Nova Scotia Archives

Lunenburg by the Sea

Personal Record of Michael Hertli [Hirtle]

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Michel Hirtle was born in Wurttemberg (Germany), but emigrated with his wife Anna Maria and their children, on the vessel Pearl in 1751, and later came to Lunenburg. This document dates from May 1777 and is a form of a memorial tribute to Hirtle, who died on the “last past Sunday, the 10th of the month of May.” Canon E.A. Harris acquired the document many years later, and provided a rough translation of it in his research files: “Hereinafter now we make our record of Michael Hertli, who has been a settler and and Inhabitant here....” The record includes Michael’s birth, marriage and death dates, as well as noting his eight children and 37 grandchildren. Much of the spirit that shaped early Lunenburg can be summed up in the observation that Hirtle “always has conducted himself towards everyone honestly, true and serviceably.”

Date: 1777

Reference: Canon E.A. Harris Nova Scotia Archives MG 4 vol. 105 no. 9

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