From the Introduction

(Written in 1890) “… And as we have said before, no village, hamlet or settlement was made here by the French, and it was not until the close of the American Revolutionary War that any permanent settlement by the English was attempted. But it is not to the men, or the descendants of the men, to whom the grant of the Township of Clements, then including both sides of Imbert’s River, was made in 1784, that we should attribute the honour of being the founders of the present town of Bear River, for it was the earlier, pre-loyalist settlers of Annapolis and Granville townships who were the first effective pioneers in changing the forest-clad hills, which line both banks of the river, into smiling farms and comfortable homesteads. There were a few of the Loyalist settlers who did the same thing in other sections of Clements, but it was the Rices, the Harris’, the Clarks, the Millers and the Chutes, all of pre-loyalist origin, who laid the foundation upon which the superstructure of the flourishing and wealthy town now existing was afterwards built. To these may be added the Bogarts, the Croscups, the Bensons and Crouses of Loyalist stock, as co-workers.