Glimpses of the Past Part 42

The origin of the famous "Wood-boats" of the St. John river is revealed in the correspondence of Hazen and White. Previous to the arrival of the Loyalists all the vessels used on the river were either small schooners and sloops or gondolos; but in November, 1783, Hazen and White determined to build two schooners or boats to bring wood to market to carry about eight cords. These little vessels they state were to be managed by two men and were not decked.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

PIONEERS ON THE ST. JOHN RIVER IN PRE-LOYALIST DAYS.

Considerable information has already been given in the preceding chapters of this history concerning the first English settlers on the River St. John, and the names of such men as Francis Peabody, Israel Perley, James Simonds, James White, William Hazen, Jonathan and Daniel Leavitt, Beamsley P. and Benjamin Glasier, Benjamin Atherton, William Davidson, Gilfred Studholme and others will be familiar to the majority of our readers. Some further information concerning the early settlers may prove of equal interest.

BECKWITH.

Nehemiah Beckwith was an active and well known man on the St. John river in his day and generation. He was a descendant of Mathew Beckwith, who came to America from Yorkshire, England, in 1635. The branch of the family to which Nehemiah Beckwith belonged lived chiefly at Lyme in Connecticut. Two brothers, Samuel and John, emigrated from that place to Nova Scotia in 1760, in consequence of the inducements offered by Governor Lawrence to New Englanders to occupy the lands vacated by the Acadians. A fleet of 22 vessels from Connecticut, carrying a considerable colony, entered Minas Basin on the 4th day of June, and the settlers landed near the town plot of Cornwallis.

Nehemiah Beckwith was born at Lyme, February 29, 1756, and was the seventh, and youngest, child of Samuel Beckwith by his wife Miriam, who was a daughter of Capt. Reynold Marvin. At the time of his arrival in "bluenose land" he was little more than four years old. The exact date of his arrival at Maugerville is uncertain, but it was probably not long before the 16th December, 1780, when--as we learn from old Sunbury County records--he purchased half of lot No. 78 in Upper Maugerville from Joseph Dunphy for 100. Nehemiah Beckwith is described in the deed of conveyance as "late of Cornwallis but now of Maugerville, Trader." Mr. Beckwith was quite an enterprising man in the early days of New Brunswick. He was the first to attempt the establishment of regular communication by water between St. John and Fredericton, and for that purpose built in August, 1784, a scow or tow-boat to ply between Parrtown and St. Anns. A little later he built at Mauger's (or Gilbert's) Island a ship called the Lord Sheffield, which he sold on the stocks in May, 1786, to Gen'l Benedict Arnold. In consequence of sharp practice on the part of Arnold he was financially ruined. However, in a few years he succeeded in extricating himself from his difficulties and again became an enterprising and useful citizen. At the first general election in this province Mr. Beckwith and James Simonds were candidates for the County of Sunbury, their opponents being Capt. Richard Vanderburg and William Hubbard. The election was conducted after the old fashioned style of open voting, and lasted several days, during which the poll was held in succession at the princ.i.p.al centres. After a sharp party contest between the old inhabitants and the loyalists, the former were outvoted and Simonds and Beckwith consequently defeated. This election helped to intensify the ill-will and jealousy already existing between the "old" and "new"

inhabitants. Mr. Beckwith married Miss Julia Le Brun and, after a time, made his residence at Fredericton, where he met his death by drowning in 1815. His son, the late Hon. John A. Beckwith, born in Fredericton, December 1st, 1800, filled many high offices. He was for a time mayor of Fredericton, chairman of the provincial Board of Agriculture, a director of the Quebec and New Brunswick railway and for many years agent of the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company. His son Harry Beckwith was for several years mayor of Fredericton; another son, Charles W. was for years city clerk, and a third, Adolphus G., filled for some time the position of chief engineer of the provincial public works department. A daughter married James Hazen of Oromocto, Sunbury County, and is the mother of J.

Douglas Hazen, M. P. P.

QUINTON.

