It will be noticed that in the division of the townships the Rights, or shares, of Moses and William Hazen were drawn in New Town and that of James Simonds in Sunbury. Mr. Simonds evidently was quite satisfied for he wrote to Hazen & Jarvis, June 22, 1768.
“The Township of Sunbury is the best in the Patent and New Town is the next to it according to the quantity of land, it will have a good Salmon-Fishery in the river which the mills are to be built on, which runs through the centre of the tract. The mills are to be the property of the eight proprietors of the Township after seventeen years from this time, and all the Timber also the moment the partition deed is passed.”
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.]