CHAPTER XX.
The St. John’s River Society.
Since the preceding chapters were printed the author chanced to discover some interesting manuscripts in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society which throw a good deal of light upon the history of the old townships on the River St. John. It is to be regretted that this discovery was not made a little sooner, but it is not too late to give the reader the benefit of it in a supplementary way.
The association that undertook the settlement of the townships of Conway, Gage, Burton, Sunbury and New-town has been referred to in these pages as “The Canada Company,” but its proper name was “The St. John’s River Society.” The original promoters of the gigantic land speculation—for such we must call it—set on foot at Montreal in 1764, were chiefly army officers serving in Canada, hence the name, “The Canada Company.” When, however, it was determined to enlarge the association by the addition of the names of gentlemen in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Halifax, and when the valley of the River St. John was selected as the place where the most desirable lands were to be had the Canada Company took a new name and was known as “The St. John’s River Society.”
The president of the society was Captain Thomas Falconer, who was at this time at Montreal with his regiment. The most active promoter of the society’s plans for several years, however, was Beamsley P. Glasier. This gentleman has already been frequently spoken of in connection with events on the St. John. He was a captain in the Royal American Regiment and afterwards attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He had previously served in the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, in which he was commissioned ensign early in February, 1745. The regiment rendered gallant service under Sir William Pepperrell at the taking of Louisburg, and we have abundant evidence of Glasier’s reputation as a brave determined leader in the following document, the original of which is to be found in the archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society:
“AGREEMENT. We whose names are underwritten have enlisted ourselves voluntarily to go on ye attack of the Island Battery at the mouth of the Harbor of Louisburgh provided Beamsley Glaizer is our Capt. on said attack and then wee shall be ready att Half am Hours warning[77]” [Signed by forty individuals.]
Captain Glasier served subsequently under Sir Wm. Johnson and Gen’l John Winslow.
The idea of securing large grants of land in Nova Scotia was taken up by officers of the Royal Americans, the 44th foot and other regiments at Montreal early in the year 1764. Among the promoters were Capt. Thos. Falconer, Capt. Beamsley Glasier, Capt. John Fenton, Rev. John Ogilvie, D. D., (chaplain of the Royal American 215 regt.), Major Thos. Moncrief, Capt. Daniel Claus, Capt. Samuel Holland, Brig. Gen’l. Ralph Burton, Lieut. Wm. Keough, Lieut. Richard Shorne and others.
Captain Glasier seems to have obtained am extended leave of absence from his military duties and for three years most of his time was spent in trying to settle the society’s townships. He sailed from Quebec on the 28th of August, 1764, and after exploring the southern coast of Nova Scotia and entering many of the harbors in order to get “the best information of the Goodness of Land, and Conveniency for carrying on the Fishery,” he at length reached Halifax on the 26th of October. The events subsequent to his arrival we shall let him describe in his own words.
“Upon my arrival I waited on the governor, and gave him my letters; he rec’d me with great politeness and ordered a meeting of Council the next day in order to consult where I should pitch upon a tract of land suitable for such a Grand Settlement, for it is looked upon as the most Respectable of any in the province, and I must say that everybody in authority seem’d to interest themselves in the thing and give me all the advice and assistance in their power. Many Places was talked of, but none was so universally approved as the River St. Johns. It was therefore the opinion of the Council, and all that wished well to the establishment, that I should go across the country to Pisiquid (Windsor), and take passage on board a Vessell that was going from thence with Provisions for the Garrison of Fort Frederick, which I accordingly did, and arrived the 18th of November. * *
“As soon as I arrived I procured a Boat and went up the River above the falls as far as where the good land begins to make its appearance; but an uncommon spell of cold weather had set in and frozen over the small rivers leading into the Main River. * *
“Besides what I saw, which answered exactly with the account I had of it before, I had the best information from the Indians and Inhabitants settled 40 miles up the River and the Engineer of the Fort, who had Just been up to take a plan of the River, so that I was not at a loss one moment to fix on that spot for the settlement.”
Capt. Glasier spent about four days in examining the river. It will be noticed he speaks of “an uncommon spell of cold weather;” nevertheless the river was open for a good distance. This goes to show that the winter season did not begin any earlier 140 years ago than it does today.
Judging by the account of his journey from Fort Frederick to Halifax Capt. Glasier was a good traveller. He says, “We breakfasted at the Fort, dined at Annapolis and walked from thence to Halifax 5 days 145 miles in company with a brother of Lord Byron, who made the tour with me to see the country.”
Beamsley Glasier would have made a good immigration agent, for he certainly describes the country in glowing colors, yet his description of the valley of the St. John is in the main quite accurate and it is exceedingly interesting to have a glimpse of that region in its pristine state.
“The entrance of St. John’s River,” he writes, “forms like a Bay between two points[78] about 3 leagues apart from thence it grows narrower gradually up to the Falls, which is 200 yards broad. The Falls, which has been such a Bugbare, is rather a narrow place in the River than Falls, for at half tide it is as smooth as 216 any other place in the River, the tide then just beginning to make and grows gradually stronger until high water, from that till two hours ebb a Vessell of 500 tons may go up or down. I know of very few Harbours in America that has not a barr or some other impediment at the entrance so as to wait for the tide longer than at St. Johns; here if you are obliged to wait you are in a good harbour out of all danger of bad weather.
