Welsh Journals

on its return voyage. Most of other colonists who had stayed on the island soon moved to the mainland. This meant that the colonization scheme had effectively failed long before William's naval career had revived, even though William did try to advertise for new colonists in 1772, but without any results.4 Over a decade and a half passed before the Owen family became involved again in the affairs of Campobello a period that contained the tumultuous events of the American Revolution and the subsequent war with Britain. However not all of Britain's Atlantic colonies joined their neighbours to the south in the revolt. John Allen's attempt to lead the colony of Nova Scotia into joining the rebel Continental Congress in Philadelphia failed, whilst an American attack on Ft Cumberland (near Sackville) at the head of the Bay of Fundy also failed.5 It can be argued that the colony's population was far too small, too scattered, and less dependent upon commerce with Britain to have harboured the feelings of resentment that motivated the rebelliousness of the south; moreover the largest concentrations of population were almost completely dependent upon British garrisons or administration, especially the bastion and harbour at Halifax. In the far south of Nova Scotia the marginal position of Campobello, and its small population, meant that the American Revolutionary war passed it by, although the frequent presence of British warships in its sheltered bays meant that it never became a base for rebel activity. Yet it seems likely that the small scatter of New Englanders on Campobello, such as the Wilson family that predated Owen's arrival, did support the American cause, and one of the Lloyd family from the original settlers served with the Royal American Fencibles. But in the early Fall of 1787 the island soon became an area of controversy with the arrival of David Owen to reclaim his family's estates on Campobello. This was a mere three years after the province of New Brunswick was formally carved out of the original Nova Scotia colony. In addition these colonies received some thirty thousand Loyalist migrants who had moved north after the end of the war. This influx of population provided a major boost to the previously halting settlement of the region.6 David's Early Career At first sight David Owen (1754-1829) was a most unlikely choice to lead the attempt to reclaim the Owen family grant in Campobello, although he was one of the three nephews of Captain William Owen and had been included on the original land grant of the island. David was the second son of the patriarch of the family, Owen Owen (1723-1789), who had done so much to found the wealth of his family. David's elder brother, Arthur Davies Owen (1752-1816),