Brian Carnell's Wiki

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
<html>
<hr class='pb' />
<div class='center'>
<h1>GLIMPSES OF THE PAST.</h1>
<hr class='mini' style='margin: 3em auto;' />
<h1><span style='font-size:1.2em;'>HISTORY</span><br />
<span style='font-size:0.5em;'>OF THE</span><br />
<span style='font-size:1.5em;'>RIVER ST. JOHN</span><br />
<span style='font-size:0.8em;'>A. D. 1604&ndash;1784.</span></h1>
<hr class='mini' style='margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom:2em;' />
<p>BY<br />
<span class='smcap' style='font-size:1.2em;'>Rev. W. O. RAYMOND, LL.D.</span></p>
<hr class='mini' style='margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom:4em;' />
<p>ST. JOHN, N. B.<br />
1905.</p>
</div>
<hr class='pb' />
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i008.jpg' alt='' title='' width='331' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN.<br />
<br />
Discoverer of the River St. John. The Father of New France. Born at Brouage in 1567. Died at Quebec, Dec. 25, 1635.<br />
</p>
</div>
<hr class='pb' />
<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
<table id='toc' border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'>
<tr>
  <td />
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Preface</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#PREFACE'>3</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td />
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Errata</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#ERRATA'>4</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>I</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Maliseets</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_I_THE_MALISEETS'>5</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>II</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Coming of the White Man</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_II_THE_COMING_OF_THE_WHITE_MAN'>16</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>III</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Rival Feudal Chiefs</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_III_THE_RIVAL_FEUDAL_CHIEFS'>24</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>IV</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>French Commanders of Acadia</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_IV_FRENCH_COMMANDERS_OF_ACADIA'>30</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>V</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>King William&rsquo;s War</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_V_KING_WILLIAMS_WAR'>38</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>VI</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Nachouac and Menagoueche</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VI_NACHOUAC_AND_MENAGOUECHE'>47</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>VII</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Brothers D&rsquo;Amours</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VII_THE_BROTHERS_DAMOURS'>55</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>VIII</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Old Medoctec Fort</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VIII_THE_OLD_MEDOCTEC_FORT'>66</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>IX</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Incidents in King Georges War</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_IX_INCIDENTS_IN_KING_GEORGES_WAR'>79</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>X</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Rival Claims to the St. John River</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_X_RIVAL_CLAIMS_TO_THE_ST_JOHN_RIVER'>93</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XI</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The French anxious to hold possession of the River St. John</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XI_THE_FRENCH_ANXIOUS_TO_HOLD_POSSESSION_OF_THE_RIVER_ST_JOHN'>106</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XII</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Acadians become the Football of Fortune</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XII_THE_ACADIANS_BECOME_THE_FOOTBALL_OF_FORTUNE'>115</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XIII</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The English take possession of the River St. John</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XIII_THE_ENGLISH_TAKE_POSSESSION_OF_THE_RIVER_ST_JOHN'>125</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XIV</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Aukpaque, the Village at the Head of the Tide</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XIV_AUKPAQUE_THE_VILLAGE_AT_THE_HEAD_OF_THE_TIDE'>140</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XV</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The First English Settlers</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XV_THE_FIRST_ENGLISH_SETTLERS'>148</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XVI</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Progress of the Maugerville Settlement</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XVI_PROGRESS_OF_THE_MAUGERVILLE_SETTLEMENT'>158</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XVII</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>At Portland Point</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XVII_AT_PORTLAND_POINT'>176</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XVIII</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>St. John and its Business One Hundred and Forty Years Ago</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XVIII_ST_JOHN_AND_ITS_BUSINESS_ONE_HUNDRED_AND_FORTY_YEARS_AGO'>188</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XIX</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Old County of Sunbury and its Townships</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XIX_THE_OLD_COUNTY_OF_SUNBURY_AND_ITS_TOWNSHIPS'>206</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XX</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The St. John&rsquo;s River Society</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XX_THE_ST_JOHNS_RIVER_SOCIETY'>214</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XXI</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Firm of Hazen, Jarvis, Simonds &amp; White</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XXI_THE_FIRM_OF_HAZEN_JARVIS_SIMONDS__WHITE'>229</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XXII</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Some Early Religious Teachers on the River St. John</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XXII_SOME_EARLY_RELIGIOUS_TEACHERS_ON_THE_RIVER_ST_JOHN'>247</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XXIII</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>On the Eve of the American Revolution</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XXIII_ON_THE_EVE_OF_THE_AMERICAN_REVOLUTION'>258</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XXIV</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Affairs on the St. John During the Revolution</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XXIV_AFFAIRS_ON_THE_ST_JOHN_DURING_THE_REVOLUTION'>265</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XXV</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Great Indian Pow-wow at Fort Howe, and its Consequences</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XXV_THE_GREAT_INDIAN_POWWOW_AT_FORT_HOWE_AND_ITS_CONSEQUENCES'>284</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XXVI</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>White Chiefs and Indian Chiefs</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XXVI_WHITE_CHIEFS_AND_INDIAN_CHIEFS'>293</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XXVII</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Masts for the Royal Navy</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XXVII_MASTS_FOR_THE_ROYAL_NAVY'>301</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XXVIII</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Pioneers on the St. John River in Pre-loyalist Days</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XXVIII_PIONEERS_ON_THE_ST_JOHN_RIVER_IN_PRELOYALIST_DAYS'>314</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XXIX</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>At the Close of the Revolution&mdash;Affairs Civil and Religious</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XXIX_AT_THE_CLOSE_OF_THE_REVOLUTIONAFFAIRS_CIVIL_AND_RELIGIOUS'>335</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XXX</td>
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Coming of the Loyalists</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XXX_THE_COMING_OF_THE_LOYALISTS'>345</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td />
  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Index</span></td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#INDEX'>371</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr class='pb' />
<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
<table id='loi' border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Illustrations' style='margin:1em auto;'>
<col style='width:75%;' />
<col style='width:25%;' />
<tr>
  <td />
  <td valign='top' align='right'><span class='smcap'>Page</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Samuel de Champlain</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_2'> Frontispiece</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Indian Encampment and Chief</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_3'>15</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Champlain&rsquo;s Plan of St. John Harbor</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_4'>18</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Title Page Bp. St. Vallier&rsquo;s Book</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_5'> 35</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Fort Nachouac</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_6'> 50</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Signature of Sieur de Freneuse</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_7'> 58</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Signature of John Gyles</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_8'> 63</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Plan of Old Medoctec Village</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_9'> 66</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Medoctec Tablet</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_10'> 74</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Bell of Old Medoctec Chapel</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_11'> 76</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Signature of Jean Loyard</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_12'> 78</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Paul Mascarene</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_13'> 88</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Old Fort at Worden&rsquo;s</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_14'> 91</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Woodman&rsquo;s Point&mdash;site of Fort Boishebert</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_15'> 104</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Colonel Robert Monckton</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_16'> 125</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Sketch Map of River St. John in 1758</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_17'> 129</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Isle au Garce, or Emenenic</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_18'> 130</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Inscription on Medoctec Stone</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_19'> 141</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Plan&mdash;Aukpaque and Surroundings</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_20'> 146</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Bruce&rsquo;s Plan of St. John Harbor</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_21'> 151</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Signature of Peter Fisher</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_22'> 155</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Plan of Maugerville</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_23'> 163</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>The Congregational Church at Maugerville</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_24'> 172</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>A Cottage of Today</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_25'>185</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Signatures</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_26'>188</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Ice-jam, 1902</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_27'> 197</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Plan of Townships</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_28'> 212</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Plan of Grants to Simonds &amp; White</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_29'> 231</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Old Hazen House and Grounds</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_30'> 242</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Signature Joseph Mathurin Bourg</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_31'> 253</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Fort Howe in 1781</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_32'> 278</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Signature of Major G. Studholme</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_33'>281</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>Fort Howe in 1818</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_34'> 282</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td valign='top' align='left'>St. John Harbor, showing Mast Dock</td>
  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_35'> 304</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr class='pb' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span>
<a name='PREFACE' id='PREFACE'></a>
<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
</div>
<p>Born and reared upon the banks of the River Saint John, I have always
loved it, and have found a charm in the study of everything that pertains to
the history of those who have dwelt beside its waters.</p>
<p>In connection with the ter-centenary of the discovery of the river by
de Monts and Champlain, on the memorable 24th of June, 1604, the chapters
which follow were contributed, from time to time, to the Saturday edition
of the Saint John <i>Daily Telegraph</i>. With the exception of a few minor
corrections and additions, these chapters are reprinted as they originally
appeared. Some that were hurriedly written, under pressure of other and
more important work, might be revised with advantage. Little attempt at
literary excellence has been practicable. I have been guided by an honest
desire to get at the facts of history, and in so doing have often quoted the
exact language of the writers by whom the facts were first recorded. The
result of patient investigation, extending over several years, in the course of
which a multitude of documents had to be consulted, is a more elaborate and
reliable history of the Saint John River region than has yet appeared in print.
The period covered extends from the discovery of the river in 1604 to the
coming of the Loyalists in 1784. It is possible that the story may one day
be continued in a second volume.</p>
<p>At the conclusion of this self-appointed task, let me say to the reader, in
the words of Montaigne, &ldquo;I bring you a nosegay of culled flowers, and I have
brought little of my own but the string that ties them.&rdquo;</p>
<p class='right'><span class='smcap'>W. O. Raymond.</span></p>
<p><span class='smcap'>St John,</span> N. B., December, 1905.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span>
<a name='ERRATA' id='ERRATA'></a>
<h2>ERRATA.</h2>
</div>
<p>Page <a href='#page_36'>36</a>, line 8. After word &ldquo;and,&rdquo; the rest of the line should read&mdash;&ldquo;beautiful
islands below the mouth of.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Page <a href='#page_97'>97</a>, line 31. The last half of this line is inverted.</p>
<hr class='pb' />
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span></div>
<h1>GLIMPSES OF THE PAST.</h1>
<h1 style='font-size:1.5em;'>INCIDENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE ST. JOHN RIVER.</h1>
<div class='chsp'>
<a name='CHAPTER_I_THE_MALISEETS' id='CHAPTER_I_THE_MALISEETS'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The Maliseets.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>The Indian period of our history possesses a charm peculiarly its own. When
European explorers first visited our shores the Indian roamed at pleasure through
his broad forest domain. Its wealth of attractions were as yet unknown to the
hunter, the fisherman and the fur-trader. Rude as he was the red man could
feel the charms of the wilderness in which he dwelt. The voice of nature was not
meaningless to one who knew her haunts so well. The dark recesses of the forest,
the sunny glades of the open woodland, the mossy dells, the sparkling streams
and roaring mountain torrents, the quiet lakes, the noble river flowing onward to
the sea with islands here and there embosomed by its tide&mdash;all were his. The
smoke of his wigwam fire curled peacefully from Indian village and temporary
encampment. He might wander where he pleased with none to say him nay.</p>
<p>But before the inflowing tide of the white-man&rsquo;s civilization the Indian&rsquo;s supremacy
vanished as the morning mist before the rising sun. The old hunting
grounds are his no longer. His descendants have long ago been forced to look for
situations more remote. The sites of the ancient villages on interval and island
have long since been tilled by the thrifty farmer&rsquo;s hands.</p>
<p>But on the sites of the old camping grounds the plough share still turns up
relics that carry us back to the &ldquo;stone age.&rdquo; A careful study of these relics will
tell us something about the habits and customs of the aborigines before the
coming of the whites. And we have another source of information in the quaint
tales and legends that drift to us out of the dim shadows of the past, which
will always have peculiar fascination for the student of Indian folk-lore.</p>
<p>With the coming of the whites the scene changes and the simplicity of savage
life grows more complicated. The change is not entirely for the better; the hardships
of savage life are ameliorated, it is true, but the Indian learns the vices of
civilization.</p>
<p>The native races naturally play a leading part in early Acadian history, nor
do they always appear in a very amiable light. The element of fierceness and
barbarity, which seems inherent in all savage races, was not wanting in the
Indians of the River St. John. They united with their neighbours in most of the
wars waged with the whites and took their full share in those bloody forays which
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span>
nearly annihilated many of the infant settlements of Maine and New Hampshire.
The early annals of Eastern New England tell many a sad story of the sacrifice of
innocent lives, of women and children carried into captivity and homes made
desolate by savage hands.</p>
<p>And yet, it may be that with all his faults the red man has been more sinned
against than sinning.</p>
<p>Many years ago the provincial government sent commissioners to the Indian
village of Medoctec on the St. John river, where the Indians from time immemorial
had built their wigwams and tilled their cornfields and where their dead for
many generations had been laid to rest in the little graveyard by the river side.
The object of the commissioners was to arrange for the location of white settlers
at Medoctec. The government claimed the right to dispossess the Indians on the
ground that the lands surrounding their village were in the gift of the crown. The
Indians, not unnaturally, were disinclined to part with the heritage of their forefathers.</p>
<p>On their arrival at the historic camping ground the commissioners made known
the object of their visit. Presently several stalwart captains, attired in their
war paint and feathers and headed by their chief, appeared on the scene. After
mutual salutations the commissioners asked: &ldquo;By what right or title do you hold
these lands?&rdquo;</p>
<p>The tall, powerful chief stood erect, and with the air of a plumed knight,
pointing within the walk of the little enclosure beside the river, replied: &ldquo;There
are the graves of our grandfathers! There are graves of our fathers! There
are the graves of our children!&rdquo;</p>
<p>To this simple native eloquence the commissioners felt they had no fitting reply,
and for the time being the Maliseets remained undisturbed.</p>
<p>It in not necessary to discuss at length the origin of the Indians who lived
on the banks of the St. John at the time the country became known to Europeans.
Whether or not the ancestors of our Indians were the first inhabitants of
that region it is difficult to determine. The Indians now living on the St. John
are Maliseets, but it is thought by many that the Micmacs at one time, possessed
the valley of the river and gradually gave place to the Maliseets, as the latter advanced
from the westward. There is a tradition among the St. John river
Indians that the Micmacs and Maliseets were originally one people and that the
Maliseets after a while &ldquo;went off by themselves and picked up their own language.&rdquo;
This the Micmacs regarded as a mongrel dialect and gave to the new
tribe the name Maliseet (or Milicete), a word derived from Mal-i-see-jik&mdash;&ldquo;he
speaks badly.&rdquo; However, in such matters, tradition is not always a safe guide.
It is more probable the two tribes had an independent origin, the Micmacs being
the earlier inhabitants of Acadia, while the Maliseets, who are an offshoot of
the Abenaki (or Wabenaki) nation, spread eastward from the Kennebec to the
Penobscot and thence to the St. John. The Indians who are now scattered over
this area very readily understand one another&rsquo;s speech, but the language of the
Micmacs is unintelligible to them.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span></div>
<p>The Micmacs seem to have permitted their neighbors to occupy the St. John
river without opposition, their own preference inclining them to live near the
coast. The opinion long prevailed in Acadia that the Maliseets, were a more
powerful and ferocious tribe than the Micmacs; nevertheless there is no record
or tradition of any conflict between them.</p>
<p>That the Maliseets have for centuries inhabited the valley of the River St.
John is indicated by the fact that the Indian names of rivers, lakes, islands and
mountains, which have been retained by the whites, are nearly all of Maliseet
origin. Nevertheless the Micmacs frequented the mouth of the St. John river after
the arrival of Europeans, for we learn that the Jesuit missionary, Enemond Masse,
passed the winter of 1611&ndash;2 at St. John in the family of Louis Membertou, a
Micmac, in order to perfect himself in the Micmac language, which he had already
studied to some extent at Port Royal. The elder Membertou, father of the Indian
here named, was, perhaps, the most remarkable chieftain Acadia ever produced.
His sway as grand sagamore of the Micmac nation extended from Gaspe
to Cape Sable. In the year 1534 he had welcomed the great explorer Jacques
Cartier to the shores of Eastern New Brunswick, as seventy years later he welcomed
de Monts and Poutrincourt to Port Royal. The Jesuit missionary, Pierre
Biard, describes Membertou as &ldquo;the greatest, most renowned and most formidable
savage within the memory of man; of splendid physique, taller and larger
limbed than is usual among them; bearded like a Frenchmen, although scarcely
any of the others have hair upon the chin; grave and reserved with a proper
sense of the dignity of his position as commander.&rdquo; &ldquo;In strength of mind,
in knowledge of war, in the number of his followers, in power
and in the renown of a glorious name among his countrymen, and even his enemies,
he easily surpassed the sagamores who had flourished during many preceding
ages.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the year 1605 Pennoniac, one of the chiefs of Acadia, went with de Monts
and Champlain as guide on the occasion of their voyage along the shores of
New England and was killed by some of the savages near Saco. Bessabez, the
sagamore of the Penobscot Indians, <a name='TC_1'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'a lowed'">allowed</ins> the body of the dead chief to be
taken home by his friends to Port Royal and its arrival was the signal of great
lamentation. Membertou was at this time an old man, but although his hair was
white with the frosts of a hundred winters, like Moses of old, his eye was not
dim nor his natural force abated. He decided that the death of Pennoniac must
be avenged. Messengers were sent to call the tribes of Acadia and in response to
the summons 400 warriors assembled at Port Royal. The Maliseets joined in the
expedition. The great flotilla of war canoes was arranged in divisions, each under
its leader, the whole commanded by Membertou in person. As the morning
sun reflected in the still waters of Port Royal the noiseless procession of canoes,
crowned by the tawny faces and bodies of the savage warriors, smeared with pigments
of various colors, the sight struck the French spectators with wonder and
astonishment.</p>
<p>Uniting with their allies of the River St. John, the great war party sped
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span>
westward over the waters of the Bay of Fundy and along the coast till they
reached the land of the Armouchiquois. Here they met and defeated their enemies
after a hard-fought battle in which Bessabez and many of his captains were slain,
and the allies returned in triumph to Acadia singing their songs of victory.</p>
<p>The situation of the Maliseets on the River St. John was not without its advantages,
and they probably obtained as good a living as any tribe of savages in Canada.
Remote from the war paths of the fiercer tribes they hunted in safety. Their
forests were filled with game, the rivers teemed with fish and the lakes with water
fowl; the sea shore was easy of access, the intervals and islands were naturally
adapted to the cultivation of Indian corn, wild grapes grew luxuriantly along the
river banks, there were berries in the woods and the sagaabum (or Indian potato)
was abundant. Communication with all arts of the surrounding country was easily
had by means of the short portages that separated the sources of interlacing rivers
and with his light bark canoe the Indian could travel in any direction his necessity
or his caprice might dictate.</p>
<p>The characteristics of the Indians of Acadia, whether Micmacs or Maliseets,
were in the main identical; usually they were closely allied and not infrequently intermarried
Their manners and habits have been described with much fidelity by
Champlain, Lescarbot, Denys and other early explorers. Equally accurate and interesting
is the graphic description of the savages contained in the narrative of the
Jesuit missionary Pierre Biard, who came to America in 1611 and during his sojourn
visited the St. John River and places adjacent making Port Royal his headquarters.
His narrative, &ldquo;A Relation of New France, of its Lands, Nature of the Country
and of its Inhabitants,&rdquo; was printed at Lyons in 1616. A few extracts, taken
from the splendid edition of the Jesuit Relations recently published at Cleveland,
will suffice to show that Pierre Biard was not only an intelligent observer but that
he handled the pen of a ready writer. &ldquo;I have said before,&rdquo; he observes, &ldquo;that the
whole country is simply an interminable forest; for there are no open spaces except
upon the margins of the sea, lakes and rivers. In several places we found
the grapes and wild vines which ripened in their season. It was not always the best
ground where found them, being full of sand and gravel like that of Bourdeaux.
There are a great many of these grapes at St. John River in 46 degrees of latitude,
where also are to be seen many walnut (or butternut), and hazel trees.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This quotation will show how exact and conscientious the old French missionary
was in his narration. Beamish Murdoch in Ibis History of Nova Scotia (Vol. 1, p.
21) ventures the observation, &ldquo;It may perhaps be doubted if the French account
about grapes is accurate, as they mention them to have been growing on the banks
of the Saint John where, if wild grapes exist, they must be rare.&rdquo; But Biard is
right and Murdoch is wrong. Wild grapes naturally grow in great abundance on
the islands and intervals of the River St. John and, in spite of the interference of
the farmers, are still to be found as far north at least in Woodstock. Biard visited
the St. John River in October, 1611, and stayed a day or two at a small trading
post on an island near Oak Point. One <a name='TC_2'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'o'">of</ins> the islands in that vicinity the early
English settlers afterwards called &ldquo;Isle of Vines,&rdquo; from the circumstance that
wild grapes grew there in great profusion.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span></div>
<p>We quote next Father Biard&rsquo;s description of the Indian method of encampment:
&ldquo;Arrived at a certain place, the first thing they do is to build a fire and arrange
their camp, which they will have finished in an hour or two; often in half an hour.
The women go into the woods and bring back some poles which are stuck into the
ground in a circle around the fire and at the top are interlaced in the form of a
pyramid, so that they come together directly over the fire, for there is the chimney.
Upon the poles they throw some skins, matting or bark. At the foot of the poles
under the skins they put their baggage. All the space around the fire is strewn
with soft boughs of the fire tree, so they will not feel the dampness of the ground;
over these boughs are thrown some mats or seal skins as soft as velvet; upon these
they stretch themselves around the fire with their heads resting upon their baggage;
and, what no one would believe, they are very warm in there around that little fire,
even in the greatest rigors of the winter. They do not camp except near some good
water, and in an attractive location.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The aboriginies of Acadia when the country became known to Europeans, no doubt
lived as their ancestors had lived from time immemorial. A glimpse of the life of the Indian
in prehistoric times is afforded us in the arch&aelig;ological remains of the period.
These are to be found at such places as Bocabec, in Charlotte county, at Grand Lake
in Queens county, and at various points along the St. John river. Dr. L. W. Bailey,
Dr. Geo. F. Matthew, Dr. W. F. Ganong, James Vroom, and others have given considerable
attention to these relics and they were studied also to some extent by
their predecessors in the field of science, Dr. Robb, Dr. Gesner and Moses H. Perley.
The relics most commonly brought to light include stone implements, such as axes,
hammers, arrow heads, lance and spear heads, gouges and chisels, celts or wedges,
corn crushers, and pipes; also bone implements such as needles, fish hooks and
harpoons, with specimens of rude pottery.</p>
<p>When Champlain first visited our shores the savages had nothing better than
stone axes to use in clearing their lands. It is to their credit that with such
rude implements they contrived to hack down the trees and, after burning the
branches and trunk, planted their corn among the stumps and in the course of
time took out the roots. In cultivating the soil they used an implement of very
hard wood, shaped like a spade, and their method of raising corn, as described
by Champlain, was exactly the same as that of our farmers today. The corn
fields at the old Medoctic Fort were cultivated by the Indians many years before
the coming of the whites. Cadillac, writing in 1693, says: &ldquo;The Maliseets are well
shaped and tolerably warlike; they attend to the cultivation of the soil and
grow the most beautiful Indian corn; their fort is at Medocktek.&rdquo; Many other
choice spots along the St. John river were tilled in very early times, including,
probably, the site of the old Government House at Fredericton, where there was
an Indian encampment long before the place was dreamed of as the site of the
seat of government of the province.</p>
<p>Lescarbot, the historian, who wrote In 1610, tells us that the Indians were
accustomed to pound their corn in a mortar (probably of wood) in order to reduce
it to meal. Of this they afterwards made a paste, which was baked between
two stones heated at the fire. Frequently the corn was roasted on the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span>
ear. Yet another method is thus described by the English captive, John Gyles,
who lived as a captive with the St. John river Indians in 1689: &ldquo;To dry the
corn when in the milk, they gather it in large kettles and boil it on the ears
till it is pretty hard, then shell it from the cob with clam shells and dry it on
bark in the sun. When it is thoroughly dry a kernel is no bigger than a pea,
and will keep years; and when it is boiled again it swells as large as when on
the ear and tastes incomparably sweeter than other corn. When we had
gathered our corn and dried it in the way described, we put some of it into Indian
barns, that is into hole in the ground lined and covered with bark and
then with earth. The rest we carried up the river upon our next winter&rsquo;s
hunting.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Indians were a very improvident race, and in this respect the Maliseets
were little better than the Micmacs, of whom Pierre Biard writes: &ldquo;They care
little about the future and are not urged on to work except by present necessity.
As long as they have anything they are always celebrating feasts and having
songs dances and speeches. If there is a crowd of them you certainly need not
expect anything else. Nevertheless if they are by themselves and where they
may safely listen to their wives, for women are everywhere the best managers,
they will sometimes make storehouses for the winter where they will keep smoked
meat, roots, shelled acorns, peas, beans, etc.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Although the Indians living on the St. John paid some attention to the cultivation
of the soil there can be no doubt that hunting and fishing were always
their chief means of support. In Champlain&rsquo;s day the implements of the chase
were very primitive. Yet they were able to hunt the largest game by taking
advantage of the deep snow and making use of their snow-shoes. Champlain
says. &ldquo;They search for the track of animals, which, having found, they follow
until they get sight of the creature, when they shoot at it with their bows or
kill it by means of daggers attached to the end of a short pike. Then the women
and children come up, erect a hut and they give themselves to feasting. Afterwards
they proceed in search of other animals and thus they pass the winter.
This is the mode of life of these people, which seems to me a very miserable
one.&rdquo;</p>
<p>There can be little doubt that wild game was vastly more abundant in this
country, when it was discovered by Europeans, than it is today. In the days of
La Tour and Charnisay as many as three thousand moose skins were collected on
the St. John in a single year, and smaller game was even more abundant. Wild
fowl ranged the coasts and marshes and frequented the rivers in incredible numbers.
Biard says that at certain seasons they were so abundant on the islands
that by the skilful use of a club right and left they could bring down birds
as big as a duck with every blow. Denys speaks of immense flocks of wild pidgeons.
But the Indian&rsquo;s food supply was not limited to these; the rivers
abounded with salmon and other fish, turtles were common along the banks of
the river, and their eggs, which they lay in the sand, were esteemed a great delicacy,
as for the musquash it is regarded as the &ldquo;Indian&rsquo;s turkey.&rdquo;</p>
<p>A careful examination of the relics discovered at the sites of the old camping
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span>
grounds suffices to confirm the universal testimony of early writers regarding the
nomadic habits of the Indians. They were a restless race of people, for ever wandering
from place to place as necessity or caprice impelled them. At one time
they were attracted to the sea side where clams, fish and sea fowl abounded; at
another they preferred the charms of the inland waters. Sometimes the mere love
of change led them to forsake one camping place and remove to some other
favorite spot. When game was scarce they were compelled by sheer necessity to
seek new hunting grounds. At the proper season they made temporary encampments
for salmon fishing with torch and spear. Anon they tilled their cornfields
on the intervals and islands. They had a saying: &ldquo;When the maple leaf is as
big as a squirrel&rsquo;s foot it is time to plant corn.&rdquo; Occasionally the outbreak of
some pestilence broke up their encampments and scattered them in all directions.
In time of peace they moved leisurely, but in time of war their action was
much more vigorous and flotillas of their bark canoes skimmed swiftly over the
lakes and rivers bearing the dusky warriors against the enemies of their race.
Many a peaceful New England hamlet was startled by their midnight war-whoop
when danger was little looked for.</p>
<p>It is a common belief in our day that the Indians were formerly more numerous
than they now are. Exactly the same opinion seems to have prevailed when the country
was first discovered, but it is really very doubtful whether there were ever many more
Indians in the country than there are today. In the year 1611 Biard described
them as so few in number that they might be said to roam over rather than to
possess the country. He estimated the Maliseets, or Etchemins, as less than a thousand
in number &ldquo;scattered over wide spaces, as is natural for those who live by
hunting and fishing.&rdquo; Today the Indians of Maine and New Brunswick living
within the same area as the Etchemins of 1611, number considerably more than
a thousand souls. There are, perhaps, as many Indians in the maritime provinces
now as in the days of Champlain. As Hannay observes, in his History of Acadia,
excellent reasons existed to prevent the Indians from ever becoming very numerous.
A wilderness country can only support a limited population. The hunter
must draw his sustenance from a very wide range of territory, and the life of toil
and privation to which the Indian was exposed was fatal to all but the strongest
and most hardy.</p>
<p>One of the most striking Indian characteristics is the keenness of perception
by which they are enabled to track their game or find their way through pathless
forests without the aid of chart or compass. The Indian captive, Gyles, relates
the following incident which may be mentioned in this connection:</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was once travelling a little way behind several Indians and, hearing them
laugh merrily, when I came up I asked them the cause of their laughter. They
showed me the track of a moose, and how a wolverene had climbed a tree, and
where he had jumped off upon the moose. It so happened that after the moose
had taken several large leaps it came under the branch of a tree, which, striking
the wolverene, broke his hold and tore him off; and by his tracks in the snow it
appeared he went off another way with short steps, as if he had been stunned
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span>
by the blow that had broken his hold. The Indians were wonderfully pleased that
the moose had thus outwitted the mischievous wolverene.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The early French writers all notice the skill and ingenuity of the savages, in
adapting their mode of life to their environment. Nicholas Denys, who came to
Acadia in 1632, gives a very entertaining and detailed account of their ways of
life and of their skillful handicraft. The snowshoe and the Indian bark canoe
aroused his special admiration. He says they also made dishes of bark, both
large and small, sewing them so nicely with slender rootlets of fir that they retained
water. They used in their sewing a pointed bodkin of bone, and they
sometimes adorned their handiwork with porcupine quills and pigments. Their
kettles used to be of wood before the French supplied them with those of metal.
In cooking, the water was readily heated to the boiling point by the use of red-hot
stones which they put in and took out of their wooden kettle.</p>
<p>Until the arrival of Europeans the natives were obliged to clothe themselves
with skins of the beaver and other animals. The women made all the garments,
but Champlain did not consider them very good tailoresses.</p>
<p>Like most savage races the Indians were vain and consequential. <a name='TC_3'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Baird'">Biard</ins> relates
that a certain sagamore on hearing that the young King of France was unmarried,
observed: &ldquo;Perhaps I may let him marry my daughter, but the king must
make me some handsome presents, namely, four or five barrels of bread, three of
peas and beans, one of tobacco, four or five cloaks worth one hundred sous
apiece, bows, arrows, harpoons, and such like articles.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Courtship and marriage among the Maliseets is thus described by John Gyles:
&ldquo;If a young fellow determines to marry, his relations and the Jesuit advise him
to a girl, he goes into the wigwam where she is and looks on her. If he likes
her appearance, he tosses a stick or chip into her lap which she takes, and with
a shy side-look views the person who sent it; yet handles the chip with admiration
as though she wondered from whence it came. If she likes him she throws
the chip to him with a smile, and then nothing is wanting but a ceremony with
the Jesuit to consummate the marriage. But if she dislikes her suitor she with
a surly countenance throws the chip aside and he comes no more there.&rdquo;</p>
<p>An Indian maiden educated to make &ldquo;monoodah,&rdquo; or Indian bags, birch dishes
and moccasins, to lace snowshoes, string wampum belts, sew birch canoes and
boil the kettle, was esteemed a lady of fine accomplishments. The women, however,
endured many hardships. They were called upon to prepare and erect the
cabins, supply them with fire, wood and water, prepare the food, go to bring the
game from the place where it had been killed, sew and repair the canoes, mend and
stretch the skins, curry them and make clothes and moccasins for the whole family.
Biard says: &ldquo;They go fishing and do the paddling, in short they undertake all the
work except that alone of the grand chase. Their husbands sometimes beat them
unmercifully and often for a very slight cause.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Since the coming of the whites the Maliseets have had few quarrels with the
neighboring tribes of Indians. They entertained, however, a dread of the Mohawks,
and there are many legends that have been handed down to us which tell of their
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span>
fights with these implacable foes. One of the most familiar&mdash;that of the destruction
of the Mohawk war party at the Grand Falls&mdash;told by the Indians to the early
settlers on the river soon after their arrival in the country and has since been rehearsed
in verse by Roberts and Hannay and in prose by Lieut.-Governor Gordon
in his &ldquo;Wilderness Journeys,&rdquo; by Dr. Rand in his Indian legends and by other writers.</p>
<p>John Gyles, the English captive at Medoctec village in 1689, relates the following
ridiculous incident, which sufficiently shows the unreasonable terror inspired in
the mind of the natives of the river in his day by the very name of Mohawk:</p>
<p>&ldquo;One very hot season a great number of Indians gathered at the village, and
being a very droughty people they kept James Alexander and myself night and
day fetching water from a cold spring that ran out of a rocky hill about three-quarters
of a mile from the fort.<a name='FNanchor_0001' id='FNanchor_0001'></a><a href='#Footnote_0001' class='fnanchor'>[1]</a> In going thither we crossed a large interval corn
field and then a descent to a lower interval before we ascended the hill to the
spring. James being almost dead as well as I with this continual fatigue contrived
(a plan) to fright the Indians. He told me of it, but conjured me to secrecy. The
next dark night James going for water set his kettle on the descent to the lowest
interval, and ran back to the fort puffing and blowing as in the utmost surprise,
and told his master that he saw something near the spring which looked like Mohawks
(which he said were only stumps&mdash;aside): his master being a most courageous
warrior went with James to make discovery, and when they came to the brow of
the hill, James pointed to the stumps, and withal touched his kettle with his toe,
which gave it motion down hill, and at every turn of the kettle the bail clattered,
upon which James and his master could see a Mohawk in every stump in motion,
and turned tail to and he was the best man who could run the fastest. This
alarmed all the Indians in the village; they, though about thirty or forty in number,
packed off bag and baggage, some up the river and others down, and did not
return under fifteen days, and the heat of the weather being finally over our hard
service abated for this season. I never heard that the Indians understood the occasion
of the fright, but James and I had many a private laugh about it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Until quite recently the word &ldquo;Mohawk,&rdquo; suddenly uttered, was sufficient to
startle a New Brunswick Indian. The late Edward Jack upon asking an Indian
child, &ldquo;What is a Mohawk?&rdquo; received this reply, &ldquo;A Mohawk is a bad Indian who
kills people and eats them.&rdquo; Parkman describes the Mohawks as the fiercest, the
boldest, yet most politic savages to whom the American forests ever gave birth
and nurture. As soon as a canoe could float they were on the war path, and with
the cry of the returning wild fowl mingled the yell of these human tigers. They
burned, hacked and devoured, exterminating whole villages at once.</p>
<p>A Mohawk war party once captured an Algonquin hunting party in which were
three squaws who had each a child of a few weeks or months old. At the first halt
the captors took the infants, tied them to wooden spits, roasted them alive before
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span>
a fire and feasted on them before the eyes of the agonized mothers, whose shrieks,
supplications and frantic efforts to break the cords that bound them, were met
with mockery and laughter. &ldquo;They are not men, they are wolves!&rdquo; sobbed one of
the wretched women, as she told what had befallen her to the Jesuit missionary.</p>
<p>Fearful as the Maliseets were of the Mohawks they were in turn exceedingly cruel
to their own captives and, strange as it may appear, the women were even more
cruel than the men. In the course of the border wars English captives were exposed
to the most revolting and barbarous outrages, some were even burned alive
by our St. John river Indians.</p>
<p>But while cruel to their enemies, and even at times cruel to their wives, the
Indians were by no means without their redeeming features. They were a modest
and virtuous race, and it is quite remarkable that with all their bloodthirstiness in
the New England wars there is no instance on record of the slightest rudeness to
the person of any female captive. This fact should be remembered to their credit by
those who most abhor <a name='TC_4'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'therr'">their</ins> bloodthirstiness and cruelty. Nor were the savages
without a certain sense of justice. This we learn from the following incident in the
experience of the English captive John Gyles.</p>
<p>&ldquo;While at the Indian village (Medoctec) I had been cutting wood and was binding
it up with an Indian rope in order to carry it to the wigwam when a stout
ill-natured young fellow about 20 years of age threw me backward, sat on my breast
and pulling out his knife said that he would kill me, for he had never yet killed
an English person. I told him that he might go to war and that would be more
manly than to kill a poor captive who was doing their drudgery for them. Notwithstanding
all I could say he began to cut and stab me on my breast. I seized
him by the hair and tumbled him from off me on his back and followed him with
my fist and knee so that he presently said he had enough; but when I saw the
blood run and felt the smart I at him again and bid him get up and not lie there
like a dog&mdash;told him of his former abuses offered to me and other poor captives,
and that if ever he offered the like to me again I would pay him double. I sent
him before me, took up my burden of wood and came to the Indians and told them
the whole truth and they commended me, and I don&rsquo;t remember that ever he offered
me the least abuse afterward, though he was big enough to have dispatched
two of me.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The unfortunate conduct of some of the New England governors together with
other circumstances that need not here be mentioned, led the Maliseets to be hostile
to the English. Toward the French, however, they were from the very first disposed
to be friendly, and when de Monts, Champlain and Poutrincourt arrived at
the mouth of our noble river on the memorable 24th day of June, 1604, they found
awaiting them the representatives of an aboriginal race of unknown antiquity, and
of interesting language, traditions and customs, who welcomed them with outward
manifestations of delight, and formed with them an alliance that remained unbroken
throughout the prolonged struggle between the rival powers for supremacy
in Acadia.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span></div>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_3' id='linki_3'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i021.jpg' alt='' title='' width='363' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Indian Encampment and Chief<br />
</p>
</div>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_II_THE_COMING_OF_THE_WHITE_MAN' id='CHAPTER_II_THE_COMING_OF_THE_WHITE_MAN'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The Coming of the White Man</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>There are yet to be found in New Brunswick forest clad regions, remote from
the haunts of men, that serve to illustrate the general features of the country
when it was discovered by European adventurers 300 years ago. Who these first
adventurers were we cannot with certainty tell. They were not ambitious of distinction,
they were not even animated by religious zeal, for in Acadia, as elsewhere,
the trader was the forerunner of the priest.</p>
<p>The Basque, Breton, and Norman, fishermen are believed to have made their
voyages as early as the year 1504, just 100 years before Champlain entered the
mouth of the St. John river. But these early navigators were too intent upon their
own immediate gain to think of much beside; they gave to the world no intelligent
account of the coasts they visited, they wave not accurate observers, and in their
tales of adventure fact and fiction were blended in equal proportion. Nevertheless,
by the enterprise and resolution of these hardy mariners the shores of north-eastern
America were fairly well known long before Acadia contained a single white
inhabitant.</p>
<p>Adventurers of Portugal, Spain and Italy vied with those of France and Britain
in the quest of treasure beyond the sea. They scanned our shores with curious
eyes and pushed their way into every bay and harbor. And thus, slowly but surely,
the land that had lain hidden in the mists of antiquity began to disclose its outlines
as the keen searchlight of discovery was turned upon it from a dozen different
sources.</p>
<p>While the first recorded exploration of the southern shores of New Brunswick
is that of de Monts and Champlain in 1604, there can be little doubt that European
fishers and traders had entered the Bay of Fundy before the close of the 16th
century and had made the acquaintance of the savages, possibly they had ventured
up the St. John river. The Indians seem to have greeted the new-comers in a
very friendly fashion and were eager to barter their furs for knives and trinkets.
The &ldquo;pale-faces&rdquo; and their white winged barks were viewed at first with wonder
not unmixed with awe, but the keen-eyed savages quickly learned the value of
the white man&rsquo;s wares; and readily exchanged the products of their own forests
and streams for such articles as they needed. Trade with the savages had assumed
considerable proportions even before the days of Champlain.</p>
<p>But while it is probable that the coasts of Acadia were visited by Europeans
some years before Champlain entered the Bay of Fundy, it is certain that the
history of events previous to the coming of that intrepid navigator is a blank.
The Indians gradually become familiar with the vanguard of civilization as represented
by the rude fishermen and traders, that is all we know.</p>
<p>The honor of the first attempt at colonization in Acadia belongs to the Sieur
de Monts, a Huguenot noblemen who had rendered essential service to the French
king. This nobleman, with the assistance of a company of merchants of Rouen
and Rochelle, collected a band of 120 emigrants, including artisans of all trades,
laborers and soldiers, and in the month of April, 1604, set sail for the new
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span>
world. Henry IV of France gave to the Sieur de Monts jurisdiction over Acadia,
or New France, a region so vast that the sites of the modern cities of Montreal and
Philadelphia lay within its borders. The Acadia of de Monts would today include
the maritime provinces, the greater part of Quebec and half of New England.</p>
<p>The colonists embarked in two small vessels, the one of 120, the other of 150 tons
burden; a month later they reached the southern coast of Nova Scotia. They proceeded
to explore the coast and entered the Bay of Fundy, to which the Sieur de
Monts gave the name of La Baye Francaise. Champlain has left us a graphic account
of the voyage of exploration around the shores of the bay. In this, however,
we need not follow him. Suffice it to say that on the 24th day of June there crept
cautiously into the harbor of St. John a little French ship; she was a paltry
craft, smaller than many of our coasting schooners, but she carried the germ of
an empire for de Monts, Champlain and Poutrincourt, the founders of New
France, were on her deck.</p>
<p>There is in Champlain&rsquo;s published &ldquo;voyages&rdquo; an excellent plan of St. John harbor
which, he says, lay &ldquo;at the mouth of the largest and deepest river we had yet
seen which we named the River Saint John, because it was on this saint&rsquo;s day that
we arrived there.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Champlain did not ascend the river far but Ralleau, the secretary of the
Sieur de Monts, went there sometime afterwards to see Secoudon (or Chkoudun),
the chief of the river, who reported that it was beautiful, large and extensive
with many meadows and fine trees such as oaks, beeches, walnut trees and also
wild grape vines. In Champlain&rsquo;s plan of St. John harbor a cabin is placed on
Navy Island, which he describes as a &ldquo;cabin where the savages fortify themselves.&rdquo;
This was no doubt the site of a very ancient encampment.</p>
<p>Lescarbot, the historian, who accompanied de Monts, says they visited the cabin
of Chkoudun, with whom they bartered for furs. According to his description: &ldquo;The
town of Ouigoudy, the residence of the said Chkoudun, was a great enclosure upon
a rising ground, enclosed with high and small tress, tied one against another; and
within the enclosure were several cabins great and small, one of which was as large
as a market hall, wherein many households resided.&rdquo; In the large cabin which
served as a council chamber, they saw some 80 or 100 savages all nearly naked.
They were having a feast, which they called &ldquo;Tabagie.&rdquo; The chief Chkoudun made
his warriors pass in review before his guests.</p>
<p>Lescarbot describes the Indian sagamore as a man of great influence who loved
the French and admired their civilization. He even attended their religious services
on Sundays and listened attentively to the admonitions of their spiritual
guides, although he did not understand a word. &ldquo;Moreover,&rdquo; adds Lescarbot, &ldquo;he
wore the sign of the cross upon his bosom, which he also had his servants wear;
and he had in imitation of us a great cross erected in the public place called
Oigoudi at the port of the River Saint John.&rdquo; This sagamore accompanied Poutrincourt
on his tour of exploration to the westward and offered single handed to
oppose a hostile band who attacked the French.</p>
<p>According to Champlain&rsquo;s plan of St. John harbor, the channel on the west,
or Carleton, side of Navy Island was much narrower in his day than it is now.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span>
The name Ouygoudy (or Wigoudi), applied by the Indians to Chkoudun&rsquo;s village
on Navy Island, is nearly identical with the modern word &ldquo;We-go-dic,&rdquo; used by
the Maliseets to designate any Indian village or encampment. They have always
called the St. John river &ldquo;Woolastook,&rdquo; but their name for the place on which
the city of St. John is built is &ldquo;Men-ah-quesk,&rdquo; which is readily identified with
&ldquo;Menagoueche,&rdquo; the name generally applied to St. John harbor by Villebon and
other French commanders in Acadia.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_4' id='linki_4'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i024.png' alt='' title='' width='500' height='355' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
CHAMPLAIN&rsquo;S PLAN OF ST. JOHN HARBOR.<br />
<br />
The figures indicate fathoms of water. A. Islands above the falls. B. Mountains two leagues from the river. D. Shoals or flats. E. Cabin where the savages fortify themselves. F. A pebbly point where there is a cross (Sand Point). G. Partridge Island. H. A., small river coming from a little pond (mill pond and its outlet). I. Arm of the sea, dry at low tide (Courtenay Bay and the Marsh Creek). P. Way by which the savages carry their canoes in passing the falls.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Navy Island assumes a historic interest in our eyes as the first inhabited spot,
so far as we know, within the confines of the city of St. John. In Champlain&rsquo;s
plans the principal channel is correctly given as on the east side of Partridge Island.
Sand Point is shown, and the cross at its extremity was probably erected by the
explorers in honor of their discovery. Groups of savages are seen on either side of
the harbor, and a moose is feeding near the present Haymarket Square. A little
ship rests on the flats, the site of the new dry dock.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span></div>
<p>De Monts and Champlain passed their first winter in America on an island in
the St. Croix river. Their experience was disastrous in the extreme. Nearly half
of their party died of &ldquo;mal de la terre,&rdquo; or scurvy, and others were at the point
of death. Pierre Biard, the Jesuit missionary, attributed the fatality of the disease
to the mode of life of the people, of whom only eleven remained well.
&ldquo;These were a jolly company of hunters who preferred rabbit hunting to the air
of the fireside, skating on the ponds to turning over lazily in bed, making
snowballs to bring down the game to sitting around the fire talking about Paris
and its good cooks.&rdquo; In consequence of their unfortunate experience during the
first winter the little colony removed to Port Royal.</p>
<p>The advent of European explorers and traders materially affected the manner
of life of the Indians. Hitherto they had hunted the wild animals merely for subsistence,
but now the demand of the traders for furs and peltry stimulated enormously
the pursuit of game. The keen-eyed savages saw the advantages of the
white man&rsquo;s implements and utensils. Steel knives, axes, vessels of metal, guns,
powder and shot, blankets, ornaments and trinkets excited his cupidity. Alas,
too, love of the white man&rsquo;s &ldquo;fire water&rdquo; soon became a ruling passion and the
poor Indian too often received a very indifferent compensation for his toil and exposure.</p>
<p>In the summer time, when the annual ships arrived from France, the Indians
gathered in large numbers at the various trading posts. They came from far and
near, and for several weeks indulged in feasting and revelry. Pierre Biard comments
severely on their folly. He says: &ldquo;They never stop gorging themselves excessively
during several weeks. They get drunk not only on wine, but on brandy,
so that it is no wonder they are obliged to endure some gripes of the stomach
during the following autumn.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Maliseets frequently came to the mouth of the St. John to trade with
the French; sometimes they even resorted to Port Royal, for these daring savages
did not fear to cross the Bay of Fundy in their frail barks.</p>
<p>The chief of the savages of the River St. John, Chkoudun, proved a valuable
ally of the French owing to his extensive knowledge of the country and of the
tribes that inhabited it. Champlain crossed over to St. John from Port Royal in
the autumn of 1605 to get him to point out the location of a certain copper
mine on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, supposed to be of fabulous richness.
Chkoudun readily agreed to accompany his visitor and they proceeded to the mine,
which was on the shores of the Basin of Minas. The master miner, a native of
Sclavonia, whom de Monts had brought to Acadia to search for precious metals,
deemed the outlook not unpromising, but Champlain was disappointed, and says:
&ldquo;The truth is that if the water did not cover the mines twice a day, and if they
did not lie in such hard rocks, something might be expected from them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The commercial spirit that has ever predominated in our good city of St. John
evidently goes back to the days of its discovery. Chkoudun lived at &ldquo;Menagoueche&rdquo;
in his fortified <a name='TC_5'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'villiage'">village</ins> on Navy Island when <a name='TC_5a'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Cahmplain'">Champlain</ins> invited him to
go with the Sieur de Poutrincourt and himself as guide on a tour of exploration
along the coast of New England. They set out in the month of September,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span>
1606, and the chief took with him in a shallop certain goods he had obtained
from the fur traders to sell to his neighbors the Armouchiquois, with whom he
proposed to make an alliance. The savages of New England were beginning to
covet the axes and other implements of civilization that their neighbors to the
eastward had obtained from the fishermen and traders who visited their shores.</p>
<p>The Indians were now for a season to part with their friends and allies. In
1607 de Monts decided to abandon his attempt to establish a colony and Champlain
and his associates were recalled to France. Acadia was once more without
a single European inhabitant. Three years later Poutrincourt, to the great
joy of the savages, returned to Port Royal, and most of the rights and privileges
formerly held by de Monts were transferred to him.</p>
<p>The summer of 1611 was notable for the arrival of the Jesuit missionaries,
Pierre Biard and Enemond Masse.</p>
<p>It seems that the French traders did not quietly acquiesce in Poutrincourt&rsquo;s
monopoly of trade, and the masters of certain ships of St. Malo and Rochelle
boasted to the Indians that they would devour Poutrincourt as the fabled
Gougou would a poor savage. This was an insult our nobleman was not disposed
to endure, so accompanied by the missionary Biard he crossed over to
St. John and proceeded along the coast as far as Passamaquoddy. The offenders
were sternly admonished and compelled to acknowledge his authority. Later
it was discovered that they had carried away nearly all that was valuable of
the fur trade for that season.</p>
<p>Biard at this time succeeded in reconciling Poutrincourt and the younger Pontgrave
who for some misdemeanor had been banished from Port Royal and had
spent the previous winter among the Indians of the St. John river, living just as
they did. Biard speaks of him as &ldquo;a young man of great physical and mental
strength, excelled by none of the savages in the chase, in alertness and endurance
and in his ability to speak their language.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Early in the month of October a little island in Long Reach called Emenenic&mdash;now
known as Caton&rsquo;s Island&mdash;was the scene of an exciting incident of which <a name='TC_6'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Baird'">Biard</ins>
has left us a picturesque description. It seems that Poutrincourt&rsquo;s son, Biencourt,
wished to exact submission on the part of a number of traders of St. Malo, who had
established a trading post on the island. Accordingly accompanied by a party of soldiers
and the Jesuit missionary he proceeded to the scene of operations. Father
Biard did not admire, as do our modern travellers, the &ldquo;reversing falls&rdquo; at the
mouth of our noble river. &ldquo;The entrance to this river,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;is very narrow
and very dangerous * * and if you do not pass over it at the proper moment and
when the water is smoothly heaped up, of a hundred thousand barques not an atom
would escape, but men and goods would all perish.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The party settled on the island of Emenenic included their captain, Merveille,
and young Pontgrave. Biard in his narrative terms them &ldquo;the Malouins&rdquo;&mdash;or people
of St. Malo. &ldquo;We were still,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;one league and a half from the island
when the twilight ended and night came on. The stars had already begun to appear
when suddenly towards the northward a part of the heavens became blood red;
and this light spreading little by little in vivid streaks and flashes, moved directly
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span>
over the settlement of the Malouins and there stopped. The red glow was so brilliant
that the whole river was tinged and made luminous by it. This apparition lasted
about five minutes and as soon as it disappeared another came of the same form,
direction and appearance.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Our savages, when they saw this wonder, cried out in their language, &lsquo;Gara,
gara, maredo&rsquo;&mdash;we shall have war, there will be blood.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We arrived opposite the settlement when the night had already closed in, and
there was nothing we could do except to fire a salute from the falconet, which they
answered with one from the swivel gun.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When morning came and the usual prayers ware said, two Malouins presented
themselves upon the bank and signified to us that we could disembark without being
molested, which we did. It was learned that their captains were not there but
had gone away up the river three days before, and no one knew when they would
return. Meanwhile Father Biard went away to prepare his altar and celebrate holy
mass. After mass Sieur de Biencourt placed a guard at the door of the habitation
and sentinels all around it. The Malouins were very much astonished at this way
of doing things. The more timid considered themselves as lost; the more courageous
stormed and fumed and defied them.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When night came on Captain Merveille returned to his lodgings, knowing nothing
of his guests. The sentinel hearing him approach uttered his &ldquo;qui voila&rdquo;&mdash;who
goes there? The Malouin, thinking it was one of his own people, answered mockingly,
&lsquo;who goes there thyself?&rsquo; and continued upon his way. The sentinel fired his
musket at him in earnest and it was a great wonder (merveille) that Merveille was
not killed. But he was very much astonished and still more so when he saw some
soldiers upon him with naked swords who seized him and took him into the house;
you may imagine how soldiers and sailors act at such times, with their cries, their
theats and their gesticulations.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Merveille had his hands bound behind his back so tightly that he could not
rest and he began to complain very pitifully. Father Biard begged Sieur de Biencourt
to have the sufferer untied, alleging that if they had any fears about the said
Merveille they might enclose him in one of the Carthusian beds, and that he would
himself stay at the door to prevent his going out. Sieur de Biencourt granted this
request.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Now I could not describe to you,&rdquo; Biard goes on to say, &ldquo;what a night this
was; for it passed in continual alarms, gun shots and rash acts on the part of some
of the men; so that it was feared with good reason that the prognostications seen
in the heavens the night before would have their bloody fulfilment upon earth. I
do not know that there was one who closed his eyes during the night. For me, I
made many fine promises to our Lord never to forget His goodness if He were
pleased to avert bloodshed. This He granted in His infinite mercy. * * Certainly
Captain Merveille and his people showed unusual piety for notwithstanding
this so annoying encounter, two days afterwards they confessed and took communion
in a very exemplary manner, and at our departure they all begged me very
earnestly, and particularly young du Pont, to come and stay with them as long as
I liked. I promised to do so and am only waiting the opportunity, for in truth
I love these honest people with all my heart.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span></div>
<p>The missionaries, Biard and Masse, were anxious to cultivate the friendship of
young du Pont, knowing that he could greatly assist them in learning the Indian
language, a knowledge of which was essential to the work they hoped to accomplish
amidst the forests of Acadia. Inspired by their motto &ldquo;ad majoram Dei gloriam,&rdquo;
they shrank from no toil or privation. Father Masse passed the winter of 1611&ndash;12
with Louis Membertou and his family at the River St. John with only a French boy
as his companion, his object being to increase his knowledge of the Indian language.
He suffered many hardships, was at one time seriously ill, but eventually
returned in safety to Port Royal. He describes the winter&rsquo;s experience with the
savages as &ldquo;a life without order and without daily fare, without bread, without
salt, often without anything; always moving on and changing, * * for roof a
wretched cabin, for couch the earth, for rest and quiet odious cries and songs, for
medicine hunger and hard work.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The missionaries found immense difficulty in acquiring the language of the
natives. The task was not so difficult so long as they sought to learn the names
of objects that might be touched or seen, but when it came to such abstract
words as virtue, vice, reason, justice, or to such terms as to believe, to doubt or to
hope, &ldquo;for these,&rdquo; said Biard, &ldquo;we had to labor and sweat; in these were the pains
of travail.&rdquo; They were compelled to make a thousand gesticulations and signs that
greatly amused their savage instructors who sometimes palmed off on them words
that were ridiculous and even obscene, so that the Jesuits labored with indifferent
success in the preparation of their catechism. Their work was still in the experimental
stage when the destruction of Port Royal by Argal in 1613, and the capture
and removal of the missionaries brought everything to a stand and put an end to
all attempts at colonization in Acadia for some years.</p>
<p>The Indians, however, were not forgotten; the Jesuits had failed, but in 1619
a party of Recollet missionaries from Aquitaine began a mission on the St. John.
These humble missionary laborers had no historian to record their toils and privations,
and unlike the Jesuits they did not become their own annalists. We know,
however, that one of their number, Father Barnardin, while returning from
Miscou to the River St. John, in the year 1623, died of hunger and fatigue in the
midst of the woods, a martyr to his charity and zeal. Five years afterwards, the
Recollets were compelled to abandon their mission which, however, was reoccupied
by them before many years had passed. Meanwhile the fur traders established a
post on the River St. John as a convenient centre for trade with the Indians.</p>
<p>The French, with young Biencourt at their head, still kept a feeble hold on
Acadia. Biencourt had as his lieutenant, Charles de la Tour, who had come to the
country many years before when a mere boy of 14 years of age. Biencourt and
la Tour&mdash;such was their poverty&mdash;were compelled to live after the Indian fashion,
roaming through the woods from place to place. In this rude life la Tour acquired
an extensive knowledge of the country and its resources, and in all probability became
familiar with the St. John river region. Biencourt at his death left him all
his property in Acadia.</p>
<p>The destruction of Port Royal by Argal was the first incident in the struggle
between England and France for sovereignty in Acadia, a struggle that for a
century and a half was to remain undecided.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span></div>
<p>The next attempt at colonization was made on the part of the British, but it
proved as futile as that of de Monts. James I. of England, in the year 1621, gave
to Sir William Alexander, under the name of Nova Scotia, the peninsula which is
now so called, together with a vast adjacent wilderness as a fief of the Scottish
crown. For several years this favored nobleman seems to have contented himself
with sending annually a ship to explore the shores of his domain and to trade with
the Indians. Later he devised a scheme to facilitate the settlement of a colony by
the creation of an order of baronets of Nova Scotia, each of whom was to receive
an estate six miles in length and three in breadth in consideration of his assistance
in the colonization of the country. In the course of 10 years more than 100 baronets
were created, of whom 34 had estates within the limits of our own province.
To that part of Nova Scotia north of the Bay of Fundy, now called New Brunswick,
Sir William gave the name of the Province of Alexandria. The St. John river he
called the Clyde and the St. Croix, which divided New England and New Scotland,
he not inaptly called the Tweed.</p>
<p>When war broke out between England and France in 1627, young Charles la
Tour found his position in Acadia very insecure. However, he was naturally resourceful
and by his diplomacy and courage continued for many years to play a
prominent part in the history of affairs. He sought and obtained from Louis XIII.
of France a commission as the King&rsquo;s lieutenant-general and at the same time obtained
from Sir William Alexander the title of a Baronet of Nova Scotia. He procured
from his royal master a grant of land on the River St. John and obtained
leave from Sir William Alexander to occupy it.</p>
<p>By the treaty of St. Germain, in 1632, Acadia was ceded to France. Immediately
after the peace de Razilly came to the country at the head of a little colony
of settlers, many of them farmers, whose descendants are to be found among
the Acadians of today. With de Razilly came d&rsquo;Aulnay Charnisay, who was destined
to become la Tour&rsquo;s worst enemy. De Razilly died in 1635, leaving his authority
to Charnisay, his relative and second in command. Charnisay made his
headquarters at Port Royal and nobody disputed his authority except la Tour,
who claimed to be independent of him by virtue of his commission from the crown
and his grant from the Company of New France. The dissensions between la
Tour and Charnisay at length culminated in war and the strife was long and
bitter.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_III_THE_RIVAL_FEUDAL_CHIEFS' id='CHAPTER_III_THE_RIVAL_FEUDAL_CHIEFS'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The Rival Feudal Chiefs</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>Charles de Menou, Seigneur d&rsquo;Aulnay Charnisay, came of a distinguished
family of Touraine. He married Jeanne Motin, a daughter of the Seigneur de
Courcelles. She came to Acadia with him in 1638. They resided at Port Royal where
Charnisay in his log mansion reigned like a feudal lord.</p>
<p>Charles St. Etienne de la Tour was probably of less conspicuous lineage than
his rival, although in legal documents he is called &ldquo;a gentleman of distinguished
birth.&rdquo; He married Frances Marie Jacquelins who, according to the questionable
testimony of his enemies, was the daughter of a barber of Mans. She was a Huguenot
and whatever may have been her origin her qualities of mind and heart
have deservedly won for her the title of &ldquo;the heroine of Acadia.&rdquo; Never had man
more faithful ally than Marie Jacquelins proved to Charles la Tour.</p>
<p>As early as the year 1630 la Tour had be concerned in a project to erect a
strong fort at the mouth of the St. John river in order to ward off the incursions
of hostile adventurers and secure control of the far trade of the vast wilderness
region extending from the mouth of the river nearly to the St. Lawrence. It
was not, however, until the 15th of January, 1635, that the Company of New
France granted him his tract of land at St. John, extending five leagues up the
river and including within its bounds &ldquo;the fort and habitation of la Tour.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The French government endeavored to establish a good understanding between
la Tour and Charnisay. A royal letter was addressed to the latter in which he
was cautioned against interference with la Tour&rsquo;s settlement at the River St.
John. La Tour received a like caution as regards Charnisay&rsquo;s settlement at Port
Royal. Charnisay was commissioned the king&rsquo;s lieutenant-general from Chignecto
to Penobscot and la Tour was given like jurisdiction over the Nova Scotian peninsula.
Thus la Tour&rsquo;s settlement and fort at St. John lay within the limits of
Charnisay&rsquo;s government and Charnisay&rsquo;s settlements at La Have and Port Royal
lay within the government of la Tour, an arrangement not calculated to promote
harmony on the part of the rivals.</p>
<p>It is rather difficult to get at all the facts of the quarrel that now rapidly developed
between la Tour and Charnisay. The statements of their respective friends
are very diverse, sometimes contradictory, and even the official records of the
court of France are conflicting. Nicolas Denys, the historian, had reason to dislike
Charnisay, and perhaps some of his statements concerning Charnisay&rsquo;s barbarity
should be received with caution. On the other hand the friends of Charnisay
have cast aspersions an the character of Lady la Tour that seem entirely unwarranted.<a name='FNanchor_0002' id='FNanchor_0002'></a><a href='#Footnote_0002' class='fnanchor'>[2]</a>
The fact remains that Acadia, large as it was, not large enough for two
such ambitious men as Charles la Tour and d&rsquo;Aulnay Charnisay.</p>
<p>The exact site of la Tour&rsquo;s fort at the mouth of the River St. John has been
the subject of controversy, Dr. W. F. Ganong, a most conscientious and painstaking
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span>
student of our early history, has argued strongly in favor of its location at
Portland Point (the green mound near Rankine&rsquo;s wharf at the foot of Portland
street); the late Joseph W. Lawrence and Dr. W. P. Dole have advocated the
claims of Fort Dufferin, but the site usually accepted is that known as &ldquo;Old
Fort,&rdquo; on the west side of the harbor opposite Navy Island. It seems probable that
la Tour resided at one time at &ldquo;Old Fort,&rdquo; in Carleton, and his son-in-law the
Sieur de Martignon lived there afterwards, but whether this was the site of the
first fort built by la Tour and so bravely defended by his wife is at least a debatable
question.</p>
<p>In the absence of positive information as to the exact location of la Tour&rsquo;s
first fort, it is perhaps unadvisable to disturb popular opinion until a thorough
search of the records in France shall have been made in order if possible to settle
the question.</p>
<p>Upon his arrival at St. John, la Tour speedily surrounded himself with soldiers
and retainers and established an extensive traffic with the Indians, who came from
their hunting grounds when the ships arrived laden with goods for the Indian trade.
Doctor Hannay gives a graphic picture of la Tour&rsquo;s situation:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;A rude abundance reigned at the board where gathered the defenders of Fort
la Tour. The wilderness was then a rich preserve of game, where the moose, caribou
and red deer roamed in savage freedom. Wild fowl of all kinds abounded along the
marsh, and interval lands of the St. John, and the river itself&mdash;undisturbed by
steamboats and unpolluted by saw mills&mdash;swarmed with fish. And so those soldier-traders
lived on the spoils of forest, ocean and river, a life of careless freedom, undisturbed
by the politics of the world and little crossed by its cares. Within the
fort, Lady la Tour led a lonely life, with no companions but her domestics and
her children, for her lord was often away ranging the woods, cruising on the coast,
or perhaps on a voyage to France. She was a devout Huguenot, but the difference
of religion between husband and wife seems never to have marred the harmony of
their relations.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the struggle between the rival feudal chiefs, Charnisay had the advantage of
having more powerful friends at court, chief among them the famous Cardinal
Richelieu.</p>
<p>Representations made concerning the conduct of la Tour led the French monarch
in 1641 to order him to return to France to answer the charges against him. In
the event of his refusal, Charnisay was directed to seize his person and property.
The commission of la Tour was also revoked.</p>
<p>The contest now entered upon an acute stage. La Tour claimed that the royal
order had been obtained through misrepresentation, and absolutely refused to submit
to Charnisay. The latter, not daring to attack la Tour in his stronghold, repaired to
France where he succeeded in fitting out five vessels and in obtaining the services of
500 soldiers to compel his rival to submission. He also procured another and
more definite order from the king, directing him to seize la Tour&rsquo;s fort and person
and to send him to France as a rebel and a traitor.</p>
<p>Meanwhile la Tour was not idle. His friends at Rochelle sent out to him a large
armed vessel, the Clement, loaded with ammunition and supplies and having on board
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span>
150 armed men. When the vessel neared St. John, it was discovered that Charnisay
had established a blockade at the mouth of the harbor and that entrance was
impracticable. In this emergency la Tour resolved to seek aid from the people of
New England, whose trade and friendship he had begun to cultivate. Boston was
then but a straggling village, in its 13th year, with houses principally of boards or
logs gathered around its plain little meeting house. Eluding the vigilance of the
blockading squadron, la Tour and his wife succeeded in getting safely on board the
Clement, and at once repaired to Boston, where their arrival created some consternation,
for Boston happened to be at that time in a particularly defenceless position.
Governor Winthrop remarked: &ldquo;If la Tour had been ill-minded towards us,
he had such an opportunity as we hope neither he nor any other shall ever have
the like again.&rdquo; However, la Tour had come with no ill intent, and after some negotiations,
which he conducted with much skill and discretion, he was allowed to hire
from Edward Gibbons and Thomas Hawkins, four vessels with 50 men and 38 guns.
He also obtained the assistance of 92 soldiers. With these he hurried back to the
relief of his fort. Charnisay was compelled to raise the blockade and retire to his
defences at Port Royal, where he was defeated with loss by the united forces of la
Tour and his allies.</p>
<p>While at St. John, the Bostonians captured a pinnace belonging to
Charnisay, laden with 400 moose and 400 beaver skins; their own pinnace went
up the river to Grand Lake and loaded with coal. This little incident shows that
the coal mines of Queens county were known and worked more than 250 years ago.</p>
<p>As the struggle with la Tour proceeded Charnisay became more and more determined
to effect the destruction of his rival. La Tour&rsquo;s resources were nearly
exhausted and his situation had became exceedingly critical. He dared not leave
his fort and yet he could not hold out much longer unaided. His brave wife
was equal to the emergency; she determined herself to go to France for assistance.
This was indeed an arduous undertaking for a woman, but her spirit rose to the
occasion, and neither the perils of the deep nor the difficulties that were to confront
her at the court of France served to daunt her resolute soul. Fearlessly
she set out upon the long and dangerous voyage and in the course of more than
a year&rsquo;s absence endured disappointments and trials that would have crushed one
less resolute and stout hearted. Her efforts in her native country were foiled
by her adversaries, she was even threatened with death if she should venture to
leave France, but setting the royal command at defiance she went to England
and there chartered a ship to carry stores and munitions of war to St. John. The
master of the ship, instead of proceeding directly to his destination, went up the
River St. Lawrence to trade with the Indians. When, after a six months&rsquo; voyage,
they at length entered the Bay of Fundy some of Charnisay&rsquo;s vessels were encountered,
and the English captain to avoid the seizure and confiscation of his
ship was obliged to conceal Madame la Tour and her people and proceed to Boston.
Here his own tribulations began for Madame la Tour brought an action
against him for violation of his contract and after a four days&rsquo; trial the jury
awarded her two thousand pounds damages. With the proceeds of this suit she
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span>
chartered three English ships in Boston and proceeded to St. John with all the
stores and munitions of war that she had collected. The garrison at Fort la
Tour hailed her arrival with acclamations of delight for they had begun to despair
of her return.</p>
<p>Charnisay&rsquo;s attempt to reduce la Tour to subjection was foiled for the time
being, but his opportunity came a little later. In February, 1645, he learned of
la Tour&rsquo;s absence and that his garrison numbered only fifty men. He determined
at once to attack the fort. His first attempt was an abject failure. The Lady
la Tour inspired her little garrison with her own dauntless spirit, and so resolute
was the defence and so fierce the cannon fire from the bastions that Charnisay&rsquo;s
ship was shattered and disabled and he was obliged to warp her off under the
shelter of a bluff to save her from sinking. In this attack twenty of his men
were killed and thirteen wounded. Two months later he made another attempt
with a stronger force and landed two cannon to batter the fort on the land side.
On the 17th of April, having brought his largest ship to within pistol shot of the
water rampart, he summoned the garrison to surrender. He was answered by a
volley of cannon shot and shouts of defiance.</p>
<p>The story of the taking of Fort la Tour, as told by Nicholas Denys, is well
known. For three days Madame la Tour bravely repelled the <a name='TC_7'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'beseigers'">besiegers</ins> and obliged
them to retire beyond the reach of her guns. On the fourth day whilst
she, hoping for some respite, was making her soldiers rest a miserable Swiss sentinel
betrayed the garrison, and when the alarm was given the enemy were already
scaling the walls. Lady la Tour even in so desperate an emergency as
this succeeded in rallying the defenders, who bravely resisted the attack, though
greatly outnumbered by their assailants. She only surrendered at the last extremity
and under condition that the lives of all should be spared. This condition
Charnisay is said to have shamefully violated; all the garrison were hanged, with
the exception of one who was spared on condition of acting the part of executioner,
and the lady commander was compelled to stand at the scaffold with a
rope around her neck as though she were the vilest criminal.</p>
<p>It is but fair to state that our knowledge of the gross indignity to which
Lady la Tour was subjected is derived from Denys&rsquo; narrative, and its authenticity
has been questioned by Parkman. Nevertheless accounts of the transaction that
have come to us from sources friendly to Charnisay admit that he hanged the
greater number of his prisoners, &ldquo;to serve as an example to posterity,&rdquo; and that
Madame la Tour was put into confinement where, as Charnisay&rsquo;s reporter somewhat
brutally observes, &ldquo;she fell ill with spite and rage.&rdquo; The Lady la Tour did
not long survive her misfortunes. Scarcely three weeks had elapsed after the capture
of the fort she had so gallantly defended when she died and was laid to rest
near the spot consecrated by her devotion, the scene of so many hopes and fears.</p>
<p>There will always be a peculiar charm for us in the story of our Acadian heroine.
Fearless, energetic, resolute undoubtedly she was, yet who shall say that the
motives that actuated her were other than pure and womanly? A heart more loyal
and true never beat in a human breast. She gave her life to protect her husband,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span>
her children and the humbler dependents that followed their fortunes from the hands
of a bitter and unscrupulous enemy.</p>
<p>The capture of his stronghold and the death of his faithful wife involved la
Tour in what appeared to be at the time irreparable ruin. He found himself once
more, as in his younger days, an exile and a wanderer.</p>
<p>The booty taken by Charnisay was valued at &pound;10,000 sterling and as it had
been accumulated in traffic with the Indians we may form some idea of the value of
the trade of the St. John river at this time.</p>
<p>When the capture of la Tour&rsquo;s fort was known at the court of Versailles the
young king was well pleased. He confirmed Charnisay&rsquo;s authority in Acadia and
even extended it&mdash;on paper&mdash;from the St. Lawrence to Virginia. He could build forts,
command by land and sea, appoint officers of government and justice, keep such
lands as he fancied and grant the remainder to his vassals. He had also a monopoly
of the fur trade and with Fort la Tour, the best trading post in Acadia, in his possession,
the prospect for the future was very bright. Charnisay possessed the instincts
of a colonizer and had already brought a number of settlers to Acadia.
Everything at this juncture seemed to point to a growing trade and a thriving colony;
but once again the hand of destiny appears. In the very zenith of his fortune
and in the prime of manhood Charnisay was drowned on the 24th day of May, 1650,
in the Annapolis river near Port Royal.</p>
<p>With Charnisay&rsquo;s disappearance la Tour reappears upon the scene. His former
defiant attitude is forgotten, he is recognized as the most capable man of affairs in
Acadia and in September, 1651, we find him again in possession of his old stronghold
at St. John. The king now gave him a fresh commission as lieutenant-general
in Acadia with ample territorial rights. Disputes soon afterwards arose concerning
the claims of the widow of d&rsquo;Aulnay Charnisay; these disputes were set at rest by
the marriage of the parties interested. The marriage contract, a lengthy document,
was signed at Port Royal the 24th day of February, 1653, and its closing paragraph
shows that there was little sentiment involved: &ldquo;The said seigneur de la Tour and
the said dame d&rsquo;Aulnay his future spouse, to attain the ends and principal design
of their intended marriage, which is the peace and tranquillity of the country and
concord and union between the two families, wish and desire as much as lies with
them that in the future their children should contract a new alliance of marriage
together.&rdquo;</p>
<p>There is no evidence to show that la Tour&rsquo;s second marriage proved unhappy,
though it is a very unromantic ending to an otherwise very romantic story. His second
wife had also been the second wife of Charnisay who was a widower when he
married her; her maiden name was Jeanne Motin. Descendants of la Tour by his
second marriage are to be found in the families of the d&rsquo;Entremonts, Girouards, Porliers
and Landrys of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.</p>
<p>La Tour and his new wife were quietly living at St. John the year after their
marriage when four English ships of war suddenly appeared before the fort and
demanded its surrender. These ships had in the first instance been placed at the
disposal of the people of Massachusetts by Oliver Cromwell for the purpose of an
expedition against the Dutch colony of Manhattan (now New York); but on the eve
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span>
of their departure news arrived that peace had been made with Holland. It was
then decided that the expedition should proceed under Major Robert Sedgewick&rsquo;s
command to capture the French strongholds in Acadia. This was a bold measure for
England and France were then ostensibly at peace. La Tour at once saw that resistance
was useless and surrendered his fort and the flag of Britain was hoisted over
the ramparts. However, la Tour&rsquo;s address did not desert him; he went to England
and laid before Cromwell his claim as a grantee under the charter of Sir William
Alexander. He proved as skilful a diplomatist as ever and obtained, cojointly with
Thomas Temple and William Crowne, a grant which practically included the whole
of Acadia.</p>
<p>La Tour, now more than 60 years of age, was sagacious enough to see that disputes
were sure again to arise between England and France with regard to Acadia,
and not wishing to be the football of fortune, sold his rights to Sir Thomas Temple
his co-partner, and retired to private life. He died in 1666 at the age of 72 years and
his ashes rest within the confines of his beloved Acadia.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_IV_FRENCH_COMMANDERS_OF_ACADIA' id='CHAPTER_IV_FRENCH_COMMANDERS_OF_ACADIA'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>French Commanders of Acadia.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>After the capture of Fort la Tour by Sedgewick&rsquo;s Massachusetts invaders in
1654, Acadia remained nominally in possession of the English for twelve years. Half
a century had elapsed since the attempt of de Monts to establish his colony, yet
little progress had been made in the settlement of the country and the valley of the
St. John remained an almost unbroken wilderness. The first English trading post
on the river, of which we have any knowledge was that established in 1659 by Sir
Thomas Temple at the mouth of the Jemseg.</p>
<p>As related in the last chapter, la Tour, Temple and Crowne received from
Oliver Cromwell a grant that included nearly the whole of Acadia, and la Tour
soon after sold his right to Temple, his co-partner. The latter decided to establish
a fortified post at the Jemseg as more convenient for the Indian trade and less
exposed to marauders than the fort at the mouth of the river. There can be little
doubt that Temple would soon have enjoyed a flourishing trade, but unfortunately
for his prospects, Acadia was restored to France by the treaty of Breda, in 1667.
He attempted to hold possession of his lands, claiming that they did not fall within
the boundaries of Acadia, but at the expiration of three years, during which there
was considerable correspondence with the home authorities, he received the peremptory
orders of Charles II. to surrender the fort to the Sieur de Soulanges. In
the formal deed of surrender the fort is termed &ldquo;Fort Gemisick, 25 leagues up the
River St. John.&rdquo; It was a palisaded enclosure, with stakes 18 feet high connected
by cross pieces fastened with nails to the stakes and firmly braced on the inside
with pickets nine feet high leaned against the stakes. The gate of the fort was
of three thicknesses of new plank. It was evidently a frail defence, but sufficient
for the Indian trade. The armament consisted of five iron guns, varying in weight
from 300 pounds to 625 pounds, mounted on wooden platforms. Within the palisade
was a house 20 paces by 10, two chimneys, a forge, two sheds and a store
house. The fort stood on a small mound near the top of a hill, less than 100
yards from the bank of the Jemseg river. It commanded an extensive view both
up and down the River St. John. A fragment of the rampart is still visible, and
numerous relics have from time to time been dug up at the site or in the vicinity.
The fort site is now owned by Mr. Geo. F. Nevars.</p>
<p>After the treaty of Breda the Chevalier Grand-fontaine was appointed to command
in Acadia, with Pierre de Joibert, Seigneur de Soulanges et Marson, as his
lieutenant. One of the first acts of Grand-fontaine was to have a census taken, from
which we learn that there were then only a little more than 400 people in Acadia,
very few of whom were to be found north of the Bay of Fundy. Grand-fontaine
was recalled to France in 1673, and Chambly, who had been an officer in the famous
Carignan Salieres regiment, succeeded him as commandant. The control of affairs
in New France was now transferred to Quebec, where a governor-general and intendant,
or lieutenant-governor, resided.</p>
<p>About this time large tracts of land were granted as &ldquo;seigniories&rdquo; by Count
Frontenac and his successors. The seignior was usually a person of some consideration
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span>
by birth and education. He received a free grant of lands from the crown on
certain conditions; one of these was that whenever the seigniory changed hands
the act of &ldquo;faith and homage&rdquo; was to be tendered at the Castle of St. Louis in
Quebec. The tendering of faith and homage was quite an elaborate ceremony, in
which the owner of the land, divesting himself of arms and spurs, with bared head,
on bended knee, repeated before the governor, as representative of the sovereign,
his acknowledgement of faith and homage to the crown. Provision was made in
all seignioral grants for the reservation of oaks for the royal navy, of lands required
for fortifications or highways, and of all mines and minerals; the seignior was also
required to reside on his land or to place a certain number of tenants thereon and
to clear and improve a certain portion within a stated time. From the year 1672
to the close of the century as many as 16 seigniories were granted on the St. John
river, besides others in various parts of New Brunswick. The first in order of time
was that to Martin d&rsquo;Arpentigny Sieur de Martignon. It included a large tract at
the mouth of the River St. John, on the west side of the harbor, extending six
leagues up the river from Partridge Island (Isle de la Perdrix) and six leagues in
depth inland. This seigniory would now include Carleton and the parishes of Lancaster,
Musquash and Westfield. The owner of this valuable property is described
as &ldquo;an old inhabitant of Acadia.&rdquo; He married Jeanne de la Tour, only daughter of
Charles la Tour by his first wife: she was born in Acadia in 1626. It is stated in
his grant that he intended to bring over people from France to settle his seigniory,
also that he was a proprietor of lands on the River St. John &ldquo;from the
River de Maquo to the mines of the said country of Acadia.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0003' id='FNanchor_0003'></a><a href='#Footnote_0003' class='fnanchor'>[3]</a></p>
<p>After la Tour&rsquo;s death his son-in-law, the Sieur de Mantignon, seems to have
taken up his abode at the old fort on the west side of the harbor, which in Franquet&rsquo;s
map of 1707 is called &ldquo;Fort de Martinnon.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the little world of Acadia, Pierre de Joibert, sieur de Soulanges, played a leading
part during his eight years residence. He was a native of the little town of
Soulanges in the old French province of Champagne. He had served as lieutenant
in Grand-fontaine&rsquo;s company of infantry and came with that officer to Acadia. It
is said that &ldquo;he rendered good and praiseworthy service to the king both in Old
and New France.&rdquo; As a recognition of those services he was granted, October 20,
1672, a seigniory at the mouth of the St. John on the east side of the river a
league in depth and extending four leagues up the river; this seigniory seems to
have included the present city of St. John&mdash;Carleton excepted. The Sieur de Soulanges,
however, did not reside there but at the Jemseg. This is evident from the
fact that the document that conveyed to him his St. John seigniory gave him in addition
&ldquo;the house of fort Gemesik,&rdquo; which the great states &ldquo;he shall enjoy for such
time only as he shall hold his commission of commander on the said river in order
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span>
to give him a place of residence that he may act with more liberty and convenience
in everything relating to the king&rsquo;s service.&rdquo; The wife of Soulanges was
Marie Francoise, daughter of Chartier de Lotbeniere, attorney-general of Quebec.
Their daughter Louise Elizabeth was born at &ldquo;Fort Gemesik&rdquo; in 1673.</p>
<p>The sieur de Soulanges did not long enjoy peaceable possession of his place of
residence; disturbance came from an entirely unexpected quarter. A band of
Dutch marauders under their leader Arenson in the summer of 1674 pillaged and
greatly damaged the fort and seized and carried off its commander, but soon after
set him at liberty. As a recompense for this misfortune Soulanges received the
grant of a large tract of land at the Jemseg, two leagues in depth and extending
a league on each side of the fort. It is stated in the grant that &ldquo;he had made various
repairs and additions to the fort in order to make it habitable and capable of
defence, there having been previously only a small wooden house in ruins surrounded
by palisades half fallen to the ground, in fact it would have been better
to have rebuilt the whole, for he would yet have to make a large outlay to put it
in proper condition on account of the total ruin wrought by the Dutch (les Hollandois)
when they made him their prisoner in the said fort two years ago.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The little daughter of Soulanges, whose infant slumbers were disturbed by
these rude Dutch boors, was afterwards the marchioness de Vaudreuil, the wife of
one governor general of Canada and the mother of another.</p>
<p>It is evident the authorities at Quebec knew little of the value of the lands
on the St. John river or they would hardly have granted them with such prodigality.
The Sieur de Soulanges seems to have been highly favored by Frontenac for
the three seigniories granted to him included an area of more than a hundred
square miles. The one at the mouth of the river possessed all those natural advantages
that have made St. John the leading commercial city of the maritime provinces.
That at the Jemseg was for a short time the head quarters of French power
in Acadia and in its modest way the political capital of the country. The third
seigniory&mdash;at the very heart of which lay the site of Fredericton&mdash;remains to be described.
In the grant to Soulanges it is termed, &ldquo;the place called Nachouac (Nashwaak),
to be called hereafter Soulanges, upon the River St. John 15 leagues from
Gemesk, two leagues on each side of said river and two leagues deep inland.&rdquo;
The grant was made in consideration of the services rendered by Soulanges and to
encourage him to continue those services; it was made so large because little of it
was thought to be capable of cultivation. This seigniory would include at the present
day the city of Fredericton and its suburbs, the town of Marysville, villages
of Gibson and St. Mary&rsquo;s and a large tract of the surrounding country; the owner
of such a property today would be indeed a multi-millionaire.</p>
<p>Upon Chambly&rsquo;s appointment as governor of Granada he was succeeded
as governor of Acadia by the Sieur de Soulanges who did not, however,
long enjoy the honors of his new position, for he died about
the year 1678 and his widow and children soon afterwards removed to Quebec.
Count Frontenac&rsquo;s interest in the family continued, and on March 23, 1691, a grant
of a large tract of land on the River St. John was made to Marie Francoise Chartier,
widow of the Sieur de Soulanges. Her seigniory included the larger portion of
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span>
Gagetown parish in Queens county, the central point being opposite her old residence
or, as the grant expresses it, &ldquo;vis-a-vis la maison de Jemsec.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The seigniories granted to Soulanges and his widow proved of no value to their
descendants; either the titles lapsed on account of non-fulfilment of the required
conditions, or the lands were forfeited when the country passed into the hands
of the English.</p>
<p>Louise Elizabeth Joibert, the daughter of Soulanges, who was born on the
River St. John, was educated at the convent of the Ursulines in Quebec. At the
age of seventeen she married the Marquis Vaudreuil, a gentleman thirty years her
senior. She is described as a very beautiful and clever woman possessed of all the
graces which would charm the highest circles; of rare sagacity and exquisite modesty.
She was the mother of twelve children. Her husband, the Marquis de Vaudreuil,
was for twenty-two years governor general of Canada, and her son held the
same position when the French possessions passed into the hands of the English;
he was consequently the last governor general of New France.</p>
<p>La Valliere succeeded the Sieur de Soulanges and was for six years commander
of Acadia. He cared little for the dignity or honor of his position provided he
could use it for his own benefit. He established a small settlement at the River St.
John and engaged in fishing and trading. Many complaints were preferred
against him by rival traders. They alleged that he encouraged the English to fish
on the coasts, granting them licenses for the purpose, that he traded with them
in spite of the king&rsquo;s prohibition; also that he robbed and defrauded the savages.</p>
<p>These charges seem to have been well founded. An Indian captain named
Negascouet says that as he was coming from Neguedchecouniedoche, his usual residence,
he was met by the Sieur de la Valliere, who took from him by violence
seventy moose skins, sixty martins, four beaver and two otter, without giving him
any payment, and this was not the first time la Valliere had so acted.</p>
<p>In 1685 la Valliere was replaced by Perrot whose conduct was, if possible, even
more reprehensible than that of his predecessor. He was such a money making
genius that he thought nothing of selling brandy to the Indians by the pint and
half-pint before strangers and in his own house, a rather undignified occupation
certainly for a royal governor of Acadia.</p>
<p>Examples such as these on the part of those in authority naturally found many
imitators, indeed there was at this time a general disposition on the part of young
men of the better families in New France to become &ldquo;coureurs de bois,&rdquo; or rangers
of the woods, rather than cultivators of the soil. The life of a coureur de
bois was wild and full of adventure, involving toil and exposure, but the possible
profits were great and the element of danger appeared in the eyes of many an
additional fascination. The rulers of New France from time to time enacted
stringent laws against these &ldquo;outlaws of the bush&rdquo; but they were of little avail.
The governor of Quebec felt compelled to represent the conduct of the Canadian
noblesse in unfavorable terms to his royal master. &ldquo;They do not,&rdquo; he writes, &ldquo;devote
themselves to improving their land, they mix up in trade and send their
children to trade for furs in the Indian villages and in the depths of the forest in
spite of the prohibition of his majesty.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span></div>
<p>The rapid progress of New England caused Louis XIV to express dissatisfaction
at the slow development of Acadia, and he desired a report of the condition
of the colony to be transmitted to Versailles. Monsieur de Meulles, the intendant,
accordingly visited Acadia in 1686 where he found the French settlements &ldquo;in a neglected
and desolate state.&rdquo; He caused a census to be taken which showed the
total population to be 915 souls, including the garrison at Port Royal. There were
at that time only five or six families on the St. John river. Bishop St. Vallier
made a tour of Acadia the same year, visiting all the Indians and French inhabitants
he could find. The Marquis de Denonville in a letter to the French minister
of November 10, 1686, announced the safe return of the bishop to Quebec after a
most fatiguing journey and adds: &ldquo;He will give you an account of the numerous
disorders committed in the woods by the miserable outlaws who for a long while
have lived like the savages without doing anything at all towards the tilling of
the soil.&rdquo;</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_5' id='linki_5'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i041.jpg' alt='' title='' width='309' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
<span style='font-size:3em;'>ESTAT</span><br /> PRESENT<br /> <span style='font-size:2em;'>DE L&rsquo;EGLISE</span><br /> ET DE LA<br /> <span style='font-size:1.8em;'>COLONIE FRANCOISE</span><br /> DANS LA NOUVELLE<br /> <span style='font-size:2em;'>FRANCE</span></p><p class='caption'><i>Par M. L&rsquo;Ev&egrave;que de Quebec</i></p><p class='caption'>A PARIS,<br /> Chez <span class='smcap'>Robert Pepie</span>, ru&euml; S. Jacques,<br /> &agrave; l&rsquo;image S. Basile, au dessus de la<br /> Fontaine S. Severin.</p><hr class='mini' /><p class='caption'>M. DC. LXXXVIII.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Many interesting incidents of the tour of Mgr. St. Vallier are related in a
work entitled &ldquo;The Present State of the Church and of the French Colony in
New France,&rdquo; printed in Paris in 1688. A fac-simile of the title page of the original
edition appears opposite. As this rare little volume contains the first published
references to the upper St. John region some extracts from its pages will be of interest.
The bishop was accompanied by two priests and five canoe men. They
left the St. Lawrence on the 7th of May and proceeded by way of the Rivers du
Loup and St. Francis to the St. John.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Our guides,&rdquo; the bishop says, &ldquo;in order to take the shortest road, conducted
us by a route not usually traveled, in which it was necessary sometimes to proceed
by canoe and sometimes on foot and this in a region where winter still reigned;
we had sometimes to break the ice in the rivers to make a passage for the canoes
and sometimes to leave the canoes and tramp amid snow and water over those
places that are called portages (or carrying places) because it is necessary for the
men to carry the canoes upon their shoulders. In order the better to mark our
route we gave names to all these portages as well as to the lakes and rivers we
had to traverse.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The St. Francis is rather a torrent than a river; it is formed by several
streams which descend from two ranges of mountains by which the river is bordered
on the right and left; it is only navigable from the tenth or twelfth of May
until about the end of June; it is then so rapid that one could make without difficulty
twenty to twenty-five leagues in a day if it were not crossed in three or four
places by fallen trees, which in each instance occupy about fifteen feet of space,
and if they were cut out, as could be done with very little expense, the passage
would be free; one would not suppose that it would cost 200 pistoles to clear the
channel of these obstacles which much delay the traveler.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The River St. John is of much greater extent and beauty than that just
named, its course is everywhere smooth and the lands along its banks appear good;
there are several very fine islands, and numerous tributary rivers abounding in
fish enter its channel on both sides. It seemed to us that some fine settlements
might be made between Medogtok and Gemesech, especially at a certain place
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span>
which we have named Sainte Marie, where the river enlarges and the waters are
divided by a large number of islands that apparently would be very fertile if cultivated.
A mission for the savages would be well placed there: the land has not as
yet any owner in particular, neither the king nor the governor having made a grant
to any person.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The place here referred to by St. Vallier afterwards became the mission of
Ekouipahag or Aukpaque. A mission for the Indians has been maintained in that
vicinity, with some interruptions, to the present day. The islands which the
bishop mentions are the well known and <a name='TC_8'></a><ins class="trchange" title="as per errata note: Was 'bllier afterwards became the mission of'">beautiful islands below the mouth of</ins>
the Keswick stream. There is no mention by St. Vallier of the Indian village at
Aukpaque, which was probably of rather later origin: there may have been a
camping ground in that locality, however, for the Indians had many camping
places on the islands and intervals, particularly at the mouths of rivers, to which
they resorted at certain seasons. The name Ekouipahag or, as our modern Indians
call it, Ek-pa-hawk, signifies &ldquo;the head of the tide,&rdquo; or beginning of the swift
water. The charms of the place have excited the admiration of many a tourist
since St. Vallier&rsquo;s day. At the time of the Acadian expulsion a number of fugitives,
who escaped their pursuers, fled for refuge to the St. John river, and took up
their abode at this spot where they cultivated the intervals and islands until the
arrival of the Loyalists in 1783, when they were again obliged to look for situations
more remote.</p>
<p>The progress of Bishop St. Vallier coming down the St. John river was expeditious,
the water being then at freshet height. At the mouth of the Madawaska,
which he named St. Francois de Sales, he met a small band of savages, who
pleaded for a missionary. The day following, May 17th, he came to the Grand
Falls, or as he calls it &ldquo;le grand Sault Saint Jean-Baptiste.&rdquo; His book contains the
first published description of this magnificent cataract<a name='FNanchor_0004' id='FNanchor_0004'></a><a href='#Footnote_0004' class='fnanchor'>[4]</a>. The rapidity of the journey
is seen in the fact that the bishop and his party slept the next night at the
Indian village of Medoctec, &ldquo;the first fort of Acadia,&rdquo; eighty miles below the
Grand Falls. Here they found a hundred savages, who were greatly pleased when
informed that the bishop had come for the purpose of establishing a mission for
their benefit. This promise was fulfilled soon after by the sending to them the
Recollet missionary Simon, of whom we shall hear more ere long. It is evident that
the French adventurers the bishop encountered in the course of this wilderness
journey led a pretty lawless life, for he observed in his narrative: &ldquo;It is to be
wished that the French who have their habitations along this route, were so correct
in their habits as to lead the poor savages by their example to embrace
Christianity, but we must hope that in the course of time the reformation of the
one may bring about the conversion of the other.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Medoctec was undoubtedly the principal Indian village on the St. John at
this time; it was situated on the right bank of the river, eight miles below the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span>
Town of Woodstock. Here the Maliseets had a palisaded fort and large cabin,
similar to that described by Lescarbot at the village Ouigoudy on Navy Island,
where de Monts was welcomed by Chkoudun in 1604. The only other fortification
constructed by the Indians on the St. John river, so far as known, was that at
the mouth of the Nerepis, at Woodman&rsquo;s Point, called by Villebon, in 1697, &ldquo;Fort
des Sauvages de Nerepisse.&rdquo; It was evidently merely a palisaded enclosure, and on
Southack&rsquo;s map of that period is marked &ldquo;Wooden Fort.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Hitherto the Indians of Acadia had lived peaceably with the whites, but the
closing years of the seventeenth century were destined to witness a sad transformation.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_V_KING_WILLIAMS_WAR' id='CHAPTER_V_KING_WILLIAMS_WAR'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>King William&rsquo;s War</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>There lived at Quebec in the latter part of the seventeenth century one Charles
le Moyne, seigneur de Longueil, who is called by Charlevoix the Baron de Becancourt;
he was of Norman extraction, but his sons were natives of New France.
As was the custom with the French noblesse each son adopted a surname derived
from some portion of the ancient family estate. At least five of Becancourt&rsquo;s sons
were prominent in the affairs of Acadia; they are known in history as Menneval,
Portneuf, Villebon, d&rsquo;Iberville and des Isles.</p>
<p>In 1687 Menneval replaced Perrot as governor of Acadia, and as the conduct of
Perrot had given rise to grave dissatisfaction his successor received elaborate instructions
concerning his duties. He was to rebuild the defences of Acadia, to resist
the encroachments of the English, to suppress the lawless trade of the Coureurs
de bois, to deal kindly and honestly with the savages, taking care to promote
their conversion to the Christian faith, and to restore to the crown all seigniories
and granted lands that had not been occupied or improved.</p>
<p>The year that followed Menneval&rsquo;s appointment was notable for the outbreak of
the most dreadful Indian war in the annals of Acadia. All the tribes east of the
Merrimac took part in it, including the Maliseets and Micmacs. This war is known
in history as King William&rsquo;s war, from the name of the English monarch in whose
reign it occurred. It lasted with little intermission for ten years, and during its
progress the settlers of eastern New England suffered the most fearful outrages at
the hands of the infuriated savages. Every settlement in Maine save Wells, York,
Kittery and the Isle of Shoals was over run, and a thousand white people killed or
taken prisoners.</p>
<p>As in the case of other wars which the Indians have waged with the whites, the
latter were responsible for its origin. About twelve years before it broke out, Major
Waldron treacherously seized a band of Indians at Dover in New Hampshire and
sent them to Boston, where several of them were hanged for alleged complicity in
Philip&rsquo;s war<a name='FNanchor_0005' id='FNanchor_0005'></a><a href='#Footnote_0005' class='fnanchor'>[5]</a> and others sold into slavery. This despicable act the Indians never forgot
nor forgave.</p>
<p>The immediate cause of King William&rsquo;s war, however, was the ill considered act
of Governor Andros of pillaging the trading post of Baron de St. Castin, at Penobscot.
St. Castin had formerly served in the Carignan Salieres regiment under Frontenac,
but for twenty years had lived in this region, where he had married a daughter
of the Maliseet chieftain Madockawando and was highly esteemed by the savages.</p>
<p>It was at the instigation of St. Castin and Madockawando that the Indians
determined to take the war path. The first notable incident of the war was the
destruction of Dover, where Major Waldron and twenty-two others were killed and
twenty-nine taken prisoners. This occurred in June, 1689, and the story of the
affair, as told by the St. John river Indians to their English captive, John Gyles,
is in substance as follows:&mdash;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span></div>
<p>There was a truce with the Indians for some days, during which time two
squaws came into the garrison. They told Major Waldron that a number of Indians
were not far away with a considerable quantity of beaver and would be
there to trade with him the next day. The weather was inclement and the women
begged leave to lodge in the garrison. Some of the people were much opposed to
this, but the major said: &ldquo;Let the poor creatures lodge by the fire.&rdquo; The defences
of the place were of the weakest kind, the gates had no locks but were fastened
with pins and the garrison kept no watch. The squaws had a favorable opportunity to
prosecute their design. They went into every apartment observing the number in
each, and when all the people were asleep arose and opened the gates, gave the signal
agreed upon and the other Indians came to them and, having received an account
of the state of the garrison, they divided their forces according to the number
of the people in each apartment and soon took or killed them all. Major Waldron
lodged within an inner room and when the Indians broke in upon him he cried
out: &ldquo;What now! What now!&rdquo; and jumping out of his bed seized his sword and
drove them before him through two or three doors, but upon his turning about towards
the apartment he had just left, an Indian came up behind him and knocked
him on the head with his hatchet, which stunned him and he fell. They then seized
him, dragged him out, and setting him up on a long table in his hall, bade him
&ldquo;judge Indians again.&rdquo; Then they cut and stabbed him and he cried out &ldquo;O Lord!
O Lord!&rdquo; They called for his book of accounts and ordered him to cross out all the
Indian debts, he having traded much with them. Then one and another gashed his
naked breast, saying in derision: &ldquo;I cross out my account.&rdquo; Then cutting a joint
from a finger, one would say: &ldquo;Will your fist weigh a pound now?&rdquo; This in
allusion to his having sometimes used his fist as a pound weight in buying and selling.
And so they proceeded to torture him to death with every refinement of savage
cruelty, after which they burned the garrison post and drew off.</p>
<p>A few days after this tragic event a number of people were killed by the Indians
at Saco, and in the month of August the important post at Pemaquid, midway
between the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers, was taken and the adjoining
settlement destroyed. According to Charlevoix a large number of St. John river
Indians participated in this exploit. Among their prisoners was a lad named Gyles
whose experience during the nine years he lived in captivity on the St. John river
is told in his very interesting narrative published in Boston in 1736. We shall have
more to say about Gyles and his narrative further on, but it may be observed in
passing that we are greatly indebted to him for the knowledge we possess of the
life of the Indians of the River St. John two centuries ago. As Doctor Hannay well
observes: &ldquo;By the light of such a narrative we are able to perceive how wretched
was the lot of an Acadian Indian, even during the period when his very name carried
terror to the hearts of the settlers of Maine and New Hampshire. Modern
civilization may have degraded him in some respects but it has at least rescued him
from the danger of starvation and also from the cruel necessity of abandoning his
kindred to perish when unable longer to supply their own wants or endure the constant
journeys necessitated by the nature of their nomad life.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span></div>
<p>Early in 1690 Count Frontenac dispatched an expedition from Quebec to ravage
the New England settlements; their leader was Portneuf, brother of Menneval and
Villebon. There were fifty French and seventy Indians in the original party, which
was afterwards joined by thirty-six French and a large band of Maliseets from the
St. John, also by the Indians of Passamaquoddy and Penobscot, making a war
party of five hundred men. On the 26th of May they attacked the town of Falmouth&mdash;now
Portland. The inhabitants fled for protection within the ramparts of
Fort Loyal. At the expiration of four or five days the garrison was obliged to surrender
and Portneuf promised the vanquished quarter and a guard to the nearest
English town. The terms of surrender were shamefully violated, Fort Loyal and
Falmouth were reduced to ashes and over one hundred men, women and children
murdered by the savages. From May to October their bodes lay exposed to the
elements and wild beasts but were finally buried by Major Benjamin Church as he
passed on an expedition to the eastward.</p>
<p>To revenge themselves on the French, whom they regarded as the instigators of
this savage warfare, the New Englanders fitted out an expedition under Sir William
Phips which captured Port Royal and carried Menneval, the governor, away a
prisoner. His brother Villebon, who suceeded to the command, concluded to
abandon Port Royal and to re-establish the post at the mouth of the Jemseg on the
River St. John.</p>
<p>Villebon, with all his faults, is one of the most picturesque characters in the history
of Acadia. He was greatly admired by the savages who deemed him to be
every inch a chief. Diereville, the poet historian, saw him at St. John in 1700 and
describes him as &ldquo;a great man of fine appearance and full of energy.&rdquo; Having
served for several years in a subordinate capacity at Port Royal he was now called
upon to fill a difficult position and it must be confessed he acted with zeal and ability.
Adverse fortune embittered him at the outset. Two pirate vessels came to
Port Royal while he was absent preparing for his removal to the St. John river.
These marauders burned the houses and killed the cattle; they even hanged two of
the inhabitants and burned a woman and her children in her own dwelling. What
was still worse for Villebon they captured the ship Union, just arrived from France
with merchandize, provisions, ammunition and presents for the savages.</p>
<p>Villebon was well fitted for such an emergency as this; he assembled his dusky
allies, explained the loss of their presents and offered himself to go to their great
father, the King of France, for more. The Indians pledged their fidelity and promised
him one hundred and fifty warriors the next spring to aid him in his designs
against the English.</p>
<p>At the court of France Villebon was favorably received and returned with a
<a name='TC_9'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'commissioned'">commission</ins> from the king to command in Acadia. Soon after he abandoned the
Jemseg Fort and moved up the river to the mouth of the Nashwaak where in the
upper angle formed by the junction of that river with the St. John he built in 1692
a new fort which he called Fort St. Joseph. It was an ordinary palisaded fort about
120 feet square, with four bastions, and had eight cannon mounted. In the old
French documents of the period it is usually called Fort Nachouac, with many
varieties of spelling, such as Naxoat, Naxouac, Natchouak, etc. The older French
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span>
maps place the fort on the south, or Fredericton side of the river, but there can be
no doubt as to its proper location in the upper angle formed by the junction of
the River Nashwaak with the St. John. The greater portion of the site has been
washed away, but traces of the ramparts were visible within the memory of those
yet living and many cannon balls and other relics have been found in the vicinity.</p>
<p>Villebon had now been some years in Acadia, for Bishop St. Vallier says that
he was in command of the garrison at Port Royal at the time of his visit there in
1686. He had ample opportunity of becoming familiar with the country and its
native inhabitants, and was in this way fitted to second the ambitious designs of
the French, which embraced the destruction of New York and the conquest of New
England.</p>
<p>When Count Frontenac came out to Quebec in 1689, to fill for the second time
the position of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of New France, he was in his
seventieth year, yet his old time vigor and determination were unabated. It was
part of his plan to avail himself of the hostility of the savages to wear down and
discourage the English settlers and so to pave the way for French supremacy. He
had no abler lieutenants in the work he had undertaken than the sons of Charles
le Moyne, of whom Villebon, Portneuf and d&rsquo;Iberville were particularly conspicuous
in the Indian wars. Immediately after his arrival, Frontenac encouraged the savages
to begin those operations against the English settlements known in the history
of New England as the &ldquo;winter raids.&rdquo; Montague Chamberlain tersely describes
the situation thus: &ldquo;Frontenac decided that he could only succeed in holding Canada
for the French crown by enlisting the aid of the savages, and to secure that aid
he must permit them to make war in their own savage way, and so from all the
doomed hamlets came the same horrifying tale&mdash;houses burned, men, women and
children slaughtered or carried into captivity.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It is difficult at this distant day to conceive the horrors of the savage warfare
that prevailed at this time on the New England frontiers. The Indians roamed
over the country like wolves, and the white settlers never knew when their
appalling war whoop would ring in their startled ears. It was an age of cruelty and
the outrages perpetrated provoked reprisals on the part of the New Englanders.
The close alliance between the Indians and the French, and the fact that in several
of the raids the savages were led by French officers, led to a bitter race hatred
and mutual distrust between the descendants of the Saxon and the Gaul, which
lasted for generations.</p>
<p>In the course of the desultory warfare that followed the destruction of Falmouth,
more than 200 houses were burned in various parts of the country, and
Frontenac himself speaks of the ravages of the savages as &ldquo;impossible to describe.&rdquo;
On the 5th February, 1692, they raided the frontier settlement of York,
which they left in ashes after killing about seventy-five persons and taking 100
prisoners&mdash;among those killed was the venerable Mr. Dummer, the minister of the
place.</p>
<p>With the opening of the spring time Villebon received a delegation of 100 warriors
of the Kennebec and Penobscot tribes at his fort. The visitors were welcomed
with imposing ceremonies; there was the usual interchange of compliments and
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span>
speeches by the chiefs and captains, presents from the king were distributed and
the inevitable banquet followed with its mirth and revelry. It was agreed at this
conference to organize a great war party. Couriers were dispatched to summon all
the tribes of Acadia and the response was general. The site of what is now the
village of Gibson, opposite Fredericton, was dotted with the encampments of the
Indians, and as the warriors arrived and departed, arrayed in their war paint and
feathers, the scene was animated and picturesque. The Maliseets of the St. John
sent their delegation from Medoctec, the Micmacs of the Miramichi arrived a few
days later, and then came another band of Micmacs from Beaubassin (or Chignecto),
accompanied by Father Baudoin, their priest. Speeches of welcome, presents
and feasts were made in turn to all, and each band proceeded by the old and well
known route<a name='FNanchor_0006' id='FNanchor_0006'></a><a href='#Footnote_0006' class='fnanchor'>[6]</a> to the rendezvous on the Penobscot, near Oldtown (Maine.) Here
there gathered a war party of at least 400 men, including a score of Frenchmen.
Their first attack was made on the little village of Wells, where there were only some
thirty men to resist the attack, but they were led by Captain Converse, a very courageous
and determined officer, who had already tried the mettle of the savages and
who was not to be overawed even by overwhelming numbers. The attacking party
advanced with hideous yells, firing and calling on the English to surrender, but the
bullets of the defenders was the only answer they received. Even the women of
the settlement took part in the fight, passing ammunition to the men, loading their
guns, and sometimes themselves firing on the enemy.</p>
<p>The savages became discouraged and offered favorable terms to the garrison,
Converse replied: &ldquo;We want nothing but men to fight with.&rdquo; An Indian, who
could speak English, shouted, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t stay in the house like a squaw, come out and
fight like a man!&rdquo; Converse replied: &ldquo;Do you think I am fool enough to come out
with thirty men to fight five hundred?&rdquo; The Indians at length abandoned the attack
and retired greatly crest fallen. Thus a few determined men foiled one of
the most formidable bands that ever took the war path in Acadia.</p>
<p>Same of the horrors of Indian warfare almost pass description and if Villebon
did not sanction he at least did little to hinder the atrocities of his savage allies.
He writes in his journal, &ldquo;An English savage was taken on the lower part of the
St. John river; I gave him to our savages to be burned, which they did the next day;
one could add nothing to the torments that they made him suffer.&rdquo;</p>
<p>From time to time the Indians appear to have grown weary of fighting. Their
failure at Wells, the rebuilding of Fort Pemaquid and the erection of other fortifications
by the now thoroughly aroused New Englanders, the desire for the ransom of
relatives held by the enemy as hostages, and a suspicion that the French were making
use of them in their own interest inclined them to make peace with the English.
Villebon was obliged to exert all his influence to keep them on the war path.
He flattered and feasted the chiefs, made presents to the warriors, provided powder
and shot for their hunting and finally adopted Taxous, one of their most famous
chiefs, as his brother and to honor the occasion gave him his own best coat.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span></div>
<p>The journals and correspondence of Villebon are full of interest to the student of
affairs on the St. John. At this time there came annually to St. John harbor&mdash;then
known by its Indian name, Menagoesche&mdash;a French man of war with supplies for
Fort Nachouac and a variety of articles for the Indians. An inventory now in the
Boston Public Library, dated 1693, shows that in that year the frigate &ldquo;Suzanne&rdquo;
brought out for the &ldquo;Malecites&rdquo; a supply of powder, lead, guns, bayonets; also
shirts, blankets, laced hats, etc. The arrival of the annual warships was eagerly
looked for by the Indians and Villebon was able to make good use of the articles he
received. The reference made by John Gyles in his narrative to the arrival of the
ships from France is of interest. &ldquo;There came annually,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;one or two men
of war to supply the fort which was on the river about 34 leagues from the sea.
The Indians (of Medoctec) having advice of the arrival of a man of war at the
mouth of the river, they about forty in number went on board, for the gentlemen
from France made a present to them every year, and set forth the riches and victories
of their monarch, etc. At this time they presented the Indians with a bag or
two of flour with some prunes as <a name='TC_10'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'ingrediants'">ingredients</ins> for a feast.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I, who was dressed up in an old greasy blanket without cap, hat or shirt, (for
I had no shirt for six years, except the one I had on at the time I was made prisoner)
was invited into the great cabin, where many well-rigged gentlemen were sitting,
who would fain have had a full view of me. I endeavored to hide myself behind
the hangings, for I was much ashamed, thinking how I had once worn clothes
and of my living with people who could rig as well as the best of them....
This was the first time I had seen the sea during my captivity, and the first time
I had tasted salt or bread. My master presently went on shore and a few days later
all the Indians went up the river.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In connection with Villebon&rsquo;s endeavors to keep the savages loyal to the king
of France there are items in the accounts transmitted by him to the French minister
that are quite interesting and suggestive, as for example the following:</p>
<p>&ldquo;To the wife of Nadanouil, a savage, for making two pairs of snowshoes for
the King, tobacco 2 lbs.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Jan., 1696. To 2 savages come from the river of Medoctic to bring some
letters of Father Simon to Mon. de Villebon, flour, 12 lbs.; tobacco, 8 oz.</p>
<p>&ldquo;July 10, 1696. M. Thury, missionary, having arrived with Taxous, chief of
the Canibas and other savages from Pentagouet; brandy, 1 gallon; tobacco, 2 <a name='TC_11'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double quote">lbs.&rdquo;</ins></p>
<p>The garrison at Fort Nashwaak was always small, comprising only about forty
soldiers besides an armorer, gunner and surgeon. There was also a chaplain of the
Recollet order, Father Elizee, who is described as a man so retiring by nature as
to meddle with nothing outside his ministerial duty. This was not the case with
the other missionary priests, however, who influenced by patriotic motives and encouraged
by the French authorities took quite an energetic part in helping on the
warfare against New England. The French owed much of the aid afforded their
cause, including the co-operation of their Indian allies, to the zeal of the missionaries
settled on the different rivers, Ralle on the Kennebec, Thury on the Penobscot and
Simon on the St. John. The only woman who lived within the ramparts of Fort
Nashwaak seems to have been the wife of the armorer. She was deemed one of
the garrison and received her daily allowance with the rest.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span></div>
<p>In spite of Villebon&rsquo;s energy and ability and of his zeal in the service of his
country very serious complaints were made against him by some of the French people
living on the St. John river. They asserted that his threats and ill usage had
caused several of the settlers to abandon their habitations and remove to Quebec
with their families; that he tried to monopolize the fur trade, sending his brothers
Portneuf and des Isles into the woods to engage in unlawful traffic with the Indians;
that the former was guilty of gross immorality and the latter traded the peltry
obtained from the savages with one John Alden, an Englishman, by whom it was
carried to Boston. This John Alden was, by the way, the eldest son of the famous
John Alden of the &ldquo;Mayflower,&rdquo; the Plymouth magistrate, by his wife Priscilla,
the Puritan maiden immortalized by Longfellow. He made many trading voyages
to the Bay of Fundy and on several occasions narrowly escaped capture by the
French.</p>
<p>That there was some ground for the charges preferred against Villebon seems
likely from the fact that most of the missionaries censured him and confirmed the
reports of the inhabitants concerning the misconduct of his brothers. The chaplain at
Fort Nachouac, however, spoke favorably of Villebon, although he was silent with
regard to Portneuf. In his letters to the authorities in France, Villebon vigorously
replies to his accusers and brings counter charges; he is seemingly very indignant
with the d&rsquo;Amour brothers of whom we shall hear more in another chapter.</p>
<p>In consequence of the charges preferred against him Portneuf was superseded
by Villieu, an officer of reputation whom Count Frontenac sent to Acadia in October,
1693, to lead the savages against the English. This new lieutenant spent the
winter at the Nashwaak fort and as soon as the ice was out of the river went in a
canoe to Medoctec, where he assembled the chiefs who promised to assist him. He
then proceeded to Penobscot resolved to put an end, if possible, to the parleys that
the savages had been holding with the English and to incite them to renew the
war. After a week&rsquo;s negotiation, in which he was aided by the powerful influence
of the missionaries Bigot and Thury, he returned to Fort Nachouac with a delegation
of the Indians to receive the presents which the King of France had sent to
them, and at the same time to secure the assistance of some of Governor Villebon&rsquo;s
soldiers. The governor, however, piqued by the dismissal of Portneuf, contented himself
with entertaining the delegates. He declined to furnish provisions or supplies,
and kept his soldiers from joining the expedition. Father Simon, the Recollet missionary
on the St. John, also displayed little sympathy with Villieu and kept
many of the Indians from joining him. However, with the help of the Penobscot
and Kennebec tribes a band of 250 warriors was at last collected and Villieu placed
himself at their head arrayed in the war paint and feathers of an Indian chief. It
was decided to strike a blow at the settlement of Oyster River, twelve miles from
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The English settlers, having been informed that peace
had been made with the Indians and that they could now work with safety on
their farms, were totally unprepared for an attack. Among their unprotected houses
the carnage was horrible. One hundred persons, chiefly women and children, half
naked from their beds, were tomahawked, shot, or killed by slower and more cruel
methods, twenty seven were kept as prisoners.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span></div>
<p>After engaging in some minor depredations Villieu proceeded to Montreal accompanied
by several of the chiefs where they presented a string of English scalps
to Count Frontenac as a token of their success and received his hearty congratulations.
Villieu thus summed up the results of the campaign: &ldquo;Two small forts and
fifty or sixty houses captured and burnt, and one hundred and thirty English killed
or made prisoners.&rdquo; He had done his work all too well and had sown such seeds of
distrust between the English and the Indians as to render it almost impossible to
re-establish peace between them. The enmity lasted for generations and almost
every year witnessed some act of hostility even though the crowns of France and
England were themselves at peace.</p>
<p>In the midst of their triumphs an appalling pestilence swept away great numbers
of the Indians. On the River St. John more than one hundred and twenty
persons died, including some of the most noted warriors and their chief. The pestilence
scattered the savages in all directions and for a time their town of Medoctec
was abandoned. A party of warriors who went with Montigny, an officer of
Villebon&rsquo;s garrison, to assist their brethren to the westward was sent back to
Medoctec on account of the contagion that had broken out among them. The nature
of the disease it is impossible at this distance of time to determine. It could
scarcely have been smallpox, according to the description of John Gyles, who says:
&ldquo;A person seeming in perfect health would bleed at the mouth and nose, turn blue
in spots and die in two or three hours.&rdquo; The first outbreak of the pestilence was
in the autumn of 1694. A year later Mon. Tibierge, agent of the company of Acadia,
writes that &ldquo;the plague (la maladie) had broken out afresh: there had died on
the river more than 120 persons of every age and sex.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The pestilence, however, did not put a stop to the Indian warfare. In June,
1695, Villebon assembled at his fort a general representation of the tribes of Acadia,
including fourteen chiefs and their attendants; the conference lasted three days
and the proceedings are reported at length in his journal. After the customary
feasting and distribution of presents a standard of prices for the purchase and sale
of goods was agreed upon more favorable to the natives than heretofore. The
chiefs departed firmly resolved to continue the war against the English. Their
opportunity did not come until the following summer when a combined effort on
the part of the French and Indians resulted in the destruction of Fort William
Henry at Pemaquid. This fortification had just been rebuilt by the colony of Massachusetts
at a cost of &pound;20,000 and was the strongest work the English colonists
had up to that time erected in America. The walls had a compass in all of 747
feet and were of solid masonry, varying from 10 to 22 feet in height. Eight feet
from the ground, where the walls had a thickness of six feet, there was a tier of 28
port holes. At one corner was a round tower 29 feet high. The fort was well manned
and provisioned and was thought to be impregnable.</p>
<p>The leader of the enterprise, which resulted in the destruction of Fort William
Henry, was Villebon&rsquo;s brother d&rsquo;Iberville, whose romantic career has earned for him
the description of &ldquo;the Cid of New France.&rdquo; D&rsquo;Iberville&rsquo;s Indian auxiliaries included
Micmacs from Cape Breton, a large band of Maliseets and many of their
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span>
kindred of Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Kennebec. Two warships lately arrived
from Quebec, accompanied the expedition.</p>
<p>Villebon left his fort on the 18th June to go to &ldquo;Menagoesche&rdquo; to await the
coming of the French ships. On his arrival there he discovered the British ships
Sorlings of 34 guns and Newport of 24 guns cruising near the harbor and sent information
to d&rsquo;Iberville in order that he might guard against surprise. Soon after
entering the Bay of Fundy the French vessels sighted their antagonists and an
engagement ensued in the course of which d&rsquo;Iberville in the Envieux dismasted
the smaller English vessel, the Newport, and obliged her to surrender. Favored by
night and fog the Sorlings managed to escape after a combat with the Profond lasting
three hours. The next day, July 15, 1696, the vessels put into St. John harbor,
where they were welcomed by Villebon and Father Simon and a band of Indians.
Before proceeding to the attack of Pemaquid an attempt was made to
capture John Alden at Port Royal but with his usual good luck he sailed thence
just before the arrival of the French. Villebon with Father Simon&rsquo;s assistance contrived
to collect 150 Indians&mdash;Maliseets and Micmacs&mdash;to join the expedition under
his brother, which was further reinforced by a small vessel owned and commanded
by the Sieur de Chauffours, an inhabitant of the St. John river.</p>
<p>The start of the expedition was not a very auspicious one, for on leaving the
harbor of St. John (or &ldquo;havre de Menuagoesche,&rdquo; as Villebon calls it) at 2 o&rsquo;clock
on the afternoon of the 2nd of August, d&rsquo;Iberville ran the Envieux upon a reef;
however, the damage was not serious as the ship floated when the tide rose. At
Penobscot Baron St. Castin joined the expedition with 130 Indians. The French
priests Simon and Thury, as the event proved, were no mere figure heads; they
actively assisted in the operations of the siege and at the same time restrained the
passions of the savages. Batteries were erected within half cannon shot of the fort
and it was summoned to surrender. Captain Chubb, the commander, proved to be
a weak man for so responsible a position. He at first replied that though the sea
were covered with French ships and the land with Indians he would not surrender
unless compelled to do so, but the very next day ignominiously pulled down his flag.
D&rsquo;Iberville sent the garrison to Boston in the vessel belonging to the Sieur de
Chauffours which he had brought from the St. John river. The people of New
England were greatly vexed at the destruction of Pemaquid and enraged at the
cowardly conduct of its commander. Father Simon got back to Fort Nachouac on
the 29th August bringing the news of d&rsquo;Iberville&rsquo;s success.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_VI_NACHOUAC_AND_MENAGOUECHE' id='CHAPTER_VI_NACHOUAC_AND_MENAGOUECHE'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>Nachouac and Menagoueche</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>It was now proposed by the French authorities to re-establish the stronghold
at the mouth of the St. John. The old fort of four bastions so far remained that it
could readily be restored; the ditches needed to be deepened, the parapets to be
raised and new palisades constructed. It was thought that 150 men would suffice
to garrison the post as well as that at the Nashwaak. The fort was needed to protect
French privateers and French commerce. Many English vessels were
brought to Menagoueche at this time by the privateersmen Baptiste and Guyon.
The company of Acadia, with Tibierge as their agent, continued to develop a thriving
trade, and it seems, too, that the forest wealth of the country was beginning
to attract attention for Villebon, a year or two later, sent home to France a mast,
as a specimen, 82 feet long, 31 inches in diameter at one end and 21 at the other.</p>
<p>The French privateers were not allowed to ply their vocation with impunity,
they often had spirited encounters with the British ships in which there were losses
on both sides.</p>
<p>In 1694 one Robineau of Nantes, who had taken several English vessels, was
forced to burn his ship in St. John harbor, in order to escape capture by an English
ship, and to defend himself on shore. The vessels employed as privateers evidently
were small, for they sometimes went up the river to Villebon&rsquo;s fort. The
prisoners taken were kept at the fort or put in charge of the French inhabitants
living on the river, and from time to time ransomed by their friends or exchanged
for French prisoners taken by the English. Villebon informs us that in June, 1695,
an English frigate and a sloop arrived at Menagoueche (St. John) on business connected
with the ransom of eight captives who were then in the hands of the French.
Messages were exchanged with Nachouac and the captain of the English ship, a
jovial old tar, expressed a wish to meet Governor Villebon and &ldquo;drink with him&rdquo;
and to see Captain Baptiste, whom he called a brave man, but his overtures were
declined.</p>
<p>The ships Envieux and Profond, before proceeding to the attack of Fort Pemaquid,
had landed at St. John a number of cannon and materials of all sorts to be
used in the construction of the new fort. This project was not viewed with
complacency by the people of New England, and Lieut.-Governor William Stoughton,
of Massachusetts, thus explains the line of action proposed against the French
in a communication addressed to Major Benjamin Church, the old Indian fighter,
who had been sent from Boston in August, 1696, on an expedition against the settlements
of Acadia: &ldquo;Sir, His Majesty&rsquo;s ship Orford having lately surprised a
French shallop with 23 of the soldiers belonging to the fort (at Nashwaak) upon
St. John&rsquo;s river in Nova Scotia, together with Villieu, their captain, providence
seems to encourage the forming of an expedition to attack that fort, and to disrest
and remove the enemy from that post, which is the chief source from whence
the most of our disasters do issue, and also to favor with an opportunity for gaining
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span>
out of their hands the ordnance, artillery, and other warlike stores and provisions
lately supplied to them from France for erecting a new fort near the river&rsquo;s mouth,
whereby they will be greatly strengthened and the reducing of them rendered more
<a name='TC_12'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double-quote">difficult.&rdquo;</ins></p>
<p>Before the order from which the above extract is quoted was placed in Major
Church&rsquo;s hands he had arrived at St. John, having previously devastated the
French settlements at Chignecto. Being desirous, if possible, to surprise the men
engaged upon the new fort Church landed at Manawagonish Cove, a little to the
west of the harbor; what followed we shall let him tell in his own quaint fashion.
&ldquo;Next morning early the Major, with his forces, landed to see what discovery
they could make, travelled across the woods to the old fort or falls at the mouth
of St. John&rsquo;s river, keeping themselves undiscovered from the enemy. Finding
that there were several men at work, and having informed themselves as much as
they could, returned back (the enemy being on the other side of the river could
not come at them). But night coming on and dark wet weather with bad travelling,
were obliged to stop in the woods till towards next day morning and then
went on board. Soon after the Major ordered all the vessels to come to sail and go
into the mouth of the river, the French firing briskly at them, but did them no
harm, and running fiercely upon the enemy they soon fled to the woods. The
Major ordered a brisk party to run across a neck to cut them off from their canoes<a name='FNanchor_0007' id='FNanchor_0007'></a><a href='#Footnote_0007' class='fnanchor'>[7]</a>
which the day before they had made a discovery of. So the commander, with the
rest, ran directly towards the new fort they were building, not knowing but they
had some ordnance mounted. The enemy running directly to their canoes were met
by our forces who fired at them, and killed one and wounded Corporal Canton, who
was taken. The rest threw down what they had and ran into the woods. The
prisoner Canton being brought to the Major told him if he would let his surgeon
dress his wound and cure him he would be serviceable to him as long as he lived.
So being dressed he was examined and gave the Major an account of the twelve
great guns which were hid in the beach, below high water mark&mdash;the carriages, shot,
and wheelbarrows, some flour and pork all hid in the woods.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The next morning the officers being all ordered to meet together to consult
about going to Vilboon&rsquo;s fort, and none amongst them being acquainted but the
Aldens, who said the water in the river was very low so that they could not get
up to the fort; and the prisoner Canton told the commander that what the Aldens
said was true * * so concluded it was not practicable to proceed. Then ordered
some of the forces to get the great guns on board the open sloops and the rest
to range the woods for the enemy, who took one prisoner and brought him in. * *
Now having with a great deal of pains and trouble got all the guns, shot, and other
stores aboard intended on our design which we came out first for. But the wind
not serving, the commander sent out his scouts into the woods to seek for the
enemy. And four of our Indians coming upon three Frenchmen undiscovered concluded
that if the French should discover them they would fire at them and might
kill one or more of them, which to prevent fired at the French, killed one and
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span>
took the other two prisoners. And it happened that he who was killed was Shavelere
(Chevalier), the chief man there.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Major Church&rsquo;s design was to make a raid on the settlement of Baron St. Castin
and his Indians at Penobscot by way of retaliation for the destruction of Fort William
Henry at Pemaquid, but as he was sailing down the bay he met a small squadron
having on board a reinforcement of 100 men under Colonel Hawthorne. The
command now passed to Hawthorne as the senior officer, and it was decided to attempt
the capture of Fort Nachouac. This was against the advice of Major
Church, but as the expedition now numbered about 500 men, Hawthorne was unwilling
to return to Boston without striking a blow at the chief stronghold of the
French in Acadia.</p>
<p>Villebon was on the alert: he had stationed his ensign, Chevalier, with five
scouts at the mouth of the river and on the 4th of October he learned of the presence
of the English at Menagoueche. Chevalier was at first alarmed by the appearance
of Church&rsquo;s ships off Partridge Island, and sent word directly to Fort Nachouac;
a day or two later he was killed by some of Church&rsquo;s Indians as already related.
Villebon sent his brother Neuvillette down the river to continue the look
out and in the meantime made every possible preparation for a siege. His garrison,
numbering about 100 soldiers, was busily employed in throwing up new intrenchments
and mounting additional guns, word was sent to the French inhabitants of
the vicinity to repair to the fort and assist in its defence, and Villebon, on the
11th October, sent an urgent message to Father Simon, the missionary at Medoctec,
to get the Indians to come down as soon as possible if they wished to fight the English.
He lost not a moment and having sent out word on all sides (the Indians being
then dispersed upon the river) he arrived the afternoon of the 14th, with thirty-six
warriors and expressed his desire to remain at the fort as the chaplain was
absent. Two days later Neuvillette returned to the fort and reported that he had
seen the enemy in great force about a league and a half below the Jemseg. The
last preparations were now hurriedly made and on the evening of the 17th, Villebon
caused the &ldquo;generale&rdquo; (or assembly) to be beat and all the garrison being drawn up
under arms he addressed them in stirring words, bidding them to maintain the
honor of their country and the reputation of French soldiers, adding that if any
should be maimed in the approaching combat the king would provide for him during
the rest of his life. This speech created the greatest enthusiasm and the cry of
&ldquo;Vive le roy&rdquo; awoke the forest echoes and was borne over the waters. The same
evening a dozen Frenchmen who lived in the vicinity arrived at the fort. Among
them were the brothers Mathieu and Rene d&rsquo;Amours and the privateersman Baptiste.
Villebon assigned to Baptiste and Rene d&rsquo;Amours the duty of heading <a name='TC_13'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'the the'">the</ins>
Indians and opposing the landing of the English.</p>
<p>The sketch on the next page, based upon a plan in the archives de la Marine,
Paris<a name='FNanchor_0008' id='FNanchor_0008'></a><a href='#Footnote_0008' class='fnanchor'>[8]</a> will serve to give an idea of the general character of Fort Nachouac. The
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span>
space of ground enclosed by the palisade was about 125 feet square; the site, as
already stated, lay in the upper angle formed by the junction of the Nashwaak with
the river St. John, nearly opposite the Cathedral in Fredericton. The general arrangement
of the buildings is shown in the plan. At the rear of the enclosure is
the commandant&rsquo;s lodging, on the right hand side the guard house and on the left
the soldiers&rsquo; barracks; at the front is the gate and in the lower left hand corner
the bake oven; cannons were placed at each corner. A small room in the left end of
the commandant&rsquo;s lodging was fitted up as a chapel. The ditches and ramparts that
surrounded the enclosure added considerably to the strength of the position. The
bastions were so arranged that the space outside the walls was entirely commanded
by the musketry fire of the defenders. The loopholes at the corners from which the
fire was delivered are shown in the sketch.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_6' id='linki_6'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i056.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='267' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
FORT NACHOUAC, A. D. 1696.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Everything being now in order for the defence of his fort Villebon ordered the
garrison to pass the night under arms, as from the barking of the dogs it was believed
the enemy was drawing near. The next morning between eight and nine o&rsquo;clock,
whilst Father Simon was celebrating mass in the chapel, a shallop filled with armed
men rounded the point below, followed by two others. The alarm was at once
given and every man repaired to his post. The sloops approached within the distance
of half a cannon shot when the guns of the fort opened on them and they
were forced to retire below the point where they effected a landing. Villebon did
not deem it prudent to oppose the landing as his men would have had to cross
the Nashwaak river to do so and this would have been very imprudent. The English
took up a position on the south side of the Nashwaak stream and threw up an
earthwork upon which they placed two field guns from which they opened fire on
the fort; a third gun of larger size was mounted soon afterwards nearer the fort,
but not being sheltered it was not much used. The beseigers hoisted the royal
standard of England and there were cheers and counter-cheers on the part of the
combatants. The cannon fire was heavy on both sides but the guns of the fort being
better mounted and well served had rather the advantage. There was also a
sharp exchange of musketry fire, the St. John river Indians, from the bushes along
the shore, engaging in a vicious fight with Church&rsquo;s Indians on the opposite side of
the stream. When darkness ended the day&rsquo;s struggle the English had made little or
no progress. The following night being very cold they made fires to keep themselves
from freezing, but this afforded a sure mark for the French cannon, which
opened on them with grape shot, and they were obliged to put them out and suffer
the inclemency of the weather. Major Church&rsquo;s men being almost bare of clothing
from their long service, suffered extremely and were ill disposed to continue
the siege. At daybreak the musketry fire from the fort recommenced and about 8
o&rsquo;clock the English again got their guns into <a name='TC_14'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'opertion'">operation</ins>, but la Cote, who had distinguished
himself the evening before by firing rapidly and accurately, dismounted
one of their field guns and silenced the other.</p>
<p>It was now apparent that the fort could not be taken without a regular investment
and in view of the lateness of the season this was not deemed advisable. The
Massachusetts historian Mather quaintly observes, &ldquo;The difficulty of the cold season
so discouraged our men that after some few shot the enterprize found itself under
too much congelation to proceed any further.&rdquo; And so the following night the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span>
New England troops re-embarked after lighting fires over a considerable extent of
ground in order to deceive the French. When the morning dawned their camp
was deserted and soon after Neuvillette, who had been sent down the river to reconnoitre,
reported that after he had gone three leagues he found them embarked
in four vessels of about 60 tons and going down the river with a fair wind. On
their return towards the mouth of the river the invaders burned the house and
barns of Mathieu d&rsquo;Amours at Freneuse, opposite the Oromocto, and laid waste his
fields. The sieur de Freneuse was himself so much injured by exposure during the
siege that he died shortly afterwards. Major Church took back with him to
Boston a Negro man of Marblehead, who had been taken prisoner by the French
and kept amongst them for some time. He was probably the first of his race to set
foot within the borders of New Brunswick.</p>
<p>In the siege of his fort Villebon lost only one man killed and two wounded
while the English loss is said to have been eight soldiers killed and five officers
and twelve soldiers wounded.</p>
<p>The effect of the capture of Pemaquid by d&rsquo;Iberville and the repulse of the English
by Villebon greatly encouraged the savages of Acadia in their hostility and the
following summer another raid on the English settlements was planned. A large
number of Micmacs came from the eastward, some of them from the Basin of
Minas, with St. Cosme, their priest, at their head. They were entertained by Villebon,
furnished with ammunition and supplies and sent on to the <a name='TC_15'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'rendevous'">rendezvous</ins> at Penobscot.
Father Simon and 72 Maliseets were sent in the same direction soon afterwards
with instructions to pick up the Passamaquoddies on their way; they departed
in high spirits with the intention of giving no quarter to the enemy and
Villebon encouraged their animosity, exhorting them &ldquo;to burn and to destroy.&rdquo;
This advice they followed to the letter for the Governor wrote in his journal shortly
afterwards, &ldquo;the missionary, M. de Thury, confirms the report I already had
received of four small parties of our Indians having killed fifteen or sixteen English
and burnt one of them alive on account of one of their chiefs being slain.&rdquo;
The vindictiveness of the Indians is further illustrated by an incident that happened
at the Medoctic village in the time of King William&rsquo;s war, in which John Gyles
and James Alexander, two English captives, were cruelly abused. A party of Indians
from Cape Sable, having had some of their relatives killed by English fishermen,
travelled all the way to Medoctec in order to wreak their vengeance upon
any English captives they might find. They rushed upon their unfortunate victims
like bears bereaved of their whelps, saying, &ldquo;Shall we, who have lost our relations
by the English, suffer an English voice to be heard among us?&rdquo; The two captives
were brutally beaten and ill used and made to go through a variety of performances
for the amusement of their tormenters. Gyles says: &ldquo;They put a tomahawk
into my hands and ordered me to get up, sing and dance Indian, which I
performed with the greatest reluctance and while in the act seemed determined to
purchase my death by killing two or three of these monsters of cruelty, thinking it
impossible to survive the bloody treatment.... Not one of them showed
the least compassion, but I saw the tears run down plentifully on the cheeks of a
Frenchman who sat behind.&rdquo; The tortures were continued until the evening of
what Gyles might well call &ldquo;a very tedious day.&rdquo; Finally a couple of Indians threw
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span>
the two wretched men out of the big wigwam, where they had been tormented;
they crawled away on their hands and knees and were scarcely able to walk for
several days.</p>
<p>The experience of Gyles was, however, nothing in comparison with that of his
brother and another captive taken by the Indians at the same time as himself.
This unfortunate pair attempted to desert, but failed and were subjected to the
most horrible tortures and finally burned alive by the savages.</p>
<p>The people of the frontier settlements were now so on the alert that, although
the Indians roamed over the country like wolves, they were usually prepared to
meet them. Every little village had its block house and sentinels, and every
farmer worked in his fields with his musket at his side. Nevertheless tragic events
occasionally happened. In February, 1698, Captain Chubb, of Pemaquid notoriety,
and six others were killed by the Indians at Andover, several of the inhabitants
were captured and many houses burned; Major Frost was slain at Kittery and a
number of people at Wells; Major Marsh had a sharp fight near Pemaquid, in
which he lost twenty-five of his men, but succeeded in putting the savages to
rout. This was the last blood shed during King William&rsquo;s war. The Indians
were becoming weary of fighting and the peace of Ryswick deprived them of the
open assistance of their French allies. For a brief season peace reigned in Acadia.</p>
<p>The expedition under Church had interrupted the rebuilding of the fort at
St. John and shown the correctness of Villebon&rsquo;s prediction in a letter written to
the French minister in 1696 that it was impossible with the few men at his disposal
to attempt a work which, though easy to repair could not be completed as
quickly as the enemy could get ready to destroy it. In the same letter he speaks
of making plank near Fort Nachouac for the madriens, or gun platforms, of the
fort at Menagoueche. As there were mills at this time at Port Royal, it would
be possible from this incident to frame a theory that Villebon had a saw mill a
short distance up the Nashwaak, say at Marysville, but it is more probable the
planks were cut in saw pits by the soldiers of the garrison. The plan of the fort
at St. John was agreed on in 1698, and 3,000 livres granted for its construction.
Villebon paid his workmen 30 sous (about 30 cts.) a day, his laborers 20 sous, and
the soldiers 4 sous a day over their pay and a weekly allowance of 1 qr. lb. tobacco.
The walls of the fort were laid in clay and mortar, 24 pounders were placed
on the bastions and 36-pounders could be placed there three on each bastion.
By the end of the year Villebon was able to report the fort in a condition to do
honor to whoever should defend it. He had left Nachouac just as it was, leaving
only two men to see that nothing was spoiled by the savages.</p>
<p>A plan in the Marine Archives at Paris, made by Villieu in 1700, shows that
&ldquo;Fort de la Riviere de St. Jean,&rdquo; or Fort Menagoueche, was built at &ldquo;Old Fort
Site,&rdquo; behind Navy Island in Carleton. The general plan was the same as that of
Fort Nachouac, but it was considerably larger, nearly 200 feet square. Within
the enclosure were barracks for the soldiers, a residence for the governor with
small chapel adjoining it, a house for the officers of the garrison, lodgings for
the surgeon, gunner and armorer, a small prison and a well, and just outside the
gate were two bake-houses. The water supply of the fort seems always to have
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span>
been inadequate. The sieur des Goutins, who disliked Villebon, complains in a
letter of 23rd June, 1699, &ldquo;the Governor keeps the water within the fort for the
exclusive use of his kitchen and his mare, others being obliged to use snow-water,
often very dirty.&rdquo; Diereville, who visited St. John during his short stay in Acadia
describes the fort as &ldquo;built of earth, with four bastions fraised (or picketed) each
having six large guns.&rdquo; A new industry was now coming into existence, namely
the shipping of masts to France for the King&rsquo;s navy; Diereville sailed to France
in the Avenant &ldquo;a good King&rsquo;s ship,&rdquo; mounting 44 guns which had brought out
the ammunition and provisions that Placentia and the Fort on the River St. John
received annually. This ship took on board a number of fine masts that 14 carpenters
and mast makers in his majesty&rsquo;s service had manufactured at the River
St. John. The vessel left Acadia on the 6th of October and reached France in 33
days.</p>
<p>The period of Governor Villebon&rsquo;s residence at St. John was of about two
years&rsquo; duration. He died on the 5th July, 1700, and was buried near the fort.
The life of this devoted son of New France went out with the century and with
his death the seat of government of Acadia was again transferred to Port Royal.</p>
<p>Brouillan now succeeded to the command. He found the fort at St. John in
good order, as was to be expected, it having been just rebuilt, but in the opinion
of the new governor it was of little use for the glory of the King or for the
preservation of the country. He condemned the situation as being commanded
on one side by an island at the distance of a pistol shot, and on the other by
a height at the distance only of a hundred and odd fathoms (toises), and with a
very insufficient water supply. He therefore caused the fortifications to be razed,
demolished the houses, and carried away the guns and everything else of a portable
character to Port Royal. The inhabitants living on the River St. John were
left without protection and they seem almost without exception to have removed,
some to Quebec and others to Port Royal. The valley of the St. John was thus
left as deserted and desolate as it had been previous to the arrival of Champlain.
