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The Chignecto Isthmus And Its First Settlers
by Howard Trueman
June, 1998 [Etext #1351]
The Project Gutenberg Etext of Chignecto Isthmus; First Settlers
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THE CHIGNECTO ISTHMUS AND ITS FIRST SETTLERS
BY HOWARD TRUEMAN
1902
PREFACE.
For some years past I, in common with many others, have felt that all letters of interest and accessible facts in connection with the early history of the Truemans should be collected and put in permanent form, not because there is anything of interest to the general public in the records of a family whose members have excelled, if at all, in private rather than in public life, but in order that the little knowledge there is of the early history of the family might not pass forever out of the reach of later generations with the death of those whose memory carries them back to the original settlers. In getting together material necessary for the work, numbers of interesting facts concerning other families came inevitably to light. In order to preserve these facts, and at the same time give the book a slightly wider interest, I decided to write a short history of those families connected by marriage with the first and second generations of Truemans, and also, as far as material was available, of the first settlers in the old township of Cumberland, which now includes the settlements of Fort Lawrence, Westmoreland Point, Point de Bute, Jolicure, Bay Road, Bay Verte, Upper Tidnish and Port Elgin. Finally, as a kind of setting for the whole, I have prefaced these records with a brief outline of the early history of the Isthmus.
That the work falls far below the ideal goes without saying. Anyone who has made the effort to collect facts of local history knows how difficult it is to get reliable information. In almost every case where there was a conflict of opinion I have endeavored to verify my facts by light thrown on them from different directions; but doubtless mistakes will be found. By keeping the work in preparation for a longer time, more matter of interest could certainly be added, and perhaps corrections made; but to this there is no end, as the discovery of every new item of interest reveals a whole series more to investigate.
To all who have given me assistance warmest thanks are tendered. To Dr. Ganong, of Northampton, Mass.; Judge Morse, Amherst; W. C. Milner, Sackville; and Dr. Steel of Amherst, grateful acknowledgment is especially due for their ready and cheerful help. To Murdoch's Nova Scotia, Hannay's Acadia and to Dixon's and Black's family histories I have also been indebted.
INTRODUCTION.
This book needs no introduction to the people of the Isthmus, whom it will most interest. I shall therefore attempt only to point out the plan the present work will take in the general history of Eastern Canada.
Mr. Trueman does not profess to have attempted a complete history of the Isthmus. The earlier periods, prior to the coming of the Yorkshiremen, are so replete with interest that a many times larger work than the present would be necessary for their full consideration, but Mr. Trueman has treated them with sufficient fulness to show the historical conditions of the country into which the Yorkshiremen came. It is the history of these Yorkshiremen and their descendants which Mr. Trueman treats so fully and authoritatively, and withal, from a local standpoint, so interestingly; and his work is the more valuable for the reason that hitherto but little has been published upon this subject. Some articles have appeared in local newspapers, and there are references to it in the provincial histories, but no attempt has hitherto been made to treat the subject as it deserves. Those of us who are interested in history from a more scientific standpoint will regret that the material, particularly of the earlier part of the Yorkshire immigration could not have been more documentary and less traditional, but that it is as here given is not Mr. Trueman's fault but a result of the nature of the case. It is not impossible, by the way, that such documents may yet be discovered, perhaps in
It does not seem to me that Mr. Trueman has exaggerated the part played by the Yorkshiremen and their descendants in our local history. While it is doubtless too much to say that their loyalty saved Nova Scotia (then including New Brunswick) to Great Britain by their steadfastness at the time of the Eddy incident in 1776, there can be no doubt that it contributed largely to that result and rendered easy the suppression of an uprising which would have given the authorities very great trouble had it succeeded. But there can be no question whatever as to the value to the Chignecto region, and hence to all this part of Canada, of this immigration of God-fearing, loyal, industrious, progressive Yorkshiremen. Although they and their descendants have not occupied the places in life of greatest prominence, they have been none the less useful citizens in contributing as they have to the solid foundations of the upbuilding of a great people.
It is of interest in this connection to note that Mr. Trueman's book, although preceded in Nova Scotia by several county histories, is for New Brunswick, with one or two exceptions (in Jack's "History of the City of St. John," and Lorimer's pamphlet, "History of the Passamaquiddy Islands") the first history of a limited portion of the Province to appear in book form, although valuable newspaper series on local history have been published. May it prove the leader of a long series of such local histories which, let us hope, will not cease to appear until every portion of these interesting Provinces has been adequately treated.
W. F. GANONG.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. The Chignecto Isthmus
CHAPTER II. The New England Immigration, 1755-1770
CHAPTER III. The Yorkshire Immigration
CHAPTER IV. The Eddy Rebellion
CHAPTER V. The First Churches of the Isthmus
CHAPTER VI. The Truemans
CHAPTER VII. Extracts from Journal and Letters
CHAPTER VIII. Prospect Farm
CHAPTER IX. Families Connected by Marriage with the Second Generation of Truemans
CHAPTER X. The First Settlers of Cumberland
CHAPTER I
THE CHIGNECTO ISTHMUS.
The discovery of America added nearly a third to the then known land surface of the earth, and opened up two of its richest continents. If such an extent of territory were thrown into the world's market to-day, the rapidity with which it would be exploited and explored, and its wealth made tributary to the world's requirements, would astonish, if they were here, the men who pioneered the settlement of the new country and left so royal a heritage to their descendants. To those who cross the Atlantic in the great ocean liners of our time, and think them none too safe, the fleet with which Sir Humphrey Gilbert crossed the sea to plant his colony in the new land must seem a frail protection indeed against the dangers of the western ocean.