Hugh Quinton, who was one of the pioneers who came to St. John in 1762 with Captain Francis Peabody, was born in Cheshire, New Hampshire, in 1741. Being of an adventurous spirit he served, while only a lad in his teens, in one of the provincial regiments at Crown Point in the French war. His wife, Elizabeth Christie of Londonderry, New Hampshire, was born in the same year as her husband. They were married at the age of twenty and came to St. John a year later. According to the late John Quinton (who was Hugh Quinton's grandson and derived much of his information directly from his grandmother's lips) Hugh and his wife Elizabeth arrived in St. John on the 28th August, 1762, and on their arrival found shelter at the Old Fort Frederick barracks in Carleton where, on the night of the day of their arrival, their first child James Quinton was born: to him therefore appertains the honor of being the first child of English speaking parents born at St. John.

Not long afterwards Hugh Quinton went up the river to Maugerville, of which township he was one of the first grantees. He is described in an old legal doc.u.ment as "Inn-holder," from which it is evident he furnished entertainment to travellers, or kept a "tavern." In those days the keeper of a tavern was usually quite an important personage.

Many of the first religious services at Maugerville were held at Hugh Quinton's house, as being centrally situated and more commodious than those of the majority of the settlers. He was himself a member of the Congregational Church. In 1774 he sold his lot of land opposite Middle Island, and removed to Manawagonish in the township of Conway where, as we learn from an enumeration of the settlers made 1st August, 1775, (yet preserved at Halifax) he lived with his family, comprising ten persons in all, in a small log house, his stock of domestic animals including 2 horses, 4 oxen and bulls, 5 cows, 6 young cattle, 13 sheep and 5 swine. In common with the majority of the settlers who came from New England, the sympathies of Hugh Quinton in the Revolutionary war were at first with the "rebels." He was one of the "rebel committee,"

formed at Maugerville in May, 1776, and accompanied Colonel Jonathan Eddy in his quixotic expedition against Fort c.u.mberland. After this unlucky escapade Hugh Quinton thought better of his conduct, took the oath of allegiance and on several occasions turned out and fought the rebel parties. At the peace in 1783 he drew a lot in Parrtown, at the corner of Charlotte and Princess streets, (where the residence of the late Dr. John Berryman now stands), also one in Carleton. For many years he kept a well known house of entertainment at Manawagonish, Parish of Lancaster. He died in 1792, but his widow lived until the year 1835. He was the ancestor of all of the name who are now resident in the province.

JONES.

John Jones, the ancestor of the late Hon. Thomas R. Jones and many others of the name in the province, claims a little notice at our hands. His grandfather came to America from Wales about the year 1700, accompanied by his family. They landed at Newburyport, settling, a little later, at Amesbury. This immigrant ancestor met a tragic death at the hands of the Indians. John Jones, who came to St. John, was the youngest of his father's children. He learned the ship-carpenter's trade, and came to St. John with William Hazen in 1775 as a master workman to build ships for the firm of Hazen, Simonds and White. The first vessel he was employed in constructing was on the stocks and partly planked when she was burned by a party of marauders from Machias. Mr. Jones' employers paid him his daily wages for some time, in order to retain his services, under the impression that the Revolutionary war would soon be ended and they would be able to resume the business of ship-building. During this waiting period Jones was not entirely idle--at least he found time to marry a New England girl, Mercy Hilderick by name, who was visiting at the home of her brother-in-law Samuel Peabody. The marriage ceremony was performed by Gervas Say, Esquire, a neighboring justice of the peace. The ravages of the Yankee privateers that infested the sh.o.r.es of the Bay of Fundy obliged Mr. Jones and nearly all his neighbors of the Township of Conway to move up the river. But previous to their departure there occurred John Allan's famous invasion of the St. John. Allan left a guard of sixty men at the mouth of the river to oppose the landing of the troops under Major Studholme and Col. Francklin. The British landed eventually at Manawagonish Cove near the house of Samuel Peabody and were guided by Messrs. Jones, Peabody and others through the woods to the place where the enemy were encamped on the west side of the river near the falls. The Americans were apprised of their coming and had ambushed themselves--some of them climbing into trees.

Major Studholme sent out flanking parties, which fired upon the enemy from either side, killing eight of their number, who were buried in one grave near the spot where they fell; the rest fled terror stricken with all possible speed to Machias. John Jones at first went up the river to Jemseg Point, which was then covered with white oak trees.

