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HISTORY OF SACKVILLE NEW BRUNSWICK
by
DR. WILLIAM COCHRAN MILNER
Historian, and Former Dominion Archivist
(1846-1939)
Originally published in 1934 by The Tribune Press, Ltd., Printers
& Publishers, Sackville, New Brunswick
[EDITOR'S NOTE: When "(sic)" is used in the text, it was put there
by the original author and not by us.]
CHAPTER I.
FRENCH OCCUPATION
The first European settlers at Sackville were French. The date
of settlement here is uncertain, but it was some years after Bourgeois,
a surgeon, (brought to Port Royal by D'Aulnay) settled at Beaubassin,
Fort Lawrence, with Thomas Cormier, Jacques Belon, Peter Sire, and
Germain Girouard. This settlement had been made in 1671, so
it was after this date that clearings were made near the four Corners,
(Tantramar), along the ridge from the Town Hall to the farm of the
late Philip Palmer's place called in the old maps Pre des Bourg and
at Westcock (Veska). These localities were connected by a trail
through the woods and Westcock is described as a "Port de mer," seaport,
from which intimate connection was made with Port Royal. Tantramar
was also connected by a trail across the marshes with the settlements
at La Coupe, La Lac, Beausejour, and Beaubassin, which latter place
was described as one of the five principal settlements of the French
in Acadia, the others being Port Royal, Les Mines, Pisequit and Cobequit.
Tantramar like four of the other settlements was an off-shoot of the
parent settlement at Port Royal. It grew by degrees to be a
populous settlement and in time became the station of a missionary.
A chapel was built on the site of Beulah, a Baptist Church at the
Four Corners long abandoned. The records of the missionaries
here have not come to light and are probably destroyed and with them
all trace is lost of the family and local history of the former dwellers
in this parish. For a period of eighty years or more they lived
here in tranquility protected by their seclusion and remoteness from
the theatre of conflict and conquest, and during that time they became
a prosperous and populous community. But so completely has the
fortune of war blotted out the memorials of them, that even the graveyard,
where generations of them were buried has become a matter of tradition.
A feature of an English churchyard:--
"Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered muse,
The place of fame and elegy
supply
And many a holy text around she strews,
To teach the rustic moralist
to die.--
is here wanting; a field that has been ploughed and tilled for a hundred
years is said to be the last resting place of generations of these
people who knew no other country as their land and their home.
The French having ceded (1713) their ancient Colony of Acadia to the
English, the boundaries of which were not defined, it was the policy
of the English on the one side to insist the boundary line was as
far north and west towards Quebec as possible and of the French on
the other to contend that the boundary was at the Missiquash river,
now the boundary between the two provinces.
In 1750, the Government at Quebec sent a small detachment under an
officer named La Corne to establish a post of observation on the promontory
at Beausejour, then dotted with farm buildings.
In pursuance of the above policy, the French under La Loutre had by
threats and persuasions induced the French population living in the
villages that remained under British rule to abandon their homes and
settle on the French side of the Missiquash, in order to deprive the
English of an industrious class of people, as to form a bulwark against
British aggression. In 1750, when Lawrence appeared at the French
village at Beaubassin -- now Fort Lawrence -- the French people hastily
burned their dwellings and left.
Gen. Joshua Winslow*, then a young Commissariat officer attached to
the command writes in his journal on 8th Sept. 1750: "The Indians
set fire to the village Hebert and another village opposite us and
burnt a great many houses."
[*Joshua Winslow was the father of Anna Green Winslow, a young lady
sent from Fort Cumberland in 1770--to go to school at Boston.
She kept a diary which has been edited by a successful American authoress,
Alice Morse Earle. General Winslow seems to have left Fort Cumberland
before 1783. He was paymaster of the troops in Quebec in 1791
and died there 10 years later. When at Fort Cumberland he was
engaged in the commissary business with Capt. Huston, who had on one
of his trips to Boston picked up a waif, in the person of the afterwards
celebrated Brook Watson, and brought him to Nova Scotia. Brook
Watson owed much of his knowledge of business and his commercial success
in after life to the training he received at the hands of General
Winslow who is described as a "most complete accountant". He
was Lieutenant under Capt. Light in Col. Moore's regiment at the taking
of Louisburg in 1754. He was afterwards Commissary General of
the English troops in Nova Scotia, and siding with England in the
revolutionary struggle was excited and continued in the royal service
till his death.]
It must have been with sore hearts that these Acadian farmers turned
away from the homesteads made fruitful by the sweat and toil of themselves
and forefathers, and that they set out to make new dwelling places,
trusting themselves, their wives, and their children to unknown hazards
in the game of war between France and England.
They poured into the villages west of Missiquash--Beaubassin, Memramcook,
Shediac and Petitcodiac. They were supported by rations issued
at Beausejour -- 2 lbs. of bread and 1/2 lb. of beef per day, per
man. In 1751, La Loutre made a statement of 1111 men, women
and children then quartered west of the Missiquish receiving rations.
At this period, small detachments of soldiers were kept at the following
posts, as follows:--
Gaspereau 1
Officer 15 Men.
Baie Verte 1
"
15 "
Point de Bute 1 "
30 "
Westcock
1 "
15 "
Shepody
1 "
10 "
The peace and security the people enjoyed came to an end finally in
1755, when the French military post on the Isthmus was deemed a menace
to English dominancy in Acadia. The Isthmus was made the base
of attack by Indians and gens du bois, led by Bois Hebert, on the
English posts; the newly formed settlement at Halifax, as well as
the fort at Port Royal were kept in more or less constant alarm, by
hostiles who ranged the woods and deterred any attempt at settlement.
The English thereupon determined to drive the French flag from the
Isthmus and the attempt was made in 1775. Early in the spring,
the Acadian farmers witnessed an English fleet of war vessels and
transports laden with troops and munitions of war, sail up the Bay
and anchor in the Basin below Beausejour. At the season the
Acadians of Tantramar were usually occupied in getting in their crops,
they were summoned to defend Beausejour against the attack of Lawrence.
Their wives and children from their house stoops at Tantramar watched
with the keenest interest and anxiety the course of the artillery
duel between the English batteries and Beausejour, which ended on
16th June, by the appearance of a white flag at the fort and later
by the lowering of the ensign of France. With grief they beheld
the garrison march forth and take the road to Baie Verte thence to
be shipped to Louisburg. The next act in the drama followed
closely enough.
On 31st July, Lt. Governor Lawrence forwarded instructions by a military
party under Capt. Croxton, to Col. Monckton at Beausejour stating
the determination of the government to remove the neutral French from
Nova Scotia, commencing with those at the Isthmus, who "were found
in arms" at the capture of Beausejour and "entitled to no favor from
the government." Transports and instructions were to be sent
to him later and he was to use stratagem to arrest all the men.
Their cattle and corn were forfeited and must be applied towards the
expense of removal. They were to be allowed to carry away only
their ready money and household furniture. By a second letter
dispatched by Capt. Goreham, he ordered the destruction of the French
villages at Shediac and Ramsec (Pugwash). A third letter written
on 8th of August, Lawrence orders the destruction of the villages
north and north west of Beausejour and to try and save the cattle
and crops.
On 20th of August a man of war under command of Capt. Proby and eight
transports arrived from Halifax and cast anchor at Five Fathom Hole,
and four days later two more vessels sailed in.
On 26th August Lawrence writes another letter to Monckton, giving
further instructions and informing him as to the movements of Winslow
at Minas &c. He is to lay hold of the priest Miniac, and
send him with the rest. All the cattle that can be brought in
from Petitcodiac, Memramcook and Chipoudy are to be distributed amongst
the people at Chignecto as they think they can support during the
winter and the rest to be used as rations for the troops.
The efforts of Monckton to gather the Acadians at Fort Cumberland
were only partially successful. Out of over 4,000 of a population
in the neighborhood, he secured less than 1200, although he sent Capt.
Brook Watson with a detachment to scour the country about Baie Verte.
The scenes at embarkation were very painful. Even at this lapse
of time one cannot but regard with sorrow mingled with a feeling of
horror the tortures of a defenceless people and the cruelties perpetrated
on innocent women and children. Abbee La Guerne says that many
of the married women, deaf to all entreaties and representations,
refused to be separated from their husbands and precipitated themselves
in the vessels, where their husbands had been forced.
During the last days of August a strong force was despatched from
Beausejour on board of two vessels to capture the French at Chipoudy
and along the Petitcodiac River. At Chipoudy they found the
men had fled leaving 25 women and children who were taken prisoners.
They burned 181 houses and barns. On 3rd Sept. they sailed up
the Petitcodiac and finding the villages deserted set fire to the
buildings for a distance of 15 miles on the north side of the river
and 6 miles on the south. In attempting to set fire to the Mass
house (presumably at Fox Creek) Boishebert appeared with a large force
and two officers Dr. Marsh and Lieut. Billing and six privates were
killed and ten were wounded. The whole force narrowly escaping
being exterminated, as the armed vessels had drifted down the river
in the strong tide and it was not till flood tide, they could get
into position to afford the detachment any protection. At high
water the men were embarked. They destroyed 253 houses and barns
besides the chapel.
When in 1755, General Monckton was engaged in the "Grand Derangement"
at Chignecto, he sent a corps of New Englanders to destroy the Acadian
dwellings at Tantramar. They did that thoroughly, burning 97
buildings. Those Acadians who escaped the expulsion saw from
their shelter of the woods the torch applied to their homes.
This was a melancholy fate. The innocent suffered with the guilty.
The conflagration of the homes of the unhappy Acadians extended to
Westcock and Wood Point, so that when the work of destruction was
done, only heaps of ashes remained of the Acadian homes.
At the close of the year 1755, we find the populous French villages
on the Isthmus as well as at Chipoudy, along the Petitcodiac, at Shediac
and from thence to Pugwash destroyed, their ancient owners scattered
from Quebec to Georgia or else, hiding in the forests, with their
Indian allies and their farms acres of desolation. Those who
escaped into the forests struggled forward to Miramichi and a few
found homes at the head waters of the Saint John. From both
of these places numbers were able to seek permanent homes in Quebec.
At this period, Miramichi had a French population of 3,500 people.
CHAPTER II.
ENGLISH SETTLEMENT
The second part of the design of Lawrence and his Council at Halifax
was now in order, namely to replace the French by English immigrants
to strengthen English rule and power in Acadia. There were English
garrisons at Beausejour, Fort Lawrence and Fort Monckton and the only
English settlers were disbanded soldiers and tradesmen who had commenced
to locate themselves around these posts and within the range of their
protection. The French inhabitants had been so completely driven
off that nine years later (1764) they only numbered 388 men, women
and children in this portion of Acadia, when instructions came from
the English government to allow them to become settlers on taking
the oath of allegiance. Special inducements were held out to
the irregulars of New England to become settlers, if they would remain
on duty six months longer. To a Colonel was offered 2000 acres
of choice land; Major 750 acres; Captain 500; Ensign 450; private
soldier 200.
The Acadians had not cleared a wide stretch of upland, nor did they
build aboideaux across the creeks. Their dikes skirted the rivers
and creeks. The houses were of course, logs with roofs of bark
and chimneys built up of wood and clay. Sawmills in those days
were scarce. After the disappearance of the Acadians, Governor
Lawrence issued his Proclamation, offering free grants to actual settlers.
Immigration from the New England States at once set in; vessel after
vessel came with people from Connecticut, Rhode Island, and other
New England colonies. The lands were surveyed; allotments made
to the settlers, but they were obviously disappointed, because when
Mr. Charles Dixon arrived from Yorkshire, in 1772, all but three New
England families had disappeared. Two years after, the first
settler from New England, Israel Purdy, arrived with a contingent
of settlers from Newberry Port, and settled at Maugerville.
At this time, 1772, the Peabody, Symonds, White and Hazen immigration
were building up their trading post at the mouth of the Saint John
River. Four years after the settlement at Sackville, the German
settlement at Hopewell from Pennsylvania was made and also the Commins
settlement at Hillsboro. At the same time, William Davidson
arrived at Miramichi and established a trading post at Beaubear's
Island in fish, furs and masts.
When the Yorkshire people came to Sackville, there were only two New
England settlers there--Mr. Hawkins, who lived near the land on what
was known afterwards as the Oliver Boultenhouse place, which was the
site of a former French resident--and Amasa Kellam who lived on the
site of the Male Academy. This was exclusive of Moses Delesdernier
who lived on the place occupied in recent years by the late Thompson
Trueman. Hawkins sold two thousand acres of land to Charles
Dixon, all Dixon's Island, and the Island next to it, also the Salem
district, including the Christopher Humphrey farm. The Dixons,
Humphreys and Parkers came over from England in the same vessel.
Mr. Humphrey settled in Falmouth, where he died, leaving a widow with
a family. Mr. Parker settled at Windsor, and was the ancestor
of the Hon. A. McNeill Parker, later Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.
After Dixon settled at Sackville, he sent for Mrs. Humphrey.
