The late Senator Glasier began his lumbering operations on the Shogomoc, in York County, and afterwards in company with his brother Stephen, extended them to the waters of the upper St. John. He was the first lumberman to bring a drive over the Grand Falls, and is said to have been the first white man to explore the Squattook lakes. The phrase “the Main John Glasier” originated with an Irishman named Paddy McGarrigle, who was employed as a cook.[122] It was soon universally adopted by the lumbermen and, strange to say, has spread over the continent. In the western states today men employed in lumbering apply the term, “He is the main John Glasier” to the manager of any big lumbering concern. It is said that only a few of those who use the term know its origin. It was undoubtedly carried to the west by men who went there from the River St. John. Senator Glasier died at Ottawa in his 84th year, during the session of 1894, while engaged in the discharge of his parliamentary duties.
It is a curious circumstance that the present members for Sunbury County in the provincial legislature, Parker Glasier and J. Douglas Hazen, are great-grandsons respectively of Benjamin Glasier and John Hazen, old neighbors and worthy residents of Sunbury one hundred and twenty years ago. At that time Sunbury included nearly the whole of the province, now it is a very modest little constituency indeed.
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 principal 315 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.