[79] A few giant elms of the primeval forest are yet to be found on the bank of the St. John. The author not long since examined the stump of a large elm that grew a few miles below the town of Woodstock. It was four feet in diameter and the number of concentric rings 325, so that it must have been a sapling in the days of Queen Elizabeth.

"I suppose we shall have the Proprietor's Town on the west side, tho' the New England People are all settled on the other side. The whole Country abounds with Game; there is likewise plenty of Moose weighing from 1000 to 1500 lbs. each, fatt and finer than beef, which you may kill every day. Wild fowl of all kinds, cocks, snipes, and partridges are so plenty that the Gentlemen who was with me swore that it was no sport, as we could shoot 3 or 4 at a shot. An Indian made me a present of a pair of horns of a small Moose as he called them, for he assured me that some was twice as heavey. These measured 5 feet and 2 inches and weighed 33-1/2 lb., judge you the biggness of the owner.

"Upon the Interval land you have a long kind of Grass[80] which the Cattle in that country fatten themselves upon. I never in my life saw fatter beef than one I saw killed there, & the New England People vowed that the heiffers of the same breed that had a calf in Boston at 3 years old came in at 2 years at St. Johns, so much they improved in growth and Wantonness as they called it.

[80] This grass still grows naturally on the St. John River intervals, and is known to the farmers as "blue-joint."

"Their Hoggs and Sheep they keep on the Islands, which are overflowed generally when the River brakes up which is commonly about the middle of April. This overflowing leaves these Islands so rich that the Hoggs grow fatt by eating Ground nuts without any other food in summer (in our Grant we have some of these Islands) nor do they put up their Horses in the Winter, except those that work, tho' you may cut any quantity of Grass. Can I say more of the Soil, Trees, situation, &c.? Be assured it is all True."

"The fish is the next thing. This River abounds with all sorts of small fry, Trout, Salmon, Bass, Whitefish & Sturgeon. The Bass is ketcht in Wiers just under the Point below the Fort, so that good voyages may be made in that branch; all the expence is in making the Wiers, and as to Sturgeon they are more remarkably plenty than any place upon the Continent, and if there was persons that understood pickling them it would be a very profitable undertaking and fetches ready money in London."

The Glasier letters (which have just been printed in the Collections of the N. B. Hist. Society) show that before Beamsley Glasier left Montreal, as the accredited agent of the St. John's River Society, there had been a good deal of discussion about the location of the townships it was desired to procure and settle. It was ultimately decided that this matter should be left to the discretion of Captain Glasier after he had made a personal examination of certain localities and obtained reliable information respecting the ungranted lands in Nova Scotia. Glasier wrote from Halifax on the 15th December, 1764, to Captain Thos. Falconer and the Society's committee at Montreal, informing them of his selection of the valley of the River St. John as by all odds the most desirable situation. He says:

"When I compare this place to any other we ever thought of I am surprised it had not been fixed on before I came away. The island of St. Johns (or Prince Edward Island) is not good land, besides being so far to the northward it is too exposed if a war should happen, as is all up the Gut of Canso, Bay Challeurs, etc. Besides the whole of that part of the country, as well as all the coast to the head Cape Sable and up the Bay of Fundy, is bound with fog almost three months in the year. In this River you have none above the falls, nor have you Musquitos here in any sort of comparison to any other part of this country. Besides you are so near the settled parts of New England that you may sail with a good wind to Boston in 30 hours, or if you have a mind to coast along shore you may harbour every 4 or 5 Leagues all the way to Boston and that all winter. I think we are very happy not to settle on the Lake where we proposed, for if we had anything to send to market it would take more time and be a greater risk to get it out of the River St. Lawrence than to go from here to Europe."

On the 1st March following Capt. Glasier addressed a letter to John Fenton of Boston informing the members of the Society in that quarter of the success of his subsequent proceedings. He apologizes for the tardiness of his communication by saying, "I have put off writing, as the world puts off Repentence till the last moment." Glasier is very enthusiastic as to the outlook.

"The interval lands on the St. John," he says, "are wonderful, not a stone and black mold 6 feet deep, no underwood, large tall Trees all hardwood; you may drive a Coach through the Trees, we can cut what Grass we please and we may improve the land immediately; in short I can't describe it to you. * * * * I hope we shall be able to begin something this summer, there is the D—l and all of people applying for lands in this province. There is now settled 50 families just above us, all Yankys[81]; they are not very good Farmers you know but they raised fine grain last year."

[81] The reference is to the settlement made at Maugerville two or three years before, which at this time seems to have been called the Township of Peabody, in honor of Captain Francis Peabody.

In the choice of the St. John river valley as the best situation for the townships that were to be laid out and settled, Beamsley Glasier seems to have been guided very largely by the advice of Charles Morris, the surveyor general of Nova Scotia, and his son Charles Morris, junior. The younger Morris had a personal interest in the Society and Capt. Glasier writes of him:

"Mr. Morris's son is one of our Proprietors and is to go with me in April to survey the whole tract I have asked for. He is Deputy to his Father and very clever, as you'll have occasion to know hereafter. We propose setting out from Halifax about the beginning of April and take a survey of Port O'Bear[82] on our way to St. Johns. I imagine the whole will take us a great deal of time as we shall go up all the small rivers. I have engaged a little schooner for the purpose. As places for our Mills and good Timber, oak as well as pine, is a great object, and as Mr. Morris is a Conesieur in the Goodness of Lands, if we don't fix upon convenient spots to answer all our purposes it will be our faults."

[82] Probably Port Le Bear (or Hebert) near Shelburne on the southern coast of Nova Scotia.

The task of surveying and exploring proved of greater magnitude than Glasier had anticipated, and at the end of the summer the Surveyor General of Nova Scotia and his son had only been able to make a general sketch of the river and townships, not an accurate survey, and Glasier expressed the opinion that it would be a work of two years at least before the River would be thoroughly known. Just how much time was spent in the work of exploration and survey we do not know, but the younger Morris spent three months in the summer of 1766 surveying the townships of Gage and Sunbury, and in addition to this he says: "The Surveyor General and myself expended more than a Hundred Pounds Sterling of our own Money in surveying the River last year."

Captain Glasier was very desirous of obtaining the best lands on the river and he states frankly, in one of his letters, "what we want is the good lands only, or as small a quantity of the bad as is possible." He was not ready to make definite application for lands, therefore, until he had ascertained the whereabouts of all lakes, ponds, sunken and bad lands, etc., in order to avoid paying quit rents to the crown for that which was not improvable.

Meanwhile trouble was brewing at Halifax, and it was only by the good offices of Governor Wilmot, Charles Morris, sr., and other members of the Council that the St. John River Society was saved from disaster. We get an idea of the threatened danger in a letter of Hon. Michael Francklin to Captain Glasier of July 22, 1765, in which great concern is expressed that Glasier had not yet made his choice of the lands he desired. "You cannot conceive how the Government is embarrassed," writes Francklin, "by the daily applications that are made. We have no less than three agents from Pennsylvania who are put off on your account. * * * My dear Sir be thoroughly persuaded that no set of people will have the preference to your Gentlemen in anything that can be done for them, but pray do reflect and consider the Government here and our situation, how disagreeable it is to lock up a whole River, sufficient for fifty Townships, and people applying every day that we are obliged to put off until you are served. Consider what a risque the Government runs of losing a number of valuable settlers. I beg of you, on my own account and as one who has the welfare and prosperity of the Province at heart, that you will by some means or other make your choice as soon as possible and transmit it to the Governor."

Captain Glasier comments on this in a letter to Nathaniel Rogers of Boston. "Some of the Council are wanting to establish those companies belonging to Philadelphia who are waiting at Halifax, as you'll see by the inclosed letter from one of them to me. I see through the whole, the Governor[83] keeps them off till I return."

[83] Captain Glasier seems to have been on excellent terms with Gov'r Wilmot. On 1st March, 1755, he wrote to Capt. Fenton of Boston, "I have received great civility from all sorts of people here in Halifax. I have made your compliments to the Gov'r and he has desired his to you; poor D——l has had the Gout all winter, which seems to be the General Distemper in this place amongst people of Rank."

By the advice of Governor Wilmot the society filled up the number of their Proprietors to sixty and at once began to make preparations for the settlement of the lands promised, and which were granted in the month of October, 1765. Glasier advised the establishment of a magazine of stores at Fort Frederick, also the sending of horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, with any settlers they could procure, as soon as possible. He adds, "As young strong Fellows might be hired in Canada for 120 livres a year, 20 of them might be hired and sent here next spring; the Canada horses are much the best for this country * * * The men you hire will be able to hew or cut timber for your houses, clear the land where you have the Town, provide a covering for the cattle, and cut hay, raise potatoes for your hogs—there is a Spanish potatoe in this country that yields so much that a boy of 12 years old will raise as many as will keep 20 hogs, they are made use of for that purpose throughout all New England. * * The Iron for Saw Mills I think should be bought in Canada as that Iron is so good. Any French that have taken the oath of allegiance may become your settlers."