Perhaps in no way can the progress made since the beginning of the nineteenth century be more forcibly brought before the mind than by comparing the immense iron steamships of the present day with the small wooden vessels with which commerce was carried on and battles were fought and won a hundred and fifty years ago.
The Isthmus of Chignecto separates the waters of the Bay of Fundy from those of Bay Verte, and constitutes the neck of land which saves Nova Scotia from being an island. It is seventeen miles between the two bays at the narrowest point, and considering the town of Amherst the south- eastern limit, and the village of Sackville the north-western, it may be put down as a little less than ten miles in width.
The southern slope is drained by four tidal rivers or creeks, namely, La Planche, Missiquash, Aulac and the Tantramar. These rivers empty into Cumberland Basin, and their general course is from north-east to south-west. In length they are from twelve to fifteen miles, and run through narrow valleys, the soil of which is made up largely from a rich sediment carried by the tide from the muddy waters of the basin. These valleys are separated from each other by ridges of high land ranging from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet above the sea level.
The Tidnish River, and several streams emptying into the Bay Verte, drain the Isthmus on its northern slope. The Missiquash and Tidnish rivers, each for some part of its course, form the boundary between the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The tides at the head of the Bay of Fundy rise to the height of sixty feet, or even higher, and are said to be the highest in the world. The mud deposit from the overflow of these tidal waters, laid down along the river valleys, is from one foot to eighty feet deep, varying as the soil beneath rises and falls.
Between Sackville and Amherst there is an area of some fifty thousand acres of these alluvial lands, reclaimed and unreclaimed. Some of this marsh has been cutting large crops of hay for one hundred and fifty years, and there is no evidence of diminished fertility, although no fertilizer has been used in that time; other sections have become exhausted and the tide has been allowed to overflow them. This treatment will restore them to their original fertility.
Cartier was the first of the early navigators to drop anchor in a New Brunswick harbor. This was in the summer of 1534, and the place was on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near the mouth of the Miramich River. This was on the 30th of June. Landing the next day and finding the country well wooded, he was delighted and spoke of it in glowing terms.
The first white men to visit the Isthmus with a view to trade and settlement came from Port Royal in the summer of 1612.
In 1670, Jacob Bourgeois, a resident of Port Royal, and a few other restless spirits, were the first to make a permanent settlement. These were followed by another contingent under the leadership of Pierre Arsenault.
In 1676, the King of France gave a large grant of territory in Acadia to a French nobleman, Michael Le Neuf, Sieur de La Valliere. This grant included all the Chignecto Isthmus. Tonge's Island, a small islet in the marsh near the mouth of the Missiquash River, is called Isle La Valliere on the old maps, and was probably occupied by La Valliere himself when he lived on the Isthmus.
From this date Chignecto began to take a prominent place in the history of Acadia, and continued for a hundred and fifty years to be one of the principal centres of influence under the rule both of France and Great Britain.
It was here that France made her last stand for the possession of Acadia. It was here that Jonathan Eddy, twenty years later, raised the standard of the revolted colonies, and made a gallant but unsuccessful effort to carry Nova Scotia over to the rebel cause.
From 1713 to 1750 was the most prosperous period of the French occupation. The population increased rapidly for those times. The market at Louisbourg furnished an outlet for the surplus produce of the soil. The wants of the people were
Bay Verte at this time was a place of considerable importance. The Abbe Le Loutre lived here a part of the time, and owned a store kept by an agent. The trade between Quebec and Louisbourg and the settlements on the Isthmus was carried on through the Port of Bay Verte, and from there the farmers of Chignecto shipped their cattle and farm products. The Acadians were quick to see the benefits that would arise from reclaiming the rich river valleys, and they drew their revenues chiefly from this land. They did not readily take to the cutting down of the forests and preparing the upland for growing crops; they were more at home with the dyking-spade than the axe. A description of their methods of dyking and constructing aboideaux, written in 1710, is interesting to those who are doing the same work now.
The writer of 1710 says: "They stopped the current of the sea by creating large dykes, which they called aboideaux. The method was to plant five or six large trees in the places where the sea enters the marshes, and between each row to lay down other trees lengthways on top of each other, and fill the vacant places with mud so well beaten down that the tide could not pass through it. In the middle they adjusted a flood-gate in such a way as to allow the water from the marsh to flow out at low water without permitting the water from the sea to flow in at high tide." The writer adds that the work was expensive, but the second year's crop repaid them for the outlay. This is more than can be said for present-day experience in the same kind of work.
The land reclaimed on the Aulac was confined principally to the upper portion of the river. The Abbe Le Loutre saw that the benefit would be great if this river were dammed near its mouth, and he was at work at a large aboideau, for which he had received money from France, when the fall of Beausejour forever put a stop to his enterprise.
Wheat seems to have grown very abundantly on the marsh when it was first dyked, judging from the census reports of those days and the traditions handed down.
The old French maps of 1750 and earlier show settlements at Beaubassin (Fort Lawrence), Pont a Buot (Point de Bute), Le Lac (Jolicure), We-He- Kauk (Westcock), We-He-Kauk-Chis (Little Westcock), Tantramar (Upper Sackville), Pre Du Bourge (Middle Sackville), We-He-Kage (Amherst Point) and Amherst or Upper Amherst, Vill-La-Butte, and La Planche. There were settlements also at Maccan, Nappan and Minudie. The statement that the village of Beaubassin, in 1750, contained a hundred and forty houses, and a population numbering a thousand, seems improbable under the circumstances.