The Indian might wander at will among the ruins of forts and dwellings abandoned
to his care, or left to be converted into hiding places for the wild beasts
and wonder at the folly of the white man who had forsaken the finest river in all
Acadia with its wealth of forest and stream and its fertile lands awaiting the
hands of industry and thrift.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_VII_THE_BROTHERS_DAMOURS' id='CHAPTER_VII_THE_BROTHERS_DAMOURS'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The Brothers D&rsquo;Amours.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>Among the young adventurers who came to Acadia towards the close of the
seventeenth century were four brothers, sons of Mathieu d&rsquo;Amours<a name='FNanchor_0009' id='FNanchor_0009'></a><a href='#Footnote_0009' class='fnanchor'>[9]</a> of Quebec. The
father&rsquo;s political influence as a member of the Supreme Council enabled him to obtain
for each of his sons an extensive seigniory. That of Louis d&rsquo;Amours, the
eldest, included a tract of land of generous proportions at the Richibucto river; the
grant was issued September 20, 1684, but the seignior had already built there a fort
and two small houses, and for two years had been cultivating a piece of land. His
sojourn was brief, for in a year or two we find him living on the River St. John,
where his brothers Mathieu and Rene were settled and where they were not long
after joined by their brother Bernard.</p>
<p>As mentioned in a previous chapter, it was customary among the French noblesse
for each son to take a surname derived from some portion of the family
estate; accordingly the sons of Councillor d&rsquo;Amours figure in history as Louis
d&rsquo;Amours, sieur de Chauffours; Mathieu d&rsquo;Amours, sieur de Freneuse; Rene d&rsquo;Amours,
sieur de Clignancourt and Bernard d&rsquo;Amours, sieur de Plenne.</p>
<p>After his arrival at the River St. John, Louis d&rsquo;Amours fixed his abode on the
banks of the Jemseg and became the proprietor of the seigniory formerly owned
by the sieur de Soulanges. His brother, and nearest neighbor, Mathieu&rsquo;s seigniory
included all <a name='TC_16'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'the the'">the</ins> land &ldquo;between Gemisik and Nachouac,&rdquo; two leagues in depth
on each side of the river. The wives of Louis and Mathieu d&rsquo;Amours were sisters,
Marguerite and Louise Guyon of Quebec.</p>
<p>To Rene d&rsquo;Amours, sieur de Clignancourt, was granted a seigniory extending
from the Indian village of Medoctec to the &ldquo;longue sault.&rdquo; The longue sault was
probably the Meductic rapids twelve miles below the village of Medoctec, although
it may have been the Grand Falls eighty miles above. The sieur de Clignancourt
fixed his headquarters a few miles above Fredericton at or near Eccles Island, which
was formerly called &ldquo;Cleoncore&rdquo;&mdash;a corruption of Clignancourt. An old census shows
he lived in that vicinity in 1696, and this is confirmed by a statement in an official
report of the same year that he lived a league from Fort Nachouac. Rene d&rsquo;Amours
had an extensive trade with the Indians, he was unmarried and lived the life
of a typical &ldquo;coureur de bois.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Bernard d&rsquo;Amours, the youngest of the quartette, came to Acadia rather later
than his brothers and was granted a seigniory at Canibecachice (Kennebecasis), a
league and a half along each side of the river and two leagues in depth.<a name='FNanchor_0010' id='FNanchor_0010'></a><a href='#Footnote_0010' class='fnanchor'>[10]</a> He married
Jeanne le Borgne, and their son Alexander was baptized at Port Royal in
1702 by a Recollet missionary.</p>
<p>The brothers d&rsquo;Amours were in the prime of life when they came to Acadia; the
census of de Meulles taken in 1686 gives the age of Louis as 32 years and that of
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span>
Mathieu as 28. All the brothers engaged in hunting and trading with the Indians
and were in consequence disliked by Governor Villebon, who viewed them with a
jealous eye and mentions them in unfavorable terms in his official dispatches. Villebon&rsquo;s
hostility was no doubt intensified by a representation made to the French ministry
in 1692 by Louis d&rsquo;Amours that the Governor of Acadia, to advance his own
private fortune, engaged in trade, absolutely prohibited by his majesty, both with
the natives of the country and with the people of New England.</p>
<p>Frontenac and Champigny at this time filled the offices respectively of governor
and intendant (or lieutenant governor) of New France, and the king in his message
to them, dated at Versailles June 14, 1695, refers to matters on the River St. John
in the following terms:</p>
<p>&ldquo;His Majesty finds it necessary to speak on the subject of the grants obtained by
the Sieurs d&rsquo;Amours, which comprehend an immense tract of land along the River
St. John. It is commonly reported that since they have lived there they
have not engaged in clearing and cultivating their lands, that they have no
cattle nor any other employment than that of a miserable traffic exclusively with
the savages; and as his Majesty has been informed that the lands in those parts are
the best in the world, watered by large rivers and in a situation more temperate
and pleasant than other parts of Canada, the sieurs d&rsquo;Amours must be compelled to
establish themselves upon a better footing; and those people who are to have new
grants of land are directed to this part of Acadia where, as his Majesty is informed,
the sieurs d&rsquo;Amours pretend to have exclusive possession of about thirty leagues
of country.&rdquo;</p>
<p>That the sentiments of this royal message were inspired by Villebon is evident
from the tenor of the letters he addresses to the French ministry at this time. In
one of these he says of the brothers d&rsquo;Amours: &ldquo;They are four in number living on
the St. John river. They are given up to licentiousness and independence for the
ten or twelve years they have been here. They are disobedient and seditious and
require to be watched.&rdquo; In another communication he scornfully terms them &ldquo;the
pretended gentry&rdquo; (soi disant gentilhommes). Writing to the French minister the
next year he observes: &ldquo;I have no more reason, my lord, to be satisfied with the
sieurs d&rsquo;Amours than I previously had. The one who has come from France has
not pleased me more than the other two. Their minds are wholly spoiled by long
licentiousness and the manners they have acquired among the Indians, and they
must be watched closely as I had the honor to state to you last year.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Fortunately for the reputation of the brothers d&rsquo;Amours we have evidence that
places them in a more favorable light than does the testimony of Governor Villebon.
M. de Champigny, the intendant at Quebec, wrote to the French minister. &ldquo;The
sons of the sieur d&rsquo;Amours, member of the supreme council at Quebec, who are settled
on the River St. John, apply themselves chiefly to cultivating their lands and
raising cattle.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I sent you, my Lord, the census of their domain, which has been made by
Father Simon, the Recollet, who is missionary on the same river, in which you may
have every confidence, he being a very honest man. It is very unfortunate, my
lord, that any one should have informed you that they lead a licentious life with
the savages for I have reliable testimony that their conduct is very good. It
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span>
seems as if all who live in that locality are in a state of discord; the inhabitants
make great complaints against the Sieurs de Villebon and des Goutins. Some
who have come to Quebec say they are constantly so harrassed and oppressed
that if things are not put upon a better footing they will be compelled to
abandon the country.&rdquo;</p>
<p>That the inhabitants living on the river were turning their attention to agriculture
is shown by a communication to Frontenac or Champigny in 1696, in
which the writer, probably Villieu, says: &ldquo;I informed you last year, Monsieur,
by the memo that I did myself the honor to send you, that the inhabitants of this
river begin to cultivate their lands. I have since learned that they have raised
some grain. M. de Chouffours, who had sown so considerably last year, has not
received anything in return, the worms having eaten the seed in the ground; M.
de Freneuse, his brother, has harvested about 15 hogsheads of wheat and M. de
Clignancourt very little; M. Bellefontaine, about 5 hogsheads; the Sieur Martel
very little, as he has only begun to cultivate his land during the last two years;
the other inhabitants nothing at all, unless it is a little Indian corn. The Sieurs
d&rsquo;Amours, except the Sieur Clignancourt, have sown this year pretty considerably
of wheat and the Sieur Bellefontaine also, the Sieur Martel some rye and wheat
and much peas. The other inhabitants have sown some Indian corn, which would
have turned out well only they have sown too late on account of their land being
inundated.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Baron la Hontan visited Fort Nashouac about 1694. He describes the St.
John as &ldquo;a very pleasant river, adorned with fields that are very fertile in grain.&rdquo;
He says that two gentlemen of the name of d&rsquo;Amours have a settlement there for
beaver hunting.</p>
<p>The census made in 1695 by Simon, the French missionary, shows that there
were then ten families, numbering forty-nine persons, on the St. John river, besides
the garrison at Fort Nachouac. Their live stock included 38 cattle and
116 swine; there were 166 acres of land under cultivation and 73 in pasture; the
crop of that year included 130 bushels of wheat, 370 of corn, 30 of oats, 170 of
peas.</p>
<p>The testimony of John Gyles, who spent three years in the family of Louis
d&rsquo;Amours at the Jemseg, conclusively disproves Villebon&rsquo;s assertion that the
d&rsquo;Amours tilled no land and kept no cattle. He speaks of a fine wheat field owned
by his master, in which the blackbirds created great havoc and describes a
curious attempt made by a friar to exorcise the birds. A procession was formed,
headed by the friar, in his white robe with a young lad as his attendant
and some thirty people following. Gyles asked some of the prisoners, who had
lately been taken by privateers and brought to the Jemseg, whether they would
go back with him to witness the ceremony, but they emphatically refused to witness
it and when Gyles expressed his determination to go, one of them, named
Woodbury, said he was &ldquo;as bad as a papist and a d&mdash;d fool.&rdquo; The procession
passed and re-passed from end to end of the field with solemn words of exorcism
accompanied by the tinkling of a little bell, the blackbirds constantly rising before
them only to light behind them. &ldquo;At their return,&rdquo; says Gyles, &ldquo;I told a French
lad that the friar had done no service and recommended them to shoot the birds.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span>
The lad left me, as I thought, to see what the friar would say to my observation,
which turned out to be the case, for he told the lad that the sins of the people
were so great that he could not prevail against those birds.&rdquo;</p>
<p>A story analogous to this is related in Dr. Samuel Peters&rsquo; history of Connecticut,
of the celebrated George Whitefield, the New England Independent minister
and revivalist: &ldquo;Time not having destroyed the wall of the fort at Saybrooke,
Whitefield, in 1740, attempted to bring down the wall as Joshua did those of
Jericho, hoping thereby to convince the multitude of his divine mission. He walked
seven times around the fort with prayer and ram&rsquo;s horn blowing, he called on
the angel of Joshua to do as he had done at the walls of Jericho; but the angel
was deaf to his call and the wall remained. Thereupon George cried aloud: &lsquo;This
town is accursed and the wall shall stand as a monument of a sinful people!&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>Mathieu d&rsquo;Amours, Sieur de Freneuse, seems to have thought seriously of leaving
the St. John river on account of the difficulties and discouragements of his situation,
for on the 6th August, 1696, he made out to one Michel Chartier, of Schoodic,
in Acadia, a lease of his seignioral manor of Freneuse, consisting of 30 arpents
(acres) of arable land under the plough, meadow, forest and undergrowth, with
houses, barns and stables thereon, a cart and plough rigged ready for work; also
all the oxen, cows, bullocks, goats, pigs, poultry, furniture and household utensils
that might remain from the sale which he proposed to make. Chartier was
to enjoy the right of trade with the Indians through the whole extent of the
manor except where lands had been granted by the Sieur de Freneuse to private
individuals. The lease was to be for a term of five years beginning with the
first day of May following, and the lessee was to pay the Sieur de Freneuse 600
livres annually, half in money and half in small furs, such as beaver, otter and
martins.</p>
<p>It is not likely that this transaction was ever consummated, for less than three
months after the lease was arranged and six months before Chartier was to take
possession, all the buildings of the Sieur de Freneuse were burned, his cattle destroyed
and his fields laid waste by Hawthorne&rsquo;s expedition returning from their
unsuccessful seige of Fort Nachouac. The original lease, a very interesting document,
is now in possession of Dr. W. F. Ganong and a fac-simile of the signature
of the Sieur de Freneuse is here given.<a name='FNanchor_0011' id='FNanchor_0011'></a><a href='#Footnote_0011' class='fnanchor'>[11]</a></p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_7' id='linki_7'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i064.png' alt='' title='' width='300' height='125' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Signature of Sieur de Freneuse<br />
</p>
</div>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span></div>
<p>The seigniory included both sides of the St. John river in Sunbury county, and
the most fertile portions of the parishes of Maugerville, Sheffield, Burton and
Lincoln. The name Freneuse is found in most of the maps of that region down
to the time of the American Revolution. The residence of the Sieur de Freneuse
stood on the east bank of the St. John opposite the mouth of the Oromocto
river.</p>
<p>Mathieu d&rsquo;Amours, as already stated, died in consequence of exposure at the
siege of Fort Nachouac. Sixty years later the lands he had cleared and tilled and
the site of his residence were transferred to the hands of the first English settlers
on the river, the Maugerville colony of 1763. His widow, Madame Louise Guyon,
went to Port Royal, where her indiscretion created a sensation that resulted in
voluminous correspondence on the part of the authorities and finally led to her removal
to Quebec.</p>
<p>Rene d&rsquo;Amours, during his sojourn on the River St. John, was much engrossed
in trade with the natives. He made periodical visits to their villages and was well
known at Medoctec, where Gyles lived as a captive, and it is not unlikely the
Frenchmen living at that village were his retainers. He seems to have made little
or no attempt to fulfil the conditions necessary to retain possession of his seignioral
manor, for to his mind the charms of hunting and trading surpassed those of
farming. His visits to Medoctec to purchase furs and skins when the Indians had
returned from their winter hunts were of doubtful advantage to the poor savages,
for Gyles tells us that &ldquo;when they came in from hunting they would be drunk
and fight for several days and nights together, till they had spent most of their
skins in wine and brandy, which was brought to the village by a Frenchman called
Monsieur Sigenioncor&rdquo; (Clignancourt).</p>
<p>The latter portion of the narrative of John Gyles throws light on the course of
events on the St. John during Villebon&rsquo;s regime, and supplies us with a particularly
interesting glimpse of domestic life in the home of Louis d&rsquo;Amours on the banks of
the Jemseg, where Gyles spent the happiest years of his captivity. The wife of the
Sieur de Chauffours, Marguerite Guyon<a name='FNanchor_0012' id='FNanchor_0012'></a><a href='#Footnote_0012' class='fnanchor'>[12]</a>, appears in an especially amiable light. Her
lonely situation and rude surroundings, the perils of the wilderness and of savage
war, amidst which her little children were born, evoke our sympathy. Her goodness
of heart is seen in her motherly kindness to Gyles, the young stranger of an alien
race&mdash;the &ldquo;little English,&rdquo; as she calls him. But with all her amiability and gentleness
she possessed other and stronger qualities, and it was her woman&rsquo;s wit and
readiness of resource that saved her husband&rsquo;s fortunes in a grave emergency. The
story shall be told in Gyles&rsquo; own words.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When about six years of my doleful captivity had passed, my second Indian
master died, whose squaw and my first Indian disputed whose slave I should be.
Some malicious persons advised them to end the quarrel by putting a period to my
life; but honest father Simon, the priest of the river, told them that it would be
a heinous crime and advised them to sell me to the French.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The suggestion of father Simon was adopted and Gyles, now in his sixteenth
year, went with the missionary and the Indians to the mouth of the river, the occasion
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span>
of their journey being the arrival of a French man-of-war at Menagoueche with
supplies for the garrison and presents for the Indians.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My master asked me,&rdquo; continues Gyles, &ldquo;whether I chose to be sold aboard the
man-of-war or to the inhabitants? I replied with tears, I should be glad if you
would sell me to the English from whom you took me, but if I must be sold to the
French, I chose to be sold to the lowest on the river, or nearest inhabitant to the
sea, about 25 leagues from the mouth of the river; for I thought that if I were sold
to the gentlemen aboard the man-of-war I should never return to the English. * *
My master presently went on shore and a few days after all the Indians went up the
river. When we came to a house which I had spoken to my master about, he went
on shore with me and tarried all night. The master of the house (Louis d&rsquo;Amours)
spoke kindly to me in Indian, for I could not then speak one word of French. Madam
also looked pleasant on me and gave me some bread. The next day I was sent
six leagues further up the river to another French house. My master and the friar
tarried with Monsieur De Chauffours, the gentleman who had entertained us the night
before. Not long after father Simon came and said, &lsquo;Now you are one of us, for
you are sold to that gentleman by whom you were entertained the other night.&rsquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I replied, &lsquo;Sold!&mdash;to a Frenchman!&rsquo; I could say no more, but went into the
woods alone and wept till I could scarce see or stand. The word &lsquo;sold,&rsquo; and that to
a people of that persuasion which my dear mother so much detested and in her last
words manifested so great fears of my falling into; the thought almost broke my
heart.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When I had thus given vent to my grief I wiped my eyes, endeavoring to conceal
its effects, but father Simon perceiving my eyes swollen, rolled me aside bidding
me not to grieve, for the gentleman he said to whom I was sold was of a good
humor; that he had formerly bought two captives of the Indians who both went
home to Boston. This in some measure revived me; but he added he did not suppose
that I would ever incline to go to the English for the French way of worship was
much to be preferred. He said also he would pass that way in about ten days, and
if I did not like to live with the French better than the Indians he would buy me
again.</p>
<p>&ldquo;On the day following, father Simon and my Indian master went up the river
six and thirty leagues to their chief village and I went down the river six leagues
with two Frenchmen to my new master. He kindly received me, and in a few days
Madam made me an osnaburg shirt and French cap and a coat out of one of my
master&rsquo;s old coats. Then I threw away my greasy blanket and Indian flap; and I
never more saw the old friar, the Indian village or my Indian master till about
fourteen years after when I saw my old Indian master at Port Royal, and again about
twenty-four years since he came from St. John to Fort George to see me where I
made him very welcome.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My French master had a great trade with the Indians, which suited me very
well, I being thorough in the language of the tribes at Cape Sable<a name='FNanchor_0013' id='FNanchor_0013'></a><a href='#Footnote_0013' class='fnanchor'>[13]</a> and St. John.
I had not lived long with this gentleman before he committed to me the keys of
his store, etc., and my whole employment was trading and hunting, in which I acted
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span>
faithfully for my master and never knowingly wronged him to the value of one
farthing. They spoke to me so much in Indian that it was some time before I was
perfect in the French tongue.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It was in the summer of the year 1695 that John Gyles was purchased of the
Indians by Louis d&rsquo;Amours, having been nearly six years in captivity at the
Medoctec village. The strong prejudice against the French instilled into his mind
by his mother, who was a devout puritan, was soon overcome by the kindness of
Marguerite d&rsquo;Amours.</p>
<p>The goods needed by the Sieur de Chauffours for his trade with the Indians
were obtained from the man-of-war which came out annually from France, and
Gyles was sometimes sent with the Frenchmen in his master&rsquo;s employ to the
mouth of the river for supplies. On one of these trips, in the early spring time,
the party in their frail canoes were caught in a violent storm as they were coming
down the Kennebeccasis&mdash;having crossed over thither from Long Reach by way
of Kingston Creek, the usual route of travel. They were driven on Long Island
opposite Rothesay and remained there seven days without food, unable to return
by reason of the northeast gale and unable to advance on account of the ice. At
the expiration of that time the ice broke up and they were able to proceed, but
in so exhausted a state that they could &ldquo;scarce hear each other speak.&rdquo; After their
arrival at St. John, two of the party very nearly died in consequence of eating
too heartily, but Gyles had had such ample experience of fasting in his Indian
life that he had learned wisdom, and by careful dieting suffered no evil consequences.</p>
<p>In the month of October, 1696, the quietude of the household at the Jemseg
was disturbed by the appearance of the Massachusetts military expedition under
Hawthorne and Church.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We heard of them,&rdquo; says Gyles, &ldquo;some time before they came up the river
by the guard that Governor Villebon had ordered at the river&rsquo;s mouth. Monsieur
the gentleman whom I lived with was gone to France, and Madam advised with
me; she then desired me to nail a paper on the door of our house containing
as follows:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&lsquo;I intreat the General of the English not to burn my House or Barn, nor
destroy my Cattle. I don&rsquo;t suppose that such an army comes up this River to
destroy a few Inhabitants but for the Fort above us. I have shewn kindness to
the English captives as we were capacitated and have bought two Captives of the
Indians and sent them to Boston, and have one now with us and he shall go also
when a convenient opportunity presents and he desires it.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;This done, Madam said to me, &lsquo;Little English; we have shewn you kindness
and now it lies in your power to serve or disserve us, as you know where our
goods are hid in the woods and that Monsieur is not at home. I could have sent
you to the Fort and put you under confinement, but my respect for you and assurance
of your love to us have disposed me to confide in you, persuaded that you
will not hurt us nor our affairs. And now if you will not run away to the English,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span>
who are coming up the river, but serve our interest I will acquaint Monsieur
of it at his return from France which will be very pleasing to him; and I now
give my word that you shall have liberty to go to Boston on the first opportunity,
if you desire it, or that any other favor in my power shall not be deny&rsquo;d
you.&rsquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I replied:&mdash;&lsquo;Madam, it is contrary to the nature of the English to requite evil
for good. I shall endeavor to serve you and your interest. I shall not run to
the English; but if I am taken by them shall willingly go with them and yet
endeavor not to disserve you either in your persons or goods.&rsquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;This said we embarked and went in a large boat and canoe two or three
miles up an eastern branch of the river that comes from a large pond [Grand
Lake] and in the evening sent down four hands to make discovery; and while
they were sitting in the house the English surrounded it and took one of the
four; the other three made their escape in the dark through the English soldiers
and came to us and gave a surprising account of affairs.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Again Madam said to me, &lsquo;Little English, now you can go from us, but I
hope you will remember your word!&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;Madam, be not concerned, for I will
not leave you in this strait.&rsquo; She said &lsquo;I know not what to do with my two poor
little Babes.&rsquo; I said &lsquo;Madam, the sooner we embark and go over the great Pond
the better.&rsquo; Accordingly we embarked and went over the Pond.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The next day we spake with Indians, who were in a canoe and gave us an account
that Chignecto-town was taken and burnt. Soon after we heard the great
guns at Governor Villebon&rsquo;s fort, which the English engaged several days, killed
one man, and drew off and went down the river; for it was so late in the fall
that had they tarried a few days longer in the river, they would have been frozen
in for the winter.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Hearing no report of the great guns for several days, I, with two others,
went down to our house to make discovery, where we found our young lad who
was taken by the English when they went up the river; for the general was so
honorable that, on reading the note on our door, he ordered that the house and
barn should not be burnt nor their cattle or other creatures killed, except one
or two, and the poultry for their use, and at their return ordered the young lad
to be put ashore.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Finding things in this posture, we returned and gave Madam an account. She
acknowledged the many favors which the English had shown, with gratitude,
and treated me with great civility. The next spring Monsieur arrived from France
in the man-of-war, who thanked me for my care of his affairs, and said that he
would endeavor to fulfil what Madam had promised me.&rdquo;</p>
<p>At the expiration of another year, peace having been proclaimed, a sloop came
to Menagoueche with ransom for one Michael Coombs, and Gyles at once reminded
the Sieur de Chauffours of his promise. That gentleman advised him to remain,
offering to do for him as if he were his own child, but Gyles&rsquo; heart was set
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span>
upon going to Boston, hoping to find some of his relations yet alive. His master
then advised him to go up to the fort and take leave of the Governor, which he
did, and says the Sieur de Villebon spoke
very kindly to him. Some days after he
took an affecting leave of <a name='TC_17'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Mademe">Madame</ins>
d&rsquo;Amours and his master went down to
the mouth of the river with him to see
him on board. A few days afterwards he
arrived safely in Boston and was welcomed
by his relatives as one risen from the
dead.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_8' id='linki_8'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i069.png' alt='' title='' width='300' height='113' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Signature of John Gyles<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>After Villebon&rsquo;s death his successor, de Brouillan, dismantled Fort Nachouac
and the fort at the mouth of the St. John river and transferred the garrisons to
Port Royal. The French families living on the river soon followed, as they
found themselves without protection and did not care to remain in a situation
so exposed. The houses abandoned by these settlers had been built upon the interval
lands on the east side of the river between the Nashwaak and the Jemseg.
The soil was very fertile, entirely free from rock or stone and little incumbered
by forest. But the situation had its disadvantages&mdash;as it has still. In the
spring of the year 1701 the settlers had a most unhappy experience in consequence
of an extraordinarily high freshet. This event increased Brouillan&rsquo;s aversion
to the St. John, and he writes:</p>
<p>&ldquo;The river is altogether impracticable for habitations, the little the people had
there being destroyed this year by the freshets (inondations) which have carried
off houses, cattle and grain. There is no probability that any families will desire
to expose themselves hereafter to a thing so vexatious and so common on
that river. Monsieur De Chauffours, who used to be the mainstay of the inhabitants
and the savages, has been forced to abandon it and to withdraw to Port Royal,
but he has no way to make a living there for his family, and he will unhappily
be forced to seek some other retreat if the Court pays no consideration to the services
which he represents in his petition, and does not grant him some position
in order to retain him in this colony.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The next year France and England were again at war and in the course of
the conflict the <a name='TC_18'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'fourtunes'">fortunes</ins> of the d&rsquo;Amours in Acadia were involved in utter ruin.
The gentle spirit of Marguerite Guyon d&rsquo;Amours did not survive the struggle, and
with the close of the century she passed from the scene of her trials. Louis
d&rsquo;Amours, while serving his country in arms, was taken by the English, and for
more than two years remained a prisoner in Boston. His brother, the Sieur
de Clignancourt, served in various expeditions against the New Englanders and for
several years is heard of in connection with military affairs. Eventually most of
the surviving members of the d&rsquo;Amours family removed from Acadia leaving behind
them no abiding record of their sojourn on the St. John river.</p>
<p>Two of the daughters of Louis d&rsquo;Amours were married at Port Royal while
very young. Perhaps they possessed their mother&rsquo;s winsome manners, perhaps, also
the scarcity of marriageable girls in Acadia may have had something to do with
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span>
the matter; at any rate Charlotte d&rsquo;Amours was but seventeen years of age when she
married the young baron, Anselm de St. Castin. Their wedding took place at
Port Royal in October, 1707, just two months after young St. Castin had greatly
distinguished himself in the heroic and successful defense of Port Royal against an
expedition from New England.<a name='FNanchor_0014' id='FNanchor_0014'></a><a href='#Footnote_0014' class='fnanchor'>[14]</a> The event no doubt caused a flutter of excitement
in the then limited society of Port Royal. The officiating priest was Father Antoine
Gaulin, of the Seminary of Quebec, at which institution the young baron had
finished his studies only three years before. Among the witnesses of the marriage
were the Chevalier de Subercase, governor of Acadia; Bonaventure, who had
for some years rendered signal service as commander of the &ldquo;Envieux&rdquo; and other
warships; Mon. de la Boularderie, a French officer who had been wounded in the
recent siege, and the bride&rsquo;s farther, Louis d&rsquo;Amours&mdash;who, signs his name D&rsquo;Amour
D&rsquo;Echofour.</p>
<p>A few years later the Marquis de Vaudreuil entrusted to St. Castin the command
of Acadia. After the treaty of Utrecht he retired to his ancestral residence
on the banks of the Penobscot, where he lived on amicable terms with the English
and kept the Penobscot Indians from making encroachments on their neighbors.
His sister, Ursule de St. Castin, married his wife&rsquo;s brother, a son of Louis d&rsquo;Amours,
a circumstance of interest not only as being a double marriage between the
families of St. Castin and d&rsquo;Amours, but also from the fact that the familiar titles
of the d&rsquo;Amours family seem to have been retained in this, the oldest branch of
their family. In proof of this fact, the distinguished Acadian genealogist, Placid P.
Gaudet, has shown that among the Acadians residing at the Islands of St. Pierre
and Miquelon in 1767 (according to the census of that year), were Ursule de St.
Castin, widow of the only son of Louis d&rsquo;Amours, then 71 year of age, who resided
with her son Joseph d&rsquo;Amours, deChauffour, and his family. Joseph
d&rsquo;Amours was at that time 49 years of age, and his wife, Genevieve Roy, 44 years
of age. They had seven children and the oldest sons were Joseph d&rsquo;Amours, aged
19 years; Paul d&rsquo;Amours de Freneuse, aged 16 years, and Louis d&rsquo;Amours de Clignancourt,
aged 13 years. As the father himself retained the title of de Chauffours
it is evident that on his decease it would fall to his oldest son, Joseph.</p>
<p>Marie d&rsquo;Amours, sister of the young Baroness de St. Castin, married Pierre
de Morpain, the commander of a privateer of St. Domingo. It chanced that he
had just brought a ship load of provisions to Port Royal when it was attacked
in 1707, and he was able to render good service in its defence. Two years afterwards
he was again at Port Royal and in the course of a ten days&rsquo; cruise took
nine prizes and destroyed four more vessels. Being attacked by a coast-guard ship
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span>
of Boston a furious engagement ensued in which the English captain was killed
with one hundred of his men and his vessel made a prize and taken to Port Royal.
The commander, Subercase, highly commended Morpain&rsquo;s bravery and persuaded
him to remain at Port Royal where, on August 13, 1709, he married Marie d&rsquo;Amours
de Chauffours.</p>
<p>Louis d&rsquo;Amours, Sieur de Chauffours, returned to Port Royal in 1706 after a two
years captivity at Boston. On the 17th January, 1708, only a few weeks after the
marriage of his daughter to St. Castin, he took to himself a wife in the person of
Anne Comeau. The marriage was witnessed by Governor Subercase and other officials
at Port Royal, also by his daughter Charlotte and her husband, the Baron de
St. Castin, and by the widow of his brother the Sieur de Freneuse. It seems
probable that his health had suffered through his long imprisonment, for very
shortly after his second marriage he was stricken with an illness which proved fatal.
The Recollet missionary, Justinien Durad, records in his parish register the burial
in the cemetery of St. Jean Baptiste at Port Royal on May 19, 1708, of &ldquo;Louis
d&rsquo;Amour d&rsquo;Echauffour, aged not far from sixty years [should be 54 years], after an
illness of three months, during which he received the sacraments with great edification.&rdquo;
And this brings us to the last incident in the romantic story of the brothers
d&rsquo;Amours.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_VIII_THE_OLD_MEDOCTEC_FORT' id='CHAPTER_VIII_THE_OLD_MEDOCTEC_FORT'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The Old Medoctec Fort</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>Twelve miles below the town of Woodstock there enters the River St. John,
from the westward, a good sized tributary known as Eel River. It is a variable
stream, flowing in the upper reaches with feeble current, over sandy shallows, with
here and there deep pools, and at certain seasons almost lake-like expansions over
adjoining swamps, but in the last twelve miles of its course it is transformed into
a turbulent stream, broken by rapids and falls to such an extent that only at the
freshet season is it possible to descend in canoes. The Indian name of Eel River
is &ldquo;Madawamkeetook,&rdquo; signifying &ldquo;rocky at its mouth.&rdquo;</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_9' id='linki_9'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i072.png' alt='' title='' width='500' height='374' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Plan of Old Medoctec Village<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>The Medoctec Fort stood on the west bank of the St. John four miles above
the mouth of Eel River. It guarded the eastern extremity of the famous portage,
five miles in length, by which canoes were carried in order to avoid the rapids
that obstruct the lower part of Eel River. The rivers were nature&rsquo;s highway for
the aboriginal inhabitants and a glance at the map will show that Madawamkeetook,
or Eel River, formed a very important link in the chain of communication
with the western portion of ancient Acadie by means of the inland waters.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span></div>
<p>In early days the three principal villages of the Maliseets were Medoctec on
the St. John, Panagamsde on the Penobscot and Narantsouak on the Kennebec.
In travelling from Medoctec to the westward the Indians passed from the lakes
at the head of Eel River, by a short portage, to the chain of lakes at the head
of the St. Croix from which there was communication by another short portage
with the Mattawamkeag, an eastern branch of the Penobscot. In the course of
the stirring events of the war-period in Acadia the Indian braves and their French
allies made constant use of this route, and the Medoctec village became a natural
rendezvous whenever anything of a warlike nature was afoot on the St. John.
But Medoctec possessed many local advantages; the hunting in the vicinity was
excellent, the rivers abounded in salmon, sturgeon, bass, trout and other fish, and
the intervals were admirably adapted to the growth of Indian corn&mdash;which seems
to have been raised there from time immemorial.</p>
<p>The reader by examining the accompanying plan will have a better idea of the
situation of the old fort.</p>
<p>The site of this ancient Maliseet town is a fine plateau extending back from
the river about fifty rods, then descending to a lower interval, twenty rods wide,
and again rising quite abruptly sixty or seventy feet to the upland. The spring
freshet usually covers the lower interval and the elevated plateau then becomes an
island. The spot is an exceedingly interesting one, but, unfortunately for the investigator,
the soil has been so well cultivated by the hands of thrifty farmers that
little remains to indicate the outlines of the old fortifications. It is impossible to
determine with absolute certainty the position of the stockade, or of the large wigwam,
or council chamber, and other features commonly found in Indian towns of
that period. The only place where the old breast-work is visible is along the
south and east sides of the burial ground, where it is about two feet high. The
burial ground has never been disturbed with the plough, the owners of the property
having shown a proper regard for the spot as the resting place of the dead. It is,
however, so thickly overgrown with hawthorn as to be a perfect jungle difficult
to penetrate. Many holes have been dug there by relic hunters and seekers of
buried treasure.</p>
<p>At the spot marked A* on the plan, between the grave-yard and the river, there
is a mass of ashes and cinders with numberless bones scattered about. This is believed
to be the site of the old council fire. Here the visitor will find himself in
touch with the events of savage life of centuries ago. Here it was Governor Villebon
harangued his dusky allies; here the horrible dog feast was held and the hatchet
brandished by the warriors on the eve of their departure to deluge with blood the
homes of New England; here at the stake the luckless captive yielded up his life
and chanted his death-song; here the Sieur de Clignancourt bargained with the Indians,
receiving their furs and peltry and giving in exchange French goods and
trinkets, rum and brandy; here good Father Simon taught the savages the elements
of the Christian faith and tamed as best he could the fierceness of their manners;
here too when weary of fighting the hatchet was buried and the council fire glowed
its brightest as the chiefs smoked their calumet of peace.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span></div>
<p>Some have supposed the old Medoctec fort to have been quite an elaborate
structure, with bastions, etc., but it was more probably only a rude Indian fortification
with ditch and parapet surmounted by a stockade, within which was a
strongly built cabin, in size about thirty by forty feet. Parkman in his &ldquo;Jesuits in
North America,&rdquo; gives a good description of similar forts built by the Hurons and
other tribes of Canada. The labor originally involved in the erection of the palisade
must have been very great, and nothing but stern necessity is likely to have
driven so naturally improvident a people to undertake it. The stout stakes were cut,
pointed and firmly planted with no better implement than the stone axe of prehistoric
times.</p>
<p>In the lower right hand corner of the plan will be found the spring referred
to in the opening chapter<a name='FNanchor_0015' id='FNanchor_0015'></a><a href='#Footnote_0015' class='fnanchor'>[15]</a> as the scene of the ludicrous Mohawk scare. Its distance
from the old fort is about half a mile, and the situation and surroundings correspond
so exactly with Gyles&rsquo; description that there is not the slightest doubt as
to its identity. The water that flows from it never fails and is very clear and
cool.</p>
<p>At the back of the lower interval is a curious gully, something like a broad natural
roadway, which affords an easy ascent to the upland. This no doubt was the
commencement of the famous portage by which bands of savages in ancient days took
their way westward to devastate the settlements of eastern New England.</p>
<p>The small stream which enters the St. John a little above the old village site is
known as Hay&rsquo;s Creek, but in some of the early maps and land grants is called &ldquo;Meductic
river.&rdquo; About a mile from its mouth there is a very beautiful cascade; the
volume of water is not large but the height of the fall, 95 feet perpendicular, is remarkable,
surpassing by at least ten feet the Grand Falls of the River St. John.</p>
<p>Our knowledge of the village Medoctec, and the ways of its people two centuries
ago, is derived mainly from the narrative of John Gyles, the English lad who was
captured at Pemaquid in 1689 and brought by his Indian master to the River St.
John. At the time of his capture Gyles was a boy of about twelve years of age.
He seems to have met with kindly treatment from his master though not from all
the Indians. His first rude experience was at Penobscot fort where upon the arrival
of the captives, some fifty in number, the squaws got together in a circle dancing
and yelling, as was their custom on such occasions. Gyles says, &ldquo;An old grimace
squaw took me by the hand and leading me into the ring, some seized me by my hair
and others by my feet, like so many furies; but, my master laying down a pledge,
they released me. A captive among the Indians is exposed to all manner of abuses
and to the extremest tortures, unless their master, or some of their master&rsquo;s relatives
lay down a ransom, such as a bag of corn, a blanket, or the like, which redeems
them from their cruelty for that dance.&rdquo;</p>
<p>After a long and wearisome journey the little captive at length neared his destination,
the canoes were paddling down the Madawamkeetook (or Eel) river. When
they reached the rapids they landed, and we shall let Gyles tell in his own words
the story of the last stage of his journey and of his reception at Medoctec. He says:
&ldquo;We carried over a long carrying place to Medoctock Fort, which stands on a bank
of St. John&rsquo;s river. My Indian master went before and left me with an old Indian
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span>
and three squaws. The old man often said (which was all the English he could
speak), &lsquo;By and by come to a great Town and Fort.&rsquo; So I comforted myself in
thinking how finely I should be refreshed when I came to this great town.</p>
<p>&ldquo;After some miles travel we came in sight of a large Corn-field and soon after
of the Fort, to my great surprise; for two or three squaws met us, took off my
pack, and led me to a large hut or wigwam, where thirty or forty Indians were
dancing and yelling round five or six poor captives. * * I was whirled in among
them and we looked at each other with a sorrowful countenance; and presently one
of them was seized by each hand and foot by four Indians, who swung him up
and let his back with force fall on the hard ground, till they had danced (as they
call it) round the whole wigwam, which was thirty or forty feet in length. * *</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Indians looked on me with a fierce countenance, as much as to say it will
be your turn next. They champed cornstalks, which they threw into my hat as I
held it in my hand. I smiled on them though my heart ached. I looked on one and
another, but could not perceive that any eye pitied me. Presently came a squaw
and a little girl and laid down a bag of corn in the ring. The little girl took me by
the hand, making signs for me to come out of the circle with them. Not knowing
their custom, I supposed they designed to kill me and refused to go. Then a grave
Indian came and gave me a pipe and said in English, &lsquo;Smoke it,&rsquo; then he took me
by the hand and led me out. My heart ached, thinking myself near my end. But
he carried me to a French hut about a mile from the Indian Fort. The Frenchman
was not at home, but his wife, who was a squaw, had some discourse with my Indian
friend, which I did not understand. We tarried there about two hours, then
returned to the Indian village, where they gave me some victuals. Not long after
I saw one of my fellow-captives who gave me a melancholy account of their sufferings
after I left them.</p>
<p>&ldquo;After some weeks had passed,&rdquo; Gyles continues, &ldquo;we left this village and
went up St. John&rsquo;s river about ten miles to a branch called Medockscenecasis, where
there was one wigwam. At our arrival an old squaw saluted me with a yell, taking
me by the hair and one hand, but I was so rude as to break her hold and free
myself. She gave me a filthy grin, and the Indians set up a laugh and so it passed
over. Here we lived on fish, wild grapes, roots, etc., which was hard living for
me.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Where the one wigwam stood in 1689, there stands today a town of 4,000 people.
The stream which Gyles calls Medockscenecasis is the Meduxnakik and the
town is Woodstock. On the islands and intervals there, wild grapes and lily roots,
butter-nuts and cherries are still to be found, and many generations of boys have
wandered with light hearts in quest of them without a thought of the first of white
boys, who in loneliness and friendlessness trod those intervals more than two hundred
years ago.</p>
<p>It seems to have been the custom of the Indians at the beginning of the winter
to break up into small parties for the purpose of hunting, and Gyles&rsquo; description of
his first winter&rsquo;s experience will serve to illustrate the hardships commonly endured
by the savages.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span></div>
<p>&ldquo;When the winter came on,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;we went up the river, till the ice came
down running thick in the river, when, according to the Indian custom, we laid up
our canoes till spring. Then we traveled, sometimes on the ice and sometimes on
land, till we came to a river that was open but not fordable, where we made a
raft and passed over, bag and baggage. I met with no abuse from them in this
winter&rsquo;s hunting, though I was put to great hardships in carrying burdens and for
want of food. But they underwent the same difficulty, and would often encourage
me by saying in broken English, &lsquo;By and by great deal moose!&rsquo; Yet they could
not answer any question I asked them; and knowing very little of their customs and
ways of life, I thought it tedious to be constantly moving from place to place, yet
it might be in some respects an advantage, for it ran still in my mind that we were
traveling to some settlement; and when my burden was over heavy, and the Indians
left me behind, and the still evening came on, I fancied I could see thro&rsquo; the
bushes and hear the people of some great town; which hope might be some support
to me in the day, though I found not the town at night.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Thus we were hunting three hundred miles from the sea and knew no man
within fifty or sixty miles of us. We were eight or ten in number, and had but two
guns on which we wholly depended for food. If any disaster had happened we
must all have perished. Sometimes we had no manner of sustenance for three or
four days; but God wonderfully provides for all creatures. * * *</p>
<p>&ldquo;We moved still farther up the country after the moose when our store gave
out; so that by the spring we had got to the northward of the Lady Mountains
[near the St. Lawrence]. When the spring came and the rivers broke up we moved
back to the head of St. John&rsquo;s river and there made canoes of moose hides, sewing
three or four together and pitching the seams with balsam mixed with charcoal.
Then we went down the river to a place called Madawescok. There an old man
lived and kept a sort of a trading house, where we tarried several days; then we
went further down the river till we came to the greatest falls in these parts, called
Checanekepeag<a name='FNanchor_0016' id='FNanchor_0016'></a><a href='#Footnote_0016' class='fnanchor'>[16]</a>, where we carried a little way over land, and putting off our
canoes we went down stream still, and as we passed the mouths of any large
branches we saw Indians, but when any dance was proposed I was bought off.</p>
<p>&ldquo;At length we arrived at the place where we left our canoes in the fall and,
putting our baggage into them, went down to the fort. There we planted corn, and
after planting went a fishing and to look for and dig roots till the corn was fit to
weed. After weeding we took a second tour on foot on the same errand, then returned
to hill up our corn. After hilling we went some distance from the fort
and field up the river to take salmon and other fish, which we dried for food,
where we continued till the corn was filled with milk; some of it we dried then,
the other as it ripened.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The statement has been made by the author in the opening chapter that exaggerated
ideas have prevailed concerning the number of Indians who formerly inhabited
this country. The natives of Acadia were not a prolific race and the life
they led was so full of danger and exposure, particularly in the winter season, as
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span>
not to be conducive to longevity. An instance of the dangers to which the Indians
were exposed in their winter hunting is related by Gyles which very nearly proved
fatal to him.</p>
<p>&ldquo;One winter,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;as we were moving from place to place our hunters
killed some moose. One lying some miles from our wigwams, a young Indian and
myself were ordered to fetch part of it. We set out in the morning when the
weather was promising, but it proved a very cold cloudy day.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It was late in the evening before we arrived at the place where the moose
lay, so that we had no time to provide materials for a fire or shelter. At the same
time came on a storm of snow very thick which continued until the next morning.
We made a small fire with what little rubbish we could find around us. The fire
with the warmth of our bodies melted the snow upon us as fast as it fell and so
our clothes were filled with water. However, early <a name='TC_19'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'in in'">in</ins> the morning we took our
loads of moose flesh, and set out to return to our wigwams. We had not travelled
far before my moose-skin coat (which was the only garment I had on my back, and
the hair chiefly worn off) was frozen stiff round my knees, like a hoop, as were my
snow-shoes and shoe clouts to my feet. Thus I marched the whole day without
fire or food. At first I was in great pain, then my flesh became numb, and at times
I felt extremely sick and thought I could not travel one foot farther; but I wonderfully
revived again. After long travelling I felt very drowsy, and had thoughts
of sitting down, which had I done, without doubt I had fallen on my final sleep.
My Indian companion, being better clothed, had left me long before. Again my
spirits revived as much as if I had received the richest cordial.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Some hours after sunset I reached the wigwam, and crawling in with my
snow-shoes on, the Indians cried out, &lsquo;The captive is frozen to death!&rsquo; They took
off my pack and the place where that lay against my back was the only one that
was not frozen. They cut off my snow-shoes and stripped off the clouts from my feet,
which were as void of feeling as any frozen flesh could be.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I had not sat long by the fire before the blood began to circulate and my
feet to my ankles turned black and swelled with bloody blisters and were inexpressibly
painful. The Indians said one to another: &lsquo;His feet will rot, and he will
die;&rsquo; yet I slept well at night. Soon after the skin came off my feet from my ankles
whole, like a shoe, leaving my toes without a nail and the ends of my great toe
bones bare.... The Indians gave me rags to bind up my feet and advised me to
apply fir balsam, but withal added that they believed it was not worth while to use
means for I should certainly die. But by the use of my elbows and a stick in each
hand I shoved myself along as I sat upon the ground over the snow from one tree
to another till I got some balsam. This I burned in a clam shell till it was of a consistence
like salve, which I applied to my feet and ankles and, by the divine blessing,
within a week I could go about upon my heels with my staff; and through
God&rsquo;s goodness we had provisions enough, so that we did not remove under ten or
fifteen days. Then the Indians made two little hoops, something in the form of a
snow-shoe, and sewing them to my feet I was able to follow them in their tracks
on my heels from place to place, though sometimes half leg deep in snow and
water, which gave me the most acute pain imaginable; but I must walk or die.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span>
Yet within a year my feet were entirely well, and the nails came on my great toes
so that a very critical eye could scarcely perceive any part missing, or that they
had been frozen at all.&rdquo;</p>
<p>We turn now to the consideration of the state of affairs on the St. John after
the removal of the seat of government from Fort Nachouac to Menagoueche and
subsequently to Port Royal.</p>
<p>After the retirement of the French from the river, at the close of the seventeenth
century, our knowledge of that region for the next thirty years is small. We
know, however, that the Maliseets continued hostile to the English. War parties
from the St. John united with the neighboring tribes, roaming over the country
like hungry wolves, prowling around the towns and settlements of New England,
carrying terror and destruction wherever they went. The resentment inspired by
their deeds was such that the legislatures of Massachusetts and New Hampshire
offered a bounty of &pound;40 for the scalp of every adult male Indian.</p>
<p>For sixty years Indian wars followed in rapid succession. They are known in
history as King William&rsquo;s war, Queen Anne&rsquo;s war, Lovewell&rsquo;s or Dummer&rsquo;s war and
King George&rsquo;s war. In nearly every instance the Indian raids were instigated or
encouraged by their French allies, who feared that otherwise the English would win
them and thereby gain the country.</p>
<p>Civil and ecclesiastical authority in France were at this time very closely united.
The missionaries of New France were appointed and removed by the authorities
at Quebec and received an annual stipend from the crown, and however diligent the
missionary might be in his calling, or however pure his life, he was liable to be removed
unless he used his influence to keep the savages in a state of hostility to the
English. The Maliseet villages on the St. John, the Penobscot and the Kennebec
rivers were regarded as buttresses against English encroachments in the direction
of Canada, and the authorities at Quebec relied much upon the influence of the missionaries
to keep the savages loyal to France.</p>
<p>The first missionary at the Medoctec village, of whom we have any accurate information,
was Father Simon, who has already been frequently mentioned in the extracts
from John Gyles&rsquo; narrative. He belonged to the order of the Recollets,
founded early in the 13th century by St. Francis of Assissi. The missionaries of that
order began their labors on the St. John as early as 1620; they came to Acadia from
Aquitane. Father Simon was a man of activity and enterprise as well as of religious
zeal. He did all that lay in his power to promote the ascendency of his country-men
in the land they loved to call &ldquo;New France,&rdquo; but his influence with the Indians was
always exercised on the side of humanity. On this point Gyles&rsquo; testimony is conclusive.
He says: &ldquo;The priest of this river was of the order of St. Francis, a gentleman
of a humane generous disposition. In his sermons he most severely reprehended
the Indians for their barbarities to captives. He would often tell them that
excepting their errors in religion the English were a better people than themselves.&rdquo;</p>
<p>We have no exact information as to the number of years Father Simon labored
at Medoctec, but he died near the close of the century. Governor Villebon in December,
1698, wrote, &ldquo;Father Simon is sick at Jemseg,&rdquo; and as his name does not
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span>
again appear in the annals of that time it is probable that his sickness proved mortal.
He was succeeded in his mission by one of the Jesuit fathers, Joseph Aubery,
who came to Medoctec about 1701, remaining there seven years. He then took
charge of the Abenaki mission of St. Francis, where he continued for 46 years and
died at the age of 82. Chateaubriand drew from his character and career materials
for one of the characters in his well known romance &ldquo;Atala.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The next missionary on the River St. John was Jean Baptiste Loyard, who
was born at Pau in France in 1678, and came out to Canada in 1706. He remained
almost constantly at his post, except that in the year 1722 he went to France
to obtain aid for his mission. His position was a difficult one, for the letters of
the Marquis de Vaudreuil show that in addition to his spiritual functions he was
regarded as the political agent of the French on the St. John.</p>
<p>By the treaty of Utrecht, in the days of Queen Anne (A. D. 1713), &ldquo;all Nova
Scotia, or Acadia, comprehended within its ancient boundaries,&rdquo; was ceded to the
Queen of Great Britain. But the question immediately arose, what were the ancient
boundaries? The British were disposed to claim, as indeed the French had
formerly done, that Acadia included the territory north of the Bay of Fundy as
far west as the Kennebec river; but the French would not now admit that it
included anything more than the peninsula of Nova Scotia.</p>
<p>In 1715, Governor Caulfield endeavored to have a good understanding with
Loyard, assuring him that he would not be molested, and begging him to say to
the Indians of his mission that they would receive good treatment at the hands
of the English and that a vessel full of everything they needed would be sent up
the river to them.</p>
<p>But other and more potent influences were at work. On June 15, 1716, the
French minister wrote the Marquis de Vaudreuil that the King, in order to cement
more firmly the alliance with the savages of Acadia, had granted the sum of 1,200
livres, agreeably to the proposal of the intendant Begon, to be expended in building
a church for the Indians on the River St. John, and another for those on the
Kennebec. The Indians were wonderfully pleased and offered to furnish a quantity
of beaver as their contribution towards the erection of the churches. In the
years that followed the king made two additional grants of 1,200 livres each, and
in 1720 the Marquis de Vaudreuil had the satisfaction of reporting that the
churches were finished; that they were well built and would prove a great inducement
to the savages to be loyal to France.</p>
<p>The probable site of the Indian chapel on the banks of the St. John is shown
in the plan of the Medoctec Fort and village near the north west corner of the
burial ground. A small stone tablet was discovered here by Mr. A. R. Hay, of
Lower Woodstock, in June, 1890. The tablet is of black slate, similar to that found
in the vicinity, and is in length fourteen inches by seven in width and about an
inch in thickness.</p>
<p>It was found quite near the surface, just as it might naturally have fallen
amid the ruins of an old building, covered merely by the fallen leaves; the inscription
is in an excellent state of preservation and, without abbreviation, reads as
follows:</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_10' id='linki_10'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i080.jpg' alt='' title='' width='328' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
SLATE-STONE TABLET.<br />
<br />
A relic of the Indian Chapel of Saint Jean Baptiste. Found at Medoctec, June, 1890.<br />
</p>
</div>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span></div>
<p class='center'>DEO<br />
Optimo Maximo<br />
In honorem Divi Ioannis Baptistae<br />
Hoc Templum posuerunt Anno Domin<br />
(MDCCXVII).<br />
Malecitae<br />
<br />
Missionis Procurator Ioanne Loyard Societatis Iesu<br />
Sacerdote.</p>
<p>The translation reads:&mdash;&ldquo;To God, most excellent, most high, in honor of Saint
John Baptist, the Maliseets erected this church A. D. 1717, while Jean Loyard, a
priest of the Society of Jesus, was superintendent of the mission.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The inscription is clearly cut, but not with sufficient skill to suggest the hand
of a practised stone engraver. It was in all probability the hand of Loyard himself
that executed it. The name of Danielou, his successor, faintly scratched in
the lower left-hand corner, is evidently of later date; but its presence there is of
historic interest.</p>
<p>The Indian church of St. John Baptist at Medoctec, erected in 1717, was the
first on the River St. John&mdash;probably the first in New Brunswick. It received
among other royal gifts a small bell which now hangs in the belfry of the Indian
chapel at Central Kingsclear, a few miles above Fredericton. The church seems
to have been such as would impress by its beauty and adornments the little flock
over which Loyard exercised his kindly ministry. It is mentioned by one of the
Jesuit fathers as a beautiful church (belle eglise), suitably adorned and furnished
abundantly with holy vessels and ornaments of sufficient richness.</p>
<p>The chapel stood for fifty years and its clear toned bell rang out the call to prayer
in the depths of the forest; but by and by priest and people passed away till, in
1767, the missionary Bailly records in his register that the Indians having abandoned
the Medoctec village he had caused the ornaments and furnishings of the chapel, together
with the bell, to be transported to Aukpaque, and had caused the chapel itself
to be demolished since it served merely as a refuge for travellers and was put
to the most profane uses.</p>
<p>The Marquis de Vaudreuil in 1718 wrote to the English authorities at Port Royal
protesting against English vessels entering the River St. John, which he claimed to
be entirely within the French dominion. He encouraged the French to withdraw
from the peninsula of Nova Scotia, promising them lands on the St. John river on
application to the missionary Loyard, who was empowered to grant them and in
the course of time a number of families resorted thither.</p>
<p>When Loyard went to France in 1722 he represented to the home government
that the English were making encroachments on the &ldquo;rivers of the savages&rdquo;&mdash;meaning
the St. John, Penobscot and Kennebec. &ldquo;Why is this?&rdquo; he asks, &ldquo;if not for the
purpose of continually advancing on Canada?&rdquo; He points out that France has not
cared for the savages except when she has had need of them. The English will not fail
to remind them of this fact, and will perhaps by presents more valuable than the
missionaries can offer soon succeed in winning them. Loyard recommends the court
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span>
to increase the annual gratuity and to provide for each village a royal medal to
serve as a reminder of the king&rsquo;s favor and protection. His advice seems to have
been followed, and for some years an annual appropriation of 4,000 livres was made
to provide presents for the savages, the distribution being left to the missionaries.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_11' id='linki_11'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i082.jpg' alt='' title='' width='472' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
BELL OF OLD INDIAN CHAPEL. (A. D. 1717.)<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Port Royal, under its new name of Annapolis, was now become the headquarters
of British authority and efforts were made to establish friendly relations with the
Indians of the St. John river. In July, 1720, nine chiefs were brought over to Annapolis
in a vessel sent by Governor Philipps for the purpose; they were entertained
and addressed and presents were made to them and they went home apparently
well pleased. However the English governor did not count much upon their
fidelity. He states that he was beset with Indian delegations from various quarters;
that he received them all and never dismissed them without presents, which
they always looked for and for which he was out of pocket about a hundred and fifty
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span>
pounds; he adds, &ldquo;but I am convinced that a hundred thousand will not buy them
from the French interest while the priests are among them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Governor Philipps&rsquo; lack of confidence in Indian promises of friendship and alliance
was soon justified, for in Lovewell&rsquo;s war, which broke out in 1722 and lasted three
years, the Indians surprized and captured a large number of trading vessels in the
Bay of Fundy and along the coast, and a party of 30 Maliseets and 26 Micmacs attacked
the Fort at Annapolis, killing two of the garrison and dangerously wounding
an officer and three men. In retaliation for the loss of Sergt McNeal, who was
shot and scalped, the English shot and scalped an Indian prisoner on the spot
where McNeal had fallen, an action which, however great the provocation, is to be
lamented as unworthy of a Christian people.</p>
<p>Lovewell&rsquo;s war was terminated by a notable treaty made at Boston in 1725 with
four eminent sagamores representing the tribes of Kennebec, Penobscot, St. John
and Cape Sable; Francois Xavier appearing on behalf of the Maliseets of the St.
John. The conference lasted over a month, for the Indians were very deliberate
in their negotiations and too well satisfied with their entertainment to be in a
hurry. The treaty was solemnly ratified at Falmouth in the presence of the
Lieutenant-Governors of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Nova Scotia, and
about forty chiefs. The formal assent of the St. John Indians does not appear to
have been given until May, 1728, when three or four sachems, accompanied by
twenty-six warriors, came from Medoctec to Annapolis Royal to ratify the peace
and make submission to the British government. Governor Armstrong with the
advice of his officers made them presents, entertained them several days and sent
them away well satisfied.</p>
<p>The ministry of Loyard was now drawing to a close. He seems to have been
a man of talents and rare virtues, esteemed and beloved by both French and Indians,
and in his death universally lamented. He devoted nearly twenty-four
of the best years of his life to the conversion of the Indians, and when summoned
to Quebec for the benefit of his health, which had become impared by toil and
exposure, he had hardly recovered from the fatigue of the journey when he requested
to be allowed to return to his mission, where his presence was needed. It
was while in the active discharge of his duty among the sick that he contracted the
disease of which he died in the midst of his people, who were well nigh inconsolable
for their loss. The obituary letter announcing his death to the other
Jesuit missionaries contains a glowing eulogy of the man and his work. His disposition
had nothing of <a name='TC_20'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'sterness'">sternness</ins>, yet he was equally beloved and revered by his
flock; to untiring zeal he joined exemplary modesty, sweetness of disposition,
never failing charity and an evenness of temper which made him superior to all
annoyances; busy as he was he had the art of economising the moments, and he
gave all the prescribed time to his own spiritual exercises; over his flock he watched
incessantly as a good shepherd with the happy consolation of gathering abundant
fruit of his care and toil; he was fitted for everything and ready for everything,
and his superiors could dispose of him as they would. The date of his death,
June 24, 1731, suggests some remarkable coincidences. The 24th of June is St.
John Baptist&rsquo;s day; Loyard&rsquo;s name was Jean Baptiste; the church he built was
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span>
called St. Jean Baptiste; it was the first church on the banks of a river named
in honor of St. Jean Baptiste (because discovered on 24th June, 1604, by Champlain);
and it was fitting that the missionary who designed it, who watched over
its construction and who probably was laid to rest beneath its shade, should pass
from the scene of his labors on the day
that honors the memory of St. Jean Baptiste.
By a pure coincidence the author
finds himself penning these words on St.
John Baptist&rsquo;s day, 1903.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_12' id='linki_12'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i084.png' alt='' title='' width='300' height='105' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Jean Loyard Fac-simile, A. D. 1708.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Loyard&rsquo;s successor was Jean Pierre Danielou, whose presence at Medoctec is
indicated by the occurrence of his name on the memorial tablet. After his arrival
at Quebec in 1715 he was employed for some years as a teacher, but took holy
orders about 1725. Danielou had been but a short time in charge of his mission
when he received a sharply worded letter from the governor of Nova Scotia,
ordering the Acadians settled on the River St. John to repair to the port of Annapolis
Royal and take the oath of allegiance. The governor says that their
settling on the river without leave was an act of great presumption. A number of
the settlers accordingly presented themselves at Annapolis, where they took the
required oaths and agreed to take out grants.</p>
<p>The little French colony were settled at or near St. Anns (now Fredericton)
for a census made in 1733, for the government of France, gives the number of Acadians
on the river as 111, divided into twenty families, and fifteen of these families,
numbering eighty-two persons, were living below the village of Ecoupay (or
Aukpaque). Two families lived at Freneuse and three at the mouth of the river.</p>
<p>The story of the old Medoctec village in later times will be told incidentally in
the chapters that are to follow.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_IX_INCIDENTS_IN_KING_GEORGES_WAR' id='CHAPTER_IX_INCIDENTS_IN_KING_GEORGES_WAR'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>Incidents in King Georges War</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>After a long interval of peace from the time of the treaty of Utrecht in 1713,
war was declared between France and England in 1744. The Indians of the St.
John river, who had been fairly quiet for some years, took the warpath with great
alacrity. The war that ensued is known as &ldquo;King George&rsquo;s,&rdquo; or the &ldquo;Five Years&rdquo;
war. At its commencement the Maliseets played rather a sharp trick upon the
English which Paul Mascarene and Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts, remembered
against them when peace was proclaimed five years later. On that occasion
Count de la Galissonniere wrote to Mascarene to inquire if the Maliseets were
included in the peace, &ldquo;in which case,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;I entreat you to have the goodness
to induce Mr. Shirley to allow them to settle again in their villages, and to
leave their missionaries undisturbed as they were before the <a name='TC_21'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double quote">war.&rdquo;</ins> The French
governor suggested that a reply might be sent through the missionary by whom
he had sent his own letter. Both Mascarene and Shirley replied at some length to
the letter of de la Galissonniere. They stated that when a renewal of the war with
France was daily expected, a deputation of the St. John river Indians came to
Annapolis professedly to make an agreement to remain on friendly terms with the
English in the event of war with France. They were well received in consequence.
But they had come in reality as spies, and three weeks afterwards returned
with others of their tribe, the missionary le Loutre at their head, surprised
and killed as many of the English as they caught outside the fort, destroyed their
cattle, burnt their houses and continued their acts of hostility against the garrison
till the arrival of troops from New England to check them. &ldquo;For this perfidious
behaviour,&rdquo; Shirley says, &ldquo;I caused war to be declared in his majesty&rsquo;s name against
these Indians in November, 1744, and so far as it depends upon me, they shall
not be admitted to terms of peace till they have made a proper submission for
their treachery.&rdquo;</p>
<p>During King George&rsquo;s war the Maliseet warriors did not, as in former Indian
wars, assemble at Medoctec and turn their faces westward to devastate the settlements
of New England, the scene of hostilities was now transferred to the eastward,
Annapolis Royal, Beausejour and Louisbourg became the scene of hostilities
and Aukpaque, not Medoctec, the place of rendezvous.</p>
<p>Immediately after the declaration of war Paul Mascarene set to work to repair
the defences of Annapolis Royal. The French inhabitants at first showed every
readiness to assist him, but they retired to their habitations when the Indians, to
the number of about three hundred fighting men, appeared before the fort. Among
the leaders of the savages was young Alexander le Borgne de Bellisle, who himself
had Indian blood in his veins, being the son of Anastasie de St. Castin. The Indians
failed in their attack and retired to await the arrival of troops from Louisbourg
under Du Vivier.</p>
<p>Some weeks later the united forces again advanced on Annapolis but, after a
siege lasting from the end of August to about the 25th of September, they were
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span>
obliged to retire without accomplishing anything. Mascarene conducted the defence
with prudence and energy but honestly admits, in his letter to Governor
Shirley, that it was largely &ldquo;to the timely succours sent from the Governor of
Massachusetts and to our French inhabitants refusing to take up arms against us,
we owe our preservation.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The people of New England cherished no good will toward the savages of
Acadia. The horrors of Indian warfare in the past were yet fresh in their memories,
and stern measures were resolved upon. Governor Shirley, with the advice of
his council, offered premiums for their scalps, &pound;100 currency for that of an adult
male Indian, &pound;50 for that of a woman or child, and for a captive &pound;5 higher than
for a scalp.</p>
<p>After the failure of the French attack on Annapolis Royal, Shirley planned an
expedition against Louisbourg, &ldquo;the Dunkirk of America.&rdquo; This was indeed a
formidable undertaking, for the French had spent twenty-five years of time and
about six millions and a half of dollars in building, arming and adorning that city.
The walls of its defences were formed of bricks brought from France and they
mounted two hundred and six pieces of cannon. The leader of the expedition was
William Pepperell, a native of Kittery, Maine, a colonel of militia and a merchant
who employed hundreds of men in lumbering and fishing. His troops comprised a
motley collection of New Englanders&mdash;fishermen and farmers, sawyers and loggers,
many of them taken from his own vessels, mills and forests. Before such men, aided
by the English navy under Commodore Warren, to the world&rsquo;s amazement, Louisbourg
fell. The achievement is, perhaps, the most memorable in our colonial annals,
but a description of the siege cannot be here attempted. After the surrender
of Louisbourg a banquet was prepared by Pepperell for his officers, and Mr. Moody
of New York, Mrs. Pepperell&rsquo;s uncle, was called upon to ask a blessing at the feast.
The old parson was apt to be prolix on public occasions, and his temper being
rather irritable, none dared to suggest that brevity would be acceptable. The company
were therefore highly gratified by his saying grace as follows: &ldquo;Good Lord,
we have so many things to thank Thee for that time will be infinitely too short to
do it. We must therefore leave it for the work of eternity. Bless our food and
fellowship upon this joyful occasion, for the sake of Christ our Lord. Amen.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The capture of Louisbourg greatly relieved the situation at Annapolis, and probably
saved Acadia to the English. It acted as a damper on the ardor of the Indians
of the St. John river, who, under Marin, a French officer from Quebec, had
taken the warpath. They were encouraged in their hostile attitude by their missionary
Germain, lately come to Aukpaque as Danielou&rsquo;s<a name='FNanchor_0017' id='FNanchor_0017'></a><a href='#Footnote_0017' class='fnanchor'>[17]</a> successor.</p>
<p>While the stirring events just mentioned were transpiring at Louisbourg,
Governor Mascarene was doing his best to place Annapolis Royal in a proper state
of defence and the chief engineer, John Henry Bastide, was busily engaged in
strengthening the fort. Early in the summer of 1745 the Sieur Marin appeared
before the town with a party of six hundred French and Indians&mdash;the latter including
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span>
many from the River St. John and some of the Hurons from Canada. They
captured two Boston schooners, one of which was named the &ldquo;Montague.&rdquo; Her
captain, William Pote, of Falmouth (now Portland) Maine, was taken to Quebec by
the Huron Indians, via the St. John river. He remained in captivity three years.
He contrived to keep a journal describing his capture and subsequent adventures;
this was concealed by one of the female prisoners who restored it to Captain Pote
after he was released. The journal had a remarkable experience; it passed through
many hands, was discovered at Geneva in Switzerland about a dozen years ago by
Bishop John F. Hurst, and has since been printed in a sumptuous volume by Dodd,
Mead &amp; Co., of New York. Thus after a century and a half of obscurity this remarkable
old document has at length seen the light.</p>
<p>We learn from its pages that Captain Pote was taken by land to Chignecto
at the head of the Bay of Fundy, where he found the captured schooner &ldquo;Montague&rdquo;
already arrived. The Indians called a council to decide whether it was better
to go to the River St. John in the schooner or by land, but finally thought it
better to go by land. Accordingly on the 26th June, the &ldquo;Montague&rdquo; sailed with
several prisoners, including two of Pote&rsquo;s men and the master of the other
schooner taken at Annapolis and one of his men. Pote entreated the Indians to be
allowed to go in the schooner, but could not prevail. He was taken by way of
Shepody Bay up the River Petitcodiac in a small schooner belonging to one of
the &ldquo;neutral French.&rdquo; The next day&rsquo;s journey brought them to the carrying place
between the Petitcodiac and the Canaan river, which they crossed and encamped.</p>
<p>The events of the day following&mdash;Sunday, June 30&mdash;are thus recorded in Pote&rsquo;s
journal:</p>
<p>&ldquo;This day in ye morning we had Intelligence that there was a priest from
ye River of Saint Johns expected to arrive at this place in a few minutes, ye Indians
made Great preparation for his Reception and at his arrival shewed many
symptoms of their Great Respect. Ye Priest was conducted to ye Captain&rsquo;s
camp, where after having passed many compliments, the Priest asked ye Capt. of
ye Indians who I was, and when he Understood I was a prisoner, he asked me if
I could speak French. I told him a Little, and asked him concerning one Jonathan
a soldier that was a passenger on board of our Schooner when we was
taken, and was then at ye River of Saint Johns. Ye Priest gave me an account
of him, and told me to content myself in ye Condition that I was then in, for
I was in ye hands of a Christian nation and it might prove very Beneficial both
to my Body and Soul. I was obliged to concur with his sentiments for fear of
displeasing my masters. Ye Indians built him a Table against a Large Tree,
where he said mass, and sung (louange au bon Dieu pour leur conservation jusqu&rsquo;au
present) after they had concluded their mass, &amp;c., the priest gave them
Permission to commence their making Connews and Took his leave of us. This
Day we was Imployed in making Connews of Elm and ash Bark.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The priest here mentioned was no doubt the Jesuit missionary, Charles
Germain, for the Governor General of Canada, the Marquis Beauharnois, in his
letter to the French minister, dated at Quebec 27 September of this year, writes:
&ldquo;M. Germain, missionary on the lower part of the River St. John, arrived here
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span>
yesterday with the chief and 24 Indians of his mission, the most of whom served
in Mr. Marin&rsquo;s party.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Indians with Capt. Pote made seven canoes, and in these they proceeded
down the Canaan river to Washademoak lake, thence up the St. John river to
Aukpaque. On the way several rather curious incidents occurred. For example, on
one occasion they caught some small fish, which Pote attempted to clean, but
the Indians snatched them from him and boiled them &ldquo;slime and blood and all
together.&rdquo; &ldquo;This,&rdquo; said Pote, &ldquo;put me in mind of ye old Proverb, God sent meat
and ye D&mdash;&mdash;l cooks.&rdquo; On another occasion, he says, &ldquo;we Incamped by ye side of
ye River and we had much difficulty to kindle a fire by Reason it Rained exceeding
fast, and wet our fire works; we was obliged to turn our connews bottom
up and Lay under them; at this time it thundered exceedingly, and ye Indians
asked me if there was not people in my Country sometimes distroyed by ye
Thunder and Lightning, yet I told them I had known several Instances of that
nature, they told me yt never any thing hapned to ye Indians of harm neither
by thunder nor Lightning, and they said it was a Judgment on ye English and
French, for Incroaching on their Libertys in America.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On their way up the River St. John Mr. Pote and his companions passed
several French houses, and at some of these they stopped for provisions, but found
the people so &ldquo;exceeding poor&rdquo; they could not supply any. When they arrived
at Aukpaque, on the evening of the 6th July, they found the schooner Montague
had arrived some days before with the other prisoners.</p>
<p>Pote and his friends met with an unexpectedly warm reception at the Indian
village, which we shall allow him to relate in his own quaint fashion:</p>
<p>&ldquo;At this place ye Squaws came down to ye Edge of ye River, Dancing and
Behaving themselves, in ye most Brutish and Indecent manner and taking us
prisoners by ye arms, one Squaw on each Side of a prisoner, they led us up to
their Village and placed themselves In a Large Circle Round us, after they had
Gat all prepared for their Dance, they made us sit down In a Small Circle,
about 18 Inches assunder and began their frolick, Dancing Round us and Striking
of us in ye face with English Scalps, yt caused ye Blood to Issue from our
mouths and Noses, In a Very Great and plentiful manner, and Tangled their
hands in our hair, and knocked our heads Togather with all their Strength and
Vehemence, and when they was tired of this Exercise, they would take us by
the hair and some by ye Ears, and standing behind us, oblige us to keep our
Necks Strong so as to bear their weight hanging by our hair and Ears.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In this manner, they thumped us In ye Back and Sides, with their knees
and feet, and Twitched our hair and Ears to such a Degree, that I am Incapable
to express it, and ye others that was Dancing Round if they saw any
man falter, and did not hold up his Neck, they Dached ye Scalps In our faces
with such Violence, yt every man endeavored to bear them hanging by their
hair in this manner, Rather then to have a Double Punishment; after they had
finished their frolick, that lasted about two hours and a half, we was carried
to one of their Camps, where we Saw Some of ye Prisoners that Came in ye
montague; at this place we Incamped yt Night with hungrey Belleys.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span></div>
<p>Unpleasant as was the reception of Pote and his fellow prisoners at Aukpaque
they were fortunate in being allowed to escape with their lives. It chanced that
the previous year Capt. John Gorham had brought to Annapolis a company of
Indian rangers&mdash;probably Mohawks&mdash;as allies of the English. Paul Mascarene justified
this proceeding on the ground that it was necessary to set Indians against
Indians, &ldquo;for tho&rsquo; our men outdo them in bravery,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;yet, being unacquainted
with their sculking way of fighting and scorning to fight under cover
they expose themselves too much to the enemy&rsquo;s shot.&rdquo; Gorham&rsquo;s Indian rangers,
it appears, had killed several of the Maliseets, and Pote learned the day
after his arrival at Aukpaque &ldquo;That the Indians held a counsell amongst ym
weather they should put us to Death, and ye Saint Johns Indians almost Gained
ye point for they Insisted it was but Justice, as they Sd there had been Several
of their Tribe, murdered by Capt. John Gorham at anapolis. Our masters being
Verey Desirous to Save us alive, Used all ye arguments In their power for
that purpose but could not prevail, for they Insisted on Satisfaction; howsoever
our masters prevailed so far with ym, as to take Some Considerable quantity of
their most Valuable Goods, and Spare our Lives; this Day they Gave us Some
Boill&rsquo;d Salmon which we Eat with a Verey Good Appetite, without Either Salt
or Bread, we Incamped this Night at this afforsaid Indian Village <a name='TC_22'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Removed closing double quote">Apog.</ins>
<a name='TC_23'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double quote">(Aukpaque.)&rdquo;</ins></p>
<p>Evidently the Indians had retained the practices of their forefathers as regards
their treatment of captives, for Pote&rsquo;s experience at Aukpaque was just about on a
par with that of Gyles at Medoctec rather more than half a century before. But it
is only just to remember that this was a time of war and (as Murdoch well points
out) Indian laws of war permitted not only surprises, stratagems and duplicity, but
the destruction and torture of their captives. These practices being in harmony
with the ideas and customs inherited from their ancestors did not readily disappear
even under the influence of Christianity. And yet it is well to remember that the
Indians often spared the lives of their captives and even used them kindly and however
much we may condemn them for their cruelty on many occasions we must not
forget that there were other occasions where men of our own race forget for a
season the rules of their religion and the laws of humanity.</p>
<p>Captain Pote&rsquo;s unhappy experience at Aukpaque caused him to feel no regret
when the Huron Indians took their departure with their captives the next day.
They had now come to the &ldquo;beginning of the swift water&rdquo; and their progress became
more laborious. The party included twenty-three persons. One of the prisoners,
an Indian of Gorham&rsquo;s Rangers, taken on Goat Island at Annapolis, Pote says</p>
<p>&ldquo;Was exceedingly out of order and could not assist ye Indians to paddle against
ye Strong Current that Ran against us ye Greater part of ye Day, his head was So
Exceedingly Swelled, with ye Squaws beating of him, yt he Could Scearsley See out
of his Eyes. I had ye Good fortune to be almost well in Comparison to what he
was, although it was he and I was Companions, and Sat Next to Each other, In ye
Time of their Dance, and him they alwas took for my partner to knock our heads
Together. Ye Indians asked me In what Manner ye Squaws treated us, that his
head was So Exceedingly Swelld, I Gave them an account, at which they feigned
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span>
themselves much Disgusted, and protested they was Intierly Ignorant of ye affair,
and Said they thought ye Squaws Designed Nothing Else, but only to Dance round
us for a Little Diversion, without mollisting or hurting of us In any manner.&rdquo;</p>
<p>As they ascended the river the party encountered occasional rapids which caused
some delay, particularly the Meductic rapids below the mouth of the Pokiok, where
they were obliged to land and carry their baggage over clefts of rocks, fallen trees
and other obstacles. The Indians told Pote they would shortly arrive at another
Indian village and he asked, with some anxiety, if the Indians there would use
them in the same manner as those at Aukpaque. This question led to an immediate
consultation among the Hurons, and, Pote says,</p>
<p>&ldquo;I observed they Looked with a Verey Serious Countenance on me; when I
Saw a Convenient oppertunity I spoke to this affect, Gentlemen You are all Verey
Sensible, of ye Ill Usage we met with at ye other Village, which I have Reason to
believe, was Intierly Contrary to any of Your Inclinations or permission, and as
you Call your Selves Christians, and men of honor, I hope you&rsquo;l Use your prisoners
accordingly, But I think it is Verey Contrary to ye Nature of a Christian, to abuse
men In ye manner we was at ye other Village, and I am Verey Sensible there is
no Christian Nation yt Suffers their prisoners to be abused after they have Given
them quarters, In ye manner we have been; the Indians Looked verey Serious, and
approved of what I said, and Talked amongst themselves in Indian, and my master
told me when we arrived to ye Indian Village I must mind to keep Clost by him.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On the second morning after they left Aukpaque, the party drew nigh Medoctec,
passing as they proceeded, several small spots where the Indians had made improvements
and planted corn, beans, etc. Pote says:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We arrived to ye Indian village about Noon, as soon as Squaws, saw us coming
In Sight of their Village, and heard ye Cohoops, which Signified ye Number of
Prisoners, all ye Squaws In their Village, prepared themselves with Large Rods of
Briars, and Nettles &amp;c., and met us at their Landing, Singing and Dancing and
Yelling, and making such a hellish Noise, yt I Expected we Should meet with a
worse Reception at this place that we had at ye other. I was Verey Carefull to
observe my masters Instructions, yt he had Given me ye Day before, and warned
ye Rest to do Likewise.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The first canoe that landed was that of the captain of the Hurons who had in
his canoe but one prisoner, an Indian of Capt. Gorham&rsquo;s Company. This unfortunate
fellow was not careful to keep by his master, and in consequence</p>
<p>&ldquo;Ye Squaws Gathered themselves Round him, and Caught him by ye hair, as
many as could get hold of him, and halled him down to ye Ground, and pound
his head against ye Ground, ye Rest with Rods dancing Round him, and wipted
him over ye head and Legs, to Such a degree, that I thought they would have killed
him In ye Spot, or halled him in ye watter and Drounded him, they was So
Eager to have a Stroak at him Each of them, that they halled him Some one way
and Some another, Some times Down towards ye water by ye hair of ye head, as
fast as they could Run, then ye other party would have ye Better and Run with
him another way, my master spoke to ye other Indians, and told ym to take ye
fellow out of their hands, for he believed they would Certainly murther him, In a
Verey Short time.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span></div>
<p>The squaws advanced towards Pote, but his master spoke something in Indian
in a very harsh manner that caused them to relinquish their purpose. The prisoners
and their Indian masters were conducted to the camp of the captain of the
village who, at their request, sent to relieve the poor Mohawk from the abuse of
the squaws, and he was brought to them more dead than alive. At this place
Pote met a soldier that had been with him on the schooner &ldquo;Montague&rdquo; when she
was captured who told him how the Indians had abused him at his arrival. Captain
Pote did not entirely escape the attentions of the &ldquo;sauvagesses,&rdquo; witness the following
entry in his journal:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Thursday ye 11th. This Day we Remained In ye Indian Village called Medocatike,
I observed ye Squaws could not by any means Content themselves without
having their Dance. they Continued Teasing my master to Such a Degree, to
have ye Liberty to Dance Round me, that he Consented they might if they would
Promis to not abuse me, they Desired none of ye Rest, but me was all they aimed
at for what Reason I cannot Tell. When my masters had Given ym Liberty, which
was Done in my absence, there Came Into ye Camp, two Large Strong Squaws,
and as I was Setting by one of my masters, they Caught hold of my armes with
all their Strength, and Said Something in Indian, yt I Supposed was to tell me to
Come out of ye Camp, and halld me of my Seat. I Strugled with ym and cleard
my Self of their hold, and Set down by my master; they Came upon me again
Verey Vigorously, and as I was Striving with them, my master ordered me to Go,
and told me they would not hurt me. At this I was obliged to Surrender and
whent with ym, they Led me out of ye Camp, Dancing and Singing after their
manner, and Carried me to one of their Camps where there was a Company of
them Gathered for their frolick, they made me Set down on a Bears Skin in ye
Middle of one of their Camps, and Gave me a pipe and Tobacoe, and Danced
Round me till the Sweat Trickled Down their faces, Verey plentyfully, I Seeing
one Squaw that was Verey Big with Child, Dancing and foaming at ye mouth and
Sweating, to Such a degree yt I Could not forbear Smilling, which one of ye old
Squaws Saw, and Gave me two or three twitches by ye hair, otherwise I Escaped
without any Punishment from them at the time.&rdquo;</p>
<p>While he was at Medoctec one of the chiefs desired Pote to read a contract or
treaty made about fourteen years before by his tribe with the Governor of Nova
Scotia. He also had an interview with one Bonus Castine,<a name='FNanchor_0018' id='FNanchor_0018'></a><a href='#Footnote_0018' class='fnanchor'>[18]</a> who had just arrived at
Medoctec, and who examined him very strictly as to the cargo of the Montague and
took down in writing what he said. Castine told Pote that the Penobscot Indians
were still at peace with the English and he believed would so continue for come
time. Pote thought it not prudent to contradict him, though he was confident there
were several Penobscot Indians in the party that had captured the Boston schooners.
At his master&rsquo;s suggestion he remained close in camp, as the Indians were
dancing and singing the greater part of the night, and Castine had made use of expressions
that showed his life was in great danger.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span></div>
<p>The following day the Hurons resumed their journey and in due time arrived
at Quebec. At times the party suffered from lack of food, though fish were
usually abundant, and on one occasion they caught in a small cove, a few miles below
the mouth of the Tobique, as many as fifty-four salmon in the course of a few
hours.</p>
<p>Having considered, at greater length than was originally intended, the adventures
of Captain Pote, we may speak of other individuals and incidents which figure
in King George&rsquo;s War.</p>
<p>Paul Mascarene, who so gallantly and successfully defended Annapolis Royal
against the French and Indians, was born in the south of France in 1684. His
father was a Huguenot, and at the revocation of the edict of Nantes was obliged
to abandon his native country. Young Mascarene was early thrown upon his own resources.
At the age of 12 he made his way to Geneva, where he was educated. Afterwards
he went to England, became a British subject and entered the army. He
was present at the taking of Port Royal by General Nicholson and, after serving
with credit in various capacities, was appointed Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia
in 1740. He eventually rose to the rank of a major general in the English army.</p>
<p>Mascarene preserved his love for his native tongue and was always disposed
to deal kindly with the Acadians. Two very interesting letters written by him
in French to Madame Francoise Bellisle Robichaux have been preserved. This
lady came of rather remarkable ancestry. She was the granddaughter of the
Baron de St. Cactin, and had as her great-grandsires on the one hand the celebrated
Charles la Tour, and on the other the famous Penobscot chieftain Madockawando.</p>
<p>In view of the fact that the Belleisle family lived for a considerable time
on the St. John river, where their name is preserved in that of Belleisle Bay, it
may be well to trace the lineage in fuller detail.</p>
<p>The eldest daughter of Charles la Tour by his second wife, the widow of
d&rsquo;Aulnay Charnisay, was Marie la Tour, who was born in St. John in 1654.<a name='FNanchor_0019' id='FNanchor_0019'></a><a href='#Footnote_0019' class='fnanchor'>[19]</a> She
married when about twenty years of age Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle, who
was eleven years her senior. Their son Alexander, born in 1679, married December
4, 1707, Anastasia St. Castin, a daughter of the Baron, de St. Castin by his
Indian wife Melctilde, daughter of Madockawando, and as a consequence of this
alliance the younger le Borgne obtained great influence over the Maliseets. Lieut.-Gov.
Armstrong alludes to this circumstance in a letter to the Lords of Trade,
written in 1732, in which he observes, &ldquo;Madame Bellisle&rsquo;s son Alexander married
an Indian and lived among the tribe, being hostile to the British government.&rdquo;
This statement is hardly fair to Anastasie St. Castin, for, while her mother certainly
was the daughter of an Indian chief, her father was the Baron de St.
Castin and she herself a well educated woman. The genealogist of the d&rsquo;Abbadie
St. Castin family, however, uses rather grandiloquent language when he styles the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span>
mother of Anastasie St. Castin, &ldquo;Mathilde Matacawando, princess indienne, fille
de Matacawando, general-en-chef des indiens Abenakis.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0020' id='FNanchor_0020'></a><a href='#Footnote_0020' class='fnanchor'>[20]</a></p>
<p>In spite of the supposed hostility of Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle to
British rule in Acadia, he came before the governor and council at Annapolis and
took the oath of allegiance. He also presented a petition requesting the restoration
of the seignioral rights of his father as one of the la Tour heirs; this was
ordered to be transmitted to the home authorities. For several years the
sieur de Belleisle lived with his family at Annapolis and the governor and council
regarded him with favor, but failed to obtain the recognition of his seignioral
rights. After a time the la Tour heirs got into litigation among themselves, and
one of their number, Agatha la Tour, who had married an officer of the garrison,
Ensign Campbell, seems to have outwitted the other heirs and to have succeeded
in selling the rights of the la Tour family to the English crown for three thousand
guineas. This naturally was displeasing to Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle. He
retired to the St. John river about the year 1736 and settled near the mouth of
Belleisle Bay. He had a son Alexander (the third of the name<a name='FNanchor_0021' id='FNanchor_0021'></a><a href='#Footnote_0021' class='fnanchor'>[21]</a>), who married
Marie Le Blanc and settled at Grand Pre, where he died in 1744. Francoise Belleisle,
who had the honor of being a correspondent of Lieut.-Governor Mascarene,
married Pierre Robichaux. The wedding took place at Annapolis Royal, January
16, 1737, the officiating priest being St. Poncy de Lavennede. The contracting
parties are described in the old church register as &ldquo;Pierre Robichaux, aged about
24 years, son of Francois Robichaux and Madeleine Terriot, and Mademoiselle
Francoise de Belle Isle, aged about 22 years, daughter of Sieur Alexandre Le
Borgne de Belle Isle and Anastasie de St Castin of the Parish of Ste Anne.&rdquo; The
bride signs her name Francoise le Borgnes. It is evident that the &ldquo;Parish of Ste.
Anne&rdquo; was the parish or mission of that name on the St. John river from the
fact that two years later a second daughter of the Sieur de Bellisle married a
Robichaux and in her marriage certificate she figures as &ldquo;Marie Le Borgne de
Belle Isle, daughter of Alexandre Le Borgne de Belle Isle and of Anastasie St.
Castin of the River St. John.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The brothers Robichaux settled after their marriage near their father-in-law
on the St. John river and it was from them that the little settlement of Robicheau,
above the mouth of Belleisle Bay, derived its name.<a name='FNanchor_0022' id='FNanchor_0022'></a><a href='#Footnote_0022' class='fnanchor'>[22]</a></p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_13' id='linki_13'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i094.jpg' alt='' title='' width='316' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
(<i>From the Calnek-Savary History of Annapolis, by permission of the Hon. Judge Savary.</i>)<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Francoise Belleisle Robichaux wrote to Paul Mascarene early in 1741 respecting
her claim to some property in dispute with her relatives at Annapolis. The governor
in his reply gives her some information and advice, adding, &ldquo;I think you
too reasonable to expect any favor of me in what concerns my conduct as a
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span>
judge; but in every other thing that is not contrary to my duty I shall have real
pleasure in testifying to you the esteem I have for you. Let me have your news
when there is an opportunity, freely and without fear.&rdquo;</p>
<p>When the war with France began, three years later, the sieur de Belleisle and
his son Alexander took sides with their countrymen. The father evidently cherished
a hope that in the course of events Acadia might revert to France, in which
case he expected to obtain the recognition of his seignioral rights. Young Alexander
le Borgne was, as already stated, a leader of the Indians in the attack on
Annapolis early in 1744, which attack failed on account of the energy and bravery
of <a name='TC_24'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Mascaerne'">Mascarene</ins>. The following letter of the Lieut.-Governor to Frances Belleisle
Robichaux is of interest in thin connection.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>Annapolis Royal, Oct. 13, 1744.</p>
<p>Madame,&mdash;When I learned that your father, in the hope of recovering his
seigneurial rights, had sided with those who came to attack this fort, I confess I
was of opinion that the whole family participated in his feelings; and the more so,
as your brother was with the first party of savages who came here last summer.
I am agreeably surprised, however, and very glad to see by your letter that you did
not share in those sentiments, and that you have remained true to the obligations
which bind you to the government of the King of Great Britain, I am unwilling
that the esteem which I have entertained for you should be in any manner lessened.</p>
<p>With respect to the protection which you ask for your establishment on the
river St. John, it is out of my power to grant it. We cannot protect those who
trade with our declared enemies. Therefore you must resolve to remain on this
[the English] side during the continuance of the present troubles, and to have no
intercourse with the other. Should you come and see us here, you will find me disposed
to give you all the assistance that you can reasonably expect.</p>
<p style='margin-bottom:0em'>Be assured that I am, Madam,</p>
<p class='center' style='margin:0em auto'>Your friend and servant,</p>
<p class='right' style='margin-top:0em'>P. MASCARENE.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The next glimpse we get of the name of Belleisle on the River St. John is in
connection with a notable treaty made with the Indians in 1749. In the summer of
that year, peace having been proclaimed with France, Capt. Edward How went to
the St. John river in the warship &ldquo;Albany,&rdquo; and had several interviews with the
Indian chiefs, who agreed to send deputies to Halifax to wait upon Governor Cornwallis
and renew their submission to the King of England. Accordingly on the 12th
of August, Francois Arodowish, Simon Sactawino, and Jean Baptiste Madounhook,
deputies from the chiefs of the St. John river, and Joannes Pedousaghtigh, chief
of Chignecto, with their attendants, arrived at Halifax to pay their respects to the
new governor, and to agree upon &ldquo;articles of a lasting peace.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Great must have been the wonder of these children of the forest at the busy
scene that met their eyes on landing at old Chebucto. A colony of two thousand
five hundred persons had settled on a spot hitherto almost without inhabitant, and
the Town of Halifax was rising, as if by magic, from the soil which less than eight
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span>
weeks before had been covered by a dense forest. The sound of axes, hammers and
saws was heard on every hand.</p>
<p>Two days after their arrival the Indians were received on board the man-of-war
&ldquo;Beaufort&rdquo; by Cornwallis and his entire council. The delegates announced that they
were from Aukpaque, Medoctec, Passamaquoddy and Chignecto, and that their respective
chiefs were Francois de Salle of Octpagh, Noellobig of Medoctec, Neptune
Abbadouallete of Passamaquoddy and Joannes Pedousaghtigh of Chignecto. They
brought with them a copy of the treaty made with their tribes in 1728 and expressed
a desire to renew it. After the usual negotiations the treaty was engrossed on
parchment and signed by the Indians, each man appending to his signature his
private mark or &ldquo;totem.&rdquo; Eleven members of the council also signed the treaty
as witnesses.</p>
<p>A few days later the Indians returned with Capt. How to the St. John river,
where the treaty was duly ratified, and thirteen chiefs signed the following declaration:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Articles of Peace concluded at Chebuckto the Fifteenth of August, 1749,
with His Excellency Edward Cornwallis Esq&rsquo;r, Capt. General Governor and Commander-in-Chief
of His Majesty&rsquo;s Province of Nova Scotia or Acadie, and signed
by our Deputies, having been communicated to us by Edward How Esq&rsquo;r, one of
His Majesty&rsquo;s Council for said Province, and faithfully interpreted to us by
Madame De Bellisle Inhabitant of this River nominated by us for that purpose.
We the Chiefs and Captains of the River St. Johns and places adjacent do for
ourselves and our different Tribes confirm and ratify the same to all intents and
purposes.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Given under our hands at the River St. Johns this fourth day of September,
1749.&rdquo;</p>
<p>At first glance it would seem that the interpreter, Madame Belleisle, must have
been Anastasie St. Castin, wife of Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle, but as she was
then more than sixty years of age it is possible the interpreter may have been her
daughter, Francoise Belleisle Robichaux. That the latter had a position of some
influence with the Indians is shown by the fact that when the chiefs of the River
St. John went to Halifax in 1768 (nearly twenty years later) they complained that
the ornaments of their church &ldquo;were taken by Francoise Belleisle Robicheau and
carried to Canada by her, and that she refused to give them up.&rdquo; The natural presumption
is that the ornaments were intrusted to her care by the missionary, Germain,
when he left the mission of Ste. Anne, and that she took them with her for
safe keeping.</p>
<p>The English colonial authorities congratulated Cornwallis on the treaty made with
the Indians. &ldquo;We are glad to find,&rdquo; say they, &ldquo;that the Indians of the St. John
river have so willingly submitted to His Majesty&rsquo;s government and renewed their
treaty, and as they are the most powerful tribe in those parts, we hope their example
may either awe or influence other inferior tribes to the like compliance.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Cornwallis in reply said, &ldquo;I intend if possible to keep up a good understanding
with the St. John Indians, a warlike people, tho&rsquo; treaties with Indians are nothing,
nothing but force will prevail.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span></div>
<p>Alexandre le Borgne de Belleisle was living on the River St. John as late at least
as 1754 and was regarded by the Nova Scotia authorities as &ldquo;a very good man.&rdquo;
The site of his residence is indicated on Charles Morris&rsquo; map of 1765 and there can
be little doubt that a settlement of four houses in the same vicinity, marked &ldquo;Robicheau&rdquo;
in the Morris map of 1758, was the place of residence of Frances Belleisle
Robichaux.</p>
<p>The name Nid d&rsquo;Aigle, or &ldquo;The Eagle&rsquo;s Nest,&rdquo; is applied to this locality in
Bellin&rsquo;s map of 1744, D&rsquo;Anville&rsquo;s map of 1755 marks at the same place &ldquo;Etabliss&rsquo;t
Francois,&rdquo; or French Settlement. The place is nearly opposite Evandale, the site
of the well known summer hotel of John O. Vanwart. Here the St. John river is
quite narrow, only about a five minutes paddle across. The British government
during the war of 1812 built at Nid d&rsquo;Aigle, or &ldquo;Worden&rsquo;s,&rdquo; a fortification consisting
of an earthwork, or &ldquo;half-moon battery,&rdquo; with magazine in rear and a block-house
at the crest of the hill still farther to the rear, the ruins of which are frequently
visited by tourists. The situation commands an extensive and beautiful
view of the river, both up and down, and no better post of defence could be chosen,
since the narrowness of the channel would render it well nigh impossible for an
enemy to creep past either by day or night without detection. There is some
reason to believe that the French commander, Boishebert, established a fortified
post of observation here in 1756.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_14' id='linki_14'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i097.png' alt='' title='' width='500' height='228' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
<span class='smcap'>Old Fort at Worden&rsquo;s</span><br />
</p>
</div>
<p>It is altogether probable that the name &ldquo;Nid d&rsquo;Aigle&rdquo; was given to the place
by the sieur de Belleisle or some member of his family, and one could wish that
it might be restored either in its original form, or in its Saxon equivalent, &ldquo;The
Eagle&rsquo;s Nest.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Colonel Monckton, by direction of Governor Lawrence, ravaged the French
Settlements on the lower St. John in 1758, and in the report of his operations mentions
&ldquo;a few Houses that were some time past inhabited by the Robicheaus,&rdquo; which
he burnt. It is possible that Francoise Belleisle Robichaux went with her family
to l&rsquo;Islet in Quebec to escape the threatened invasion of which they may have had
timely notice, but it is more probable the removal occurred a little earlier. The
situation of the Acadians on the River St. John in 1757 was pitiable in the extreme.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span>
They were cut off from every source of supply and lived in fear of their
lives. The Marquis de Vaudreuil says that in consequence of the famine prevailing
on the river, many Acadian families were forced to fly to Quebec and so destitute
were the wretched ones in some instances that children died at their mother&rsquo;s
breast. The parish records of l&rsquo;Islet<a name='FNanchor_0023' id='FNanchor_0023'></a><a href='#Footnote_0023' class='fnanchor'>[23]</a> show that Pierre Robichaux and his wife lived
there in 1759.</p>
<p>Francoise Belleisle Robichaux died at l&rsquo;Islet January 28, 1791, at the age of 79
years, having outlived her husband six years. They had a number of children, one
of whom, Marie Angelique, married Jean Baptiste d&rsquo;Amour, de Chaufour, and had
a daughter, Marguerite d&rsquo;Amour, whose name seems very familiar to us.</p>
<p>The parish records at l&rsquo;Islet give considerable information concerning the descendants
of the families d&rsquo;Amours, Robichaux and Belleisle, but the space at our
disposal will allow us to follow them no further.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_X_RIVAL_CLAIMS_TO_THE_ST_JOHN_RIVER' id='CHAPTER_X_RIVAL_CLAIMS_TO_THE_ST_JOHN_RIVER'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>Rival Claims to the St. John River</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>The St. John river region may be said to have been in dispute from the moment
the treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713 until the taking of Quebec in 1759.
By the treaty of Utrecht all Nova Scotia, or Acadia, comprehended within its ancient
boundaries, was ceded to Great Britain, and the English at once claimed possession
of the territory bordering on the St. John. To this the French offered strong
objection, claiming that Nova Scotia, or Acadia, comprised merely the peninsula
south of the Bay of Fundy&mdash;a claim which, as already stated in these pages, was
strangely at variance with their former contention that the western boundary of
Acadia was the River Kennebec.<a name='FNanchor_0024' id='FNanchor_0024'></a><a href='#Footnote_0024' class='fnanchor'>[24]</a> For many years the dispute was confined to remonstrances
on the side of either party, the French meanwhile using their savage
allies to repel the advance of any English adventurers who might feel disposed
to make settlements on the St. John, and encouraging the Acadians to settle there,
while the English authorities endeavored, with but indifferent success, to gain the
friendship of the Indians and compel the Acadians to take the oath of allegiance
to the British crown. The dispute over the limits of Acadia at times waxed warm.
There were protests and counter-protests. Letters frequently passed between the
English government at Annapolis and the missionaries on the St. John&mdash;Loyard,
Danielou, and Germain, who were in close touch with the civil authorities of their
nation, and were in some measure the political agents of the Marquise de Vaudreuil
and other French governors of Canada.</p>
<p>It is possible that the Marquis de Vaudreuil felt special interest in the St. John
river country, owing to the fact that his wife Louise Elizabeth Joibert, was born at Fort
Jemseg while her father, the Sieur de Soulanges, was governor of Acadia. At any
rate the marquis stoutly asserted the right of the French to the sovereignty of that
region and he wrote to the Lieut. Governor of Nova Scotia in 1718, &ldquo;I pray you
not to permit your English vessels to go into the river St. John, which is always
of the French dominion.&rdquo; He also encouraged the Acadians of the peninsula to withdraw
to the river St. John so as not to be under British domination, pledging them
his support and stating that Father Loyard, the Jesuit missionary, should have authority
to grant them lands agreeably to their wishes.</p>
<p>Lieut. Governor Doucett, of Nova Scotia, complained of the aggressive policy
of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, asserting that he was entirely mistaken as to the ownership
of the St. John river, for it was &ldquo;about the centre of Nova Scotia;&rdquo; he was
satisfied, nevertheless, that the Acadians believed it would never be taken possession
of by the British, and if the proceedings of the French were not stopped they would
presently claim everything within cannon short of his fort at Annapolis.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span></div>
<p>The policy of the French in employing their Indian allies to deter the English
from any advance towards the St. John region was attended with such success that
the infant colony of Nova Scotia was kept in a constant state of alarm by the
threats and unfriendly attitude of the Micmacs and Maliseets. There were, however,
occasional periods in which there were no actual hostilities, and it may be
said that the peace made at Boston in 1725, and ratified by the St. John river
tribe in May, 1728, was fairly observed by the Indians until war was declared between
England and France in 1744.</p>
<p>During this war the St. John river was much used as a means of communication
between Quebec and the French settlements of Acadia, smart young Indians with
light birch canoes being employed to carry express messages, and on various occasions
large parties of French and Indians travelled by this route from the St. Lawrence
to the Bay of Fundy. The Indian villages of Medoctec and Aukpaque afforded
convenient stopping places.</p>
<p>In the year 1746 a great war party, including the Abenakis of Quebec as well
as their kinsmen of the upper St. John, arrived at Aukpaque. Thence they took
their way in company with the missionary Germain to Chignecto. They had
choice of two routes of travel, one by way of the Kennebecasis and Anagance to
the Petitcodiac, the other by way of the Washademoak lake and the Canaan to
the same river. As the war proceeded the Maliseets actively supported their old
allies the French. Some of them took part in the midwinter night attack, under
Coulon de Villiers, on Colonel Noble&rsquo;s post at Grand Pre. The English on this
occasion were taken utterly by surprise; Noble himself fell fighting in his shirt,
and his entire party were killed, wounded or made prisoners. From the military
point of view this was one of the most brilliant exploits in the annals of Acadia,
and, what is better, the victors behaved with great humanity to the vanquished.</p>
<p>The missionaries le Loutre and Germain were naturally very desirous of seeing
French supremacy restored in Acadia and the latter proposed an expedition
against Annapolis. With that end in view he proceeded to Quebec and returned
with a supply of powder, lead and ball for his Maliseet warriors. However, in
October, 1748, the peace of Aix la Chapelle put a stop to open hostilities.</p>
<p>Immediately after the declaration of peace, Captain Gorham, with his rangers
and a detachment of auxiliaries, proceeded in two ships to the River St. John
and ordered the French inhabitants to send deputies to Annapolis to give an account
of their conduct during the war.</p>
<p>Count de la Galissonniere strongly protested against Gorham&rsquo;s interference with
the Acadians on the St. John, which he described as &ldquo;a river situated on the
Continent of Canada, and much on this side of the Kennebec, where by common
consent the bounds of New England have been placed.&rdquo; This utterance of the
French governor marks another stage in the controversy concerning the limits
of Acadia. He stoutly contended that Gorham and all other British officers must
be forbidden to interfere with the French on the St. John river, or to engage them
to make submissions contrary to the allegiance due to the King of France &ldquo;who,&rdquo;
he says, &ldquo;is their master as well as mine, and has not ceded this territory by any
treaty.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span></div>
<p>The governors of Massachusetts and of Nova Scotia replied at some length to
the communication of Count de la Galissonniere, claiming the territory in dispute
for the king of Great Britain, and showing that the French living on the St. John
had some years before taken the oath of allegiance to the English monarch.</p>
<p>The Acadians on the St. John, whose allegiance was in dispute, were a mere
handful of settlers. The Abbe le Loutre wrote in 1748: &ldquo;There are fifteen or
twenty French families on this river, the rest of the inhabitants are savages called
Marichites (Maliseets) who have for their missionary the Jesuit father Germain.&rdquo;
His statement as to the number of Acadian settlers is corroborated by Mascarene,
who notified the British authorities that thirty leagues up the river were seated
twenty families of French inhabitants, sprung originally from the Nova Scotia
side of the bay, most of them since his memory, who, many years ago, came to
Annapolis and took the oath of fidelity. He adds, &ldquo;the whole river up to its
head, with all the northern coast of the Bay of Fundy, was always reckoned dependent
on this government.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Both Mascarene and Shirley strongly urged upon the British ministry the necessity
of settling the limits of Acadia, and a little later commissioners were appointed,
two on each side, to determine the matter. They spent four fruitless years
over the question, and it remained undecided until settled by the arbitrament of
the sword. Shirley was one of the commissioners, as was also the Marquis de la
Galissonniere, and it is not to be wondered at that with two such determined
men on opposite sides and differing so widely in their views, there should have been
no solution of the difficulty.</p>
<p>The period now under consideration is really a very extraordinary one. Ostensibly
it was a time of peace. By the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 England
gave back Cape Breton (or Isle Royale) to France and France restored Madras to
England, but there remained no clear understanding as to the boundaries between
the possessions of the rival powers in America.</p>
<p>So far as the French and English colonies were concerned the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
scarcely deserved the name of a truce. It was merely a breathing time
in which preparations were being made for the final struggle. The treaty was so
indefinite that a vast amount of territory was claimed by both parties. The English
were naturally the most aggressive for the population of the English colonies
was 1,200,000 while Canada had but 60,000 people.</p>
<p>Count de la Galissonniere, the governor-general of Canada, though diminutive
in stature and slightly deformed, was resolute and energetic; moreover he was a
statesman, and had his policy been followed it might have been better for France.
He advised the government to send out ten thousand peasants from the rural districts
and settle them along the frontiers of the disputed territory, but the
French court thought it unadvisable to depopulate France in order to people the
wilds of Canada. Failing in this design, the Count determined vigorously to assert
the sovereignty of France over the immense territory in dispute. Accordingly he
claimed for his royal master the country north of the Bay of Fundy and west
to the Kennebec, and his officers established fortified posts on the River St. John
and at the Isthmus of Chignecto. He at the same time stirred up the Indians to
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span>
hostilities in order to render the position of the English in Nova Scotia and New
England as uncomfortable as possible, and further to strengthen his hands he endeavored
to get the Acadians in the peninsula of Nova Scotia to remove to the
St. John river and other parts of &ldquo;the debatable territory.&rdquo; His policy led to a
counter policy on the part of Shirley and Lawrence (governors respectively of
Massachusetts and Nova Scotia) namely, that the Acadians should not be allowed
to go where they liked and to do as they pleased but must remain on their lands
and take the oath of allegiance to the English sovereign or be removed to situations
where they could do no harm to the interests of the British colonies in
the then critical condition of affairs.</p>
<p>Ostensibly there was peace from the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle until war was
declared between the rival powers in 1756. But in the meantime there was a
collision between them on the Ohio river, where the French built Fort Duquesne on
the site now occupied by Pittsburg. The governors of the English colonies held
a conference and decided on rather a startling programme for a time of peace.
Gen. Braddock was to march on Fort Duquesne and drive the French from the
Ohio valley; Shirley, of Massachusetts, was to lead an expedition against Niagara;
William Johnson, was to take Crown Point and secure control of Lake Champlain;
while, in Acadia, Colonel Monckton was to attack the French position at Fort
Beausejour. In every instance the English were the aggressors but they justified
their action on the ground that the places to be attacked were on British territory.
This the French as emphatically denied. Braddock&rsquo;s attempt resulted in a
most disastrous failure, Shirley&rsquo;s expedition was abandoned, William Johnson won
a brilliant victory at Lake George and Colonel Monckton captured Beausejour.</p>
<p>The course of events on the River St. John and in other parts of Acadia harmonizes
with the general situation of affairs in America at this time.</p>
<p>As the period under consideration is one of which comparatively little has been
written, it may be well to make use of the information contained in the voluminous
correspondence of the French ministers and their subordinates in America.</p>
<p>Early in the summer of 1749 the Count de la Galissonniere sent the Sieur de
Boishebert to the lower part of the River St. John with a small detachment to
secure the French inhabitants against the threats of Capt. Gorham, who had been
sent by the Governor of Nova Scotia to make the inhabitants renew the oath of
allegiance to the English sovereign, which de la Galissonniere says &ldquo;they ought
never to have taken.&rdquo; The Count expresses his views on the situation with terseness
and vigor: &ldquo;The River St. John is not the only place the English wish to
invade. They claim the entire coast, from that river to Beaubassin, and from
Canso to Gaspe, in order to render themselves sovereigns of all the territory of
the Abenakis, Catholics and subjects of the king, a nation that has never acknowledged
nor wishes to acknowledge their domination and which is the most faithful
to us in Canada. If we abandon to England this land, which comprises more than
180 leagues of seacoast, that is to say almost as much as from Bayonne to Dunkirk,
we must renounce all communication by land from Canada with Acadia and Isle
Royal, together with the means of succoring the one and retaking the other.&rdquo;
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span>
The Count further argues that to renounce the territory in dispute will deprive
the Acadians of all hope of a place of refuge on French soil and reduce them to
despair, and he apprehends that the English, having no reason to care for them,
will suffer them to have no missionaries and will destroy at their leisure their religion.
&ldquo;It is very easy,&rdquo; he adds, &ldquo;to hinder the English establishing themselves
on these lands. They will have to proceed through the woods and along narrow
rivers, and as long as the French are masters of the Abenakis and the Acadians are
provided with arms and supplies from France the English will not expose themselves
to their attacks.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Both sides began to consider the advisability of taking forcible possession of the
disputed territory, but the French were the first to take action. In June, 1749,
Mascarene reported two French officers with twenty or thirty men from Canada and
a number of Indians had come to erect a fort and make a settlement at the mouth
of the river, and that two vessels with stores and materials were coming to them
from Quebec. On receipt of this information, Cornwallis, who had just arrived at
Halifax, sent Captain Rous in the sloop &ldquo;Albany&rdquo; to St. John to ascertain what
works were in course of erection by the French, and to demand the authority for
their action. He also issued a proclamation in French prohibiting the Acadians
from making a settlement on the St. John.</p>
<p>When the &ldquo;Albany&rdquo; arrived no one was found at the old fort and for some time
no inhabitants, either French or Indian, were seen. At last a French schooner entered
the harbor, laden with provisions. Captain Rous took her, but offered to release
her provided the master would go up the river and bring down the French
officers. The master accordingly went up the river in a canoe, and the next day
a French officer with thirty men and 150 Indians came down and took position, with
their colors flying, at a point on the shore within musket shot of the &ldquo;Albany.&rdquo;
The commander of the French was Pierre Boishebert. He had fixed his headquarters
ten miles up the river at the place now known as Woodman&rsquo;s Point, just
above the mouth of the Nerepis, where in Governor Villebon&rsquo;s time there had been
an Indian fortress.</p>
<p>Captain Rous ordered the French to strike their colors; their commander demurred,
and asked to be allowed to march back with his colors flying, promising to return
the next day without them. Rous ordered the colors to be struck immediately,
which being done, the officers were invited on board the &ldquo;Albany.&rdquo; They showed
their instructions from the governor of Canada, Count de la Galissonniere, by which
it appeared they had at first been ordered to establish a fortified post, but afterwards
the order had been countermanded and they were required merely to prevent
the English from establishing themselves till the right of possession should be settled
between the two crowns.</p>
<p>The letter of Captain Rous to Boishebert, upon the arrival of the former at St.
John harbor, is rather quaint reading. The original is in French.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>From the River St. John, 3 July, 1749.</p>
<p>Sir,&mdash;I am directed by the King, my master, to look into and examine the
various ports, harbors and rivers of His Majesty&rsquo;s province of Nova Scotia, and am
now here for that intent. Being informed that you are upon this river with a
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span>
detachment of soldiers of the King of France. I should be pleased to know by
what authority and with what intention your are engaged in a similar procedure.
It would afford me much pleasure if I could have the honor of a personal interview
in order to convince you of the rights of the King, my master.</p>
<p>I shall be delighted to see some of the Indian chiefs in order to inform them
of the peace and of the harmony that prevails between the two crowns, also to
confer with them.</p>
<p style='margin-bottom:0em'>Until I shall have the honor, as I hope, of seeing you,</p>
<p class='right'>I am very truly, etc.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the subsequent interview with the savages, Father Germain and Captain
Edward How acted as interpreters, and the missionary wrote an account of the
interview to the governor of Quebec, in which he mentions the fact that Cornwallis,
the governor of Nova Scotia, claimed jurisdiction over the St. John river region
and beyond it to Passamaquoddy, deeming it a part of Acadia according to its
ancient limits. Boishebert, in his letter to the Count de la Galissonniere, says
that one of the best reasons the English had for laying claim to the territory north
of the Bay of Fundy was that the commission of Subercase, the last French governor
who resided at Annapolis Royal, fixed his jurisdiction as far west as the
River Kennebec. In the spirit of a true soldier, Boishebert wishes that war
might speedily recommence, and that France might be more fortunate as to the
conquest of Acadia than in the last war. Meanwhile he had arranged with Capt.
Rous to remain undisturbed on the River St. John until the next spring, on the
understanding that he was to erect no fortification.</p>
<p>The St. John Indians having made peace with the governor of Nova Scotia at
Halifax, it was decided that a present of 1,000 bushels of corn should be sent &ldquo;to
confirm their allegiance&rdquo;; and it seems their allegiance needed confirmation, for a
little later Father Germain warned Captain How that an Indian attack was impending.
Nor was it by any means a false alarm, for on the 8th of December
about 300 Micmacs and Maliseets surprised and captured an English officer and
eighteen men and attacked the fort at Minas.</p>
<p>Father Germain evidently was a warrior priest and had used his powers of observation
to some purpose; he strongly recommended the erection of a fort for the
defence of the river at the narrows (&ldquo;detroit&rdquo;) about a league and a half above
where the river enters the sea. The English, he says, could not pass it with 600
men if there were but 60 or 80 men to oppose them.</p>
<p>The Marquis de la Jonquiere, who succeeded as governor general this year, at
once displayed anxiety in regard to the St. John river region&mdash;&ldquo;Being the key of
this country,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;it is essential to retain it.&rdquo; He confides his policy to the
minister at Versailles, in his letter of October 9, 1749. &ldquo;It is <a name='TC_25'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double quote">desirable,&rdquo;</ins> he writes,
&ldquo;that the savages should unite in opposing the English even at Chibuctou (Halifax)....
The savages must act alone without co-operation of soldier or inhabitant and
without it appearing that I have knowledge of it. It is very necessary also, as I
wrote the Sieur de Boishebert, to observe much caution in his proceedings and to
act very secretly in order that the English may not be able to perceive we are
supplying the needs of the said savages. It will be the missionaries who will attend
to all the negotiations and who will direct the proceedings of the said savages. They
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span>
are in very good hands, the Rev. Father Germain and the Abbe Le Loutre being
well aware how to act to the best advantage and to draw out all the assistance
they can give on our side. They will manage the intrigue in such a way that it
will not be known. They will concert in every instance with the Sieurs de la
Corne and de Boishebert. If all turns out as I hope it will follow,&mdash;first that we
will hold our lands and the English will not be able to establish any settlements
before the boundaries have been determined by the two crowns, and second that
we shall be able to assist and gradually to withdraw from the hands of the English
the French of Acadia.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It is not necessary for us to criticize too harshly the policy of the French governor
and his subordinates, but we need not be surprised that in the end it provoked
resentment on the part of the governors of Nova Scotia and Massachusetts
and was one of the causes of the Acadian expulsion. That it was in a measure
successful is proved by the reply of Lawrence a few years later to the suggestion
of the Lords of Trade, who had been urging upon him the importance of making
settlements: &ldquo;What can I do to encourage people to settle on frontier lands,
where they run the risk of having their throats cut by inveterate enemies, who
easily effect their escape from their knowledge of every creek and corner?&rdquo;</p>
<p>Boishebert, prevented from immediately establishing a fortified post, seems to
have moved freely up and down the river. At one time he writes from &ldquo;Menacouche&rdquo;
at the mouth of the river, at another from &ldquo;Ecoubac&rdquo;&mdash;the Indian village
of Aukpaque&mdash;at another he is at &ldquo;Medoctec,&rdquo; the upper Indian village. He organized
the few Acadians on the river into a militia corps, the officers of which were
commissioned by Count de la Galissonniere.</p>
<p>Meanwhile the Abbe Le Loutre was employing his energies to get the Acadians
to leave their lands in the Nova Scotian peninsula and repair to the St. John
river and other places north of the isthmus. To such a proceeding Cornwallis objected
and Le Loutre then wrote to the French authorities an earnest letter in behalf
of the Acadians, in which he says, &ldquo;Justice pleads for them and as France is
the resource of the unfortunate, I hope, Monseigneur, that you will try to take
under your protection this forsaken people and obtain for them through his
majesty liberty to depart from Acadia and the means to settle upon French soil
and to transport their effects to the River St. John or some other territory that the
authorities of Canada may take possession of.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The French still cherished the project of establishing a fortified post at the
mouth of the St. John and, as they had opportunity, sent thither munitions of war
and garrison supplies. In the summer of the year 1750, the British warship
&ldquo;Hound,&rdquo; Capt. Dove, was ordered to proceed to St. John in quest of a brigantine
laden with provisions and stores from Quebec, and said to have on board 100 French
soldiers. Before the arrival of the &ldquo;Hound,&rdquo; however, Capt. Cobb in the provincial
sloop &ldquo;York&rdquo; got to St. John, where he found the brigantine anchored near the shore
at the head of the harbor. She fired an alarm gun on sight of the &ldquo;York.&rdquo; The
English captain brought his vessel to anchor under the lee of Partridge Island and
sent a detachment of men in a whale boat to reconnoitre. They were fired upon by
the French and Indians, and the French commander, Boishebert, insisted that Cobb
should quit the harbor, as it belonged to the French king, and threatened to send his
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span>
Indians to destroy him and his crew. Nothing daunted, Cobb proceeded up the
harbor in his sloop until he discovered &ldquo;a small fortification by a little hill,&rdquo; where
the French were assembled and had their colors hoisted. Boishebert&rsquo;s forces included
fifty-six soldiers and 200 Indians. He summoned to his aid the inhabitants living on
the river and they responded to the number of fifty or sixty. The governor of
Canada had lately commissioned Joseph Bellefontaine, an old resident, to be &ldquo;major
of all the militia of the River St. John,&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0025' id='FNanchor_0025'></a><a href='#Footnote_0025' class='fnanchor'>[25]</a> and it is to the presumed he was active on
this occasion. Cobb allowed himself to be enticed on shore under a flag of truce,
and was made a prisoner and compelled to send an order to his vessel not to molest
the French brigantine. His mate, however, pluckily declined to receive the order,
and announced his determination to hold the French officers who had come with the
message until Cobb should be released. This Boishebert was obliged to do and the
commander of the &ldquo;York,&rdquo; by way of retaliation, took six prisoners from the French
brigantine and brought them to Halifax.</p>
<p>Capt. Dove did not reach St. John with the &ldquo;Hound&rdquo; until after the &ldquo;York&rdquo;
had left. He did not enter the harbor but sent his lieutenant in a whale boat to
investigate the state of affairs. The lieutenant&rsquo;s experience was similar to that of
Cobb. He was induced by Boishebert to come on shore, was made a prisoner and
only released on promising that the six prisoners carried off by Cobb should be set
at liberty.</p>
<p>In the autumn of the year 1750 Captain Rous, while cruising in the &ldquo;Albany,&rdquo;
fell in with a French man-of-war and a schooner off Cape Sable. The schooner had
been sent from Quebec with provisions and warlike stores for the Indians on the
River St. John. Rous fired several guns to bring the enemy to, but in response
the ship cleared for action and when the &ldquo;Albany&rdquo; ran up alongside of her, poured
in a broadside. A spirited engagement ensued, which resulted in the capture of the
French ship, but the schooner got safely into St. John. One midshipman and two
sailors were killed on board the &ldquo;Albany,&rdquo; and five men on board the Frenchman.</p>
<p>Governor Cornwallis reported this as the second instance in which the governor
of Canada had sent a vessel into a British port with arms, etc., for the Indian enemy.
The governor of Canada, the Marquis de la Jonquiere, however, viewed the matter
from a different standpoint and demanded of Cornwallis an explanation in regard
to the vessel captured. He again asserted the right of the French king to the
lands occupied by his troops, and by his orders four Boston schooners were seized at
Louisbourg as a reprisal for the brigantine taken by the &ldquo;Albany.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The correspondence between the Governor of Quebec and the French colonial
minister supplies some interesting details of the sea-fight in the Bay of Fundy in
the autumn of 1750. It seems that Boishebert and the missionary Germain had sent
an urgent request to the Quebec authorities for provisions for the women and
children of the Indian families, during the absence of the men in their winter
hunting, and for supplies needed by the French garrison on the St. John. Accordingly
Bigot, the intendant, fitted out the St. Francis, a brigantine of 130 to
140 tons, to escort a schooner laden with the required articles to the mouth of the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span>
St. John river. The St. Francis carried 10 guns and had a crew or 70 men, including
32 soldiers, under command of the sieur de Vergor.</p>
<p>On the 16th of October, as the brigantine and schooner were entering the
Bay of Fundy, Captain Vergor noticed, at 11 in the morning, an English frigate,
which put on all sail and came after him. A quarter of an hour afterwards the
frigate fired a cannon shot and displayed her flag. Vergor immediately hoisted his
own flag and responded with a cannon shot, continuing on his way. The English
frigate continued the chase and a half hour later fired a second shot followed
by a third, which went through the little top-mast of the St. Francis. Vergor then
made preparations for the combat, the frigate continuing to approach and firing
four cannon shots at his sails. When within speaking distance Vergor called through
his trumpet that he was in command of a ship of the King of France carrying provisions
and munitions to the troops of his majesty. The English captain in reply
ordered him to lay to or he would sink him. Vergor repeated his announcement
in English, but, for answer the frigate discharged a volley of all her guns
damaging the ship and killing two of his men. He in turn now fell upon the
frigate, discharging all his guns and musketry. The fight lasted nearly five hours,
at the expiration of which the St. Francis was so crippled by the loss of her
mainmast and injuries to her sails and rigging that Vergor was obliged to surrender.
His long boat having been rendered unserviceable, the English captain sent
his own to convey him on board. Vergor found the frigate to be the Albany, of
14 guns and 28 swivel guns and a crew of 120 men, commanded by Captain Rous.
The Albany did not pursue the schooner, which proceeded to St. John, but sailed
for Halifax with her prize, where she arrived three days later.</p>
<p>Vergor was sent on shore and confined to a room in the house of Governor
Cornwallis. The governor treated him courteously, heard his version of the affair
and called a council meeting the next day to inquire into the circumstances of the
case.</p>
<p>Vergor&rsquo;s official report conveys the idea that Cornwallis was rather doubtful as
to whether Rous had acted in a legitimate manner. The council held five or six
meetings without coming to any decision. Meanwhile, with the governor&rsquo;s approval,
Vergor had a new <a name='TC_26'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'main-maist'">main-mast</ins> cut and drawn from the woods by the crew
of the St. Francis and arrangements were made to repair the damaged sails and
shrouds. However the matter was soon afterwards taken out of Cornwallis&rsquo;
hands by Captain Rous, who brought the case before the Admiralty Court, where
the St. Francis was confiscated for engaging in <a name='TC_27'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'illict'">illicit</ins> commerce in the province of
his Britannic Majesty.</p>
<p>The French authorities took up the matter and sent a spirited remonstrance
to the British ambassador, claiming that the transaction was opposed to every
kind of law and demanding the restoration of the captured vessel with exemplary
punishment of Captain Rous and the admiralty officers at Halifax, as
well as orders on the part of his Britannic Majesty to all officers in his ships
and colonies to observe the peace and to undertake nothing contrary thereto.
A demand was also made that the English should in no way hinder the migration
of the Acadians from the peninsula of Nova Scotia to the mainland or elsewhere.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span>
It is needless to say that the British government did not comply with
these demands and here was one of the many grievances that led to a renewal
of the war a little later.</p>
<p>The Sieur de Vergor and the crew of the St. Francis were sent to Louisbourg,
and the brigantine retained at Halifax as a prize on the ground that she was
engaged in furnishing <a name='TC_28'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'warike'">warlike</ins> munitions to the Indian enemy and interfering
with British rights on the River St. John.</p>
<p>Cornwallis evidently felt the difficulties of his position very keenly. Halifax
was yet in its infancy and in a comparatively defenceless state; Louisbourg and
Quebec were supporting the French on the St. John and he had neither the men nor
the money to oppose their proceedings. It seems, too, that he had been called to
account for the large expenditure he had made in Nova Scotia. In his letters to
the Lords of Trade he expresses himself as distracted between his desire to lessen
expenses and his fears of losing the province. He was doubtful if, with the forces
at his disposal, he could prevent the French from fortifying St. John and Beausejour,
and he observes, with some irritation, that it has been said, &ldquo;What has he to contend
with? Three or four hundred Indians: it is a time of peace and no other
enemy to fear.&rdquo; So far from this being an adequate representation of the situation,
he claimed the facts were that the French had taken possession of all Nova Scotia
north of the Bay of Fundy, and had obliged many of the Acadians of the peninsula
to remove thither and swear allegiance to the king of France; that the governor of
Canada, through his emissary le Loutre, had offered a premium for every prisoner,
head, or scalp of an Englishman; that the French had sent a ship of thirty-six guns
and 300 men to the Bay of Fundy and had not only incited the Indians to hostilities
but had behaved as if there were open war.</p>
<p>The French at Quebec, in view of the difficulty of keeping in touch with
their posts on the north side of the Bay of Fundy, endeavored to improve the
route of communication via the River St. John. During the previous war they
had made a road from Riviere du Loup to Lake Temisquata, but the woods
were growing up again and deep holes began to render it impracticable. Bigot,
the intendant, therefore spent 600 or 700 livres in improving it, and in consequence
couriers were able to come to Quebec in ten or twelve days from Shediac,
and in eight from the River St. John. For the convenience of travelers three
magazines of supplies were established, one at Riviere du Loup, one at Temisquata
and one at the head of Madawaska river. The Marquis de la Jonquiere <a name='TC_29'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'anticipatd'">anticipated</ins>
great advantages from the overland route of communication. He says in
a letter to France, dated May 1, 1751: &ldquo;We have made a road and are going
to make some flat-bottomed conveyances so that in winter we will be able to
transport by hauling over the snow the things most needed for the River St.
John, and in summer we shall be able to make the transport by means of carts
and flat-bottomed batteaux. These arrangements will be very useful supposing
that the English continue to stop the vessels we send there.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;As the English have boasted that they are going to establish themselves at
the River St. John,&rdquo; continues the Marquis, &ldquo;I have given orders to the Sieur
de Boishebert, who commands there, to repair the old fort named Menacoche
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span>
(Menagoueche) at the mouth of the river and to make there a barrack for the
officers and 100 men in garrison with necessary magazines. The whole will be
built of logs and I have very expressly recommended Boishebert, to have it done
without expense to the King, or at least very little, and to that end he is to
employ the soldiers and militia.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This fort stood in Carleton opposite Navy Island on the point at the foot of
King street, still called &ldquo;Old Fort.&rdquo; The Marquis la Jonquiere says the terraces
of the fort were about twenty-five feet high outside and twelve inside and the
defences were such as would enable the garrison to withstand a lively attack.</p>
<p>It was intended to place four cannons of 8 L. to cannonade any ships that
might attack it. The chief difficulty of the situation was the scarcity of water. The
fort was quite indispensable for if the French were to abandon the lower part of
the St. John river the English would immediately take possession. The savages were
instructed to annoy the English on all occasions and to plunder any of their ships
that landed on their shores. The Marquis even went so far as to suggest that some
of the Acadians, dressed and painted like the savages, should join in the attacks
upon the English in order that the savages might act with greater courage. He says
he cannot avoid consenting to what the savages do in keeping the English busy and
frustrating their advance since the French were restrained from open hostilities by
the peace. &ldquo;I beg you to be assured, Monseigneur,&rdquo; the Marquis continues, &ldquo;that
I will manage everything so as not to compromise myself and that I will not give
up an inch of land that belongs to the king. It is time the limits should be settled
and that we should know positively what we are to hold, so as to put an end
to all hostilities and to avoid the immense expense that is occasioned.&rdquo;</p>
<p>La Jonquiere, in the month of February, sent on the ice a detachment of fifty
Canadians to strengthen the garrison at the mouth of the River St. John, and as
the services of Boishebert were required elsewhere, the Sieur de Gaspe,<a name='FNanchor_0026' id='FNanchor_0026'></a><a href='#Footnote_0026' class='fnanchor'>[26]</a> lieutenant
of infantry, was sent to replace him and remained two years and a half in command.</p>
<p>The situation of the Acadians on the St. John at this time was a very unenviable
one. Fort Boishebert, at the Nerepis, was a frail defence, and they were beginning
to be straitened for supplies on account of the vigilance of the English
cruisers. Father Germain wrote to the commandant at Annapolis Royal for leave
to buy provisions there for the French living on the river, but the governor and
council objected on the ground that French troops occupied the place and the Indians
there were hostile. We gather some interesting information from a letter
written at this time to the French minister by the Sieur de Gaspe, who was in
command of the fort at the mouth of the Nerepis.<a name='FNanchor_0027' id='FNanchor_0027'></a><a href='#Footnote_0027' class='fnanchor'>[27]</a></p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span></div>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>Fort de Nerepice, 16th June, 1751.</p>
<p>Monseigneur: On my arrival at this post on the River St. John, to which I am
sent by my general, the Marquis de la Jonquiere, to relieve M. de Boishebert, the
commandant of the place, I found at anchor the frigate &ldquo;Fidele,&rdquo; commanded by M.
Maccarti, who was landing the provisions and other supplies sent for this post. The
coming of this ship, Monseigneur, convinces me that you wish to hold possession of
this post.</p>
<p>I have only just arrived here. I learn that the English threaten to come and
build a fort at the mouth of the river near that which the Marquis de la Jonquiere
has caused to be begun and has ordered me to continue. I will do my best to
carry out his orders so far as circumstances permit, and the governor will furnish
you with an account of his intentions.</p>
<p>In order to fix ourselves here we must keep up communication by way of La
Baie Francaise [the Bay of Fundy] so as to furnish provisions; for the place cannot
be supplied by land, especially if we must afford subsistence to those families
of Acadians who are obliged to seek refuge on the river, as has been stated to me.
I will receive them, Monseigneur, in order to settle the country, which at present
has only twenty-eight French inhabitants,<a name='FNanchor_0028' id='FNanchor_0028'></a><a href='#Footnote_0028' class='fnanchor'>[28]</a> who can give no assistance in
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span>
providing for the support of others, not having as yet enough cultivated land for
themselves.</p>
<p>M. Maccarti, commander of the frigate, has taken note of the harbor [at St.
John] on the other side of the fort, and of the other advantages, or disadvantages,
we must encounter in this place, where I will endeavor to maintain the rights that
we have and to oppose the Englishman if he attempts to build here.</p>
<p style='margin-bottom:0em'>I am with very profound respect, Monseigneur,</p>
<p style='margin:0em auto'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Your humble and very obedient servant,</p>
<p class='right'>GASPE.</p>
</blockquote>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_15' id='linki_15'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i110.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='451' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
WOODMAN&rsquo;S POINT. (The Star shows the site of Fort Boishebert.)<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Resolute attempts continued to be made to withdraw the Acadians from the
peninsula of Nova Scotia, both by threats and persuasions, and the Marquis de la
Jonquiere issued a proclamation to those living within the bounds of what is now
New Brunswick, declaring that all who did not within eight days take the oath of
allegiance in the militia companies would be considered as rebels and driven from
their lands. The companies of militia were ordered to drill on Sundays and Feast
days and to hold themselves in readiness to defend themselves at any moment. A
few months later the governor of Canada was able to report that all the Acadian
inhabitants who were upon the lands of the king had taken the oath of fidelity.
Twelve blank commissions were sent from Quebec to be issued to those most
capable of fulfilling the duties of officers in the militia.</p>
<p>At Fort Menagoueche the work did not progress as fast as anticipated. The
workmen had no tools except axes, and the Sieur de Gaspe complained that he had
not been able to make the soldiers of the garrison work. He says &ldquo;they are very
bad subjects&rdquo; and he dared not compel them to work apprehending their desertion.
The fort was surrounded by four bastions and, in addition to the barracks and
magazines, it was proposed to construct a building of logs, squared with the axe, to
accommodate the chaplain and surgeon and to serve as a guard house.</p>
<p>Fort Boishebert, at Woodman&rsquo;s Point on the Nerepis, was a difficult post to
maintain owing to the insufficiency of the troops at de Gaspe&rsquo;s disposal. He
complains that the savages had broken in the door of the cellar and he thought it
advisable to abandon it altogether. The Marquis de la Jonquiere ordered him to
consult with Father Germain on the subject and meanwhile to double the guard.
The missionary wrote he was of the same opinion as the Sieur de Gaspe, and permission
was accordingly given to abandon the fort and to transport the supplies
wherever they might be needed.</p>
<p>The Jesuit missionary at Penobscot, Father Gounon, proposed to spend the winter
at &ldquo;Nerepisse&rdquo; with his Indians, but the governor of Canada did not at all approve
of it, fearing that if the savages were to abandon their village the English
would advance from the westward towards the River St. John. He apprehended
that if only a small number of Indians remained at Penobscot, and these without
a missionary, the enemy would win them to their side and, as a direful result, the
English would presently establish themselves at Matsipigouattons, advancing to
Peskadamokkanti (or Passamaquoddy) and so by degrees to the River St. John.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XI_THE_FRENCH_ANXIOUS_TO_HOLD_POSSESSION_OF_THE_RIVER_ST_JOHN' id='CHAPTER_XI_THE_FRENCH_ANXIOUS_TO_HOLD_POSSESSION_OF_THE_RIVER_ST_JOHN'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The French anxious to hold possession of the River St. John</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>The situation on the St. John had now become a matter of international interest
in view of the boundary dispute. The deliberations of the French and English
commissioners began in 1750 and lasted four years. In preparing the French
case the Marquis de la Galissonniere summoned to his aid the Abbes de L&rsquo;Isle-Dieu
and Le Loutre, who were both well informed as to the situation of Acadia and
also filled with intense zeal for the national cause. We learn from letters of the
Abbe de L&rsquo;Isle-Dieu, written at Paris to the French minister early in the year 1753,
that the two missionaries, in consultation with the Count de la Galissonniere, prepared
several documents to elucidate the French case. Copies of these very interesting
papers are now in the Canadian Archives at Ottawa, and have been published
at Quebec in 1890 by the Abbe Casgrain in &ldquo;Le Canada Francais.&rdquo; The
three most important of these documents are entitled:</p>
<p>1. Memorandum on the necessity of determining the limits of Acadia.</p>
<p>2. Plan for the settlement of the country in order to hasten the determining of
the aforesaid limits.</p>
<p>3. Representation of the present state of the missions, French as well as Indians,
in the southern part of New France in Canada.</p>
<p>In the first of these documents the following references are made to the River
St. John:</p>
<p>&ldquo;This post, so important to retain for France, has as commandant M. De Gaspe
at Fort Menagoeck, built at the mouth of the river. The missionary on the river is
Father Germain, Jesuit, who makes his residence at Ekauba (Aukpaque), distant
about forty leagues from Fort Menagoeck.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The savages of Father Germain&rsquo;s mission are Marechites, and he has in addition
the care of some French families settled on the river.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Since the month of August last, Father Audren has been sent as assistant to
Father Germain, but his assistance will be much more hurtful than beneficial to
the mission if, in accordance with the plan of the Jesuit provincial, it is decided to
recall Father Germain to Quebec to fill the office of superior general of the house of
the Jesuits in Canada. This is not merely a groundless surmise, for the destination
and nomination to office of Father Germain are already determined, at least Father
Germain himself so states in his last letter to the Abbe l&rsquo;Isle-Dieu, and he adds
that he has made every possible representation to at least delay his recall. The
Abbe l&rsquo;Isle-Dieu, who perceives all the consequences of his removal, has already endeavored
to prevent its being effected by the Provincial, and it is thought that,
under the present circumstances, the court should as far as possible employ its authority
to hinder the retirement of Father Germain from his mission, where the esteem
and confidence, the respect and authority, that he has acquired over the
savages and the few French who are found in his mission, give him a power that a
young missionary could not have. Besides Father Germain joins to a disinterestedness
without example, to piety the most sincere, and to a zeal indefatigable, consummate
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span>
experience. All this is necessary in connection with various operations
that are now to be undertaken, in which a man of such qualifications can be of
great assistance.</p>
<p>&ldquo;At a distance of eighteen leagues from Father Germain&rsquo;s post of duty is another
called Medoctek, which is dependent on the same mission and served by the
Jesuit father Loverga, who has been there nine months, and who has the care of a
band of Marechites; but, in addition to the fact that Father Loverga is on the point
of leaving, he would be useless there on account of his great age and it would be better
to send there next spring Father Audren, since this mission is daily becoming
more important, especially to the savages whose chief occupation is beaver hunting.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The French inhabitants of the River St. John have suffered much by different
detachments of Canadians and Indians, to the number of 250 or 300 men, commanded
by M. de Montesson, a Canadian officer, whom they have been obliged to subsist,
and for that purpose to sacrifice the grain and cattle needed for the seeding and
tillage of their own fields. In the helpless position in which these inhabitants find
themselves, it is thought that in order to afford them sufficient relief it would be
advisable that the Court should send them immediately at least 1,000 barrels of flour,
and the same quantity annually for some time, both for their own subsistence and
for that of the garrison and the Indians. It would be well also to send them each
year about 250 barrels of bacon; this last sort of provision being limited to this
quantity because it is supposed, or at least hoped, there will be sent from Quebec
some Indian corn and peas as well as oil and fat for the savages.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The reference to the St. John river region in the document from which this
extract is taken, concludes by strongly recommending that the supply of flour and
bacon should be sent, not to the store houses at Quebec and Louisbourg, but directly
to St. John, where it would arrive as safely as at any other port and with less
expense to the king and much more expedition to the inhabitants.</p>
<p>It may be well now to pause in the narration of events to look a little more
closely into the situation on the River St. John at the time of the negotiations
between the rival powers with regard to the limits of Acadia.</p>
<p>The statement has been made in some of our school histories, &ldquo;Acadia was
ceded to the English by the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, and has remained a British
possession ever since.&rdquo; The statement is, to say the least, very misleading, so
far as the St. John river country is concerned, for the French clung tenaciously to
this territory as a part of the dominions of their monarch until New France passed
finally into the hands of their rivals by the treaty of Paris in 1763.</p>
<p>There was no part of Acadia that was more familiar to the French than the
valley of the River St. John, and the importance attached to the retention of it
by France is seen very clearly in a memorandum, prepared about this time for the
use of the French commissioners on the limits of Acadia. There can be no doubt
that the Abbes de L&rsquo;Isle-Dieu and Le Loutre had a hand in the preparation of this
document, which is an able statement of the case from the French point of view.