“On each side the falls the rocks are high and so continue about four leagues, all Lime stone; then begins the finest Prospect in the world, the Land becomes flat, not a stone or pebble for 60 miles * * the banks something higher than it is a little way in; it runs level from six to twelve miles back and some places farther, such land as I cannot describe. The New England People [in Maugerville] have never plowed but harrowed in their grain, such Grain of all kinds, such Hemp, Flax, &c, as was never seen.”
Capt. Glasier’s description of the interval lands in their virgin state, untouched by the white man’s axe, is particularly interesting. It serves to explain why these lands were not over-run by forest fires and were considered so desirable by the early settlers.
“The trees,” he says, “are all extremely large and in general very tall and chiefly hard wood;[79] no Spruce, Pine, Firr, &c. Neither is there underwood of brush, you may drive a Cart and Oxen thro’ the trees. In short it looks like a Park as far as ever your eye can carry you. The pine trees fit for large masts are farther back and bordering on the small Rivers as I am told by the Indians. These fellows are the most intelligent people I ever saw; near 400 live about 60 miles up the River, and seem to be well pleased at our coming here, I saw all their Chiefs at the Fort. The land on the N. E. side the River has been overflowed sometimes, but it goes off immediately and leaves such a manure as you may imagine—tho’ it has not for several years past; the other side is higher, the lands not so good in general. When I said not so Good I would not be understood to mean that they are not good, for even those are as good as any I ever saw in America, with the same kind and quality of wood, but does not run back so far.
“I suppose we shall have the Proprietor’s Town on the west side, tho’ the New England People are all settled on the other side. The whole Country abounds with Game; there is likewise plenty of Moose weighing from 1000 to 1500 lbs. each, fatt and finer than beef, which you may kill every day. Wild fowl of all kinds, cocks, snipes, and partridges are so plenty that the Gentlemen who was with me swore that it was no sport, as we could shoot 3 or 4 at a shot. An Indian made me a present of a pair of horns of a small Moose as he called them, for he assured me that some was twice as heavey. These measured 5 feet and 2 inches and weighed 33½ lb., judge you the biggness of the owner.
“Upon the Interval land you have a long kind of Grass[80] which the Cattle in that country fatten themselves upon. I never in my life saw fatter beef than one I saw killed there, & the New England People vowed that the heiffers of the same breed that had a calf in Boston at 3 years old came in at 2 years at St. Johns, so much they improved in growth and Wantonness as they called it.
“Their Hoggs and Sheep they keep on the Islands, which are overflowed generally when the River brakes up which is commonly about the middle of April. This overflowing leaves these Islands so rich that the Hoggs grow fatt by eating 217 Ground nuts without any other food in summer (in our Grant we have some of these Islands) nor do they put up their Horses in the Winter, except those that work, tho’ you may cut any quantity of Grass. Can I say more of the Soil, Trees, situation, &c.? Be assured it is all True.”
“The fish is the next thing. This River abounds with all sorts of small fry, Trout, Salmon, Bass, Whitefish & Sturgeon. The Bass is ketcht in Wiers just under the Point below the Fort, so that good voyages may be made in that branch; all the expence is in making the Wiers, and as to Sturgeon they are more remarkably plenty than any place upon the Continent, and if there was persons that understood pickling them it would be a very profitable undertaking and fetches ready money in London.”
The Glasier letters (which have just been printed in the Collections of the N. B. Hist. Society) show that before Beamsley Glasier left Montreal, as the accredited agent of the St. John’s River Society, there had been a good deal of discussion about the location of the townships it was desired to procure and settle. It was ultimately decided that this matter should be left to the discretion of Captain Glasier after he had made a personal examination of certain localities and obtained reliable information respecting the ungranted lands in Nova Scotia. Glasier wrote from Halifax on the 15th December, 1764, to Captain Thos. Falconer and the Society’s committee at Montreal, informing them of his selection of the valley of the River St. John as by all odds the most desirable situation. He says:
“When I compare this place to any other we ever thought of I am surprised it had not been fixed on before I came away. The island of St. Johns (or Prince Edward Island) is not good land, besides being so far to the northward it is too exposed if a war should happen, as is all up the Gut of Canso, Bay Challeurs, etc. Besides the whole of that part of the country, as well as all the coast to the head Cape Sable and up the Bay of Fundy, is bound with fog almost three months in the year. In this River you have none above the falls, nor have you Musquitos here in any sort of comparison to any other part of this country. Besides you are so near the settled parts of New England that you may sail with a good wind to Boston in 30 hours, or if you have a mind to coast along shore you may harbour every 4 or 5 Leagues all the way to Boston and that all winter. I think we are very happy not to settle on the Lake where we proposed, for if we had anything to send to market it would take more time and be a greater risk to get it out of the River St. Lawrence than to go from here to Europe.”