An assessment of L30 was now ordered to be made on each member of the Society to meet necessary expenses. The Rev. Dr. Ogilvie of New York was chosen as Treasurer. Richard Barlow, late a sergeant in the 44th regiment, was appointed store keeper at St. John. Capt. Falconer, who sent him from Montreal, described him as "a steady man used to business of that nature, who proposes to be a settler, has a family and some money to enable him to begin tolerably well." Barlow was to receive 12 shillings N. Y. currency pr. week and "oneration of provisions," also 200 acres of land and a town lot. He was directed to proceed from Montreal to Boston and there take upon him the care of the tools, utensils, materials and stores of all kinds and embark with them for the River St. Johns in Nova Scotia.

A large assortment of materials, stores, tools and other articles were purchased by Nathaniel Rogers in Boston, including mill geer, carpenter's tools, farming implements, also three yoke of oxen and tackling necessary for drawing logs, etc. These were shipped to St. John in the schooner "Lucy," James Dickey, master, "consigned to Richard Barlow storekeeper at St. John's and passenger on board for the use of the St. John's society."

Capt. Glasier's expectation was that a majority of the settlers of the township might be expected from New England. He says, "There is a number of Families from N. England come this summer (1765) on a presumption that there was sufficient land to be had, as one Peabody and his associates had settled themselves the same way about four years ago and had a great struggle to get their Grant this year after all their improvements. These people want to become our settlers, but it is not possible for me to settle them for I can't tell them, 'fix your selves on such a spott and it shall be yours;' no, the lands must be lay'd out in proper form, lots No. 1, 2, 3, &c., and drawn for. The people are waiting for my answer, as I have told them there will be lands for them when we can come into a proper method. They have all got stock and all materials to carry on farming and will want no help from us."

The difficulties experienced by Capt. Francis Peabody and his associates in securing their lands at Maugerville have been referred to already—see page 154—but further light is thrown upon the matter in the appendix to this Chapter, in which will be found the memorial of the Maugerville people to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, together with a letter addressed to Joshua Mauger by Charles Morris and Henry Newton, who had been sent to the River St. John by the Governor of Nova Scotia to investigate the situation.

An important meeting of the members of the St. John's River Society and their representatives was held at New York on the 3d of June, 1766, when it was decided that steps should be taken as soon as possible for dividing the lands belonging to the society; that a surveyor should be employed to lay out the town either at Grimross or some other place more convenient or proper for the purpose; that a grist and saw mill should be immediately built on "Nishwack creek"; that Captain Glasier should agree with proper persons to build the mills, lay out the town, survey the lots for division and take possession in due form of all grants (including the island called Perkins Island, in the Bay of Passamaquoddy) in,the name of the Society. It was further decided that as a sum of money was required for the expenses of surveying and dividing the lands into lots, building the mills, etc., that the second year's subscription money should be paid on or before the 24th of August.

Two sites were regarded with favor for the town, Grimross and St. Ann's Point. Both places had been originally cleared and settled by the French. Glasier states in one of his letters: "At Grimross there is timber and lime, which the French had prepared to build a church; there is cleared land three miles in length, an old settlement where our Principal Town must be built, if we can't have St. Anns Point, which is the finest spot on the River for our purpose. There are many difficulties to surmount, which you will know hereafter; there is but one good stream on all the River fit to erect Mills upon, which I have got for us, and, between ourselves, have been obliged to pop them between two other grants (by the assistance of Mr. Morris). There is about 100 Families in the Township of Peabody, they have not one mill of any kind, nor can there be; they have been obliged to bring all from New England. These mills must be our first object; we shall be able to furnish our neighbors with Lumber as well as ourselves. I have arranged for the Timber and all other materials to be prepared and inclose you Mr. Simonds estimate of the cost. * * * Mr. Simonds is perfectly acquainted with the business of Saw-mills and knows every minivar [manoeuvre] belonging to them. I think we are lucky in having him on the spot to manage so material a part of our establishment. These Mills properly managed will pay for themselves at least four times a year, besides we can't carry on our Settlement without them."

James Simonds' estimate of the cost of the mills will be found in the letter which follows. It was probably considerably under the mark for people are usually optimistic in such things:—

"Passamaquoddy, August 20th, 1765.

"Sir,—Agreeable to your desire I have made the nearest calculation I could of the cost of two mills and dam on Nashwog River, and am of opinion that two hundred pounds currency will complete them. The first cost is very great, which will be mostly for the dam, yet as the stream is sufficient for an addition of three or four mills on the same dam, it will be cheaper in the end than to build the same number of mills and a dam to each on small brooks that will be almost dry near half the year.

"I must advise you Sir to have your Iron work made of the best Iron, as breaches in any part of mills is of fatal consequence to the profit of them. I have sent the dimensions of the cranks, knowing it to be the practice in New England to make them so small as to retard the business of sawing, besides frequently breaking—the breaking of one may be a greater damage than the cost of two. I have described them something large, but think you had better exceed the size than fall short of it.

"The best workmen will be the cheapest as the whole depends on the effectual laying the foundation of the dam, etc. I make no doubt but when the mills are completed they will saw at least 5 M boards pr. day.

"I am Sir, your most obedient servant,

"JAMES SIMONDS."

It may be noticed, in passing, that Mr. Simonds writes from Passamaquoddy. The headquarters of the trade and fishery there was at Indian Island, or as it was sometimes called, Perkins Island. Mr. Simonds and Wm. Hazen were members of the St. John's River Society and it would appear from Capt. Glasier's letter to Nathaniel Rogers of 10th Nov'r., 1765, that the Society had ambitious designs with regard to this locality. "Our Fishery at Passamaquoddy," writes Glasier, "is an object worth our attention; it is the best in the province. A Block-house will be built there next spring and I can get a party from the Fort sand some small cannon which will secure the Fishermen against any insult from the Indians. This spot is more valuable than you can imagine. I was promised by some of the principal Fishermen belonging to New Hampshire if I got a grant of this Island they would came to the number of 100 families with all their crafts, etc., and become our settlers at Saint Johns, and if we get Grand Manan[84] it will give us a chain of Harbours all the way to Mount Desert, which will be all we want."

[84] In another part of his letter Glasier says, "Capt. Falconer, who is on the spot, is desired to petition the Lords of Trade for this Island." Capt. Falconer intended to have gone to the River St. John to assist in the management of affairs there, but this plan was upset by his being ordered with his regiment to Ireland.

The avidity manifested by the agent of the St. John's River Society in seeking favors at the hands of government would seems to countenance the idea, suggested in the preceding chapter of this history,[85] that when he memoralized the government of Nova Scotia for a grant of "the Point or Neck of land bearing three quarters of a mile from Fort Frederick, with 60 acres of land adjoining to it, for the making and curing Fish," he had in view the valuable peninsula on the east side of the harbor of St. John, on which the principal part of the city now stands; but further investigation shows that this is not the case and that the point of land meant was the neck adjoining the fort, on the Carleton side of the harbor.[86]

[85] See page 208, ante.

[86] Speaking of the fishery in St. John harbor, Captain Glasier writes, under date December 15, 1764, "The Bass is ketcht in Weirs just under the Point below the Fort," that is on the Carleton side of the harbor, and in the next sentence he goes on to identify this point or neck of land with that adjoining Fort Frederick. "The Cod Fish," he says, "strikes in here a month sooner than at Cape Sable shore & goes off a month sooner; you ketch the Fish a league within the mouth of the Harbour and quite up to the Island [Navy Island] near the Point of Land I have asked for."

We have ample testimony as to Beamsley Glasier's zeal and energy as director of the affairs of the St. John's River Society. Charles Morris, junior, says of him, "Capt. Glasier has done everything that was possible for any man to do, and more than any one else in his situation would have done to serve the Society," adding that he had not been properly supported, and if he had retired "there would have ended the Grand Settlement of St. John's River, for as soon as he had left it, in all probability the Indians (who have been made to believe our Dam will destroy their Fishery) would have burnt and destroyed all that has been done this summer at the Mills, and before we could build other mills and get things in so good a way again the lands would be forfeited, for there will be a court of Escheats held and all the lands that have been granted in this province that are not settled and improved agreeable to the express condition of the Grant will absolutely be declared forfeited." "But," he continues, "I can't imagine the Society will suffer theirs to be forfeited, for I am well convinced that less than L30 sterling from each proprietor will build all the mills, divide all the lands and pay every expense that has attended the settlement from first to last; and each proprietor will then have 7,000 acres of good land laid out into lots, mills built and everything ready and convenient to carry on and make a fine settlement of it."

Glasier rarely complained of the difficulties with which he was confronted, but on one occasion be admits "I am in a very disagreeable situation and am heartily tired of it, and was it not for ingaging in the Mills, would curse and quit the whole business. I have not been well treated; to agents for all the Philadelphia and other Companys have been genteely appointed and every expence paid with honor. What I have done by myself has been ten times more than they all together and the expence not the fifth part in proportion."