They assert &ldquo;that the British pretensions to ownership of the territory north
of the Bay of Fundy have no foundation. That the French have made settlements
at various places along the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they have
always lived peaceably and quietly under the rule of the French king. This is also
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span>
the state there at present, and the English desire to change it, without having
acquired any new right of possession since the treaty of Utrecht, and after forty
years of quiet and peaceable possession on the part of the French. It is the same
with regard to the River St. John and that part of Canada which adjoins the Bay
of Fundy. The French, who were settled there before the treaty of Utrecht, have
continued to this day to hold possession under the jurisdiction and sovereignty
of the King of France, enjoying meanwhile the fruit of their labors. It is not
until more than forty years after the treaty of Utrecht that the English commissioners
have attempted, by virtue of a new and arbitrary interpretation of the
treaty, to change and overturn all the European possessions of America; to expel
the French, to deprive them of their property and their homes, to sell the lands
they have cultivated and made valuable and to expose Europe by such transactions
to the danger of seeing the fires of war rekindled. Whatever sacrifices France
might be disposed to make, in order to maintain public tranquility, it would be difficult
indeed for her to allow herself to be deprived of the navigation of the River
St. John by ceding to England the coast of the continent along the Bay of Fundy.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Continuing their argument, the writers of the document state: &ldquo;That it is by
the River St. John that Quebec maintains her communication with Isle Royal and
Isle St. Jean, [Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island], and also with Old France,
during the season that the navigation of the River St. Lawrence is impracticable;
and as this is the only way of communication for a considerable part of the year,
possession of the route is indispensably necessary to France. All who have any
special knowledge of Canada agree on this head, and their testimony finds confirmation
in an English publication that lately appeared in London, entitled &lsquo;The
Present State of North America,&rsquo; in which the writer sounds the tocsin of war
against France and, although partiality, inspired by love of country, has led him into
many errors, he does not seek to disguise how important it is to deprive France
of the right of navigation of the River St. John, which affords the only means of
communication with Quebec during the winter. &lsquo;The French,&rsquo; says the English
author, &lsquo;have often sent supplies and merchandise from Old France to Quebec, both
in time of peace and of war, by the River St. John, so as to avoid the difficulties
and risks of navigation by the River St. Lawrence. * * If we suffer them to remain
in possession of that river they will always have an open communication between
France and Canada during the winter, which they could have only from May
to October by the River St. Lawrence.&rsquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;This testimony makes us feel more and more how essential it is for France to
keep possession of the River St. John so as to have communication with Quebec and
the rest of Canada during the seven months of the year that the St. Lawrence is not
navigable. The communication which the English pretend they require by land between
New England and Nova Scotia, along the coast of the Etchemins<a name='FNanchor_0029' id='FNanchor_0029'></a><a href='#Footnote_0029' class='fnanchor'>[29]</a> and the
Bay of Fundy, is only a vain pretext to mask their real motive, which is to deprive
France of a necessary route of communication.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Considering the length of the road by land from New England to Port Royal
and Acadia, the obstacles to be encountered in the rivers that fall into the sea along
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span>
the coast, which will be more difficult to cross near the mouth; all these circumstances
render the communication by land a veritable chimera; the more so that the
way by sea from the remotest part of New England to Port Royal is so short and
so easy, while that by land would be long, painful and difficult. We may be perfectly
sure that if the English were masters of all the territory they claim they
would never journey over it, and the only advantage they would find would be to deprive
the French of a necessary route of communication. We do not fear to say that
the object of the English is not confined to the country they claim under the name
of Acadia. Their object is to make a general invasion of Canada and thus to pave
the way to universal empire in America.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It is little to be wondered at that the French nation should have been very
reluctant to part with their control of the St. John river. From the days of its discovery
by Champlain it had become of increasing importance to them as a means
of communication between the widely separated portions of New France. But more
than this the river was in many of its features unrivelled in their estimation. Its remarkable
falls near the sea, its massive walls of limestone at &ldquo;the narrows&rdquo; just
above&mdash;which the French called &ldquo;cliffs of marble&rdquo;&mdash;its broad lake-like expansions, its
fertile intervals and islands, the fish that swarmed in its waters and the game that
abounded in its forests, its towering pines and noble elms were all known to them
and had been noted by their early explorers. Champlain, L&rsquo;Escarbot, Denys, Biard,
La Hontan, Cadillac and Charlevoix had described in glowing words the wealth of its
attractions. It is worth while in this connection to quote the description which
Lamothe Cadillac penned in 1693&mdash;just two hundred and ten years ago:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><i>River St. John.</i>&mdash;&ldquo;The entrance of this river is very large. Two little islands are
seen to the left hand, one called l&rsquo;Ile Menagoniz (Mahogany Island) and the other
l&rsquo;Ile aux Perdrix (Partridge Island), and on the right hand there is a cape of which
the earth is as red as a red Poppy. The harbor is good; there is no rock and it has
five or six fathoms of water.</p>
<p><i>Fort.</i>&mdash;There is a fort of four bastions here, which needs to be repaired. It
is very well situated and could not be attacked by land for it is surrounded
by water at half tide. Less than an eighth of a league above there are two large
rocks, perpendicular, and so near that they leave only space sufficient for a ship
cleverly to pass.</p>
<p><i>Gouffre.</i> Just here there is a fall, or abyss (gouffre), which extends seven
or eight hundred paces to the foot of two rocks. There is a depth of eighteen
fathoms of water here. I think that I am the only one who has ever sounded
at this place. The falls are no sooner passed than the river suddenly expands to
nearly half a league. It is still very deep and a vessel of fifty or sixty tons could
ascend thirty leagues, but it would be necessary to take care to pass the falls
when the sea is level, or one would certainly be lost there. It must be conceded
that this is the most beautiful, the most navigable and the most highly
favored river of Acadia. The most beautiful, on account of the variety of trees
to be found, such as butternut, cherry, hazel, elms, oaks, maples and vines.</p>
<p><i>Masts.</i>&mdash;There is a grove of pine on the boarders of a lake near Gemseq
(Jemseg), fifteen leagues from the sea, where there might be made the finest
masts, and they could be conducted into the St. John by a little river which
falls in there.</p>
<p><i>Pewter mine.</i>&mdash;Near the same lake there in a mine of pewter. I have seen
the Indians melt and manufacture from it balls for their hunting.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span></div>
<p>It is most navigable, by reason of its size and depth and the number of
lakes and rivers that empty themselves into it. The most highly favored, by reason
of its greater depth of fertile soil, of its unrivalled salmon fishing, and of its
reaching into the country to a depth of eighty leagues. The bass, the trout, the
gaspereau, the eel, the sturgeon and a hundred other kinds of fishes are found
in abundance. The most highly favored, also, because it furnishes in abundance
beavers and other fur-bearing animals. I have ascended this river nearly one
hundred and fifty leagues in a bark canoe. I pass in silence other attractions
that it possesses for I must not be too long.</p>
<p>One single thing is to be regretted, which is that in the most beautiful
places, where the land and meadows are low, they are inundated every spring
time after the snow melts. The continuance of this inundation (or freshet) is
because the waters cannot flow out sufficiently fast on account of those two
rocks, of which I have spoken, which contract the outlet of the river. It would
not be very difficult to facilitate the flow of the waters. It would only be necessary
to mine the rock that is to the right hand on entering, and which seems
to want to tumble of itself. It is undeniable that the waters would flow forth
more freely, and the falls would be levelled, or at least diminished, and all this
flat country protected from inundation.</p>
<p><i>Forts of the Micmacs and Maliseets.</i>&mdash;Thirty leagues up the river there is a
fort of the Micmacs,<a name='FNanchor_0030' id='FNanchor_0030'></a><a href='#Footnote_0030' class='fnanchor'>[30]</a> at a place called Naxouak, and at thirty leagues further
up there is one of the Maliseets. This latter nation is fairly warlike. They are
well made and good hunters. They attend to the cultivation of the soil and
have some fine fields of Indian corn and pumpkins. Their fort is at Medoctek.</p>
<p>At forty leagues still farther up there is another fort which is the common
retreat of the Kanibas, or Abenakis, when they are afraid of something in their
country. It is on the bank of a little river which flows into the St. John,
and which comes from a lake called Madagouasca, twelve leagues long and one
wide. It is a good country for moose hunting.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In another edition of his narrative Cadillac says that Madawaska lake and
river turn northward so those who journey from Acadia to Quebec go across the
portage from the lake to the River St. Lawrence, opposite Tadoussac. This
route was from very early times considered by the French as the easiest and
best and was greatly valued by them as a means of communication both in time
of war and in time of peace.</p>
<p>Cadillac&rsquo;s idea of protecting the low lying lands of the St. John river from inundation
during the spring freshet, by enlarging the outlet at the falls, has been
revived on more than one occasion. For example, sixty years later we find the following
note in the statement prepared by the missionaries Le Loutre and de L&rsquo;Isle-Dieu
for the use of the commissioners engaged in the attempt to settle the boundaries
of Acadia&mdash;:</p>
<p>&ldquo;The River St. John is very extensive and the soil is excellent, easily cultivated,
capable of supporting at least 1,000 families, but there exists an inconvenience which
up to the present prevents the place from being inhabited as it should be. This inconvenience
is due to the frequency of the floods occasioned by a fall where the
waters do not discharge themselves fast enough and in consequence flow back upon
the lands above, which they inundate. But if the proposed colony be established
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span>
at this place it would be possible to give vent to the flood by removing a small obstruction
[portage]<a name='FNanchor_0031' id='FNanchor_0031'></a><a href='#Footnote_0031' class='fnanchor'>[31]</a> less than an eighth of a league wide; this would certainly prevent
the inundations, dry up the lands and render cultivation practicable.&rdquo;</p>
<p>A bill was once introduced into the House of Assembly for the purpose of enabling
the promoters to remove, by blasting, the rocks that obstruct the mouth of
the river and thus allow the waters to flow more freely. It was claimed that many
<a name='TC_30'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'benfits'">benefits</ins> would follow, chiefly that the lumbermen would be able to get their logs
and deals to market more expeditiously and at less cost, and that the farmers, of
Maugerville, Grand Falls and Sheffield would be saved the serious inconveniences
occasioned by the annual freshet. However, popular sentiment was strongly opposed
to the project. People speedily realized that not only would the beauty of the
river be destroyed but that navigation would be rendered precarious and uncertain.
The project, in fact, would have changed our noble St. John into a tidal river, unsightly
mud flats alternating with rushing currents of turbid waters, while so far as
protection of the low-lying lands goes the remedy would in all probability have
proved worse than the disease, for instead of an annual inundation there would
have been an inundation at every high tide. Moreover the harbor at St. John
would have been ruined. There can be no secure harbor at the mouth of a great
tidal river where swirling tides pour in and out twice in the course of every twenty-four
hours.</p>
<p>Cadillac mentions the convenient route to Quebec via the River St. John.
The Indians had used it from time immemorial and the French followed their example,
as at a later period did the English. The missionaries Le Loutre and de
L&rsquo;Isle-Dieu in the statement prepared by them in 1753, already mentioned, say:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;It is very easy to maintain communication with Quebec, winter and summer
alike, by the River St. John, and the route is especially convenient for detachments
of troops needed either for attack or defence. This is the route to be taken and
followed:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;From Quebec to the River du Loup.</p>
<p>From the River du Loup by a portage of 18 leagues to Lake Temiscouata.</p>
<p>From Lake Temiscouata to Madaoechka [Madawaska.]</p>
<p>From Madaoechka to Grand Falls.</p>
<p>From Grand Falls to Medoctek.</p>
<p>From Medoctek to Ecouba [Aukpaque], post of the Indians of the Jesuit missionary,
Father Germain.</p>
<p>From Ecouba to Jemsec.</p>
<p>From Jemsec, leaving the River St. John and traversing Dagidemoech [Washa
demoak] lake ascending by the river of the same name, thence by a portage of 6
leagues to the River Petkoudiak.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span></div>
<p>From Petkoudiak to Memeramcouk descending the river which bears that name.</p>
<p>From Memeramcouk by a portage of three leagues to Nechkak [Westcock].</p>
<p>From Nechkak to Beausejour.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By this route the troops commanded by the French officers Marin and Montesson
arrived at Beausejour in less than a month from the time of their departure from
Quebec, the distance being about 500 miles.</p>
<p>In the war of 1812 the 104th regiment, raised in this province, left St. John on
the 11th day of February and on the 27th of the same month crossed the St. Lawrence
on the ice and entered Quebec 1,000 strong, having accomplished a march of
435 miles in midwinter in sixteen days and, says Col. Playfair, without the loss of
a man.</p>
<p>In the year 1837 the 43d Light Infantry marched from this province to Quebec in
the month of December in almost precisely the same time, but the conditions were
distinctly more favorable; the season was not nearly so rigorous, roads and bridges
had been constructed over the greater portion of the route and supplies could be obtained
to better advantage. Yet it is said the great Duke of Wellington observed of
this march of the 43d Light Infantry, &ldquo;It is the only achievement performed by a
British officer that I really envy.&rdquo; How much greater a feat was the march of
the gallant hundred-and-fourth whose men, poorly fed and insufficiently clad, passed
over the same route on snowshoes in the middle of a most inclement winter, a
quarter of a century before, to defend Canadian homes from a foreign invader?</p>
<p>During the negotiations between the French and English commissioners on the
boundaries of Acadia, the suggestion was made by the Abbes de L&rsquo;Isle-Dieu and
Le Loutre, that if it should be found impossible to hold all the lands north of the
Bay of Fundy for France the St. John river region should be left undivided and in
possession of its native inhabitants. As early as the year 1716 the Marquis de Vaudreuil
had stated to the French government: &ldquo;The English wish to seize upon the
lands that the Abenakis and Indians of the River St. John occupy, under the pretext
that this land forms part of Acadia ceded to them by the king. The Indians
so far from withdrawing on this account have answered that this land has always
belonged to them, and that they do not consider themselves subjects of the French,
but only their allies.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Vaudreuil admits that he encouraged this idea, and that his proposal to build
a church for the Maliseets at Medoctec had as one of its principal objects the cementing
of their alliance with the French and providing them with another inducement
to cling to the locality where their church stood, and not by any means to
abandon their old fort and village.</p>
<p>In 1749 Charlevoix, the well known Jesuit historian, writes the French
minister at Versailles not to delay the settlement of the boundaries, for
the English, who are colonizing and fortifying Acadia, will soon be in
a position to oppress their Indian allies, the Abenakis (Maliseets), if steps are not
taken in season to prevent them and to guarantee to the Indians
peaceable possession of their country, where it is necessary they should remain in
order to defend it against the English, otherwise there would be nothing to hinder
the English from penetrating as far as the French settlements nearest Quebec; besides
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span>
where would the Abenakis go if they were obliged to abandon their country?
&ldquo;In short,&rdquo; Charlevoix adds, &ldquo;it seems to me certain that if time is given the English
to people Acadia before the limits are agreed on, they will not fail to appropriate
all the territory they wish, and to secure possession by strong forts which will
render them masters of all that part of New France south of Quebec; and if this
should be done it will certainly follow that the Abenakis will join them, will abandon
their religion, and our most faithful allies will become our most dangerous enemies.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Of all the leaders of the French in Acadia, none was more active and influential
than the Abbe Le Loutre. But while his energy, ability and patriotism are
undoubted, his conduct has been the subject of severe criticism not only on the
part of his adversaries but of the French themselves. He did not escape the censure
of the Bishop of Quebec for meddling to so great an extent in temporal affairs,
but the Bishop&rsquo;s censure is mild compared to that of an anonymous historian,
who writes: &ldquo;Abbe Loutre, missionary of the Indians in Acadia, soon put all in
fire and flame, and may be justly deemed the scourge and curse of this country.
This wicked monster, this cruel and blood thirsty Priest, more inhumane and savage
than the natural savages, with a murdering and slaughtering mind, instead of an
Evangelick spirit, excited continually his Indians against the English. * * * All
the French had the greatest horror and indignation at Le Loutre&rsquo;s barbarous actions;
and I dare say if the Court of France had known them they would have been
far from approving of them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It is only fair to the Abbe Le Loutre to mention that the officer who criticizes
him in this rude fashion was the Chevalier Johnston, an Englishman by birth
and a puritan by religion and as such prejudiced against the French missionary.
Johnston, however, served at Louisbourg on the side of France with great fidelity
in the capacity of lieutenant, interpreter and engineer.</p>
<p>Father Germain, the missionary to the Indians and French on the St. John, was
a man of courage and of patriotic impulses. He deemed himself justified in
making every possible effort to keep the English from gaining a foothold north of
the Bay of Fundy, but it does not appear that he ever incited the Indians to indulge
their savage instincts, or that he was guilty of the duplicity and barbarity
that have been so freely laid to the charge of the Abbe Le Loutre. It is evident,
moreover, that the Marquis de la Galissonniere and his aides were particularly
anxious to retain the services of Germain. He had been twelve or fourteen years
in charge of his mission on the St. John, and during most of that time had labored
single handed. Recently Father Loverja had come to stay with the Maliseets of
Medoctec in consequence of their urgent request for a missionary, their village being
eighteen leagues from Aukpaque, where Father Germain was stationed. Another
missionary named Audren (or Andrein) had just arrived to replace Germain, who
had been nominated superior of the house of Jesuits at Quebec. The Abbes de
L&rsquo;Isle-Dieu and Le Loutre endeavored to convince the French minister that it was
very undesirable, under existing circumstances, that Germain should be removed, as
he was valued and beloved by his people&mdash;French and Indians alike&mdash;and his services
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span>
could not well be spared. There was no chaplain at the fort, lately re-established
at the mouth of the river, and Loverja&rsquo;s age and infirmities would oblige him shortly
to remove to Quebec. The two missionaries would then have sufficient occupation,
especially as they would have frequently to repair on the one hand to Medoctec,
and on the other to the garrison of Fort Menagoueche. In consequence
of these strong objections to his retirement it was decided by Father Germain&rsquo;s
superiors to allow him to remain at his mission.</p>
<p>The Abbe de L&rsquo;Isle-Dieu wrote the French minister, early the next year, that
there was neither priest nor chapel at Fort Menagoueche, and that a missionary was
needed on the lower part of the river. Father Germain had now for a long
time been missionary to the Maliseets at Aukpaque (l&rsquo;isle d&rsquo;Ecouba) and having more
than eighty families under his care found the fort too far removed to give due
attention to the wants of the garrison.</p>
<p>The situation on the St. John at this time was not viewed with complacency
by the authorities of Nova Scotia and New England. On the 18th October, 1753,
Governor Hopson, of Nova Scotia, wrote the Lords of Trade and Plantations that
he had been informed by Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, that since the
arrival of a French missionary at the River St. John the conduct of the inhabitants
had altered for the worse; the French had now 100 families settled on the
river, had greatly strengthened the old fort at its mouth with guns and men, and
had built a new one. Fort Boishebert, some miles up the river armed with twenty-four
guns and garrisoned by 200 regulars. He also says a French frigate of thirty
guns lay behind Partridge Island waiting for a cargo of furs, and that the French
seemed to be entirely masters of the river.</p>
<p>It is not unlikely this statement is exaggerated, for the following summer
Lieut.-Governor Lawrence says the French had at St. John only a small fort with
three bad old guns, one officer and sixteen men; while of Indians there were 160
fighting men.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XII_THE_ACADIANS_BECOME_THE_FOOTBALL_OF_FORTUNE' id='CHAPTER_XII_THE_ACADIANS_BECOME_THE_FOOTBALL_OF_FORTUNE'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The Acadians become the Football of Fortune.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>As time went on the Acadians became impatient at the delay in settling the
limits of Acadia. In vain they were annually told the boundaries would soon be
determined, all negotiation proved fruitless. Those who had crossed the isthmus
into what is now the County of Westmorland found themselves undecided as
to their future course. Their inclination&mdash;a very natural one&mdash;seems to have been
to return to the fields they had abandoned, but the Abbe Le Loutre urged them to
remain under French rule as the only way of enjoying unmolested the privileges
of their religion. For their encouragement and protection Fort Beausejour was
erected.</p>
<p>In the month of January, 1754, Lieut.-Governor Lawrence informed the Lords of
Trade that the French were hard at work making settlements on the St. John
and were offering great inducements to the Acadians of the peninsula to join them.
He could not prevent some families from going, but the greater part were too
much attached to their lands to leave them. In the opinion of Lawrence it was
absolutely necessary, for the development and control of Acadia as an English
colony, that the forts of Beausejour and the mouth of the River St. John should be
destroyed, and the French driven from the settlements they were establishing
north of the Bay of Fundy. Although the Indians had committed no hostilities
for two years, he believed no dependence could be placed on their quietude so
long as the French were allowed to exercise their disturbing influence among them.</p>
<p>Lawrence now began to consult with the Governor of Massachusetts, Sir William
Shirley, about the <a name='TC_31'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'removel'">removal</ins> of the Acadians from Chignecto and the River St.
John. He proposed that two thousand troops should be raised in New England,
which with the regular troops already in Nova Scotia would be sufficient for the
business, the command of the expedition to be given to Colonel Robert Monckton.
It was intended the expedition should sail from Boston about the 20th of April,
but it was delayed more than a month awaiting the arrival of arms from England,
and it was not until early in June that it arrived at Chignecto. To aid the
expedition Captain Rous<a name='FNanchor_0032' id='FNanchor_0032'></a><a href='#Footnote_0032' class='fnanchor'>[32]</a> was sent with a small squadron to the Bay of Fundy.
The details of the seige of Fort Beausejour need not here be given, suffice it to
say that after four days&rsquo; bombardment the Sieur de Vergor was obliged, on the
16th June, to surrender to Colonel Monckton.</p>
<p>Captain Rous, with three twenty-gun ships and a sloop, immediately sailed for
St. John, where it was reported the French had two ships of thirty-six guns each.
He anchored outside the harbor and sent his boats to reconnoitre. They found no
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span>
French ships and on their appearance Boishebert, the officer in command of the
fort, burst his cannon, blew up his magazine, burned everything he could and
marched off. The next morning the Indians invited Captain Rous ashore and
gave him the strongest assurances of their desire to make peace with the English,
saying that they had refused to assist the French.</p>
<p>A few weeks after Boishebert had been thus obliged to abandon Fort Menagouche
there occurred the tragic event known as the &ldquo;Acadian Expulsion.&rdquo; The
active agents employed by Lawrence and Shirley in this transaction were Colonel
Monckton and his subordinates, of whom Lieut.-Colonel John Winslow and Capt.
Murray were the most actively engaged. These officers evidently had little relish
for the task imposed on them. Winslow in his proclamation to the inhabitants
of Grand Pre, Minas, etc., says: &ldquo;The duty I am now upon, though necessary, is
very disagreeable to my natural make and temper.&rdquo; The hostility of the New
England troops to the Acadians added to the difficulties of their officers. Murray
wrote to Winslow: &ldquo;You know our soldiers hate them, and if they can find a
pretence to kill them they will.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Of recent years there has been much controversy concerning the expulsion of
the Acadians and widely differing opinions have been expressed on the one hand
by Parkman, Murdoch, Hannay, Hind and Aikins and on the other by Casgrain,
Richard, Porier, Gaudet and Savary. Upon the merits of this controversy it is not
necessary to enter, and it will be more in keeping with our present subject to
refer to the Acadian Expulsion only as it concerns the history of events on the
River St. John.</p>
<p>The position of the Sieur de Boishebert after the capture of Beausejour and
the fort at St. John was a very embarassing one. His letter to the Chevalier de
Drucour, who commanded at Louisbourg, is of interest in this connection.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;At the River St. John, 10 October, 1755.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Monsieur,&mdash;As the enemy has constantly occupied the route of communication
since the fall of Beausejour, I have not had the honor of informing you of the state
of affairs at this place.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was compelled to abandon the fort&mdash;or rather the buildings&mdash;that I occupied
on the lower part of the river in accordance with orders that I had received
in case of being attacked. I have beaten a retreat as far as the narrows
(detroits) of the river, from which the enemy has retired, not seeing any advantage
sufficient to warrant an attempt to drive me from thence.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I have succeeded, sir, in preventing the inhabitants of this place from falling
under the domination of the English.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Monsieur de Vaudreuil, approving this manoeuvre, has directed me to establish
a temporary camp (camp volant) sit such place as I may deem most suitable.
Even were I now to go to Quebec he could not give me any assistance, all the
troops and militia being in the field.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I received on the 16th of August a letter from the principal inhabitants living
in the vicinity of Beausejour beseeching me to come to their assistance. I set out
the 20th with a detachment of 125 men, French and Indians.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Shortly after his arrival at the French settlements on the Petitcodiac, Boishebert
had a sharp engagement with a party of New England troops who had been
sent there to burn the houses of the Acadians and who were about to set fire to
their chapel. The conflict occurred near Hillsboro, the shiretown of Albert county,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span>
and resulted in a loss to the English of one officer and five or six soldiers killed,
and a lieutenant and ten soldiers wounded, while Boishebert&rsquo;s loss was one Indian
killed and three wounded. He returned shortly afterwards to the River St. John
accompanied by thirty destitute families with whom he was obliged to share the
provisions sent him from Quebec.</p>
<p>Evidently the Marquis de Vaudreuil relied much upon the sagacity and courage
of his lieutenant on the St. John river in the crisis that had arisen in Acadia.
In his letter to the French colonial minister, dated the 18th October, 1755, he
writes that the English were now masters of Fort Beausejour and that Boishebert,
the commander of the River St. John, had burnt his fort, not being able
to oppose the descent of the enemy. He had given him orders to hold his position
on the river and supplies had been sent him for the winter. He hoped that
Father Germain, then at Quebec, would return without delay to his Indian mission
and act in concert with Boishebert. The marquis summarises his reasons for wishing
to maintain the post on the River St. John as follows:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;1. As long as I hold this river and have a detachment of troops there I
retain some hold upon Acadia for the King, and the English cannot say that they
have forced the French to abandon it.</p>
<p>2. I am assured of the fidelity of the Acadians and the Indians, who otherwise
might think themselves abandoned and might yield to the English.</p>
<p>3. Mon. de Boishebert will rally the Acadians from far and near and will try
to unite them and their families in one body. These Acadians, so reunited, will
be compelled for their own security actively to resist the enemy if he presents
himself.</p>
<p>4. Mon. de Boishebert will in like manner be engaged rallying the
savages and forming of them a body equally important, and by corresponding
with M. Manach, the missionary at Miramichi, will be able, in case of necessity,
to unite the savages of that mission to his own in opposing the advance of the
enemy.</p>
<p>5. He will be able constantly to have spies at Beausejour and Halifax, and
to take some prisoners who will inform him of the situation and strength of
the English.</p>
<p>6. He will be able to organize parties of Acadians and savages to harras the
enemy continually and hinder his obtaining firewood for the garrison at Beausejour
(Fort Cumberland).</p>
<p>7. By holding the River St. John I can at all times have news from Louisbourg.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Marquis adds that even if France failed to establish her claim to the
territory north of the Bay of Fundy and should be forced to abandon it he
hoped, by the aid of Boishebert and the missionaries, to withdraw the Acadians
and their Indian allies to Canada. The Acadians north of the isthmus he estimated
were about two thousand (perhaps 3,000 would have been nearer the
truth) of whom seven hundred were capable of bearing arms. &ldquo;It would be
vexatious,&rdquo; adds the Marquis, &ldquo;if they should pass to the English.&rdquo;</p>
<p>After Boishebert was forced to retire from the mouth of the River St. John
he established himself at a &ldquo;detroit,&rdquo; or &ldquo;narrows,&rdquo; up the river, where he constructed
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span>
a small battery, two guns of a calibre of 2L., and twelve swivel guns.
The following summer he entertained no fears as to his security. He had made
an intrenchment in a favorable situation and hoped if the English should venture
an attack to have the best of it. &ldquo;I have particularly recommended him,&rdquo;
writes the governor, &ldquo;not to erect any fortifications which might in case of
some unfortunate event be hurtful to us, to retain always a way of retreat and
to use every effort to harass the enemy ceaselessly, day and night, until he
shall have reduced him to the stern necessity of re-embarking.&rdquo;</p>
<p>There are but two places on the lower St. John to which the word &ldquo;detroit&rdquo;
could apply, namely the &ldquo;Narrows&rdquo; just above Indiantown, near the mouth of
the river, and the narrows at &ldquo;Evandale,&rdquo; a little above the mouth of the Bellisle<a name='FNanchor_0033' id='FNanchor_0033'></a><a href='#Footnote_0033' class='fnanchor'>[33]</a>;
the latter is the more probable location. The situation as a point of
observation and for defence of the settlements above could not be excelled,
while at the same time it was not sufficiently near the sea to attract attention
on the part of an English cruiser. It is therefore quite probable that the old
fort at Worden&rsquo;s, erected during the war of 1812, the remains of which are in
a fair state of preservation and are often visited by tourists, was built on the
site occupied by Boishebert&rsquo;s &ldquo;Camp Volant&rdquo; of 1755, afterwards fortified by
him and for some little time his headquarters.</p>
<p>From the month of October to the end of December, 1755, nearly seven thousand
of the unfortunate Acadians were removed from their homes and dispersed
amongst the American colonies along the Atlantic seaboard as far south
as Georgia and the Carolinas. A fleet of two ships, three snows, and
a brigantine, under convoy of the &ldquo;Baltimore&rdquo; sloop of war, sailed from
Annapolis Royal on the morning of the 8th December. On board the fleet were
1,664 exiles of all ages whose destinations were Massachusetts, Connecticut, New
York and South Carolina. One of the snows<a name='FNanchor_0034' id='FNanchor_0034'></a><a href='#Footnote_0034' class='fnanchor'>[34]</a> had her mainmast broken in a heavy
gale just before her arrival at Annapolis and Charles Belliveau, a ship-builder and
navigator of experience, was employed to replace the broken mast, which he did in
a workmanlike manner; but upon his claiming payment for the job the captain
laughed in his face. Belliveau, indignant at such treatment, seized his axe to cut
down the mast and this brought the captain to terms.</p>
<p>It chanced that shortly afterwards Belliveau and a number of his unfortunate
compatriots (32 families, 225 persons in all) were placed on board this vessel to be
transported to South Carolina. The &ldquo;Baltimore&rdquo; only went as far as New York
and the snow, with Belliveau and his friends on board, was left to pursue the rest
of her voyage unattended; not, however, without a parting caution on the part of
the commander of the &ldquo;Baltimore&rdquo; to her captain to be careful, for amongst his
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span>
captives were same good seamen. This advice was not heeded as the sequel will
show.</p>
<p>The voyage proved a tedious one and from time to time small parties of the
Acadians were allowed on deck for air and exercise. A plot was laid to seize the
ship. Accordingly six of the stoutest and boldest lay in readiness, and when those
on deck were ordered below and the hatchway opened to allow them to descend,
Belliveau and his friends sprang from the hold and in the twinkling of an eye were
engaged in a desperate struggle with the crew. Reinforced by those who followed,
the master of the vessel and his crew of eight men were soon overpowered and tied
fast.</p>
<p>Belliveau, the leader of the spirited encounter, now took the helm and the course
of the ship was reversed. Under full sail she careened to the wind until her former
master cried to Belliveau that he would certainly break the main mast. He
replied: &ldquo;No fear of that; I made it and it is a good one.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In due time the vessel reached the Bay of Fundy without other adventure
than a trifling conflict with an English privateer, which was beaten off without loss.
The French soon after released and put on shore the English captain and his crew,
and on the 8th day of January anchored safely in the harbor of St John.<a name='FNanchor_0035' id='FNanchor_0035'></a><a href='#Footnote_0035' class='fnanchor'>[35]</a></p>
<p>The names of most of the families who arrived at St. John in this ship have been
preserved, including those of Charles Belliveau, Charles Dugas, Denis St. Sceine,
Joseph Guilbault, Pierre Gaudreau, Denis St. Sceine, jr., M. Boudrault and two
families of Grangers.</p>
<p>Charles Belliveau, the hero of the adventure just related, was born at the Cape
at Port Royal about 1696; he married in 1717 Marie Madeleine Granger and had
eight children whose descendants today are numerous.</p>
<p>On the 8th of February, 1756, an English schooner entered the harbor of St.
John, under French colors, having on board a party of Rangers disguised as French
soldiers. Governor Lawrence writes to Shirley: &ldquo;I had hopes by such a deceit, not
only to discover what was doing there but to bring off some of the St. John&rsquo;s Indians.
The officer found there an English ship, one of our transports that sailed
from Annapolis Royal with French Inhabitants aboard bound for the continent
(America), but the inhabitants had risen upon the master and crew and carried the
ship into that harbor; our people would have brought her off, but by an accident
they discovered themselves too soon, upon which the French set fire to the ship.&rdquo;</p>
<p>We learn from French sources that on this occasion the captain of the English
vessel made some French signals and sent his shallop on shore with four French
deserters, who announced that they had come from Louisbourg with supplies
and that other ships were on their way with the design of re-establishing the
fort at the mouth of the river and so frustrating a similar design on the part of
the English. The story seemed so plausible that an unlucky Acadian went on board
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span>
the ship to pilot her to her anchorage, but no sooner was he on board than the
captain hoisted his own proper flag and discharged his artillery upon the people
collected on shore. Belliveau and the people who had lately escaped transportation to
South Carolina were living in huts on shore and perceiving that the English
were approaching with the design of carrying off the vessel in which they had
escaped, they succeeded in landing some swivel guns and having placed them in
a good position made so lively a fire upon the enemy that they soon abandoned
the idea of a descent and returned to Annapolis Royal.</p>
<p>The sole result, of this bit of strategy seems to have been the capture of one
poor Frenchman from whom the English learned that the Indians had gone, some
to Passamaquoddy and others with Boishebert to Cocagne, also that there was
&ldquo;a French officer and about 20 men twenty-three miles up the River at a place
called St. Anns.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Indians who had gone to Passamaquoddy managed to surprise at night
a large schooner lying at anchor in Harbor L&rsquo;Elang, bound from Boston to Annapolis
Royal with provisions for the garrison. The schooner carried six guns
and had on board a crew of ten men besides her captain and an artillery officer
of the Annapolis garrison. The vessel was carried to St. John and hidden on the
lower part of the river. The savages pillaged her so completely that on her arrival
there remained only a small quantity of bacon and a little rum. The
prisoners were sent by Boishebert to Canada along with others captured on
various occasions.</p>
<p>The Acadian refugees continued to come to the River St. John in increasing
numbers, and Boishebert and the missionaries soon found themselves reduced to sore
straits in their endeavors to supply them with the necessaries of life. The Marquis
de Vaudreuil was determined to hold the St. John river country as long as
possible. He wrote the French minister, June 1, 1756: &ldquo;I shall not recall M. de
Boishebert nor the missionaries, nor withdraw the Acadians into the heart of the
colony until the last extremity, and when it shall be morally impossible to do
better.&rdquo; It was his intention to send provisions and munitions of war to the
Acadians and Indians.</p>
<p>Boishebert was endeavoring at this time, with the approval of the Marquis de
Vaudreuil, to draw as many of the Acadians as possible to the River St. John
and to induce them to oppose any advance on the part of the English. The
French commander, however, soon found his position an exceedingly difficult one.
After sending many families to Quebec and to the Island of St. John he had
still six hundred people, besides the Indians, to provide for during the winter,
and many refugees from Port Royal and elsewhere desired to come to the River
St. John. The number of Acadians dependent on him received additions from
time to time by the arrival of exiles returning from the south. In the month
of June five families numbering fifty persons, arrived from Carolina and told
Boishebert that eighty others were yet to arrive.</p>
<p>The difficulties surmounted by these poor people in the pathetic endeavor to
return to their old firesides seem almost incredible. A small party of Acadians
of the district of Beaubassin, at the head of the Bay of Fundy, were transported
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span>
to South Carolina. They traveled thence on foot to Fort Du Quesne (now Pittsburg)
from which place they were transported to Quebec. One might have thought
they would have been well satisfied to have remained there, but no, so great was
their attachment to their beloved Acadia that they would not rest content until
they had arrived at the River St. John.</p>
<p>The idea that dominated the Marquis de Vaudreuil in providing these unfortunates
with the necessaries of life seems to have been to utilize their services for
the defence of Canada. &ldquo;It would not be proper,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;that they should be
at the charges of the King without giving tangible proof of their zeal for the service
of his majesty.&rdquo; The governor not being able to provide for all the refugees
at the River St. John, on account of the difficulty of transporting supplies by
way of Temiscouata, gave directions to the Sieur de Boishebert to send to Miramichi
the families he could not subsist on the St. John. The number of Acadians
at Miramichi soon amounted to 3,500 persons.</p>
<p>The ensuing winter proved most trying to the destitute Acadians. The harvest
had been extremely poor. In some cases the old inhabitants had nothing to live
upon but the grain needed for seeding in the spring time. The conditions at Miramichi
were probably not more wretched than on the River St. John. Of the former
the Marquis de Vaudreuil writes in the following plaintive terms:&mdash;&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;This part of Acadia holds out for the King although reduced to the most
wretched state. Although ourselves in want, M. Bigot has sent a vessel with provisions
to Miramichi, but she has unfortunately been delayed on the way by head
winds. The misery of the Acadians there is so great that Boishebert has been
compelled to reduce their allowance to ten pounds of peas and twelve pounds of
meat per month, and it would have been further reduced had not forty bullocks
been brought from Petitcodiac. This was the allowance for the month of January
and, the fishery being exhausted, he could not hope to have the same resource
the months following. In a word the Acadian mothers see their babes
die at the breast not having wherewith to nourish them. The majority of the
people cannot appear abroad for want of clothes to cover their nakedness. Many
have died. The number of the sick is considerable, and those convalescent cannot
regain their strength on account of the wretched quality of their food, being
often under the necessity of eating horse meat extremely lean, sea-cow, and skins
of oxen. Such is the state of the Acadians.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The intendant, M. Bigot, is going to send a ship, as soon as the ice breaks,
to carry such supplies as we can furnish them. Unless some assistance is sent
by sea, the lands, cattle, and effects hidden in the woods must all be sacrificed,
and the Acadians obliged to go elsewhere.&rdquo;</p>
<p>At the beginning of the year 1756, the governors of Massachusetts and Nova
Scotia discussed the situation of affairs on the St. John river, and agreed that
steps must be taken as soon as possible to dislodge the French.</p>
<p>In one of his letters to Governor Lawrence, Shirley observes, &ldquo;I look upon
dispossessing the French of the St. John River, and fortifying it, to be necessary
for securing the Bay of Fundy and the Peninsula against attempts from Canada. * * * If
I am rightly informed, nothing hath yet been done towards it,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span>
except making a visit up the River as far as the lower Fort, near the mouth of
it, upon which the French abandoned it, having first destroyed the stores and
burst the cannon, and there still remain the settlements they have above that
Fort, by means of which they keep the Indians inhabiting it in a dependence
upon them, and have a passage across a carrying place into the River Patcotyeak
(Petitcodiac) whereby a communication may be maintained between St.
John&rsquo;s River and Cape Breton across the Gulf of St. Lawrence.&rdquo; In another letter
Shirley wrote that it was essential the French should be dislodged from the
St. John and their settlements broken up, since, if suffered to remain, they
would soon be very strong and able to maintain communication by the river
with Canada, depriving the English of the fur trade upon it and maintaining absolute
control of the Indians.</p>
<p>The Indians were at this time decidedly hostile to the English and Lawrence
determined to wage against them a merciless warfare. Accordingly, with
the advice and approval of his council, he issued a proclamation offering a reward
of &pound;30 for every Indian warrior brought in alive, a reward of &pound;25 for the
scalp of every male Indian above the age of sixteen years, and for every woman
or child brought in alive the sum of &pound;25; these rewards to be paid by the commanding
officer at any of His Majesty&rsquo;s Forts in the Province on receiving the
prisoners or scalps.</p>
<p>This cold-blooded and deliberately issued proclamation of the chief magistrate
of Nova Scotia and his council can scarcely be excused on the plea that
the Abbe Le Loutre and other French leaders had at various times rewarded
their savage allies for bringing in the scalps of Englishmen. As for the savages,
they had, at least, the apology that they made war in accordance with the manner
of their race, whereas the proclamation of the Governor of Nova Scotia
was unworthy of an enlightened people. Nothing could be better calculated to
lower and brutalize the character of a soldier than the offer of &pound;25 for a human
scalp.</p>
<p>About this time, two of the New England regiments were disbanded and returned
to their homes, their period of enlistment having expired, and the difficulty
of obtaining other troops prevented anything being attempted on the St. John
for a year or two. Lawrence and Shirley, however, continued to discuss the
details of the proposed expedition. Both governors seem to have had rather
vague ideas of the number of the Acadians on the river and the situation of
their settlements. Shirley says he learned from the eastern Indians and New
England traders that their principal settlement was about ninety miles up the
river at a place called St. Annes, six miles below the old Indian town of Aukpaque.
He thought that 800 or 1,000 men would be a force sufficient to clear
the river of the enemy and that after they were driven from their haunts the
English would do well to establish a garrison of 150 men at St. Annes, in order
to prevent the return of the French and to overawe the Indians. He also
recommended that the fort at the mouth of the river, lately abandoned by
Boishebert, should be rebuilt and a garrison of 50 men placed there.</p>
<p>During the years that followed the expulsion of the Acadians occasional parties
of the exiles, returning from the south, arrived at the River St. John, where they
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span>
waited to see what the course of events might be. Their condition was truly
pitiable. Some had journeyed on foot or by canoe through an unexplored wilderness;
others, from the far away Carolinas, having procured small vessels, succeeded
in creeping furtively along the Atlantic coast from one colony to another until
they reached the Bay of Fundy; and thus the number of the Acadians continued
to increase until Boishebert had more than a thousand people under his care. Some
of them he sent to Canada, for his forces were insufficient for their protection, and
his supplies were scanty.</p>
<p>The locations of the French settlements on the river at this period are described
in detail in Dr. Ganong&rsquo;s &ldquo;Historic Sites in New Brunswick.&rdquo; The largest
settlement, and that farthest up the St. John, was at St. Annes Point, where the
City of Fredericton stands today. Here the Acadians had cleared 600 or 700 acres
of land and built a thriving village with a little chapel (near the site of Government
House) and probably there was a sprinkling of houses along the river as far
up as the Indian village of Aukpaque, six miles above. Their next settlement was
at the mouth of the Oromocto, where 300 acres of land had been cleared. A very
old settlement existed near the abandoned fort at the mouth of the Jemseg, but
its growth had been retarded by the annoyances of the spring freshets and many of
the inhabitants had been obliged to remove. There was an important settlement
on the site now occupied by the village of Gagetown and houses were scattered
along the river for several miles below. Another small settlement existed above the
mouth of the Bellisle, and there may have been a few inhabitants at the mouth
of the Nerepis where stood Fort Boishebert. At St. John the French had cleared
some land on the west side of the harbor, and in Bruce&rsquo;s map of 1761 the places
cleared are marked as &ldquo;gardens,&rdquo; but it is probable that the inhabitants abandoned
them and fled up the river in 1755 when their fort, &ldquo;Menagoueche,&rdquo; was destroyed
by Captain Rous.</p>
<p>In the year 1756 England declared war against France and the capture of
Louisbourg was proposed. The governor of Canada ordered Boishebert to hold
himself in readiness to aid in its defence, and he accordingly proceeded to Cape
Breton with a force of 100 Acadians and Canadians and about 250 Indians, many
of them Maliseets of the River St. John. The latter did not go very willingly,
for they had been reduced to so great a state of misery in consequence of not receiving
the supplies they had expected from the French that they had entered into
peace negotiations with the English. However by means of harangues and promises
Boishebert contrived to bring them with him.</p>
<p>The Chevalier de Drucour, the commander at Louisbourg, urged the French
minister to send at once presents and supplies for the savages. &ldquo;These people,&rdquo; he
observes, &ldquo;are very useful in the kind of warfare we are making, but unless we act
towards them as they have been led to expect I will not answer that we shall have
them with us next year.&rdquo; He urges the French minister to send him some medals
for distribution. The distinction of possessing one was very highly prized and
often retained the fidelity of a whole village of the savages.</p>
<p>The expected assault of Louisbourg did not take place until 1758 and Boishebert,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span>
who had retired to Canada, was ordered to repair thither. The Marquis de Montcalm
wrote from Montreal to the French minister, April 10th, &ldquo;Monsieur Boishebert,
captain of troops of the colony, leaves in the course of a few days, if the
navigation of the St. Lawrence is open, to proceed to the River St. John and thence
to Louisbourg with a party of 600 men, including Canadians, Acadians and savages
of Acadia.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The governor and other officials at Quebec seem to have placed every confidence
in the courage and capacity of Boishebert, who, it may be here mentioned
received this year the Cross of St. Louis in recognition of his services in Acadia.
&ldquo;It is certain,&rdquo; writes the Marquis de Vaudreuil, &ldquo;that if, when the former siege of
Louisbourg took place, the governor there had agreed to the proposal to send
Marin thither with a force of Canadians and Indians the place would not have fallen,
and if Boishebert were now to collect 200 Acadians and 200 St. John river Indians
and the Micmacs he would be able to form a camp of 600 or 700 men, and Drucour
could frequently place the besiegers between two <a name='TC_32'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double quote">fires.&rdquo;</ins></p>
<p>The expectations of Montcalm and de Vaudreuil as to the usefulness of Boishebert&rsquo;s
detachment in the defence of Louisbourg were doomed to disappointment,
for Boishebert did not arrive at Louisbourg until near the end of the siege and
with forces not one-third of the number that Drucour had been led to expect. Two
depots of provisions had been placed in the woods for the use of the detachment,
but the fact that Boishebert had only about 120 Acadians and a few Indians in
addition to a handful of regulars, entirely frustrated Drucour&rsquo;s design of harrassing
the attacking English by a strong demonstration in their rear. About twenty
of Boishebert&rsquo;s Indians were engaged in a skirmish with the English and two of
their chiefs having fallen the rest were so discouraged that they returned to their
villages. Boishebert himself had a few unimportant skirmishes with outlying
parties of the English, and then came the news of the surrender of Louisbourg.
He immediately sent away the sick of his detachment, set fire to a thousand cords
of wood and a quantity of coal to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy,
and on the 29th July set out on his return to the St. John river. The English
made a lively but fruitless pursuit.</p>
<p>Boishebert left his sick at Miramichi, and having sent sixty prisoners, whom
he had taken on various occasions, to Quebec, he then took part in an expedition
against Fort George, on the coast of Maine, where he gained more honor than at
the seige of Louisbourg.<a name='FNanchor_0036' id='FNanchor_0036'></a><a href='#Footnote_0036' class='fnanchor'>[36]</a> He returned to Quebec in November, and about the same
time there was an exodus from the River St. John, both of Acadians and Indians,
the reason for which the next chapter will explain. From this time the
Sieur de Boishebert ceases to be an actor in the events on the St. John, and becomes
merely an on-looker.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_16' id='linki_16'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i132.jpg' alt='' title='' width='361' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT MONCKTON.<br />
</p>
</div>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XIII_THE_ENGLISH_TAKE_POSSESSION_OF_THE_RIVER_ST_JOHN' id='CHAPTER_XIII_THE_ENGLISH_TAKE_POSSESSION_OF_THE_RIVER_ST_JOHN'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The English take possession of the River St. John.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>The territory north of the Bay of Fundy, which now forms the Province of New
Brunswick, was for nearly half a century a bone of contention between the French
and their English rivals. It might indeed be said that from the Treaty of Utrecht
in 1713 to the Treaty of Paris in 1763 the controversy continued to disturb the
peace of Europe. Sometimes the points at issue were warmly debated at the
council board, where the representatives of either nation vainly tried to settle the
limits of Acadia, and sometimes they were yet more fiercely disputed amidst the
clash of arms and bloody scenes of the battle field.</p>
<p>But as years passed on, and the growing power of the English colonies began
to overshadow that of &ldquo;La Nouvelle France,&rdquo; it seemed that the Anglo-Saxon
race must in the end prevail. The policy of the governors of Nova Scotia and
New England became more and more aggressive. In vain did the valiant Montcalm,
as late as the year 1758, represent to his country that in fixing the limits of
New France it was essential to retain possession of what the English claimed as
Acadia as far as the Isthmus of Chignecto, and to retake Beausejour; also that
France should keep possession of the River St. John or, at least, leave the territory
there undivided and in the possession of its native inhabitants: no such compromise
as this would now satisfy the English.</p>
<p>Louisbourg surrendered to General Amherst on the 26th July, 1758, and a few
weeks later Colonel Monckton was sent with a body of troops, flushed with their
success, to drive the hapless Acadians from their settlements on the River St.
John. The particulars connected with this expedition are found in an unpublished
document, of which the original is in the Public Record Office in London, entitled
&ldquo;Report of the Proceedings of the Troops on the Expedition up St. John&rsquo;s
River in the Bay of Fundy under the command of Colonel Monckton.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0037' id='FNanchor_0037'></a><a href='#Footnote_0037' class='fnanchor'>[37]</a></p>
<p>As Monckton was the principal agent in an event of such historic importance
to us as the permanent occupation of the St. John river, a few words may very
properly be devoted to him.</p>
<p>Robert Monckton was the second son of John, first Viscount Galway, by his
wife Lady Elizabeth Manners, youngest daughter of the Duke of Rutland. He began
his military career in Flanders in 1742, where he fought in several battles.
Later he came out to America, and in 1752 we find him in charge of the garrison of
Fort Lawrence, keeping watch over the French stronghold of Beausejour, across the
Misseguash. A little later he was commandant of the garrison of Annapolis Royal.
He commanded the English forces at the reduction of Beausejour, in June, 1755.
The year following he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. He
commanded the 4th battalion of the 60th regiment, or &ldquo;Royal Americans,&rdquo; at the
siege of Louisbourg, and in 1759 served as second in command to Wolfe at the
taking of Quebec, on which occasion he was conspicuous for his bravery and was
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span>
severely wounded. A year or two later he was Governor of New York. In the
course of time he attained the rank of lieutenant-general in the army, and at his
death, in 1782, was a member for Portsmouth in the British Parliament.</p>
<p>Among those who, in a subordinate capacity, rendered essential service in
the expedition to the River St. John none was more conspicuous than our old
friend, Captain Cobb, of the Province sloop &ldquo;York;&rdquo; a few words may fittingly
be devoted to him.</p>
<p>Sylvanus Cobb was born in Plymouth, New England, in 1709. Shortly before
the capture of Louisbourg by Sir Wm. Pepperrell, in 1745, he raised a company
in his native town for Colonel Gorham&rsquo;s regiment and served with credit during
the operations of the seige. He was subsequently in command of a small armed
vessel employed by Government to cruise in the Bay of Fundy. After Halifax
was founded, in 1749, he was employed by Governor Cornwallis and his successors
for nearly ten years as master of the Provincial armed sloop &ldquo;York.&rdquo; When at
Louisbourg in 1758 he was selected by Monckton to conduct Wolfe to reconnoitre
the fortress previous to an assault. As they sailed up the harbor no one was
allowed to stand on deck but Wolfe at the fore-sheet and Cobb at the helm. The
shot flew thickly around them, and Wolfe at length signified that they had approached
as near to the fortifications as was necessary, but Cobb made yet another
tack, eliciting Wolfe&rsquo;s admiration and the remark, &ldquo;Well, Cobb! I shall
never again doubt but you will carry me near enough.&rdquo; Capt. Cobb lived for
some years at Liverpool, N. S. He died of fever in 1762 while serving in an expedition
against Havana, and is said to have expressed his regret that he had
not met a soldier&rsquo;s death at the cannon&rsquo;s mouth. His descendants in Queens
county, N. S., are numerous.</p>
<p>The troops that accompanied Colonel Monckton to the River St. John included
several New England companies of Rangers under captains McCurdy, Brewer,
Goreham and Stark, a detachment of artillery, the 2nd battalion of the Royal
American Regiment<a name='FNanchor_0038' id='FNanchor_0038'></a><a href='#Footnote_0038' class='fnanchor'>[38]</a> and the 35th regiment of light infantry. The troops embarked
on board the transport ships &ldquo;Isabella,&rdquo; &ldquo;Wade,&rdquo; &ldquo;Alexander the Second,&rdquo;
&ldquo;Viscount Falmouth,&rdquo; &ldquo;Lord Bleakeney,&rdquo; the sloops &ldquo;York&rdquo; and &ldquo;Ulysses&rdquo; and
other vessels, under convoy of the &ldquo;Squirrel&rdquo; man-of-war. Vessels and troops
had lately returned from the siege of Louisbourg.</p>
<p>The fleet sailed from Halifax on Monday the 11th September and on the 18th
anchored off Partridge Island sending in Cobb and Rogers<a name='FNanchor_0039' id='FNanchor_0039'></a><a href='#Footnote_0039' class='fnanchor'>[39]</a> with their sloops
to reconnoitre. They proceeded up the harbor and on their return reported that
they had seen only two or three people. However, Monckton learned later that
there were more than two hundred Indians in ambush at the mouth of the river
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span>
when the English landed, but their chief, overawed by the strength of the invaders,
would not suffer them to fire and retired with them up the river, and
&ldquo;upon their return to Oauckpack (their settlement about two leagues above St.
Anns) Pere Germain, their priest, expecting, as he termed it, &lsquo;Quelque coup de
Trahison&rsquo; from them, marched them off for Canada.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The next day the fleet anchored in the harbor and Monckton sent Cobb with
his sloop to Chignecto for some Acadian prisoners to serve as pilots up the river,
also for some whale boats and Captain Benoni Danks company of Rangers.</p>
<p>We come now to a day worthy to be held in remembrance&mdash;the memorable
20th of September, 1759&mdash;when the control of the River St. John passed finally
into the hands of Great Britain and a permanent English settlement was made
upon the shores of our harbor, Monckton&rsquo;s journal contains a brief record of
the event:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Sep&rsquo;br. ye 20th.&mdash;Made the Signal for Landing about nine and soon after
landed near the Old Fort, with as many Men as the Boats could take, being
about 400. Met with no opposition. The 2d. Division being landed I sent off
Maj&rsquo;r Scott with about 300 Light Infantry and Rangers to make discovery and
advanced the two companys of Grenadiers to support him in case of necessity.
The Maj&rsquo;r returned, having been above the Falls; he found some few Tracks but
not the least signs of any Road or Path&mdash;the woods very thick and bad marching.
The troops being all landed I ordered the Tents to be got on shore and
encamped the two regiments just at the back of the Fort. The Light Infantry
and Rangers under Maj&rsquo;r Scott encamped on the Hill above.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The next few days were spent in getting provisions and supplies on shore. The
detachment of artillery and three field pieces were also landed. A number of exploring
parties were sent out and all agreed that it was impracticable to proceed
with the expedition by land. Monckton had already sent word by Capt. Rogers
to Annapolis and by Capt. Cobb to Fort Cumberland to press into the King&rsquo;s service
any sloops or schooners available to transport provisions and stores up the
river, as the majority of his vessels were too large to attempt the passage of the
falls. Meanwhile he determined to repair the old fort and work was begun upon
it on the 24th September. &ldquo;My reasons,&rdquo; writes Monckton, &ldquo;for fixing on this
spot, though somewhat commanded by the Hill on the back were, that it was so
much work ready done to our hands, the command it would have of the Harbor,
the conveniency of landing our stores, and the great difficultys that would have
attended its being erected further from the shore having no conveniency of moving
our stores but by men. Besides, as the season was so far advanced and we had still
to go up the River, I thought it best to fix on what would be soonest done. And
in regard to the Hill that has some command of it, it is only with cannon, which
the enemy would find great difficulty in bringing, and this may hereafter be
remedy&rsquo;d by erecting some small Work on it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the construction of the works at the fort 600 men were employed daily until
the 24th October, when the number was reduced to 300 in consequence of the departure
of the expedition up the river to destroy the Acadian settlements. Capt.
Cobb returned from Fort Cumberland the last day of September with Danks&rsquo; company
of Rangers, five whale boats and nine French prisoners. From the latter
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span>
Monckton learned that it would have been almost impossible to have gone up the
river by land, and that it would have been dangerous to attempt to pass the falls
with such vessels as they had with them. Their opinion, as to the difficulty of
passing the falls, was confirmed by observations and soundings made by Capt.
Willock and the masters of the transports.</p>
<p>While the fort was building, Monckton was engaged in collecting military
stores, provisions and supplies of various kinds for which he sent vessels to Fort
Cumberland, Annapolis, Halifax and Boston. The officers&rsquo; barracks at Fort Frederick
were erected on the 2nd of October and the work of building the fort made
rapid progress, but it was not until the 21st of October that the expedition was
in a position to proceed up the river. Even then the start was not a very auspicious
one as we learn from Monckton&rsquo;s journal, in which he writes:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Having got together several sloops and schooners and victual&rsquo;d them, I order
Cobb &amp; Rogers to pass the Falls to cover the other vessels as they might be able
to get through. They accordingly get under way. Cobb being the headmost
passes the Narrows, but is too late to get over the Falls and obliged to come too
in a little cove below. The Ulysses, Capt. Rogers, in passing the Narrows strikes
on a Rock, and is drove by the Tide into a creek above Cobb where the vessell
sunk in a short time, and it was with great difficulty the Light Infantry who were
in her and crew were saved. Upon hearing this and that Cobb did not lay very
safe I ordered him down again and very luckily for at Low Water he would have
struck on the Rocks.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The captain of the man of war &ldquo;Squirrel&rdquo; endeavored to raise the &ldquo;Ulysses&rdquo;
but was forced to abandon the attempt and she proved a total wreck.</p>
<p>Having at length got all the smaller vessels safely above the falls and the
troops on board, with provisions for a fortnight, Monckton himself embarked
in Capt. Cobb&rsquo;s sloop &ldquo;York,&rdquo; leaving Captain Bellen of the 35th regiment in command
of the troops left behind. The force that proceeded up the river numbered
about 1,200 men.</p>
<p>To understand the subsequent proceedings of the expedition the reader will do
well to refer occasionally to the accompanying plan<a name='FNanchor_0040' id='FNanchor_0040'></a><a href='#Footnote_0040' class='fnanchor'>[40]</a> based on that transmitted
by Monckton, along with his report, to Major General Amherst.</p>
<p>On the morning of the 30th October the little fleet got under sail but the
wind being contrary little progress was made; indeed the ordnance sloop was very
nearly sharing the fate of the &ldquo;Ulysses,&rdquo; and only escaped by casting anchor in
a rather perilous position just above the falls. Next day the vessels succeeded
in crossing Grand Bay and anchored off &ldquo;Pointe aux Tourtres,&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0041' id='FNanchor_0041'></a><a href='#Footnote_0041' class='fnanchor'>[41]</a> about two
leagues above the mouth of the Nerepis. On their way they observed the remains
of the fort built by Boishebert at Woodman&rsquo;s Point.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_17' id='linki_17'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i137.png' alt='' title='' width='343' height='600' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Sketch of S<span class='super'>t</span>. John&rsquo;s Harbour, and a Part of the River.<br />
</p>
</div>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_18' id='linki_18'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i138.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
&ldquo;ISLE AU GARCE,&rdquo; OR &ldquo;EMENENIC.&rdquo; (Now Called Caton&rsquo;s Island, in Long Reach.)<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>On November 1, the wind being contrary, little progress was made, and in the
evening the &ldquo;York&rdquo; anchored off an island called &ldquo;Isle aux Garces.&rdquo; Monckton
landed on the island, which he describes as &ldquo;a verry fine one&mdash;the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span>
wood Oak, Beech, Birch, and Walnut, and no underwood.&rdquo; This island
was none other than the famous Emenenic, where some traders and fishermen
of St. Malo had a small settlement in the year 1611&mdash;probably the first
European settlement within the confines of the province. It was here the Jesuit
missionary, Father Biard, held the first religious service on the St. John river of
which we have any record. As mentioned in a previous chapter, the Indians still
call the island &ldquo;Ah-men-hen-ik,&rdquo; which is almost identical in sound with Biard&rsquo;s
&ldquo;Emenenic,&rdquo; thus proving that the old Indian name has persisted for well-nigh
three hundred years. The name &ldquo;Isle au garce,&rdquo; found in the plan of the river,
is not easy of explanation. &ldquo;Garce&rdquo; may possibly be a misprint for &ldquo;grace,&rdquo; and
the name &ldquo;Isle of grace&rdquo; would harmonize very well with the French missionary&rsquo;s
visit and religious services in October, 1611, but Placide P. Gaudet&mdash;who, by
the way, is no mean authority as regards the French regime on the River St.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span>
John&mdash;is disposed to consider the word &ldquo;garce&rdquo; as signifying a &ldquo;merry maiden.&rdquo;
If so, the name is suggestive of an untold story and there is material for a romance
in connection with our historic &ldquo;Isle au garce.&rdquo; The island is now owned
by County Secretary George R. Vincent. The soil is fertile, well wooded and excellent
spring water is abundant; fine oaks grow there as in Monckton&rsquo;s day. A
little cove, which may be seen in the view of the island a little to the right of
the wood-boat, affords an excellent landing place.</p>
<p>The plan of the river accompanying Colonel Monckton&rsquo;s report is of special interest
on account of the curious admixture of French and English names. This
feature is quite in harmony with the epoch which was one of transition. Instances
today are not infrequent where the existing name has been translated from the
French, a familiar example being that of the island at the mouth of St. John harbor,
called by the French &ldquo;Isle au Perdrix&rdquo; and translated into the English
&ldquo;Partridge Island.&rdquo; Another familiar instance occurs in connection with Oak
Point in Long Reach. Describing their progress up the river Monckton says, &ldquo;We
came too off Point aux Chaines to sound.&rdquo; Point aux Chaines in English means
Oak Point, and the identity of the situation of Oak Point and of Monckton&rsquo;s
Point aux Chaines is clearly shown in the plan of the river.</p>
<p>Monckton describes the country along the lower part of the River St. John as
&ldquo;verry Mountainous and Rocky,&rdquo; but above the Bellisle comparatively flat and
well timbered.</p>
<p>On the evening of the 2nd November the sloop &ldquo;York&rdquo; came to anchor &ldquo;under
an island called the Great Island,&rdquo; or Long Island. Some of the party landed on
the island where, Monckton tells us, they found walnuts (or butternuts) much
like English walnuts.</p>
<p>The expedition was now approaching one of the principal Acadian settlements
and Captain Benoni Danks was sent with a party and a guide to try to take
a prisoner in order, if possible, to obtain further information, but the Acadians evidently
received timely warning of their danger and had abandoned their village.</p>
<p>It may be mentioned, in passing, that there are some very uncomplimentary
references to Captain Danks and his Rangers in Rev. Hugh Graham&rsquo;s letter to
Rev. Dr. Brown, written at Cornwallis, N. S., in 1791.<a name='FNanchor_0042' id='FNanchor_0042'></a><a href='#Footnote_0042' class='fnanchor'>[42]</a> See for example the following:
&ldquo;A considerable large body of the French were at one time surprised by
a party of the Rangers on Petitcodiac River; upon the first alarm most of them
threw themselves into the river and swam across, and by this ways the greatest
part of them made out to elude the clutches of these bloody hounds, tho&rsquo; some of
them were shot by the merciless soldiery in the river. It was observed that these
Rangers, almost without exception, closed their days in wretchedness, and particularly
a Capt. Danks, who rode to the extreme of his commission in every barbarous
proceeding. In the Cumberland insurrection (1776) he was suspected of being
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span>
&lsquo;Jack on both sides of the bush,&rsquo; left that place in a small jigger bound for
Windsor, was taken ill on the passage, thrown down into the hold among the ballast,
was taken out at Windsor half dead, and had little better than the burial of a
dog. He lived under a general dislike and died without any to regret his death.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Saturday, the 4th of November, was an unhappy day for the poor Acadians
living at the little village of Grimrose&mdash;the site of the modern village of Gagetown.
The story shall be told in Monckton&rsquo;s own words:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Nov&rsquo;br ye 4th,&mdash;The party returns without any Prisoner, having been at the
Village of Grimrose which they found had been but lately deserted by the
inhabitants.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Give orders for landing. Having got a body of about 700 Men on Shore, we
march to the further end of the Village, being about a league. From whence,
by the tracks we found, we judged that the Inhabitants had but lately retired
and drove off their cattle. Here we found the Lime that had been taken in a
schooner in the spring, which they had landed as our Pilots supposed to lighten the
schooner, to get her higher up or to hide her in some Creeke&mdash;as they supposed
that they would certainly have carry&rsquo;d the Lime up to St. Anns would the depth
of the River have admitted of it.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It being late in the day I gave orders for Burning the Houses &amp; Barns, being
in all about 50, and for destroying all the Grain, of which there was a good deal,
and everything else that could be of the least service to the Inhabitants hereafter.
Having Burnt and destroyed everything we marched backe and reimbarked.</p>
<p>&ldquo;As we were disembarking in the morning some canoes were seen crossing the
head of Grimerose River [Gagetown Creek], and near where we landed there had
lately been some Birch canoes made. Much cleared Land here&mdash;Fine Country.
This Village was settled by the Inhabitants of Beausejour, when drove off from
thence in 1755.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The day following the expedition continued up the river to Isle Mettis, or
Grimross Island. The pilots now refused to take charge of the vessels any higher,
as they did not think there was sufficient water to pass. The accuracy of their
judgment was soon evident. In attempting to proceed Capt. Cobb ran his sloop
aground, and several of the transports had a like experience, but the bottom being
sandy all soon got off again without damage. Monckton sent Capt. Rogers, late of
the sloop &ldquo;Ulysses,&rdquo; and a mate of the man-of-war &ldquo;Squirrel,&rdquo; who had accompanied
the expedition, to take soundings but they could find no practicable channel.</p>
<p>The commanding officer now reluctantly abandoned the idea of proceeding on
to St. Annes. He might perhaps have attempted it by means of whale boats if
the season had not been so far advanced and his provisions so nearly expended.
After enumerating in his journal the difficulties that confronted him in the event
of proceeding further he writes, &ldquo;I therefore determined to return and destroy
everything we could on our way down.&rdquo; Meanwhile, by Monckton&rsquo;s orders, Captain
McCurdy had been scouring the country with his rangers and had succeeded
in killing some cattle which were divided among the transports.</p>
<p>Captains Danks and Brewer were sent with their companies to burn some
houses near what is now Upper Gagetown. After burning the houses they marched
their troops down the &ldquo;Neck&rdquo; towards the village of Grimrose and on their way
came across three or four Frenchmen who were driving off about forty head of
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span>
cattle. The New Englanders made a dash for this prize, the Acadians escaped, but
most of the cattle were destroyed.</p>
<p>Captain McCurdy was sent by Monckton across the river to Jemseg to destroy
all the houses and grain that he might find in that quarter and to kill the
cattle, and these orders were duly obeyed. Monckton burnt the little settlement
called Villeray&rsquo;s (about three miles below Gagetown), and as he came down the
river sent a small party on shore to burn the historic settlement of the Sieur de
Belleisle and his sons-in-law, the brothers Robichaux, just above the mouth of
Belleisle Bay. On the 8th day of November, after an absence of ten days, he arrived
at the place above the falls where the troops had embarked.</p>
<p>Colonel Monckton evidently was not very much elated at the success of his expedition,
for a few days after his return he wrote to Lieut. Governor De Lancey of
New York: &ldquo;I am sorry I can&rsquo;t give you a better acct. of our Proceedings up this
River. But it was attended with so many unavoidable delays and impediments
that we were only able to go up about 23 Leagues, which is above 10 Leagues short
of St. Annes&mdash;where, if we had been able to have reached, it is by very certain
accounts of no consequence, being only a Village and not the least signs of a fort.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We burnt one village and some straggling Houses and destroyed everything
that could be the least serviceable to them, so that I should
think that they will in the spring be obliged to retire to Canada. The
River, after passing the Falls, is as fine a River as ever I saw, and when you
get up about 10 Leagues the country is level, with fine woods of Oak, Beech, Birch
and Walnut, and no underwood and the land able to produce anything. We have
just finished a pretty good fort here, where the old French Fort stood, which will
be a footing for anything that may be thought proper to be undertaken hereafter.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor general of Canada, was not ignorant of
Monckton&rsquo;s operations on the River St. John, but he was in no position to make
any effectual resistance. In his letter to the French minister of November 5, 1758,
he states that the English were engaged in rebuilding the old Fort at <a name='TC_33'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Menagoeche'">Menagoueche</ins>;
the Indians of the River St. John had retired with the Rev. Father Germain,
their missionary to Canada, where Bigot, the intendant, had provided for their
wintering, and the greater part of the Acadians had also retired to Canada.</p>
<p>During Colonel Monckton&rsquo;s absence up the river work was continued at the
fort, so that it must have been nearly finished at the time of his return. It received
the name of Fort Frederick, and the remains of its ramparts may still be
seen at &ldquo;Old Fort&rdquo; in Carleton.</p>
<p>In the plan of St. John harbor made by Colonel Robert Morse of the Royal
Engineers in 1784, there is an outline of Fort Frederick very nearly identical as
regards situation and general form with the sketch of Fort Menagoueche (or &ldquo;Fort
de la Riviere de St. Jean&rdquo;) made in October, 1700, by the Sieur de Villieu.<a name='FNanchor_0043' id='FNanchor_0043'></a><a href='#Footnote_0043' class='fnanchor'>[43]</a> We
have further proof of an interesting nature that the situation and general plan of
the new fort was identical with the old French fort in one of the letters of the
Marquis de Vaudreuil, in which he tells us that about the time Fort Frederick
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span>
was nearing completion a French Canadian, kept there as a prisoner, made his
escape, and on his return to Canada described the new fort as exactly the same
size as the old but much stronger, the terraces being at least ten feet in thickness,
and upon the terraces were palisades ten feet high in the form of &ldquo;chevaux de
frise.&rdquo; The Frenchman had counted 18 cannons mounted of a calibre of 18L., and
the English had told him they expected to mount in all 30 cannons of 20L. and of
18L.</p>
<p>On the 11th November Colonel Monckton sent Major Scott to Petitcodiac
with the Light Infantry and Rangers in quest of a French privateer that had
been at the St. John river and which, with one of her prizes, was said to have
taken shelter there. He was directed to seize the vessels and bring them off,
together with any of the Acadian inhabitants he could find, and to burn and destroy
all the houses, barns, cattle, grain, etc. On his return he was to send
Captain Dank&rsquo;s company to Fort Cumberland.</p>
<p>Major Scott certainly acted with promptitude, for barely a week had expired
when he returned to St. John with the privateer schooner and prize sloop,
which he had found in two different creeks up the Petitcodiac river. The parties
sent out by the Major destroyed upwards of 150 houses and barns, much grain
and a good many cattle. They captured 30 prisoners, including women and children.
The Acadian seem to have made some resistance, however, and a Lieutenant
McCormack and three men of Captain McCurdy&rsquo;s Company and two men
of the Light Infantry were captured by them.</p>
<p>The troops that had served in the St. John river expedition were now distributed
among the garrisons at Fort Cumberland, Windsor, Annapolis and Halifax,
with the exception of McCurdy&rsquo;s, Stark&rsquo;s and Brewer&rsquo;s companies of Rangers
and a small detachment of artillery, ordered to remain at Fort Frederick
under command of Major Morris. This was a more considerable garrison than
could well find accommodation there during the winter, but such was not
Monckton&rsquo;s intention, for he writes in his journal: &ldquo;The Fuel of the Garrison
not being as yet lay&rsquo;d in, I leave the three companies of Rangers, viz., McCurdy&rsquo;s,
Stark&rsquo;s, and Brewer&rsquo;s, and have ordered that Captain McCurdy&rsquo;s company
should Hutt and remain the Winter, the other two after compleating the wood
to come to Halifax in the vessels I had left them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Monckton sailed for Halifax in the man-of-war &ldquo;Squirrel&rdquo; on the 21st of November,
and with him went the 2nd Battalion of the Royal American Regiment
of which he was the commander.</p>
<p>In the month of January following, a tragic event took place at or near
St. Anne&rsquo;s, an account of which has been left us by our early historians, Peter
Fisher and Moses H. Perley, in substance as follows:</p>
<p>After the winter season had fairly set in, a party of the rangers at Fort
Frederick, under Captain McCurdy, set out on snow-shoes to reconnoitre the country
and to ascertain the state of the French settlements up the river. The first
night after their departure they encamped at Kingston Creek, not far from the
Belleisle, on a very steep hillside. That night Captain McCurdy lost his life by
the falling of a large birch tree, which one of the rangers cut down on the
hillside&mdash;the tree came thundering down the mountain and killed the Captain
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span>
instantly, Lieutenant Moses Hazen<a name='FNanchor_0044' id='FNanchor_0044'></a><a href='#Footnote_0044' class='fnanchor'>[44]</a> succeeded to the command, and the party
continued up the river to St. Ann&rsquo;s Point (now Fredericton), where they found
quite a town. They set fire to the chapel and other buildings, but a number of
the French settlers gathered together, whereupon the Rangers retreated, and, being
hotly pursued committed several atrocious acts upon the people who fell in
their way, to prevent their giving information. By reversing their snow-shoes
and making forced marches they got back safely to St. John.</p>
<p>This story, considerably modified in some of its details, finds confirmation
from a variety of sources. (1) Sir Jeffery Amherst, commander of the forces
serving in America, writes in a letter to Governor Lawrence, &ldquo;You will have
heard of the accident poor Capt. McCurdy met with as likewise of the success
of his Lieutenant in demolishing the settlements at St. Anne&rsquo;s: on the recommendation
of Major Scott I have preferred Lieut. Hazen to Capt. McCurdy&rsquo;s
Company.&rdquo; In a subsequent letter Amherst says: &ldquo;Major Morris sent me the
particulars of the scouting party and I gave a commission to Lieut Hazen, as
I thought he deserved it. I am sorry to say what I have since heard of that affair
has sullied his merit with me as I shall always disapprove of killing women
and helpless children. Poor McCurdy is a loss, he was a good man in his post.&rdquo;
In another letter Amherst describes this sad affair more fully. See Appendix.</p>
<p>(2) Further confirmation of the charge of barbarity is found in the journal of
Rev. Jacob Bailey<a name='FNanchor_0045' id='FNanchor_0045'></a><a href='#Footnote_0045' class='fnanchor'>[45]</a> of Pownalboro, Maine. This gentleman had occasion to lodge
at Norwood&rsquo;s Inn, in the town of Lynn, Massachusetts, on the night of Dec&rsquo;r 13,
1759, and speaking of the company he found there says: &ldquo;We had among us a
soldier belonging to Capt. Hazen&rsquo;s company of rangers, who declared that several
Frenchmen were barbarously murdered by them, after quarters were given, and the
villain added, I suppose to show his importance, that he &lsquo;split the head of one
asunder, after he fell on his knees to implore mercy.&rsquo; A specimen of New England
clemency!&rdquo;</p>
<p>(3). A statement is to be found in a dispatch of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, dated
May 8, 1759, that a number of Acadians living at the River St. John were surprised
on the night of the 27&ndash;28 January, 1759, by a detachment of New England
troops who burned their houses, carried off twenty-three prisoners and killed two
women and four children, whose scalps they bore away.</p>
<p>(4). Still further light is thrown upon this transaction by some notes appended
to the names of certain Acadians, who had served as officers of militia in Acadia,
and who were living in 1767 at Cherbourg. We learn that the Sieur Joseph
Bellefontaine had once owned a large tract of land on the River St. John, near St.
Anne&rsquo;s, and that he was appointed Major of the militia on the river by order of the
Marquis de la Galissonniere, April 10, 1749, and always performed his duties with
fidelity until made a prisoner by the enemy. At the time of the mid-winter raid
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span>
on St. Anne&rsquo;s he had the misery of seeing one of his daughters with three of her
children massacred before his eyes by the English, who desired by this act of cruelty
and the fear of similar treatment to compel him to take their side. On his refusal
he barely escaped a like fate by his flight into the woods, carrying with him two
other children of the same daughter. The young mother so ruthlessly slain was
Nastasie Bellefontaine, wife of Eustache Pare. The other victims of this tragedy of
the wilderness were the wife and child of Michel Bellefontaine&mdash;a son of Joseph
Bellefontaine. This poor fellow had the anguish of beholding his wife and boy murdered
before his eyes on his refusal to side with the English.</p>
<p>The village of St. Anne&rsquo;s was left in a state of desolation. Moses Perley says
that when the advance party of the Maugerville colony arrived at St. Anne&rsquo;s Point
in 1762, they found the whole of what is now the Town plat of Fredericton cleared
for about ten rods back from the bank and they saw the ruins of a very considerable
settlement. The houses had been burned and the cultivated land was fast relapsing
into a wilderness state. Nevertheless the early English settlers reaped
some advantage from the improvements made by the Acadians, for we learn from
Charles Morris&rsquo; description of the river in 1768, that at the site of the old French
settlement at St. Anne&rsquo;s Point there was about five hundred acres of cleared upland
in English grass from whence the inhabitants of Maugerville got the chief part of
their Hay for their Stock. &ldquo;They inform me,&rdquo; says Mr. Morris, &ldquo;that it produces
about a load and a half to an acre.&rdquo; He adds, &ldquo;The French Houses are all burnt
and destroyed.&rdquo;</p>
<p>An interesting incident connected with the French occupation was related many
years ago by the grandmother of the late Judge Fisher to one of her descendants.
This good old lady came to St. Anne&rsquo;s in the fall of 1783 with the Loyalists. Not
very many months after their arrival, there was so great a scarcity of provisions
that the unfortunate people in some cases were obliged to dig up the potatoes they
had planted and eat them. As the season advanced their hearts were cheered by
the discovery of some large patches of pure white beans, marked with a black cross.
They had been planted by the French, but were now growing wild. In their joy at
this fortunate discovery the settlers called them &ldquo;the staff of life and hope of the
starving.&rdquo; Mrs. Fisher says she planted some of these beans with her own hands
and that the seed was preserved in her family for many years.</p>
<p>The close of the year 1759 brought its anxieties to Colonel Mariot Arbuthnot,
who had succeeded Major Morris as commandant at Fort Frederick. Quebec had
fallen and the long and costly struggle between England and France for the possession
of Canada and Acadia had terminated in favor of England.</p>
<p>The Massachusetts troops in garrison at Fort Frederick expected to be now relieved,
as their period of enlistment had expired and the crisis of the war was
over. But unfortunately for them, General Amherst at Crown Point found the force
at his disposal insufficient, he could not spare a man, and Monckton, who commanded
at Quebec, was in precisely the same predicament. Lawrence at Halifax
had no troops at his disposal. Unless, therefore, the Massachusetts men remained
Fort Frederick would be left without a garrison. In this emergency the
Massachusetts legislature took the responsibility of extending the period of enlistment
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span>
of the troops of their colony, at the same time voting money necessary to provide
them with beds and other comforts for the approaching winter. General Amherst
strongly commended the patriotic action of the legislature, and wrote to
Governor Lawrence, &ldquo;They have judged very rightly that the abandoning any of the
Garrisons may be attended with most fatal consequences to this country; and
as they have made a necessary provision for the men to continue during the winter,
if the men do not stay and serve voluntarily, they must be compelled to
it by force.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Evidently the men remained with great reluctance, for the following spring we
find the Governor of Massachusetts writing to Governor Lawrence, &ldquo;I find our
people who are doing duty in your garrison&mdash;notwithstanding the favor and attention
this Province has shown them for continuing their services through the
winter, and notwithstanding the great encouragement given to those who would
continue&mdash;have worked themselves up to such a temper of dissatisfaction that they
have long ago threatened to come off, if not relieved.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This threat was not meaningless for the governor goes on to say &ldquo;already
seventy men in one schooner and about eighty in another have openly come off
from Fort Frederick at St. John&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The conduct of these Massachusetts rangers was a source of mortification to
Lieut. Governor Hutchinson, who speaks of &ldquo;the unwarrantable behaviour of the
garrison at St. John&rsquo;s River, all of whom have deserted their post except 40 men
and the continuation of those forty seems to be precarious.&rdquo; Steps were at once
taken to enlist a fresh detachment for service at Fort Frederick.</p>
<p>The conduct of the garrison was not unnatural, although from a military
point of view it was inexcusable. The men had enlisted for a great and, as the
event proved, a final struggle with France for supremacy in North America.
With the downfall of Louisbourg and Quebec the crisis had passed. The period
of their enlistment had expired, what right had the Assembly of Massachusetts to
prolong it? Why should they remain? So they reasoned. Meanwhile garrison
duty at Fort Frederick was found to be extremely monotonous. The country was
deserted, for the few habitations that once existed in the vicinity of the fort had
been abandoned and destroyed when the French fled up the river, and no English
settlers had as yet appeared. Amidst their privations and the loneliness of their
situation the charms of their own firesides seemed peculiarly inviting. Most
probably, too, the fort and barracks were little more than habitable in consequence
of the havoc wrought by a terrible storm on the night of the 3&ndash;4 November, 1759.
This storm was the most violent that had till then been known, and from all
accounts must at least have rivalled the famous &ldquo;Saxby&rdquo; gale of 1869. The tide attained
a height of six feet above the ordinary, and huge waves, driven by the
storm, broke through the dykes at the head of the Bay of Fundy, flooding the
marsh lands reclaimed by the Acadians. Much damage was done along the coast,
thousands of trees were blown down all over the country, while near the coastline
the forest was levelled as with a scythe. A considerable part of Fort Frederick
was washed away by the storm and Lieutenant Winckworth Tonge, of the Engineers,
was sent with a party of men to repair it and put it in the most defensible
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span>
state the situation would allow, taking such tools and materials from Fort Cumberland
as were needed. He found the condition of the fort even worse than he
had anticipated. Governor Lawrence consulted General Amherst as to what should
be done, and in answer the general wrote: &ldquo;By Lt. Tonge&rsquo;s report to you of the
state of the works at Fort Frederick, it must doubtless undergo great alterations to
put it in a proper state of defence, but as this will require many more hands than
you can provide at present, we must for the time being rest satisfied with the work
you have ordered, especially as the line of strong Pallisadoes you mention will secure
it against any insult for the present.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Colonel Arbuthnot&rsquo;s anxieties were not confined to tidal waves and the discontents
of his garrison. About the end of October a party of some two hundred Acadians
came down the river to Fort Frederick and presented to him a certificate of
their having taken the oath of allegiance to the English sovereign before Judge
Cramahe, at Quebec; also an order signed by General Monckton giving them
permission to return to their former habitations. Whether these Acadians were
old inhabitants of the river, or fugitives who had taken refuge there at the time of
the Expulsion is not very clear. Lawrence surmised that the certificates had been
obtained from Judge Cramahe on the supposition that the people belonged to some
river or place in Canada known as St. Johns, and not to the River St. John in
Nova Scotia, and that they never could have had any sort of permission from
Monckton to settle in Acadia.</p>
<p>The Abbe Casgrain comments severely on the course pursued by Governor Lawrence
on this occasion: &ldquo;Not being able,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;to dispute the genuineness of
the letters of Monckton and Cramahe, Lawrence claimed that the Acadians could
only have obtained them by fraud, and he decided with his council, always ready to
do his bidding, that they should be regarded as prisoners of war and transported
as soon as possible to England. He took care not to disclose this resolution in order
to keep them securely at the fort, and to have them ready to his hand when
ships should arrive to transport them. This precaution was almost superfluous
for the Acadians, having exhausted their last resources, were no longer in a state
to return to the woods where they would have died of hunger.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Evidently it was part of the settled policy of Lawrence and his advisers to keep
the Acadians out of the province and to people it with English speaking inhabitants,
and with this policy General Amherst seems to have been in accord, for he
wrote the Governor of Nova Scotia, &ldquo;The pass you mention the two hundred Inhabitants
of St. John&rsquo;s River to have from Mr. Monckton, was by no means meant
or understood to give the French any right to those lands; and you have done perfectly
right not to suffer them to continue there, and you will be equally right
in sending them, when an opportunity offers, to Europe as Prisoners of War.&rdquo;</p>
<p>And yet it was very natural that, after the surrender of Quebec, the Acadians
should believe that upon accepting the new regime and taking the oath of allegiance
to the king of Great Britain they would be treated in the same way as the
French Canadians. The Abbe Casgrain says, not without reason, that the Acadians
had an even greater right than the Canadians to clemency at the hands of their
conquerors as their sufferings were greater: [&ldquo;Ils y avaient d&rsquo;autant plus de droit
qu&rsquo;ils avaient plus souffert.&rdquo;]</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span></div>
<p>The expulsion at so late a period as this of two hundred Acadians from the Valley
of the River St. John, where they had vainly hoped to remain in peace, is an
incident of some importance. There is an unpublished letter of the Jesuit missionary
Germain to the Marquis de Vaudreuil, written at Aukpaque on the River St.
John, under date February 26, 1760, which is of some interest in this connection.
&ldquo;I arrived at the River St. John,&rdquo; writes Father Germain, &ldquo;on All Saints Day
(Nov. 1, 1759), where I unfortunately found all the inhabitants had gone down
to the English fort with their families, which made me resolve to go and join them,
as I did eight days afterwards, with the intention of accompanying them wherever
they might be sent in order to help them&mdash;some to die as Christians in the transport
ships and others to be of good cheer in the calamity that has befallen them
as it did their brethren who are exiles in New England. But by a stroke of Providence,
Monsieur Coquart, missionary to the French, arrived, and I desired the
commandant to give me leave to retire which he granted together with a passport
permitting me to remain at the priests&rsquo; house in my mission where I am now.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0046' id='FNanchor_0046'></a><a href='#Footnote_0046' class='fnanchor'>[46]</a></p>
<p>Colonel Arbuthnot had reported to Governor Lawrence that the Acadians begged
leave to remain upon their lands on their promise to be faithful and true to His
Majesty&rsquo;s Government. To this he made answer that they must come down
to the Fort and remain there till he could apply to the Governor to know what
should be done; they came down accordingly, and were to remain at the Fort
until his excellency&rsquo;s pleasure should be known. The poor Acadians were represented
to be in a starving condition. Their case came before the Governor and Council
for consideration on the 30th November, at a meeting held at the Governor&rsquo;s house
in Halifax, and the decision arrived at was this: &ldquo;The Council are of opinion, and
do advise that His Excellency do take the earliest opportunity of hiring vessels for
having them immediately transported to Halifax, as Prisoners of War, until they
can be sent to England; and that the two Priests be likewise removed out of the
Province.&rdquo; The resolve of the council seems to have been carried into effect. In
the month of January, Lawrence sent to the River St. John for the French inhabitants
who, to the number of 300, were brought to Halifax until he could send them
to England. Colonel Arbuthnot was the agent employed in collecting these unfortunate
people and sending them to Halifax, and being a gentleman of a humane
disposition he doubtless found his task a most uncongenial one. Among his assistants
was Joseph Winniett,<a name='FNanchor_0047' id='FNanchor_0047'></a><a href='#Footnote_0047' class='fnanchor'>[47]</a> a member for Annapolis Royal in the Nova Scotia
House of Assembly.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XIV_AUKPAQUE_THE_VILLAGE_AT_THE_HEAD_OF_THE_TIDE' id='CHAPTER_XIV_AUKPAQUE_THE_VILLAGE_AT_THE_HEAD_OF_THE_TIDE'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>Aukpaque, the Village at the Head of the Tide.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>On the west bank of the St. John, about six miles above the City of Fredericton,
is the site of the old Indian village of Aukpaque. It looks out upon a charming
panorama of interval and islands, amidst which the river creeps lazily with
many windings. In the background across the river there rises the steep slope of
Currie&rsquo;s Mountain, volcanic in its origin. Weird legends connected with this mountain
have been handed down from ancient days, which the Indian guides will sometimes
rehearse when they find appreciative listeners.</p>
<p>The surroundings of Aukpaque are indeed very beautiful, and as long ago as
1686 they won the admiration of Monseigneur St. Vallier, who, after describing the
extent and varied scenery of the river, its smoothly flowing waters and fertile islands
embosomed by the tide, says: &ldquo;Some fine settlements might be made between
Medoctec and Jemseg, especially at a certain place which we have named Sainte
Marie, where the river enlarges and the waters are divided by a large number of
islands that apparently would be very fertile if cultivated. A mission for the
savages would be well placed there; the land has not as yet any owner in particular,
neither the King nor the governor having made a grant to any one.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Evidently there was not at this time any Indian village at Aukpaque, but it is
probable the place was occasionally used as a camping ground. In the course of the
next half century, however, there grew into existence a village that rivalled and in
time eclipsed the more ancient village of Medoctec. Doubtless the presence of the
French on the lower St. John, and the establishment of Villebon&rsquo;s fort, at the
mouth of the Nashwaak, served to draw the savages in that direction.</p>
<p>At the time of Monseigneur St. Vallier&rsquo;s visit they were beginning very generally
to embrace Christianity. The Indians and the Acadians were visited occasionally
by Claude Moireau, a Recollet missionary, who went up the river as far at
least as Fort Jemseg where, in July, 1680, he baptized nine Indian children of ages
varying from five months to nineteen years. Their names, with those of their
parents and sponsors, are duly recorded in his register. One or two of the entries
are here inserted as of historic interest:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style='margin-bottom:0em;'>&ldquo;The year of grace 1680, the 7 July: I have baptized at Jemseg, according to
the forms of our Holy Church, Claude, son of Soksim, savage, and of Apolline
Kedekouit, Christian, aged 18 years, and named at the font Claude by Claude Petipas,
notary royal, and Isabella Petipas, his sponsors.</p>
<p class='right'>[Signed] Claude Moireau, Recol.</p>
<p style='margin-bottom:0em;'>&ldquo;The same day baptized Marie, sauvagesse, aged one year, daughter of Tobuk
and of Marie Noktomkiache, Christian, and named at the font Marie by Rene Lambert
and Catherine Bugaret, her sponsors.</p>
<p class='right'>[Signed] Cl. Moireau, Recol.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Two baptisms in the following year, one at Jemseg and the other at St. John,
are of equal interest:&mdash;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span></div>
<blockquote>
<p style='margin-bottom:0em;'>&ldquo;At Jemsek, the year of grace 1681, the 25 May, have baptized according to the
forms of our Holy Church, Marie Anne Denis, aged 4 months, daughter of Sieur
Richard Denis, Esquire, and of Anne Partarabego, sauvagesse, and has been held at
the font by damoiselle Marie Chartier, dame de Marson, her godmother, who has
named her Marie Anne.</p>
<p class='right'>[Signed] Claude Moireau, Recol.</p>
<p style='margin-bottom:0em;'>&ldquo;At Menagoueck, the year of grace 1681, the 2 June, have baptized according to
the forms of the Church, Jeanne <a name='TC_34'></a><ins class='trchange' title='original spelling: Guidry ... Guirdy'>Guidry, child of Claude Guirdy</ins> dit la Verdure and
of Keskoua, sauvagesse, who has been held at the font by Claude Petipas and
Jeanne de la Tour, wife of Martignon, her sponsors, who have named her Jeanne.</p>
<p class='right'>[Signed] Claude Moireau, Recol.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A little later Father Simon of the Recollet order became the missionary of the
Indians on the river with headquarters at Medoctec. Some account of his interesting
personality and of his zealous labors will be found in a previous chapter.
After his death the work among the Indians passed into the hands of the Jesuit
missionary, Joseph Aubery, and his successors Jean Baptiste Loyard, Jean P.
Danielou and Charles Germain. The whole river was included in the mission and
the priest had many journeys to make,
but Medoctec, as the principal village, was
for years the headquarters of the mission.
This was so down to the time of Loyard&rsquo;s
death. His successor, Danielou, ministered
to the Indians of Medoctec, also,
as is shown by the presence of his name
on the slate-stone tablet of the Medoctec
chapel. But it is probable that Danielou
was frequently at Aukpaque, and he certainly
had the spiritual oversight of the
Acadians at St. Anne&rsquo;s Point.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_19' id='linki_19'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i149.png' alt='' title='' width='275' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Inscription on Medoctec Stone<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>The Indians of the River St. John were
regarded by the English as the most powerful
and warlike tribe of Acadia and the
Governor of Nova Scotia endeavored to
gain their good-will, and to induce them
to adhere to the treaty made with the
eastern tribes by the authorities of New
England and Nova Scotia in 1725. In the
year 1732 Lieut. Governor Armstrong of
Nova Scotia sent Paul Mascarene to Boston
to treat with Governor Belcher about
the erection of a &ldquo;truck-house&rdquo; for the
Indian trade on the St. John river, and
Mascarene was instructed to recommend
the lands on the St. John to the people of Massachusetts as a very desirable place
of settlement. Belcher expressed the opinion that unless the crown would build
a fort at the mouth of the river, the &ldquo;truck-house&rdquo; project would fail, but in
case of its erection Massachusetts would probably send a sloop with goods to the
Indians Spring and Fall. However the idea of an English post at the mouth of
the St. John remained in abeyance until the surrender of Beausejour.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span></div>
<p>So far as known to the author, the first mention of the Indian village of
Aukpaque occurs in connection with the census of 1733 which states that fifteen
French families reside below the &ldquo;Village d&rsquo;Ecoupay.&rdquo; From this time onward
there are frequent references to Aukpaque, some of which are indicated in the
foot-note below.<a name='FNanchor_0048' id='FNanchor_0048'></a><a href='#Footnote_0048' class='fnanchor'>[48]</a></p>
<p>The little colony of fifteen families mentioned in the census of 1733 seems to
have settled in the vicinity of St. Anne&rsquo;s Point a few years previously. It was
a typical Acadian hamlet. Its people were of simple habits and wished to live in
peace. Naturally they were loyal to their mother country and devout members of
their mother church. But France&mdash;sunny France&mdash;with all her marvellous resources
and splendid opportunities, proved an unworthy mother. And what has
been the result? A colonial empire shrunken almost to insignificance. And even if her
colonial empire were today what it was in the days of Louis XIV, the colonies
would be as empty cradles for which there are no children. The progress and development
of the Acadians of the maritime provinces and of the French Canadians
of the Dominion tell what France might have been if her people had been true
to high ideals.</p>
<p>The colony of New France was never supported as it should have been. While
New England was making rapid progress and the tide of immigration set strongly
in that direction, Canada was left to take care of itself. After the days of Frontenac
the governors of Quebec were haunted by the fear of encroachments on their
territory on the part of the people to the south. It became their policy to employ
the Indians and Acadians as buttresses against the inflowing tide of the Anglo-Saxons.
The Acadians would fain have lived in peace but, alas the trend of events
left little room for neutrality.</p>
<p>The Maliseets of the St. John were naturally disposed to resent the intrusion of
the whites on their hunting grounds, and the French encouraged this sentiment as regards
any advance made by the English. In the year 1735, Francis Germaine, &ldquo;chief
of Ockpaque,&rdquo; with one of his captains came to Annapolis Royal to complain of the
conduct of some English surveyors, whom they seem to have regarded as trespassers
on their lands. For some reason they missed seeing the governor, but he wrote
them a very friendly letter, assuring them of his favor and protection. This, however,
did not satisfy the Indians, for a few months afterwards they interfered with
the loading of a vessel that had been sent to St. John for limestone by the ordnance
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span>
storekeeper at Annapolis and robbed the sailors of their clothes and provisions,
claiming that the lands and quarries belonged to them. Not long afterwards the
Governor of Nova Scotia addressed a letter to &ldquo;The Reverend Father Danilou,
priest of St. John&rsquo;s River,&rdquo; complaining that a party of Maliseets under Thoma, their
chief, had surprised, Stephen Jones, an English trader, as he lay sleeping aboard
his vessel at Piziquid [Windsor, N. S.] and robbed him of goods to the value of
&pound;900 and of his book of accounts valued at &pound;700 more, and he hoped the missionary
would use his influence to induce the Indians to keep the peace and, if possible,
obtain redress for the unfortunate man they had robbed.</p>
<p>Two of the principal Acadians, living at or near St. Ann&rsquo;s, Mich&rsquo;l Bergeron and
Joseph Bellefontaine, had an interview with Governor Armstrong in 1736, and by request
gave him a list of the Acadians then living on the river, numbering in all
77 souls, besides the missionary Jean Pierre Danielou. The governor ordered the
Acadians to make their submission to the British government and not to receive any
missionary without his approbation. It does not appear, however, that he was on
unfriendly terms with Danielou, who came to Annapolis the next year and exercised
the functions of his ministry.</p>
<p>Under the care of Danielou&rsquo;s successor Germain, the Acadians and their savage
allies had a chequered experience indeed, but this has been already related in the
previous chapters.</p>
<p>At the time of Monckton&rsquo;s invasion of the river in 1758 most of the Indians
abandoned the village of Aukpaque and retired with their missionary, Germain, to
Canada, but they returned after the capture of Quebec and some of their chiefs
went to Fort Frederick and took the oath of allegiance to the English monarch.
Colonel Arbuthnot was directed to encourage them to come to Halifax and make
a treaty of peace and such arrangements as were necessary for trade with the English.</p>
<p>During the session of the House of Assembly held at Halifax in the winter of
1759&ndash;60, Governor Lawrence urged the House to make provision for the establishment
of &ldquo;truck-houses&rdquo; for the Indians; he also recommended legislation for the
purpose of preventing private trade with them, and the Assembly soon afterwards
passed an act for that purpose.</p>
<p>On the 11th of February, Colonel Arbuthnot came to Halifax from Fort Frederick,
with two Indian chiefs of the Passamaquoddy tribe, to make peace on the
basis of the old Indian Treaty of 1725. Representatives of the St. John river tribe
arrived a few days later. The Indians appeared before the Governor and Council
with an interpreter. They were received with every courtesy and presented
with gold lace blankets, laced hats, etc. It was agreed that the treaty should be
prepared in English and French, that the chiefs should be sent back in a vessel
to St. John, and that Col. Arbuthnot should accompany them, taking the treaty
with him to be ratified. After a fortnight&rsquo;s deliberation the treaty was signed,
on the 23rd February, by Ballomy Glode, chief of the St. John Indians, and Michel
Neptune, chief of the Passamaquoddies. The treaty was based on those of 1725 and
1749, with an additional engagement on the part of the Indians not to aid the
enemies of the English, to confine their traffic to the truck-house at Fort Frederick
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span>
and to leave three of each tribe there as hostages to ensure performance of
the articles of the treaty.</p>
<p>In order the better to carry out the provisions of this treaty, and of similar
treaties made at this time with the different tribes of Acadia, Benjamin Gerrish
was appointed Indian commissary. Gerrish agreed to buy goods and sell them to
the Indians for furs, he to receive 5 per cent on goods purchased and 2&frac12; per cent
on furs sold, and the prices to be so <a name='TC_35'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'arrranged'">arranged</ins> that the Indians could obtain their
goods at least 50 per cent cheaper than hitherto.</p>
<p>At their conference with the Governor and his council the Indians agreed
upon a tariff of prices<a name='FNanchor_0049' id='FNanchor_0049'></a><a href='#Footnote_0049' class='fnanchor'>[49]</a> for the Indian trade, the unit of value to be one pound of
the fur of the spring beaver, commonly known as &ldquo;one beaver,&rdquo; equivalent in
value to a dollar, or five shillings. Under the tariff the following articles were
to be sold to the Indians at the following prices: Large blanket, 2 &ldquo;beavers&rdquo;; 2
yards stroud, 3 &ldquo;beavers&rdquo;; 14 pounds pork, 1 &ldquo;beaver&rdquo;; 30 pounds flour, 1 &ldquo;beaver&rdquo;;
2&frac12; gallons molasses, 1 &ldquo;beaver&rdquo;; 2 gallons rum, 1 &ldquo;beaver&rdquo;; and other articles in
proportion.</p>
<p>Furs and skins sold by the Indians at the &ldquo;truck-house&rdquo; were to be valued by
the same standard: Moose skin, 1&frac12; &ldquo;beavers&rdquo;; bear <a name='TC_36'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'skin skin'">skin</ins>, <a name='TC_36a'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was '1 1-3'">1&#8531;</ins> &ldquo;beavers&rdquo;;
3 sable skins, 1 &ldquo;beaver&rdquo;; 6 mink skins, 1 &ldquo;beaver&rdquo;; 10 ermine skins, 1 &ldquo;beaver&rdquo;;
silver fox skin, 2&frac12; &ldquo;beavers,&rdquo; and so on for furs and skins of all descriptions. By
substituting the cash value for the value in &ldquo;beavers,&rdquo; we shall obtain figures
that would amaze the furrier of modern days and prove eminently satisfactory to
the purchaser, for example: Bear skin (large and good), $1.35; moose skin (large),
$1.50; luciffee (large), $2.00; silver fox, $2.50; black fox, $2.00; red fox, 50cts.;
otter, $1.00; mink, 15 cts.; musquash, 10 cts. And yet these prices, ridiculously
low as they appear, were considerably better than the Indians Had received from
the French traders. It was no doubt on such terms as these that Messrs. Simonds,
White and Hazen traded with the Indians after they came to St. John.</p>
<p>Benjamin Gerrish soon afterwards took steps to establish the &ldquo;truck-house&rdquo;
promised the Indians, and by order in council of July 19, 1760, Captain Doggett
was instructed to proceed directly to the River St. John and deliver the stores
that Mr. Gerrish had shipped on board his vessel for the truck-master at Fort
Frederick.</p>
<p>Colonel Arbuthnot reported that the Indians behaved well and came to the
fort to trade. The delegates from the River St. John, who went to Halifax, seem
to have acted in accordance with the advice of their missionary Germain, who accepted
the logic of events after the fall of Quebec and advised the Indians to
submit to their conquerors. The establishment of a &ldquo;truck-house&rdquo; at St. John
was of advantage to them and the missionary determined to cultivate friendly relations
with the English.</p>
<p>Governor Lawrence reported that he had induced the Assembly of Nova Scotia
to pass a law, with severe penalties, against private trading with the Indians. The
provisions of this act, however, found little favor with the Lords of Trade, by
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span>
whom it was considered &ldquo;an improper and unreasonable restraint upon trade.&rdquo;
Their objection found expression in the proclamation of George III., at the Court
of St. James, Oct. 7, 1763:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;We do by the advice of our privy council declare and enjoin that the trade
with the said Indians shall be free and open to all our subjects whatever, provided
that every person who may incline to trade with the said Indians do take out a
license for carrying on such trade from the governor or commander-in-chief of any
of our colonies where such person shall reside, and also give security to observe
such regulations as we shall at any time think fit to direct or appoint.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The proclamation required the governor to issue such licenses without fee or
reward, the license to be void and the security forfeited if the person to whom it
was granted failed to observe the regulations prescribed.</p>
<p>We have now arrived at the period when the first permanent English settlement
was to be made on the St. John river, but before proceeding to the consideration
of that event a glance at the general situation on the river is necessary. The
only foot-hold the English had as yet obtained was at Fort Frederick on the west
side of St. John harbor. A considerable number of Acadians still lingered furtively
in their hiding places up the river, the majority of them near the Indian village
of Aukpaque. For their benefit, as well as that of the savages, the missionary
Germain desired to remain at his post. He accordingly made overtures to the
Nova Scotia authorities to be allowed to continue his ministrations, promising to
use his influence in the interests of peace. To this proposition the Governor and
Council cheerfully assented, promising the missionary a stipend of &pound;50. A year
or two afterwards he wrote acknowledging the receipt of his salary and stating it
was his desire to inspire the Indians with the respect due to the government. He
complained of their irregularities and says that in spite of his efforts to promote
harmony he feared &ldquo;they will shortly pay no regard to what he says.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In Kidder&rsquo;s &ldquo;Military operations in Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia during the
Revolution,&rdquo; the statement is made that Aukpaque signifies a beautiful expanding of
the river occasioned by numerous islands, but, while this is perfectly correct as
descriptive of the locality, it is more probable that Aukpaque&mdash;or its Indian equivalent
Ek-pa-hawk&mdash;means &ldquo;the head of the tide,&rdquo; or beginning of swift water. Kidder
speaks of the site of Aukpaque as &ldquo;almost unknown and difficult to locate.&rdquo;
Commenting on this statement, the late Sir John C. Allen (whose grandfather,
Colonel Isaac Allen, purchased of the Indians the site of the village of Aukpaque),
makes the following remark:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;It is an error to suppose that there is any difficulty in locating Aukpaque.
It is laid down, under the name Opack, on a plan in the Crown Lands office in
Fredericton of a survey of land in the old Township of Sunbury while this
province formed a part of Nova Scotia. In addition to this there are several persons
living who can point out the place that was used as the Indian burial ground
and who remember that a large piece of cleared land adjacent to it and separated
from it by a deep ravine, being a part of the tract of land reserved for the Indians,
was formerly known as the &lsquo;Chapel Field&rsquo;&mdash;no doubt from the fact that the
chapel of the Indian settlement had stood upon it. There is also further evidence
in the plan of the survey of the lands in the Parish of Kingsclear, the grant of
which issued in 1799, upon which a cross is marked on this lot of land, which is
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span>
well known to indicate the site of a church or chapel. There is very little doubt
that at the time of the survey the chapel, or the remains of it, were standing, as
the Indians had been in occupation of the land till within a few years of that
time.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We may add that the claim of the Indians to the lands in the vicinity of their
village was early recognized by the <a name='TC_37'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Goverment'">Government</ins> of Nova Scotia, and when the first
grant of a large tract of the surrounding country was made in 1765 to Thomas
Falconer and sixty-six other land speculators, there was expressly reserved for the
Indians &ldquo;500 acres, including a church and burying ground at Aughpack, and four
acres for a burying ground at St. Ann&rsquo;s point, and the island called Indian (or
Savage) Island.&rdquo; This island is probably that mentioned in 1753 by the Abbe de
L&rsquo;Isle Dieu as &ldquo;l&rsquo;isle d&rsquo;Ecouba,&rdquo; the residence of the missionary Charles Germain.</p>
<p>The situation of Aukpaque is shown in the accompanying sketch:&mdash;</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_20' id='linki_20'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i154.png' alt='' title='' width='500' height='221' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
PLAN OF AUKPAQUE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Although the Indians were ostensibly at peace with the English they viewed
them with suspicion, and were jealous of any infringement of their aboriginal rights.
After the erection of Fort Frederick they seem, for the most part, to have abandoned
the lower part of the river, and Charles Morris tells us that about the year
1760 they burned much of the timber along the Long Reach and on both sides of
the Washademoak and probably at other places.</p>
<p>When the exploring party of the Maugerville colony arrived at St. Anne&rsquo;s point
in 1762 and were about to begin their survey, a large party of Indians came down
from their priest&rsquo;s residence, with his interpreter, their faces painted in divers colors
and figures, and dressed in their war habits. The chiefs informed the adventurers
that they were trespassers on their rights, that the country belonged to them,
and unless they retired immediately they would compel them.</p>
<p>The chiefs claimed that they had some time before had a conference with Governor
Lawrence and had consented that the English should settle the country up as
far as Grimross. The surveyors promised to remove their camp towards Grimross.
This answer did not appear to fully satisfy the Indians, but they made no reply.
The settlement of the New England people, in consequence of the attitude of the
Indians, did not embrace St. Anne&rsquo;s Point as originally intended.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span></div>
<p>Plans of the River St. John were made by the Hon. Charles Morris, surveyor
general of Nova Scotia, as early as the year 1761. A little later he wrote an interesting
description of the river. He describes &ldquo;Aughpack&rdquo; as about seven miles from
St. Anne&rsquo;s, and says the Acadians had settlements upon the uplands between the
two places but drew their subsistence from the cultivation of the intervals and islands.
At Aukpaque was the Indian church and the residence of the French missionary.
Their church and buildings adjoining had been demolished by the Indians
themselves. The island opposite Aukpaque, called Indian Island, was the place
where the Indians of the river made their annual <a name='TC_38'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'rendevous'">rendezvous</ins>.</p>
<p>&ldquo;On this island,&rdquo; adds Mr. Morris, &ldquo;is their town, consisting of forty mean
houses, or wigwams, built with slender poles and covered with bark. In the centre
of the town is the grand council chamber constructed after the same manner as the
other houses.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The reason for the destruction by the Indians of their church we need not go
far to seek. In the summer of the year 1763 three chiefs came to Halifax to inquire
why Father Germain had been removed from his post. They were told that
he had gone of his own accord to Quebec and had been detained there by General
Murray, and that the government of Nova Scotia were not responsible for it. They
then desired Lieutenant Governor Belcher to provide them with another priest,
which he promised to do. The Indians were satisfied and departed with their usual
presents. The intention of the lieutenant governor was frustrated by an order from
the Lords of Trade forbidding the employment of a French missionary. Governor
Wilmot regretted this action as likely to confirm the Indians in their notion of the
English as &ldquo;a people of dissimulation and artifice who will deceive and deprive them
of their salvation.&rdquo; He thought it better to use the Indians generously and mentions
the fact of their having lately burned their church, by direction of the priest
detained at Quebec, as a proof of their devotion to their religious guides.</p>
<p>The site of the old church at Aukpaque was in all probability the old &ldquo;chapel
field&rdquo; mentioned by Sir John C. Allen. Hard by, on the other side of a little ravine,
is the old burial ground of the Acadians and Indians. One of the descendants
of the Acadians, who visited the spot a few years ago, writes mournfully of this little
cemetery:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Not a stone, not a cross, not even an enclosure to divide it from other fields;
here in this corner of the world, remote and almost unknown, repose the ashes of
some of our ancestors, the first cultivators of the soil of Madawaska. Freed from
all the troubles and vicissitudes of the past they hear only the gentle, harmonious
murmur of the waters of La Riviere St. Jean, the river they loved so well even in
the days of their misfortune.&rdquo;</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XV_THE_FIRST_ENGLISH_SETTLERS' id='CHAPTER_XV_THE_FIRST_ENGLISH_SETTLERS'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The First English Settlers</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>The erection of Fort Frederick, in the autumn of 1758, gave the English a permanent
foothold on the River St. John, which possibly was rendered a little
more secure by the destruction of the Acadian settlements at Grimross and St.
Annes, and the subsequent removal by Colonel Arbuthnot of a large number
of the French inhabitants.</p>
<p>Shortly after the Acadian expulsion, the Lords of Trade and Plantations
urged Governor Lawrence to re-people the lands vacated by the French with settlers
from New England. The idea was quite in accord with the governor&rsquo;s own
mind, but he was obliged to defer it for a season. In the existing state of affairs
he could not spare the troops necessary to defend new settlements, and nothing
was practicable until the country should be possessed in peace. However,
very shortly after Monckton&rsquo;s occupation of the St. John <a name='TC_39'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'river'">River</ins> Lawrence issued
the first of his celebrated proclamations, offering favorable terms to any industrious
settlers from New England, who would remove to Nova Scotia and cultivate
the lands vacated by the French, or other ungranted lands. The proclamation
stated that proposals on behalf of intending settlers would be received by
Thomas Hancock at Boston, and by Mesrs. De Lancey and Watts at New York,
and by them transmitted to the Governor of Nova Scotia.</p>
<p>This proclamation had the effect of directing attention to the River St.
John. Young and adventurous spirits soon came to the fore anxious to be the
pioneers of civilization in the wilds of Nova Scotia. But first they wished to
know: What terms of encouragement would be offered? How much land each
person would get? What quit-rents and taxes would be required? What constitution
of government prevailed, and what freedom in religion?</p>
<p>In answer to their inquiries a second proclamation was issued, in which it
was declared that townships were to consist of 100,000 acres (about 12 miles
square) and were to include the best lands, and rivers in their vicinity. The
government was described as similar to that of the neighboring colonies, the
legislature consisting of a governor, council and assembly and every township,
so soon as it should consist of fifty families, would be entitled to send two representatives
to the assembly. The courts of justice were similar to those of Massachusetts,
Connecticut and the other northern colonies, and full liberty of conscience
was secured to persons of all persuasions, &ldquo;papists&rdquo; excepted, by the royal
instructions and a late act of the Assembly. As yet no taxes had been imposed
or fees exacted on grants. Forts garrisoned with troops were established in the
neighborhood of the lands it was proposed to settle.</p>
<p>The Lords of Trade approved of Governor Lawrence&rsquo;s proceedings in settling
the province, and at the same time desired that land should be reserved &ldquo;as a reward
and provision for such officers and soldiers as might be disbanded in America
upon a peace.&rdquo; This led the governor to desist from making further grants of
the cleared lands to ordinary settlers. He did not, however, anticipate much benefit
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span>
to the province in consequence of the attempt to people it with disbanded
British soldiers, and he wrote to the Lords of Trade:</p>
<p>&ldquo;According to my ideas of the military, which I offer with all possible deference
and submission, they are the least qualified, from their occupation as soldiers,
of any men living to establish new countries, where they must encounter
difficulties with which they are altogether unacquainted; and I am the rather
convinced of it, as every soldier that has come into this province since the establishment
of Halifax, has either quitted it or become a dramseller.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Soon after the treaty of Paris, a proclamation of George III. (dated at the
Court of St. James, Oct. 7, 1763) signified the royal sense and approbation of the
conduct of the officers and soldiers of the army, and directed the governors of the
several provinces to grant, without fee or reward, to disbanded officers and soldiers
who had served in North America during the late war and were actually residing
there, lands in the following proportions:&mdash;</p>
<p>To every field officer, 5,000 acres.</p>
<p>To every captain, 3,000 acres.</p>
<p>To every subaltern or staff officer, 2,000 acres.</p>
<p>To every non-commissioned officer, 200 acres.</p>
<p>To every private man, 50 acres.</p>
<p>Like grants of land were to be made to retired officers of the navy who had
served on board a ship of war at the reduction of Louisbourg and Quebec.</p>
<p>Petitions and memorials of retired officers of the army and navy who were desirous
of obtaining lands in Nova Scotia as a reward for their services, now flowed
in upon the provincial and imperial authorities. The desire to obtain land on the
River St. John became so general that government officials, merchants and professional
men joined in the general scramble. The result was not only detrimental
to the best interests of the country, but in many cases disastrous to the speculators
themselves.</p>
<p>The ideas of some of the memorialists were by no means small. For example,
in 1762, Sir Allan McLean applied for 200,000 acres on the River St. John
to enable him to plant a colony; and in the same year Captains Alexander Hay,<a name='FNanchor_0050' id='FNanchor_0050'></a><a href='#Footnote_0050' class='fnanchor'>[50]</a>
John Sinclair, Hugh Debbeig,<a name='FNanchor_0051' id='FNanchor_0051'></a><a href='#Footnote_0051' class='fnanchor'>[51]</a> Alex. Baillie, Robert G. Bruce and J. F. W. DesBarres
applied for another immense tract on behalf of themselves and 54 other
officers.</p>
<p>War with the French and Indians had been so constant previous to the peace
of 1763, that a large proportion of the young men of New England had seen service
in the &ldquo;provincial regiments.&rdquo; To those who had held commissions the inducements
contained in Lawrence&rsquo;s proclamations were especially attractive.</p>
<p>Among the retired officers of the Massachusetts regiments, who became interested
in the River St. John at this time were Francis Peabody, William Hazen,
James White, James Simonds, Nicholas West and Israel Perley. Captain Francis
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span>
Peabody was somewhat older than the others; he had served with distinction in
the late war, and is mentioned in Parkman&rsquo;s &ldquo;Wolfe and Montcalm&rdquo; [p. 428].
From the active part he took in settling the township of Maugerville, as well as
from his age and character, he must be regarded as the most prominent and influential
person on the St. John river while he lived. He died in the year 1773.
Three of his daughters married respectively James Simonds, James White and Jonathan
Leavitt.</p>
<p>A few years ago the writer of this history had the good fortune to find, in an
old rubbish heap, a letter of James Simonds detailing the circumstances under
which he came to take up his residence at St. John.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In the years 1759 and 1760,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;proclamations were published through
the colonies which promised all the lands and possessions of the Acadians, who had
been removed, or any other lands lying within the Province of Nova Scotia, to such
as would become settlers there. In consequence of these proclamations I went
through the greater part of Nova Scotia, in time of war, at great expense and at
the risk of my life, in search of the best lands and situations, and having at length
determined to settle at the River St. John, obtained a promise from Government
of a large tract of land for myself and brother Richard, who was with me in several
of my tours.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The attention of Mr. Simonds may have been particularly called to St. John by
the fact that his cousin, Captain Moses Hazen, commanded the garrison at Fort
Frederick in 1759. It may be noted, in passing, that this post was occupied for the
first two years after it was rebuilt by Monckton, by the Massachusetts troops. They
were relieved by a company from one of the Highland regiments. In 1762 the post
was garrisoned by a detachment of the 40th regiment of foot under Lieutenant Gilfred
Studholme. The fort afterwards continued to be garrisoned by a company of
British regulars under different commanders until 1768, when the troops were withdrawn
and the fort remained for several years under the nominal care of Messrs.
Simonds and White.</p>
<p>About the time James Simonds decided to settle at St. John, the harbor was
carefully surveyed by Lieut. R. G. Bruce of the engineers, whose plan is reproduced
in the accompanying illustration. A glance will suffice to show that the rocky peninsular
on the eastern side of the harbor, where the business part of the city stands
today, was at that time uninhabited. The military post at Fort Frederick imparted
a little life to the immediate surroundings but on the other side of the harbor everything
remained in its virgin state, except at Portland Point, where there was a small
clearing and the ruins of a feeble old French Fort. The few Acadians who once
lingered there had fled before the English invaders, and only when some wandering
savage pitched his wigwam on the shores of &ldquo;Men-ah-quesk,&rdquo; as he called it, was
there any tenant save the fox, the bear or other wild forest creature. The rocky
peninsular of east St. John with its crags and swamps was considered of so little
value that it remained ungranted up to the time of the landing of the Loyalists. In
the words of James Simonds it was &ldquo;the worst of lands, if bogs, morasses and rocks
may be called lands.&rdquo;</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_21' id='linki_21'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i159.png' alt='' title='' width='299' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
PLAN OF THE HARBOUR OF ST. JOHN IN NOVA SCOTIA, Surveyed &amp; Sounded in September 1761 BY R.G. BRUCE ENG<span class="super">R</span>. Scale 300 yds to an inch<br />
</p>
</div>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span></div>
<p>The circumstances under which James Simonds made choice of the Harbor of St.
John, as the most promising place for an extensive trade, are detailed at some length
in his evidence in the famous chancery suit which arose about the year 1791 in connection
with the division of the lands of Hazen, Simonds and White, and occupied
the attention of the courts for more than twenty years. It is chiefly from this
source we learn the particulars that follow.</p>
<p>James Simonds was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in the year 1735. After
the death of his father, Nathan Simonds, and the settlement of his estate, finding
the property falling to him to be inconsiderable, he set out in company with his
younger brother Richard to seek his fortune. In the course of the years 1759 to
1762, different parts of the old province of Nova Scotia were visited, including the
River St. John, with a view of ascertaining the most advantageous situation for the
fur trade, fishery and other business. Finding that the mouth of the St. John river
was an admirable situation for trade with the Indians, that the fishery in the
vicinity was excellent, and that there was a large tract of marsh land, and lands
that afforded great quantities of lime-stone adjacent to the Harbor of St. John, Mr.
Simonds eventually gave the preference to those lands on account of their situation
and the privileges attached to them, and having previously obtained a promise from
Government of a grant of 5,000 acres in such part of the province as he might choose
he with his brother Richard took possession. In the month of May, 1762, they
burnt over the large marsh (east of the present city) and in the ensuing summer cut
there a quantity of wild hay. It was their intention immediately to begin stock
raising, but they were disappointed in obtaining a vessel to bring from Massachusetts
the cattle they expected. They accordingly sold or made a present of the
hay to Captain Francis Peabody, who had recently come to St. John and built
himself a house at Portland Point. This house is said to have had an oak frame,
which was brought from Newburyport. In 1765 it became the property of James
Simonds (Captain Peabody having moved up the river to Maugerville) and later it
was owned by James White. It was not an elaborate or expensive building<a name='FNanchor_0052' id='FNanchor_0052'></a><a href='#Footnote_0052' class='fnanchor'>[52]</a> but
it had the honor of being the first home of an English speaking family on the St.
John river.</p>
<p>The situation of the new-comers at Portland Point would have been very insecure
had it not been for the protection afforded by Fort Frederick across the
harbor. The Indians had not yet become accustomed to the idea of British
supremacy. Their natural allegiance&mdash;even after the downfall of Quebec&mdash;was to
&ldquo;their old father the King of France.&rdquo; Their prejudice against the English had
been nurtured for generations and embittered by ruthless warfare, and we need not
wonder that the coming of the first English settlers was viewed with a jealous eye.
Even the proximity of the garrison at Fort Frederick did not prevent the situation
of James Simonds and his associates from being very precarious, when the attitude
of the Indians was unfriendly. Richard Simonds, who died January 20, 1765, lost his
life in the defence of the property of the trading company when the savages were
about to carry it off.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span></div>
<p>While the brothers Simonds were endeavoring to establish themselves at St.
John, a settlement upon a more extensive scale was being projected by a number
of people in the County of Essex in Massachusetts. An advertisement appeared in
the &ldquo;Boston Gazette and News-Letter&rdquo; of September 20, 1762, notifying all of the
signers under Captain Francis Peabody for a township at St. John&rsquo;s River in Nova
Scotia, to meet at the house of Daniel Ingalls, inn-holder in Andover, on Wednesday,
the 6th day of October at 10 o&rsquo;clock a. m., in order to draw their lots, which
were already laid out, and to choose an agent to go to Halifax on their behalf
and to attend to any matters that should be thought proper. The advertisement
continues: &ldquo;And whereas it was voted at the meeting on April 6th, 1762,
that each signer should pay by April 20th, twelve shillings for laying out their
land and six shillings for building a mill thereon, and some signers have neglected
payment, they must pay the amount at the next meeting or be excluded and others
admitted in their place.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The agent chosen at this meeting was Captain Francis Peabody.<a name='FNanchor_0053' id='FNanchor_0053'></a><a href='#Footnote_0053' class='fnanchor'>[53]</a></p>
<p>According to the late Moses H. Perley, whose well known and popular lectures
on New Brunswick history were delivered at the Mechanics Institute in 1841, the
government of Massachusetts sent a small party to explore the country east of
Machias in 1761. &ldquo;The leader of that party,&rdquo; says Mr. Perley, &ldquo;was Israel Perley,
my grandfather, who was accompanied by 12 men in the pay of Massachusetts.
They proceeded to Machias by water, and there shouldering their knapsacks, they
took a course through the woods, and succeeded in reaching the head waters of
the River Oromocto, which they descended to the St. John. They found the country
a wide waste, and no obstacles, save what might be afforded by the Indians,
to its being at once occupied and settled, and with this report they returned to
Boston.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The result of this report is seen in the organization of a company of would
be settlers shortly afterwards.</p>
<p>There is in the possession of the Perley family at Fredericton an old document
that contains a brief account of the subsequent proceedings:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;In the year 1761 a number of Provincial officers and soldiers in New England
who had served in several campaigns during the then French war agreed to form
a settlement on St. John&rsquo;s River in Nova Scotia, for which purpose they sent
one of their number to Halifax, who obtained an order of survey for laying out
a Township in mile squares on any part of St. John&rsquo;s River (the whole being
then a desolate wilderness). This Township called Maugerville was laid out in the
year 1762, and a number of settlers entered into it, encouraged by the King&rsquo;s proclamation
for settling the lands in Nova Scotia, in which, among other things, was
this clause, that people emigrating from the New England Provinces to Nova Scotia
should enjoy the same religious privileges as in New England. And in the above-mentioned
order of survey was the following words&mdash;viz., &lsquo;You shall reserve four
Lots in the Township for Publick use, one as a Glebe for the Church of England,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span>
one for the Dissenting Protestants, one for the maintenance of a School, and one
for the first settled minister in the place.&rsquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;These orders were strictly comply&rsquo;d with, but finding difficulty in obtaining
a Grant of this Township from the government of Nova Scotia on account of an
order from England that those lands should be reserved for disbanded forces, the
settlers did in the year 1763 draw up and forward a Petition or memorial to the
Lords of Trade and Plantations.&rdquo;...</p>
<p>In this memorial were set forth the services that Captain Peabody and his
associates had rendered to their country in the late war, the expenses they had
incurred and the inducements offered by the government of Nova Scotia to them
to settle on the lands they had surveyed. The memorial was signed by Francis
Peabody, John Carleton, Jacob Barker, Nicholas West and Israel Perley on behalf
of themselves and other disbanded officers. This memorial was submitted
by Mr. Peabody to the Governor and Council at Halifax, who cordially approved
of the contents and forwarded it to Joshua Mauger,<a name='FNanchor_0054' id='FNanchor_0054'></a><a href='#Footnote_0054' class='fnanchor'>[54]</a> the agent for the Province
in London, expressing their opinion that the officers and disbanded soldiers
from New England, settled on the reserved lands on the St. John River, ought not
to be removed. They would be of great use and their removal would cause their
total ruin. The settlers earnestly solicited the influence of the agent in England
to obtain a speedy answer to their memorial. He took the liveliest interest in
their cause and largely through his efforts the Lords of Trade on the 20th December,
1763, recommended that the memorial of the disbanded officers of the Provincial
forces be granted, and that they be confirmed in possession of the lands
on which they have settled on the St. John River. The matter was finally settled
in the Court of St. James, the 10th day of February, 1764, by the adoption
of the following resolve on the part of King George the III. and his Council:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Whereas the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations have represented
to His Majesty that a memorial has been presented to him on behalf of several
disbanded officers of His Majesty&rsquo;s provincial forces in North America, setting
forth that induced by several encouragements they have sold their lands in New
England and settled themselves and families upon the St. John River in His
Majesty&rsquo;s province of Nova Scotia at the distance of 200 miles from any other
settlement and praying that the possession of the lands upon which they have
settled themselves at a very great expense may be confirmed to them by His
Majesty: The Governor of Nova Scotia is ordered to cause the land upon which
they are settled to be laid out in a Township consisting of 100,000 acres, 12 miles
square, one side to front on the river. Also to reserve a site for a town with a
sufficient number of lots, with reservations for a church, town-house, public
quays and wharves and other public uses; the grants to be made in proportion
to their ability and the number of persons in their families, but not to exceed
1,000 acres to one person. That a competent quantity of land be allotted for the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span>
maintenance of a minister and school-master and also one town lot to each of
them in perpetuity.&rdquo;</p>
<p>For months the settlers of Maugerville remained in a state of suspense and in
much anxiety as to the fate of their memorial. They were naturally greatly relieved
when the order of the King in Council arrived confirming them in possession
of the lands they had settled. The kindness and generosity of Joshua
Mauger, who bore the expense of their appeal and exerted himself in their behalf,
were fully appreciated, and as a tribute of respect and gratitude to their
patron the settlers gave to their township the name of &ldquo;Maugerville.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Township of Maugerville was laid out early in the year 1762 by a party
under Israel Perley their land surveyor. In the survey Richard Simonds acted
as chain bearer and James Simonds, who was one of the patentees of the township,
also assisted, receiving the sum of &pound;40 for his services.</p>
<p>The first published account of the founding of the Maugerville settlement is
that of Peter Fisher,<a name='FNanchor_0055' id='FNanchor_0055'></a><a href='#Footnote_0055' class='fnanchor'>[55]</a> printed by Chubb &amp; Sears at St. John in 1825, and a very
readable account it is as the extracts that follow will show.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_22' id='linki_22'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i163.png' alt='' title='' width='300' height='77' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Signature Peter Fisher<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Under the title &ldquo;A narrative of the
proceedings of the first settlers at the
River St. John, under the authority of the Government of Nova Scotia,&rdquo; Mr.
Fisher tells us that &ldquo;In the year 1761, a number of persons from the County of
Essex, province of Massachusetts, presented a petition through their agent (Francis
Peabody), to the Government of Nova Scotia, for the grant of a township twelve
miles square at the River Saint John; they received a favorable answer and obtained
full authority to survey a tract of that dimension, wherever it might be
found fit for improvement. In consequence many of the applicants proceeded in
the course of the winter and spring following to prepare for exploring the country
and to survey their township; they provided a vessel for that purpose and
on the 16th May, 1762, embarked at Newburyport and arrived in three days at
the harbor of Saint John. * * * *</p>
<p>&ldquo;The exploring and surveying party proceeded to view the lands, round the
harbor and bay of Saint John in a whale boat they brought with them, for
they could not travel on the land on account of the multitude of fallen trees
that had been torn up by the roots in a violent gale of wind nearly four years
previous.<a name='FNanchor_0056' id='FNanchor_0056'></a><a href='#Footnote_0056' class='fnanchor'>[56]</a> The same gale extended as far up the river as the Oromocto, and
most of the country below that place was equally incumbered with the fallen
trees.</p>
<p>&ldquo;After making all the discoveries that could be made near the harbor, it was
the unanimous opinion that all the lands near that part of the country were unfit
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span>
for their purpose and in about ten days from their first arrival they set out
to view the country as far as Saint Anne, ninety miles up the river, where they
expected to find an extensive body of cleared land that had been formerly improved
by the French inhabitants. On their way they landed wherever they saw
any appearance of improvement. All such spots as far up as Mill Creek<a name='FNanchor_0057' id='FNanchor_0057'></a><a href='#Footnote_0057' class='fnanchor'>[57]</a> were
supposed not to exceed one hundred acres, most of which had been very roughly
cleared.</p>
<p>&ldquo;On the arrival of the exploring party at St. Anns, they lost no time in making
a shelter for themselves nearly opposite the river Nashwaak ... and
they commenced their survey at the small gravelly point near Government House,
with the intention of surveying a township to terminate twelve miles below that
place, but after surveying the courses of the river about four miles downward,
a large company of Indians, came down about nine miles, from their Priest&rsquo;s residence
with his Interpreter, all having painted faces of divers colours and figures
and dressed in their war habits. The chiefs, with grave countenances, informed
the adventurers that they were trespassers on their rights; that the country belonged
to them and unless they retired immediately they would compel them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The reply made to the chiefs was to this effect: that the adventurers had
received authority from the Governor of Halifax to survey and settle any land
they should choose at the River Saint John; that they had never been informed
of the Indians claiming the village of Saint Anne, but as they declared the land
there to be their property (though it had been inhabited by the French, who were
considered entitled to it, till its capture by the English) they would retire further
down the river.</p>
<p>* * * The surveying party removed their camp, according to their promise,
almost as far down as the lower end of Oromocto Island on the east side of the
river, whence they finished their survey twelve miles below the first mentioned
bounds and returned to Fort Frederick.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The circumstances that led to delay in procuring the grant from government
have already been mentioned in this chapter.</p>
<p>There can be no doubt that Mr. Fisher&rsquo;s statement&mdash;corroborated by Moses
H. Perley&mdash;that the township was laid out in lots in the earlier part of 1762 is
correct, for on Sept. 2nd a meeting of the intending settlers was advertised to be
held for the purpose of drawing the lots which were described as &ldquo;already laid out.&rdquo;
But the statement of Mr. Fisher (in which he is again followed by Moses H. Perley)
that one or two families from Newburyport accompanied the surveying party
in the month of May, and brought with them the frame of a small dwelling house
and boards to cover it, together with a small stock of cattle, and that on the third
day after their arrival the house was finished and inhabited&mdash;is probably a misapprehension
resulting from the confounding of incidents, which occurred in the
course of the same year but were separated by an interval of several months. At
any rate the late John Quinton, who was born in 1807, states most emphatically in
a letter to Joseph W. Lawrence that it was not until the 28th day of August that
his grand-parents, Hugh and Elizabeth Quinton, Capt. Francis Peabody and family,
James Simonds and others came to reside at the River St. John. He says that accomodation
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span>
was provided for Quinton and his wife, Miss Hannah Peabody and
others in the barracks at Fort Frederick, where on the very night of their arrival
was born James Quinton, the first child of English speaking parents, whose
birth is recorded at St. John.<a name='FNanchor_0058' id='FNanchor_0058'></a><a href='#Footnote_0058' class='fnanchor'>[58]</a> The remainder of the party encamped on the
east side of the harbor at the site of an old French Fort, the place since known as
Portland Point, or Simonds&rsquo; Point, where they erected a dwelling into which the
Quintons and others in Carleton soon afterwards removed. Hannah Peabody was
at this time about twelve years old: she afterwards became the wife of James
Simonds.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XVI_PROGRESS_OF_THE_MAUGERVILLE_SETTLEMENT' id='CHAPTER_XVI_PROGRESS_OF_THE_MAUGERVILLE_SETTLEMENT'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>Progress of the Maugerville Settlement.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>The township of Maugerville, as described in the grant of October 31, 1765,
began &ldquo;at a Pine Tree on a point of land a little below the Island called Mauger&rsquo;s
Island,&rdquo; extending 12&frac12; miles up the river with a depth of nearly 11 miles. It
embraced the principal part of the parishes of Maugerville and Sheffield, including
Oromocto Island and &ldquo;the Island lying off Wind-mill Point called Middle Island.&rdquo;
In the grant the &ldquo;Rights&rdquo; or &ldquo;Shares&rdquo; were fixed at 500 acres but the
surveyor-general of Nova Scotia, Charles Morris, had intended that the grantees
should have 1,000 acres each on account of their being the first adventurers and
also on account of the large proportion of sunken lands and lakes within the limits
of the township.</p>
<p>At the time the Maugerville grant was made out the obnoxious Stamp Act was
about coming into force in America and the Crown Land Office at Halifax was
besieged with people pressing for their grants in order to save the stamp duties.
In the hurry and confusion existing Mr. Morris says that the shares of the township
were inadvertently fixed at 500 acres each, whereas it had been his intention
to lay out one hundred farm lots, each forty rods wide and extending one mile deep
into the country, and to give each grantee the balance of his 1,000 acres in the
subsequent division of the rest of the township. It is quite likely the Maugerville
settlers were glad to accept the smaller shares allotted them in view of the fact that
they had been so near losing the whole by the decision of the British government
to reserve the lands for the disbanded regulars of the army.</p>
<p>By the terms of the grant it was provided that all persons who failed to settle
on their lots, with proper stock and materials for the improvement of their
lands, before the last day of November, 1767, should forfeit all claim to the lands
allotted them. The township was supposed to consist of 200 shares but only 61
shares were included in the grant of 1765. At least two other grants were passed
prior to the coming of the Loyalists&mdash;one in 1770, the other early in 1783; but
there were still some vacant lots which were gladly taken up by these unfortunate
exiles. For their accomodation also a grant was made Dec. 22, 1786, of the
rear of the township and such men as Samuel Ryerson, Justus Earle, Joseph
Ryerson, Wm. Van Allen, Abraham Van Buskirk, Samuel Tilley and Lodewick
Fisher<a name='FNanchor_0059' id='FNanchor_0059'></a><a href='#Footnote_0059' class='fnanchor'>[59]</a> were among the grantees.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span></div>
<p>Nearly all the original settlers in the township of Maugerville were from Massachusetts,
the majority from the single county of Essex. Thus the Burpees were
from Rowley, the Perleys from Boxford, the Esteys from Newburyport, while
other families were from Haverhill, Ipswich, Gloucester, Salem and other towns of
this ancient county which antedates all others in Massachusetts but Plymouth.
These settlers were almost exclusively of Puritan stock and members of the Congregationalist churches of New England.</p>
<p>The list of the grantees of the Township of Maugerville, alphabetically arranged,
includes the following names:&mdash;</p>
<ul style='list-style-type:none;'><li>Benjamin Atherton,</li>
<li>Jacob Barker,</li>
<li>Jacob Barker, jr.,</li>
<li>Thomas Barker,</li>
<li>Richard Barlow,</li>
<li>Benjamin Brawn,</li>
<li>David Burbank,</li>
<li>Joseph Buber,</li>
<li>Jeremiah Burpee,</li>
<li>Jonathan Burpee,</li>
<li>James Chadwell,</li>
<li>Thomas Christy,</li>
<li>Joseph Clark,</li>
<li>Widow Clark,</li>
<li>Edward Coy,</li>
<li>Moses Davis,</li>
<li>Jos. F. W. Desbarres,</li>
<li>Enoch Dow,</li>
<li>Joseph Dunphy,</li>
<li>John Estey,</li>
<li>Richard Estey,</li>
<li>Richard Estey, jr.,</li>
<li>Zebulun Estey,</li>
<li>Joseph Garrison,</li>
<li>Beamsley P. Glazier,</li>
<li>William Harris,</li>
<li>Thomas Hart,</li>
<li>Geo. Hayward,</li>
<li>Nehemiah Hayward,</li>
<li>Jeremiah Howland,</li>
<li>Ammi Howlet,</li>
<li>Samuel Hoyt,</li>
<li>Daniel Jewett,</li>
<li>Richard Kimball,</li>
<li>John Larlee,</li>
<li>Joshua Mauger,</li>
<li>Peter Moores,</li>
<li>William McKeen,</li>
<li>Elisha Nevers,</li>
<li>Jabez Nevers,</li>
<li>Phinehas Nevers,</li>
<li>Samuel Nevers,</li>
<li>Nathaniel Newman,</li>
<li>Daniel Palmer,</li>
<li>Moses Palmer,</li>
<li>Jonathan Parker,</li>
<li>Francis Peabody,</li>
<li>Oliver Peabody,</li>
<li>Richard Peabody,</li>
<li>Samuel Peabody,</li>
<li>Stephen Peabody,</li>
<li>Asa Perley,</li>
<li>Israel Perley,</li>
<li>Oliver Perley,</li>
<li>Humphrey Pickard,</li>
<li>Moses Pickard,</li>
<li>Hugh Quinton,</li>
<li>Nicholas Rideout,</li>
<li>Thomas Rous,</li>
<li>John Russell,</li>
<li>Ezekiel Saunders,</li>
<li>William Saunders,</li>
<li>Gervas Say,</li>
<li>John Shaw,</li>
<li>Hugh Shirley,</li>
<li>James Simonds,</li>
<li>Samuel Tapley,</li>
<li>Giles Tidmarsh, jr.,</li>
<li>Samuel Upton,</li>
<li>James Vibart,</li>
<li>John Wasson,</li>
<li>Matthew Wasson,</li>
<li>John Whipple,</li>
<li>Jonathan Whipple,</li>
<li>Samuel Whitney,</li>
<li>Jediah Stickney,</li>
<li>John Smith,</li>
<li>Johnathan Smith,</li>
<li>Charles Stephens,</li>
<li>Isaac Stickney.</li></ul>
<p>The majority of the surnames in the above list will seem wonderfully familiar
to the residents of the St. John river counties where their descendants today form a
large and influential element in the community.</p>
<p>In his lecture on New Brunswick history delivered in 1840, Moses H. Perley
says that in the year 1763 the Maugerville township was settled by 200 families,
comprising about 800 persons, who came from Massachusetts in four vessels.
There cannot be the slightest doubt that Mr. Perley has greatly over-estimated
the number of the original settlers. We have every reason to believe that the population
of the township continued steadily to increase and about two years later
(Dec. 16, 1766), a census was submitted to the government of Nova Scotia by Lieut.
Governor Francklin showing that there were then living at Maugerville 77 men, 46
women, 72 boys and 66 girls, a total of 261 souls; and it may be added that during
the year 17 new settlers had arrived and 14 children were born, while the number
of deaths was but 3. That the new settlers were anxious to fulfil the conditions
of their grants is shown by the fact that they already possessed 10 horses, 78 oxen
and bulls, 145 sows, 156 young cattle, 376 sheep and 181 swine. Their crop for the
year included: Wheat 599 bushels, Rye 1,866 do., Beans 145 do., Oats 57 do., Pease
91 do., Flaxseed 7 do. A grist and saw-mill had been built and two sloops were
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span>
owned by the settlers. Some attempt had also been made at raising flax and
hemp.</p>
<p>The settlement at Maugerville was visited by Hon. Charles Morris, the surveyor
general of Nova Scotia, in 1767, and it is not improbable the census taken by order
of Lieut. Governor Franklin was made under his supervision. Mr. Morris was evidently
much surprised at the progress the settlers had made, for in a letter of the
25th January, 1768, he says:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Opposite to Oromocto River, upon the northerly side of the River St. John&rsquo;s, is
the English settlement of disbanded soldiers from New England, consisting of about
eighty families, who have made great Improvements, and are like to make an established
Settlement there. And by some tryals they have made of hemp upon
the intervale it succeeded beyond their expectation. I measured myself
Hemp that was nine feet high, that had not come to its full growth
in the latter end of July. They generally have about twenty bushels of
Maze and about twenty bushels of Wheat from an acre of land, that was only
cleared of its woods and harrowed without ever having a Plow in it. When I was
on the River last year, I saw myself eighty bushes of Indian Corn raised from one
acre of land that had been ploughed and properly managed. I would observe
that the Corn raised on this River is not the same kind as the Corn in New England;
neither the climate or soil would be suitable to it; they get their seed from
Canada and they sow it in rows about three feet distant as we do Pease in our
gardens; it takes about a bushel to sow an acre; the ears grow close to the ground
as thick as they can stick one by another, pointing outwards like a Cheveaux de
Frise upon each side of the rows; the richness of the soil, the manner of sowing it
and of its growing, may account very easily for its producing so much to the acre.