On the 1st March following Capt. Glasier addressed a letter to John Fenton of Boston informing the members of the Society in that quarter of the success of his subsequent proceedings. He apologizes for the tardiness of his communication by saying, “I have put off writing, as the world puts off Repentence till the last moment.” Glasier is very enthusiastic as to the outlook.
“The interval lands on the St. John,” he says, “are wonderful, not a stone and black mold 6 feet deep, no underwood, large tall Trees all hardwood; you may drive a Coach through the Trees, we can cut what Grass we please and we may improve the land immediately; in short I can’t describe it to you. * * * * I hope we shall be able to begin something this summer, there is the D—l and all of people applying for lands in this province. There is now settled 50 families just above us, all Yankys[81]; they are not very good Farmers you know but they raised fine grain last year.”
In the choice of the St. John river valley as the best situation for the townships that were to be laid out and settled, Beamsley Glasier seems to have been guided very largely by the advice of Charles Morris, the surveyor general of Nova Scotia, and his son Charles Morris, junior. The younger Morris had a personal interest in the Society and Capt. Glasier writes of him:
“Mr. Morris’s son is one of our Proprietors and is to go with me in April to survey the whole tract I have asked for. He is Deputy to his Father and very clever, as you’ll have occasion to know hereafter. We propose setting out from Halifax about the beginning of April and take a survey of Port O’Bear[82] on our way to St. Johns. I imagine the whole will take us a great deal of time as we shall go up all the small rivers. I have engaged a little schooner for the purpose. As places for our Mills and good Timber, oak as well as pine, is a great object, and as Mr. Morris is a Conesieur in the Goodness of Lands, if we don’t fix upon convenient spots to answer all our purposes it will be our faults.”
The task of surveying and exploring proved of greater magnitude than Glasier had anticipated, and at the end of the summer the Surveyor General of Nova Scotia and his son had only been able to make a general sketch of the river and townships, not an accurate survey, and Glasier expressed the opinion that it would be a work of two years at least before the River would be thoroughly known. Just how much time was spent in the work of exploration and survey we do not know, but the younger Morris spent three months in the summer of 1766 surveying the townships of Gage and Sunbury, and in addition to this he says: “The Surveyor General and myself expended more than a Hundred Pounds Sterling of our own Money in surveying the River last year.”
Captain Glasier was very desirous of obtaining the best lands on the river and he states frankly, in one of his letters, “what we want is the good lands only, or as small a quantity of the bad as is possible.” He was not ready to make definite application for lands, therefore, until he had ascertained the whereabouts of all lakes, ponds, sunken and bad lands, etc., in order to avoid paying quit rents to the crown for that which was not improvable.
Meanwhile trouble was brewing at Halifax, and it was only by the good offices of Governor Wilmot, Charles Morris, sr., and other members of the Council that the St. John River Society was saved from disaster. We get an idea of the threatened danger in a letter of Hon. Michael Francklin to Captain Glasier of July 22, 1765, in which great concern is expressed that Glasier had not yet made his choice of the lands he desired. “You cannot conceive how the Government is embarrassed,” writes Francklin, “by the daily applications that are made. We have no less than three agents from Pennsylvania who are put off on your account. * * * My dear Sir be thoroughly persuaded that no set of people will have the preference to your Gentlemen in anything that can be done for them, but pray do reflect and consider the Government here and our situation, how disagreeable it is to lock up a whole River, sufficient for fifty Townships, and people applying every day that we are obliged to put off until you are served. Consider what a risque 219 the Government runs of losing a number of valuable settlers. I beg of you, on my own account and as one who has the welfare and prosperity of the Province at heart, that you will by some means or other make your choice as soon as possible and transmit it to the Governor.”
Captain Glasier comments on this in a letter to Nathaniel Rogers of Boston. “Some of the Council are wanting to establish those companies belonging to Philadelphia who are waiting at Halifax, as you’ll see by the inclosed letter from one of them to me. I see through the whole, the Governor[83] keeps them off till I return.”
By the advice of Governor Wilmot the society filled up the number of their Proprietors to sixty and at once began to make preparations for the settlement of the lands promised, and which were granted in the month of October, 1765. Glasier advised the establishment of a magazine of stores at Fort Frederick, also the sending of horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, with any settlers they could procure, as soon as possible. He adds, “As young strong Fellows might be hired in Canada for 120 livres a year, 20 of them might be hired and sent here next spring; the Canada horses are much the best for this country * * * The men you hire will be able to hew or cut timber for your houses, clear the land where you have the Town, provide a covering for the cattle, and cut hay, raise potatoes for your hogs—there is a Spanish potatoe in this country that yields so much that a boy of 12 years old will raise as many as will keep 20 hogs, they are made use of for that purpose throughout all New England. * * The Iron for Saw Mills I think should be bought in Canada as that Iron is so good. Any French that have taken the oath of allegiance may become your settlers.”
