“In the year 1761 a number of Provincial officers and soldiers in New England who had served in several campaigns during the then French war agreed to form a settlement on St. John’s River in Nova Scotia, for which purpose they sent one of their number to Halifax, who obtained an order of survey for laying out a Township in mile squares on any part of St. John’s River (the whole being then a desolate wilderness). This Township called Maugerville was laid out in the year 1762, and a number of settlers entered into it, encouraged by the King’s proclamation for settling the lands in Nova Scotia, in which, among other things, was this clause, that people emigrating from the New England Provinces to Nova Scotia should enjoy the same religious privileges as in New England. And in the above-mentioned order of survey was the following words—viz., ‘You shall reserve four Lots in the Township for Publick use, one as a Glebe for the Church of England, 154 one for the Dissenting Protestants, one for the maintenance of a School, and one for the first settled minister in the place.’
“These orders were strictly comply’d with, but finding difficulty in obtaining a Grant of this Township from the government of Nova Scotia on account of an order from England that those lands should be reserved for disbanded forces, the settlers did in the year 1763 draw up and forward a Petition or memorial to the Lords of Trade and Plantations.”...
In this memorial were set forth the services that Captain Peabody and his associates had rendered to their country in the late war, the expenses they had incurred and the inducements offered by the government of Nova Scotia to them to settle on the lands they had surveyed. The memorial was signed by Francis Peabody, John Carleton, Jacob Barker, Nicholas West and Israel Perley on behalf of themselves and other disbanded officers. This memorial was submitted by Mr. Peabody to the Governor and Council at Halifax, who cordially approved of the contents and forwarded it to Joshua Mauger,[54] the agent for the Province in London, expressing their opinion that the officers and disbanded soldiers from New England, settled on the reserved lands on the St. John River, ought not to be removed. They would be of great use and their removal would cause their total ruin. The settlers earnestly solicited the influence of the agent in England to obtain a speedy answer to their memorial. He took the liveliest interest in their cause and largely through his efforts the Lords of Trade on the 20th December, 1763, recommended that the memorial of the disbanded officers of the Provincial forces be granted, and that they be confirmed in possession of the lands on which they have settled on the St. John River. The matter was finally settled in the Court of St. James, the 10th day of February, 1764, by the adoption of the following resolve on the part of King George the III. and his Council:
“Whereas the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations have represented to His Majesty that a memorial has been presented to him on behalf of several disbanded officers of His Majesty’s provincial forces in North America, setting forth that induced by several encouragements they have sold their lands in New England and settled themselves and families upon the St. John River in His Majesty’s province of Nova Scotia at the distance of 200 miles from any other settlement and praying that the possession of the lands upon which they have settled themselves at a very great expense may be confirmed to them by His Majesty: The Governor of Nova Scotia is ordered to cause the land upon which they are settled to be laid out in a Township consisting of 100,000 acres, 12 miles square, one side to front on the river. Also to reserve a site for a town with a sufficient number of lots, with reservations for a church, town-house, public quays and wharves and other public uses; the grants to be made in proportion to their ability and the number of persons in their families, but not to exceed 1,000 acres to one person. That a competent quantity of land be allotted for the 155 maintenance of a minister and school-master and also one town lot to each of them in perpetuity.”
For months the settlers of Maugerville remained in a state of suspense and in much anxiety as to the fate of their memorial. They were naturally greatly relieved when the order of the King in Council arrived confirming them in possession of the lands they had settled. The kindness and generosity of Joshua Mauger, who bore the expense of their appeal and exerted himself in their behalf, were fully appreciated, and as a tribute of respect and gratitude to their patron the settlers gave to their township the name of “Maugerville.”
The Township of Maugerville was laid out early in the year 1762 by a party under Israel Perley their land surveyor. In the survey Richard Simonds acted as chain bearer and James Simonds, who was one of the patentees of the township, also assisted, receiving the sum of £40 for his services.
The first published account of the founding of the Maugerville settlement is that of Peter Fisher,[55] printed by Chubb & Sears at St. John in 1825, and a very readable account it is as the extracts that follow will show.
Signature Peter Fisher