Some of the old French Inhabitants of the River have informed me that they have
raised, in a seasonable year, near one hundred bushels of Indian Corn per acre.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The alluvial character of the soil of Maugerville, its freedom from stone and
from dense forest growth, no doubt attracted the first English settlers and decided
the choice of their location, just as the same features attracted the brothers d&rsquo;Amours
and others of the French nearly a century before. The French, too, recorded
as the principal drawback of the location, the losses and annoyances consequent
upon the inundation of their fields and premises by the spring freshets.<a name='FNanchor_0060' id='FNanchor_0060'></a><a href='#Footnote_0060' class='fnanchor'>[60]</a> A short
experience convinced the English settlers that the complaints of their predecessors
were well founded.</p>
<p>As Maugerville divides with Portland Point the honor of being the first permanent
English settlement at the River St. John, it is proper to describe in some
fulness of detail the movements of its founders. They were a sturdy and adventurous
race. The great majority had seen active service in the &ldquo;old French war&rdquo;&mdash;some
of them had fought under Wolfe at the taking of Quebec. The Indian war-cry
was a sound not unfamiliar to their ears, and so their interview with the
savages of Aukpaque, upon their arrival, taught them the dangers of their situation.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span>
It really required more hardihood to plunge into the wilderness than to settle
under the protection of Fort Frederick at the river&rsquo;s mouth.</p>
<p>The proximity of the Indian town of Aukpaque; a few miles above, probably induced
the majority of the Maugerville people to settle in the lower part of the
township. At any rate for some years no one resided farther up the river than
lot No. 57, about five miles below the Nashwaak, where lived the Widow Clark, a
resolute old dame whom nothing could dismay.</p>
<p>It is interesting to note that Simonds and White contemplated at one time
the erection of a Truck-house at Maugerville for their Indian trade, and a frame
was prepared for the building, but before it was raised some difficulties arose between
the Indians and the Whites and the matter was deferred for a year or two.
The frame was then sent up the river in the sloop &ldquo;Bachelor&rdquo; and landed on lot
No. 66, belonging to Mr. Simonds, &ldquo;near the then upper settlement of Maugerville.&rdquo;
This was the only place available as none of the settlers desired to have
the Truck-house near them. However the carpenters found the frame so warped as
not to be worth setting up and the project was abandoned.</p>
<p>The first band of settlers came to Maugerville in 1763, probably in small vessels
hired for the occasion. From time to time the colony received additions from New
England. The later comers usually took their passage in some of the vessels owned
by Messrs. Hazen, Simonds and White, which furnished the readiest means of communication.
There are many interesting items in the account books<a name='FNanchor_0061' id='FNanchor_0061'></a><a href='#Footnote_0061' class='fnanchor'>[61]</a> kept by
Simonds and White at their store at Portland Point in connection with the Maugerville
settlers. For example Captain Francis Peabody is charged with the following
items, under date January 15, 1765:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<table summary=''>
<tr>
    <td style='padding-right:2em;'>&ldquo;To passage in schooner of 4 Passengers from New England at 12s.</td>
    <td>£ 2</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>8</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>0</td></tr>
<tr>
    <td>Freight of 9 Heiffers at 12s.</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>5</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>8</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>0</td></tr>
<tr>
    <td>Club of Cyder for 5 men at 13s. 6d. each</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>3</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>7</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>6</td></tr>
<tr>
    <td>5 Tons of Hay for cattle on passage</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>10</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>0</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>0</td></tr>
<tr>
    <td>Freight of sheep</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>3</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>6</td>
    <td style='text-align:right;'>0</td></tr></table>
</blockquote>
<p>In the same schooner there came Jacob Barker, jun., Oliver Perley, Zebulon
Estey, Humphrey Pickard and David Burbank, each of whom paid twelve shillings
passage money from Newburyport to St. John and 13s. 6d. for &ldquo;his club of Cyder&rdquo;
on the voyage. David Burbank brought with him a set of Mill irons, which is suggestive
of enterprise, but his stay appears to have been but brief, for on the 20th
April, 1767, he sold his land (about five miles below the Nashwaak) to William
Brawn, the son of an original grantee of the township, and the deed was acknowledged
before John Anderson, Justice of the Peace at Moncton<a name='FNanchor_0062' id='FNanchor_0062'></a><a href='#Footnote_0062' class='fnanchor'>[62]</a> the 29th of April.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span></div>
<p>The upper boundary of the Township of Maugerville now forms a part of the
dividing line between the Counties of York and Sunbury. The lower boundary of
the township began near the foot of Maugers&rsquo; Island, about two miles above the
Queens-Sunbury county line. Middle Island, which occupies a middle position between
Oromocto Island above and Mauger&rsquo;s (or Gilbert&rsquo;s) Island below, was in a
sense the centre of the township, and it must not be forgotten by the reader that
what was in early days the principal section of the Township of Maugerville is now
the Parish of Sheffield. The lots are numbered beginning at Middle Island and
running down the river to No. 39, then starting again at the upper end of the grant,
at the York county line, and running down the river to Middle Island, so that the
last lot, No. 100, adjoins the first lot. The oldest plan of the township in the Crown
Land office shows the state of settlement at a date subsequent to that of the original
grant, and during the interval a good many changes had occurred. The early
grantees were about eighty in number.</p>
<p>Reference to the accompanying plan of the river will show the locations of
the early settlers of Maugerville; they will be mentioned in order ascending the
river.</p>
<p>The lower ten lots of the township and Mauger&rsquo;s Island were granted to
Joshua Mauger. Just above were the lots of Gervas Say, Nehemiah Hayward,
John Russell, Samuel Upton, Zebulon Estey, John Estey, Richard Estey and Edward
Coy.</p>
<p>At the head of Mauger&rsquo;s Island were the lots of Matthew Wason, Samuel
Whitney and Samuel Tapley.</p>
<p>Between Mauger&rsquo;s Island and Middle Island the lots were those of Jeremiah
Burpee, Jonathan Burpee, Jacob Barker, Daniel Jewett, Ezekiel Saunders, Humphrey
Pickard, Moses Pickard, Jacob Barker, jr., Isaac Stickney and Jonathan
Smith.</p>
<p>Opposite Middle Island, in order ascending, were Thomas Barker, John
Wason, Daniel Palmer, Richard Kimball, Joseph Garrison, Samuel Nevers, Peter
Mooers, Richard Estey, jr., Jabez Nevers, Enoch Dow and Hugh Quinton.</p>
<p>Between Middle and Oromocto islands were Thomas Christie, Elisha Nevers,
Jedediah Stickney, Stephen Peabody, Capt. Francis Peabody and William McKeen.</p>
<p>Opposite Oromocto Island were Israel Perley (at the foot of the island), Lt.-Col.
Beamsley P. Glasier, John Whipple, Nathaniel Rideout, Capt. Francis Peabody,
Alexander Tapley, Phineas Nevers, Joseph Dunphy, William Harris, Ammi
Howlet, Samuel Peabody and Oliver Peabody.</p>
<p>Above Oromocto Island we find the lots of Asa Perley, Oliver Perley, George
Munro, James Simonds, Joseph Buber, Joseph Shaw, Benjamin Brawn, Daniel
Burbank, Thomas Hartt and the Widow Clark. Thence to the upper boundary
of the township, a distance of two miles, there were at first no settlers, but in
the course of time Richard Barlow, Nehemiah Beckwith, Benjamin Atherton,
Jeremiah Howland and others took up lots.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_23' id='linki_23'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i171.png' alt='' title='' width='287' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
PLAN OF MAUGERVILLE, INCLUDING SHEFFIELD.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>The names of the majority of the Maugerville grantees appear in the account
books kept by Simonds and White at their store at Portland Point and a lot
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span>
of interesting family history might be gleaned from the old faded pages. There
are other items of interest in the records of the old County of Sunbury.</p>
<p>In nearly all the early settlements made on the River St. John some encouragement
was offered for the erection of a mill, and when the signers under
Captain Francis Peabody met at Andover in April, 1762, previous to their leaving
Massachusetts, it was agreed that each signer should pay six shillings towards
erecting a mill in their township. The streams in Maugerville are so inconsiderable
that it may be presumed some difficulty would arise on this head. This
is confirmed by the fact that in the grant of 1763 the point of land opposite
Middle Island is called &ldquo;Wind-mill Point.&rdquo; However an old deed shows that
Richard Estey, jr., had on his lot No. 100 (opposite Middle Island) a mill built
on what is called Numeheal creek, of which the first owners were Mr. Estey and
his neighbor, Thomas Barker. This mill was sold in 1779 to James Woodman
and was employed in sawing boards and other lumber for the Loyalists at St.
John during the summer of 1783.</p>
<p>Not all of the grantees of the Township of Maugerville were actual settlers.
Of several we know little more than the names. This is the case with James
Chadwell, whose name appears first in the grant, and with Moses Davis, Thomas
Rous, Jonathan Parker, Hugh Shirley, Nathaniel Newman and James Vibart.</p>
<p>Two other non-resident grantees were men of influence and in their day made
sufficient stir in the world to claim further notice. The first bore the imposing
name of Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres. This gentleman is believed to have
been a native of Switzerland. He obtained a commission in the English army and
served with distinction under Wolfe at the siege of Quebec. At the time the
Maugerville settlement was founded he was a lieutenant in the 60th Regiment, but
being an excellent engineer, had lately been engaged by the Board of Admiralty
to make exact surveys and charts of the coasts and harbors of Nova Scotia. In
this work DesBarres was employed a good many years. Nearly two seasons were
spent in making a careful survey of Sable Island&mdash;the grave-yard of the Atlantic&mdash;where
DesBarres tells us the sands were strewn with wreckage and thousands had
already perished for want of known soundings. Some of the results of his prolonged
labors may be seen in the three huge volumes of the Atlantic Neptune
(each as large as a fair sized table) in the Crown Land office at Fredericton. Commenting
on the length of time spent in his surveys DesBarres remarks:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Interruptions from fogs and precarious weather, unavoidably made tedious a
performance in which accuracy is the chief thing desired, and rendered many years
necessary to complete it for publication; but when the author reflects that the accuracy
and truth of his work will stand the test of ages, and preserve future navigators
from the horrors of shipwreck and destruction, he does not repine at its
having employed so large a portion of his life.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The engrossing nature of his occupation as engineer did not hinder DesBarres
from being an ambitious land speculator. In 1765 he obtained, in conjunction with
General Haldimand and one or two others, a grant of the Township of Hopewell,
comprising 100,000 acres on the Petitcodiac river. But he derived little benefit
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span>
from his lands, as he was unable to fulfill the conditions of settlement, and eventually
they reverted to the crown.</p>
<p>In 1784, Des Barres was appointed Lieut. Governor of Cape Breton, and afterwards
Lieut. Governor of Prince Edward Island. He died at Halifax on the 27th
October, 1824, and was honored with a state funeral at which the attendance was
great and the interest felt very remarkable. This was due, in some measure, to
the fact that had he lived another month he would have attained the extraordinary
age of 103 years. Beamish Murdoch observes:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Colonel DesBarres&rsquo; scientific labors on our coasts, and his repute as one of the
heroes of 1759 under Wolfe at Quebec, gave him a claim on the gratitude and reverence
of all Nova Scotians.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This sentiment was not shared by the Acadians of Memramcook, who found
difficulty in resisting the claims of the heirs of DesBarres to the lands they had
settled. Two Lots in the upper part of the Township of Maugerville were granted
to Governor DesBarres and had he settled there he would have been the next-door
neighbor of the Widow Clark, but there is nothing to show that he made any attempt
to improve his lands in that quarter and so his connection with the settlement
is nothing but a name.</p>
<p>Joshua Mauger, the other non-resident grantee to whom reference has been
made, was an English merchant who came to America as a contractor under government
for furnishing supplies to the army at Louisbourg. When Cape Breton
was restored to France, in 1749, Louisbourg was evacuated and Mauger came with
the troops to Halifax. Shortly after his arrival he and other merchants asked
permission to build wharves on the beach for the accommodation of their business.
In 1751 he was appointed agent for victualling the Navy. Grog was at that
time freely dispensed in the army <a name='TC_40'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'and and'">and</ins> navy, and Mauger erected a distillery
where he manufactured the rum required for the troops and seamen. As the business
was lucrative he soon accumulated much property in and around Halifax, <a name='TC_41'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'inculding'">including</ins>
the well known Mauger&rsquo;s Beach at the entrance of Halifax harbor. He
had also shops at Pisiquid and Minas&mdash;or, as they are now called, Windsor and
Horton&mdash;where he sold goods and spirits to the French and Indians. He returned
to England in 1761 and was appointed agent for the Province of Nova Scotia in
London. The year following he was elected a member of Parliament.</p>
<p>Joshua Mauger in his position as Agent for the province was able to render it
essential service, and in the year 1766 the legislature of Nova Scotia voted the sum
of &pound;50 for a piece of plate as a testimonial of their appreciation of his &ldquo;zeal and
unwearied application&rdquo; in their behalf. As already mentioned, it was chiefly due
to his energy that the Massachusetts settlers on the River St. John were confirmed
in possession of their township. For his services in this connection, however, he was
not unrewarded; not only was the township named in his honor, but the large
island, since known as Mauger&rsquo;s or Gilbert&rsquo;s Island, was granted to him, together
with ten lots, at the lower end of the township. When the Loyalists arrived they
looked with somewhat covetous eyes on these interval lands which were settled by
tenants at a yearly rental of &pound;3 for each lot. Mauger&rsquo;s Island was purchased by
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span>
Colonel Thomas Gilbert, the well known Loyalist of Taunton, Massachusetts, and by
him bequeathed to his eldest son, Thomas Gilbert, jr. The latter writes so entertainingly
and so enthusiastically of his situation, in a letter to his sister and her
husband, that we venture to depart, for a moment, from the chronological order of
events in order to give some extracts.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;On Board Major&rsquo;s Island, Sept. 30, 1799.</p>
<p>Dear Brother and Sister,&mdash; * * * I have made great improvements on board
this island. Three summers ago I built a large house, the Carpenter just as he had
finished the work took a brand of fire by accident and burnt it all to ashes with
three hundred pounds of property in it. It happened the 15th of November, winter
set in next day. I fled to a small house I had on the island. Ice making in the
River there was no passing, but my Neighbors knew my situation and assembled of
their own good will<a name='FNanchor_0063' id='FNanchor_0063'></a><a href='#Footnote_0063' class='fnanchor'>[63]</a>&mdash;in four weeks put me into a good framed house forty feet long
twenty wide with a good chimney, where I lived the winter very comfortably. In
the spring I went to work and built a House 38 by 36 and set it on to the other,
which occupies the same ground that the other did, and I finished it to a latch from
top to bottom. * * * * The summer past I have built me a barn 80 feet by 34
completely finished and said to be the best in the Province.</p>
<p>&lsquo;I wonder you don&rsquo;t come yourself or send some of your family to help us enjoy
this fine country. We feel no war nor pay any tax. Our land brings forth abundantly;
it is almost incredible to see the Produce; it makes but little odds when you
plant or sow, at harvest time you will have plenty. This last spring was late, the
water was not off so that I could plant till the 21st of June, and so till the 26th we
planted, and you never saw so much corn in any part of the States to the acre as
I have got, and wheat and everything to the greatest perfection. I wonder how you
and my Friends can prefer digging among the Stones and paying Rates to an easy
life in this country. Last year I sold beef, pork and mutton more than I wanted for
my family for three hundred Pounds, besides two colts for forty pounds apiece. A
few days ago I sold four colts before they were broke for one hundred and ten
pounds and I have sixteen left. I have a fine stock of cattle and sheep&mdash;butter and
cheese is as plenty here as herrings are at Taunton&mdash;a tenant lives better here than
a Landlord at Berkley. I am blesst with the best Neighbors that ever drew
breath&mdash;they are made of the same stuff that our forefathers were that first settled
New England. * * * * I live under the protection of the King, and I am stationed
by his Laws on this Island, the finest farm in the Province. I don&rsquo;t intend
to weigh my anchor nor start from this till I have orders from the Governor of all
things&mdash;then I hope to obey the summons with joy and gladness&mdash;with Great Expectation,
to meet you in Heaven where I hope to rest.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Benjamin Atherton removed to St. Anns about 1769 where at the time the
Loyalists arrived he is reported to have had a good framed house and log barn
and about 30 acres of land, cleared in part by the French. This land was near
the Government House, and here in early days, Messrs. Simonds &amp; White established
a trading post to which the Indians and Acadians and some of the English settlers
resorted. The store was managed by Benjamin Atherton who had an interest
in the business. Mr. Atherton was a man of ability and good education and filled
the office of clerk of the peace of the county of Sunbury&mdash;at that time including
nearly all New Brunswick.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span></div>
<p>Hugh Quinton, Samuel Peabody, Gerves Say and William McKeen removed at
an early date to the mouth of the river and we shall hear more of them in connection
with that locality.</p>
<p>Edward Coy, Thomas Hart and Zebulun Estey removed to Gagetown. Some
facts concerning Edward Coy are related in a curious old book published at
Boston in 1849 entitled &ldquo;A Narrative of the Life and Christian Experience of Mrs.
Mary Bradley of Saint John, New Brunswick, written by Herself.&rdquo; From this
source we learn that the Coys were originally McCoys but that the &ldquo;Mac&rdquo; was
dropped by Edward Coy&rsquo;s grandfather and never resumed by the family. The
Coys came from Pomfret in Connecticut to the River St. John in 1763 and the
family removed from Gagetown to Sheffield in 1776. One of Edward Coy&rsquo;s daughters
is said to have been the first female child of English speaking parents born on
the St. John river. The curious &ldquo;cul de sac&rdquo; in the river opposite the mouth of
the Belleisle known as &ldquo;The Mistake&rdquo; was formerly called &ldquo;Coy&rsquo;s Mistake&rdquo;&mdash;the
name doubtless suggests the incident in which it had its origin. Many a traveller
since the time of Edward Coy has incautiously entered the same cul-de-sac, thinking
it the channel of the river, and, after proceeding two or three miles, found he
too had made a &ldquo;mistake&rdquo; and retraced his way a sadder and a wiser man.</p>
<p>Zebulun Estey and Thomas Hart went to Gagetown while the war of the
Revolution was in progress. The sentiments of the two were diverse during the
war. Mr. Hart was one of the committee who helped to organize the party that
went with the Americans, under Colonel Jonathan Eddy, against Fort Cumberland,
in 1775. He is described in Major Studholme&rsquo;s report as &ldquo;a rebel.&rdquo; Zebulun
Estey on the other hand is described as &ldquo;a good man and his character very loyal.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Naturally the large number of those who removed from Maugerville on account
of the inconveniences of the spring freshets went across the river to the
Township of Burton, in some cases still retaining their property in Maugerville.
Among those who so removed were Isaac Stickney, Israel Estey, Moses Estey,
John Larlee, Amos Estey, John Pickard, Benjamin Brawn, Edward Barker, Israel
Kinney, John Shaw and Thomas Barker. These were chiefly original grantees or
their sons, who all removed to Burton during the progress of the Revolution,
excepting John Larlee and Israel Kinney who went there in 1767. John Larlee
was one of the old time doctors, a man highly respected whose descendants now
are chiefly residents of Carleton county. Israel Kinney was probably the first
blacksmith in the community.</p>
<p>Among those not included in the original band of settlers at Maugerville, but
who arrived there shortly afterwards, was Moses Coburn, who came from Newburyport
to St. John in the schooner Eunice early in 1767. This little vessel had
quite a number of passengers for the River St. John, including James Simonds,
Oliver Perley, Alexander Tapley and Stephen Hovey, but the voyage is of special
interest from the fact that there was a bride on board, the young wife of James
Simonds, formerly Hannah Peabody&mdash;a bride of sixteen. The Eunice had a fine
passage and arrived at St. John on the 26th April, 1767.</p>
<p>Moses Coburn settled on lot No. 23, not far below the present Sheffield Academy.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span>
The lot had been drawn by Edward Coy, one of the original grantees of the
township, who took up his residence in Gagetown, but afterwards removed to
Maugerville.</p>
<p>Alexander Tapley was one of the passengers in the Eunice. He lived at Maugerville
prior to April 22, 1765, for on that date he sold 8&frac12; lbs. of Beaver to
Simonds &amp; White for the sum of &pound;2 2s. 6d., and purchased in return a number of
articles including a pair of women&rsquo;s shoes at 5 shillings, and a pair of &ldquo;men&rsquo;s
pomps&rdquo; at 7 shillings. A curious incident in connection with Alexander Tapley
is to be found in the old court records of the County of Sunbury. It seems that
having been appointed constable he declined to qualify and take the oath of office.
In consequence he was summoned on the 20th May, 1774, to appear before Israel
Perley and Jacob Baker, two of the magistrates, &ldquo;to give a reason (if any he hath)
for the refusing to serve as a constable for said town of Maugerville.&rdquo; To this
citation Tapley paid no regard, whereupon the magistrates, in high dudgeon, fined
him forty shillings and issued a warrant to Samuel Upton, constable, who &ldquo;took a
cow of the said Tapley to satisfy the fine and costs, which sum was ordered to remain
in the said constable&rsquo;s hand till called for.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Giles Tidmarsh was one of the transient settlers of Maugerville. The account
books of Simonds and White show that he lived on the river at least as early as
October, 1765&mdash;the first item charged in his acount is: &ldquo;Oct. 23d, To 1 Fusee, &pound;2.&rdquo;
On July 23, 1767, Tidmarsh was granted 1,000 acres in the township of Maugerville.
Some years later his name appears as a Halifax magistrate, and in the year 1775 he
was a Planter in the Island of Grenada. On Nov. 30th of that year he sold to Jacob
Barker, jr., the half of lot No. 11, in Upper Sheffield, about 250 acres, for &pound;32.</p>
<p>The descendants of the early settlers on the River St. John will find some very
interesting information in the old accounts of Simonds &amp; White as to the date and
manner of the arrival of their forefathers in this country, and something too as regards
their way of living.</p>
<p>In the early days of Maugerville it was quite a common occurrence for an intending
settler to leave his family in New England till he had succeeded in making
a small clearing and had built a log house for their accommodation, and a hovel
for such domestic animals as he chose to bring with him. This in some measure
explains the fact that while according to the census of Michael Francklin there
were 77 men in Maugerville at the close of the year 1766 there were only 46 women.
Here is an example from the account books of Simonds &amp; White which will serve
for illustration in this connection; it appears under date August 18, 1769:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>Nehemiah Hayward to Simonds &amp; White, Dr.</p>
<table summary=''>
<tr>
    <td style='padding-right:2em;'>To his passage to Newbury in the Polly last March.</td>
    <td>20s.</td></tr>
<tr>
    <td>His and wife&rsquo;s passage to this place</td>
    <td>20s.</td></tr>
<tr>
    <td>1 Cow, 10s.; 1 Child, 5s.</td>
    <td>15s.</td></tr></table>
</blockquote>
<p>Evidently Mr. Hayward had made a home for his wife and child on the banks
of the St. John and had now gone to bring them on from Newburyport. His
farm was in the lower part of Sheffield.</p>
<p>Most of the live stock for the Maugerville people was shipped from Newburyport
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span>
to St. John in the vessels of Hazen, Simonds and White. One of the
first horses in the settlement was owned by Ammi Howlet, who paid &pound;2 as
freight for the animal in a sloop that arrived in May, 1765.</p>
<p>It is manifestly impossible to follow the history of every family represented
in the grantees of Maugerville. Of the 261 souls that comprised the population
of the township in 1767, all were natives of America with the exception of six
English, ten Irish, four Scotch and six Germans. The majority were of Puritan
stock and members of the congregationalist churches of Massachusetts. Scarcely
had they settled themselves in their new possessions when they began the organization
of a church. Dr. James Hannay in his very interesting paper on the
Maugerville Settlement, published in the collections of the New Brunswick Historical
Society, gives a copy of the original church covenant certified as correct
by Humphrey Pickard, the church clerk. The covenant is signed by Jonathan
Burpee, Elisha Nevers, Richard Estey, Daniel Palmer, Gervas Say, Edward Coy
and Jonathan Smith. The opening paragraph reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;We whose names are hereto subscribed, apprehending ourselves called of
God (for advancing of His Kingdom and edifying ourselves and posterity) to
combine and embody ourselves into a distinct Church Society, and being for that
end orderly dismissed from the Churches to which we heretofore belonged; do (as
we hope) with some measure of seriousness and sincerity, take upon us the following
covenant, viz.:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;As to matters of faith we cordially adhere to the principles of religion (at least
the substance of them) contained in the Shorter Catechism of the Westminister
Assembly of Divines wherewith also the New England Confession of Faith harmonizeth,
not as supposing that there is any authority, much less infalibility, in
these human creeds or forms; but verily believing that these principles are drawn
from and agreeable to the Holy Scripture, which is the foundation and standard of
truth; hereby declaring our utter dislike of the Pelagian Arminian principles, vulgarly
so called.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In a firm belief of the aforesaid doctrines from an earnest desire that we
and ours may receive the love of them and be saved with hopes that what we
are now doing may be a means of so great an happiness; we do now (under a
sense of our utter unworthiness of the honour and privileges of God&rsquo;s Covenant
people) in solemn and yet free and cheerful manner give up ourselves and offspring
to God the Father, to the Son the Mediator, and the Holy Ghost the instructor,
sanctifier and comforter, to be henceforth the people and servants of
this God, to believe in all His revalations, to accept of His method of reconciliation,
to obey His commands, and to keep all His ordinances, to look to and
depend upon Him to do all for us, and work all in us, especially relating to our
eternal salvation, being sensible that of ourselves we can do nothing.</p>
<p>&ldquo;And it is also our purpose and resolution (by Divine assistance) to discharge
the duties of Christian love and Brotherly watchfulness towards each
other, to train up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord:
to join together in setting up and maintaining the Publick worship of God among
us, carefully and joyfully to attend upon Christ&rsquo;s Sacrament and institutions; to
yield all obedience and submission to Him or them that shall from time to time
in an orderly manner be made overseers of the flock, to submit to all the regular
administrations and censures of the Church and to contribute all in our
power unto the regularity and peaceableness of those administrations.</p>
<p>&ldquo;And respecting Church discipline it is our purpose to adhere to the method
contained in the platform or the substance of it agreed upon by the synod at Cambridge
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span>
in New England Ano. Dom. 1648 as thinking these methods of Church
Discipline the nearest the Scripture and most likely to maintain and promote Purity,
order and peace of any.</p>
<p>&ldquo;And we earnestly pray that God would be pleased to smile upon this our
undertaking for His Glory, that whilst we thus subscribe with our hands, to the
Lord and sirname ourselves by the Name of Israel; we may through grace given
us become Israelites indeed in whom there is no Guile, that our hearts may be right
with God and we be steadfast in His Covenant, that we who are now combining
together in a new church of Jesus Christ, may by the purity of our faith and morals
become one of those Golden Candlesticks among which the Son of God in way
of favor and protection will condescend to walk. And that every member of it
thro&rsquo; imputed righteousness and inherent grace may hereafter be found among that
happy Multitude whom the glorious head of the Church, the Heavenly Bridegroome
shall present to Himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No date is attached to this church covenant, but it was in all probability drawn
up within a year or two of the date of arrival of the first settlers. Jonathan Burpee,
whose name comes first in the order of signers, was a deacon in the church,
and for some years the leader in all church movements. He lived in that part of
Sheffield just above the Academy and was the ancestor of the Hon. Isaac Burpee,
who was minister of customs in the Mackenzie government, and of many others of
the name. His son, Jeremiah Burpee, lived beside him and a grandson, David Burpee,
was another neighbor.</p>
<p>It was not until some years after the organization of the church that there
was any settled minister on the St. John river and those desirous of entering the
holy estate of matrimony were obliged like James Simonds to proceed to Massachusetts
or to follow the example off Gervas Say and Anna Russell, whose marriage is
described in the following unique document:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Maugerville, February 23, 1766.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In the presence of Almighty God and this Congregation, Gervas Bay and Anna
Russell, inhabitants of the above said township enter into marriage Covenant lawfully
to dwell together in the fear of God the remaining part of our lives, in order
to perform all ye duties necessary betwixt husband and wife as witness our hands.</p>
<table summary='' style='border:none; margin-left:2em; margin-right:auto;'>
<tr style='vertical-align:top;'>
    <td style='padding-right:8em;'>
        <ul style='list-style-type:none;'>
            <li>Daniel Palmer,</li>
            <li>Fras. Peabody,</li>
            <li>Saml. Whitney,</li>
            <li>Richard Estey,</li>
            <li>George Hayward,</li>
            <li>David Palmer,</li>
            <li>Edwd. Coye.</li>
        </ul>
    </td>
    <td>
        <ul style='list-style-type:none;'>
            <li>Gervas Say,</li>
            <li>Anna Say.</li>
        </ul>
    </td>
</tr></table>
</blockquote>
<p>Gervas Say was one of the signers of the church covenant as also were three of
the witnesses, Richard Estey, Daniel Palmer, and Edward Coye, and it may be assumed
that the marriage was regarded as perfectly proper under the circumstances
and it is not improbable that, in the absence of a minister, this was the ordinary
mode of marriage. Gervas Say was afterwards a magistrate of the county and a
man of integrity, ability and influence.</p>
<p>During the earlier years of the settlement at Maugerville there was no resident
minister, but the place was occasionally visited by a clergyman. It is said that
the first religious teacher there was a Mr. Wellman who came to Maugerville with
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span>
some of the first settlers but did not remain. There is nothing to show that
when the church covenant was signed, in the year 1765, there was any resident
minister. The Reverend Thomas Wood of Annapolis, a Church of England clergyman,
visited the River St. John in the Summer of 1769, and on Sunday, July 9th,
landed at Maugerville, where he held service and had a congregation of more than
two hundred persons. He stated in his report to the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel, that owing to the fact that the congregation was composed chiefly of
Dissenters from New England, and that they had a Dissenting minister among them,
only two persons were baptised by him, but, he added, &ldquo;if a prudent missionary
could be settled among them I believe all their prejudices would vanish.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The next year the little settlement had a minister, Zephaniah Briggs, who remained
from May to August, preaching on Sundays at the houses of Daniel Palmer,
Jacob Barker, Hugh Quinton, Jonathan Smith and Elisha Nevers. After a while
came a Mr. Webster who, like his predecessor, seems to have been an itinerant
preacher and did not tarry long.</p>
<p>It was not until the arrival of the Rev. Seth Noble<a name='FNanchor_0064' id='FNanchor_0064'></a><a href='#Footnote_0064' class='fnanchor'>[64]</a>, in 1774, that the church
had a resident pastor, but in the intervals religious services were held on the Lord&rsquo;s
Day at private houses, conducted by the deacons and elders of the church, consisting
of prayer and exhortation, reading of a sermon and singing. Among the early deacons
were Jonathan Burpee, Samuel Whitney, John Shaw, and Humphrey Pickard.
The elders were chosen annually.</p>
<p>The records of the church, which are yet in existence, show that the promise,
made by the signers of the original covenant, to maintain &ldquo;Brotherly watchfulness
toward each other,&rdquo; was by no means lost sight of for many of the entries in the
church records are devoted to matters of discipline. In September, 1773, for example,
two rather prominent members of the church, Israel Kenny and Benjamin
Brawn, were called to account, and after due acknowledgment of their faults before
the congregation were &ldquo;restored to their charity again.&rdquo; One of the two offending
brethren, who had been charged with &ldquo;scandalous sins,&rdquo; was elected a ruling elder
of the church less than two years afterwards.</p>
<p>The year 1774, gave to Maugerville its first settled minister, the Rev. Seth Noble,
and the circumstances connected with his appointment are thus stated in the minutes
of the clerk of the church, Daniel Palmer:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;At a meeting held by the subscribers to a bond for the support of the Preached
gospel among us at the House of Mr. Hugh Quinton inholder on Wednesday ye
15 of June 1774.</p>
<p>1ly Chose Jacob Barker Esqr. Moderator in Sd. meeting.</p>
<p>2ly Gave Mr. Seth Noble a call to settle in the work of the ministry among us.</p>
<p>3ly to give Mr. Seth Noble as a settlement providing he accept of the call, one
hundred and twenty Pounds currency.</p>
<p>4ly Voted to give Mr. Seth Noble yearly salary of sixty five pounds currency so
long as he shall continue our Minister to be in Cash or furs or grain at cash price.</p>
<p>5ly. Chose Esqrs., Jacob Barker, Phinehas Nevers, Israel Pearly, Deacon
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span>
Jonathan Burpee and Messrs. Hugh Quinton, Daniel Palmer, Moses Coburn, Moses
Pickard a Committee to treat with Seth Noble.</p>
<p>6ly Adjourned the meeting to be held at the House of Mr. Hugh Quinton on
Wednesday ye 29 Instat, at four of the clock in the afternoon to hear the report
of the committee.</p>
<p>Met on the adjournment on Wednesday ye 29 of June 1774 and voted as an
addition to the salary of Mr. Seth Noble if he should except of our Call, to cut and
haul twenty five cords of wood to his house yearly so long as he shall continue to
be our Minister. The meeting dissolved.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_24' id='linki_24'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i180.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='412' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AT SHEFFIELD.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>The call having been accepted by Mr. Noble, the people the following year set
about the erection of a meeting house, which was to serve also as a residence for
their pastor. In January, 1776, it was so far advanced that the exterior was nearly
completed, for in David Burpee&rsquo;s book of accounts, under that date, there is a
charge for work done by Messrs. Plummer and Bridges in &ldquo;clapboarding one
third of the east end of the meeting house.&rdquo; When finished the building was
doubtless a very unpretentious little structure not at all like a modern church edifice
and very unlike its successor, the Congregational church in Sheffield, but it
was the first Protestant place of worship erected on the River St. John.</p>
<p>In the order of survey of the Township of Maugerville, made by the Government
of Nova Scotia in 1761, were the words &ldquo;You shall Reserve four Lots in the Township,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span>
for Publick use, one as a Glebe for the Church of England, one of the Dissenting
Protestants, one for the maintenance of a School, and one for the first settled minister
in the Place.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In accordance with this arrangement Lot No. 15, where the Sheffield Congregational
church now stands, was fixed on in the year 1764 as a glebe for the &ldquo;Dissenting
Protestants.&rdquo; Improvements were made upon the lot and a part of it used
as a burial ground. The first meeting house, however, was not built there. It
probably stood on lot 13, the property of Jeremiah Burpee and later of his son, David
Burpee. In the church records we have the following minute bearing upon the subject,
the meaning of which, however, does not seem perfectly clear:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;At a meeting of the Subscribers for the support of the Preached Gospel held
at the meeting house in Sheffield on the 15th day of December, 1788&mdash;</p>
<p>Chose Mr. Daniel Jewett Chairman.</p>
<p>&ldquo;2ndly. Voted that the meeting house be set on the public lot in Sheffield.</p>
<p>&ldquo;3rdly. Voted to remove the meeting house in Maugerville to the public
lot in Sheffield if the proprietor thereof consents thereto.</p>
<p>&ldquo;4thly. Chose Messers. Nathan Smith, Silvanus Plumer, Eben Briggs, Elijah Dingee
and Jacob Barker, Esq., managers to remove the same.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The meeting house was removed early in the spring, placed upon a stone foundation,
a steeple erected, and many improvements made.</p>
<p>If the Rev. Seth Noble had remained he would doubtless have had a grant of
the lot reserved for the first settled minister in the township, but his removal in
the year 1777 not only lost him the lot but caused it to pass eventually to the Rev.
John Beardsley, rector of the church of England congregation.</p>
<p>Some years after he left Maugerville Mr. Noble wrote to his former congregation
respecting this lot but they gave him rather a tart reply: &ldquo;You was indeed told,&rdquo;
said they, &ldquo;that there was a lot of land in Maugerville reserved by Government to
be given to the first settled minister in fee simple, and had you continued as such
undoubtedly you would have obtained a grant of it. But when you left this country
you then (in the eyes of the government) forfeited all pretentions to that
privilege and the man that would ask for it in your behalf would only get abuse.
By your leaving us the dissenters have lost that privilege and the Church of England
minister gets the lot. Though we must observe that during Mrs. Noble&rsquo;s residence
here she had the improvement of it which was worth about five pounds per
annum.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0065' id='FNanchor_0065'></a><a href='#Footnote_0065' class='fnanchor'>[65]</a></p>
<p>Lot No. 90, reserved as a glebe for the Church of England, is that on which
Christ Church in the Parish of Maugerville stands today. The Congregational and
Episcopal churches, at the time New Brunswick was separated from Nova Scotia,
represented respectively the Puritan and Loyalist elements of the community, and
their relations were by no means cordial. Mutual antipathy existed for at least
a couple of generations, but the old wounds are now fairly well healed and the
causes of discord well nigh forgotten.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span></div>
<p>The intercourse between the Maugerville people and the smaller colony at the
mouth of river was so constant that it is difficult to speak of the one without the
other. For a few years the people living on the river were in a large measure dependent
for supplies upon the store kept by Simonds and White at Portland Point,
and the names of the following Maugerville settlers are found in the ledger of
Simonds and White in the year 1765 and shortly after, viz.: Jacob Barker, Jacob
Barker jr., Thomas Barker, Jeremiah Burpee, David Burbank, Moses Coburn,
Thomas Christie, Zebulun Estey, Richard Estey, jr., John Estey, Col. Beamsley Glacier,
Joseph Garrison, Jonathan Hart, William Harris, Nehemiah Hayward, Samuel
Hoyt, Ammi Howlet, Daniel Jewett, Richard Kimball, John Larlee, Peter Moores,
Phinehas Nevers, Elisha Nevers, Samuel Nevers, Capt. Francis Peabody, Samuel Peabody,
Israel Perley, Oliver Perley, Daniel Palmer, Humphrey Pickard, Hugh Quinton,
Nicholas Rideout, Jonathan Smith, John Shaw, Gervis Say, Isaac Stickney,
Samuel Tapley, Alexander Tapley, Giles Tidmarsh, John Wasson, Jonathan Whipple
and Samuel Whitney.</p>
<p>In return for goods purchased the settlers tendered furs, lumber, occasionally
an old piece of silver, sometimes their own labor and later they were able to supply
produce from their farms. Money they scarcely ever saw. Very often they
gave notes of hand which they found it hard to pay. The furs they supplied were
principally beaver skins at five shillings (or one dollar) per pound. They also supplied
martin, otter and musquash skin, the latter at 4&frac12; pence each. The lumber
supplied included white oak barrel staves at 20 shillings per thousand, red oak hogshead
starves at 20 shillings per thousand, &ldquo;Oyl nut&rdquo; (Butternut) staves at 16 shillings
per thousand, clapboards at 25 shillings and oar rafters at &pound;2 per thousand feet.
Considering the labor involved&mdash;for the manufacture was entirely by hand&mdash;prices
seem small; but it must be borne in mind that 2s. 6d. was a day&rsquo;s pay for a man&rsquo;s
labor at this time.</p>
<p>The Indians had for so long a time enjoyed a monopoly of the fur trade that
they regarded the white hunter with a jealous eye. Indeed in the year 1765 they
assembled their warriors and threatened to begin a new war with the English. The
settlers an the river were much alarmed and the commandant of Fort Frederick,
Capt. Pierce Butler, of the 29th Regiment, doubled his sentries. Through the persuasion
of the commandant, assisted by Messrs. Simonds and White and other leading
inhabitants, the chiefs were induced to go to Halifax and lay their complaints
before the Governor. One of the most influential inhabitants on the river accompanied
them, whose name is not stated but it was very probably James Simonds, at
least he writes to his partners at Newburyport in November of this year, &ldquo;The dispute
with the Indians is all settled to the satisfaction of the government as well as
the Indians.&rdquo;</p>
<p>At their first interview the chiefs insisted that the white settlers interfered with
the rights of the Indians by encroaching on their hunting grounds, clamming that it
was one of the conditions of a former treaty that the English settlers should not
be allowed to kill any wild game beyond the limits of their farms and improvements.
They demanded payment for the beavers, moose and other animals killed in the
forest by the settlers. The inhabitants of Maugerville were able to prove that the
charges brought against them were greatly exaggerated, most of the wild animals having
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span>
been killed not far from their doors, while the aggregate of all animals slain by
them was much less than stated by the Indians. In the end the chiefs seemed to be
satisfied that they were mistaken and appeared ashamed of their conduct in alarming
the country without reason, but they still insisted that the young warriors of
their tribe would not be satisfied without some compensation for the loss of their
wild animals. The Governor gave his decision as follows: &ldquo;That although the
grievances the Indians had started were by no means sufficient to justify their hostile
proceedings, yet to do them ample justice, he would order to be sent them a
certain amount in clothing and provisions, provided they would consider it full
satisfaction for any injuries done by the settlers; and that he would also send orders
to restrain the settlers from hunting wild animals in the woods.&rdquo; The chiefs
accepted this offer and the Indians remained tranquil until the American Revolution
some twelve years later.</p>
<p>One of the results of the conference seems to have been the reservation to the
Indians in the grant of the Township of Sunbury of &ldquo;500 acres, including a church
and burying ground at Aughpack, and four acres for a burying ground at St. Ann&rsquo;s
Point, and the island called Indian Island.&rdquo; The well known Maliseet chief, Ambroise
St. Aubin, was one of the leading negotiators at Halifax as appears by the
following pass furnished to him by Governor Wilmot:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Permit the bearer, Ambroise St. Aubin, chief of the Indians of St. John&rsquo;s
river, to return there without any hindrance or molestation; and all persons are
required to give him all necessary and proper aid and assistance on his journey.</p>
<p>Given under my hand and seal at Halifax this 7th day of September, 1765.</p>
<p class='ralign'>M. WILMOT.<br />
RICH&rsquo;D BULKELEY, <a name='TC_42'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double quote">Secretary.&rdquo;</ins></p>
</blockquote>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XVII_AT_PORTLAND_POINT' id='CHAPTER_XVII_AT_PORTLAND_POINT'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>At Portland Point</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>When the attention of James Simonds, was directed to the River St. John, by
the proclamation oaf Governor Lawrence inviting the inhabitants of New England to
settle on the vacant lands in Nova Scotia, he was a young man of twenty-four
years of age. His father had died at Haverhill; August 15th, 1757. The next year
he went with his uncle, Capt. Hazen, to the assault of Ticonderoga, in the capacity
of a subaltern officer in the Provincial troops, and shortly after the close of the
campaign proceeded to Nova Scotia in order to find a promising situation for engaging
in trade. The fur trade was what he had chiefly in mind at this time, but the
Indians were rather unfriendly, and he became interested along with Captain Peabody,
Israel Perley and other officers of the disbanded Massachusetts troops in their
proposed settlement on the River St John. His future partners of the trading
company formed in 1764 were, with the exception of Mr. Blodget, even younger men
than himself. William Hazen, of Newburyport, had just attained to manhood and
belonged to a corps of Massachusetts Rangers, which served in Canada at the
taking of Quebec. Samuel Blodget was a follower of the army on Lake Champlain
as a sutler. James White was a young man of two-and-twenty years and had been
for some time Mr. Blodget&rsquo;s clerk or assistant. Leonard Jarvis&mdash;afterwards Wm.
Hazen&rsquo;s, business partner and so incidentally a member of the trading company at St.
John&mdash;was not then eighteen years of age.</p>
<p>While engaged in his explorations, James Simonds obtained from the government
of Nova Scotia the promise of a grant of 5,000 acres of unappropriated lands,
in such part of the province as he should choose, and it was under this arrangement
he entered upon the marsh east of the city of St. John (called by the Indians
&ldquo;Seebaskastagan&rdquo;) in the year 1762 and cut there a quantity of salt marsh hay and
began to made improvements.</p>
<p>Mr. Simonds says in one of his letters: &ldquo;The accounts which I gave my
friends in New England of the abundance of Fish in the River and the convenience
of taking them, of the extensive Fur trade of the country, and the natural convenience
of burning Lime, caused numbers of them to make proposals to be concerned
with me in these branches of business, among whom Mr. Hazen was the first
that joined me in a trial. Afterwards, in the year 1764, although I was unwilling
that any should be sharers with me in the Fur trade, which I had acquired some
knowledge of, yet by representations that superior advantage could be derived from
a Cod-fishery on the Banks and other branches of commerce, which I was altogether
unacquainted with, I joined in a contract for carrying it on for that year upon
an extensive plan with Messrs. Blodget, Hazen, White, Peaslie and R. Simonds.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Early in 1763, James Simonds and William Hazen engaged in a small venture in
the way of trade and fishing at St. John and Passamaquoddy. They had several
men in their employ, including Ebenezer Eaton, master of the sloop Bachelor, and
Samuel Middleton, a cooper, who was employed in making barrels for shipping the
fish. Among others in the employ of Simonds and his partners, several seem to
have had a previous acquaintance with St. John harbor; Moses Greenough, for
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span>
example, was there in 1758, and Lemuel Cleveland in 1757, when he says &ldquo;the French
had a fort at Portland Point where Mr. Simonds&rsquo; house was afterwards built.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The following is a copy of what is probably the first document extant in connection
with the business of Hazen and Simonds:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>Passamaquada, 26th July, 1763.</p>
<p>Sir,&mdash;Please pay unto Mr. Ebenezer Eaton the sum of Five pounds one shilling
&amp; four pence Lawfull money, half cash &amp; half Goods, and place the same to the
acct. of,</p>
<p class='right lalign'>Yr. Humble Servant,<br />
<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>Jas. Simonds.</p>
<p class='lalign'>To Mr. William Hazen,<br />
<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>Merchant in Newbury.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The success of their first modest little venture encouraged Hazen and Simonds
to undertake a more ambitious project, namely the formation of a trading company
to &ldquo;enter upon and pursue with all speed and faithfulness the business of the cod
fishery, seine fishery, fur trade, burning of lime and every other trading business
that shall be thought advantageous to the company at Passamaquoddy, St. Johns,
Canso and elsewhere in or near the province of Nova Scotia and parts adjacent.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Evidently the project was regarded as in some measure an experiment, for the
contract provided, &ldquo;the partnership shall continue certain for the space of one
year and for such longer time as all the partys shall hereafter agree.&rdquo; Examination
of the document shows that when first written the period the contract was to continue
was left blank and the word &ldquo;one&rdquo; inserted before &ldquo;year,&rdquo; evidently after
consultation on the part of those concerned.</p>
<p>Shortly before the formation of the trading company, James Simonds went to
Halifax to procure a grant of land at St. John and a license to trade with the
Indians, but did not at this time succeed in obtaining the grant. However the
governor gave him the following license to occupy Portland Point:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;License is hereby granted to James Simonds to occupy a tract or point of
land on the north side of St. John&rsquo;s River, opposite Fort Frederick, for carrying
on a fishery and for burning lime-stone, the said tract or point of land containing
by estimation ten acres.</p>
<p class='right'>[Signed] &ldquo;MONTAGU WILMOT.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Halifax, February 8, 1764.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Upon this land at Portland Point the buildings required for the business of the
company were built. The partnership was in its way a &ldquo;family compact.&rdquo; Samuel
Blodget, was distantly related to Wm. Hazen and the latter was a cousin of James
and Richard Simonds; Robert Peaslie&rsquo;s wife was Anna Hazen, sister of Wm. Hazen,
and James White was a cousin of Wm. Hazen. It was agreed that Blodget, Hazen
and James Simonds should each have one-fourth part in the business and profits,
the remaining fourth part to be divided amongst the juniors, Messrs. White,
Peaslie and Richard Simonds.</p>
<p>Blodget and Hazen were the principal financial backers of the undertaking and
agreed to provide, &ldquo;at the expense of the company,&rdquo; the vessels, boats, tackling,
and also all sorts of goods and stock needed to carry on the trade, also to receive
and dispose of the fish, furs and other produce of trade sent to them from Nova
Scotia. The fishery and all other business at St. John and elsewhere in Nova
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span>
Scotia was to be looked after by the others of the company, and the junior partners
were to proceed with James Simonds to St. John and work under his direction,
so far as to be ruled by him &ldquo;at all times and in all things which shall relate
to the good of the concerned wherein the said White, Peaslie and R. Simonds
shall differ in judgment from the said James Simonds, tho&rsquo; all parties do hereby
covenant in all things to consult and advise and act to the utmost of their power
for the best good and advantage of the Company.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It is evident that the plans of our first business concern at St. John were not
drawn up without due consideration.</p>
<p>There is no evidence to show that any of the partners except the brothers
Simonds had been at St. John previous to the year 1764. The statement has been
frequently made that James White visited the harbor in 1762 in company with
James Simonds and Capt. Francis Peabody, but his own papers which are still
in existence clearly prove that he was almost constantly engaged in the employ
of Samuel Blodget at Crown Point during that year.</p>
<p>William Hazen and James Simonds were undoubtedly the prime movers in the
formation of the trading company that began its operations at St. John in 1764.
By their joint efforts they were able to organize a firm seemingly happily constituted
and likely to work together harmoniously and successfully. As a matter
of fact, however, the company had a very chequered career and at length the
war of the Revolution seemed likely to involve them in financial ruin. This seeming
calamity in the end proved to be the making of their fortunes by sending
the Loyalists in thousands to our shores. But of all this more anon.</p>
<p>The financial backers of the company at the first were Hazen and Blodget,
who carried on business at Newburyport and Boston respectively. These towns
were then rising into importance and were rivals in trade although it was not
long until Boston forged ahead. The goods required for trade with the Indians
and white inhabitants of the River St. John and the military garrison at Fort
Frederick were conveniently supplied from Newburyport and Boston, and these
places were good distributing centres for the fish, furs, lumber, lime and other
products obtained at St. John. The furs were usually sold in London; the other
articles were either sold in the local market or sent to the West Indies.</p>
<p>The Company having been formed and the contract signed on the 1st day of
March, 1764, the Messrs. Simonds, James White, Jonathan Leavitt and a party
of about thirty hands embarked on board a schooner belonging to the Company
for the scene of operations. The men were fishermen, laborers, lime burners, with
one or two coopers&mdash;a rough and ready lot, but with one or two of superior intelligence
to act as foremen. Comparatively few of the men seem to have become
permanent settlers, yet as members of the little colony at Portland Point
and almost the first English-speaking residents of St. John, outside of the Fort
Frederick garrison, their names are worthy to be recorded. The following may
be regarded as a complete list: James Simonds, James White, Jonathan Leavitt,
Jonathan Simonds, Samuel Middleton, Peter Middleton, Edmund Black, Moses
True, Reuben Stevens, John Stevens, John Boyd, Moses Kimball, Benjamin Dow,
Thomas Jenkins, Batcheldor Ring, Rowley Andros, Edmund Butler, John Nason,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span>
Reuben Mace, Benjamin Wiggins, John Lovering, John Hookey, Rueben Sergeant,
Benjamin Stanwood, Benjamin Winter, Anthony Dyer, Webster Emerson, George
Carey, John Hunt, George Berry, Simeon Hillyard, Ebenezer Fowler, William
Picket and Ezekiel Carr.</p>
<p>The Company&rsquo;s schooner, with William Story as master, sailed from Newburyport
about the 10th of April, arriving at Passamaquody on the 14th, and at St.
John on the 18th. The men set to work immediately on their arrival, and the
quietude that had reigned beneath the shadow of Fort Howe hill was broken by
the sound of the woodsman&rsquo;s axe and the carpenter&rsquo;s saw and hammer. Among
the first buildings erected were a log store 20 feet by 30 feet, a dwelling house
19 feet by 35 feet, and a building adjoining it 16 by 40, rough boarded and used
as a cooper&rsquo;s shop, kitchen and shelter for the workmen.</p>
<p>Portland Point lies at the foot of Portland street at the head of St. John
harbor&mdash;the locality is better known today as &ldquo;Rankin&rsquo;s Wharf.&rdquo; Before the
wharves in the vicinity were built the Point was quite a conspicuous feature in
the contour of the harbor. The site of the old French fort on which James Simonds&rsquo;
house was built, with the company&rsquo;s store hard by, is now a green mound
unoccupied by any building. The place was at first commonly called &ldquo;Simonds&rsquo;
Point&rdquo; but about the year 1776 the name of &ldquo;Portland Point&rdquo; seems to have come
into use. Nevertheless, down to the time of the arrival of the Loyalists in 1783,
the members of the company always applied the names of &ldquo;St. Johns&rdquo; or &ldquo;St.
John&rsquo;s River&rdquo; to the scene of their operations, and it may be said that in spite of
the attempt of the French governor Villebon and his contemporaries to perpetuate
the old Indian name of Menaquesk, or Menagoeche, and of Governor Parr in later
years to affix the name of &ldquo;Parr-town&rdquo; to that part of our city to the east of the
harbor, the name given by de Monts and Champlain on the memorable 24 June,
1604, has persisted to the present day. The city of ST. JOHN, therefore, has not
only the honor of being the oldest incorporated city in the British colonies, but
traces the origin of its name to a known and fixed date three hundred years ago.
Indeed as regards its name St. John is older than Boston, New York, Philadelphia
or any city of importance on the Atlantic coast as far south as Florida.</p>
<p>However the first English colonists who established themselves on a permanent
footing at &ldquo;St. John&rsquo;s&rdquo; thought little of this historic fact. It was not sentiment
but commercial enterprise than guided them.</p>
<p>Among those who came to St. John with Simonds and White in April, 1764,
none was destined to play a more active and useful part than young Jonathan
Leavitt. He was a native of New Hampshire and at the time of his arrival was
in his eighteenth year. Young as he was he had some experience as a mariner,
and from 1764 to 1774 was employed as master of one or other of the Company&rsquo;s
vessels. He sailed chiefly between St. John and Newburyport, but occasionally
made a voyage to the West Indies. He received the modest compensation of &pound;4
per month for his services. In the course of time Mr. Leavitt came to be one of
the most trusted navigators of the Bay of Fundy and probably none knew the harbor
of St. John so well as he. In his testimony in a law suit, about the year 1792,
he states that in early times the places of anchorage in the harbor were the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span>
flats on the west side between Fort Frederick and Sand Point, which were generally
used by strangers, and Portland Point where the vessels of the Company lay.
It was not until, 1783 that vessels began to anchor at the Upper Cove (now the
Market Slip), that place being until then deemed rather unsafe. Jonathan Leavitt
and has brother Daniel piloted to their landing places the transport ships that carried
some thousands of Loyalists to our shores during the year 1783.</p>
<p>Jonathan Leavitt gives an interesting synopsis of the business carried on at
St. John under the direction of Simonds and White: &ldquo;The Company&rsquo;s business
included Fishery, Fur trade, making Lime, building Vessels and sawing Lumber,
and they employed a great number of laborers and workmen in cutting wood, burning
lime, digging stone, cutting hoop-poles, clearing roads, clearing land, curing
fish, cutting hay and attending stock. The workmen and laborers were supported
and paid by the partnership and lived in the outhouse and kitchen of the house
occupied by Simonds and White. There was a store of dry goods and provisions
and articles for the Indian trade.&rdquo;</p>
<p>When he was at St. John, Leavitt lived in the family of Simonds and White
who lived together during the greater part of the ten years he was in the Company&rsquo;s
employ, and when they separated their families he staid sometimes with one and
sometimes with the other. Simonds and White were supplied with bread, meat
and liquors for themselves and families from the store, and no account was kept
whilst they lived together, but after they separated they were charged against each
family; the (workmen also were maintained, supported and fed from the joint stock
of the store, as it was considered they were employed for the joint benefit of the
company, but liquors and articles supplied on account of their wages were charged
against the individual accounts of the men. Part of the workmen and laborers
were hired by William Hazen and sent from Newburyport, others were engaged by
Simonds and White at the River St. John.</p>
<p>About the year 1772 Jonathan Leavitt married Capt. Francis Peabody&rsquo;s youngest
daughter, Hephzibeth, then about sixteen years of age, and thus became more
closely identified with James Simonds and James White, whose wives were also
daughters of Capt. Peabody.<a name='FNanchor_0066' id='FNanchor_0066'></a><a href='#Footnote_0066' class='fnanchor'>[66]</a></p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span></div>
<p>When Jonathan and Daniel Leavitt had for several years been engaged in sailing
the company&rsquo;s vessels, it is said that they became discouraged at the outlook
and talked of settling themselves at some place where there was a larger population
and more business. James White did his best to persuade them to remain,
closing his argument with the exhortation, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be discouraged, boys! Keep up
a good heart! Why ships will come here from England yet!&rdquo; And they have
come.</p>
<p>In addition to the Leavitts and the masters of some of the other vessels,
who were intelligent men, nearly all at St. John were ordinary laborers: however,
the company from time to time employed some capable young fellows to assist
in the Store at the Point. One of these was Samuel Webster, whose mother
was a half-sister of James Simonds. He remained nearly four years at St. John,
during which time he lived in the family of Simonds and White. While he was at St.
John goods were shipped to Newburyport and the West Indies by the Company
in considerable quantities. There were he says at times a very considerable number
of workmen and laborers employed, and at other times a smaller number,
according to the time of year, and as the nature of the employment required.
The laborers were fed, supported and paid out of the store, and lived in a house
only a few rods from Mr. Simonds&rsquo; house. Emerson spent most of his time in the
store, buying and selling and delivering small articles. He generally made the entries
in the Day Book.</p>
<p>Another lad, Samuel Emerson, of Bakerstown, Massachusetts, came to St.
John with James Simonds in April, 1767, as a clerk or assistant in the store, and
remained nearly four years in the Company&rsquo;s service.</p>
<p>At the expiration of the first year several changes occurred in the Company.
Richard Simonds had died on the 20th January, 1765. Robert Peaslie seems
not to have come to St. John, although it was stipulated in the contract that
he should do so, and early in 1765 he withdrew from the Company. In the
autumn of 1764, Leonard Jarvis, a young man of twenty-two years of age, became
associated with William Hazen as co-partner in his business in Newburyport and
became by common consent a sharer in the business at St. John. So far as we
can judge from his letters, Mr. Jarvis was a man of excellent business ability.
The accounts kept at Newburyport in connection with the Company&rsquo;s business are
in his handwriting and he attended to most of the correspondence with the St.
John partners.</p>
<p>The writer of this history has among his historic documents and papers a
number of account books in a very fair state of preservation, containing in part the
transactions of the company during the years they were in business at St. John. One
of these, a book of nearly 100 pages, ordinary foolscap size with stout paper cover,
is of special interest for it contains the record of the initial transactions of the
first business firm established at St. John a hundred and forty years ago. At the
top of the first page are the words</p>
<p class='center'>Day Book No. 1.<br />
1764. St. Johns River.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span></div>
<p>The book is intact and very creditably kept. The entries are in the hand writing
of James White. The accounts during the continuance of the partnership were
kept in New England currency or &ldquo;Lawful money of Massachusetts.&rdquo; The letters
L. M. were frequently employed to distinguish this currency from sterling money
and Nova Scotia currency. The value of the Massachusetts currency was in the proportion
of &pound;1 sterling to &pound;1. 6s. 8d. L. M.; the Nova Scotia dollar, or five shillings,
was equivalent to six shillings L. M. It is a fact worth recording, that the Massachusetts
currency was used in all ordinary business transactions on the River St.
John down to the time of the arrival of the Loyalists in 1783. This fact suffices to
show how close were the ties that bound the pre-loyalist settlers of the province to
New England, and it is scarcely a matter of surprise that during the Revolution the
Massachusetts congress found many sympathizers on the River St. John.</p>
<p>While accounts were kept according to the currency of New England, the
amount of cash handled by Simonds and White was insignificant. For years they supplied
the settlers on the river with such things as they required often receiving their
payment in furs and skins. In securing these the white inhabitants became such
expert hunters and trappers as to arouse the jealousy of the Indians and to give
rise to the pseudo-nym &ldquo;the bow and arrow breed,&rdquo; applied to them by some of the
half-pay officers who settled among them at the close of the American Revolution.
With the Indians the trade was almost entirely one of barter, the staple article being
the fur of the spring beaver.</p>
<p>The fur trade assumed large proportions at this period. The account books
of Simonds and White that are now in existence do not contain a complete record
of all the shipments made from St. John, but they show that during ten years of
uninterrupted trade from the time of their settlement at Portland Point to the outbreak
of the Revolution, they exported at least 40,000 beaver skins, 11,022 musquash,
6,050 Marten, 870 otter, 258 fisher, 522 Mink, 120 fox, 140 sable, 74 racoon, 67 loup-cervier,
8 wolverene, 5 bear, 2 Nova Scotia wolf, 50 carriboo, 85 deer, and 1,113
moose, besides 2,265 lbs. of castor and 3,000 lbs of feathers, the value of which according
to invoice was &pound;11,295 or about $40,000. The prices quoted are but a fraction
of those of modern days and by comparison appear ridiculously small. Other
traders were engaged in traffic with the Indians also, and if Messrs. Simonds and
White sent on an average 4,000 beaver skins to New England every year, it is manifest
that the fur trade of the river was a matter of some consequence.</p>
<p>James White was the principal agent in bartering with the Indians who had
every confidence in his integrity. Three-fourths of their trade was in beaver
skins and &ldquo;a pound of spring beaver&rdquo; (equivalent to 5 shillings in value) was the
unit employed in trade. Mr. White was usually called by the Indians &ldquo;K&rsquo;wabeet&rdquo;
or &ldquo;Beaver.&rdquo; It is said that in business with the Indians the fist of Mr. White was
considered to weigh a pound and his foot two pounds both in buying and selling.
But the same story is told of other Indian traders. The Indians were fond of
finery and ornaments. Among the articles sent by Samuel Blodget in 1764 were
nine pairs of green, scarlet and blue plush breeches at a guinea each; one blue gold
laced jacket and two scarlet gold laced jackets valued at &pound;3 each; also spotted
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span>
ermine jackets, ruffled shirts and three gold laced beaver hats (value of the latter
&pound;8 6s. 4d.) These may seem extravagant articles for the Indians yet their chiefs
and captains bought them and delighted to wear them on special occasions.<a name='FNanchor_0067' id='FNanchor_0067'></a><a href='#Footnote_0067' class='fnanchor'>[67]</a> It
was customary in trading with the savages to take pledges from them, for the payment
of their debts, silver trinkets, armclasps, medals, fuzees, etc. In the autumn
of 1777 a Yankee privateer from Machias, whose captain bore the singular name A.
Greene Crabtree, plundered Simonds &amp; White&rsquo;s store at Portland Point and carried
off a trunk full of Indian pledges. This excited the indignation of the Chiefs
Pierre Thoma and Francis Xavier who sent the following communication to Machias:
&ldquo;We desire you will return into the hands of Mr. White at Menaguashe the
pledges belonging to us which were plundered last fall out of Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s store by
A. Greene Crabtree, captain of one of your privateers; for if you don&rsquo;t send them
we will come for them in a manner you won&rsquo;t like.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The goods kept in the store at Portland Point for the Indian trade included
powder and shot for hunting, provisions, blankets and other &ldquo;necessaries&rdquo; and such
articles as Indian needles, colored thread, beads of various colors, a variety of
buttons&mdash;brass buttons, silver plated buttons, double-gilt buttons, scarlet buttons
and blue mohair buttons&mdash;scarlet blue and red cloth, crimson broadcloth, red and
blue stroud, silver and gold laced hats, gilt trunks, Highland garters, silver crosses,
round silver broaches, etc., etc.</p>
<p>The old account books bear evidence of being well thumbed, for Indian debts
were not easy to collect, and white men&rsquo;s debts were harder to collect in ancient than
in modern days. In point of fact the red man and the white man of the River St.
John ran a close race in their respective ledgers. For in a statement of accounts
rendered after the operations of the company had lasted rather more than two
years, the debts due were as follows: From the English &pound;607 11s. 9d. and from
the Indians &pound;615 7s. 9d. Old and thumb-worn as the account books are, written
with ink that had often been frozen and with quill pens that often needed mending,
they are extremely interesting as relics of the past, and are deserving of a
better fate than that which awaited them when by the merest accident they were
rescued from a dismal heap of rubbish.</p>
<p>In their business at Portland Point, Simonds and White kept four sets of accounts:
one for their Indian trade, a second for their business with the white inhabitants,
a third for that with their own employees, and a fourth for that with
the garrison at Fort Frederick.</p>
<p>In glancing over the leaves of the old account books the first thing likely to
attract attention is the extraordinary consumption of West India spirits and
New England rum. This was by no means confined to the Company&rsquo;s laborers,
for at that time the use of rum as a beverage was almost universal. It was dispensed
as an ordinary act of hospitality and even the preacher cheerfully accepted
the proffered cup. It was used in winter to keep out the cold and in summer
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span>
to keep out the heat. It was in evidence alike at a wedding or a funeral. No
barn-raising or militia general muster was deemed to be complete without the
jug, and in process of time the use of spirits was so habitual that Peter Fisher
was able to quote statistics in 1824 to prove that the consumption of ardent
liquors was nearly twenty gallons per annum for every male person above sixteen
years of age. While the use of rum may be regarded as the universal custom
of the day, at the same time tobacco was not in very general use. The use of
snuff, however, was quite common.</p>
<p>In the course of a few years the variety of articles kept in stock at the company&rsquo;s
store increased surprisingly until it might be said they sold everything
&ldquo;from a needle to an anchor.&rdquo; The paces at which some of the staple articles
were quoted appear in the foot note.<a name='FNanchor_0068' id='FNanchor_0068'></a><a href='#Footnote_0068' class='fnanchor'>[68]</a> Among other articles in demand were fishing
tackle, blue rattan and fear-nothing jackets, milled caps, woollen and check
shirts, horn and ivory combs, turkey garters, knee buckles, etc. Among articles
that strike us as novel are to be found tin candlesticks, brass door knobs, wool
cards, whip-saws, skates, razors and even mouse traps. Writing paper was sold
at 1s. 3d. per quire. The only books kept in stock were almanacks, psalters, spelling
books and primers.</p>
<p>Still though the variety at first glance seems greater than might have been
expected, a little further inspection will satisfy us that the life of that day was
one of extreme simplicity, of luxuries there were few, and even the necessaries of
life were sometimes scanty enough.</p>
<p>One hundred and forty years have passed since James Simonds and James
White set themselves down at the head of Saint John harbor as pioneers in
trade to face with indomitable energy and perseverance the difficulties of their
situation. These were neither few nor small, but they were Massachusetts men
and in their veins there flowed the blood of the Puritans. The determination
that enabled their progenitors to establish themselves around the shores of the
old Bay States upheld them in the scarcely less difficult task of creating for
themselves a home amidst the rocky hillsides that encircled the Harbor of St. John.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span></div>
<p>Today the old pioneers of 1764 would hardly recognize their ancient landmarks.
The ruggedness of old Men-ah-quesk has in a great measure disappeared; valleys
have been filled and hills cut down. The mill-pond where stood the old tide mill
is gone and the Union depot with its long freight sheds and maze of railway tracks
occupies its place. &ldquo;Mill&rdquo; street and &ldquo;Pond&rdquo; street alone remain to tell of what
has been. The old grist mill near Lily Lake and its successors have long since
passed away. It certainly was with an eye to business and not to pleasure, that
Hazen, Simonds and White built the first roadway to Rockwood Park. Could our
pioneers in trade revisit the scene of their labors and note the changes time has
wrought what would be their amazement? They would hardly recognize their surroundings.
Instead of rocks and crags covered with spruce and cedar, with here
and there an open glade, and the wide spreading mud flats at low tide they would
behold the wharves that line our shores, the ocean steamships lying in the channel,
grain elevators that receive the harvests of Canadian wheat-fields two thousand
miles away, streets traversed by electric cars and pavements traversed by thousands
of hurrying feet, bicyclists darting hither and thither, squares tastefully laid out and
adorned with flowers, public buildings and residences of goodly proportions and by
no means devoid of beauty, palatial hotels opening their doors to guests from
every clime, institutions for the fatherless and the widow, the aged, the poor, the
unfortunate, the sick the insane, churches with heaven directing spires, schools
whose teachers are numbered by the hundred and pupils by the thousand, public
libraries, courts of justice and public offices of nearly every description, business
establishments whose agents find their way into every nook and corner of old-time
Acadie, railways and steamboats that connect the city with all parts of the globe,
splendid bridges that span the rocky gorge at the mouth of the St. John where
twice in the course of every twenty-four hours the battle, old as the centuries,
rages between the outpouring torrent of the mighty river and the inflowing tide of
the bay.</p>
<p>A few years since the writer of this history in an article in the New Brunswick
Magazine endeavored to contrast a Saturday night of the olden time with one of
modern days.<a name='FNanchor_0069' id='FNanchor_0069'></a><a href='#Footnote_0069' class='fnanchor'>[69]</a></p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_25' id='linki_25'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i194.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='400' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
A COTTAGE OF TODAY.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>&ldquo;Saturday night in the year 1764&mdash;The summer sun sinks behind the hills and
the glow of evening lights the harbor. At the landing place at Portland Point, one
or two fishing boats are lying on the beach, and out a little from the shore a small
square sterned schooner lies at her anchor. The natural lines of the harbor are
clearly seen. In many places the forest has crept down nearly to the water&rsquo;s
edge. Wharves and shipping there are none. Ledges of rock, long since removed,
crop up here and there along the harbor front. The silence falls as the day&rsquo;s work
is ended at the little settlement, and the sound of the waters rushing through the
falls seems, in the absence of other sounds, unnaturally predominant. Eastward of
Portland Pond we see the crags and rocks of the future city of the Loyalists, the
natural ruggedness in some measure hidden by the growth of dark spruce and
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span>
graceful cedar, while in the foreground lies the graceful curve of the &ldquo;Upper Cove&rdquo;
where the forest fringes the waters edge. We may easily cross in the canoe of
some friendly Indian and land where, ten years later, the Loyalists landed, but we
shall find none to welcome us. The spot is desolate, and the stillness only broken
by the occasional cry of some wild animal, the song of the bird in the forest and
the ripple of waves on the shore.</p>
<p>The shadows deepen as we return to the Point, and soon the little windows of
the settlers&rsquo; houses begin to glow. There are no curtains to draw or blinds to pull
down or shutters to close in these humble dwellings, but the light, though unobstructed
shines but feebly, for &rsquo;tis only the glimmer of a tallow candle that we see
or perhaps the flickering of the firelight from the open chimney that dances on the
pane.</p>
<p>In the homes of the dwellers at St. John Saturday night differs little from any
other night. The head of the house is not concerned about the marketing or telephoning
to the grocer; the maid is not particularly anxious to go &ldquo;down town;&rdquo; the
family bath tub may be produced (and on Monday morning it will be used for the
family washing), but the hot water will not be drawn from the tap. The family
retire at an early hour, nor are their slumbers likely to be disturbed by either fire
alarm or midnight train. And yet in the olden times the men, we doubt not, were
wont to meet on Saturday nights at the little store at the Point to compare notes
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span>
and to talk over the few topics of interest in their monotonous lives. We seem to
see them even now&mdash;a little coterie&mdash;nearly all engaged in the company&rsquo;s employ,
mill hands, fishermen, lime-burners, laborers, while in a corner James White pores
over his ledger posting his accounts by the light of his candle and now and again
mending his goose-quill pen. But even at the store the cheerful company soon disperses;
the early-closing system evidently prevails, the men seek their several
abodes and one by one the lights in the little windows vanish. There is only one
thing to prevent the entire population from being in good time for church on
Sunday morning, and that is there is not any church for them to attend.</p>
<p>Then and now! We turn from our contemplation of Saturday night as we have
imagined it in 1764 to look at a modern Saturday night in St. John. No greater contrast
can well be imagined. Where once were dismal shades of woods and swamps,
there is a moving gaily-chattering crowd that throngs the walks of Union, King and
Charlotte streets. The feeble glimmer of the tallow candle in the windows of the
few houses at Portland Point has given place to the blaze of hundreds of electric
lights that shine far out to sea, twinkling like bright stars in the distance, and reflected
from the heavens, serving to illuminate the country for miles around.
Our little knot of villagers in the olden days used to gather in their one little store
to discuss the day&rsquo;s doing; small was the company, and narrow their field of observation;
and their feeble gossip is today replaced by the rapid click of the telegraph
instruments, the rolling of the steam-driven printing press and the cry of the newsboy
at every corner; the events of all the continents are proclaimed in our
streets almost as soon as they occur.</p>
<p>And yet from all the luxury and ease, as well as from the anxiety and cares
of busy modern days, we like sometimes to escape and get a little nearer to the
heart of nature and to adopt a life of rural simplicity not far removed from that
which once prevailed at Portland Point, content with some little cottage, remote
from the hurry and din of city life in which to spend the good old summer time.&rdquo;</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XVIII_ST_JOHN_AND_ITS_BUSINESS_ONE_HUNDRED_AND_FORTY_YEARS_AGO' id='CHAPTER_XVIII_ST_JOHN_AND_ITS_BUSINESS_ONE_HUNDRED_AND_FORTY_YEARS_AGO'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>St. John and its Business One Hundred and Forty Years Ago.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>The circumstances under which the trading company of Blodget, Simonds, Hazen,
Peaslie, White and Richard Simonds was organized in 1764 have been already described.
The original contract is yet in existence and in a very excellent state of
preservation. It is endorsed &ldquo;Contract for St. Johns &amp; Passamaquodi.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0070' id='FNanchor_0070'></a><a href='#Footnote_0070' class='fnanchor'>[70]</a> A fac-simile
of the signatures appended to it is here given.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_26' id='linki_26'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i196.jpg' alt='' title='' width='353' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Signatures<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>A short account may be given of each member of the partnership.</p>
<p>Samuel Blodget was a Boston man, somewhat older than the other members of
the company, careful and shrewd, possessed of some money and little learning. He
had been associated with William Hazen in contracts for supplying the troops on
Lake Champlain in the recent French war; there seems to have been also a remote
family connection between Samuel Blodget and James Simonds. Mr. Blodget&rsquo;s
connection with the company lasted a little more than two years. During this
time a considerable part of the furs, fish, lime and lumber obtained by Simonds and
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span>
White at the River St. John were consigned to him at Boston. In return Blodget
supplied goods for the Indian trade and other articles needed, but his caution proved
a source of dissatisfaction to the other partners and Hazen &amp; Jarvis at the end
of the first year&rsquo;s business wrote to Simonds &amp; White, &ldquo;Mr. Blodget tells us that
he never expected to advance more than a quarter of the outsets. We think in this
he does not serve us very well, as we can&rsquo;t see into the reason of our advancing
near three-quarters and doing more than ten times the business and his having an
equal share of the profits. Pray give us your opinion on that head. You may rest
assured that we will not leave one stone unturned to keep you constantly supply&rsquo;d
and believe, even if we should not have the requisite assistance from Mr. Blodget,
we shall be able to effect it.&rdquo; To this James Simonds replies, &ldquo;With respect to Mr.
Blodget&rsquo;s not advancing more than precisely &frac14; part of the outsets is what I never
before understood; I am sure by his situation that he can do but a little part of
the Business and therefore think he ought to excell in his proportion of Supplys
rather than to fall short.&rdquo;</p>
<p>A second year of the partnership passed and Samuel Blodget became exceedingly
serious about the ultimate outcome of the venture. He wrote a letter on the
18th March, 1766, to Simonds &amp; White of which the extract that follows is a part:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;I have been Largely concerned in partnerships before Now but Never so Ignorant
of any as of the present, which I am willing to Impute it to your hurry of
Business, But Let me Tell you that partners are in a high degree guilty of Imprudence
to Continue a Large Trade for Two years without Settling or knowing whether
they have Lost a hundred pounds or not&mdash;although they may be ever so Imersed in
Business, for the Sooner they Stop the better, provided they are Losing money&mdash;as
it seames in Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s oppinion we have Lost money&mdash;perhaps you may Know
to the Contrary. But then how agreable would it be to me (who have a Large
Sum in your hands) to know as much as you do. Pray Suffer me to ask you, can
you wonder to find me anxious about my Interest when I am so Ignorant what it is
in? I am sure you don&rsquo;t Gent&rsquo;n. I am not in doubt of your Integrity. I think I
know you Both Two well. But common prudence calls Loudly upon us all to
adjust our accounts as soon as may be. I have not the Least Line under yours and
Mr. White&rsquo;s hands that the Articles which we signed the first years, which was
dated the First of March, 1764,&mdash;which was but for one yeare&mdash;should Continue to
the present Time, nor do I doubt your onour, but Still mortallety Requiyers it to
be done and I should take it Coind to Receive Such a Righting sent by both of
you.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Mr. Blodget&rsquo;s uneasiness as to the outcome of the business was set at rest very
shortly after he wrote the above, for on April 5th Hazen and Jarvis tell their partners
at St. John:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;We have purchased Mr. Blodget&rsquo;s Interest, for which we are to pay him his
outsetts. We are in hopes that we shall be able to carry on the Business better
without than with him. * * We must beg you would be as frugal as possible in the
laying out of any money that benefits will not be immediately reaped from, and
that you will make as large remittances as you possibly can to enable us to discharge
the Company&rsquo;s debt to Blodget, for we shall endeavor all in our power to discharge
our obligations to him as we do not chuse to lay at his Mercy.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thus it appears that if Samuel Blodget&rsquo;s two years connection with the company
was not greatly to his advantage, it did him no material injury. From this
time he ceases to have any interest for us in the affairs at Portland Point.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span></div>
<p>James Simonds, whose name is second among the signers of the business contract
of 1764, may be regarded as the founder of the first permanent settlement at
the mouth of the River St. John. His most remote ancestor in America was William
Simonds of Woburn, Massachusetts. This William Simonds married Judith
Phippen, who came to America in the ship &ldquo;Planter&rdquo; in 1635. Tradition
says that as the vessel drew near her destination land was first described
by Judith <a name='TC_43'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Phippin">Phippen</ins>, which proved to be the headland now called
&ldquo;Point Judith.&rdquo; Among the passengers of the &ldquo;Planter&rdquo; were the ancestors of
many well known families in America, bearing the familiar names of Peabody, <a name='TC_44'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Parley'">Perley</ins>,
Beardsley, Carter, Hayward, Reed, Lawrence, Cleveland, Davis and Peters. In
1643 Judith Phippen became the wife of William Simonds. The house in which they
lived at Woburn, Mass., and where their twelve children were born, is probably yet
standing&mdash;at least it was when visited a few years since by one of their descendants
living in this province. William Simonds&rsquo; tenth child, James, was the grandfather of
our old Portland Point pioneer. He married Susanna Blodget and their sixth child,
Nathan, was the father of James Simonds, who came to St. John. Nathan
Simonds married Sarah Hazen of Haverhill, an aunt of William Hazen, and their
oldest child James (the subject of this sketch) was born at Haverhill, December 10,
1735.</p>
<p>James Simonds, as mentioned in a former chapter, served in &ldquo;the old French
war&rdquo; and was with his cousin Captain John Hazen in the campaign against Fort
<a name='TC_45'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Ticonderga'">Ticonderoga</ins>. His subsequent career we have already touched upon and he will naturally
continue to be a leading character in the story of the early history of St.
John. He was evidently a man of stout constitution and vigor of body, for he
not only survived all his contemporaries who came to St. John, but he outlived
every member of the first New Brunswick legislature and every official appointed
by the crown at the organization of the province. He passed to his rest in the house
he had built at Portland Point at the patriarchal age of 95 years. His widow
Hannah (Peabody) Simonds died in 1840 at the age of 90 years.</p>
<p>Of James Simonds&rsquo; large family of fourteen children several were prominent in
the community. Hon. Charles Simonds was for years the leading citizen of Portland.
He was born the same year the Loyalists landed in St. John, and was a member for
St. John county in the House of Assembly from 1821 until his death in 1859, filling
during that time the positions of speaker and leader of the government. Hon.
Richard Simonds, born in 1789, represented the county of Northumberland in the
House of Assembly when but twenty-one years of age and sat from 1810 to 1828,
when he was appointed treasurer of the province. He filled for a short time the
position of speaker of the assembly, and from 1829 until his death in 1836 was a
member of the Legislative Council. Sarah, one of the daughters of James Simonds,
married (Sept. 10, 1801) Thomas Millidge, the ancestor of the Millidges of St. John;
her youngest sister Eliza married (Aug. 9, 1801) Henry Gilbert, merchant of St.
John, from whom the members of this well known family are descended.</p>
<p>William Hazen, the third of the signers of the partnership contract, was born
in Haverhill July 17, 1738. His great-grandfather, Edward Hazen, the first of the
name in America, was a resident of Rowley, Massachusetts, as early as the year
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span>
1649. By his wife Hannah Grant he had four sons and seven daughters. The
youngest son Richard, born August 6, 1669, inherited the large estate of his stepfather,
George Browne, of Haverhill. This Richard Hazen was grandfather of
James Simonds as well as of William Hazen; he married Mary Peabody and had
a family of five sons and six daughters (one of the latter was the mother of
James Simonds.) The third son, Moses Hazen was the ancestor of the Hazens of
New Brunswick.</p>
<p>The wife of Moses Hazen was Abigail White, aunt of James White who came
to St. John. Their sons John, Moses and William have a special interest for us.
John, the oldest distinguished himself as a captain of the Massachusetts troops in
the French war. He married Anne Swett of Haverhill, and had a son John, who
came with his uncle William to St. John in 1775 and settled at Burton on the River
St. John, where he married Dr. William McKinstry&rsquo;s daughter, Priscilla, and had a
family of twelve children. J. Douglas Hazen, of St. John, M. P. P., for Sunbury
County, is one of his descendants.</p>
<p>Moses Hazen, the second son has been mentioned as commander of one of the
companies of the Fort Frederick garrison in 1759; he became a Brigadier General
in the American army in the Revolutionary war.</p>
<p>William Hazen, the third son and co-partner of Simonds and White, was born
in Haverhill, July 17, 1738. He married, July 14, 1764, Sarah Le Baron of Plymouth.</p>
<p>Their family was even larger than that of James Simonds and included sixteen
children. Of these Elizabeth married the elder Ward Chipman, Judge of the Supreme
Court, and at the time of his death in 1824 administrator of government; Sarah
Lowell married Thomas Murray (grandfather of the late Miss Frances Murray of
St. John, one of the cleverest women the province has ever produced) and after his
early decease became the wife of Judge William Botsford&mdash;their children were Senator
Botsford, George Botsford and Dr. Le Baron Botsford; Charlotte married General
Sir John Fitzgerald; Frances Amelia married Col. Charles Drury of the imperial
army, father of the late Ward Chipman Drury.</p>
<p>Among the more distinguished descendants of William Hazen by the male line
were Hon. Robert L. Hazen&mdash;popularly known as &ldquo;Curly Bob&rdquo;&mdash;recorder of the city
of St. John, a very eminent leader in our provincial politics and at the time of his
death a Canadian senator; also Robert F. Hazen who was mayor of St. John and
one of its most influential citizens.</p>
<p>The elder William Hazen died in 1814 at the age of 75 years. His eldest
daughter, Mrs. Chipman, died at the Chipman House May 18, 1852, the sixty-ninth
anniversary of the landing of the Loyalists and her son, Chief Justice Chipman,
died November 26, 1851, the sixty seventh anniversary of the organisation of the
first supreme court of the province. The widow of Chief Justice Chipman died the
4th of July, 1876, the centennial of the Declaration of Independence. And finally a
William Hazen, of the fourth generation, died June 17, 1885, the same day on which
his ancestor left Newburyport for St. John one hundred and ten years before.</p>
<p>The first three signers of the articles of partnership under which business was
undertaken at St. John in 1764, viz. Samuel Blodget, James Simonds and William
Hazen, had each one-quarter interest in the business, the junior partners, Robert
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span>
Peaslie, James White and Richard Simonds had only one-twelfth part each. The
articles of partnership provided that James Simonds and the three junior partners
should proceed to St. John as soon as possible, and there do what business was
necessary to be done during the co-partnership, and that Samuel Blodget and William
Hazen should remain at Boston an Newburyport to forward supplies and receive
what might be sent from St. John or elsewhere by the company. For some reason
Robert Peaslie did not go to St. John. He married Anna Hazen, a sister of
William Hazen, and settled in Haverhill, retiring not long afterwards from the company.
Another of the junior partners, Richard Simonds, lost his life, as already
stated, on the 20th January, 1765, in the defence of the property of the company
when the Indians were about to carry it off.</p>
<p>In the autumn of the year 1764, Leonard Jarvis, then a young man of twenty-two
years of age, entered into partnership with William Hazen at Newburyport
and became, by common consent, a sharer in the business at St. John. He was
a man of ability and education. The accounts kept at Newburyport in connection
with the business are in his handwriting, and he conducted the correspondence of
Hazen &amp; Jarvis with Simonds &amp; White in a manner that would do no discredit to
a modern business house. In a letter of the 3rd April, 1765, Mr. Jarvis informs
James Simonds that &ldquo;Mr. Peaslie has determined to settle down in Haverhill and to
leave this concern, and as by this means and the death of your Brother, in which we
sincerely condole with you, one-eighth part of the concern becomes vacant, we propose
to let Mr. White have one-eighth and to take three-eighths ourselves&mdash;this you
will please consult Mr. White upon and advice us. * * * We must beg you will
send all the accts. both you and Mr. White have against the Company, and put
us in a way to settle with Mr. Peaslie.&rdquo;</p>
<p>James White, the fifth signer of the articles of partnership, was born in Haverhill
in 1738, and was a lineal descendant of the Worshipful William White, one of
the well-known founders of the place. He served as Ensign or Lieutenant in a
Massachusetts regiment, but after the fall of Quebec retired from active service and
entered the employ of William Tailer and Samuel Blodget, merchants of Boston, at
a very modest salary, as appears from the following:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Memorandum of an agreement made this day between William Tailer &amp; Co.,
with James White, that we, the said Tailer &amp; Co., do allow him the said James
White twenty dollars pr. month as long as the said White is in their service at
Crown Point as Clark.</p>
<p class='right' style='margin-bottom:0em;'>&ldquo;William Tailer &amp; Co.</p>
<p class='lalign' style="margin-top:0em;">&ldquo;Test: Geo. Willmot.<br />
<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;Crown Point, July 1st, 1762.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>James White&rsquo;s papers, now in possession of a gentleman in St. John, show that
he was engaged in the business of Tailer and Blodget at Crown Point continuously
from September, 1761, to July, 1763; consequently the statement, commonly made,
that he came to St. John with Francis Peabody, James Simonds, Hugh Quinton
and their party in 1762 is a mistake.</p>
<p>In the early part of 1764 James White was employed by Samuel Blodget in
business transactions in Haverhill, New Salem and Bradford. The first occasion on
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span>
which he set foot on the shores of St. John was when he landed there with James
Simonds and the party that established themselves at Portland Point in the month
of April, 1764. The important part he played in the early affairs of St. John will
abundantly appear in these pages. He was one of the most active and energetic men
of his generation and filled several offices in the old county of Sunbury, of which
county he was sheriff. This office seems to have had special attractions for the
White family, for his son James was sheriff of the city and county of St. John for
more than thirty years, and one of his daughters married Sheriff DeVeber of Queens
county. Mr. White was collector of customs at St. John when the Loyalists landed.
The emoluments of this office were small, for in the year 1782 only a dozen vessels
entered and cleared at St. John, the largest of but 30 tons burden. James White
spent the closing years of his life on his farm at the head of the marsh about
three miles from the City of St. John. His residence was known as Gretna Green,
from the fact that a good many quiet weddings were celebrated by the old squire,
who was one of the magistrates specially commissioned to solemnize marriages. He
died in 1815 at the age of 77 years.</p>
<p>Having now spoken of the individuals composing St. John&rsquo;s first trading company,
the nature of the business pursued claims a little attention. The task that lay
before James Simonds and James White was no easy one. Difficulties, many of
them entirely unforseen, had to be faced and the great diversity of their business
rendered their situation arduous and sometimes discouraging. At one time the fishery
claimed their attention, at another bartering with the Indians, at another the
erection of houses for themselves and their tenants, at another the dyking of the
marsh, at another the erection of a mill, at another the building of a schooner, at
another laying out roads and clearing lands, at another the burning of a lime-kiln,
at another furnishing supplies for the garrison at the fort, at another the building
of a wharf or the erection of a store-house.</p>
<p>Communication with New England in these days was slow and uncertain and
often the non-arrival of a vessel, when the stock of provisions had run low, caused
a good deal of grumbling on the part of the hands employed. This was particularly
the case if the supply of rum chanced to run out. The wages of the laborers
employed by the company were generally 2s. 6d., or half a dollar, a
day and they boarded themselves. As a rule the men took up
their wages at the store and the item most frequently entered
against their names was New England rum. The writer had the curiosity to examine
the charges for rum in one of the old day books for a period of a month&mdash;the
month selected at random&mdash;when it appeared that, of a dozen laborers, four men
averaged half a pint each per day, while with the other eight men the same allowance
lasted three days. Tea, the great modern beverage, was rather a luxury and
appears to have been used sparingly and rum, which retailed at 8 pence a pint, was
used almost universally. Human nature was much the same in the eighteenth as in
the twentieth century. The men often drank to excess, and some of them would
have been utterly unreliable but for the fact that Simonds and White were masters
of the situation and could cut off the supply. They generally doled out the liquor
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span>
by half pints and gills to their laborers. On one occasion we find Mr. Simonds writing,
&ldquo;The men are in low spirts, have nothing to eat but pork and bread, and nothing
but water to drink. Knowing this much I trust you will lose no time in sending
to our relief.&rdquo;</p>
<p>At various times the privations were exceedingly great and even after the little
colony had been for some years established at Portland Point they suffered for
lack of the necessaries of life. Mr. Simonds thus describes their experience
in the early part of 1770:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Most difficult to remedy and most distressing was the want of provisions and
hay. Such a scene of misery of man and beast we never saw before. There was
not anything of bread kind equal to a bushel of meal for every person when the
schooner sailed for Newbury the 6th of February (three months ago) and less of
meat and vegetables in proportion&mdash;the Indians and hogs had part of that little.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He goes on to say that the flour that had just arrived in the schooner was
wet and much damaged; no Indian corn was to be had; for three months they had
been without molasses or coffee, nor had they any tea except of the spruce variety.</p>
<p>In one of his letters, written a few months after the commencement of operations
at St. John, Simonds urges the careful attention of Blodget and Hazen to
their part of the business, observing: &ldquo;I hope if I sacrifice my interest, ease, pleasure
of Good Company, and run the risque even of life itself for the benefit of the
Company, those who live where the circumstances are every way the reverse will
in return be so good as to take every pains to dispose of all effects remitted to
them to the best advantage.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The first year of the Company&rsquo;s operations was in some respects phenomenal.
On the 30th September, 1764, a very severe shock of an earthquake occurred at
St. John about 12 o&rsquo;clock, noon. The winter that followed was one of unusual
severity with storms that wrought much damage to shipping. Leonard Jarvis
wrote to James Simonds on April 3, 1765, &ldquo;There has not been in the memory of
man such a winter as the last and we hope there never will be again.&rdquo; Mr. Simonds
in his reply says &ldquo;The winter has been much here as in New England.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the same letter just referred to Mr. Jarvis says: &ldquo;We hope in future, by
keeping the schooner constantly running between this place and yours, that we shall
be able to surmount our greatest difficulties. At present we can only say that
nothing shall be wanting on our parts (and we are well assured that you will continue
to endeavour) to make this concern turn out in the end an advantageous one.
It would give us great pleasure could we ease you of part of your burden and know
what difficulties you have to go through * * We have sent you by this schooner
some table linen and what other table furniture we thought you might have occasion
for. If there is anything more wanting to make you not only comfortable but
Genteel, beg you would advise us and we will furnish you with it by the return of
the schooner Wilmot.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In reply to this Mr. Simonds writes, &ldquo;I am obliged to you for sending some
furniture, for truly none was ever more barely furnished than we were before.
Gentility is out of the question.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The business of Simonds and White was not confined to St. John, they had
quite an important post for the Indian trade and the fishery on an island adjacent
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span>
to Campobello, now known as Indian Island. And it may be observed in passing
that this was an island of many names. James Boyd, a Scotchman who lived there
in 1763, called it Jeganagoose&mdash;evidently a form of Misignegoos, the name by which
it is known to the Indians of Passamaquoddy. A French settler named La
Treille lived there in 1688, and this explains the origin of the name Latterell Island,
applied to it in early times. In the grant of 1765 it is called Perkins Island. This
place owing to its proximity to New England had been the first to attract Mr.
Simonds&rsquo; notice. The smaller vessels of the Company, such as the sloops &ldquo;Bachelor&rdquo;
and &ldquo;Peggy &amp; Molly&rdquo; and the schooners &ldquo;Eunice&rdquo; and &ldquo;Polly,&rdquo; were for several
years employed in fishing at Passamaquoddy from April to October. The masters
of the vessels received &pound;4 per month for their services. The crews employed
were for the most part engaged by Hazen and Jarvis and at the close of the season
returned to their homes in New England. It was the custom for a year or two
for one of the partners, Simonds or White, to attend at Passamaquoddy during
the fishing season. From 1765 to 1770 Isaac Marble of Newburyport was their
principal &ldquo;shoresman.&rdquo; The partners had a keen eye to business; on one occasion
they purchased a whale from the Indians and tried out the oil, but this seems to
have been merely a stray monster of the deep for, in answer to the query of Hazen
&amp; Jarvis, James Simonds writes, &ldquo;With respect to whaling, don&rsquo;t think the sort of
whales that are in Passamaquada bay can be caught.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It was from Passamaquoddy that the first business letter extant of the company&rsquo;s
correspondence was written by James Simonds to William Hazen on the
18th August, 1764. The business was then in an experimental stage, and Mr.
Simonds in this letter writes, &ldquo;If you &amp; Mr. Blodget think it will be best to carry
on business largely at St. John&rsquo;s we must have another house with a cellar; the
latter is now dug and stoned &amp; will keep apples, potatoes &amp; other things that
will not bear the frost, for a large trade; this building will serve as a house and
store, the old store for a Cooper&rsquo;s shop. If the lime answers well we shall want
150 hogsheads with hoops and boards for heads; also boards for a house, some
glass, etc., bricks for chimney and hinges for two doors. I think the business at
St. John&rsquo;s may be advantageous, if not too much entangled with the other. We
can work at burning Lime, catching fish in a large weir we have built for bass
up the river at the place where we trade with the Indians, trade with the Soldiers
and Inhabitants, etc. Next winter we can employ the oxen at sleding wood and
lime stone, Mr. Middleton at making casks; don&rsquo;t think it best to keep any men
at Passamaquada [for the winter].&rdquo;</p>
<p>It was the intention of Simonds &amp; White to bring the hands employed at Passamaquoddy
to St. John in a sloop expected in the fall with goods and stores, but
on the 16th December we find Mr. Simonds writing to Blodget &amp; Hazen, &ldquo;Have
long waited with impatience for the arrival of the sloop; have now given her over
for lost. All the hopes I have is that the winds were contrary in New England as
they were here all the fall; that detained her until too late and you concluded not
to send her. We had a fine prospect of a good trade last fall, and had the goods
come in season should by this time have disposed of them to great advantage;
but instead of that we have missed collecting the greater part of our Indian
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span>
debts, as they expected us up the river and have not been here on that account.... I
have not heard from Passamaquada for six weeks, but fear they have
little or no provisions, and am sure they have no hay for a cow that is there.
She being exceeding good, shall endeavor to save her life till you can send hay
for her. I shall go there as soon as the weather moderates (it has been intensely
cold lately) and employ the men there as well as I can, as they are confined there
contrary to intention for the winter, and return here as soon as possible.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The non-arrival of provisions for the men and of hay for the oxen Mr. Simonds
deplores as likely to overthrow all pans for the winter. They had intended to
use the oxen to sled wood and lime-stone&mdash;a much easier way than carting in the
summer. He says, &ldquo;We have stone dug for 500 hogsheads of lime and near wood
enough cut to burn it; that must now lay till carting, and we shift as well as we
can to employ our men so as not to have them run us in debt. * * can think of
nothing better than to make a resolute push up the river with our men, employ some
of them at making lumber, others at clearing land and fitting it for grain in the
spring.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Company had some formidable rivals at Passamaquoddy for the next spring
we find James Simonds telling Hazen &amp; Jarvis, &ldquo;There is such a number of traders
at Passamaquoddy that I don&rsquo;t expect much trade there this spring: have prevailed
with the Commandant at Fort Frederick to stop them going up this river: there has
been no passing the falls till now (May 27th) by reason of the freshet. Shall go
over this afternoon and proceed directly to Ocpaque, an Indian village eighty miles
up the river.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the favor shown them by the commandant of the garrison,
Simonds &amp; White found rivals in the Indian trade even an the River St. John.
Among the earliest were John Anderson and Captain Isaac Caton. The minutes
of the council of Nova Scotia show that on August 9, 1763, license was granted Mr.
Anderson to occupy 50 acres of any lands unappropriated on the St. John river,
and under date June 7, 1765, we have the following:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;License is hereby granted to John Anderson to traffick with the Tribes of Indians
on St. John&rsquo;s River and in the Bay of Fundy, he conducting himself without Fraud
or Violence and submitting himself to the observance of such regulations as may
at any time hereafter be established for the better ordering of such commerce.
This license to continue during pleasure.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Anderson selected as his location the site of Villebon&rsquo;s old Fort at the mouth of
the Nashwaak, where he obtained in 1765, a grant of 1,000 acres of land, built
himself a dwelling house and established a trading post convenient to the Indian
village of Aukpaque, a few miles above. He had the honor to be the first magistrate
on the River St. John, his commission dating August 17, 1765; the next appointed
was colonel Beamsley P. Glacier, on 15th October, same year. John Anderson
obtained his goods and supplies of Martin Gay, merchant of Boston, and one
Charles Martin was his bookkeeper and assistant. He called his place &ldquo;Monkton,&rdquo;
a name it retained for many years.<a name='FNanchor_0071' id='FNanchor_0071'></a><a href='#Footnote_0071' class='fnanchor'>[71]</a> Early in 1768 Anderson had the misfortune
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span>
to lose a vessel laden with goods for the India trade. James Simonds mentions
this incident in a letter to Hazen &amp; Jarvis and remarks: &ldquo;We imagine the loss
of Mr. Anderson&rsquo;s vessel will cause more trade to come to us than we should
have had if she had gone safe.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Captain Isaac Caton was granted a licence &ldquo;to traffick with the Indians on Saint
John&rsquo;s river and the Bay of Fundy,&rdquo; on Nov&rsquo;r. 9, 1765. He probably made his
headquarters at the old French trading post on the historic Island of Emenemic, in
Long Reach, of which he was a grantee about thus time, and which has since been
called Caton&rsquo;s Island.</p>
<p>Simonds and White did not find the Indian trade entirely to their liking and
after a few years experience wrote (under date June 20, 1767), &ldquo;The Indian debts
we cannot lessen being obliged to give them new credit as a condition of their
paying their old debts. They are very numerous at this time but have made bad
hunts; we have got a share of their peltry, as much as all the others put together,
and hope soon to collect some more. There is scarcely a shilling of money in the
country. Respecting goods we think it will be for our advantage not to bring any
Toys and Trinkets (unnecessary articles) in sight of the Indians, and by that means
recover them from their bankruptcy. They must have provisions and coarse goods
for the winter, and if we have a supply of those articles, by keeping a store
here and up the River make no doubt of having most of the Trade. Shall have
a store ready by September next, and hope to have it finished by the last of that
month.&rdquo;</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_27' id='linki_27'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i205.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='372' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
ICE-JAM ABOVE GOVERNMENT HOUSE, FREDERICTON, MARCH, 1902.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>The store was built near the site of Government House and according to
Moses H. Perley it was carried away by one of those periodical ice-jams for which
the vicinity of St. Ann&rsquo;s Point has been noted from time immemorial. See <a name='TC_46'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'ilustration'">illustration</ins>
on preceding page of a recent ice-jam at this place.</p>
<p>Another store was built and Benjamin Atherton took charge of it. In addition
to trade with the Indians he did business with the white settlers under the
name and title of Atherton &amp; Co. Furs and produce were frequently transported to
St. John from the post at St. Anns in summer in gondolas and in the winter on
ice by means of horses and sleds.</p>
<p>The volume of business in the aggregate was quite large for those days. In addition
to the exportation of furs and peltry to the value of $40,000, the company
sent to New England and the West Indies large quantities of pollock, mackerel
and codfish taken in the Bay. The gasperaux fishery at St. John was also an important
factor in their trade; in the seven years previous to the Revolutionary
war Simonds &amp; White shipped to Boston 4,000 barrels of gasperaux valued at
about $12,000. They also shipped quantities of bass, shad, salmon and sturgeon.
Perhaps their profits would have been even greater had not many of the men who
were at other times in their employ engaged in fishing on their own account.
The community was not an ideal one for Mr. Simonds writes: &ldquo;In the spring we
must go into the Weirs every tide to keep our men from selling bait to the fishermen
for rum, which is not only attended with the loss of the fish so sold, but of
the men&rsquo;s time who would drink so to excess as not to be able to do anything.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span></div>
<p>In the Champlain&rsquo;s map of St. John harbor and its surroundings a lake or pond is
shown at the spot where the Union depot and freight sheds stand today. At the
outlet of this pond a dam and tide mill were built by Simonds and White in the
year 1766. The mill was put in operation the next season and from that day to
this lumber has been one of St. John&rsquo;s staple articles of export. Primitive as was
this saw-mill some difficulty was experienced in procuring proper hands to run it.
James Simonds in his letter of June 20, 1767, to Hazen &amp; Jarvis writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The sloop Bachelor did not return from up the River before this morning.
We have but few fish; the men that undertook the weirs were very slow and unfaithful,
and not only neglected the fisheries but the Mill also, for which reason
we have not a full load for the Sloop. The Mill we have not nor shall be able to
keep at work without more and better hands; have four less than we ought
to have for different branches of work, if all of them was good boys, and with those
that are bad must make a bad figure. We have promised 30 to 40 hogsheads Lime
to Mr. Best of Halifax and hourly expect a vessel for it, and have encouragement
of a contract for the King&rsquo;s works there; expect nothing but to disappoint him as
that rascal negro West cannot be flattered or drove to do one fourth of a man&rsquo;s
work; shall give him a strong dose on Monday morning which will make him better
or worse, no dependence can be put on him. * * We want three men, one
that understands tending a mill and two teamsters, which we beg you will send in
next vessel.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The correspondence of the partners shows that the manufacture of lime continued
to engage their attention. The first kiln was built in rear of the store and
dwellings at Portland Point near the base of Fort Howe hill. When James
Simonds visited Halifax in September, 1764, he wrote a very interesting letter to
Samuel Blodget in which he says: &ldquo;I have been with the King&rsquo;s chief Mason;
have shewn him a sample of our lime; he likes it well and gives me encouragement
that he will take all of me that he wants either for public or private use (he is the
only dealer in town) at a rate that will net at St. John&rsquo;s three dollars or more pr.
hogshead.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Several coopers were sent from Newburyport by Hazen &amp; Jarvis to manufacture
hogsheads for the lime business, one hogshead being considered about as much as
a man could make in a day. With the view of securing a more desirable class of
employees the company began at this time to take into their service married men
with families for whose accommodation they built comfortable log houses. Yet
even here there were disappointments, as we learn from another of Mr. Simonds&rsquo;
letters in which he says: &ldquo;Our help mostly failed us last fall, and the hay season
was the wettest that was ever known, which prevented our having a sufficient
quantity of lime-stone dug and wood cut to employ the teams to good advantage. * * Old
Abbot (the cooper) did not do one day&rsquo;s work for sixty days after his wife
arrived; no dependence can be placed on him, and as Stevens goes a fishing in the
Spring on his own account we shall want another cooper and three labourers. It
will make a material difference if these men are of a tractable disposition.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The lime manufactured was shipped to Halifax, Boston and the West Indies,
and on one occasion a cargo was sent to Newfoundland.</p>
<p>There is in possession of the Hazen family an inventory of the property
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span>
of the company at St. John, dated the 12th of February, 1767, which will give the
reader some little idea of the nature of the Company&rsquo;s business and the condition
of their trading post at Portland Point at this time. The inventory is as follows:</p>
<p>LIST OF COMPANY EFFECTS AT ST. JOHN.</p>
<table summary=''>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>&nbsp;</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Dwelling House 19 by 35, part finished</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>£ 90. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Building 16 by 40, Rough boarded, improved for Cooper&rsquo;s Shop &amp; Kitchen</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>15. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Log Store 20 by 30, without floor</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>20. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Barn 24 by 35</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>16. 6.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Log house 14 by 18, occupied by Black</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>6.12.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>House 16 by 20, occupied by Bradley</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>7.10.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Well 15 feet deep</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1.10.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Necessary House</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1.10.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Lime Kiln</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>14. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Gondalo</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>10. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Wherry</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>2</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Large Seines</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>14. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Cart 100s., 2 Sleds, 18s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>5.18.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Drag 9s., 1 Harrow 15s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1. 4.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>2</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Iron bars 20s., 1 Crow-bar 10s</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1.10.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>3</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Stone Hammers @ 7s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1. 1.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>4</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Spades @ 6s. 8d., 3 Shovels @ 3s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1.15.8</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Broad Axe 12s., 6 Narrow Axes @ 6s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>2. 8.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>15</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Old Axes @ 3s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>2. 5.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>&nbsp;</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Whipsaw 40s., 1 Cross cut do. 30s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>3.10.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>4</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Augers 12s., 3 chisels 6s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>18.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>2</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Iron Squares, 8s., 3 pitch forks 12s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>7</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Hoes @ 2s. 8d.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>18.8</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Set Cooper&rsquo;s Tools</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>2. 5.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>2</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Nail hammers 3s., 1 plough 18s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1. 1.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>2</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Scythes @ 6s., 2 pick axes @ 5s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1. 4.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>7</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Chains</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>4.10.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Beetle 1s. 6d., 2 Wedges 3s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>4.6</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>160</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Hogsheads Lime stone at ye Kiln @ 5s. 4d.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>42.13.4</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>50</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Hogsheads at the Quarry dug @ 1s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>2.10.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>50</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Cords wood at Kiln @ 3s. 6d.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>8.15.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>80</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Cords wood in ye Woods &amp; 1s. 6d.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>7. 6.8</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>&nbsp;</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Wire 60s., Spruce Logs at the Water 80s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>7. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>84</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Pine logs at the falls worth</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>22. 8.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>119</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Pine logs scattered in ye River @ 3s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>17. 7.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>8</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Oxen worth at St. John</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>60. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>3</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Cows</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>14. 8.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Pair 3 year old steers</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>9. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Bull 54s., 1 do. 30s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>4. 4.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>6</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Sheep @ 18s., 7 Hogs @ 16s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>11. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Burch Canoe</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>2</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Carpenter&rsquo;s adzes @ 7s., 2 drills @ 6s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>4</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Pairs Snow Shoes @ 7s. 6d.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>1.10.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>2</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Steel plated handsaws @ 8s.</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>16.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>1</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>Set mill irons</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>7. 0.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>2</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>M Staves shaved and joined</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right;'>4.16.0</td></tr>
<tr><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:right'>&nbsp;</td><td style='vertical-align:top; text-align:left;'>&nbsp;</td><td style='vertical-align:bottom; padding-left:2em; font-family:monospace; text-align:right; border-top:thin solid black;'>£451.4.10</td></tr></table>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span></div>
<p>There is also an inventory of the goods in the company&rsquo;s store at this time,
which were valued at &pound;613. The goods were such as were needed by the white
settlers up the river as well as for the Indian trade. There was quite a varied
assortment, yet the many deficiencies indicate the simplicity of living then in
vogue.</p>
<p>The list of household goods and chattels, the property of Simonds and White,
was a very meagre one indeed. The more common and necessary articles of furniture
such as bedsteads, tables, benches, etc., were probably manufactured on the
premises by means of the carpenter&rsquo;s axe, adze, hammer and saw. In addition
they had a small supply of bedding, 6 camp chairs, 1 desk, 1 writing desk, 1
lamp, 4 iron candlesticks, 1 ink stand.</p>
<p>Dishes&mdash;4 pewter plates, 2 pewter platters, 2 pewter porringers, 2 metal teapots,
8 stone plates, 1 stone platter, 1 stone jug, 1 earthen teapot, 3 china cups
and saucers, 2 quart basons, 2 punch bowls.</p>
<p>Cutlery, etc.&mdash;1&frac14; doz. case knives and forks, 1&frac12; doz. spoons, 1 large spoon, 6
silver tea spoons. Kitchen utensils&mdash;2 frying pans, 2 tea kettles, 1 chafing dish, 1
cullender, 4 iron pots, 1 brass kettle, 2 quart pots, 2 two-quart pots, 3 pints, 2
tin kettles, 1 pail, 1 pair dogs, 1 shovel and tongs, 1 tea-chest, 1 coffee mill, 2 pairs
steel yards, 1 beam scale, 2 sets weights.</p>
<p>The total value of household articles was but &pound;33, 17, 5, and it is doubtful
whether the personal belongings of Simonds and White would have added much
to the common stock. No wonder James Simonds observed with grim humor, as
he described life at St. John in those days, &ldquo;gentility is out of the question.&rdquo;</p>
<p>William Hazen was afraid the business during the first year had been unprofitable,
and at the end of the year called for a settlement of accounts in order
to find out the exact state of affairs. James Simonds wrote: &ldquo;We are sensible
of the necessity of settling our accts. soon, but have always been obliged to work
so much abroad as not to be able to have our books posted up, besides the necessity
of taking an exact acct. of all goods on hand and making an exact computation
of the cost of all buildings and works cannot be hurried over and would require
time. We could have had all those things ready, but must have neglected
completing preparations for the winter&rsquo;s work, which we think would be far
greater damage to us than the accts. remaining unfinished for a few months and
for us to finish them in the winter evenings.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Doubtless the winter evenings were entirely at their disposal. There were
no social engagements to fill, no societies to attend, no places of amusement to
while away the hours. The church, the lodge room, the club were reserved for
coming generations. Even the satisfaction to be derived from good, general reading
was wanting for an inventory of household effects made in 1775 shows that
Mr. Simonds owned a Bible and Prayer Book and Mr. White a Bible and a copy
of Watt&rsquo;s psalms and hymns, and the only other book of which mention can be
found is an almanac. It would seem that one at least of the partners was fond
of fiction, for Samuel Blodget writes in a letter to James White&mdash;the latter then
at Crown Point&mdash;Dec. 8, 1762: &ldquo;I confess I was a little surprised att your opinion
of Roderick Random, for it is allowed by all that I ever heard judg of it, that
it is a well wrote Novell.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span></div>
<p>No account of the business of St. John during the period of the operations
of its finest trading company, would be complete without some mention of its shipping.
Naturally it was the day of small things with the future &ldquo;winter port&rdquo; of
Canada. The ship that bore de Monts and Champlain to the Bay of Fundy in the
month of June, 1604, was a little vessel of 150 tons, smaller than some of our
coasting schooners of today; but the vessels employed in the business of Hazen,
Simonds and White and their associates, were smaller still, ranging from ten to eighty
tons burden.</p>
<p>The qualities essential to successful navigation&mdash;pluck, enterprise and skill&mdash;were
admirably displayed by the hardy mariners of New England, the pioneers of
commerce in the Bay of Fundy. In their day there were no light houses, or beacons,
or fog-horns and even charts were imperfect, yet there were few disasters.
The names of Jonathan Leavitt and his contemporaries are worthy of a foremost
place in our commercial annals.</p>
<p>The following list of the vessels owned or chartered by Hazen, Simonds and
White in their business at St. John, A. D. 1764&ndash;1774, is probably as complete as
at this distance of time it can be made:</p>
<p class='center'>Names of Vessels and Masters.</p>
<table summary=''>
<tr><td>Schooner Wilmot,</td><td>William Story.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Polly, Jon. Leavitt, Jas. Stickney, Henry Brookings.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Eunice, James Stickney.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Betsy, Jonathan Leavitt.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Seaflower, Benjamin Batchelder, Jonathan Leavitt.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Sunbury, Jonathan Leavitt, Daniel Leavitt.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center; padding-bottom:1em;'>&ldquo;</td><td style='padding-bottom:1em;'>Essex; Isaac Marble.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sloop Bachelor,</td><td>William Story.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Peggy &amp; Molly, Henry Brookings</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Merrimack, Jon. Leavitt, Samuel Perkins, Daniel Leavitt.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>St. John&rsquo;s Paquet, Richard Bartelott, Hen. Brookings, Joseph Jellings.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Speedwell, Nathaniel Newman</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Dolphin, Daniel Dow.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Woodbridge, David Stickney.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Sally, Nathaniel Newman.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Deborah, Edward Atwood.</td></tr>
<tr><td style='text-align:center'>&ldquo;</td><td>Kingfisher, Jonathan Eaton.</td></tr></table>
<p>Of the vessels enumerated the schooners Wilmot, Polly, Eunice and Betsy and
the sloops Bachelor, Peggy &amp; Molly, Merimack and St. John&rsquo;s Paquet were owned
by the company.</p>
<p>For some years the company paid insurance at the rate of 3 per cent. on the
vessels and their cargoes, but the insurance was obtained with difficulty and after
a time was discontinued on the ground that the business would not bear the expense.</p>
<p>When the partnership was formed in 1764, the company owned the schooner
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span>
Polly of 20 tons, the sloop Bachelor of 33 tons, and the sloop Peggy &amp; Molly of 66 tons.
The same year Isaac Johnson of Newburyport built for them the schooner Wilmot of
64 tons and James Simonds paid &pound;180 as his share of her hull. Samuel Blodget purchased
in Boston a quantity of yarns, strands and cordage, which were delivered by
Wm. Hazen to Crocker, a ropemaker of Newburyport, to be worked up for the
schooners Polly and Wilmot, the sloop Bachelor and the sloop Peggy &amp; Molly.
The company afterwards bought or built the schooners Eunice and Betsy and the
sloops Merrimack and St. John&rsquo;s Paquet. The sloop Merrimack was a square sterned
vessel of 80 tons, built at Newburyport in 1762. She was hired for the company&rsquo;s
service in 1767 and purchased for them in 1771 by Hazen &amp; Jarvis for &pound;150.
James Simonds says she was then a mere hulk entirely unfit for sea, but after being
repaired was employed in coasting to St. John and in carrying lumber to the West
Indies. William Hazen and his family had good reason to remember the Merrimack,
for it was in this vessel they embarked for their new home in St. John in
the month of May, 1775. They were cast away on Fox Island and in addition to the
discomfort experienced, many of theirs personal belongings and some valuable papers
connected with the company&rsquo;s business were lost. The crew and passengers were
rescued and brought to St. John in a sloop of Captain Drinkwater&rsquo;s, the captain
consenting to throw overboard his load of cordwood to make room for the rescued
party and their possessions. Most of Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s valuables and the rigging and
stores of the Merrimack were saved.</p>
<p>The sloop St. John&rsquo;s Paquet was another vessel that had an unfortunate experience.
She made occasional voyages <a name='TC_47'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'rom'">from</ins> St. John to St. Croix in the West
Indies. In the year 1770 she sailed from St. John with a cargo of lime for Newburyport,
having on board William Hazen, who had been on one of his periodical
business trips to St. John. Simonds and White asked to have the sloop and
cargo insured, but Hazen says the reason they gave, namely, that the paquet was
&ldquo;an unlucky vessel,&rdquo; did not make any impression on the minds of himself or Mr.
Jarvis, and, as it was a good season of the year, they did not effect it. The vessel
unfortunately proved true to her reputation. She got on the shoals at Newburyport
and taking &ldquo;a rank heel&rdquo; got water amongst her lime, which set her on fire.
The sloop and her cargo were sold in consequence for &pound;300 where she lay. The
vessel was afterwards hired by Hazen &amp; Jarvis and again sent to St. John to load
for the West Indies.</p>
<p>The Wilmot proved unfit for the company&rsquo;s business and on May 23, 1766.
Hazen &amp; Jarvis wrote their partners: &ldquo;We have purchased a very good and valuable
cargo for the schooner Wilmot. It consists of oxen, cows, calves, flour,
cyder, boards and bricks, and we have sent her under care of Captain Beck to
Newfoundland for sale. We hope we will get a good price for her.&rdquo; This hope
was not realized, for the schooner lost her deckload of cattle in a storm and the
voyage was unprofitable.</p>
<p>During the earlier years of the partnership the schooners Eunice and Polly,
sloop Peggy &amp; Molly and other small vessels were employed from April to October
in fishing in the Bay of Fundy and at Passamaquoddy. The correspondence
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span>
of the company contains many references to this important branch of business, a
few of which are to be found in the footnotes below.<a name='FNanchor_0072' id='FNanchor_0072'></a><a href='#Footnote_0072' class='fnanchor'>[72]</a></p>
<p>The company, finding the fishing at Passamaquoddy declining on account of the
multitude of their rivals in that locality, determined to dispose of some of their
smaller vessels, and Mr. Jarvis writes to Simonds &amp; White, under date May 23,
1766: &ldquo;If you think we would be likely to sell the &ldquo;Peggy &amp; Molly&rdquo; at Halifax,
please to advise us * * * We look upon it in general to be the better way to,
sell all vessels when they come to be old and crazy, as we find by experience
that old vessels are great moths. Therefore if you can dispose of the sloop
Bachelor and schooner Polly, we think you had better do it, provided you can
obtain their worth, and we could build such vessels as you shall think will be most
advantageous.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Hazen and Jarvis sold one half of the Eunice for &pound;133 to a Frenchman named
Barrere, who sailed with her to the West Indies, where he was detained until the
outbreak of the Revolution in America, and this was the last of her so far as the
Company was concerned.</p>
<p>Of all the company&rsquo;s vessels none seems to have done more excellent service
than the little schooner Polly. For twelve years she bore an almost charmed life,
and in that time was employed in a great variety of ways. At one time a fishing
at Annapolis or Passamaquoddy, at another trading with the Indians up
the River St. John, at another transporting settlers and their effects from Massachusetts
to Maugerville, at another on a voyage to the West Indies.</p>
<p>Hazen &amp; Jarvis for the accommodation of their trade had hired the Long
Wharf at Newburyport and the stores on it at an annual rental of &pound;70. In the
month of March, 1765, Leonard Jarvis writes of the occurrence of a tremendous
gale which was as severe as was ever known and which did great damage to the
wharves and shipping. He adds: &ldquo;We had the schooner Polly drove on one of
the wharfs from whence we had to launch her.&rdquo;</p>
<p>While returning from the West Indies in July, 1776, the Polly was taken by
an American privateer sailed by one O&rsquo;Brien and sent to Newburyport. She was
claimed by William Hazen and after some little delay restored to her owners and
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span>
brought to St. John where she discharged her cargo. Not long after she was
again captured and carried to Falmouth, where her super-cargo Peter Smith again
succeeded in obtaining her release.</p>
<p>The first vessel built and launched at St. John was the little schooner &ldquo;Betsy,&rdquo;
the construction of which was undertaken by Simonds &amp; White at Portland Point
in 1769. Little did her designers and builders imagine that they were the pioneers
of an industry that would one day place St. John in the fourth place among the
cities of the British empire as a shipowning port and lead her to claim the proud
title of &ldquo;the Liverpool of America.&rdquo; And we may note in passing, that at the
time of the turning of the first sod of the Intercolonial railway in 1853, employes
from seventeen shipyards&mdash;1,090 men in all&mdash;marched in the procession and shipbuilding
had not then attained its greatest development. It was an important industry
indeed in its day.</p>
<p>The materials used in building, the Betsy were cut almost upon the spot, and
the rigging was sent from Newburyport by William Hazen, while about half the
iron was taken from one of the company&rsquo;s old vessels. One Michael Hodge agreed
to build the schooner for 23 1&ndash;3 shillings per ton. Adonijah Colby was his assistant.
The schooner was launched in the autumn of the year 1769 and named the Betsy
in honor of Miss Elizabeth Peabody, who about this time was married to James
White. The little vessel sailed for Newburyport with her first cargo on the 3d of
February following, Jonathan Leavitt going in her as master. She was sold the
next year for &pound;200, and Mr. Simonds expressed his satisfaction at the price as
better than he had expected.</p>
<p>This first venture in the line of shipbuilding was followed in due course by
others. Jonathan Leavitt and Samuel Peabody in 1773 built a schooner which they
called the &ldquo;Menaguash,&rdquo; in honor of the old Indian name of St. John, and the following
year William Hazen made an agreement with James Woodman and Zebedee
Ring to build a vessel at St. John, Woodman&rsquo;s wages to be art the rate of 4 shillings
a day, and the payment in part to be one hundred acres of land at two shillings
an acre. The land referred to was situated in the old township of Conway opposite
the Indian House&mdash;probably at Pleasant Point.</p>
<p>With a view to pursuing the business of shipbuilding William Hazen at the
time he settled at Portland Point brought with him one John Jones, a master ship-builder.
The outbreak of the Revolutionary war put a stop to every kind of business,
but it is said that Mr. Jones&rsquo; employers paid his wages for some time in
order to retain his services under the expectation that the war would soon be over
and they would be able again to build ships. Mr. Jones improved the waiting time
by taking to himself a wife, Mercy Hilderick, who had come to St. John on a visit
to her sister, the wife of Samuel Peabody. There being no clergyman at hand the
ceremony was performed by Gervas Say, a Justice of the Peace for the county
of Sunbury, who then lived on the west side of the Harbor in the Township of
Conway.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XIX_THE_OLD_COUNTY_OF_SUNBURY_AND_ITS_TOWNSHIPS' id='CHAPTER_XIX_THE_OLD_COUNTY_OF_SUNBURY_AND_ITS_TOWNSHIPS'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The Old County of Sunbury and its Townships</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>A great impetus was given to the settlement of the wilderness parts of Nova
Scotia by the proclamations issued by Governor Lawrence in 1758 and 1759 offering
free grants of lands to those who would become settlers. In consequence of these
proclamations attention was directed to the St. John river. The fertile lands along
its borders greatly pleased the men of Massachusetts who explored it, and led to
their founding the Township of Maugerville, while, almost simultaneously, Messrs.
Simonds and White established their little colony at Portland Point.</p>
<p>The Royal proclamation, issued at the Court of St. James in October, 1763, offering
grants of lands to officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers that had served
in the late French war, in token of his majesty&rsquo;s appreciation of their conduct
and bravery, had the effect of creating a species of land-hunger which ere long led
to a general scramble for the possession of all lands that were of value and were
not already appropriated. However, up to the year 1765, only three land grants on
the St. John river were recorded at Halifax. Then came the deluge! In the course
of the month of October some twenty grants were issued, comprising nearly 750,000
acres of the best land on the River St. John, and immense tracts were granted in
other parts of Nova Scotia. Charles Morris, the surveyor general at this time, explains
that the vast number of applicants for land and their importunity were due
to the fact that the obnoxious &ldquo;stamp act&rdquo; was about coming into operation and
those desirous of securing lands were pressing hard for their grants in order to avoid
the stamp duties.</p>
<p>This land boom, if we may so term it, had the effect at first of stimulating the
settlement of the country, but it is, to say the least, very doubtful whether subsequent
growth and development were not retarded by the rashness of Governor Wilmot
and his council in giving away the unsettled lands from the power of the crown
and the people in so prodigal a fashion.</p>
<p>The land grants of this period were usually made under the following conditions:</p>
<p>First&mdash;The payment of a yearly quit rent of one shilling sterling to be made
on Michaelmas day for every fifty acres, the quit rent, to commence at the expiration
of ten years from the date of the grant.</p>
<p>Second.&mdash;The grantee to plant, cultivate and improve, or inclose, one-third part
within ten years, one-third part within twenty years and the remaining third part
within thirty years from the date of the grant, or otherwise to forfeit such lands as
shall not be actually under improvement and cultivation.</p>
<p>Third.&mdash;To plant within ten years one rood of every thousand acres with hemp,
and to keep up the same or a like quantity during the successive years.</p>
<p>Fourth.&mdash;For the more effectual settling of the lands within the province the
grantees shall settle on every five hundred acres one family at least with proper
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span>
stock and materials for improvement of the said lands within two years of date
of grant.<a name='FNanchor_0073' id='FNanchor_0073'></a><a href='#Footnote_0073' class='fnanchor'>[73]</a></p>
<p>The arrival of so considerable a number of English speaking inhabitants as
came to the River St. John in the course of a few years after Lawrence had published
his proclamations, rendered it necessary that measures should be adopted for
their government. When Nova Scotia was divided into counties, in 1759, what is
now New Brunswick seems to have been an unorganized part of the County of
Cumberland. For a year or two the settlers on the River St. John were obliged
to look to Halifax for the regulation of their civil affairs, but this proved so inconvenient
that the Governor and Council agreed to the establishment of a new county.
The county was called Sunbury in honor of the English secretary of state, the third
Earl of Halifax<a name='FNanchor_0074' id='FNanchor_0074'></a><a href='#Footnote_0074' class='fnanchor'>[74]</a> who was also Viscount Sunbury.</p>
<p>The first intimation we have of the formation of the new county is contained in
a letter of James Simonds to William, Hazen, dated at Halifax, March 18, 1765, in
which the former writes: &ldquo;I am just arrived here on the business of the inhabitants
of St. Johns. * * I have seen Captain Glasier, who informs me that he is
getting a grant of a large tract of land at St. Johns for a number of officers and
that your brother is one of them. St. Johns is made a county [Sunbury] and I
hope will soon make a formidable appearance.&rdquo; The decision of the government in
this instance seems to have been consequent upon the visit of Mr. Simonds, who
doubtless was supported in his advocacy of the new measure by Capt. Beamsley
Glasier. The latter was elected one of the first two representatives of the county
in the Nova Scotia legislature, with Capt. Thos. Falconer as his colleague. The
announcement contained in Mr. Simonds letter anticipated the action of the governor
and council, for it was not until the 30th April, six weeks later, that the matter
was carried into effect by the adoption of the following resolution, viz: &ldquo;That St.
John&rsquo;s River should be erected into a county by the name of Sunbury, and likewise
that Capt. Richard Smith should be appointed a justice of the peace for the
County of Halifax.&rdquo; The terms of this grotesque resolution are suggestive of the
idea that in the estimation of his excellency and the council of Nova Scotia the
appointment of a Halifax J. P. was about as important a matter as the organization
of the County of Sunbury, although the latter was as large as the entire peninsula of
Nova Scotia.</p>
<p>The County of Sunbury did not, as has been commonly supposed, include the
whole of the present province of New Brunswick. Its eastern boundary was a line
starting from a point &ldquo;twenty miles above Point Mispeck, up the Bay of Fundy,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span>
being the eastern point of Head Land of the Harbor at the mouth of the River
Saint John, thence to run north by the needle till it meets the Canada Southern
boundary.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Captain Beamsley Perkins Glasier was a very important and influential person
at this time in the affairs of the new county. He was an officer in the 60th or
Royal American Regiment, and subsequently rose to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel.
On the 14th December, 1764, Capt. Glasier on behalf of himself, Capt. Thomas Falconer
and others, presented a memorial to the governor and council at Halifax for
a tract of land to include both sides of the River St. John and all the islands from
the lower end of Musquash Island to the Township of Maugerville, and if there
was not in the tract any river proper for erecting mills then &ldquo;as settlements can&rsquo;t
be carried on without, the memorialists pray for any river that may be found fit for
the purpose by their committee, with a tract of 20,000 acres of timber land as near
the mills to be erected as possible.&rdquo; Application was made at the same time for a
Point or Neck of land three-quarters of a mile from Fort Frederick with 60 acres
adjoining to it &ldquo;for the making and curing fish.&rdquo; It was ordered by the governor
and council that the lands on the river should be reserved for the applicants, but
that the point and sixty acres adjoining, situate near Fort Frederick, should be a
matter for further consideration. It is not improbable the point referred to was
the peninsula on the east side of St. John harbor, on which the principal part of
the city stands today. Had it been granted to the applicants at this time it is
hard to say what might have been the effect on the future, but very likely St.
John, as the &ldquo;City of the Loyalists,&rdquo; would have had no existence.</p>
<p>Capt. Beamsley Glasier and Capt. Thomas Falconer were the active agents of
an association or society, composed of more than sixty individuals, who designed to
secure and settle half a million acres of land on the River St. John. The association
included Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts, General Frederick
Haldimand (afterwards governor of Quebec), Sir William Johnson of New York,
Capt. Isaac Caton, Capt. William Spry, Capt. Moses Hazen, William Hazen, James
Simonds, Rev. John Ogilvie, Rev. Philip Hughes, Rev. Curryl Smith, Richard
Shorne, Daniel Claus, Philip John Livingston, Samuel Holland and Charles Morris.
The membership of the association represented a very wide area for among its
members were residents of Quebec, Halifax, Boston, New York and the Kingdom
of Ireland. A little later the association was termed the Canada Company probably
because General Haldimand and some of its most influential members lived in
Quebec.</p>
<p>The company obtained in October, 1765, a grant of five townships on the River
St. John known as the townships of Conway, Gage, Burton, Sunbury and New-Town,
of which all but the last were on the west side of the river. The first three
were named in honor of Gen. Henry S. Conway, Secretary of State; Gen. Thomas
Gage, who was one of the grantees; and Brig. Gen. Ralph Burton, who was stationed
in Canada at the time. The location and extent of the townships may be generally
stated as follows:</p>
<p>1. Conway, 50,000 acres, included in its bounds the parish of Lancaster and a
part of Westfield extending from the mouth of the river up as far as Brandy Point.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span></div>
<p>2. Gage or Gage-town, 100,000 acres, extended from Otnabog to Swan Creek and
included the present parish of Gagetown.</p>
<p>3. Burton, 100,000 acres, extended from Swan Creek to the River Oromocto, including
the present parish of Burton and part of the adjoining parish of Blissville.</p>
<p>4. Sunbury, 125,000 acres, began at Old Mill Creek, a little below Fredericton, and
extended up the river as far as Long&rsquo;s Creek, including the City of Fredericton,
the parish of New Maryland and the parish of Kingsclear. A part of this grant
(20,000 acres) was added a little later to the Township of New Town on the opposite
side of the river.</p>
<p>5. New Town extended about eight miles up the river from the Township of
Maugerville on the east side opposite Fredericton and at first contained 20,000 acres,
afterwards increased to 40,000.</p>
<p>It is an interesting circumstance that the site upon which Alexander Gibson&rsquo;s
mills at Marysville stand today, was selected by Beamsley Glasier and his associates
in 1765 as the most desirable mill site along the St. John river. We even know
the names of the pioneers of milling in that locality.</p>
<p>In the month of July, 1766, the sloop, &ldquo;Peggy and Molly&rdquo; sailed from Newburyport
for St. John and on the way she called at Portsmouth and took on board
Capt. Beamsley Glasier and five mill-wrights, Jonathan Young, Hezekiah Young,
Joseph Pike, Tristram Quimby and John Sanborn each of whom paid Simonds &amp;
White 20 shillings passage money. Soon after their arrival they framed and erected
the first saw mill on the Nashwaak, probably the first built by English hands in
the province. In September, same year, the &ldquo;Peggy and Molly&rdquo; brought a large
consignment from New England for Capt. Glasier, including all the mill gear, a
quantity of seed corn, barley and garden seeds, some live stock and fowls, household
utensils and provisions. Capt. Glasier says in a letter to Wm. Hazen written
in August, 1766, &ldquo;Young and all the Carpenters intend to stay and settle here
and he begs you&rsquo;ll be so good as to acquaint his wife and family of it.&rdquo; No permanent
settlement, however, seems to have been made at the Nashwaak at this
time other than Anderson&rsquo;s trading post at the mouth of that stream.</p>
<p>Shortly after obtaining the grants of their townships the Canada Company
appointed Nathaniel Rogers of Boston their treasurer, and Colonel Beamsley Glasier
their agent, and levied a tax of one hundred dollars on each member of the company
to defray the expenses of management. The conditions of the grants required
the grantees to settle one-fourth part of their lands in one year in the proportion of
four Protestant<a name='FNanchor_0075' id='FNanchor_0075'></a><a href='#Footnote_0075' class='fnanchor'>[75]</a> persons for every 1,000 acres, one-fourth part in the same proportion
in two years, one-fourth in three years and the remainder in four years, all
lands remaining unsettled to revert to the Crown.</p>
<p>An immediate attempt was made by Col. Glasier, Capt. Falconer and the more
energetic of their associates to procure settlers and improve the lands, but the task
was a gigantic one and settlers of a desirable class by no means easy to obtain.
The difficulties the Company had to encounter will appear in the references that
will presently be made to some very interesting letters and documents that have
been preserved respecting the settlement of the townships.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span></div>
<p>As early as the 27th of January, 1765, the plans of the Canada Company had so
far developed that Captain Falconer sent one Richard Barlow as storekeeper to
the River St. John, where the company&rsquo;s headquarters was about to be established
under the supervision of Colonel Glasier. Barlow was promised a lease of 200 acres
at a nominal rent, and at once removed with his family to the scene of operations.
There were frequent business transactions in the course of the next six years between
Simonds &amp; White and the agents of the Canada Company, who figure in their
accounts as &ldquo;Beamsley Glasier &amp; Co.&rdquo;. In the years 1765 and 1766, for example, Mr.
Rogers, the treasurer of the Canada Company, paid Hazen &amp; Jarvis &pound;146 for certain
goods supplied by Simonds &amp; White at the River St. John.</p>
<p>The value of the lands on the River St. John had not escaped the notice of the
keen-eyed pioneers at Portland Point, and in the first business letter extant James
Simonds writes to Wm. Hazen, &ldquo;the lands are very valuable if they may be had.&rdquo;
Again on the 16th December, 1764, he writes, &ldquo;I have been trying and have a great
prospect of getting one or two Rights [or shares] for each of us concerned in our
company, and to have my choice in the townships of this River, the land and title
as good as any in America.&rdquo; Hazen &amp; Jarvis manifested much interest in the matter
and soon afterwards obtained a footing among the proprietors and promoters of
the scheme.</p>
<p>The arrival of Colonel Glasier with his millwrights and carpenters in the fall
of 1766 has been already mentioned. The progress made in settling the townships
during the first two years was, however, slow and the mills on the Nashwaak were
some time in being completed. Simonds &amp; White on the 20th June, 1767, wrote to
their partners in Newburyport, &ldquo;When Col. Glasier left this place he was in such
a hurry, the vessel being bound directly to sea, that we could not make a complete
settlement, not having the people&rsquo;s accounts up the River that had worked on the
mills, logging, etc. We have inclosed his order for what could be settled. The
lots in Gage Town are drawn, Moses and William Hazen Nos. 53, 54, Mr. Simonds
No. 12, none of them either the best or the worst in the Township. * * If young
cattle are cheap at your place we recommend sending some every opportunity; the
growth of them is profitable, and the King&rsquo;s Instructions to the Government are
that three cattle be kept on every fifty acres of land granted.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The manner of laying out and drawing lots in the townships, as first agreed
on, did not work very well and led to a vigorous remonstrance on the part of Capt.