An assessment of £30 was now ordered to be made on each member of the Society to meet necessary expenses. The Rev. Dr. Ogilvie of New York was chosen as Treasurer. Richard Barlow, late a sergeant in the 44th regiment, was appointed store keeper at St. John. Capt. Falconer, who sent him from Montreal, described him as “a steady man used to business of that nature, who proposes to be a settler, has a family and some money to enable him to begin tolerably well.” Barlow was to receive 12 shillings N. Y. currency pr. week and “oneration of provisions,” also 200 acres of land and a town lot. He was directed to proceed from Montreal to Boston and there take upon him the care of the tools, utensils, materials and stores of all kinds and embark with them for the River St. Johns in Nova Scotia.
A large assortment of materials, stores, tools and other articles were purchased by Nathaniel Rogers in Boston, including mill geer, carpenter’s tools, farming implements, also three yoke of oxen and tackling necessary for drawing logs, etc. These were shipped to St. John in the schooner “Lucy,” James Dickey, master, “consigned to Richard Barlow storekeeper at St. John’s and passenger on board for the use of the St. John’s society.”
Capt. Glasier’s expectation was that a majority of the settlers of the township might be expected from New England. He says, “There is a number of Families from N. England come this summer (1765) on a presumption that there was sufficient land to be had, as one Peabody and his associates had settled themselves the same way about four years ago and had a great struggle to get their Grant this year after all their improvements. These people want to become our settlers, but it is not possible for me to settle them for I can’t tell them, ‘fix your selves on such a spott and it shall be yours;’ no, the lands must be lay’d out in proper form, lots No. 1, 2, 3, &c., and drawn for. The people are waiting for my answer, as I have told them there will be lands for them when we can come into a proper method. They have all got stock and all materials to carry on farming and will want no help from us.”
The difficulties experienced by Capt. Francis Peabody and his associates in securing their lands at Maugerville have been referred to already—see page [154]—but further light is thrown upon the matter in the appendix to this Chapter, in which will be found the memorial of the Maugerville people to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, together with a letter addressed to Joshua Mauger by Charles Morris and Henry Newton, who had been sent to the River St. John by the Governor of Nova Scotia to investigate the situation.
An important meeting of the members of the St. John’s River Society and their representatives was held at New York on the 3d of June, 1766, when it was decided that steps should be taken as soon as possible for dividing the lands belonging to the society; that a surveyor should be employed to lay out the town either at Grimross or some other place more convenient or proper for the purpose; that a grist and saw mill should be immediately built on “Nishwack creek”; that Captain Glasier should agree with proper persons to build the mills, lay out the town, survey the lots for division and take possession in due form of all grants (including the island called Perkins Island, in the Bay of Passamaquoddy) in,the name of the Society. It was further decided that as a sum of money was required for the expenses of surveying and dividing the lands into lots, building the mills, etc., that the second year’s subscription money should be paid on or before the 24th of August.
Two sites were regarded with favor for the town, Grimross and St. Ann’s Point. Both places had been originally cleared and settled by the French. Glasier states in one of his letters: “At Grimross there is timber and lime, which the French had prepared to build a church; there is cleared land three miles in length, an old settlement where our Principal Town must be built, if we can’t have St. Anns Point, which is the finest spot on the River for our purpose. There are many difficulties to surmount, which you will know hereafter; there is but one good stream on all the River fit to erect Mills upon, which I have got for us, and, between ourselves, have been obliged to pop them between two other grants (by the assistance of Mr. Morris). There is about 100 Families in the Township of Peabody, they have not one mill of any kind, nor can there be; they have been obliged to bring all from New England. These mills must be our first object; we shall be able to furnish our neighbors with Lumber as well as ourselves. I have 221 arranged for the Timber and all other materials to be prepared and inclose you Mr. Simonds estimate of the cost. * * * Mr. Simonds is perfectly acquainted with the business of Saw-mills and knows every minivar [manoeuvre] belonging to them. I think we are lucky in having him on the spot to manage so material a part of our establishment. These Mills properly managed will pay for themselves at least four times a year, besides we can’t carry on our Settlement without them.”
James Simonds’ estimate of the cost of the mills will be found in the letter which follows. It was probably considerably under the mark for people are usually optimistic in such things:—
“Passamaquoddy, August 20th, 1765.
“Sir,—Agreeable to your desire I have made the nearest calculation I could of the cost of two mills and dam on Nashwog River, and am of opinion that two hundred pounds currency will complete them. The first cost is very great, which will be mostly for the dam, yet as the stream is sufficient for an addition of three or four mills on the same dam, it will be cheaper in the end than to build the same number of mills and a dam to each on small brooks that will be almost dry near half the year.
“I must advise you Sir to have your Iron work made of the best Iron, as breaches in any part of mills is of fatal consequence to the profit of them. I have sent the dimensions of the cranks, knowing it to be the practice in New England to make them so small as to retard the business of sawing, besides frequently breaking—the breaking of one may be a greater damage than the cost of two. I have described them something large, but think you had better exceed the size than fall short of it.
“The best workmen will be the cheapest as the whole depends on the effectual laying the foundation of the dam, etc. I make no doubt but when the mills are completed they will saw at least 5 M boards pr. day.