Fort Lawrence, the site of old Beaubassin, contains to-day less than forty houses, and not more than three hundred inhabitants, yet more land is under cultivation now than in any previous time in its history. It is highly probable that the whole population on the south side of the Isthmus was reckoned as belonging to Beaubassin.
There is good reason for saying that the population of the district embraced in the parish of Westmoreland, excepting Port Elgin, was much larger from 1750 to 1755 than it has ever been since.
The Seigneur La Valliere was, no doubt, the most prominent man, politically, on the Isthmus during the French period. He was appointed commandant of Acadia in 1678, by Count Frontenac, and just missed being made governor. He was a man of broader views than most of his contemporaries. He encouraged trade, and was willing that others beside his own countrymen should reap the benefits if they were ready to pay the price. He anticipated the MODUS VIVENDI system now in force between this country and the United States in dealing with the fisheries, and instead of keeping a large fleet to patrol the coast and drive the English from the fishing ground, he charged them a license fee of five pistoles (about twenty-five dollars) for each vessel, thus giving them a free hand in the business.
La Valliere's farm was probably on the island marked on the old maps, "Isle La Valliere," and here he lived when not in other parts of the colony on public business. He had a son called Beaubassin, who was always ready to take a hand in any expedition that required courage and promised danger. In 1703, this Beaubassin was the leader of a party of French and Indians that attacked Casco and would have captured the place but for the timely arrival of a British man-of-war.
On the 11th April, 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed. This gave all Nova Scotia, or Acadia, comprehended within its ancient boundaries, as also the city of Port Royal, now called Annapolis Royal, to the Queen of Great Britain. The English claimed this to include all the territory east of a line drawn from north of the Kennebec River to Quebec, taking in all the south shore of the St. Lawrence, Gaspe, the Island of St. John, and Cape Breton. The French contended that Acadia only included the southern half of the present Province of Nova Scotia. Views so divergent held by the contracting parties to an agreement, could scarcely fail to produce irritation and ultimately result in war.
In 1740, the Abbe Le Loutre, Vicar-General of Acadia under the Bishop of Quebec, and missionary to the Micmacs, came to Acadia to take charge of his mission. It soon became apparent that the Rev. Father was more anxious to advance the power and prestige of the King of France than he was to minister to the spiritual elevation of the benighted Indians. The course pursued by the Abbe defeated the end he had in view. His aim was to make Acadia a French colony; but in reality he helped to make it the most loyal British territory in North America.
The successful raid of de Villiers, in the winter of 1747, convinced the English that so long as Chignecto was in possession of the French, and was used as a base of operations to defy the English Government, there could be no lasting peace or security for settlers of British blood. Taking this view of the matter, Governor Cornwallis determined to take measures to drive the French from the Isthmus. The unsettled state of the French population through the Province contributed to this decision.
In November, 1754, Governor Lawrence wrote to Shirley, at Boston, that he had reason to believe the French were contemplating aggressive measures at Chignecto, and he thought it was quite time an effort was made to drive them from the north side of the Bay of Fundy. Col. Monckton carried this letter to Governor Shirley. The governor entirely agreed with the suggestion it contained, and had already taken some steps to bring about so desirable an end to the troubles the Government was experiencing on the Isthmus.
The matter was kept as secret as possible, but efforts were immediately made to raise a force to capture Fort Beausejour, the new fort built by the French on the high ground overlooking Beaubassin, on the north-west side of the Missiquash. So successful were they in getting up the expedition that, on the 23rd of May, everything was ready and the force set sail from Boston.
The expedition numbered two thousand men, under the command of Lieut.- Col. Monckton, with Lieutenants Winslow and Scott under him. They called at Annapolis, and were joined there by three hundred regulars of Warburton's regiment, and got a small train of artillery. Fort Lawrence* was
[FOOTNOTE: *The fort at Fort Lawrence, was situate on the high land that separates the valleys of the Missiquash and La Planche rivers, a little less than two miles distant from Fort Beausejour. It was constructed in the month of September, 1750. Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence arrived at the Isthmus with a strong force, consisting of the 48th Regiment, and three hundred men of the 45th Regiment. "The Indians and some of the French were rash enough to oppose the landing of so formidable a body of troops, but they were driven off after a sharp skirmish, in which the English lost about twenty killed and wounded." A short distance from where they landed Colonel Lawrence erected a picketal fort with block-houses, which was named for himself. A garrison of six hundred men was maintained here until the fall of Beausejour. END OF FOOTNOTE]
Vergor, the French General in command at Beausejour, called on all the Acadians capable of bearing arms to come into the fort and assist in its defence. The Acadians, however, would not obey this order unless Vergor would make a refusal to comply punishable with death. This would given them an excuse with which to meet the English if the fort were taken.
On the 4th June, the English broke camp and marched north from Fort Lawrence, a distance of about two miles along the ridge of high land; then, entering the Missiquash valley, they crossed over to Pont a Buot, or Buot's Bridge, which spanned the Missiquash River. This bridge was near what is now Point de Bute Corner. Here the French had a blockhouse garrisoned with thirty men. There was also a breastwork of timber. This place was defended for an hour by the French, and then, setting fire to the little fort, they left the English to cross over without opposition. The victorious force camped that night on the Point de Bute side of the Missiquash River.
At this day it is difficult to account for the slight value the Acadian seemed to place upon his home. He appears to have been always ready to set it on fire at the least danger of its falling into the hands of the English. The sixty houses that stood between Buot's Bridge and Beausejour all went up in flame that night, fired by the French soldiers as they retired before the English.