William Spry, which is dated at New York, April 11th, 1768. The &ldquo;remonstrance&rdquo;
appears to have been framed after consultation with others of the committee appointed
by the Proprietors to carry on the settlement of the Townships, and its
contents were approved at a meeting held the next day. The &ldquo;remonstrance&rdquo; was
addressed to Rev.&rsquo;d Dr. Oglevie and William Johnstone, Esq., and to such other
Proprietors, or their attornies, as were then in New York. The document is of
sufficient historic value to be quoted in full:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em;'>THE REMONSTRANCE</p>
<p>Of Capt. William Spry, one of the said Proprietors, sets forth,&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;That the manner in which the Townships of Gage and Sunbury have been
divided among the Proprietors, puts it out of their power to settle their respective
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span>
shares, the Lots being only sixty-five rods in breadth, and from four to six miles
in depth; that therefore no family at the first settling of those lands will go so
far back into the Woods as to be deprived of the advantages of the River, and
that there is not breadth enough in the lots but for very few families to be accommodated
even supposing the Proprietors under the necessity of granting away the
most valuable part of their lands, which would probably be the case, as the time
allowed to complete the settlement is nearly expired.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That even granting those long narrow slips of land could be settled, their being
situated in so many places (in the several townships) and so different from each
other, makes it absolutely impossible for a Proprietor to look after them with
that care and attention which the establishing of new settlements must require.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That the inclosing those several lots must of course be attended with great
expense and the fixing their boundaries be very liable to create disputes.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Capt. Spry therefore proposes the following Plan to the Society, viz.:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;1st. That every Proprietor shall have his proportion of all the lands in the
several Townships (except Conway, as will be hereafter explained) in one Township
only, that Townships to be fixed by Ballot.</p>
<p>&ldquo;2nd. That when the Proprietors have drawn the Township their lot is to be
in, they draw again for their particular lot in that Township.</p>
<p>&ldquo;3rd. That the lots in each Township be divided so as to be as nearly of equal
value with one another as possible, the expense of which to be defrayed by the
Society in general, in case the division cannot be settled by the survey already
taken.</p>
<p>&ldquo;4th. That all the Islands be divided into sixty-eight lots and drawn for, except
Perkin&rsquo;s Island which is to remain in common among all the Proprietors.<a name='FNanchor_0076' id='FNanchor_0076'></a><a href='#Footnote_0076' class='fnanchor'>[76]</a></p>
<p>&ldquo;5th. That the Saw Mill also remain in common among all the Proprietors for
Twenty years from the date of the Grant, and then to devolve to the Proprietors
of the Township it is in.</p>
<p>&ldquo;6th. That as the Townships of Gage and Sunbury have been surveyed and
the places for the Town Plots fixed by Charles Morris, Esq., surveyor of Nova
Scotia, that as ten families were sent to the River last Fall and could get no farther
than Fort Frederick, by reason of contrary winds, and therefore are not as yet
fixed to any particular Township, and as several other families have been procured
to be sent this Spring by different Proprietors, who without an immediate drawing
for the respective Townships cannot know to what Township to send their settlers,
it is proposed that there should be a drawing for these Townships without loss of
time, and also for the lots in the Townships of Gage and Sunbury, in the presence
of two Magistrates of this City, which said lots Capt. Spry will undertake to make
as equal a division of as the nature of the thing will allow.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Division of the Townships among the Proprietors is proposed to be as
follows, viz:&mdash;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span></div>
<p>&ldquo;The Townships of Gage, Burton and Sunbury, containing 100,000 Acres each,
to be divided among twenty Proprietors to each Township, which will be 5,000 acres
to each Proprietor.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Township of Conway, containing 50,000 acres, being conveniently situated
for the Fishery, to be divided among all the Proprietors in equal lots and drawn
for, which will be about 735 acres to each.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The tract northwest of Maugerville of 20,000 acres (granted separately) and
that of 20,000 acres adjoining, granted with the Township of Sunbury, to be made
one Township of 40,000 acres and to be called New-Town, and divided among eight
Proprietors, which will be 5,000 acres to each Proprietor, the same as in the other
Townships.</p>
<p>&ldquo;By this method of dividing the townships all the lots will have a sufficient
breadth upon the River, and the worst lot there can possibly be among them, will
be of more value to any one Proprietor than the five best lots of the several Townships
laid out as they are at present.&rdquo;</p>
<p class='right'>Signed W. SPRY.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A meeting was immediately held at the house of George Burns, innholder,
in New York, and it was unanimously decided by the proprietors of the townships
and their agents, to annul the former division of lands and adopt the proposals
of Capt. Spry. In accordance with this decision the proprietors or their
representatives, held a meeting on Wednesday the 20th of April, 1768, and in
the presence of Dirck Brinckerhoff and Elias Desbrosses, justices of the peace and
aldermen of the City and County of New York, made a drawing of the townships
in the manner proposed, the result of which appears below.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_28' id='linki_28'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i221.png' alt='' title='' width='415' height='600' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
<span class='smcap'>Map of the River St John in the province of Nova Scotia.<br />
Exhibiting The Grants to Officers &amp;c. in 1765 with other patents.<br />
From the Survey of Mr Chas Morris and other surveyors.</span><br />
</p>
</div>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'>TOWNSHIP OF GAGE.</p>
<dl><dt>Lot. No.</dt>
<dd><ol><li>John Lewis Gage.</li>
<li>Daniel Disney.</li>
<li>John Fenton, Esq.</li>
<li>Beamsley Glasier, Esq.</li>
<li>Dr. Thomas Blair.</li>
<li>James Finlay.</li>
<li>Jacob Jordan.</li>
<li>George Johnstone.</li>
<li>Thomas Clapp.</li>
<li>Oliver Delancey, jr., Esq</li>
<li>Col. Frederick Haldimand.</li>
<li>William Keough.</li>
<li>Rev. Phillip Hughes.</li>
<li>Charles Morris, jr., Esq.</li>
<li>William Johnstone, Esq.</li>
<li>Synge Tottenham.</li>
<li>William Spry, Esq.</li>
<li>George Gillman.</li>
<li>Frederick Haldimand, jr.</li>
<li>Guy Johnstone.</li></ol></dd></dl>
<p class='center'>TOWNSHIP OF SUNBURY.</p>
<dl><dt>Lot. No.</dt>
<dd><ol><li>Alexander John Scott.</li>
<li>Dr. Robert Bell.</li>
<li>Thomas Hutchinson, Esq.</li>
<li>John Collins, Esq.</li>
<li>John Irving, jr., Esq.</li>
<li>John Desbruyeres. Esq.</li>
<li>Francis Greenfield.</li>
<li>Daniel Carleton.</li>
<li>Thomas Smelt, Esq.</li>
<li>Richard Shorne.</li>
<li>George Fead.</li>
<li>Edward Bulkely, Esq.</li>
<li>John Leake Burrage.</li>
<li>Oliver Shorne.</li>
<li>Isaac Caton.</li>
<li>John Norberg.</li>
<li>Hugh Parker.</li>
<li>James Allen.</li>
<li>James Simonds.</li>
<li>Nathaniel Rogers, Esq.</li></ol></dd></dl>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span></div>
<p class='center'>TOWNSHIP OF BURTON.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Town Plot not being fixed this Township could not as yet be divided
into lots, but is to be as soon as possible: the Proprietors who drew the Township
were: John Porteus, Thomas Falconer, sen&rsquo;r, Esq., John York, Esq., Daniel
Robertson, Joseph Peach, Esq., William Parker, Charles Pettit, Ralph Christie,
Esq., Daniel Claus, Esq., William Evins, Esq., John Campbell, Esq., Joseph
Howard, John Cox, Thomas Falconer, jun&rsquo;r, John Treby, Esq., James Porteus,
Richard Burton, John Livingston, Esq., Samuel Hollandt, Esq., Benjamin Price,
Esq.</p>
<p class='center'>TOWNSHIP OF NEW TOWN, OR THE FORTY THOUSAND ACRE TRACT.</p>
<p>&ldquo;This Township is under the same circumstances with that of Burton; the
Proprietors who drew the Township were: Thomas Moncrief, Esq., Rev. John
Ogelvie, D. D., Moses Hazen, James Jameson, William Hazen, Richard Williams,
Charles Tassel, Esq., and James Hughes.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was agreed that the various islands in the River St. John belonging
to the townships should be surveyed as soon as possible and divided into 68
lots. It was also agreed that the Saw Mill, erected or in course of erection in
the Township of New Town should remain the common property of all the
members of the society for the space of twenty years from the date of the grant,
expenses attending the building or repairing of the mill to be borne by all the
proprietors of the several townships, and after the expiration of twenty years to
become the property of the grantees of New Town.</p>
<p>It will be noticed that in the division of the townships the Rights, or shares,
of Moses and William Hazen were drawn in New Town and that of James
Simonds in Sunbury. Mr. Simonds evidently was quite satisfied for he wrote to
Hazen &amp; Jarvis, June 22, 1768.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The Township of Sunbury is the best in the Patent and New Town is the
next to it according to the quantity of land, it will have a good Salmon-Fishery
in the river which the mills are to be built on, which runs through the centre
of the tract. The mills are to be the property of the eight proprietors of the
Township after seventeen years from this time, and all the Timber also the
moment the partition deed is passed.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XX_THE_ST_JOHNS_RIVER_SOCIETY' id='CHAPTER_XX_THE_ST_JOHNS_RIVER_SOCIETY'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The St. John&rsquo;s River Society</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>Since the preceding chapters were printed the author chanced to discover some
interesting manuscripts in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society
which throw a good deal of light upon the history of the old townships on the
River St. John. It is to be regretted that this discovery was not made a little
sooner, but it is not too late to give the reader the benefit of it in a supplementary
way.</p>
<p>The association that undertook the settlement of the townships of Conway,
Gage, Burton, Sunbury and New-town has been referred to in these pages as &ldquo;The
Canada Company,&rdquo; but its proper name was &ldquo;The St. John&rsquo;s River Society.&rdquo;
The original promoters of the gigantic land speculation&mdash;for such we must call it&mdash;set
on foot at Montreal in 1764, were chiefly army officers serving in Canada,
hence the name, &ldquo;The Canada Company.&rdquo; When, however, it was determined to
enlarge the association by the addition of the names of gentlemen in Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, and Halifax, and when the valley of the River St. John was
selected as the place where the most desirable lands were to be had the Canada
Company took a new name and was known as &ldquo;The St. John&rsquo;s River Society.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The president of the society was Captain Thomas Falconer, who was at this
time at Montreal with his regiment. The most active promoter of the society&rsquo;s
plans for several years, however, was Beamsley P. Glasier. This gentleman has already
been frequently spoken of in connection with events on the St. John. He
was a captain in the Royal American Regiment and afterwards attained the rank
of lieutenant-colonel. He had previously served in the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment,
in which he was commissioned ensign early in February, 1745. The regiment
rendered gallant service under Sir William Pepperrell at the taking of Louisburg,
and we have abundant evidence of Glasier&rsquo;s reputation as a brave determined leader
in the following document, the original of which is to be found in the archives
of the Massachusetts Historical Society:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;AGREEMENT. We whose names are underwritten have enlisted ourselves
voluntarily to go on ye attack of the Island Battery at the mouth of the Harbor
of Louisburgh provided Beamsley Glaizer is our Capt. on said attack and then wee
shall be ready att Half am Hours warning<a name='FNanchor_0077' id='FNanchor_0077'></a><a href='#Footnote_0077' class='fnanchor'>[77]</a>&rdquo; [Signed by forty individuals.]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Captain Glasier served subsequently under Sir Wm. Johnson and Gen&rsquo;l John
Winslow.</p>
<p>The idea of securing large grants of land in Nova Scotia was taken up by officers
of the Royal Americans, the 44th foot and other regiments at Montreal early
in the year 1764. Among the promoters were Capt. Thos. Falconer, Capt. Beamsley
Glasier, Capt. John Fenton, Rev. John Ogilvie, D. D., (chaplain of the Royal American
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span>
regt.), Major Thos. Moncrief, Capt. Daniel Claus, Capt. Samuel Holland,
Brig. Gen&rsquo;l. Ralph Burton, Lieut. Wm. Keough, Lieut. Richard Shorne and others.</p>
<p>Captain Glasier seems to have obtained am extended leave of absence from his
military duties and for three years most of his time was spent in trying to settle
the society&rsquo;s townships. He sailed from Quebec on the 28th of August, 1764, and
after exploring the southern coast of Nova Scotia and entering many of the harbors
in order to get &ldquo;the best information of the Goodness of Land, and Conveniency
for carrying on the Fishery,&rdquo; he at length reached Halifax on the 26th of October.
The events subsequent to his arrival we shall let him describe in his own words.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Upon my arrival I waited on the governor, and gave him my letters; he rec&rsquo;d
me with great politeness and ordered a meeting of Council the next day in order
to consult where I should pitch upon a tract of land suitable for such a Grand
Settlement, for it is looked upon as the most Respectable of any in the province,
and I must say that everybody in authority seem&rsquo;d to interest themselves in the
thing and give me all the advice and assistance in their power. Many Places was
talked of, but none was so universally approved as the River St. Johns. It was
therefore the opinion of the Council, and all that wished well to the establishment,
that I should go across the country to Pisiquid (Windsor), and take passage
on board a Vessell that was going from thence with Provisions for the Garrison
of Fort Frederick, which I accordingly did, and arrived the 18th of November. * *</p>
<p>&ldquo;As soon as I arrived I procured a Boat and went up the River above the falls
as far as where the good land begins to make its appearance; but an uncommon
spell of cold weather had set in and frozen over the small rivers leading into the
Main River. * *</p>
<p>&ldquo;Besides what I saw, which answered exactly with the account I had of it
before, I had the best information from the Indians and Inhabitants settled 40
miles up the River and the Engineer of the Fort, who had Just been up to take
a plan of the River, so that I was not at a loss one moment to fix on that spot
for the settlement.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Capt. Glasier spent about four days in examining the river. It will be noticed
he speaks of &ldquo;an uncommon spell of cold weather;&rdquo; nevertheless the river
was open for a good distance. This goes to show that the winter season did not
begin any earlier 140 years ago than it does today.</p>
<p>Judging by the account of his journey from Fort Frederick to Halifax Capt.
Glasier was a good traveller. He says, &ldquo;We breakfasted at the Fort, dined at
Annapolis and walked from thence to Halifax 5 days 145 miles in company with
a brother of Lord Byron, who made the tour with me to see the country.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Beamsley Glasier would have made a good immigration agent, for he certainly
describes the country in glowing colors, yet his description of the valley of
the St. John is in the main quite accurate and it is exceedingly interesting to
have a glimpse of that region in its pristine state.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The entrance of St. John&rsquo;s River,&rdquo; he writes, &ldquo;forms like a Bay between two
points<a name='FNanchor_0078' id='FNanchor_0078'></a><a href='#Footnote_0078' class='fnanchor'>[78]</a> about 3 leagues apart from thence it grows narrower gradually up to the
Falls, which is 200 yards broad. The Falls, which has been such a Bugbare, is
rather a narrow place in the River than Falls, for at half tide it is as smooth as
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span>
any other place in the River, the tide then just beginning to make and grows
gradually stronger until high water, from that till two hours ebb a Vessell of 500
tons may go up or down. I know of very few Harbours in America that has not
a barr or some other impediment at the entrance so as to wait for the tide
longer than at St. Johns; here if you are obliged to wait you are in a good harbour
out of all danger of bad weather.</p>
<p>&ldquo;On each side the falls the rocks are high and so continue about four
leagues, all Lime stone; then begins the finest Prospect in the world, the Land
becomes flat, not a stone or pebble for 60 miles * * the banks something
higher than it is a little way in; it runs level from six to twelve miles back and
some places farther, such land as I cannot describe. The New England People
[in Maugerville] have never plowed but harrowed in their grain, such Grain of
all kinds, such Hemp, Flax, &amp;c, as was never seen.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Capt. Glasier&rsquo;s description of the interval lands in their virgin state, untouched
by the white man&rsquo;s axe, is particularly interesting. It serves to explain why these
lands were not over-run by forest fires and were considered so desirable by the
early settlers.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The trees,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;are all extremely large and in general very tall and chiefly
hard wood;<a name='FNanchor_0079' id='FNanchor_0079'></a><a href='#Footnote_0079' class='fnanchor'>[79]</a> no Spruce, Pine, Firr, &amp;c. Neither is there underwood of
brush, you may drive a Cart and Oxen thro&rsquo; the trees. In short it looks like a
Park as far as ever your eye can carry you. The pine trees fit for large masts are
farther back and bordering on the small Rivers as I am told by the Indians. These
fellows are the most intelligent people I ever saw; near 400 live about 60 miles up
the River, and seem to be well pleased at our coming here, I saw all their Chiefs
at the Fort. The land on the N. E. side the River has been overflowed sometimes,
but it goes off immediately and leaves such a manure as you may imagine&mdash;tho&rsquo; it
has not for several years past; the other side is higher, the lands not so good in
general. When I said not so Good I would not be understood to mean that they
are not good, for even those are as good as any I ever saw in America, with the
same kind and quality of wood, but does not run back so far.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I suppose we shall have the Proprietor&rsquo;s Town on the west side, tho&rsquo; the New
England People are all settled on the other side. The whole Country abounds with
Game; there is likewise plenty of Moose weighing from 1000 to 1500 lbs. each, fatt
and finer than beef, which you may kill every day. Wild fowl of all kinds, cocks,
snipes, and partridges are so plenty that the Gentlemen who was with me swore
that it was no sport, as we could shoot 3 or 4 at a shot. An Indian made me
a present of a pair of horns of a small Moose as he called them, for he assured me
that some was twice as heavey. These measured 5 feet and 2 inches and weighed
33&frac12; lb., judge you the biggness of the owner.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Upon the Interval land you have a long kind of Grass<a name='FNanchor_0080' id='FNanchor_0080'></a><a href='#Footnote_0080' class='fnanchor'>[80]</a> which the Cattle in
that country fatten themselves upon. I never in my life saw fatter beef than one
I saw killed there, &amp; the New England People vowed that the heiffers of the same
breed that had a calf in Boston at 3 years old came in at 2 years at St. Johns,
so much they improved in growth and Wantonness as they called it.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Their Hoggs and Sheep they keep on the Islands, which are overflowed generally
when the River brakes up which is commonly about the middle of April.
This overflowing leaves these Islands so rich that the Hoggs grow fatt by eating
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span>
Ground nuts without any other food in summer (in our Grant we have some of
these Islands) nor do they put up their Horses in the Winter, except those that
work, tho&rsquo; you may cut any quantity of Grass. Can I say more of the Soil, Trees,
situation, &amp;c.? Be assured it is all True.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The fish is the next thing. This River abounds with all sorts of small fry,
Trout, Salmon, Bass, Whitefish &amp; Sturgeon. The Bass is ketcht in Wiers just
under the Point below the Fort, so that good voyages may be made in that branch;
all the expence is in making the Wiers, and as to Sturgeon they are more remarkably
plenty than any place upon the Continent, and if there was persons that
understood pickling them it would be a very profitable undertaking and fetches
ready money in London.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Glasier letters (which have just been printed in the Collections of the N. B.
Hist. Society) show that before Beamsley Glasier left Montreal, as the accredited
agent of the St. John&rsquo;s River Society, there had been a good deal of discussion
about the location of the townships it was desired to procure and settle. It was ultimately
decided that this matter should be left to the discretion of Captain Glasier
after he had made a personal examination of certain localities and obtained reliable
information respecting the ungranted lands in Nova Scotia. Glasier wrote from
Halifax on the 15th December, 1764, to Captain Thos. Falconer and the Society&rsquo;s
committee at Montreal, informing them of his selection of the valley of the River
St. John as by all odds the most desirable situation. He says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;When I compare this place to any other we ever thought of I am surprised it
had not been fixed on before I came away. The island of St. Johns (or Prince
Edward Island) is not good land, besides being so far to the northward it is too exposed
if a war should happen, as is all up the Gut of Canso, Bay Challeurs, etc.
Besides the whole of that part of the country, as well as all the coast to the head
Cape Sable and up the Bay of Fundy, is bound with fog almost three months in the
year. In this River you have none above the falls, nor have you Musquitos here in
any sort of comparison to any other part of this country. Besides you are so near
the settled parts of New England that you may sail with a good wind to Boston
in 30 hours, or if you have a mind to coast along shore you may harbour every 4
or 5 Leagues all the way to Boston and that all winter. I think we are very happy
not to settle on the Lake where we proposed, for if we had anything to send to
market it would take more time and be a greater risk to get it out of the River St.
Lawrence than to go from here to Europe.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the 1st March following Capt. Glasier addressed a letter to John Fenton of
Boston informing the members of the Society in that quarter of the success of his
subsequent proceedings. He apologizes for the tardiness of his communication by
saying, &ldquo;I have put off writing, as the world puts off Repentence till the last moment.&rdquo;
Glasier is very enthusiastic as to the outlook.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The interval lands on the St. John,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;are wonderful, not a stone and
black mold 6 feet deep, no underwood, large tall Trees all hardwood; you may drive
a Coach through the Trees, we can cut what Grass we please and we may improve
the land immediately; in short I can&rsquo;t describe it to you. * * * * I hope we
shall be able to begin something this summer, there is the D&mdash;l and all of people applying
for lands in this province. There is now settled 50 families just above us,
all Yankys<a name='FNanchor_0081' id='FNanchor_0081'></a><a href='#Footnote_0081' class='fnanchor'>[81]</a>; they are not very good Farmers you know but they raised fine grain
last year.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span></div>
<p>In the choice of the St. John river valley as the best situation for the townships
that were to be laid out and settled, Beamsley Glasier seems to have been guided
very largely by the advice of Charles Morris, the surveyor general of Nova Scotia,
and his son Charles Morris, junior. The younger Morris had a personal interest in
the Society and Capt. Glasier writes of him:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Mr. Morris&rsquo;s son is one of our Proprietors and is to go with me in April to survey
the whole tract I have asked for. He is Deputy to his Father and very clever,
as you&rsquo;ll have occasion to know hereafter. We propose setting out from Halifax
about the beginning of April and take a survey of Port O&rsquo;Bear<a name='FNanchor_0082' id='FNanchor_0082'></a><a href='#Footnote_0082' class='fnanchor'>[82]</a> on our way to St.
Johns. I imagine the whole will take us a great deal of time as we shall go up
all the small rivers. I have engaged a little schooner for the purpose. As places
for our Mills and good Timber, oak as well as pine, is a great object, and as Mr.
Morris is a Conesieur in the Goodness of Lands, if we don&rsquo;t fix upon convenient
spots to answer all our purposes it will be our faults.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The task of surveying and exploring proved of greater magnitude than Glasier
had anticipated, and at the end of the summer the Surveyor General of Nova Scotia
and his son had only been able to make a general sketch of the river and townships,
not an accurate survey, and Glasier expressed the opinion that it would be a work
of two years at least before the River would be thoroughly known. Just how
much time was spent in the work of exploration and survey we do not know, but
the younger Morris spent three months in the summer of 1766 surveying the townships
of Gage and Sunbury, and in addition to this he says: &ldquo;The Surveyor General and
myself expended more than a Hundred Pounds Sterling of our own Money in surveying
the River last year.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Captain Glasier was very desirous of obtaining the best lands on the river and
he states frankly, in one of his letters, &ldquo;what we want is the good lands only, or as
small a quantity of the bad as is possible.&rdquo; He was not ready to make definite application
for lands, therefore, until he had ascertained the whereabouts of all lakes,
ponds, sunken and bad lands, etc., in order to avoid paying quit rents to the crown
for that which was not improvable.</p>
<p>Meanwhile trouble was brewing at Halifax, and it was only by the good offices
of Governor Wilmot, Charles Morris, sr., and other members of the Council that
the St. John River Society was saved from disaster. We get an idea of the
threatened danger in a letter of Hon. Michael Francklin to Captain Glasier of July
22, 1765, in which great concern is expressed that Glasier had not yet made his
choice of the lands he desired. &ldquo;You cannot conceive how the Government is embarrassed,&rdquo;
writes Francklin, &ldquo;by the daily applications that are made. We have
no less than three agents from Pennsylvania who are put off on your account. * * * My
dear Sir be thoroughly persuaded that no set of people will have the
preference to your Gentlemen in anything that can be done for them, but pray do
reflect and consider the Government here and our situation, how disagreeable it is
to lock up a whole River, sufficient for fifty Townships, and people applying every
day that we are obliged to put off until you are served. Consider what a risque
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span>
the Government runs of losing a number of valuable settlers. I beg of you, on my
own account and as one who has the welfare and prosperity of the Province at
heart, that you will by some means or other make your choice as soon as possible
and transmit it to the Governor.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Captain Glasier comments on this in a letter to Nathaniel Rogers of Boston.
&ldquo;Some of the Council are wanting to establish those companies belonging to Philadelphia
who are waiting at Halifax, as you&rsquo;ll see by the inclosed letter from one of
them to me. I see through the whole, the Governor<a name='FNanchor_0083' id='FNanchor_0083'></a><a href='#Footnote_0083' class='fnanchor'>[83]</a> keeps them off till I return.&rdquo;</p>
<p>By the advice of Governor Wilmot the society filled up the number of their
Proprietors to sixty and at once began to make preparations for the settlement of
the lands promised, and which were granted in the month of October, 1765. Glasier
advised the establishment of a magazine of stores at Fort Frederick, also the sending
of horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, with any settlers they could procure, as soon
as possible. He adds, &ldquo;As young strong Fellows might be hired in Canada for 120
livres a year, 20 of them might be hired and sent here next spring; the Canada
horses are much the best for this country * * * The men you hire will be able to
hew or cut timber for your houses, clear the land where you have the Town, provide
a covering for the cattle, and cut hay, raise potatoes for your hogs&mdash;there is a
Spanish potatoe in this country that yields so much that a boy of 12 years old will
raise as many as will keep 20 hogs, they are made use of for that purpose throughout
all New England. * * The Iron for Saw Mills I think should be bought in
Canada as that Iron is so good. Any French that have taken the oath of allegiance
may become your settlers.&rdquo;</p>
<p>An assessment of &pound;30 was now ordered to be made on each member of the Society
to meet necessary expenses. The Rev. Dr. Ogilvie of New York was chosen as
Treasurer. Richard Barlow, late a sergeant in the 44th regiment, was appointed
store keeper at St. John. Capt. Falconer, who sent him from Montreal, described
him as &ldquo;a steady man used to business of that nature, who proposes to be a settler,
has a family and some money to enable him to begin tolerably well.&rdquo; Barlow
was to receive 12 shillings N. Y. currency pr. week and &ldquo;oneration of provisions,&rdquo;
also 200 acres of land and a town lot. He was directed to proceed from
Montreal to Boston and there take upon him the care of the tools, utensils, materials
and stores of all kinds and embark with them for the River St. Johns in Nova
Scotia.</p>
<p>A large assortment of materials, stores, tools and other articles were purchased
by Nathaniel Rogers in Boston, including mill geer, carpenter&rsquo;s tools, farming
implements, also three yoke of oxen and tackling necessary for drawing logs, etc.
These were shipped to St. John in the schooner &ldquo;Lucy,&rdquo; James Dickey, master,
&ldquo;consigned to Richard Barlow storekeeper at St. John&rsquo;s <a name='TC_48'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'and and'">and</ins> passenger on
board for the use of the St. John&rsquo;s society.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span></div>
<p>Capt. Glasier&rsquo;s expectation was that a majority of the settlers of the township
might be expected from New England. He says, &ldquo;There is a number of
Families from N. England come this summer (1765) on a presumption that there
was sufficient land to be had, as one Peabody and his associates had settled themselves
the same way about four years ago and had a great struggle to get their
Grant this year after all their improvements. These people want to become our
settlers, but it is not possible for me to settle them for I can&rsquo;t tell them, &lsquo;fix your
selves on such a spott and it shall be yours;&rsquo; no, the lands must be lay&rsquo;d out in
proper form, lots No. 1, 2, 3, &amp;c., and drawn for. The people are waiting for my
answer, as I have told them there will be lands for them when we can come into a
proper method. They have all got stock and all materials to carry on farming and
will want no help from us.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The difficulties experienced by Capt. Francis Peabody and his associates in securing
their lands at Maugerville have been referred to already&mdash;see page <a href='#page_154'>154</a>&mdash;but
further light is thrown upon the matter in the appendix to this Chapter, in which
will be found the memorial of the Maugerville people to the Lords of Trade and
Plantations, together with a letter addressed to Joshua Mauger by Charles Morris
and Henry Newton, who had been sent to the River St. John by the Governor of
Nova Scotia to investigate the situation.</p>
<p>An important meeting of the members of the St. John&rsquo;s River Society and their
representatives was held at New York on the 3d of June, 1766, when it was decided
that steps should be taken as soon as possible for dividing the lands belonging to
the society; that a surveyor should be employed to lay out the town either at Grimross
or some other place more convenient or proper for the purpose; that a grist and
saw mill should be immediately built on &ldquo;Nishwack creek&rdquo;; that Captain Glasier
should agree with proper persons to build the mills, lay out the town, survey the
lots for division and take possession in due form of all grants (including the island
called Perkins Island, in the Bay of Passamaquoddy) in,the name of the Society.
It was further decided that as a sum of money was required for the expenses of
surveying and dividing the lands into lots, building the mills, etc., that the second
year&rsquo;s subscription money should be paid on or before the 24th of August.</p>
<p>Two sites were regarded with favor for the town, Grimross and St. Ann&rsquo;s
Point. Both places had been originally cleared and settled by the French. Glasier
states in one of his letters: &ldquo;At Grimross there is timber and lime, which the
French had prepared to build a church; there is cleared land three miles in length,
an old settlement where our Principal Town must be built, if we can&rsquo;t have St.
Anns Point, which is the finest spot on the River for our purpose. There are many
difficulties to surmount, which you will know hereafter; there is but one good
stream on all the River fit to erect Mills upon, which I have got for us, and, between
ourselves, have been obliged to pop them between two other grants (by the
assistance of Mr. Morris). There is about 100 Families in the Township of Peabody,
they have not one mill of any kind, nor can there be; they have been
obliged to bring all from New England. These mills must be our first object; we
shall be able to furnish our neighbors with Lumber as well as ourselves. I have
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span>
arranged for the Timber and all other materials to be prepared and inclose you
Mr. Simonds estimate of the cost. * * * Mr. Simonds is perfectly acquainted
with the business of Saw-mills and knows every minivar [manoeuvre] belonging
to them. I think we are lucky in having him on the spot to manage so material a
part of our establishment. These Mills properly managed will pay for themselves
at least four times a year, besides we can&rsquo;t carry on our Settlement without them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>James Simonds&rsquo; estimate of the cost of the mills will be found in the letter
which follows. It was probably considerably under the mark for people are usually
optimistic in such things:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Passamaquoddy, August 20th, 1765.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sir,&mdash;Agreeable to your desire I have made the nearest calculation I could of
the cost of two mills and dam on Nashwog River, and am of opinion that two
hundred pounds currency will complete them. The first cost is very great, which
will be mostly for the dam, yet as the stream is sufficient for an addition of three
or four mills on the same dam, it will be cheaper in the end than to build the same
number of mills and a dam to each on small brooks that will be almost dry near half
the year.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I must advise you Sir to have your Iron work made of the best Iron, as
breaches in any part of mills is of fatal consequence to the profit of them. I have
sent the dimensions of the cranks, knowing it to be the practice in New England to
make them so small as to retard the business of sawing, besides frequently breaking&mdash;the
breaking of one may be a greater damage than the cost of two. I have
described them something large, but think you had better exceed the size than fall
short of it.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The best workmen will be the cheapest as the whole depends on the effectual
laying the foundation of the dam, etc. I make no doubt but when the mills are
completed they will saw at least 5 M boards pr. day.</p>
<p style='margin-bottom:0em;'>&ldquo;I am Sir, your most obedient servant,</p>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;JAMES SIMONDS.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It may be noticed, in passing, that Mr. Simonds writes from Passamaquoddy.
The headquarters of the trade and fishery there was at Indian Island, or as it
was sometimes called, Perkins Island. Mr. Simonds and Wm. Hazen were members
of the St. John&rsquo;s River Society and it would appear from Capt. Glasier&rsquo;s letter
to Nathaniel Rogers of 10th Nov&rsquo;r., 1765, that the Society had ambitious designs
with regard to this locality. &ldquo;Our Fishery at Passamaquoddy,&rdquo; writes Glasier, &ldquo;is
an object worth our attention; it is the best in the province. A Block-house will
be built there next spring and I can get a party from the Fort sand some small cannon
which will secure the Fishermen against any insult from the Indians. This
spot is more valuable than you can imagine. I was promised by some of the principal
Fishermen belonging to New Hampshire if I got a grant of this Island they
would came to the number of 100 families with all their crafts, etc., and become our
settlers at Saint Johns, and if we get Grand Manan<a name='FNanchor_0084' id='FNanchor_0084'></a><a href='#Footnote_0084' class='fnanchor'>[84]</a> it will give us a chain of
Harbours all the way to Mount Desert, which will be all we want.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span></div>
<p>The avidity manifested by the agent <a name='TC_49'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'o'">of</ins> the St. John&rsquo;s River Society in seeking
favors at the hands of government would seems to countenance the idea, suggested
in the preceding chapter of this history,<a name='FNanchor_0085' id='FNanchor_0085'></a><a href='#Footnote_0085' class='fnanchor'>[85]</a> that when he memoralized the
government of Nova Scotia for a grant of &ldquo;the Point or Neck of land bearing three
quarters of a mile from Fort Frederick, with 60 acres of land adjoining to it, for
the making and curing Fish,&rdquo; he had in view the valuable peninsula on the east side
of the harbor of St. John, on which the principal part of the city now stands; but
further investigation shows that this is not the case and that the point of land
meant was the neck adjoining the fort, on the Carleton side of the harbor.<a name='FNanchor_0086' id='FNanchor_0086'></a><a href='#Footnote_0086' class='fnanchor'>[86]</a></p>
<p>We have ample testimony as to Beamsley Glasier&rsquo;s zeal and energy as director
of the affairs of the St. John&rsquo;s River Society. Charles Morris, junior, says of him,
&ldquo;Capt. Glasier has done everything that was possible for any man to do, and more
than any one else in his situation would have done to serve the Society,&rdquo; adding that
he had not been properly supported, and if he had retired &ldquo;there would have ended
the Grand Settlement of St. John&rsquo;s River, for as soon as he had left it, in all
probability the Indians (who have been made to believe our Dam will destroy their
Fishery) would have burnt and destroyed all that has been done this summer at the
Mills, and before we could build other mills and get things in so good a way again
the lands would be forfeited, for there will be a court of Escheats held and all the
lands that have been granted in this province that are not settled and improved
agreeable to the express condition of the Grant will absolutely be declared <a name='TC_50'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double-quote">forfeited.&rdquo;</ins>
&ldquo;But,&rdquo; he continues, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t imagine the Society will suffer theirs to be forfeited,
for I am well convinced that less than &pound;30 sterling from each proprietor will build
all the mills, divide all the lands and pay every expense that has attended the settlement
from first to last; and each proprietor will then have 7,000 acres of good
land laid out into lots, mills built and everything ready and convenient to carry on
and make a fine settlement of it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Glasier rarely complained of the difficulties with which he was confronted, but
on one occasion be admits &ldquo;I am in a very disagreeable situation and am heartily
tired of it, and was it not for ingaging in the Mills, would curse and quit the whole
business. I have not been well treated; to agents for all the Philadelphia and other
Companys have been genteely appointed and every expence paid with honor. What
I have done by myself has been ten times more than they all together and the expence
not the fifth part in proportion.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Whilst engaged in his work on the River St. John, Glasier was obliged to
make occasional trips to Boston, taking passage usually in the vessels of Hazen,
Simonds and White. The excitement produced in New England by the operation
of the obnoxious Stamp Act gave him some concern. He writes in November,
1765, &ldquo;I have some things to settle with the Governor &amp; Council next time they
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span>
sit, that prevents my going to Boston by this vessel, but I shall go the next time
she sails, if you Boston people don&rsquo;t burn her, which I should be very sorry
should happen as she carrys no stamps. My heart bleeds for my Country, what
will be the end of all this?&rdquo;</p>
<p>Two projects especially claimed Glasier&rsquo;s attention in the summer of 1766:
The first the founding of a town, the second the building of his saw-mill. &ldquo;I propose,&rdquo;
he says, &ldquo;to lay out the Town at Grimross in 80 squares, in addition to
public squares; then they are to be numbered and drawn for by some person on
the spot in the form of lottery tickets, which I shall have sent to the proprietors
so that we may fix as many families as can be had this Summer on the Town
lots. * * I must have young Mr. Morris from Halifax to survey and lay out
the Town, as nothing can be done at Grimross before he arrives.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In connection with the erection of the Nashwaak mills Capt. Glasier acknowledges
his obligation to Hazen &amp; Jarvis of Newburyport. He says: &ldquo;They have
procured me men to build the mills and stores of all kinds for the workmen.&rdquo;
The mill geer came this season, but on the 25th October Glasier writes, &ldquo;The mills
won&rsquo;t be finished this fall, it is such a work it was not possible to get through
with it. * * * * My time has been divided between the Mills and the Surveying.
I am condemned to tarry here this winter and can know nothing of
what is doing in the world.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On the 2nd February following, he writes Mr. Nath&rsquo;l Rogers of Boston, &ldquo;We
are now employed in getting logs to the mills. I hope we shall get them going
early in the summer. They will begin to pay something of the expense before the
fall. It&rsquo;s impossible for me to tell you in a letter the expenses of the different
branches of business which I am obliged to carry on to complete the whole. It
is not only building mills, surveying, etc., but clearing up the land, building
houses, making roads, hiring oxen (for we have not half enough of them) and in
fine so much I shall never pretend to write it. James Simonds, Esq., who is the
Bearer of this, will be able to inform you much better than I can. * * * I
am determined to finish what I have undertaken and then quit it. I am not in
the best situation in the world, as I believe you&rsquo;ll think when I tell you I am
not only shut out from all society and know nothing of what is carrying on in the
world, but my stores are all expended, nor is there one thing to be bought here,
pray send me last year&rsquo;s magazines and some English newspapers as well as the
Boston ones. * * * I should be glad if you&rsquo;d send the oxen, they may be not
old nor of the largest kind but good to draw. I pay half a dollar a day for
each yoak I hire so that they&rsquo;ll almost pay for themselves in one year in work.
Those that we have here have worked more than one hundred days since I came,
so that if we had been obliged to have hired them at the rate I pay others it
would amount to a large sum. Twelve is the least that can be employed always
at the mills hauling logs, as they will cut 8,000 feet a day, I am told, when they
are finished. * * * * I told you I would not write you a long letter, as there
is nothing I hate so much; it&rsquo;s the D&mdash;&mdash;l to have ten thousand things to say.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Beamsley Glasier&rsquo;s connection with the St. John river was now drawing to a
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span>
close. In the summer of 1767 he went to New York where we find him engaged,
in company with the Rev. Dr. Ogilvie, in collecting the second annual subscription
from the members of the society. The military gentlemen proved very dilatory
in paying their subscriptions. Whether Capt. Glazier became disheartened
at the outlook, or whether he received peremptory orders to rejoin the Royal
American Regiment is uncertain. But about the end of August, 1767, James Porteous,
representing the Montreal committee, wrote to Nathaniel Rogers: &ldquo;We are
now informed Capt. Glazier is at New York on his way to join his Regiment, it
therefore becomes necessary to appoint another person to transact the Society&rsquo;s
business, for which purpose we have appointed Mr. James Simonds, one of the
Proprietors, agent with whom you will please correspond on any occurrence regarding
the <a name='TC_51'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double-quote">settlement.&rdquo;</ins></p>
<p>Messrs. Hazen &amp; Jarvis, as well as their partners at St. John, manifested great
interest in the attempts of the Society to settle their townships. Many
details are mentioned in their letters, such as those contained in the following to
James Simonds. These details may appear of little importance, yet everything
that throws light upon the methods employed in peopling a new country ought
to have an interest for after generations. In explanation of the subject matter of
the letter below it should be mentioned that Philip John Livingston and others
of the more energetic proprietors of the townships were sending settlers, from New
York, and other places to the River St. John.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>Newburyport, Octo. 8th, 1767.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We wrote you last Sunday by a sloop that came in here from New York for
some cattle, sheep and hogs. She took on board the cows; the hogs and sheep go
by this vessel. There is ten families [of settlers], each of which was to have 1
cow, 1 sow, and 6 sheep, but as they thought it necessary to have one of the hogs
a boar, and it was impossible to procure all the creatures of an equal goodness, we
must beg you will assist them (if they need it) in the division of them. There
was put on board this sloop 90 bushels of ears of corn, 60 of which is on the Company&rsquo;s
account and 30 for these families&rsquo; hogs, so that what may be more than 60
bushels upon their arrival with you, please to deliver with the hogs. The freight
of these hogs and sheep we shall charge here.</p>
<p>Mr. White is arrived with our Wm. Hazen and writes you by this vessel. We
suppose he will tell you that we think it will not be best to build a vessel with
you this winter.</p>
<p>We have sent all we could procure of your memo. by this, vessel&mdash;the remainder
will come by Mr. White who will sail the last of next week. You will observe
there are seven hogsheads of rye and Indian corn wanting of the number in the
invoices. These we took out to get ground and you shall have them when Mr.
White goes.</p>
<p>Please to get as much lime as possible on board Capt. Newman, as we have
agreed with him to land it in Portsmouth, you will therefore please to consign him
to Mess. John &amp; Temple Knight in that place.</p>
<p>There are 100 sheep on board the sloop which cost upon an average about 6s.
10d. a head. Now as the ten families who came from Now York were to have 60
ewe sheep (and as they chose a ram or two in the number) you will please to deliver
them their number out of the old sheep which we shall charge at seven shillings
per head. There is a very likely ram on board (without horns) which we
bought of Capt. White for the Company. This you will take care of.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span></div>
<p>Since writing the above we have been getting the sheep on board and find
several very old, which please to take for the Company&rsquo;s use, and we will get an
abatement made by the person whom we bought them of and who has deceived
us in them.</p>
<p>Please to dispatch Newman as soon as possible as he has been detained here
longer than he ought to have been. What will be wanting to fill up Newman besides
the lime please to make up in lumber.</p>
<p>We would recommend it to you not to tarry till Mr. White&rsquo;s arrival with you
before you go up the River.</p>
<p>Mr. Pickard and Mr. Hartt will give you an account of what freight they have
on board which you will receive of them at the customary rate.</p>
<p class='lalign' style="margin-bottom:0em"><span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>We are Sir,<br />
<span class='indent8'>&nbsp;</span>Your sincere Friends and devoted hum, Serv&rsquo;s.</p>
<p class='right' style='margin-bottom:0em'>HAZEN &amp; JARVIS.</p>
<p style='margin-top:0em'>To Jas. Simonds, Esq&rsquo;r.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Philip John Livingston, who has been mentioned as a promoter of the settlement
of the townships, was a member of a distinguished and wealthy New York
family. His mother was Catherine de Peyster and his wife a daughter of Samuel
Bayard. His brother, John W. Livingston, and his wife&rsquo;s brother, Abraham de
Peyster, were both captains in Col. Edmund Fanning&rsquo;s King&rsquo;s American Regiment
during the Revolutionary war. Philip John Livingston was himself high sheriff of
Dutchess County, Now York, and during the Revolution held several important
positions under British authority in the City of New York. His father, brothers
and sons were all Loyalists.</p>
<p>About the close of the year 1767 Col. Glasier wrote from New York, seemingly
in excellent spirits at the prospect of speedy settlement of the lands. &ldquo;He
informs us,&rdquo; writes Leonard Jarvis, &ldquo;that one hundred families will go down next
year to settle on the St. John river&mdash;that a vessel from Ireland will arrive there
this fall&mdash;that Mr. Livingston, a gentleman of fortune, has purchased three shares,
and that the Patent is daily getting into fewer hands. This gives us encouragement
to think that some time hence our interest in your River will be valuable.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Among the proprietors of the townships who labored to effect their settlement
and improvement was Richard Shorne, a native of Ireland, with whom were associated
the Rev. Curryl Smith of Alminsta, West Meath, Ireland, and his sons John
and Robert Smith of the city of Dublin. Mr. Shorne took up his residence at
the River St. John in 1767 and lived there for several years. He was on July 8,
1768, returned a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for Sunbury
county, his colleague being Phinehas Nevers of Maugerville. He seems to have
made his headquarters at or near St. Anne&rsquo;s Point, where supplies were sent to
him from Newburyport by Hazen &amp; Jarvis.</p>
<p>Simonds &amp; White informed their partners at Newburyport in a letter dated
June 22, 1768, that they had been obliged to make considerable advances out of
their stores to some settlers that Mr. Livingston had sent to the St. John river.
Livingston it seems found fault with certain items charged to him in the accounts
and this led to a rather indignant remonstrance on the part of Simonds &amp; White.
They wrote, &ldquo;We are surprised that he should mention anything as to the sums
not being due, when not only that but near as much more has been advanced to
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span>
save the lives of the wretched crew he sent. We have ever found that the doing
business for others is an office the most unthankful, and equally unprofitable.&rdquo; In
the same letter mention is made of the arrival of Richard Shorne at St. John, with
some families from New York, to settle his own and other lands for which he was
agent. It appears that James Simonds introduced Richard Shorne to his friends at
Newburyport for in one of his letters he writes: &ldquo;Mr. Shorne, the bearer of this,
is a Proprietor in our Lands and has left Ireland with an intention of settling a
number of Rights on this river and for that purpose is invested with power from
his friends to draw on them for any sum that may be necessary. I must beg
your kind assistance and advice on his behalf as he does not appear to be much
acquainted with the settlement of Lands.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Still another extract&mdash;this time from a letter of Philip J. Livingston to James
Simonds, will throw additional light upon the story of the townships.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;New York, September 12, 1769.</p>
<p>Sir, * * *</p>
<p>I intreated the favour of you last year to procure two families for Sir Charles
Dabers, who purchased the Right of James Allen, No. 18, in Sunbury Township,
and desired Peter Carr might be fixed in that Township. If Sir Charles&rsquo;s families
will accept of the same quantity of land as Captain Spry&rsquo;s and Mr. Morris&rsquo;s have
done, I should be glad the lots were laid out in the same manner for them. I have
only to add with respect to Sir Charles&rsquo;s two families that you will be pleased to
furnish them with such provisions as may be necessary for their subsistence and
draw for the amount. As to my families Hendrick and Baker, and West&mdash;who
I am desired to attend to and who I am informed talk of prosecuting me&mdash;be pleased
to furnish the ungrateful fellows, if they mend their manners, in such manner as
best consists with strict frugality&mdash;for the large sums I have expended in the purchase
of my several Rights and in prosecuting schemes of settlement (together with
the sums I have been under the necessity of advancing to the Society, and still
must advance to discharge a protested will of Glaziers, in this extreme scarcity of
current specie) makes such an order prudential.</p>
<p>I hope you have taken the cattle from Brooks, or received the worth of them
for me and be pleased to inform me particularly of the state of the families. You
no doubt will hear from Halifax of our petitioning the Government to confirm our
division of lands and therefore shall say nothing about it but refer you to Capt.
Spry and Mr. Morris.</p>
<p>As soon as the committee of Montreal will be pleased to furnish us with cash
we shall write to you about finishing the Mills: till then nothing need be said
about it. I should however be glad to know what sum you think would put the
Mills in working order. I intend, and it is my fixed resolve to be on St. John&rsquo;s
River as soon as the weather will permit in the Spring, which will be about the 1st
of May. If Mr. Ogilvie should not send you an order to furnish James Marrington
with provisions&mdash;who was to settle General Burton&rsquo;s Right&mdash;I think it advisable
to take that family for Sir Charles Dabers, as General Burton is dead, and the
family without credit can&rsquo;t subsist.</p>
<p class='lalign' style="margin-bottom:0em"><span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>I am, Sir,<br />
<span class='indent8'>&nbsp;</span>Your Much Obliged<br />
<span class='indent12'>&nbsp;</span>And Very Humble Servant,</p>
<p class='right'>PHILIP J. LIVINGSTON.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We may be pretty certain,that the complaints of the settlers mentioned by
Livingston were not entirely unreasonable. They had not anticipated the hardships
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span>
before them and were ill prepared to grapple with them. Probably the attractions
of the River St. John had been represented in an exaggerated form, a circumstance
not unknown in the case of promoters of colonization of a more recent date than
that we are at present considering.</p>
<p>Peter Carr and Thomas Masterson, two of Livingston&rsquo;s tenants, settled on the
west side of the river opposite Musquash Island; both seem to have proved good
settlers. John Hendrick, one of Livingston&rsquo;s &ldquo;ungrateful fellows,&rdquo; was also a
valuable settler; he was the father of five sons and Major Studholme commended
him in 1783 as &ldquo;a good subject, an old soldier and a very deserving man.&rdquo; Henry
West, another of Livingston&rsquo;s settlers, is also commended by Major Studholme as an
exceedingly good subject.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the efforts of individuals, the progress made by the Saint
John&rsquo;s River Society in the settling of their townships was unsatisfactory, and
about this time Hazen &amp; Jarvis expressed their conviction that half of the proprietors
would not settle their lands at all; they therefore desired Simonds &amp;
White to take such measures as would secure their own Rights in Sunbury and
New-Town as well as those of Moses Hazen and Governor Thomas Hutchinson&mdash;that
of the latter having been lately purchased for Mr. Jarvis. Simonds &amp; White
seem to have agreed with their partners as to the improbability of settling the
townships, for in July, 1770, they write: &ldquo;The Society&rsquo;s Lands will be forfeited if
not settled this year. We think it best to engage as many families, and fix them
in Conway, as will secure our whole interest on the River, if they can be had.&rdquo;
This advice was based on the opinion of the authorities at Halifax that settling the
required number of families in one township would quite as effectively protect the
interests of the grantees as if they were dispersed over the several tracts.</p>
<h3>APPENDIX.</h3>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>Halifax, 5th August, 1763.</p>
<p>Sir,&mdash;We beg leave to trouble you with a memorial of a number of officers and
disbanded soldiers, who came from New England, and are settled on St. John&rsquo;s
River. We were sent to them lately as a Committee of Council, by order of the
Lieut.-Governor, to inform them that they could have no Grant of the Lands they
were upon, and that they must remove therefrom, as these Lands were reserved
by His Majesty for disbanded Troops. However, we are very apprehensive that
their case must by some means or other have been misrepresented to the Lords of
Trade, or not clearly understood.</p>
<p>They are chiefly American soldiers, officers or privates; they have sold their
Farms in New England, and have transported themselves at their own expense;
they have brought considerable stock with them, and their Families, and if it is
the intention of the Ministry to settle disbanded Troops on that River, we are of
Opinion these people will be of use and service, as it cannot be expected that English
Soldiers can bring any great stock with them. The removing these people
now they are settled, will be their utter ruin, the particular circumstances of which
they have set forth in their Memorial to the Lords of Trade, which we beg the
favor of you to present to them, and are with great Respect,</p>
<p style='margin-left:4em; margin-bottom:0em;'>Sir, your most obedient and very Humble Servts.,</p>
<p class='right' style='margin-bottom:0em'>Chas. Morris,<br />
Henry Newton.</p>
<p style='margin-left:2em; margin-top:0em;'>Joshua Mauger, Esqr.</p>
</blockquote>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span></div>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'>MEMORIAL.</p>
<p>To the Right Honourable and Honourable the Lords of Commissioners of Trade
and Plantations:</p>
<p>The Memorial of Francis Peabody, John Carlton, Jacob Barker, Nicholas West
and Israel Perley, late officers in the American service and now Disbanded, In behalf
of themselves and others disbanded from the said service and now settled
at St. John&rsquo;s River in Nova Scotia, Humbly Sheweth:&mdash;</p>
<p>That your Memorialists, previous to their entering into his Majesty&rsquo;s Service,
among other Encouragements were induced thereto by a Proclamation of his late
Majesty promising that at the Expiration of the service they should be entitled
to a Grant of Lands in any of his Majesty&rsquo;s colonies for them to Settle upon. That
they have many of them been in Service during this Present war, and as Americans
are not intitled to half pay, as his Majesty&rsquo;s British Troops are, and therefore
expected no other Recompense than a Donation of Land agreeable to his late
Majesty&rsquo;s Promise to them.</p>
<p>That having been sollicited to settle in Nova Scotia, by Colonel McNutt, who
appeared to us to be authorized by your Lordships, having produced to us an Instrument
Signed by your Lordships and under seal promising a Right of Land to
each Settler equal to those already Granted to Horton, Cornwallis and Falmouth,
we were induced to come into the colony of Nova Scotia, and accordingly sent a
Committee of us to view Lands proper for a Settlement. That our Committee accordingly
viewed several Tracts of Lands in Nova Scotia at our Expense and advised
us to settle upon St. John&rsquo;s River about seventy miles from the Mouth in one
of the Extreme parts and Frontiers of Nova Scotia, that we therefore applyed to
the Governor and Council of Nova Scotia for a Grant of the Lands, not doubting
of having the same confirmed to us, as they had Granted several Townships in
this Province of Nova Scotia to other New England Proprietors who had not been
in the Service. That the Governour and Councill of Nova Scotia gave your Memorialists
encouragement, by telling your Memorialists that the Lands about St. John&rsquo;s
River were reserved by your Lordships for disbanded Troops and that they would
refer your Memorialists&rsquo; Petition to your Lordships.</p>
<p>In confidence of this, and being ourselves Soldiers, we apprehended we might
with great safety prepare ourselves for settling the Lands we Petitioned for, and
accordingly sold our Estates in New England, and have at near a Thousand Pounds
Sterling expence Transported ourselves, Families and Stock, and are now Settled
to the number of one Hundred persons, on St. John&rsquo;s River seventy miles from
the Mouth; and a large number of disbanded officers and soldiers in confidence
of the same Encouragement have now sold all their Possessions in New England
and are hiring Vessels to Transport themselves and Settle among us.</p>
<p>We were not a little astonished when we were informed by his Majesty&rsquo;s Governor
and Council here that we could not have a Grant of the Lands we have
settled ourselves upon.</p>
<p>We therefore humbly apply to your Lordships to Lay our Cause before his
most Gracious Majesty for whose service we have often exposed our lives in America,
that he would be pleased to direct the Governor and Council here to Grant
us these Lands, we are now settled upon, as the Removal therefrom would prove
our utter Ruin and Destruction. We have been at no expence to the crown and
intend to be at none, and are settled two hundred miles from any other English
Settlement.</p>
<p>And your Memorialists as in duty bound shall ever pray.</p>
<p>Recd. &amp; Read Decr. 16, 1763.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XXI_THE_FIRM_OF_HAZEN_JARVIS_SIMONDS__WHITE' id='CHAPTER_XXI_THE_FIRM_OF_HAZEN_JARVIS_SIMONDS__WHITE'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The Firm of Hazen, Jarvis, Simonds &amp; White</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>The circumstances under which James Simonds, William Hazen and their associates
organized the first trading company at St. John have been already related.
Their business contract was signed on the 1st of March, 1764. In the course of a
year or two the character of the original company was essentially altered by the
death of Richard Simonds, the retirement of Samuel Blodget and Richard Peaslie
and the admission of Leonard Jarvis as a new partner. Questions had also
arisen as to the rights of the several partners in the lands granted in 1765 to James
Simonds, James White and Richard Simonds. In order to settle these questions
a new business contract was signed at Newburyport, on the 16th April, 1767, by
James Simonds, Leonard Jarvis and William Hazen. The original contract is yet
in existence amongst the papers of the Hazen family. It is in the handwriting of
Leonard Jarvis and is a well worn document which bears marks of having been
repeatedly handled. This is not to be wondered at for this contract proved a veritable
storm-centre in the litigation that ensued relative to the division of the lands
between the partners. The legal proceedings assumed various phases and occupied
the attention of the courts for a period of twenty years.<a name='FNanchor_0087' id='FNanchor_0087'></a><a href='#Footnote_0087' class='fnanchor'>[87]</a></p>
<p>Under the new contract Hazen and Jarvis were to have a half interest in the
business, James Simonds one-third and James White one-sixth, and all the lands
on the River St. John that had been granted to any or either of the partners (Mr.
Simonds&rsquo; lot in Maugerville excepted) were to be put into the common stock and
divided in the following proportions, namely, one-half to Hazen and Jarvis, one-third
to Simonds and one-sixth to White. The same division was to be made of
any lands that should thereafter be obtained by the members of the company,
either individually or collectively, during the continuance of the partnership.</p>
<p>Mr. Simonds sailed from St. John for Newburyport in the schooner Eunice
on the 4th March, 1767, but owing to head winds he was twenty days in arriving
at his destination. He submitted to Hazen and Jarvis the accounts of the business
at St. John for the three years of the company&rsquo;s operations and then repaired to
Haverhill, about fourteen miles distant, to visit his relations. On his return he
was accompanied by his sister Sarah and by his young bride, Hannah Peabody,
who were about to settle with him at St. John. On his arrival at the store of
Hazen and Jarvis, the new contract was presented to him for his signature. The
proposition relative to the division of lands led to &ldquo;a warm altercation and dispute.&rdquo;
Hazen and Jarvis positively declined to continue in the business or to
furnish supplies unless they were allowed an interest in the lands. They stated
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span>
further that the goods on board the schooner Eunice should not leave Newburyport,
nor would they furnish anything for the spring trade but insist upon immediate
payment of the balance due them unless Mr. Simonds should execute the
contract. Much as he disliked the proposal the situation of Mr. Simonds did not
admit of delay. He was anxious to settle his family at St. John, his workmen
and tenants needed his supervision and the Indian trade for the season would be
lost unless the goods on board the Eunice were delivered as speedily as possible.
Under these circumstances he deemed it best to sign the contract. Hazen &amp; Jarvis
claimed the company were at this time indebted to them in the sum of &pound;3,135, but
in the subsequent proceedings in the court of chancery this was disputed by Mr.
Simonds and the statements of the parties interested are so much at variance that
it is difficult to determine the exact truth in the matter.</p>
<p>James White declined to sign the new contract stating:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;That having one-fourth part of the duties, trouble and services to undergo
and perform in transacting the business of the Copartnership, yet he was by the
said Contract entitled to one-sixth part only of the lands to be divided under the
contract. But that, although he disliked as aforesaid his having no greater share
than one-sixth part in the Concern, he nevertheless joined with James Simonds
in carrying on the business in full confidence that some equitable allowance would
be made him for his services over and above his proportion of the said profits and
lands.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the occasion of James Simonds&rsquo; visit to Halifax early in 1764 he obtained a
license to occupy ten acres of land at Portland Point for carrying on the fishery
and burning limestone, but it was not until the 2nd October, 1765, that a grant
was made to him, in conjunction with his brother Richard, and James White, described
as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Beginning at a point of upland opposite to his (Simonds&rsquo;) House and running
East till it meets with a little Cove or River; thence bounded by said Cove till
it comes to a Red Head on the east side of the Cove&mdash;thence running North eleven
degrees fifteen minutes west till it meets Canebekssis river, thence bounded by said
river, the river St. John and harbour till it comes to the first mentioned boundary.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The bounds of this tract are shown in the accompanying plan. It was supposed
to contain 2,000 acres &ldquo;more or less,&rdquo; but in reality it contained upwards of 5,000
acres. Elias Hardy in 1785 claimed that the grant must have originated in misrepresentation,
either in the application or survey, otherwise the quantity could not
have been so much mistaken. To this Ward Chipman replied that the land had
never been actually surveyed, but making allowance for lakes, sunken and broken
ground, etc., it was supposed not to contain much if any more than the number
of acres mentioned in the grant. The grant was made in accordance with the return
of the surveyor describing its boundaries and expressing them to be &ldquo;with allowance
for bad lands, containing in the whole by estimation 2,000 acres more or
less.&rdquo; Chipman adds, &ldquo;no misrepresentation can well be supposed to have taken
place at the time of passing this Grant when the lands upon the river St. Johns
were considered as of very little value and there could be no inducement to such
a step.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span></div>
<p>However, in view of the fact that when surveyed the grant was found to contain
5,496 acres, it must be admitted that the allowance for &ldquo;bad lands&rdquo; was tolerably
liberal, and the grantees were fortunate to escape without the loss of at
least half of their property. The line running from Mr. Simonds&rsquo; house eastward
to Courtenay Bay is that now followed by Union street. It will be observed that
the peninsula south of this street which now contains the business part of the city
of St. John, and which was laid out for the Loyalists in 1783 as Parr-town, was not
included in the grant. The primary object of the grantees was evidently to obtain
possession of the limestone quarries and the big marsh, and they probably
deemed the land south of Union street to be hardly worth the quit rents.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_29' id='linki_29'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i241.png' alt='' title='' width='455' height='500' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Plan of Grants to Simonds &amp; White<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>The first grant at the mouth of the River St. John included only a small
part of the great marsh&mdash;then called by the Indians, Sebaskastaggan&mdash;and a further
tract in that locality was applied for by James Simonds in a memorial to
the government of Nova Scotia. The memorial stated that James and Richard
Simonds and James White had obtained a grant of 2,000 acres of mountainous
and broken land at the mouth of the River Saint John in the year 1765, which
had been improved by building houses, a saw mill and lime kiln, and the company
had settled upwards of thirty people on it who were engaged in carrying on
those two branches of business, but that the wood and timber so necessary for
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span>
them was all consumed, therefore praying that 2,000 acres additional to the eastward
of the said tract might be granted to the said James Simonds.</p>
<p>It can scarcely be believed that all the wood from the harbor of St. John to
the Kennebeccasis had been consumed in the five years of the company&rsquo;s operations
at Portland Point. But probably the lumber in the vicinity of the saw-mill and
the wood most convenient to the lime kilns had been cut and this was sufficient
to afford a pretext for another grant. Mr. Simonds&rsquo; memorial was considered by
the Governor in Council December 18, 1769, and approved. The grant did not issue
till May 1, 1770. The bounds are thus described:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Beginning at a Red Head in a little Bay or cove to the eastward of the
Harbor at the mouth of Saint John&rsquo;s River described in a former grant to James
Simonds in the year 1765, being the south eastern bound of the said grant, thence
to run north 75 degrees east 170 chains, thence north 15 degrees west 160 chains
or until it meets the river Kennebeccasis, and from thence to run westerly until
it meets the north eastern bound of the former grant.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The boundaries of the second grant may be readily traced on the plan. Like
the former grant it included a good deal more than the 2,000 acres it was supposed
to contain, and in this case, too, the grant escaped curtailment. The grant
was in the name of James Simonds, but the other partners relied upon the clause
in their business contract as a sufficient guarantee of their interests.</p>
<p>It must be admitted that as the first adventurers to settle in an exposed and at
times perilous situation the first grantees of the lands at the mouth of the River
St. John were entitled to special consideration. James Simonds had to make repeated
visits to Halifax in connection with the business at St. John and these
visits were sometimes attended with risk as will be seen from the following extract
of one of his earliest letters.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>Halifax, Oct&rsquo;r 1st, 1764.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Last night arrived here after four days passage from St. John&rsquo;s&mdash;the first 24
hours were at sea in a severe storm, the second passed a place called the Masquerades
where there was seas and whirlpools enough to have foundered the largest
ships&mdash;we were providentially saved with the loss of all our cable and anchor
endeavoring to ride at anchor till the tide slacked, but in vain. It was unlucky
for us that we happened to fall in with that tremendous place in the strength
of flood tide in the highest spring tide that has been this year. Gentlemen here
say it is presumptuous to attempt to return the same way at this season in an
open boat; but as the boat and men are at Pisiquit (Windsor), and I have no
other way to get to St. John in season for my business this fall, shall get our
business done here as soon as may be and return the same way I came. The
plea of the above difficulty will have a greater weight than any other to have
business finished here immediately. This morning I waited on the Governor, Secretary
and all officers concerned in granting license, etc., who assure me that my
request shall be granted directly so that I hope to be on my way to St. John&rsquo;s
tomorrow.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We cannot but admire the courage and enterprise of a man who after so
fatiguing and perilous a journey, was ready, on the second day after his arrival
in Halifax, to remount his horse and travel forty-odd miles over a very rough
road to Windsor to face again the perils of the Bay of Fundy in an open boat at
a stormy season.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span></div>
<p>The establishment of Fort Frederick on the west side of the Harbor of St.
John, by Brig. General Monckton, in the fall of the year 1759, contributed not a
little to the advantage of the first settlers. The Indians were disposed to be
troublesome to the English, and the presence of the garrison rendered their situation
less lonely and added very greatly to their sense of security. Not only so,
but the garrison brought quite an amount of business to the store of Simonds &amp;
White. In the old accounts of the year 1764 are to be found the names of Lieut.
Gilfred Studholme of the 40th Regt., Lieut. John Marr and Commissary Henry
Green. Captain Pierce Butler, of the 29th Regt., was in command at Fort Frederick
the following year and his name also appears in the accounts. For a year
or two after the fort was established the garrison was furnished by the provincial
troops of Massachusetts, afterwards by detachments of British regiments under
various commanders. In addition to the trade with the officers and soldiers,
Simonds &amp; White furnished wood and other supplies to the garrison, and doubtless
it was not the least satisfactory incident in this connection that the pay-master
was &ldquo;John Bull.&rdquo; The Indians were unreliable customers and bad debts
were not infrequent, the white settlers on the river had but little money and their
pay was chiefly in shingles, staves, spars, clapboards, musquash and beaver skins;
John Bull paid cash.</p>
<p>About three years after the arrival of Simonds and White at St. John their
trade with the garrison was interrupted by the removal of the troops to Boston in
consequence of some riots in connection with the enforcement of the Stamp Act.
Mr. Simonds speaks of this circumstance in a letter dated July 25, 1768, in which he
writes: &ldquo;The troops are withdrawn from all the outposts in the Province and sent
to Boston to quell the mob. The charge of Fort Frederick is committed to me,
which I accepted to prevent another person being appointed who would be a
trader. I don&rsquo;t know but I must reside in the Garrison, but the privilege of the
fisheries on that side of the River and the use of the King&rsquo;s boats will be more
than an equivalent for the inconvenience.&rdquo; The defenceless condition of the port
of St. John brought disaster to the settlers there some years later, but of this we
shall hear more by and by.</p>
<p>The names of most of the heads of families settled at Maugerville appear in
the earlier account books of Simonds &amp; White, and later we have those of the
settlers at Gagetown, Burton and St. Anns. In the course of time branches of
the company&rsquo;s business seem to have been established at convenient centres up
the river, and their account books contain the invoices of goods shipped to Peter
Carr, who lived just below Gagetown, to Jabez Nevers of Maugerville, and to
Benjamin Atherton at St. Ann&rsquo;s Point. The goods appear to have been sold on
commission and returns were made chiefly in lumber, furs and produce. The invoices
of goods shipped to Hazen &amp; Jarvis at Newburyport by Simonds &amp; White
included pine boards, shingles, clapboards, cedar posts, spars and cordwood, besides
some 50,000 white and red oak staves, most of these articles having been
taken in trade with the settlers on the river. Messrs. Hazen &amp; Jarvis carried on
quite an extensive trade with the West Indies where, in consequence of the manufacture
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span>
of rum and molasses, there was a large demand for hogshead and barrel
staves, these were obtainable in considerable quantities on the River St. John, and
the terms at which they were purchased may be seen in the following agreement:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;St. Johns River, Nov&rsquo;r. 10th, 1772.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It is agreed between Simonds &amp; White on the one part and Joseph Garrison
&amp; William Saunders on the other, that the said Garrison &amp; Saunders make and
lay at the bank of the said River, at convenient place to load on board a vessel,
five thousand of White Oak barrel staves and the same number of White Oak
hogshead staves, the hogshead staves to be well shaved and both to be merchantable
according to the laws of Massachusetts Bay, for which the said Simonds &amp; White
are to pay, for Barrel Staves twenty-five shillings for each thousand and for the
Hogshead forty shillings; the said staves to be ready by the 20th day of April
next and at farthest to be received by the 20th day of June.</p>
<p>&ldquo;To the performance of the above agreement each of the parties hereby bind
themselves to each other in the sum of Twenty pounds currency, to be paid in
default of fulfilment of either party.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Witness our hands,</p>
<p class='right lalign'>JOSEPH GARRISON,<br />
WM. SAUNDERS,<br />
SIMONDS &amp; WHITE.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Joseph Garrison it may be observed was the grandfather of William Lloyd
Garrison, the celebrated advocate of the abolition of slavery. He was one of the
original grantees of Maugerville, and drew lot No. 4, opposite Middle Island in
Upper Sheffield. He was on the River St. John as early at least as July, 1764, and
is said to have been the first of the English speaking race to work the coal mines
at Grand Lake. Another early miner was Edmund Price of Gagetown, who in
the year 1775 delivered nine chaldrons of coal, to Simonds &amp; White for which they
allowed him 20 shillings per chaldron.</p>
<p>Nearly all the settlers on the river obtained their goods from the old trading
company at Portland Point, and for their accommodation the little schooner
&ldquo;Polly&rdquo; made frequent trips to Maugerville and St. Anns. Inspection of the old
accounts shows that on the occasion of a trip up the river in May, 1773, goods were
sold to thirty families at various points along the way. In November, 1775,
goods were sold in like manner to more than forty families. At that time there
were to be found in the company&rsquo;s day book the names of 120 customers, nearly
all of them heads of families. Of these, 25 were residents at Portland Point, 20
lived across the harbor in Conway, 45 belonged to Maugerville, 20 to other townships
up the river and ten were casual visitors, fishermen and traders.</p>
<p>The partners amidst all their variety of business continued to make improvements
upon their lands at St. John. They cleared up the Great Marsh and cut hay there,
for in June, 1768, Mr. Simonds writes to Newburyport, &ldquo;Please send half a dozen
Salem scythes; Haskel&rsquo;s tools are entirely out of credit here; it would be a sufficient
excuse for a hired man to do but half a day&rsquo;s work in a day if he was furnished
with an axe or scythe of that stamp.&rdquo; The next year plans were discussed for the
general improvement of the marsh, and a number of indigent Acadians were employed
to assist in the construction of a &ldquo;Running Dike&rdquo; and aboideau. These Acadians
probably lived at French Village, near the Kennebecasis, and the fact that
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span>
they had some experience in dykeing marsh lands shows that they
were refugees from the Expulsion of 1755. The situation of the first dyke was
not, as now, at the mouth of the Marsh Creek but at a place nearly opposite the
gate of the cemetery, where the lake-like expansion of the Marsh begins. The work
was completed in August, 1774, by the construction of an aboideau. Those employed
in the work were the company&rsquo;s laborers, six or eight Acadians and a number
of the Maugerville people&mdash;about twenty-five hands in all. William Hazen was at
St. John that summer and he and James White gave their personal attendance,
&ldquo;not in overseeing the work only but in the active and laborious parts thereof,&rdquo;
the company providing the implements, tools, carts, several teams of oxen, gundolas
and other boats, materials and supplies of every kind including rum for the workmen.
This dyke and aboideau served the purpose of shutting out the tide from
about 600 acres of marsh land. Ten years later Hazen &amp; White built a new aboideau
a little above the first one which had fallen into disrepair. A much better
one than either was built at the mouth of the creek in 1788 by James Simonds at
a cost of &pound;1,300. The House of Assembly voted &pound;100 towards building a bridge at
the place and Mr. Simonds agreed to erect a structure to serve the double purpose
of a public bridge and aboideau. The width of the structure was 75 feet at the
bottom and 25 feet at the top. Not long afterwards Mr. Simonds built here two
tide saw-mills. These were not a profitable investment, and in 1812 one had fallen into
total decay while the other was so much out of repair as to be of little benefit to
its owner.</p>
<p>After the first Marsh Bridge had been in existence about twenty-five years there
arose a controversy as to what proportion of the cost of repairs should be borne
respectively by the province, the City of St. John and the proprietors of the marsh.
This controversy has continued to crop up at regular intervals during the last century
and the end is not yet.</p>
<p>When the Loyalists arrived in 1783 the dyked marsh lands produced about 400
tons of hay, but it was said that &ldquo;if tilled and ditched they would produce much
more.&rdquo; Today the marsh raises at least four times the quantity of hay named
above.</p>
<p>After building the first running dyke in 1769, Hazen, Simonds and White
continued to devote considerable attention to the task of reclaiming and improving
the marsh. In order to have ready access a road was laid out running back of
Fort Howe hill and along Mount Pleasant to the marsh. Not far from the present
station at Coldbrook they built a house with hovels for cattle and put up fences
and settled a family there. A few years later they built two more houses and settled
two more families there, each with a stock of cattle. The first tenants on the
marsh were Stephen Dow, Silas Parker and Jabez Salisbury. The houses built
for their accommodation cost from &pound;15 to &pound;20 apiece. About this time or a little
later a small grist mill was built at the outlet of Lily Lake.</p>
<p>One of the inducements that led James Simonds to fix upon the harbor of St.
John as a place of settlement was the abundance and excellent quality of the limestone
there and its convenience for shipment. The license of occupation given under
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span>
the hand of Governor Montagu Wilmot on the 8th of February, 1764, was in
the terms following:</p>
<p>&ldquo;License is hereby granted to James Simonds to occupy a tract or point on the
north side of St. John&rsquo;s River, opposite Fort Frederick, for carrying on a fishery
and for burning limestone, the said tract or point containing by estimation ten
acres.&rdquo; Soon after the formation of the trading company in the course of the same
year, the manufacture of lime became an object of consideration. Some reference
has been made already in these chapters to the progress of the industry.</p>
<p>The company had four lime kilns, the situation of which will be best understood
by reference to modern land marks. One was at the base of Fort Howe
hill at the head of Portland street, a second near the site of St. Luke&rsquo;s church, a
third near the present suspension bridge, and a fourth on the road leading to the
old &ldquo;Indian House.&rdquo; The work of quarrying and burning limestone was carried on
in a very primitive fashion by the laborers of the company. In the winter a
number of them were employed in quarrying the stone and hauling it with oxen
to the kilns. The wood needed for burning grew almost at the spot where it was
wanted, and its cutting served to clear the land as well as to provide the fuel
necessary. In the course of ten years Simonds &amp; White shipped to Newburyport
and Boston more than 3,500 hogsheads of lime for which they received four dollars
per cask; they also sent lime to Halifax, Cornwallis and other places in Nova
Scotia. The facilities for manufacturing in those days were very inadequate, the
men lacked experience, casks were hard to get, and for a time the lack of a wharf
and warehouse caused much delay in the shipment.</p>
<p>And now a word as to the present condition of the lime industry at St. John.
It cannot be questioned that the splendid quality of the limestone, its vast abundance,
its convenient situation for shipment and the abundance and cheapness of the
fuel needed, clearly prove that the manufacture of lime is destined yet to become
an important industry in this community. Fifteen years ago the industry was
rapidly developing, when the McKinley tariff and the Dingley bill completely excluded
the St. John manufacturers from the United States market which passed into
the hands of their rivals of Rockland, Maine. It is, however, only a question of
time when there will be a removal of the prohibitive tariff in the interests of United
States consumers, and this will be hastened as the deposits of limestone at Rockland
are exhausted. This circumstance, together with the increasing demands of the
Canadian market, will cause the manufacture of lime at St. John to become eventually
an industry as great as that of shipbuilding in its palmiest days.</p>
<p>About the year 1888 the prospects of the St. John lime burners seemed particularly
bright. Extensive operations were being carried on at Randolph, Robertson&rsquo;s
Point, South Bay, Glencoe, Adelaide Road, Brookville and Drury&rsquo;s Cove. Probably
at least 400 men were employed and a dozen draw kilns and twenty square kilns
were in operation. In order to show the prospective development of that which
in the time of Simonds &amp; White was an infantile industry, it may be stated that the
capacity of the draw kiln is from 70 to 100 barrels of lime every twenty-four hours,
while that of the square kiln is about 400 barrels per week. The draw kiln is more
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span>
expensive in construction than the other, but its capacity is greater, and it is not
necessary to extinguish the fire, the lime being drawn out as it is burned and
fresh stone put in. At several of the lime kilns at the Narrows, above Indiantown,
the facilities are unrivalled. The stone is quarried from the cliff a few rods from
the kiln, dumped in at the top by cart or wheelbarrow, drawn out at the bottom at
the water&rsquo;s level and loaded on scows. The wood for the kiln grows on the surrounding
hillsides or may be obtained from the saw-mills in the vicinity at nominal
cost. At the time the manufacture of lime was interfered with by the McKinley
bill, the following persons were actively concerned in the development of the industry:
Hornbrook and Wm. Lawlor &amp; Son at Brookville, Jewett &amp; Co. at Drury&rsquo;s
Cove, Isaac Stevens and A. L. Bonnell at South Bay, Frank Armstrong and J. &amp;
F. Armstrong at the Narrows, Hayford &amp; Stetson at Glencoe above Indiantown,
Charles Miller at Robertson&rsquo;s Point, Randolph &amp; Baker at Randolph, W. D. Morrow
and Purdy &amp; Green on the Adelaide Road.</p>
<p>It is impossible with the data on hand to form any proper estimate of the
quantity of lime manufactured by these firms, but it may be stated that in the year
1887, Hayford &amp; Stetson alone expected to burn 50,000 barrels in their draw kilns
at Indiantown and 30,000 barrels in their square kilns. In the work of quarrying
the use of the steam drill was then being introduced. Perhaps there is no better way
of contrasting modern methods with the methods of those who first embarked
in the industry one hundred and forty years ago, and at the same time showing
the difficulties with which the pioneers had to contend, than by giving extracts from
James Simonds letters to Hazen &amp; Jarvis.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>St. John&rsquo;s River, 27th May, 1765.</p>
<p>Gentlemen:&mdash;I Rec&rsquo;d yours of 3d. of April the 1st inst., and of the 18th on the
9th inst. [The letters came by the schooner &ldquo;Polly&rdquo; and the schooner &ldquo;Wilmot.&rdquo;]
The schr. Polly was dispatched immediately fishing: she is now near loaded. I am
sorry the same dispatch could not be made with the schr. Wilmot. A cargo of
Lime could not be prepared before hand for want of Oxen to draw wood. Have
had bad luck in burning the Lime, the wood being wet, as the snow was but just
off the ground. One-third of the kiln is not burnt. * * * If you can get
freight to this place, we believe it will be best to keep the schooner [Wilmot] constantly
running between here and Newburyport. If the Lime answers well can
burn any quantity whatever. The want of Hhds. is the greatest difficulty, the want
of a house to cover it the next.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I doubt not of your making the greatest dispatch in all business relating to this
concern, and wish I could make you sensible of the disadvantages we are under to
do the same. I thank you for the willingness you express to relieve me and that
you think there is any difficulty to go through in these parts. You may depend
upon it that no pains will be spared in this quarter to make the Concern advantageous.
* * * I shall be extremely glad to wait upon Mr. Hazen when the schooner
returns.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Have been obliged to credit the inhabitants up the River to the amount of a
considerable sum, which is to be paid part in furs and part in lumber (the lumber
is not brought down). The Officers and Soldiers supplies and wooding the garrison
is to be paid by a draft on the pay-master at Halifax. * * * Since the lime is
all put in hogsheads I find there is near seventy (empty) hogsheads remains. They
chiefly want one head each&mdash;twenty or thirty more will be sufficient for another
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span>
kiln. If you send the Schr. directly back, boards must be sent for heads, and
should think it would be best to send 100 refuse shook hogsheads for a third kiln
with boards for heads and hoops, as they cannot be had here, also 5 M. boards
to cover a frame that is now decaying and will serve for a Lime House and Barn.
Have borrowed 12 C. boards of Mr. Green (of the garrison). Shall have a kiln
ready to set fire to in three weeks after the Schr. sails. Dispatch in shipping lime
can never be made without a Lime house to have it ready when any vessel arrives.
* * *</p>
<p class='right' style='margin-bottom:0em'>In Great haste, I am, Gentlemen,<br />
   <span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>Yr. Most Obedient &amp; Humble Servt,<br />
       <span class='indent8'>&nbsp;</span>JAS. SIMONDS.</p>
<p style='margin-top:0em'>To Messrs. Hazen &amp; Jarvis.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the year 1769 the company built a wharf and warehouse at Portland Point.
Their work was often interfered with by the nature of the season, the winters
then, as now, being exceedingly variable. Mr. Simonds writes, under date March
6, 1769:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Have had but little snow this winter, but few days that the ground has been
covered. Have got to the water side a large quantity of wood and wharf logs; about
300 Hogshead Lime Stone to the Kiln, and should have had much more if there had
been snow. Our men have been so froze and wounded that we have not had more
than three men&rsquo;s constant labour to do this and sled sixty loads of hay from the
marsh, saw boards for casks, look after cattle and draw firewood. Shall continue
drawing or draging wood and stone as long as the ground is frozen, and then cut
the timber for a schooner and boat stone for a Lime Kiln, which with the wharf
will take 400 tons.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The next winter was of a different sort, for Mr. Simonds writes on May 10,
1770, &ldquo;This spring has been so backward that there has been no possibility of burning
any lime. The piles of wood and stone are now frozen together.&rdquo; The next
winter was extremely mild, and Mr. Simonds writes on February 18, 1771, &ldquo;There
has not been one day&rsquo;s sledding this winter, and the season is so far advanced
there cannot be much more than enough to get the hay from the marsh; but
shall haul logs to finish the wharf and for plank for Fish Cisterns if it can by any
means be done.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The popular idea that the climate of this Province was much more severe in
ancient than in modern days is not borne out by the correspondence of Simonds
&amp; White with Hazen &amp; Jarvis. From it we learn that 140 years ago the navigation
of the River St. John, as now, opened early in April, and that the river could be
relied on as a winter route of communication to St. Anns &ldquo;only between the first
of January and the last of February and then many times difficult.&rdquo; In the extracts
just quoted Mr. Simonds states that during the winter of 1769 there had been
but few days that the ground was covered with snow, and two years later he says
that up to the 18th of February there had not been a single day&rsquo;s sledding. This
testimony does not at all accord with the popular idea of an old-fashioned winter.
It is not likely that there have been any material changes in the climate of this
region since the days of Champlain, and this conclusion is strengthened by the fact
that the weather reports made to the Dominion government since the time of Confederation
do not indicate any alteration in our climatic conditions during the
last 35 years.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span></div>
<p>The first Business Contract under which William Hazen, James Simonds, James
White and their associates engaged in business at the River St. John was signed
on March 1st, 1764. The members of the company immediately proceeded to engage
their workmen and a very interesting illustration of the way they set about
it has been preserved in an old indenture dated 13th March, 1764, in which James
Simonds, &ldquo;trader,&rdquo; made agreement with one Edmund Black of Haverhill, &ldquo;bricklayer,&rdquo;
to pay the said Black &pound;16. 16s. for eight months labor at brickmaking,
fishing, burning lime, or any other common or ordinary work at Passamaquoddy,
St. John, Annapolis Royal or any other part of Nova Scotia, in the Bay of
Fundy. In addition to his pay, at the rate &pound;2. 2s. per month, Mr. Simonds
agreed to furnish Black with &ldquo;suitable victuals and drink and lodging.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The exact date of the arrival of Simonds and White, and their party at St.
John is put beyond doubt by the following memorandum in Mr. White&rsquo;s handwriting,
found by the author among a collection of old papers: &ldquo;Haverhill, New
England, 1764. Set off for River St. John, Nova Scotia, 1st day of April&mdash;Arrived
16th April.&rdquo;</p>
<p>By the second business contract, entered into by William Hazen, Leonard
Jarvis and James Simonds on the 16th April, 1767, it was provided that &ldquo;all trade
and business in Nova Scotia shall be done and transacted by James Simonds and
James White and whatever business is to be transacted at Newbury-Port shall
be transacted by William Hazen and Leonard Jarvis.&rdquo; The remittances of Simonds
&amp; White consisted for the most part of fish, furs, lime and lumber and
were at first sent to Newburyport, but it was soon found to the advantage of the
company that remittances should be made to Boston where Leonard Jarvis went to
dispose of them and to forward supplies needed at St. John. This was the commencement
of St. John&rsquo;s trade with Boston. There was no market for the
Spring catch of Alewives (or Gasperaux) at Newburyport, so they were usually
sent to Boston. Seven eighths of the furs and a large proportion of the lime and
lumber were also sold in Boston.</p>
<p>As might reasonably be expected the first outlay of the company was comparatively
large while the returns were small, but as time went on the remittances
from St. John gradually increased and the outlay for supplies slightly diminished.
During the earlier years of the partnership attention was given to deep water
fishing, and large quantities of cod and pollock were taken in the Bay of Fundy
and at Passamaquoddy, but this branch of business was eventually discontinued
and greater attention paid to the shore fisheries in which weirs were used to good
advantage. In the first seven years of their operations the Company sent 745 barrels
of Gaspereaux to Boston, but in the next four years more than 3,000 barrels
were shipped.</p>
<p>About the close of the year 1775 the Revolutionary war put an end to all
trade with New England and the business of Hazen, Jarvis, Simonds &amp; White as
a company practically ceased. In the course of the dozen years of their operations,
the goods and supplies received at St. John from Boston and Newburyport
amounted in value to at least $100,000. The partners were not agreed as to the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span>
general results of the business; Mr. Simonds claimed that the receipts had more
than repaid the outlay, while Hazen &amp; Jarvis contended that no money had been
made but that there had probably been a loss.</p>
<p>During the continuance of the business, 72 cargoes of goods and supplies were
sent to St. John, an average of six cargoes per annum. The value of goods and
outfit sent the first season amounted to &pound;3,891. 16s. 0&frac12;d. The value of goods and
supplies furnished under the first business contract, which lasted only three years,
was &pound;6,850. 9s. 10d. Messrs. Blodget, Peaslie and Simonds, jr., then cease to be
concerned in the business and the partners under the second contract were Hazen,
Jarvis, Simonds and White.</p>
<p>As early as the second year of their operations at St. John, Hazen &amp; Jarvis began
to feel the large outlay they had made and wrote, under date May 23, 1766,
to Simonds &amp; White, &ldquo;We must beg you will do all in your power to remit us largely
this summer. By having such a stock with you we are much straitened for cash,
and we are sometimes obliged to do our business to a disadvantage.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Not long afterwards Hazen &amp; Jarvis were unfortunate in their mercantile
transactions at Newburyport and this, together with the loss of some of their vessels,
made it necessary for them to take special care of their interests at St. John,
consequently after the signing of the second business contract William Hazen came
frequently to St. John. Early in 1771 he determined to discontinue business altogether
at Newburyport and remove to St. John with his family. James White
says that it was the wish of both Mr. Simonds and himself that Mr. Hazen should
settle near them, making choice of such situation as he might deem agreeable to his
taste, but that as the partnership business was drawing to a close the house
to be erected should be built with his own money. Mr. Hazen made his choice
of situation and built his house accordingly.</p>
<p>In the evidence given in the law suit concerning the division of the lands obtained
from time to time by the company, James Simonds states that so far as the
business at St. John was concerned Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s presence was not needed since the
business was conducted there by himself and James White when there was five
times as much to be done. To this Mr. Hazen replies that Mr. Simonds&rsquo; letter of
July, 1770, speaks a different language,<a name='FNanchor_0088' id='FNanchor_0088'></a><a href='#Footnote_0088' class='fnanchor'>[88]</a> and he quotes figures to show that while
for the first four years after the signing of the second contract the value of the
supplies sent to St. John was &pound;8,053 and the remittances from St. John &pound;7,650;
leaving a deficit in the business of &pound;403; during the next four years, when he
(Hazen) spent a large part of his time at St. John, the cost of supplies was
&pound;6,803 and the remittances &pound;8,245, showing a surplus of &pound;1,442; a difference of
&pound;1,845 in favor of his being at St. John.</p>
<p>When William Hazen decided to take up his residence at St. John in order
more effectually to promote the interests of the company by superintending, in conjunction
with Simonds and White the various operations that were being carried
on there, his partner Leonard Jarvis removed to a place called Dartmouth, one
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span>
hundred miles from Newburyport, leaving his investment in the business untouched
so as not to embarrass the company at a critical time. The supplies required
at St. John were now furnished by his brother, Samuel Gardiner Jarvis, of
Boston.</p>
<p>As will presently appear, fortune did not smile upon the removal of William
Hazen and his family from their comfortable home in Newburyport to the rugged
hillsides of St. John. However, Mr. Hazen was a man of resolution and enterprise,
and having once made up his mind in regard to a step of so much importance was
not likely to be easily discouraged. He at once began to make preparations for
the accommodation of his family by building a house of greater pretensions than
any that had yet been erected at Portland Point.</p>
<p>The first known reference to the Hazen house is found in a letter dated Feb.&rsquo;y
18th, 1771, in which James Simonds writes, &ldquo;We shall cut Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s frame in
some place near the water where it may be rafted at any time.&rdquo; The house was
erected in July following by the company&rsquo;s carpenters and laborers. When nearly
finished it was unfortunately destroyed by fire. A new house was begun the next
year, which like the other was built at Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s expense by the company&rsquo;s
carpenters and laborers.</p>
<p>As soon as the house was ready for occupation Mr. Hazen repaired to Newburyport
to bring on his family, and in the month of May, 1775, they embarked in the
Company&rsquo;s sloop Merrimack of 80 tons. Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s tribulations were by no means
ended, for on the voyage the Merrimack was unluckily cast away on Fox Island
and a good deal of her cargo, together with papers containing accounts of the Company&rsquo;s
business, was lost. However, all the passengers were saved, as well as most
of their valuables, and were brought to St. John in Captain Drinkwater&rsquo;s sloop.
Drinkwater was obliged to throw overboard a load of cordwood to make room for
the rescued passengers and crew and their possessions. For this he was of course
remunerated by the Company. The Hazen family proved a great addition to the
limited society of Portland Point. We learn from an enumeration of the inhabitants
made this year that the Hazen household included 4 men, 3 women, 3 boys
and 2 girls, 12 in all. Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s nephew, John, who subsequently removed to
Oromocto, was one of the family at that time. With such a family to provide for
the grocery bill at the Company&rsquo;s store grew rapidly. The first item charged to
the account of the household after their arrival was 67 lbs. of moose meat at 1d.
per lb.; and it is of interest to notice that beef was then quoted at 2d. per lb.,
or double the price of moose meat. It is altogether likely that with the Hazens
moose steak was a much greater rarity on their arrival than it subsequently became,
for at the time it was one of the staple articles of food and almost any settler
who wanted fresh meat could obtain it by loading his musket and going to
the woods.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_30' id='linki_30'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i252.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='298' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
OLD HAZEN HOUSE AND GROUNDS.<br />
<br />
This illustration is taken from a water color sketch of St. John now in possession of Mrs. William Hazen. The original sketch was made by a member of the Hazen family more than eighty years ago. In the foreground appears the Hazen house, square and substantial, and nearly in line with and beyond it is the Chipman house, overlooking the valley; these two houses are the oldest now standing in the city. To the right of the Chipman house may be seen the Block-house, which formerly stood at the corner of King and Wentworth streets. Still further to the right is the old wind-mill tower, where the Dufferin Hotel now stands, and to the right of this is old Trinity Church before its first spire was destroyed by fire.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>The Hazen house still stands, considerably modernized it is true, at the corner of
Simonds and Brook streets, having withstood the ravages of time and escaped the
numerous conflagrations that have occurred in the vicinity for more than 130 years.
The present foundation is new with the exception of the stone wall on Brook street
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span>
which formed part of the original foundation. The roof formerly pitched four ways,
running up to a peak in the centre. Some of the old studs, lately cut out to admit
of the placing of new windows, were found to be merely spruce poles flattened on
two sides with an axe; the boards too are roughly sawn. The sheathing of the
house has all been renewed and an ell, which used to extend up Simonds street,
has been taken down. The lower flat is at present used as a grocery, the upper flat
as a hall. In olden times, and for many years, Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s garden and grounds
extended to the water. His residence was by far the best and most substantial yet
erected at Portland&mdash;indeed in early days it was considered quite a mansion. The
exact date of its erection, curiously enough, has been preserved. An entry in the
old day book in James White&rsquo;s handwriting reads thus:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Nov&rsquo;r 17, 1773&mdash;Wm. Hazen Dr. To 4 Gall. W. I. Rum, 3 lb. Sugar, 3 Qts.
N. E. Rum, Dinner, &amp;c., &amp;c., 25 shillings&mdash;for Raising his House!&rdquo;</p>
<p>The entry shows that old time customs prevailed on the day of the &ldquo;raising.&rdquo;
It doubtless was quite a gala day in the settlement with everybody there to help
and share in the refreshments provided.</p>
<p>The removal of William Hazen and his family from Newburyport to Saint
John had been planned, as already stated, several years before it was carried into
effect. It was not in any way influenced by the threatening war clouds which at
that time hung low in the sky. Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s departure from Newburyport, however,
was nearly coincident with the clash of arms at Lexington, and it was not
long ere the events of the war between the old colonies and the mother country
closed the ports of Massachusetts. This unfortunate circumstance interfered
greatly with the business of Hazen, Simonds and White at St. John.</p>
<p>The retirement of Leonard Jarvis from the company necessitated a new business
arrangement on the part of the remaining partners, and in May, 1773, a
verbal agreement was made between Hazen, Simonds and White to carry on the
fishery and trading in the proportions of a half interest to William Hazen a third
to James Simonds, and a sixth to James White.</p>
<p>There is in one of the old account books an interesting memorandum in the
handwriting of James Simonds, covering several pages, which shows that the
company had then a large and varied assortment of goods on hand. The list bears
the following heading: &ldquo;Invoice of Goods removed from the Old to the New Store,
July 21st, 1775.&rdquo; The &ldquo;new store&rdquo; was finished about the time of Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s arrival;
it stood a little to the west of the first store built at the Point.</p>
<p>Among the buildings at Portland Point when the Hazen family arrived were
the residences of the three partners, the Lime Store, the Salt Store&mdash;or Cooper&rsquo;s
Shop, the Log Store, the New Store, a blacksmith shop, two or three small
dwelling houses and one or two barns, besides a saw mill at the outlet of the
mill pond, a grist mill at Lily Lake, and one or two hovels on the marsh. The
English-speaking population settled around the shores of the harbor did not exceed
one hundred and fifty souls. Our authority on this point is indisputable.
Two documents are preserved amongst the archives at Halifax, one entitled &ldquo;A
Return of the State of the Settlement at the mouth of the Harbour of the River
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span>
St. John the First day August, A. D. 1775&rdquo;; the other, &ldquo;A Return of the state
of the Township of Conway on the western side of the Harbour and River St.
John on First of August, 1775.&rdquo; The list of inhabitants given below is compiled
from these returns and shows that the number of persons living on the opposite
sides of the harbor was nearly equal, namely, on the east side seventy and on
the west side seventy-two. The enumeration seems to have been made by James
Simonds.</p>
<p class='center'>PORTLAND POINT.</p>
<table summary='' border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='2' style='margin:1em auto;'>
<col style='width:50%' /><col style='width:10%' /><col style='width:10%' /><col style='width:10%' /><col style='width:10%' /><col style='width:10%' />
<tr><th style='text-align:left; text-indent:-2em;'>Name of Master or Mistress of the Family.</th><th>Men.</th><th>Women.</th><th>Boys.</th><th>Girls.</th><th>Total.</th></tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>James Simonds</td>
    <td class='number'>4</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>4</td>
    <td class='number'>3</td>
    <td class='number'>12</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>James White</td>
    <td class='number'>4</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>4</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>William Hazen</td>
    <td class='number'>4</td>
    <td class='number'>3</td>
    <td class='number'>3</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>12</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>George DeBlois</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Robert Cram</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>7</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Zebulon Rowe</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>John Nason</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>3</td>
    <td class='number'>7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>John Mack</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Lemuel Cleveland</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Christopher Blake</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Moses Greenough</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>20</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>12</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>14</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>24</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>70</td>
</tr></table>
<p class='center'>CONWAY.</p>
<table summary='' border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='2' style='margin:1em auto;'>
<col style='width:50%' /><col style='width:10%' /><col style='width:10%' /><col style='width:10%' /><col style='width:10%' /><col style='width:10%' />
<tr><th style='text-align:left; text-indent:-2em;'>Name of Master or Mistress of the Family.</th><th>Men.</th><th>Women.</th><th>Boys.</th><th>Girls.</th><th>Total.</th></tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Hugh Quinton</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>4</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Jonathan Leavitt</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Daniel Leavitt</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Samuel Peabody</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>William McKeen</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>5</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Thomas Jenkins</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>3</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Moses Kimball</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Elijah Estabrooks</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>3</td>
    <td class='number'>3</td>
    <td class='number'>8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>John Bradley</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>4</td>
    <td class='number'>8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>James Woodman</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Zebedee Ring</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Gervas Say</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Samuel Abbott</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Christopher Cross</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>John Knap</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Eliakim Ayer</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>..</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Joseph Rowe</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>1</td>
    <td class='number'>2</td>
    <td class='number'>5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>21</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>13</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>20</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>18</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>72</td>
</tr></table>
<p>Both of these little communities were of purely New England origin for it
appears from Mr. Simonds&rsquo; return that every individual at Portland Point, with
the solitary exception of an Irishman, was a native of America, and at Conway
all the inhabitants, save two of English nationality, were born in America. The
Conway people, it will hardly be necessary to remind the reader, lived in the district
now occupied by Carleton, Fairville and adjacent parts of the parish of Lancaster.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span>
At the time of the census they had 2 horses&mdash;both owned by Hugh Quinton,
13 oxen and bulls, 32 cows, 44 young cattle, 40 sheep and 17 swine; total
number of domestic animals, 148. On the other side of the harbor Hazen, Simonds
and White were the owners of 57 horses and mules, 18 oxen and bulls, 30 cows, 35
young cattle, 40 sheep and 6 swine; the other settlers owned 8 cows, 4 young cattle,
4 sheep and 6 swine; total number of domestic animals on the east side, 208.</p>
<p>It will be noticed that the names of all the adult male inhabitants do not appear
in the census lists of 1775; in the case of the households of Messrs. Simonds,
White and Hazen, for example, twelve males are returned. These included either
relatives such as John Hazen and Stephen Peabody, who are known to have been
then living at St. John, or employes and servants who lived with their masters&mdash;among
the latter were probably Samuel Beverley, Levi Ring, Jonathan Clough, Jacob
Johnson, Edmund Black, Reuben Harbut and Michael Kelly.</p>
<p>Quite a number of the settlers in Conway were employed by the company in
various capacities, and as they were nearly all tenants of Hazen, Simonds and
White they generally traded at the Portland Point store. These people suffered
severely at the hands of American privateersmen as the war progressed, and most
of them were forced to abandon their homes and move up the river for greater
security.</p>
<p>In the years 1776 and 1777, business being nearly at a stand in consequence of
the war and the stock of goods at Portland Point much diminished, it was agreed
that James White should take charge of the store and keep the books at a commission
of five per cent. His sales during the two years amounted to &pound;3,150.</p>
<p>The war of the American Revolution was at the outset a source of intense disappointment
to Hazen, Simonds and White, although in the end it was destined to
prove the making of their fortunes by sending the exiled Loyalists in thousands
to the River St. John and thereby rendering the lands they owned much more valuable.
The war, however, completely overturned the plans the company had in view.
Our old pioneers had learned by their experience of a dozen years to conduct their
business to the best advantage, and they now had everything in train for a promising
trade with St. Croix in the West Indies. The hardships incident to the establishment
of new settlements were over, and the partners were now settled in comfortable
homes with their wives and children.</p>
<p>It may be noted in passing that early marriages were much in vogue in those
days, particularly with the ladies. Sarah Le Baron was not sixteen years of age
when she married William Hazen. Hannah Peabody had not passed her seventeenth
birthday when she married James Simonds. Elizabeth Peabody was about
seventeen when she married James White and her sister Hephzibeth somewhat
younger when she married Jonathan Leavitt. In most cases the families were
large and the &ldquo;olive branches&rdquo; doubtless furnished sufficient occupation for the
mothers to keep them from feeling the loneliness of their situation. James Simonds
had fourteen children. James White and Jonathan Leavitt had good sized families,
but the Hazens undeniably carried off the palm. Dr. Slafter in his genealogy of
the Hazen family says that William Hazen had sixteen children; possibly he may
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span>
have omitted some who died in infancy for Judge Edward Winslow writes on Jan&rsquo;y
17th, 1793, to a friend at Halifax, &ldquo;My two annual comforts, a child and a fit of the
gout, return invariably. They came together this heat and, as Forrest used to say,
made me as happy as if the Devil had me. The boy is a fine fellow&mdash;of course&mdash;and
makes up the number nine now living. My old friend Mrs. Hazen about the same
time produced her nineteenth!&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0089' id='FNanchor_0089'></a><a href='#Footnote_0089' class='fnanchor'>[89]</a></p>
<p>While the presence of young children in their homes may have served to enliven
the situation of Saint John&rsquo;s pioneer settlers it added greatly to their anxiety and
distress in the ensuing war period. More than this the absence of church and school
privileges was becoming a matter of serious consequence to the little community
at Portland Point and their friends across the harbor. We shall in the next chapter
say something of the religious teachers who endeavored to promote the spiritual
welfare of the inhabitants upon the St. John river at this period.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XXII_SOME_EARLY_RELIGIOUS_TEACHERS_ON_THE_RIVER_ST_JOHN' id='CHAPTER_XXII_SOME_EARLY_RELIGIOUS_TEACHERS_ON_THE_RIVER_ST_JOHN'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>Some Early Religious Teachers on the River St. John</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>Our knowledge of affairs on the River Saint John down to the period of English
occupation is largely derived from the correspondence of the Jesuit missionaries,
the last of whom was Charles Germain. After his retirement the Acadians and Indians
remained for several years without any spiritual guide, a circumstance that
did not please them and was also a matter of concern to the Governor of Nova
Scotia, who in December, 1764, informed the Secretary of State that a promise had
been made the Indians of the River St. John to send them a priest, which the
Lords of Trade had now forbidden. The governor regrets this as likely to confirm
the Indians in their notion that the English &ldquo;are a people of dissimulation and
artifice, who will deceive them and deprive them of their salvation.&rdquo; He thinks
it best to use gentle treatment in dealing with the Indians, and mentions the fact
of their having lately burned their church<a name='FNanchor_0090' id='FNanchor_0090'></a><a href='#Footnote_0090' class='fnanchor'>[90]</a> by command of their priest detained at
Quebec, as a proof of their zealous devotion to their missionaries.</p>
<p>In the summer of 1767, Father Charles Francois <a name='TC_52'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Bailey'">Bailly</ins> came to the River St.
John and established himself at Aukpaque, or, as he calls it, &ldquo;la mission d&rsquo;Ekouipahag
en la Riviere St. Jean.&rdquo; The register of baptisms, marriages and
burials at which he officiated during his year&rsquo;s residence at Aukpaque is still to be
seen at French Village in the Parish of Kingsclear, York county. The records of
his predecessor, Germain, however, were lost during the war period or while the
mission was vacant. That there was a field for the missionary&rsquo;s labor is shewn by
the fact that in the course of his year&rsquo;s residence on the River St. John he officiated
at 29 marriages, 79 baptisms and 14 burials. His presence served to draw the
Indians to Aukpaque, where there were also some Acadian families who seem to
have been refugees of the expulsion of 1755. The older Indian village of Medoctec
was now deserted and the missionary ordered the chapel there to be destroyed,
seeing that it served merely as a shelter for travellers and &ldquo;was put to the most
profane uses.&rdquo; The building had been standing for fifty years and was much out
of repair. The ornaments and furnishings, together with the chapel bell,<a name='FNanchor_0091' id='FNanchor_0091'></a><a href='#Footnote_0091' class='fnanchor'>[91]</a> were
brought to Aukpaque.</p>
<p>For some reason the presence of the Acadians at Aukpaque and its vicinity
was not acceptable to the authorities of Nova Scotia, and Richard Bulkeley the provincial
secretary, wrote to John Anderson and Francis Peabody, Esqrs., justices of
the peace for the county of Sunbury, under date 20th August, 1768: &ldquo;The Lieut.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span>
Governor desires that you will give notice to all the Accadians, except about six
Families whom Mr. Bailly shall name, to remove themselves from Saint John&rsquo;s River,
it not being the intention of the Govern-ment that they should settle there, but
to acquaint them that on their application they shall have lands in other parts of
the Province.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It is remarkable with what persistence the French clung to the locality of Aukpaque
in spite of repeated attempts to dispossess them. The New Englanders under
Hawthorn and Church tried to expel them as long ago as 1696, but Villebon repulsed
the attack on Fort Nachouac and compelled them to retire. Monckton in 1759
drove the Acadians from the lower St. John and destroyed their settlements, but
the lowness of the water prevented his ascending the river farther than Grimross
Island, a little above Gagetown. A little later Moses Hazen and his rangers destroyed
the village at St. Ann&rsquo;s and scattered the Acadians, but some of them returned
and re-established themselves near the Indian village at Aukpaque. The governor
of Nova Scotia apparently was not willing they should remain, hence his orders to
Anderson and Peabody in 1768.</p>
<p>What these magistrates did, or attempted to do is not recorded, at any rate
they did not succeed in effecting the removal of the Acadians for we find that the
little colony continued to increase. The missionary Bailly wrote from Aukpaque,
June 20, 1768, to Bishop Briand, &ldquo;There are eleven Acadian families living in the
vicinity of the village, the same ones whom your Lordship had the goodness to confirm
at St. Anne. * * It is a difficult matter to attend to them for they live apart
from one another during the summer on the sea shore fishing and in the winter in
the woods hunting.&rdquo; It appears that these poor people were reduced to the necessity
of leading almost an aboriginal life to save themselves from starvation, yet they
clung to the locality.</p>
<p>Major Studholme sent a committee of four persons to explore the River St. John
in July, 1783.<a name='FNanchor_0092' id='FNanchor_0092'></a><a href='#Footnote_0092' class='fnanchor'>[92]</a> The committee reported sixty-one families of Acadians settled in
the vicinity of Aukpaque. There were in these families 61 men, 57 women and
236 children. About twenty-five families lived on the east side of the river, most
of them near the mouth of the Keswick; the others lived not far from the Indian
village on the west side of the river, and there were in addition two or three
families at St. Anne&rsquo;s Point. In their report to Major Studholme the committee
describe the Acadians as &ldquo;an inoffensive people.&rdquo; They had a considerable quantity
of land under cultivation, but few, if any, of them had any title to their lands
save that of simple possession. Those who claimed longest residence were Joseph
Martin who came in 1758 and Joseph Doucet who came in 1763. The settlement
began to grow more rapidly after the arrival of the missionary Bailly, for out of
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span>
the sixty-one heads of families included in the Committees report to Studholme
nine came in 1767, thirteen in 1768, ten in 1769 and four in 1770. All of these
enjoyed the ministrations of l&rsquo;Abbe Bailly. The missionary seems to have remained
a year in residence and then at the instance of the Governor of Nova Scotia was
sent to the Indians and Acadians of the peninsula to the eastward of Halifax. He,
however, paid occasional visits to the River St. John as is shown by the records
of the baptisms, marriages and burials at which he officiated when there.<a name='FNanchor_0093' id='FNanchor_0093'></a><a href='#Footnote_0093' class='fnanchor'>[93]</a> He is
heartily commended by Lord William Campbell, the governor of Nova Scotia, for
his tact in dealing with the Indians and his loyalty to the constituted authorities
of the province. It is not probable that there was very much ground for the complaint
of Simonds &amp; White in their letter of June 22, 1768, in which they say, &ldquo;We
have made a smaller collection of Furrs this year than last, occasioned by the large
demands of the Priest for his services, and his ordering the Indians to leave their
hunting a month sooner than usual to keep certain festivals, and by our being late
in getting to their village, the reason of which we informed you in our last. * * It&rsquo;s
expected that there will be a greater number of Indians assembled at Aughpaugh
next fall than for several years past.&rdquo; The extract quoted serves to show
that the Abbe Bailly&rsquo;s influence was felt while he lived on the St. John river. He
returned to Canada in May, 1772, and was afterwards consecrated Bishop Co-adjutor
of Quebec.</p>
<p>During the year of his sojourn on the River St. John and in his subsequent
visits the Abbe Bailly baptized, married and buried many of the Acadians as well
as Indians. The names of a good many individuals occur in his register whose
descendants are numerous in Madawaska, Bathurst, Caraquet, Memramcook and
other places in the province. Among them may be mentioned Joseph Martin, Jean
Baptiste Martin, Louis Mercure, Michel Mercure, Jean Baptiste Daigle, Olivier
Thibodeau, Jean Thibodeau, Joseph Terriot, Ignace Caron, Joseph Cyr, Pierre Cyr,
Jean Baptiste Cyr, Paul Cyr, Francois Cyr, Pierre Pinette, Francois Violette,
Joseph Roy, Daniel Godin, Paul Potier, Francois Cormier, Jacques Cormier, Jean
Baptiste Cormier, Pierre Hebert, Joseph Hebert, Francois Hebert, Louis Le
Jeune, Joseph Mazerolle, and Jean Baptiste Vienneau.</p>
<p>Of these families the Cormiers, Cyrs, Daigles and Heberts came from Beaubassin
at the head of the Bay of Fundy; the Martins from Port Royal (or Annapolis),
the Mercures and Terriots from l&rsquo;Isle St. Jean (or Prince Edward Island);
the Violettes from Louisbourg, and the Mazerolles from Riviere Charlesbourg.</p>
<p>It is worthy of note that despite the hardships and misfortunes endured there
are instances of marvellous longevity among the old French settlers. Placide P.
Gaudet, who is by all odds the best authority on this head and whose wonderful
knowledge of Acadian genealogy has been attained by years of hard study and patient
research, gives a striking instance of this fact amongst his relatives of the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span>
Vienneau family. The ancestor of this family was one Michael Vienneau, who
with his wife Therese Baude were living at Maugerville in 1770: both were natives
of France. The husband died at Memramcook in September, 1802, at the age of
100 years and 3 months; his widow in March, 1804, at the age of 96 years. Their
son Jean died at Pokemouche in August, 1852, at the extraordinary age of 112
years, leaving a son Moise who died at Rogersville in March, 1893, aged over 96
yeas. The united age of these four individuals&mdash;father, mother, son and grandson&mdash;are
equivalent to the extraordinary sum total of 404 years.</p>
<p>In the course of a year or two after the arrival of the Loyalists the greater
portion of the Acadians living on the St. John river above Fredericton removed&mdash;either
from choice or at the instigation of government&mdash;to Madawaska, Caraquet
and Memramcook. A few, however, remained, and there are today at
French Village, in York county, about 31 families of Acadian origin numbering
149 souls, and 17 families in addition reside at the Mazerolle settlement not far
away. The most common family name amongst these people is Godin; the rest of
the names are Mazerolle, Roy, Bourgoin, Martin and Cyr. The influences of their
environment can hardly be said to have had a beneficial effect upon these people,
few of whom now use the French language. And yet the fact remains that from
the time the valley of the River St. John was first parcelled out into seigniories,
in the year 1684, down to the present day&mdash;a period of 220 years&mdash;the continuity
of occupation of some portion of the soil in the vicinity of St. Ann&rsquo;s has
scarcely been interrupted, and the records of the mission on the River St. John
may be said to have been continuous for about the same time. The missionaries
as a rule spoke well of the people of their charge. Danielou said that there
were 116 Acadian inhabitants in 1739 and that Monsieur Cavagnal de Vaudreuil,
governor of Trois Rivieres, was &ldquo;Seigneur de la paroisse d&rsquo;Ekoupag.&rdquo; He claims
as a special mark of divine favor that in the little colony there was &ldquo;neither
barren woman nor child deformed in body or weak in intellect; neither swearer
nor drunkard; neither debauchee nor libertine, neither blind, nor lazy, nor beggar,
nor sickly, nor robber of his neighbor&rsquo;s goods.&rdquo; One would almost imagine that
Acadia was Arcadia in the days of Danielou.</p>
<p>It may be well, whilst speaking of the remarkable continuity of the French
occupation of the country in the vicinity of St. Anns, to state that after Chapter
VII. of this history had been printed the author chanced to obtain, through the
kindness of Placide P. Gaudet, some further information relating to the brothers
d&rsquo;Amours, the pioneer settlers of this region.</p>
<p>The brothers d&rsquo;Amours, Louis, Mathieu and Rene, were residents on the St.
John as early at least as the year 1686, when we find their names in the census of
M. de Meulles. A document of the year 1695<a name='FNanchor_0094' id='FNanchor_0094'></a><a href='#Footnote_0094' class='fnanchor'>[94]</a> shows that their claims to land
on the St. John river were rather extravagant and hardly in accord with the terms
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span>
of their concessions. Louis d&rsquo;Amours, sieur de Chauffours, claimed as his seigniory
at Jemseg a tract of land extending two leagues along the St. John, including both
sides of the river two leagues in depth. He also claimed another and larger seigniory,
extending from a point one league below Villebon&rsquo;s fort at the Nashwaak four
leagues up the river with a depth of three leagues on each side. His brother Rene
d&rsquo;Amours, sieur de Chignancourt, lived on this seigniory a league or so above the
fort.</p>
<p>The statement made in a previous chapter that Rene d&rsquo;Amours was unmarried
and lived the life of a typical &ldquo;coureur de bois&rdquo; is incorrect. The census of 1698
shows that he had a wife and four children. His wife was Charlotte Le Gardeur
of Quebec. The names of the children, as they appear in the census, are Rene aged
7, Joseph 5, Marie Judith 2, and Marie Angelique 1. While fixing his residence in
the vicinity of Fort Nashwaak, Rene d&rsquo;Amours was the seignior of a large tract of
land on the upper St. John extending &ldquo;from the Falls of Medoctek to the Grand
Falls,&rdquo; a distance of more than ninety miles. After the expiration of eleven years
from the date of his grant, Rene d&rsquo;Amours seems to have done nothing more towards
its improvement than building a house upon it and clearing 15 acres of land.
Even in the indulgent eyes of the Council at Quebec, of which his father was a
member, this must have appeared insufficient to warrant possession by one man of
a million acres of the choicest lands on the St. John river. He made rather a
better attempt at cultivating the land near his residence upon his brother&rsquo;s seigniory,
for the census of 1695 shows that he had raised there 80 minots [bushels] of
corn, 16 minots of peas, 3 minots of beans. He had 3 horned cattle, 12 hogs and
60 fowls; two men servants and one female servant; three guns and a sword.</p>
<p>The seigniory of Mathieu d&rsquo;Amours, sieur de Freneuse, lay between the two
seigniories of his brother Louis at Jemseg and Nashwaak, extending a distance of
seven leagues and including both sides of the river. Both Louis and Mathieu
made far greater improvements than Rene, having a large number of acres cleared
and under cultivation, together with cattle and other domestic animals. They had
a number of tenants and eight or ten servants.</p>
<p>The census of 1695 contains the following interesting bit of information: &ldquo;Naxouat,
of which the Sr. Dechofour is seignior, is where the fort commanded by M.
de Villebon is established. The Sr. Dechofour has there a house, 30 arpents
[acres] of land under cultivation and a Mill, begun by the Sr. Dechofour and the
Sr. de Freneuse.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The reference to a mill, built by the brothers Louis and Mathieu d&rsquo;Amours in
the neighborhood of Fort Nashwaak, may serve to explain the statement of Villebon
in 1696, that he had caused planks for madriers, or gun platforms, to be made
near the fort.<a name='FNanchor_0095' id='FNanchor_0095'></a><a href='#Footnote_0095' class='fnanchor'>[95]</a> This mill at any rate ante-dates by the best part of a century the
mill built by Simonds &amp; White at St. John in 1767 and that built by Colonel
Beamsley Glacier&rsquo;s mill wrights at the Nashwaak in 1768. Doubtless it was a very
primitive affair, but it sawed lumber, and was in its modest way the pioneer of the
greatest manufacturing industry of New Brunswick at the present day.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span></div>
<p>Among the contemporaries of the brothers d&rsquo;Amours on the River St. John
were Gabriel Bellefontaine, Jean Martel,<a name='FNanchor_0096' id='FNanchor_0096'></a><a href='#Footnote_0096' class='fnanchor'>[96]</a> Pierre Godin, Charles Charet, Antoine
Du Vigneaux, and Francois Moyse. The author is indebted to Placide P. Gaudet for
some interesting notes regarding the family of Gabriel Bellefontaine. Mr. Gaudet
has satisfied himself in the course of years of genealogical research, that the
Godins now living on the River St. John and in the county of Gloucester, the
Bellefontaines of the county of Kent, and the Bellefontaines and Beausejours of
Anichat and other parts of Nova Scotia all have a common origin, and that in each
case the real family name is Gaudin, or Godin. To any one conversant with the
practice of the old French families of making frequent changes in their patryonymics
this will not appear surprising. The common ancestor of the Gaudin, Bellefontaine,
Beausejour and Bois-Joly families in the maritime provinces was one Pierre
Gaudin, who married Jeanne Roussiliere of Montreal, Oct. 13, 1654, and subsequently
came to Port Royal with his wife and children. Their fourth child, Gabriel Gaudin
(or Bellefontaine) born in 1661, settled on the St. John river in the vicinity of Fort
Nashwaak. He married at Quebec in 1690, Angelique Robert Jeanne, a girl of
sixteen, and in the census of 1698 the names of four children appear, viz., Louise
aged 7, Louis 5, Joseph 3, Jacques Phillipe 7 months. Of these children the third,
Joseph Bellefontaine, spent the best years of his life upon the St. John river and
his tribulations there have been already noticed<a name='FNanchor_0097' id='FNanchor_0097'></a><a href='#Footnote_0097' class='fnanchor'>[97]</a> in these pages. He was living
at Cherbourg in 1767 at the age of 71 years, and was granted a pension of 300 livres
(equivalent to rather more than $60.00 per annum) in recognition of his losses and
services which are thus summarised:</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Sieur Joseph Bellefontaine or Beausejour of the River St. John, son of
Gabriel (an officer of one of the King&rsquo;s ships in Acadia) and of Angelique Roberte
Jeanne, was commissioned Major of the militia of the St. John river by order of
M. de la Galissonniere of 10th April, 1749, and has always done his duty during the
war until he was made prisoner by the enemy. He owned several leagues of land
there and had the sad misfortune of seeing one of his daughters and three of her
children massacred before his eyes by the English, who wished by such cruelty and
fear of similar treatment to induce him to take their part, a fate that he only escaped
by fleeing to the woods, bearing with him two other children of the same
daughter.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Notwithstanding all their misfortunes and persecutions the Acadians living on
the St. John continued gradually to increase. After the return of the missionary
Bailly to Canada they were without a priest until the arrival of Joseph Mathurin
Bourg in September, 1774. This intrepid missionary was the first native of Acadia
to take holy orders and as such is a subject of especial interest. He saw the
light of day at River Canard in the district of Mines on the 9th of June, 1744.
His father, Michel Bourg, and his mother, Anne Hebert, with most of their children,
escaped deportation at the time of the Acadian expulsion in 1755 and sought
refuge at the Island of St. John [Prince Edward Island], from which place they
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span>
were transported by the English to the northern part of France. Young Joseph
Mathurin became the protege of the Abbe de l&rsquo;Isle-Dieu, then at Paris. He pursued
his studies at a little seminary in the Diocese of St. Malo and on the 13th
of September, 1772, was ordained priest at Montreal by Monseigneur Briand. After
a year he was sent to Acadia as missionary to his compatriots of that region. He
took charge of his mission in September, 1773. It at first extended from Gaspe to
Cocagne, but in August, 1774, the Bishop of Quebec added the River St. John
(including &ldquo;Quanabequachies,&rdquo; or Kennebeccasis) and all the rest of Nova Scotia
and the Island of Cape Breton. The bishop also appointed the Abbe Bourg his
grand vicar in Acadia. Almost immediately afterwards he visited the River St.
John and the little settlement at French Village near the Kennebeccasis where,
early in September, he baptized a considerable number of children, whose names
and those of their parents are to be found in the register which is still preserved
at Carleton, Bonaventure Co., in the province of Quebec.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_31' id='linki_31'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i263.png' alt='' title='' width='400' height='89' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
(Signature) Joseph M<span class='super'>th</span>. Bourg pr&eacute;tre Grand. V.<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>The missionary made his headquarters at Carleton (on the north side of the
Bay of Chaleur) but from time to time visited different parts of his immense mission.
During the Revolutionary war he paid special attention to the Indians on
the River St. John, who largely through his efforts were kept from taking the
warpath and going over to the Americans. The raids made by the Machias rebels
under Jonathan Eddy and John Allan, in 1776 and 1777, interfered in some measure
with the visits of the missionary, for Col. Michael Francklin in his interview
with the Maliseets at Fort Howe in September, 1778, assured them that Mons&rsquo;r.
Bourg would have visited them sooner but for the apprehension entertained of his
being carried off by the rebels.</p>
<p>The chapel at Aukpaque was not entirely disused during the absence of the
missionary. We learn from John Allan&rsquo;s narrative that while he was at Aukpaque
in June, 1777, a number of Acadians came on Sundays to worship at the
Indian chapel and that he and his prisoners, William Hazen and James White, also
attended. While there they witnessed the funeral of an Indian girl. The ceremony
was a solemn yet simple one. The body was borne into the chapel, the
bell tolling the while; after a short prayer they sang funeral hymns, that done
some of the chiefs bore the coffin to the grave where there was another prayer
followed by a funeral hymn. The coffin was then deposited in the grave and a
handful of earth cast upon it by the relatives and friends of her sex. Immediately
afterwards the family wigwam was struck and removed into the thickest
part of the village that the parents might be the better consoled for the loss of
their child.</p>
<p>The important services rendered by Father Bourg to government during the
American Revolution will be told in another chapter.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span></div>
<p>The first clergyman of the Church of England to visit the River St. John was
the Rev&rsquo;d. Thomas Wood, a native of the town of New Brunswick in the then
British province of New Jersey. Mr. Wood went to England in 1749&mdash;the year of
the founding of Halifax&mdash;to be ordained by the Bishop of London. He bore with
him testimonials declaring him to be &ldquo;a gentleman of a very good life and conversation,
bred to Physick and Surgery.&rdquo; He became one of the missionaries of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and was transferred from New Jersey
to Nova Scotia in 1753. Halifax and Annapolis were destined to be the chief
scenes of his labors, but he made frequent tours amongst the new settlements.</p>
<p>Mr. Wood was an excellent French scholar and his gifts as a linguist were of
no mean order. While at Halifax he lived on terms of friendship and intimacy
with Antoine Simon Maillard, the missionary of the Indians and Acadians. In the
year 1762 Mr. Wood attended the Abbe Maillard for several weeks during his last
illness, and the day before his death, at his request, read the Office for the
Visitation of the Sick in the French language in the presence of a number of
Acadians, who were summoned for the occasion by the venerable missionary. Mr.
Wood also officiated at the burial of M. Maillard, reading over his remains in
French the burial service of the Church of England in the presence of &ldquo;almost
all the gentlemen of Halifax and a very numerous assembly of French and Indians.&rdquo;</p>
<p>As the Indians were for the time being without any religious teacher Mr.
Wood resolved to devote much attention to them. He applied himself diligently to
the study of their language, in which he had the assistance of the papers left
him by the Abbe Maillard and by devoting three or four hours daily to the task
he made such progress that upon reading some of M. Maillard&rsquo;s morning prayers
the Indians understood him perfectly and seemed themselves to pray very devoutly.
He resolved to persevere until he should be able to publish a grammar, dictionary
and translation of the Bible. He writes in 1764, &ldquo;I am fully determined
that nothing but sickness or the Bastille shall impede me in this useful service.&rdquo;
Two years later he sent to England the first volume of his native grammar, with
a Micmac translation of the Creed, Lord&rsquo;s Prayer, etc. He was now able to minister
to the Indians in their own language.</p>
<p>In July, 1767, the Indians attended a special service held in St. Paul&rsquo;s church,
Halifax, at which there were present, the Governor of Nova Scotia, Lord William
Campbell, the officers of the army and navy and the principal inhabitants. The
service was in the Micmac tongue. An anthem was sung by the Indians at the
beginning and again at the close. On the 12th of August in the same year Mr.
Wood married Pierre Jacques, an Indian, to Marie Joseph, eldest daughter of old
Thoma, who deemed himself &ldquo;hereditary king of the Mickmacks.&rdquo; There were
present at the wedding, besides the Indians, Sir Thomas Rich&mdash;an English baronet,
and other gentlemen. After the ceremony Mr. Wood entertained the company
at his own house.</p>
<p>It was in the summer of the year 1769 that Mr. Wood made his first tour
up the River St. John. Lord William Campbell provided him with a boat and
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span>
party of men, under the direction of Capt. William Spry of the Engineers. Capt.
Spry will be remembered as one of the active promoters of the settlement of the
townships on the St. John river, where he had large land interests. His knowledge
of the river made him an excellent guide.</p>
<p>The English missionary arrived at St. John harbor on the 1st day of July, and
the day following, which was Sunday, held the first religious service conducted by
an English speaking minister at Portland Point.</p>
<p>The account books of Simonds &amp; White suffice to show that no business was
transacted at their establishment on Sunday, and doubtless the day was honored as a
day of rest, but up to this time <a name='TC_53'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'here'">there</ins> had been no opportunity for church-going.
Among those who heard the first sermon preached at St. John in English were
in all probability, the Messrs. Simonds &amp; White and their employes, Edmund
Black, Samuel Abbott, Samuel Middleton, Michael Hodge, Adonijah Colby, Stephen
Dow, Elijah Estabrooks, John Bradley, William Godsoe, John Mack, Asa
Stephens, and Thomas Blasdel. To these may be added the wives of James
Simonds, of Black, Abbott and one or two other workmen; also a few settlers living
in the vicinity. It may be observed in passing that Edmund Black was foreman
in the lime burning; Abbott, Middleton and Godsoe were employed in making
hogsheads and barrels for lime and fish; Hodge and Colby were shipwrights engaged
in building a schooner for the company; the others were fishermen and laborers.
Doubtless the service held by Mr. Wood was a very simple one, and if there were
any hymns they were sung from memory, for there is reason to believe that there
was not a single hymn book in the community, with the exception of a copy of
Watt&rsquo;s <a name='TC_54'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'pslams'">psalms</ins> and hymns owned by James White.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the difficulties of the situation, the Rev&rsquo;d. Thomas Wood on
the occasion of his first Sunday at St. John established a record which, after the
lapse of nearly a century and a half, remains unequalled for interest and variety.
In the morning he held divine service and preached to the English settlers and
baptized four of their children. In the afternoon he conducted a service for the
benefit of a number of Indians, who chanced to be encamped there, baptized an
Indian girl and addressed them in their own language. In the evening, many of
the French inhabitants being present, he held a third service and preached in
French, the Indians again attending as many of them understood that language.
These French people were chiefly Acadians living at what is now called French
Village, in Kings county. They were at that time employed by Simonds &amp; White
in building an aboideau and dykeing the marsh. In one respect the Indians perhaps
did better than the English or the Acadians, for at the close of their service
Mr. Wood desired them to sing an anthem which, he says, &ldquo;they performed
very harmoniously.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The next day the missionary sailed up the river, visiting the settlers in their
homes as he proceeded. At Gagetown he baptized Joseph and Mary Kendrick,
twin children of John and Dorothy Kendrick. Mr. Wood says the children were
born in an open canoe on the river, two leagues from any house, a circumstance
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span>
that illustrates the exigencies liable to arise in a region so sparsely inhabited as
the valley of the River St. John then was.<a name='FNanchor_0098' id='FNanchor_0098'></a><a href='#Footnote_0098' class='fnanchor'>[98]</a></p>
<p>On Sunday the 9th of July Mr. Wood held service at Maugerville, where he
had a congregation of more than two hundred persons but, owing to the fact that
the people were chiefly &ldquo;Dissenters from New England,&rdquo; he baptized only two infants.
He thought, however, if a prudent missionary were settled among them
their prejudices against the Church of England would speedily vanish. He
speaks in his letter to the S. P. G. of the rising townships of Gagetown, Burton
and Maugerville as a most desirable field for a missionary and commends the Indians
to the special consideration of the society. After making a call at Morrisania,
a little below Fredericton, where two children were baptized, Mr. Wood and
his companions proceeded to &ldquo;Okpaak&rdquo; which he terms &ldquo;the farthest settlement
upon the River.&rdquo; He thus describes the reception they met with on their arrival:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The Chief of the Indians came down to the Landing place and handed us out
of our boat, and immediately several of the Indians, who were drawn out on the
occasion, discharged a volley of Musketry turned from us, as a signal of receiving
their friends. The Chief then welcomed us and introduced us to the other Chiefs,
and after inviting us to their Council Chamber, viz. their largest wigwam, conducted
us thither, the rest of the Indians following. Just before we arrived we were
again saluted with their musketry drawn up as before. After some discourse
relative to Monsieur Bailly, the French Priest that Government have thought proper
to allow them, finding them uneasy that they had no priest among them for some
time past, I told them that the Governor had employed him to go to the Indians
to the eastward of Halifax and had sent me to officiate with them in his absence.
They then seemed well enough satisfied, and at their desire I began prayers with
them in Mickmack, they all kneeling down and behaving very devoutly. The
vice concluded with an anthem and the blessing.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Mr. Wood says that although there were then at Aukpaque Indians of three
different tribes, Micmacs, Maliseets and Caribous,<a name='FNanchor_0099' id='FNanchor_0099'></a><a href='#Footnote_0099' class='fnanchor'>[99]</a> they all understood the Micmac
language, and he expresses regret that he had not been sent among them two years
before, being satisfied that he could have gained their confidence and good will.</p>
<p>The Reverend Thomas Wood closed a laborious and successful ministry of
thirty years at Annapolis, where he died December 14, 1778.</p>
<p>Some account has already been given, in the chapter descriptive of the progress
of the settlement at Maugerville, of the first religious teachers in that
locality, Messrs. Wellman, Webster and Zephaniah Briggs. We shall have something
more to say of their first resident minister, the Rev&rsquo;d. Seth Noble, when we
come to deal with events on the river at the time of the American Revolution. As
already stated the first Protestant church on the river was erected at Maugerville
in the year 1775. This building was at first placed on a lot the title of which was
afterwards in dispute, and regarding the possession of which there was rather a
bitter quarrel between the old inhabitants and the Loyalists. In consequence the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span>
building was removed to the lot in Sheffield where the Congregational Church now
stands. An interesting account of this incident is given in the narrative of the
Rev. Joshua Marsden, a Methodist pioneer missionary on the St. John river, who
says:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The Presbyterian [i. e. Congregational] chapel at Sheffield, was a church-like
building of frame-work, with a spire steeple and a spacious gallery. This chapel
had been drawn down upon the ice of the river more than five miles: it had first
been erected at Maugerville, upon a litigated lot of land, which the society, not
choosing to bring to the issue of a law-suit, they determined to remove the chapel
bodily to their own glebe, five miles lower down the river. The whole settlement,
men, horses and more than one hundred yoke of oxen, were present to assist in this
more than herculean enterprise. The chapel was raised from its stone foundation by
immense lever screws. Prodigious beams of timber were then introduced
under the whole length of the building; into these were driven large
staples, to which the oxen were yoked with strong chains of iron. When
all things were ready for a movement, at a given signal, each man standing
by his horse or oxen, this great building, capable of holding eight hundred persons,
was drawn along and down the bank of the river to its appointed place, where
another foundation having been prepared, it was again raised by levers upon it
with very little damage. Not a single pew in the gallery or bottom having been
removed in the process. In this emigrated chapel, I had the satisfaction of
preaching the gospel of the kingdom to a large congregation. Perhaps you will
wonder how the ice of this mighty river bore upon its bosom so ponderous a body;
but your surprise will cease when I inform you that in the depth of winter, it is
from two to three feet in thickness, making a bridge of aqueous crystal capable
almost of bearing up a whole town.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XXIII_ON_THE_EVE_OF_THE_AMERICAN_REVOLUTION' id='CHAPTER_XXIII_ON_THE_EVE_OF_THE_AMERICAN_REVOLUTION'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>On the Eve of the American Revolution.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>When the county of Sunbury was established in 1765, there was no English
settlement north of St. Ann&rsquo;s and the river was but sparsely settled from that
place to the sea. Nevertheless the immense forest wealth of the St. John was
gradually becoming known and appreciated.</p>
<p>The French ship of war &ldquo;Avenant,&rdquo; as long ago as the year 1700, after discharging
her cargo of supplies for Villebon&rsquo;s garrison and goods for the French
traders, took on board some very fine masts for the French navy that had been
cut upon the River St. John. Afterwards, when the control of Acadia passed into
the hands of the British, they in turn began to procure masts for the navy on
the St. John. England&rsquo;s place among the nations then, as now, depended very
largely on the efficiency of her navy, and the reservation of trees suitable for
masts for the largest ships of war became a matter of national concern. In consequence
Governor Legge, at the request of the home government, desired Charles
Morris, the Surveyor general of Nova Scotia, to report as to ungranted lands in
the province that might be reserved for the purpose of supplying masts for the
navy. On the 21st May, 1774, Mr. Morris submitted his report. He states that
his knowledge of the country was based upon personal observations during a residence
of nearly twenty-eight years, in the course of which he had visited nearly
all parts of the province. In the Nova Scotian peninsula there were very few
pines fit for masts, but on the River St. John, above the settlements, and on
the other rivers flowing into it were great quantities of pine trees fit for masts
and great quantities of others growing into that state, which being so far inland,
protected by growth of other timber and by hills, and remote from those violent
gales which infest the coast would prove the most desirable reserve for the purpose
intended. Mr. Morris adds: &ldquo;I am of opinion that a reserve of all the
lands on the River St. John above the settlements for the whole course of the
river, at least twenty-five miles on each side, will be the most advantageous reserve
to the Crown of lands within this province, especially as the river is navigable for
boats and rafting of masts the whole course of it, as also for rafting of masts in
the several branches of it; and in this tract is contained a black spruce, fit for
yards and topmasts, and other timber fit for ship-building.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The importance to coming generations of the &ldquo;black spruce, fit for yards and
top-masts,&rdquo; was little dreamed of by Charles Morris. However, it seems that
in accordance with his recommendation the region of the upper St. John was at
this time reserved to the crown because its towering pines supplied the best masts
in the world for the British navy, and at the close of the American Revolution it
was still unbroken forest.</p>
<p>After the formation of the County of Sunbury, April 30, 1765, magistrates and
other officers were appointed and representatives chosen to sit in the House of
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span>
Assembly. Some of our local historians, including the late Moses H. Perley, have
stated that the first representative of Sunbury County was Charles Morris jr., but
although Mr. Morris may have been the first to take his seat he was not the first
elected representative. The late Thos. B. Akins, of Halifax, a recognized authority
on all points of local history, in a communication to the late J. W. Lawrence states
that the election writs on file at Halifax give the names of Capt. Beamsley Glasier
and Capt. Thomas Falconer as the first representatives of the County of Sunbury.
It does not appear that either of these gentlemen attended the sessions of the House
of Assembly, and as it was the rule for members who were absent two years to
forfeit their seats for non-attendance, a new election was held in 1768, when Richard
Shorne and Phinehas Nevers were returned. The House of Assembly was dissolved
two years later, and at the ensuing general election Charles Morris, jr., and Israel
Perley were returned; the former took his seat but Mr. Perley appears never to
have done so and in 1773 James Simonds was elected in his stead. Mr. Simonds
was in attendance in October, 1774, and took the customary oath, being the first
inhabitant of the county to take his seat in the legislative halls of Nova Scotia.
A little later William Davidson was elected a member and he and James Simonds
were the sitting members when the old Province of Nova Scotia was divided at the
isthmus and the Province of New Brunswick constituted in 1784.</p>
<p>Among the earliest magistrates of the County of Sunbury were John Anderson,
Beamsley Glasier, Francis Peabody, James Simonds, James White, Israel Perley,
Jacob Barker, Phinehas Nevers and Gervas Say. The Courts of General Sessions
of the Peace meet regularly at Maugerville and transacted such business as was
necessary, appointed constables and other parish officers, administered justice and
so forth. Benjamin Atherton was clerk of the peace for the county, James Simonds
registrar of deeds and judge of probate, and James White deputy sheriff. The first
collector of customs was Capt. Francis Peabody, who died in 1773. The attention
given to the collection of duties was but nominal and Charles Newland Godfrey
Jadis, a retired army officer who had settled at Grimross on the St. John
river, wrote to the secretary of state in 1773 calling his attention to the prevalence
of smuggling of which &ldquo;Major-Ville&rdquo; was the centre, connived at, as he alleges, by
the magistrate and collector. This little incident is an indication that the sentiment
of the Massachusetts settlers of Maugerville was identical with that of their kinsmen
in New England in regard to the enactment of the stamp act and the duties
imposed by the British government.</p>
<p>A few particulars of interest regarding the settlers on the River St. John are to
be gleaned from the papers of David Burpee,<a name='FNanchor_0100' id='FNanchor_0100'></a><a href='#Footnote_0100' class='fnanchor'>[100]</a> at one time deputy sheriff of the
county. There were very few framed dwellings, nearly all the settlers living in log
houses. As late as 1783 there were in Gagetown, Burton, and at St. Anns and vicinity
about 76 houses occupied by English inhabitants, of which only 9 were framed
buildings. The proportion of framed dwellings in Maugerville was little better, the
vast majority being log houses.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span></div>
<p>Horses were few and nearly all the ordinary farm work was done by oxen. It
is doubtful if any of the settlers owned a carriage, wagon or sleigh at this time.
Carts were generally used in summer and sleds in winter. Some of the men owned
saddles, of which there was much borrowing, and there were a few pillions for the
ladies. Traveling in the summer time on land was either on horseback or afoot
for the roads were too bad to admit of the use of wheeled vehicles.</p>
<p>All the cooking in those days was done at old-fashioned fireplaces and the utensils
included a gridiron, toasting iron, frying pan, iron kettle and a number of pots
and pans. The dishes used in the farm houses were mostly of pewter and their
number limited.</p>
<p>A broadcloth coat or a beaver hat was a valuable asset which might be handed
down to the second or even the third generation. A decent broadcloth suit would
cost a man as much as he could earn in three months at the current rate of wages,
after paying his board; consequently the early settler did not often indulge in the
luxury of a new suit. Leather breeches were commonly worn, and from their lasting
qualities were an economical garment.</p>
<p>The money handled by the early settlers was quite insignificant; nearly all
transactions were of the nature of barter. Corn and furs were the staple articles
of trade. The value of corn varied considerably, according to the season, from 4 shillings
to 8 shillings a bushel, the average rate 5 to 6 shillings. Half a bushel of corn
was the equivalent of a week&rsquo;s board. The ordinary rate of farm wages was 2s. a
day except for such work as mowing, framing, hoeing corn, and raking hay, for
which the rate was 2s. 6d. a day. The wages of a woman servant were 10s. a month
and as all articles of clothing were very dear compared with modern prices, they
became excessively so when the rate of wages was taken into account. It took a
whole month&rsquo;s wages to purchase a pair of stays and two months wages to buy a
gown. A pair of silk mits cost 5s. 6d. and a lawn handkerchief 6s. 6d. Calico was
charged as high as 6s. a yard and cotton wool at 6s. 6d per lb. As a rule everything
that had to be purchased out of a store was dear, while the prices of country produce
were exactly the reverse. Butter sold as low as 6d. per lb.; lamb at 2&frac12;d.
per lb.; beef, 1&frac12; to 3d. per lb.; geese at 3s. each; fowls 1s.; potatoes 1s. 3d. a bushel.</p>
<p>Dr. Hannay quotes the following as a transaction on the part of Mr. Burpee,
which would be regarded as unusual at the present day:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;September 30, 1778.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Took a hog of Mr. Joseph Howlin of Burton to fat, the hog weighs now 113 lbs.
and I am to have as many pounds of pork as he weighs more when I kill him.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Dec. 1st, 1778, killed Mr. Howlin&rsquo;s hog. Weighed before he was killed 181 lbs.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Showing that Mr. Burpee obtained 68 lbs. of pork as the result of his bargain.</p>
<p>David Burpee taught school one winter, receiving 4s. per month for each pupil.
The tuition fees were paid in a great variety of ways; in work, in grain, leather,
musquash skins, rum, hauling hay and making shoes; he only handled 10s. in cash
for his entire winter&rsquo;s work.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the year 1770 Mr. Burpee kept a diary which, while it contains some facts of
interest, serves on the whole to show how narrow and monotonous was the life of
the early settlers on the St. John. On Sundays they attended religious services
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span>
held at the houses most convenient for the purpose and in the winter there was
some social visiting. However, we are now to speak of more stirring events.</p>
<p>Many were the trials and tribulations of the dwellers on the St. John&mdash;particularly
of those living at the mouth of the river&mdash;during the American Revolution.
