History of the Loyalists: Some of the Early Settlers in New Brunswick

Year
1893
Month
1
Day
11
Article Title
History of the Loyalists: Some of the Early Settlers in New Brunswick
Author
James Hannay
Page Number
1
Article Type
Language
Article Contents
HISTORY OF THE LOYALISTS SOME OF THE EARLY SETTLERS IN NEW BRUNSWICK. Capt. Peabody's Party Make Their Homes at Maugerville and Gagetown -Excessive Land Grants—Other New Brunswick Settlers. BY JAMES HANNAY. CHAPTER III.—[CONTINUED.] As soon as the house of Mr. Simonds at Portland Point was completed the party proceeded up river as far as St. Anne’s Point, the name then given to the piece of territory upon which Fredericton now stands. There the men from New England viewed the old clearings of the former French inhabitants and the ruins of their dwellings. They there met the Indians, whose residence was at Aukpaque six miles above, and finding that they objected to them making surveys at St. Anne’s, went further down the river and surveyed a township which afterwards received the home of Maugerville from Joshua Mauger, a merchant who had been agent for Nova Scotia in England. In 1763 Capt. Peabody brought a considerable number of settlers to the St. John, some of whom settled at Maugerville and others at Gagetown. More settlers arrived in the following year and at the close of 1764 it was estimated that the settlement numbered 400 persons. The census taken in 1767 shows that the population of Maugerville was, then 261. These people were all Protestants and most of them belonged to the congregationalist churches of New England. All were American born with the exception of six English, 10 Irish, four Scotch and six Germans. Some were from Connecticut, but the majority were natives of Massachusetts and a considerable number cams from Rowley and other towns of Essex county. The majority were poor when they arrived but the richness of the soil on which they had settled soon placed them in a position of comparative independence. The settlements grew and extended and in 1769 when Revd. Mr. Wood, a Church of England missionary, visited the St, John he found three townships, viz: Gagetown, Burton and Maugerville established, the whole being embraced within the county of Sunbury, which was created in 1765. OTHER NEW BRUNSWICK SETTLEMENTS. As early as 1763, a few settlers from New England, most of whom were attracted there by the fisheries, established themselves among the Islands of Passamaquoddy bay. In 1764 Mr. William Davidson migrated from Scotland to the Miramichi and afterwards obtained an extensive grant of land on the southwest branch of that river. In company with another Scotchman named Cort, he carried on an extensive fishing business and a profitable trade with the Indians. A year later the territory now known as Hillsborough in the county of Albert was settled by a number of Germans from Pennsylvania who had become dissatisfied with that province in consequence of the terrible Indian war which raged on its borders after the rising of Pontiac. It will thus be seen that in the course of five years after the conquest of Canada a number of thriving English settlements had been founded in this province, and that they extended over a very wide range of territory. All these settlements may be said to have been the result of the impulse given to colonization by Governor Lawrence for although that able and resolute administrator died in the latter part of 1760, the policy which he had established survived him and was carried out by his successors. He dashed to see the vacant lands of Nova Scotia colonized by people from New England, well knowing that their experience of frontier life and readiness of resource in emergencies made them of all men the most fit to settle a new country. The Lords of Trade, on the other hand, wished to settle Nova Scotia with disbanded soldiers, a course against which Lawrence protested most strenuously, pointing out that their training and mode of life rendered them averse to settled habits of industry and almost useless as settlers in a wilderness country. In this oonnexion he made the remarkable statement that every soldier who had come into the province since the establishment of Halifax had either quitted it or become a dramseller. There was no answering such a practical argument as this and Lawrence was permitted to pursue his own course. At the same time the lords of trade were of opinion that the New England colonies were not so densely peopled that they could spare any considerable number of inhabitants for the settlement of Nova Scotia. They therefore deemed it advisable to encourage emigration from Ireland, Scotland and England, and in pursuance of this policy a considerable number of persons came to the province from the British Islands, nearly all of whom settled in various parts of the peninsula. It was well that this was the case, for the time was not distant when loyal men would be needed in Nova Scotia. EXCESSIVE LAND GRANTS. At this period lands were granted in Nova Scotia in a very reckless fashion. In addition to the provision which was made for disabled officers and soldiers who had served during the war, lands were given away in enormous blocks to almost anyone who chose to ask for them. The officials connected with the government at Halifax were peculiarly favored in this respect and did not fail to take advantage of their opportunities. The governor, Col. Montague Wilmot, who succeeded Mr. Belcher in 1763, was exceedingly liberal in respect to grants of land, and did not forget himself and his family in the distribution of territory. Dr. Benjamin Franklin and other prominent men in the older colonies were interested in many of the land grants made under Governor Wilmot’s authority, and enormous tracts of territory were looked up at the instance of speculators under pretense of reserving them for associations of actual settlers. One great favorite of the governor, named Alexander McNutt, and his associates had at one time more than a million and a half of acres thus reserved of which eleven hundred thousand acres were on the St. John. Fortunately the authorities awoke in time to the enormity of these proceedings and most of the huge land grants of Wilmot’s time were escheated to the crown for non-compliance with the conditions on which they had been given. Still the fact that these lands were looked up at the time, did some mischief and retarded settlement, although in some instances squatters settled upon them without leave and continued to hold them even after they had been escheated to the crown. THE BEGINNINGS OF ST. JOHN. Messrs. Simonds and White, whose residence was at the mouth of the St. John, were engaged in the fisheries and fur trade, and employed a number of men in these occupations. They obtained in 1765, in connexion with William Hazen, an extensive grant of land In the rear of the peninsula upon which St. John now stands, and thus succeeded in obtaining possession of a large part of the site of the Town of Portland and part of the Parish of Simonds. They made several attempts to obtain a grant of the site of St. John, but, fortunately, without success. The possession of so much land close to the city by a few individuals who were thus enriched by the industry of others without labor or forethought proved a very great evil and it would have been intolerable had the whole territory which they coveted fallen into their hands. Messrs. Simonds and White at Portland Point were in partnership with Messrs. Hazen and Jarvis of Newburyport, Mass., who sent forward supplies and received in return the fish, furs and lime produced here. They had a tide mill at Portland bridge and sawed a little lumber; but the business they did for a number of years was by no means extensive, nor was it very profitable until the growth of the settlements up the river enabled them to become general traders. All this can be gathered from the correspondence which passed between the firm at St. John and the partners at Newburyport; for sometimes even food became scarce. A small and isolated community, they depended for their communications with the civilized world on one or two little craft of 10 or 16 tons burthen which sailed pretty regularly between St. John and Newburyport in the summer and made occasional trips in the winter. [To be continued.]