As the Indians were for the time being without any religious teacher Mr. Wood resolved to devote much attention to them. He applied himself diligently to the study of their language, in which he had the assistance of the papers left him by the Abbe Maillard and by devoting three or four hours daily to the task he made such progress that upon reading some of M. Maillard’s morning prayers the Indians understood him perfectly and seemed themselves to pray very devoutly. He resolved to persevere until he should be able to publish a grammar, dictionary and translation of the Bible. He writes in 1764, “I am fully determined that nothing but sickness or the Bastille shall impede me in this useful service.” Two years later he sent to England the first volume of his native grammar, with a Micmac translation of the Creed, Lord’s Prayer, etc. He was now able to minister to the Indians in their own language.
In July, 1767, the Indians attended a special service held in St. Paul’s church, Halifax, at which there were present, the Governor of Nova Scotia, Lord William Campbell, the officers of the army and navy and the principal inhabitants. The service was in the Micmac tongue. An anthem was sung by the Indians at the beginning and again at the close. On the 12th of August in the same year Mr. Wood married Pierre Jacques, an Indian, to Marie Joseph, eldest daughter of old Thoma, who deemed himself “hereditary king of the Mickmacks.” There were present at the wedding, besides the Indians, Sir Thomas Rich—an English baronet, and other gentlemen. After the ceremony Mr. Wood entertained the company at his own house.
It was in the summer of the year 1769 that Mr. Wood made his first tour up the River St. John. Lord William Campbell provided him with a boat and 255 party of men, under the direction of Capt. William Spry of the Engineers. Capt. Spry will be remembered as one of the active promoters of the settlement of the townships on the St. John river, where he had large land interests. His knowledge of the river made him an excellent guide.
The English missionary arrived at St. John harbor on the 1st day of July, and the day following, which was Sunday, held the first religious service conducted by an English speaking minister at Portland Point.
The account books of Simonds & White suffice to show that no business was transacted at their establishment on Sunday, and doubtless the day was honored as a day of rest, but up to this time there had been no opportunity for church-going. Among those who heard the first sermon preached at St. John in English were in all probability, the Messrs. Simonds & White and their employes, Edmund Black, Samuel Abbott, Samuel Middleton, Michael Hodge, Adonijah Colby, Stephen Dow, Elijah Estabrooks, John Bradley, William Godsoe, John Mack, Asa Stephens, and Thomas Blasdel. To these may be added the wives of James Simonds, of Black, Abbott and one or two other workmen; also a few settlers living in the vicinity. It may be observed in passing that Edmund Black was foreman in the lime burning; Abbott, Middleton and Godsoe were employed in making hogsheads and barrels for lime and fish; Hodge and Colby were shipwrights engaged in building a schooner for the company; the others were fishermen and laborers. Doubtless the service held by Mr. Wood was a very simple one, and if there were any hymns they were sung from memory, for there is reason to believe that there was not a single hymn book in the community, with the exception of a copy of Watt’s psalms and hymns owned by James White.
Notwithstanding the difficulties of the situation, the Rev’d. Thomas Wood on the occasion of his first Sunday at St. John established a record which, after the lapse of nearly a century and a half, remains unequalled for interest and variety. In the morning he held divine service and preached to the English settlers and baptized four of their children. In the afternoon he conducted a service for the benefit of a number of Indians, who chanced to be encamped there, baptized an Indian girl and addressed them in their own language. In the evening, many of the French inhabitants being present, he held a third service and preached in French, the Indians again attending as many of them understood that language. These French people were chiefly Acadians living at what is now called French Village, in Kings county. They were at that time employed by Simonds & White in building an aboideau and dykeing the marsh. In one respect the Indians perhaps did better than the English or the Acadians, for at the close of their service Mr. Wood desired them to sing an anthem which, he says, “they performed very harmoniously.”
The next day the missionary sailed up the river, visiting the settlers in their homes as he proceeded. At Gagetown he baptized Joseph and Mary Kendrick, twin children of John and Dorothy Kendrick. Mr. Wood says the children were born in an open canoe on the river, two leagues from any house, a circumstance 256 that illustrates the exigencies liable to arise in a region so sparsely inhabited as the valley of the River St. John then was.[98]
On Sunday the 9th of July Mr. Wood held service at Maugerville, where he had a congregation of more than two hundred persons but, owing to the fact that the people were chiefly “Dissenters from New England,” he baptized only two infants. He thought, however, if a prudent missionary were settled among them their prejudices against the Church of England would speedily vanish. He speaks in his letter to the S. P. G. of the rising townships of Gagetown, Burton and Maugerville as a most desirable field for a missionary and commends the Indians to the special consideration of the society. After making a call at Morrisania, a little below Fredericton, where two children were baptized, Mr. Wood and his companions proceeded to “Okpaak” which he terms “the farthest settlement upon the River.” He thus describes the reception they met with on their arrival:
“The Chief of the Indians came down to the Landing place and handed us out of our boat, and immediately several of the Indians, who were drawn out on the occasion, discharged a volley of Musketry turned from us, as a signal of receiving their friends. The Chief then welcomed us and introduced us to the other Chiefs, and after inviting us to their Council Chamber, viz. their largest wigwam, conducted us thither, the rest of the Indians following. Just before we arrived we were again saluted with their musketry drawn up as before. After some discourse relative to Monsieur Bailly, the French Priest that Government have thought proper to allow them, finding them uneasy that they had no priest among them for some time past, I told them that the Governor had employed him to go to the Indians to the eastward of Halifax and had sent me to officiate with them in his absence. They then seemed well enough satisfied, and at their desire I began prayers with them in Mickmack, they all kneeling down and behaving very devoutly. The vice concluded with an anthem and the blessing.”
Mr. Wood says that although there were then at Aukpaque Indians of three different tribes, Micmacs, Maliseets and Caribous,[99] they all understood the Micmac language, and he expresses regret that he had not been sent among them two years before, being satisfied that he could have gained their confidence and good will.