Most of their calamities might have been avoided had an efficient garrison been
maintained at Fort Frederick, but the troops were withdrawn from that post in
1768 and sent to Boston in consequence of disturbances there, and for five or six
years the care of the fort and barracks was entrusted to James Simonds.</p>
<p>Lord William Campbell reported, about the close of 1771: &ldquo;Since Fort Frederick
at the entrance of St. John&rsquo;s river has been dismantled and the garrison,
which formerly consisted of an officers&rsquo; command, reduced to a corporal and four
privates, he had had frequent complaints of the Indians on the river.&rdquo; The presence
of a half dozen soldiers was of little utility at any time and of no utility
whatever after the Revolution began. It was not until the erection of Fort Howe
that adequate steps were taken for the protection of the inhabitants.</p>
<p>The year 1774 was an extremely busy one at St. John. Our old pioneers
James Simonds, James White and William Hazen were making strenuous efforts
to place settlers upon their lands in the township of Conway, while at the same
time Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s house was being finished at Portland Point, an aboideau was being
built to reclaim the &ldquo;great marsh,&rdquo; and the business of the fishery, lime-burning
and general trade was being vigorously prosecuted. Troublous times were now
at hand.</p>
<p>The situation of Hazen, Simonds and White when hostilities arose between the
old colonies and the mother country was very embarrassing. By birth and early
association they were New Englanders and most of their old time friends and
neighbors were hostile to the crown. Massachusetts was practically the cradle of
the Revolution, and the vast majority of its inhabitants were bitterly opposed to
the King and his government. But while Simonds, White and Hazen were Massachusetts
men they now held various official positions under the government of
Nova Scotia and had sworn true allegiance to the King. Very likely they would
have gladly assumed a neutral attitude in the approaching contest, but alas for
them the force of events left no <a name='TC_55'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'rooom'">room</ins> for neutrality.</p>
<p>It is clear that at the beginning of the war the people of Massachusetts hoped
for the cordial support of the settlers on the River St. John. This is probably
the reason why the small colony at Portland Point was not molested during the
early stages of the war and that William Hazen was able on two
occasions to obtain the release of the company&rsquo;s schooner &ldquo;Polly&rdquo;
after she had been taken by American privateers. But as the
war progressed considerate treatment gave place to acts of vandalism,
and the sentiments of the settlers at St. John towards their old compatriots of
Massachusetts became intensely bitter. Their tenants in the township of Conway
were driven from their homes and obliged to seek refuge up the river, and those
living at Portland Point suffered equal hardships.</p>
<p>When the Loyalists arrived in 1783, it was proposed that the township of Conway
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span>
should be escheated for their benefit. James Simonds protested stoutly against
this, representing the expense that had been incurred in the endeavor to settle
the township and the losses and sufferings of the tenants who were for a long time
unprotected against the depredations of the enemy. He adds, &ldquo;Instead of our
being stripped of our rights to make amends for the losses of the Loyalists, who
were plundered in New York or elsewhere, we have at least as weighty reasons as
they can possibly offer to claim restitution from Government for the value of all
the property taken from us, our distress by imprisonment, etc. They had a
numerous British army to protect them, we had to combat the sons of darkness
alone. In a word we had much less than they to hope for by unshaken loyalty
and incomparably more to fear.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The statement of Mr. Simonds is confirmed by Major Studholme who wrote to
Gov&rsquo;r. Parr, &ldquo;Messrs. Hazen and Simonds, two of the original proprietors of Conway,
have at different times placed a number of settlers on the lands of that
Township and have used every effort on their parts to comply with the terms of
their Grant, but the continual robberies committed by the Rebel boats during the
war, to which these settlements have been exposed, obliged a number of their
tenants to remove. However, as every exertion was used by them I take the
liberty to recommend their claims on that Township to your consideration.&rdquo;</p>
<p>During the earlier stages of the Revolution the attitude of the people of Machias
on the one hand, and of the inhabitants of the township of Cumberland on the
other, proved a matter of concern to the dwellers on the River St. John. Machias
was settled in 1763 by a colony from Scarborough, one of the oldest towns in Massachusetts.
During the war it was the asylum of disloyal spirits who fled thither
from various parts of Nova Scotia. The township of Cumberland included a considerable
portion of what is now the county of Westmorland. The inhabitants were
mostly natives of New England, and many of them warm sympathizers with the
revolutionary pasty. Jonathan Eddy was their representative in the Nova Scotia
House of Assembly in 1774, and John Allan in 1776. Eddy and Allan, aided by
William Howe and Samuel Rogers, succeeded in stirring up an active rebellion in
Cumberland, which called for prompt action on the part of the Government of Nova
Scotia. The leaders fled to Machias and a reward of &pound;200 was offered for the
apprehension of Eddy and &pound;100 for each of the others.</p>
<p>The attitude of the Indians was another matter of serious concern to the settlers
on the River St. John. Immediately after the Declaration of Independence the
American congress authorized Washington to call forth and engage the Indians of
Nova Scotia, St. John and Penobscot to take up the hatchet and fight against the
English. With strange inconsistency Congress a few days later, in an address to
the people of Ireland, denounced the King of England on the ground that &ldquo;the
wild and barbarous savages of the wilderness have been solicited by gifts to take up
the hatchet against us, and instigated to deluge our settlements with the blood of
defenceless women and children.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Micmacs seem to have been reluctant to take sides in the contest and in
answer to John Allan&rsquo;s solicitations they said, with quiet dignity, &ldquo;We do not
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span>
comprehend what all this quarreling is about. How comes it that Old England and
New England should quarrel and come to blows? The father and the son to fight is
terrible! Old France and Canada did not do so; we cannot think of fighting ourselves
till we know who is right and who is wrong.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The style of argument employed to induce the simple minded natives to side
with the Americans is seen in the letter addressed to them by the agent of the
Congress of Massachusetts (May 15, 1775), in which the following statements occur:
&ldquo;The ministry of Great Britain have laid deep plots to take away our liberty and
your liberty; they want to get all our money and make us pay it to them when
they never earned it; to make you and us their servants and let us have nothing to
eat, drink or wear but what they say we shall; and prevent us from having guns
and powder to kill our deer and wolves and other game or to send to you to kill
your game with so as to get skins and fur to trade with us for what you want.
* * * We want to know what you our good brothers want from us of clothing or
warlike stores, and we will supply you as fast as we can. We will do all for you we
can and fight to save you at any time. * * * The Indians at Stockbridge all
join with us and some of their men have enlisted as soldiers and we have given each
of them a blanket and a ribbon, and they will be paid when they are from home
in the service, and if any of you are willing to enlist we shall do the same for you.
* * * Brothers, if you will let Mr. John Preble know what things you want he will
take care to inform us and we will do the best for you we can.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In consequence of the inducements of Allan and the other agents, Pierre Tomah
and Ambroise St. Aubin, leading chiefs of the Maliseets of the River St. John, went
to the trading post the Americans had established at Penobscot, and signed an
agreement to the following effect: &ldquo;We heartily join with our brethren the Penobscot
Indians in everything that they have or shall agree with our brethren of the
colony of Massachusetts, and are resolved to stand together and oppose the people
of Old England that are endeavoring to take your and our lands and liberties from
us. * * * We desire that you will help us to a priest that he may pray with us to
God Almighty, etc., etc.&rdquo; The Indians agreed to bring their furs and skins to
Penobscot and to procure their provisions, goods and ammunition there. Many of
them were heavily in debt to Simonds &amp; White, so that the prospect of a new trading
post with no old scores to settle appeared to them particularly inviting.</p>
<p>Washington honored the Indians with letters accompanied by belts of wampum,
after the approved Indian fashion. A delegation from the St. John river,
Pierre Tomah at its head, went soon afterwards to Washington&rsquo;s headquarters on
the Delaware, where they received a flattering welcome and were sumptuously entertained.
On the 24th December, 1776, Washington thus addressed them:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Brothers of the St. John&rsquo;s tribe: It gave me great pleasure to hear by
Major Shaw that you keep the chain of Friendship, which I sent you in February
last from Cambridge, bright and unbroken. I am glad to hear that you have
made a treaty of peace with your brothers and neighbors of Massachusetts Bay.
My good friend and brother, Gov&rsquo;r Pierre Tommah, and the warriors that came
with him shall be taken good care of, and when they want to return home they
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span>
and our brothers of Penobscot shall be furnished with everything necessary for
their journey. * * * Never let the King&rsquo;s wicked counsellors turn your hearts
against me and your brethren of this country, but bear in mind what I told you
last February and what I tell you now.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Washington&rsquo;s overtures were not without effect. This is evident from the fact
that the Maugerville people in May, 1776, reported that Gen. Washington&rsquo;s letter
had set the Indians on fire, and they were plundering all people they thought to
be Tories, and that perhaps when the supply of Tories was exhausted others might
share the name fate. &ldquo;We think it necessary,&rdquo; they added, &ldquo;that some person of
consequence be sent among them.&rdquo; The Indians had always been allies of the
French and had never fully accepted the change of ownership on the River St.
John. They were disposed to view the cause of the Americans with favor, more
particularly when the French became their allies.</p>
<p>John Allan was by far the most active and energetic agent of Congress in dealing
with the Indians. He was born in Edinburgh and when four years of age accompanied
his parents to Halifax when that city was founded by Cornwallis.
At the commencement of the Revolution he lived near Fort Cumberland, on the
New Brunswick side of the isthmus of Chignecto and carried on an extensive Indian
trade visiting all the villages as far west as the Penobscot river. His estimate
of the Indians is not particularly flattering. He says: &ldquo;The Indians are
generally actuated according to the importance or influence any one has who lives
among them. They are credulous to a degree, will listen to every report, and
generally believe it and think everything true that is told them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>We shall presently see that Allan was able to make good use of his knowledge
of the weaknesses of Indian nature. He was appointed superintendent of the
Eastern Indians in 1777 by the Massachusetts Congress, with the military rank of
Colonel. He was the most persevering and troublesome antagonist the British had
in Eastern New England. Had it not been for his exertions it is probable the
Americans would have lost their outpost at Machias, and it is possible that the
English would then have held the country as far west as the River Kennebeck.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XXIV_AFFAIRS_ON_THE_ST_JOHN_DURING_THE_REVOLUTION' id='CHAPTER_XXIV_AFFAIRS_ON_THE_ST_JOHN_DURING_THE_REVOLUTION'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>Affairs on the St. John During the Revolution.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>In the year 1775 armed vessels were fitted out in several of the ports of New
England to prey on the commerce of Nova Scotia. Many of these carried no
proper commissions and were manned by hands of brutal marauders whose conduct
was so outrageous that even so warm a partizan as Col. John Allan sent a
remonstrance to congress regarding their behaviour: &ldquo;Their horrid crimes,&rdquo; he
says, &ldquo;are too notorious to pass unnoticed,&rdquo; and after particularizing some of their
enormities he declares &ldquo;such proceedings will occasion more Torys than a hundred
such expeditions will make good.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The people of Machias were particularly fond of plundering their neighbors,
<a name='TC_56'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'and, and'">and</ins> that place was termed a &ldquo;nest of pirates and rebels&rdquo; by General Eyre
Massey, the commandant at Halifax.</p>
<p>Early in the summer of 1775 it was rumored that Stephen Smith of Machias,
one of the delegates to the Massachusetts congress, had orders to seize Fort Frederick,
and the Governor of Nova Scotia recommended the establishment of a garrison
there to prevent such an attempt. But the military authorities were too
dilatory and in the month of August a party from Machias, led by Smith, entered
St. John harbor in a sloop, burned Fort Frederick and the barracks and took four
men who were in the fort prisoners. The party also captured a brig of 120 tons
laden with oxen, sheep and swine, intended for the British troops at Boston.
This was the first hostile act committed in Nova Scotia and it produced almost as
great a sensation at Halifax as at St. John. The event is thus described by our
first local historian, Peter Fisher, in his Sketches of New Brunswick:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;A brig was sent from Boston to procure fresh provisions for the British army,
then in that town, from the settlements of the river Saint John. The same vessel
was laden with stock, poultry, and sundry other articles mostly brought from
Maugerville in small vessels and gondolas, all of which had been put on board
within about fifteen days after the brig had arrived. While she was waiting for a
fair wind and clear weather an armed sloop of four guns and full of men from
Machias came into the harbor, took possession of the brig, and two days after carried
her off to Machias; the first night after their arrival the enemy made the
small party in the Fort prisoners, plundered them of everything in it, and set
fire to all the Barracks, but at that time they did not molest any of the inhabitants
on the opposite side of the river.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The burning of Fort Frederick seems to have been made known at Halifax by
James Simonds and Daniel Leavitt, who went to Windsor in a whale boat to solicit
to protection of government. Their report caused a mild sensation on the part of
the military authorities, and they began to take measures for the defence of the
province, although it was more than two years before any adequate protection
was afforded the settlers at St. John. Being apprehensive that the company&rsquo;s effects
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span>
in the store at Portland Point might be carried off by marauders, Mr. Simonds
a few weeks afterwards carried a portion of the goods to Windsor in the schooner
&ldquo;Polly&rdquo; and disposed of them as well as he could.</p>
<p>The next year was a decidedly uncomfortable one for the people living at Portland
Point. In the month of May two privateers entered the harbor, remaining
more than a week. Their boats proceeded up the river as far as Maugerville and
informed the people that the province would soon be invaded from the westward,
that privateers were thick on the coasts and would stop all manner of commerce
unless the settlers joined them. They threatened, moreover, that should the
Americans be put to the trouble and expense of conquering the country all who
sided with the mother country must expect to lose their property and lands.
About this time some Indians arrived with letters from General Washington, and
it was believed that the whole tribe was about entering into an alliance with the
Americans, as they showed a decided predilection in their favor and even threatened
to kill the white inhabitants unless they would join the &ldquo;Boston men.&rdquo; There can
be little doubt that the majority of the people on the River St. John were at this
time not indisposed to side with the Revolutionary party. A public meeting was held
on the 14th of May, 1776, at the meeting house in Maugerville, at which a number of
highly disloyal resolutions were unanimously adopted. One of the leading spirits at
this meeting was the Rev. Seth Noble, who had already written to Gen&rsquo;l. Washington
to represent the importance of obtaining control of western Nova Scotia, including
the River St. John. Jacob Barker, Esq&rsquo;r., was chosen chairman and a committee,
consisting of Jacob Barker, Israel Perley, Phineas Nevers, Daniel Palmer, Moses
Pickard, Edward Coy, Thomas Hartt, Israel Kinny, Asa Kimble, Asa Perley, Oliver
Perley and Hugh Quinton, was appointed to prepare the resolutions which were
subsequently adopted by the meeting. One of the resolutions reads:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Resolved, That it is our minds and desire to submit ourselves to the government
of Massachusetts Bay and that we are ready with our lives and fortunes to share
with them the event of the present struggle for liberty, however God in his providence
may order it.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The resolutions adopted were circulated among all the settlers on the river and
signed by 125 persons, most of them heads of families. The committee claimed
that only twelve or thirteen persons refused to sign, of whom the majority lived
at the river&rsquo;s mouth. If this statement be correct, the resolutions certainly could
not have been submitted to all the inhabitants, for there is evidence to show that
at least thirty families outside of the township of Maugerville were steadfastly and
consistently loyal to the government under which they lived. The names of these
people are as deserving of honor as the names of the Loyalists, who came to the
province from the old colonies in 1783. In the township of Maugerville the sentiment
of the people was almost unanimous in favor of the Revolution and we have no
data to determine who were loyalists&mdash;if any. But at St. Anns we have Benjamin
Atherton and Philip Weade; in the township of Burton, John Larley, Joseph Howland,
and Thomas Jones; in Gagetown Zebulon Estey, Henry West, John Crabtree,
John Hendrick, Peter Carr and Lewis Mitchell; on the Kennebecasis Benjamin Darling;
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span>
in the township of Conway, Samuel Peabody, Jonathan Leavitt, Thomas Jenkins,
John Bradley, Gervas Say, James Woodman, Peter Smith, and Christopher Cross;
at Portland Point, James Simonds, James White, William Hazen, John Hazen, William
Godsoe, Lemuel Cleveland, Robert Cram, John Nason, Moses Greenough,
Christopher Blake and most of the men in the employ of Hazen, Simonds &amp; White.</p>
<p>A number of Acadians too were loyal to the government of Nova Scotia and
should be mentioned in this connection. Louis Mercure and his brother Michel
Mercure rendered good service to the Governor of Nova Scotia in carrying dispatches
to and from Quebec during the war period. Of the Martin family, Jean,
Simon, Joseph, Francois and Amant were warmly commended by Major Studholme
for their fidelity and active exertions on various occasions. Members of the Cyr
family also rendered important services as guides or pilots, Oliver, Jean Baptiste
and Pierre Cyr being employed in that capacity by Major Studholme and Lieut.
Governor Michael Francklin.</p>
<p>At this distance of time it is difficult to determine the number of people on the
river who were disposed to be actively disloyal. That they had many inducements
to cast their fortunes with their friends in Massachusetts is undeniable. At Maugerville
the powerful influence of the pastor of the church, Rev. Seth Noble, and
of the leading elders and church members was exerted in behalf of the American
congress. Jacob Barker, who presided at the meeting held on the 14th May, was a
justice of the peace and ruling elder of the church. Israel Perley and Phineas
Nevers were justices of the peace and had represented the county of Sunbury in
the Nova Scotia legislature. Daniel Palmer, Edward Coy, Israel Kinney and Asa
Perley were ruling elders of the church. Moses Pickard, Thomas Hartt and Hugh
Quinton were leading church members. The gentlemen named, with Asa Kimball
and Oliver Perley, were appointed a committee &ldquo;to make immediate application to
the Congress or General Assembly of Massachusetts Bay for relief under the present
distressed circumstances.&rdquo;</p>
<p>At the Maugerville meeting it was unanimously agreed that the committee,
whose names have just been mentioned, should have charge of all matters civil and
military until further regulations should be made, and that all who signed the
resolutions should have no dealings with any person for the future who should refuse
to sign them. The tone of several of the resolutions was that of open defiance
to the constituted authority of Nova Scotia, the signers pledging themselves to support
and defend the actions of their committee at the expense, if necessary, of
their lives and fortunes. One of the resolutions reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Resolved that we will immediately put ourselves in the best posture of defence
in our power; that to this end we will prevent all unnecessary use of gunpowder or
other ammunition in our custody.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Asa Perley and Asa Kimball, two of the committee, were sent to Boston to interview
the Massachusetts congress on behalf of the people living on the river.
The <a name='TC_57'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'commissiary'">commissary</ins> general there was directed to deliver them one barrel of gunpowder,
350 flints and 250 weight <a name='TC_58'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'of of'">of</ins> lead from the colony&rsquo;s stores; they were also allowed
to purchase 40 stand of small arms.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span></div>
<p>So far all seemed favorable to the promoters of rebellion, but bitter humiliation
was in store, and within a year the vast majority of those who had pledged themselves
to the people of Massachusetts as &ldquo;ready with their lives and fortunes to share
with them the event of the present struggle for liberty, however God in His providence
may order it,&rdquo; were compelled to take the oath of allegiance to His Majesty
King George the Third for the defence of the province of Nova Scotia against all
his enemies.</p>
<p>An impartial review of the situation on the St. John at this stage of the American
Revolution would seem to show that the sympathies of a large majority of the
settlers were with the revolutionary party, at the same time many of the people
were much less enthusiastic than their leaders and if left to themselves would probably
have hesitated to sign the resolutions framed by their committee. The presence
of the privateersmen, who came up the river at the time the meeting at Maugerville
was held, was an incentive to many to sign the resolutions and the attitude
of the Indians was a further inducement to stand in with the people of Massachusetts,
who had lately entered into an alliance with the savages.</p>
<p>During the autumn of this year (1776) the Bay of Fundy was so infested with
pirates and picaroons that the war vessels Vulture, Hope and Albany were ordered
around from Halifax. They were not entirely successful in their endeavor to furnish
protection, for the privateers frequently managed to steal past the large ships
in the night and in fogs and continued to pillage the defenceless inhabitants.</p>
<p>Another hostile act was now undertaken by the people of Machias of a more
ambitious kind than the destruction of Fort Frederick. This was nothing less than
an attempt to capture Fort Cumberland, where Lieut. Col. Joseph Goreham was in
command with a detachment of the Royal Fencible Americans. This attempt was
in the end a miserable fiasco, but it occasioned much alarm at the time and was
the cause of some distress to the loyal inhabitants of that region.</p>
<p>The leader of the expedition against Fort Cumberland was Jonathan Eddy, who
had lately been commissioned a lieutenant colonel by the Massachusetts congress.
He was a native of Norton (Mass.), and had settled in Cumberland about 1763,
but early in the Revolution returned to Massachusetts. About the time of the
Declaration of Independence, in July, 1776, Eddy set out from Boston in company
with Jonathan Rowe (lately a resident at St. John) and proceeded to Machias. He
left that place about the middle of August in a schooner with only 28 men as a
nucleus of his proposed army. At Passamaquoddy a few people joined him. The
party did not meet with much encouragement on their arrival at St. John, although
Hazen, Simonds and White from motives of prudence refrained from any
hostile demonstration. Proceeding up the river to Maugerville Eddy met with greater
encouragement. &ldquo;I found the people,&rdquo; he writes, &ldquo;to be almost universally hearty
in our cause; they joined us with one captain, one lieutenant and twenty-five
men, as also sixteen Indians.&rdquo; The captain of the St. John river contingent was
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span>
probably Hugh Quinton<a name='FNanchor_0101' id='FNanchor_0101'></a><a href='#Footnote_0101' class='fnanchor'>[101]</a> who has as his lieutenant one Jewett of Maugerville.
Others of the party were Daniel Leavitt, William McKeen, Elijah Estabrooks, Edward
Burpee, Nathan Smith, John Pickard, Edmund Price, Amasa Coy, John
Mitchell, Richard Parsons, Benjamin Booby and John Whitney. The rest of the
party lived in Maugerville but their names are not known.</p>
<p>On his arrival at Cumberland Jonathan Eddy was joined by many of the settlers
there who, like himself, were originally from New England. His whole force
probably did not exceed 200 men, badly equipped and without artillery. The Indians
of the St. John were under the leadership of Ambroise St. Aubin, one of
their chiefs, and Eddy says they &ldquo;beheaved most gallantly.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0102' id='FNanchor_0102'></a><a href='#Footnote_0102' class='fnanchor'>[102]</a> However, the expedition
failed to achieve anything of importance. The rebels plundered some of
the loyal inhabitants, seized one or two small provision sloops and captured several
prisoners, including the Rev. John Eagleson, acting chaplain of the garrison. All
attempts to take the fort were futile, and the arrival of Major Batt and Captain
Studholme with reinforcement from Windsor rendered Eddy&rsquo;s situation exceedingly
precarious. On the 28th November his forces were utterly routed by Major
Batt and hastily retired to the River St. John. They suffered great hardships on
the way and arrived at that place in a very miserable condition. Unwelcome as
they had proved to the people of Portland Point on the occasion of their advance
they were still more unwelcome visitors on their return. In their forlorn condition
Hazen, Simonds and White were obliged to furnish them with provisions and
supplies in order to keep them from plundering their houses and stores. All
that the trading company obtained in return was a bill of exchange on the Massachusetts
congress, which probably was never paid:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Gentlemen,&mdash;At sight of this our second Bill (first of same tenor and date
not paid) please to pay to Messrs. William Hazen, James Simonds and James
White, or order, forty-one Spanish milled Dollars for value received of them.</p>
<p class='lalign'>EZEKIEL FOSTER, Lt.,<br />
EDMUND STEVENS, Capt.,<br />
DAVID PRESCOTT, Lt.,<br />
DANIEL MESERVY, Lt.</p>
<p>Portland, Nova Scotia, December 14th, 1776.</p>
<p>To the Honorable Council of Massachusetts State.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>James White says the supplies furnished to Prescott &amp; Co., were regarded as
for the common cause and benefit to get rid of a needy lawless banditti.</p>
<p>On the 10th February ensuing General Massey wrote to the secretary of State
that Eddy, Rogers, Allen and Howe were at the River St. John preparing with the
Indians for attacks on various points in the Spring. To counteract the designs of
Eddy and his associates Colonel Michael Francklin was appointed Superintendent
of Indian affairs about this time.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span></div>
<p>Early in May, 1777, a serious attempt was made by John Allan to establish
a trading post for the Indians on the River St. John. James Simonds
proceeded via Windsor to Halifax, and reported the matter to the civil and military
authorities. Lieut.-Governor Arbuthnot at once sent Colonel Arthur Goold
and an armed party, commanded by Major Studholme, to investigate, and on their
arrival at St. John the Machias rebels promptly decamped. On the 9th May
Goold wrote a letter to the inhabitants of the townships up the river stating that
the government of Nova Scotia was well informed of their treasonable doings, and
that the tenure of their present possessions was due to the clemency of &ldquo;the most
just, generous and best of Princes.&rdquo; He informed them that his object was to
effect a reconciliation for them with Government, and added that while he came
to them with the olive branch of peace, in the event of a refusal of his overtures
an armed force would follow and employ a very different argument.</p>
<p>A meeting was immediately held at Maugerville, and in reply to Goold a letter
was sent &ldquo;by order of the body of the inhabitants assembled,&rdquo; written and
signed in their behalf by Israel Perley. In this letter the inhabitants aver &ldquo;that
their greatest desire hath ever been to live in peace under good and wholesome
laws,&rdquo; and they declare themselves &ldquo;ready to attend to any conditions of lenity
and oblivion that may be held out to them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Colonel Goold in his reply expresses his pleasure at the unanimity of their
resolution to observe loyalty and obedience to the government under which they
lived and his surprise that they should suffer a few incendiaries to disturb the public
tranquillity. He hoped the word &ldquo;Committee&rdquo; had nothing so terrible in its
sound as to frighten a majority of the loyal people. &ldquo;Why not,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;form
a Committee in favor of Government and see which is strongest? I will throw
myself into your scale and make no doubt but we shall soon over balance these
mighty Law-givers.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On the afternoon of May 13, two of John Allan&rsquo;s lieutenants, William Howe
and John Preble, arrived at Manawagonish Cove<a name='FNanchor_0103' id='FNanchor_0103'></a><a href='#Footnote_0103' class='fnanchor'>[103]</a> in a whale boat, not knowing
of the presence of a British sloop of war at St. John. Captain Featus, the
commander of the &ldquo;Vulture,&rdquo; promptly dispatched a boat to the place and took
their whale boat, but Howe and Preble and their party fled to the woods and
eventually got back to Machias. The captain of the &ldquo;Vulture&rdquo; also intercepted
two schooners laden with supplies for the proposed Indian &ldquo;Truck House.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Evidently there was a lack of harmony and mutual confidence among the inhabitants
of Maugerville at this time, for on the 16th May they wrote to Colonel
Goold a letter in which, after representing their recent conduct in the best light
they could and admitting that they had acted in opposition to this Majesty&rsquo;s
Government, they say: &ldquo;As your honor is pleased to tell us that you bring the
Olive Branch of Peace we humbly crave the benefit, and as we were jointly concerned
in the first transgressions we now humbly request that no distinction may
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span>
be made as to a pardon, there being in this place as in all others private prejudices
and contentions, and perhaps some persons may avail themselves of this opportunity
to got revenge by representing their private enemies as the greatest
enemies of Government. We earnestly request no such complaint may prevail upon
your Honor to make any distinction with regard to any person, on the River,
and we beg your Honor&rsquo;s answer to this petition from your Honor&rsquo;s most humble
servants.</p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Signed]. Israel Perley, Seth Noble, Jonathan Burpee, Elisha Nevers, junr.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In reply to the letter, from which the foregoing is taken, Colonel Goold said
that his ears would be shut to all insinuations as to the honesty of their submission,
that their letter &ldquo;seems to breathe the sentiments of a sincere repentance for inconsiderate
follies past&rdquo; and that he had not the least doubt it would meet with
as favorable a reception as they could desire.</p>
<p>In spite of Goold&rsquo;s tact and diplomacy there were a few irreconcilables, and
on the 19th of May he wrote from Maugerville to Major Studholme, who had remained
with the troops at the mouth of the river:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;As notwithstanding every measure which I have taken to reclaim some of
the principal people concerned in the late defection, amounting to rebellion, on this
river has proved fruitless, and they still continue obstinately bent on quitting
their houses and families rather than submit to his Majesty&rsquo;s gracious offers of
clemency, I think it my duty to give you their names&mdash;Seth Noble, Elisha Nevers,
Jacob Barker&mdash;that you may act upon the occasion agreeable to the orders you
may have received from Major General Massey.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Colonel Goold administered the oath of allegiance to all but a few of the people
and, as his last word, charged them on no account to suffer those who inconveniently
absented themselves from accepting the proposals of the Lieutenant Governor
to return to their habitations without first proceeding to Halifax to beg
pardon for their past behaviour. &ldquo;I have nothing more to observe to you,&rdquo; he
adds, &ldquo;but that you are not to pay any more respect to those Gentlemen, who
lately styled themselves your rulers, than to every other common member of the
community.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On his return to Halifax, Col. Goold reported to Lt.-Gov&rsquo;r Arbuthnot that
the inhabitants at the River St. John had cheerfully taken the oath of allegiance,
after delivering up two pieces of ordnance, formerly concealed by the French inhabitants.</p>
<p>While he was at the River St. John Goold had an interview with the Indians
and made a speech to them in French, which seems to have produced a strong impression.
Eight of the chiefs and captains swore allegiance to King George the
Third in the name of their tribe, and had they been let alone by Allan it is
probable the Indians would have given no further trouble to the Government or
Nova Scotia. Colonel Goold regarded his arrival as opportune as Allan, Howe and
others from Machias were assembled &ldquo;to play the same game as last year.&rdquo; Before
he left the river he addressed a letter to the Indians in French, promising that
he would represent to Lieut. Governor Arbuthnot their great desire to have a priest,
and expressing his confidence that they might have Mons&rsquo;r. Bourg, then stationed at
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span>
the Bay of Chaleur, who would be put on the same footing as their late missionary
Bailly.</p>
<p>John Allan was altogether too determined a man to abandon the struggle for
supremacy on the St. John without another attempt. He learned on the 29th of
May that the &ldquo;Vulture&rdquo; had returned to Annapolis and he set out the very next day
from Machias with a party of 43 men in four whale boats and four birch canoes.
At Passamaquoddy he met with some encouragement and thirteen canoes joined the
flotilla, which proceeded on to Musquash Cove, where they arrived on the evening of
the 1st of June. Having ascertained that there were no hostile vessels at St. John
harbor, Allan sent one of his captains named West with a party to seize Messrs.
Hazen, Simonds and White. The party landed at Manawagonish Cove and marched
through the woods to the St. John river above the falls, crossing in canoes to the
east side of the river and landing at what is now Indiantown. Proceeding on
through scrubby woods and over rough limestone they reached Portland Point undiscovered
and took William Hazen and James White prisoners. James Simonds
and Israel Perley had accompanied Col. Goold to Halifax, and in this way Mr.
Simonds escaped capture, but it seems that a little later he was not so fortunate.
There was now no good will between the people of Portland Point and their neighbors
to the west. Allan states in his journal &ldquo;Hazen and Simonds jeered our officers,
saying that they made breastworks of women and children.&rdquo; Tradition has it
that on one occasion James Simonds told a party of marauders who had come to
pillage that they would never dare to face the King&rsquo;s soldiers for their blood was
nothing but molasses and water.</p>
<p>Leaving a guard of sixty men at the mouth of the river under Capt. West, the
rest of the invaders proceeded up the river taking their prisoners with them. West
and his party took possession of Woodman&rsquo;s store and buildings opposite Indiantown
and occupied them for barracks. Allan directed them &ldquo;To range the woods
from Hazen&rsquo;s across the river above the falls round to the Old Fort,&rdquo; and in accordance
with his instructions, the party came over every day to the Portland shore in
order to capture any vessel that might enter the harbor and to prevent the landing
of marines or seamen from any British man of war.</p>
<p>Allan in his diary gives an account of his trip up the St. John, which is of much
local interest. He claims that the majority of the settlers, despite their late submission
to Colonel Goold, were friendly to the American cause, although some were
&ldquo;great Zealots for Britain.&rdquo; Gervas Say and Lewis Mitchell are said to have been
instrumental in bringing Col. Goold to the river, and Allan endeavored to seize
them. Mitchell&rsquo;s influence was feared on account of his being of &ldquo;an insinuating
turn, particularly among the French and Indians.&rdquo; Mitchell was captured by
strategy at his house above Grimross, but a few days later he &ldquo;made his elopement&rdquo;
and with the assistance of other loyalists was not long in bringing a hornet&rsquo;s nest
about the ears of his captors.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span></div>
<p>On the 5th of June, 1777, John Allan and his party arrived at the Indian village
of <a name='TC_58a'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Aukaque'">Aukpaque</ins> where forty or fifty Indians arrayed in war costume of paint and
feathers fired a salute of welcome. The visitors responded and in order still further
to impress the Indians landed their two cannon and discharged them. Allan
says that he found several of the Indian captains were vastly fond of Colonel Goold
and seemed undetermined what to do. The inclinations of the head chiefs were
diverse. Ambroise St. Aubin favored the Americans but Pierre Tomah, the head
chief, inclined the other way. Allan, knowing full well by experience as an Indian
trader the weak points of Indian character, flattered them, appealed to
their cupidity, promised them presents and supplies at the trading posts he was
about to establish, recalled the days when they regarded the French as their brothers
affirming he had come to do them justice with the same authority Monsieur
Boishebert had exercised in the French time. He was formally admitted into
their tribe and as they had then no missionary the priest&rsquo;s house, adjoining the
chapel, was placed at his disposal. During the next four weeks there were formal
conferences with the Indians with the usual harangues, exchange of wampum belts
and other ceremonies, in all of which the American agent appeared to advantage.
The chiefs made quite a grand appearance on these occasions, particularly Ambroise
St. Aubin, who was attired in blue Persian silk coat, embroidered crimson
silk waistcoat, scarlet knee breeches and gold lace hat with white cockade. In
the intervals between the formal conferences Allan visited the various wig-wams
exercising his powers of persuasion. Messengers were sent up the river to invite
delegates from Medoctec and Madawaska and they were not long in coming when
they learned that Allan had a quantity of supplies and presents at his disposal.
The Madawaska delegates arrived on the 20th of June in three birch canoes; in
their party were seven chiefs and captains, one of whom had lately assumed the
name of Washington. Allan wrote to Boston that he needed an abundance of
things sent him as he had been forced to be very lavish in his dealings with the
Indians. In the same letter he says of the white inhabitants on the river: &ldquo;I am
sorry to say that the people have not acted with that spirit that becomes the subjects
of Liberty. Much division has been among them * * and having no encouragement
of success from the Westward and being surprised so suddenly by
Col. Goold the whole gave up and are now become the subjects of Britain. The
greatest part, I believe, is as zealous as ever and it is their earnest desire that a
sufficient force be sent from the continent.&rdquo;</p>
<p>William Hazen and James White had been left by Col. Allan prisoners on
parole at the mouth of the river but a little later they were brought up the river
to Aukpaque by Capt. Preble. James White&rsquo;s long acquaintance with the Indians
gave him an influence which Allan seems to have feared, for after they had been
with him a week he issued the following order:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Wednesday, June 18, 1777, Prisoners Hazen and White are to mess by themselves
for the future, not any of our people to join them.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The very next day they were sent to the mouth of the river again and placed
in charge of Capt. West and his party.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span></div>
<p>After the arrival of the Indian delegates from Medoctec and Madawaska a
general conference was held at Aukpaque, and it was agreed &ldquo;that peace and
friendship be now established permanent and lasting between the United States and
the several tribes&rdquo;; also that a truck house be established by John Preble where
the Indians should obtain good prices for their furs.</p>
<p>The account of John Allan&rsquo;s doings at Aukpaque, as found in the diary kept
by his lieutenant, Frederick Delesderniers, is very interesting reading. It is apparent
to one who reads between the lines that Allan felt he was engaged in a
game at which two could play, and he feared the outcome. In spite of his zealous
efforts and apparent success he was suspicious of his native allies. He complains
that the impression Colonel Goold had made seemed to occasion in them an unsteady
conduct, so much so that notwithstanding their fair speeches, he at times
thought that they would desert him after all. He was the more uneasy when informed
by Israel Perley, on his return from Halifax, that the government of Nova
Scotia had appointed so competent a man as Col. Michael Francklin agent of Indian
affairs.</p>
<p>As soon as the authorities at Halifax were informed of Allan&rsquo;s expedition and
of what was going on at the River St. John they sent the warship &ldquo;Mermaid&rdquo; and
the sloops &ldquo;Vulture&rdquo; and &ldquo;Hope&rdquo; with a detachment of troops under Major Studholme
to put a stop to the proceedings. Allan&rsquo;s force at the mouth of the river
consisted of about sixty men under command of Captains West and Dyer. The
&ldquo;Vulture&rdquo; arrived on June 23rd and an attempt was made to land a party of troops
at Portland Point, but being fired upon by the enemy and having no exact information
as to their strength, nothing further was attempted until the arrival of the
other ships. Allan says &ldquo;The &lsquo;Vulture&rsquo; anchored within cannon shot of Simonds<a name='FNanchor_0104' id='FNanchor_0104'></a><a href='#Footnote_0104' class='fnanchor'>[104]</a>
where our party lay.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On the morning, of the 30th of June about 120 men under command of Major
Studholme left the ships in eight barges and landed at &ldquo;Mahogany bay,&rdquo; opposite
the house of Samuel Peabody. They marched thence through the woods two and
a half miles in the direction of the falls. Near what is now called Fairville, Studholme
encountered about 40 men under Captain West and a sharp conflict ensued
in which several were killed on both sides. The American invaders were soon put
to flight and retired with great precipitation. It is said that one poor fellow
climbed into a tree and might have escaped, but the cracking of a branch betrayed
his hiding place, and a soldier &ldquo;dropped him like a little carrier pigeon.&rdquo; The next
day Colonel Francklin arrived from Windsor with about 150 troops and militia.</p>
<p>Finding Studholme in hot pursuit West and his men ascended the Oromocto and
crossing to the head waters of the Maguadavic managed to reach Machias. They
had little or no provisions and endured almost intolerable hardships. When tidings
of the disaster were brought to Aukpaque all was consternation. Pierre Tomah and
some of the Indians were disposed to listen to the overtures of Michael Francklin,
but Ambroise St. Aubin and the others were of a contrary mind.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span></div>
<p>The approach of the British filled the Indians with serious alarm, and this Allan
did not try to allay, his greatest fear being that Pierre Tomah, &ldquo;always considered
a Tory,&rdquo; might induce the majority to make terms with the English. He succeeded
in persuading the Indians that their safest course was to retire with him, assuring
them that the Americans would shortly regain possession of the river, and that the
Massachusetts government would provide for them and in the end reward them for
their fidelity. The Indians resolved to accompany Allan to Machias. They abandoned
their cornfields, took down their chapel bell and moved across the river to
the mouth of the Keswick. A conference was held with the Indians in Mazroles&rsquo;s
barn on Sunday, July 6th, at which Delesderniere says Colonel Allan made a very
moving speech. The same night Allan&rsquo;s men were surprised at Aukpaque by a British
detachment who secured the baggage, provisions, cannon and arms they had in charge.
The party had separated and gone to various French houses in the vicinity that they
might not crowd one another, otherwise they must inevitably have all been taken.
According to Delesderniers&rsquo; story the French did all they could to save Allan&rsquo;s men
and for recompense had their houses pillaged and burned and some of themselves
made prisoners by the English. It was reported that the English soldiers had expressed
their determination to follow Allan to the gates of hell to take him&mdash;they
would at least follow to Medoctec. All this time Pierre Tomah was trying to make
terms with the British and was much dejected that he could not carry his tribe
with him.</p>
<p>Allan now donned the garb of an Indian chief, resolved to wear it to Machias.
On his arrival at Medoctec he was in such a sorry plight that he wrote to his friends
&ldquo;I am at present destitute of everything, I am forced to put up with the fare the
Indians can provide. I must again implore some help for the Indians; I am still
suspicious if I leave them they will turn.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Arrived at the old historic village of Medoctec (eight miles below the modern
town of Woodstock) John Allan and his dusky companions did not long hesitate
what course to pursue. Two Indian scouts sent down the river quickly returned
with information that the English had given up the chase of West and his party,
who fled by way of the Oromocto river, and were on their way to Medoctec in pursuit
of Allan. This decided the Indians to proceed at once to Machias. The exodus
was a remarkable one even for so migratory a people as the Maliseets. On Sunday,
July 13th, a party of about 480 Indians&mdash;men, women and children&mdash;embarked
in 128 canoes. The journey to Machias occupied three weeks and the party
had a sorry time of it. The midsummer heat was excessive, the mosquitoes abundant,
provisions scanty and the lowness of the streams greatly retarded the progress
of the canoes. At each of the carrying places along the route a lively scene presented
itself. &ldquo;It is incredible,&rdquo; says Delesderniers in his diary, &ldquo;what difficulties
the Indians undergo in this troublesome time when so many families are obliged to
fly with precipitation rather than become friends to the tyrant of Britain. Some
backing their aged parents, others their maimed and decrepid brethern, the old women
leading the young children, mothers carrying their infants, together with great
loads of baggage. As to the canoes the men make it a play to carry them across.&rdquo;
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span>
The Indians after a time became impatient and desirous to return. They represented
to Allan that they had abandoned the fertile banks of the St. John, their
cornfields and hunting grounds for his sake, and requested that the Americans would
vigorously exert themselves to take possession of and fortify that river, promising
that they would assist in an expedition to gain and hold it or lose their lives in the
attempt.</p>
<p>Allan&rsquo;s enthusiasm over the spirit displayed by the Indians and their loyalty to
him as their leader was somewhat dampened by their alarming consumption of his
provisions and supplies, which he was obliged to dispense with a free hand or run
the chance of their leaving him.</p>
<p>The account of Colonel John Allan&rsquo;s operations on the River St. John given
in the former part of this chapter may be supplemented by Colonel Michael Francklin&rsquo;s
official report to the Governor of Canada, Sir Guy Carleton, which follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right lalign'>Nova Scotia, River St. John,<br />
<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>Maugerville, 23d July, 1777.</p>
<p>Sir,&mdash;The Continental Congress having by their Emissarys taken every method
to alienate the affection of the savages of this Province from His Majesty so far prevailed
as to induce part of the Tribes of this River, Passamaquoddie and Penobscott
to associate last Fall with a few banditti from the eastern parts of New England, who
together with some of our Provincial Rebels plundered the peaceable inhabitants of
the County of Cumberland, seized upon the King&rsquo;s provision vessels, and presumed
to invest Fort Cumberland, but were finally defeated by His Majesty&rsquo;s Troops
under the command of Major Batt of the Royal Fencible American Regt.</p>
<p>Since last Fall a John Allan, late an Inhabitant of this Province, has been appointed
by the General Congress agent to the Indians, and the beginning of June
entered the River with Two pieces of cannon and about 120 Rebels, who were to
be followed by a more considerable body. These Rebels were defeated the 30th of
June at the mouth of the River by the King&rsquo;s Troops under the command of Brigade
Major Studholme, sent by Major General Massey. The day following I arrived
in a civil capacity with about 150 Troops and militia from Windsor. These Rebels
in their flight have been obliged to divide, one part passing over our western
Boundary at about twenty miles from the sea, but Allan with the other part have
been pursued up this river more than 120 miles and have retired from Medoctic by
way of Penobscott. This last party were joined by Ambrose St. Auban, an Indian
Chief, and some others whom I could not possibly draw off frown assisting the enemy,
without whose aid they must have perished, having lost their little baggage, provisions,
cannon and arms by one of our detachments falling on them on the 6th
instant at Augpeake, ninety miles up this river. We are friendly with Pierre Toma,
the other Indian chief, and part of the savages, and hostilities have not even been
committed by us against the others.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I have been particular that you Excellency may know our situation. An Indian
war is of all others the most to be dreaded by this Government from the scattered
situation of our settlements, and a word from your Excellency to the savages
of this River, Passamaquoddie and Penobscott, sent by some of your well affected
Indian Chiefs of the neighborhood of Quebec may have a very great weight with
them and prevent much ruin and expense.</p>
<p class='lalign' style="margin-bottom:0em;"><span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;I have the honor to be, with respect,<br />
<span class='indent6'>&nbsp;</span>Your Excellency&rsquo;s most obedient and most humble servant,</p>
<p class='right'>MICH. FRANCKLIN.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span></div>
<p>The hint contained in the last paragraph of Francklin&rsquo;s letter evidently was
not lost upon Sir Guy Carleton, for later on, deputies from the Ottawas, Hurons, Algonquins,
and other nations of Canada arrived at the River St. John and ordered
the Micmacs and Maliseets to withdraw from the Americans and to remain quiet
otherwise they would declare war against them. Upon receipt of this message,
Francklin says, the Indians almost universally withdrew from Machias and remained
tranquil to the close of the war. But this is anticipating the course of events.</p>
<p>Michael Francklin, though a native of the South of England, was admirably
fitted for the position of superintendent of Indian affairs in Nova Scotia. He was
at one time a captive with the Indians and had learned their language and customs.
He was also conversant with the French tongue and this gave him still greater influence.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for the settlers at the mouth of the river a garrison was not left
there for their protection by Francklin and Studholme, and as soon as the English
ships departed Portland and Conway were as defenceless as ever. Privateers again
appeared. The people were robbed and maltreated so that many were compelled to
abandon their homes and seek refuge up the river.</p>
<p>Late in the autumn of this year an American sloop carrying eight guns entered
St. John Harbor. Her captain, who bore the singular name A. Greene Crabtree,
proved the most unwelcome and rapacious visitor that had yet appeared. Many of
the settlers fled to the woods to escape the vandalism of his crew. From the
store at Portland Point 21 boat loads of goods were taken. The plunder included
a lot of silver ornaments, fuzees and other articles left by the Indians as pledges for
their debts.<a name='FNanchor_0105' id='FNanchor_0105'></a><a href='#Footnote_0105' class='fnanchor'>[105]</a></p>
<p>John Allan seems to have had doubts as to whether this kind of thing came
within the pale of civilized warfare, for in a letter written at Machias, November
18, 1777, he says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Capt. A. Greene Crabtree arrived here yesterday. He has been to the mouth
of the St. John&rsquo;s where he found a Truck House erected by the Britons under the
care of Messrs. Hazen, White and Simonds. He took everything of their property
only. Also all the Indian Pledges he has bro&rsquo;t and delivered me, expecting some
payment. I cannot say how far this was legal for a Privateer, but I am extremely
glad it is done.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The situation at the mouth of the St. John had now become intolerable; the inhabitants
were well nigh beggared and the end of their trials apparently had not yet
been reached. William Hazen therefore proceeded to Windsor and urgently demanded
protection. Col. Small, of the Royal Highland Emigrants, went with him
to Halifax and by their united efforts the authorities were convinced of the necessity
for immediate action. A considerable body of troops was ordered to St.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span>
John with directions to either repair Fort Frederick or to build a new fort as might
seem most desirable. General Massey&rsquo;s choice of Gilfred Studholme as commander
of the expedition was a wise one. He was not only a brave and capable officer
but his former experience as commander of the Fort Frederick garrison, and his intimate
knowledge of the River St. John and its inhabitants&mdash;Whites and Indians&mdash;rendered
him peculiarly fitted for the task to which he was appointed.</p>
<p>We come now to consider the circumstances under which Fort Howe was built.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_32' id='linki_32'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i288.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='323' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
FORT HOWE IN 1781<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Lieut.-Governor Arbuthnot wrote to the Secretary of State, Lord George Germaine,
on the 11th October, 1777, that in consequence of frequent attacks on the
settlements on the St. John river by the Machias rebels he had requested Brig.-Gen.
Massey to establish a fortified post at the mouth of that river with a garrison
of fifty men; this with the aid of a British frigate he thought would secure
the inhabitants from further molestation, and prevent the Americans from occupying
the post, an object they had long coveted. In the latter part of November,
Brigade Major Studholme was sent to St. John with fifty picked men, a framed
block-house and four six-pounders. The small force was brought in a sloop of war,
which remained in the harbor for their protection till the next spring.</p>
<p>Studholme at first thought of restoring Fort Frederick, which the rebels had
burned the year before, but in the end it was decided to erect a new fortification
on the commanding site since known as Fort Howe. The lateness of the season
rendered it necessary for the garrison to lose no time. They set to work vigorously
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span>
and with the assistance of the inhabitants erected the blockhouses, threw up the
necessary defences, and were in snug winter quarters ere the cold weather set in.</p>
<p>The accompanying illustration is taken from a sketch of Fort Howe in 1781
by Capt. Benjamin Marston on board his vessel the <a name='TC_59'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double-quote">&ldquo;Brittania&rdquo;</ins>, which was then
lying at anchor in the harbor; the original is believed to be the only representation
of Fort Howe before the arrival of the Loyalists that is in existence.</p>
<p>Colonel Robert Morse of the Royal Engineers thus describes the fort as he saw
it in 1783:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;This little work was erected in the course of the late war in preference to repairing
a small square fort thrown up during the former war [Fort Frederick] the
position of the latter being low and commanded, and not so well situated for the
protection of the houses built in the cod of the bay, where two or three persons
lived of a company to whom a large tract of land had been granted and who carried
on a considerable trade with the Indians and persons settled up the river. The
ridge upon which the new fort stands was offered by them and a work in which
there are eight pieces of cannon, barracks for 100 men, and a small block-house
was accordingly erected, together with a larger block-house at the other end of the
ridge. The block-houses remain, but the work, which was composed of fascines
and sods, is falling down, and the ridge on which it stands is too narrow to admit
of any useful works being constructed upon it.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The armament of Fort Howe, according to Col. Morse, consisted of 2 five and
a half inch brass mortars, and 8 iron guns; the latter comprising 2 eighteen-pounders,
4 six-pounders, and 2 four-pounders. In the barracks were twelve rooms for the
officers and accommodation for 100 men.</p>
<p>The guns of Fort Howe would be no better than pop-guns in modern warfare.
Indeed they appear never to have been fired upon an invader. On Royal anniversaries
and in honor of national victories they thundered forth a salute from their
iron throats, and we may believe that on the ever memorable 18th of May, 1783,
they gave a right royal welcome to the Loyalist founders of the City of St. John.</p>
<p>Scarcely had Major Studholme got his defences in order at Fort Howe, when
the old Machias pirate, A. Greene Crabtree, reappeared upon the scene. He had
disposed of his former booty and returned to complete the work of destruction.
In order to accomplish his design he landed a party from his eight-gun vessel at
Manawagonish, and proceeded through the woods intending to surprise the settlement
at Portland Point; but in this case the surprise was his own. The sight of
the British flag waving from the ramparts of Fort Howe was quite sufficient; he
showed no inclination to try the mettle of Studholme&rsquo;s garrison, and beat a
hasty retreat.</p>
<p>General Massey, who had sent Studholme&rsquo;s party to St. John, was of the opinion
that a rigorous policy should be set on foot against the privateers, and in a
letter to Lord Germaine laments that Arbuthnot did not command the naval squadron.
&ldquo;If he did,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;these trifling pirates could not appear on the coast
without meeting their deserved fate.&rdquo; In the course of the next summer Captain
Fielding succeeded in destroying six privateers in the space of three weeks time,
and this served to render the Bay of Fundy coast a little more secure. But
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span>
already much damage had been inflicted. In the township of Conway, on the west
side of St. John harbor, the settlers had been obliged to abandon their homes.
Daniel and Jonathan Leavitt built small houses in Carleton near old Fort Frederick,
where they were under the protection of Fort Howe. Messrs. Samuel Peabody,
Gervas Say, Elijah Estabrooks, James Woodman, Thomas Jenkins, Zebedee Ring,
John Bradley, John Jones and Peter Smith were so harrassed &ldquo;by the continual
robberies of the Rebel boats&rdquo; that they were compelled to move up the river to
escape the dangers of their exposed situation.</p>
<p>James Simonds also decided to change his residence at this time, and in the
month of May (1778) he removed his effects and placed them on board a small
vessel, lying above the falls, and with his family proceeded sixty miles up the
river to a tract of land in the parish of Sheffield, which he had purchased of Charles
Morris. The property comprised about 2,000 acres, but at the time of Mr. Simonds&rsquo;
arrival not a single tree had been cut upon it. He built a small log house on the
bank of the river just above Loder&rsquo;s Creek as a shelter for his young and helpless
family, and here they were destined to spend the next nine years of their lives. He
left to Lemuel Cleveland the care of his house at Portland Point, and leased all his
lands and buildings at the mouth of the river to Major Studholme for &pound;60 per
annum.</p>
<p>The presence of the garrison at Fort Howe did not entirely prevent the Machias
marauders from interfering with the loyal inhabitants of St. John, and Messrs. Hazen
and White arranged with John Curry of Campobello to give them warning whenever
possible of any danger that might threaten from the direction of Machias.</p>
<p>John Curry was a native of Ireland. He came to <a name='TC_60'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Passamoquoddy'">Passamaquoddy</ins> about 1770,
settled there and was appointed a justice of the peace in 1774. He was a man of
intelligence and ability, but apparently had not enjoyed the advantages of a liberal
education. He had himself several encounters with the privateers. In 1778 his
house was plundered while he was absent, and many of his possessions carried off,
including the records of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace of Passamaquoddy
district, which met on the island of Campobello. Curry was an Indian trader
and during the Revolution received supplies from Hazen and White. The following
letter is of interest in this connection:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Campobello, July, 1781.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Gentlemen,&mdash;Things here is much more peasable than I expected:
the Indians appear very friendly which I think deters others from
committing aney depredations in the neighbourhood. Have disposed of
all the Goods I brought home and want the remainder of my Goods much, therefore
if Hutchins and Archibald&rsquo;s sloops is got to St. Johns beg you would desire
them to proceed hear immediately, as I want to dispose of the Goods while the
Weather is calme. * * Please send me a cask of flower as Bread begins to grow
scarce: pray Hurrey Archibald along and tell him to come in the Night least
sum Thiefe Should Bee lurking about the harbor.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A few months later Mr. Curry again wrote to his friends to warn them of
impending danger:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>Campobello, March 22, 1782.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Gentlemen,&mdash;In my last I Refur&rsquo;d you to Major Studholme for sum inteligeance
which was this: there is a small privateer at Machias that I expect will sale
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span>
every day. She is own&rsquo;d and man&rsquo;d by a parcle of Cumberland Refugees who is
determined to suply themselves with Beef for use of the Crue at your expence by
privately going to the Marsh (at St. John) and killing your Cattle. You may look
for them every day after you receive this: they are bound up ye Bay a plundering.
Take care of yourselves and pray keep this a profound secret.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_33' id='linki_33'></a>
</div>
<div class='figright' style='width:300px'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i291.png' alt='' title='' width='300' height='93' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Signature of Major G. Studholme<br />
</p>
</div>
<p style='clear:none;'>The comparative security enjoyed by the people living on the River St. John
after the erection of Fort Howe was largely due to the ability and zeal displayed
by Major Gilfred Studholme. It is to be regretted that no portrait of this really
eminent man is in existence, a fac-simile of his signature is given.<a name='FNanchor_0106' id='FNanchor_0106'></a><a href='#Footnote_0106' class='fnanchor'>[106]</a> He was a native
of Ireland where has family owned a considerable estate. On the 22nd November,
1756, he was commissioned an ensign in the 27th Foot, and embarked at Cork
for Halifax in May following. He was commissioned Lieutenant in the 40th Foot
November 10, 1761, and it was as an officer of this regiment he commanded the
garrison at Fort Frederick. He was transferred to the 24th Foot, September 1,
1771, and temporarily retired from active service July 16, 1774. When the American
Revolution broke out he offered his services and was appointed captain in
Governor Legge&rsquo;s &ldquo;Loyal Nova Scotia Volunteers,&rdquo; but was afterwards transferred
to the command of a company in the Royal Fencible American regiment under
Lieut. Col. Joseph Goreham. He served with credit at Fort Cumberland, sharing
in the spirited attack of Major Batt, in which the beseigers under Eddy were driven
off in great disorder and compelled to retire to the River St. John. The next summer
Studholme drove John Allan from the St. John.</p>
<p>Lieut.-Governor Arbuthnot wrote Lord Germaine that the establishment of a
fortified post at St. John was a necessity since it was a place coveted by the
rebels, who wished to settle the river with people of rebellious principles after removing
the inhabitants who were loyal subjects. It was at his request and that
of the inhabitants at St. John that General Massey sent Major Studholme with
fifty picked men to take post there, and although it was reported that John Allan
had five hundred men at Machias, the general had no apprehension as to Studholme&rsquo;s
ability to maintain his post. General Massey wrote Lord Germaine on the
13th of March, 1778, that he continued to hear from Major Studholme every fortnight&mdash;that
Fort Howe was perfectly secure. Some weeks later, however, on
learning that a large force was assembling at Machias, he sent a reinforcement
which arrived safely.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span></div>
<p>By the joint efforts of the garrison and of the inhabitants it was not long before
Fort Howe was in a fairly good state of defence, barracks were built, with
signal station adjoining, also a blockhouse at the east end of the ridge. These are
shown in the illustration below.<a name='FNanchor_0107' id='FNanchor_0107'></a><a href='#Footnote_0107' class='fnanchor'>[107]</a></p>
<p>Small as were the numbers of the Indians&mdash;perhaps not more than 500 warriors
in all Acadia&mdash;they were capable of devastating remote settlements and of creating
general uneasiness and alarm.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_34' id='linki_34'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i292.jpg' alt='' title='' width='500' height='395' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
Fort Howe in 1818<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>Rumors now began to prevail of an Indian uprising. John Allan contrived
after his flight to Machias to keep in touch with the Indians of the River St. John
and sent emissaries among them, who were very liberal in their promises of rewards,
and who assured the savages that their old father the King of France had
now joined hands with the Americans against the English.</p>
<p>Michael Francklin now began to act with vigor in the capacity of Superintendent
of Indian affairs, and in consequence of his representations Lieut. Gov&rsquo;r.
Hughes sent to the Bay of Chaleur for the missionary Bourg to come and use his
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span>
influence with the savages. He also wrote a letter to James White, appointing him
his deputy on the River St. John:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Windsor, 23d July, 1778.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sir,&mdash;Upon the Recommendation of Major Studholme &amp; from what I know of
your zeal to serve Government and from your knowledge &amp; acquaintance with
the Indians of the River St. John and its environs, I do hereby authorize and
appoint you to act as my Deputy at and in the neighborhood of the said River
St. John. You will therefore take under your care the said Indians and inform me
from time to time of their wants and wishes, and what measures you conceive may
at any time be adopted to promote his Majesty&rsquo;s interest to the end they may not
be led astray by the machinations and devices of his Majesty&rsquo;s rebellious subjects
or other of the King&rsquo;s enemies. But in all your proceedings you are to consult with
and follow the advice of Major Studholme who will be so obliging as to supply
them, at your request, now and then with some provisions, but sparingly &amp; when
they shall be in absolute want of them.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I have no salary to give or promise you, but as I have made a strong representation
to the King&rsquo;s minister of the necessity of a fund to defray the necessary
expenses, if my representation shall be approved you may depend that I shall not
fail of providing you with an annual allowance. You will not fail writing me by
all opportunities. I am sir,</p>
<p class='right' style='margin-bottom:0em'>&ldquo;Your most humble servant,<br />
   <span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;Mich. Francklin.</p>
<p style='margin-top:0em'>&ldquo;James White, Esq.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A crisis now rapidly developed. John Allan prevailed on the Indians to return
the British flag to Fort Howe and to send in a declaration of war. The Indians
even went so far as to take several English vessels and to commit other
acts of hostility.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XXV_THE_GREAT_INDIAN_POWWOW_AT_FORT_HOWE_AND_ITS_CONSEQUENCES' id='CHAPTER_XXV_THE_GREAT_INDIAN_POWWOW_AT_FORT_HOWE_AND_ITS_CONSEQUENCES'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The Great Indian Pow-wow at Fort Howe, and its Consequences</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>The establishment of Fort Howe rendered the situation of the people at the
mouth of the St. John comparatively secure, but the following summer was a
very anxious and trying time to those who lived in the townships up the river.
The Indians were restless and dissatisfied. They complained bitterly of being left
without a missionary, and it was in vain that Lieut. Gov. Arbuthnot and Colonel
Franklin endeavored to keep them in good temper by promising that a missionary
would be sent them immediately.</p>
<p>Most of the settlers in the townships were natives of New England, and the
threatened Indian uprising was particularly terrifying to them on account of their
forefathers&rsquo; familiarity with the horrors of savage warfare. The Indians were supposed
to be hostile only to those who were in opposition to American Independence,
but it was felt that they would not be very nice in their distinctions if they
once took the war path, and that the Whig might fare little better than the Tory.</p>
<p>The Indians had probably some grievances, but it is evident that the real disturbing
influence emanated, as usual, from Machias. John Allan in his zeal for
the conquest of Nova Scotia was determined to make every use of his Indian allies
in order, if possible, to drive all English sympathizers from the St. John river.
The formal declaration of war sent to Major Studholme was his composition. It
was approved by the Maliseets at Machias and then forwarded to Aukpaque and
after approval by the Indians there sent to Studholme at Fort Howe. The document
read as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;To the British Commanding Officer at the mouth of the River St. John&rsquo;s:</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Chiefs, Sachems and young men belonging to the River St. John&rsquo;s have
duly considered the nature of this Great War between America and Old England.
They are unanimous that America is right and Old England is wrong. The River
on which you are with your soldiers belongs from the most ancient times to our
Ancestors, consequently is ours now, and which we are bound to keep for our
posterity. You know we are Americans and that this is our Native Country:
you know the King of England with his evil councillors has been trying to take
away the Lands and Libertys of our Country, but God the King of Heaven, our
King, fights for us and says America shall be free. It is so now in spite of all
Old England and his Comrades can do.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The great men of Old England in this country told us that the Americans
would not let us enjoy our religion; this is false, not true, for America allows
everybody to pray to God as they please; you know Old England never would allow
that, but says you must all pray like the king and the great men of his court.
We believe America now is right, we find all true they told us for our Old Father
the King of France takes their part, he is their friend, he has taken the sword and
will defend them. Americans is our Friends, our Brothers and Countrymen; what
they do we do, what they say we say, for we are all one and the same family.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Now as the King of England has no business, nor never had any on this
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span>
River, we desire you to go away with your men in peace and to take with you
all those men who has been fighting and talking against America. If you don&rsquo;t
go directly you must take care of yourself your men and all your English subjects
on this River, for if any or all of you are killed it is not our faults, for we give
you warning time enough to escape. Adieu for ever.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Machias, August 11, 1778.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Auque Pawhaque, August 18th, 1778.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Michael Francklin was able at this critical moment effectually to check-mate the
designs of John Allan. During the previous winter an express messenger had been
sent to Sir Guy Carleton at Quebec to get permission for Father Bourg, the French
missionary, to reside among the Indians of the River St. John. In his reply, dated
February 23rd, 1778, Governor Carleton wrote that the missionary had orders
to repair to Halifax in order to receive instructions for the establishment of his
mission.</p>
<p>Just as Francklin and the missionary were about to leave Halifax they received
information &ldquo;that the Malecetes had plundered an English vessel, taken and ransomed
another, robbed and disarmed many of the inhabitants and killed several cattle
belonging to the King&rsquo;s Loyal subjects on the River St. John, whom they had
stiled Torys, and that they had even proceeded the length to return to Fort Howe
the King&rsquo;s Flag, accompanied with a formal declaration of war in writing.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The services of James White at this time were invaluable. As early as the
2nd of April and at various times during the summer he went among the Indians to
pacify them at great personal risk, always returning unharmed. This was due to
the confidence placed in him by the majority of the savages, who had long known
him in the capacity of an Indian trader. Mr. White went up the river to meet the
Indian war party. He found among them many of the Penobscots and Passamaquoddies
under Nicholas Hawawes, a noted chief. They had been instructed by
Allan to return the colors sent the previous year by Major Studholme, to ravage
the country in the vicinity of Fort Howe, to take prisoners and encourage the
soldiers of the garrison to desert. Allan wrote the Massachusetts congress, &ldquo;I
earnestly and sincerely wish I had a hundred or two good troops at this juncture to
go in boats along the shore to act in concert with the Indians.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Our early historian, Moses H. Perley, says that James White, unarmed and
without any escort, met the war party at the head of &ldquo;Long Reach&rdquo; as they were
coming down the river in ninety canoes. He had a long conference with the chiefs,
of whom the majority were disposed to be hostile; but Pierre Tomah, the head
chief, said that before giving a final answer he must consult the Divine Being and
throwing himself upon his face in the sand lay motionless for the space of nearly
an hour. Then rising he informed the other chiefs that he had been counselled
by the Great Spirit to keep peace with King George&rsquo;s men. This decision was not
acceptable to several of the chiefs, and Mr. White was still engaged in his negotiations
when Colonel Francklin and Father Bourg arrived at St. John, having crossed
from Annapolis in the war ship &ldquo;Scarborough.&rdquo; Messengers were immediately
sent up the river to Mr. White desiring him to come down at once with Pierre
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span>
Tomah and the other chiefs and captains to meet Col. Francklin and the missionary
Bourg, assuring them of a friendly reception. Francklin also wrote a letter to the
Indians, which is here given.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Fort Howe, 14 Sep. 1778.</p>
<p class='lalign'>&ldquo;To Pierre Thomas and others<br />
<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>the Indians of the River St. John.</p>
<p>&ldquo;BRETHREN:&mdash;According to my promise last fall I have brought with me Mr.
Bourg, your Priest, to instruct you and to take care of your eternal welfare.</p>
<p>&ldquo;BRETHREN:&mdash;I am come to heal and adjust every difference that may exist
between you and your Brethren the faithful subjects of King George your father,
my master.</p>
<p>&ldquo;BRETHREN:&mdash;As my heart is good, my hands clean and my intentions as
white as snow; I desire Pierre Thomas and two or three other principal Indians do
immediately come down to Fort Howe with Mr. White my Deputy to speak to me
and to Mr. Bourg that we may settle in what manner to proceed to accomplish my
good intentions towards you, and that your minds may be made easy I do hereby
pledge myself that no harm shall happen to you from any of the King&rsquo;s Troops or
others His Majesty&rsquo;s subjects.</p>
<p class='right' style='margin-right:8em;'>&ldquo;I am your affectionate Brother,</p>
<p class='right lalign'>MICH. FRANCKLIN,<br />
<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;Superintendent of Indian Affairs.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Indians promptly accepted the invitation and a conference was held which
Francklin terms &ldquo;A grand meeting of the Indians at Menaguashe in the Harbour
of the River St. John near Fort Howe on Thursday, the 24th September, 1778.&rdquo;
There were present on the part of King George the Third:&mdash;</p>
<p>Michael Francklin, Superintendent of Indian affairs; Major Studholme, commanding
the garrison at Fort Howe; Capt. Mowatt, commanding his Majesty&rsquo;s ship Albany;
Rev. Mr. Bourg, missionary to the Indians; James White, agent for Indian
affairs at St. John, and several other officers and gentlemen. The Indian delegates
included Pierre Tomah, supreme sachem or chief of St. John River; Francis Xavier,
2nd chief; and four captains and eight principal Indians, representing the Maliseets
of the St. John. There were also present delegates of the Micmacs of Richibucto,
Miramichi, Chignecto and Minas.</p>
<p>Col. Francklin informed the Indians that according to his promise he had brought
them a priest and it was his desire to settle and adjust amicably all differences between
the Indians and his Majesty&rsquo;s subjects. The proceedings of the conference
are detailed at length in Francklin&rsquo;s report to the Governor of Nova Scotia. The
Indians after listening to the addresses of Francklin and Monsieur Bourg declared
that they had been deceived by John Allan of Machias who had not spoken their
sentiments but his own; they acknowledged their offences and offered to restore to
the white inhabitants the arms and other articles in their possession (not consumed
or destroyed) which they had taken, and promised that they would deliver
to James White in the course of the winter, two hundred pounds of Beaver, or as
many moose skins, in lieu thereof, towards making good the damage sustained by
individuals. They added that they were poor and had been kept from hunting by
the idle stories of John Allan and his friends.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span></div>
<p>Michael Francklin did not lose the opportunity to give Allan &ldquo;a Rowland for his
Oliver.&rdquo; As Allan had been the author of the Indian declaration of war so would
Francklin now dictate the message of reply. This message was couched in the following
terms:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;To John Allan and his Associates at Machias:</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Chiefs and Great men of the Malecete and Mickmack Indians hereby give
thee notice:&mdash;</p>
<p>&ldquo;That their eyes are now open and they see clearly that thou hast endeavored
to blind them to serve thy wicked purposes against thy lawful sovereign King
George, our forgiving and affectionate Father.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We have this day settled all misunderstanding that thou didst occasion between
us and King George&rsquo;s men.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We now desire that thee and Preble, and thy Comrades will remain in your
wigwams at Machias and not come to Passamaquadie to beguile and disturb our weak
and young Brethren. We will have nothing to do with thee or them or with your
storys, for we have found you out; and if you persist in tempting us we warn you
to take care of yourselves. We shall not come to Machias to do you harm, but
beware of Passamaquodie for we forbid you to come there.</p>
<p>&ldquo;At Menaguashe, the 24th September, 1778.</p>
<p>[Signed]</p>
<p class='right' style='width:50%; text-indent:-4em;'>Pierre Thomas x, Francis Xavier x, Chiefs
of the Malecetes and in their behalf.
Jean Baptiste Arimph x, Chief of Richibouctou
and in behalf of the Mickmacks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>During the conference Father Bourg produced a letter he had lately received from
the Bishop of Quebec instructing him not to suffer any Indian to enter his Church
who should molest the white settlers or take part in the rebellion against the constituted
authorities of Nova Scotia, and directing him to forward a list of the names
of any Indians who should disobey his orders to Quebec that he might &ldquo;cast them
out of the Church as disobedient and undutifull children.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Indians were not long in deciding to make terms with the British and in
signifying their willingness to take the oath of allegiance to the King. Accordingly
the chiefs and captains and other delegates on their knees took a solemn oath in
which they pledged themselves to bear faithful and true allegiance to his Majesty
King George the Third. They also promised to give information to the King&rsquo;s officers
and magistrates of any hostile designs of the enemy that should come to their
knowledge; to protect the persons of Michael Francklin and Joseph Mathurin Bourg,
their missionary, from insult, outrage or captivity; not to take any part directly or
indirectly against the King in the troubles then existing, but to follow their hunting
and fishing in a peaceable and quiet manner; not to go to Machias or hold any communication
with the people of that neighborhood or other rebellious subjects of his
Majesty.</p>
<p>Having taken the oath in behalf of themselves and their several tribes the Indians
delivered to Col. Francklin a string of Wampum as a solemn confirmation of
their act and deed. They also delivered the presents sent them by Washington together
with the treaty they had made with the Massachusetts government on July
19, 1776, in which they had promised to furnish 600 warriors for the service of the
United States Congress.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span></div>
<p>Although the Indians, by the treaty they had just signed, ostensibly settled all
the differences between themselves and &ldquo;King George&rsquo;s men,&rdquo; there were still certain
functions dear to the savage heart to be performed before the grand pow-wow
was ended.</p>
<p>The oath of allegiance having been taken and the treaty duly signed, all the
chiefs and captains united with the English delegates in drinking the King&rsquo;s health,
and Colonel Francklin decorated the chiefs and captains with his own hands and
distributed to the other Indians a variety of clothing and presents. After this,
we are informed, &ldquo;the night, altho&rsquo; rainy, was spent in the open air with great
mirth under the British Flag.&rdquo; The next day the Indians went on board the Albany
man-of-war, where they again very cheerfully drank the King&rsquo;s good health, and
were presented with a pound of gunpowder each. They concluded the afternoon
and evening on shore &ldquo;with great satisfaction and good humor.&rdquo; Colonel Francklin
concludes his official report of the proceedings as follows:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The 26th September the Indians, being on their departure, were saluted at 12
o&rsquo;clock by the cannon of Fort Howe and his Majesty&rsquo;s ship Albany, and it was
returned by three Huzzas and an Indian Whoop. Then the Micmac Chief made a
handsome speech and delivered to the Superintendent [Francklin] a string of Wampum
on behalf of the whole Micmac nation, as their seal of approbation and agreement
to everything that had been transacted. This being finished, the Superintendent,
Major Studholme and Rev. Mr. Bourg, were desired to seat themselves,
when a Malecete captain began a song and dance in honor and praise of the Conference
and those concerned therein. On his finishing, a Micmac captain began
another song and dance to the same purpose. The Superintendent then, with
Major Studholme and the Rev. Mr. Bourg and the other Gentlemen, marched off
with the Indians to the portage above the falls of the River St. John and stayed
there until Mr. Bourg and the Indians embarked, when the Gentlemen on the
landing were saluted by the musquetry from the Indian canoes.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>During the continuance of the conference the Indians received every attention
on the part of Francklin, Studholme and the white inhabitants. Francklin kept
a table for their entertainment which cost him &pound;40, and the value of the presents
and supplies furnished on the occasion amounted to &pound;537 more. The goods required
were mostly obtained from the store at Portland Point and the account
rendered to Francklin by William Hazen is yet in existence. It contains some
curious and interesting items. The presents for the Indians included blankets, hats,
ribbons, gold and silver lace, intermixed with axes, pots, kettles, knives and tobacco.
Among the more expensive presents were &ldquo;1 large Silver plated Cross with the
figure of our Saviour on it, &pound;3 10 0,&rdquo; and &ldquo;1 small Gold plated Cross with the
figure of our Saviour on it. &pound;2 6 8.&rdquo; The heading of the account reads: &ldquo;The
Hon&rsquo;ble Michael Francklin Esq&rsquo;r., Superintendent of Indians, to Wm. Hazen Dr.
for sundrys paid and supplies furnished by his order for the use of the Indians
assembled at Menaguashe, near Fort Howe, from the 13th September to 19th October,
1778.&rdquo; Some of the expenditures were evidently dictated by motives of policy;
see for example the following:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Paid Dr. Sharman, surgeon at Fort Howe, for attendance and medicines to
Pierre Thoma and four other sick Indians, &pound;5 16 8.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span></div>
<p>&ldquo;Pd. Acmobish for 3 Beaver Traps stolen last year by the soldiers, &pound;1 10 0.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Pd. Charles Nocout ten dollars to make up for an Englishman&rsquo;s beating of
him.</p>
<p>&ldquo;To sundrys delivered to aged and infirm people, viz. Magdalen Katpat, Magdalen
La Porte, Marie Barishe &amp; others, &pound;13 10 0.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Quite a number of the white settlers and several Acadians were engaged by
Francklin in various capacities while the negotiations with the Indians were in
progress. Gervas Say and Capt. Quinton received &pound;7 for going to Aukpaque and
attending the Indians coming down to Fort Howe. Daniel Leavitt, Lewis Mitchel,
John Hartt, Louis Goodine, Augustin LeBlanc and Messrs. Peabody and Brawn
acted as couriers, express messengers and negotiators under direction of Francklin,
Studholme and James White.</p>
<p>The general result of the grand pow-wow was considered exceedingly fortunate
for the Province of Nova Scotia under the circumstances then existing. Sir Richard
Hughes, the lieutenant-governor, writing to Lord Germaine, expresses his great
satisfaction at the result of the conference and praises the talents, zeal and diligence
of Francklin &ldquo;to whose discreet conduct and steady perseverance,&rdquo; he says,
&ldquo;assisted by Major Studholme and M. Bourg, the priest, we owe the success of
this treaty.&rdquo; Francklin, on his part, seems disposed to award the meed of praise
to Studholme and writes Sir Henry Clinton: &ldquo;In justice to Major Studholme, commanding
at Fort Howe, I am obliged to say that his constant zeal and singular
address and prudence has been a great means of keeping the Indians near his post
quiet.&rdquo; But while both Francklin and Studholme are deservedly entitled to credit
for the success of their negotiations, there is not the least doubt that the man to
whom even greater credit is due is James White, the deputy agent of Indian affairs
at the River St. John. Mr. White, although acting in a subordinate capacity, was
in direct contact with the savages at the time they were most unfriendly, and it
was his tact and fearlessness that paved the way for the subsequent negotiations.
For six months he devoted his time and energies to the task of conciliating the
Indians, receiving from government the modern sum of one dollar for each day he
was so employed.<a name='FNanchor_0108' id='FNanchor_0108'></a><a href='#Footnote_0108' class='fnanchor'>[108]</a> Most potent of all perhaps in the ultimate result of the conference,
was the presence of the French missionary Bourg. It was this that inspired
the Indians with confidence in the good intentions of the government of
Nova Scotia, and when the missionary accompanied them on their return to
Aukpaque their satisfaction was unbounded.</p>
<p>The Indians of the River St. John still possess a traditionary knowledge of the
treaty made at Fort Howe in September, 1778, and refer to it as the time when
the Indian and the Englishman became &ldquo;all one brother.&rdquo; Some of the Indians
claim that when the treaty was made it was understood that an Indian should always
have the right to wander unmolested through the forest and to take the bark
of the birch tree for his canoe or the splints of the ash tree for his basket-making
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span>
regardless of the rights of the white owner of the soil. In many parts of the
province there is an unwritten law to this effect, and the Indian roams at pleasure
through the woods in quest of the materials for his simple avocations and pitches
his tent without let or hindrance.</p>
<p>In order to cultivate friendly relations with the Indians and to guard against
the insidious attempts of the people of Machias to wean them from their allegiance
it was decided to establish a trading house for their accommodation at the landing
place above the falls at the mouth of the St. John. This locality still bears the
name of Indiantown, a name derived from the Indian trading post established there
in 1779. In old plans Main street, Portland, is called &ldquo;Road to ye Indian House.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On the 8th of December, 1778, Colonel Francklin sent instructions to James
White to proceed with the building of the Indian House which was to cost only
&pound;30. He says in his letter, &ldquo;The ground should be very well cleared all about or the
Brush will sooner or later most assuredly burn it. The boards required may be
sawed from the Spruces on the spot if you have a whip-saw. The Shingles can be
made by any New England man in the neighborhood.&rdquo; The house was built in the
course of the next few months by James Woodman, who was by trade a shipwright.
For some reason the sum of &pound;30 voted by the Council of Nova Scotia
for the erection of the building was never paid, and it remained the property of
Hazen, Simonds and White. The three partners not long afterwards cleared a
road to the Indian House, the course of which was nearly identical with that of
the present &ldquo;Main street.&rdquo; They also built a wharf at the landing and a small
dwelling house which was occupied by one Andrew Lloyd, who has the distinction
of being the first settler at Indiantown.</p>
<p>Not many weeks after the signing of the treaty at Fort Howe, Col. John Allan
of Machias sent Lieut. Gilman and a band of Penobscot Indians to make a demonstration
at the River St. John. They captured a small vessel about sixty miles up
the river and plundered one or two of the inhabitants but the only result was to
create an alarm amongst the settlers without producing any effect upon the Indians.
Pierre Tomah and most of his tribe were at this time encamped at Indian
Point on the north side of Grand Lake.</p>
<p>To offset the influence of Father Bourg, Col. John Allan induced the American
Congress to obtain a missionary for the Indians at Machias and Passamaquoddy
and he hoped by this means to seduce the Indians remaining on the St. John from
their allegiance and draw them to Machias. Never in their history did the Maliseets
receive such attention as in the Revolutionary war, when they may be said to have
lived at the joint expense of the contending parties. The peace of 1783 proved a
dismal thing indeed to them. Their friendship became a matter of comparative
indifference and the supplies from either party ceased while the immense influx of
new settlers drove them from their old hunting grounds and obliged them to look
for situations more remote.</p>
<p>After the alliance formed between France and the old English colonies in
America was known to the Indians of Acadia, Francklin&rsquo;s task of keeping them
in hand became more difficult and as regards those on the River St. John he might
have failed but for the powerful influence of the Abbe Joseph Mathurin Bourg.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span></div>
<p>The Indians resisted every temptation held out to them by the Americans during
the year 1779, and welcomed Colonel Francklin and the Missionary Bourg in their
principal villages with great rejoicing.</p>
<p>Major Studholme&rsquo;s post at Fort Howe was rendered more secure at this time by
the capture of Castine, at the mouth of the Penobscot River. The place was then
known by its Indian name of Megabagaduce. Had there been a little more energy
and foresight on the part of Admiral Collier, Machias would have shared the same
fate, and the result might have been greatly to the advantage of the maritime provinces
today. The importance of such a move was self-evident. It was seriously
discussed both in England and America, and a plan was very nearly adopted that
might have altered the map of America to the advantage of the Canadian dominion.
This plan was nothing less than to divide the colony of Maine, giving to that part
extending from Saco to the River St. Croix the name of New Ireland and settling it
with Loyalists who had been driven from the other colonies in rebellion. The project
is believed to have been countenanced by the King and the ministry, but eventually
it was abandoned in consequence of the opinion of Wedderburne, the English
attorney-general, that the whole of Maine was included in the colony of Massachusetts
and that the charter of that colony should be respected.</p>
<p>There is extant a very interesting letter, written at New York in 1780 by the
Rev. Wm. Walter to his friend, the Rev. Jacob Bailey, then in Nova Scotia, which
shows that the project was seriously discussed in America as well as in England.
Mr. Walter writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;If you have not already heard it permit me to acquaint you that there is a
plan in considerable forwardness to erect the Province of Maine into a Province by
itself, to extend from Saco to St. Johns river, making Falmouth [now Portland] the
capital;<a name='FNanchor_0109' id='FNanchor_0109'></a><a href='#Footnote_0109' class='fnanchor'>[109]</a> to secure this new Province by strong Forts and Garrisons; to invite the
Refugees from the other Provinces in rebellion to settle in this, and by liberality of
its constitution to show to the other Provinces the great advantages of being a portion
of the Empire and living under the protection of British Government. Sir William
Pepperrell is talked of as Governor. The large tracts of land belonging to
companies and individuals, which are not forfeited, will be purchased and the whole
distributed in farms of 200 acres to every settler. These distributions and appointments
are to be in the management and recommendaton of a respectable Board of
Refugees [Loyalists] which is now forming under the auspices of Government in
this city [New York].&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is a curious fact that a little after the close of the Revolutionary war an attempt
was made of a very different character to erect this territory into the &ldquo;Free
and Independent State of New Ireland.&rdquo; A constitution and frame of government
were prepared by a committee for the consideration of a convention of delegates.
In the preamble of their report the Loyalists are termed &ldquo;the Sons of Slavery and
Dregs of the human species in America.&rdquo; The committee evidently entered upon
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span>
their work of constitution making with great gusto as will appear from the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Agreeable to the trust reposed in us by the good People of New Ireland, We,
anticipating the glorious morning of American Freedom, which will shortly shine
upon them with a lustre superior to any other spot on the terraqueous Globe, after
consluting with the sagest Politicians of the Age, and carefully examining the several
frames of Government already erected in this new Empire, and particularly all the
advantages which Divine Revelation affords; have drawn up the following Frame of
Government for New Ireland, which, from the knowledge we have of the dispositions
of our Constituents we have ground to believe will be very acceptable to them,
and calculated to render them and their posterity the happiest People on the
earth.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Among the provisions of the Constitution were several that may be mentioned
for their oddity. Not only were all tavern keepers debarred from holding office
&ldquo;lest spirituous liquors should influence the choice,&rdquo; but the legal fraternity were
viewed with suspicion and it was ordained that &ldquo;Practising Lawyers or Attornies
shall not be eligible for any office of profit or trust in the State whilst they continue
such.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In order still further to keep the morals of the people pure and uncorrupted,
and for the encouragement of piety and virtue and the suppression of vice and immorality,
it was provided that &ldquo;no Stage Plays, Horse-racing, Cock-fighting, Balls
and Assemblies, Profane swearing and cursing, Sabbath-breaking, Drunkenness,
nocturnal revelling, whoredom, Cards, Dice, and all other games whatsoever, commonly
called Games of Chance (Lotteries ordered by the Legislature to raise money
for public uses excepted) shall be permitted.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The would-be founders of New Ireland close their report by expressing their
hope that Europeans, panting after the sweets of Liberty and Independence will flock
thither. &ldquo;Here,&rdquo; say they, &ldquo;are no griping and racking Landlords to oppress you;
no avaricious Priests to extort from you the Tenth of all your increase and labors
and whom you must pay for the liberty to come into the world, of being married,
of having children and likewise of leaving the world. * * * Send here the
frugal and industrious; no half Gentlemen with long pedigrees from Nimrod and
Cain, nor any who expect to make their fortunes by any other methods than the
plain beaten paths of honest industry, for idle indolent people, unwilling to work,
ought not to eat but to live in all places miserable.&rdquo;</p>
<p>But to return from this digression; it is clear that if the British forces had
routed John Allan and his Indians out of Machias in 1779, as they might easily have
done if a serious effort had been made, the American congress would then have had
no foothold east of Saco, so that Portland and all the coast to the St. Croix would
have been, at the close of the war, as firmly in the possession of the English as any
part of Nova Scotia. The American writer Kidder, in his interesting account of
the military operations in eastern Maine and Nova Scotia during the Revolution,
says: &ldquo;It is now generally conceded that our present boundary was fixed mainly
on the ground of occupation, and had we not been able to hold our eastern outpost
at Machias, we cannot say what river in Maine would now divide us from a British
province.&rdquo;</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XXVI_WHITE_CHIEFS_AND_INDIAN_CHIEFS' id='CHAPTER_XXVI_WHITE_CHIEFS_AND_INDIAN_CHIEFS'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>White Chiefs and Indian Chiefs</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>In the year 1779 many of the Indians at Machias and Passamaquoddy began to
waver in their adherence to the Americans and to imagine they would fare better
by withdrawing from John Allan and returning to their old haunts on the River
St. John. Allan wrote in the autumn of this year, &ldquo;The unsteady conduct of the
Indians has obliged me to use every means to prevent their going to St. Johns. I
have not met with such difficulty previous to this summer.&rdquo; He managed to keep
them a little longer, but in July of the next year came the great defection which
had been so long impending. The immediate cause of this defection it will be of
interest now to consider.</p>
<p>Sir Guy Carleton, not long after his appointment to the command at Quebec, secured
the allegiance of the principal Indian tribes of Canada, and at his instigation
messages were sent to Machias early in April 1779, desiring the Indians there to
have no further connection with the Americans, adding that the Indians of Canada
were coming across the woods, as soon as the leaves were as big as their nails, to
destroy the settlements on the Penobscot and the Kennebec. In order to impress the
Indians with the importance of the message the delegates who bore it were furnished
with an immense belt of wampum of 1500 pieces. &ldquo;We send you this Great
Belt,&rdquo; say the Canadian Indians, &ldquo;for every one of you to see and think of, and
to show it to the St. Johns and Micmac Indians, and then to return the belt to us
immediately.&rdquo; The message contained a further assurance that nine thousand Indians
were ready to execute any orders they might receive from the British general
in Canada. The arrival of this message made a great impression on the Indians, and
occasioned in them &ldquo;a fluctuating and unsteady conduct,&rdquo; but John Allan was able,
with the help of Mon. de la Motte, a French priest, to keep them in control.</p>
<p>Curiously enough at this crisis the old St. John river chieftain, Pierre Thoma,
arrived at Machias in quite an indignant frame of mind. His annoyance was caused
by General McLean&rsquo;s ordering Major Studholme not to furnish any more provisions
to the Indians. Francklin considered this order a mistake, and at once represented
to the secretary of state the necessity of keeping the Indians in good humor as
the cutting of masts and timber for the Royal Navy, the safety of the English settlers
on the River St. John and communication with Canada might all be endangered
by losing their good will. His statements were strongly supported by Sir Richard
Hughes, the lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. The next spring Col. Francklin
invited the Indians at Passamaquody and Machias to a conference at Fort Howe.</p>
<p>Two English schooners arrived at Passamaquody on the 1st of June. John
Allen at once issued an order to the Indians not to hold any intercourse with unwelcome
visitors, but, he adds, &ldquo;Pierre Tomma the chief of St. John, always considered
a Tory, and Lewis Neptune of Penobscot went on board and received presents.&rdquo;
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span>
They were told that Col. Franklin and Father Bourg were at Fort Howe
with presents and supplies and desired a conference with them. Soon after three
special messengers arrived from Father Bourg desiring the Indians to attend him
immediately on business of the church. The result of these invitations we shall
presently see, but in the meantime an important conference was being held at the
River St. John.</p>
<p>There are many references to this conference but we shall first consider
a letter which Col. Franklin wrote from Windsor to Sir Henry Clinton, 21st August,
1780. In this letter Franklin states, &ldquo;A meeting was held the 24th June about
ninety miles above Fort Howe attended by upwards of 900 Indians. Deputies from
the Ottawas, Hurons, Algonkins, Montanagais, Abenakies and Canabas attended and
made the speech inclosed.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This speech was addressed to the Malecete, Passamaquoddie and Mickmack
Indians and was in substance as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Our dear Brothers, We come to warn you that the Boston people, having destroyed
several of our villages, killed our wives and children and carried off our
young women by force, we to revenge ourselves for these outrages have declared war
against them. If there are yet remaining among them [i. e. the Americans] any of
your people, let them withdraw immediately, for they will be treated like the enemy
if they remain with them. Therefore our dear Brothers we tell you to remain quiet
and in peace. We have 13,000 men assembled, who are allied against the Boston
people and they have already taken twenty-seven villages larger than Three Rivers
in Canada, and to burn their villages they sent more than 300 lighted arrows which
instantly destroyed their houses, great part of the Inhabitants were burnt and those
who attempted to escape were put to death. Now we demand your answer.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Micmacs and Maliseets presented belts of wampum and replied that so long
as the King of England should continue to leave them free liberty of hunting and
fishing and to allow them priests sufficient for the exercise of their religion they
promised to keep quiet and peaceable.</p>
<p>This grand Indian pow-wow seems to have been brought about largely by Franklin&rsquo;s
diplomacy. He was not himself present at the meeting but the interests of
the English were well looked after by Major Studholme, James White and the
Missionary Bourg. The conference with the visiting delegates was held at Aukpaque
and 300 warriors were present besides 600 women and children. A considerable
quantity of presents and supplies had been sent from Windsor to Fort Howe by the
schooner Menaguash, Peter Doucet, master, to be given to the Indians&mdash;blankets,
shirts, blue and scarlet cloth, beaver bats, ribbons, powder and shot, and lastly,
&ldquo;one cask of wine sent by Mr. Francklin for the squaws and such men as do not
drink rum.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0110' id='FNanchor_0110'></a><a href='#Footnote_0110' class='fnanchor'>[110]</a></p>
<p>The arrival of the messengers sent by Studholme to the Indians of Machias and
Passamaquody, assuring them that if they would give their attendance at Fort
Howe they would be well treated and receive handsome presents, made them extremely
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span>
anxious to at least have a look at the presents; at the same time urgent invitations
from Father Bourg gave them a good excuse for going. For two days
John Allan exercised all his powers of persuasion to keep them, but in vain; go they
would. They assured him &ldquo;that they only meant to see the priest, their souls
being heavy and loaded with burthens of sins, and that they acted upon a duty
commanded in their church which they could not neglect.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On the 3rd July nearly all the Indians, some women and children excepted, set
out for Fort Howe. In a letter to the Massachusetts Congress Allan mournfully
observes: &ldquo;I am very unhappy in being obliged to acquaint you of this, after the
success I have experienced in disappointing the Priest and Mr. Francklin these three
years.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The substantial results of Francklin&rsquo;s policy of conciliation were the inducing
of the Indians who had acted with enemy to return to their former villages and
live peaceably there, second the opening of a safe route of communication via the
St. John river with Quebec and thirdly protection of the King&rsquo;s mast cutters.</p>
<p>Colonel Francklin wrote to Lord Germaine on the 21st November, 1780, that
the disposition of the Indians during the summer and autumn had been very tranquil
and he attributed the fact largely to the conference held on the River St. John on
the 24th of June, when the deputies of the Ottawas, Hurons and other nations of
Canada required the Micmacs and Malissets to withdraw from the Americans and to
remain quiet.</p>
<p>The situation of Gilfred Studholme, as commandant at Fort Howe, was at times
a difficult and uncomfortable one. His garrison was none too large at the best, and,
although the majority of his soldiers displayed remarkable fidelity, there were occasional
desertions. John Allan naturally used every means in his power to render
the post untenable. In August, 1778, he sent Nicholas Hawawes, an Indian chief,
with a small party to the mouth of the St. John with orders to destroy the cattle
around the Fort, that were intended for the use of the troops<a name='FNanchor_0111' id='FNanchor_0111'></a><a href='#Footnote_0111' class='fnanchor'>[111]</a>, to take prisoners and
encourage desertion. The Indians were provided with letters, written by deserters
who had already come to Machias, which they were instructed to convey secretly to
the soldiers of the garrison.</p>
<p>Studholme was compelled to take stern and it may even seem terrible measures
to repress desertion, as will be seen in the following note which he addressed to
James White:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Sir,&mdash;I shall esteem it as a favor if you will endeavour to get some Indians to
bring in the three deserters, for each of which I will give Ten Guineas. Should the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span>
soldiers make any opposition the Indians are to make use of force, and if compelled
to kill them, they are to bring in their Heads, for each of which they will receive
Ten Guineas.</p>
<p class='right lalign'><span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;I am, Sir,<br />
&ldquo;Your most obedient servant,<br />
<span class='indent8'>&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;G. STUDHOLME.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Among the important services which Major Studholme was able to accomplish
while at Fort Howe should be mentioned the establishment of excellent communication
between Halifax and Quebec by way of the St. John river. This had been
the customary route of travel between Acadia and Canada during the final conflict
between England and France for supremacy in North America (A. D. 1744&ndash;1759) and
was well known to the French and their Indian allies; it now proved of equal service
to the English.</p>
<p>In order to facilitate communication with Quebec, and at the same time to
afford protection to the settlements on the St. John, a block house was built at the
mouth of the Oromocto river and a few soldiers stationed there under command
of Lieut. Constant Connor. The post was named Fort Hughes in honor of Sir Richard
Hughes, the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia. A number of log huts, or post-houses
were built, at intervals of about a day&rsquo;s journey, from the block house at
Oromocto to the St. Lawrence. Over this route important messages were carried
between the civil and military authorities of Halifax and Quebec, and sometimes
dispatches were sent from the Commander-in-chief of the forces at New York to
Sir Guy Carleton and Sir Frederick Haldimand at Quebec. Indians were occasionally
employed to carry the messages, but greater confidence was placed in the Acadians.
The most famous couriers probably were Louis Mitchel and the brothers Louis and
Michel Mercure. The couriers were aware of the value of their services, and
they demanded, and generally received, one hundred dollars for each trip from Fort
Howe to Quebec. This was regarded as extravagant by Major Studholme and General
Haldimand, but they could do no better. They dared not trust the Indians
with important dispatches, and when the Acadian couriers were not available messages
were usually carried by officers accompanied by Indians as guides.</p>
<p>The route via the River St. John was used both in summer and winter. It is
said that when the water was high the Indians were able to deliver letters from
Quebec to the French commander at the mouth of the St. John in four or five days,
a distance of 430 miles. This statement is made by John Allan and there is nothing
impossible about it. The Messrs. Straton of Fredericton, some years since,
paddled in a bark canoe from the Grand Falls to Fredericton, 133 miles, in 14 hours
46 minutes, making a short stop at Woodstock on the way. Short distances have
been covered at much greater rates of speed. The Acadian couriers were usually a
fortnight going from Oromocto to Quebec in the summer and about double that
time in the winter.</p>
<p>Like others of their race the Indians of the St. John were fleet of foot and
possessed of great endurance, qualities that are by no means wanting in their descendants.
Some forty years ago a Maliseet Indian, named Peter Loler, gave a remarkable
exhibition of speed and endurance, which is still talked of by the older
residents of Woodstock. The circumstances, briefly stated, were these. One pleasant
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span>
summer morning Loler presented himself to the driver of the old four-in-hand
stage coach which was just about leaving the hotel at Fredericton for Woodstock,
the distance being rather more than sixty miles. The Indian desired a passage and
offered the customary fare. The driver on the occasion was John Turner, one of
the most accomplished whips of the old stage coaching days, and popular with all
travellers. As the stage coach was pretty full and the day promised to be very
warm Turner, after a brief consultation with the passengers, declined the Indian&rsquo;s
money and upon Loler&rsquo;s remonstrating, told him in plain Saxon that the other
passengers didn&rsquo;t like the smell of him, that his room was better than his company.
This angered Peter and he said, &ldquo;All right, John! Me be in Woodstock
first!&rdquo;</p>
<p>At 8 o&rsquo;clock, a. m., Indian and stage coach left Fredericton together, and together
they proceeded and in spite of Turner&rsquo;s endeavor to throw dust in the Indian&rsquo;s
face the latter was always a little in advance. He stopped at every place the
stage stopped to change horses (this occurred four or five times on the route) and
took his dinner with all the solemnity of his race in the kitchen of the &ldquo;Half-way
House&rdquo; where the passengers dined.</p>
<p>As they drew near their destination the Indian&rsquo;s savage nature seemed to assert
itself; he ran like a deer, waving his cap at intervals as he passed the farm houses,
and shouting defiantly. Turner now began to ply the whip, for he had no intention
of allowing the red-skin to beat him out. The passengers began to wager their
money on the result of the race and grew wild with excitement. The Indian village,
three miles below Woodstock, was passed with Loler fifty yards in advance, but
the village was not Peter&rsquo;s destination that day. He saluted it with a war-whoop
and hurried on. It was still early in the afternoon when the quiet citizens of
Woodstock were aroused in a manner entirely unexpected. The stage coach came
tearing into town at the heels of an Indian who was yelling like a demon and running
as for his life, John Turner plying the whip in lively fashion, and four very
hot and tired horses galloping at their utmost speed. The finish was a close one,
but the Indian was ahead. As soon as he had regained his breath sufficiently to
speak, Loler walked over to where Turner was standing and philosophically remarked,
&ldquo;John! me here first!&rdquo; Turner&rsquo;s answer is not recorded.</p>
<p>Our story should end here, but alas for poor human nature, it remains to be
told that the Indian was soon surrounded by a crowd of friendly admirers, and before
the close of the day was gloriously&mdash;or shall we say ingloriously&mdash;drunk.</p>
<p>From the year 1779 onward the cutting of masts for the navy became an industry
of growing importance on the River St. John and Col. Francklin&rsquo;s efforts were
largely directed to the protection of the workmen so employed from being molested
by the Indians. The consideration of the &ldquo;masting&rdquo; industry will be taken up in the
next chapter.</p>
<p>Michael Francklin died Nov. 8, 1782, deeply lamented by all classes of society.
His last general conference with the Maliseets was at Oromocto in the month of
November, 1781, when he distributed presents to nearly four hundred Indians who
had assembled there. On this occasion he settled amicably some jealousies that had
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span>
arisen about the election of chiefs. He tells us that the Indians were eager to go
to the defence of the block house on the occasion of a recent alarm, that they were
grateful for the continuance of their missionary Bourg and were resolved to again
plant corn on the river. At the close of the conference they quietly dispersed to
their hunting.</p>
<p>In spite of the interference of war the traffic in furs with the Indians was still
very considerable, and about this time Hazen and White sent a consignment to
Halifax in the ship Recovery, to be shipped to England for sale, which included
571 Moose skins, 11 Caribou, 11 Deer, 3621 Musquash, 61 Otter, 77 Mink, 152 Sable,
40 Fishers, 6 Wolverene, 11 &ldquo;Lucervers,&rdquo; 17 Red Fox, 6 Cross Fox, 9 Bear.</p>
<p>Michael Francklin continued to the last to cultivate the friendship of Pierre
Thoma the old Maliseet chieftain whose descendants, it may be observed, are numerous
at the present day. The name of this well known Indian family (variously
spelled Thoma, Toma, Tomah, Tomer) is clearly of French origin, and was originally
Thomas, which pronounced in French fashion sounds like Tomah. The name Pierre
Thoma was very common among both the Micmacs and the Maliseets, so common
indeed as to make it difficult to distinguish between individuals. A few observations
will enable the reader to see what splendid opportunities there are for confusion
with regard to those Indians who bore the name of Pierre Thoma.</p>
<p>In the month of August, 1827, the Lieut.-Governor of New Brunswick, Sir Howard
Douglas, visited the historic Indian village of Medoctec, where he was introduced
to an Indian name Pierre Thoma (or Toma Pierre) aged 93 years. The old warrior,
who had lost an eye and an arm in the battle of the Heights of Abraham in 1759,
was carefully provided for by the kindly hearted governor. Our first conclusion
naturally would be&mdash;this is the old chieftain of Revolutionary days. But further investigation
shows such a conclusion to be very improbable. If old Tomah, who
greeted Sir Howard Douglas, were 93 years old in 1827, he must have been born in
1734, and in that case (supposing him to have been Francklin&rsquo;s old ally) he would
have filled the office of supreme sachem or head chief of the St. John river when
about thirty years of age, which is very unlikely. But this is not all. In the sworn
testimony submitted to the commissioners on the international boundary in 1797,
John Curry, Esq., of Charlotte County says that when he came to the country in
1770 there was an Indian place of worship and a burial ground on St. Andrew&rsquo;s
Point at the mouth of the River St. Croix, and that among those whom he recollected
to have been buried there were John Neptune (alias Bungawarrawit), governor
of the Passamaquoddy tribe, and a &ldquo;chief of the Saint John&rsquo;s Tribe known by
the name of Pierre Toma.&rdquo; There can be little doubt that the latter was our old
chief Thoma. His wife was one of the Neptune family whose home was at Passamaquoddy.
The burial ground at St. Andrew&rsquo;s Point was abandoned by the Indians
when the Loyalists settled at St. Andrews in 1783. We may therefore conclude
that <a name='TC_61'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Perre'">Pierre</ins> Thoma did not long survive his old friend and Patron Michael
Francklin. Their acquaintance began as early at least as the summer of 1768, when
Governor Thoma and Ambroise St. Aubin had an interview with Lieut.-Governor
Francklin and his council at Halifax. At that time the chiefs made a favorable
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span>
impression. They requested that their missionary Bailly, lately arrived might remain
with them, complained that rum was much too common for the good of their
people, desired lands for cultivation and that their hunting grounds should be reserved
to them. Having completed their business they stated &ldquo;We have nothing
further to ask or represent, and we desire to return soon, that our people may not
be debauched with liquor in this town.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The previous summer (12th August, 1767) Rev. Thomas Wood officiated at a
notable wedding at Halifax the contracting parties being a young Indian captain
named Pierre Jacques and Marie Joseph, the oldest daughter of &ldquo;old King Thoma.&rdquo;
An English baronet, Sir Thos. Rich, and other distinguished guests were present on
the occasion. However this Thoma was not our old Maliseet chief, for Mr. Wood
observes of him, &ldquo;Old King Thoma looks upon himself as hereditary king of the
Mickmacks.&rdquo; Moreover the date is too nearly coincident with an interesting event
at Aukpaque in which Pierre Thoma was concerned. The event was a christening
at the Indian chapel the particulars concerning which we find in the old church
register. The Abbe Bailly on two consecutive days baptized thirty-one Indian children,
viz., sixteen boys on August 29th and fifteen girls on August 30th. Among
the boys we find a son of Ambroise St. Aubin and Anne, his wife, who received the
name of Thomas and had as sponsors Pierre Thoma, chief, and his wife Marie
Mectilde. The following day the compliment was returned and Ambroise and his
wife stood as sponsors at the christening of Marie, the daughter of Pierre Thoma.</p>
<p>The next year (June 5, 1768) there was a double wedding in the family of Governor
Thoma at which the Abbe Bailly officiated and which no doubt was the occasion
of great festivity at the Indian village. The old chief&rsquo;s son Pierre Thoma,
jr, wedded an Indian maiden named Marie Joseph, and his daughter Marie Belanger
married Pierre Kesit. The younger Pierre Thoma was most probably his father&rsquo;s
successor as chief of the Maliseets. At any rate when Frederick Dibblee<a name='FNanchor_0112' id='FNanchor_0112'></a><a href='#Footnote_0112' class='fnanchor'>[112]</a> made a
return of the native Indians settled at Meductic in 1788 he includes in his list Governor
Thoma, his wife and four children. The Indians were always migratory and
two years later we find Governor Thoma living at the mouth of the Becaguimec and
tilling his cornfield since become the site of the town of Hartland. This Governor
Thoma, may be the same referred to in the following paragraph in the Courier of
January 6, 1841:<a name='FNanchor_0113' id='FNanchor_0113'></a><a href='#Footnote_0113' class='fnanchor'>[113]</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Friday last, being New Years day, a large body of the Milicete tribe of Indians
including a considerable number of well dressed squaws, headed by their old-old-chief
Thoma, appeared at Government House to pay their annual compliments to
the representative of their Sovereign, and were received by His Excellency with
great kindness. His Excellency availed himself of the occasion publicly to decorate
the worthy old chief with a splendid silver medallion suspended by a blue ribbon,
exhibiting a beautiful effigy of our gracious sovereign on one side, with the Royal
Arms on the reverse.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_300' name='page_300'></a>300</span></div>
<p>Many of the Thoma family were remarkable for their longevity. When the
writer of this history was a boy there lived at the Indian village, three miles below
the Town of Woodstock, a very intelligent and industrious Indian, whose bent,
spare figure was a familiar object to travellers along the country roads. It would
be hard to count the number of baskets and moccasins the old man carried on his
back to town for sale. He was born at Medoctec in 1789 and died at Woodstock
not long ago at the age of nearly one hundred years. The old fellow was famous
for his knowledge of herbs, which he was wont to administer to the Indians in
case of sickness; indeed it was not an uncommon thing for the white people to
consult &ldquo;Doctor Tomer&rdquo; as to their ailments. In the year 1877 &ldquo;Tomer&rdquo; came
to pay a friendly visit to Charles Raymond, the author&rsquo;s grandfather, who was
then in his 90th year and confined to his room with what proved to be his first
and last illness. The pleasure of meeting seemed to be mutual. The two had
known one another for many years and were accustomed from time to time to
compare ages. &ldquo;Tomer&rdquo; was always one year younger, showing that the old
Indian kept his notch-stick well. He is believed to have been the last surviving
grandson of the old chieftain, Pierre Thoma.</p>
<p>While speaking of the Maliseets and their chiefs, mention may be made of the
fact that the Indians, as a mark of especial confidence and favor, occasionally admitted
one of the whites to the order of chieftainship. This compliment the
Maliseets paid to the French Governor Villebon, when he commanded at Fort
Nachouac, and a like compliment was paid some sixty-five years ago to the late
Moses H. Perley. In early life Mr. Perley was very fond of the woods and frequently
visited the Indian villages on the upper St. John to buy furs, which he
paid for in silver dollars. So great was the confidence reposed in him by the
Indians that he became their agent with the provincial government, and was in the
end adopted as their chief. In 1840 he visited England and was presented to Queen
Victoria in the character of an Indian chief, wearing on the occasion a very magnificent
costume of ornamental bead-work, plumes, and so forth. He received at
the Queen&rsquo;s hands a silver medal three inches in diameter, on the edge of which
was engraved, &ldquo;From Her Most Gracious Majesty to M. H. Perley, Chief Sachem of
the Milicetes and Wungeet Sagamore of the Micmac nation. A. D., 1840.&rdquo; This
medal is still in the possession of Mr. Perley&rsquo;s descendants.</p>
<p>It will be noticed that the St. John river Indians are termed &ldquo;Milicetes&rdquo; in the
above description. The form Milicete, or Melicete, used by Dr. Gesner and Moses
H. Perley, has been followed by the majority of our provincial writers. Dr.
Hannay, however, in his history of Acadia, retains the spelling of Villebon and
the early French writers, Malicite, which is almost identical with the Latin form,
Malecitae, on the stone tablet of the chapel built by the missionary Jean Loyard at
Medoctec in 1717. Either of these pronounced in French fashion is practically
identical with Maliseet, the form adopted by modern students of Indian lore, and
which the writer has followed in this history.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_301' name='page_301'></a>301</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XXVII_MASTS_FOR_THE_ROYAL_NAVY' id='CHAPTER_XXVII_MASTS_FOR_THE_ROYAL_NAVY'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>Masts for the Royal Navy.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>The enormous lumbering operations carried on upon the St. John river and its
tributaries in modern times had their small beginning, two centuries ago, when
masts for the French navy were cut by order of the King of France.<a name='FNanchor_0114' id='FNanchor_0114'></a><a href='#Footnote_0114' class='fnanchor'>[114]</a> The war
of the Revolution obliged the English government to look for a reserve of trees
suitable for masts in the remaining British colonies. In the year 1779, arrangements
were made with William Davidson to provide a number of masts at the
River St. John.</p>
<p>Colonel Francklin was quite aware of the necessity of giving careful attention
to the Indians at this juncture, for the Machias rebels threatened to destroy the
&ldquo;King&rsquo;s masts&rdquo; and endeavored to get the Indians to harass the mast cutters and
obstruct, them in every possible way. In consequence Francklin sent the following
letter to Pierre Thoma by James White, his deputy:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Windsor, 29th November, 1779.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My Brother.&mdash;Mr. Davidson is now employed on the River St. John for the
King my Royal master. I therefore request you will afford him and all his people
every assistance and protection in your power.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My Brother,&mdash;I request and flatter myself if any party of Rebels or Indians
should attempt to disturb Mr. Davidson that you and your people will prevent it,
and if necessary take up arms for that purpose.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My Brothers,&mdash;The Governor of Nova Scotia sends to Major Studholme some
presents for you; they are intended to encourage you to protect Mr. Davidson;
receive them and be true to the trust that his Excellency reposes in you.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My Brother,&mdash;Major Studholme is your friend and your advocate and desires
that all your faults may be overlooked and buried, therefore they are all forgot and
will be thought of no more.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My Brother,&mdash;Present my best compliments to all the Captains, Councillors,
and other Indians of the River St. John, and I do not forget their wives and
children.</p>
<p class='right'>[Seal.] &ldquo;MICH. FRANCKLIN.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Indians promised to protect the workmen who were employed in cutting
masts. Francklin soon afterwards sent a consignment of goods from Windsor to
Fort Howe in the schooner Menaguashe, as a further inducement to them to protect
Mr. Davidson&rsquo;s men in their work. In the letter accompanying the presents
he says:&mdash;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_302' name='page_302'></a>302</span></div>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Brethern,&mdash;King George wants masts for his ships and has employed people
to provide them on your river, depending on you to protect them in cutting them
and conveying them to Fort Howe. The Governor sends you some presents, which
Major Studholme will deliver you. They are intended to bind fast your promise
that you will protect the Mast Cutters.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The presents were delivered at Aukpaque by James White<a name='FNanchor_0115' id='FNanchor_0115'></a><a href='#Footnote_0115' class='fnanchor'>[115]</a> and the masts
were brought safely to Fort Howe. The first cargo of masts arrived at Halifax on
22nd November, 1780, in one of the navy transports.</p>
<p>The River St. John now assumed an importance in the eyes of English statesmen
it had not before possessed. England&rsquo;s power, then as now, centred in her
navy, and the larger warships required masts of such magnificent proportions that
pine trees suitable for the purpose were rare. The rebellion of the old colonies
having cut off the supply in that quarter the reservation of suitable trees in the
remaining colonies became a matter of national concern.</p>
<p>As long ago as in the time of George I. the British parliament passed an act
(A. D. 1722) prohibiting the cutting or destroying of White Pine trees 12 inches
in diameter and upwards in the King&rsquo;s Woods in North America. In 1729 it was
further enacted that the same penalties should be extended to trees growing on
granted lands. So great was the anxiety manifested by the British government for
the preservation of trees suitable for masts, that in the grants made in New
Brunswick at the close of the American war the words were inserted, &ldquo;Saving and
reserving nevertheless to us, our heirs and successors (i. e. to the Crown) all White
Pine Trees.&rdquo; Under the regulations of parliament the Surveyor General of the
Woods and his deputies had a legal right to seize all White Pine timber found in
the possession of any one, although it might have been cut on his own land. It
was the custom of the Surveyor of the Woods to grant licenses to the proprietors
of lands to cut and take away such pine timber as was &ldquo;unfit for His Majesty&rsquo;s
service and the standing of which was detrimental to cultivation;&rdquo; but this was
only done after a previous inspection, and marking with the &ldquo;broad-arrow&rdquo; such
trees as were fit for the navy.</p>
<p>The enforcement of the regulations for the protection and preservation of
White Pine trees was entrusted to Sir John Wentworth,<a name='FNanchor_0116' id='FNanchor_0116'></a><a href='#Footnote_0116' class='fnanchor'>[116]</a> Surveyor of the King&rsquo;s
Woods in North America. He was a discreet and able man, of polished manners
and amiable disposition, but the office he filled was by no means a popular one,
and brought him into conflict not only with individual owners of the soil, but on
one occasion, at least, with the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_303' name='page_303'></a>303</span></div>
<p>It was not many years after the establishment of the province that Lt. Gov&rsquo;r
Carleton wrote the English Secretary of State:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Under the regulations for preserving masting timber the deputies appointed
by the surveyor of the woods have, or assume to have, authority to seize all the
pine timber which they find in the possession of any one, though it may have been
cut on his own ground. * * * I feel it my duty to submit it to the consideration
of his Majesty&rsquo;s ministers whether it may not be expedient to relinquish these restrictions
on private property, which have an evident tendency to discourage the
advancement of cultivation and settlement in the province.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sir John Wentworth justified the enforcement of the regulations as a matter
of national importance. He quoted the experience of New England where, after
the restrictions of the surveyor general&rsquo;s office were removed, the mast timber had
been so largely destroyed that it was scarcely possible to procure a cargo of large
masts, and those that were to be had were held at enormous prices. Even if
the government should grant all the land available for settlement, it did not follow,
he argued, that the efficiency of the navy should be imperilled or the mast timber
pass into the hands of speculators; nor did he think that its preservation should
be left entirely to the discretion of the owners of the soil.</p>
<p>Wentworth&rsquo;s representation to the Home Government proved effectual at the
time; his deputies continued to range the woods, and many a tall, stately pine bore
the mark of the &ldquo;broad-arrow&rdquo; in token that it was reserved for the royal navy.
It was not until about the year 1811 that the reservation of White Pine trees was no
longer insisted upon by the crown.</p>
<p>The masting business was a very important one in the early days of New
Brunswick. Vessels were built expressly for the trade, and, being of large size,
and usually sailing under protection of a man-of-war, soon became the favorite passenger
ships.</p>
<p>The development of the masting industry proceeded very rapidly after the
arrival of the Loyalists, but even before that date it had attained considerable proportions.
Sir Richard Hughes wrote to Lord Germaine on the 30th April, 1781,
that upwards of 200 sticks for masts, yards and bowsprits had been cut, squared and
approved by the King&rsquo;s purveyor at the River St. John in the course of the last
fall and winter, and that one of the navy transports was then at Fort Howe loading
a cargo of masts.</p>
<p>The year the Loyalists arrived, Captain John Munro, in reporting to General
Haldimand the state of settlement of the country, said:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;On the River St. John are the finest masts and spars that I have ever seen.
I saw at Fort Howe about six thousand pounds worth. Two ships were loading
when I left that place. I suppose there were masts sufficient there to load ten
ships.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The masts, spars, bowsprits and other timber, having been prepared in the
woods by the workmen, were hauled to the water by oxen. Trees growing near
the stream were &ldquo;bowsed out&rdquo;&mdash;that is, hauled with block and tackle to the river&rsquo;s
bank. In the month of March it was customary for the King&rsquo;s purveyor to
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_304' name='page_304'></a>304</span>
certify the number and sizes of the sticks that had been brought to the stream,
&ldquo;trimmed four-square and fit for rafting,&rdquo; and on receipt of the purveyor&rsquo;s certificate
the contractor was at liberty to draw one-half of the money due on the fulfilment
of his contract, from the naval storekeeper at Halifax. The masts were
rafted and floated&mdash;or towed by sloops&mdash;to Fort Howe, where they were stored for
shipment in the mast pond.</p>
<p>The mast pond was a little cove to the west of Portland Point, just east of
the site of the present Portland Rolling Mills. The situation will be seen in the
accompanying plan. It was closed and fenced in by the British government for
the purpose of receiving the masts.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_35' id='linki_35'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i314.png' alt='' title='' width='600' height='361' /><br />
<p class='caption'>
St. John Harbor<br />
</p>
</div>
<p>A few words now concerning William Davidson, who may be said to have been
the first man to engage in lumbering on the River St. John. Mr. Davidson came
from the north of Scotland to Miramichi in 1764, the same year that James Simonds
and James White established themselves at the mouth of the River St. John.
Cooney, the historian of the North Shore, tells us that at the time of Davidson&rsquo;s
arrival the abandoned houses of the French had been destroyed by the Indians, and
our Scotch immigrant found himself the only white man in a vast and desolate
region. If this be so he did not long remain solitary, for the next year a grant of
100,000 acres on the south side of the Miramichi was made to him and John Cort.
Mr. Davidson was a resolute and energetic man. He prosecuted the fishery, and
about the year 1773 built the first schooner launched upon the Miramichi. At
the time of the Revolutionary war the Micmacs were so hostile and troublesome
that he removed with his family to Maugerville, where he became the purchaser
of two lots of land near the head of Oromocto Island. His associations with James
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_305' name='page_305'></a>305</span>
Simonds, Wm. Hazen and James White were not of the pleasantest kind. In consequence
of purchasing some land at Morrisania (below the present city of Fredericton)
the title to which was in dispute, he became involved in litigation with
James Simonds, and the result was a suit in the court of chancery,<a name='FNanchor_0117' id='FNanchor_0117'></a><a href='#Footnote_0117' class='fnanchor'>[117]</a> which proved
rather costly to both parties. As regards Messrs. Hazen and White there was,
as we shall presently see, a lot of trouble arising out of the masting business in
which both parties were actively engaged.</p>
<p>Mr. Davidson&rsquo;s influence on the St. John river is shown by the fact that he
was elected a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for the County of
Sunbury. He returned to Miramichi about the time the Loyalists came to the
province, and died there in 1790. His tomb-stone in the old cemetery on Beaubair&rsquo;s
Island bears the following inscription:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'>SACRED TO THE MEMORY<br />
OF<br />
WILLIAM DAVIDSON, ESQ.<br />
Representative of the County of Northumberland, Province of New<br />
Brunswick, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Contractor<br />
for Masts for His Majesty&rsquo;s Navy.<br />
He died on the 17th of June, 1790, aged 50. He was one of the<br />
first settlers of the river, and greatly instrumental in promoting<br />
the settlement. He left a widow and five children to<br />
deplore his loss.<br />
&ldquo;MEMENTO MORI.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The success that attended William Davidson&rsquo;s masting operations led Messrs.
Hazen and White to engage in the same business. They were fortunate enough
to secure the co-operation of Colonel Francklin, with whom they entered into partnership
in the summer of 1781 for general trade and &ldquo;masting.&rdquo; <a name='TC_62'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Franklin's'">Francklin&rsquo;s</ins> political
influence at Halifax and the personal friendship of Sir Andrew Snape Hamond,
the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia and Commissioner of the navy yard, proved
of very great advantage to the partners in their business. A few quotations from
the original papers of the firm, which are now in the possession of the author, will
throw light upon the nature of their subsequent operations.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;CONTRACTED and agreed on the 9th day of August, 1781, with Sir Andrew
Snape Hamond, Commissioner of his Majesty&rsquo;s Navy, resident at Halifax, by
us Michael Francklin, Esqr., of Windsor, and Wm. Hazen and James White, Esqrs.,
of the River St. John in the Province of Nova Scotia, And we do hereby covenant
and agree to deliver, free of all charges to his Majesty, at the mouth of the
River St. John, the undermentioned North American White Pine Masts, Yards,
and Bowsprits, Ash Rafters, Elm Timber, Oak Timber, Anchor Stocks of White
Oak, and Crooked or Compass Timber, in the quantities, of the dimensions and
at the prices expressed against each size * * to be brought to the mouth of the
River Saint John by or before the 1st day of July, 1782, and there to remain at
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_306' name='page_306'></a>306</span>
our risque until they shall be embarked on board such ships or vessels as shall be
sent to transport them to England, Halifax or elsewhere. * * *</p>
<p>&ldquo;It is further agreed by Sir Andrew Snape Hamond for the encouragement of
the said Contractors, that in case the enemy should make a descent on the Port
of Saint John in order to destroy the masts lying there, that the damages sustained
thereby should fall on Government and not upon the Contractors, provided
it shall appear that all proper endeavors on the part of the Contractors were used
to save the masts.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Great Britain was at this time engaged in a struggle for national existence.
She was at war, not only with the colonies in rebellion, but with France, Holland
and Spain, and that without a single ally. Under such circumstances it was absolutely
necessary that the navy should be kept as efficient as possible. The dockyards
were busy places and we need not be surprised that good prices were paid
for masts, yards, bowsprits and ship timber in general. In the contract signed by
Francklin, Hazen and White the prices offered by government are stated in detail,
but the table of prices is too long to quote in full. The sums paid varied with
the size of the tree as will be seen from the following examples selected from the
table in the contract:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='lalign'>Masts of 36 inches diameter, 36 yards long, &pound;136.<br />
Masts of 35 inches diameter, 35 yards long, &pound;110.<br />
Masts of 34 inches diameter, 34 yards long, &pound;95.<br />
Masts of 32 inches diameter, 32 yards long, &pound;68.<br />
Masts of 31 inches diameter, 31 yards long, &pound;61.<br />
Masts of 26 inches diameter, 28 yards long, &pound;25.<br />
Masts of 18 inches diameter, 23 yards long, &pound;10.<br />
Yards of 25 inches diameter, 35 yards long, &pound;52.<br />
Yards of 23 inches diameter, 32 yards long, &pound;40.<br />
Yards of 21 inches diameter, 29&frac12; yards long, &pound;20.<br />
Yards of 14 inches diameter, 22 yards long, &pound;4.16.<br />
Bowsprits 38 inches diameter, 25 yards long, &pound;42.10.<br />
Bowsprits 34 inches diameter, 23 yards long, &pound;32.10.<br />
Bowsprits 30 inches diameter, 20&frac12; yards long, &pound;30.<br />
Bowsprits 25 inches diameter, 17 yards long, &pound;10.2.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The rapid increase in price as the maximum dimensions were neared was due
to the fact that timber of such size was exceedingly rare.</p>
<p>The certificate of the naval storekeeper, George Thomas, shows that on the
6th July, 1782, Francklin, Hazen &amp; White had delivered under the protection of
his Majesty&rsquo;s Post at Fort Howe, in pursuance of their contract of the 9th of August,
1781, 37 masts valued at &pound;1098.16.3; 65 yards valued at &pound;1502.13.4; 8 bowsprits
valued at &pound;181.1.11&frac12; and 20 M. feet white ash oar rafters valued at &pound;156.5.0;
so that the firm received upwards of $14,000 from government on their first year&rsquo;s
masting operations. Some of the sticks obtained were of very large size, including
one mast, 35 inches in diameter and 91&frac12; feet long, and a yard 26 inches in diameter
and 108 feet long; for these two sticks they received respectively $450 and $350.</p>
<p>It was essential to the success of the masting business that a good practical
man should be at the head of it, and Mr. White&rsquo;s brother-in-law, Samuel Peabody,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_307' name='page_307'></a>307</span>
was selected for the position. He was given an interest in the contract and was
also allowed &ldquo;seven shillings and six pence per diem in consideration of his care
and trouble in taking upon him the management of the business.&rdquo;</p>
<p>At the time the agreement was made with Mr. Peabody, Michael Francklin
was at the River St. John.<a name='FNanchor_0118' id='FNanchor_0118'></a><a href='#Footnote_0118' class='fnanchor'>[118]</a> The agreement specified that the masts, yards and
bowsprits were to be converted into eight squares carrying their dimensions in
their several parts conformable to the rules of the navy.</p>
<p>While the profits derived from the mast business may have been considerable,
the expenses also were heavy. There were many unforseen contingencies. The
demand for workmen and laborers in a short time nearly doubled the rate of wages,
and the cost of provisions and supplies increased. In the course of a few months
Col. Francklin sent three consignments of goods to St. John, amounting in value
to about $3,000. A bill of lading in those days was a quaint document, witness the
following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;SHIPPED by the Grace of God, by John Butler Dight in and upon the good
Ship called the Young William Naval Store Ship, whereof is master, under God,
for this present Voyage, George Hastings, and now riding at anchor in the Harbour
of Halifax, and by God&rsquo;s Grace bound for Fort Howe, River St. John in the
Bay of Fundy.</p>
<p>To say, one Hogshead, three Casks, one Case, three Bales, one Large Trunk,
one Bag Coffee, six Boxes, twenty Barrels Pork, and twenty firkins Butter&mdash;by
order of Mich&rsquo;l Francklin, Esq., for account and risque of himself, Wm. Hazen &amp;
James White, consigned to Messrs. Hazen &amp; White at Fort Howe as aforesaid,
being marked and numbered as in the margin, and are to be delivered in good order
and well conditioned at the Port of Fort Howe (the danger of the seas only
excepted.)</p>
<p>In Witness whereof the master of the said Ship hath affirmed to three Bills
of Lading, all of this tenor and date; the one of which three Bills being accomplished,
the other two to stand void.</p>
<p>And so GOD send the Good Ship to her desired Port in safety. Amen.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Dated in Halifax 23rd April, 1782.</p>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;G. HASTINGS.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Col. <a name='TC_63'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Franklin'">Francklin</ins> procured at Halifax many articles needed for the mast cutters,
such as chains, blocks and tackle, camp supplies, etc. Flour retailed in Halifax at
this time at $11.00 per bbl., and the freight to Fort Howe was $1.50 per bbl.
Pork cost at Halifax $25.00 per bbl. and upwards. The population on the St.
John river was small, and men and oxen were in demand both in winter and
summer. The cultivation and improvement of farms was retarded and a spirit of
speculation introduced into the country, destined ere long to bear pernicious fruit.
Francklin sent from Windsor some skilled hewers of timber. Nevertheless the
masting operations were carried on after a primitive fashion, and Mr. Peabody
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_308' name='page_308'></a>308</span>
was constantly obliged to write for articles needed by his workmen. A few sentences
culled from his correspondence with Hazen &amp; White will shed a little light
on the difficulties that attended the masting business:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;There is no prospect of the business being in one place as we expected when
Mr. Francklin was here; at present have given up trying at St. Anns, for the Pine
proves so rotten that it would never pay the expense of cutting a road to where it
grows.&rdquo; [Nov. 2d, 1781.]</p>
<p>&ldquo;The men are very bad off for Bread, and people cannot work without good
food, besides it takes much time in baking Indian cakes for them in the woods,
one hand continually imploy&rsquo;d. * * We are very badly off indeed for Chalk lines,
having nothing of that kind to make use of but twine.&rdquo; [Jan. 21, 1782.]</p>
<p>&ldquo;Davidson is almost done&mdash;his situation is this: no workmen, no rum, no provision,
he&rsquo;s nearly possesst of Pandora&rsquo;s Box.&rdquo; [Feb. 5, 1782.]</p>
<p>&ldquo;Men&rsquo;s wear is much wanted, such as thick clothes, a few blankets if you can
procure them, as some men are obliged to sleep without blankets in the camp.&rdquo;
[Feb. 9, 1782.]</p>
<p>&ldquo;Pork, beef and corn is very scarce and dear, the two former not to be bought.
Have engaged what wheat and Indian corn we could on the river.&rdquo; [March 23d,
1782.]</p>
<p>&ldquo;Our common laborers value their hire very high, as there is so many mast
cutting, running from place to place to get sticks for the highest bidder.&rdquo; [Dec.
25, 1782.]</p>
<p>&ldquo;Some chocolate is wanted for our Masting Camp for at present we use Spruce
Tea, which causes some murmuring.&rdquo; [Feb. 2, 1783.]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In order to fill the contract at the time fixed, Samuel Peabody found it necessary
to cruise the woods over a wide area selecting trees that grew not far from
the banks of the streams which might be &ldquo;bowsed in&rdquo; by oxen with block and
tackle. In consequence of the competition with Mr. Davidson the hire of a yoke
of oxen became as high as seven shillings and six pence a day and difficult to obtain
at that. The exigencies of the situation were such that Hayes and Peabody
ventured to press into their service a pair of fat oxen that had been sent down
the river from St. Anns by Philip Weade for an entirely different purpose. This
was displeasing to Hazen &amp; White who wrote: &ldquo;We are much surprised that you
stopped the particular pair of oxen which we desired last Fall to be stall fed for
the use of the officers of the garrison here and ourselves, which hath left them
and us without a good slice of beef.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It is rather a curious circumstance that very soon after Francklin, Hazen and
White embarked in the masting business they found themselves at logger heads
with William Davidson, whose workmen they had for two years been endeavoring
to protect from interference on the part of the &ldquo;rebels&rdquo; and Indians. In
point of fact Mr. Davidson suffered greater annoyance at the hands of Samuel
Peabody and his mast cutters than he ever experienced from the rebels or the Indians.
Under the arrangements at first made with the government of Nova
Scotia, a good deal of latitude was allowed the mast cutters. Mr. Davidson had
a special order to cut masts, yards, etc., for his Majesty&rsquo;s service, wherever he
could find them. Under this roving commission his workmen came into contact
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_309' name='page_309'></a>309</span>
on several occasions with those of the other contractors and in a very short time
there was bad blood between them.</p>
<p>Samuel Peabody, who had charge of the operations of Francklin, Hazen and
White, was a man of resolute and somewhat aggressive spirit. William Davidson
on the other hand, possessed all the energy and determination for which the
Scotch race is noted. The state of affairs on the River St. John in consequence
of the rivalry created by the masting business was not at all harmonious. The
sentiments of the people were divided. There were some who sided with Hazen,
White and Peabody while others took the part of Wm. Davidson and Israel Perley&mdash;the
latter being in Mr. Davidson&rsquo;s employ. A couple of letters of the period
will serve to show how the rivals regarded one another.</p>
<p>Samuel Peabody writes as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>Maugerville, 2nd Nov&rsquo;r, 1781.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Messrs. Hazen &amp; White, Merchants at Fort Howe,</p>
<p>&ldquo;Gentlemen,&mdash;Since I wrote to you by John Hart, giving you account of the
badness of the Pine Lumber back of St. Anns, I sent 3 hands up Nashwalk to
try the timber in that place, and find the timber to be small near the waterside.
Upon Davidson&rsquo;s understanding I was determined to try that place, he immediately
sent a party of French up that River, commanded by Israel Perley, to cut
all the Timber that fell in his way, among which was a large Tree that I suppose was
marked by Mr. Hayes, as he tells people that it had several Broad Arrows on it. At
the same time that Davidson dispatched this party he sent another party back of
Thomas Langin&rsquo;s<a name='FNanchor_0119' id='FNanchor_0119'></a><a href='#Footnote_0119' class='fnanchor'>[119]</a> upon the growth of Pine Mr. Hayes had pitched upon for us, and
has his small party sallying out upon all quarters, and bids defiance to any Proprietors
stopping him from such proceedings. Now if he is allowed to cut Timber upon
the Society&rsquo;s Land<a name='FNanchor_0120' id='FNanchor_0120'></a><a href='#Footnote_0120' class='fnanchor'>[120]</a> it will be impossible for me to furnish half the quantity of
sticks I could if I had the privilege of all the above mentioned lands.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Tomorrow morning I am a going with 8 or 10 hands to cut sum fine Trees up
Oromocto, near whear Davidson is stearing his course, as he should be paid in his
own coin. I have imployed sum men to cut Trees by the jobb up Oromocto, and by
searching, they say, that there may be had some fine lengthy Trees, but not the
greatest diameter.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I hope one of you will come up soon and reside a few days, for, as I mentioned
to you in my last letter it is very difficult for me to procure hands at suitable times,
as I am in the woods the cheaf of the time, and at present there is no prospect of
the business being in one place, as we expected when Col. <a name='TC_64'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Frankcklin'">Francklin</ins> left this
place. At present I have given up trying at Saint Anns, for the Pine proves so rotten
that it never will pay the expense of cutting a road in to where it groes</p>
<p>&ldquo;There is sum that pertended to undertake to ingage to get us sum sticks, by
what I can learn has ingaged them to Davidson, especially that scoudril John Tibbits,
although he gave Mr. Francklin good incurragement, as I thought, that we
should have all the sticks that he could procure.</p>
<p class='lalign' style="margin-bottom:0em;"><span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>I am, with respect,<br />
<span class='indent8'>&nbsp;</span>Your Humble Serv&rsquo;t,</p>
<p class='right'>SAM&rsquo;L PEABODY.</p>
</blockquote>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_310' name='page_310'></a>310</span></div>
<p>A year later William Davidson writes in quite as emphatic terms to Samuel
Peabody:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>Maugerville, 9th December, 1782.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sir&mdash;I&rsquo;m not a little surprised at a piece of your conduct that has lately
come to my knowledge; which is your triming my masts, etc., on the streame of
Rushaganes and its vicinaty. I cannot conjecture upon what principle you pretend
to have acted. I had (&amp; have) a speciall order from Government to cutt masts,
yards, etc., for His Majesty&rsquo;s use wherever I could find them, when I cutt those
sticks, which constitute as good a right in them to me as any that could be given.
If (by some kind of means) the people you&rsquo;re concerned with afterwards got a grant
of the lands on which they were, it could not be supposed to extend to a prior right
any other person had derived from as good authority. But in the mean time I
shall not take the trouble to say any more on the subject than to desire you will
from this time desist from meddling with any sticks that have been cut for me, and
also relinquish what you have already medled with.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I wish to live peaceably, but I have lately experienced so many instances of
your most bare-faced and wanton oppression, to my prejudice, that there&rsquo;s no longer
a doubt with me what course I must be under the disagreeable necessity to take, that
I may obtain redress and do justice to myself and family. I shall expect your immediate
answer for my future government, and am, sir,</p>
<p style='margin-bottom:0em;; text-indent: 2.0em;'>&ldquo;Your Humble Serv&rsquo;t</p>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;WM. DAVIDSON.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The fact that William Davidson was the first in the field gave him some local
advantages that were increased considerably by the predilection in his favor displayed
by Constant Connor, the commander of the small garrison posted at the
Oromocto blockhouse. This we know from one of the letters of the government
purveyor, John Hayes, who was exceedingly friendly to Hazen &amp; White. He wrote
&ldquo;I am sorry to say that Lieut. Connor is much atached to Davidson and Andrews,<a name='FNanchor_0121' id='FNanchor_0121'></a><a href='#Footnote_0121' class='fnanchor'>[121]</a>
his orders from Sir Richard Hughes specifying to give Davidson all the assistance
in his power, and on that account Davidson carries much more sway than he otherwise
would.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Sir Richard Hughes, it may be observed, was succeeded as Lieut. Governor of
Nova Scotia by Sir Andrew Snape Hamond in 1781. Both Hughes and Hamond
held in turn the office of commissioner of the naval yard at Halifax. Colonel
Francklin had himself been lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia from 1766 to 1776, and
seems to have kept on excellent terms with his successors. Through his influence
at headquarters the government patronage passed largely to the firm of which he
was the senior partner. Francklin was an adept in the art of diplomacy. During
the Revolutionary war, as we have already seen, his tact and judgment prevented
the Indians from becoming actively hostile to the English and restrained the New
Englanders, settled in Cumberland and other parts of Nova Scotia, from taking up
arms on the side of the rebellion. A specimen of his diplomacy in small matters is
found in one of his letters to Hazen &amp; White in which he writes: &ldquo;However high
Indian corn may be, I wish you would send twenty bushels to Sir Andrew for his
poultry, in which Lady Hamond takes great delight, and pray don&rsquo;t omit getting her
some wood ducks in the approaching season.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_311' name='page_311'></a>311</span></div>
<p>Some further light is thrown upon the state of affairs on the River St. John at
this period, and the &ldquo;modus operandi&rdquo; of the mast cutters by the following letter,
written by Hazen &amp; White, to Colonel Francklin:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Fort Howe, 23rd March, 1782.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Dear Sir,&mdash;Since our last we have been at Maugerville viewing the masts, etc,
etc. Mr. Peabody has cut down and procured as many sticks as could be expected
under the disadvantage of having the other contractor at his elbow. You will find
enclosed Mr. Hayes account and certificates of the number and sizes of sticks on
the banks, trimmed four square and fit for rafting. They have about 120 more
cut, many of which cannot be got out this season. Mr. Peabody set off on the
14th inst. to view a glade of Pines on the Grand Lake, about 40 miles from Mr.
Simonds&rsquo; house, where he has a number of men to work. * * The French people
at Kanibikashes have about 100 sticks cut. They say they will be able to get out
and bring here this Spring about 40 sticks, the others they can get out in Summer.
Pork, beef and corn is very scarce and dear; the two former not to be bought.
Have engaged what wheat and Indian corn we could on the River. * * Davidson
expects to have 200 sticks out this season and near as many more cut in the woods;
he gives the people larger prices for sticks (and takes them at Maugerville or elsewhere
afloat) than we give Mr. Peabody delivered here. * * We must have two
or three hundred pounds in cash here by the first conveyance.</p>
<p class='right lalign'>&ldquo;Yours etc.,<br />
<span class='indent8'>&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;Hazen &amp; White.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The pines of our primeval forests were evidently of magnificent proportions.
Samuel Peabody mentions cutting a yard 110 feet in length and 26 inches in diameter,
and a mast 38 inches in diameter, and other timber of nearly equal size. Many of
the largest pines grew on the banks of the Rushagonish, a branch of the Oromocto.
By the favor of Lieut. Governor Hamond and his council Messrs. Hazen, White and
Peabody obtained possession of a tract of 8,000 acres of land in that quarter. The
grant was made in the first instance to William Hazen, James White, Jacob Barker
and Tamberlane Campbell, as officers serving in the provincial troops in the last
French war. Tamberlane Campbell immediately sold his share to Samuel Peabody
for a small consideration.</p>
<p>The extent of William Davidson&rsquo;s masting operations must have been very considerable,
for Hazen &amp; White wrote to Colonel Francklin in March, 1782, &ldquo;Davidson
will have about 200 sticks out this season and near as many more fell in the woods,
having employed almost half the Inhabitants in cutting. We should not be surprised
to hear that he, with many of the Inhabitants, should memorialize the Navy
Commissioner to have all his sticks received; if so, and he should succeed, another
contract for us would be but of little advantage as he has raised the price of provision
and men and Ox labour&mdash;oxen to 7s. 6d. pr. pair pr. day and men in <a name='TC_65'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Changed single to double closing-quote">proportion.&rdquo;</ins></p>
<p>The masting business seems to have been <a name='TC_66'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'renumerative'">remunerative</ins>, and was the means of
putting in circulation a considerable amount of specie, which was greatly appreciated
by the settlers on the River St. John. On April 25, 1782, Col. Francklin wrote to
his partners, Hazen &amp; White, &ldquo;There is no doubt of another contract, or of Sir
Andrew&rsquo;s friendship to me, therefore go on and get out as many sticks as you can,
and throw down as many as you are sure of getting out between this and Xmass, at
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_312' name='page_312'></a>312</span>
least, for be assured we shall have another contract, and I mean to apply for a
standing one when I go to Halifax again, which I expect will be in ten days or a
fortnight, or even sooner if the annual ships (from England) arrive.&rdquo; The letter
from which this extract is taken is the last that has been preserved of Francklin&rsquo;s
interesting correspondence with William Hazen and James White. He died at
Halifax, Nov. 8, 1782. The masting business was, however, carried on by Hazen,
White and Peabody for several years longer. William Davidson also continued to engage
in the business. Although some improvement was gradually made in the way the
masting business was conducted by the pioneer &ldquo;lumbermen&rdquo;&mdash;if we may so term
them&mdash;the methods employed down to 1825 were very crude. In that year Peter
Fisher writes. &ldquo;In this country there is no article that can in any degree furnish
export equal to the pine, which is manufactured in the simplest manner with but
little trouble. So simple is the process that most settlers who have the use of
the axe can manufacture it, the woods furnishing a sort of simple manufactory for
the inhabitants, from which, after attending to their farms in the summer, they
can draw returns during the winter for the supplies which are necessary for the
comfort of their families.&rdquo; Mr. Fisher enters a strong protest against what was,
even then a growing evil, namely, the wanton destruction of valuable young timber by
persons who were merely speculators, and had little regard for the future.</p>
<p>The rapid increase in the lumber industry is seen from the fact that in 1824
there was shipped from the port of St. John alone 114,116 tons of Pine and Birch
timber; 11,534,000 feet of Pine boards and planks; 1,923,000 staves; 491,000 Pine
shingles; 1,918 masts and spars; 2,698 handspikes, oars and oar rafters; and 1,435
cords of lathwood; while in addition large quantities were shipped from Miramichi,
St. Andrews, Richibucto and Bathurst. Up to 1825 there is scarcely any mention
of Spruce lumber as an article of export. The first Spruce deals cut in New Brunswick
were sawn in 1819, and the first cargo, which consisted of only 100,000 superficial
feet, was shipped to England in 1822.</p>
<p>In 1782, Hazen, White and Peabody had a small saw mill in operation on the
Oromocto stream, and about this time they erected another and larger one. The
mills were not profitable at first, but they became more valuable after the close of
the Revolutionary war, when the arrival of the Loyalists created a great demand
for sawn lumber.</p>
<p>Before we turn from the consideration of the small beginnings of our great
lumbering industry to other matters, a few words may be added concerning the
Glasier family, so famous in the annals of the province for their enterprises on
the River St. John. Colonel Beamsley Glasier&rsquo;s connection with the mills erected
on the Nashwaak in 1788, by the St. John&rsquo;s River Society, has already been related.