She settled on the place, known as the Christopher Humphrey farm,
where she kept tavern. Mr. Dixon was the most important man
in the community. He was a J. P. and held Court in a room in
her tavern. Mr. Black, the father of Bishop Black, who afterwards
settled in Amherst, also came over in the same vessel, the Ship, "Duke
of York". He did not bring his family; he wanted to examine
the country first. Mr. Mason from Swansea, who was elected a
representative in the Halifax Assembly, lived in the lower part of
the parish.
The French settlements at Sackville skirted the marshes. The
principal one was at Tantramar, where a Chapel had been built.
At the time of the expulsion, (1775) the bell and perhaps the Communion
vessels were saved and many years after, when there was peace, some
Acadians appeared, obtained them and took them away. The Chapel
was burned with the houses.
In consequence of the Proclamation of Governor Lawrence, dated 12th
of October, 1758, offering free grants of lands, right of worship,
in 1761, twenty-five families from Rhode Island arrived in a vessel
and settled on the vacated French farms. Each family of six
with seven head of cattle were to receive a grant of seven hundred
and fifty acres; years later a return shows the township had a population
of three hundred and forty-nine people, all but six from New England.
In 1772, a township elected for the first time a representative to
the Assembly at Halifax in the person of a schoolmaster named Foster.
A return in the Archives at Halifax shows that in 1763 Sackville's
inhabitants consisted of 20 families only and that only 200 acres
of upland had been cleared up. They had 12,000 acres of marsh
land. At the same time Cumberland, (now the parish of Westmorland)
possessed 35 families who owned 600 acres of cleared land and 18,800
acres of marsh land.
The N.S. Legislature was constituted at Halifax in 1757 with 22 members,
it being arranged that a settlement with 25 qualified electors should
send one representative. This place was not accorded a representative.
It was not until 1767 that Sackville secured the right to a member,
a petition having been sent to the government in 1765 representing
that there were then 80 families in this place.
Mr. A. Foster was the first member. His name occurs for the
first time in 1774, in the proceedings of the House. In 1775,
Samuel Rogers succeeded Mr. Foster, Messrs. Gay and Scurr at the same
time representing the county (Cumberland).
1758, on 12th October, a proclamation was adopted in Council in Halifax
offering the vacant lands to settlers, which "consist of one hundred
thousand acres of intervale plough lands, cultivated for more than
100 years past and never fail of crops nor need manuring; also a hundred
thousand acres cleared and stocked with English grass, planted with
orchards, vineyards, etc. All these are situated about the Bay
of Fundy upon rivers navigable for ships of burden."
Applications were to be made to Thomas Hancock, Boston, Province agent
at Boston, who being applied to by persons desiring to know the kind
of government in Nova Scotia and whether toleration to religion was
allowed, a second proclamation was issued on 11th January, guaranteeing
representative institutions and full liberty of conscience, except
to papists.
1759, on 19th July, Messrs. Liss Willoughby, Benjamin Kimball, Edward
Mott and Samuel Starr, junr., a committee of agents from Connecticut
appeared at Halifax proposing to make a settlement at Chignecto and
they were given a vessel to visit the locality. In September
they returned and proposed some alterations in the grants, which were
agreed to.
While there were three garrisons on the Isthmus, settlement was very
much hindered by the absence of any security to life or property.
The Indians and French scoured the woods, ready to pick off any stragglers.
They would even show themselves ostentatiously before the walls of
the fort; any settlement out of the reach of guns was not only hazardous
but impracticable. The French and Indians exhibited in their
raids a skill, and a bravado amounting to recklessness. In April
of this year, (1759), two vessels were at anchor at Grindstone Island,
one the armed schooner "Moncton" belonging to the Province, the other
a transport loaded with beef, pork, flour, bread, rice, peas, rum,
wine, sugar, lemons, beer, shoes, shirts, stockings and other goods
laden at Halifax for the shop-keepers at the Fort. During the
night of 4th., the transport was captured by canoes manned by Acadians
and French from the shore, and in the morning, they made a most determined
effort to capture the "Moncton", chasing her down the Bay for five
hours. The "Moncton" had a boy killed and two men wounded in
the fight. The schooner was afterwards ransomed for $1500, the
French taking the cargo.
A more tragic affair occurred in the year when a sergeant and three
men of the Provincial Rangers and seven soldiers of the 46th Regiment
then at the Fort went out to cut wood. They were ambuscaded
at a place called Bloody Bridge, and five of them were scalped and
stripped. It was two years before this (20th July, 1757) that
Lieut. Dickson when following Bois Hebert with a small troop, was
ambushed where the La Coup stream enters the Aulac and was taken prisoner
and conveyed to Quebec. His command was shot and scalped.
The capture of Quebec ended the hopes of the Acadians of repossessing
their lands and the guerilla warfare in this vicinity ceased leading
to a greater sense of security.
In 1759, a grant of 50,000 acres at Chignecto made in 1736, was rescinded,
none of the conditions having been performed and the land remaining
unoccupied.
In 1760, the New England soldiers at the Forts nearly all left, their
term of enlistment having probably expired, but they could not be
induced to remain longer in the country.
The first actual settlement in this parish after the deportation of
the French may be placed at 1761 -- six years after their deportation
and two years after the fall of Quebec. The invitations extended
in the above proclamations met with a ready response and a movement
took place in Rhode Island to send a contingent here.
Some twenty-five families settled here that summer and others came
to seek locations and erect habitations to bring their families the
next summer. No record is known to have been preserved stating
their names, but in the Archives at Halifax there is a "list of subscribers
for the township lying on the Tantramar river, represented by Benjamin
Thurber, Cyprian Sterry and Edward Jincks from Providence in Rhode
Island." It is not dated but it probably belongs to the year 1760
or 1761. The names attached are as follows.
CHAPTER III.
TANTRAMAR SETTLEMENT
"The list of the Subscribers for the Township Lying on Tantramar River,
Represented by Benjamin Thurber, Cyprian Sterry and Edmund Jincks,
from Providence in Rhode Island." Taken from records in the Province
Library at Halifax. The date is probably 1761, but possibly
1760.
Jos. Olney
John Jenckes
Solo Wheat
Benj'n Thurber
Cyprian Sterry
Edmund Jenckes
David Burr
Jos. Tower
Seth Luther
Jno. Young
Sam Thurber
Jacob Whitman
Edmund Tripp
David Waters
William Sheldon
Dan'l Wear
Rich'd Brown
Volintine Esterbrooks
Charles Olney
Thos. Field
Thos. Bowen
Jona. Jenckes
Step. Jenckes
James Olney
Wm. Brown
Sam'l Lethredge
Gershom Holden
Sam'l Currey
John Foster
Sam'l Clark
Nathan Case
Eben'r Robins
Wm. Clark
Jona. Olney
Wm. Ford
Sam'l Wetherby
Step. Angel
Peleg Williams
Jona. Allen
Peter Randal
John Tripp
Nath. Day
John Malavery
Noah Whitman
Nath. Bucklin
Noah Mason
Robert Sterry
47
23 1/2
________
70 1/2
The above mentioned names for One share and a half.
Sam'l Briggs
James Young
Ichabod Cumstock
Morris Hern
Jos. Burden
Ezra Heyley
Obediah Sprague (sic.)
Edward Thurber
John Olney
William Olney, Jr.
Daniel Thurber
Daniel Cahoon
Chas. Symons
Benj. Gorman
John Howland
Nathan Jenckes
David Tift
Jos. Brown
Gideon Smith
Jos. Hawkins
Sarah Cottle
Isaac Cole
Obediah King
Thos. Woodward
Rob't Foster
Sam'l Toogood
Jos. Olney, Jr.
Wm. Whipple
David Wilbur
Oliver Casey
Elisha Smith
Nathan Case, Jr.
Charles Angel
Jos. Taylor
Oliver Man
Moses Man
W. Whipple, Jr.
Wm. Phillips
Benj. Robinson
Jona. Pike
George Wear
Edward Giles
John Smith
Gilbert Samons
Woodbery Morris
John Wiever
Nehemiah Sweet
Stephen Goodspeed
Abraham Olney
James Muzey
Benja. Medberry
Nathaneal Woodward
Zeph'r Woodward
James Jenckes
William Emerson
Chas. Spaulding
John Downer
Nath'l Packer
Thos. Sterry
Amasa Kilburn
Nathan Sterry
Samuel Mott
James Day, of Mass.
Asa Foster, "
John Peabody, "
Isaac Blunt, "
Caleby Swan, "
Peter Parker, "
Daniel Ingols, "
John Wilson, "
Nath'l Brown, "
Abiel Fry, "
Simon Fry, "
Remsley Stevens,"
Robert Davis, "
Jer. Brownel
Nath'l Finney
John Dexter
Steph. Carpenter
Levi Potter
Nedebiah Angel
John Brown
James Foster
Elisha Hopkins
Wm. Walcot
David Alberton
Rob't Potter
Dan'l Wilcocks
John Wullin
Rob't Woodward
Peter Bateman
Jeremiah Dexter
William Jenckes
Henry Finch
Sam'l Shearman
Wm. Olney
John Olney, Jr.
James Olney
Francis Swan, of Mass.
Coggshal Olney
John Power
Aaron Mason
Nathan Jenckes
Freelove Tucker
Benja. Cousins
Rowland Sprague
Nathan Giles
Jer. Dexter (erased)
These single shares each
154
47
______
107
70 1/2
______
177 1/2
45 first settlers
66 2 "
66 3 "
______
177
Some of these names, as Tower, Young, Estabrooks, Jincks, Foster,
Curry, Bateman, Cahoun, Brown, Smith, Cole, King, Finney, Carpenter,
Briggs, Sprague, Robinson, Seaman, Power, Tucker, Parker, Emerson,
Davis, etc., represent well known families in our community.
Many of the others probably never came to the country at all and others
coming here were not satisfied with the prospect and returned again
to the other colonies.
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 Fort Cumberland.
There were present Capt. John Huston, Doctor John Jencks, Joshua Sprague,
Valentine Estabrooks, William Maxwell and Joshua Winslow. Capt.
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 of 750 acres.
At the next meeting held on 31st August, Mr. Elijah Ayer's 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.
There is a record of the settlement the next year; they had 200 acres
of land cleared and 12,000 acres of marsh -- the former had probably
been cleared by the French, who had reclaimed the marsh. It
had 20 families settled.
The next immigration appears to have been in 1763, when a Baptist
church at Swansea, Mass., left in a body with the pastor and settled
here. It was a small body consisting of 13 members only.
Their names were, Nathan Mason and wife, Thomas Lewis and wife, Oliver
Mason and wife, Experience Baker, Benjamin Mason and wife, Charles
Seamans and wife and Gilbert Seamans and wife. Nathan Mason
was their pastor.
The names Nathan Mason, Thomas Lewis, Gilbert Seaman, Benjamin Mason
occur in a document in the Archives at Halifax seven years later (1770)
reciting the names of the residents here. The others are said
to have returned to Massachusetts in 1771.
The first actual grant of Sackville appears to have been made on 12th
October, 1765. Previous to that date, settlers had no title
to lands they occupied beyond orders-in-council, issued at Halifax
and which the grant confirmed. This grant was for 35,250 acres.
The consideration was a quit rent of one shilling sterling for ten
years for every fifty acres. If no rent be paid for three years
and no distress be found, or if the granters sell the same within
ten years the grant is void.
The township was to consist of 100,000 acres. It was divided
into three sections, known as letters A B and C. Letter B division
embraced the district between Foundry St., and Morice's mill pond.
"A" district was south of Foundry St.; "C" north of Morice's mill
pond. There were home lots for actual settlers, who had wood
lots and marsh lots bearing corresponding numbers.
This grant contained sixty-nine names, in addition to those before
mentioned the following were added: Isaac Cole; Amasa Killam, Nath.
Lewis; Thomas Lewis; James Estabrooks; Joseph Tingley; Isaac Horton;
Gideon Smith; Gideon Smith, Jr.; Jonathan Ward; Asel Carpenter; John
Wood; Alex Huston.
The grant was divided into 200 shares of 500 acres each. The
intention was to give a man of family one share; a single man half
a share. Some, however, received a grant of 1 1/2 shares.
Each right of share was numbered and specifically granted by three
or four different patents to each grantee by number and quantity of
acres.
There was a good deal of unprofitable land which was not located nor
divided. The Committee of the Town of Sackville claimed the
right to allot these vacant lands, which was disputed. In 1786
there were 60 families in the township.
Each grantee had as follows:
Town lot
1/2 acre
4 A
lot
7 "
lot
16 " pasture
100 "
lot
372 1/2 " wilderness
__________
Total
500
The wood lots were not then or until many years after considered of
any commercial value and when their owners left the country and abandoned
them or when changes of title took place and the new owners took no
interest or charge of them, the ownership of many became obscured.
When the timer on them commenced to be valuable, there suddenly grew
up a small class of land jumpers, who ran out vacant lots and exercised
acts of ownership. These acts led to a great deal of litigation
and, for many years the Supreme Court was kept more or less busy over
"Sackville rights."
Many of the original grants of lots were voided for want of settlement
and other grants issued over the same lands. The names of the
original grantees and numbers of lots held by each is as follows:
LETTER A.
