Glimpses of the Past Part 21

It was not until the arrival of the Rev. Seth n.o.ble[64], in 1774, that the church had a resident pastor, but in the intervals religious services were held on the Lord'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.

[64] The Rev. Seth n.o.ble was grandfather of the Rev. Joseph n.o.ble who at this date (1904), is the oldest Free Baptist minister in the Province. For this information I am indebted to H. G.

n.o.ble of Woodstock, N. B.--W.O.R.

The records of the church, which are yet in existence, show that the promise, made by the signers of the original covenant, to maintain "Brotherly watchfulness toward each other," 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 "restored to their charity again." One of the two offending brethren, who had been charged with "scandalous sins,"

was elected a ruling elder of the church less than two years afterwards.

The year 1774, gave to Maugerville its first settled minister, the Rev. Seth n.o.ble, and the circ.u.mstances connected with his appointment are thus stated in the minutes of the clerk of the church, Daniel Palmer:

"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.

1ly Chose Jacob Barker Esqr. Moderator in Sd. meeting.

2ly Gave Mr. Seth n.o.ble a call to settle in the work of the ministry among us.

3ly to give Mr. Seth n.o.ble as a settlement providing he accept of the call, one hundred and twenty Pounds currency.

4ly Voted to give Mr. Seth n.o.ble 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.

5ly. Chose Esqrs., Jacob Barker, Phinehas Nevers, Israel Pearly, Deacon Jonathan Burpee and Messrs. Hugh Quinton, Daniel Palmer, Moses Coburn, Moses Pickard a Committee to treat with Seth n.o.ble.

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.

Met on the adjournment on Wednesday ye 29 of June 1774 and voted as an addition to the salary of Mr. Seth n.o.ble 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."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AT SHEFFIELD.]

The call having been accepted by Mr. n.o.ble, 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's book of accounts, under that date, there is a charge for work done by Messrs. Plummer and Bridges in "clapboarding one third of the east end of the meeting house." 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.

In the order of survey of the Township of Maugerville, made by the Government of Nova Scotia in 1761, were the words "You shall Reserve four Lots in the Township, 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."

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 "Dissenting Protestants." 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:--

"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--

Chose Mr. Daniel Jewett Chairman.

"2ndly. Voted that the meeting house be set on the public lot in Sheffield.

"3rdly. Voted to remove the meeting house in Maugerville to the public lot in Sheffield if the proprietor thereof consents thereto.

"4thly. Chose Messers. Nathan Smith, Silva.n.u.s Plumer, Eben Briggs, Elijah Dingee and Jacob Barker, Esq., managers to remove the same."

The meeting house was removed early in the spring, placed upon a stone foundation, a steeple erected, and many improvements made.

If the Rev. Seth n.o.ble 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 pa.s.s eventually to the Rev. John Beardsley, rector of the church of England congregation.

Some years after he left Maugerville Mr. n.o.ble wrote to his former congregation respecting this lot but they gave him rather a tart reply: "You was indeed told," said they, "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. n.o.ble's residence here she had the improvement of it which was worth about five pounds per annum."[65]

[65] The lot here referred to was No. 60 in Upper Maugerville, now owned by Alexander and Walter Smith. Rev. Seth n.o.ble 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.

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.

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 Wa.s.son, Jonathan Whipple and Samuel Whitney.

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 princ.i.p.ally beaver skins at five shillings (or one dollar) per pound. They also supplied martin, otter and musquash skin, the latter at 4-1/2 pence each. The lumber supplied included white oak barrel staves at 20 shillings per thousand, red oak hogshead starves at 20 shillings per thousand, "Oyl nut" (b.u.t.ternut) staves at 16 shillings per thousand, clapboards at 25 shillings and oar rafters at 2 per thousand feet. Considering the labor involved--for the manufacture was entirely by hand--prices seem small; but it must be borne in mind that 2s. 6d. was a day's pay for a man's labor at this time.

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 a.s.sembled 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, a.s.sisted 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, "The dispute with the Indians is all settled to the satisfaction of the government as well as the Indians."

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 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: "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." The chiefs accepted this offer and the Indians remained tranquil until the American Revolution some twelve years later.

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 "500 acres, including a church and burying ground at Aughpack, and four acres for a burying ground at St. Ann's Point, and the island called Indian Island." The well known Maliseet chief, Ambroise St.

Aubin, was one of the leading negotiators at Halifax as appears by the following pa.s.s furnished to him by Governor Wilmot:

"Permit the bearer, Ambroise St. Aubin, chief of the Indians of St. John's river, to return there without any hindrance or molestation; and all persons are required to give him all necessary and proper aid and a.s.sistance on his journey.

Given under my hand and seal at Halifax this 7th day of September, 1765.

M. WILMOT.

RICH'D BULKELEY, Secretary."

CHAPTER XVII.

AT PORTLAND POINT.

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 a.s.sault 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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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's clerk or a.s.sistant. Leonard Jarvis--afterwards Wm. Hazen's, business partner and so incidentally a member of the trading company at St. John--was not then eighteen years of age.

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 "Seebaskastagan") in the year 1762 and cut there a quant.i.ty of salt marsh hay and began to made improvements.

Mr. Simonds says in one of his letters: "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."

Early in 1763, James Simonds and William Hazen engaged in a small venture in the way of trade and fishing at St. John and Pa.s.samaquoddy.

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 example, was there in 1758, and Lemuel Cleveland in 1757, when he says "the French had a fort at Portland Point where Mr. Simonds' house was afterwards built."

The following is a copy of what is probably the first doc.u.ment extant in connection with the business of Hazen and Simonds:--

Pa.s.samaquada, 26th July, 1763.

Sir,--Please pay unto Mr. Ebenezer Eaton the sum of Five pounds one shilling & four pence Lawfull money, half cash & half Goods, and place the same to the acct. of,