Whilst engaged in his work on the River St. John, Glasier was obliged to make occasional trips to Boston, taking passage usually in the vessels of Hazen, Simonds and White. The excitement produced in New England by the operation of the obnoxious Stamp Act gave him some concern. He writes in November, 1765, "I have some things to settle with the Governor & Council next time they sit, that prevents my going to Boston by this vessel, but I shall go the next time she sails, if you Boston people don't burn her, which I should be very sorry should happen as she carrys no stamps. My heart bleeds for my Country, what will be the end of all this?"

Two projects especially claimed Glasier's attention in the summer of 1766: The first the founding of a town, the second the building of his saw-mill. "I propose," he says, "to lay out the Town at Grimross in 80 squares, in addition to public squares; then they are to be numbered and drawn for by some person on the spot in the form of lottery tickets, which I shall have sent to the proprietors so that we may fix as many families as can be had this Summer on the Town lots. * * I must have young Mr. Morris from Halifax to survey and lay out the Town, as nothing can be done at Grimross before he arrives."

In connection with the erection of the Nashwaak mills Capt. Glasier acknowledges his obligation to Hazen & Jarvis of Newburyport. He says: "They have procured me men to build the mills and stores of all kinds for the workmen." The mill geer came this season, but on the 25th October Glasier writes, "The mills won't be finished this fall, it is such a work it was not possible to get through with it. * * * * My time has been divided between the Mills and the Surveying. I am condemned to tarry here this winter and can know nothing of what is doing in the world."

On the 2nd February following, he writes Mr. Nath'l Rogers of Boston, "We are now employed in getting logs to the mills. I hope we shall get them going early in the summer. They will begin to pay something of the expense before the fall. It's impossible for me to tell you in a letter the expenses of the different branches of business which I am obliged to carry on to complete the whole. It is not only building mills, surveying, etc., but clearing up the land, building houses, making roads, hiring oxen (for we have not half enough of them) and in fine so much I shall never pretend to write it. James Simonds, Esq., who is the Bearer of this, will be able to inform you much better than I can. * * * I am determined to finish what I have undertaken and then quit it. I am not in the best situation in the world, as I believe you'll think when I tell you I am not only shut out from all society and know nothing of what is carrying on in the world, but my stores are all expended, nor is there one thing to be bought here, pray send me last year's magazines and some English newspapers as well as the Boston ones. * * * I should be glad if you'd send the oxen, they may be not old nor of the largest kind but good to draw. I pay half a dollar a day for each yoak I hire so that they'll almost pay for themselves in one year in work. Those that we have here have worked more than one hundred days since I came, so that if we had been obliged to have hired them at the rate I pay others it would amount to a large sum. Twelve is the least that can be employed always at the mills hauling logs, as they will cut 8,000 feet a day, I am told, when they are finished. * * * * I told you I would not write you a long letter, as there is nothing I hate so much; it's the D——l to have ten thousand things to say."

Beamsley Glasier's connection with the St. John river was now drawing to a close. In the summer of 1767 he went to New York where we find him engaged, in company with the Rev. Dr. Ogilvie, in collecting the second annual subscription from the members of the society. The military gentlemen proved very dilatory in paying their subscriptions. Whether Capt. Glazier became disheartened at the outlook, or whether he received peremptory orders to rejoin the Royal American Regiment is uncertain. But about the end of August, 1767, James Porteous, representing the Montreal committee, wrote to Nathaniel Rogers: "We are now informed Capt. Glazier is at New York on his way to join his Regiment, it therefore becomes necessary to appoint another person to transact the Society's business, for which purpose we have appointed Mr. James Simonds, one of the Proprietors, agent with whom you will please correspond on any occurrence regarding the settlement."

Messrs. Hazen & Jarvis, as well as their partners at St. John, manifested great interest in the attempts of the Society to settle their townships. Many details are mentioned in their letters, such as those contained in the following to James Simonds. These details may appear of little importance, yet everything that throws light upon the methods employed in peopling a new country ought to have an interest for after generations. In explanation of the subject matter of the letter below it should be mentioned that Philip John Livingston and others of the more energetic proprietors of the townships were sending settlers, from New York, and other places to the River St. John.

Newburyport, Octo. 8th, 1767.

"We wrote you last Sunday by a sloop that came in here from New York for some cattle, sheep and hogs. She took on board the cows; the hogs and sheep go by this vessel. There is ten families [of settlers], each of which was to have 1 cow, 1 sow, and 6 sheep, but as they thought it necessary to have one of the hogs a boar, and it was impossible to procure all the creatures of an equal goodness, we must beg you will assist them (if they need it) in the division of them. There was put on board this sloop 90 bushels of ears of corn, 60 of which is on the Company's account and 30 for these families' hogs, so that what may be more than 60 bushels upon their arrival with you, please to deliver with the hogs. The freight of these hogs and sheep we shall charge here.

Mr. White is arrived with our Wm. Hazen and writes you by this vessel. We suppose he will tell you that we think it will not be best to build a vessel with you this winter.

We have sent all we could procure of your memo. by this, vessel—the remainder will come by Mr. White who will sail the last of next week. You will observe there are seven hogsheads of rye and Indian corn wanting of the number in the invoices. These we took out to get ground and you shall have them when Mr. White goes.

Please to get as much lime as possible on board Capt. Newman, as we have agreed with him to land it in Portsmouth, you will therefore please to consign him to Mess. John & Temple Knight in that place.

There are 100 sheep on board the sloop which cost upon an average about 6s. 10d. a head. Now as the ten families who came from Now York were to have 60 ewe sheep (and as they chose a ram or two in the number) you will please to deliver them their number out of the old sheep which we shall charge at seven shillings per head. There is a very likely ram on board (without horns) which we bought of Capt. White for the Company. This you will take care of.

Since writing the above we have been getting the sheep on board and find several very old, which please to take for the Company's use, and we will get an abatement made by the person whom we bought them of and who has deceived us in them.

Please to dispatch Newman as soon as possible as he has been detained here longer than he ought to have been. What will be wanting to fill up Newman besides the lime please to make up in lumber.

We would recommend it to you not to tarry till Mr. White's arrival with you before you go up the River.

Mr. Pickard and Mr. Hartt will give you an account of what freight they have on board which you will receive of them at the customary rate.

We are Sir, Your sincere Friends and devoted hum, Serv's.

HAZEN & JARVIS.

To Jas. Simonds, Esq'r.

Philip John Livingston, who has been mentioned as a promoter of the settlement of the townships, was a member of a distinguished and wealthy New York family. His mother was Catherine de Peyster and his wife a daughter of Samuel Bayard. His brother, John W. Livingston, and his wife's brother, Abraham de Peyster, were both captains in Col. Edmund Fanning's King's American Regiment during the Revolutionary war. Philip John Livingston was himself high sheriff of Dutchess County, Now York, and during the Revolution held several important positions under British authority in the City of New York. His father, brothers and sons were all Loyalists.

About the close of the year 1767 Col. Glasier wrote from New York, seemingly in excellent spirits at the prospect of speedy settlement of the lands. "He informs us," writes Leonard Jarvis, "that one hundred families will go down next year to settle on the St. John river—that a vessel from Ireland will arrive there this fall—that Mr. Livingston, a gentleman of fortune, has purchased three shares, and that the Patent is daily getting into fewer hands. This gives us encouragement to think that some time hence our interest in your River will be valuable."

Among the proprietors of the townships who labored to effect their settlement and improvement was Richard Shorne, a native of Ireland, with whom were associated the Rev. Curryl Smith of Alminsta, West Meath, Ireland, and his sons John and Robert Smith of the city of Dublin. Mr. Shorne took up his residence at the River St. John in 1767 and lived there for several years. He was on July 8, 1768, returned a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for Sunbury county, his colleague being Phinehas Nevers of Maugerville. He seems to have made his headquarters at or near St. Anne's Point, where supplies were sent to him from Newburyport by Hazen & Jarvis.

Simonds & White informed their partners at Newburyport in a letter dated June 22, 1768, that they had been obliged to make considerable advances out of their stores to some settlers that Mr. Livingston had sent to the St. John river. Livingston it seems found fault with certain items charged to him in the accounts and this led to a rather indignant remonstrance on the part of Simonds & White. They wrote, "We are surprised that he should mention anything as to the sums not being due, when not only that but near as much more has been advanced to save the lives of the wretched crew he sent. We have ever found that the doing business for others is an office the most unthankful, and equally unprofitable." In the same letter mention is made of the arrival of Richard Shorne at St. John, with some families from New York, to settle his own and other lands for which he was agent. It appears that James Simonds introduced Richard Shorne to his friends at Newburyport for in one of his letters he writes: "Mr. Shorne, the bearer of this, is a Proprietor in our Lands and has left Ireland with an intention of settling a number of Rights on this river and for that purpose is invested with power from his friends to draw on them for any sum that may be necessary. I must beg your kind assistance and advice on his behalf as he does not appear to be much acquainted with the settlement of Lands."

Still another extract—this time from a letter of Philip J. Livingston to James Simonds, will throw additional light upon the story of the townships.

"New York, September 12, 1769.

