The New Ross Peddler

With his faithful horse Prince and a wagon full of goods to sell, Granddad was a familiar sight in Nova Scotia for more than 30 years.

- Susan Duncan

The old yellow peddler’s wagon collects dust as a museum piece now, heavily laden with products from a bygone era. It was saved decades ago from the ravages of decay by a group of concerned citizens who wanted to preserve a thread of New Ross, N.S., history. It now has a home at the Ross Farm Museum. Many a schoolchild has used the wagon as a focal point for one of their school assignments.

My mom Irene was called upon several times as a reference, not because she was curator of the museum but because the wagon belonged to her father, Side Sode.

Life wasn't easy for Granddad. Born near Damascus, Syria, around 1880, not much is known about his childhood other than he had two brothers and there was strife in the family. One of these brothers accompanied him when they left Syria and worked their passage to North America as very young lads. The crossing was difficult and stories were told of how they ate haram (forbidden) foods to stay alive. They made their way to Canada, settling in Cape Breton Island, where they lived in Kenlock, Inverness County— probably as part of the influx of workers for the coal mines.

In time, my great grandmother brought a young woman from Syria named Hiadijaha (Jenny) to Canada to marry Granddad. While living in Kenlock, they started a family and, in 1916, found their way to the Gold River-Western Shore area of Lunenburg County.