Journey Through The Past

On February 18th, Renae Grubb wrote:

Take a look at this handwritten family history on the Slipp family. Aunt Francine [Ormiston] had this 7 paged photocopy in her collection. No idea who wrote it nor who has the original. I love the second paragraph talking about getting “pepper in his wooden shoes”. What does that mean I wonder?

Rick, do you have any idea what that is referring to? This sure adds a more personal touch to Leonard’s journey!

Rick Crume’s reply:

Thanks for sharing the seven-page handwritten history of the Slipp family. The pages are quite legible. Marke Leonard Slipp, formerly of Alberta and now of Nova Scotia, sent this history to me several years ago. But he might not have sent the whole thing and it wasn’t this handwritten version.

I don’t know the tradition behind getting “pepper in his wooden shoes,” but other facts in this manuscript have been proven. We know from newspaper articles from the time that Leonard Slip was indentured to a potash maker in New York and that he later had a tavern at Blizzards, near Hampstead, N.B. I’m quite sure he was born in Franconia, Germany–not Holland, but maybe he embarked for America on a ship leaving from Holland.

Slipp Family History – Author Unknown:

Meeting of The Officers of the Garrison of St John and Fredricton on Long Island, in the River St. John, New Brunswick (circa 1790)

The building in the middle with two chimneys is Leonard Slipp’s inn on the St. John River. He called the spot Long Island, probably from his New York experiences, and the inn Blizzard. Leonard was a United Empire Loyalist and my paternal grandmother’s Great Great Grandfather.

Special thanks to Rick Crume and Carol Brown Parker for this important family heirloom.

Click on thumbnail to view the description on the back of the frame.

Update: A colour version of this lithograph is available from the New Brunswick Museum.