Sir, * * *

I intreated the favour of you last year to procure two families for Sir Charles Dabers, who purchased the Right of James Allen, No. 18, in Sunbury Township, and desired Peter Carr might be fixed in that Township. If Sir Charles's families will accept of the same quantity of land as Captain Spry's and Mr. Morris's have done, I should be glad the lots were laid out in the same manner for them. I have only to add with respect to Sir Charles's two families that you will be pleased to furnish them with such provisions as may be necessary for their subsistence and draw for the amount. As to my families Hendrick and Baker, and West—who I am desired to attend to and who I am informed talk of prosecuting me—be pleased to furnish the ungrateful fellows, if they mend their manners, in such manner as best consists with strict frugality—for the large sums I have expended in the purchase of my several Rights and in prosecuting schemes of settlement (together with the sums I have been under the necessity of advancing to the Society, and still must advance to discharge a protested will of Glaziers, in this extreme scarcity of current specie) makes such an order prudential.

I hope you have taken the cattle from Brooks, or received the worth of them for me and be pleased to inform me particularly of the state of the families. You no doubt will hear from Halifax of our petitioning the Government to confirm our division of lands and therefore shall say nothing about it but refer you to Capt. Spry and Mr. Morris.

As soon as the committee of Montreal will be pleased to furnish us with cash we shall write to you about finishing the Mills: till then nothing need be said about it. I should however be glad to know what sum you think would put the Mills in working order. I intend, and it is my fixed resolve to be on St. John's River as soon as the weather will permit in the Spring, which will be about the 1st of May. If Mr. Ogilvie should not send you an order to furnish James Marrington with provisions—who was to settle General Burton's Right—I think it advisable to take that family for Sir Charles Dabers, as General Burton is dead, and the family without credit can't subsist.

I am, Sir, Your Much Obliged And Very Humble Servant,

PHILIP J. LIVINGSTON.

We may be pretty certain,that the complaints of the settlers mentioned by Livingston were not entirely unreasonable. They had not anticipated the hardships before them and were ill prepared to grapple with them. Probably the attractions of the River St. John had been represented in an exaggerated form, a circumstance not unknown in the case of promoters of colonization of a more recent date than that we are at present considering.

Peter Carr and Thomas Masterson, two of Livingston's tenants, settled on the west side of the river opposite Musquash Island; both seem to have proved good settlers. John Hendrick, one of Livingston's "ungrateful fellows," was also a valuable settler; he was the father of five sons and Major Studholme commended him in 1783 as "a good subject, an old soldier and a very deserving man." Henry West, another of Livingston's settlers, is also commended by Major Studholme as an exceedingly good subject.

Notwithstanding the efforts of individuals, the progress made by the Saint John's River Society in the settling of their townships was unsatisfactory, and about this time Hazen & Jarvis expressed their conviction that half of the proprietors would not settle their lands at all; they therefore desired Simonds & White to take such measures as would secure their own Rights in Sunbury and New-Town as well as those of Moses Hazen and Governor Thomas Hutchinson—that of the latter having been lately purchased for Mr. Jarvis. Simonds & White seem to have agreed with their partners as to the improbability of settling the townships, for in July, 1770, they write: "The Society's Lands will be forfeited if not settled this year. We think it best to engage as many families, and fix them in Conway, as will secure our whole interest on the River, if they can be had." This advice was based on the opinion of the authorities at Halifax that settling the required number of families in one township would quite as effectively protect the interests of the grantees as if they were dispersed over the several tracts.

APPENDIX.

Halifax, 5th August, 1763.

Sir,—We beg leave to trouble you with a memorial of a number of officers and disbanded soldiers, who came from New England, and are settled on St. John's River. We were sent to them lately as a Committee of Council, by order of the Lieut.-Governor, to inform them that they could have no Grant of the Lands they were upon, and that they must remove therefrom, as these Lands were reserved by His Majesty for disbanded Troops. However, we are very apprehensive that their case must by some means or other have been misrepresented to the Lords of Trade, or not clearly understood.

They are chiefly American soldiers, officers or privates; they have sold their Farms in New England, and have transported themselves at their own expense; they have brought considerable stock with them, and their Families, and if it is the intention of the Ministry to settle disbanded Troops on that River, we are of Opinion these people will be of use and service, as it cannot be expected that English Soldiers can bring any great stock with them. The removing these people now they are settled, will be their utter ruin, the particular circumstances of which they have set forth in their Memorial to the Lords of Trade, which we beg the favor of you to present to them, and are with great Respect,

Sir, your most obedient and very Humble Servts.,

Chas. Morris, Henry Newton.

Joshua Mauger, Esqr.

MEMORIAL.

To the Right Honourable and Honourable the Lords of Commissioners of Trade and Plantations:

The Memorial of Francis Peabody, John Carlton, Jacob Barker, Nicholas West and Israel Perley, late officers in the American service and now Disbanded, In behalf of themselves and others disbanded from the said service and now settled at St. John's River in Nova Scotia, Humbly Sheweth:—

That your Memorialists, previous to their entering into his Majesty's Service, among other Encouragements were induced thereto by a Proclamation of his late Majesty promising that at the Expiration of the service they should be entitled to a Grant of Lands in any of his Majesty's colonies for them to Settle upon. That they have many of them been in Service during this Present war, and as Americans are not intitled to half pay, as his Majesty's British Troops are, and therefore expected no other Recompense than a Donation of Land agreeable to his late Majesty's Promise to them.

That having been sollicited to settle in Nova Scotia, by Colonel McNutt, who appeared to us to be authorized by your Lordships, having produced to us an Instrument Signed by your Lordships and under seal promising a Right of Land to each Settler equal to those already Granted to Horton, Cornwallis and Falmouth, we were induced to come into the colony of Nova Scotia, and accordingly sent a Committee of us to view Lands proper for a Settlement. That our Committee accordingly viewed several Tracts of Lands in Nova Scotia at our Expense and advised us to settle upon St. John's River about seventy miles from the Mouth in one of the Extreme parts and Frontiers of Nova Scotia, that we therefore applyed to the Governor and Council of Nova Scotia for a Grant of the Lands, not doubting of having the same confirmed to us, as they had Granted several Townships in this Province of Nova Scotia to other New England Proprietors who had not been in the Service. That the Governour and Councill of Nova Scotia gave your Memorialists encouragement, by telling your Memorialists that the Lands about St. John's River were reserved by your Lordships for disbanded Troops and that they would refer your Memorialists' Petition to your Lordships.

In confidence of this, and being ourselves Soldiers, we apprehended we might with great safety prepare ourselves for settling the Lands we Petitioned for, and accordingly sold our Estates in New England, and have at near a Thousand Pounds Sterling expence Transported ourselves, Families and Stock, and are now Settled to the number of one Hundred persons, on St. John's River seventy miles from the Mouth; and a large number of disbanded officers and soldiers in confidence of the same Encouragement have now sold all their Possessions in New England and are hiring Vessels to Transport themselves and Settle among us.

We were not a little astonished when we were informed by his Majesty's Governor and Council here that we could not have a Grant of the Lands we have settled ourselves upon.

We therefore humbly apply to your Lordships to Lay our Cause before his most Gracious Majesty for whose service we have often exposed our lives in America, that he would be pleased to direct the Governor and Council here to Grant us these Lands, we are now settled upon, as the Removal therefrom would prove our utter Ruin and Destruction. We have been at no expence to the crown and intend to be at none, and are settled two hundred miles from any other English Settlement.

And your Memorialists as in duty bound shall ever pray.

Recd. & Read Decr. 16, 1763.



CHAPTER XXI.

THE FIRM OF HAZEN, JARVIS, SIMONDS & WHITE.

The circumstances under which James Simonds, William Hazen and their associates organized the first trading company at St. John have been already related. Their business contract was signed on the 1st of March, 1764. In the course of a year or two the character of the original company was essentially altered by the death of Richard Simonds, the retirement of Samuel Blodget and Richard Peaslie and the admission of Leonard Jarvis as a new partner. Questions had also arisen as to the rights of the several partners in the lands granted in 1765 to James Simonds, James White and Richard Simonds. In order to settle these questions a new business contract was signed at Newburyport, on the 16th April, 1767, by James Simonds, Leonard Jarvis and William Hazen. The original contract is yet in existence amongst the papers of the Hazen family. It is in the handwriting of Leonard Jarvis and is a well worn document which bears marks of having been repeatedly handled. This is not to be wondered at for this contract proved a veritable storm-centre in the litigation that ensued relative to the division of the lands between the partners. The legal proceedings assumed various phases and occupied the attention of the courts for a period of twenty years.[87]

[87] The second contract, or Articles of Partnership, entered into by William Hazen, Leonard Jarvis, James Simonds and James White is printed in Collections of the N. B. Hist. Soc., Vol. I. p. 191. It is entered also in the book of records of the old County of Sunbury. The original document bears the following certificate, "Registered by me March 9th, 1782, Ja. Simonds, Dep'y Reg'r."