Joshua Sprague 1 1/2
Nathan Mason 1 1/2
Joseph Winsor 1 1/2
James Olvay 1 1/2
Elijah Sprague 1 1/2
William Sprague 1 1/2
James Sprague 1 1/2
Isaac Cole 1 1/2
LETTER B.
Amasa Killam 1 1/2
Daniel Hawkins 1 1/2
Wm. Jinks 1 1/2
Charles Hawkins 1
Josiah Hawkins 1
Superam Killam 1 1/2
Levis Eddy 1 1/2
Deborah Eddy 1 1/2
Nathal Mason 1
Nathal, Mason, Jr. 1 1/2
Isaiah Mason 1 1/2
Jno. Day 1
Benj. Mason 1
Natel, Lewis 1 1/2
Charles Seamans
LETTER C.
Phinias Potter 1 1/2
Thomas Lewis 1 1/2
James Estabrooks 1
Nathel. Jacobs 1 1/2
Jacob Whitmond 1 1/2
Pno. Thomas 1 1/2
Val'tine Estabrooks 2
Josiah Tingley 1
Benj. Emerson 1 1/2
Eph'rm Emerson 1
Isaiah Horton 1
Daniel Eddy 1
Samson Mason 1/2
Matthew Mason 1/2
Gideon Smith 1 1/2
Stephen Smith 1 1/2
Gideon Smith, Jr. 1 1/2
Benijah Lewis 1/2
Jonathan Ward 1
Oliver Mason 1
Robert Williams 1 1/2
Asel Carpenter 1
John Eddy
Benjamin Mason 1 1/2
Michael Cushion 1
Sam'l Emmerson 1 1/2
David Alvason 1 1/2
Eben'r Salisbury 1 1/2
Israel Thornton 1 1/2
Eden. Salisbury Jr. 1
Jabish Salisbury 1/2
Richard Salisbury 1/2
Reuben Salisbury 1/2
Enemer Olvey 1/2
Eleazer Martin 1/2
Samuel Lewis 1 1/2
John Thomas, Jr. 1/2
Nicholas Thomas 1/2
John Manley 1
Elijah Ayer, Jr. 1
Henry Glin 1 1/2
Joseph Emerson 1 1/2
Seth Hervey 1
John Wood 1/2
Alex'r Huston 1
David Latimor 1
Thomas Hunt 1
Most of these are said to have represented actual settlers at the
time, but when the war of Independence broke out sixteen years later,
many of these settlers actively sympathized with the revolting colonies
and returned to United States. Some of them joined Col. Eddy
in his attack on Fort Cumberland and fled at his defeat to Machias.
For these and other reasons this grant seems to have been superseded
by other and later grants over the same lands.
The Eddy war, as it was called, was one of the most stirring episodes
in early history.
In 1767, Sackville had already made considerable progress. A
return made by Lieut. Governor Franklin, embracing a census of the
30 townships into which the Province was then divided, shows Sackville
had then a population of 349 persons, 343 of whom were Americans.
It possessed also the following:--
Horses 48
Oxen 133
Cows 250
Young head cattle 347
Swine 63
Grist Mills 1
Saw 1
Produce in 1766--
Wheat, bus.-- 1035
Rye, bus. 1278
Pease, bus. 53
Barley, bus. 35
Oats, bus. 34
Hemp seed 10 1/2
Flax seed 53
Flax 9
Born during the year 26
Died 6
In 1763, a petition from Cumberland for land grants was sent to the
government. Amongst the names on the petition were: Brook Watson,
John Horton and Alex and William of the same name, Joseph Moore, Elijah
Ayre, Obediah Ayre, Joseph Ayre, Samuel Gay and Martin Gay, Jonathan
Eddy, Jonathan Coe, Daniel Gooden, Charles Oulton, Liffy Chappel,
Jabez Chappell, Anthony Buck, Abel Richardson, George Allen, Nehemiah
Ward, John Fillmore.
CHAPTER IV.
INHABITANTS 1876
List of settlers in Sackville in 1786 in Trueman's Isthmus of Chignecto
Book, page 41:--
The Yorkshire immigrants 1772-73-74 who settled in Sackville were
Dixon, Bowser, Atkinson, Anderson, Bulmer, Harper, Patterson, Fawcett,
Richardson, Humphrey, Carnforth and Wry.
At this time the township of Amherst had a population of 123 and the
township of Cumberland 325; Hopewell (all Albert County) 159; Moncton
60.
A third immigration took place, commencing in 1772. On 16th
May, 1772, a body of Yorkshire settlers landed at Fort Cumberland,
having arrived at Halifax the previous months, from England.
They embraced the Blacks, Bowsers, Dixons, Chapmans, Freezes, Bulmers,
Lowerisons, and other well known families. Other parties followed.
This immigration was most important from a commercial as from a political
standpoint. The loyalty of these men was a tower of strength,
when the attempt was made by Col. Eddy, aided by the New England settlers,
to rush this country into union with the revolted colonies.
Another grant dated January 30th, 1773, is signed by Lord William
Campbell, styled Captain General and Governor in chief in Acadia.
By this document 51 shares or rights of 500 acres each are granted.
It is recited that the township consisted of 200 rights, being in
all 100,000 acres. The grantees with the numbers of their lots
are as follows:
LETTER A. DIVISION
Samuel Bellew 1
Joseph Brown 1/2 of 5
Nicholas Cook 6
John Jinks 11
Samuel Curry 13
Benjamin Harper 17
Gilbert Seamans 20
Joseph Owens 21
John Thurber 29
George Shearman 32
Japhet Alverson 1/2 of 37
Jeremith Alverson 1/2 of 37
William Alverson 43 and 1/2 of 48
Charles Olney 25 and 1/2 of 49
John Jenks 1/2 of 44
Samuel Curry 1/2 of 46
Benjamin Thurber 1/2 of 46
Samuel Saunders 1/2 of 47
John Barnes 1/2 of 48
Nicholas Cook 1/2 of 50
Thomas Barns 1/2 of 53
LETTER B.
Bernoni Williams 4
Timothy Williams 6
Jesse Jenks 8
Joseph Cook 9
Michael Joseph Delesdernier 31
Samuel Hicks 40
Josiah Hicks 1/2 of 41
Nicholas Cook 10
Jesse Cook 11
Joseph Bennett 12
Comer Smith 15
John Hawkins 1/2 of 17
Richard Cumberland 22 & 23 & 24
Paul Ferdinand Delesdernier 29
Moses John Fred Delesdernier 30
William Lawrence 42
Nathan Seamans 43
Jeremiah Brownell 44
George Shearman 45
Joshua Shearman 46
Benjamin Tower 1/2 of 47
Joseph Tower 1/2 of 47
Ambrose Hicks 1/2 of 60
Samuel Eddy 1/2 of 65
John Eddy 1/2 of 66
Abraham Olney 67
LETTER C.
Nathan Seamans 4
Reuben Lattimore 6
Samuel Lattimore 10
Robert Lattimore 18
Joseph Tower 1/2 of 20
Benjamin Tower 1/2 of 20
Job Seamans 38
Eliphalet Read 1/2 of 39
Jonathan Jinks 57 and 1/2 of 63
Samuel Hicks 1/2 of 59
William Tower 1/2 of 64
This grant contained fifty-nine names, in addition to those before
mentioned the following were added: Isaac Cold; Amasa Killam, Nath.
Lewis, Thomas Lewis, James Estabrooks, Joseph Tingley, Isaac Horton,
Gideon Smith, Gideon Smith, Jr., Jonathan Ward, Asel Carpenter, John
Wood, Alex Huston.
The terms of this grant were a quit rent of one shilling for every
50 acres granted payable every Michaelmas, the grant to be void in
case no payment be made for three years and no distress be found on
the premises; also the grantees bound themselves to cultivate or enclose
one third in a year, one in eleven years and one third in twenty-one
years; also each grantee to plant annually two acres in hemp; also
actual settlement shall be made before the last day of January, 1875,
or the grant is void.
The next grant is dated 22nd day of July, 1774 and signed by Frances
Legge, Captain General, &c. and is for 24 1/2 shares of rights,
comprising 12,250 acres as follows:
LETTER A. DIVISION
Heirs of Thomas Barnes, Lot No. 15
Wm. Maxwell 12 and 1/2 of 53
Cogsholl Olney 1/2 of 31
Abiat Peck 26 and 1/2 of 51
Peleg Williams 34 and 1/2 of 54
Joseph Owen 1/2 of 47
Gideon Young, No. 19
LETTER B. DIVISION
Edmund Jinks 3
Benjamin Thurber 73 and 74
Lewis Eddy 1/2 of 49
Deborah Eddy 1/2 of 49
Josiah Tingley 1/2 of 66
Jonathan Cole 68
William Estabrooks 1/2 of 69
Edward Cole 1/2 of 70
Ambrose Cole 1/2 of 70
Samuel Jones 1/2 of 58
Joseph Rood's Heirs 1/2 of 58
Gideon Young 1/2 of 50
Simon Rood 1/2 of 50
Job Archer 64
Joseph and Jonas Bennett 13
LETTER C.
William Brown 12
Andrew Waterman 7
Heirs of Benjamin Wilbur 2
Samuel Rogers 1/2 of 10
Robert Foster 22
John Foster 24
The terms are the same as in the former grant except the quit rent
is made one farthing per acre and actual settlement has to be made
within two years.
About 1786, the inhabitants of Sackville made a return of the state
of the settlement to the government to shew 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
Joseph Brown
Samuel Rogers
Samuel Saunders
Valentine Estabrooks
Andrew Kinnear
James Jincks
Eleazer Olney
Nathan Mason
John Peck
John Barnes
Ebenezer Burnham
Simon Baisley
Wm. Carnforth
Abial Peck
Nathaniel Shelding
Job Archernard
Jonathan Burnham
LETTER B.
Charles Dixon
John Richardson
John Fawcett
George Bulmer
Thomas Bowser
Gilbert Seaman
Joseph Read
Wm. Carnforth
John Wry
Moses Delesdernier
Joseph Delesdernier
Michael Burk
Samuel Seamans
Joseph Tower
Joseph Thompson
Mark Patton
Nehemiah Ayer
James Cole
Hezekiah King
Daniel Tingley
Wm. Lawrence
Ben Tower
Elijah Ayer
John Thompson
Eliphalet Read
Josiah Tingley
Jonathan Cole
Valentine Estabrooks
LETTER C.
Wm. Estabrooks
Daniel Stone
Nehemiah Ward
Pickering Snowdon
Nehemiah Ward
John Fillmore
John Grace
Angus McPhee
Wm. Fawcett
Jonathan Eddy
Gideon Smith
Patton Estabrooks
Thomas Potter
John Weldon
Jos. C. Lamb
Josiah Hicks
Joseph Sears
Benjamin Emmerson
Titus Thornton
OLD TIME HOMES
The following statement dated April, 1820, shows how the Sackville
people were housed:--
John Humphrey built what is known as the Lyons House. It was
occupied by Pacon, a blacksmith, who had a blacksmith shop adjacent
to it.
Christopher Richardson purchased from Amos Seaman the lands afterwards
owned by John R. Richardson, now possessed by Gershom Maxwell.
Christopher Humphrey inherited from his mother the farm he occupied
during his life. She had built there a commodious log house.
It had four rooms downstairs and was more luxuriously appointed than
most dwellings because it had two chimneys. She kept public
house there. She had two daughters, one married Charles Dixon,
the other married John Morice.
The next house was west of Salem Street--(Queen's Road). It
was occupied by the widow Richardson, her husband having died at Horton,
It was a log house and built for her by her eldest son, Christopher.
She had besides him, Joseph and Thomas. Her daughter, Sallie,
married _____ Wilkinson and Charlotte married _____ Horton.
At this date, 1820, there were no houses on Lower Fairfield Road which
was not cut out until 1823.
The next house was the two story frame house built by George Bulmer
and purchased by Jonathan Black. It was the first frame house
built in Sackville. The builder had to purchase some of the
lumber from United States.
Lieutenant Duncan Shaw purchased in 1812 from John Wry the lot of
land known as Shaw's Hill, the site of the Baptist Church. His
name occurs often in the old records. He was a prominent man.
He built one or more vessels about 1800. He was a brother-in-law,
of William Harper, the first merchant store keeper, both of them having
married daughters of Capt Hamm, a Loyalist living at Portland, Maine.
Mr. Harper with his schooner was a Bay of Fundy trader and lived in
Sackville from 1796 to 1800. A most interesting account of these
days is given by a descendant of Mr. Harper -- Mrs. Steeves, Shediac,
in her book -- "The First Store Keeper at the Bend".
The next house up street was built by (Duncan) Shaw; a tramp came
along, got in it, was drunk, set fire to it and was burned with it.
His remains were afterwards found.
The next house was John Wry's. It was a log house until about
1820 when Mr. Wry replaced it with a frame house. He purchased
it originally from Gershom Maxwell. The next, Crane's Corner
was the Bowser House, in a garden with cherry trees on a side hill.