Later he became acquainted with Edmund Price and, concluding to become his neighbor, removed to the head of Long Reach and settled at the place called "Coy's Mistake" on Kemble Manor, where he had a property of 400 acres of land. It would be quite impossible in this chapter to follow the various ramifications of the Jones family, for John Jones had a family of eight sons and seven daughters, fourteen of whom married and reared large families. One of the sons, Samuel, born while the family were at Manawagonish, in the first years of the last century had the responsible duty of carrying his Majesty's weekly mail from St. John to Fredericton. There was, by the way, a curious circ.u.mstance connected with this mail, namely, that letters from Halifax to St. John were first carried to Fredericton, as the headquarters of the province, and then returned to St. John. This involved a delay of about a week in delivery. Naturally the beauties of such a system did not strike the citizens of the commercial metropolis at all favorably, and the consequence was a vigorous "kick"

on the part of the citizens of St. John that led ere long to a change for the better. The house of John Jones, at the head of Long Reach, was a favorite stopping place for travellers in early times, and the reputation of the family for hospitality was proverbial. The loyalist settlers at Kingston during the summer of 1783 met with much kindness from the Jones family while they were living in their canvas tents and busily engaged in the construction of log houses and in making preparations for the ensuing winter.

BURPEE.

The first of the Burpee family in America appears to have been Thomas Burpee, who settled at Rowley in the County of Ess.e.x, Ma.s.sachusetts.

This town lies near the north-east corner of the "Old Bay State." It was settled about 1639, and Thomas Burpee bought a lot there immediately after the first settlement was made. It was from this town and its vicinity that many of the first settlers of the township of Maugerville came in 1762-3. Included in the number were the Burpees, Barkers, Perleys, Jewetts, Palmers and others whose decendants are quite numerous in the province today. Rowley was a stronghold of New England puritanism and, if we are to credit the testimony of the Rev'd. Jacob Bailey, who was born there in 1731 and was a contemporary of Jonathan Burpee and of Jacob Barker, the citizens of Rowley were not remarkable for their enterprise. Mr. Bailey writes that in his day "every man planted as many acres of Indian corn, and sowed the same number with rye; he ploughed with as many oxen, hoed it as often, and gathered in his crop on the same day with his grandfather; he salted down the same quant.i.ty of beef and pork, wore the same kind of stockings, and at table sat and said grace with his wife and children around him, just as his predecessors had done before him." "An uniform method of thinking and acting prevailed, and nothing could be more criminal than for one person to be more learned, religious, or polite than another."[123]

[123] Many facts of interest concerning the early days of Rowley are to be found in the History of Rowley by Thomas Gage, printed in 1840. It contains a genealogical register of the families of some of the first settlers of the town.

Doubtless the emigration of the men of Ma.s.sachusetts, who settled on the River St. John, deprived New England of some of the more enterprising of its people. An indication of the Puritan ancestry of these immigrants who settled on the St. John river is furnished by the Biblical names of a very large majority of the original grantees of Maugerville.[124] Among these names we find the following:--Enoch, Moses, Joshua, Elisha, Samuel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Nehemiah, Jedediah, Isaac, Israel, Jacob, Joseph, Benjamin, Zebulun, David, Jonathan, Phinehas, Jabez, Nathaniel, Asa, Ammi, Thomas, Matthew, Stephen, Peter, James and John.

[124] See names of grantees at page 159 of this history.

In the town and parish records of Rowley the name of Thomas Burpee frequently appears--the surname usually in the form of Burkby or Burkbee. The name of Jonathan Burpee (who was probably a great grandson of the first ancestor in America) appears in the list of the first grantees at Maugerville. He was a deacon of the Congregational Church and his name is first in order among the signers of the Church covenant agreed to at Maugerville shortly after the settlement was founded. He was the head of nearly all Church movements up to the time of his death in June, 1781. The papers connected with the administration of his estate are still in existence, and much of the information contained in Dr. Hannay's valuable sketch of the Township of Maugerville is based upon them. His estate was appraised by Jacob Barker and Daniel Jewett, two of his old neighbors and life-long friends, and was valued at 525. He was considered, in his day, one of the well-to-do farmers of the township.

The simplicity of life which prevailed in this country in the year 1781, is shown by the fact that Jonathan Burpee had no carriage or wagon of any kind and no sleigh--probably the roads were too bad to admit of the use of wheeled vehicles. The deacon, however, had a saddle for himself and a pillion for his wife and daughters. Household furniture was indeed meagre, for that of Deacon Burpee was valued at only 5. 7. 8. But his three good feather beds with pillows, coverlets and bankets were valued at 16. 11. 3.