“I am Sir, your most obedient servant,
“JAMES SIMONDS.”
It may be noticed, in passing, that Mr. Simonds writes from Passamaquoddy. The headquarters of the trade and fishery there was at Indian Island, or as it was sometimes called, Perkins Island. Mr. Simonds and Wm. Hazen were members of the St. John’s River Society and it would appear from Capt. Glasier’s letter to Nathaniel Rogers of 10th Nov’r., 1765, that the Society had ambitious designs with regard to this locality. “Our Fishery at Passamaquoddy,” writes Glasier, “is an object worth our attention; it is the best in the province. A Block-house will be built there next spring and I can get a party from the Fort sand some small cannon which will secure the Fishermen against any insult from the Indians. This spot is more valuable than you can imagine. I was promised by some of the principal Fishermen belonging to New Hampshire if I got a grant of this Island they would came to the number of 100 families with all their crafts, etc., and become our settlers at Saint Johns, and if we get Grand Manan[84] it will give us a chain of Harbours all the way to Mount Desert, which will be all we want.”
The avidity manifested by the agent of the St. John’s River Society in seeking favors at the hands of government would seems to countenance the idea, suggested in the preceding chapter of this history,[85] that when he memoralized the government of Nova Scotia for a grant of “the Point or Neck of land bearing three quarters of a mile from Fort Frederick, with 60 acres of land adjoining to it, for the making and curing Fish,” he had in view the valuable peninsula on the east side of the harbor of St. John, on which the principal part of the city now stands; but further investigation shows that this is not the case and that the point of land meant was the neck adjoining the fort, on the Carleton side of the harbor.[86]
We have ample testimony as to Beamsley Glasier’s zeal and energy as director of the affairs of the St. John’s River Society. Charles Morris, junior, says of him, “Capt. Glasier has done everything that was possible for any man to do, and more than any one else in his situation would have done to serve the Society,” adding that he had not been properly supported, and if he had retired “there would have ended the Grand Settlement of St. John’s River, for as soon as he had left it, in all probability the Indians (who have been made to believe our Dam will destroy their Fishery) would have burnt and destroyed all that has been done this summer at the Mills, and before we could build other mills and get things in so good a way again the lands would be forfeited, for there will be a court of Escheats held and all the lands that have been granted in this province that are not settled and improved agreeable to the express condition of the Grant will absolutely be declared forfeited.” “But,” he continues, “I can’t imagine the Society will suffer theirs to be forfeited, for I am well convinced that less than £30 sterling from each proprietor will build all the mills, divide all the lands and pay every expense that has attended the settlement from first to last; and each proprietor will then have 7,000 acres of good land laid out into lots, mills built and everything ready and convenient to carry on and make a fine settlement of it.”
Glasier rarely complained of the difficulties with which he was confronted, but on one occasion be admits “I am in a very disagreeable situation and am heartily tired of it, and was it not for ingaging in the Mills, would curse and quit the whole business. I have not been well treated; to agents for all the Philadelphia and other Companys have been genteely appointed and every expence paid with honor. What I have done by myself has been ten times more than they all together and the expence not the fifth part in proportion.”
Whilst engaged in his work on the River St. John, Glasier was obliged to make occasional trips to Boston, taking passage usually in the vessels of Hazen, Simonds and White. The excitement produced in New England by the operation of the obnoxious Stamp Act gave him some concern. He writes in November, 1765, “I have some things to settle with the Governor & Council next time they 223 sit, that prevents my going to Boston by this vessel, but I shall go the next time she sails, if you Boston people don’t burn her, which I should be very sorry should happen as she carrys no stamps. My heart bleeds for my Country, what will be the end of all this?”
Two projects especially claimed Glasier’s attention in the summer of 1766: The first the founding of a town, the second the building of his saw-mill. “I propose,” he says, “to lay out the Town at Grimross in 80 squares, in addition to public squares; then they are to be numbered and drawn for by some person on the spot in the form of lottery tickets, which I shall have sent to the proprietors so that we may fix as many families as can be had this Summer on the Town lots. * * I must have young Mr. Morris from Halifax to survey and lay out the Town, as nothing can be done at Grimross before he arrives.”
In connection with the erection of the Nashwaak mills Capt. Glasier acknowledges his obligation to Hazen & Jarvis of Newburyport. He says: “They have procured me men to build the mills and stores of all kinds for the workmen.” The mill geer came this season, but on the 25th October Glasier writes, “The mills won’t be finished this fall, it is such a work it was not possible to get through with it. * * * * My time has been divided between the Mills and the Surveying. I am condemned to tarry here this winter and can know nothing of what is doing in the world.”