The brick house remembered by the older generation was erected about
1825. The old house was then turned into a school house.
The next house was the Killam house
John Harrison lived in a small red frame house on the site of the
Edward Trueman place in Maple Hill. John Fawcett built a frame
house near the Academy Brook. He owned the farm where the late
Robert Fawcett lived.
Cyrus Tingley occupied a log house almost opposite the Charles Fawcett
residence. Mr. Tingley died and his widow married one Mahoney.
John Ogden lived on the place afterwards occupied by Marcus Trueman
(near the Purington residence.) He traded places with George Kinnear
(father of the late Edmund and William Kinnear) who owned the Bloomer
Ogden farm, and moved there on the next hill.
Deles Dernier lived in a log house on one side of the highway and
Major Wilson occupied a frame house on the other side. Major
Wilson had two sons, Harper and Richard. Harper built opposite
his father's place.
George Lawrence -- father of Nathan and Leban, had a house back in
the field near where Leban afterwards lived. Wm. Lawrence lived
in a frame house on the same property that was afterwards owned by
his son, Nelson. John Outhouse lived on the Alder Trueman place.
Old Mr. Lawrence lived opposite the Mariner Wood house. It was
brick on a side hill -- two storeys in front and one in the rear.
Back of the Philip Palmer house, was a two storey house where Capt.
Tom Ayers lived.
Above that came the Tingley, Ayers and Harper houses. The first
was the Tingley where the late Amos lived. Nehemiah Ayer lived
where the late Wm. Ayer resided and across the road was Obediah Ayer's
house. Further up the crest of the hill, Michael Grace lived.
William Harper lived on the hill occupied by the late I. C. Harper.
He had a nice farm house. John Harper lived in the Morice place.
He and Obediah Ayer were partners in carrying on a saw and grist mill.
They sold out to John Morice.
David Stone lived on the 'Squire Titus Hicks place.
John Sharpe lived above Bethel Meeting House.
Joshua Read succeeded his father to the place on the hill owned afterwards
by Nathan Lawrence and later by William Smith. Samuel Hicks,
the projenitor of all the Hicks in the Country first lived in the
Nath. Ward place which had previously been owned by the Reads.
Tolar Thompson lived next. Joseph Thompson cousin of Toler's
lived on the Thomas Anderson place.
A blacksmith named Woodworth had a house and Smithy at the Four Corners
-- South side.
On the opposite corner, Mr. Thornton built a house which was occupied
by "Long" John Thompson -- the father of Wilson and Jacob.
Thomas Wheaton built above the graveyard --the house has long disappeared.
Wm. Fawcett lived on the James George place and John Fawcett on the
Chappel Fawcett place.
Mr. Emmerson, the great grandfather of the late Hon. H. R. Emmerson
lived in a log house on the site of the Elisha Wheaton house.
He had the reputation of being a good farmer. He left two children:--one
of them married Mrs. Lefurgy mother of late Hon. Mr. Lefurgy of Summerside.
David Wheaton purchased the place afterward. Benjamin Wheaton
lived on the John Bickerton place and Josiah Hicks on the opposite
hill.
Next to him, Jonathan Hicks lived.
Joseph Sears occupied the same place that his son Frederick Sears
and later grandson Joseph Sears lived. At Jenck's Brook, Joseph
Sears was the only settler. "Corner" Bill Estabrooks was the
first settler at the edge of Log Lake -- then bog, now solid marsh
10 feet deep. Tusket was settled by Thomas McPhee.
CHAPTER V.
YORKSHIRE SETTLERS
CHARLES DIXON
The following paper was read before the Chignecto Historical Society
on 9th July 1892, at the celebration on the Dixon homestead of the
120th anniversary of the landing of Charles Dixon at Sackville, by
his grandson, James D. Dixon, Esq.:
To the ridge of land upon which we stand belongs perhaps as much of
historic interest as any spot in Sackville. Upon it once stood
a row of tenements erected and inhabited by the Acadian French.
As the French gained access by water conveyance to the country threading
the various rivers and streams in boats and small vessels, and as
at this point the upland extends to the river which, with a single
exception it does not do upon the whole length of the Tantramar, thus
affording exceptional facilities for landing. I deem it more
than probable they first landed and commenced their occupation of
Sackville at this point. The marsh land to the Eastward now
called the Dixon Island marsh, to the extent of 200 acres and upwards
was reclaimed, occupied and cultivated by them from which they derived
their principal means of support. Traces of these tenements
were distinctly visible 50 years ago. Frequently in my youthful
days I have ploughed over their foundations and turned up quantities
of the marsh mud of which with a few sticks, their chimneys were constructed.
There was also to be seen a hollow or depression of the surface indicating
the existence of a cellar. In 1765 this locality was granted
by the Nova Scotia Government to one Daniel Hawkins and was by him
occupied and improved until the year 1772. Hawkins was one of
the New England immigrants who were induced to come here by Governor
Lawrence of Nova Scotia.
One hundred and twenty years have passed since Charles Dixon, one
of the first of the Yorkshire immigrants, who were induced to come
to Nova Scotia by the influence of Lieutenant Governor Franklyn, arrived
and settled upon this farm, with his family consisting of his wife
and four children. We are met today to celebrate events of historic
interest and importance, rather than for the purpose of glorifying
individuals, yet it may be well that we should not overlook or under
estimate the difficulties to be surmounted and the privations endured
by these English immigrants, in bidding adieu to old England and encountering
a rough and tedious passage from Liverpool to Halifax of nearly seven
weeks' duration and from thence to Fort Cumberland in which nearly
three more weeks were spent. Mr. Dixon found a refuge for his
family in the Fort a couple of weeks, and employed his time in exploring
and visiting the neighboring localities and in the purchase of the
property upon which we are assembled of Daniel Hawkins, to which he
removed his family on the 8th of June, 1772. The property consisted
of 2,500 acres in all, about 260 of which was in this immediate locality
and 186 acres of which was marsh, nearly all of which was dyked and
35 acres of improved upland. There was also included a farm
of 200 acres and upwards on the lower Mill creek or Frosty Hollow,
so called 20 acres of which were cleared and upwards of seventy acres
was dyked marsh. The balance of his purchase consisted of 2000
acres of wilderness land nearly 700 of which lay on the lower Fairfield
road to the south-west. For this property he paid the sum of
260 pounds sterling. He also purchased the stock upon the farm
which consisted of 13 cows, 6 oxen and 25 young cattle, 6 horses,
36 sheep, 13 hogs and 2 goats. A house and barn and some outhouses
stood upon the property very near where the house of the late Captain
Towse now stands. There was also a house and barn on the farm
at Frosty Hollow and about 20 head of stock which was under rental
to one Daniel Dickinson. To this land where we are assembled
he gave the name Pathos Isle. Mr. Dixon himself was not a farmer
and had never followed that occupation. The spring he arrived
here was late, cold and discouraging. He says he found almost
the whole population, who had come here from New England some seven
years previously much discontented and desirous of selling their lands
and returning to New England. He strove to ascertain the cause
of such universal discontent and soon arrived at the conclusion it
was due to indolence and ignorance. Accustomed as he had been
to notice the agricultural operations of Yorkshire, perhaps at that
time the most advanced of any part of England or even of Europe, the
newer and cruder operations which here met his observation could not
but suffer by comparison. It is but reasonable to suppose the
New Englanders with their seven years' experience with the soil and
climate of this country, should have acquired a more correct general
knowledge of the country and its capabilities than a stranger, who
had no practical knowledge of agricultural pursuits could be capable
of forming with only a couple of weeks' observation. Here, however
he applied himself diligently to the cultivation and improvement of
his estate in which he was assisted the first year by Thomas Anderson
who with his youthful bride were his fellow passengers from England.
It is said of Mr. Anderson that upon their arrival at Halifax, she
was so homesick she earnestly desired to return to England in the
same ship. A year later Mr. Dixon writes a paper recording the
circumstances of his early life, his occupation, his religious views,
his marriage, the reasons inducing him to leave England and his coming
to America and his settlement here concluding with the words following
"and now let us adore that Providence that has brought us through
many dangers from our Father's house and given us a lot in a strange
land and an inheritance which we never deserved nor expected." Between
1772 and 1777 a considerable number of other families from Yorkshire
came out and settled in Sackville and adjoining localities, some of
whom were encouraged to do so by Mr. Dixon while some were aided and
assisted by him in procuring suitable locations for settlement.
The loyalty of these English immigrants was almost immediately put
to a severe test by circumstances connected with the revolutionary
war, and the fact that so large a proportion of the New England settlers
here actually sympathized with the revolted Colonies. But to
the honor of the Yorkshire settlers be it said, they were almost a
unit in adhering to the cause of Great Britain, though for a time
they suffered the indignity of having their houses robbed and pillaged,
and themselves forbidden to stir off their premises.
To a man like Charles Dixon this was a terrible humiliation.
His loyalty to the crown and government of England was intense; he
could not conceive of anything so foolish and wicked as rebellion
against such a government and such a King as George the third and
his feelings towards such persons and their sympathizers were such
that he did not wish his family to associate or intermarry with them
in after life. Of the Yorkshire immigrants, it can safely be
said they were honest, moral, industrious, and loyal citizens, very
plain spoken, when they said yea or nay, whatever that implied could
be relied upon. If they differed, as they sometimes did, they
expressed themselves upon the points at issue with admirable directness
and without prevarication. They did much to improve the condition
of the country both morally and physically. I rejoice to be
permitted to participate in any demonstration to honor their memory,
and to declare my conviction that none of their descendants have any
cause to be ashamed of their ancestry.
The first grant of the parish of Sackville comprised 35,250 acres
all to New England people and was issued in 1765. A later grant
must have been issued soon after, as an assessment of the land owners
of Sackville was made in 1777 by James Law and Charles Dixon in which
the quantity assessed is over 90,000 acres and in which there are
many names of New England people.
The largest land holder in Sackville at that date was Samuel Rodgers,
one of the most active participators in the Eddy war, so called, to
whose name stands 4,746 acres. I recollect this old man who
died at a great age in 1831 or thereabouts, having been for several
years previously a town charge. The next largest proprietor
of land were Esterbrooks and Mason, 3,344 acres. Next comes
John Barnes 2,750 acres and next comes Charles Dixon with 2,510 acres.
Elijah Ayer 2,090 acres and Edward Barron 2,000 acres, Benjamin Emmerson
2,000, Robert Scott 2,000 and others with a less quantity. Of
the 120 persons who were proprietors of land at that time there are
not more than 25 surnames to be found on our assessment roll of the
present year, corresponding to those in the list above mentioned.
Thus we see that the names of nearly all of the landed proprietors
of 1777 have removed from the country or became extinct.
Mr. Dixon as a Justice of the Peace, to which office he was appointed
soon after he came to the country, was authorized to perform the marriage
service. A few may be mentioned as follows, viz.: David Wheaton
and Mary Barker in 1793; John Harper and Mary Thornton in 1791; John
Dobson and Mary Fawcett in 1794; William Lawrence and Sally King in
1795; Michael Grace and Ruth Carnforth in 1792; Thomas Easterbrooks
and Ruth Smith in 1793; James Hicks and Sarah Easterbrooks in 1785;
John Wry and Phoebe Maxwell in 1786; Bedford Boultenhouse and Charlotte
Harper in 1794; Timothy Lockhart and Elizabeth Teed in 1793.
THE OLDEST DESCENDENT
of Charles Dixon at the date of the meeting was Mr. Nelson Bulmer
then in his 86th year. Mr. Bulmer's father George Bulmer purchased
his property of Nicholas Cooke, a son of one of the original grantees
of Sackville in the year 1785 and immediately settled thereon.
The adjoining property to the northeast was owned by William Maxwell
and was transferred to his son-in-law, John Wry; next to Wry, Thomas
Bowser settled, and next to him Robert Atkinson, who purchased his
property from his father-in- law, Amasa Killam. These four lots
comprised all the land between the Upper and Lower Fairfield roads
with the exception of a half lot which was purchased by John Richardson.
This block of land now constitutes a very valuable and populous part
of Sackville, embracing the Mount Allison institutions, the English,
Methodist and Baptist churches, hotels and private residence, stores
and public buildings including the post office. The Dixon estate
also contains a fair proportion of the natural growth and increase
of the population and buildings of Sackville. The oldest surviving
descendant of Charles Dixon bearing the name Dixon was William C.
Dixon, of Maidstone, Essex County, Ontario, who though in his 79th
year is here present. There were fourteen of the grandchildren
of Charles Dixon still living, eight bearing the name of Dixon, and
two bearing the name of Bulmer and four females bearing the names
of O'Hara, Wightman, Simons and Smith. The descendants, over
2000 in number are widely scattered and are to be found in Australia,
California, South Sea Island, Japan, England, in many of the States
of the Union and in nearly all of the provinces of Canada.
At the conclusion of his interesting paper Mr. Dixon read a letter
from his cousins Charles and Edward Dixon and their sisters Ruth,
Martha and Mary of Payson, Utah, expressing regret at their inability
to be present at the celebration and also extending to their relatives
in the east an invitation to visit them should the occasion offer.