From the 4th until the 13th of June the English were engaged in cutting roads, building bridges, transporting cannon, and getting these into position north of the fort, on the high ground, within shelling distance. During this time the French had been strengthening their defences and making other arrangements for withstanding a seige (sic). The Abbe Le Loutre ceased work on his "abateau" and set his men to assist at the fort.
Scouting parties from either camp met once or twice, and the Indians captured an English officer named Hay, who was passing from Fort Lawrence to the English camp. On the 13th the English threw a few shells into the fort, and continued to shell the place on the 14th, without much apparent result. On that day Vergor received tidings that no help could be sent from Louisbourg. This news was more disastrous to the French than the English shells. The Acadians lost all heart and began to slip away into the woods and the settlements to the northward.
The next day, the 15th, larger shells were thrown, some falling into the fort. One shell killed the English officer, Hay, who was a prisoner, and several French officers, while they were at breakfast. This decided the matter. Vergor sent an officer to Monckton asking for a suspension of hostilities. That afternoon the following terms of surrender were agreed upon:
"1st. The commandant, officers, staff and others employed for the King and garrison of Beausejour, shall go out with arms and baggage, drums beating. 2nd. The garrison shall be sent to Louisbourg at the expense of the King of Great Britain. 3rd. The Governor shall have provisions sufficient to last them until they get to Louisbourg. 4th. As to the Acadians, as they were forced to bear arms under pain of death, they shall be pardoned. 5th. The garrison shall not bear arms in America for the space of six months. 6th. The foregoing are granted on condition that the garrison shall surrender to the troops of Great Britain by 7 p.m. this afternoon. Signed, Robert Monckton. At the camp before Beausejour, 16th June, 1755."
As soon as the British were in possession at Beausejour, Monckton sent a detachment of three hundred men, under Col. Winslow, to demand the surrender of the fort at Bay Verte. Capt. Villeray accepted the same terms as Vergor, and on the 18th of June, 1755, the Isthmus passed for ever out of the possession of the King of France. A large amount of supplies was found in both forts.
Monckton changed the name of Fort Beausejour to Fort Cumberland, in honor of the Royal Duke who won the victory at Culloden, and as it was a much better fort than the one on the south side of the Missiquash, the troops were ordered to remain at Fort Cumberland.
This fort stands in a commanding position on the south-west summit of the high ridge of upland that separates the Missiquash from the Aulac valley. It was a fort of five bastions, with casemates, and was capable of accommodating eight hundred men. It mounted thirty guns. After it fell into the hands of the English it was great improved. A stone magazine (a part of which is still standing) was built outside the southern embankment. The moat was excavated to a much greater depth. Of late years the place has been shamefully neglected. On account of its historic associations many yearly visit the "Old Fort," and efforts have been made to enclose the grounds and make them more presentable.
The Acadians were still to be dealt with. Whether they should remain in the country and in the possession of their lands depended entirely on whether they would take the oath of allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain. This one condition accepted, they would be guaranteed all the privileges and immunities of British subjects. They refused, and the Expulsion followed. It was a hard and cruel measure, but they had had forty years of grace, and those who had thus long borne with them now decided their day of grace had ended.
One hundred and fifty years have since passed, but we find the Acadians are still here and are exercising an influence in Canada that is felt in all its Provinces. They are British subjects now, however, and while they have not lost their love for the country from which they sprang, nor for the flag for which their ancestors sacrificed so much, they are ready to stand by the Empire of Britain in war as well as in peace.
CHAPTER II
THE NEW ENGLAND IMMIGRATION 1755-1770.
The expulsion of 1755 left the population of old Acadia so depleted that the Governor and Council felt that something must be done at once to add to its numbers. The first move in this direction was to offer exceptional advantages to the New England soldiers, who constituted the largest part of the force at the taking of Beausejour, if they would remain in the country. Very few, however, accepted the offer, and as the unsettled state of the country between 1755 and 1760 was most unfavorable to immigration, but little progress was made till the next decade.
During these years wandering bands of Acadians and Indians harrassed (sic) the English, shooting and scalping whenever opportunity offered. At Bay Verte, in the spring of 1755, nine soldiers belonging to a party under Lieutenant Bowan, were shot and scalped while out getting wood for the fort. Colonel Scott, commandant at Cumberland, immediately sent two hundred of the New England men to Bay Verte with a sergeant and ten men of the regulars. The sergeant replaced the men who were killed,
In 1759, Governor Lawrence wrote from Halifax to the Board of Trade that "five soldiers had been killed and scalped near Fort Cumberland, and that a provision vessel had been boarded by French and Indians in the Bay of Fundy and carried up the River Petitcodiac." The five men were ambushed and killed in Upper Point de Bute, near a bridge that crossed a ravine on the farm now owned by Amos Trueman.
Up to this time the government of Nova Scotia was vested in a governor and council. This year, 1758, it was decided by the Home Government to allow the Province a Legislative Assembly. The Assembly was to consist of twenty-two members, twelve to be elected by the Province at large, four for the township of Halifax, four for the township of Lunenburg, one for Dartmouth, one for Lawrencetown, one for Annapolis, and one for Cumberland. Fifty qualified electors would constitute a township. The township elections were to continue during two days, and those for the Province four days.
The Assembly met for the first time on October 2nd, 1758. Nineteen members were present. This makes the Legislature of Halifax the oldest in the Dominion of Canada. This year, also, Governor Lawrence issued his first proclamation inviting the New Englanders to come to Nova Scotia and settle on the vacated Acadian farms.