The cooking in those days was done at the old-fashioned fire place with swinging crane, and the cooking utensils were few and simple. All the dishes in use were of pewter and their number was quite limited. A similar remark applies to the wearing apparel of that time. A beaver hat or a broadcloth suit was regarded as a valuable a.s.set that might be handed on to the second or even to the third generation. Deacon Burpee's library included "a number of books valued at 2. 2. 6.," and probably it was as good as any in the settlement.

Commenting on these facts Dr. Hannay justly observes, "We may gather from all this that life was somewhat hard and dry in the Maugerville Settlement, and that even the richest had very few of those things about them which a modern man regards as essential to his comfort."

Jonathan Burpee's grandson, David, was a man of mark in the community in which his lot was cast. He filled for a time the office of Sheriff of the old County of Sunbury. To him also appertains the honor of being the first school teacher, of whom we have certain knowledge, within the limits of New Brunswick. In the winter of 1778-9 he conducted a school distant only a few rods from the site of the famous Sheffield Academy of later times.

Among the later descendants of Jonathan Burpee the names of the Hon.

Isaac Burpee, minister of Customs in the McKenzie government, and of E. R. Burpee manager of the "Western Extension" R. R., were not long ago as familiar in the province as household words. Descendants of Jonathan and Jeremiah Burpee are now to be found in nearly all the counties bordering on the River St. John.

PALMER.

The first of the name in America is believed to have been John Palmer, a sergeant in the British army, who settled in Rowley, Ma.s.s., in 1639.

Daniel Palmer who was one of the founders of Maugerville, settled in what is now Upper Sheffield in 1763. He was one of the seven signers of the Maugerville Church Covenant and an Elder of the church. Many of the early religious services were held at his house. His name in common with most of the early settlers is found in the account books of Simonds and White in the year 1765. He supplied them with musquash and beaver skins, hogshead staves, clapboards and oar rafters in return for such goods and supplies as he needed. Like the majority of his neighbors he was disposed to sympathize with the Americans at the outbreak of the Revolution and was one of the "Rebel Committee" but afterwards accepted the situation and took the oath of allegiance to the King. His grandson, David Palmer, born at Grand Lake, Queens Co., in 1789, was a man of literary ability, who in 1869, published a volume from the press of J. & A. McMillan, ent.i.tled New Brunswick and other Poems.

NEVERS.

Several persons of this name were grantees of Maugerville, including Elisha, Jabez, Phinehas and Samuel. The Nevers family settled at Woburn, Ma.s.sachusetts, nearly a century before the pioneers came to Maugerville. The first of the name was Richard Nevers (or Neverds) who is mentioned in the town records of Woburn, August 26, 1666. Several of his decendants served in the old French war, which ended with the conquest of Canada, and it is probable that the offer of free grants of lands to disbanded provincial troops led Elisha, Phinehas and Samuel Nevers to a.s.sociate themselves with Captain Francis Peabody in the application for a township, "at St. John's River in Nova Scotia,"

made in the year 1762. Elisha Nevers was one of the seven signers of the original Maugerville Church Covenant, and religious meetings were often held at his house in early times. Phinehas Nevers was quite a leading man in the early days of Maugerville. He was one of the first magistrates, and in 1768 was chosen a member for the county of Sunbury in the Nova Scotia legislature. He practised medicine and was the first doctor, in all probability, who lived on the river. The practise of medicine was by no means a lucrative one in his day, for we learn from the account books of Messrs. Simonds & White, that in February, 1773, he attended one of the men in their employ, having come down from Maugerville for the purpose, and received 1. 4. 0. for board for sixteen days and 2. for his professional services. Dr. Nevers was a strong sympathiser with the Americans at the time of the Revolution and when John Allan invaded the River St. John in 1777, he joined him, and when a little later Allan was compelled by Major Studholme to flee to Machias, he was accompanied thither by Phinehas Nevers. Other members of the family however took the oath of allegiance and were thenceforth loyal to the king. Samuel Nevers was a man of enterprise and was one of those who furnished masts to enable Francklin Hazen and White to fulfil their contract for the royal navy.

PERLEY.