Shortly before the gathering broke up Mr. Wm. C. Dixon of Ontario,
read an amusing poem appropriate to the occasion in which was set
forth many historical and personal episodes of the early settlers.
Among the historical relics exhibited were a spider used for heating
flat irons, etc., a walnut tea tray, a clock of very early make, and
an account book kept by Mr. Dixon the first entry in which bears the
date 1760.
VISIT TO WINDSOR, HUNDRED YEARS AGO
An old letter describes a trip from Chignecto to Halifax by the Parrsboro-Windsor
route. The writer says he took his wife with him, and both being
young did not mind a hard seated wagon and rough roads. "On
our arrival at Parrsboro we found there Jim White with a drove of
cattle for Halifax. The old packet was covered with cattle and
there was no room for my horse, so we had to wait until the return
of the packet from Windsor. Mr. Ratchford was then doing a large
business at Partridge Island and was very kind to us. On the
return of the packet we were landed at Horton. There was great
excitement at Windsor and many strangers attending the trial of a
couple of men for the murder of Deputy Sheriff Kennedy. The
Judge presiding was Haliburton, afterwards Chief Justice Sir Brenton.
He was a small, delicate, light complexioned man. He possessed
a clear voice and a distinct utterance and seemed to be an able man.
The prosecuting officer was Attorney General Uniacke. He was
a tall, powerfully built man, with massive head and strongly marked
features. He spoke with a good deal of brogue. He was
a powerful speaker. I looked at him with a good deal of interest.
I had often heard my father speak of him. (After referring to
Mr. Uniacke's connection with the Eddy war, the writer proceeded.)
I have forgotten who defended. The case was one of circumstantial
evidence and the verdict of not guilty having been rendered, the men
were discharged. We had difficulty in obtaining quarters, but
Mr. Wilcox kindly gave us a private room and we were very comfortable.
I heard Job Ross had a marvellous hog. I went and found Ross--an
old man, selling spruce beer and gingerbread. I asked to see
the hog. He took me through a passage to the back of the house
and close to it was the pen. There were three apartments for
his hogship, a dining room, a bedroom and an outside apartment.
The whole was scrupulously clean; the hog, being called, came to Job
who scratched him, for which he received grunting thanks. The
hog weighed 1100 pounds. The skin was perfectly clean.
Ross said he washed and scrubbed him every day. The result was
he ate less and thrived better.
We started for Halifax, where we arrived in the evening, passing on
the road White and his cattle, approaching the city. It took
him over a week to get his cattle there, much shrunk and deteriorated
in value", etc., etc.
CHAPTER VI.
PROVINCIAL SETTLEMENTS
It was not until three years after 1755 that Acadia was opened up
for settlers from New England, previously which the whole country
was practically all wilderness. In 1761 there were only six
families in the territory outside of Port Royal, and only seventy-four
in Port Royal. There were only ten families along the Saint
John river as late as 1695. The first English settlement in
the Province of New Brunswick took place in 1761 when twenty-five
families came in and occupied the deserted French farms in Sackville.
About the same time about the same date the English settlers arrived
in Amherst.
Israel Perley of Newburyport, Mass., after an exploratory trip up
the Saint John River, arrived there in 1763 with four vessels, laden
with settlers for Maugerville and Sheffield. At this time the
Peabody, Symonds, White and Hazen trading establishments at the mouth
of the Saint John River commenced to build up large interests.
The Hopewell, Hillsboro and Moncton settlements largely by Germans
from Pennsylvania were made in 1765, when also William Davidson built
up a trade of fish, furs and masts at Beaubear's Island. Most
of the original English settlers were merely squatters; immense grants
of land having been made by Governor Wilmot in Halifax to non-resident
land grabbers and speculators such as Boquet, Haldimand, Desbarres,
McNutt and many others. These were either escheated later on
by the Crown or sold under judgments obtained by settlers. McNutt
had a grant of a territory not less than 1700 square miles along the
Saint John River.
When in 1765 General Monckton was carrying on the "Grand Derangement"
at Chignecto, he sent a corps of New Englanders to destroy the Acadian
dwellings at Tantramar. It was not long before the smoke and
flames burst from 97 buildings. Those Acadians who escaped the
expulsion saw from the shelter of the woods the torch applied to their
homes. Theirs was a melancholy fate. The innocent suffered
with the guilty. The conflagration of the homes of the Acadians
was not limited to Tantramar but extended to Westcock and Woodpoint
so that when the work of destruction was done only heaps of ashes
were left to remind one of the Acadian homes.
The Acadians had not cleared a wide stretch of upland nor did they
build aboideaux across the creeks. Their dykes skirted the rivers
and creeks. The houses were of course log ones with roofs of
bark and chimneys built of wood and clay. After the disappearance
of the Acadians Governor Lawrence issued his proclamation offering
lands to actual settlers. Immigration from New England States
commenced in due course. People came from Connecticut, Rhode
Island, and other New England places. The lands were surveyed;
allotments made to the settlers but they were obviously disappointed
because when Mr. Charles Dixon arrived at Sackville from Yorkshire
in 1772 all but three families had disappeared. The first settlers
to come were twenty- five families from Rhode Island. This was
in 1761.
APPLICATIONS FOR GRANTS
The following is a list of applications for grants at the years named.
Many of the applicants were never in the country, others came and
returned to the colonies south. The list is of interest to show
the land grabbing tendencies of the age.
Name
Acreage
1763
Day, John
500
O'Brien, Henry
500
France, John
500
Fitzsymons, Francis
Fitzsymons, James & John
1500
Foster, Christian & Another
1000
Marshall, Richard
1000
Proctor, Thomas
Peck, Martin & Others
Philmore, John
89000
Lewis, Nathaniel & Others
)
Lewis, Thomas & Others
)
Lewis, Benjamin & Others
) 35250
Lewis, Samuel & Others
)
1765
Cole, Isaac & Others
)
Carpenter, Asel & Others
)
Custen, Michael & Others
)
Tingley, Josiah & Others
Thournton, Israel & Others
Thomas, John R. & Others
Thomas, Nicholas & Others
Mason, Nathan & Others
Mason, Nathaniel & Others
Mason, Nathaniel, Jr. & Others
Mason, Isaiah & Others
Mason, Benjamin & Others
Mason, Matthew & Others
Mason, Oliver & Others
Mason, Benjamin & Others
Martin, Eleanor & Others
Manly, John & Others
Killam, Amasa & Others
Killam, Superam & Others
Lewis, Nathaniel & Others
Lewis, Thomas & Others
Lewis, Benjamin & Others
Winsor, Joseph & Others
Whitmond, Jacob & Others
Williams, Rob & Others
Wood, John & Others
Ward, Joshua & Others
Day, John & Others
1768
Sherman, George & Others
Saunders, Samuel & Others
Smith, Coomer & Others
Simmons, Gilbert & Others
Simmons, Nathaniel & Others
Sherman, George & Others
Simmons, Samuel & Others
Simmons, Job & Others
Simmons, Nathan & Others
Simmons, Henry & Others
Jenks, John & Others
Jenks, James & Others
Jenks, Edward & Others
Jenks, Jesse & Others
Johnston, Stephen & Others
Jenks, Jonathan & Others
Irons, Samuel & Others
Mason, Nathaniel & Others
Martin, Experience & Others
Moore, John & Others
Moore, Rev. Wm. & Others
Glebe, Land & Others
Thurber, Benjamin, 2d. & Others
Towers, Benj. & Jos. & Others
Thurber Benjamin & Others
Tower, Wm. & Others
Thomas, John & Others
Young, Gideon & Others
Wilber, Benjamin & Others
Williams, Peleg & Others
Williams, Benoni & Others
Watts, John & Others
Watts, Samuel & Others
Otway, John, Sr. & Others
Owens, Joseph & Others
Olney, Charles & Others
Olney, William & Others
Olney, John R. & Others
Olney, Abraham & Others
Peck, John & Others
Peck, Abiel & Others
Leland, Amiriah & Others
Lewis, Timothy & Others
Lattimore, Ruben & Others
Deslesdernier, Paul & Others
Deslesdernier, Moses & Others
Alverson, Japhet & Others
)
Alverson, Jeremiah & Others
)
Alverson, William & Others
) 47000
Archer, Job & Others
)
)
Newton, Hibbert & Others
2000
1772
Barron, Edward
) 2000
1773
Hawkins, John & Others
Hicks, Samuel & Others
Hicks, Josiah & Others
Hicks, Ambrose & Others
Hawkins, John & Others
Hicks, Samuel & Others
Hicks, Joseph & Others
Hicks, Ambrose & Others
Belew, Samuel & Others
Brown, Joseph & Others
Barnes, John & Others
Barnes, Thomas & Others
Bennett, Joseph & Others
Brownell, Jeremiah & Others
Owens, Joseph & Others
Olney, Charles & Others
Olney, Abraham & Others
Cook, Nicholas Others
)
Corey, Samuel & Others
)
Cook, Joseph & Others
) 25500
Cook, Jesse & Others
)
Cumberland, Richard & Others
)
Eaddy, Samuel & Others
Eaddy, John & Others
Williams, Benonie & Others
Thurber, Benjamin & Others
Towers, Benjamin & Others
Towers, Joseph & Others
Towers, William & Others
Seaman, Gilbert & Others
Shearman, George & Others
Saunders, Samuel & Others
Smith, Coomer & Others
Simmons, Nathan & Others
Shearman, Joshua & Others
Simmons, Job & Others
Barnes, John & Others
)
Barnes, Thomas & Others
) 25500
Bennett, Joseph & Others
)
Bronil, Jeremiah & Others
)
Lawrence, Wm. & Others
Lattimer, Ruben & Others
Lattimer, Lemuel & Others
Lattimer, Robert & Others
Jenks, John & Others
Jenks, Jesse & Others
Jenks, Jonathan & Others
Alverson, Jophet & Others
Alverson, Jeremiah & Others
Alverson, William & Others
Foster, Robert
) 12250
Foster, John
)
1774
Barnes, Thomas & Others
)
Brown, Wm. & Others
) 12250
Bennett, Joseph and Jonas, Jr. & Others )
Read, Joseph & Simon
Rodgers, Samuel
Williams, Peleg & Others
)
Waterman, Andrew & Others
) 12250
Willber, Benj. & Others
)
Maxwell, Wm.
Archer, Job
12252
Eyre, Joseph & Others
Eddy, Jonathan & Others
Eddy, Lewis & Others
Eddy, Deborah & Others
Eddy, Lewis & Others
Eddy, Deborah & Others
Easterbrooks, Wm. & Others
Foster, Robert, and Andrew & Others
Jenks, Stephen & Others
Jenks, Edward
Jenks, Edward & Others
Olney, Coggshell & Others
Alvason, David & Others
Sprague, Joshua & Others
Sprague, Elijah & Others
Sprague, William & Others
Sprague, James & Others
Semons, Charles & Others
Smith, Gideon & Others
Smith, Stephen & Others
Smith, Gideon, Jr. & Others
Salisbury, Ebenezer & Others
Salisbury, Ebenezer, Jr. & Others
Salisbury, Jabesh & Others
Salisbury, Ruben & Others
Glin, Henry & Others
) 35250
Glen, Henry & Others
)
Olway, James & Others
Olway, Emmer & Others
Jacobs, Nathaniel & Others
Johnnot, Peter
500
Jenks, Wm. & Others
Hawkins, Daniel & Others
Hawkins, Charles & Others
Hawkins, Josiah & Others
Horton, Isiah & Others
Herway, Seth & Others
Huston, Alex & Others
Hunt, Thomas & Others
Kennedy, Hugh & Others
Knaut, Philip & Others
29750
Potter, Phensake & Others
Eaddy, Lewis & Others
Eaddy, Deborah & Others
Easterbrooks, James & Others
Easterbrooks, Valentine & Others
Emmerson, Benjamin & Others
Eaddy, Daniel & Others
Eaddy, John & Others
Emmerson, Samuel & Others
Emmerson, Joseph & Others
1766
Scott, Robert
2000
1766
Scott, Robert
2000
Manly, John, license alienate to J. Winslow 500
Huston, Wm.
)
Huston, Alex, license to alienate to J. Huston ) 1600
Owen, Joseph & Others
Cole, Jonathan & Others
Cole, Edward & Others
Thurber, Benjamin & Others
Tingley, Josiah & Others
John Thompson, Jos. Thompson, David Blackburn: Ask for about 300 acres
of marsh land in the Great Marsh which they want to improve.
Granted 17th August, 1786.
Charity French: Came from New York State and viewed the lands on River
Petitcodiac, Westmorland County, and wants the lands of Wetmore's
Survey for himself and associates, Josiah Stebbens, Benj. Clees' Wm.
D. Vine, Zebulon Ross-Jar. Council grants 200 acres each, on
condition they settle at once and report situation. Sept 15th,
1786.
Report of Mr. Milledge re Tingley and Chappel: Encloses certificate
that Chapel has been in possession and made improvements in tract
surveyed for him at Baie Verte. Also sends affidavits respecting
Tingley's claims. States he has sent a memo of fees due on Mr.