This proclamation created a great deal of interest and inquiry, and finally led to a considerable number of New England farmers settling in different parts of the Province, Chignecto getting a good share of them. The first proclamation had, however, to be supplemented by a second, in which full liberty of conscience and the right to worship as they pleased was secured to Protestants of all denominations. This guarantee was not included in Lawrence's first invitation to the New Englanders, and the descendants of the Puritans had not read in vain the history of the sacrifices made by their forefathers to worship in their own way.
In July, 1759, Edward Mott, representing a committee of agents from Connecticut, arrived at Halifax and was given a schooner to proceed to Chignecto, to examine that part of the Province with a view to settlement. Mr. Mott and his party returned some months later and suggested some changes in the proposed grants, which were conceded by the Government.
It was estimated at this time that two thousand families could be comfortably settled in the districts of Chignecto, Cobequid, Pisquid, Minas and Annapolis. This year (1759) persons in Connecticut and Rhode Island sent Major Dennison, Jonathan Harris, James Otis, James Fuller, and John Hicks, to Halifax to look out for desirable locations for settlement in the Province. Messrs. Hicks and Fuller decided to take up lands at Pisquid or Windsor.
From this time till 1766 the desire shown by residents of New England to settle in Nova Scotia was very marked, and resulted in adding considerably to the population of the Province.
In May, 1761, Captain Dogget was directed to bring twenty families and sixty head of cattle. The cattle were to be brought from the eastern part of New England to Liverpool, N.S., at the expense of the Government. Thirty-five pounds also was granted to transport twenty families with seventy-nine head of cattle to the township of Amherst. In 1763, a number of families came to Sackville and were given grants of land by the Government. These Sackville emigrants were adherents of the Baptist Church and brought their minister with them. The denomination is still strong in that locality. A number of these emigrants, however, returned at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and others after the war was over.
The townships of Cumberland, Amherst, and Sackville were established in 1763. The township of Cumberland had an area of 100,800 acres. It included all the territory between the La Planche and Aulac Rivers, and extended east to Bay Verte and southwest to the Cumberland Basin. Old Beausejour, now Fort Cumberland, was within the township of Cumberland.
Amherst township is said to have had a population at this time of thirty families, and Cumberland of thirty-five families. The township of Cumberland of (sic) was given 18,800 acres of marsh, and Sackville had 1,200 cres of marsh and 8,700 acres of woodland.
In 1763, a number of the leading men in Cumberland met together and appointed a committee to draft a memorial to the Governor, asking the\ privilege of sending a representative to the Assembly at Halifax. The request was granted, and Joshua Winslow was chosen as the first representative of the township. Colonel Fry had previous to this time represented Cumberland in the Assembly, but he was not elected by the people. The following is the text of the memorial:
"To the Honourable Montague Wilmot, Esquire, Lieutenant-Governor and
Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Province of Nova Scotia, and
Colonel of one of His Majesty's regiments of foot, etc., etc., etc.
"The inhabitants of the town of Cumberland, in Nova Scotia, beg leave to congratulate Your Honour on your appointment by His Majesty to the chief command of this Province and in your safe arrival therein. Although remote from the Capital, and perhaps last in our addresses, yet we flatter ourselves not the least sincere in assuring Your Honour of the happiness we feel in finding ourselves under your government.
"It would give us particular satisfaction was it in your power to look upon ourselves in the same light with the other towns in the Province. But as we are yet destitute of that sanction which would put us on the same footing with our neighbours, we cannot help presuming upon the liberty of signifying to Your Honour our regret thereat, and praying that you will be pleased to permit the solution of our affairs to be laid before you, not doubting but upon a just representation thereof you will be pleased to think we are deserving in common with the other settlements of Your Honour's countenance and protection. We beg to rely on your goodness therein.
"By desire of the inhabitants,
"(Signers),
John Huston (Ch.). Elijah Ayer.
Wm. Allen Josiah Throop.
J. Winslow. Jos. Morse.
Abel Richardson.
"CUMBERLAND, Nov. 1st, 1763."
Although thirty-five families had settled in Cumberland at this time, and six hundred acres of land had been cleared of timber, the larger part of the land was still held by the Government. Application was therefore made in this year by the following persons for grants of land in Cumberland:
GRANTEES' NAMES
Joseph Morse. Joshua Winslow.
Elijah Ayer. Jesse Bent.
Josiah Throop. Gamaliel Smethurst.
John Huston. Sennacherib Martyn.
James Law. Abel Richardson.
Sara Jones. William Best, Sr.
Obediah Ayer. William Nesbit.
William How. Windser Eager.
Arch. Hinshelwood. Gideon Gardner.
Samuel Danks. Thomas Dickson.
Zebulon Roe. John King.
Henry King. Joshua Best.
Jonathan Cole. Elieu Gardner.
Alex. Huston. Simeon Charters.
Thomas Proctor. Brook Watson.
William Allan. Jonathan Gay.
Daniel Gooden. Martin Peck.
Ebenezer Storer. John Walker.
Benine Danks. Henry M. Bonnell.
John Allan. Amos Fuller.
Charles Oulton. Samuel Gay.
David —————. Assell Danks.
Daniel Earl. Isaac Danks.
Anthony Burk. Ebenezer —————.
John Fillmore. Robert Watson.
Samuel Raymond. William Welch.
John Collins. William Sutherland.
Thomas Clews. Nehemiah Ward.
Abel Richardson. Joseph Ayer.
