Glimpses of the Past Part 24

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 & Jarvis with Simonds & 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 "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--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."

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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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:--

"Memorandum of an agreement made this day between William Tailer & Co., with James White, that we, the said Tailer & 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.

"William Tailer & Co.

"Test: Geo. Willmot.

"Crown Point, July 1st, 1762."

James White'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.

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 which he set foot on the sh.o.r.es 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.

Having now spoken of the individuals composing St. John'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.

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--the month selected at random--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 by half pints and gills to their laborers. On one occasion we find Mr. Simonds writing, "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."

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:

"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--the Indians and hogs had part of that little."

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 mola.s.ses or coffee, nor had they any tea except of the spruce variety.

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: "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 circ.u.mstances 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."

The first year of the Company'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'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, "There has not been in the memory of man such a winter as the last and we hope there never will be again." Mr. Simonds in his reply says "The winter has been much here as in New England."

In the same letter just referred to Mr. Jarvis says: "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 a.s.sured 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."

In reply to this Mr. Simonds writes, "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."

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 to Campobello, now known as Indian Island. And it may be observed in pa.s.sing that this was an island of many names. James Boyd, a Scotchman who lived there in 1763, called it Jeganagoose--evidently a form of Misignegoos, the name by which it is known to the Indians of Pa.s.samaquoddy. 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' notice.

The smaller vessels of the Company, such as the sloops "Bachelor" and "Peggy & Molly" and the schooners "Eunice" and "Polly," were for several years employed in fishing at Pa.s.samaquoddy from April to October. The masters of the vessels received 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 Pa.s.samaquoddy during the fishing season. From 1765 to 1770 Isaac Marble of Newburyport was their princ.i.p.al "sh.o.r.esman." 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 & Jarvis, James Simonds writes, "With respect to whaling, don't think the sort of whales that are in Pa.s.samaquada bay can be caught."

It was from Pa.s.samaquoddy that the first business letter extant of the company'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, "If you & Mr. Blodget think it will be best to carry on business largely at St. John's we must have another house with a cellar; the latter is now dug and stoned & will keep apples, potatoes & 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's shop. If the lime answers well we shall want 150 hogsheads with hoops and boards for heads; also boards for a house, some gla.s.s, etc., bricks for chimney and hinges for two doors. I think the business at St. John'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 ba.s.s 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't think it best to keep any men at Pa.s.samaquada [for the winter]."

It was the intention of Simonds & White to bring the hands employed at Pa.s.samaquoddy 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 & Hazen, "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 debts, as they expected us up the river and have not been here on that account.... I have not heard from Pa.s.samaquada 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."

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--a much easier way than carting in the summer. He says, "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."

The Company had some formidable rivals at Pa.s.samaquoddy for the next spring we find James Simonds telling Hazen & Jarvis, "There is such a number of traders at Pa.s.samaquoddy that I don'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 pa.s.sing 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."

Notwithstanding the favor shown them by the commandant of the garrison, Simonds & 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:--

"License is hereby granted to John Anderson to traffick with the Tribes of Indians on St. John'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."

Anderson selected as his location the site of Villebon'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 a.s.sistant. He called his place "Monkton," a name it retained for many years.[71] Early in 1768 Anderson had the misfortune to lose a vessel laden with goods for the India trade. James Simonds mentions this incident in a letter to Hazen & Jarvis and remarks: "We imagine the loss of Mr. Anderson's vessel will cause more trade to come to us than we should have had if she had gone safe."

[71] The ferry between Fredericton and the Nashwaak was called in early times Monkton ferry.

Captain Isaac Caton was granted a licence "to traffick with the Indians on Saint John's river and the Bay of Fundy," on Nov'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's Island.

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), "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 coa.r.s.e 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."

[Ill.u.s.tration: ICE-JAM ABOVE GOVERNMENT HOUSE, FREDERICTON, MARCH, 1902.]

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's Point has been noted from time immemorial. See ill.u.s.tration on preceding page of a recent ice-jam at this place.

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 t.i.tle of Atherton & 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.

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 quant.i.ties 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 & White shipped to Boston 4,000 barrels of gasperaux valued at about $12,000. They also shipped quant.i.ties of ba.s.s, 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: "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's time who would drink so to excess as not to be able to do anything."

