Glimpses of the Past Part 18

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:--

To every field officer, 5,000 acres.

To every captain, 3,000 acres.

To every subaltern or staff officer, 2,000 acres.

To every non-commissioned officer, 200 acres.

To every private man, 50 acres.

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.

Pet.i.tions 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.

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,[50] John Sinclair, Hugh Debbeig,[51] Alex.

Baillie, Robert G. Bruce and J. F. W. DesBarres applied for another immense tract on behalf of themselves and 54 other officers.

[50] Capt. Alex. Hay is said to have saved the life of the Duke of c.u.mberland, during the rebellion of 1745.

[51] In Des Barres' splendid chart of St. John harbor, published according to act of parliament in 1780, the well-known Reed's Point is called "Point-Debbeig."

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 "provincial regiments." To those who had held commissions the inducements contained in Lawrence's proclamations were especially attractive.

Among the retired officers of the Ma.s.sachusetts 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 Peabody was somewhat older than the others; he had served with distinction in the late war, and is mentioned in Parkman's "Wolfe and Montcalm" [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.

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 circ.u.mstances under which he came to take up his residence at St.

John.

"In the years 1759 and 1760," he says, "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."

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 pa.s.sing, that this post was occupied for the first two years after it was rebuilt by Monckton, by the Ma.s.sachusetts 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.

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 ill.u.s.tration. 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 sh.o.r.es of "Men-ah-quesk," 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 "the worst of lands, if bogs, mora.s.ses and rocks may be called lands."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAN OF THE HARBOUR OF ST. JOHN IN NOVA SCOTIA, Surveyed & Sounded in September 1761 BY R.G. BRUCE ENGR. Scale 300 yds to an inch]

The circ.u.mstances 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.

James Simonds was born in Haverhill, Ma.s.sachusetts, 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 quant.i.ties 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 quant.i.ty of wild hay. It was their intention immediately to begin stock raising, but they were disappointed in obtaining a vessel to bring from Ma.s.sachusetts 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[52] but it had the honor of being the first home of an English speaking family on the St. John river.

[52] When the affairs of Hazen, Simonds and White were wound up some twenty-five years later the house was valued at 40.

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--even after the downfall of Quebec--was to "their old father the King of France."

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 a.s.sociates from being very precarious, when the att.i.tude 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.

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 Ess.e.x in Ma.s.sachusetts. An advertis.e.m.e.nt appeared in the "Boston Gazette and News-Letter" of September 20, 1762, notifying all of the signers under Captain Francis Peabody for a township at St. John'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'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 advertis.e.m.e.nt continues: "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."

The agent chosen at this meeting was Captain Francis Peabody.[53]

[53] Beamish Murdoch in his History of Nova Scotia, Vol. II, p. 428, refers to the settlement made at this time at Maugerville and observes, "A Mr. Peabody was the princ.i.p.al inhabitant and agent for the English settlers."

According to the late Moses H. Perley, whose well known and popular lectures on New Brunswick history were delivered at the Mechanics Inst.i.tute in 1841, the government of Ma.s.sachusetts sent a small party to explore the country east of Machias in 1761. "The leader of that party," says Mr. Perley, "was Israel Perley, my grandfather, who was accompanied by 12 men in the pay of Ma.s.sachusetts. 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."

The result of this report is seen in the organization of a company of would be settlers shortly afterwards.

There is in the possession of the Perley family at Fredericton an old doc.u.ment that contains a brief account of the subsequent proceedings:--

"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'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'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'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--viz., 'You shall reserve four Lots in the Township for Publick use, one as a Glebe for the Church of England, one for the Dissenting Protestants, one for the maintenance of a School, and one for the first settled minister in the place.'

"These orders were strictly comply'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 Pet.i.tion or memorial to the Lords of Trade and Plantations."...

In this memorial were set forth the services that Captain Peabody and his a.s.sociates 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,[54] 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:

"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'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'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 quant.i.ty of land be allotted for the maintenance of a minister and school-master and also one town lot to each of them in perpetuity."

[54] 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.

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 grat.i.tude to their patron the settlers gave to their township the name of "Maugerville."

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 a.s.sisted, receiving the sum of 40 for his services.

The first published account of the founding of the Maugerville settlement is that of Peter Fisher,[55] printed by Chubb & Sears at St. John in 1825, and a very readable account it is as the extracts that follow will show.

[55] 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Signature Peter Fisher]

Under the t.i.tle "A narrative of the proceedings of the first settlers at the River St. John, under the authority of the Government of Nova Scotia," Mr. Fisher tells us that "In the year 1761, a number of persons from the County of Ess.e.x, province of Ma.s.sachusetts, presented a pet.i.tion 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. * *

"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 mult.i.tude of fallen trees that had been torn up by the roots in a violent gale of wind nearly four years previous.[56] The same gale extended as far up the river as the Oromocto, and most of the country below that place was equally inc.u.mbered with the fallen trees.

[56] The exact date of this gale was Nov. 3, 1759.

"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 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[57] were supposed not to exceed one hundred acres, most of which had been very roughly cleared.