Winkworth Allen. William Milburn.
Liffy Chappell. George Allen.
The Glebe. Jabez Chappell.
The School. The Presbyterian Minister
Col. Joseph Morse was a native of Delham, Mass., and took an active part in the Seven Years' War. He lost heavily in the expedition against Oswego. In crossing the Atlantic he was captured by the French, and obtained a good taste of the quality of French dungeons in which his health became shattered. He was exchanged, after which he visited London and received many marks of personal favor at the hands of George II, amongst these a pension, and tracts of land in Virginia and Nova Scotia. His last days were spent in Fort Lawrence, where he settled after the expulsion of the French. He left one son, Alpheus, and a daughter, Olive. The former married Theodora, a sister of Col. Jonathan Crane the father of Hon. Wm. Crane; the latter married Col. Wm. Eddy, of Revolutionary fame, who was afterwards killed in the British attack on Machais, and the Fort Lawrence property inherited by his wife was escheated to the Crown. After Alpheus Morse's death his widow married Major How, an officer in Eddy's command. Upon the failure of the rebellion, Mrs. How and Mrs. Eddy fled to the United States. Alpheus Morse's sons were Alpheus, James, Joseph, Silas, and John. The two first lived in Cumberland, where their descendants are still found. Judge Morse and Dr. Morse, of Amherst, are sons of James. Joseph emigrated to Ohio, where his descendants now live. Silas married a sister of Judge Alexander Stewart, C.B. Among his descendants are Sir Charles Tupper's family, Rev. Richards (sic) Simmonds' family, and Charles Fullerton, K.C. John Morse married a daughter of Sheriff Charles Chandler, the father of Lieutenant-Governor Chandler. Among his descendants are the family of the late Judge Morse of Dalhousie, and the C. Milner family of Sackville. A daughter of Alpheus Morse married Judge Stewart. Among his descendants are Judge Townsend of Halifax, and Senator Dickey's family of Amherst.
There were three Ayers—Elijah, Obediah and Joseph—who came with the emigration of 1763 and settled in Sackville. Obediah joined the Eddy rebels in 1776, and was made a commodore by the Continental Congress after he left Cumberland. The Ayers in Sackville are descendants of these grantees.
Josiah Throop was an engineer in the British army. He surveyed the township of Cumberland, and Throop's plan is still referred to. His grant was in Upper Point de Bute, where some of his descendants still live. He represented the township in the Halifax Assembly in 1765.
There were three Hustons—John, William and Alexander. They lived near
Fort Cumberland. The name occurs still in the county of Cumberland.
Joshua Winslow, as we have stated, was the first representative sent from Cumberland to the Legislature at Halifax, and was a member of the Winslow family, so distinguished in colonial history. He was engaged at Chignecto with Capt. Huston, in the commissary business. The latter in one of his trips to Boston picked up a waif in the person of Brook Watson, a young man who had had one of his legs bitten off by a shark in West-Indian waters. Watson was trained under Winslow, and the foundation of his success was hereby laid. General Joshua was Commissary-General of the British in Nova Scotia. He left Fort Cumberland in 1783. He was paymaster of the troops in Quebec in 1791 and died there ten years later. A grandson of his, a Mr. Trott, lives at Niagara Falls in a fine old colonial mansion full of treasures of the Colonial period, with many relics and personal effects of General Winslow.
The Bents were from New England. There were two brothers, John and Jesse. John settled in Amherst and Jesse in Fort Lawrence. There are a large number of their descendants in the country.
Gamaliel Smethurst represented the county of Cumberland at Halifax, in 1770. He returned to England and published a book in London, in 1774, describing a voyage from Nepisiquit to Cumberland. None of this name, so far as we know, now reside in the country.
Sennacherib Martyn was a captain in Winslow's expedition to capture Fort Beausejour. He brought with him to Westmoreland Point, as slaves, a negro family, to whom he afterwards gave their freedom, and gave them also his name (now spelled Martin). Captain Martyn married the widow Oulton and settled in Jolicure. He was godfather to George and Elizabeth, the children of Col. William Allan.
James Law was a commissary at the fort and a colonel of militia. He was a large property owner in Point de Bute on both sides of the ridge. Reverses of fortune came, and finally he died a parish charge.
Benoni Danks represented the county of Cumberland at the Halifax Assembly. Tradition says his death was caused by falling into the hold of a vessel. The Danks left the country about the year 1830.
Thomas Dickson was born in Dublin, and came to Connecticut when an infant. He married a Wethered.
The Kings were from New England. They settled in Fort Lawrence, and from there removed to different parts of the country.
Jonathan Cole lived on Cole's Island and gave his name to the place. He had two sons, Martin and Ebenezer, the former of whom settled at Rockport and the latter at Dorchester. The name is still in the county.
William Allan was a Scotchman who came to Halifax with the party that founded that place in 1749. He soon after came to Cumberland. John and Winkworth Allan were his sons. His grant was in Upper Point de Bute, where his son John lived when he was sheriff of Cumberland.
George Allan was a son of William Allan. He had a son George, and all the other Allans are the descendants of the first William. Winkworth Allan went back to England and became a rich merchant.
Brook Watson lived with his Uncle Huston for a time, and was employed by the Government to assist in the Expulsion. He afterwards left the country, going to London, where he was remarkably successful in business, and among other honors became Lord Mayor of the city.