His brother Benjamin, who was a somewhat younger man, came to the St. John
river from Massachusetts in 1779 as a shipwright. The Revolutionary war, however,
rendered it impracticable to carry on ship building, so he moved up the river
to what was then called &ldquo;Morrisania,&rdquo; about six miles below Fredericton, where in
1782 he purchased from Benjamin Bubier, for the sum of &pound;200, a tract of 1,000 acres
of land on which his desendants of the fourth generation still reside. Benjamin
Glasier&rsquo;s commission as a lieutenant in the Massachusetts infantry is yet preserved
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_313' name='page_313'></a>313</span>
in the family. It bears the signature of Thomas Hutchinson, the last Royal Governor
of Massachusetts. Lieut. Glaiser served in the French and Indian wars and
was taken prisoner at the siege of Fort William Henry.</p>
<p>Benjamin Glasier was the progenitor of the well known family, of which the
late Senator John Glasier (familiarly known as &ldquo;the main John Glasier&rdquo;) and his
brothers Stephen, Duncan and Benjamin were members. The operations of the
Glasier family in lumbering and shipbuilding extended over very nearly a century. At
one time they were undoubtedly the largest operators in New Brunswick, employing
over six hundred men. For many years their production was principally pine
timber, which was shipped to Liverpool.</p>
<p>The late Senator Glasier began his lumbering operations on the Shogomoc, in
York County, and afterwards in company with his brother Stephen, extended them
to the waters of the upper St. John. He was the first lumberman to bring a drive
over the Grand Falls, and is said to have been the first white man to explore the
Squattook lakes. The phrase &ldquo;the Main John Glasier&rdquo; originated with an Irishman
named Paddy McGarrigle, who was employed as a cook.<a name='FNanchor_0122' id='FNanchor_0122'></a><a href='#Footnote_0122' class='fnanchor'>[122]</a> It was soon universally
adopted by the lumbermen and, strange to say, has spread over the continent. In
the western states today men employed in lumbering apply the term, &ldquo;He is the
main John Glasier&rdquo; to the manager of any big lumbering concern. It is said that
only a few of those who use the term know its origin. It was undoubtedly carried
to the west by men who went there from the River St. John. Senator Glasier
died at Ottawa in his 84th year, during the session of 1894, while engaged in the
discharge of his parliamentary duties.</p>
<p>It is a curious circumstance that the present members for Sunbury County
in the provincial legislature, Parker Glasier and J. Douglas Hazen, are great-grandsons
respectively of Benjamin Glasier and John Hazen, old neighbors and
worthy residents of Sunbury one hundred and twenty years ago. At that time
Sunbury included nearly the whole of the province, now it is a very modest little
constituency indeed.</p>
<p>The origin of the famous &ldquo;Wood-boats&rdquo; of the St. John river is revealed in
the correspondence of Hazen and White. Previous to the arrival of the Loyalists
all the vessels used on the river were either small schooners and sloops or gondolos;
but in November, 1783, Hazen and White determined to build two schooners or
boats to bring wood to market to carry about eight cords. These little vessels they
state were to be managed by two men and were not decked.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_314' name='page_314'></a>314</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XXVIII_PIONEERS_ON_THE_ST_JOHN_RIVER_IN_PRELOYALIST_DAYS' id='CHAPTER_XXVIII_PIONEERS_ON_THE_ST_JOHN_RIVER_IN_PRELOYALIST_DAYS'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>Pioneers on the St. John River in Pre-loyalist Days</span>.</h3>
</div>
<p>Considerable information has already been given in the preceding chapters of
this history concerning the first English settlers on the River St. John, and the
names of such men as Francis Peabody, Israel Perley, James Simonds, James
White, William Hazen, Jonathan and Daniel Leavitt, Beamsley P. and Benjamin
Glasier, Benjamin Atherton, William Davidson, Gilfred Studholme and others will
be familiar to the majority of our readers. Some further information concerning
the early settlers may prove of equal interest.</p>
<h3>BECKWITH.</h3>
<p>Nehemiah Beckwith was an active and well known man on the St. John river
in his day and generation. He was a descendant of Mathew Beckwith, who came
to America from Yorkshire, England, in 1635. The branch of the family to which
Nehemiah Beckwith belonged lived chiefly at Lyme in Connecticut. Two brothers,
Samuel and John, emigrated from that place to Nova Scotia in 1760, in consequence
of the inducements offered by Governor Lawrence to New Englanders to occupy
the lands vacated by the Acadians. A fleet of 22 vessels from Connecticut, carrying
a considerable colony, entered Minas Basin on the 4th day of June, and the settlers
landed near the town plot of Cornwallis. Nehemiah Beckwith was born at Lyme,
February 29, 1756, and was the seventh, and youngest, child of Samuel Beckwith
by his wife Miriam, who was a daughter of Capt. Reynold Marvin. At the time
of his arrival in &ldquo;bluenose land&rdquo; he was little more than four years old. The exact
date of his arrival at Maugerville is uncertain, but it was probably not long before
the 16th December, 1780, when&mdash;as we learn from old Sunbury County records&mdash;he
purchased half of lot No. 78 in Upper Maugerville from Joseph Dunphy for &pound;100.
Nehemiah Beckwith is described in the deed of conveyance as &ldquo;late of Cornwallis
but now of Maugerville, Trader.&rdquo; Mr. Beckwith was quite an enterprising man
in the early days of New Brunswick. He was the first to attempt the establishment
of regular communication by water between St. John and Fredericton, and
for that purpose built in August, 1784, a scow or tow-boat to ply between Parrtown
and St. Anns. A little later he built at Mauger&rsquo;s (or Gilbert&rsquo;s) Island a ship called
the Lord Sheffield, which he sold on the stocks in May, 1786, to Gen&rsquo;l Benedict
Arnold. In consequence of sharp practice on the part of Arnold he was financially
ruined. However, in a few years he succeeded in extricating himself from his
difficulties and again became an enterprising and useful citizen. At the first general
election in this province Mr. Beckwith and James Simonds were candidates for the
County of Sunbury, their opponents being Capt. Richard Vanderburg and William
Hubbard. The election was conducted after the old fashioned style of open voting,
and lasted several days, during which the poll was held in succession at the principal
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_315' name='page_315'></a>315</span>
centres. After a sharp party contest between the old inhabitants and the loyalists,
the former were outvoted and Simonds and Beckwith consequently defeated. This
election helped to intensify the ill-will and <a name='TC_67'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'jealously'">jealousy</ins> already existing between the
&ldquo;old&rdquo; and &ldquo;new&rdquo; inhabitants. Mr. Beckwith married Miss Julia Le Brun and,
after a time, made his residence at Fredericton, where he met his death by drowning
in 1815. His son, the late Hon. John A. Beckwith, born in Fredericton, December
1st, 1800, filled many high offices. He was for a time mayor of Fredericton, chairman
of the provincial Board of Agriculture, a director of the Quebec and New Brunswick
railway and for many years agent of the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land
Company. His son Harry Beckwith was for several years mayor of Fredericton;
another son, Charles W. was for years city clerk, and a third, Adolphus G., filled
for some time the position of chief engineer of the provincial public works department.
A daughter married James Hazen of Oromocto, Sunbury County, and is
the mother of J. Douglas Hazen, M. P. P.</p>
<h3>QUINTON.</h3>
<p>Hugh Quinton, who was one of the pioneers who came to St. John in 1762 with
Captain Francis Peabody, was born in Cheshire, New Hampshire, in 1741. Being
of an adventurous spirit he served, while only a lad in his teens, in one of the
provincial regiments at Crown Point in the French war. His wife, Elizabeth Christie
of Londonderry, New Hampshire, was born in the same year as her husband. They
were married at the age of twenty and came to St. John a year later. According
to the late John Quinton (who was Hugh Quinton&rsquo;s grandson and derived much
of his information directly from his grandmother&rsquo;s lips) Hugh and his wife Elizabeth
arrived in St. John on the 28th August, 1762, and on their arrival found shelter at
the Old Fort Frederick barracks in Carleton where, on the night of the day of their
arrival, their first child James Quinton was born: to him therefore appertains the
honor of being the first child of English speaking parents born at St. John. Not
long afterwards Hugh Quinton went up the river to Maugerville, of which township
he was one of the first grantees. He is described in an old legal document as
&ldquo;Inn-holder,&rdquo; from which it is evident he furnished entertainment to travellers, or
kept a &ldquo;tavern.&rdquo; In those days the keeper of a tavern was usually quite an important
personage. Many of the first religious services at Maugerville were held at
Hugh Quinton&rsquo;s house, as being centrally situated and more commodious than those
of the majority of the settlers. He was himself a member of the Congregational
Church. In 1774 he sold his lot of land opposite Middle Island, and removed to
Manawagonish in the township of Conway where, as we learn from an enumeration
of the settlers made 1st August, 1775, (yet preserved at Halifax) he lived with his
family, comprising ten persons in all, in a small log house, his stock of domestic
animals including 2 horses, 4 oxen and bulls, 5 cows, 6 young cattle, 13 sheep and 5
swine. In common with the majority of the settlers who came from New England,
the sympathies of Hugh Quinton in the Revolutionary war were at first with the
&ldquo;rebels.&rdquo; He was one of the &ldquo;rebel committee,&rdquo; formed at Maugerville in May,
1776, and accompanied Colonel Jonathan Eddy in his quixotic expedition against
Fort Cumberland. After this unlucky escapade Hugh Quinton thought better of
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_316' name='page_316'></a>316</span>
his conduct, took the oath of allegiance and on several occasions turned out and
fought the rebel parties. At the peace in 1783 he drew a lot in Parrtown, at the
corner of Charlotte and Princess streets, (where the residence of the late Dr. John
Berryman now stands), also one in Carleton. For many years he kept a well known
house of entertainment at Manawagonish, Parish of Lancaster. He died in 1792,
but his widow lived until the year 1835. He was the ancestor of all of the name
who are now resident in the province.</p>
<h3>JONES.</h3>
<p>John Jones, the ancestor of the late Hon. Thomas R. Jones and many others
of the name in the province, claims a little notice at our hands. His grandfather
came to America from Wales about the year 1700, accompanied by his family. They
landed at Newburyport, settling, a little later, at Amesbury. This immigrant ancestor
met a tragic death at the hands of the Indians. John Jones, who came to
St. John, was the youngest of his father&rsquo;s children. He learned the ship-carpenter&rsquo;s
trade, and came to St. John with William Hazen in 1775 as a master workman to
build ships for the firm of Hazen, Simonds and White. The first vessel he was
employed in constructing was on the stocks and partly planked when she was
burned by a party of marauders from Machias. Mr. Jones&rsquo; employers paid him his
daily wages for some time, in order to retain his services, under the impression that
the Revolutionary war would soon be ended and they would be able to resume the
business of ship-building. During this waiting period Jones was not entirely idle&mdash;at
least he found time to marry a New England girl, Mercy Hilderick by name, who
was visiting at the home of her brother-in-law Samuel Peabody. The marriage
ceremony was performed by Gervas Say, Esquire, a neighboring justice of the peace.
The ravages of the Yankee privateers that infested the shores of the Bay of Fundy
obliged Mr. Jones and nearly all his neighbors of the Township of Conway to move
up the river. But previous to their departure there occurred John Allan&rsquo;s famous
invasion of the St. John. Allan left a guard of sixty men at the mouth of the
river to oppose the landing of the troops under Major Studholme and Col. Francklin.
The British landed eventually at Manawagonish Cove near the house of Samuel
Peabody and were guided by Messrs. Jones, Peabody and others through the woods
to the place where the enemy were encamped on the west side of the river near
the falls. The Americans were apprised of their coming and had ambushed themselves&mdash;some
of them climbing into trees. Major Studholme sent out flanking
parties, which fired upon the enemy from either side, killing eight of their number,
who were buried in one grave near the spot where they fell; the rest fled terror
stricken with all possible speed to Machias. John Jones at first went up the river
to Jemseg Point, which was then covered with white oak trees. Later he became
acquainted with Edmund Price and, concluding to become his neighbor, removed
to the head of Long Reach and settled at the place called &ldquo;Coy&rsquo;s Mistake&rdquo; on
Kemble Manor, where he had a property of 400 acres of land. It would be quite
impossible in this chapter to follow the various ramifications of the Jones family,
for John Jones had a family of eight sons and seven daughters, fourteen of whom
married and reared large families. One of the sons, Samuel, born while the family
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_317' name='page_317'></a>317</span>
were at Manawagonish, in the first years of the last century had the responsible
duty of carrying his Majesty&rsquo;s weekly mail from St. John to Fredericton. There was,
by the way, a curious circumstance connected with this mail, namely, that letters
from Halifax to St. John were first carried to Fredericton, as the headquarters of
the province, and then returned to St. John. This involved a delay of about a
week in delivery. Naturally the beauties of such a system did not strike the
citizens of the commercial metropolis at all favorably, and the consequence was a
vigorous &ldquo;kick&rdquo; on the part of the citizens of St. John that led ere long to a change
for the better. The house of John Jones, at the head of Long Reach, was a favorite
stopping place for travellers in early times, and the reputation of the family for
hospitality was proverbial. The loyalist settlers at Kingston during the summer of
1783 met with much kindness from the Jones family while they were living in
their canvas tents and busily engaged in the construction of log houses and in making
preparations for the ensuing winter.</p>
<h3>BURPEE.</h3>
<p>The first of the Burpee family in America appears to have been Thomas Burpee,
who settled at Rowley in the County of Essex, Massachusetts. This town lies near
the north-east corner of the &ldquo;Old Bay State.&rdquo; It was settled about 1639, and
Thomas Burpee bought a lot there immediately after the first settlement was made.
It was from this town and its vicinity that many of the first settlers of the township
of Maugerville came in 1762&ndash;3. Included in the number were the Burpees,
Barkers, Perleys, Jewetts, Palmers and others whose decendants are quite numerous
in the province today. Rowley was a stronghold of New England puritanism and,
if we are to credit the testimony of the Rev&rsquo;d. Jacob Bailey, who was born there
in 1731 and was a contemporary of Jonathan Burpee and of Jacob Barker, the
citizens of Rowley were not remarkable for their enterprise. Mr. Bailey writes
that in his day &ldquo;every man planted as many acres of Indian corn, and sowed the
same number with rye; he ploughed with as many oxen, hoed it as often, and
gathered in his crop on the same day with his grandfather; he salted down the
same quantity of beef and pork, wore the same kind of stockings, and at table
sat and said grace with his wife and children around him, just as his predecessors
had done before him.&rdquo; &ldquo;An uniform method of thinking and acting prevailed,
and nothing could be more criminal than for one person to be more learned, religious,
or polite than another.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0123' id='FNanchor_0123'></a><a href='#Footnote_0123' class='fnanchor'>[123]</a></p>
<p>Doubtless the emigration of the men of Massachusetts, who settled on the
River St. John, deprived New England of some of the more enterprising of its
people. An indication of the Puritan ancestry of these immigrants who settled
on the St. John river is furnished by the Biblical names of a very large majority
of the original grantees of Maugerville.<a name='FNanchor_0124' id='FNanchor_0124'></a><a href='#Footnote_0124' class='fnanchor'>[124]</a> Among these names we find the following:&mdash;Enoch,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_318' name='page_318'></a>318</span>
Moses, Joshua, Elisha, Samuel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel,
Nehemiah, Jedediah, Isaac, Israel, Jacob, Joseph, Benjamin, Zebulun, David,
Jonathan, Phinehas, Jabez, Nathaniel, Asa, Ammi, Thomas, Matthew, Stephen,
Peter, James and John.</p>
<p>In the town and parish records of Rowley the name of Thomas Burpee frequently
appears&mdash;the surname usually in the form of Burkby or Burkbee. The name of
Jonathan Burpee (who was probably a great grandson of the first ancestor in
America) appears in the list of the first grantees at Maugerville. He was a deacon
of the Congregational Church and his name is first in order among the signers of
the Church covenant agreed to at Maugerville shortly after the settlement was
founded. He was the head of nearly all Church movements up to the time of his
death in June, 1781. The papers connected with the administration of his estate
are still in existence, and much of the information contained in Dr. Hannay&rsquo;s
valuable sketch of the Township of Maugerville is based upon them. His estate
was appraised by Jacob Barker and Daniel Jewett, two of his old neighbors and
life-long friends, and was valued at &pound;525. He was considered, in his day, one of
the well-to-do farmers of the township.</p>
<p>The simplicity of life which prevailed in this country in the year 1781, is shown
by the fact that Jonathan Burpee had no carriage or wagon of any kind and no
sleigh&mdash;probably the roads were too bad to admit of the use of wheeled vehicles.
The deacon, however, had a saddle for himself and a pillion for his wife and
daughters. Household furniture was indeed meagre, for that of Deacon Burpee
was valued at only &pound;5. 7. 8. But his three good feather beds with pillows, coverlets
and bankets were valued at &pound;16. 11. 3.</p>
<p>The cooking in those days was done at the old-fashioned fire place with swinging
crane, and the cooking utensils were few and simple. All the dishes in use
were of pewter and their number was quite limited. A similar remark applies to
the wearing apparel of that time. A beaver hat or a broadcloth suit was regarded
as a valuable asset that might be handed on to the second or even to the third
generation. Deacon Burpee&rsquo;s library included &ldquo;a number of books valued at &pound;2. 2.
6.,&rdquo; and probably it was as good as any in the settlement.</p>
<p>Commenting on these facts Dr. Hannay justly observes, &ldquo;We may gather from
all this that life was somewhat hard and dry in the Maugerville Settlement, and
that even the richest had very few of those things about them which a modern
man regards as essential to his comfort.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Jonathan Burpee&rsquo;s grandson, David, was a man of mark in the community in
which his lot was cast. He filled for a time the office of Sheriff of the old County
of Sunbury. To him also appertains the honor of being the first school teacher, of
whom we have certain knowledge, within the limits of New Brunswick. In the
winter of 1778&ndash;9 he conducted a school distant only a few rods from the site of the
famous Sheffield Academy of later times.</p>
<p>Among the later descendants of Jonathan Burpee the names of the Hon. Isaac
Burpee, minister of Customs in the McKenzie government, and of E. R. Burpee
manager of the &ldquo;Western Extension&rdquo; R. R., were not long ago as familiar in the
province as household words. Descendants of Jonathan and Jeremiah Burpee are
now to be found in nearly all the counties bordering on the River St. John.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_319' name='page_319'></a>319</span></div>
<h3>PALMER.</h3>
<p>The first of the name in America is believed to have been John Palmer, a
sergeant in the British army, who settled in Rowley, Mass., in 1639. Daniel Palmer
who was one of the founders of Maugerville, settled in what is now Upper Sheffield
in 1763. He was one of the seven signers of the Maugerville Church Covenant and
an Elder of the church. Many of the early religious services were held at his house.
His name in common with most of the early settlers is found in the account books
of Simonds and White in the year 1765. He supplied them with musquash and
beaver skins, hogshead staves, clapboards and oar rafters in return for such goods
and supplies as he needed. Like the majority of his neighbors he was disposed
to sympathize with the Americans at the outbreak of the Revolution and was one
of the &ldquo;Rebel Committee&rdquo; but afterwards accepted the situation and took the oath
of allegiance to the King. His grandson, David Palmer, born at Grand Lake,
Queens Co., in 1789, was a man of literary ability, who in 1869, published a volume
from the press of J. &amp; A. McMillan, entitled New Brunswick and other Poems.</p>
<h3>NEVERS.</h3>
<p>Several persons of this name were grantees of Maugerville, including Elisha,
Jabez, Phinehas and Samuel. The Nevers family settled at Woburn, Massachusetts,
nearly a century before the pioneers came to Maugerville. The first of the name
was Richard Nevers (or Neverds) who is mentioned in the town records of Woburn,
August 26, 1666. Several of his decendants served in the old French war, which
ended with the conquest of Canada, and it is probable that the offer of free grants
of lands to disbanded provincial troops led Elisha, Phinehas and Samuel Nevers to
associate themselves with Captain Francis Peabody in the application for a township,
&ldquo;at St. John&rsquo;s River in Nova Scotia,&rdquo; made in the year 1762. Elisha Nevers
was one of the seven signers of the original Maugerville Church Covenant, and
religious meetings were often held at his house in early times. Phinehas Nevers
was quite a leading man in the early days of Maugerville. He was one of the first
magistrates, and in 1768 was chosen a member for the county of Sunbury in the
Nova Scotia legislature. He practised medicine and was the first doctor, in all
probability, who lived on the river. The practise of medicine was by no means a
lucrative one in his day, for we learn from the account books of Messrs. Simonds &amp;
White, that in February, 1773, he attended one of the men in their employ, having
come down from Maugerville for the purpose, and received &pound;1. 4. 0. for board for
sixteen days and &pound;2. for his professional services. Dr. Nevers was a strong
sympathiser with the Americans at the time of the Revolution and when John
Allan invaded the River St. John in 1777, he joined him, and when a little later
Allan was compelled by Major Studholme to flee to Machias, he was accompanied
thither by Phinehas Nevers. Other members of the family however took the oath
of allegiance and were thenceforth loyal to the king. Samuel Nevers was a man
of enterprise and was one of those who furnished masts to enable Francklin Hazen
and White to fulfil their contract for the royal navy.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_320' name='page_320'></a>320</span></div>
<h3>PERLEY.</h3>
<p>The founder of the Perley family in New England was Allan Perley, who came
from London in 1635 in the ship &ldquo;Planter.&rdquo; A good deal of information regarding
the family may be found in the historical collections of the Essex County Institute
of Massachusetts. Israel Perley was a native of Boxford, in the vicinity of Rowley,
and the house in which he was born was standing not many years ago and may be still
in existence. He was born in 1740, was educated as a land surveyor, and came to
the River St. John in 1761 at the head of an exploring party said to have been
sent by the governor of Massachusetts to report upon the condition and resources
of the country with the view of effecting the settlement of a township in that
region. The story of the establishment of this township and the important services
of Israel Perley in that connection have been already referred to in these chapters.
At the time of his arrival in the country he was a young man of twenty-one years
of age but in the course of time his education and natural abilities made him one of
the most prominent citizens of Maugerville. He was elected a representative for
Sunbury county in the Nova Scotia legislature in 1768, and his name occurs a few
years later as a justice of the Peace for the county. Several of Justice Perley&rsquo;s
court documents are to be found among the old records of the county of Sunbury,
one of which reads as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;<a name='TC_68'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Moved onto new line">County of Sunbury</ins>:&mdash;Be it Remembered that on
the Seventh Day of July, 1774, Nathaniel Barker of Maugerville in the County of
Sunbury and Province of Nova Scotia, yeoman, cometh before Me, Israel Perley,
one of his Majesty&rsquo;s Justices assigned to keep the Peace in the sd County, and
Informeth against himself that he had been this day guilty of a breach of the King&rsquo;s
Peace, viz., by Striking with his fist the body of Rich&rsquo;d Estey Jun&rsquo;r of the town,
County and Province aforesaid, yeoman, for which offence he is willing to submit
to such a fine as the Law Requires.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The sd Richard Estey Jun&rsquo;r personally appeareth at the same time and Declareth
before me that he forgives the sd. Nathaniel Barker the Injury he had
Done him, being Convinced that it was not of malice aforethought but the Effect
of sudden passion: for which Breach of peace I have fined the sd Nath&rsquo;l Barker
to the king one Shilling.</p>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;ISRAEL PERLEY.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However all the cases that came before Esquire Perley were not settled in a
manner so creditable to the offending party. The following case will serve for
illustration:</p>
<p>On the 22 June, 1775, a resident of Morrisania,<a name='FNanchor_0125' id='FNanchor_0125'></a><a href='#Footnote_0125' class='fnanchor'>[125]</a> who shall be nameless, was
arrested on information laid by Richard Barlow for using seditious and profane
language. Abigail Barlow, wife of the complainant, testified that the offender had
in her presence uttered the following words &ldquo;The king I believe is a d&mdash;d Roman,
and if he was standing now in that corner by G&mdash; I would shoot him, or stab him,&rdquo;
with many other words to the same purpose. The prisoner was convicted of profane
swearing, and the magistrate decreed that he should forfeit for that offence
the sum of two shillings currency to the use of the poor of the town of Maugerville,
and it was further ordered that the prisoner &ldquo;stands charged with the Treasonable
words spoken against the King till he shall be further called upon to answer the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_321' name='page_321'></a>321</span>
same&mdash;there being at present no gaol in the sd. county wherein to confine said
prisoner nor Courts held to determine such matters.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Israel Perley was a leading member of the Congregational Church and frequently
occupied the chair as moderator at important public meetings. He was one of the
committee who, in 1774, arranged with the Rev. Seth Noble to become the pastor
of the church at Maugerville. The friendship that existed between Mr. Perley and
the Rev. Seth Noble very nearly involved the former in serious difficulty a few years
later, as will be seen in the following letter addressed by Major Studholme to
James White, Esquire.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Fort Howe, 4 November, 1780.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sir,&mdash;The Inclosed letter from Mr. Perley to Seth Noble of Newbury having
fallen into my hands in the course of inspecting the letters to be sent by the cartel,
I have thought it necessary instantly to secure the person of Mr. Perley and shall
send him to your house about 9 this morning, when I must request you will closely
examine him on the subject of the Inclosed letter. I cannot but think it will be
very difficult for him to reconcile his styling himself the &lsquo;sincere friend&rsquo; of
a notorious rebel with his own situation as one of His Majesty&rsquo;s Justices of the
Peace. * * * &ldquo;I am sir, etc., etc.</p>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;G. STUDHOLME.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the examination that followed Lieut. Samuel Denny Street, a lawyer by
profession and at this time a lieutenant of the garrison, appeared for Major
Studholme, and Mr. Perley was required to explain certain paragraphs and expressions
in his letter, also to explain why he attempted a correspondence with &ldquo;a declared
and notorious rebel to whom in his letter he subscribes himself a sincere
friend.&rdquo; Mr. Perley replied, &ldquo;I meant not to maintain any correspondence with
him, but as his wife was going to him in the cartel I wrote the letter now produced
to acquaint him of the broken situation of the church here, and that there would
be no encouragement to him to think of returning.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In regard to the expression, &ldquo;your sincere friend,&rdquo; Israel Perley stated that the
Rev. Mr. Noble was &ldquo;an old acquaintance before the present disturbances arose
and I had no reference, in styling myself his friend, to anything but his person.
I did not mean that I was a friend to his principles.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Evidently there was a vein of humor in Mr. Perley&rsquo;s character. He is said to
have declined a second election to the House of Assembly of N. S., after having
served one term. The chaplain&rsquo;s prayer, &ldquo;Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings,&rdquo;
etc., he construed to mean, &ldquo;We should be prevented from doing the half we do
there.&rdquo; Israel Perley died at Maugerville in 1813 in the 73rd year of his age.</p>
<p>Oliver Perley, who was his brother, came to the River St. John in January,
1765, in company with Jacob Barker, jr., Zebulun Esty, Humphrey Pickard and
David Burbank, as passengers in a schooner belonging to Hazen, Simonds &amp; White.
His wife was a Palmer, whom he married at Newburyport. In common with the
majority of their neighbors they were inclined to sympathize with the New England
&ldquo;rebels&rdquo; at the outbreak of the American Revolution, and the name of Oliver Perley
appears as one of the &ldquo;rebel&rdquo; committee appointed at the meeting held at Maugerville
in May, 1776. Soon after the peace, in 1783, he is said to have removed to Newburyport,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_322' name='page_322'></a>322</span>
at the solicitation of his wife, but they found so little to admire in the
squabbles that prevailed between the followers of Adams and Jefferson that they
soon returned to the River St. John declaring that the Americans were &ldquo;cursed
with liberty.&rdquo; One of Oliver Perley&rsquo;s sons, Solomon, was married by Rev. John
Beardsley, March 8, 1798, to Elizabeth Pickard; another son, Moses, was married
by the same clergyman, March 10, 1802, to his cousin Mary, daughter of Israel Perley.
This Moses Perley and his wife were members of the church of England and their
son Moses H. Perley was eminent in the history of his native province. Amos
Perley, another son of Oliver Perley seems to have inherited some poetical taste
from the Palmers, and is credited with the following amongst other rhymes:&mdash;</p>
<table summary=''><tr><td>
<p class='cg'>&ldquo;Wrapt in dark mantles of the night<br />
Was Bonnel when he took his flight;<br />
Elijah-like he tried to fly<br />
To the bright mansions in the sky.<br />
But snow was scarce and sleighing bad,<br />
And poor success our deacon had;<br />
For lo! his chariot, as you see,<br />
Is lodged in this old willow tree.&rdquo;</p>
</td></tr></table>
<p>The incident that gave rise to this effusion was a practical joke played on a
pious itinerant preacher, whose sleigh the Maugerville boys had hoisted into the
forks of a large willow. The family of Oliver Perley lived at the spot now known
as McGowan&rsquo;s wharf. Asa Perley, another of the early Maugerville settlers lived
at the head of Oromocto Island in Upper Maugerville. The descendants of the
Perleys in the province are so numerous and so highly respected that it will be needless
to try to follow further their history.</p>
<h3>PEABODY.</h3>
<p>The founder of the Peabody family in America was Lieutenant Francis Peabody
of St. Albans, Herefordshire, England, who came to America in April, 1635, in the
ship &ldquo;Planter,&rdquo; Capt. Nicholas Travice. The same vessel brought the first of the
Perleys, Beardsleys and Lawrences to this continent. Lieut. Francis Peabody was
then about 21 years old. He lived a year or two at Lynn, Mass., and then removed
to Hampton in Old Norfolk County, where he married a daughter of Reginald
Forster and had a family of seven sons and six daughters.</p>
<p>Captain Francis Peabody, who came to the St. John river in 1762, as a prime
mover in the establishment of the township of Maugerville, seems to have been a
native of Rowley. By reason of his rank and character, and the active part he
took in the settlement of the River St. John, he may justly be regarded as the
most influential person on the river while he lived. He served with honor in the
old French war, and is mentioned in Parkman&rsquo;s &ldquo;Wolfe and Montcalm,&rdquo; (Vol.I.,
p. 428.) He was one of the magistrates appointed under the first commission of
the peace for the county of Sunbury, August 11th, 1766, and was the first collector
of customs at the River St. John. The names of Richard, Samuel, Stephen and
Oliver Peabody appear in the list of Maugerville grantees of 1765. Of these Richard
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_323' name='page_323'></a>323</span>
was a brother of Captain Francis Peabody<a name='FNanchor_0126' id='FNanchor_0126'></a><a href='#Footnote_0126' class='fnanchor'>[126]</a> and seems not to have become a permanent
settler; the others were sons of Capt. Peabody. Samuel the eldest, has
been frequently referred to in these chapters. He was a man of parts&mdash;a farmer,
surveyor, mast contractor, ship-builder, trader and mill owner. He died at his
residence, parish of Lincoln, in 1824, at the age of 82 years. Descendants of Stephen
Peabody lived for some years in the parish of St. Mary&rsquo;s, York County. Francis
Peabody, the third son, went to Miramichi where he became a prosperous merchant
and a very influential citizen. The youngest son, Oliver, married, Dec. 31, 1789,
Hulda Tapley of Maugerville, removing to Woodstock, N. B., with his family about
1812, where his descendants still reside and are enterprising and successful farmers.
Oliver Peabody died in 1819, but his widow survived for more than thirty years.
Mary Peabody, wife of Captain Francis Peabody, lived to quite a ripe old age; she
died on the 22nd December, 1803, aged 84 years.</p>
<p>Captain Peabody&rsquo;s was the first will admitted to probate in the county of
Sunbury. It is a document of sufficient historic interest to be quoted in full. And
here it may be well to state that in the year of grace, 1771, a will was made out
in more solemn form than is the case in modern times. As a rule it was read immediately
after the funeral, in the presence of kith and kin, and rarely were its
provisions disputed. Captain Peabody mentions his daughter Heprabeth in his will;
she married Jonathan Leavitt about the year 1773.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the name of God. Amen.</p>
<p>I, Francis Peabody, of Maugerville in the County of Sunbury and Province of
Nova Scotia, being thro&rsquo; the abundant goodness of God, though weak in body, yet
of a sound and perfect understanding and memory, do constitute this my last will
and testament, and desire it may be received by all as such.</p>
<p>First, I most humbly bequeath my soul to God my maker, beseeching his most
gracious acceptance of it through the all-sufficient merits of my Redeemer, Jesus
Christ. I give my body to the earth from whence it was taken, in full assurance of
its resurrection from hence at the last day. As for my burial I desire it may be
decent, at the discretion of my dear wife and executors hereafter named. As to
my worldly estate I will, and positively order, that all my just debts be paid first.
I give my dear and loving wife one third part of all my estate in Nova Scotia,
real and personal, (excepting my wearing apparel), and one third part of my land
in Middleton and Rowley and Canada, and the use of two hundred dollars now in
New England, during her natural life, and the principal if necessity calls for it.</p>
<p>Item, to my son Samuel I give one-fourth part of all my lands not yet disposed
of, excepting the land on Oromocto Island, and all the money I have in New England,
except two hundred dollars given his mother, his paying all my just debts in New
England, and fifteen dollars to his sister Elizabeth White, and two dollars and a
half to his sister Hannah Simonds, and one hundred and fifty dollars to his sister
Heprabeth on her marriage day.</p>
<p>Item, to my son Stephen I give the same quantity of lands as I gave to my
son Samuel, his paying the same sums to his three sisters as ordered for his brother
Samuel to pay.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_324' name='page_324'></a>324</span></p>
<p>Item, to my son Francis I give one half of my lands not yet disposed of.</p>
<p>Item, to my son Oliver I give all my lands not yet disposed of.</p>
<p>Item, I give to my daughter Elizabeth White thirty dollars, to be paid by my
two eldest sons in household goods.</p>
<p>Item, to my daughter Hannah Simonds five dollars, to be paid by my two eldest
sons.</p>
<p>Item, to my daughter Heprabeth I give three hundred dollars to be paid by
my two eldest sons in household goods on <a name='TC_69'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'the the'">the</ins> day of her marriage. As to my
household goods and furniture I leave to the discretion of my loving wife to dispose
of, excepting my sword, which I give to my son Samuel. I appoint my dear
wife and my son Samuel executors of this my last Will and Testament.</p>
<p>As witness my hand,</p>
<p class='right'>FRANCIS PEABODY, Sr.</p>
<p>Delivered this twenty-sixth day of October, the year of our Lord 1771; in
presence of us:</p>
<p>Israel Kinney, Alexander Tapley, Phinehas Nevers.</p>
<p>This Will was proved, approved and registered this 25th day of June, 1773.</p>
<p class='right lalign'>BENJAMIN ATHERTON, Reg&rsquo;r.<br />
JAS. SIMONDS, J. Probates.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>BARKER.</h3>
<p>There were three of this name among the original grantees of Maugerville, Jacob
Barker, Jacob Barker, jr., and Thomas Barker. All were natives of Rowley. They
settled near one another in what is now Upper Sheffield, just above the Sheffield
Academy, having as near neighbors John Wasson, Isaac Stickney, Humphrey Pickard,
Samuel Tapley and several members of the Burpee family. Jacob Barker, sr., served
as an officer in one of the Massachusetts regiments in the old French war, and
after his arrival at the River St. John was a leading man in the affairs of church
and state. He presided as moderator at important church meetings and was one
of the ruling elders. He was also one of the early magistrates of the county. At
the outbreak of the American Revolution his sympathies were with the revolutionary
party, and his son Jacob Barker, jr., was termed by Major Studholme &ldquo;a bitter
rebel.&rdquo; The father presided as chairman of the famous meeting held at Maugerville
on the 24th, May, 1776, at which resolutions hostile to Great Britain were
adopted. He regained the confidence of the authorities of Nova Scotia, however,
for we find that on the 3rd of August, 1782, Lieut.-Governor Sir Andrew Snape
Hamond made a grant of 8,000 acres on the Oromocto river to William Hazen, James
White, Jacob Barker and Tamberlane Campbell, as disbanded provincial officers
who had served the King in the late French war. Thomas Barker and his neighbor,
Richard Estey, jr., owned the first mill in the township. This they sold to James
Woodman in 1782. Thomas Barker also owned and improved a tract of land in
the township of Burton. He died shortly before the arrival of the Loyalists.</p>
<p>Jacob Barker, jr., came to Maugerville from New England in January, 1765,
along with Oliver Perley, Zebulon Estey, David Burbank, Humphrey Pickard and
others, in the schooner &ldquo;Wilmot.&rdquo; He paid passage and freight amounting to &pound;1.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_325' name='page_325'></a>325</span>
10. 5; and 13s. 6d. for his &ldquo;clubb of Cyder on the Passage.&rdquo; On November 13, 1775,
Jacob Barker, jr., paid the sum of &pound;32. 10s. to Giles Tidmarsh of the Island of
Grenada, planter, for half of Lot No. 11 in the Township of Maugerville, comprising
about 250 acres. Giles Tidmarsh lived for a while at Maugerville and was one of
the original grantees of the township.</p>
<p>Among the decendants of Jacob Barker may be mentioned Thos. B. Barker, who
was born in Sheffield in 1820 and came to St. John in 1853, where he was associated
in the drug business with the late Sir Leonard Tilley, and eventually became the
head of the firm of T. B. Barker &amp; Sons. The Hon. Frederic E. Barker, judge of
the supreme court, is also a descendant of Jacob Barker and a native of Sheffield.</p>
<h3>ATHERTON.</h3>
<p>Benjamin Atherton, the first English speaking settler at St. Anns, was born in
Lancaster, Massachusetts, December 20, 1746. His acquaintance with Nova Scotia
dates back to the time of the Acadian Expulsion, when as a young man of less
than twenty years of age he enlisted in Captain Willard&rsquo;s company in Lieut. Colonel
Scott&rsquo;s battalion of Massachusetts troops. He sailed from Boston on the 20th of
May, 1755, in the sloop &ldquo;Victory,&rdquo; and served a year in Nova Scotia under Colonel
John Winslow.</p>
<p>In the year 1769, by arrangement with James Simonds, Benjamin Atherton
settled at St. Anns Point, where he established a trading post near the site of
Government House, Fredericton. The position of a trader on the outskirts of
civilization, in the vicinity of Aukpaque, the largest Indian village on the St. John,
required tact and courage, but Mr. Atherton was equal to the emergency. In 1783,
when the Loyalists arrived, he had at St. Anns &ldquo;a good framed house and log barn,
and about thirty acres of land cleared&mdash;partly by the French.&rdquo; On March 30th, 1773,
Benjamin Atherton married Abigail Mooers of Maugerville. She was a daughter of
Peter Mooers and a sister of Mrs. Israel Perley. At the time of her marriage she
was a girl of seventeen. She died at Prince William, N. B., June 28th, 1852, at the
great age of 97 years. By exchange with government Benjamin Atherton acquired
a valuable property in Prince William in lieu of his lands at the upper end of
Fredericton. His place in Prince William was well known to travellers of later
days as an inn kept by one of his descendants, Israel Atherton, for many years.
Benjamin Atherton was a man of excellent education. He filled the offices of
clerk of the peace and registrar of the old county of Sunbury when it formed part
of Nova Scotia; a little later he was a coroner. The old prayer book from which
he used to read prayers on Sunday for the benefit of his assembled neighbors in
the absence of a clergyman, is still in existence. Benjamin Atherton died June 28th,
1816, and his ashes rest beside those of his wife in the little burial ground in Lower
Prince William, hard by &ldquo;Peter Smith Creek.&rdquo; His descendants are numerous and
widely scattered; among the number is Dr. A. B. Atherton, the well known physician
and surgeon of Fredericton.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_326' name='page_326'></a>326</span></div>
<h3>GARRISON.</h3>
<p>Joseph Garrison was born in Massachusetts in 1734 and came to the River St.
John as one of the pioneer settlers. He married in 1764, Mary Palmer, who was born
in Byfield, Mass., in 1741, and who was most probably a daughter of Daniel Palmer,
sr., his next door neighbor at Maugerville. Whether the marriage ceremony was
performed at the River St. John or in New England the writer of this history is
unable to say; but if at the former place it was probably celebrated after the
fashion described in the following document:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Maugerville, February 23, 1766.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In the presence of Almighty God and this Congregation, Gervas Say and Anna
Russell, inhabitants of the above said township, enter into marriage covenant lawfully
to dwell together in the fear of God the remaining part of our lives to perform
all the duties necessary betwixt husband and wife as witness our hands.</p>
<p class='right lalign'>GERVAS SAY,<br />
ANNA SAY.</p>
<p>(Witnesses.) Daniel Palmer, Fran&rsquo;s Peabody, Sam&rsquo;l Whitney, Richard Estey,
<a name='TC_70'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Gearge'">George</ins> Hayward, David Palmer, Edw&rsquo;d Coy.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The respectability of the witnesses, and the solemn terms of this marriage
covenant, suffice to show that marriages thus solemnized were regarded as perfectly
regular, and it is probable that in the absence of a minister competent to perform
the ceremony this was the ordinary mode of marriage.<a name='FNanchor_0127' id='FNanchor_0127'></a><a href='#Footnote_0127' class='fnanchor'>[127]</a> It will be noticed that
Daniel Palmer, whose daughter Mary had married Joseph Garrison a little before
this time, was the first witness to the marriage covenant of Gervas Say and Anna
Russell.</p>
<p>Joseph Garrison&rsquo;s lot in the township was No. 4, opposite the foot of Middle
Island in Upper Sheffield. His father-in-law Daniel Palmer and his brothers-in-law
Daniel Palmer jr., and Abijah Palmer were his nearest neighbors.
His third son, Abijah Garrison, born in the year 1773, married Fanny
Lloyd who was born on Deer Island, near St. Andrews, in 1776. Their
youngest son, William Lloyd Garrison, was the celebrated advocate of the
abolition of slavery. Joseph Garrison is said to have been the first of the settlers
to engage in mining <a name='TC_71'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'caol'">coal</ins> at Grand Lake. The coal was shipped to New England on
board one of the vessels of Simonds &amp; White. His name occurs among the first
customers in their books after the establishment of their trading post at the mouth
of the river in 1764, and he had frequent business transactions with the firm.<a name='FNanchor_0128' id='FNanchor_0128'></a><a href='#Footnote_0128' class='fnanchor'>[128]</a></p>
<h3>COY.</h3>
<p>The progenitor of those of this name now living in the province was Edward
Coy, who came to the River St. John from Pomfret in Connecticut in 1763. The
name was originally McCoy; but the &ldquo;Mc.&rdquo; was dropped by Edward Coy&rsquo;s grandfather
and was not again resumed by his descendants. By his wife, whose maiden
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_327' name='page_327'></a>327</span>
name was Amy Titus, Mr. Coy had a family of six sons and five daughters. His
third daughter was the first female child born of English or American parents on
the River St. John. The well known inlet on the river, called &ldquo;The Mistake,&rdquo;
was originally called &ldquo;Coy&rsquo;s Mistake,&rdquo; the name doubtless suggests by the circumstance
of Coy&rsquo;s mistaking the channel in ascending the river, and after proceeding
some miles finding himself in a &ldquo;cul de sac.&rdquo; Edward Coy was one of the original
grantees of Maugerville, his lot being opposite the head of Gilbert&rsquo;s Island, but
for some years he lived at Gagetown, where his daughter Mary was born in 1771.
This daughter published in 1849 a narrative of her life and christian experience,
including extracts from her diary and correspondence during a period of upwards
of sixty years. It is a curious and interesting old book. Edward Coy was an active
member of the Congregational church and one of the signers of the original church
covenant. As the children of the family grew up, Mrs. Bradley informs us, their
parents instructed them in the ways of religion, furnishing them with such education
as their situation and circumstances admitted, which was little more than they
learned at home, except in the case of the two youngest. The early years of the
family were rendered more arduous by reason of ill health on the part of the mother
and failing sight on the part of the father. Edward Coy settled at Upper Gagetown
under arrangements with Col. Wm. Spry, who gave him (July 12, 1770,) a lease of
200 acres of land. Under the terms of the lease Coy was to pay at the expiration
of two years 4 shillings per annum, and at the expiration of four years 8 shillings
per annum for ever. This was not a very large rental for a farm of 200 acres, but
the tenant system was never popular on the St. John. Mr. Coy was required to
&ldquo;leave a row of trees on each side of the high road, thereafter to be laid out, at
the distance of about six rods from each other.&rdquo; About this time he sold his lands
in Maugerville to Moses Coburn.</p>
<p>At the outbreak of the Revolution the attitude of the Indians was so threatening,
and reports of the lawlessness of privateers so alarming, that Mr. Coy removed
his family once more to Sheffield, which was then by far the most thickly settled
place on the river. He attended the meeting held on the 24th May, 1776, at which
resolutions strongly favoring the cause of the colonies in rebellion were adopted,
and was appointed one of the &ldquo;rebel committee.&rdquo; His son Amasa went in arms
with Jonathan Eddy against Fort Cumberland. Both father and son, however,
subsequently took the oath of allegiance to the King and were thenceforth loyal
subjects. The family returned to Gagetown in a few years, the public mind having
become more settled respecting the American war. Mrs. Bradley, in her narrative,
gives a good description of the general interest and excitement created in the Spring
of 1779, by the coming of the celebrated New-light preacher and evangelist, Henry
Alline, which made an indelible impression on her mind, although she was only a
child at the time. Shortly afterwards the small-pox broke out in the settlements,
and Edward Coy determined to have his family &ldquo;inoculated.&rdquo; Inoculation, it may
be observed, was regarded as the best preventative of small-pox before <a name='TC_72'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'vacciantion'">vaccination</ins>
was introduced by Dr. Jenner. The results, however, were not uniformly satisfactory.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_328' name='page_328'></a>328</span>
In the case of the Coy family, Mr. Coy and his wife lay at the point of
death for a considerable time, and their second son, aged 24 years, died.<a name='FNanchor_0129' id='FNanchor_0129'></a><a href='#Footnote_0129' class='fnanchor'>[129]</a></p>
<p>When the Loyalists arrived in 1783 Edward Coy was living in a log house on
his lot at Upper Gagetown where he had cleared about 15 acres of land. The
circumstances of the pioneer settlers were still rather straitened, but the exiled
Loyalists were in a much more unfortunate condition. Speaking of their distress,
Mrs. Bradley says; &ldquo;My heart was filled with pity and affection when I saw them
in a strange land, without house or home, and many of them were sick and helpless.
I often looked upon them when they passed by in boats in rainy weather
and wished for them to call and refresh themselves and was glad when they did
so.&rdquo; Edward Coy shared with a Loyalist family the accommodation of his humble
dwelling until they could provide themselves a shelter.</p>
<h3>ESTEY.</h3>
<p>The ancestor of the Esteys in America was Jeffrey Estey, an English puritan,
who sought refuge in New England from the persecutions of Old England. He was
living at Salem, Mass., in 1636, but removed later to Long Island, N. Y., where he
died in 1657. His son, Isaac Estey, married Mary Towne, who was born in Yarmouth,
England, about 1634. She was among the unfortunate witchcraft martyrs of Salem
in 1692; she wrote a remarkable letter to the judges and court denying the charges
preferred against her. Isaac Estey was grandfather of Richard Estey who came to
the St. John river with the Maugerville colony. Richard Estey lived at Rowley
but he was born at Topsfield, Mass., the home of his parents and grand-parents.
His wife was Ruth Fisk of Ipswich, Massachusetts. He was a member of the
Congregational church in Rowley until he was dismissed to the church at St. John
river in May, 1764. Among his children who were born at Rowley and came to
Maugerville were the following:&mdash;</p>
<ol>
    <li>Richard Estey, jr., born Feb. 9, 1728, married Hannah Hazen.</li>
    <li>Sarah Estey, born Oct. 12, 1736, married Thomas Barker.</li>
    <li>John Estey, born about 1739, married Mary Hart.</li>
    <li>Zebulon Estey, born Dec. 14, 1742, married Molly Brawn and died Oct. 10, 1806.</li>
</ol>
<p>Richard Estey, sr., was one of the seven signers of the original church covenant
at Maugerville and served on important church committees. The Esteys were well
known and active men in the community, and were among the pioneers of milling
on the St. John river. Richard Estey, jr., had a saw mill in 1779, on what was
then called Numahael creek. His brother Zebulon moved to Upper Gagetown about
1778, where he built a grist mill&mdash;the first in that vicinity and used by farmers on
both sides of the river. The committee sent by Major Studholme early in 1783, to
explore the river and report upon the state of settlement, mention the fact that
Zebulon had been settled about 5 years on his location. He had built a house and grist
mill and cleared about 3 acres of land. He had a wife and 8 children. The committee
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_329' name='page_329'></a>329</span>
add:&mdash;&ldquo;Said Estey is a good man, his character very loyal and we beg to recommend
him to be confirmed in his possessions.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Moses, Israel and Amos Estey, who were of a younger generation, removed
from Maugerville to the Burton side of the river prior to 1783, induced thereto in
all probability, by the inconveniences consequent upon the Spring freshets.</p>
<p>Zebulon Estey was a ruling elder of the Congregational church at Maugerville
in 1775. Through the ministry of the Rev. Joseph Crandall, one of the fathers of
the Baptist denomination in the maritime provinces, a considerable number of the
old Congregationalists of Waterborough and the vicinity were led to organize a
Baptist church. Their leader, Elijah Estabrooks, was foremost in the movement,
which was much aided by the unexpected conversion of the &ldquo;old squire&rdquo; Zebulon
Estey to Baptist principles. Father Crandall writes of that day: &ldquo;Nearly thirty
candidates were baptized, and the meeting did not break up until the going down
of the sun. It was truly solemn and delightful to hear the praises of the Lord sung
by great numbers of happy converts in boats returning home from the delightful
scene. The work of that day I can never forget. The clear setting sun, the large
expanse of unruffled water, the serenity of the atmosphere, the delightful notes of
the feathered songsters, and the solemn sound of hymns sung by many happy
voices, presented to me an emblem of the paradise of God. It seemed as though
heaven had come down to earth, and that I was on the brink of the eternal world.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Of the church organized at Waterborough in 1800, Elijah Estabrooks became the
pastor, Edward Coy and Joseph Estabrooks deacons, and Zebulon Estey clerk,
&ldquo;all by a unanimous vote.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Further particulars of the organization of this church, which was the first of
the denomination in western New Brunswick, will be found in Dr. Bill&rsquo;s History
of the Baptists.</p>
<p>The Esteys proved a prolific stock and their descendants on the River St. John
are numerous.</p>
<h3>ESTABROOKS.</h3>
<p>The first of this name in America is supposed to have been Joseph Estabrooks,
who was born in Enfield, Middlesex County, England, and came to Concord, New
Hampshire in 1660. It is said that he had two brothers, one of whom, Thomas,
was at Swansea in 1683, but subsequently went to Concord. Elijah Estabrooks, who
settled on the River St. John, had in his lifetime many places of abode. He was
probably a native of Haverhill, Massachusetts, where his son, of same name, was
born in May, 1756. The family came to Halifax about the year 1763, removing soon
afterwards to Cornwallis, and from thence to St. John. On the 18th October, 1765,
Mr. Estabrooks entered the employ of Simonds &amp; White. In 1773 he made an
agreement with Wm. Hazen and James Simonds to settle in the township of Conway,
near the mouth of the river, Hazen and Simonds guaranteeing him a deed of 250
acres of land. An old return, or census, of the township, dated 1st August, 1775,
shows that Mr. Estabrooks&rsquo; family included a wife, three sons and three daughters.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_330' name='page_330'></a>330</span>
He had cleared and improved seven acres of land and built a log house. His domestic
animals were one cow, two young cattle and two hogs. Before he had made more
than a good beginning the Revolutionary war brought everything to a stand. We
learn from Major Studholme&rsquo;s report that Elijah Estabrooks was one of those who
accompanied Hugh Quinton in the expedition against Fort Cumberland in 1776, and
shared in the discomfiture of the party. His predilection for the American cause
did not save him from being molested by the &ldquo;rebel privateers,&rdquo; and he was obliged
in the Spring of 1777 to remove his family from their exposed situation at the
mouth of the river to the vicinity of Gagetown. It is a little remarkable that Elijah
Estabrooks and his immediate neighbors on the St. John should have come from
Cornwallis and other parts of Nova Scotia, although they were in the first instance
natives of New England. They seem to have had no legitimate title to the lands
on which they settled themselves, while awaiting the issue of the struggle between
Great Britain and the colonies in rebellion. The arrival of the Loyalists in 1783
rendered their situation exceedingly precarious. However, they were befriended
by Governor Parr, who directed that such lots as were occupied by old inhabitants
of the country (although the occupants might not have any legal claim) should
not be appropriated by the Loyalists until they had paid for the improvements
made by those in possession. This policy was continued, after the formation of
the Province of New Brunswick, by Governor Carleton and his council. A valuation
of the improvements made at Upper Gagetown by Robert Lasky, Robert Lasky, jr.,
Elijah Estabrooks, sr., Elias Clark, Arculus Hammond, John Richardson, Samuel
Hersey, Francis Grant, Moses Clark, Samuel Kemble and Benjamin Boober was
made by Thomas Hart, Samuel Upton and John Hart. As the valuators were old
settlers and neighbors, the interests of their friends were not likely to suffer at
their hands. They placed the value of the buildings and improvements of the eleven
individuals named above at &pound;603.12s.6d. which was more than the Loyalists who had
drawn the locations were disposed to pay; consequently the old settlers remained
in possession. The valuation put upon the house of Elijah Estabrooks, sr., was &pound;10;
that of his &ldquo;improvements&rdquo; &pound;46.</p>
<p>Elijah Estabrooks, jr., was led by the visit of Rev. Henry Alline, in 1779, to
connect himself with the church formed on &ldquo;New-light&rdquo; principles at Waterborough,
and a few years later he commenced preaching. In May, 1780, he was baptized
by Rev. Joseph Crandall, and his example being followed by several others a
small Baptist church was constituted in Waterborough of which Mr. Estabrooks
was the pastor. Several of the incidents of his ministry are related in Rev. Dr.
Bill&rsquo;s History of the Baptists. During the years he labored in Waterborough and
the adjoining settlements he supported himself and his family by his own industry.
He was held in universal esteem by persons of all denominations and all descriptions.
Today his descendants and those of his brothers are very numerous on the St.
John river.</p>
<h3>DARLING.</h3>
<p>There were twenty-three proprietors of a township, which was originally called
&ldquo;Amesbury&rdquo; in honor of James Amesbury, a Halifax merchant, one of the grantees.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_331' name='page_331'></a>331</span>
Among the few inhabitants of the township, prior to the arrival of the
Loyalists, mention may be made of Benjamin Darling, the first English speaking
settler on the banks of the Kennebecasis. Mr. Darling was born at Marblehead,
Massachusetts, in 1730, and came to the St. John river a few years before the war
of the American Revolution. He used to trade with the Indians and became very
friendly with the chief of a small village at Nauwigewauk. Here in early times the
Indians used to raise corn and tobacco. They were inclined to resent the intrusion
of the whites into their domain but Benjamin Darling, after prolonged negotiation,
obtained from the local chief possession of the island, the consideration offered and
accepted being two bushels of corn, one barrel of flour, a grindstone, some powder
and shot and sundry knives, hatchets and other implements. Darling built himself
a comfortable log dwelling, the upper part of which served as a store-room for goods
for the Indian trade. After his wife&rsquo;s death his daughter Hannah became the housekeeper
with a young girl friend as companion. The Indians, though otherwise
friendly enough, objected to all attempts to clear and till the land and would not
even allow the young ladies to beautify their premises by the cultivation of flowers.
On one occasion Benjamin Darling went in company with the Indian chief to visit
a beaver dam not far away. During their absence an Indian entered the house with
the avowed intention of taking one of the girls for his &ldquo;squaw.&rdquo; There being no
man about the premises the prospect was certainly alarming, but woman&rsquo;s wit proved
equal to the emergency. As the intruder advanced to lay hands upon her Hannah
Darling offered to go with him of her own free will, but immediately after
leaving the house cleverly eluded the Indian, slipped in again at the door and
fastened it. The despicable savage advanced to the window with diabolical threats,
whetted his knife before their eyes and finally seized a club to make forcible entry
only to find himself confronted at the doorway by the plucky girl with a loaded musket
in her hands. Her spirit was now thoroughly aroused; she ordered him off the
premises forthwith, and the Indian after glancing at her determined face slunk away.
The old chief was greatly incensed at this occurrence, and a day or two later the
culprit was brought before the young woman with his hands tied, the chief demanding
&ldquo;shall we kill him?&rdquo; To which she answered, &ldquo;Oh, no! let him go.&rdquo; He was
thereupon chased out of the neighborhood and forbidden to return under penalty of
death. Hannah Darling, the heroine of this spirited adventure, afterwards married
Christopher Watson, and is said to have attained the wonderful age of 108 years.</p>
<h3>GAGE.</h3>
<p>Among the large land grants on the River St. John, passed in the year 1765,
was one of 20,000 acres to General Thomas Gage and nineteen other individuals,
most of them residents of New York. The tract included the lower part of the parish
of Hampstead and the upper part of Greenwich, extending in front along the
river from about the foot of Long Island to Jones&rsquo; Creek, a little below Oak
Point. Many of the original grantees were related by blood or marriage and the
association was in its way a &ldquo;family compact.&rdquo; General Gage served in the seven
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_332' name='page_332'></a>332</span>
years war in America and was commander-in-chief of the British forces at the
Battle of Bunker Hill. His wife was a daughter of Peter Kemble, president of
the Council of New Jersey; Stephen Kemble and Samuel Kemble, who were proprietors
of the township, also were her brothers.<a name='FNanchor_0130' id='FNanchor_0130'></a><a href='#Footnote_0130' class='fnanchor'>[130]</a> Henry Gage, son of General
Gage, although only a child of five years, was one of the proprietors.<a name='FNanchor_0131' id='FNanchor_0131'></a><a href='#Footnote_0131' class='fnanchor'>[131]</a> Other
proprietors were William, Samuel and Robert Bayard; they were related to the
Kembles. The Bayards were leading Loyalists and among their descendants we
have still with us Dr. William Bayard, the nestor of the practising physicians of
the maritime provinces. Archibald McCall, a wealthy merchant of Philadelphia,
was another proprietor; his wife, Edith Kemble, was a sister of Stephen and
Samuel Kemble. Another notable proprietor was John Watts, a member of
the Executive Council of New York, a gentleman of wealth and reputation; his
daughter married Sir John Johnson, who was also one of the associates in the
grants.</p>
<h3>KEMBLE.</h3>
<p>On the 27th of May, 1767, fifteen of the original grantees, including General
Thomas Gage, transferred their rights to Stephen Kemble<a name='FNanchor_0132' id='FNanchor_0132'></a><a href='#Footnote_0132' class='fnanchor'>[132]</a> for a very small
consideration&mdash;ten pounds current money of the Province of New York&mdash;and the
grant was thenceforth known as the Kemble Manor.</p>
<p>In the year 1774 Col. Kemble appointed Joseph Frederick Wallet Des-Barres
to act for him in the settlement of the manor, with power to substitute and appoint
one or more agents. Des-Barres immediately named James Simonds as his
deputy; the duties of the latter are specified in the records of the old county of
Sunbury under the following heading:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Instructions for carrying into execution the letter of Attorney of Stephen
Kemble, Esq., to Joseph Frederick Wallet Des-Barres, Esq., to be observed by
James Simonds, Esq., his substitute for this purpose specially appointed.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Under the instructions the manor was to be divided into one hundred lots of
200 acres each, to be laid out in such a way as to allow communication with the
river to as many settlers as possible. Half the lots were offered at &pound;5 sterling
each to purchasers or to tenants at a renewable lease of ten shillings per annum,
but it was not until about the year 1782 that any effectual measures were taken
for the settlement of the grant, the explanation probably being that Mr. Simonds
and his partners were too much engaged in securing their own lands from forfeiture
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_333' name='page_333'></a>333</span>
to pay much attention to those of Col. Kemble. However on the arrival of the
Loyalists a number of lots were speedily disposed of and by the efforts of Ward
Chipman, who succeeded James Simonds as agent, the greater part of the lands
were saved from escheat. Col. Kemble visited the River St. John in 1788. His
correspondence with Ward Chipman relative to the improvement of the Manor is
of interest. The last of the lots on the river was sold in 1811, and in 1820 the
rear of the property, comprising about one half of the whole, was sold to Nehemiah
Merritt, of St. John, for &pound;1000.</p>
<h3>STERLING.</h3>
<p>Another considerable grant in the year 1765 was that made to Captain Walter
Sterling of the Royal Navy, and nine others<a name='FNanchor_0133' id='FNanchor_0133'></a><a href='#Footnote_0133' class='fnanchor'>[133]</a>, 10,000 acres at the foot of Kingston
peninsula, now known as &ldquo;Lands End.&rdquo; This tract was forfeited for non-fulfilment
of the conditions of the grant. Capt. Walter Sterling visited the River St.
John in August, 1775, and some business transactions with him are to be found
in the old account books of Hazen, Simonds and White.</p>
<h3>GLASIER.</h3>
<p>Another large grant of this period was known as &ldquo;Glasier&rsquo;s Manor&rdquo; (subsequently
as &ldquo;Coffin&rsquo;s Manor&rdquo;), extending from Brundage&rsquo;s Point in the parish of Westfield
up the river to a point two or three miles above the Nerepis. Colonel Glasier is
believed to have made his headquarters during his sojourn on the River St. John at
or near the site of Fort Boishebert at Woodman&rsquo;s Point. The Nerepis stream was
at one time known as &ldquo;Beaubear&rsquo;s river;&rdquo; for example, in a description of the
River St. John, written a little before the arrival of the Loyalists, we have the
following: &ldquo;At the entrance of a small river called <a name='TC_73'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Baubiers'">Baubier&rsquo;s</ins> River or narrow
Piece [Nerepis] the land a considerable distance back is good upland but no Interval.
The land up Baubier&rsquo;s River for three miles, which was included in Glasier&rsquo;s
original Grant, is good, both Interval and upland. On Baubier&rsquo;s River mills may
be erected and there is some good timber. On Baubier&rsquo;s Point the salmon fishery
is said to be the best on St. John&rsquo;s River.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Shortly after the arrival of the Loyalists Glasier&rsquo;s Manor passed into the
possession of General Coffin, and was by him named Alwyngton Manor. Before this
transaction was consummated, however, Glasier&rsquo;s Manor had nearly shared the fate
of other grants. Elias Hardy, a clever lawyer employed by the government to investigate
the state of the old townships with a view to the forfeiture of lands vacant
and unimproved, claimed that the manor was escheatable in part as not having
been fully settled. It was shown, however, that Nathaniel Gallop and others had
made improvements, built dwellings, barns and out-houses, but the Indians had
burned the houses and destroyed the crops and finally driven the settlers away.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_334' name='page_334'></a>334</span>
Owing to the distracted state of the country at the time of the Revolution, no
settlement was practicable near the mouth of the river. Governor Parr used his
influence in Col. Glasier&rsquo;s behalf, assuring him that every effort would be made
to preserve his lands in view of his efforts to promote the settlement of the country.
General Coffin succeeded, after he had purchased the manor, in getting some
valuable settlers to take up lands at the Nerepis, among them Capt. Henry Nase, a
brother officer in the late King&rsquo;s American regiment, whose descendants still live at
Westfield. In the course of the first year&rsquo;s residence General Coffin expended
more than &pound;1,200 sterling in improving his property. He built on the Nerepis
stream an excellent mill and displayed much enterprise in other ways.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_335' name='page_335'></a>335</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XXIX_AT_THE_CLOSE_OF_THE_REVOLUTIONAFFAIRS_CIVIL_AND_RELIGIOUS' id='CHAPTER_XXIX_AT_THE_CLOSE_OF_THE_REVOLUTIONAFFAIRS_CIVIL_AND_RELIGIOUS'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>At the Close of the Revolution&mdash;Affairs Civil and Religious.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>After the establishment of Major Studholme&rsquo;s garrison at Fort Howe, in the
fall of 1777, the settlers on the river found adequate protection. The Indians occasionally
assumed a hostile attitude it is true, especially when they were stirred
up by Allan&rsquo;s emissaries from Machias, but they were rather overawed by the
proximity of the fort and were for the most part peacefully disposed. The privateers
continued their depredations on the coast, but kept clear of Fort Howe. The condition
of the settlers on the river had gradually improved and they were now able
to live within themselves. Money too began to circulate more freely, owing to
the development of the masting industry. In several of the townships primitive
grist and saw mills were to be found, and there was even a small tannery, owned
and operated by one Nathaniel Churchill of Gagetown. Among the artificers
of Maugerville were Sylvanus Plummer, joiner and housewright; James Woodman,
Shipwright; John Crabtree, weaver; Israel Kenny, blacksmith; Jonathan Whipple,
cooper; Benjamin Bailey, housewright; Abel English, blacksmith.</p>
<p>Among the glimpses of Portland Point, during the closing year of the Revolution,
a rather interesting one is to be found in the diary of Benjamin Marston, a
loyalist of Marblehead, who visited the place in his vessel the &ldquo;Britannia&rdquo; in the
autumn of 1781. An extract from his diary here follows:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Friday, Sept. 7&mdash;About 10 a. m. arrived safely into St. John&rsquo;s river, went
ashore and dined with Mr. Hazen whom I find to be every way the man I have
ever heard him characterized.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Saturday, Sept. 8&mdash;Dined with Mr. Hazen. Sold him and Mr. White some
tobacco, wine and chocolate. Mending sails today. Wind blowing very hard
at N. W.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sunday, Sept. 9&mdash;Am in hopes of having a convoy to Annapolis, shall know
more of it tomorrow; if one, shall wait for it. Dined ashore at Mr. Hazen&rsquo;s.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Monday, Sept. 10&mdash;Still waiting in hopes of a convoy and have some prospect
of carrying garrison stores to Annapolis, in that case shall have a party sufficient
to keep off pirate boats. Spent the day rambling about the country which hereabouts
is very broken, barren and but little cultivated, but abounding in vast
quantities of excellent limestone. Fort Howe is built on a single limestone&mdash;&rsquo;tis a
pretty large one. Delivered Mr. Hazen his two hogsheads of tobacco, which I
couldn&rsquo;t do before, we have had such blowing weather the two days past.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Tuesday, Sept. 11&mdash;Dirty, rainy, wind at noon S. and S. S. W.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Wednesday, Sept. 12&mdash;Waited till 12 o&rsquo;clock at noon to sail with the men of
war and the mast ships.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Benjamin Marston sold a portion of his cargo to Hazen &amp; White; but he found
his stay at St. John very monotonous during the fortnight he was detained by
contrary winds. He tried to break the monotony by the composition of the following
rhyme, for which, under the circumstances, we are disposed to excuse him;
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_336' name='page_336'></a>336</span>
it was St. John&rsquo;s first attempt in the poetical line and is as good as some that has
been attempted since:</p>
<table summary=''><tr><td>
<p class='cg'>&ldquo;I&rsquo;rsquo;m almost sick and tired to death<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>With staying in this lonesome place,<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>Where every day presents itself<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>With just the same dull-looking face.<br />
<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>Oh! had I but some kind fair friend<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>With whom to chat the hours away,<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>I ne&rsquo;er would care how blew the wind<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>Nor tedious should I think my stay.<br />
<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>Ah! that was once my happy lot<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>When I with house and home was blest,<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>I&rsquo;d then a fair companion got<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>With many female charms possesst.<br />
<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>Nor scantily did Heaven shower down<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>Those gifts which render life a blessing,<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>But did our cup with plenty crown,<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>Nor let us feel what was distressing.<br />
<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>Yes, dearest Sally, thou wert fair,<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>Not only fair, but kind and good;<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>Sweetly together did we share<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>The blessings Heaven on us bestowed.<br />
<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>Till base Rebellion did display<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>Her banners fair with false pretence,<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>Then kindly Heaven took you away<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>From evils which have happened since.<br />
<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>And careless me, when I had lost<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>Of all my blessings far the best,<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>Did teach, and justly, to my cost,<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>The worth of what I once possessed.<br />
<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>&rsquo;Tis often so&mdash;we do not prize<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>The present good at its just rate,<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>But gone, we see with other eyes<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>What was its worth when &rsquo;tis too late.<br />
<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>Now one more verse, fair Ladies nine,<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>And there&rsquo;ll be one apiece for you;<br />
<span class='indent1'>&nbsp;</span>&rsquo;Tis the way I sometimes spend my time<br />
<span class='indent3'>&nbsp;</span>When I have nothing else to do.&rdquo;</p>
</td></tr></table>
<p>The war of the Revolution was practically ended on the 19th October, 1781,
when Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army to Washington at Yorktown, Virginia,
in the presence of the united French and American forces. From this date until
the peace, the military operations were few and unimportant. Major Studholme
continued quietly to maintain his post at Fort Howe. In addition to a strong detachment
of his own corps, the Royal Fencible American Regiment, he had a detachment
of the 84th regiment, or Young Royal Highland Emigrants. Among Studholme&rsquo;s
subordinate officers were lieutenants Peter Clinch, Samuel Denny Street,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_337' name='page_337'></a>337</span>
Ambrose Sharman and Constant Connor, all of the Royal Fencible Americans, and
lieutenants Laughlan Maclane and Hugh Frazier of the Young Royal Highland
Emigrants.</p>
<p>Lieut. Clinch, according to family tradition, was born in Ireland and educated
at Trinity College, Dublin. He came to America before the outbreak of the Revolution,
was gazetted lieutenant in his regiment May 15, 1776, and shortly afterwards
appointed adjutant. He settled at St. George, N. B., after his regiment was disbanded,
and among his neighbors were Capt. Philip Baily and a number of officers,
non-commissioned officers and private soldiers of the regiment. The difficulties
with which they were confronted on their arrival at St. George are thus described
by one of Mr. Clinch&rsquo;s sons:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;My father had charge of a party of soldiers, who were disbanded in 1783 and
sent to colonize a howling wilderness&mdash;the most unfit employment they could be
put to. The delay which took place in furnishing a vessel to convey them and
their stores added much to their difficulties. It was not until the 10th of November
that a landing was effected at the mouth of the Magaguadavic, where there was
neither house nor habitation of any kind to receive them; and so glad was the
skipper of the vessel to get rid of such a disorderly and almost mutinous crew,
that he sailed away the moment he got them landed. He was under some apprehension
that they would insist on coming away with him again rather than land
on such an inhospitable shore. That night my father slept in the open air and
such a heavy fall of snow came that he had some difficulty in removing the blankets
next morning.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Peter Clinch, in 1793, raised a company for the King&rsquo;s New Brunswick Regiment
which he commanded. He was for some years a representative of Charlotte County
in the New Brunswick legislature, and a man prominent in public affairs up to
the time of his decease in 1816.</p>
<p>Lieut. Sam&rsquo;l. Denny Street was born and educated in England and admitted an
attorney and solicitor at law in the court of Westminster. He came to America in
1774, and enlisting as a volunteer was soon gazetted a lieutenant in the Royal
Fencible American Regiment. He obtained for General McLean the pilots who accompanied
him on his successful expedition to Penobscot, and was himself sent on
several occasions from Fort Howe to Penobscot on confidential services. On the
25th of April, 1781, he was so unfortunate as to be betrayed by his guide, and was
captured near Machias with six of his men. He was sent to Boston and put aboard
the prison ship. Anxious to retain the services of so useful and enterprising an
officer, Gen&rsquo;l McLean on two occasions offered two &ldquo;rebel&rdquo; officers of superior rank
in exchange, but in each instance the offer was declined, and it was learned afterwards
that the failure was due to a memorial forwarded from Machias by Col. John
Allan representing that Lieut. Street was too dangerous a man to be set at liberty.</p>
<p>After several months of irksome confinement Lieut. Street contrived, with the
help of a fellow prisoner, to seize the &ldquo;rebel sentinel&rdquo; as he was pacing the deck
one sultry night in August, without arousing the guard, who was asleep. Having
bound and gagged their man and possessed themselves of his weapons, they released
the other prisoners, and with their assistance surprised and disarmed the
guard consisting of a corporal and twelve men. One of Street&rsquo;s men now swam
ashore and brought off a boat in which they all embarked. The guard were landed
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_338' name='page_338'></a>338</span>
on a small island. Street and his party landed on the mainland and pushed through
the woods to Marblehead, but the day coming on they were so unfortunate as to
fall in with a detachment of American troops by whom they were captured and
conveyed to Boston jail. Street was now measured for irons but information having
reached General McLean on this head he threatened to retaliate upon the
American prisoners at Halifax and the project was abandoned.</p>
<p>After enduring for some time the prison fare, which Street describes as &ldquo;putrid
and offensive,&rdquo; he made another unsuccessful attempt to escape. He was now sent
once more aboard the prison ship. He contrived one dark night to lower himself
from the cabin window, and with the tide at flood swam off undiscovered. After
swimming a mile up the harbor he landed on shore and sought refuge at the house
of an Englishman whom he knew and by whose timely aid he returned in safety
to the garrison at Fort Howe.</p>
<p>Samuel Denny Street was the first lawyer to practice his profession in this
province. At the peace in 1783 he was employed as Major Studholme&rsquo;s assistant
in the settlement of the Loyalists on the St. John river. His descendants have
filled conspicuous positions in the history of the province, both political and judicial.
One son, George Frederick Street, was a judge of the supreme court, <a name='TC_74'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Added comma">another,</ins> John
Ambrose Street, was attorney general of the province and leader of the government
and still another, William H. Street, was mayor of the city of St. John.</p>
<p>Lieut. Ambrose Sharman filled a dual position, being surgeon of the garrison as
well as a lieutenant. While he was at Fort Howe he had a variety of patients in
addition to those of the garrison; for example, in 1778, he rendered a bill amounting
to &pound;5. 16.8 &ldquo;for attendance &amp; medicines to Pieree Thomas &amp; four other sick Indians;&rdquo;
and again, August 4, 1780, he presents his bill to James White &ldquo;To inoculating self
and family for smallpox, &pound;9.&rdquo;</p>
<p>After the Royal Fencible American Regiment was disbanded, Dr. Sharman
settled in Burton, Sunbury county, along side his brother officer, Samuel Denny
Street. Ten years later he was drowned while crossing the river to attend a sick
call. Three of his orphan children were provided for and educated by Mr. Street,
who also named his seventh son John Ambrose Sharman, in honor of his former
friend and comrade.</p>
<p>In a former chapter some account has been already given of the first religious
teachers on the River St. John. A few words may be added concerning the celebrated
&ldquo;New Light&rdquo; preacher, Henry Alline, who was at Maugerville in 1779 and
again in 1780, and 1782. A great deal has been written concerning this remarkable
man, and widely divergent opinions have been expressed as to the value of his
labors, though few are found to gainsay his sincerity, ability and zeal. Rev. Jacob
Bailey, the S. P. G. missionary at Cornwallis and Annapolis, terms him &ldquo;a
rambling teacher, who has made great commotions in this province.&rdquo; Mr. Bailey was
a tory of the olden time, and strongly deprecated anything that chanced to be at
variance with the sober ways of the Church of England, which were then in vogue.
In an old paper written about 1783, still preserved by his descendants in Nova
Scotia, we find the following from Mr. Bailey&rsquo;s pen:&mdash;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_339' name='page_339'></a>339</span></div>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;This country is troubled with various sects of enthusiasts who agree in nothing
except a frenzy of pious zeal and a most uncharitable spirit towards their unconverted
neighbors, and a madness to introduce confusion, anarchy and nonsense
into all the exercises of religion. * * He that is master of the strongest pair of
lungs, and is able to exhibit the loudest and most doleful vociferation, is sure of
prevailing success. Those who perceive themselves deficient in point of noise endeavour
to secure renown by the advancement and propagation of some new and
singular opinion.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In much the same strain Sheriff Walter Bates of Kings county writes:&mdash;&ldquo;When
I was first in Maugerville in 1783, I was informed of a preacher by the name of
Collins, who had been some time with them; that on account of some jealousy
among them he soon after left, but another preacher named Alline came, whose
followers were called Allinites. In Sheffield and Waterboro the people became
divided into three sects, named after their own preachers: Hartites, Brooksites
and Hammonites, who were annually inspired by two travelling preachers from
Nova Scotia.&rdquo;<a name='FNanchor_0134' id='FNanchor_0134'></a><a href='#Footnote_0134' class='fnanchor'>[134]</a> The sheriff had very little that was good to say of these evangelists,
whose methods and doctrines he cordially disliked.</p>
<p>Henry Alline, the Whitefield of Nova Scotia, was born at Newport, Rhode
Island, June 14, 1748. He settled with his parents at Talmouth, N. S., in 1760.
He was a preacher of fervid eloquence, which, as in the case of Whitefield, few
who came under its influence were able to resist. He was brought up a Congregationalist,
and from that denomination he never really separated, although he
plunged into speculations on theological points in which, to quote the late Dr. T.
Watson Smith, &ldquo;the import of the words of inspiration is often lost amidst the
reveries of mysticism.&rdquo; One of the errors of New-Light enthusiasm consisted in
regarding mere animal impulses as leadings of the Holy Spirit, which must be
followed at all hazards. Henry Alline was one of the best exponents of the New-Light
idea. He was a good singer as well as a fervid preacher, and in his sermons
appealed to the feelings of his hearers. &ldquo;The early New-Light preachers,&rdquo; says
Dr. Smith, &ldquo;resembled their leader. Such men, passing from settlement to settlement,
as if impelled by a species of religious knight-errantry, could not fail to make
an impression. Viewed in themselves, the results of their visits were in certain
cases painful. Families were divided; neighbors became opposed to each other;
pastors preached and published in vain endeavor to stem the tide, and failing submitted
to the inevitable; old church organizations were broken down and new
organizations set up in their places. * * To disturb the slumbers of the churches
and arouse them to active effort seemed to be his vocation.&rdquo; His doctrines were
distasteful to the Presbyterians of his day, and were termed by one of their
ministers, &ldquo;a mixture of Calvinism, Antinomianism, and Enthusiasm.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_340' name='page_340'></a>340</span></div>
<p>It is certain, nevertheless, that Henry Alline stirred non-conformist Nova
Scotia to its core. After his death the societies which he founded, as a rule,
gradually became Baptist churches, and in this way many of the most intelligent
and influential New England families became members of that denomination.</p>
<p>In the month of April, 1779, Henry Alline left Cornwallis in response to an
invitation to go to the River St. John. On his arrival at Maugerville he was
cordially received by the people, who related to him the broken state of their
church and deplored the darkness of the times.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When the Sabbath came,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;I preached, and the Lord was there,
and took much hold of the people. The week ensuing I preached two lectures,
and went from place to place, visiting the people and inquiring into their standing.
O! it was a grief to see sincere Christians thus scattered up and down the mountains
like sheep having no shepherd; and the accuser of the brethern had sown much
discord among the Christians. There had been a church there, but the people had
separated on account of the greatest part holding the minister to be an unconverted
man, who afterwards went away, but the division still subsisted.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Mr. Alline spent some weeks in the township, preaching often and visiting the
people. By his advice they renewed their church covenant in the form following:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Maugerville, June ye 17, year 1779.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We who through the exceeding riches of the grace and patience of God do
continue to be a professing church of Christ being now assembled in the holy
Presence of God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ after humble confession of
our manifold breaches of the Covenant, before the Lord our God and earnest supplication
for pardoning mercy through the blood of Christ and deep acknowledgement
of our great unworthiness to be the Lord&rsquo;s Covenant People, also acknowledging
our own inability to keep covenant with God or to perform any spiritual duty
unless the Lord Jesus do enable us thereto by his spiritual dwelling in us, and
being awfully sensible that it is a dreadful thing for sinful dust and ashes personally
to transact with the infinitely glorious Majesty of Heaven and Earth.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We do in humble confidence of his gracious assistance and acceptance through
Christ; each one of us for ourselves and jointly as the church of the Living God
explicetly renew our Covenant with God and one with another and after perusing
the Covenant on which this church was at first gathered, we do cordially adhear
to the same, both in matters of faith and discipline; and whereas some provoking
evils have crept in among us which has been the procuring causes of the divisions
and calamitys that God has sent or permitted in this place, especially the neglect
of a close walk with God and a watchfulness over our brother. We desire from our
hearts to bewail it before the Lord and humbly to entreat for pardoning mercy
through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant, and we do heartily desire by God&rsquo;s
grace to reform these evils or whatsoever else have provoked the eyes of God&rsquo;s
glory among us.&rdquo;</p>
<ul style='list-style-type:none;'>
<li>Daniel Palmer, jr.,</li>
<li>Peter Mooers,</li>
<li>Jabez Nevers,</li>
<li>Moses Coburn,</li>
<li>Benjm. Brown,</li>
<li>Israel Perly,</li>
<li>Daniel Jewett,</li>
<li>Jacob Barker,jr.,</li>
<li>Asa Perley,</li>
<li>Jonathan Burpe,</li>
<li>Saml. Whitney,</li>
<li>Daniel Palmer,</li>
<li>Jacob Palmer,</li>
<li>Humphrey Pickard,</li>
<li>Edward Coy.</li>
</ul>
<p>Female Members of the Church.</p>
<ul style='list-style-type:none;'>
<li>Mary Barker,</li>
<li>Jane Pickard,</li>
<li>Abigail Jewett,</li>
<li>Hannah Coburn,</li>
<li>Lydia Whitney,</li>
<li>Lydia Jepheson,</li>
<li>Hannah Noble,</li>
<li>Anna Coy,</li>
<li>Elizbh. Palmer.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_341' name='page_341'></a>341</span></div>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The last Sabbath I preached at St. John&rsquo;s river,&rdquo; continued Mr. Alline, &ldquo;the
people seemed so loth to go away, that we stopped at the meeting-house door, and
sung and discoursed some time, and then I left them to go down the river.&rdquo; He
preached at Gagetown, encamped a night in the woods, and on the third day reached
the mouth of the river where he preached at &ldquo;Mahogany.&rdquo; The next day was
Sunday and in the morning a boat came to take him to &ldquo;the town&rdquo;&mdash;or settlement
at Portland Point&mdash;where he was to preach. Evidently the people were disposed to
hold aloof from his ministrations at this time, for he says, &ldquo;O! the darkness of the
place! * * I suppose there were upwards of 200 people there come to the years
of maturity, and I saw no signs of any Christian excepting one soldier. Yet although
I was among such an irreligious people, the Lord was kind to me, and I lacked for
nothing while I was there.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He returned to St. John in the latter part of August and preached on a Sunday.
Major Studholme treated him with civility, and sent him up the river in his own
barge. He found the church prospering. There was much interest in religion; a
good many new members having been added to the roll in his absence, three or four
of them upwards of fifty years of age. Two elders and two deacons were now appointed,
and a formal call was extended to Mr. Alline to remain as their settled
pastor. This call he did not see his way clear to accept, but promised to revisit
them shortly. He got back to Fort Howe on the 6th of November, and preached
there while awaiting a chance to cross the bay to Annapolis. He returned to St.
John, April 22, 1780, staid a week and preached on Sunday, after which he again
went up the river. Several weeks were devoted to visiting the various settlements
and great interest was manifested, crowds of people attending his preaching. In
his diary he tells us that much company went with him from place to place, some
times six or seven boats loaded with people. Edward Coy&rsquo;s daughter Mary (afterwards
Mrs. Mary Bradley) who was then a child in her ninth year, gives, in her book
her recollections of Henry Alline&rsquo;s visit. &ldquo;My parents,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;took me with
them twice to meeting. The first text was, &lsquo;And at midnight there was a cry made,
Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.&rsquo; My attention was arrested,
and for many days after I was engaged in ruminating and repeating over some
parts of the sermon. * * After the sermon and worship was over, I was astonished
to see the people talking and shaking hands as I never before had witnessed. Some
looked of a cheerful, loving and happy countenance; others were in tears, and cast
down. * * It soon became the common subject of conversation that such and
such persons were converted.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On Mr. Alline&rsquo;s return from Maugerville to the mouth of the river he staid there
a fortnight, waiting for a passage, and during that time preached and visited among
the people. On June 25th he sailed to Annapolis.</p>
<p>Two years later he again visited the River St. John. He left Windsor on the
29th April and arrived at the mouth of the river in four days. &ldquo;When I came to
the river,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;the vessel did not go up that I was in, but God gave me speed,
for there was another vessel just going over the falls to go up the river, so that
without the least delay I crossed Pot-Ash<a name='FNanchor_0135' id='FNanchor_0135'></a><a href='#Footnote_0135' class='fnanchor'>[135]</a> and went immediately on board....
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_342' name='page_342'></a>342</span>
I remained on the river, preaching from place to place among the people almost
every day, and often twice a day until the 26th of May, during which time I had
happy days and much of the Spirit of God moving among the people.&rdquo; On the last
Sunday of Alline&rsquo;s stay at Sheffield the concourse was so great that he preached in
the open field. &ldquo;I had so much to say to them,&rdquo; he writes, &ldquo;and they seemed so
loth to part that I was almost spent before we parted; and then I went ten miles
down the river. But after I had refreshed the body, I preached again in the evening;
and it was an evening much to be remembered.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Mr. Alline&rsquo;s opinion of the spiritual condition of the community in the vicinity
of Fort Howe seems to have changed but little, for he writes under date, June 29th.,
1782, &ldquo;When I came to the port at the mouth of the river, there appeared no
passage from thence; and I thought I could not content myself long in that dark
place; but the very next day four or five vessels came in, all bound for Cumberland
where I wanted to go.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The story of Alline&rsquo;s illness and death, which occurred in the town of Northampton,
New Hampshire, February 2nd, 1784, is pathetic in the extreme, but we
must pass on.</p>
<p>When Rev. Wm. Black visited Sheffield in 1792 the results of Henry Alline&rsquo;s
labors were yet in evidence, and were not entirely acceptable to Mr. Black, who
says that he found among the people &ldquo;many New-Lights, or more properly Allinites&mdash;much
wild fire and many wrong opinions.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the year 1805, in answer to a petition from Sheffield, the Rev. James MacGregor,
a Presbyterian minister of Pictou, visited the River St. John, and has left
us an entertaining account of his visit. He stopped at a house not far below the
Grand Lake, where the following colloquy with the good woman of the house
ensued.</p>
<p>Woman&mdash;Who are you?</p>
<p>Doctor&mdash;I am James MacGregor, a minister from Pictou.</p>
<p>Woman&mdash;Are you a Methodist?</p>
<p>Doctor&mdash;No.</p>
<p>Woman&mdash;Are you Church of England?</p>
<p>Doctor&mdash;No.</p>
<p>Woman&mdash;Then you must be a New-Light.</p>
<p>Doctor&mdash;No, I am not a New-Light.</p>
<p>Woman&mdash;Then what in the world are you, for I do not know any more?</p>
<p>Doctor&mdash;I am a Presbyterian.</p>
<p>Woman&mdash;Well, I never saw a Presbyterian minister before, but my mother used
to tell me that they were the very best in the world. But what do you hold to?</p>
<p>Doctor&mdash;I do not understand what you mean.</p>
<p>Woman&mdash;Do you hold to conversion?</p>
<p>Doctor&mdash;Don&rsquo;t they all hold to conversion?</p>
<p>Woman&mdash;No, the Methodists and New-Lights holds to it, but the Church of England
holds against it.</p>
<p>Doctor MacGregor was very hospitably entertained by Squire Burpee and his
family, who informed him that they were a colony from New England, and that
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_343' name='page_343'></a>343</span>
of course they were Congregationalists in their religious profession. The Doctor
said that he had long wished to see one of their congregations and hoped that they
were a fair sample of a New England church. The squire replied: &ldquo;I am afraid
that we are degenerated.&rdquo; Mr. MacGregor says, &ldquo;I preached two Sabbaths to them
in a respectable place of worship, and to Methodists and Baptists. They heard with
apparent attention and satisfaction. Many of them stayed and conversed a good
while after public worship was over.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the course of his missionary tour Doctor MacGregor visited the settlement
on the River Nashwaak founded by the disbanded soldiers of the 42nd regiment.
Not having been visited by a minister of their church for many years, a few of
them had turned Baptists and Methodists, but &ldquo;the best and worst of them,&rdquo; he
says, &ldquo;continued Presbyterians.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The glimpses we have of life at the mouth of the St. John, during the last two
or three years of the Revolutionary struggle, are of some local interest, though not
of a thrilling or exciting character. The proximity of the garrison seems to have
proved detrimental to the morals of some of the inhabitants. At least this is the
inference we should draw from the following notice posted up by order of the chief
magistrate of the community.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'>NOTICE.</p>
<p>Whereas complaint hath been made to me by the Commanding Officer of the
King&rsquo;s Troops at this place that several Irregularities have lately been committed
here by his Troops, proceeding from the quantity of strong Liquors sold them by
the Inhabitants: To prevent any disturbance for the future, I publickly forbid any
person or persons at this place selling Strong Liquors, under the penalty of the Law
made and provided in such cases, except those who have Licence or Permits from
authority for that purpose.</p>
<p>Given under my hand at Fort Howe this third day of July, 1781.</p>
<p class='right'>JAMES WHITE, J. P.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The civil authority at this period was vested in the Court of General Sessions
of the Peace for the County of Sunbury, which used to meet regularly at Maugerville,
and of which James Simonds, James White, Israel Perley, Gervas Say and Jacob
Barker, Esquires, were members. One of the notices issued by order of the court
was as follows:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'>PUBLIC NOTICE.</p>
<p>Application having been made to the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the
Peace, for the County of Sunbury and Province of Nova Scotia, held at Maugerville
on the Second Tuesday of October, A. D., 1781, setting forth the necessity of having
a Publick House of Entertainment kept near the Harbour of the River St. Johns:&mdash;Therefore
by virtue of the Authority vested in the said Court by the Laws of the
said Province, Licence is hereby given to Philip Newton to keep a Publick House
of Entertainment and to retail Spirituous Liquors for the space of one year at the
place aforesaid, he the said Philip Newton keeping and maintaining good order
agreeable to the Laws of this Province.</p>
<p class='right lalign'>By order of the said court,<br />
<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>BENJ. ATHERTON, Clerk Peace.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is not improbable that Philip Newton, mentioned above, was a relative of
Hon. Henry Newton, member of the Council of Nova Scotia, and Collector of
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_344' name='page_344'></a>344</span>
Customs at Halifax. His stay at St. John was evidently brief, and this is the only
known reference to him.</p>
<p>In 1782 the disturbed condition of affairs, consequent upon the Revolution, had
so far improved that St. John was made a Port of Entry, with James White as
Deputy Collector, under Henry Newton of Halifax. It was truly the day of small
things with the future Winter Port of Canada. The following is a list of the vessels
that entered and cleared in the year 1782.</p>
<table summary='' border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='2' style='margin:1em auto;'>
<col style='width:40%' /><col style='width:10%' /><col style='width:40%' /><col style='width:10%' />
<tr><th style='text-align:left; font-style:italic;'>Entered.</th><th style='font-style:italic;'>Tons.</th><th style='padding-left:2em; text-align:left; font-style:italic;'>Cleared.</th><th style='font-style:italic;'>Tons.</th></tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Rosanna</td>
    <td class='number'>17</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Rosanna</td>
    <td class='number'>17</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Betsy</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Peggy</td>
    <td class='number'>8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Escape</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Betsy</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Polly</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Escape</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Sally</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Polly</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Lark</td>
    <td class='number'>18</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Sally</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Ranger</td>
    <td class='number'>12</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Lark</td>
    <td class='number'>18</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Prosperity</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Ranger</td>
    <td class='number'>12</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Unity</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Prosperity</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Speedy</td>
    <td class='number'>7</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Unity</td>
    <td class='number'>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Little Tom</td>
    <td class='number'>30</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Little Tom</td>
    <td class='number'>30</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>&nbsp;</td>
    <td class='number'>&nbsp;</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Monaguash</td>
    <td class='number'>20</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class='text'>Total tonnage</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black;'>144</td>
    <td class='text' style='padding-left:2em;'>Total tonnage</td>
    <td class='number' style='border-top:thin solid black'>165</td>
</tr></table>

<p>The emoluments derived by James White from his office as Deputy Collector of
Customs were small. William Hazen&rsquo;s position, as commissary of the garrison of
Fort Howe, was something better. Most of the supplies of fuel, meat and vegetables
for the garrison were furnished by Messrs. Hazen &amp; White, and the profits
were considerable. In the year 1782, for example, they furnished 172 cords of firewood
for which the price paid them was 20 shillings a cord.</p>
<p>An event was now to transpire which marks an epoch in the history of St. John
and which in the course of a few months served to transform the little community
at the mouth of the river from the dimensions of a hamlet to those of a respectable
town. The war between Great Britain and the old Colonies was over and the
colonies had gained their independence. Had they been wise they would, as Dr.
Hannay well observes, have tempered their triumph with moderation. They would
have encouraged those who had espoused the Royal cause to remain and assist in
building up the new nation which they had founded. Instead of this, they committed
one of the most stupendous acts of short sighted folly ever perpetrated by
a people. They passed edicts of banishment against the persons, and acts of confiscation
against the estates of the Loyalists. They drove them out, poor in purse
indeed, but rich in experience, determination, energy, education, intellect and the
other qualities which build up states, and with their hearts fired and their energies
stimulated with hatred of republicanism. They drove them out 70,000 strong to
build up a rival nation at their very doors which perhaps would never have had
an existence but for the rash folly of those who persecuted the Loyalists.</p>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_345' name='page_345'></a>345</span>
<a name='CHAPTER_XXX_THE_COMING_OF_THE_LOYALISTS' id='CHAPTER_XXX_THE_COMING_OF_THE_LOYALISTS'></a>
<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2>
<h3><span class='smcap'>The Coming of the Loyalists.</span></h3>
</div>
<p>The vanguard of the Loyalists now began to make its appearance. Captain
Simon Baxter has a fair claim to be considered the pioneer Loyalist of this province.
He arrived at Fort Howe with his family in March, 1782, in distressed circumstances,
and was befriended by William Hazen and James White, who recommended him
to the favorable consideration of the authorities at Halifax. Captain Baxter was a
native of New Hampshire. He was proscribed and banished on account of his
loyalty, and had several narrow escapes at the hands of his &ldquo;rebel countrymen.&rdquo;
On one occasion he was condemned to be hanged, but upon being brought out to
execution contrived to escape from his persecutors and fled for safety to Burgoyne&rsquo;s
army. His early arrival at St. John proved of substantial benefit to him, for on
the 15th of August he obtained a grant of 5,000 acres, &ldquo;as a reduced subaltern and
as a refugee,&rdquo; in what is now the Parish of Norton, in Kings County. His sons,
William and Benjamin, received 500 acres each, along with their father. The important
services of Major Gilfred Studholme were also rewarded at this time by
a grant of 2,000 acres on the Kennebecasis river, just above Captain Baxter&rsquo;s land.
Two years later Major Studholme obtained a grant of a tract nearly three miles
square, at Apohaqui, to which he gave the name of Studville.</p>
<p>It was not without fore-thought and serious consideration that the Loyalists
came to the River St. John. Several associations were formed at New York, in
1782, to further the interests of those who proposed to settle in Nova Scotia. One
of the Associations had as its president, the Rev. Doctor Seabury,<a name='FNanchor_0136' id='FNanchor_0136'></a><a href='#Footnote_0136' class='fnanchor'>[136]</a> and for its
secretary, Sampson Salter Blowers.<a name='FNanchor_0137' id='FNanchor_0137'></a><a href='#Footnote_0137' class='fnanchor'>[137]</a> It was under the arrangements made by this
Association that a great many of the Loyalists of the Spring fleet came to the St.
John river. The document, which is published below, is well worthy of preservation
by the descendants of those devoted men and women, who were induced by unshaken
loyalty to seek refuge in a wilderness under its provisions.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'>ARTICLES.</p>
<p class='center'>Of the Settlement of Nova Scotia, Made With the Loyalists at New York, at the
Time of the Peace of 1783.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The reverend Doctor Samuel Seabury, and Lieutenant Colonel B. Thompson,
of the Kings American Dragoons, having been appointed by the Board of Agents
to wait on His Excellency Sir Guy Carleton, Commander in Chief, in behalf of the
Loyalists desirous of emigrating to Nova Scotia, they read the following rough
proposals, as articles of supply for the settlers in Nova Scotia:&mdash;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_346' name='page_346'></a>346</span></div>
<p>1st.&mdash;That they be provided with proper vessels and convoy to carry them, their
horses and cattle, as near as possible to the place appointed for their settlement.</p>
<p>2nd.&mdash;That besides the provisions for the voyage, one year&rsquo;s provision be allowed
them, or money to enable them to purchase.</p>
<p>3d.&mdash;That some allowance of warm clothing be made in proportion to the wants
of each family.</p>
<p>4th.&mdash;That an allowance of medicines be granted, such as shall be thought
necessary.</p>
<p>5th.&mdash;That pairs of millstones, necessary iron works for grist mills, and saws
and other necessary articles for saw-mills, be granted them.</p>
<p>6th.&mdash;That a quantity of nails and spikes, hoes and axes, spades and shovels,
plough irons, and such other farming utensils as shall appear necessary, be provided
for them, and also a proportion of window glass.</p>
<p>7th.&mdash;That such a tract or tracts of land, free from disputed titles, and as conveniently
situated as may be, be granted, surveyed and divided at the public cost,
as shall afford from 300 to 600 acres of useful land to each family.</p>
<p>8th.&mdash;That over and above 2,000 acres in every township be allowed for the
support of a clergyman, and 1,000 acres for the support of a school, and that these
lands be unalienable for ever.</p>
<p>9th.&mdash;That a sufficient number of good musquets and cannon be allowed with
a proper quantity of powder and ball for their use, to enable them to defend themselves
against any hostile invasion; also a proportion of powder and lead for hunting.</p>
<p>&ldquo;His Excellency the Commander in Chief, in reply, was pleased to say that in
general he approved the above Articles, and that at least the terms of settlement
should be equivalent to them. He was pleased to say further that he should give
every encouragement to the settlers in Nova Scotia, and that he would write to the
Governor of the Province respecting the matter. He advised that some persons
might be sent to examine the vacant lands and see where the settlement could be
made to the best advantage.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We whose names are hereunto subscribed do agree to remove to the Province
of Nova Scotia, on the above encouragement, with our families, in full reliance on
the future support of Government, and under the patronage of the following gentlemen
as our agents, they having been approved of as such by His Majesty&rsquo;s Commissioner
for restoring Peace, etc:&mdash;Lieut. Col. B. Thompson, K. A. D; Lieut. Col.
E. Winslow, Gen. Muster-master provincial forces; Major J. Upham, K. A. D; Rev.
Dr. Samuel Seabury, Rev. John Sayre, Captain Maudsley, Amos Botsford, Esq.,
Samuel Cummings, Esq., Judge John Wardle, Esq., James Peters, Esq., Frederick
Hauser.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These terms were liberal and were afterwards considerably extended. The
Loyalists were allowed not only full provisions for the first year, but two-thirds of
that allowance for the second year, and one third for the third year.</p>
<p>In accordance with the prudent advice of Sir Guy Carleton, it was decided
to send agents to Nova Scotia immediately to explore the country and report upon
it. The agents chosen were Messrs. Amos <a name='TC_75'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Bostford'">Botsford</ins>, Samuel Cummings and
Frederick Hauser. They were furnished with the following</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'>INSTRUCTIONS.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That on their arrival in Nova Scotia they apply themselves to discover whether a
Tract or Tracts of Land free from all disputed titles, either with the Indians or
former Grantees, can be found sufficient to accommodate the Loyalists and their
Families who shall remove thither.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_347' name='page_347'></a>347</span></div>
<p>&ldquo;They will examine the soil, timber, game, limestone, rivers, bays, creeks, harbors,
streams and ponds of water with regard to mills, fishing, trade, etc. They
will examine the face of the country whether it be hilly, stoney, sandy, clayey, etc.</p>
<p>&ldquo;They will enquire what lands in the neighborhood are granted and to whom,
whether the grants be forfeited, or whether they may be purchased and at what
rate; and whether advantageous terms may not be made with the present proprietors.</p>
<p>&ldquo;They will endeavor to ascertain as near as they can what will be the difficulties
and obstructions in forming new settlements, and what will be the probable advantages.</p>
<p>&ldquo;They will keep a journal of their proceedings and register their observations,
noting well the distances from the principal settlements already made, and from
noted rivers and harbors, as well as the obstructions in travelling and transporting.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Such lands as may be obtained will be distributed and divided among the
proposed adventurers in as just and equitable a manner as the nature of the case
will admit, and the Agents will make reports of their proceedings from time to
time, as early as may be, to the Secretary of the Agency in New York.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Amos Botsford, Samuel Cummings and Frederick Hauser arrived at Annapolis
Royal on the 19th October, 1782, in company with 500 Loyalists, who sailed from
New York in nine transport ships. Rev. Jacob Bailey, who was then living at
Annapolis, describes their arrival in one of his letters:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;On Saturday morning early, we were all surprized with the unexpected appearance
of eleven sail of shipping, sailing by Goat Island and directing their course
towards the town. About nine, two frigates came to anchor, and at ten the remainder,
being transports, hauled close in by the King&rsquo;s wharf. On board this fleet
were about 500 refugees, who intend to settle in this province. They are a mixture
from every province on the continent except Georgia. Yesterday they landed and
our royal city of Annapolis, which three days ago contained only 120 souls, has now
about 600 inhabitants. You cannot be sensible what an amazing alteration this
manoeuvre has occasioned. Everything is alive, and both the townspeople and the
soldiers are lost among the strangers.</p>
<p>&ldquo;All the houses and barracks are crowded and many are unable to procure any
lodgings; most of these distressed people left large possessions in the rebellious
colonies, and their sufferings on account of their loyalty and their present uncertain
and destitute condition render them very affecting objects of compassion. Three
agents are dispatched to Halifax to solicit lands from government.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The agents on their return from Halifax, at once set out to explore the country
in the vicinity of Annapolis; they then crossed the Bay of Fundy and arrived at
St. John about the end of November. In the report, which they subsequently
transmitted to their friends in New York, they write:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;We found our passage up the river difficult, being too late to pass in boats,
and not sufficiently frozen to bear. In this situation we left the river, and for a
straight course steered by a compass thro&rsquo; the woods,<a name='FNanchor_0138' id='FNanchor_0138'></a><a href='#Footnote_0138' class='fnanchor'>[138]</a> encamping out several nights
in the course, and went as far as the Oromocto, about seventy miles up the river,
where is a block-house, a British post.&rdquo; &ldquo;The St. John is a fine river, equal in
magnitude to the Connecticut or Hudson. At the mouth of the river is a fine harbor,
accessible at all seasons of the year&mdash;never frozen or obstructed by ice....
There are many settlers along the river upon the interval land, who get
their living easily. The interval lies on the river and is a most fertile soil, annually
matured by the overflowings of the river, and produces crops of all kinds with little
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_348' name='page_348'></a>348</span>
labor, and vegetables in the greatest perfection, parsnips of great length, etc. They
cut down the trees, burn the tops, put in a crop of wheat or Indian corn, which
yields a plentiful increase. These intervals would make the finest meadows. The
up-lands produce wheat both of the summer and winter kinds, as well as Indian
corn. Here are some wealthy farmers, having flocks of cattle. The greater part of
the people, excepting the township of Maugerville, are tenants, or seated on the
bank without leave or licence, merely to get their living. For this reason they
have not made such improvements as might otherwise have been expected, or as
thorough farmers would have done.... Immense quantities of limestone are
found at Fort Howe, and at the mouth of the river. We also went up the Kenebeccasis,
a large branch of St. John&rsquo;s river, where is a large tract of interval and
upland, which has never been granted; it is under a reserve, but we can have it.
Major Studholme and Capt. Baxter, who explored the country, chose this place, and
obtained a grant of 9,000 acres. On each side of this grant are large tracts of good
land, convenient for navigation. A title for these lands may be procured sooner
than for such as have been already granted, such as Gage, Conway, etc., which must
be obtained by a regular process in the court of Escheats. The lands on the river
St. John are also sufficiently near the cod fishery in Fundy Bay, and perfectly
secure against the Indians and Americans. The inhabitants are computed to be
near one thousand men, able to bear arms. Here is a County and Court established,
and the inhabitants at peace, and seem to experience no inconveniency from the
war.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The popular idea of the landing of the Loyalists at St. John is that on the 18th
day of May, in the year 1783, a fleet of some twenty vessels sailed into St. John
harbor, having on board three thousand people, who, wearied with the long voyage,
immediately disembarked and pitched their tents on the site of the present city of
St. John&mdash;then called Parrtown. The popular idea, however, is not strictly in accordance
with the facts. The fleet arrived at St. John, not on the 18th, but on
the 10th or 11th of May, and, according to the narrative of Walter Bates, there
was no one day fixed for disembarkation. In the case of the &ldquo;Union,&rdquo; in which
Mr. Bates and many of the founders of Kingston came from New York, the passengers
were allowed to remain on board until several of their number had gone up
the river and selected a place for them to settle. In some cases, however, the
passengers were &ldquo;precipitated on shore.&rdquo; As regards the name Parr (or Partown)
it was not given for months after the arrival of the Loyalists, and was then applied
only to that part of the city south of Union street, on the east side of the harbor.
The name was never very acceptable to the citizens. Governor Parr admitted
that it originated &ldquo;in female vanity;&rdquo; from which observation we may assume that
the name was suggested by Madame Parr. The name of Parr was soon discarded,
and the time-honored name, which goes back to the days of de Monts and
Champlain was restored at the incorporation of the city on the 18th of May, 1785.</p>
<p>The names of the vessels of the Spring fleet and of their respective masters, so
far as they have been preserved, are as follows:&mdash;&ldquo;Union,&rdquo; Consett Wilson, master;
&ldquo;Camel,&rdquo; Wm. Tinker, master; &ldquo;Cyrus,&rdquo; James Turner, master; &ldquo;Sovereign,&rdquo; Wm.
Stewart, master; &ldquo;Aurora,&rdquo; Capt. Jackson; &ldquo;Hope,&rdquo; Capt. Peacock; &ldquo;Otter,&rdquo; Capt.
Burns; &ldquo;Emmett,&rdquo; Capt. Reed; &ldquo;Spring,&rdquo; Capt. Cadish; &ldquo;Ann,&rdquo; Capt. Clark;
&ldquo;<a name='TC_76'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Bridgwater'">Bridgewater</ins>,&rdquo; Capt. Adnet; &ldquo;Favorite,&rdquo; Capt. Ellis; &ldquo;Commerce,&rdquo; Capt. Strong;
&ldquo;Lord Townsend,&rdquo; Capt. Hogg; &ldquo;Sally,&rdquo; Capt. Bell; and five others, &ldquo;Spencer,&rdquo;
&ldquo;Thames,&rdquo; &ldquo;William,&rdquo; &ldquo;Britain&rdquo; and &ldquo;King George,&rdquo; the names of whose masters
are unknown.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_349' name='page_349'></a>349</span></div>
<p>The Loyalists who came to St. John in the first fleet numbered about 3,000.
They were mostly natives of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey,
who had been driven from their homes and forced to seek refuge within the British
lines at New York, or on Long Island. There was a scarcity of ships, and the number
of those desirous of emigrating to Nova Scotia proved much larger than had been
anticipated. It became evident that the vessels must make repeated trips. The
following paragraph from an old newspaper is interesting in this connection:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>New London, Conn., April 25, 1783. We hear that the Loyalists destined for
Nova Scotia from New York are to depart in two Divisions; the first, consisting
of about 3,000 men, women and children, are nearly ready to sail; the second to sail
as soon as the vessels return which carry the first.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This paragraph accords with what subsequently took place. The first fleet
sailed from Sandy Hook, on the 26th April, arriving at St. John about the 11th
of May; and the second fleet sailed from Sandy Hook on the 16th June, arriving at
St. John on the 28th of the same month. The most authentic account of the voyage
of the first fleet is to be found in the narrative of Walter Bates,<a name='FNanchor_0139' id='FNanchor_0139'></a><a href='#Footnote_0139' class='fnanchor'>[139]</a> who was a passenger
on board the &ldquo;Union.&rdquo; We learn from this source that in the early part of
April, 1783, the Rev. John Sayre, one of the agents for settling the Loyalists in
Nova Scotia, visited those who were then living on the north shore of Long Island
at Eaton&rsquo;s Neck, Lloyd&rsquo;s Neck and Huntington, to inform them that the King had
granted to those who did not incline to return to their former places of abode and
would go to Nova Scotia, two hundred acres of land to each family and two years
provisions, and provide ships to convey them as near as might be to a place of
settlement. A public meeting was held at which the matter was considered in detail,
and it was resolved by all present to remove with their families to Nova Scotia
and settle together in some situation where they might enjoy the advantages of a
church and school. Mr. Bates says that providence seemed to select for them the
best ship and by far the best captain in the fleet. The captain received them on
board &ldquo;as father of a family,&rdquo; and took care that nothing in his power should be
wanting to render them comfortable on the voyage. The &ldquo;Union&rdquo; took on board
her passengers at Huntington Bay. The embarkation began on April 11th and was
completed in five days. The manifest of the ship has been preserved and is now in
possession of J. T. Allan Dibblee of Woodstock, N. B. (See Collections of N. B.
Hist. Society, Vol. II. p. 276). It is signed by Fyler Dibblee, deputy agent in charge
of the party. There were 209 passengers in all, viz., 61 men, 39 women, 59 children
over ten, 48 children under ten and 2 servants. The ship sailed to the place of
rendezvous near Staten Island. While waiting at New York for the other vessels,
an interesting incident occurred, which (together with subsequent events) we shall
let Mr. Bates tell in his own way:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Having a couple on board wishing to be married, we call upon the Reverend
Mr. Leaming, who received us with much kindness and affection&mdash;most of us formerly
of his congregation&mdash;who after the marriage reverently admonished us with his blessing,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_350' name='page_350'></a>350</span>
that we pay due regard to church and schools, as means to obtain the blessing
of God upon our families and our industry. We embarked; next day the ship
joined the fleet, and on the 26th day of April, 1783, upwards of twenty sail of ships,
under convoy, left Sandy Hook for Nova Scotia&mdash;from whence, after the pleasure
of leading the whole fleet fourteen days, our good ship Union arrived at Partridge
Island before the fleet was come within sight. Next day our ship was safely moored
by Capt. Dan&rsquo;l. Leavitt, the Pilot, in the most convenient situation for landing in
the harbor of St. John, all in good health&mdash;where we remained comfortable on
board ship (while others was sickly and precipitated on shore from other ships)
which we proved a providential favor, until we could explore for a place in the
Wilderness suitable for our purpose of settlement. A boat was procured for the
purpose. David Pickett, Israel Hait, Silas Raymond and others proceeded sixty
miles up the River St. John and report that the inhabitants were settled on Interval
lands by the river&mdash;that the high-lands had generally been burned by the Indians,
and there was no church or church Minister in the country. They were informed
of a tract of timbered land that had not been burned, on Bellisle Bay, about thirty
miles from the harbor of St. John, which they had visited and viewed the situation
favorable for our purpose of settlement. Whereupon we all agreed (to proceed
thither) and disembarked from on board the good ship Union, and with Capt.
Wilson&rsquo;s blessing embarked on board a small sloop all our baggage. The next morning
with all our effects&mdash;women and children&mdash;set sail above the falls and arrived
at Bellisle Bay before sunset. Nothing but Wilderness before our eyes, the women
and children did not refrain from tears.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Those who are curious to know what kind of a passage their fore-fathers had
on their voyage to the River St. John will be able to form some idea from a study
of the following record of the weather, kept by Benjamin Marston, while he was engaged
in laying out the town of Shelburne.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='lalign'>&ldquo;May 1st, Thursday&mdash;Wind east; calm at night.<br />
May 2nd, Friday&mdash;Rain; wind south-westerly.<br />
May 3d, Saturday&mdash;Fair; wind north-westerly, fresh.<br />
May 4th, Sunday&mdash;Fair; wind north-westerly, fresh.<br />
May 5th, Monday&mdash;Fair; wind westerly, moderate.<br />
May 6th, Tuesday&mdash;Fair; wind easterly changing to southerly.<br />
May 7th, Wednesday&mdash;Fair; wind south-easterly.<br />
May 8th, Thursday&mdash;Fair; wind easterly.<br />
May 9th, Friday&mdash;Fair; wind easterly.<br />
May 10th, Saturday&mdash;Weather foggy and at times drizzly; wind<br />
<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>south-easterly.<br />
May 11th, Sunday&mdash;Begins with plenty of rain; wind south-westerly,<br />
<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>changes to foggy weather. At night wind south-easterly with<br />
<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>frequent showers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Union had not long to wait until she was joined by her sister ships, and all
lay safely anchored near the landing place at the Upper Cove. We may well believe
that the arrival of such a multitude produced a profound sensation among the
dwellers at Portland Point, then a mere hamlet.</p>
<p>Three hundred years have passed since Champlain sailed up this same harbor
and in honor of the day of its discovery, gave to St. John the name it still retains,
but in all these centuries the most notable fleet that ever cast anchor in the port
was the &ldquo;Spring fleet&rdquo; of 1783. The old iron guns of Fort Howe thundered out
their salute as the score of vessels came up the harbor, the flag of Britain streaming
from the masthead, and we know that Major Studholme gave the wearied
exiles a hearty welcome. The old soldier had held his post secure, in spite of hostile
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_351' name='page_351'></a>351</span>
savages and lawless marauders, and he was now equally faithful in the discharge of
his duty to his new comrades. He did his best to cheer their drooping spirits and
as speedily as possible to settle them in habitations which they once more might
call their own.</p>
<p>There is a quiet spot in the parish of Studholme, on the banks of the Kennebecasis,
where the mortal remains of Gilfred Studholme lie. No headstone marks
his grave.</p>
<p>Little preparation had been made by the Government of Nova Scotia for the
reception of the Loyalists, and the season was cold and backward. Anxious as
were the masters of the transports to return speedily to New York they were
obliged to tarry some days. We learn from an old newspaper that the ship &ldquo;Camel,&rdquo;
captain William Tinker, sailed from St. John on her return voyage, the 29th of
May, in company with eight other transports, and that they left the new settlers
&ldquo;in good health and spirits.&rdquo; Before the Loyalists could disembark, it was necessary
to clear away the brushwood around the landing place and to erect tents and
various kinds of shelter. The 18th of May saw them safely landed. The day was
Sunday, and it is said the hapless exiles found consolation in a religious service
held by the Rev. John Beardsley on the site of the present Market Square.</p>
<p>If Abraham&rsquo;s fidelity to the Almighty caused him on his arrival in the land he
was to inherit, to erect an altar, it was equally fitting that the first public act of
the founders of the City of the Loyalists should be to render thanks for their preservation
and safe arrival in the land of their adoption. The psalms for that 18th
morning may have struck a responsive chord in many hearts. &ldquo;Comfort us again
now after the time that thou hast afflicted us, and for the years wherein we have
seen adversity.&rdquo; &ldquo;Establish the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our
hands establish thou it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>No friendly roof had yet been reared to shelter them from the storm. The
wilderness had its unknown perils. Perhaps too the dread of some lurking savage
may have filled the hearts of the helpless ones with a nameless fear. Still the
message was&mdash;&ldquo;He that dwelleth in the tabernacle of the most High shall lodge
under the shadow of the Almighty.&rdquo; &ldquo;Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by
night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Loyalists could not but feel relieved when they safely reached their destination.
There were no light houses, or beacons, or fog horns to aid the navigator, and
the charts were imperfect. The vessels were greatly over crowded and the accommodations
not of the best. To add to the general discomfort, in some of the ships
epidemics, such as measles, broke out. Yet, glad as they were to be again on
shore, it was with heavy hearts they watched the departure of the fleet. The grandmother
of the late Sir Leonard Tilley said to one of her descendants, &ldquo;I climbed to
the top of Chipman&rsquo;s Hill and watched the sails disappearing in the distance, and
such a feeling of loneliness came over me that, although I had not shed a tear
through all the war, I sat down on the damp moss with my baby in my lap and
cried.&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_352' name='page_352'></a>352</span></div>
<p>The days that followed the arrival of the Loyalists were busy days for Major
Studholme and his assistant, Samuel Denny Street.<a name='FNanchor_0140' id='FNanchor_0140'></a><a href='#Footnote_0140' class='fnanchor'>[140]</a> By their orders, boards,
shingles, clapboards, bricks, etc., were distributed to those needing them. A large
number of Studholme&rsquo;s accounts in this connection are on file at Halifax. The first
in which the name of Parr (Parrtown) occurs is the following:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Parr, on the River St. John, 31 August, 1783.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Rec&rsquo;d from Gilfred Studholme &pound;5. 18. 10 1&ndash;2 for surveying 142,660 feet lumber
for use of the Loyalists settled on the River St. John.</p>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;JEREMIAH REGAN.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Each Loyalist on his arrival was provided with 500 feet of boards, and a proportion
of shingles and bricks. Most of the erections at first were log houses, the
lumber being used for roofing. By the end of May, 1784, Major Studholme had
delivered to the Loyalists 1,731,289 feet of boards, 1,553,919 shingles and 7,400 clapboards.
The lumber was purchased from James Woodman, William Hazen, Nehemiah
Beckwith, Patrick Rogers, John Whidden and others, the usual price being, for
boards &pound;4 per M., and for shingles 15 shillings per M.</p>
<p>The work of building must have progressed rapidly, for when winter came, about
1,500 dwellings afforded shelter. Joshua Aplin wrote Chief Justice Smith that the
efforts of the people were unparalleled, and that on his arrival he could scarce
credit his own eyes at the sight of such industry. But, he adds, the people had no
legal right even to the ground their houses covered, and they appeared to be almost
in despair at not getting on their lands. The greater part of those in the town at
the mouth of the St. John river never meant to fix themselves there, but to settle
on their lands and to apply their money to building farm houses, purchasing live
stock, etc., and great loss had been incurred by their being obliged to build at the
mouth of the river.</p>
<p>The Kingston settlers were amongst the few that proceeded directly to the lands
on which they were to settle. For some weeks they lived in tents on the banks
of Kingston Creek, where the mothers found occupation in nursing their children
through the measles. They used to send across the river to &ldquo;Jones&rsquo;s&rdquo; for milk and
other necessaries. They were visited by the Indians, with whom they established
friendly relations and who furnished them plentifully with moose meat. In the
month of July they obtained the services of Frederick Hauser to survey their land.
Before the lots were drawn by the settlers, however, reservations were made for
church and school purposes. They then set to work with a will, working in one
united party, clearing places on their lots for buildings, cutting logs, carrying them
together with their own hands, having as yet neither cattle nor horses to draw
them. By the month of November every man in the district found himself and his
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_353' name='page_353'></a>353</span>
family covered under his own roof, and, according to Walter Bates, they were &ldquo;perfectly,
happy, contented and comfortable in their dwellings through the winter.&rdquo;
In this respect they were fortunate indeed in comparison with those who passed
their first winter in canvas tents at Parrtown and St. Anns.</p>
<p>We must now speak of the arrival of the Summer fleet of transports at the
River St. John.</p>
<p>Almost everybody has heard of the Spring and Fall fleets, but comparatively
few are aware that a very important contingent of Loyalists came to St. John on
the 29th of June. The late J. W. Lawrence makes no mention of this Summer fleet
in his &ldquo;Foot-Prints;&rdquo; in fact nearly all of our local historians have ignored it.
Moses H. Perley, in his well known lecture on early New Brunswick history, mentions
it very briefly. Lorenzo Sabine, in his Loyalists of the American Revolution,
incidentally refers to the date of arrival. The reference occurs in the biographical
sketch of John Clarke, of Rhode Island, of whom we read:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;At the peace, he settled at St. John. He arrived at that city on the 29th of
June, 1783, at which time only two log huts had been erected on its site. The
government gave him and every other grantee 500 feet of very ordinary boards
towards covering their buildings. City lots sold in 1783 at from two to twenty
dollars. He bought one for the price of executing the deed of conveyance and &rsquo;a
treat.&rsquo; Mr. Clarke was clerk of Trinity church nearly 50 years. He died at St. John
in 1853, in his ninety-fourth year, leaving numerous descendants.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Loyalists who came in the Summer fleet embarked at various places, some
on Long Island, others at Staten Island and many at New York. In some instances
embarkation had taken place three weeks prior to the departure of the ships from
Sandy Hook. The delay in sailing was caused by difficulties attending the embarkation
and getting the fleet together. The names of the vessels have been preserved
in the following notice, printed in a New York paper:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'>&ldquo;NOTICE TO REFUGEES.</p>
<p>The following Transports, viz. Two Sisters, Hopewell, Symetry, Generous
Friends, Bridgewater, Thames, Amity&rsquo;s Production, Tartar, Duchess of Gordon,
Littledale, William and Mary, and Free Briton, which are to carry Companies commanded
by Sylvanus Whitney, Joseph Gorham, Henry Thomas, John Forrester,
Thomas Elms, John Cock, Joseph Clarke, James Hoyt, Christopher Benson, Joseph
Forrester, Thomas Welch, Oliver Bourdet, Asher Dunham, Abia. Camp, Peter Berton,
Richard Hill and Moses Pitcher, will certainly fall down on Monday morning; it
will therefore be absolutely necessary for the people who are appointed to go in
these companies, to be all on board To-Morrow Evening.</p>
<p>&ldquo;New York, June 7th, 1783.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Of the seventeen companies whose captains are named above, those of Christopher
Benson and Richard Hill went to Annapolis, and that of Moses Pitcher, to
Shelburne; the others (with the possible exception of Thomas Welch&rsquo;s company)
came to St. John. We learn from a document entitled &ldquo;A Return of the number of
Loyalists gone to St. John&rsquo;s River in Nova Scotia, as pr. returns left in the Commissary
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_354' name='page_354'></a>354</span>
General&rsquo;s Office in New York&rdquo; that the number enrolled in the
various companies for provisions, etc., was as given below:&mdash;</p>
<table summary='' border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='2' style='margin:1em auto;'>
<tr><th>&nbsp;</th><th>Men.</th><th>Women.</th><th>Children.</th><th>Servants.</th><th>Total.</th></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. S. Whitney</td><td class='number'>42</td><td class='number'>27</td><td class='number'>87</td><td class='number'>12</td><td class='number'>168</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. J. Goreham</td><td class='number'>31</td><td class='number'>20</td><td class='number'>78</td><td class='number'>7</td><td class='number'>136</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. H. Thomas</td><td class='number'>32</td><td class='number'>26</td><td class='number'>52</td><td class='number'>12</td><td class='number'>122</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. J. Forrester</td><td class='number'>51</td><td class='number'>30</td><td class='number'>73</td><td class='number'>31</td><td class='number'>185</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. Thos. Elms</td><td class='number'>30</td><td class='number'>19</td><td class='number'>27</td><td class='number'>45</td><td class='number'>121</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. John Cock</td><td class='number'>32</td><td class='number'>21</td><td class='number'>48</td><td class='number'>10</td><td class='number'>111</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. J. Clarke</td><td class='number'>36</td><td class='number'>25</td><td class='number'>48</td><td class='number'>52</td><td class='number'>161</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. Jas. Hoyt</td><td class='number'>42</td><td class='number'>31</td><td class='number'>61</td><td class='number'>85</td><td class='number'>219</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. Jas. Forrester</td><td class='number'>35</td><td class='number'>25</td><td class='number'>47</td><td class='number'>15</td><td class='number'>122</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. O. Bourdet</td><td class='number'>55</td><td class='number'>36</td><td class='number'>47</td><td class='number'>42</td><td class='number'>180</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. A. Dunham</td><td class='number'>31</td><td class='number'>19</td><td class='number'>57</td><td class='number'>5</td><td class='number'>112</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. Abi. Camp</td><td class='number'>52</td><td class='number'>36</td><td class='number'>67</td><td class='number'>48</td><td class='number'>203</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Capt. P. Berton</td><td class='number'>31</td><td class='number'>20</td><td class='number'>51</td><td class='number'>30</td><td class='number'>132</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Total</td><td class='number total'>500</td><td class='number total'>335</td><td class='number total'>743</td><td class='number total'>394</td><td class='number total'>1972</td></tr>
</table>
<p>If all who gave in their names to Brook Watson at the commissariat office
actually embarked for St. John in the June fleet, it would appear that nearly two
thousand persons were carried in that fleet. But it is not unlikely that some of
those who gave in their names did not go at this time. Among the papers in the
archives at Halifax, there is a copy of a &ldquo;Return of Loyalists, etc., gone from New
York to Nova Scotia as pr. returns in the Commissary General&rsquo;s office.&rdquo; The
original was compiled at New York, Oct., 12, 1783, by Richard Fitzpatrick, and at
the bottom he adds the significant words&mdash;&ldquo;The above is made from returns left
in the commissary general&rsquo;s office, but it is probable the numbers actually gone
will fall far short.&rdquo; The chief reason for supposing this to have been the case
in regard to the summer fleet is the publication of the following official return,
signed by Sir Guy Carleton, in one of the newspapers of the day.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'><span class='smcap'>Return of Refugees Embarked for Nova Scotia.</span></p>
<p class='right'>New York, 17th June, 1783.</p>
<table summary='' border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='2' style='margin:1em auto;'>
<tr><th>&nbsp;</th><th>Men.</th><th>Women.</th><th>Children.</th><th>Servants.</th><th>Total.</th></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>For St. John&rsquo;s River</td><td class='number'>443</td><td class='number'>283</td><td class='number'>670</td><td class='number'>258</td><td class='number'>1654</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>For Annapolis Royal</td><td class='number'>46</td><td class='number'>37</td><td class='number'>76</td><td class='number'>46</td><td class='number'>205</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>For Port Roseway</td><td class='number'>34</td><td class='number'>15</td><td class='number'>39</td><td class='number'>34</td><td class='number'>122</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>For Fort Cumberland</td><td class='number'>175</td><td class='number'>86</td><td class='number'>216</td><td class='number'>14</td><td class='number'>491</td></tr>
<tr><td class='text'>Total</td><td class='number total'>698</td><td class='number total'>421</td><td class='number total'>1001</td><td class='number total'>352</td><td class='number total'>2472</td></tr>
</table>
<p class='right'>GUY CARLETON.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It may be safer to take the figures in Sir Guy Carleton&rsquo;s list; but whichever
list we take, the numbers are sufficient to make the arrival of the summer fleet a
thing of considerable importance. The names of nearly all the captains of the
companies of Loyalists, who sailed in the fleet are found amongst the grantees of
Parrtown.</p>
<p>The diary of Sarah Frost, who was a passenger to St. John in the ship &ldquo;Two
Sisters,&rdquo; throws much light upon the circumstances that attended the voyage. Sarah
(Schofield) Frost was the wife of William Frost, a sturdy loyalist of Stamford. He
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_355' name='page_355'></a>355</span>
was proscribed and banished and threatened with death if he ever returned to
Connecticut. He did return, however, on the night of July 21, 1781, accompanied
by an armed party in seven boats. The boats were secreted and the party placed
themselves in hiding in a swamp near the meeting house. The next day, which
was Sunday, they surprised and captured the minister, Rev. Dr. Mather, and his
entire congregation. A selection of the prisoners was quickly made, and forty-eight
individuals were hurried away to the boats and taken across the sound to Lloyd&rsquo;s
Neck, where they were greeted in no complimentary fashion by some of their old
neighbors whom they had driven from their homes. Twenty-four of the prisoners
were allowed to go back to Stamford on parole. The remainder, twenty-six in
number, were sent to the provost prison in New York. Dr. Mather was one of
those consigned to the provost, as a &ldquo;leader of sedition.&rdquo; Needless to say this
exploit rendered Wm. Frost exceedingly obnoxious to the &ldquo;patriots&rdquo; of Stamford.
The parents of Mrs. Frost espoused the cause of the revolutionary party, and her&rsquo;s
was one of those sad cases in which families were divided by the war.</p>
<p>The extracts from her journal will enable the reader to have a good idea of
some of the trials endured by those who left their old homes for the sake of the
principles they cherished.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;May 25, 1783. I left Lloyd&rsquo;s Neck with my family and went on board the
Two Sisters, commanded by Captain Brown, for a voyage to Nova Scotia with the
rest of the Loyalist sufferers. This evening the Captain drank tea with us. He
appears to be a very clever gentleman. We expect to sail as soon as the wind shall
favor. We have very fair accommodation in the cabin, although it contains six
families besides my own. There are two hundred and fifty passengers on board.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A few days later the ships proceeded to New York, and then there followed an
uncomfortable period of waiting. They hoped to have sailed on the 9th of June,
having been already a fortnight on shipboard, but it was not until a week later
that they got away. While at New York the passengers spent much of their time
on shore, visiting their friends and making purchases of things needed on the voyage.
Mrs. Frost had a touching interview with her father, who came in a boat
from Stamford to bid her farewell. She writes under date of Monday, June 9th;
&ldquo;Our women all came on board with their children, and there is great confusion
in the cabin. We bear with it pretty well through the day, but at night one child
cries in one place, and one in another, while we are getting them to bed. I think
sometimes I will go crazy. There are so many of them, if they were still as common,
there would be a great noise amongst them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Two days later the ships weighed anchor and dropped down to Staten Island
where they remained until Sunday the 15th of June, when Mrs. Frost writes: &ldquo;Our
ship is getting under way, I suppose for Nova Scotia. I hope for a good passage.
About three o&rsquo;clock we have a hard gale and a shower which drives us all below.
About five o&rsquo;clock we come to anchor within about six miles of the Light House
at Sandy Hook. How long we shall lie here I don&rsquo;t know. About six o&rsquo;clock we
had a terrible squall and hail stones fell as big as ounce balls. About sunset there
was another squall and it hailed faster than before. Mr. Frost went out and gathered
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_356' name='page_356'></a>356</span>
a mug full of hail stones, and in the evening we had a glass of punch made of
it, and the ice was in it till we had drank the whole of it.&rdquo;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Monday, June 16. We weighed anchor about half after five in the morning,
with the wind North-Nor&rsquo;-West, and it blows very fresh. We passed the Light
House about half after seven. It is now half after nine and a signal has been fired
for the ships all to lie to for the Bridgewater, which seems to lag behind, I believe
on account of some misfortune that happened to her yesterday.... It is
now two o&rsquo;clock and we have again got under way. We have been waiting for a
ship to come from New York, and she has now overhauled us.<a name='FNanchor_0141' id='FNanchor_0141'></a><a href='#Footnote_0141' class='fnanchor'>[141]</a> We have a very
light breeze now, but have at last got all our fleet together. We have thirteen
Ships, two Brigs, one Frigate belonging to our fleet. The Frigate is our Commodore&rsquo;s.
It is now three o&rsquo;clock, we are becalmed and the men are out fishing for
Mackerel. Mr. Miles has caught the first.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Thursday, June 19. We are still steering eastward with a fine breeze. We
make seven miles an hour the chief part of the day. About noon we shift our
course and are steering North by East. At two o&rsquo;clock the Captain says we are
250 miles from Sandy Hook, with the wind West-Nor&rsquo;-West. At six o&rsquo;clock we
saw a sail ahead. She crowded sail and put off from us, but our frigate knew how
to talk to her, for at half past seven she gave her a shot which caused her to shorten
sail and lie to. Our captain looked with his spy glass; he told me she was a Rebel
brig; he saw her thirteen stripes. She was steering to the westward. The wind
blows so high this evening, I am afraid to go to bed for fear of rolling out.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Friday 20th. This morning our Frigate fired a signal to shift our course to
North-Nor&rsquo;-East. We have still fine weather and a fair wind. Mr. Emslie, the
mate, tells me we are, at five in the afternoon, about 500 miles from Sandy Hook.
We begin to see the fog come on, for that is natural to this place. At six our Commodore
fired for the ships to lie to until those behind should come up. Mr. Emslie
drank tea with Mr. Frost and myself. The fog comes on very thick this evening.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Saturday, June 21. Rose at 8 o&rsquo;clock. It was so foggy we could not see one
ship belonging to the fleet. They rang their bells and fired guns all the morning
to keep company. About half after ten the fog all went off, so that we saw the
chief part of our fleet around us. At noon the fog came on again, but we could
hear their bells all around us. This evening the Captain showed Mr. Frost and me
the map of the whole way we have come and the way we have yet to go. He told
us we are 240 miles from Nova Scotia at this time. It is so foggy we lost all our
company tonight and we are entirely alone.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sunday, June 22. It is very foggy yet. No ship in sight now, nor any bells
to be heard. Towards noon we heard some guns fired from our fleet, but could not
tell where they was. The fog was so thick we could not see ten rods, and the wind
is so ahead that we have not made ten miles since yesterday noon.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Monday, June 23. Towards noon the fog goes off fast, and in the afternoon
we could see several of our vessels; one came close alongside of us. Mr. Emslie
says we are an hundred and forty miles from land now. In the evening the wind
becomes fair, the fog seems to leave us and the sun looks very pleasant. Mr.
Whitney and his wife, Mr. Frost and I, have been diverting ourselves with a few
games of crib.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The passengers had now become exceedingly weary of the voyage. The ships
had lain buried in a dense fog, almost becalmed, for three days. An epidemic of
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_357' name='page_357'></a>357</span>
measles, too, had broken out on board the &ldquo;Two Sisters,&rdquo; and served to add to the
anxiety and discomfort of the mothers. But a change for the better was at hand
and Mrs. Frost continues her diary in a more cheerful strain.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Thursday, June 26. This morning the sun appears very pleasant. We are
now nigh the banks of Cape Sable. At nine o&rsquo;clock we begin to see land. How
pleased we are after being nine days out of sight of land to see it again. There is
general rejoicing. At half past six we have twelve of our ships in sight. Our captain
told me just now we should be in the Bay of Fundy before morning. He says it
is about one day&rsquo;s sail after we get into the Bay to Saint John&rsquo;s River. How I
long to see that place though a strange land. I am tired of being on board ship,
though we have as clever a captain as ever need to live.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Friday, June 27. I got up this morning very early to look out. I can see land
on both sides of us. About ten o&rsquo;clock we passed Annapolis. The wind died away.
Our people got their lines out to catch cod fish. About half after five John Waterbury
caught the first.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Saturday, June 28. Got up in the morning and found ourselves nigh to land
on both sides. At half after nine our Captain fired a gun for a pilot and soon after
ten a pilot came on board, and a quarter after one our ship anchored off against
Fort Howe in Saint John&rsquo;s River. Our people went on shore and brought on board
pea vines with blossoms on them, gooseberries, spruce and grass, all of which grow
wild. They say this is to be our city. Our land is five and twenty miles up the
river. We are to have here only a building, place 40 feet wide and an hundred feet
back. Mr. Frost has gone on shore in his whale boat to see how it looks. He returns
soon bringing a fine salmon.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sunday, June 29. This morning it looks very pleasant. I am just going on
shore with my children.... It is now afternoon and I have been on shore.
