in Malden was William,
born in October 1760. In 1761 Jemima joined with her son Samuel of
Medford in conveying the moiety in her late husband's property in
Malden to Jacob Parker. Jemima's son Samuel married Mercy Parker of
Malden on 2 April 1762. The entry says, for Samuel, "lately res. in
Mald." From then on their births and marriages are recorded in
Onslow, beginning with the birth of "David Nychols, the son of Samuel
& Mercy Nychols" on 14 Apr 1763, and including the marriages ofl in
1774.

The actual grant of land to the Onslow settlers did not take place
until 1769. According to "A Grant of the Township of Onslow,
Containing 50,000 Acres, 21 Feb 1769," signed by William Campbell,
Captain General and Governor-in-Chief ... [of] Nova Scotia, John Polly
and Samuel Nichols each received "one share and an half" and John
Polly Jun'r received one half share.

Eaton, when discussing the New England origin of many of the grantees
of Onslow and their participation in the siege of Louisburg, says that
"Samuel Nichols had probably been a private in the 7th company of the
3rd Massachusetts Regiment." He likely mistook the son who
received a grant for his father who had been at Louisburg.

The 1770 Census of Onslow recorded the religion and country of origin
of the residents. The John Polly household was comprised of three men,
one boy, and two women for a total of six, all Protestant and all
American in origin. Samuel Nickels is listed with one man, two boys,
one woman, and one girl for a total of five American Protestants.