The following is a list of names of mainly Charlotte County workmen on the various sections of this Road in the period 1816-1819:

"Rueben Whittier, Henry Whittier, Ben Bradford, Ben Follet, Rueben Brockaway[Brockway], Nehemiah Gilman, Rufus Gates, Solomon Lombard, Paul MacDonald, Leonard Bartlet, Samuel Connick, John Oliver, Geo Simpson, Wm. Budd, Geo. McCurdy, Thos. Connick, John Gilman, Dan. Hill, Dan. Gardner, Caleb Bartlett, Stephen Lawrence, Josiah True, Sam. Wyman and Jas. G. Lord."John Campbell and Christopher Hatch were Supervisors."L. Bartlet explored woods along the Road. Colin Campbell worked at surveying. Rufus Gates used a plough in road work."The following are some further notes on road and related accounts submitted by John Campbell and Christopher Hatch for this period, 1816-1819 inclusive:
1816--Paid Colin Campbell for measuring the road. (7pd/4/8/).
1816--Paid Christopher Hatch for Secretary's fee for a memorial to locate (a Mr. Potter) as a Provincial Settler. (15 shillings)
1818--Paid Colin Campbell for locating Provincial Settlers. (22 pds/12/6)
1819--Paid George Tuffs for going express with the Supervisor's Accounts to Fredericton in consequence of the sudden death of Colonel Hatch who intended to have taken them to Fredericton himself. (3pds/10).
1819--Paid Samuel Connick for going to examine the Magaguadavic upper bridge which was damaged by ice and timber last Spring.
1819--Paid Stephen Lawrence for a road scraper.
The account totalled 3,144 pounds for this period and as reported January 1, 1820, with Henry Whittier receiving nearly 500 pounds and Solomon Lombard 342 pounds for their individual labors, but not included in contracts they may have completed. (Similar records are abundant and thus provide the prospective researcher with varied and detailed materials.)
Some 35 or more local citizens worked (some under contracts) during this period (1816-1819 inclusive);Rueben Whittier,Henry Whittier and Solomon Lombard being the principal contractors, with many other men under their employ. (Above data taken "Accounts of Payments" made by Christopher Hatch and John Campbell, Legislative Library, Fredericton, N. B.)
In 1818 a John Goss lumbered at the Kidron Brook in the Piskahegan area; and George McKenzie,Tyler Shaw and Moses Shaw cut logs along the Piskahegan River that same year. These men apparently were lumbering pine at this time as evidenced from applications for Governmental permits and payment of the essential fees. In effect the Government was still laying claim to every pine tree in the province whether on Crown or private lands and the taking of pine was jealously watched by the governmental eye. This policy, however, met with constant violation and opposition and was soon to be abolished. It had been in effect for a long time even since before the landing of the Loyalists.
When one considers the fact of population alone one is amazed at what was accomplished. Immigration was meager following the arrival of the Loyalists for the next two decades. Edward Winslow, in 1803, gathered some census statistics for the Province or, better, some estimates giving about 25,000 as a total for the Province. Charlotte County then "had 2,622 inhabitants"; St. Andrews (including parish and town) only 487; and Fredericton "about 800". St. Stephen Parish had 683. (Hannay, Pages 290-291). The years 1783-1803, however, were very busy ones for those original settlers as records will show of shipbuilding and shipments of lumber, gypsum, sea products, plaster, etc. Schooners and brigs were loading and unloading and clearing New Brunswick ports and employment was plentiful everywhere during this era.
By the third decade immigrations were beginning to flow into Charlotte County in a noticeable way thus increasing the utility of the Great Roads and their Bye Roads. It might be pointed out here that the "Great Roads" were laid and kept up by legislation; the "Bye Roads" received their necessary attention from parish officials and were maintained largely through statute labor -- which is in some instances seems to have been credited to payments on land settled. These lesser roads, however, played significant roles in connecting the remote settlements developing throughout the counties. The Great Roads connected the principle towns and larger settlements.

It is not precisely known how long the old "Fredericton- St. Andrews Road" continued as a useful means of communication; but we do know that it was deemed important at least until the middle decades of the 19th century as shown in the Honorable James Brown's Diary covering the years 1838-1843. This account titled--" A Diary of Road Building", by James Brown was loaned me by the courtesy of Mr. And Mrs.Irving M. Brown Jr., of St. Stephen. James Brown, born in Scotland about 1791, came to Canada and settled at Tower Hill, Charlotte County; and he became a prominent and respected political figure throughout the rest of his long and valued life. In the Spring of 1838 Mr. Brown was appointed a "Supervisor on the Great Road from Fredericton to St. Andrews"; and among other assignments was also appointed "to explore and mark out the road from Brockway's to St. Stephen."

The following paragraph lends some insight into long-distance travel in S. W. New Brunswick: "On April 29, 1839, Mr. Brown left Tower Hill for Fredericton. He drove to St. Andrews, on the way staying overnight at George McKay's in St. Patrick and from St. Andrews to St. John by stage, staying overnight on the road at Tilton's and to Fredericton by the Nerepis Road spending the third night at Harding's on that road."

"May 2nd. Met Messers. Peters and Rainsford near Gillen's (roadhouse at Sunbury-Queens County line) and returned with them after inspecting various contracts, etc." Mr. Brown returned home by the same route writing of the St. John- St. Andrews Road,--"very injudiciously laid out with regard to location. The line is very crooked and of imperfect construction."

We gather from these notes that as yet (1839) no road from St. Stephen to Fredericton was available, and that the old "Fredericton-St. Andrews Road" was not selected. Mr. Brown may have had specific reasons for his long-way-around route and similar return. However, the following brief entry in his diary reads: "The summer and fall of 1839 were spent on the St. Andrews-Fredericton road and also the summer of 1840". . . "It was not until Jan. 27, 1841, that Mr. Brown sent to His Excellency his report on the Great Road St. Andrews to Fredericton; but hand labor and that of oxen were slow. The laborers received 5 shillings a day and found, "and all providing themselves with their own tools."

It is this writer's studied opinion that although large portions of this Great Road fell into gradual disuse after the middle of the 19th century, the section from the Piskahegan settlement up through Brown Ridge and onward remained open at least until the 20th century.

In 1890 Piskahegan residents were still using this, (or another nearby) route to Fredericton from that area: and in April 1894 "Mr.Andrew Johnson our enterprising grocer (on Sorrell Ridge) has made a trip to Brown Ridge and Little Lake Settlement via Piskahegan." (Saint Croix Courier) However, following the departure of its last permanent residents around 1912 the Piskahegan section of the old Stage Coach road declined. Now, after over half a century of inattention and with the mining enterprise at Piskahegan plus lumbering developments in Charlotte County, roads are being much improved thus making this area even more accessable and attractive to visitors.
Written by permission of the Saint Croix Courier. Transcribed by Charlene Beney Information contained [] is revised by transcriber from research submitted.

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