Petition of the Inhabitants of Richibucto
The Petition of the Inhabitants and Freeholders of Richibucto River most humbly Showeth;
That your petitioners beg leave to aforesaid Your Excellency of their loyalty and zeal to the British government and shall at all times be willing to Sacrifice their Interests for the ....
That your petitioners (po?) with such wishes for the welfare of His
Britannic Majesty po???ssions in all parts, particularly
in this Province, cannot.....of laying down before you Excellency the
manner in which this River has been situated over since the tract of Lan
has been located to the Indians which has been on the borders of said river:-
That your petitioners has seen since this vast branch of Land has been
so disposed of to the Indians, it has that out numbered?
of emigrants which has come out here yearly from Britain..settling
on the river, and has been obliged to go to the United States of America
for the purpose of obtaining land to enable them to support their different
families, their being no vacant land for upwards of twenty miles along
its banks and four miles back that has been granted to English settlers
( parts of which lies in a wild state for want of cultivation, and will
not let ....to others being in (?) the river would get so populated that
would give in the course of time an apparition in ..), and the commander
given to the said Indians, which so discouraged strangers as to make it
altogether impossible for them to settle above the Indian Land where the
rapids immediately commence and render it difficult to get up their supplys(sp)
for want of water in the summer for boats or (cann?), neither do they wish
to settle on Lands in the (?west ) as being in that case excluded
form Society altogether and any discouraging to them for future prospects..
That your petitioners are convinced so long as this land is left in the state in which it lies at present, it is totally impossible for the settlement of the river to..(?) to any degree which the place would otherwise afford as this tract includes all the prime Land and such as it is adapted for farms and is now lying in a wild state altogether, the Indians not having improved these aforesaid of ...since they have had it in their possession.
That your petitioners could have no objections to the Indians being
allowed a portion of Land equal to other settlers and every other privilege
which the constitution affords to every person, but to pick them far above
British Subjects who should if at any time Sacrifice their lives for the
good of the Province is rather severe particularly when the Indians do
not in (?___?)
the least by having those lands which otherwise would be (?)
to the best of purpose for the support of the inhabitants in general.
That your petitioners are equally convinced of the wise and laudable ends for which this land has been given to the Indians in the first instance; but from the many advantages which has and will be taken of them it cannot be considered to of the least (?) to them until they should turn themselves to cultivate and improve the said lands which is anything that can never be expected so long as it is in their popsesion.(sp)
That your petitioners do feel the lots and deplore with others when they view this fine tract of land cloaked under the names of those poor in..... Indians who drive no benefit from it and seeing it in the hands of Mr's. Pagan and Powell Merchants in this river who so far from encouraging the Settlement of the place does everything in their power to supp.....the inhabitants that is possible, and now claims right to all the timber on said land which they enjoy and are yearly carrying off under the cloud of having once credited those poor creatures to upwards of eighteen hundred pounds to the injury of the place.
That your petitioners after their boldly stating to your Excellency the forgoing which they can at any time individually prove as could be also seen on investigation look up with confidence that your Excellency will take into your most serious consideration the steps which would lend, best for the furthermore of the objects now set forth and such other matters as want to (s?) meet to your Excellency's wisdom and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.
George ?Platt
James Kollock
J___ Buting
David McAlmon
Peter Barns
Joseph Barns
James Pike
John Bell Sr.
George Carruthers
Thomas Maunsell
Wm Harnett
Ezekiel ?Hilton?Kelton
Dav Kallock
James McClelan
Shipard Kallock
Ward Estabrooks
James Hutchinson
Richard Hellan
Nathaniel Burpe
Edmund Hudson
William Hudson
? John ?Dinsmore
John Smith
? Robin Jainer?
Laughlin McIn
Peter McGinnis
Thomas Belding
William Young
Ronald MocDonald
John Graham
John Jardine
Josh ?Tre?
John McNully
William Richardson
John Jackson
John Melvin
John Elliot
Geroge McInnis
Alex Steele
James Graham
John Graham
John Gart??___
Thomas Huston
Thos Jardine
Thomas Carruthers
Robert Genear___
James Saunders
? T Preston
William Sanders
John Carruthers
George Hallock
William Brait
Wm Fitzgerald
JM Walker
William Wathen
Angus McGinnis
Henry Hodgson
Herny ?Simons
John Kenney
James Dunn
Michael Daigle
James Jendrick
Nicholas Flinn
Robert Colbert
John Howard
William Walsh
Joshua Nyse?
Doanld McEachern
Robert McElmon
Syl Hayther?
William Wilson
John Bonnell
George Geddis
Alex Davidson
Henry Armain?
2 Jan 1818
paid