Jonathan and Samuel Gay were brothers. Jonathan returned to New England, but Samuel remained in the country settling near the old Fort Beausejour. He was a very large man, measuring six feet six inches in height, and broad in proportion. Samuel was afterwards made a judge. It is said that Judge Gay's daughter Fanny was in Boston at the time of the sea duel between the SHANNON and the CHESAPEAKE, and was with the crowd that lined the shore awaiting the result. When the news came that the British had won, she threw up
Daniel Gooden was a soldier in the British army, and after his discharge settled in Bay Verte, where numbers of his descendants still live.
Charles Oulton remained in Cumberland, and a large number of his descendants are still living in the county of Westmoreland.
David Burnham remained, and a number of his descendants lived in Sackville and Bay Verte for a good many years. The name has now disappeared.
John Fillmore was from New England, and settled in Jolicure. He had a large family of sons and they settled in different parts of the Province. The name is still in frequent evidence.
The descendants of Samuel Raymond live in King's County.
The two Chappells, Liffy and Jabez, settled in Bay Verte and Tidnish.
The name is still common in these localities.
John Walker's grant was on Bay Verte Road, where the name was found until quite recently.
The Bonnells remained in the county for a time, but afterwards removed to King's County, where the name still exists.
Amos Fuller remained and the name is yet found in the county of
Cumberland.
The Watsons settled in Fort Lawrence and were very successful in business. The Eddy rebels, under Commodore Ayer, sacked Mr. Watson's premises one night and took the old gentleman prisoner, compelling him to carry a keg of rum to the vessel for the benefit of the sailors.
William Welch remained in the country, and his descendants are still here.
The Wards were from New England, and remained in the country. Nehemiah lived in Sackville and kept a tavern near the Four Corners.
Simeon Charters was from New England and remained in the country. The name is still in the Province.
The Abel Richardson family came from New England. The Yorkshire family of Richardson, whose descendants are still in Sackville, did not settle there until some years later.
The Bests were a New England family and the name is still in the country.
William Nesbit remained and the name is now found in Albert County.
Archibald Hinshelwood left the country.
The Roe name is still in Cumberland.
William How was probably son of the How that was shot by the Indians under a flag of truce.
None of the Proctor family now remain in the county.
There is no information about any of the following grantees: Gideon
Gardner, Sara Jones, Ebenezer Storer, Daniel Earl, Anthony Burk.
Windser Eager was from Dumfries, Scotland.
It is a matter of surprise that so many names to be found in the lists of a hundred years ago have so completely disappeared.
A large number of families who came from New England at this time settled on the St. John River. They called their settlement Maugerville. The name Sunbury was subsequently given to the whole of the Province west of Cumberland County.
The Hon. Charles Burpee, of Sheffield, writes me that there were about two hundred families who at this time found homes along the river. Some of their names were: Perley, Barker, Burpee, Stickney, Smith, Wasson, Bridges, Upton, Palmer, Coy, Estey, Estabrooks, Pickard, Hayward, Nevers, Hartt, Kenney, Coburn, Plummer, Sage, Whitney, Quinton, Moore, McKeen, Jewett.
Simonds and White came to St. John some three or four years before the others. The Rev. Mr. Noble was there before the Revolution, but he did not come with the first settlers.
Largely through the influence of the Loyalists, in 1784, the Province of New Brunswick was set off from Nova Scotia, and the Missiquash River made the boundary between the two Provinces. This division cut the old township of Cumberland into two halves. Those who conducted the business for New Brunswick wanted the line at La Planche, or further east, while the Nova Scotians wanted it at the Aulac or further west. They compromised on the Missiquash.* This division made some trouble in nomenclature and has puzzled a good many persons since that date. The part of the old township of Cumberland on the west of the Missiquash became the parish of Westmoreland, in the county of Westmoreland. Fort Cumberland was in this district, and between Fort Cumberland and the old township of Cumberland, and the still older county of Cumberland, which once embraced the present Westmoreland and Albert counties, and the present county of Cumberland in Nova Scotia, there was a good deal of confusion. A number of years passed before Cumberland Point came to be called Westmoreland Point.
[FOOTNOTE: *The establishment of the Missiquash as the boundary between the two Provinces was eminently satisfactory to New Brunswick, but not so to Nova Scotia, as the latter Province at once vigorously protested against it, and did not seem inclined to give up agitating for a change. In 1792 the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia presented an address to the Lieutenant-Governor, in which they say "there is a very pressing necessity of an alteration in the division line, between this and the neighboring Province of New Brunswick." This agitation for a change in the boundary was kept up for several years, and in the correspondence, three other lines are suggested by Nova Scotia as being preferable to the one that had been already chosen.
The first of these was one from the head of the tide on the Petitcodiac to the head of the tide on the Restigouche River. A second from the head of the tide on the Memramcook by a certain magnetic line to the salt water of Cocagne Harbor, and the third by the course of the Aulac River to its head, and thence by a given compass line to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The present line was last surveyed by Alex. Munroe in 1859, under Commissioner James Steadman, Esq., acting for New Brunswick, and Joseph Avard, Esq., for Nova Scotia. The line is thus described by the Commissioners: Commencing at the mouth of the Missiquash River, in Cumberland Bay, and thence following the several courses of the said river to a post near Black Island, thence north fifty-four degrees, twenty-five minutes east, crossing the south end of Black Island, two hundred and eighty-eight chains to the south angle of Trenholm's Island, thence south thirty-seven degrees east, eighty-five chains and eight-two links to a post, thence south seventy-six degrees east, forty-six chains and twenty links to the portage, thence south sixty- five degrees, forty-five minutes east, three hundred and ninety-four chains and forty links to Tidnish Bridge, then following the several courses of said river, along its northern upward bank to its mouth, thence following the north-westerly channel to the deep water of the Bay water, giving to Nova Scotia the control of the navigable waters on Tidnish River.