On the 2nd February following, he writes Mr. Nath’l Rogers of Boston, “We are now employed in getting logs to the mills. I hope we shall get them going early in the summer. They will begin to pay something of the expense before the fall. It’s impossible for me to tell you in a letter the expenses of the different branches of business which I am obliged to carry on to complete the whole. It is not only building mills, surveying, etc., but clearing up the land, building houses, making roads, hiring oxen (for we have not half enough of them) and in fine so much I shall never pretend to write it. James Simonds, Esq., who is the Bearer of this, will be able to inform you much better than I can. * * * I am determined to finish what I have undertaken and then quit it. I am not in the best situation in the world, as I believe you’ll think when I tell you I am not only shut out from all society and know nothing of what is carrying on in the world, but my stores are all expended, nor is there one thing to be bought here, pray send me last year’s magazines and some English newspapers as well as the Boston ones. * * * I should be glad if you’d send the oxen, they may be not old nor of the largest kind but good to draw. I pay half a dollar a day for each yoak I hire so that they’ll almost pay for themselves in one year in work. Those that we have here have worked more than one hundred days since I came, so that if we had been obliged to have hired them at the rate I pay others it would amount to a large sum. Twelve is the least that can be employed always at the mills hauling logs, as they will cut 8,000 feet a day, I am told, when they are finished. * * * * I told you I would not write you a long letter, as there is nothing I hate so much; it’s the D——l to have ten thousand things to say.”
Beamsley Glasier’s connection with the St. John river was now drawing to a 224 close. In the summer of 1767 he went to New York where we find him engaged, in company with the Rev. Dr. Ogilvie, in collecting the second annual subscription from the members of the society. The military gentlemen proved very dilatory in paying their subscriptions. Whether Capt. Glazier became disheartened at the outlook, or whether he received peremptory orders to rejoin the Royal American Regiment is uncertain. But about the end of August, 1767, James Porteous, representing the Montreal committee, wrote to Nathaniel Rogers: “We are now informed Capt. Glazier is at New York on his way to join his Regiment, it therefore becomes necessary to appoint another person to transact the Society’s business, for which purpose we have appointed Mr. James Simonds, one of the Proprietors, agent with whom you will please correspond on any occurrence regarding the settlement.”
Messrs. Hazen & Jarvis, as well as their partners at St. John, manifested great interest in the attempts of the Society to settle their townships. Many details are mentioned in their letters, such as those contained in the following to James Simonds. These details may appear of little importance, yet everything that throws light upon the methods employed in peopling a new country ought to have an interest for after generations. In explanation of the subject matter of the letter below it should be mentioned that Philip John Livingston and others of the more energetic proprietors of the townships were sending settlers, from New York, and other places to the River St. John.
Newburyport, Octo. 8th, 1767.
“We wrote you last Sunday by a sloop that came in here from New York for some cattle, sheep and hogs. She took on board the cows; the hogs and sheep go by this vessel. There is ten families [of settlers], each of which was to have 1 cow, 1 sow, and 6 sheep, but as they thought it necessary to have one of the hogs a boar, and it was impossible to procure all the creatures of an equal goodness, we must beg you will assist them (if they need it) in the division of them. There was put on board this sloop 90 bushels of ears of corn, 60 of which is on the Company’s account and 30 for these families’ hogs, so that what may be more than 60 bushels upon their arrival with you, please to deliver with the hogs. The freight of these hogs and sheep we shall charge here.
Mr. White is arrived with our Wm. Hazen and writes you by this vessel. We suppose he will tell you that we think it will not be best to build a vessel with you this winter.
We have sent all we could procure of your memo. by this, vessel—the remainder will come by Mr. White who will sail the last of next week. You will observe there are seven hogsheads of rye and Indian corn wanting of the number in the invoices. These we took out to get ground and you shall have them when Mr. White goes.
Please to get as much lime as possible on board Capt. Newman, as we have agreed with him to land it in Portsmouth, you will therefore please to consign him to Mess. John & Temple Knight in that place.
There are 100 sheep on board the sloop which cost upon an average about 6s. 10d. a head. Now as the ten families who came from Now York were to have 60 ewe sheep (and as they chose a ram or two in the number) you will please to deliver them their number out of the old sheep which we shall charge at seven shillings per head. There is a very likely ram on board (without horns) which we bought of Capt. White for the Company. This you will take care of.
Since writing the above we have been getting the sheep on board and find several very old, which please to take for the Company’s use, and we will get an abatement made by the person whom we bought them of and who has deceived us in them.
Please to dispatch Newman as soon as possible as he has been detained here longer than he ought to have been. What will be wanting to fill up Newman besides the lime please to make up in lumber.
We would recommend it to you not to tarry till Mr. White’s arrival with you before you go up the River.
Mr. Pickard and Mr. Hartt will give you an account of what freight they have on board which you will receive of them at the customary rate.
We are Sir,
Your sincere Friends and devoted hum, Serv’s.HAZEN & JARVIS.
To Jas. Simonds, Esq’r.
Philip John Livingston, who has been mentioned as a promoter of the settlement of the townships, was a member of a distinguished and wealthy New York family. His mother was Catherine de Peyster and his wife a daughter of Samuel Bayard. His brother, John W. Livingston, and his wife’s brother, Abraham de Peyster, were both captains in Col. Edmund Fanning’s King’s American Regiment during the Revolutionary war. Philip John Livingston was himself high sheriff of Dutchess County, Now York, and during the Revolution held several important positions under British authority in the City of New York. His father, brothers and sons were all Loyalists.