Under the new contract Hazen and Jarvis were to have a half interest in the business, James Simonds one-third and James White one-sixth, and all the lands on the River St. John that had been granted to any or either of the partners (Mr. Simonds' lot in Maugerville excepted) were to be put into the common stock and divided in the following proportions, namely, one-half to Hazen and Jarvis, one-third to Simonds and one-sixth to White. The same division was to be made of any lands that should thereafter be obtained by the members of the company, either individually or collectively, during the continuance of the partnership.

Mr. Simonds sailed from St. John for Newburyport in the schooner Eunice on the 4th March, 1767, but owing to head winds he was twenty days in arriving at his destination. He submitted to Hazen and Jarvis the accounts of the business at St. John for the three years of the company's operations and then repaired to Haverhill, about fourteen miles distant, to visit his relations. On his return he was accompanied by his sister Sarah and by his young bride, Hannah Peabody, who were about to settle with him at St. John. On his arrival at the store of Hazen and Jarvis, the new contract was presented to him for his signature. The proposition relative to the division of lands led to "a warm altercation and dispute." Hazen and Jarvis positively declined to continue in the business or to furnish supplies unless they were allowed an interest in the lands. They stated further that the goods on board the schooner Eunice should not leave Newburyport, nor would they furnish anything for the spring trade but insist upon immediate payment of the balance due them unless Mr. Simonds should execute the contract. Much as he disliked the proposal the situation of Mr. Simonds did not admit of delay. He was anxious to settle his family at St. John, his workmen and tenants needed his supervision and the Indian trade for the season would be lost unless the goods on board the Eunice were delivered as speedily as possible. Under these circumstances he deemed it best to sign the contract. Hazen & Jarvis claimed the company were at this time indebted to them in the sum of L3,135, but in the subsequent proceedings in the court of chancery this was disputed by Mr. Simonds and the statements of the parties interested are so much at variance that it is difficult to determine the exact truth in the matter.

James White declined to sign the new contract stating:

"That having one-fourth part of the duties, trouble and services to undergo and perform in transacting the business of the Copartnership, yet he was by the said Contract entitled to one-sixth part only of the lands to be divided under the contract. But that, although he disliked as aforesaid his having no greater share than one-sixth part in the Concern, he nevertheless joined with James Simonds in carrying on the business in full confidence that some equitable allowance would be made him for his services over and above his proportion of the said profits and lands."

On the occasion of James Simonds' visit to Halifax early in 1764 he obtained a license to occupy ten acres of land at Portland Point for carrying on the fishery and burning limestone, but it was not until the 2nd October, 1765, that a grant was made to him, in conjunction with his brother Richard, and James White, described as follows:

"Beginning at a point of upland opposite to his (Simonds') House and running East till it meets with a little Cove or River; thence bounded by said Cove till it comes to a Red Head on the east side of the Cove—thence running North eleven degrees fifteen minutes west till it meets Canebekssis river, thence bounded by said river, the river St. John and harbour till it comes to the first mentioned boundary."

The bounds of this tract are shown in the accompanying plan. It was supposed to contain 2,000 acres "more or less," but in reality it contained upwards of 5,000 acres. Elias Hardy in 1785 claimed that the grant must have originated in misrepresentation, either in the application or survey, otherwise the quantity could not have been so much mistaken. To this Ward Chipman replied that the land had never been actually surveyed, but making allowance for lakes, sunken and broken ground, etc., it was supposed not to contain much if any more than the number of acres mentioned in the grant. The grant was made in accordance with the return of the surveyor describing its boundaries and expressing them to be "with allowance for bad lands, containing in the whole by estimation 2,000 acres more or less." Chipman adds, "no misrepresentation can well be supposed to have taken place at the time of passing this Grant when the lands upon the river St. Johns were considered as of very little value and there could be no inducement to such a step."

However, in view of the fact that when surveyed the grant was found to contain 5,496 acres, it must be admitted that the allowance for "bad lands" was tolerably liberal, and the grantees were fortunate to escape without the loss of at least half of their property. The line running from Mr. Simonds' house eastward to Courtenay Bay is that now followed by Union street. It will be observed that the peninsula south of this street which now contains the business part of the city of St. John, and which was laid out for the Loyalists in 1783 as Parr-town, was not included in the grant. The primary object of the grantees was evidently to obtain possession of the limestone quarries and the big marsh, and they probably deemed the land south of Union street to be hardly worth the quit rents.



The first grant at the mouth of the River St. John included only a small part of the great marsh—then called by the Indians, Sebaskastaggan—and a further tract in that locality was applied for by James Simonds in a memorial to the government of Nova Scotia. The memorial stated that James and Richard Simonds and James White had obtained a grant of 2,000 acres of mountainous and broken land at the mouth of the River Saint John in the year 1765, which had been improved by building houses, a saw mill and lime kiln, and the company had settled upwards of thirty people on it who were engaged in carrying on those two branches of business, but that the wood and timber so necessary for them was all consumed, therefore praying that 2,000 acres additional to the eastward of the said tract might be granted to the said James Simonds.

It can scarcely be believed that all the wood from the harbor of St. John to the Kennebeccasis had been consumed in the five years of the company's operations at Portland Point. But probably the lumber in the vicinity of the saw-mill and the wood most convenient to the lime kilns had been cut and this was sufficient to afford a pretext for another grant. Mr. Simonds' memorial was considered by the Governor in Council December 18, 1769, and approved. The grant did not issue till May 1, 1770. The bounds are thus described:

"Beginning at a Red Head in a little Bay or cove to the eastward of the Harbor at the mouth of Saint John's River described in a former grant to James Simonds in the year 1765, being the south eastern bound of the said grant, thence to run north 75 degrees east 170 chains, thence north 15 degrees west 160 chains or until it meets the river Kennebeccasis, and from thence to run westerly until it meets the north eastern bound of the former grant."

The boundaries of the second grant may be readily traced on the plan. Like the former grant it included a good deal more than the 2,000 acres it was supposed to contain, and in this case, too, the grant escaped curtailment. The grant was in the name of James Simonds, but the other partners relied upon the clause in their business contract as a sufficient guarantee of their interests.

It must be admitted that as the first adventurers to settle in an exposed and at times perilous situation the first grantees of the lands at the mouth of the River St. John were entitled to special consideration. James Simonds had to make repeated visits to Halifax in connection with the business at St. John and these visits were sometimes attended with risk as will be seen from the following extract of one of his earliest letters.

Halifax, Oct'r 1st, 1764.

"Last night arrived here after four days passage from St. John's—the first 24 hours were at sea in a severe storm, the second passed a place called the Masquerades where there was seas and whirlpools enough to have foundered the largest ships—we were providentially saved with the loss of all our cable and anchor endeavoring to ride at anchor till the tide slacked, but in vain. It was unlucky for us that we happened to fall in with that tremendous place in the strength of flood tide in the highest spring tide that has been this year. Gentlemen here say it is presumptuous to attempt to return the same way at this season in an open boat; but as the boat and men are at Pisiquit (Windsor), and I have no other way to get to St. John in season for my business this fall, shall get our business done here as soon as may be and return the same way I came. The plea of the above difficulty will have a greater weight than any other to have business finished here immediately. This morning I waited on the Governor, Secretary and all officers concerned in granting license, etc., who assure me that my request shall be granted directly so that I hope to be on my way to St. John's tomorrow."

We cannot but admire the courage and enterprise of a man who after so fatiguing and perilous a journey, was ready, on the second day after his arrival in Halifax, to remount his horse and travel forty-odd miles over a very rough road to Windsor to face again the perils of the Bay of Fundy in an open boat at a stormy season.

The establishment of Fort Frederick on the west side of the Harbor of St. John, by Brig. General Monckton, in the fall of the year 1759, contributed not a little to the advantage of the first settlers. The Indians were disposed to be troublesome to the English, and the presence of the garrison rendered their situation less lonely and added very greatly to their sense of security. Not only so, but the garrison brought quite an amount of business to the store of Simonds & White. In the old accounts of the year 1764 are to be found the names of Lieut. Gilfred Studholme of the 40th Regt., Lieut. John Marr and Commissary Henry Green. Captain Pierce Butler, of the 29th Regt., was in command at Fort Frederick the following year and his name also appears in the accounts. For a year or two after the fort was established the garrison was furnished by the provincial troops of Massachusetts, afterwards by detachments of British regiments under various commanders. In addition to the trade with the officers and soldiers, Simonds & White furnished wood and other supplies to the garrison, and doubtless it was not the least satisfactory incident in this connection that the pay-master was "John Bull." The Indians were unreliable customers and bad debts were not infrequent, the white settlers on the river had but little money and their pay was chiefly in shingles, staves, spars, clapboards, musquash and beaver skins; John Bull paid cash.

About three years after the arrival of Simonds and White at St. John their trade with the garrison was interrupted by the removal of the troops to Boston in consequence of some riots in connection with the enforcement of the Stamp Act. Mr. Simonds speaks of this circumstance in a letter dated July 25, 1768, in which he writes: "The troops are withdrawn from all the outposts in the Province and sent to Boston to quell the mob. The charge of Fort Frederick is committed to me, which I accepted to prevent another person being appointed who would be a trader. I don't know but I must reside in the Garrison, but the privilege of the fisheries on that side of the River and the use of the King's boats will be more than an equivalent for the inconvenience." The defenceless condition of the port of St. John brought disaster to the settlers there some years later, but of this we shall hear more by and by.

