Glimpses of the Past Part 25

Doubtless the winter evenings were entirely at their disposal. There were no social engagements to fill, no societies to attend, no places of amus.e.m.e.nt 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'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--the latter then at Crown Point--Dec. 8, 1762: "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."

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 "winter port" 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 a.s.sociates, were smaller still, ranging from ten to eighty tons burden.

The qualities essential to successful navigation--pluck, enterprise and skill--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.

The following list of the vessels owned or chartered by Hazen, Simonds and White in their business at St. John, A. D. 1764-1774, is probably as complete as at this distance of time it can be made:

Names of Vessels and Masters.

Schooner Wilmot, William Story.

" Polly, Jon. Leavitt, Jas. Stickney, Henry Brookings.

" Eunice, James Stickney.

" Betsy, Jonathan Leavitt.

" Seaflower, Benjamin Batchelder, Jonathan Leavitt.

" Sunbury, Jonathan Leavitt, Daniel Leavitt.

" Ess.e.x; Isaac Marble.

Sloop Bachelor, William Story.

" Peggy & Molly, Henry Brookings " Merrimack, Jon. Leavitt, Samuel Perkins, Daniel Leavitt.

" St. John's Paquet, Richard Bartelott, Hen. Brookings, Joseph Jellings.

" Speedwell, Nathaniel Newman " Dolphin, Daniel Dow.

" Woodbridge, David Stickney.

" Sally, Nathaniel Newman.

" Deborah, Edward Atwood.

" Kingfisher, Jonathan Eaton.

Of the vessels enumerated the schooners Wilmot, Polly, Eunice and Betsy and the sloops Bachelor, Peggy & Molly, Merimack and St. John's Paquet were owned by the company.

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.

When the partnership was formed in 1764, the company owned the schooner Polly of 20 tons, the sloop Bachelor of 33 tons, and the sloop Peggy & Molly of 66 tons. The same year Isaac Johnson of Newburyport built for them the schooner Wilmot of 64 tons and James Simonds paid 180 as his share of her hull. Samuel Blodget purchased in Boston a quant.i.ty 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 & Molly. The company afterwards bought or built the schooners Eunice and Betsy and the sloops Merrimack and St. John's Paquet. The sloop Merrimack was a square sterned vessel of 80 tons, built at Newburyport in 1762. She was hired for the company's service in 1767 and purchased for them in 1771 by Hazen & Jarvis for 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's business were lost. The crew and pa.s.sengers were rescued and brought to St. John in a sloop of Captain Drinkwater'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's valuables and the rigging and stores of the Merrimack were saved.

The sloop St. John's Paquet was another vessel that had an unfortunate experience. She made occasional voyages from 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 "an unlucky vessel," 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 "a rank heel" got water amongst her lime, which set her on fire. The sloop and her cargo were sold in consequence for 300 where she lay. The vessel was afterwards hired by Hazen & Jarvis and again sent to St. John to load for the West Indies.

The Wilmot proved unfit for the company's business and on May 23, 1766. Hazen & Jarvis wrote their partners: "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." This hope was not realized, for the schooner lost her deckload of cattle in a storm and the voyage was unprofitable.

During the earlier years of the partnership the schooners Eunice and Polly, sloop Peggy & Molly and other small vessels were employed from April to October in fishing in the Bay of Fundy and at Pa.s.samaquoddy.

The correspondence of the company contains many references to this important branch of business, a few of which are to be found in the footnotes below.[72]

[72] "The sloop Bach.e.l.lor is now ready to sail; the contents of cargo 251 quintles Cod and Pollock of her crew's catching, 30 do. of Hunt'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." [Letter of James Simonds written from "Pa.s.samaquada," 18th August, 1764.]

"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." [Letter of James Simonds of 22nd June, 1768]

"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 Pa.s.samaquada, 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." [Letter of Hazen & Jarvis of 5th April, 1766.]

The company, finding the fishing at Pa.s.samaquoddy declining on account of the mult.i.tude of their rivals in that locality, determined to dispose of some of their smaller vessels, and Mr. Jarvis writes to Simonds & White, under date May 23, 1766: "If you think we would be likely to sell the "Peggy & Molly" 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."

Hazen and Jarvis sold one half of the Eunice for 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.

Of all the company'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 Pa.s.samaquoddy, at another trading with the Indians up the River St. John, at another transporting settlers and their effects from Ma.s.sachusetts to Maugerville, at another on a voyage to the West Indies.

Hazen & Jarvis for the accommodation of their trade had hired the Long Wharf at Newburyport and the stores on it at an annual rental of 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: "We had the schooner Polly drove on one of the wharfs from whence we had to launch her."

While returning from the West Indies in July, 1776, the Polly was taken by an American privateer sailed by one O'Brien and sent to Newburyport. She was claimed by William Hazen and after some little delay restored to her owners and 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.

The first vessel built and launched at St. John was the little schooner "Betsy," the construction of which was undertaken by Simonds & 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 t.i.tle of "the Liverpool of America." And we may note in pa.s.sing, that at the time of the turning of the first sod of the Intercolonial railway in 1853, employes from seventeen shipyards--1,090 men in all--marched in the procession and shipbuilding had not then attained its greatest development. It was an important industry indeed in its day.

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's old vessels. One Michael Hodge agreed to build the schooner for 23 1-3 shillings per ton. Adonijah Colby was his a.s.sistant. 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 200, and Mr. Simonds expressed his satisfaction at the price as better than he had expected.

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 "Menaguash," 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'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--probably at Pleasant Point.

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'

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.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE OLD COUNTY OF SUNBURY AND ITS TOWNSHIPS.

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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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.

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'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 "stamp act" was about coming into operation and those desirous of securing lands were pressing hard for their grants in order to avoid the stamp duties.

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 r.e.t.a.r.ded 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.

The land grants of this period were usually made under the following conditions:

First--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.

Second.--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.

Third.--To plant within ten years one rood of every thousand acres with hemp, and to keep up the same or a like quant.i.ty during the successive years.

Fourth.--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 stock and materials for improvement of the said lands within two years of date of grant.[73]

[73] The last of the conditions above quoted was a somewhat variable one, and is sometimes found in this form, "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."

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 c.u.mberland. 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[74] who was also Viscount Sunbury.