KEMBLE.
On the 27th of May, 1767, fifteen of the original grantees, including General Thomas Gage, transferred their rights to Stephen Kemble[132] for a very small consideration—ten pounds current money of the Province of New York—and the grant was thenceforth known as the Kemble Manor.
In the year 1774 Col. Kemble appointed Joseph Frederick Wallet Des-Barres to act for him in the settlement of the manor, with power to substitute and appoint one or more agents. Des-Barres immediately named James Simonds as his deputy; the duties of the latter are specified in the records of the old county of Sunbury under the following heading:
“Instructions for carrying into execution the letter of Attorney of Stephen Kemble, Esq., to Joseph Frederick Wallet Des-Barres, Esq., to be observed by James Simonds, Esq., his substitute for this purpose specially appointed.”
Under the instructions the manor was to be divided into one hundred lots of 200 acres each, to be laid out in such a way as to allow communication with the river to as many settlers as possible. Half the lots were offered at £5 sterling each to purchasers or to tenants at a renewable lease of ten shillings per annum, but it was not until about the year 1782 that any effectual measures were taken for the settlement of the grant, the explanation probably being that Mr. Simonds and his partners were too much engaged in securing their own lands from forfeiture 333 to pay much attention to those of Col. Kemble. However on the arrival of the Loyalists a number of lots were speedily disposed of and by the efforts of Ward Chipman, who succeeded James Simonds as agent, the greater part of the lands were saved from escheat. Col. Kemble visited the River St. John in 1788. His correspondence with Ward Chipman relative to the improvement of the Manor is of interest. The last of the lots on the river was sold in 1811, and in 1820 the rear of the property, comprising about one half of the whole, was sold to Nehemiah Merritt, of St. John, for £1000.
STERLING.
Another considerable grant in the year 1765 was that made to Captain Walter Sterling of the Royal Navy, and nine others[133], 10,000 acres at the foot of Kingston peninsula, now known as “Lands End.” This tract was forfeited for non-fulfilment of the conditions of the grant. Capt. Walter Sterling visited the River St. John in August, 1775, and some business transactions with him are to be found in the old account books of Hazen, Simonds and White.
GLASIER.
Another large grant of this period was known as “Glasier’s Manor” (subsequently as “Coffin’s Manor”), extending from Brundage’s Point in the parish of Westfield up the river to a point two or three miles above the Nerepis. Colonel Glasier is believed to have made his headquarters during his sojourn on the River St. John at or near the site of Fort Boishebert at Woodman’s Point. The Nerepis stream was at one time known as “Beaubear’s river;” for example, in a description of the River St. John, written a little before the arrival of the Loyalists, we have the following: “At the entrance of a small river called Baubier’s River or narrow Piece [Nerepis] the land a considerable distance back is good upland but no Interval. The land up Baubier’s River for three miles, which was included in Glasier’s original Grant, is good, both Interval and upland. On Baubier’s River mills may be erected and there is some good timber. On Baubier’s Point the salmon fishery is said to be the best on St. John’s River.”
Shortly after the arrival of the Loyalists Glasier’s Manor passed into the possession of General Coffin, and was by him named Alwyngton Manor. Before this transaction was consummated, however, Glasier’s Manor had nearly shared the fate of other grants. Elias Hardy, a clever lawyer employed by the government to investigate the state of the old townships with a view to the forfeiture of lands vacant and unimproved, claimed that the manor was escheatable in part as not having been fully settled. It was shown, however, that Nathaniel Gallop and others had made improvements, built dwellings, barns and out-houses, but the Indians had burned the houses and destroyed the crops and finally driven the settlers away. 334 Owing to the distracted state of the country at the time of the Revolution, no settlement was practicable near the mouth of the river. Governor Parr used his influence in Col. Glasier’s behalf, assuring him that every effort would be made to preserve his lands in view of his efforts to promote the settlement of the country. General Coffin succeeded, after he had purchased the manor, in getting some valuable settlers to take up lands at the Nerepis, among them Capt. Henry Nase, a brother officer in the late King’s American regiment, whose descendants still live at Westfield. In the course of the first year’s residence General Coffin expended more than £1,200 sterling in improving his property. He built on the Nerepis stream an excellent mill and displayed much enterprise in other ways.