The "Foreign Protestants" and the Settlement of Nova Scotia

Margaret Conrad is a history professor at Acadia University and editor
of They Planted Well: New England Planters in Maritime Canada.

When this book was first published—in 1961, by the University of
Toronto Press—it was immediately recognized as a classic among
Canadian local histories. Bell tells the story of the 2700 German- and
French-speaking Protestants who came to Nova Scotia between 1750 and
1753 in painstaking detail. Because of its depth and accuracy, the book
remains the necessary starting point for anyone interested in these
early immigrants. Long out of print, it has been republished in an
attractive edition by the Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount Allison
University. The endpapers and dust jacket depict early images of
Lunenburg, which stands today as a living monument to its founders.

In the brief introduction, Larry McCann provides tantalizing
information about Bell, who worked as a spy, engineer, lecturer in
philosophy, and wartime administrator before turning his attention to
the “foreign Protestants.” Bell brought an engineer’s precision, a
philosopher’s inquiring mind, a spy’s sleuthing skills, a knowledge
of the German language, and long hours in the archives to bear on his
topic. As McCann acknowledges, Bell wrote before the new social history
and computer technology had transformed the way historians approach
migration history, but Bell’s straightforward methodology makes this a
timeless publication, consulted as much for its lists, footnotes,
appendices, and bibliography as for its trendy interpretations. The only
improvement that might be made to future editions of this valuable
resource is to add an index of proper names so that genealogists can
more easily trace family references.