The names of most of the heads of families settled at Maugerville appear in the earlier account books of Simonds & White, and later we have those of the settlers at Gagetown, Burton and St. Anns. In the course of time branches of the company's business seem to have been established at convenient centres up the river, and their account books contain the invoices of goods shipped to Peter Carr, who lived just below Gagetown, to Jabez Nevers of Maugerville, and to Benjamin Atherton at St. Ann's Point. The goods appear to have been sold on commission and returns were made chiefly in lumber, furs and produce. The invoices of goods shipped to Hazen & Jarvis at Newburyport by Simonds & White included pine boards, shingles, clapboards, cedar posts, spars and cordwood, besides some 50,000 white and red oak staves, most of these articles having been taken in trade with the settlers on the river. Messrs. Hazen & Jarvis carried on quite an extensive trade with the West Indies where, in consequence of the manufacture of rum and molasses, there was a large demand for hogshead and barrel staves, these were obtainable in considerable quantities on the River St. John, and the terms at which they were purchased may be seen in the following agreement:—

"St. Johns River, Nov'r. 10th, 1772.

"It is agreed between Simonds & White on the one part and Joseph Garrison & William Saunders on the other, that the said Garrison & Saunders make and lay at the bank of the said River, at convenient place to load on board a vessel, five thousand of White Oak barrel staves and the same number of White Oak hogshead staves, the hogshead staves to be well shaved and both to be merchantable according to the laws of Massachusetts Bay, for which the said Simonds & White are to pay, for Barrel Staves twenty-five shillings for each thousand and for the Hogshead forty shillings; the said staves to be ready by the 20th day of April next and at farthest to be received by the 20th day of June.

"To the performance of the above agreement each of the parties hereby bind themselves to each other in the sum of Twenty pounds currency, to be paid in default of fulfilment of either party. "Witness our hands,

JOSEPH GARRISON, WM. SAUNDERS, SIMONDS & WHITE."

Joseph Garrison it may be observed was the grandfather of William Lloyd Garrison, the celebrated advocate of the abolition of slavery. He was one of the original grantees of Maugerville, and drew lot No. 4, opposite Middle Island in Upper Sheffield. He was on the River St. John as early at least as July, 1764, and is said to have been the first of the English speaking race to work the coal mines at Grand Lake. Another early miner was Edmund Price of Gagetown, who in the year 1775 delivered nine chaldrons of coal, to Simonds & White for which they allowed him 20 shillings per chaldron.

Nearly all the settlers on the river obtained their goods from the old trading company at Portland Point, and for their accommodation the little schooner "Polly" made frequent trips to Maugerville and St. Anns. Inspection of the old accounts shows that on the occasion of a trip up the river in May, 1773, goods were sold to thirty families at various points along the way. In November, 1775, goods were sold in like manner to more than forty families. At that time there were to be found in the company's day book the names of 120 customers, nearly all of them heads of families. Of these, 25 were residents at Portland Point, 20 lived across the harbor in Conway, 45 belonged to Maugerville, 20 to other townships up the river and ten were casual visitors, fishermen and traders.

The partners amidst all their variety of business continued to make improvements upon their lands at St. John. They cleared up the Great Marsh and cut hay there, for in June, 1768, Mr. Simonds writes to Newburyport, "Please send half a dozen Salem scythes; Haskel's tools are entirely out of credit here; it would be a sufficient excuse for a hired man to do but half a day's work in a day if he was furnished with an axe or scythe of that stamp." The next year plans were discussed for the general improvement of the marsh, and a number of indigent Acadians were employed to assist in the construction of a "Running Dike" and aboideau. These Acadians probably lived at French Village, near the Kennebecasis, and the fact that they had some experience in dykeing marsh lands shows that they were refugees from the Expulsion of 1755. The situation of the first dyke was not, as now, at the mouth of the Marsh Creek but at a place nearly opposite the gate of the cemetery, where the lake-like expansion of the Marsh begins. The work was completed in August, 1774, by the construction of an aboideau. Those employed in the work were the company's laborers, six or eight Acadians and a number of the Maugerville people—about twenty-five hands in all. William Hazen was at St. John that summer and he and James White gave their personal attendance, "not in overseeing the work only but in the active and laborious parts thereof," the company providing the implements, tools, carts, several teams of oxen, gundolas and other boats, materials and supplies of every kind including rum for the workmen. This dyke and aboideau served the purpose of shutting out the tide from about 600 acres of marsh land. Ten years later Hazen & White built a new aboideau a little above the first one which had fallen into disrepair. A much better one than either was built at the mouth of the creek in 1788 by James Simonds at a cost of L1,300. The House of Assembly voted L100 towards building a bridge at the place and Mr. Simonds agreed to erect a structure to serve the double purpose of a public bridge and aboideau. The width of the structure was 75 feet at the bottom and 25 feet at the top. Not long afterwards Mr. Simonds built here two tide saw-mills. These were not a profitable investment, and in 1812 one had fallen into total decay while the other was so much out of repair as to be of little benefit to its owner.

After the first Marsh Bridge had been in existence about twenty-five years there arose a controversy as to what proportion of the cost of repairs should be borne respectively by the province, the City of St. John and the proprietors of the marsh. This controversy has continued to crop up at regular intervals during the last century and the end is not yet.

When the Loyalists arrived in 1783 the dyked marsh lands produced about 400 tons of hay, but it was said that "if tilled and ditched they would produce much more." Today the marsh raises at least four times the quantity of hay named above.

After building the first running dyke in 1769, Hazen, Simonds and White continued to devote considerable attention to the task of reclaiming and improving the marsh. In order to have ready access a road was laid out running back of Fort Howe hill and along Mount Pleasant to the marsh. Not far from the present station at Coldbrook they built a house with hovels for cattle and put up fences and settled a family there. A few years later they built two more houses and settled two more families there, each with a stock of cattle. The first tenants on the marsh were Stephen Dow, Silas Parker and Jabez Salisbury. The houses built for their accommodation cost from L15 to L20 apiece. About this time or a little later a small grist mill was built at the outlet of Lily Lake.

One of the inducements that led James Simonds to fix upon the harbor of St. John as a place of settlement was the abundance and excellent quality of the limestone there and its convenience for shipment. The license of occupation given under the hand of Governor Montagu Wilmot on the 8th of February, 1764, was in the terms following:

"License is hereby granted to James Simonds to occupy a tract or point on the north side of St. John's River, opposite Fort Frederick, for carrying on a fishery and for burning limestone, the said tract or point containing by estimation ten acres." Soon after the formation of the trading company in the course of the same year, the manufacture of lime became an object of consideration. Some reference has been made already in these chapters to the progress of the industry.

The company had four lime kilns, the situation of which will be best understood by reference to modern land marks. One was at the base of Fort Howe hill at the head of Portland street, a second near the site of St. Luke's church, a third near the present suspension bridge, and a fourth on the road leading to the old "Indian House." The work of quarrying and burning limestone was carried on in a very primitive fashion by the laborers of the company. In the winter a number of them were employed in quarrying the stone and hauling it with oxen to the kilns. The wood needed for burning grew almost at the spot where it was wanted, and its cutting served to clear the land as well as to provide the fuel necessary. In the course of ten years Simonds & White shipped to Newburyport and Boston more than 3,500 hogsheads of lime for which they received four dollars per cask; they also sent lime to Halifax, Cornwallis and other places in Nova Scotia. The facilities for manufacturing in those days were very inadequate, the men lacked experience, casks were hard to get, and for a time the lack of a wharf and warehouse caused much delay in the shipment.

And now a word as to the present condition of the lime industry at St. John. It cannot be questioned that the splendid quality of the limestone, its vast abundance, its convenient situation for shipment and the abundance and cheapness of the fuel needed, clearly prove that the manufacture of lime is destined yet to become an important industry in this community. Fifteen years ago the industry was rapidly developing, when the McKinley tariff and the Dingley bill completely excluded the St. John manufacturers from the United States market which passed into the hands of their rivals of Rockland, Maine. It is, however, only a question of time when there will be a removal of the prohibitive tariff in the interests of United States consumers, and this will be hastened as the deposits of limestone at Rockland are exhausted. This circumstance, together with the increasing demands of the Canadian market, will cause the manufacture of lime at St. John to become eventually an industry as great as that of shipbuilding in its palmiest days.