Those wishing to get fuller information relating to this or any of the boundaries of New Brunswick, will find the subject treated exhaustively in a work just published, entitled "A Monograph of the Evolution of the Boundaries of the Province of New Brunswick," by William F. Ganong, M.A., Ph.D., from which the above facts are taken. END OF FOOTNOTE]
The following facts are taken from the anniversary number of the
CHIGNECTO POST, 1895:
"On the 15th August, 1761, Captain Benoni Danks, Messrs. William Allan, Abeil Richardson, John Huston and John Oates were appointed to divide the forfeited lands in the township of Cumberland.
"On the 19th August of the same year Captain Winckworth Tonge, Joshua Winslow, John Huston, John Jencks, Joshua Sprague, Valentine Estabrooks and William Maxwell were appointed a committee
"The first town meeting, or meeting of the committee, for Sackville township, took place on 20th July, 1762. It was held at the house of Mrs. Charity Bishop, who kept an inn at Cumberland. There were present Captain John Huston, Doctor John Jencks, Joshua Sprague, Valentine Estabrooks, William Maxwell and Joshua Winslow. Captain Huston was made chairman and Ichabod Comstock clerk.
"The conditions and locations of the proposed new grant of Sackville were of the first interest to the newly arrived settlers, and the proceedings were largely taken up with settling such matters. It was resolved that a family of six, and seven head of cattle, should have one and a half shares, or 750 acres.
"At the next meeting, held on 31st August, Mr. Elijah Ayers' name appears as a committeeman.
"At a town meeting, held on 18th April, 1770, Robert Scott was appointed moderator and Robert Foster, clerk. They, with John Thomas, were appointed a committee to settle with the old committee for the survey of the lands."
About 1786, the inhabitants of Sackville made a return of the state of the settlement to the Government to show that if a proposed escheat was made it would be attended with great confusion, as but few of the grants had not been improved. The actual settlers at that date, as set forth in the return, appear to have been as follows:
LETTER A.
Samuel Bellew. John Peck.
Joseph Brown. John Barns.
Samuel Rogers. Ebenezer Burnham.
Samuel Saunders. Simon Baisley.
Valentine Estabrooks. Wm. Carnforth.
Andrew Kinnear. Abial Peck.
James Jincks. Nathaniel Shelding.
Eleazer Olney. Job Archernard.
Nathan Mason. Jonathan Burnham.
LETTER B.
Charles Dixon. Gilbert Seaman.
John Richardson. Joseph Read.
John Fawcett. Wm. Carnforth.
George Bulmer. John Wry.
Thomas Bowser. Moses Delesdernier.
Joseph Delesdernier. Daniel Tingley.
Michael Burk. Wm. Laurence.
Samuel Seamans. Ben Tower.
Joseph Tower. Elijah Ayer.
Joseph Thompson. John Thompson.
Mark Patton. Eliphalet Read.
Nehemiah Ayer. Josiah Tingley.
James Cole. Jonathan Cole.
Hezekiah King. Valentine Estabrooks.
LETTER C.
Wm. Estabrooks. Gideon Smith.
Daniel Stone. Patton Estabrooks.
Pickering Snowdon. Thomas Potter.
Nehemiah Ward. John Weldon.
John Fillmore. Jos. C. Lamb.
John Grace. Josiah Hicks.
Angus McPhee. Joseph Sears.
Wm. Fawcett. Benjamin Emmerson.
Jonathan Eddy. Titus Thornton.
CHAPTER III
THE YORKSHIRE IMMIGRATION.
Yorkshire is grouped as one of the six northern counties of England. Jackson Wray calls it "one of the bonniest of English shires." It has an area of 6,076 square miles, making it the largest county in England. Its present population is a trifle over three millions. A coast-line of one hundred miles gives its people a fine chance to look out on the North Sea. The old town of Hull is the largest shipping port. Scarboro, on the coast, is the great watering-place for the north of England. Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Bradford are the largest towns. It is the principal seat of the woollen manufacture in Great Britain. The people are self-reliant and progressive. In Yorkshire to-day are to be found the oldest co-operative corn-mills and the oldest co-operative stores in England. The practice of dividing profits among purchasers in proportion to their trade at the store was first adopted by a Yorkshire society. This is just what might be expected from the people who, in 1793, passed the following resolution: "Resolved, that monopolies are inconsistent with the true principles of commerce, because they restrain at once the spirit of enterprise and the freedom of competition, and are injurious to the country where they exist, because the monopolist, by fixing the rate of both sale and purchase, can oppress the public at discretion."
Another resolution passed by the same corporation, but earlier in the century, shows our ancestors in a somewhat different light. A day of thanksgiving was appointed for the success of the British forces. The corporation attended divine service in the parish church, after which it was agreed to meet at Mrs. Owen's, "at five of the clock, to drink to His Majesty's health and further good success," the expense of the evening to be at the corporation's charge.
The old Yorkshire men liked a good, honest horse-race, and fox-hunting was a favorite sport with them. It is told of a Mr. Kirkton that he followed the hounds on horseback until he was eighty, and from that period to one hundred he regularly attended the unkennelling of the fox in his single chair. Scott's "Dandy Dinmont" could scarcely overtop that. No one can read the "Annals of Yorkshire" without being struck with the number of persons who at their death left bequests to the poor, widows getting a large share of this bounty.