What was it like to arrive from England or Ireland in 1818 and be amongst the first settlers in a new country? From a diary kept by Rebecca Ashton from 1864 to 1870, we are given a glimpse into the special life of that time.

Rebecca Ashton, born in 1835, was the daughter of Anne Standish who came from Ireland with her parents, Matthew and Rebecca. Anne Standish married Matthew Ashton and lived in Shefford County. Because of illness in the family, Rebecca was raised by two unmarried uncles, John and Robert Standish and an unmarried aunt, Rebecca Standish. They all lived together on the farm now owned by Colin Standish.

From her diary, beginning in July 1864, we are shown the daily activities of a young lady of 29 years. A great deal of time was spent in waving. " A web of 35 yards was put in for blankets, I spent the whole week making 5 blankets, we spun 24 yds. Of grey cloth, 30 yards of flannel".

Some days were spent making soap, spinning flax and polishing the stoves. She made dresses, shirts and pants for herself and the relatives.

Travel seemed to be done with relative ease. They visited in Shefford, Farnham, Stanstead and Troy. Trips to Shefford and Montreal involved two or three days ; one day of travelling and one day of visiting.

They travelled by horse and carriage or stage coach. On April 16th 1869, she wrote , "the stage came on wheals and in places the snow had to be shovelled out of the wheals". On September 2nd 1864, "Mr. Standish bought a new two-seated waggon". The roads in some seasons were " very bad, very muddy". On the 30th of March 1868, " Uncle Robert & I went to Shefford in a waggon & the dust is blowing on the road".

In July 1867, her notes said " that Uncle John got home from Upper Canada last night". She spoke of the great excitement " about the Fenians" and in April " Uncle John bought a revolver from Mr. Fisk".

The agricultural activities referred to in her diary were concerned with the sowing of crops and the harvesting of grain and hay. The threshers and the threshing mill came in December. Uncle began to plow in April, and sowed wheat in the same month. They travelled to St.Mary's ( now marieville ) to hay in July. Loads of barley were sold. Butter was taken to "Granby" and to Montreal to be sold.