In the Champlain'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'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 & Jarvis writes:

"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'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'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."

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: "I have been with the King'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's three dollars or more pr. hogshead."

Several coopers were sent from Newburyport by Hazen & 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 cla.s.s 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'

letters in which he says: "Our help mostly failed us last fall, and the hay season was the wettest that was ever known, which prevented our having a sufficient quant.i.ty of lime-stone dug and wood cut to employ the teams to good advantage. * * Old Abbot (the cooper) did not do one day'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."

The lime manufactured was shipped to Halifax, Boston and the West Indies, and on one occasion a cargo was sent to Newfoundland.

There is in possession of the Hazen family an inventory of the property 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's business and the condition of their trading post at Portland Point at this time. The inventory is as follows:

LIST OF COMPANY EFFECTS AT ST. JOHN.

Dwelling House 19 by 35, part finished 90. 0.0 1 Building 16 by 40, Rough boarded, improved for Cooper's Shop & Kitchen 15. 0.0 1 Log Store 20 by 30, without floor 20. 0.0 1 Barn 24 by 35 16. 6.0 1 Log house 14 by 18, occupied by Black 6.12.0 1 House 16 by 20, occupied by Bradley 7.10.0 1 Well 15 feet deep 1.10.0 1 Necessary House 1.10.0 1 Lime Kiln 14. 0.0 1 Gondalo 10. 0.0 1 Wherry 1. 0.0 2 Large Seines 14. 0.0 1 Cart 100s., 2 Sleds, 18s. 5.18.0 1 Drag 9s., 1 Harrow 15s. 1. 4.0 2 Iron bars 20s., 1 Crow-bar 10s 1.10.0 3 Stone Hammers @ 7s. 1. 1.0 4 Spades @ 6s. 8d., 3 Shovels @ 3s. 1.15.8 1 Broad Axe 12s., 6 Narrow Axes @ 6s. 2. 8.0 15 Old Axes @ 3s. 2. 5.0 Whipsaw 40s., 1 Cross cut do. 30s. 3.10.0 4 Augers 12s., 3 chisels 6s. 18.0 2 Iron Squares, 8s., 3 pitch forks 12s. 1. 0.0 7 Hoes @ 2s. 8d. 18.8 1 Set Cooper's Tools 2. 5.0 2 Nail hammers 3s., 1 plough 18s. 1. 1.0 2 Scythes @ 6s., 2 pick axes @ 5s. 1. 4.0 7 Chains 4.10.0 1 Beetle 1s. 6d., 2 Wedges 3s. 4.6 160 Hogsheads Lime stone at ye Kiln @ 5s. 4d. 42.13.4 50 Hogsheads at the Quarry dug @ 1s. 2.10.0 50 Cords wood at Kiln @ 3s. 6d. 8.15.0 80 Cords wood in ye Woods & 1s. 6d. 7. 6.8 Wire 60s., Spruce Logs at the Water 80s. 7. 0.0 84 Pine logs at the falls worth 22. 8.0 119 Pine logs scattered in ye River @ 3s. 17. 7.0 8 Oxen worth at St. John 60. 0.0 3 Cows 14. 8.0 1 Pair 3 year old steers 9. 0.0 1 Bull 54s., 1 do. 30s. 4. 4.0 6 Sheep @ 18s., 7 Hogs @ 16s. 11. 0.0 1 Burch Canoe 1. 0.0 2 Carpenter's adzes @ 7s., 2 drills @ 6s. 1. 0.0 4 Pairs Snow Shoes @ 7s. 6d. 1.10.0 2 Steel plated handsaws @ 8s. 16.0 1 Set mill irons 7. 0.0 2M Staves shaved and joined 4.16.0 ---------- 451. 4.10

There is also an inventory of the goods in the company's store at this time, which were valued at 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 a.s.sortment, yet the many deficiencies indicate the simplicity of living then in vogue.

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'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.

Dishes--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.

Cutlery, etc.--1-1/4 doz. case knives and forks, 1-1/2 doz. spoons, 1 large spoon, 6 silver tea spoons. Kitchen utensils--2 frying pans, 2 tea kettles, 1 chafing dish, 1 cullender, 4 iron pots, 1 bra.s.s 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.

The total value of household articles was but 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, "gentility is out of the question."

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: "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'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."