It is I think the roughest land I ever saw.... We are all ordered to land
tomorrow and not a shelter to go under.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such is the simple story told by this good lady; the reader&rsquo;s imagination can
fill in the details. At the time of Mrs. Frost&rsquo;s arrival she was a young matron of
twenty-eight years. Her daughter, Hannah, born on July 30th., is said to have
been the second female child born at Parrtown.</p>
<p>In the case of the June fleet, as of that which arrived in May, the captains of
many of the transports seem to have been remarkably considerate for the welfare
of their passengers. The &ldquo;Bridgewater,&rdquo; staid at St. John more than a fortnight
before she sailed on her return voyage to New York, as we learn from the address
presented to her captain by the Loyalists who came in her.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;To Captain Adnet, Commander of the Transport Bridgewater.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Address of the Loyalists, that came in the Ship under your command,
from New-York to St. John&rsquo;s River, Nova-Scotia.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Your humanity, and the kindness and attention you have shewn to render as
happy as possible each individual on board your ship, during the passage, and till
their disembarkation, has filled our hearts with sentiments of the deepest gratitude,
and merit the warmest return of acknowledgments and thanks, which we most
sincerely desire you to accept. Wishing you a prosperous voyage to your intended
port, we are, your much obliged and very humble servants.</p>
<p>Signed by the particular desire, and in behalf of the whole.</p>
<p class='right lalign'>JOHN HOLLAND,<br />
CAPTAIN CLARKE,<br />
NATHANIEL DICKINSON.</p>
<p>St. John&rsquo;s River, July 15, 1783.</p>
</blockquote>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_358' name='page_358'></a>358</span></div>
<p>Vessels continued to arrive during the summer, each bearing its quota of loyal
exiles. Those who came were in nearly all cases enrolled in companies, and officers
appointed, who were commissioned by Sir Guy Carleton. Several of the ships came
repeatedly to St. John. The <a name='TC_77'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Bridgwater'">Bridgewater</ins>, one of the Spring fleet, came again in
June, and made a third voyage in October. The Cyrus, one of the Spring fleet,
arrived again on the 14th September, with 194 passengers, whose names are given
in the collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society. The Sovereign, one of
the vessels of the Spring fleet, came again in August, as we learn from the letter
of thanks addressed to the captain by her passengers, which follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Dear Sir: Your Generosity, Kindness and Attention to us while on board your
ship, and assistance lent us on landing our Property from on board, demands our
most warm Acknowledgments: Permit us therefore to return you that unfeigned
Thanks for all your Goodness that feeling hearts can: and as your are about to leave
us, accept of our most sincere wishes for your Happiness and Prosperity; and that
you may have a safe and easy Passage to New York is the sincere wish of, Dear Sir.</p>
<p class='center'>(By Request of the Company.)</p>
<p class='center'>Your most obedient, humble servant,</p>
<p class='right'>JOHN MENZIES, Capt. 24th Company.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>St. John&rsquo;s River, Aug. 12, 1783.</p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To Capt. Wm. Stewart, Ship Sovereign.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>About this time the Americans began to urge upon Sir Guy Carleton the speedy
evacuation of New York by the British forces. But Sir Guy was too good a friend
of the Loyalists to allow himself to be unduly hurried in the matter. He stated
that the violence of the Americans, since the cessation of hostilities, had greatly
increased the number of Loyalists who were obliged to look to him for escape from
threatened destruction. That their fears had been augmented by the barbarous
menaces of Committees formed in various towns, cities and districts, which had
threatened dire vengeance to any who ventured back to their former homes. He
therefore adds, &ldquo;I should show an indifference to the feelings of humanity, as well
as to the honor and interest of the nation whom I serve, to leave any of the
Loyalists that are desirous to quit the country, a prey to the violence they conceive
they have so much cause to apprehend.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Sir Guy did his best to facilitate the emigration of all who desired to leave New
York, and by his instructions the following notice was published.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;City Hall, New York, August 14, 1783.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Notice is hereby given to all Loyalists within the lines, desirous to emigrate
from this place before the final Evacuation, that they must give in their Names at
the Adjutant-General&rsquo;s Office, on or before the 21st instant, and be ready to embark
by the end of this month.</p>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;ABIJAH WILLARD.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Before the arrival of the date, mentioned in the notice, 6,000 names were entered
at the Adjutant-General&rsquo;s Office for passages, and the evacuation proceeded as fast
as the number of transports would admit. Four weeks later another and more
emphatic notice was issued.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_359' name='page_359'></a>359</span></div>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;City Hall, New York, September 12, 1783.</p>
<p>The Commissioners appointed to examine the Claims of Persons for Passages
from this Place, give this Notice to all Loyalists, who have been recommended for
Passages to Nova Scotia; that ships are prepared to receive them on board, and it
is expected they will embark on or before the Twentieth Instant.</p>
<p>&ldquo;And the Board have Authority further to declare. That if they neglect to
embrace the opportunity now offered, they must not expect to be conveyed afterwards
at the Public Expense.</p>
<p class='right'>ABIJAH WILLARD.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There can be little doubt that many who continued to linger at New York
would gladly have returned to their former places of abode, but the experience of
the few days who attempted it was too discouraging. Here is an instance, as described
by one of the American &ldquo;patriots.&rdquo;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Last week there came one of the dam&rsquo;d refugees from New York to a place
called Wall-Kill, in order to make a tarry with his parents. He was taken into
custody immediately, his head and eye brows were shaved&mdash;tarred and feathered&mdash;a
hog yoke put on his neck, and a cow bell thereon; upon his head a very high cap
of feathers was set, well plum&rsquo;d with soft tar, and a sheet of paper in front, with
a man drawn with two faces, representing Arnold and the Devil&rsquo;s imps; and on the
back of it a cow, with the refugee or tory driving her off.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The forced migration of the Loyalists was a source of much amusement to the
whigs of that day. A parody on Hamlet&rsquo;s soliloquy, &ldquo;To be or not to be,&rdquo; was
printed in the New Jersey Journal, under the title, The Tory&rsquo;s Soliloquy. It begins:</p>
<table summary=''><tr><td>
<p class='cg'>&ldquo;To go or not to go; that is the question,<br />
Whether &rsquo;tis best to trust the inclement sky,<br />
That scowl&rsquo;s indignant, or the dreary bay<br />
Of Fundy and Cape Sable&rsquo;s rocks and shoals,<br />
And seek our new domain in Scotia&rsquo;s wilds,<br />
Barren and bare, or stay among the rebels,<br />
And by our stay rouse up their keenest rage.&rdquo;</p>
</td></tr></table>
<p>We have now to consider the circumstances under which the &ldquo;Fall fleet&rdquo; came
to St. John.</p>
<p>After the cessation of hostilities, the violent temper manifested by the victorious
Americans caused the officers of the Loyalist regiments to lay their case before Sir
Guy Carleton in a letter dated March 14, 1783. They state, &ldquo;That from the purest
principles of loyalty and attachment to the British government they took up arms
in his Majesty&rsquo;s service, and, relying on the justice of their cause and the support
of their Sovereign and the British nation, they have persevered with unabated zeal
through all the vicissitudes of a calamitous and unfortunate war.... That
whatever stipulations may be made at the peace for the restoration of the property
of the Loyalists and permission for them to return home, yet, should the American
Provinces be severed from the British Empire, it will be impossible for those who
have served his Majesty in arms in this war to remain in the country. The personal
animosities that arose from civil dissensions have been so heightened by the blood
that has been shed in the contest that the parties can never be reconciled.&rdquo; The
letter goes on to speak of sacrifices of property and lucrative professions; of the
anxiety felt for the future of wives and children; of the fidelity of the troops, who
in the course of the contest had shown a degree of patience, fortitude and bravery
almost without example; and of the great number of men incapacitated by wounds,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_360' name='page_360'></a>360</span>
many having helpless families who had seen better days. In conclusion they make
the following request:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;That grants of land may be made to them in some of his Majesty&rsquo;s American
Provinces and that they may be assisted in making settlements, in order that
they and their children may enjoy the benefit of British government.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That some permanent provision may be made for such of the non-commissioned
officers and privates as have been disabled by wounds, and for the widows
and orphans of deceased officers and soldiers.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That as a reward for their services the rank of the officers be made permanent
in America, and that they be entitled to half pay upon the reduction of their regiments.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The letter was signed by the commanders of fourteen Loyalist regiments.</p>
<p>The application of these officers received due recognition, and on the arrival of
his Majesty&rsquo;s orders and instructions to Sir Guy Carleton, dated the 9th of June, it
was decided that the Kings American Regiment, Queens Rangers, British Legion,
New York Volunteers, Loyal American Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, De
Lancey&rsquo;s Brigade, Prince of Wales American Regiment, Pennsylvania Loyalists,
Maryland Loyalists, Loyal American Legion, King&rsquo;s American Dragoons and one
or two other corps, should hold themselves in readiness to embark for Nova Scotia,
where on their arrival they were to be disbanded, unless any should chose to be
discharged at New York.</p>
<p>Before the royal orders and instructions arrived in America the King&rsquo;s American
Dragoons had been sent to the mouth of the St. John river, under command of
Major Daniel Murray. They encamped at Manawagonish, a little to the west of
Carleton heights, with the intention of making a settlement in the old township of
Conway. On the 6th of July, Col. Edward Winslow wrote to Major Joshua Upham,
who had remained at New York as Aide-de-Camp to Sir Guy Carleton: &ldquo;I am
gratified excessively at the situation and behaviour of your regiment. I never saw
more cheerfulness and good humor than appears among the men. They are encamped
on one of the pleasantest spots I ever beheld, and they are enjoying a great variety
of what you (New) Yorkers call luxuries&mdash;such as partridges, salmon, bass, trout,
pigeons, etc. The whole regiment are this day employed in cutting and clearing a
road to the river, and Murray and I intend to ride tomorrow where man never
rode before.&rdquo; The following day Winslow wrote Ward Chipman, &ldquo;I
am at present at Murray&rsquo;s head quarters in a township which we shall
lay out for the provincials,<a name='FNanchor_0142' id='FNanchor_0142'></a><a href='#Footnote_0142' class='fnanchor'>[142]</a> and we have already cut a road from
his camp to the river, about three miles. We cut yesterday, with about
120 men, more than a mile through a forest hitherto deemed impenetrable. When
we emerged from it, there opened a prospect superior to anything in the world I
believe. A perfect view of the immense Bay of Fundy, on one side, and very extensive
view of the river St. John&rsquo;s with the Falls, grand Bay and Islands on the
other&mdash;in front the Fort, which is a beautiful object on a high hill, and all the
settlements about the town, with the ships, boats, etc., in the harbor&mdash;&rsquo;twas positively
the most magnificent and romantic scene I ever beheld.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The view from Lancaster Heights, which so delighted Colonel Winslow, proves
equally charming to American tourists of the present generation. The stay of the
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_361' name='page_361'></a>361</span>
King&rsquo;s American Dragoons at &ldquo;Camp Manawaugonish,&rdquo; however, was brief, for
about the end of August they were sent up the St. John river to what is now the
Parish of Prince William, where many of their descendants are to be found at the
present day. The commander of the regiment was the celebrated Sir Benjamin
Thompson, better known as Count Rumford, who, by the way, never came to New
Brunswick; but other officers of the corps were prominent in our local affairs.
Major Joshua Upham was a judge of the supreme court. Major Daniel Murray was
for some years a member of the House of Assembly for York County. Chaplain
Jonathan Odell was for years Provincial Secretary. Surgeon Adino Paddock was a
leading physician, and the progenitor of a long line of descendants, who practiced
the healing art. Lieutenant John Davidson was a member for York County in the
provincial legislature and a leading land surveyor in the early days of the country.
Lieutenant Simeon Jones was the ancestor of Simeon Jones, ex-mayor of St. John,
and his well known family. Quarter master Edward Sands was a leading merchant
of the city of St. John. Cornet Arthur Nicholson was a prominent man on the
upper St. John in early times, and for a while commanded the military post at
Presquile.</p>
<p>After the articles of peace had been signed, no serious effort was made to restrain
the non-commissioned officers and men of the Loyalist regiments from taking
&ldquo;French leave,&rdquo; and a good many of them left the service without the formality
of a discharge. Those who did so were of course marked on the roll as deserters;
they remained, for the most part, in the States, and eventually returned to their
former places of abode. Others of the troops were formally discharged at New
York. As a consequence the British American regiments that came to the St. John
river were reduced to a fraction of their original strength. The number of those
who came to St. John in the Fall fleet, has been commonly stated as about three
thousand souls. The returns of the Commissary general&rsquo;s office in New York show
that up to October 12th as many as 3,396 persons connected with the Loyalist
regiments had sailed to the River St. John, viz., 1823 men, 563 women, 696 children
and 311 servants. The following summer an enumeration was made by Thomas
Knox of the disbanded troops settled on the St. John river. His return for the
Loyalist regiments gives a total of 3,520 persons, viz., 1877 men, 585 women, 865
children and 193 servants. This does not differ very materially from the other return
at New York, the difference being accounted for by the fact that a few of the
men of these regiments left New York very late in the season, and consequently
were not included in the return of 12th October.</p>
<p>The official correspondence of Sir Guy Carleton contains a pretty full account
of the circumstances that attended the departure of the Loyalist regiments and
their subsequent arrival at St. John. During the summer months they had been
encamped near Newtown, Long Island, a short distance from Brooklyn Ferry. They
embarked on the 3d of September, and Sir Guy Carleton wrote to General Fox,
the commander in chief in Nova Scotia, that he hoped they would sail on the 7th
of that month; but, as usual, unforseen delays prevented their departure until some
days later. The command of the troops devolved on Lieut. Col. Richard Hewlett,
of the 3d battalion of De Lancey&rsquo;s Brigade; Lieut. Col. Gabriel De Veber, of the
Prince of Wales American Regiment, was second in command. Most of the senior
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_362' name='page_362'></a>362</span>
officers were at this time in England, where they had gone to present to the British
government their claims for compensation for losses consequent upon the war, and
to press their claims for half-pay upon the disbanding of their regiments.</p>
<p>Sir Guy Carleton&rsquo;s instructions to Lieut. Col. Hewlett are contained in the
following letter.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;New York, Sep. 12, 1783.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sir.&mdash;You are to take the command of the British American Troops mentioned
in the margin,<a name='FNanchor_0143' id='FNanchor_0143'></a><a href='#Footnote_0143' class='fnanchor'>[143]</a> which are to proceed to the River St. John&rsquo;s in the Bay of Fundy
in Nova Scotia. On your arrival there you will see that the stores intended for
them are duly delivered, and you will take such steps as shall be necessary for the
several corps proceeding immediately to the places alloted for their settlement,
where they are to be disbanded on their arrival, provided it does not exceed the
20th of October, on which day Captain Prevost, deputy inspector of British American
Forces, has directions to disband them.... You will give directions to
the officer commanding each corps that, in case of separation, they will proceed on
their arrival at the River St. John&rsquo;s in forwarding their respective corps to the
places of their respective destination.... The debarkation of the troops
must not on any account whatever be delayed, as the transports must return to
this Port with all possible dispatch. Directions have been given to Mr. Colville,
assistant agent of all small craft at the River St. John, to afford every assistance
in his power to the corps in getting to the places of their destination, and the commanding
officers of corps will make application to him for that purpose.</p>
<p class='right lalign'>I am, etc., etc.,<br />
<span class='indent8'>&nbsp;</span>GUY CARLETON.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The perils of navigation in the olden time are seen in the experience of the
Esther and the Martha, two of the vessels of the Fall fleet. The ships left Sandy
Hook, on or about the 15th of September, and all went well until they arrived near
the Seal Islands, off the South-West coast of Nova Scotia. Here the Esther, having
on board Colonel Van Buskirk&rsquo;s battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers, got
out of her course and narrowly escaped destruction, reaching St. John several days
after her sister ships. The Martha, Capt. Willis, was even more unfortunate. She
was wrecked on a ledge of rocks off the Seal Islands, afterwards known as &ldquo;Soldier&rsquo;s
Ledge.&rdquo; Her passengers numbered 174 persons and including a corps of Maryland
Loyalists and part of Col. Hewlett&rsquo;s battalion of De Lancey&rsquo;s Brigade. Of these
99 perished and 75 were saved by fishing boats.</p>
<p>According to the account of Captain Patrick Kennedy of the Maryland Loyalists,
the accident was due to gross neglect. The master reported the previous evening
that he had seen land, and everyone imagined he would lay to during the night,
the weather being tempestuous. He had left New York with an old suit of sails
and had not above twelve men and boys to work his ship. While they were engaged
in rigging and setting up a new main topsail, to replace one that had gone
to pieces early in the night, the ship struck. Soon after the long boat was smashed
by the fall of the mainmast. The cutter had already been launched. The captain
now gave orders to launch the jolly boat and, to the surprise of everybody, having
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_363' name='page_363'></a>363</span>
repeatedly proclaimed that he would be one of the last to leave the ship, he jumped
into her as she went over the side, rowed to the cutter, got into her, and inhumanly
pushed off for the shore. The empty Jolly boat was turned adrift in full view
of the unhappy people on board, the master turning a deaf ear to the solicitations
of Captain Kennedy, who begged him to pull in toward the stern, in order to
discuss some means of saving the lives of his passengers.</p>
<p>Another account of this tragedy has been preserved in the letter of Lieut.
Michael Laffan, of Colonel Hewlett&rsquo;s battalion, to his brother:&mdash;</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>St. Johns, Oct. 11, 1783.</p>
<p>Dear Brother.&mdash;Yesterday evening I had the good Fortune to arrive at this
Place. On the 25th of September, about 4 o&rsquo;clock in the morning, the &ldquo;Martha&rdquo;
struck against a rock off the Tusket river near the Bay of Fundy, and was in the
course of a few Hours wrecked in a Thousand Pieces. I had the good Fortune to
get upon a Piece of the Wreck with three more officers, viz., Lieut. Henley, Lieut.
Sterling, Dr. Stafford and two soldiers (all of the Maryland Loyalists) and floated
on it two Days and two nights up to near our Waists in Water, during which time
Lieut. Sterling and one of the Soldiers died. On the third Day we drifted to an
island where we lived without Fire, Water, Victuals or Clothing, except the Remnants
of what we had on, about one Quart of Water per man (which we sipped
from the cavities in the Rocks) and a few Rasberries and snails. On the seventh
Day we were espied and taken up by a Frenchman, that was out a fowling, who
took us to his House and treated us with every kindness. We staid with him six
Days and then proceeded to a Place called Cape Pursue, where we met with Captain
Kennedy and about fifty of both Regiments, who were saved at Sea by some fishing
Boats, about 36 Hours from the time the Vessel was wrecked. Capt. Doughty,
Lieut. McFarlane, Mrs. McFarlane and Ensign Montgomery perished....</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Lieut. Col. Hewlett&rsquo;s letter to Sir Guy Carleton, announcing the arrival of the
fleet at its destined port, is brief and to the point:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>St. Johns, Bay of Fundy, 29th September, 1783.</p>
<p>Sir.&mdash;Agreeable to your Excellency&rsquo;s orders I have the honor to inform you that
the Troops under my command arrived at the River St. Johns the 27th instant,
except the ship &ldquo;Martha&rdquo; with the Maryland Loyalists and part of the 2d Batt&rsquo;n
De Lancey&rsquo;s, and the ship &ldquo;Esther&rdquo; with part of the Jersey Volunteers, of which
ships no certain accounts were received since their sailings.</p>
<p>This day a small party of the Guides and Pioneers are landed, which proceed
from the Falls up the River St. Johns tomorrow, if the weather permits.</p>
<p>I have given the necessary orders for the Troops to disembark tomorrow and
encamp just above the Falls, from which place they shall be forwarded with all
possible expedition to the place of their destination, but am much afraid the want
of small craft will greatly prevent their dispatch.</p>
<p class='lalign' style="margin-bottom:0em;"><span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>I have the honor to be sir,<br />
<span class='indent8'>&nbsp;</span>Your most obedient, humble servant,</p>
<p class='right'>RICHARD HEWLETT, Lt. Col.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the 13th October Col. Hewlett informed Sir Guy Carleton that the troops
had all been disbanded by Major Augustin Prevost, and were getting up the river
as speedily as the scarcity of small craft for conveying them would admit.</p>
<p>A large number of the officers and men of the disbanded regiments drew lots
at Parrtown, and many remained at the mouth of the river during the winter.
George Leonard, who was one of the chief directors of the settlement of the town,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_364' name='page_364'></a>364</span>
says that the lots at first laid out were divided and subdivided, on the arrival of
almost every fleet, to accommodate the Loyalists as they came. These proved to be
so greatly in excess of what had been anticipated, that the lots of those who came at
the first were reduced by degrees to one sixteenth part of their original dimensions.
It was not until the 17th December that a complete plan of Parrtown was prepared
by Paul Bedell. Meanwhile there had been much delay in laying out lands for
settlement on the River St. John.</p>
<p>Colonel Morse, of the Royal Engineers, gives a summary of the causes of the
delay in placing the disbanded troops upon their lands: &ldquo;First their arriving very
late in the season; Secondly, timely provision not having been made by escheating
and laying out lands; Thirdly, a sufficient number of surveyors not having been
employed; but Lastly and principally, the want of foresight and wisdom to make
necessary arrangements, and steadiness in carrying them out.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Lieut. Col. Edward Winslow, muster-master-general of the British American
regiments, had been sent to Nova Scotia in the month of April to secure lands for
the accommodation of the officers and men who wished to settle there. In this task
he had the assistance of Lieut. Col. Isaac Allen, Lieut. Col. Stephen De Lancey and
Major Thomas Barclay. Their instructions were to procure the lands required &ldquo;in
the most eligible and advantageous situation, paying strict regard to the quality
of the soil.&rdquo; They decided to make application for the vacant lands on the River
St. John, and the Nova Scotia government agreed that the provincial troops might
be accommodated &ldquo;near the source of that river, leaving the lower part to the
Refugees.&rdquo; Lieut. Colonel De Lancey was greatly chagrined at this decision, and
on the 11th July he wrote to Winslow: &ldquo;If what I am informed is true, we might
better be all of us in New York. It is that Conway, Burton, etc., are to be given
to the Refugees, and that the lands to be given to the Provincials are to commence
at Sunbury (or St. Anne) and go northwest to Canada or elsewhere....
This is so notorious a forfeiture of the faith of Government that it appears to me
almost incredible, and yet I fear it is not to be doubted. Could we have known
this a little earlier it would have saved you the trouble of exploring the country
for the benefit of a people you are not connected with. In short it is a subject
too disagreeable to say more upon.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The decision to settle the Loyalist regiment some distance up the river obliged
the Kings American Dragoons to remove from Lancaster, where they had at first
pitched their tents. The intimation to move on came in the shape of a letter
from Gen&rsquo;l Fox&rsquo;s secretary, to Major Murray, their commanding officer. An extract
follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;It having been represented to Brig&rsquo;r. General Fox that the King&rsquo;s American
Dragoons under your command cannot be enhutted at the place where they are
at present encamped, without inconvenience to the great number of Loyalists who
are forming settlements at the mouth of the River St. John&rsquo;s, and he being also
informed that His Excellency the Governor of this Province has assigned a certain
tract of land for the accommodation of the Provincial Regiments on the River St.
John&rsquo;s, beginning at the eastern boundaries of the Townships of Sunbury and Newtown,
and extending up the River, I am directed to acquaint you that you have
Brigadier General Fox&rsquo;s permission to remove the King&rsquo;s American Dragoons to
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_365' name='page_365'></a>365</span>
that part of the district which has been allotted to the regiment.... Lieut.
Colonel Morse, chief Engineer, will, in consideration that your Regiment may be
exposed to peculiar inconveniences from being the first who are ordered to but
on the River St. John&rsquo;s, forward to you such articles as he apprehends cannot be
procured at that place.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the 16th September, Gen&rsquo;l Fox wrote from Annapolis, informing Governor
Parr that the Loyalist regiments embarking at New York were, by the Commander
in Chief&rsquo;s express order, to be discharged as contiguous as possible to the lands on
which they were to settle, and he accordingly asked the Governor to determine the
district each regiment was to settle, so that on their arrival they might proceed
immediately to their respective destinations. Up to this time no attempt had been
made to lay out lands for the troops, save in the district of Prince William for the
King&rsquo;s American Dragoons. There was, it is true, an order to reserve for the
Provincial Regiments, a tract extending from the townships of Maugerville and
Burton on both sides of the river on the route to Canada as far as to accommodate
the whole, but no survey had been made.</p>
<p>About this time the Hon. Charles Morris prepared a plan of the river in which
the land not yet granted was laid out in blocks. These blocks were numbered and
drawn for by the various regiments shortly after their arrival. But as the lines
had not been run, nor any lots laid out for settlement the disbanded troops were
in great perplexity. They knew not where to turn or what to do. Extracts from
the letters of two regimental commanders will show how they regarded the outlook.
Lieut. Col. Gabriel De Veber, of the Prince of Wales American Regiment,
writes at Parrtown on the 14th December. &ldquo;I am still here, where I have built
a small house for the present. I have not been up the River yet, indeed the block,
No. 11, which our Regiment has drawn, is so far up that I am totally discouraged.
The numerous family I have demands some attention to the education of children.
At such a distance they never can hope for any, and I should think myself highly
culpable, were I not to endeavor to settle nearer to the metropolis, or to some place
where I can attend to this necessary duty.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Major Thomas Menzies, of the Loyal American Legion, writes on March 2d,
1784: &ldquo;I drew Block No 10 for the Corps under my command, which commences
48 miles above St. Anns, so that whatever becomes of me, it would be wildness to
think of carrying my family there for the present.&rdquo;</p>
<p>We get a <a name='TC_78'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'glimse'">glimpse</ins> of the distress and perplexity of the men of the loyal regiments
in one of Edward Winslow&rsquo;s letters to Ward Chipman. &ldquo;I saw all those
Provincial Regiments, which we have so frequently mustered, landing in this inhospitable
climate, in the month of October, without shelter and without knowing
where to find a place to reside. The chagrin of the officers was not to me so truly
affecting as the poignant distress of the men. Those respectable sergeants of Robinson&rsquo;s,
Ludlow&rsquo;s, Cruger&rsquo;s, Fanning&rsquo;s, etc.,&mdash;once hospitable yeomen of the Country&mdash;were
addressing me in language which almost murdered me as I heard it. &lsquo;Sir, we
have served all the war, your honor is witness how faithfully. We were
promised land; we expected you had obtained it for us. We like the country&mdash;only
let us have a spot of our own, and give us such kind of regulations as will
hinder bad men from injuring us.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_366' name='page_366'></a>366</span></div>
<p>A great many of the disbanded soldiers drew lots at Parrtown in the Lower Cove
district. Some of them spent their first winter in canvas tents on the Barrack
square. They thatched their tents with spruce boughs, brought in boats from
Partridge Island, and banked them with snow. Owing to the cold weather and the
coarseness of the provisions, salt meat, etc., the women and children suffered severely
and numbers died. They were buried in an old graveyard near the present deep
water terminus of the Intercolonial railway.</p>
<p>The last of the transports that sailed from New York to St. John, in addition
to her passengers&mdash;mostly women and children&mdash;carried an assortment of clothing
and provisions. The officer in charge was Lieut. John Ward of the Loyal American
Regiment, grandfather of Clarence Ward, the well known secretary of the New
Brunswick Historical Society. There was not time to build even a hut, and Mr.
Ward was obliged to spend his first winter in the country under canvas. His son,
John Ward, jr., was born in a tent on the Barrack square, Dec. 18, 1783. The Ward
family were a sturdy stock and were noted for their longevity. The child born
on the Barrack square attained the age of 92 years, and a younger son, Charles
Ward, died in 1882 at the age of 91 years. The father, Lieut. John Ward, was 92
years of age when he died on the 5th August, 1846. He was known in his later years
as &ldquo;the father of the city.&rdquo; At the semi-centennial of the Landing of the Loyalists
he was honored with a seat on the left of the mayor, John M. Wilmot, on whose,
right sat Sir Archibald Campbell the Lieut. Governor. On the 18th May, 1843, the
sixtieth anniversary of the landing of the Loyalists, the corporation of the city
waited on Mr. Ward, then aged 90 years, at his residence, and presented him with
an address. The officers of the Artillery also presented an address in which they
say: &ldquo;We claim you with pride as one of the first officers of the corps to which
we now have the honor to belong; and we hail you at the same time as one of the
few survivors of that gallant band, who&mdash;surrendering all save the undying honor
of their sacrifice&mdash;followed the standard of their Sovereign to these shores, and
whose landing we this day commemorate. That health and prosperity may be
yours, and that the evening of your days may be as free from a cloud as your past
life has been unspotted, is the sincere desire of the corps in whose behalf we have
the honor to subscribe ourselves.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The experience of the disbanded soldiers, who wintered with their families at
St. Anns, was even more trying than that of those who remained at Parrtown. The
month of October was cold and rainy, and those who went up the river in boats
had a very miserable time of it. A few were fortunate enough to be admitted into
the houses of the old settlers, but the vast majority were obliged to provide themselves
a shelter from the approaching winter by building log and bark huts. At
St. Anns, where Fredericton was afterwards built, there were only two English
speaking settlers, Benjamin Atherton, who lived on the site of Government House,
and Philip Wade whose house stood on the river bank in front of the present
Cathedral.</p>
<p>Speaking of the hardships endured by the founders of Fredericton, Peter Fisher
observes: &ldquo;Scarcely had they begun to construct their cabins, when they were
surprised by the rigors of an untried climate; their habitations being enveloped in
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_367' name='page_367'></a>367</span>
snow before they were tenantable.... The privations and sufferings of
some of these people almost exceed belief. Frequently, in the piercing cold of
winter, a part of the family had to remain up during the night to keep fire in their
huts to prevent the other part from freezing. Some very destitute families made
use of boards to supply the want of bedding; the father or some of the elder children
remaining up by turns, and warming two suitable pieces of boards, which they applied
alternately to the smaller children to keep them warm; with many similar
expedients.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The awfulness of their situation may be readily imagined. Women, delicately
reared, cared for their infants beneath canvas tents, rendered habitable only by the
banks of snow which lay six feet deep in the open spaces of the forest. Men, unaccustomed
to toil, looked with dismay at the prospect before them. The non-arrival
of supplies expected before the close of navigation, added to their dire forebodings.
At one time during the winter, starvation stared them in the face, and
one who passed through the sorrowful experience of that time says: &ldquo;Strong proud
men wept like children, and, exhausted by cold and famine, lay down in their snow
bound tents to die.&rdquo; The poor settlers had to make frequent trips of from fifty to
one hundred miles with hand-sleds or toboggans, through the wild woods and on the
ice, to procure a precarious supply of food for their famishing families.</p>
<p>Among those who settled at St. Anns at this time was Lodewick Fisher, who
had seen nearly seven years service in Col. Van Buskirk&rsquo;s battalion of the New
Jersey Volunteers. This brave old Loyalist came to St. John in the Ship &ldquo;Esther,&rdquo;
accompanied by his wife Mary, and three children, Eliza, Henry and Peter, all of
whom were born on Staten Island during the war. Peter, the youngest of the trio,
was only 16 months old at the time of his arrival and of course had no personal
recollection of the experience of the first winter, but in his little history he has
given some of the recollections of his elders which are of great interest. (It may
be noted, in passing, that the eldest son of Peter Fisher, the Hon. Charles Fisher,
was attorney general of the province and later a judge of the supreme court; he
was one of the fathers of Responsible Government and left his impress in the pages
of our history.)</p>
<p>Much that is of great interest concerning the founders of Fredericton has been
gleaned from the reminiscences of Mrs. Lodewick Fisher, which she used to relate
in the hearing of her grand-children.<a name='FNanchor_0144' id='FNanchor_0144'></a><a href='#Footnote_0144' class='fnanchor'>[144]</a> From this source we learn that soon after
the arrival of the Loyalist regiments at St. John, her family joined a party bound
up the river in a schooner to St. Anns. In eight days they got to Oromocto, where
they were landed by the Captain, who refused to proceed further on account of the
lateness of the season. He charged them each four dollars for their passage. The
night was spent on shore and the next day the women and children proceeded to
St. Anns in Indian canoes, the others coming on foot. It was the 8th of October
when they reached their destination, and pitched their tents at Salamanca, near
the shore. Before any effectual steps had been taken to provide a shelter, winter
was at hand. Snow fell on the 2nd November to the depth of six inches. The best
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_368' name='page_368'></a>368</span>
that some of the unfortunate people could do was to pitch their tents in the depths
of the forest. Stones were used for a rude fire place. The tent had no floor but
the ground. The winter was very cold, with deep snow, which afforded some protection.
Still it was an awful winter. There were mothers who had been reared
in a pleasant country, enjoying the luxuries of life, who now clasped their helpless
little ones to their bosoms and tried by the warmth of their own bodies to protect
them from the bitter cold. Many of the weaker ones died from cold and exposure.
Graves were dug with axes and shovels near by, and there in stormy wintry weather,
the survivors laid their loved ones. They had no minister, and they were buried
without any religious service. The burial ground at Salamanca, continued to be
used for some years until it was nearly filled. They used to call it &ldquo;the Loyalist
Provincials burial ground.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This old burial ground is on the Ketchum place, just below the town. Some of
the older citizens of Fredericton remember old head boards placed at the graves,
since fallen into decay. Many names that were painted or carved on them served
to show the Dutch ancestry of the men of Van Buskirk&rsquo;s battalion. The names
were such as Van Horn, Vanderbeck, Ackermann, Burkstaff, Ridner, Handorff, Van
Norden, Blaicker, Blann, Ryerson, etc.</p>
<p>As soon as the snow was off the ground the people began to build log houses,
but they were soon obliged to desist for want of provisions. There was again delay
in sending supplies, and the settlers were forced to live after the Indian fashion.
They made maple sugar, dug edible roots, caught fish, shot partridges and pigeons
and hunted moose. Some who had planted a few potatoes had to dig them up
again and eat them. In their distress these poor souls were gladdened by the discovery
of large patches of beans that were found growing wild. The beans were
white, marked with a black cross, and had probably been planted by the French.
&ldquo;In our joy at this discovery,&rdquo; said Mrs. Fisher, &ldquo;we at first called them the Royal
Provincial&rsquo;s bread; but afterwards the staff of life and hope of the starving.&rdquo; There
was great rejoicing when at length a schooner arrived with corn-meal and rye. It
was not during the first season only that the settlers at St. Anns suffered for food,
other seasons were nearly as bad.</p>
<p>During the summer all hands united in the task of building log houses. They
had few tools beside the axe and saw. They had neither bricks nor lime. Chimneys
and fire-places were built of stone, laid in yellow clay. The walls of the houses were
of logs; the roofs of bark bound over with small poles. The windows had only four
small panes of glass. The first house finished was that of Dr. Earle, whose services
in a variety of ways were of the utmost value to the little community. Lieut. Col.
Hewlett&rsquo;s house was built on Queen Street, where the Barker House now stands.
It would seem that the old veteran accompanied his comrades to St. Anns, for he
makes an affidavit before Major Studholme at that place on the 13th of October,
stating that by the wreck of the Martha he had lost in tools, stores and baggage,
property of the value of &pound;200 stg. His loss included the greater part of his effects
and left him well nigh penniless.</p>
<p>Col. Hewlett was born at Hampstead, Queens County, Long Island in New York,
and died at Hampstead, Queens County, New Brunswick. His grant of land at
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_369' name='page_369'></a>369</span>
the latter place included part of Long Island in the St. John river. He died in
1789 in the 60th year of his age. Two monuments have been erected in his memory,
one at Hampstead on the St. John river, the other at his native town of Hampstead
Long Island, N. Y. The inscriptions on the monuments are nearly identical.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'>SACRED<br />
To the Memory of<br />
LIEUT. COL. RICHARD HEWLETT,</p>
<p>Who served as Captain at the Conquest of Canada, and contributed to the Capture
of Fort Frontenac, August, 1758, and at the breaking out of the American Revolution,
1775, received a Lieut.-Colonel&rsquo;s commission, and served during the war under
General Oliver Delancey.</p>
<p>Born at Hampstead on Long Island in the then Province of New York, and
died at this place, July 26th, 1789, aged 59 years.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some interesting particulars of the services of Lt. Col. Hewlett during the
Revolution are to be found in Jones&rsquo; Loyalist History of New York. He was a
brave and capable officer.</p>
<p>We cannot at this time follow further the fortunes of the Loyalists of 1733.
Their privations and their toils were not in vain. History has justified their attitude
during the Revolutionary epoch, and their merits are acknowledged by broad
minded and impartial students of history in the United States. The late Professor
Moses Coit Tyler, of the University of Cornell, gave it as his opinion, &ldquo;That
the side of the Loyalists, as they called themselves, of the Tories, as they were
scornfully nick-named by their opponents, was even in argument not a weak one,
and in motive and sentiment not a base one, and in devotion and self-sacrifice
not an unheroic one.&rdquo; The same sentiments were even more emphatically expressed
by Dr. Tyler on the occasion of the celebration of the centenary of the founding
of the University at Fredericton, a few years since, on which occasion he
said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;We Americans here to-day wish to express our friendship toward you, not
only on account of yourselves and the good work you are doing, but also on account,
of those noble men and women, your ancestors, who founded this Province of New
Brunswick, this town of Fredericton, and this University which is the crown and
glory of both. We remember what sort of men and women they were&mdash;their sincerity,
their devotion to principle in defiance of loss and pain, their
courage, their <a name='TC_79'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'perserverance'">perseverance</ins>, their clear prevision of the immense importance
of race unity. So, very honestly, with all our hearts we
greet you as a kindred people, many of you of the same colonial
lineage with ourselves, having many things in your public and private experience
identical with our own, still bound to us by antique and indestructible bonds of
fellowship in faith, in sympathy, in aspiration, in humane effort, all coincident with
the beginnings of English civilization in North America, nay with the beginnings of
civilization itself in that fast-anchored isle beyond the sea, which is the beloved
mother of us all. If between your ancestors and ours, on opposite sides of the old
Revolutionary dispute a century and a quarter ago, there were many and bitter
years of unfriendly tradition, we, on our part, are glad to think that such tradition
lives no longer; that in the broad-minded view which time and the better understanding
of our own history have brought us, the coming years are to witness a
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_370' name='page_370'></a>370</span>
renewal and a permanent relation of good-will and mutual help, which bound together
the earlier generations of our common race on this continent.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To these kindly words every generous souled descendant of the Loyalists will
utter a fervent Amen. And still we say&mdash;all honor to the brave hearts that
sacrificed so much and suffered so <a name='TC_80'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'severly'">severely</ins> for the preservation of a united British
empire, and whose hands in later years laid strong and deep the foundation of our
Canadian Dominion.</p>
<div class='figtag'>
<a name='linki_36' id='linki_36'></a>
</div>
<div class='figcenter'>
<img src='https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:w:wo-raymond-glimpses-of-the-past-i380.png' alt='' title='' width='300' height='400' /><br />
</div>
<hr class='toprule' />
<div class='chsp'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_371' name='page_371'></a>371</span>
<a name='INDEX' id='INDEX'></a>
<h2>INDEX.</h2>
</div>
<div style='font-size:smaller'>
<p class='lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Aboideau, <a href='#page_235'>235</a>.<br />
<br />
Acadia, bounds of, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_93'>93</a>.<br />
<br />
Acadians, encouraged to leave N. S. Peninsula, <a href='#page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#page_101'>101</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>settled on River St. John, <a href='#page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>, <a name='TC_81'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Unclear in original"><a href='#page_248'>248</a></ins>, <a href='#page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>expulsion of, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#page_139'>139</a>.<br />
<br />
Account books of Simonds &amp; White, <a href='#page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>.<br />
<br />
Alden, John, <a href='#page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>.<br />
<br />
Alexander, James, <a href='#page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>.<br />
<br />
Alexander, Sir William, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>.<br />
<br />
Allan, John, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#page_270'>270&ndash;277</a>, <a href='#page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>.<br />
<br />
Allen, Lieut.-Colonel Isaac, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>.<br />
<br />
Alline, Rev. Henry, <a href='#page_327'>327</a>, <a href='#page_330'>330</a>, <a href='#page_338'>338&ndash;342</a>.<br />
<br />
Amesbury, <a href='#page_330'>330</a>.<br />
<br />
Anderson, John, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>.<br />
<br />
Andros, Governor, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>.<br />
<br />
Annapolis, <a href='#page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>.<br />
<br />
Aplin, Joseph, <a href='#page_352'>352</a>.<br />
<br />
Arbuthnot, Colonel, <a href='#page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#page_139'>139</a>, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#page_278'>278</a>.<br />
<br />
Argall, Samuel, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>.<br />
<br />
Armstrong, Governor, <a href='#page_77'>77</a>.<br />
<br />
Arrival of Simonds &amp; White, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#page_239'>239</a>.<br />
<br />
Atherton, Benjamin, <a href='#page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#page_325'>325</a>, <a href='#page_343'>343</a>, <a href='#page_366'>366</a>.<br />
<br />
Audren, Father, <a href='#page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#page_113'>113</a>.<br />
<br />
Aukpaque, <a href='#page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#page_273'>273</a>, <a href='#page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#page_299'>299</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>missionaries at, <a href='#page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#page_256'>256</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">&ldquo;Bachelor,&rdquo; Sloop, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>.<br />
<br />
Bailey, Rev. Jacob, <a href='#page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#page_317'>317</a>, <a href='#page_338'>338</a>, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>.<br />
<br />
Bailly, Charles Francois, <a href='#page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#page_299'>299</a>.<br />
<br />
Baptiste, Captain, <a href='#page_47'>47</a>.<br />
<br />
Barker, Jacob, <a href='#page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_228'>228</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#page_324'>324</a>.<br />
<br />
Barker, Jacob Jr., <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_324'>324</a>.<br />
<br />
Barlow, Richard, <a href='#page_210'>210</a>, <a href='#page_219'>219</a>, <a href='#page_320'>320</a>.<br />
<br />
Bates, Walter, <a href='#page_339'>339</a>, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#page_349'>349</a>, <a href='#page_353'>353</a>.<br />
<br />
Batt, Major, <a href='#page_276'>276</a>, <a href='#page_281'>281</a>.<br />
<br />
Baxter, Simon, <a href='#page_345'>345</a>, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>.<br />
<br />
Bayard, Samuel, <a href='#page_332'>332</a>.<br />
<br />
Bay of Fundy, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>battles in, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#page_101'>101</a>.<br />
<br />
Beardsley, Rev. John, <a href='#page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#page_351'>351</a>.<br />
<br />
Beausejour, <a href='#page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#page_115'>115</a>.<br />
<br />
Beckwith, Nehemiah, <a href='#page_314'>314</a>, <a href='#page_352'>352</a>.<br />
<br />
Bellefontaine, <a href='#page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#page_252'>252</a>.<br />
<br />
Bellisle, <a href='#page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>.<br />
<br />
Belliveau, Charles, <a href='#page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#page_119'>119</a>.<br />
<br />
Bell of Medoctec Chapel, <a href='#page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>.<br />
<br />
Benardin, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>.<br />
<br />
Bessabez, <a href='#page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#page_8'>8</a>.<br />
<br />
Biard, Pierre, <a href='#page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#page_21'>21</a>.<br />
<br />
Biencourt, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>.<br />
<br />
Bill of Lading, <a href='#page_307'>307</a>.<br />
<br />
Black, Edmund, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#page_245'>245</a>.<br />
<br />
Black, Rev. William, <a href='#page_342'>342</a>.<br />
<br />
Blodget, Samuel, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#page_192'>192</a>, <a href='#page_201'>201</a>.<br />
<br />
Blowers, Sampson Salter, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>.<br />
<br />
Boishebert, Pierre, at mouth of the St. John, <a href='#page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#page_102'>102</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>retires to a &ldquo;detroit,&rdquo; <a href='#page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#page_120'>120</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at Nerepis, <a href='#page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#page_333'>333</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at Petitcodiac, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at Miramichi, <a href='#page_124'>124</a>.<br />
<br />
Books in olden days, <a href='#page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>.<br />
<br />
Boston, <a href='#page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#page_236'>236</a>, <a href='#page_239'>239</a>.<br />
<br />
Botsford, Amos, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>.<br />
<br />
Bourg, Rev. Joseph M., <a href='#page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#page_286'>286</a>, <a href='#page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#page_295'>295</a>.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Bridgewater,&rdquo; Ship, <a href='#page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#page_358'>358</a>.<br />
<br />
Briggs, <a name='TC_82'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Zephamiah'">Zephaniah</ins>, <a href='#page_171'>171</a>.<br />
<br />
Brookings, Henry, <a href='#page_202'>202</a>.<br />
<br />
Bruce, Lieutenant. R. G., <a href='#page_150'>150</a>.<br />
<br />
Bungwarrawit, <a href='#page_298'>298</a>.<br />
<br />
Burbank, David, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_321'>321</a>, <a href='#page_324'>324</a>.<br />
<br />
Burpee, David, <a href='#page_172'>172</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_260'>260</a>, <a href='#page_318'>318</a>.<br />
<br />
Burpee, Jonathan, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#page_317'>317</a>.<br />
<br />
Burton, Township, <a href='#page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>.<br />
<br />
Butler, Captain Pierce, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_233'>233</a>.<br />
<br />
Butternut, Trees, <a href='#page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Cadillac, <a href='#page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#page_111'>111</a>.<br />
<br />
Campbell, Tamberlane, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#page_324'>324</a>.<br />
<br />
Campobello, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>.<br />
<br />
Canada Company (see St. John&rsquo;s River Society).<br />
<br />
Carleton, Sir Guy, <a href='#page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#page_345'>345</a>, <a href='#page_354'>354</a>, <a href='#page_358'>358</a>, <a href='#page_361'>361</a>, <a href='#page_362'>362</a>.<br />
<br />
Carr, Peter, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#page_233'>233</a>.<br />
<br />
Cartier, Jacques, <a href='#page_7'>7</a>.<br />
<br />
Caton, Isaac, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>.<br />
<br />
Caton&rsquo;s Island, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#page_198'>198</a>.<br />
<br />
Census, <a href='#page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#page_251'>251</a>.<br />
<br />
Chamberlain, Montagu, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>.<br />
<br />
Chambly, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#page_32'>32</a>.<br />
<br />
Champlain, <a href='#page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>.<br />
<br />
Charlevoix, <a href='#page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#page_112'>112</a>.<br />
<br />
Charnisay, d&rsquo;Aulnay, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#page_24'>24&ndash;29</a>.<br />
<br />
Chauffours, Sieur de (see Louis d Amours).<br />
<br />
Chipman, Ward, <a href='#page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#page_360'>360</a>, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>.<br />
<br />
Chkoudun, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>.<br />
<br />
Christie, Thomas, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Chubb, Captain, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>.<br />
<br />
Church, Colonel Benjamin, <a href='#page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>.<br />
<br />
Church, Covenant, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_340'>340</a>.<br />
<br />
Clarke, John, <a href='#page_353'>353</a>.<br />
<br />
Cleoncore Island, <a href='#page_55'>55</a>.<br />
<br />
Cleveland, Lemuel, <a href='#page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>.<br />
<br />
Clignancourt, Sieur de (see Rene d&rsquo;Amours).<br />
<br />
Climate, <a href='#page_238'>238</a>.<br />
<br />
Clinch, Peter, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>.<br />
<br />
Cobb, Captain, <a href='#page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#page_128'>128</a>.<br />
<br />
Coburn, Moses, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_327'>327</a>.<br />
<br />
Coffin&rsquo;s Manor, <a href='#page_333'>333</a>.<br />
<br />
Congregational Church, <a href='#page_172'>172</a>, <a href='#page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#page_257'>257</a>.<br />
<br />
Connor, Lieutenant, <a href='#page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>.<br />
<br />
Contract, 1st Business, <a href='#page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>, <a href='#page_239'>239</a>.<br />
<br />
Contract, 2nd Business, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>, <a href='#page_239'>239</a>.<br />
<br />
Converse, Captain, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>.<br />
<br />
Conway, Township, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>.<br />
<br />
Copper Mine, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>.<br />
<br />
Cornwallis, Governor, <a href='#page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#page_102'>102</a>.<br />

<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_372' name='page_372'></a>372</span><br />
County of Sunbury formed, <a href='#page_207'>207</a>.<br />
<br />
Coy, Edward, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_326'>326</a>.<br />
<br />
Crabtree, A Green, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#page_279'>279</a>.<br />
<br />
Crandall, Rev. Joseph, <a href='#page_329'>329</a>, <a href='#page_330'>330</a>, <a href='#page_339'>339</a>.<br />
<br />
Cummings, Samuel, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>.<br />
<br />
Currency of Massachusetts, <a href='#page_182'>182</a>.<br />
<br />
Curry, John, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#page_298'>298</a>.<br />
<br />
Customs Collector, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_344'>344</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">D&rsquo;Amours, Bernard, <a href='#page_55'>55</a>.<br />
<br />
D&rsquo;Amours, Louis, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#page_59'>59&ndash;65</a>, <a href='#page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#page_251'>251</a>.<br />
<br />
D&rsquo;Amours, Mathieu, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#page_250'>250</a>.<br />
<br />
D&rsquo;Amours, Rene, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#page_251'>251</a>.<br />
<br />
Danielou, Jean Pierre, <a href='#page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#page_141'>141</a>, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#page_250'>250</a>.<br />
<br />
Danks, Benoni, <a href='#page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#page_131'>131</a>.<br />
<br />
Darling, Benjamin, <a href='#page_330'>330</a>.<br />
<br />
Davidson, Lieutenant John, <a href='#page_361'>361</a>.<br />
<br />
Davidson, William, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_301'>301</a>, <a href='#page_304'>304</a>, <a href='#page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#page_308'>308</a>, <a href='#page_310'>310</a>.<br />
<br />
DeLancy, Lieut.-Colonel, Stephen, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>.<br />
<br />
Delesderniers, Frederick, <a href='#page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#page_275'>275</a>.<br />
<br />
DeMeulles, <a href='#page_34'>34</a>.<br />
<br />
DeMonts, <a href='#page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>.<br />
<br />
Denys, Nicolas, <a href='#page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#page_27'>27</a>.<br />
<br />
DePeyster, Abraham, <a href='#page_225'>225</a>.<br />
<br />
DeRazilly, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>.<br />
<br />
DesBarres, Joseph F. W., <a href='#page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#page_332'>332</a>.<br />
<br />
Deserters, <a href='#page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#page_295'>295</a>.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Detroit,&rdquo; or Narrows, <a href='#page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#page_118'>118</a>.<br />
<br />
DeVeber, Lieut-Colonel Gabriel, <a href='#page_361'>361</a>, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>.<br />
<br />
Dibblee, Fyler, <a href='#page_349'>349</a>.<br />
<br />
Dibblee, Rev. F., <a href='#page_299'>299</a>.<br />
<br />
D&rsquo;Iberville, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>.<br />
<br />
<a name='TC_83'></a><ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Dierville'">Diereville</ins>, <a href='#page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#page_54'>54</a>.<br />
<br />
Disbanded Troops, <a href='#page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#page_206'>206</a>, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>.<br />
<br />
Dole, W. P., <a href='#page_25'>25</a>.<br />
<br />
Doucet, Joseph, <a href='#page_248'>248</a>.<br />
<br />
Dover, N. H., <a href='#page_38'>38</a>.<br />
<br />
Dummer, Rev., <a href='#page_41'>41</a>.<br />
<br />
Du Pont, <a href='#page_21'>21</a>, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>.<br />
<br />
Dutch, Mauraders, <a href='#page_32'>32</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Eagleson, Rev. John, <a href='#page_269'>269</a>.<br />
<br />
Early Mechanics, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>.<br />
<br />
Earthquake, <a href='#page_194'>194</a>.<br />
<br />
Eaton, Captain, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_177'>177</a>.<br />
<br />
Eddy, Jonathan, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#page_327'>327</a>.<br />
<br />
Ekouipahag, (see Aukpaque).<br />
<br />
Elizee, Father, <a href='#page_43'>43</a>.<br />
<br />
Emerson, Samuel, <a href='#page_181'>181</a>.<br />
<br />
Emerson, Webster, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>.<br />
<br />
Emenenic, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#page_198'>198</a>.<br />
<br />
English Settlers, <a href='#page_156'>156</a>.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Envieux,&rdquo; Ship, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>.<br />
<br />
Estabrooks, Elijah, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#page_329'>329</a>.<br />
<br />
Estey, Richard, <a href='#page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_328'>328</a>.<br />
<br />
Estey, Zebulon, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_321'>321</a>, <a href='#page_329'>329</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Falconer, Captain Thomas, <a href='#page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#page_210'>210</a>, <a href='#page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#page_222'>222</a>.<br />
<br />
Falls, mouth of St. John, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#page_215'>215</a>.<br />
<br />
Fenton, Captain John, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#page_217'>217</a>.<br />
<br />
Fisher, Hon. Charles, <a href='#page_367'>367</a>.<br />
<br />
Fisher, Peter, <a href='#page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#page_312'>312</a>, <a href='#page_366'>366</a>.<br />
<br />
Fishery, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#page_239'>239</a>.<br />
<br />
Fleets of 1783, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>, <a href='#page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#page_361'>361</a>.<br />
<br />
Fort Boishebert, <a href='#page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#page_333'>333</a>.<br />
<br />
Fort Cumberland, <a href='#page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#page_276'>276</a>.<br />
<br />
Fort Frederick, erection of, <a href='#page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#page_133'>133</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>garrison at, <a href='#page_134'>134</a>, <a href='#page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#page_315'>315</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Glasier at Fort, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#page_222'>222</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>dismantled, <a href='#page_261'>261</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>burned, <a href='#page_265'>265</a>.<br />
<br />
Fort Howe, <a href='#page_218'>218</a>, <a href='#page_282'>282</a>, <a href='#page_284'>284</a>, <a href='#page_295'>295</a>, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>.<br />
<br />
Fort Hughes, <a href='#page_295'>295</a>.<br />
<br />
Fort LaTour, <a href='#page_24'>24</a>.<br />
<br />
Fort Menagoueche, <a href='#page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#page_133'>133</a>.<br />
<br />
Fort Nachouac, <a href='#page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>.<br />
<br />
Fort at St. John, <a href='#page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#page_122'>122</a>.<br />
<br />
Fox, General, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>.<br />
<br />
Franklin, Michael, <a href='#page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#page_218'>218</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Superintendent of Indian affairs, <a href='#page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#page_276'>276</a>, <a href='#page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#page_282'>282</a>, <a href='#page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#page_297'>297</a>, <a href='#page_301'>301</a>.<br />
<br />
Francklin, Hazen &amp; White, <a href='#page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#page_306'>306&ndash;310</a>.<br />
<br />
Fredericton, <a href='#page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#page_366'>366</a>.<br />
<br />
French Village, <a href='#page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>.<br />
<br />
Freneuse, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#page_58'>58</a>, <a href='#page_251'>251</a>.<br />
<br />
Freshets, <a href='#page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#page_216'>216</a>.<br />
<br />
Frontenac, Count, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>.<br />
<br />
Frost, Sarah, <a href='#page_354'>354</a>, <a href='#page_357'>357</a>.<br />
<br />
Fur Trade, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#page_193'>193</a>, <a href='#page_298'>298</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Gage, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#page_331'>331</a>.<br />
<br />
Gagetown, <a href='#page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#page_132'>132</a>, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>.<br />
<br />
Gale, <a href='#page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#page_204'>204</a>.<br />
<br />
Galissonniere, Count de la, <a href='#page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#page_113'>113</a>.<br />
<br />
Game, <a href='#page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#page_368'>368</a>.<br />
<br />
Ganong, Dr. W. F., <a href='#page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#page_123'>123</a>.<br />
<br />
Garrison, Joseph, <a href='#page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#page_326'>326</a>.<br />
<br />
Gaspe, Sieur de, <a href='#page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#page_106'>106</a>.<br />
<br />
Gaudet, Placide P., <a href='#page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#page_139'>139</a>, <a href='#page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#page_252'>252</a>.<br />
<br />
Gemesech, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#page_34'>34</a>.<br />
<br />
Gemisick (see Jemseg), <a href='#page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#page_109'>109</a>.<br />
<br />
Germain, Charles, <a href='#page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#page_113'>113</a>, <a href='#page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#page_139'>139</a>.<br />
<br />
Gilbert, Colonel Thomas, <a href='#page_166'>166</a>.<br />
<br />
Glasier, Beamsley P., <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#page_312'>312</a>, <a href='#page_333'>333</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>agent of St. John&rsquo;s River Society, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_209'>209</a>, <a href='#page_214'>214&ndash;225</a>.<br />
<br />
Glasier, Benjamin, <a href='#page_312'>312</a>.<br />
<br />
Glasier, &ldquo;The Main John,&rdquo; <a href='#page_313'>313</a>.<br />
<br />
Glode, Ballomy, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>.<br />
<br />
Goold, Colonel, <a href='#page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#page_271'>271</a>.<br />
<br />
Gorham, Captain John, <a href='#page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#page_94'>94</a>.<br />
<br />
Grand Falls, <a href='#page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#page_70'>70</a>.<br />
<br />
Grand Fontaine, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>.<br />
<br />
Grand Lake, <a href='#page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>.<br />
<br />
Grand Lake Coal, <a href='#page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#page_326'>326</a>.<br />
<br />
Grand Manan, <a href='#page_221'>221</a>.<br />
<br />
Grantees at Maugerville, <a href='#page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#page_162'>162</a>.<br />
<br />
Grantees of Townships, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#page_213'>213</a>.<br />
<br />
Grants of Lands, <a href='#page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#page_158'>158</a>, <a href='#page_206'>206</a>, <a href='#page_209'>209</a>, <a href='#page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#page_232'>232</a>.<br />
<br />
Grapes, <a href='#page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>.<br />
<br />
Greenough, Moses, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>.<br />
<br />
Grimross, <a href='#page_132'>132</a>, <a href='#page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#page_220'>220</a>, <a href='#page_223'>223</a>.<br />
<br />
Gyles, John, <a href='#page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#page_69'>69&ndash;63</a>, <a href='#page_68'>68&ndash;72</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Haldimand, Colonel, Frederick, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#page_303'>303</a>.<br />
<br />
Halifax, <a href='#page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#page_299'>299</a>.<br />
<br />
Hamond, Sir A. S., <a href='#page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#page_306'>306</a>, <a href='#page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#page_324'>324</a>.<br />
<br />
Hannay, James, <a href='#page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_318'>318</a>, <a href='#page_341'>341</a>.<br />
<br />
Hardy, Elias, <a href='#page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#page_333'>333</a>.<br />
<br />
Hart, John, <a href='#page_289'>289</a>.<br />
<br />
Hart, Jonathan, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Hart, Thomas, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_330'>330</a>.<br />
<br />
Hauser, Frederick, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>, <a href='#page_352'>352</a>.<br />
<br />
Haverhill, <a href='#page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>.<br />

<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_373' name='page_373'></a>373</span><br />
Hawawes, Nicholas, <a href='#page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#page_295'>295</a>.<br />
<br />
Hawthorn, Colonel, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#page_61'>61</a>.<br />
<br />
Hayes, John, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>.<br />
<br />
Hayward, Nehemiah, <a href='#page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Hazen Family, <a href='#page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#page_245'>245</a>.<br />
<br />
Hazen House, <a href='#page_241'>241</a>.<br />
<br />
Hazen &amp; White, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>.<br />
<br />
Hazen, Jarvis, Simonds, White &amp; Co., <a href='#page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#page_200'>200</a>, <a href='#page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>, etc.<br />
<br />
Hazen, John, <a href='#page_241'>241</a>, <a href='#page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#page_313'>313</a>.<br />
<br />
Hazen, Moses, <a href='#page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>.<br />
<br />
Hazen, William, <a href='#page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at St. John, <a href='#page_240'>240</a>, <a href='#page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>, <a href='#page_344'>344</a>.<br />
<br />
Hewlett, Lieut.-Colonel Richard, <a href='#page_361'>361</a>, <a href='#page_362'>362</a>, <a href='#page_363'>363</a>, <a href='#page_368'>368</a>.<br />
<br />
Hovey, Stephen, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>.<br />
<br />
How, Captain Edward, <a href='#page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#page_98'>98</a>.<br />
<br />
Howlett, Ammi, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Hubbard, William, <a href='#page_314'>314</a>.<br />
<br />
Huron Indians, <a href='#page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#page_294'>294</a>.<br />
<br />
Hutchinson, Hon. Thomas, <a href='#page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#page_313'>313</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Ice-jam, <a href='#page_197'>197</a>, <a href='#page_198'>198</a>.<br />
<br />
Indian Church at Medoctec, <a href='#page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#page_112'>112</a>.<br />
<br />
Indian Corn, <a href='#page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#page_260'>260</a>.<br />
<br />
Indian Cruelty, <a href='#page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#page_84'>84</a>.<br />
<br />
Indians (see Maliseets and Micmacs).<br />
<br />
Indian Pow-wows, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_284'>284&ndash;289</a>, <a href='#page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#page_298'>298</a>.<br />
<br />
Indian Treaties, <a href='#page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#page_287'>287</a>.<br />
<br />
Indiantown, <a href='#page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#page_341'>341</a>.<br />
<br />
Inventory of effects, Simonds &amp; White, <a href='#page_200'>200</a>, <a href='#page_201'>201</a>.<br />
<br />
Island of St. John, <a href='#page_108'>108</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Jack, D. R., <a href='#page_58'>58</a>.<br />
<br />
Jadis, Captain, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>.<br />
<br />
Jarvis, Leonard, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#page_192'>192</a>, <a href='#page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#page_240'>240</a>.<br />
<br />
Jarvis, Samuel Gardiner, <a href='#page_241'>241</a>.<br />
<br />
Jemseg, Post at, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>.<br />
<br />
Jenkins, Thomas, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>.<br />
<br />
Jesuits, <a href='#page_73'>73</a>.<br />
<br />
Jewett, Daniel, <a href='#page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Johnson, The Chevalier, <a href='#page_113'>113</a>, <a href='#page_124'>124</a>.<br />
<br />
Joibert, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#page_33'>33</a> (see Soulanges).<br />
<br />
Jones, John, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>, <a href='#page_352'>352</a>.<br />
<br />
Jones, Lieutenant Simeon, <a href='#page_361'>361</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Kemble, Manor, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>, <a href='#page_332'>332</a>.<br />
<br />
Kennebec, <a href='#page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#page_94'>94</a>.<br />
<br />
Kennebeccasis, <a href='#page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>.<br />
<br />
Kennedy, Captain Patrick, <a href='#page_362'>362</a>.<br />
<br />
Kimball, Richard, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
King George&rsquo;s War, <a href='#page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#page_86'>86</a>.<br />
<br />
King Philips&rsquo;s War, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>.<br />
<br />
King William&rsquo;s War, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#page_72'>72</a>.<br />
<br />
Kingsclear, <a href='#page_75'>75</a>.<br />
<br />
Kingston, <a href='#page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>, <a href='#page_352'>352</a>.<br />
<br />
King&rsquo;s Woods, <a href='#page_302'>302</a>.<br />
<br />
Kinney, Israel, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_180'>180</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">LaHontan, Baron, <a href='#page_57'>57</a>.<br />
<br />
LaJonquiere, <a href='#page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#page_103'>103</a>.<br />
<br />
Langan, Thomas, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>.<br />
<br />
Larlee, John, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
LaTour, Charles, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#page_24'>24&ndash;29</a>, <a href='#page_86'>86</a>.<br />
<br />
LaTour, Lady, <a href='#page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#page_27'>27</a>.<br />
<br />
LaValliere, <a href='#page_33'>33</a>.<br />
<br />
Lawrence, J. W., <a href='#page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#page_353'>353</a>.<br />
<br />
Lawrence, Governor, <a href='#page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#page_122'>122</a>.<br />
<br />
Lawrence&rsquo;s Proclamations, <a href='#page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#page_206'>206</a>.<br />
<br />
Leaming, Rev. J., <a href='#page_349'>349</a>.<br />
<br />
Leavitt, Daniel, <a href='#page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#page_202'>202</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>.<br />
<br />
Leavitt, Jonathan, <a href='#page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#page_202'>202</a>, <a href='#page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>.<br />
<br />
LeBorgne, Alexander, <a href='#page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#page_91'>91</a>.<br />
<br />
LeBorgne, Francois, <a href='#page_87'>87</a>.<br />
<br />
LeLoutre, Abbe, <a href='#page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#page_113'>113</a>, <a href='#page_122'>122</a>.<br />
<br />
LeMoyne, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>.<br />
<br />
Lescarbot, <a href='#page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>.<br />
<br />
Lime at St. John, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_199'>199</a>, <a href='#page_236'>236&ndash;238</a>, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>.<br />
<br />
Lime-Kilns, Modern, <a href='#page_236'>236</a>, <a href='#page_237'>237</a>.<br />
<br />
L&rsquo;Isle, Dieu, Abbe, <a href='#page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#page_113'>113</a>.<br />
<br />
Livingston, Philip J., <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#page_226'>226</a>.<br />
<br />
Loder&rsquo;s Creek, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>.<br />
<br />
Lloyd&rsquo;s Neck, <a href='#page_349'>349</a>, <a href='#page_355'>355</a>.<br />
<br />
Loler. Peter, <a href='#page_297'>297</a>.<br />
<br />
Long Island, <a href='#page_131'>131</a>.<br />
<br />
Louisburg, Capture of, <a href='#page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#page_125'>125</a>.<br />
<br />
Loverga, Father, <a href='#page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#page_113'>113</a>, <a href='#page_114'>114</a>.<br />
<br />
Loyalists, <a href='#page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#page_328'>328</a>, <a href='#page_344'>344</a>, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#page_358'>358</a>.<br />
<br />
Loyalist Agents, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>.<br />
<br />
Loyalist Regiments, <a href='#page_360'>360</a>, <a href='#page_361'>361&ndash;366</a>.<br />
<br />
Loyard, Jean B., <a href='#page_73'>73&ndash;75</a>, <a href='#page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#page_141'>141</a>.<br />
<br />
Lumbering, <a href='#page_308'>308</a>, <a href='#page_312'>312</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Machias, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#page_292'>292</a>, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>.<br />
<br />
Madawaska, <a href='#page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#page_273'>273</a>.<br />
<br />
Madocawando, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#page_87'>87</a>.<br />
<br />
Magistrates, Early, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_322'>322</a>, <a href='#page_343'>343</a>.<br />
<br />
Mahogany (see Manawagonish).<br />
<br />
Maillard, Abbe, <a href='#page_254'>254</a>.<br />
<br />
Maliseets, Their origin and Customs, <a href='#page_5'>5&ndash;14</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at war with the English, <a href='#page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#page_333'>333</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at Medoctec, <a href='#page_66'>66&ndash;72</a>, <a href='#page_141'>141</a>, <a href='#page_275'>275</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at Aukpaque, <a href='#page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#page_141'>141</a>, <a href='#page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#page_273'>273</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>peace parleys, <a href='#page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#page_284'>284&ndash;289</a>, <a href='#page_294'>294</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>claim the lands, <a href='#page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#page_156'>156</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>trade with the English, <a href='#page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#page_331'>331</a>.<br />
<br />
Magistrates, Early, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#page_322'>322</a>, <a href='#page_343'>343</a>.<br />
<br />
Malouins, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>.<br />
<br />
Manawagonish, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>, <a href='#page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>, <a href='#page_341'>341</a>, <a href='#page_360'>360</a>.<br />
<br />
Marble, Isaac, <a href='#page_202'>202</a>, <a href='#page_204'>204</a>.<br />
<br />
Marichites, (Maliseets), <a href='#page_95'>95</a>.<br />
<br />
Marin, Sieur, <a href='#page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#page_112'>112</a>.<br />
<br />
Marriages, <a href='#page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_245'>245</a>, <a href='#page_326'>326</a>.<br />
<br />
Marsden, Joshua, <a href='#page_257'>257</a>.<br />
<br />
Marsh at St. John (see Sebaskastaggan).<br />
<br />
Marsh Bridge, <a href='#page_235'>235</a>.<br />
<br />
Marston, Benjamin, <a href='#page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#page_335'>335</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Martha,&rdquo; Ship, <a href='#page_362'>362</a>, <a href='#page_363'>363</a>.<br />
<br />
Martignon, Sieur de, <a href='#page_31'>31</a>.<br />
<br />
Martin, Joseph, <a href='#page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#page_267'>267</a>.<br />
<br />
Mascarene, Paul, <a href='#page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#page_88'>88</a>, <a href='#page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#page_141'>141</a>.<br />
<br />
Massacre at St. Anns, <a href='#page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#page_252'>252</a>.<br />
<br />
Masse, Enemond, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>.<br />
<br />
Massey, Brig. General, <a href='#page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#page_276'>276</a>, <a href='#page_278'>278</a>, <a href='#page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#page_281'>281</a>.<br />
<br />
Masting Contract, <a href='#page_305'>305</a>.<br />
<br />
Mast-Pond, <a href='#page_304'>304</a>.<br />
<br />
Masts, <a href='#page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#page_297'>297</a>, <a href='#page_301'>301</a>, <a href='#page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>.<br />
<br />
Mather, Rev. Dr., <a href='#page_355'>355</a>.<br />
<br />
Mauger, Joshua, <a href='#page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#page_220'>220</a>, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>.<br />
<br />
Maugerville, <a href='#page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#page_206'>206</a>, <a href='#page_217'>217</a>, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>progress of, <a href='#page_158'>158&ndash;175</a>, <a href='#page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#page_260'>260</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>rebels of, <a href='#page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#page_315'>315</a>, <a href='#page_321'>321</a>.<br />

<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_374' name='page_374'></a>374</span><br />
Mazerolle Settlement, <a href='#page_250'>250</a>.<br />
<br />
Medoctec Village, <a href='#page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#page_113'>113</a>, <a href='#page_273'>273</a>, <a href='#page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#page_298'>298</a>, <a href='#page_299'>299</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>plague at, <a href='#page_45'>45</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Gyles at, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#page_68'>68</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Pote at, <a href='#page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#page_85'>85</a>.<br />
<br />
Megabagaduce, <a href='#page_291'>291</a>.<br />
<br />
Members for Sunbury, <a href='#page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#page_314'>314</a>, <a href='#page_319'>319</a>.<br />
<br />
Membertou, <a href='#page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>.<br />
<br />
Menagoueche, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#page_141'>141</a>, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>.<br />
<br />
Menaguashe, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_286'>286</a>, <a href='#page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#page_294'>294</a>.<br />
<br />
Men-ah-quesk, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#page_185'>185</a>.<br />
<br />
Menneval, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#page_40'>40</a>.<br />
<br />
Menzies, John, <a href='#page_358'>358</a>.<br />
<br />
Menzies, Major Thomas, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>.<br />
<br />
Mercure, Michael, <a href='#page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#page_296'>296</a>.<br />
<br />
Merveille, Captain, <a href='#page_21'>21</a>.<br />
<br />
Micmacs, <a href='#page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#page_294'>294</a>.<br />
<br />
Middleton, Samuel, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>.<br />
<br />
Mill Creek, <a href='#page_156'>156</a>.<br />
<br />
Mills at Nashwaak, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#page_209'>209</a>, <a href='#page_220'>220&ndash;223</a>, <a href='#page_226'>226</a>, <a href='#page_251'>251</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at Maugerville, <a href='#page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#page_324'>324</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at St. John, <a href='#page_199'>199</a>, <a href='#page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#page_235'>235</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at Oromocto, <a href='#page_312'>312</a>.<br />
<br />
Miramichi, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#page_305'>305</a>.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Mistake,&rdquo; The, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>, <a href='#page_327'>327</a>.<br />
<br />
Mitchel, Lewis, <a href='#page_272'>272</a>.<br />
<br />
Mohawks, <a href='#page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#page_13'>13</a>.<br />
<br />
Moireau, Claude, <a href='#page_141'>141</a>.<br />
<br />
Monckton, Colonel R., <a href='#page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#page_125'>125&ndash;134</a>.<br />
<br />
Moncton, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>.<br />
<br />
Montcalm, <a href='#page_124'>124</a>.<br />
<br />
Montesson, <a href='#page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#page_112'>112</a>.<br />
<br />
Mooers, Peter, <a href='#page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Moose, <a href='#page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#page_368'>368</a>.<br />
<br />
Morpain, Pierre de, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>.<br />
<br />
Morrisania, <a href='#page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#page_312'>312</a>, <a href='#page_320'>320</a>.<br />
<br />
Morris, Charles, <a href='#page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#page_158'>158</a>, <a href='#page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#page_218'>218</a>, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>.<br />
<br />
Morris, Charles, Jr., <a href='#page_218'>218</a>, <a href='#page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>.<br />
<br />
Morris, Major, <a href='#page_134'>134</a>.<br />
<br />
Morse, Colonel Robert, <a href='#page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>.<br />
<br />
Murray, Captain, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>.<br />
<br />
Murray, Major Daniel, <a href='#page_360'>360</a>, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>.<br />
<br />
McCurdy, Captain, <a href='#page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#page_132'>132</a>, <a href='#page_134'>134</a>.<br />
<br />
McGregor, Rev. James, <a href='#page_342'>342</a>, <a href='#page_343'>343</a>.<br />
<br />
McKeen, William, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>.<br />
<br />
McLean, General, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>.<br />
<br />
McNeal, Sergeant, <a href='#page_77'>77</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Narantsouak, <a href='#page_67'>67</a>.<br />
<br />
Nashwaak, (Nachouac), <a href='#page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_209'>209</a>, <a href='#page_220'>220</a>, <a href='#page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#page_343'>343</a>.<br />
<br />
Navy Island, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#page_103'>103</a>.<br />
<br />
Negro Men, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#page_199'>199</a>.<br />
<br />
Neguedchecouniedoche, <a href='#page_33'>33</a>.<br />
<br />
Neptune, John, <a href='#page_298'>298</a>.<br />
<br />
Neptune, Lewis, <a href='#page_293'>293</a>.<br />
<br />
Nerepis, <a href='#page_37'>37</a>, <a href='#page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#page_104'>104</a>, <a href='#page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#page_333'>333</a>.<br />
<br />
Neuvillette, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>.<br />
<br />
Nevers, Elisha, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_319'>319</a>.<br />
<br />
Nevers, Phinehas, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_319'>319</a>.<br />
<br />
Newburyport, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#page_236'>236</a>, <a href='#page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#page_240'>240</a>, <a href='#page_321'>321</a>.<br />
<br />
New Ireland, <a href='#page_291'>291</a>.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Newport,&rdquo; Ship captured, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>.<br />
<br />
Newton, Hon. Henry, <a href='#page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#page_343'>343</a>, <a href='#page_344'>344</a>.<br />
<br />
Newton, Philip, <a href='#page_343'>343</a>.<br />
<br />
New-town Township, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>.<br />
<br />
Nid d&rsquo;Aigle, <a href='#page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#page_118'>118</a>.<br />
<br />
Noble, Rev. Seth, <a href='#page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#page_321'>321</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">O&rsquo;Bear, Port, <a href='#page_218'>218</a>.<br />
<br />
Odell, Jonathan, <a href='#page_361'>361</a>.<br />
<br />
Ogilvie, Rev. John, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_210'>210</a>, <a href='#page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#page_219'>219</a>.<br />
<br />
Oromocto, <a href='#page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#page_297'>297</a>, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#page_324'>324</a>, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>, <a href='#page_367'>367</a>.<br />
<br />
Ouigoudy, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Paddock, Adino, <a href='#page_361'>361</a>.<br />
<br />
Palmer, Daniel, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_319'>319</a>.<br />
<br />
Parr, Governor, <a href='#page_334'>334</a>, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>.<br />
<br />
Parr-town, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#page_363'>363</a>, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>.<br />
<br />
Passamaquoddy, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#page_272'>272</a>.<br />
<br />
Passamaquoddy Indians, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#page_276'>276</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#page_294'>294</a>.<br />
<br />
Peabody, Captain Francis, <a href='#page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#page_217'>217</a>, <a href='#page_220'>220</a>, <a href='#page_228'>228</a>, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#page_322'>322</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>will of, <a href='#page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#page_323'>323</a>.<br />
<br />
Peabody, Samuel, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#page_307'>307</a>, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#page_323'>323</a>.<br />
<br />
Peaslie, Robert, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#page_192'>192</a>.<br />
<br />
Pemaquid, <a href='#page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>.<br />
<br />
Pennoniac, <a href='#page_7'>7</a>.<br />
<br />
Penobscot, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#page_276'>276</a>, <a href='#page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>.<br />
<br />
Pepperrell, William, <a href='#page_80'>80</a>.<br />
<br />
Perkins&rsquo; Island, <a href='#page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#page_211'>211</a>, <a href='#page_221'>221</a>.<br />
<br />
Perley, Israel, <a href='#page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_228'>228</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#page_320'>320</a>.<br />
<br />
Perley, Moses H., <a href='#page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#page_322'>322</a>, <a href='#page_353'>353</a>.<br />
<br />
Perley, Oliver, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_321'>321</a>.<br />
<br />
Perrot, <a href='#page_33'>33</a>.<br />
<br />
Peters, James, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>.<br />
<br />
Phillipps, Governor, <a href='#page_76'>76</a>.<br />
<br />
Pickard, Humphrey, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_321'>321</a>, <a href='#page_324'>324</a>.<br />
<br />
Pickett, David, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>.<br />
<br />
Pine-trees (see also Masts), <a href='#page_302'>302</a>, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>.<br />
<br />
Plague on St. John River, <a href='#page_45'>45</a>.<br />
<br />
Plummer, Sylvanus, <a href='#page_172'>172</a>, <a href='#page_173'>173</a>.<br />
<br />
Pontgrave, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>.<br />
<br />
Porier, Senator, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>.<br />
<br />
Portland Point, <a href='#page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#page_157'>157</a>, <a href='#page_176'>176&ndash;187</a>, <a href='#page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_277'>277</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>arrival at, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#page_193'>193</a>, <a href='#page_261'>261</a>.<br />
<br />
Portneuf, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#page_44'>44</a>.<br />
<br />
Port Royal, <a href='#page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#page_76'>76</a>.<br />
<br />
Post Houses on the St. John, <a href='#page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#page_317'>317</a>.<br />
<br />
Pote, Captain William, <a href='#page_81'>81&ndash;85</a>.<br />
<br />
Poutrincourt, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#page_20'>20</a>.<br />
<br />
Pow-wows, Indian, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_284'>284&ndash;289</a>, <a href='#page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#page_298'>298</a>.<br />
<br />
Preble, John, <a href='#page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#page_273'>273</a>.<br />
<br />
Prescott &amp; Co., <a href='#page_269'>269</a>.<br />
<br />
Price, Edmund, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>.<br />
<br />
Prices of Goods, etc., <a href='#page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#page_184'>184</a>, <a href='#page_260'>260</a>, <a href='#page_306'>306</a>, <a href='#page_307'>307</a>.<br />
<br />
Prince William, <a href='#page_361'>361</a>, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>.<br />
<br />
Privateers, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#page_281'>281</a>, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>, <a href='#page_330'>330</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Quinton, Hugh, <a href='#page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#page_315'>315</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Ralleau, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>.<br />
<br />
Ralle, Missionary, <a href='#page_43'>43</a>.<br />
<br />
Regan, Jeremiah, <a href='#page_352'>352</a>.<br />
<br />
Religious Teachers, <a href='#page_247'>247</a>.<br />
<br />
Relics, Indian, <a href='#page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#page_9'>9</a>.<br />
<br />
Rideout, Nicholas, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Ring, Zebedee, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>.<br />
<br />
Robichaux, <a href='#page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#page_133'>133</a>.<br />
<br />
Rogers, Captain Jeremiah, <a href='#page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#page_132'>132</a>.<br />
<br />
Rogers, Nathaniel, <a href='#page_209'>209</a>, <a href='#page_219'>219</a>, <a href='#page_223'>223</a>.<br />
<br />
Rous, Captain John, <a href='#page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#page_115'>115</a>.<br />
<br />
Route to Canada, <a href='#page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#page_108'>108</a>, <a href='#page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#page_296'>296</a>.<br />
<br />
Rowley, <a href='#page_317'>317</a>.<br />
<br />
Royal Fencible American Regiment, <a href='#page_276'>276</a>, <a href='#page_281'>281</a>, <a href='#page_336'>336</a>.<br />

<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_375' name='page_375'></a>375</span><br />
Rum, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_193'>193</a>.<br />
<br />
Rushagonis, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Salamanca, <a href='#page_367'>367</a>, <a href='#page_368'>368</a>.<br />
<br />
Saturday Night in 1764, <a href='#page_185'>185</a>.<br />
<br />
Savary, Judge, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>.<br />
<br />
Saw-mills, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#page_199'>199</a>, <a href='#page_209'>209</a>, <a href='#page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#page_220'>220</a>, <a href='#page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#page_251'>251</a>, <a href='#page_312'>312</a>, <a href='#page_324'>324</a>.<br />
<br />
Say, Gervas, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>, <a href='#page_326'>326</a>.<br />
<br />
Sayre, Rev. John, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>.<br />
<br />
Scalps, Rewards offered for, <a href='#page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#page_122'>122</a>.<br />
<br />
Scott, Major, <a href='#page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#page_134'>134</a>.<br />
<br />
Seabury, Rev. Samuel, <a href='#page_345'>345</a>.<br />
<br />
Secondon (see Chkoudun).<br />
<br />
Sedgewick, Major Robert, <a href='#page_29'>29</a>.<br />
<br />
Seebaskastaggan Marsh, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#page_234'>234</a>.<br />
<br />
Seigniories, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#page_58'>58</a>, <a href='#page_251'>251</a>.<br />
<br />
Sharman, Dr., <a href='#page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>, <a href='#page_338'>338</a>.<br />
<br />
Sheffield (see Maugerville).<br />
<br />
Sheep for settlers, <a href='#page_224'>224</a>.<br />
<br />
Ship-building, <a href='#page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_312'>312</a>, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>.<br />
<br />
Ships, Transport, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#page_351'>351</a>, <a href='#page_353'>353</a>.<br />
<br />
Ship-wrecks, <a href='#page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#page_241'>241</a>.<br />
<br />
Shirley, Governor, <a href='#page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#page_121'>121</a>.<br />
<br />
Shorne, Richard, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#page_226'>226</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>.<br />
<br />
Siege of Fort Nachouac, <a href='#page_49'>49</a>.<br />
<br />
Simonds Family, <a href='#page_190'>190</a>.<br />
<br />
Simonds, James, <a href='#page_149'>149&ndash;152</a>, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#page_184'>184</a>, <a href='#page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#page_210'>210</a>, <a href='#page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#page_229'>229&ndash;235</a>, <a href='#page_238'>238</a>, <a href='#page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#page_314'>314</a>, <a href='#page_332'>332</a>.<br />
<br />
Simonds, Richard, <a href='#page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#page_192'>192</a>.<br />
<br />
Simon, Recollet Missionary, <a href='#page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#page_141'>141</a>.<br />
<br />
Small, Colonel, <a href='#page_277'>277</a>.<br />
<br />
Small-pox, <a href='#page_327'>327</a>.<br />
<br />
Smith, Jonathan, <a href='#page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Smith, Rev. Curryl, <a href='#page_225'>225</a>.<br />
<br />
Smith, Stephen, <a href='#page_265'>265</a>.<br />
<br />
Soulanges, Sieur de, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#page_32'>32</a>.<br />
<br />
Spry, Captain William, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_210'>210</a>, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#page_327'>327</a>.<br />
<br />
Stamp Act, <a href='#page_222'>222</a>.<br />
<br />
St. Anns, Acadians at, <a href='#page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#page_248'>248</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>massacre at St. Annes, <a href='#page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#page_252'>252</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Indian Claims at, <a href='#page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#page_175'>175</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>trading post at, <a href='#page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#page_220'>220</a>, <a href='#page_308'>308</a>, <a href='#page_325'>325</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>the Loyalists at, <a href='#page_366'>366</a>, <a href='#page_367'>367</a>.<br />
<br />
St. Aubin, Ambroise, <a href='#page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#page_299'>299</a>.<br />
<br />
St. Castin, Baron, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#page_86'>86</a>.<br />
<br />
St. Croix Island, <a href='#page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#page_19'>19</a>.<br />
<br />
St. John, name of City, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>.<br />
<br />
St. John Harbor, <a href='#page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#page_48'>48</a>, <a href='#page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>.<br />
<br />
St. John River, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#page_347'>347</a>, <a href='#page_362'>362</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Cadillac&rsquo;s description, <a href='#page_109'>109</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>inundations of, <a href='#page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#page_216'>216</a>.<br />
<br />
St. John&rsquo;s River Society, <a href='#page_210'>210</a>, <a href='#page_214'>214&ndash;227</a>, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>.<br />
<br />
St. Vallier, Bishop, <a href='#page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#page_140'>140</a>.<br />
<br />
Sterling, Captain Walter, <a href='#page_333'>333</a>.<br />
<br />
Stickney, Isaac, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Stone age, <a href='#page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#page_9'>9</a>.<br />
<br />
Storey, William, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#page_202'>202</a>.<br />
<br />
Straton Brothers, <a href='#page_297'>297</a>.<br />
<br />
Street, Samuel Denny, <a href='#page_321'>321</a>, <a href='#page_337'>337</a>, <a href='#page_352'>352</a>.<br />
<br />
Studholme, Gilfred, at Fort Frederick, <a href='#page_233'>233</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at Fort Howe, <a href='#page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#page_278'>278</a>, <a href='#page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#page_281'>281</a>, <a href='#page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#page_295'>295</a>, <a href='#page_316'>316</a>, <a href='#page_321'>321</a>, <a href='#page_336'>336</a>, <a href='#page_345'>345</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>.<br />
<br />
Sunbury County, <a href='#page_206'>206</a>, etc., <a href='#page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>.<br />
<br />
Sunbury Township, <a href='#page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Tablet, Medoctec, <a href='#page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#page_300'>300</a>.<br />
<br />
Tapley, Alexander, <a href='#page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Tapley, Samuel, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Taxous, <a href='#page_42'>42</a>.<br />
<br />
Temiscouata, <a href='#page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#page_121'>121</a>.<br />
<br />
Temple, Sir Thomas, <a href='#page_30'>30</a>.<br />
<br />
Thoma, Chief, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>.<br />
<br />
Thoma, Pierre, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#page_298'>298</a>, <a href='#page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#page_301'>301</a>.<br />
<br />
Thompson, Lieut.-Colonel, Benjamin, <a href='#page_345'>345</a>, <a href='#page_361'>361</a>.<br />
<br />
Thury, Missionary, <a href='#page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#page_52'>52</a>.<br />
<br />
Tidmarsh, Giles, <a href='#page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#page_325'>325</a>.<br />
<br />
Tilley, Sir S. L., <a href='#page_351'>351</a>.<br />
<br />
Tinker, Captain William, <a href='#page_351'>351</a>.<br />
<br />
Tory&rsquo;s Soliloquy, <a href='#page_359'>359</a>.<br />
<br />
Townships, <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#page_211'>211</a>, <a href='#page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>.<br />
<br />
Transport Ships, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#page_351'>351</a>, <a href='#page_353'>353</a>.<br />
<br />
Treaties, <a href='#page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>.<br />
<br />
Truck-houses, <a href='#page_141'>141</a>, <a href='#page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#page_196'>196</a>.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Two Sisters,&rdquo; Transport Ship, <a href='#page_355'>355</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">&ldquo;Ulysees,&rdquo; Sloop, <a href='#page_126'>126</a>.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Union,&rdquo; Transport Ship, <a href='#page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#page_349'>349</a>, <a href='#page_350'>350</a>.<br />
<br />
Upper Cove, <a href='#page_180'>180</a>.<br />
<br />
Upham, Joshua, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#page_360'>360</a>.<br />
<br />
Upton, Samuel, <a href='#page_168'>168</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Van Buskirk, Colonel Abraham, <a href='#page_362'>362</a>, <a href='#page_368'>368</a>.<br />
<br />
Vaudreuil, <a href='#page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#page_135'>135</a>.<br />
<br />
Vergor, Sieur de, <a href='#page_101'>101</a>.<br />
<br />
Vessels of Simonds, Hazen &amp; White, <a href='#page_202'>202&ndash;204</a>, <a href='#page_222'>222</a>.<br />
<br />
Vienneau Family, <a href='#page_250'>250</a>.<br />
<br />
Villebon, Sieur de, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#page_40'>40&ndash;54</a>, <a href='#page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#page_251'>251</a>, <a href='#page_300'>300</a>.<br />
<br />
Villieu, <a href='#page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#page_133'>133</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Wade, Philip, <a href='#page_308'>308</a>, <a href='#page_366'>366</a>.<br />
<br />
Wages, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#page_193'>193</a>, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#page_260'>260</a>.<br />
<br />
Waldron, Major, <a href='#page_38'>38</a>.<br />
<br />
Walnut (see Butternut).<br />
<br />
Ward, Clarence, <a href='#page_366'>366</a>.<br />
<br />
Ward, Major John, <a href='#page_366'>366</a>.<br />
<br />
Washademoak, <a href='#page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#page_111'>111</a>.<br />
<br />
Washington, George, <a href='#page_263'>263</a>.<br />
<br />
Wasson, John, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Watson, Brook, <a href='#page_354'>354</a>.<br />
<br />
Webster, Mr., <a href='#page_171'>171</a>.<br />
<br />
Webster, Samuel, <a href='#page_181'>181</a>.<br />
<br />
Wellman, Mr., <a href='#page_171'>171</a>.<br />
<br />
Wentworth, Governor, <a href='#page_302'>302</a>.<br />
<br />
West, Captain, <a href='#page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#page_275'>275</a>.<br />
<br />
White, James, <a href='#page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#page_193'>193</a>, <a href='#page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#page_245'>245</a>, <a href='#page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#page_321'>321</a>, <a href='#page_343'>343</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>arrival at St. John, <a href='#page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#page_239'>239</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>at Crown Point, <a href='#page_192'>192</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>second contract, <a href='#page_229'>229</a>, <a href='#page_230'>230</a>;<br />
<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>dealings with Indians, <a href='#page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#page_273'>273</a>, <a href='#page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#page_295'>295</a>.<br />
<br />
Whitney, Samuel, <a href='#page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#page_174'>174</a>.<br />
<br />
Willard, Captain, <a href='#page_325'>325</a>, <a href='#page_358'>358</a>, <a href='#page_359'>359</a>.<br />
<br />
Wilmot, Governor Montagu, <a href='#page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#page_218'>218</a>, <a href='#page_219'>219</a>.<br />
<br />
Winslow, Edward, <a href='#page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#page_360'>360</a>, <a href='#page_364'>364</a>, <a href='#page_365'>365</a>.<br />
<br />
Winslow, Lieut.-Colonel John, <a href='#page_116'>116</a>.<br />
<br />
Winthrop, Governor, <a href='#page_26'>26</a>.<br />
<br />
Wood, Rev. Thomas, <a href='#page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#page_299'>299</a>.<br />
<br />
Woodboats, First, <a href='#page_313'>313</a>.<br />
<br />
Woodman, James, <a href='#page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#page_324'>324</a>, <a href='#page_352'>352</a>.<br />
<br />
Woolastook, <a href='#page_18'>18</a>.<br />
<br />
Woodstock, <a href='#page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#page_73'>73</a>.<br />
<br />
Wordens, Fort at, <a href='#page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#page_118'>118</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Xavier, Francois, <a href='#page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#page_286'>286</a>, <a href='#page_287'>287</a>.</p>
<p class='padtop lalign' style="margin-left:0.5em">Young Royal Highland Emigrants, <a href='#page_336'>336</a>.</p>
</div>
<hr class='fn' />
<h3>Footnotes</h3>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0001' id='Footnote_0001'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0001'><span class='label'>[1]</span></a>
<p>The old Medoctec fort was on the west bank of the River St. John about eight miles
below the town of Woodstock. The spring is readily identified; an apparently inexhaustible
supply of pure cold water flows from it even in the driest season.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0002' id='Footnote_0002'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0002'><span class='label'>[2]</span></a>
<p>See &ldquo;Feudal Chiefs of Acadia,&rdquo; by Parkman in Atlantic Monthly of January and
February, 1893.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0003' id='Footnote_0003'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0003'><span class='label'>[3]</span></a>
<p>Dr. Ganong is probably correct in identifying the &ldquo;River de Maquo&rdquo; with Maquapit
and the &ldquo;mines&rdquo; with the coal mines at Newcastle in Queens county. In this case the
sieur de Martignon owned the lands on the north side of Grand Lake including the site
of the old Indian village at Indian point where so any relics have been discovered.
It is quite possible that the sieur de Martignon and his wife, Jeanne de la Tour, may
have lived there for a time.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0004' id='Footnote_0004'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0004'><span class='label'>[4]</span></a>
<p>&ldquo;Nous vimes l&rsquo;endroit qu&rsquo;on appelle le grand Sault Saint Jean-Baptiste, ou la riviere
de Saint Jean faisant du haut d&rsquo;un rocher fort eleve une terrible cascade dans un abime,
forme un brouillard qui derobe l&rsquo;eau a la veue, et fait un bruit qui avertit de loin les
navigateurs de descendre de leurs canots.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0005' id='Footnote_0005'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0005'><span class='label'>[5]</span></a>
<p>This war broke out in 1675 and was confined chiefly to the tribes of Massachusetts.
It was of short duration; the Indian Sagamore Philip was slain.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0006' id='Footnote_0006'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0006'><span class='label'>[6]</span></a>
<p>The route was up the St. John to the Medoctec village, thence by Eel river and the
chain of lakes to the Mattawamkeag and down that river to the Penobscot.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0007' id='Footnote_0007'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0007'><span class='label'>[7]</span></a>
<p>These canoes were probably lying in the cove at Indiantown just above the falls.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0008' id='Footnote_0008'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0008'><span class='label'>[8]</span></a>
<p>The author is indebted to Dr. W. F. Ganong for his kindness in furnishing the
sketch from which the accompanying plan of illustration has <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'ben'">been</ins> made. It is not, of
course, a copy of the original, but gives an idea of the general character of the fortification.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0009' id='Footnote_0009'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0009'><span class='label'>[9]</span></a>
<p>This gentleman married in 1652 Marie, the eldest daughter of Nicolas Marselot of
Quebec; she was a very youthful bride, being only 14 years old at the time of her
marriage; she was the mother of 15 children.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0010' id='Footnote_0010'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0010'><span class='label'>[10]</span></a>
<p>The grants of Louis d&rsquo;Amours at Richibucto, and of Mathieu and Rene on the
St. John river are of the same date, September 20, 1684; that of Bernard on the Kennebeccasis
is dated June 20, 1695.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0011' id='Footnote_0011'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0011'><span class='label'>[11]</span></a>
<p>A copy of the original lease of the Seigniory of Freneuse, with translation, and
remarks by Dr. Ganong, will be found in Vol. I., p. 121, of Acadiensis, printed at St.
John by D. R. Jack, to whose kindness and that of Dr. Ganong I am indebted for the
signature given above.&mdash;W.&nbsp;O.&nbsp;R.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0012' id='Footnote_0012'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0012'><span class='label'>[12]</span></a>
<p>Louis d&rsquo;Amours married Marguerite Guyon in 1686, about the time he settled on the
St. John river. They had three children.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0013' id='Footnote_0013'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0013'><span class='label'>[13]</span></a>
<p>The Micmacs, as distinguished from the St. John river Indians or Maliseets.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0014' id='Footnote_0014'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0014'><span class='label'>[14]</span></a>
<p>The mortification of the Bostonians at the failure of this expedition was extreme.
So confident of success were they that preparations were made for a public rejoicing on
the anticipated capture of Port Royal. The young baron St. Castin was wounded in
the defence of Port Royal. His conduct in leading the defenders on several critical occasions
was characterized by such dash and intrepidity that Governor Subercase in describing
the siege wrote to the French minister at Versailles that if it had not been
for the presence of the Baron St. Castin he knew not what would have been the result.
See Murdoch&rsquo;s Hist. Nova Scotia, vol. I., p. 289.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0015' id='Footnote_0015'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0015'><span class='label'>[15]</span></a>
<p>See page <a href='#page_13'>13</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0016' id='Footnote_0016'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0016'><span class='label'>[16]</span></a>
<p>The Grand Falls of the St. John river, which the Indians still call Chik-seen-eag-i-beg,
meaning &ldquo;a destroying giant.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0017' id='Footnote_0017'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0017'><span class='label'>[17]</span></a>
<p>Jean Pierre Danielou died at Quebec, May 23, 1744. His successor, Father Charles
Germain, came to Canada in 1738 and a few years later, probably in 1740, was sent to the
St. John River.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0018' id='Footnote_0018'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0018'><span class='label'>[18]</span></a>
<p>In his journal Pote terms him &ldquo;Bonus Castine from Pernobsquett;&rdquo; there can be
little doubt that he was a descendant of Baron de St. Castin, already mentioned in these
pages.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0019' id='Footnote_0019'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0019'><span class='label'>[19]</span></a>
<p>Marie la Tour, widow of Alexander le Borgne was living at Annapolis Royal in
1733 at the age of 79 years.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0020' id='Footnote_0020'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0020'><span class='label'>[20]</span></a>
<p>See Transactions Royal Society of Canada 1895, p. 87.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0021' id='Footnote_0021'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0021'><span class='label'>[21]</span></a>
<p>The name &ldquo;Alexander&rdquo; descended through at least two more generations, as I
am informed by Placide P. Gaudet, who is by all odds the best living authority in such
matters. Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle, mentioned above, left at his death a widow
and seven children, of whom six were transported with their mother to Maryland at
the time of the Acadian expulsion. The remaining child Alexander Belleisle (the
fourth) went to L&rsquo;Islet in Quebec, where he married Genevieve Cloutier in 1773 and their
first son, Anthony Alexander, was baptized the year following.&mdash;W.&nbsp;O.&nbsp;R.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0022' id='Footnote_0022'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0022'><span class='label'>[22]</span></a>
<p>See Ganong&rsquo;s Historic Sites in New Brunswick: Transactions of the Royal Society
of Canada for 1899, p. 271.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0023' id='Footnote_0023'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0023'><span class='label'>[23]</span></a>
<p>A child of Pierre Robichaud and Francoise Belleisle his wife was interred at l&rsquo;Islet, December 10,
1759.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0024' id='Footnote_0024'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0024'><span class='label'>[24]</span></a>
<p>In a letter to the French minister, written in 1698, Villebon observes &ldquo;J&rsquo;ai recu par
mons&rsquo;r de Bonaventure qui est arrive ici le 20 Juillet la lettre de votre Grandeur et le
traite de Paix fait avec l&rsquo;Angleterre [the treaty of Ryswick]. * * Comme vous me
marquez, Monseigneur, que les bornes de l&rsquo;Acadie sont a la Riviere de Quenebequi.&rdquo;
[Kennebec]. etc.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0025' id='Footnote_0025'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0025'><span class='label'>[25]</span></a>
<p>The date of Joseph Bellefontaine&rsquo;s commission was April 10, 1749.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0026' id='Footnote_0026'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0026'><span class='label'>[26]</span></a>
<p>Ignace Philippe Aubert, Sieur de Gaspe, was born at St. Antoine de Tilly near
Quebec in 1714. He was an ensign in Acadia under de Ramezay in 1745 and was with
Colombier de Villiers in the attack on Minas the following winter. He died at St.
Jean, Port Joly, in 1787. He was grandfather of the author of the &ldquo;Anciens Canadiens.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0027' id='Footnote_0027'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0027'><span class='label'>[27]</span></a>
<p>I am indebted to Placide P. Gaudet for a copy of the original letter of which a translation
is given on next page. It is one of the many interesting documents that have never yet been
published.&mdash;W.&nbsp;O.&nbsp;R.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0028' id='Footnote_0028'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0028'><span class='label'>[28]</span></a>
<p>This refers, I imagine, to the Acadians on the lower St. John and does not include
the colony at Ste. Annes.&mdash;W.&nbsp;O.&nbsp;R.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0029' id='Footnote_0029'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0029'><span class='label'>[29]</span></a>
<p>The country of the Etchemins, or Maliseets, included eastern Maine, and the western
part of New Brunswick.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0030' id='Footnote_0030'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0030'><span class='label'>[30]</span></a>
<p>Cadillac seems to have so termed Villebon&rsquo;s fort because the Micmacs of eastern
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia often made it a rendezvous; perhaps also it was a
fanciful distinction by way of comparison with the Maliseet fort at Medoctec.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0031' id='Footnote_0031'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0031'><span class='label'>[31]</span></a>
<p>It would be interesting to know the exact location of the &ldquo;portage&rdquo; referred to
above. Was it the rocky neck between Marble Cove at Indiantown and the Straight
Shore? Or was it the comparatively slight obstruction at Drury&rsquo;s Cove that prevents
the river finding an outlet by way of the Marsh Creek into Courtenay Bay? See on
this head Dr. George F. Matthew&rsquo;s interesting paper on &ldquo;The Outlets of the St. John
River:&rdquo; Nat. Hist. Society bulletin No. xii., p. 42.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0032' id='Footnote_0032'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0032'><span class='label'>[32]</span></a>
<p>Capt. John Rous in his early career commanded a Boston privateer. Having distinguished
himself in several minor expeditions, he commanded the Massachusetts galley
&ldquo;Shirley,&rdquo; of 24 guns, at the first seige of Louisbourg, and bore the news of the
surrender to England, where as a reward for his gallant services he was made a
captain in the Royal Navy. He commanded the Sutherland of 50 guns, at the second
seige of Louisbourg, and was with Wolfe in 1759 at the seige of Quebec. It was from
his ship Wolfe issued his last order before storming the heights. Capt. <ins class="trchange" title="Footnote is unfinished in original.">Rous died at</ins></p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0033' id='Footnote_0033'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0033'><span class='label'>[33]</span></a>
<p>See under &ldquo;Nid d&rsquo;Aigle,&rdquo; Ganong&rsquo;s Place-Nomenclature of New Brunswick, p.
257. D&rsquo;Anville&rsquo;s map of 1755 shows here &ldquo;Etabliss&rsquo;t. Francois,&rdquo; signifying French Post
or Settlement. See observations already made at page 91.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0034' id='Footnote_0034'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0034'><span class='label'>[34]</span></a>
<p>A snow was a vessel similar to a brig; the Marquis de Vaudreull says the one above
referred to was a Portuguese vessel.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0035' id='Footnote_0035'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0035'><span class='label'>[35]</span></a>
<p>The incident related above is mentioned by several writers, French and English,
but the details were gathered by Placide P. Gaudet about twenty years ago from an old
Acadian of remarkable memory and intelligence, whose grandfather was a brother of
Charles Belliveau.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0036' id='Footnote_0036'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0036'><span class='label'>[36]</span></a>
<p>The Chevalier Johnson writes, &ldquo;Boishebert came early in the Spring to Louisbourg with several
hundred men, 12 Canadian Officers and 6 others from the garrison of Louisbourg; and he kept his
detachment with such prudence so concealed at Miry during the siege, five leagues from Louisbourg,
that neither the English nor the garrison had ever any news of them.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0037' id='Footnote_0037'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0037'><span class='label'>[37]</span></a>
<p>For a copy of this valuable paper I am indebted to Dr. W. F. Ganong. The name
of Monckton is preserved in that of the second largest town of the province.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0038' id='Footnote_0038'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0038'><span class='label'>[38]</span></a>
<p>The Royal American Regiment, or 60th Regiment of Foot, was raised in America
about 1756 or 1757. It was commanded by Maj. Gen. James Abercrombie, who was succeeded
by Gen. Sir Jeffrey Amherst in February, 1758. The corps included four battalions
each of 1,000 men. Robert Monckton was appointed colonel in the regiment Sept.
28, 1757. (See Murdoch&rsquo;s Hist. Nova Scotia, Vol. 2, p. 329.)</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0039' id='Footnote_0039'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0039'><span class='label'>[39]</span></a>
<p>Capt. Jeremiah Rogers commanded the armed sloop &ldquo;Ulysses&rdquo; in the pay of the
Government of Nova Scotia, as early as January, 1751.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0040' id='Footnote_0040'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0040'><span class='label'>[40]</span></a>
<p>The original of this plan, which is in the British Museum, was made by Major
Charles Morris, Surveyor General of Nova Scotia. He was with Monckton at the River
St. John.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0041' id='Footnote_0041'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0041'><span class='label'>[41]</span></a>
<p>This place is known as Salmon Point, but in the plan is given as Pidgeon&rsquo;s Point.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0042' id='Footnote_0042'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0042'><span class='label'>[42]</span></a>
<p>This letter will be found in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society,
Vol. II., pp. 135&ndash;145. Many of Mr. Graham&rsquo;s remarks savor of exaggeration and in reading
the extract above this fact should not be lost sight of.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0043' id='Footnote_0043'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0043'><span class='label'>[43]</span></a>
<p>The plan of Villieu appears in Dr. Ganong&rsquo;s Historic Sites in New Brunswick, p.
279.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0044' id='Footnote_0044'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0044'><span class='label'>[44]</span></a>
<p>Moses Hazen was an older brother of William Hazen, who settled at St. John. He
distinguished himself under Gen. Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham. In the American
Revolution he fought against the British, raised a corps known as &ldquo;Hazen&rsquo;s Own,&rdquo; and
became a Major General in the American army.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0045' id='Footnote_0045'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0045'><span class='label'>[45]</span></a>
<p>Rev. Jacob Bailey was a prominent loyalist during the American Revolution, and
afterwards Rector of Annapolis. N. S.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0046' id='Footnote_0046'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0046'><span class='label'>[46]</span></a>
<p>I am indebted to Placide P. Gaudet for the above extract. Father Germain was
the missionary of the Indians, while Coquart seems to have ministered to the Acadians.
The latter was a &ldquo;secular priest,&rdquo; or one not connected with any religious order.&mdash;W.&nbsp;O.&nbsp;R.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0047' id='Footnote_0047'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0047'><span class='label'>[47]</span></a>
<p>This gentleman afterwards received an order from Mr. Bulkeley, the provincial
secretary, to take for his own use one of the French boats &ldquo;forfeited to the Government
by the Acadians that were at Annapolis,&rdquo; as a reward for his services in going
up the River St. John and assisting Colonel Arbuthnot in bringing in the French.
Winniett had a violent altercation with Captain Sinclair of the Annapolis garrison
about this boat. See Murdoch&rsquo;s Hist. of N. S., Vol. II., p. 409.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0048' id='Footnote_0048'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0048'><span class='label'>[48]</span></a>
<p>Probably the name of no place in New Brunswick has appeared in so many varied
forms as that of this Indian village. The list that follows does not pretend to be
exhaustive, but will suffice for illustration:&mdash;</p>
<p>(1.) Ecoupay&mdash;Census, 1733. (2.) Ocpaque&mdash;Lt.-Gov. Armstrong&rsquo;s letter, 1735. (3.)
Apoge&mdash;Capt. Pote&rsquo;s Journal, 1745. (4.) Octpagh&mdash;Treaty proceedings at Halifax, 1749. (5.)
Ekauba&mdash;Report of Abbe de L&rsquo;isle-Dieu, 1753. (6.) Ocpaque&mdash;Letter of James Simonds,
1765. (7.) Aughpack&mdash;Map of Charles Morris, 1765. (8.) Ekouipahag&mdash;Register of l&rsquo;Abbe
Bailly, 1767. (9.) Aughpaugh&mdash;Letter of James Simonds, 1768. (10.) Ekoupahag&mdash;Indian
negotiations at Halifax, 1768. (11.) Okpaak&mdash;Report of Rev. T. Wood&rsquo;s, 1769. (12.) Augpeake&mdash;Letter
Lt. Gov. Franklin, 1777. (13.) Auque Pawhaque&mdash;Letter of Indians to
Major Studholme, 1778. (14.) Aupaque&mdash;Letter of Gen&rsquo;l Haldimand, 1782. Oak Park&mdash;Letter
of Sam&rsquo;l Peabody, 1782, also report of Exploration Committee to Major Studholme,
1783. (16.) Ek-pa-hawk&mdash;Modern Indians.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0049' id='Footnote_0049'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0049'><span class='label'>[49]</span></a>
<p>This tariff of prices is given in full in Murdoch&rsquo;s Hist. of Nova Scotia, Vol. II.,
p. 395.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0050' id='Footnote_0050'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0050'><span class='label'>[50]</span></a>
<p>Capt. Alex. Hay is said to have saved the life of the Duke of Cumberland, during
the rebellion of 1745.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0051' id='Footnote_0051'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0051'><span class='label'>[51]</span></a>
<p>In Des Barres&rsquo; splendid chart of St. John harbor, published according to act of
parliament in 1780, the well-known Reed&rsquo;s Point is called &ldquo;Point-Debbeig.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0052' id='Footnote_0052'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0052'><span class='label'>[52]</span></a>
<p>When the affairs of Hazen, Simonds and White were wound up some twenty-five
years later the house was valued at &Acirc;&pound;40.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0053' id='Footnote_0053'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0053'><span class='label'>[53]</span></a>
<p>Beamish Murdoch in his History of Nova Scotia, Vol. II, p. 428, refers to the settlement
made at this time at Maugerville and observes, &ldquo;A Mr. Peabody was the principal
inhabitant and agent for the English settlers.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0054' id='Footnote_0054'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0054'><span class='label'>[54]</span></a>
<p>Joshua Mauger was a merchant from England who made his residence at Halifax
shortly after its founding by Cornwallis in 1749. He traded extensively in Nova Scotia
and had contracts with government. He returned to England in 1761, became agent
there for the Province of Nova Scotia and held a seat in Parliament.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0055' id='Footnote_0055'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0055'><span class='label'>[55]</span></a>
<p>Peter Fisher was the father of the late Judge Fisher and of L. Peter Fisher (for many
years mayor of Woodstock), and grandfather of W. Shoves Fisher of St. John. His
penmanship was superior to that of some of his descendants, judging from the fac-simile
of his signature that appears above.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0056' id='Footnote_0056'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0056'><span class='label'>[56]</span></a>
<p>The exact date of this gale was Nov. 3, 1759.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0057' id='Footnote_0057'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0057'><span class='label'>[57]</span></a>
<p>Just below the town plot of Fredericton.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0058' id='Footnote_0058'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0058'><span class='label'>[58]</span></a>
<p>John Quinton says he heard this story many times from his grandmother&rsquo;s lips.
She was a woman of remarkable memory and lived until the year 1835. It would seem
very improbable she could be mistaken as to the date of such an event.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0059' id='Footnote_0059'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0059'><span class='label'>[59]</span></a>
<p>Samuel Tilley and Lodewick Fisher were the progenitors respectively of Sir Leonard
Tilley and Hon. Charles Fisher, the one came from Long Island, N. Y., the other
from New Jersey. It is curious they should have settled on adjoining lots in view of the
intimate relations of their distinguished grandsons in the battle for responsible government.
The other names given above are those of officers in Lt.-Col. Van Buskirk&rsquo;s battalion of
the New Jersey Volunteers who were of Dutch descent.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0060' id='Footnote_0060'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0060'><span class='label'>[60]</span></a>
<p>See previous chapters, pp. 63, 110.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0061' id='Footnote_0061'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0061'><span class='label'>[61]</span></a>
<p>Several of these books are now in my possession.&mdash;W.&nbsp;O.&nbsp;R.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0062' id='Footnote_0062'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0062'><span class='label'>[62]</span></a>
<p>John Anderson was one of the first magistrates of the original county of Sunbury,
appointed Aug. 17, 1765. He had a trading post, which he called &ldquo;Moncton,&rdquo; just above
the Nashwaak on the site of the modern village of Gibson. The deed referred to above is
one of the earliest on record in the province.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0063' id='Footnote_0063'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0063'><span class='label'>[63]</span></a>
<p>He means that intercourse with the shore was cut off in consequence of floating ice
but that his neighbors had seem the misfortune and, realizing the need of prompt action,
of their own good will met together and began to prepare the frame and materials for
a new dwelling.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0064' id='Footnote_0064'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0064'><span class='label'>[64]</span></a>
<p>The Rev. Seth Noble was grandfather of the Rev. Joseph Noble who at this date
(1904), is the oldest Free Baptist minister in the Province. For this information I am
indebted to H. G. Noble of Woodstock, N. B.&mdash;W.O.R.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0065' id='Footnote_0065'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0065'><span class='label'>[65]</span></a>
<p>The lot here referred to was No. 60 in Upper Maugerville, now owned by Alexander
and Walter Smith. Rev. Seth Noble was a warm sympathizer with the revolutionary party
in America and in consequence was obliged to leave the River St. John in 1777. His wife
remained at Maugerville for more than two years afterwards.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0066' id='Footnote_0066'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0066'><span class='label'>[66]</span></a>
<p>The concluding part of Capt. Peabody&rsquo;s will is of interest in connection with the
above:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Item, I give to my daughter Elizabeth White thirty dollars to be paid by my two
eldest sons in household goods.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Item, to my daughter Hannah Simonds five dollars to be paid by my two eldest sons.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Item, to my daughter Hephzibeth I give three hundred dollars to be paid by my two
eldest sons in household goods on the day of her marriage.</p>
<p>As to my household goods and furniture I leave to the discretion of my loving wife to
dispose of, excepting my sword, which I give to my son Samuel. I appoint my dear wife
and my son Samuel executors of this my last Will and Testament.</p>
<p class='ralign'>As witness my hand,<span class='rindent10'>&nbsp;</span><br />
FRANCIS PEABODY, Sr.<span class='rindent4'>&nbsp;</span></p>
<table summary=''>
<tr style='vertical-align:top;'>
    <td style='text-align:center; padding-right:4em;'>
        Delivered this 26th day of October<br />
        the year of our Lord 1771,<br />
        In presence of us
    </td>
    <td>ISRAEL KINNEY,<br />
        ALEXANDER TAPLEY,<br />
        PHINEHAS NEVERS.
    </td>
</tr></table>
<p>BENJAMIN ATHERTON, Registrar.</p>
<p>This Will was proved, approved, and registered this 25th day of June, 1773.</p>
<p class='ralign'>JAMES SIMONDS,<span class='rindent8'>&nbsp;</span><br />
Judge of Probate.<span class='rindent4'>&nbsp;</span></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0067' id='Footnote_0067'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0067'><span class='label'>[67]</span></a>
<p>Col. John Allan, of Machias, had a conference with the Indians at Aukpaque in
June, 1777, and writes in his journal: &ldquo;The Chiefs made a grand appearance, particularly
Ambrose St. Aubin, who was dressed in a blue Persian silk waistcoat four inches
deep, and scarlet knee breeches: also gold laced hat with white cockade.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0068' id='Footnote_0068'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0068'><span class='label'>[68]</span></a>
<p>Flour pr. bbl., &Acirc;&pound;2 2 6; Indian corn pr. bushel, 5 shillings; potatoes do., 2s. 6d.;
apples do., 2s. 6d.; butter pr. lb., 9d.; cheese pr. lb., 6d.; chocolate pr. lb., 1s.; tea
per lb., 7s.; coffee per lb., 1s. 3d.; pepper pr. lb., 3s.; brown sugar 7d., per lb.; loaf
sugar, 1s. 2d. per lb.; raisins, 9s. per lb.; tobacco, 7d. per lb.; salt, 10d. per peck; molasses,
2s. 6d. per gallon; New England rum, 1s. 6d. per quart; West India do., 2s. 6d.
per quart; beef, 4d. per lb.; pork, 6d. per lb.; veal, 3&frac12;d. per lb.; cider, 12s. to 18s.
pr. bbl.</p>
<p>Boots, 20s.; men&rsquo;s shoes, 6s.; women&rsquo;s do., 5s.; men&rsquo;s pumps, 8s.; mittens, 1s. 6d.
hose, 4s.; beaver hat, 20s.; black silk handkerchief, 6s. 9d.; check handkerchief, 2s. 6d.;.
broadcloth, 10s pr. yd.; red stroud, 8s. per yd.; scarlet German serge, 8s. per yd.;
scarlet shalloon, 3s. 9d. per yd.; English duck, 1s. 9d. pr. yd.; white blanket, 13s. 3d.;
1 oz. thread, 6d.; 1 doz. jacket buttons, 7&frac12;d.; pins, 1 M., 9d.</p>
<p>Axe, 6s. 3d.; knife, 1s.; board nails. 1s. 2d. per C.; ten penny nails, 50 for 8d.;
double tens, 1s. 7d. per C.; shingle nails, 6d. per C.; 1 pane glass (7 by 9), 6d.; pewter
porringer, 1s. 8d.; looking glass, 16s.; steel trap, 15s.; powder, 2s. 6d. per lb.; shot, 5d.
per lb.; buckshot, 1s. 3d. per lb.; 6 flints, 6d.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0069' id='Footnote_0069'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0069'><span class='label'>[69]</span></a>
<p>New Brunswick Magazine of October, 1898, p. 190.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0070' id='Footnote_0070'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0070'><span class='label'>[70]</span></a>
<p>The contract was drawn with much care and has been preserved in the Collections
of the N. B. Historical Society, Vol. I., p. 187.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0071' id='Footnote_0071'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0071'><span class='label'>[71]</span></a>
<p>The ferry between Fredericton and the Nashwaak was called in early times Monkton
ferry.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0072' id='Footnote_0072'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0072'><span class='label'>[72]</span></a>
<p>&ldquo;The sloop Bachellor is now ready to sail; the contents of cargo 251 quintles Cod
and Pollock of her crew&rsquo;s catching, 30 do. of Hunt&rsquo;s. The great sloop arrived ten days
ago; has made but an ordinary fare, said to be 300 quintles. Will sail with dry fish
in about a fortnight. * * Pollock will sell best in the country, pray sell as many
that sort as is possible.&rdquo; [Letter of James Simonds written from &ldquo;Passamaquada,&rdquo;
18th August, 1764.]</p>
<p>&ldquo;Leavitt in the Polly has just arrived from Annapolis; he says he has lost a fare
of fish for want of sufficient length of cable to ride at anchor, and that he must have
one by the middle of August or he shall lose one or two fares more at Grand Manan.&rdquo;
[Letter of James Simonds of 22nd June, 1768]</p>
<p>&ldquo;We have put Lovitt in skipper of the schooner Polly and have given Stickney the
schooner Eunice. We have sent down four fishermen for the whale boats. (Mr. Marble
and three labourers.) * * Mr. Marble does not chuse to have any connection with
the delivery of stores [rum, etc.] to the men at Passamaquada, and indeed we think
with you that his discipline is too moderate for such a sett of men as fishermen for the
most part are.&rdquo; [Letter of Hazen &amp; Jarvis of 5th April, 1766.]</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0073' id='Footnote_0073'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0073'><span class='label'>[73]</span></a>
<p>The last of the conditions above quoted was a somewhat variable one, and is
sometimes found in this form, &ldquo;The grantees shall settle one-fourth part within one
year, in the proportion of one family of Protestants (to consist at least of four persons)
to every thousand acres, one-fourth part within two years, another fourth part
within three years, and the remaining fourth part within four years, otherwise the
lands remaining unsettled to revert to the crown.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0074' id='Footnote_0074'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0074'><span class='label'>[74]</span></a>
<p>It was after the same English secretary of state that the city of Halifax was
named in 1749.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0075' id='Footnote_0075'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0075'><span class='label'>[75]</span></a>
<p>This word was designed to exclude the Acadians as settlers.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0076' id='Footnote_0076'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0076'><span class='label'>[76]</span></a>
<p>It was perhaps at the suggestion of William Hazen or James Simonds that in the
grant of the Township of Burton, of which they were grantees, there was included the
&ldquo;island in Passamaquody bay called Perkins Island,&rdquo; now known as Indian Island, where
the fishing station of Simonds &amp; White had been for several years established.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0077' id='Footnote_0077'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0077'><span class='label'>[77]</span></a>
<p>The date of this document is probably May, 1745. The Island Battery was one of the
most formidable defences in Louisburg.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0078' id='Footnote_0078'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0078'><span class='label'>[78]</span></a>
<p>Mispeck Point on the east and Negro Head on the west.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0079' id='Footnote_0079'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0079'><span class='label'>[79]</span></a>
<p>A few giant elms of the primeval forest are yet to be found on the bank of the St.
John. The author not long since examined the stump of a large elm that grew a few
miles below the town of Woodstock. It was four feet in diameter and the number of
concentric rings 325, so that it must have been a sapling in the days of Queen Elizabeth.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0080' id='Footnote_0080'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0080'><span class='label'>[80]</span></a>
<p>This grass still grows naturally on the St. John River intervals, and is known to the farmers
as &ldquo;blue-joint.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0081' id='Footnote_0081'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0081'><span class='label'>[81]</span></a>
<p>The reference is to the settlement made at Maugerville two or three years before, which at this
time seems to have been called the Township of Peabody, in honor of Captain Francis Peabody.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0082' id='Footnote_0082'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0082'><span class='label'>[82]</span></a>
<p>Probably Port Le Bear (or Hebert) near Shelburne on the southern coast of Nova
Scotia.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0083' id='Footnote_0083'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0083'><span class='label'>[83]</span></a>
<p>Captain Glasier seems to have been on excellent terms with Gov&rsquo;r Wilmot. On
1st March, 1755, he wrote to Capt. Fenton of Boston, &ldquo;I have received great civility
from all sorts of people here in Halifax. I have made your compliments to the Gov&rsquo;r
and he has desired his to you; poor D&mdash;&mdash;l has had the Gout all winter, which seems
to be the General Distemper in this place amongst people of Rank.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0084' id='Footnote_0084'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0084'><span class='label'>[84]</span></a>
<p>In another part of his letter Glasier says, &ldquo;Capt. Falconer, who is on the spot, is
desired to petition the Lords of Trade for this Island.&rdquo; Capt. Falconer intended to have
gone to the River St. John to assist in the management of affairs there, but this plan
was upset by his being ordered with his regiment to Ireland.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0085' id='Footnote_0085'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0085'><span class='label'>[85]</span></a>
<p>See page <a href='#page_208'>208</a>, ante.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0086' id='Footnote_0086'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0086'><span class='label'>[86]</span></a>
<p>Speaking of the fishery in St. John harbor, Captain Glasier writes, under date December
15, 1764, &ldquo;The Bass is ketcht in Weirs just under the Point below the Fort,&rdquo; that is
on the Carleton side of the harbor, and in the next sentence he goes on to identify this
point or neck of land with that adjoining Fort Frederick. &ldquo;The Cod Fish,&rdquo; he says,
&ldquo;strikes in here a month sooner than at Cape Sable shore &amp; goes off a month sooner;
you ketch the Fish a league within the mouth of the Harbour and quite up to the
Island [Navy Island] near the Point of Land I have asked for.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0087' id='Footnote_0087'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0087'><span class='label'>[87]</span></a>
<p>The second contract, or Articles of Partnership, entered into by William Hazen,
Leonard Jarvis, James Simonds and James White is printed in Collections of the N. B.
Hist. Soc., Vol. I. p. 191. It is entered also in the book of records of the old County
of Sunbury. The original document bears the following certificate, &ldquo;Registered by me
March 9th, 1782, Ja. Simonds, Dep&rsquo;y Reg&rsquo;r.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0088' id='Footnote_0088'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0088'><span class='label'>[88]</span></a>
<p>This letter has unfortunately been lost.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0089' id='Footnote_0089'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0089'><span class='label'>[89]</span></a>
<p>The following inscription on the monument of Mrs. Sarah Hazen was written by
her grandson, the late Chief Justice Chipman:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='center'>Sacred to the Memory of<br />
MRS. SARAH HAZEN,</p>
<p>Widow of the Honorable William Hazen, Esquire; who was born in the Province of
Massachusetts-Bay on the 22d February, 1749; and died in the City of St. John on the
3rd April, 1823.</p>
<p>Exemplary for Christian piety and benevolence and the exercise of every female
virtue. She bears to her Grave the fond recollections of a numerous host of Descendants
and the esteem and respect of the community.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0090' id='Footnote_0090'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0090'><span class='label'>[90]</span></a>
<p>This statement is corroborated by Charles Morris, who writes in 1765, &ldquo;Aughpack
is about seven miles above St. Anns, and at this place was the Indian church and the
Residence of the French missionary; the church and other buildings about it are all
demolished by the Indians themselves.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0091' id='Footnote_0091'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0091'><span class='label'>[91]</span></a>
<p>This chapel bell was most unfortunately destroyed by fire when the chapel at
French Village was burned early in March, 1904. An illustration and some account
of the bell will be found in a previous chapters. See pages 75, 76 ante.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0092' id='Footnote_0092'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0092'><span class='label'>[92]</span></a>
<p>The members of the committee were Ebenezer Foster, Fyler Dibblee, James
White and Gervas Say. The first two were Loyalists,the others old English settlers.
Ebenezer Foster was one of the first members for Kings county in the House of Assembly.
Fyler Dibblee was an attorney-at-law and agent for settlement of the Loyalists.
James White and Gervas Say were justices of the peace in the old county of
Sunbury and have already been frequently mentioned.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0093' id='Footnote_0093'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0093'><span class='label'>[93]</span></a>
<p>One of the Abbe Bailly&rsquo;s registers is preserved at French Village in York county
and another, which seems a continuation of the first, is at Caraquet, Gloucester county.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0094' id='Footnote_0094'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0094'><span class='label'>[94]</span></a>
<p>This document is entitled &ldquo;Memoire sur les concessions que les sieurs d&rsquo;Amours
freres pretendent dans la Riviere St. Jean et Richibouctou.&rdquo; A copy is in the Legislative
Library at Fredericton.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0095' id='Footnote_0095'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0095'><span class='label'>[95]</span></a>
<p>See Murdoch&rsquo;s Hist. of Nova Scotia, Vol. I., p. 223.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0096' id='Footnote_0096'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0096'><span class='label'>[96]</span></a>
<p>Martel and Bellefontaine have been mentioned already. See page 57 ante.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0097' id='Footnote_0097'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0097'><span class='label'>[97]</span></a>
<p>See Chapter xiii., p. <a href='#page_135'>135</a></p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0098' id='Footnote_0098'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0098'><span class='label'>[98]</span></a>
<p>Major Studholme in 1783 states that John Kendrick was a good subject, an old
soldier and very deserving. He lived near Gagetown with his wife and five children. He
settled there about the year 1768.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0099' id='Footnote_0099'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0099'><span class='label'>[99]</span></a>
<p>Probably Canibas or Kennebec Indians.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0100' id='Footnote_0100'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0100'><span class='label'>[100]</span></a>
<p>See Hannay&rsquo;s article on the Maugerville Settlement, Collections of N. B. Hist. Soc.,
Vol. 1, p. 63.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0101' id='Footnote_0101'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0101'><span class='label'>[101]</span></a>
<p>Hugh Quinton is called Captain Quinton by the rebel Col. John Allan in his diary,
printed in Kidder&rsquo;s &ldquo;Military Operations in Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia during the
Revolution.&rdquo; The report of Major Studholme&rsquo;s exploration party in 1783 states that
&ldquo;Quinton was one of the Cumberland party, but since hath taken the Oath of Allegiance
to his Majesty and behaved in a loyal manner; turned out sundry times and fought the
rebel parties.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0102' id='Footnote_0102'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0102'><span class='label'>[102]</span></a>
<p>A pretty full account of the siege of Fort Cumberland will be found in the Canadian
Archives for 1894, pp. 355&ndash;366. Other particulars are to be found in Kidder&rsquo;s Military Operations in
Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia, pp. 67&ndash;74.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0103' id='Footnote_0103'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0103'><span class='label'>[103]</span></a>
<p>Commonly called Mahogany Cove, about three miles to the west of the harbor of
St. John.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0104' id='Footnote_0104'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0104'><span class='label'>[104]</span></a>
<p>That is Simonds house at Portland Point.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0105' id='Footnote_0105'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0105'><span class='label'>[105]</span></a>
<p>Some of the Indian pledges were valuable. Wm. Hazen says that among the articles
that escaped the notice of the privateers-men on this occasion were eight silver
arm clasps, two of which he afterwards sold for &Acirc;&pound;4.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0106' id='Footnote_0106'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0106'><span class='label'>[106]</span></a>
<p>The <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'memeory'">memory</ins> of Gilfred Studholme is preserved in Guilford (properly Gilfred) street
in Carleton. For some years Charlotte street in St. John was called Studholme street.
A parish of Kings County also bears his name.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0107' id='Footnote_0107'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0107'><span class='label'>[107]</span></a>
<p>This illustration is made from a water color sketch in the possession of Mrs. William
Hazen&mdash;the oldest known picture of Saint John. The sketch was taken from a
point about the site of the deBury residence south of St. Luke&rsquo;s Church. It dates
about the year 1818.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0108' id='Footnote_0108'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0108'><span class='label'>[108]</span></a>
<p>In Col. Franklin&rsquo;s memorandum of expenses incurred in negotiating the Indian
treaty the following item appears: &ldquo;To cash pd. to James White, Esq&rsquo;r, for services
among and with the Indians from the 2d. April, 1778, to the 20th October inclusive, part of
which time he ran great risques both of his life &amp; being carried off Prisoner, &Acirc;&pound;50.10.0.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0109' id='Footnote_0109'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0109'><span class='label'>[109]</span></a>
<p>Lorenso Sabine in his Loyalists of the American Revolution credits William Knox, of
Georgia, with proposing the formation of the eastern part of Maine into the Province of
&ldquo;New Ireland,&rdquo; with Thomas Oliver for governor and Daniel Leonard as chief-justice.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0110' id='Footnote_0110'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0110'><span class='label'>[110]</span></a>
<p>The receipt of these articles at the hands of James White was acknowledged at
Aukpaque, June 26, 1780, by Francis Xavier, and five other chiefs.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0111' id='Footnote_0111'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0111'><span class='label'>[111]</span></a>
<p>The requirements of the garrison insured a ready market for all the beef Hazen,
Simonds &amp; White and their tenants could furnish, indeed at times it was necessary to
send to the settlements up the river for a supply. When the garrison was first fixed
at Fort Howe, James White made a trip to Maugerville and purchased nine yoke of
oxen for their use from Asa Perley, Thomas Barker, Daniel Jewett, Henry Miller, John
Esty, Nathan Smith, David Dow, Peter Mooers and Richard Barlow. The agreement
in each case was similar to the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Maugerville, November 16, 1777.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I promise to deliver to Mr. James White, or his order, two oxen coming five years
old, when the ice is strong sufficient to bear them to drive to the mouth of this River,
said White paying me on delivery fifty-five dollars. Witness my hand&mdash;</p>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;ASA PERLEY.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0112' id='Footnote_0112'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0112'><span class='label'>[112]</span></a>
<p>Frederick Dibblee was a Loyalist, a graduate of Columbia College (N.Y.); afterwards
rector of Woodstock, N. B. He went to Medoctec as a lay missionary teacher to
the Indians under an arrangement with an English Society for the propagation of
the Gospel amongst the Indians. There were at Medoctec in 1788 about seventy Indian
families including 98 men, 74 women, 165 children; total, 337 souls.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0113' id='Footnote_0113'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0113'><span class='label'>[113]</span></a>
<p>The author is indebted for the above extract to the kindness of Mr. Ward.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0114' id='Footnote_0114'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0114'><span class='label'>[114]</span></a>
<p>Mon. Diereville states that in 1700 the man of war Avenant, of 44 guns, shipped at St.
John some very fine masts for the French navy, which had been manufactured by 14
carpenters and mast makers. These were safely delivered in France after a prosperous
voyage of 33 days.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0115' id='Footnote_0115'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0115'><span class='label'>[115]</span></a>
<p>Among the James White papers is the following:</p>
<p class='right'>&ldquo;Aupahag, 26th June, 1780.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Received from James White, Esq., agent to Indians, River St. John, the goods
sent them by the Governor for the purpose of protecting the Contractor, his people
and masts from the Rebels, etc., etc.</p>
<p>(Signed) Francis Xavier, Nichola Nepton, Francis Joseph, Andrew Fransway, Joseph
Pemahawitt, Pierre Meductsick.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0116' id='Footnote_0116'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0116'><span class='label'>[116]</span></a>
<p>John Wentworth was the last Royal Governor of New Hampshire. He was a classmate
and friend of John Adams, at Harvard. He was an active Loyalist, and at the
close of the Revolution, came to Nova Scotia. He was made a baronet and for sixteen
years filled the position of Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. He died at Halifax
in 1820 in the 84th year of his age.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0117' id='Footnote_0117'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0117'><span class='label'>[117]</span></a>
<p>This was probably the first suit of the kind in the Province of New Brunswick.
Elias Hardy was Davidson&rsquo;s attorney and Ward Chipman appeared on behalf of James
Simonds.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0118' id='Footnote_0118'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0118'><span class='label'>[118]</span></a>
<p>The document was dated at Maugerville the 15th October, 1781. The parties to the
agreement were on the one hand Francklin, Hazen &amp; White; and on the other hand
Francklin, Hazen, White &amp; Peabody. The second party were to deliver to the first at
Fort Howe &ldquo;by the first Freshes in the Spring&rdquo; the masts, yards, etc., mentioned in
the contract. One third of the profit or loss to be the said Samuel Peabody&rsquo;s and two-thirds
to be the said Michael Francklin, Wm. Hazen and James White&rsquo;s.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0119' id='Footnote_0119'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0119'><span class='label'>[119]</span></a>
<p>Thomas Langan lived at this time about four miles above St. Ann&rsquo;s Point. On his
lot there was a log house and he had about 20 acres of land, cleared chiefly by the
French. He lived there about six years but was disturbed by the Indians, who, about
this time, killed his cattle and made his situation so precarious that he moved down the
river with his family to Burton.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0120' id='Footnote_0120'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0120'><span class='label'>[120]</span></a>
<p>The townships of the St. John&rsquo;s River Society are here referred to, more particularly
Burton, Sunbury and New-town. Wm. Hazen, James Simonds and James White were
proprietors of lands in these townships, and Peabody regarded Wm. Davidson as an intruder.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0121' id='Footnote_0121'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0121'><span class='label'>[121]</span></a>
<p>The reference is to George Andrew, government purveyor, who surveyed the masts
furnished by Mr. Davidson&rsquo;s workmen.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0122' id='Footnote_0122'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0122'><span class='label'>[122]</span></a>
<p>My authority for this is Adam Beveridge, Esq., of Andover, than whom few, if
any, living men are better posted on the history of lumbering on the St. John river.&mdash;W.&nbsp;O.&nbsp;R.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0123' id='Footnote_0123'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0123'><span class='label'>[123]</span></a>
<p>Many facts of interest concerning the early days of Rowley are to be found in the
History of Rowley by Thomas Gage, printed in 1840. It contains a genealogical register
of the families of some of the first settlers of the town.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0124' id='Footnote_0124'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0124'><span class='label'>[124]</span></a>
<p>See names of grantees at page <a href='#page_159'>159</a> of this history.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0125' id='Footnote_0125'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0125'><span class='label'>[125]</span></a>
<p>Morrisania was in the Parish of Lincoln below Fredericton.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0126' id='Footnote_0126'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0126'><span class='label'>[126]</span></a>
<p>Nathan Frazier of Andover, Essex Co., Mass., merchant, on 15th October, 1767, delivered
sundry articles&mdash;such as crockery, sugar, spices, cloth goods, etc., to Richard
Peabody &ldquo;for his brother, Capt. Francis Peabody.&rdquo; The articles amounted in value to
&Acirc;&pound;311.18.1, old currency, and Richard Peabody gave his note for this amt.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0127' id='Footnote_0127'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0127'><span class='label'>[127]</span></a>
<p>See Dr. Hannay&rsquo;s sketch of the Township of Maugerville; N. B. Hist. Society Collections,
vol. I., p. 72.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0128' id='Footnote_0128'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0128'><span class='label'>[128]</span></a>
<p>See Page <a href='#page_234'>234</a> of this history.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0129' id='Footnote_0129'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0129'><span class='label'>[129]</span></a>
<p>Rev. Jacob Bailey writes regarding an epidemic of smallpox at Annapolis in 1794.
&ldquo;What is somewhat remarkable, numbers died under inoculation, while the old sexton
who took it in the natural way, though 98 years of age, recovered.&rdquo;</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0130' id='Footnote_0130'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0130'><span class='label'>[130]</span></a>
<p>See Jonas Howe&rsquo;s interesting account of &ldquo;Kemble Manor&rdquo; in the New Brunswick
Magazine of September, 1898.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0131' id='Footnote_0131'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0131'><span class='label'>[131]</span></a>
<p>Henry Gage served as lieutenant in the Seventh regiment during the Revolutionary
war, and on the death of his uncle, Viscount Gage, inherited the family titles and
estate in Sussex, England.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0132' id='Footnote_0132'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0132'><span class='label'>[132]</span></a>
<p>Stephen Kemble was born in 1740 at New Brunswick in New Jersey; was ensign
in the 44th regiment under Lord Howe at Ticonderoga in 1757. In 1765 he became captain
in the 60th or Royal American regiment, major in 1775 and Lieut.-Colonel in 1778.
He was for a while Deputy Adjutant General of the forces in America, a position filled
a little later by Major John Andre. Col. Kemble retired from active service in 1805.
He eventually returned to his native town of New Brunswick in New Jersey and died
in the house where he was born, Dec. 20, 1822, in the 82nd year of his age.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0133' id='Footnote_0133'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0133'><span class='label'>[133]</span></a>
<p>The names of the associates in this grant were Dorothy Sterling, Walter Sterling,
jr., Christopher Sterling, Ann Sterling, William Sterling, Andrew Sterling, John Ewer,
Walter Ewer and John Francis.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0134' id='Footnote_0134'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0134'><span class='label'>[134]</span></a>
<p>The two preachers were in all probability Rev. Theodore S. Harding and Rev.
Joseph Crandall. See Dr. Bill&rsquo;s History of the Baptists, page 698. The people referred
to as &ldquo;Brooksites&rdquo; by Sheriff Bates were the founders of the Baptist denomination
in Waterborough and Canning, Queens county, N. B., over whom Rev. Elijah Estabrooks
presided as teaching elder, with Joseph E. Brooks (or Estabrooks) as deacon,
and Zebulon Estey as clerk. An interesting account of the origin of this church is to
be found in Dr. Bill&rsquo;s Hist. of the Baptists pp. 594&ndash;602. Another reference to the
&ldquo;Hammonites&rdquo; and &ldquo;Brooksites&rdquo; will be found in the Winslow Papers, page 392.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0135' id='Footnote_0135'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0135'><span class='label'>[135]</span></a>
<p>That is the portage to Marble Cove, or Indiantown, above the falls. This portage
is shown in Champlain&rsquo;s plan of Saint John. It was used by the Indians long
before the coming of the whites.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0136' id='Footnote_0136'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0136'><span class='label'>[136]</span></a>
<p>Dr. Seabury was consecrated first Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United
States, November 14th, 1784.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0137' id='Footnote_0137'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0137'><span class='label'>[137]</span></a>
<p>Sampson Salter Blowers was appointed chief justice of Nova Scotia in 1809. He
died in 1842 in his 100th year having outlived all his contemporaries. He was a man
of wonderful vitality and is said never to have worn an overcoat.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0138' id='Footnote_0138'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0138'><span class='label'>[138]</span></a>
<p>Frederick Hauser, one of the agents, was a surveyor. A number of grants made
to the Loyalists were laid out by him.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0139' id='Footnote_0139'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0139'><span class='label'>[139]</span></a>
<p>See &ldquo;Kingston and the Loyalists of 1783,&rdquo; in which Walter Bates&rsquo; narrative is
edited, with notes by the author of this history; published at St. John by Barnes &amp;
Co. in 1889.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0140' id='Footnote_0140'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0140'><span class='label'>[140]</span></a>
<p>Amongst the documents at Halifax relating to the settlement of the Loyalists at
St. John is the following receipt:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>River St. John, 30 September, 1783.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Rec&rsquo;d from Gilfred Studholme, Esq. the sum of &Acirc;&pound;72.10.0 Halifax currency for
superintending his office for conducting the settlement of and issuing lumber to the
Loyalists within the district of St. John from the 9th May to 30th September, 1783,
both days included, at 10 shillings pr. day for which I have signed three receipts of the
same tenor and date.</p>
<p>SAM&rsquo;L DENNY STREET.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0141' id='Footnote_0141'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0141'><span class='label'>[141]</span></a>
<p>It is a question whether or not the passengers of this ship are included in Sir
Guy Carleton&rsquo;s return of the 17th July, which appears at p. 354.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0142' id='Footnote_0142'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0142'><span class='label'>[142]</span></a>
<p>Meaning the Loyalist regiments.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0143' id='Footnote_0143'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0143'><span class='label'>[143]</span></a>
<p>The names of the corps found in the margin of the original letter are, Queens
Rangers, Kings American Regiment, Detachment of Garrison Battalion, New York Volunteers,
1st De Lanceys, 2nd De Lanceys, Loyal American Regiment. 2nd Do., 3d Do.,
Prince of Wales American Regiment, Pennsylvania Loyalists, Maryland Loyalists, American
Legion, Guides and Pioneers, Detachment Kings American Dragoons, Detachment
North Carolina Volunteers.</p>
</div>
<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0144' id='Footnote_0144'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0144'><span class='label'>[144]</span></a>
<p>See &ldquo;Founders of Fredericton,&rdquo; p. 165, Dr. G. U. Hay&rsquo;s Canadian History Readings.</p>
</div>
</html>