From 1867 until the teens of the twentieth century, a little man walked from home to home and village to village of Western Nova Scotia. In the homes he sold copies of Belcher's Almanac and in the villages he assisted in the organization of Sons of Temperance Lodges. His name became a household word and was synonymous with long-distance walker.

To the youth of the day he was a source of slight amusement; to their elders he was the source of information. But in the dispelling he gathered information from the homes he visited. From this information he made notes when it came time, in the last few years of the nineteenth century, he compiled the "History of the County of Digby."

The near-sighted, quiet and considered by some eccentric man, with a burning desire to write the story of the county he loved, was born at Hill Grove, Digby County, March 8, 1848; the son of John and Elizabeth Wilson.

Because of impaired vision the young son attended the area school for a short period of time. Mrs. Wilson assumed the responsibility of educating her son personally. She soon discovered he was an apt student with a remarkable memory.

Early in life the young man formed the habit of gathering material pertaining to his predecessors in the County of Digby. According to his own statement, he started gathering material from February 1, 1867 and continued until he copywrited his book in 1893.

There was not a piece of inhabited road in the county but which, at some time, provided a pathway for this little man. From house to house he travelled selling Belcher's Almanac and, when night came, he accepted the hospitality which was graciously offered. He was always welcome and, as the years passed he had his favorite stopping-places, where a pleasant evening could be spent in exchange of local stories.

The traveller related his stories of the people of Digby County to his host and hostess. They told their stories of the neighborhood. When the weather was cold, and, after the supper dishes had been washed and stowed away in the cabinet, the wayfarer found his favorite place in the kitchen - his chair before the stove, his feet in the oven. The family gathered around him.

One of his favorite night abodes was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kinney of Ashmore. One winter's night, Mr. and Mrs. Kinney and their young son William paid a visit to a neighbour, not far from their home. They banked the kitchen fire before they left and later in the evening, William's father sent him home to revive the fire so the kitchen would be warm when he and Mrs. Kinney returned.

William groped around the dark kitchen and suddenly stumbled against something near the kitchen stove. Alarmed he struck a match and then saw that the obstacle was Mr. Wilson seated in front of the stove with his feet in the oven, sound asleep.

One morning, after spending the night with Captain and Mrs. Samuel Milbury of Plymouth, Mr. Wilson asked if there were some way he could repay for meals and nights lodging. Mrs. Milbury thought for a moment and remembered that her brother was trying to obtain information concerning the Powell family. She knew that Mr. Wilson occasionally walked to Halifax, to search the records there for his book which was in the making . She asked Mr. Wilson if, on his next trip to the city, he could obtain the information she wanted.

A fortnight later, Mr. Wilson returned with the desired information. Mrs. Milbury wishing to show her appreciation, asked if she could repay him for his trouble.

"Mrs. Milbury, ordinarily I would not accept anything from you, but, as I had no reason to go to the city but having nothing else to do, I walked to Halifax and back to get this information. I feel I should have a dollar for the trip."

Mr. Wilson was an ardent member of the Sons of Temperance to which cause he contributed much of his time and energy. His work was recognized when the Grand Division built a home for their faithful worker. The Grand Division also erected a monument in the Smith's Cove Cemetery to his memory.

The History of Digby County indicates a tremendous amount of research on the part of the author. Mr. Wilson spent untold hours laboriously copying material from the files in the Records Office in Weymouth, from books and script in the N.S. Legislative Library and from the files of the Digby Weekly Courier.

As we read his book we are amazed at the painstaking efforts of the little whiskered, near-sighted man, delving into dusty records and files for anything and everything pertaining to the County of Digby.

It is difficult at times to distinguish that which was written as direct quotation from source and that which he rewrote. We marvel at the work when we recall that the author had little formal education, poor physical abilities for his self-imposed task and very little money to meet the daily needs of himself and Mrs. Wilson.

The History of Digby County contains extensive genealogies which must have been time consuming in preparation and only one with great patience would have carried out to such lengths. Fortunately the authors of Freeport, Smiths Cove and Digby drew their material from different sources so we have quite a wide scope of family records at our convenience.

Mr. Wilson had his book published in Halifax in 1893 but he lacked sufficient money to purchase the volumes for resale. It was not until 1917 that Mr. William Snow of Smith's Cove purchased the books from the publishers at a bargain price that the History of Digby County became available to the public.

Mr. Snow re-sold the copies to Mr. Wilson and the author reached the triumphal moment of his life - selling the efforts of his life-time from house to house. Today this hard-covered, dark-red volume is a collector's item highly prized by the fortunate owners.

One cannot read the History of Digby County with full impact unless he can recall from memory the whiskered little man shuffling along the roads of Digby County, reading script with impared eye-sight or exhorting members of the Sons of Temperance.

Isaiah Woodworth Wilson died in October, 1928 and was buried in Smith's Cove. In life he was the little man who walked from Digby to Halifax, in death his name will be remembered as the author of The History of Digby County.

"The Digby County Historian" is from R.B. Powell's book "Scrapbook, Digby Town and Municipality"

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