About the close of the year 1767 Col. Glasier wrote from New York, seemingly in excellent spirits at the prospect of speedy settlement of the lands. “He informs us,” writes Leonard Jarvis, “that one hundred families will go down next year to settle on the St. John river—that a vessel from Ireland will arrive there this fall—that Mr. Livingston, a gentleman of fortune, has purchased three shares, and that the Patent is daily getting into fewer hands. This gives us encouragement to think that some time hence our interest in your River will be valuable.”
Among the proprietors of the townships who labored to effect their settlement and improvement was Richard Shorne, a native of Ireland, with whom were associated the Rev. Curryl Smith of Alminsta, West Meath, Ireland, and his sons John and Robert Smith of the city of Dublin. Mr. Shorne took up his residence at the River St. John in 1767 and lived there for several years. He was on July 8, 1768, returned a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for Sunbury county, his colleague being Phinehas Nevers of Maugerville. He seems to have made his headquarters at or near St. Anne’s Point, where supplies were sent to him from Newburyport by Hazen & Jarvis.
Simonds & White informed their partners at Newburyport in a letter dated June 22, 1768, that they had been obliged to make considerable advances out of their stores to some settlers that Mr. Livingston had sent to the St. John river. Livingston it seems found fault with certain items charged to him in the accounts and this led to a rather indignant remonstrance on the part of Simonds & White. They wrote, “We are surprised that he should mention anything as to the sums not being due, when not only that but near as much more has been advanced to 226 save the lives of the wretched crew he sent. We have ever found that the doing business for others is an office the most unthankful, and equally unprofitable.” In the same letter mention is made of the arrival of Richard Shorne at St. John, with some families from New York, to settle his own and other lands for which he was agent. It appears that James Simonds introduced Richard Shorne to his friends at Newburyport for in one of his letters he writes: “Mr. Shorne, the bearer of this, is a Proprietor in our Lands and has left Ireland with an intention of settling a number of Rights on this river and for that purpose is invested with power from his friends to draw on them for any sum that may be necessary. I must beg your kind assistance and advice on his behalf as he does not appear to be much acquainted with the settlement of Lands.”
Still another extract—this time from a letter of Philip J. Livingston to James Simonds, will throw additional light upon the story of the townships.
“New York, September 12, 1769.
Sir, * * *
I intreated the favour of you last year to procure two families for Sir Charles Dabers, who purchased the Right of James Allen, No. 18, in Sunbury Township, and desired Peter Carr might be fixed in that Township. If Sir Charles’s families will accept of the same quantity of land as Captain Spry’s and Mr. Morris’s have done, I should be glad the lots were laid out in the same manner for them. I have only to add with respect to Sir Charles’s two families that you will be pleased to furnish them with such provisions as may be necessary for their subsistence and draw for the amount. As to my families Hendrick and Baker, and West—who I am desired to attend to and who I am informed talk of prosecuting me—be pleased to furnish the ungrateful fellows, if they mend their manners, in such manner as best consists with strict frugality—for the large sums I have expended in the purchase of my several Rights and in prosecuting schemes of settlement (together with the sums I have been under the necessity of advancing to the Society, and still must advance to discharge a protested will of Glaziers, in this extreme scarcity of current specie) makes such an order prudential.
I hope you have taken the cattle from Brooks, or received the worth of them for me and be pleased to inform me particularly of the state of the families. You no doubt will hear from Halifax of our petitioning the Government to confirm our division of lands and therefore shall say nothing about it but refer you to Capt. Spry and Mr. Morris.
As soon as the committee of Montreal will be pleased to furnish us with cash we shall write to you about finishing the Mills: till then nothing need be said about it. I should however be glad to know what sum you think would put the Mills in working order. I intend, and it is my fixed resolve to be on St. John’s River as soon as the weather will permit in the Spring, which will be about the 1st of May. If Mr. Ogilvie should not send you an order to furnish James Marrington with provisions—who was to settle General Burton’s Right—I think it advisable to take that family for Sir Charles Dabers, as General Burton is dead, and the family without credit can’t subsist.
I am, Sir,
Your Much Obliged
And Very Humble Servant,PHILIP J. LIVINGSTON.
We may be pretty certain,that the complaints of the settlers mentioned by Livingston were not entirely unreasonable. They had not anticipated the hardships 227 before them and were ill prepared to grapple with them. Probably the attractions of the River St. John had been represented in an exaggerated form, a circumstance not unknown in the case of promoters of colonization of a more recent date than that we are at present considering.
Peter Carr and Thomas Masterson, two of Livingston’s tenants, settled on the west side of the river opposite Musquash Island; both seem to have proved good settlers. John Hendrick, one of Livingston’s “ungrateful fellows,” was also a valuable settler; he was the father of five sons and Major Studholme commended him in 1783 as “a good subject, an old soldier and a very deserving man.” Henry West, another of Livingston’s settlers, is also commended by Major Studholme as an exceedingly good subject.
