Waterloo, Nova Scotia, Canada is a small rural community in western Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. The community extends approximately 10 kilometers from Route 210 to the Queens County line and is 20 kilometers from the commercial hub of Bridgewater. The Waterloo Road runs through the community providing a picturesque alternative to Route 210 when travelling between Newcombville and Greenfield.
History
First Peoples and the newcomers
Western Lunenburg County was shared by aboriginal Mi'kmaq people before the first European settlers arrived. In an 1894 interview, George Michael Wile (1809–1895) and his wife Lucinda Hirtle Wile, the first European settlers in the Waterloo area, spoke about the early days of the settlement when "Indians" camped on a brook in the area, "catching otter, mink, and other animals for fur" (DesBrisay, 1895). Some time before 1870, when early deeds show transfers of land in the community, the first settlers received large land grants of 50 to 150-acre parcels from Great Britain before and around the time of Canadian Confederation.
Historical perspectives
The European roots of the community are predominantly from small German states which are comprised by the Germany of today and from the region known as Montbéliard in eastern France. Waterloo Settlement's first settlers were sons and daughters of second and third-generation German and Montbéliardian immigrants brought to Nova Scotia as loyal citizens to the British crown in 1750–52. The French-speaking Montbéliardians were considered good candidates to emigrate since they were known to be "very frugal, as well as strong independent laborers" (Withrow, 2002). As for the Germans (and likely the Swiss), Judge Debrisay quotes a number of stereotypes and impressions that developed and existed of the first German immigrants up to 1895, at least 140 years after their arrival. "They are a big, square-shouldered, deep-chested race. They do not talk much, but look as though they thought—easy going, and good tempered... they are hearty eaters, but they are not fussy and finikin over their food... so long as the dish is wholesome, and there is sufficient of it, they are satisfied... in the sensuous arts of painting and sculpture, the Germans are poor. In the ennobling arts of literature and music they are great, and this fact provides a key to their character. They are simple, earnest, homely, genuine people. They do not laugh much, but when they do they laugh deep down. They are slow, but so is a deep river... . The Germans believe in themselves, and respect themselves".
Historical significance of the region
These German, Swiss, and French settlers arrived just prior to the tumultuous years when Nouvelle France was being defeated by the British, resulting in the first Treaty of Paris (1763). Many Acadians were expelled in 1755 and these German Protestant immigrants initially were the new population sought to outbalance the French and Mi'kmaq influence in the region—both of which were Catholic (Withrow, 2002). There was at least another connection between these Acadians and the Germans. Because there was a food shortage in the Lunenburg area where the German settlers were granted their first land, the British encouraged them to travel to the Acadians' newly seized and vacated land in what is now the Annapolis Valley and herd their abandoned livestock back to Lunenburg. Between July 30 and September 3, 1756, 282 of the settlers were involved in the drive by either retrieving the animals or tending to the chores of those who went. Three of those surnames involved were later to be prominent Waterloo names: Krause, Vienot, and Weil. The community was also settled by a Black Loyalist by the surname of Lavender. L & E Lavender received a grant of land south of Matthew Lake and farmed it as did the other settlers.
German and Montbéliardian community roots: Wile, Hirtle, Crouse, and Veinot
The first European inhabitant of the community was George "Michael" Wile (grandson of Frederick "Weil", who arrived in 1750 on the ship Ann and his wife, Lucinda Salome Hirtle (great granddaughter of Hans Michael Hirtle who came in 1751 on the ship Pearl), Michael Hirtle's daughter from nearby Newcombville. Michael Wile's grant of included the highest drumlin in the area, overlooking Mack Lake (later renamed "Matthew Lake"), which he cleared to build his home and break up for cropland.