War with the French and Indians had been so constant previous to the peace of 1763, that a large proportion of the young men of New England had seen service in the “provincial regiments.” To those who had held commissions the inducements contained in Lawrence’s proclamations were especially attractive.
Among the retired officers of the Massachusetts regiments, who became interested in the River St. John at this time were Francis Peabody, William Hazen, James White, James Simonds, Nicholas West and Israel Perley. Captain Francis 150 Peabody was somewhat older than the others; he had served with distinction in the late war, and is mentioned in Parkman’s “Wolfe and Montcalm” [p. 428]. From the active part he took in settling the township of Maugerville, as well as from his age and character, he must be regarded as the most prominent and influential person on the St. John river while he lived. He died in the year 1773. Three of his daughters married respectively James Simonds, James White and Jonathan Leavitt.
A few years ago the writer of this history had the good fortune to find, in an old rubbish heap, a letter of James Simonds detailing the circumstances under which he came to take up his residence at St. John.
“In the years 1759 and 1760,” he says, “proclamations were published through the colonies which promised all the lands and possessions of the Acadians, who had been removed, or any other lands lying within the Province of Nova Scotia, to such as would become settlers there. In consequence of these proclamations I went through the greater part of Nova Scotia, in time of war, at great expense and at the risk of my life, in search of the best lands and situations, and having at length determined to settle at the River St. John, obtained a promise from Government of a large tract of land for myself and brother Richard, who was with me in several of my tours.”
The attention of Mr. Simonds may have been particularly called to St. John by the fact that his cousin, Captain Moses Hazen, commanded the garrison at Fort Frederick in 1759. It may be noted, in passing, that this post was occupied for the first two years after it was rebuilt by Monckton, by the Massachusetts troops. They were relieved by a company from one of the Highland regiments. In 1762 the post was garrisoned by a detachment of the 40th regiment of foot under Lieutenant Gilfred Studholme. The fort afterwards continued to be garrisoned by a company of British regulars under different commanders until 1768, when the troops were withdrawn and the fort remained for several years under the nominal care of Messrs. Simonds and White.
About the time James Simonds decided to settle at St. John, the harbor was carefully surveyed by Lieut. R. G. Bruce of the engineers, whose plan is reproduced in the accompanying illustration. A glance will suffice to show that the rocky peninsular on the eastern side of the harbor, where the business part of the city stands today, was at that time uninhabited. The military post at Fort Frederick imparted a little life to the immediate surroundings but on the other side of the harbor everything remained in its virgin state, except at Portland Point, where there was a small clearing and the ruins of a feeble old French Fort. The few Acadians who once lingered there had fled before the English invaders, and only when some wandering savage pitched his wigwam on the shores of “Men-ah-quesk,” as he called it, was there any tenant save the fox, the bear or other wild forest creature. The rocky peninsular of east St. John with its crags and swamps was considered of so little value that it remained ungranted up to the time of the landing of the Loyalists. In the words of James Simonds it was “the worst of lands, if bogs, morasses and rocks may be called lands.”
PLAN OF THE HARBOUR OF ST. JOHN IN NOVA SCOTIA, Surveyed & Sounded in September 1761 BY R.G. BRUCE ENGR. Scale 300 yds to an inch