The circumstances under which James Simonds made choice of the Harbor of St. John, as the most promising place for an extensive trade, are detailed at some length in his evidence in the famous chancery suit which arose about the year 1791 in connection with the division of the lands of Hazen, Simonds and White, and occupied the attention of the courts for more than twenty years. It is chiefly from this source we learn the particulars that follow.
James Simonds was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in the year 1735. After the death of his father, Nathan Simonds, and the settlement of his estate, finding the property falling to him to be inconsiderable, he set out in company with his younger brother Richard to seek his fortune. In the course of the years 1759 to 1762, different parts of the old province of Nova Scotia were visited, including the River St. John, with a view of ascertaining the most advantageous situation for the fur trade, fishery and other business. Finding that the mouth of the St. John river was an admirable situation for trade with the Indians, that the fishery in the vicinity was excellent, and that there was a large tract of marsh land, and lands that afforded great quantities of lime-stone adjacent to the Harbor of St. John, Mr. Simonds eventually gave the preference to those lands on account of their situation and the privileges attached to them, and having previously obtained a promise from Government of a grant of 5,000 acres in such part of the province as he might choose he with his brother Richard took possession. In the month of May, 1762, they burnt over the large marsh (east of the present city) and in the ensuing summer cut there a quantity of wild hay. It was their intention immediately to begin stock raising, but they were disappointed in obtaining a vessel to bring from Massachusetts the cattle they expected. They accordingly sold or made a present of the hay to Captain Francis Peabody, who had recently come to St. John and built himself a house at Portland Point. This house is said to have had an oak frame, which was brought from Newburyport. In 1765 it became the property of James Simonds (Captain Peabody having moved up the river to Maugerville) and later it was owned by James White. It was not an elaborate or expensive building[52] but it had the honor of being the first home of an English speaking family on the St. John river.
The situation of the new-comers at Portland Point would have been very insecure had it not been for the protection afforded by Fort Frederick across the harbor. The Indians had not yet become accustomed to the idea of British supremacy. Their natural allegiance—even after the downfall of Quebec—was to “their old father the King of France.” Their prejudice against the English had been nurtured for generations and embittered by ruthless warfare, and we need not wonder that the coming of the first English settlers was viewed with a jealous eye. Even the proximity of the garrison at Fort Frederick did not prevent the situation of James Simonds and his associates from being very precarious, when the attitude of the Indians was unfriendly. Richard Simonds, who died January 20, 1765, lost his life in the defence of the property of the trading company when the savages were about to carry it off.
While the brothers Simonds were endeavoring to establish themselves at St. John, a settlement upon a more extensive scale was being projected by a number of people in the County of Essex in Massachusetts. An advertisement appeared in the “Boston Gazette and News-Letter” of September 20, 1762, notifying all of the signers under Captain Francis Peabody for a township at St. John’s River in Nova Scotia, to meet at the house of Daniel Ingalls, inn-holder in Andover, on Wednesday, the 6th day of October at 10 o’clock a. m., in order to draw their lots, which were already laid out, and to choose an agent to go to Halifax on their behalf and to attend to any matters that should be thought proper. The advertisement continues: “And whereas it was voted at the meeting on April 6th, 1762, that each signer should pay by April 20th, twelve shillings for laying out their land and six shillings for building a mill thereon, and some signers have neglected payment, they must pay the amount at the next meeting or be excluded and others admitted in their place.”
The agent chosen at this meeting was Captain Francis Peabody.[53]
According to the late Moses H. Perley, whose well known and popular lectures on New Brunswick history were delivered at the Mechanics Institute in 1841, the government of Massachusetts sent a small party to explore the country east of Machias in 1761. “The leader of that party,” says Mr. Perley, “was Israel Perley, my grandfather, who was accompanied by 12 men in the pay of Massachusetts. They proceeded to Machias by water, and there shouldering their knapsacks, they took a course through the woods, and succeeded in reaching the head waters of the River Oromocto, which they descended to the St. John. They found the country a wide waste, and no obstacles, save what might be afforded by the Indians, to its being at once occupied and settled, and with this report they returned to Boston.”
The result of this report is seen in the organization of a company of would be settlers shortly afterwards.
There is in the possession of the Perley family at Fredericton an old document that contains a brief account of the subsequent proceedings:—