Kinnear's grant. April 17th, 1793.
Wm. Lawrence, Jim S. Outhouse, John Ogden, Nehemiah and Thos. Ayer:
Applicants are destitute of woodland and ask for a vacant tract between
the land of John Fawcett and Richard Wilson, and to the line in Dorchester.
They ask for a warrant of survey and grant of 200 acres each.
Sackville, January, 1801.
(149)
Petition for 100 acres of marsh in Sackville on the River au Lac,
joining the town line, and 500 acres on the North side of Gaspero
River on Point Bonagr or Timber river, Fort Cumberland, January, 1801.
Thos. Wheaton, Jos. Seeds, Jas. Hicks: Petitions for vacant tract
of land in the town of Sackville, near Point Midget, and greater part
of tract consists of lakes and sunken lands and has never been granted
or applied for. Sackville, January 6, 1801.
Simon Outhouse: Memorial for undyked marsh on the easterly side of
Tantramar river, containing about 12 or 14 acres, and asking for a
warrant of survey. Sackville, January, 1801.
Inhabitants of Cumberland: Appeal to the Lieut. Governor re the possession
of Lot 5, formerly Collins, now Dr. Brown or Siddall, and No. 6, 7,
formerly Catherwood, now 6 & 7 to Mr. Wells Nevart, now John Fillmore,
which lie on Point Midget on which the inhabitants depend for fuel
and which they wish to remain on. Jan. 31, 1801.
Lois Fitzgerald: Petitioner states that the debts against the estate
of her deceased husband exceed the personal estate and will scarcely
cover the just debts. She asks for authorization to sell the
real estate of deceased so as to discharge her indebtedness.
July 18th, 1805.
Thomas Easterbrooks: Memorialist is in possession of the following
parcels of land: One eight acre lot, one twenty-one acre lot of marsh,
which land he has improved at considerable expense, and his dyked
two and half acres of said marsh, and asks that his title to the same
right of marsh contained 21 acres, of No. 37, Letter B. Division,
same situated on Cole's Island, also the wood lot No. 39 in Letter
A. Division containing 100 acres.
No. 53 Letter B. Division and No. 39 Letter A. Division are ungranted,
the others are already granted. June 28th, 1808.
Thomas Herrett: Mr. Watson also pleads the cause of John and Berony
Savoy who possessed and improved a vacant tract of land at the head
of Bouktouche, Harbour, which land is now claimed through Jos. Guguen,
by Simon and Placid Desroches, Bouktouche. Mr. Watson considers
land really belongs to former possessors and recommends their retaining
same.
Obtained a grant of 360 acres of wilderness lands which he improved
and cultivated, but having no marsh land included in said grant, petitioner
asks for 21 acres of same which is claimed by James Rogers, but which
property he has not improved; as also a seven acre lot, both of which
have been in his possession for 30 years without improvement of any
sort, and lie in the center of the land owned by Memorialist No. 20,
Letter A. Division Sackville, affidavit of Chas. Dixon re said statement.
Commission to issue at the expense of applicants. Sept. 1st,
1809.
Wm. Crane, Bardin Turner, Thos. Ayer, Edward Burk: Petition for No.
14, Lot A. Division in Sackville, between Cape Meringuen and the Dorchester
Line, fronting Chepody Bay, containing 60 acres and a quarry of Plaster
of Paris, which they possess in common. They ask for a grant
of the shore between high and low water mark in front of Lot No. 14.
Referred to Surveyor-General. Lot No. 14 measures 48 rods in
front of Shepody Bay. 1816.
Inhabitants of Sackville: Petition from inhabitants of Sackville praying
for the appointment of Sewers Commissioners. January 7th, 1813.
Robert Atkinson, D. Shaw, Christ. Atkinson. Thos. Anderson:
Make application for a Board of Sewers and recommend candidates for
the same. January 21, 1814.
Joseph Gatso: Petitions for 300 acres wilderness meadow, lying in
the rear of lands granted to Nathaniel Gilbert, and northward of the
tract granted to Samuel Underwood, for stocking cattle and improving
land. Sackville 11th of June, 1814. (No exact location
given.)
Simon Outhouse, Wm. Lawrence: State that lots No. 39 and 72 in Sackville,
Letter B. Division have never been granted, that the marsh lot and
16 acres lot of No. 37 would accommodate Simon Outhouse, and the marsh
lot and 16 acres of No. 72, Wm. Lawrence so they pray for a warrant
of survey and a grant for same accordingly. Sept. 28th, 1816.
Tolar Thompson: Wishes to obtain a proportion of the vacant sunken
bog in Sackville, for the erection of fences to keep the cattle in,
and as a compensation for a road he has undertaken to make and on
which he has expended 364 pounds leading from Great Bridge River to
Point Midgic.
Petitioner holds by purchases lot 60 in letter C. Division bounded
by a brook which prevents from making fence, hence his request for
100 acres adjoining. Land contains 700 acres most of which is
now sunken land, Affidavits attached. Filed March 3rd, 1817.
Paid.
DEEDS AND TRANSFERS
Deed from William Shaw, (Dy. Provost Marshal of Nova Scotia) to Christopher
Harper on 22 June, 1785, certain lands owned by Samuel Smith, William
Jones, William Lawrence, Parker Clark, Simon Clark and Elijah Ayer
to satisfy executions for 1247 pounds -9-8.
List of lots, 8, 50, 13, 13, 50, 32, 34, 34, 45, 50.
1785 Asa Fillmore, Wm. Taylor to Robert Keech, 200 acres upland --
60 marsh.
1802, John Keillor, and Elizabeth his wife, 4 acres to the Justices
of Westmorland for the Court House Square, Dorchester, 51 acres of
marsh. 20 pounds.
1790 Allen, Winkworth, William, George and Isabella to Brook Watson
et al, mortgage for 1,295 pounds
Ayers, Obediah, Thomas and Nehemiah to Jonathan Cole, lands at Midgic.
Heirs of Amasa Killam lands to Richard Wilson.
R. Lowerison lands to Thos Anderson.
1796--Jonathan Eddy lands to Elizah Ayre.
1804, Andrew Kinnear to John Anderson, lands at Midgic.
1816, Robert Atkinson to Trustees of Schools, land at Crane's Corner.
Israel Thornton lands to Wm. Fawcett, 27 acres.
1789--132, Martha Burnham to Ambrose Hicks in Northport, 21 acres.
Harlow Jonathan to Michael Grace.
Jonathan Barlow lands to Silas Thornton.
Jonathan Barlow lands to Silas Thornton.
1789 Michael Burke to John Fawcett, 7 1/2 acres.
Bulmer, George, to Amos Botsford--lot on King's Marsh.
A--1785, Chris. Harper to Amos Botsford, 14 pounds, lot on West
Marsh.
1797, Elijah Ayer to Amos Botsford.
1797, Elijah Ayer to S. Milledge.
1802, Elijah Ayer to R. Wilson.
Michael Grace sold to Wm. Campbell 20th Oct. 1794, 60 acres upland
on land called Isle of Patmos Nos. 9, 10 and 11. Also 12 acres
of land on Marsh called the Cove for 52 pounds.
In 1794 Richard Wilson leased his farm and stock for 3 years to John
Ogden. His stock to be returned being 8 cows, 2 oxen, 1 horse,
one bull 15 sheep and farm utensils.
The inhabitants of Sackville appointed a Committee to make a survey
of the lands of the township and in 1791, the work was accomplished,
so far as grants were then issued, and a plan was made. In 1808
Surveyor-General Sproul made a second plan embracing all the grants
made up to that date. The parish was partitioned into three
grand divisions, known as Letter A, Letter B and Letter C Divisions.
Letter A embraced the township below Mill Creek; Letter B between
Mill Creek and including Morice's Pond, and separated from the wood
lots in Letter C Division A four rod space, which is substantially
the road to Beech Hill leading past the residence of Mr. W. W. Fawcett.
The fathers of the parish deemed Westcock a very suitable location
for a town, and accordingly they reserved the uplands, enclosed in
the roads about old Westcock house as a town flat, for residences
and laid out seven acre lots East and West of it, suburbs of the new
town.
CHAPTER VII.
SACKVILLE IN 1777
An assessment of the land owners of Sackville made in 1777 showed
ninety thousand acres owned or occupied. The largest land owner
was one Samuel Rogers who had won the disfavor of Loyalist Britains
by his part in the Eddy War two years before. He was then a
very old man and had become a town charge while at the same time he
owned 4746 acres. Estabrooks and Mason owned 3344 acres; John
Barnes owned 2750 acres; Charles Dixon 2510 acres; Elijah Ayer 2,090
acres; Edward Barron 2000 acres; Benjamin Emmerson 2000 acres; Robert
Scott 2000 acres.
SACKVILLE IN 1803
Below is "A" list of the inhabitants of Sackville taken January 1803".
Many of the names are well known throughout the parish yet; a few
are not so well known, while others will scarcely be recognized at
all. The list is as follows:
Robert Atkinson, N. Ayer, Obediah Ayer, Thos. Anderson, Thos. Anderson,
Jr., James Anderson, John Anderson, A. Botsford, John Burnham, John
Barnes, Peter Barnes, Ezra Barnes, Oliver Barnes, Bedford Boultenhouse,
Thomas Bowser, Thomas Bowser, Jr., George Bulmer, Isaac Bradshaw,
Simon Bazely, Samuel Balau, Charles Boyle, Jona. Cole, Martin Cole,
Laban Cushing, Joseph Crossman, John Crossman, Edwin Crossman, David
Crossman, Charles Dixon, Edward Dixon, William Dixon, Charles Dixon,
Jr., Ferdinand Delesdernier, Jos. Delesdernier, Henry Delesdenier,
Major Delesdernier, James Estabrooks, James Estabrooks, Jr., W. S.
Estabrooks, Edward Estabrooks, Thos. Estabrooks, Benj. Emerson, Jon.
Eddy, Lydia Evans, William Fawcett, William Fawcett, Jr., John Fawcett,
John Fawcett, Jr., James Fitzgerald, James Fitzgerald, Jr., Daniel
Fletcher, Nath. Finney, Caleb Finney, Caleb Finney, Jr., John Fawcett,
Thos. Grainge, Michael Graves, Thos. Gorman, Chris. Harper, William
Harper, Wm. Harper, Jr., John Harper, John Harris, Thos. Harrison,
Thos. Herrett, Wm. Humphrey, Samuel Hicks, Josiah Hicks, James Hicks,
John Hicks, Simeon Jenks, Benj. King, H. King, James Kay, Will. Lawrence,
Wm. Lawrence, Jr., George Lawrence, John Lowe, Tim. Lockhart, Stephen
Millidge, Gersham Maxwell, Angus McFee, James McCormick, Simon Outhouse,
John Ogden, John Patterson, Elijah Reid, William Reid, Chris. Richardson,
Jos. Richardson, Tim. Richardson, Samuel Rogers, James Rogers, Joshua
Reid, Duncan Shaw, Pickering Snowdon, William Snowdon, Gideon Smith,
Gideon Smith, Jr., Joseph Sears, David Stone, Joseph Thompson, F.
Thompson, _____ Thornton, Titus Thornton, Benj. Tower, Benj. Tower,
Jr., Josiah Tingley, Jos. Tingley, Jr., A. Tingley, Jon Teed, George
Tower, Samuel Taylor, Richard Wilson, Thos. Wheaton, David Wheaton,
Neh. Ward, Joseph Ward, Edw. Ward, Daniel Ward, John Ward, John Wry,
John Wood, Thos. Wade, William Kay, Jas. Smith, Benj. Reid.
Men, 134; Women, 121; Children under 10, 136; Children over 10, 231.
Total 622.
SACKVILLE BEFORE 1820
When the first settlers came from New England, they found the forest
had been cut away, by the Acadians, only in patches and those bordering
on the marshes, which were protected from the sea by the dykes running
up and down the creeks, -- they had avoided making aboideaux.
Their homes were marked by cellars and the ashes of their dwellings
burned by a detachment from Fort Cumberland in 1755. These communities
were connected by roads -- or rather trails leading to Beausejour
on the East and to the Memramcook and Petitcodiac river on the West.
Therefore the New England pioneers largely hewed out homes for themselves
in the green woods, built roads, bridges, churches, schools, and also
boats and small schooners to maintain communication with the outside
world; the main highways connecting the centres of trade and population
being the work of another generation.
The following notes as to the inhabitants of Sackville were supplied
about 1890, by an old lady long since gone to her rest, viz.: Mrs.
Cynthia (Barnes) Atkinson. By her account, in 1820, the following
persons lived below the Westrock Aboideau: Mark Campbell, School Master,
_____ Snowdon, Christopher Boultenhouse, Oliver Barnes, James Ward,
Joseph Atkinson; At Joggins: John Bulmer, David Cole, Joseph Tower,
Benjamin King, Squire Cole, Capt. Martin Cole, Gersham Maxwell, Jon.
Ward.