Notwithstanding the efforts of individuals, the progress made by the Saint John’s River Society in the settling of their townships was unsatisfactory, and about this time Hazen & Jarvis expressed their conviction that half of the proprietors would not settle their lands at all; they therefore desired Simonds & White to take such measures as would secure their own Rights in Sunbury and New-Town as well as those of Moses Hazen and Governor Thomas Hutchinson—that of the latter having been lately purchased for Mr. Jarvis. Simonds & White seem to have agreed with their partners as to the improbability of settling the townships, for in July, 1770, they write: “The Society’s Lands will be forfeited if not settled this year. We think it best to engage as many families, and fix them in Conway, as will secure our whole interest on the River, if they can be had.” This advice was based on the opinion of the authorities at Halifax that settling the required number of families in one township would quite as effectively protect the interests of the grantees as if they were dispersed over the several tracts.
APPENDIX.
Halifax, 5th August, 1763.
Sir,—We beg leave to trouble you with a memorial of a number of officers and disbanded soldiers, who came from New England, and are settled on St. John’s River. We were sent to them lately as a Committee of Council, by order of the Lieut.-Governor, to inform them that they could have no Grant of the Lands they were upon, and that they must remove therefrom, as these Lands were reserved by His Majesty for disbanded Troops. However, we are very apprehensive that their case must by some means or other have been misrepresented to the Lords of Trade, or not clearly understood.
They are chiefly American soldiers, officers or privates; they have sold their Farms in New England, and have transported themselves at their own expense; they have brought considerable stock with them, and their Families, and if it is the intention of the Ministry to settle disbanded Troops on that River, we are of Opinion these people will be of use and service, as it cannot be expected that English Soldiers can bring any great stock with them. The removing these people now they are settled, will be their utter ruin, the particular circumstances of which they have set forth in their Memorial to the Lords of Trade, which we beg the favor of you to present to them, and are with great Respect,
Sir, your most obedient and very Humble Servts.,
Chas. Morris,
Henry Newton.Joshua Mauger, Esqr.
MEMORIAL.
To the Right Honourable and Honourable the Lords of Commissioners of Trade and Plantations:
The Memorial of Francis Peabody, John Carlton, Jacob Barker, Nicholas West and Israel Perley, late officers in the American service and now Disbanded, In behalf of themselves and others disbanded from the said service and now settled at St. John’s River in Nova Scotia, Humbly Sheweth:—
That your Memorialists, previous to their entering into his Majesty’s Service, among other Encouragements were induced thereto by a Proclamation of his late Majesty promising that at the Expiration of the service they should be entitled to a Grant of Lands in any of his Majesty’s colonies for them to Settle upon. That they have many of them been in Service during this Present war, and as Americans are not intitled to half pay, as his Majesty’s British Troops are, and therefore expected no other Recompense than a Donation of Land agreeable to his late Majesty’s Promise to them.
That having been sollicited to settle in Nova Scotia, by Colonel McNutt, who appeared to us to be authorized by your Lordships, having produced to us an Instrument Signed by your Lordships and under seal promising a Right of Land to each Settler equal to those already Granted to Horton, Cornwallis and Falmouth, we were induced to come into the colony of Nova Scotia, and accordingly sent a Committee of us to view Lands proper for a Settlement. That our Committee accordingly viewed several Tracts of Lands in Nova Scotia at our Expense and advised us to settle upon St. John’s River about seventy miles from the Mouth in one of the Extreme parts and Frontiers of Nova Scotia, that we therefore applyed to the Governor and Council of Nova Scotia for a Grant of the Lands, not doubting of having the same confirmed to us, as they had Granted several Townships in this Province of Nova Scotia to other New England Proprietors who had not been in the Service. That the Governour and Councill of Nova Scotia gave your Memorialists encouragement, by telling your Memorialists that the Lands about St. John’s River were reserved by your Lordships for disbanded Troops and that they would refer your Memorialists’ Petition to your Lordships.
In confidence of this, and being ourselves Soldiers, we apprehended we might with great safety prepare ourselves for settling the Lands we Petitioned for, and accordingly sold our Estates in New England, and have at near a Thousand Pounds Sterling expence Transported ourselves, Families and Stock, and are now Settled to the number of one Hundred persons, on St. John’s River seventy miles from the Mouth; and a large number of disbanded officers and soldiers in confidence of the same Encouragement have now sold all their Possessions in New England and are hiring Vessels to Transport themselves and Settle among us.
We were not a little astonished when we were informed by his Majesty’s Governor and Council here that we could not have a Grant of the Lands we have settled ourselves upon.
We therefore humbly apply to your Lordships to Lay our Cause before his most Gracious Majesty for whose service we have often exposed our lives in America, that he would be pleased to direct the Governor and Council here to Grant us these Lands, we are now settled upon, as the Removal therefrom would prove our utter Ruin and Destruction. We have been at no expence to the crown and intend to be at none, and are settled two hundred miles from any other English Settlement.
And your Memorialists as in duty bound shall ever pray.
Recd. & Read Decr. 16, 1763.