About the year 1888 the prospects of the St. John lime burners seemed particularly bright. Extensive operations were being carried on at Randolph, Robertson's Point, South Bay, Glencoe, Adelaide Road, Brookville and Drury's Cove. Probably at least 400 men were employed and a dozen draw kilns and twenty square kilns were in operation. In order to show the prospective development of that which in the time of Simonds & White was an infantile industry, it may be stated that the capacity of the draw kiln is from 70 to 100 barrels of lime every twenty-four hours, while that of the square kiln is about 400 barrels per week. The draw kiln is more expensive in construction than the other, but its capacity is greater, and it is not necessary to extinguish the fire, the lime being drawn out as it is burned and fresh stone put in. At several of the lime kilns at the Narrows, above Indiantown, the facilities are unrivalled. The stone is quarried from the cliff a few rods from the kiln, dumped in at the top by cart or wheelbarrow, drawn out at the bottom at the water's level and loaded on scows. The wood for the kiln grows on the surrounding hillsides or may be obtained from the saw-mills in the vicinity at nominal cost. At the time the manufacture of lime was interfered with by the McKinley bill, the following persons were actively concerned in the development of the industry: Hornbrook and Wm. Lawlor & Son at Brookville, Jewett & Co. at Drury's Cove, Isaac Stevens and A. L. Bonnell at South Bay, Frank Armstrong and J. & F. Armstrong at the Narrows, Hayford & Stetson at Glencoe above Indiantown, Charles Miller at Robertson's Point, Randolph & Baker at Randolph, W. D. Morrow and Purdy & Green on the Adelaide Road.

It is impossible with the data on hand to form any proper estimate of the quantity of lime manufactured by these firms, but it may be stated that in the year 1887, Hayford & Stetson alone expected to burn 50,000 barrels in their draw kilns at Indiantown and 30,000 barrels in their square kilns. In the work of quarrying the use of the steam drill was then being introduced. Perhaps there is no better way of contrasting modern methods with the methods of those who first embarked in the industry one hundred and forty years ago, and at the same time showing the difficulties with which the pioneers had to contend, than by giving extracts from James Simonds letters to Hazen & Jarvis.

St. John's River, 27th May, 1765.

Gentlemen:—I Rec'd yours of 3d. of April the 1st inst., and of the 18th on the 9th inst. [The letters came by the schooner "Polly" and the schooner "Wilmot."] The schr. Polly was dispatched immediately fishing: she is now near loaded. I am sorry the same dispatch could not be made with the schr. Wilmot. A cargo of Lime could not be prepared before hand for want of Oxen to draw wood. Have had bad luck in burning the Lime, the wood being wet, as the snow was but just off the ground. One-third of the kiln is not burnt. * * * If you can get freight to this place, we believe it will be best to keep the schooner [Wilmot] constantly running between here and Newburyport. If the Lime answers well can burn any quantity whatever. The want of Hhds. is the greatest difficulty, the want of a house to cover it the next.

"I doubt not of your making the greatest dispatch in all business relating to this concern, and wish I could make you sensible of the disadvantages we are under to do the same. I thank you for the willingness you express to relieve me and that you think there is any difficulty to go through in these parts. You may depend upon it that no pains will be spared in this quarter to make the Concern advantageous. * * * I shall be extremely glad to wait upon Mr. Hazen when the schooner returns.

"Have been obliged to credit the inhabitants up the River to the amount of a considerable sum, which is to be paid part in furs and part in lumber (the lumber is not brought down). The Officers and Soldiers supplies and wooding the garrison is to be paid by a draft on the pay-master at Halifax. * * * Since the lime is all put in hogsheads I find there is near seventy (empty) hogsheads remains. They chiefly want one head each—twenty or thirty more will be sufficient for another kiln. If you send the Schr. directly back, boards must be sent for heads, and should think it would be best to send 100 refuse shook hogsheads for a third kiln with boards for heads and hoops, as they cannot be had here, also 5 M. boards to cover a frame that is now decaying and will serve for a Lime House and Barn. Have borrowed 12 C. boards of Mr. Green (of the garrison). Shall have a kiln ready to set fire to in three weeks after the Schr. sails. Dispatch in shipping lime can never be made without a Lime house to have it ready when any vessel arrives. * * *

In Great haste, I am, Gentlemen, Yr. Most Obedient & Humble Servt, JAS. SIMONDS.

To Messrs. Hazen & Jarvis.

In the year 1769 the company built a wharf and warehouse at Portland Point. Their work was often interfered with by the nature of the season, the winters then, as now, being exceedingly variable. Mr. Simonds writes, under date March 6, 1769:—

"Have had but little snow this winter, but few days that the ground has been covered. Have got to the water side a large quantity of wood and wharf logs; about 300 Hogshead Lime Stone to the Kiln, and should have had much more if there had been snow. Our men have been so froze and wounded that we have not had more than three men's constant labour to do this and sled sixty loads of hay from the marsh, saw boards for casks, look after cattle and draw firewood. Shall continue drawing or draging wood and stone as long as the ground is frozen, and then cut the timber for a schooner and boat stone for a Lime Kiln, which with the wharf will take 400 tons."

The next winter was of a different sort, for Mr. Simonds writes on May 10, 1770, "This spring has been so backward that there has been no possibility of burning any lime. The piles of wood and stone are now frozen together." The next winter was extremely mild, and Mr. Simonds writes on February 18, 1771, "There has not been one day's sledding this winter, and the season is so far advanced there cannot be much more than enough to get the hay from the marsh; but shall haul logs to finish the wharf and for plank for Fish Cisterns if it can by any means be done."

The popular idea that the climate of this Province was much more severe in ancient than in modern days is not borne out by the correspondence of Simonds & White with Hazen & Jarvis. From it we learn that 140 years ago the navigation of the River St. John, as now, opened early in April, and that the river could be relied on as a winter route of communication to St. Anns "only between the first of January and the last of February and then many times difficult." In the extracts just quoted Mr. Simonds states that during the winter of 1769 there had been but few days that the ground was covered with snow, and two years later he says that up to the 18th of February there had not been a single day's sledding. This testimony does not at all accord with the popular idea of an old-fashioned winter. It is not likely that there have been any material changes in the climate of this region since the days of Champlain, and this conclusion is strengthened by the fact that the weather reports made to the Dominion government since the time of Confederation do not indicate any alteration in our climatic conditions during the last 35 years.

The first Business Contract under which William Hazen, James Simonds, James White and their associates engaged in business at the River St. John was signed on March 1st, 1764. The members of the company immediately proceeded to engage their workmen and a very interesting illustration of the way they set about it has been preserved in an old indenture dated 13th March, 1764, in which James Simonds, "trader," made agreement with one Edmund Black of Haverhill, "bricklayer," to pay the said Black L16. 16s. for eight months labor at brickmaking, fishing, burning lime, or any other common or ordinary work at Passamaquoddy, St. John, Annapolis Royal or any other part of Nova Scotia, in the Bay of Fundy. In addition to his pay, at the rate L2. 2s. per month, Mr. Simonds agreed to furnish Black with "suitable victuals and drink and lodging."

The exact date of the arrival of Simonds and White, and their party at St. John is put beyond doubt by the following memorandum in Mr. White's handwriting, found by the author among a collection of old papers: "Haverhill, New England, 1764. Set off for River St. John, Nova Scotia, 1st day of April—Arrived 16th April."

By the second business contract, entered into by William Hazen, Leonard Jarvis and James Simonds on the 16th April, 1767, it was provided that "all trade and business in Nova Scotia shall be done and transacted by James Simonds and James White and whatever business is to be transacted at Newbury-Port shall be transacted by William Hazen and Leonard Jarvis." The remittances of Simonds & White consisted for the most part of fish, furs, lime and lumber and were at first sent to Newburyport, but it was soon found to the advantage of the company that remittances should be made to Boston where Leonard Jarvis went to dispose of them and to forward supplies needed at St. John. This was the commencement of St. John's trade with Boston. There was no market for the Spring catch of Alewives (or Gasperaux) at Newburyport, so they were usually sent to Boston. Seven eighths of the furs and a large proportion of the lime and lumber were also sold in Boston.

As might reasonably be expected the first outlay of the company was comparatively large while the returns were small, but as time went on the remittances from St. John gradually increased and the outlay for supplies slightly diminished. During the earlier years of the partnership attention was given to deep water fishing, and large quantities of cod and pollock were taken in the Bay of Fundy and at Passamaquoddy, but this branch of business was eventually discontinued and greater attention paid to the shore fisheries in which weirs were used to good advantage. In the first seven years of their operations the Company sent 745 barrels of Gaspereaux to Boston, but in the next four years more than 3,000 barrels were shipped.

About the close of the year 1775 the Revolutionary war put an end to all trade with New England and the business of Hazen, Jarvis, Simonds & White as a company practically ceased. In the course of the dozen years of their operations, the goods and supplies received at St. John from Boston and Newburyport amounted in value to at least $100,000. The partners were not agreed as to the general results of the business; Mr. Simonds claimed that the receipts had more than repaid the outlay, while Hazen & Jarvis contended that no money had been made but that there had probably been a loss.

During the continuance of the business, 72 cargoes of goods and supplies were sent to St. John, an average of six cargoes per annum. The value of goods and outfit sent the first season amounted to L3,891. 16s. 0-1/2d. The value of goods and supplies furnished under the first business contract, which lasted only three years, was L6,850. 9s. 10d. Messrs. Blodget, Peaslie and Simonds, jr., then cease to be concerned in the business and the partners under the second contract were Hazen, Jarvis, Simonds and White.