John Humprhey built what was known as the Lyons house near the Westcock
aboideau. Payson, a blacksmith occupied it and had a smithy
there.
Christopher Richardson purchased from Amos Seaman the lands later
owned by John R. Richardson, now owned by Mr. Maxwell.
Christopher Humphrey inherited from his mother the farm that he occupied.
She had built there a commodious log house. It had four rooms
downstairs and two chimneys with fireplaces. She kept public
house there for some years. She brought up a family of five
children, as follows: William, who became a successful farmer near
the Great Bridge; John, who lived and died in the home place; John
A., a prominent citizen of Monckton; Betsy, who married Mr. Dixon,
and Jane, who married Mr. John Morice.
The next house was west of the Queen's Road, formerly Salem Street.
It was occupied by a widow, Mrs. Richardson. Her husband died
at Horton. It was a log house built by her eldest son, Christopher.
She had besides him, Joseph and Thomas. Her daughter, Sally
married Mr. Wilkinson and Charlotte married Mr. Horton. At this
date there were no houses on the Lower Fairfield Road which was not
cut out until 1824.
Robert Bowser's farm was on the cross street between York Street and
the Upper Fairfield Road. His descendants were Robert Richard,
who went to Mass., established himself in business there and was highly
thought of as a citizen. He died in 1832. Charles A.,
who became an enterprising citizen and merchant of _____, Mass., Rev.
Alex T. Bowser, a Unitarian preacher who was regarded as a sincere
and able preacher. He died in 1833. Eugene who held the
home farm; Henrietta who married Mr. George McCord and Miss Susan
Bowser.
The next house -- the first frame one built in the parish was owned
by George Bulmer. It was located at Boultenhouse's Corner and
is still an architectural ornament to the plan. It was later
sold to and occupied by Jonathan Black. The rough lumber for
it, was obtained from Tower's Mill at Frosty Hollow and the finishing
came by vessel from United States.
The next house was on Shaw's Hill. It was built by Duncan Shaw.
A tramp came along, got in it, was drunk, set fire to it and was burned
with it. His remains were afterwards found.
The next house was John Wry's. It was a log house until about
1820 when he replaced it with a frame house. John Wry married
a daughter of Gersham Maxwell and acquired some hundred acres of land
from him. They had nineteen children, eighteen of them married
and had children.
The next Crane's Corner was the John Bowser House on a side hill,
in a garden with cherry trees. The brick house remembered by
the older generation was erected about 1825. The old house was
then turned into a school house.
Charles Dixon occupied a two story brick house on the site of the
late Harmon Humphrey place.
About 1820 William Dixon erected a frame house opposite Mrs. Geo.
E. Ford's residence. It was a good home for a time. It
had a chimney in the centre with three fire places.
Joseph Richardson had built about 1800 a frame house where later his
son the late Charles Richardson lived near the Island Marsh Road.
Charles Dixon erected a brick house on the site of the A. E. Wry residence.
It was demolished in 1848, by the late Christopher Milner. It
was occupied for many years by John Wry. Charles Dixon built
a log house West of the Richardson house; then he erected a brick
house near the site of the residence of the late James D. Dixon --
in Yorkshire style -- on the side hill, two storeys in front and one
in the rear. It was in good style -- was one of the very few
that had chimneys at both ends and plenty of fire places.
A lot at Crane's Corner had been owned by Amasa Kellam, who being
mixed up with the Eddy War, his property was confiscated and sold
at auction and purchased by his son-in-law, Atkinson, who married
his daughter. By her he had: a. John; b. Christopher; c. Joseph;
d. Sarah -- wife of Richard Bowser; e. Nancy (married Christopher
Richardson); f. Richardson married the second time; g. Elizabeth married
Anthony Lowe; h. Polly, not married; i. Robert Atkinson, went to Ohio;
j. Thomas, who went West; k. Andrew married _____ Phinney and went
West; l. Elizabeth married George Patterson; m. Olive, who went to
United States; n. _____, who lived in the home place. The house
stood near the site of the Charles Fawcett Hall. It was a brick
house. The bricks were made on the Island Marsh Road.
About 1839 or 1840, the late Hon. Charles F. Allison purchased the
place from William Atkinson who removed to Ohio, demolished the house
and replaced it by a frame house which was destroyed by fire.
John Harrison lived in a small red frame house on the site of the
Edward Trueman place in Maple Hill. John Fawcett built a frame
house near the Academy Brook. He owned the farm where the late
Robert Fawcett lived.
Cyrus Tingley occupied a log house almost opposite Fawcetts.
Tingley died and his widow married one Mahoney.
John Ogden lived on the place afterwards occupied by Marcus Trueman
(near the Purington residence.) He traded places with George Kinnear
(father of the late Edmund and William Kinnear) who owned the Bloomer
Ogden farm, and moved there on the next hill.
Moses Delesdernier lived in a log house on the west side of the highway.
Moses Delesdernier lived on the site of the house later occupied by
the late Thompson Trueman. Mr. Delesdernier was a prominent
actor in the Revolutionary War. He was a Trader. On one
occasion he was in New York and met on a wharf, to which his vessel
was tied up, a stalwart young Irishman, to whom quite a romance attaches
-- to wit: Richard John Uniacke, distinguished in Nova Scotia history.
Uniacke sailed with him to Sackville, fell in love with his daughter
Martha, whom he married. The lake at his country residence --
Mount Uniacke is named after her, Lake Martha.
Major Wilson occupied a frame house on the other side. He had
two sons -- Harper and Richard. Harper built opposite his father's
place.
George Lawrence -- father of (Nathan and Leban) had a house back in
the field near where Laban afterwards lived. Wm. Lawrence lived
in a frame house on the same property that was afterwards owned by
his son Nelson. John Outhouse lived on the Alder Trueman place.
Old Mr. Lawrence lived opposite the Mariner Wood house. It was
brick on a side hill -- two storeys in front and one in the rear.
Back of the Philip Palmer house, was a two storey house where Captain
Tom Ayres lived.
Above that came the Tingley, Ayers and Harper houses. The first
was Mr. Tingley's where the late Amos lived. Nehemiah Ayers
lived where the late Wm. Ayer resided and across the road was the
Obediah Ayers house. Further up on the crest of the hill, Michael
Grace lived. William Harper lived on the hill later occupied
by Chipman Harper. He possessed a nice frame house. John
Harper lived in the Morice place. He and Obediah Ayer were partners
in carrying on a saw and grist mill. They sold out to John Morice.
David Stone lived on the Titus Hicks place.
William Estabrooks lived on the Timothy Hicks place on the Back Road.
He came here about 1762 or 1763. He was the father of "Corner
Jim" who lived across the road. This was an old French place.
John Sharpe lived above Bethel Meeting House.
Joshua Read succeeded his father to the place on the hill owned afterwards
by Nathan Lawrence and later by William Smith.
Josiah Hicks, the projenitor of all the Hicks in the country first
lived in the Nath. Ward place which had previously been owned by the
Reads.
Tolar Thompson lived next. Joseph Thompson cousin of Tolar's
lived on the Thomas Anderson place.
A blacksmith named Woodworth had a house and smithy at the Four Corners
-- south side.
On the opposite corner, Mr. Thornton built a house which was occupied
by "Long" John Thompson--the father of Wilson and Jacob.
Thomas Wheaton built above the graveyard -- the house has long disappeared.
Wm. Fawcett lived on the James George place and John Fawcett on the
Chappel Fawcett place.
Mr. Emmerson, the great grandfather of the late Hon. H. R. Emmerson
lived in a log house on the site of the Elijah Wheaton house.
He had the reputation of being a good farmer. He went to P.
E. Island. He left two children: Benjamin and a daughter who
married Mr. Lefurgy, father of the late Hon. Mr. Lefurgy of Summerside.
David Wheaton purchased the place afterward. Benjamin Wheaton
lived on the John Bickerton place and Josiah Hicks on the opposite
hill.
Next to him, Jonathan Hicks lived.
Joseph Sears occupied the same place that his son Frederick Sears
and later his grandson Joseph Sears lived.
At Jenck's Brook, Joseph Sears, was the only settler. "Corner"
Bill Estabrooks was the first settler at the edge of Log Lake -- then
bog, now solid marsh 10 feet deep.
Tusket was settled by Thomas McPhee, Titus Thornton, and Jeremiah
Sears. At Cookville, the first settlers were:--Towse and Samuel
Boyce. About 1870, David Cook, John Lund, Gideon Estabrooks
and Angus McPhee.
At Midgic the first settlers were:--Jonathan Hicks, Amos Hicks, John
Anderson.
FIRST TRANSFER OF LANDS IN SACKVILLE
1765--Benjamin Mason to Nath. Jacob, 4 acres.
1768--Thomas Lewis to Benjamin Emmerson, 2 acres.
1768--V. Estabrooks to Thomas Lewis, 3 1/2 acres
1769--Reuben Lattimore to Nathan Seaman, 16 acres.
1769--Robert Lattimore to Thomas Lewis, 7 acres.
1770--Thomas Lewis to Benjamin Mason, Lot on road to Cut Creek.
1770--Thomas Lewis to Jobe Seaman, 18 acres.
1770--Thomas Lewis to Nathan Mason, 1/2 16 acre lot.
1770--Nathaniel Lewis to Joseph Alverson, Lot. No. 5.
1770--Nathaniel Jacobs to Jacob Alverson, 2 1/2 acres.
1770--Nathaniel Jacobs to Nathaniel Mason, 8 acre lot.
1774--Benjamin Mason to Nehemiah Wood, 16 acres.
Lieutenant Duncan Shaw purchased in 1812 from John Wry the lot of
land known as Shaw's Hill, the site of the Baptist Church. Lieutenant
Shaw's name occurs often in the old records. He built one or
more vessels about the year 1800. He was a brother-in-law of
William Harper, the first Moncton storekeeper, both having married
daughters of Captain Hamm, a Loyalist living at Portland, Maine.
Mr. Harper with his schooner was a Bay of Fundy trader and lived in
Sackville from 1796 to 1800; a most interesting account of those days
is given by a descendant of Mr. Harper's -- Mrs. Steeves of Shediac
in her book -- "The First Storekeeper at the Bend."
ABOUGOGGIN SETTLEMENT 1817
The Memorial of Philip Palmer, Valentine Esterbrooke, Courtney Kinnear,
Wm. Read, Samuel Durant, Caleb Babcock, James Easterbrook, Jr., Thomas
Ayer, Jr., Samuel Easterbrook, James Hicks, John L. Smith, Henry Babcock,
Daniel Esterbrooks, Joseph Reed and Eliphalet Reed, Jr.
That your memorialist, Philip Palmer, is thirty-one years of age,
has a wife and three children; your Memorialist, Valentine Easterbrooks,
is 29 years of age, and unmarried; that your Memorialist, Courtney
Kinnear, is 28 years of age, has a wife and two children; that your
Memorialist, Samuel Durant is 23 years of age, and unmarried, that
your Memorialist, Caleb Babcock is 23 years of age and unmarried;
that your Memorialist, James Easterbrooks has a wife and five children;
that your Memorialist, Thos. Ayer, Jr., is 28 years of age and unmarried,
that your Memorialist, Samuel Easterbrooks, is 30 years of age, has
a wife and three children; that your Memorialist, James Hicks, is
forty-four years of age, has a wife and seven children; that your
Memorialist, John L. Smith is 34 years of age, has a wife and six
children; that your Memorialist, Henry Babcock is 25 years of age,
and unmarried; that your Memorialist, Daniel Easterbrooks is 34 years
of age, has a wife and six children; that your Memorialist, Joseph
Reed, is 21 years of age and unmarried, and that your Memorialist
Eliphalet Reed, Jr., is nineteen years of age, and single.
That your Memorialist Philip Palmer has heretofore had granted to
him 300 acres of wilderness land situated and lying in the gore between
the townships of Dorchester and Sackville, for the accommodation of
a saw mill which he has built, and now owns. That your Memorialist,
Valentine Easterbrooks, had heretofore granted to him one hundred
acres of low, sunken marsh land lying at the head of Great Marsh in
Sackville, which he has enclosed and been at some considerable expense
in draining, and also fourteen acres of marsh situated on the Coles
Island marsh, so called, in Sackville, which he has been at the expense
of dyking and ditching. That your Memorialist, Courtney Kinnear,
heretofore had granted to him a tract of wilderness land containing
two hundred acres situated on the Gulf Shore, in the Township of Botsford
which domestic circumstances prevented him from settling, which your
Memorialist has since sold, and upon which improvements have been
made by the person who bought it,--and also about twelve acres of
marsh land situate upon Sunken Island marsh in Sackville, which your
Memorialist has been at the expense of dyking. That your Memorialist,
Thos. Ayer, Jr., has heretofore had granted to him fourteen acres
of marsh situated upon Cole's Island, which your Memorialist has been
at the expense of dyking. That your Memorialist, James Hicks
heretofore had granted to him fifty acres of low sunken marsh situated
at the head of Great Marsh in Sackville. That your Memorialist,
Wm. Reed, Jr., Samuel Durant, Caleb Babcock, James Easterbrooks and
Samuel Easterbrooks, John L. Smith, Henry Babcock, Daniel Easterbrooks,
Joseph Reed and Eliphalet Reed, Jr. have never had any land granted
to them or either of them.