The founder of the Perley family in New England was Allan Perley, who came from London in 1635 in the ship "Planter." A good deal of information regarding the family may be found in the historical collections of the Ess.e.x County Inst.i.tute of Ma.s.sachusetts. Israel Perley was a native of Boxford, in the vicinity of Rowley, and the house in which he was born was standing not many years ago and may be still in existence. He was born in 1740, was educated as a land surveyor, and came to the River St. John in 1761 at the head of an exploring party said to have been sent by the governor of Ma.s.sachusetts to report upon the condition and resources of the country with the view of effecting the settlement of a township in that region. The story of the establishment of this township and the important services of Israel Perley in that connection have been already referred to in these chapters. At the time of his arrival in the country he was a young man of twenty-one years of age but in the course of time his education and natural abilities made him one of the most prominent citizens of Maugerville. He was elected a representative for Sunbury county in the Nova Scotia legislature in 1768, and his name occurs a few years later as a justice of the Peace for the county. Several of Justice Perley's court doc.u.ments are to be found among the old records of the county of Sunbury, one of which reads as follows:

"County of Sunbury:--Be it Remembered that on the Seventh Day of July, 1774, Nathaniel Barker of Maugerville in the County of Sunbury and Province of Nova Scotia, yeoman, cometh before Me, Israel Perley, one of his Majesty's Justices a.s.signed to keep the Peace in the sd County, and Informeth against himself that he had been this day guilty of a breach of the King's Peace, viz., by Striking with his fist the body of Rich'd Estey Jun'r of the town, County and Province aforesaid, yeoman, for which offence he is willing to submit to such a fine as the Law Requires.

"The sd Richard Estey Jun'r personally appeareth at the same time and Declareth before me that he forgives the sd. Nathaniel Barker the Injury he had Done him, being Convinced that it was not of malice aforethought but the Effect of sudden pa.s.sion: for which Breach of peace I have fined the sd Nath'l Barker to the king one Shilling.

"ISRAEL PERLEY."

However all the cases that came before Esquire Perley were not settled in a manner so creditable to the offending party. The following case will serve for ill.u.s.tration:

On the 22 June, 1775, a resident of Morrisania,[125] who shall be nameless, was arrested on information laid by Richard Barlow for using seditious and profane language. Abigail Barlow, wife of the complainant, testified that the offender had in her presence uttered the following words "The king I believe is a d--d Roman, and if he was standing now in that corner by G-- I would shoot him, or stab him,"

with many other words to the same purpose. The prisoner was convicted of profane swearing, and the magistrate decreed that he should forfeit for that offence the sum of two shillings currency to the use of the poor of the town of Maugerville, and it was further ordered that the prisoner "stands charged with the Treasonable words spoken against the King till he shall be further called upon to answer the same--there being at present no gaol in the sd. county wherein to confine said prisoner nor Courts held to determine such matters."

[125] Morrisania was in the Parish of Lincoln below Fredericton.

Israel Perley was a leading member of the Congregational Church and frequently occupied the chair as moderator at important public meetings. He was one of the committee who, in 1774, arranged with the Rev. Seth n.o.ble to become the pastor of the church at Maugerville. The friendship that existed between Mr. Perley and the Rev. Seth n.o.ble very nearly involved the former in serious difficulty a few years later, as will be seen in the following letter addressed by Major Studholme to James White, Esquire.

"Fort Howe, 4 November, 1780.

"Sir,--The Inclosed letter from Mr. Perley to Seth n.o.ble of Newbury having fallen into my hands in the course of inspecting the letters to be sent by the cartel, I have thought it necessary instantly to secure the person of Mr. Perley and shall send him to your house about 9 this morning, when I must request you will closely examine him on the subject of the Inclosed letter. I cannot but think it will be very difficult for him to reconcile his styling himself the 'sincere friend' of a notorious rebel with his own situation as one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace. *

* * "I am sir, etc., etc.

"G. STUDHOLME."

In the examination that followed Lieut. Samuel Denny Street, a lawyer by profession and at this time a lieutenant of the garrison, appeared for Major Studholme, and Mr. Perley was required to explain certain paragraphs and expressions in his letter, also to explain why he attempted a correspondence with "a declared and notorious rebel to whom in his letter he subscribes himself a sincere friend." Mr. Perley replied, "I meant not to maintain any correspondence with him, but as his wife was going to him in the cartel I wrote the letter now produced to acquaint him of the broken situation of the church here, and that there would be no encouragement to him to think of returning."