As early as the second year of their operations at St. John, Hazen & Jarvis began to feel the large outlay they had made and wrote, under date May 23, 1766, to Simonds & White, "We must beg you will do all in your power to remit us largely this summer. By having such a stock with you we are much straitened for cash, and we are sometimes obliged to do our business to a disadvantage."

Not long afterwards Hazen & Jarvis were unfortunate in their mercantile transactions at Newburyport and this, together with the loss of some of their vessels, made it necessary for them to take special care of their interests at St. John, consequently after the signing of the second business contract William Hazen came frequently to St. John. Early in 1771 he determined to discontinue business altogether at Newburyport and remove to St. John with his family. James White says that it was the wish of both Mr. Simonds and himself that Mr. Hazen should settle near them, making choice of such situation as he might deem agreeable to his taste, but that as the partnership business was drawing to a close the house to be erected should be built with his own money. Mr. Hazen made his choice of situation and built his house accordingly.

In the evidence given in the law suit concerning the division of the lands obtained from time to time by the company, James Simonds states that so far as the business at St. John was concerned Mr. Hazen's presence was not needed since the business was conducted there by himself and James White when there was five times as much to be done. To this Mr. Hazen replies that Mr. Simonds' letter of July, 1770, speaks a different language,[88] and he quotes figures to show that while for the first four years after the signing of the second contract the value of the supplies sent to St. John was L8,053 and the remittances from St. John L7,650; leaving a deficit in the business of L403; during the next four years, when he (Hazen) spent a large part of his time at St. John, the cost of supplies was L6,803 and the remittances L8,245, showing a surplus of L1,442; a difference of L1,845 in favor of his being at St. John.

[88] This letter has unfortunately been lost.

When William Hazen decided to take up his residence at St. John in order more effectually to promote the interests of the company by superintending, in conjunction with Simonds and White the various operations that were being carried on there, his partner Leonard Jarvis removed to a place called Dartmouth, one hundred miles from Newburyport, leaving his investment in the business untouched so as not to embarrass the company at a critical time. The supplies required at St. John were now furnished by his brother, Samuel Gardiner Jarvis, of Boston.

As will presently appear, fortune did not smile upon the removal of William Hazen and his family from their comfortable home in Newburyport to the rugged hillsides of St. John. However, Mr. Hazen was a man of resolution and enterprise, and having once made up his mind in regard to a step of so much importance was not likely to be easily discouraged. He at once began to make preparations for the accommodation of his family by building a house of greater pretensions than any that had yet been erected at Portland Point.

The first known reference to the Hazen house is found in a letter dated Feb.'y 18th, 1771, in which James Simonds writes, "We shall cut Mr. Hazen's frame in some place near the water where it may be rafted at any time." The house was erected in July following by the company's carpenters and laborers. When nearly finished it was unfortunately destroyed by fire. A new house was begun the next year, which like the other was built at Mr. Hazen's expense by the company's carpenters and laborers.

As soon as the house was ready for occupation Mr. Hazen repaired to Newburyport to bring on his family, and in the month of May, 1775, they embarked in the Company's sloop Merrimack of 80 tons. Mr. Hazen's tribulations were by no means ended, for on the voyage the Merrimack was unluckily cast away on Fox Island and a good deal of her cargo, together with papers containing accounts of the Company's business, was lost. However, all the passengers were saved, as well as most of their valuables, and were brought to St. John in Captain Drinkwater's sloop. Drinkwater was obliged to throw overboard a load of cordwood to make room for the rescued passengers and crew and their possessions. For this he was of course remunerated by the Company. The Hazen family proved a great addition to the limited society of Portland Point. We learn from an enumeration of the inhabitants made this year that the Hazen household included 4 men, 3 women, 3 boys and 2 girls, 12 in all. Mr. Hazen's nephew, John, who subsequently removed to Oromocto, was one of the family at that time. With such a family to provide for the grocery bill at the Company's store grew rapidly. The first item charged to the account of the household after their arrival was 67 lbs. of moose meat at 1d. per lb.; and it is of interest to notice that beef was then quoted at 2d. per lb., or double the price of moose meat. It is altogether likely that with the Hazens moose steak was a much greater rarity on their arrival than it subsequently became, for at the time it was one of the staple articles of food and almost any settler who wanted fresh meat could obtain it by loading his musket and going to the woods.

[Illustration: OLD HAZEN HOUSE AND GROUNDS.

This illustration is taken from a water color sketch of St. John now in possession of Mrs. William Hazen. The original sketch was made by a member of the Hazen family more than eighty years ago. In the foreground appears the Hazen house, square and substantial, and nearly in line with and beyond it is the Chipman house, overlooking the valley; these two houses are the oldest now standing in the city. To the right of the Chipman house may be seen the Block-house, which formerly stood at the corner of King and Wentworth streets. Still further to the right is the old wind-mill tower, where the Dufferin Hotel now stands, and to the right of this is old Trinity Church before its first spire was destroyed by fire.]

The Hazen house still stands, considerably modernized it is true, at the corner of Simonds and Brook streets, having withstood the ravages of time and escaped the numerous conflagrations that have occurred in the vicinity for more than 130 years. The present foundation is new with the exception of the stone wall on Brook street which formed part of the original foundation. The roof formerly pitched four ways, running up to a peak in the centre. Some of the old studs, lately cut out to admit of the placing of new windows, were found to be merely spruce poles flattened on two sides with an axe; the boards too are roughly sawn. The sheathing of the house has all been renewed and an ell, which used to extend up Simonds street, has been taken down. The lower flat is at present used as a grocery, the upper flat as a hall. In olden times, and for many years, Mr. Hazen's garden and grounds extended to the water. His residence was by far the best and most substantial yet erected at Portland—indeed in early days it was considered quite a mansion. The exact date of its erection, curiously enough, has been preserved. An entry in the old day book in James White's handwriting reads thus:—

"Nov'r 17, 1773—Wm. Hazen Dr. To 4 Gall. W. I. Rum, 3 lb. Sugar, 3 Qts. N. E. Rum, Dinner, &c., &c., 25 shillings—for Raising his House!"

The entry shows that old time customs prevailed on the day of the "raising." It doubtless was quite a gala day in the settlement with everybody there to help and share in the refreshments provided.

The removal of William Hazen and his family from Newburyport to Saint John had been planned, as already stated, several years before it was carried into effect. It was not in any way influenced by the threatening war clouds which at that time hung low in the sky. Mr. Hazen's departure from Newburyport, however, was nearly coincident with the clash of arms at Lexington, and it was not long ere the events of the war between the old colonies and the mother country closed the ports of Massachusetts. This unfortunate circumstance interfered greatly with the business of Hazen, Simonds and White at St. John.

The retirement of Leonard Jarvis from the company necessitated a new business arrangement on the part of the remaining partners, and in May, 1773, a verbal agreement was made between Hazen, Simonds and White to carry on the fishery and trading in the proportions of a half interest to William Hazen a third to James Simonds, and a sixth to James White.

There is in one of the old account books an interesting memorandum in the handwriting of James Simonds, covering several pages, which shows that the company had then a large and varied assortment of goods on hand. The list bears the following heading: "Invoice of Goods removed from the Old to the New Store, July 21st, 1775." The "new store" was finished about the time of Mr. Hazen's arrival; it stood a little to the west of the first store built at the Point.

Among the buildings at Portland Point when the Hazen family arrived were the residences of the three partners, the Lime Store, the Salt Store—or Cooper's Shop, the Log Store, the New Store, a blacksmith shop, two or three small dwelling houses and one or two barns, besides a saw mill at the outlet of the mill pond, a grist mill at Lily Lake, and one or two hovels on the marsh. The English-speaking population settled around the shores of the harbor did not exceed one hundred and fifty souls. Our authority on this point is indisputable. Two documents are preserved amongst the archives at Halifax, one entitled "A Return of the State of the Settlement at the mouth of the Harbour of the River St. John the First day August, A. D. 1775"; the other, "A Return of the state of the Township of Conway on the western side of the Harbour and River St. John on First of August, 1775." The list of inhabitants given below is compiled from these returns and shows that the number of persons living on the opposite sides of the harbor was nearly equal, namely, on the east side seventy and on the west side seventy-two. The enumeration seems to have been made by James Simonds.

PORTLAND POINT.

Name of Master or Mistress of the Family. Men. Women. Boys. Girls. Total. James Simonds 4 1 4 3 12 James White 4 1 1 4 10 William Hazen 4 3 3 2 12 George DeBlois 1 1 1 .. 3 Robert Cram 1 1 1 7 10 Zebulon Rowe 1 1 .. 2 4 John Nason 1 1 2 3 7 John Mack 1 .. .. .. 1 Lemuel Cleveland 1 1 1 1 4 Christopher Blake 1 1 .. 2 4 Moses Greenough 1 1 1 .. 3 — — — — — 20 12 14 24 70