Thieves make off with artifacts
Historic building once home to 19th-century businessman
Laurie Glenn Norris is disappointed someone would break into a home that has an important connection to Minudie’s history.
Sometime between June 1 and June 10, thieves broke into the 175-year-old building that was home to 19th-century businessman Amos Thomas Seaman and made off with a pot-bellied stove, some hurricane lamps and a large bookcase.
“It’s very upsetting and it’s discouraging,” said Norris, who is a volunteer with the Minudie Heritage Association.
The home was bequeathed to the association in 2015 by Ruth Symes, a descendant of Seaman.
“I’m hoping someone out there may know something about it and contact the police. This is just so disappointing for our community,” she said.
The house is vacant and contains a number of artifacts dating back to the mid-1800s, although she said the more valuable items have been removed to another location that’s more secure.
The heritage association has been working to improve the property since taking it over three years ago, with renova-
tions done to the interior and exterior. Eventually, the association would like to turn the building into an interpretive centre or museum.
She said the artifacts tell a lot about the community and what living in Minudie was like in the 19th century.
She said it’s not a victimless crime in that the association doesn’t have the resources to replace things that are stolen.
“It’s a slap in the face to a group of people who have been working so hard to make Ruth’s dream come true,” she said. It was “a home to a member of the Seaman family and it has always been lived in by a member of the
Seaman family. It’s a record of Minudie since the 1840s.”
“This really hurts,” said Sharon Gould, president of the heritage association. “Ruth Symes was the last surviving member of the Seaman family and through her preservation of history she wanted to leave it behind for future generations to enjoy.”
Besides the items taken, Gould said the home was “trashed” with items scattered on the floor and the contents of all the drawers emptied out. She also believes a number of toys dating back to when Symes was a little girl were taken.
She said it’s the second time the home has been broken into
since last fall. That first time, last November, someone stole a valuable artifact belonging to Edward Barron, who served with the British army at Quebec under Gen. James Wolfe and was given a tract of land between Minudie and River Hebert that would later become Barronsfield.
Amos’s father, King Seaman, was one of Nova Scotia’s wealthiest men in the 19th century, rising from a humble boyhood to become the owner of a vast commercial empire that focused on the export of grindstones to the United States, according to Canada’s Historic Places website.
The RCMP is investigating.