In 1784, Des Barres was appointed Lieut. Governor of Cape Breton, and afterwards Lieut. Governor of Prince Edward Island. He died at Halifax on the 27th October, 1824, and was honored with a state funeral at which the attendance was great and the interest felt very remarkable. This was due, in some measure, to the fact that had he lived another month he would have attained the extraordinary age of 103 years. Beamish Murdoch observes:
“Colonel DesBarres’ scientific labors on our coasts, and his repute as one of the heroes of 1759 under Wolfe at Quebec, gave him a claim on the gratitude and reverence of all Nova Scotians.”
This sentiment was not shared by the Acadians of Memramcook, who found difficulty in resisting the claims of the heirs of DesBarres to the lands they had settled. Two Lots in the upper part of the Township of Maugerville were granted to Governor DesBarres and had he settled there he would have been the next-door neighbor of the Widow Clark, but there is nothing to show that he made any attempt to improve his lands in that quarter and so his connection with the settlement is nothing but a name.
Joshua Mauger, the other non-resident grantee to whom reference has been made, was an English merchant who came to America as a contractor under government for furnishing supplies to the army at Louisbourg. When Cape Breton was restored to France, in 1749, Louisbourg was evacuated and Mauger came with the troops to Halifax. Shortly after his arrival he and other merchants asked permission to build wharves on the beach for the accommodation of their business. In 1751 he was appointed agent for victualling the Navy. Grog was at that time freely dispensed in the army and navy, and Mauger erected a distillery where he manufactured the rum required for the troops and seamen. As the business was lucrative he soon accumulated much property in and around Halifax, including the well known Mauger’s Beach at the entrance of Halifax harbor. He had also shops at Pisiquid and Minas—or, as they are now called, Windsor and Horton—where he sold goods and spirits to the French and Indians. He returned to England in 1761 and was appointed agent for the Province of Nova Scotia in London. The year following he was elected a member of Parliament.
Joshua Mauger in his position as Agent for the province was able to render it essential service, and in the year 1766 the legislature of Nova Scotia voted the sum of £50 for a piece of plate as a testimonial of their appreciation of his “zeal and unwearied application” in their behalf. As already mentioned, it was chiefly due to his energy that the Massachusetts settlers on the River St. John were confirmed in possession of their township. For his services in this connection, however, he was not unrewarded; not only was the township named in his honor, but the large island, since known as Mauger’s or Gilbert’s Island, was granted to him, together with ten lots, at the lower end of the township. When the Loyalists arrived they looked with somewhat covetous eyes on these interval lands which were settled by tenants at a yearly rental of £3 for each lot. Mauger’s Island was purchased by 166 Colonel Thomas Gilbert, the well known Loyalist of Taunton, Massachusetts, and by him bequeathed to his eldest son, Thomas Gilbert, jr. The latter writes so entertainingly and so enthusiastically of his situation, in a letter to his sister and her husband, that we venture to depart, for a moment, from the chronological order of events in order to give some extracts.
“On Board Major’s Island, Sept. 30, 1799.
Dear Brother and Sister,— * * * I have made great improvements on board this island. Three summers ago I built a large house, the Carpenter just as he had finished the work took a brand of fire by accident and burnt it all to ashes with three hundred pounds of property in it. It happened the 15th of November, winter set in next day. I fled to a small house I had on the island. Ice making in the River there was no passing, but my Neighbors knew my situation and assembled of their own good will[63]—in four weeks put me into a good framed house forty feet long twenty wide with a good chimney, where I lived the winter very comfortably. In the spring I went to work and built a House 38 by 36 and set it on to the other, which occupies the same ground that the other did, and I finished it to a latch from top to bottom. * * * * The summer past I have built me a barn 80 feet by 34 completely finished and said to be the best in the Province.
‘I wonder you don’t come yourself or send some of your family to help us enjoy this fine country. We feel no war nor pay any tax. Our land brings forth abundantly; it is almost incredible to see the Produce; it makes but little odds when you plant or sow, at harvest time you will have plenty. This last spring was late, the water was not off so that I could plant till the 21st of June, and so till the 26th we planted, and you never saw so much corn in any part of the States to the acre as I have got, and wheat and everything to the greatest perfection. I wonder how you and my Friends can prefer digging among the Stones and paying Rates to an easy life in this country. Last year I sold beef, pork and mutton more than I wanted for my family for three hundred Pounds, besides two colts for forty pounds apiece. A few days ago I sold four colts before they were broke for one hundred and ten pounds and I have sixteen left. I have a fine stock of cattle and sheep—butter and cheese is as plenty here as herrings are at Taunton—a tenant lives better here than a Landlord at Berkley. I am blesst with the best Neighbors that ever drew breath—they are made of the same stuff that our forefathers were that first settled New England. * * * * I live under the protection of the King, and I am stationed by his Laws on this Island, the finest farm in the Province. I don’t intend to weigh my anchor nor start from this till I have orders from the Governor of all things—then I hope to obey the summons with joy and gladness—with Great Expectation, to meet you in Heaven where I hope to rest.”
Benjamin Atherton removed to St. Anns about 1769 where at the time the Loyalists arrived he is reported to have had a good framed house and log barn and about 30 acres of land, cleared in part by the French. This land was near the Government House, and here in early days, Messrs. Simonds & White established a trading post to which the Indians and Acadians and some of the English settlers resorted. The store was managed by Benjamin Atherton who had an interest in the business. Mr. Atherton was a man of ability and good education and filled the office of clerk of the peace of the county of Sunbury—at that time including nearly all New Brunswick.
Hugh Quinton, Samuel Peabody, Gerves Say and William McKeen removed at an early date to the mouth of the river and we shall hear more of them in connection with that locality.
Edward Coy, Thomas Hart and Zebulun Estey removed to Gagetown. Some facts concerning Edward Coy are related in a curious old book published at Boston in 1849 entitled “A Narrative of the Life and Christian Experience of Mrs. Mary Bradley of Saint John, New Brunswick, written by Herself.” From this source we learn that the Coys were originally McCoys but that the “Mac” was dropped by Edward Coy’s grandfather and never resumed by the family. The Coys came from Pomfret in Connecticut to the River St. John in 1763 and the family removed from Gagetown to Sheffield in 1776. One of Edward Coy’s daughters is said to have been the first female child of English speaking parents born on the St. John river. The curious “cul de sac” in the river opposite the mouth of the Belleisle known as “The Mistake” was formerly called “Coy’s Mistake”—the name doubtless suggests the incident in which it had its origin. Many a traveller since the time of Edward Coy has incautiously entered the same cul-de-sac, thinking it the channel of the river, and, after proceeding two or three miles, found he too had made a “mistake” and retraced his way a sadder and a wiser man.