Early Life & Hantsport Years
Ezra Churchill was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, the son of Ezra Churchill and Elizabeth Trefry. In 1824, Churchill married Ann Davidson and subsequently, after Ann’s death, married Rachel Burgess.
His move to the eastern end of the Annapolis Valley came with the purchase of a sixty-six acre lot at Hantsport in 1841 from Robert Barker, son of Edward Baker, the founder of the town. He enlarged his landholdings in the area and over the years sold lots to workmen and their families who are moving to Hantsport for the jobs being created by the shipbuilding boom.
Although Hantsport and area had been the location of a number of shipbuilding ventures, Churchill was the catalyst that transformed a small gathering of farms along the confluence of the Halfway and Avon rivers into a major shipbuilding port. Nearly two hundred vessels were built in the Hantsport area shipyards. Churchill became one of the largest shipbuilders and ship investors in Nova Scotia, launching dozens of large sailing vessels from his yards at Hantsport, as well as from Parrsboro, Canning, Newport, etc. Amongst his many vessels was the barque Hamburg, the largest three-masted sailing barque ever built in Canada.
Not to be content with ships, Ezra purchased timberlands and built sawmills, producing timber and planking for the construction of his ships and lumber for the export trade. With gypsum deposits located nearby in the Windsor area he invested in the development of mines. The production from his mills and mines certainly became cargos for the outbound sailing of some of his vessels. Owning and operating ships was a risky business and in 1851 he became a founding investor in the Avon Marine Insurance Company. In 1870 or 1871 he operated the Evangeline Hotel, one of five hotels in the booming town of Hantsport.
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