That your Memorialists are all residents in Sackville and are desirous
of forming a settlement upon the new road leading from Sackville to
the Beaujoggin River, upon the South-eastern Branch of that River,
where there is a large tract of vacant wilderness land.
That should your Memorialist be so fortunate as to obtain allotments
of land upon the said Southeastern Branch of the Beaujoggin River,
they will immediately settle the same, having the means for so doing.
Your Memorialist asked a grant to each of your Memorialists three
hundred acres of land in severalty, of the above wilderness land.
The facts stated in the foregoing Memorial are correct and the Memorialists
in the aforegoing Memorial will immediately settle the Lands applied
for, if allotted to them, and possess the means for so doing which
is humbly submitted by
Samuel Easterbrooks
Philip Palmer
James Hicks
Valentine Easterbrooks
John L. Smith
Courtney Kinnear
Henry Babcock
William Read, Jr.
Daniel Easterbrooks
Samuel Durant
Joseph Read
James Easterbrooks, 2nd
Eliphalet Read
Thomas Ayer, Jr.
W. BOTSFORD
J. EASTERBROOKS
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS
The old Sackville Academy opened its doors in 1843, but before that
date, the Westmorland Grammar School had been established near the
site of the Academy. It was the second grammar school established
in the Province, the first one being that at St. Andrews in 1821.
The Rev. Christopher Milner, then rector of the Parish, was the first
teacher. The early minutes of this school are missing, the first
available were those of November, 1831. There were present at
the meeting then: Hon. Mr. Chandler, Hon. Mr. Crane, and Rev. C. Milner.
At this date Mr. Ross was the master. He was afterwards president
of Dalhousie College. The students were as follows: Martin Palmer;
Stephen Palmer; W. B. Chandler; R. S. Bowser; James Dixon; Blair
Botsford; Raper Milner; and Cochran Milner. These were all students
in Latin and Greek, as well as English. A. L. Palmer; Richard
W. Neilly; James Robson; Amos Ogden; Alfred Dixon; James Kimball;
Andrew Kinnear; Edmund Kinnear; Amos Harris; James Cole; Amos Tingley.
Besides Latin and Greek, they were taught history, geography, grammar,
reading, writing and arithmetic. The trustees in 1841 were:
Richard Bowser and Charles F. Allison. The teachers were: No.
1, John Hicks; No. 2, Ichabod Powell; No. 3, Edward Bowes; No. 4,
William McDonald; No. 5, Sophia M. Nisbet; No. 7, Thomas Atkinson;
No. 8, Lawrence O'Flannigan; No. 9, Ann Cowdell; No. 10, Abel S. Gore;
No. 11, James Purdy; No. 12, Frederick Sears.
THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
At a meeting held in November, 1831, attended by Rev. C. Milner, William
Crane, Esq., and Edward B. Chandler, Esq., the scholars were examined
and "it appeared that many of them made considerable progress." The
following were the pupils: in Latin and Greek: Martin Palmer, Stephen
Palmer, W. B. Chandler, James Dixon, Blair Botsford, Ralph Milner,
Cochran Milner, Acalus Palmer, Richard Neilly, James Robson, Amos
Ogden, Alfred Dixon, James Kimball. All but the three last also
studied history, geography and grammar. The latter together
with Andrew Kinnear, Edmund Kinnear, Amos Harris, James Cole and Amos
Tingley, studied reading, writing, etc. There were 19 pupils.
At the next meeting, held in December, resolutions were passed to
employ Mr. James Ross as Principal. He became later President
of Dalhousie University. It was also resolved that the rate
of tuition should be three pounds per annum. Also that a proper
building had been secured in Sackville for the school, and fifty pounds
subscribed for the teacher's salary. The Trustees attending
that meeting were Rev. C. Milner and Messrs. Crane, Chandler and Edward
Dixon. Wm. Crane and Edward Dixon, Esquires,- -reported the
pupils having been examined, exhibiting satisfactory progress.
At the next meeting, 22nd May, 1832, present Rev. C. Milner and Messrs.
Crane and E. Dixon. It was resolved that Messrs Milner and James
Ross be a committee to collect the subscriptions.
The next meeting -- 5th December, 1832, held in the School House.
Present, Rev. C. Milner.
Meeting held at Dorchester on 26th April, 1832. Present, Mr.
Killam, Rev. C. Milner, Mr. Dixon, Mr. Crane and Mr. Chandler.
Resolved that the School House be removed from the present site to
the estate of late George Bulmer and that Mr. Dixon, Rev. C. Milner
and Mr. Crane be a committee to attend to it.
Meeting 4th March, 1832. Meeting at house of John Kellam, Esq.,
at Dorchester. Present, Rev. C. Milner, Edward Dixon, Esq.,
Wm. Crane, John Kellam, Ed. B. Chandler. Resolved that Mr. Ross
be continued another year, provided he keep the School House in proper
repair and provide a stove.
SCHOOL HOUSES
Christopher Atkinson gave a lot for a school at Crane's Corner.
Charles Dixon and John Harris were commissioners for holding it.
This was about 1820. The house was square and had accommodation
for 30 pupils. The pay for a teacher was forty shillings a pupil.
The government allowed 20 pounds per annum.
The first teacher in it was a Yankee named Pendleton who boarded around.
The next Delancy Crandall. The last teacher was Sarah Towse
(afterwards Mrs. J. E. Estabrooks). It was located nearly opposite
the western end of the Wood store. It was burned down by an
incendiary about 1860. About 1812, a boy's school house at Westcock--(later
the Barnes place.) Mark Campbell was the teacher.
A little later, James Rogers opened a school near the corner of Lower
Fairfield Road.
Mr. Gallagher, the father of the late Hugh Gallagher taught school
near the Academy opposite the Brook.
Mr. _____ Taylor taught school in a building under the Willows, below
James Rainnie's house.
An effort was made to erect a schoolhouse in Middle Sackville on John
Fawcett's Land, where Moses Delesdernier had lived. The leading
subscribers were Robert Fawcett, Simon Outhouse, John Fawcett and
John Ogden. Other subscribers were Nathaniel Kimball, Richard
Wilson, Peter Neilly, George Lawrance, William Lawrence, James Lawrence,
Agreen Tingley, Thomas Burnham, Christopher Atkinson, George L. Kinnear,
Simon Mahoney, Henry Ogden and Edwin Atkinson. The attempt was
abandoned.
In the early days the teachers were paid partly by government grants
and the rest by the parents; a condition that ceased when free schools
were inaugurated in 1874. The government grant was ten pounds.
In addition to that the teachers received from twenty pounds to sixty
pounds and board from the districts. Considering the meagre
facilities teachers enjoyed for obtaining expert education to qualify
them for their work, it is a little remarkable how efficient they
were and what good results they achieved. The teachers in 1852
were -- District No. 2, William King; No. 3, Isaac B. Barnes,; No.
5, Edward T. Bowes; No. 6, Richard Wilson, Jr.; No. 7, Katherine J.
Watts; No. 8, Joseph Dixon; No. 9, Edward V. Tait; No. 10, Margaret
B. Rye; No. 12, Olivia C. Cole. The pupils of Edward Bowes who
taught at Tantramar were in 1851, as follows: Alec Smith, age 18;
Fred Fillmore, 9; Henry Mitchell, 13; Michael Grace, 16; Cyrus Harper,
9; James Barnes, 10; John Tingley, 13; Bradford Tingley, 9; Alfred
Tingley, 8; Freeman Ayer, 12; Nehemiah Ayer, 10; William Curtis, 11;
Courtney Curtis, 9; John E. Estabrooks, 9; Charles Hicks, 10; George
C. Lawrence, 10; James Main, 17; Alvo Tingley, 13; Herbert Hicks,
9; William Hicks, 7; G. Arthur Chase, 14; Charles Scott, 7; Daniel
Scott, 6; Ann Tingley, 16; Ruth Tingley, 11; Eunice Tingley, 9; Henrietta
Harper, 14; Elizabeth Harper, 12; Dorothy Easterbrooks, 11; Albert
E. Hicks, 11; Martha A. Hicks, 9; Alice Cahill, 11; Rebecca Cahill,
9; Catherine Parker, 13; Sophia F. [or E.] Parker, 11; Augusta Anderson,
8; Ruth Bowser, 10; Elizabeth Read, 12; Ann J. Read, 8; Mary Harper,
8; Eliza A. Palmer, 8; Sara Anderson, 19; Lucy Tingley, 20; L. Ann
Tingley, 5; Elizabeth Fowler, 12; Isabella Barnes, 6; T. Beal, 7;
Randall Oster, 9; Elisha Tingley, 11; John A. Bowser, 6; Robert Harper,
13; William Fowler, 10; Reed Fowler, 8; Henry Atkinson, 12; Frith
Atkinson, 9; Delaney Atkinson, 8; William Harper, 9.
SCHOOLS
In 1841, Richard Bowser and Charles F. Allison, Trustees, made a report
as to School Houses. District No. 1, John Hicks is teacher.
No. 2, Mansford Powell teacher. No. 3, Edward Bowes is teacher.
No. 4, William McDonald is teacher. No. 5, Sophia M. Nesbit
is teacher. No. 6, no report. No. 7, Thomas Atkinson,
teacher. No. 8, Lawrence O'Flannigan, teacher. No. 9,
Ann Dowdell, teacher. No. 10, Abel S. Gore, teacher. No.
11, James Purdy, teacher. No. 12, Frederick Sears, teacher.
Mr. Isaac B. Barnes' pupils in 1845 were as follows: Amos Boultenhouse,
age 15; Albert Black, 8; Abel G. Carter, 16; Albert Wry, 9; Bedford
Dixon, 8; C. E. Dixon, 6; Charles Boultenhouse, 10; Isaac Wry, 9;
Isaac Purrington, 12; George Wry, 10; Thadius Carter, 12; William
Barnes, 17; Lennox-Kinnear, 18; James Dixon, 15; Amy Wry, 16; Charlotte
Harris, 14; Charlotte Richards, 15; Jane Wry, 9; Julia Richardson,
8; Margaret Wry, 12; Cynthia Wry, 10; Sarah A. Wry, 8; Sarah Bowser,
7; Mary J. Carter, 7; Sarah A. Harris, 8; Rebecca Harris, 12; Rebecca
Richardson, 12; Isabel Dixon, 13; Harriet Forbes, 17; Mary C. Kinnear,
11.
Miss Watt's School, 1851-62:--Rebecca Fawcett, age 14; Letitia Fawcett,
12; Margaret Fawcett, 8; Elizabeth Fawcett, 6; Louisa Estabrooks,
10; Eliza Estabrooks, 8; Elizabeth Bowser, 14; Susan Bowser, 11; Frances
Bowser, 7; Alice Barnes, 11; Eliza Barnes, 7; Mary E. Wry, 9; Lucy
A. Wry, 7; Phoebe J. Wry, 4; Ellen Milner, 8; Addie Greenfield, 8;
Lucinda Boomer, 10; Frances Estabrooks, 14; Elizabeth Sylagar, 13;
Rebecca Black, 12; Mary Welsh, 12; Ellen Horton, 13; Henry Hennigar,
11; William Milner, 6; William Thompson, 8; Charles Wood, 7; Payson
Barnes, 4; Esra Boomer, 8; Albert Boomer, 5; Francis Witherhead, 10.
Miss Cowdell's School:--Elizabeth Richardson, age 14; Sarah Richardson,
14; Mary Bulner, 13; Mary A. Richardson, 13; Mary Horton, 12; Arinetta
Gallagher; Eliza Bulner, 8; Sarah Bulner, 7; Mary Dixon, 6; Sarah
Gallagher, 6; Elizabeth Gallagher, 6; Mary Bulner, 4; Lavinia Babcock,
15; Rebecca Barnes, 14; Eliza Richardson, 14; Ann Hall, 14; Margaret
McHaffey, 13; Eliza Barnes, 13; Lucinda Lyons, 13; Mary Lyons, 9;
Jane Hutchinson, 9; Eliza Evans, 9; Susan Power, 8; Charles Grey,
8; Hazen Bulner, 7; George Dixon, 7; Joseph Anderson, 5; Alexander
Gray, 4 Nathaniel Anderson, 4.
CHAPTER IX.
CHURCHES
PRESBYTERIAN
The First Presbyterian Church built at Sackville in 1872 was located
at Happy Hill -- on land purchased from Robert Bell. The building
was 30'x60', with 16" posts. It was intended to seat 250 people.
When completed it was well furnished with seats, pulpit books, etc.
The books were supplied by W. C. Cogswell. The Committee having
it in charge were Messrs. Thomas Baird, and William McConnell, while
Thomas MacKelvie, Bedford Barnes and William MacDonald gave important
aid. The latter built in Prohibition days, (1856), a temperance
hotel, the Brunswick House. The Church was the inspiration of
Rev. Dr. Clarke of Amherst, a reformed Presbyterian, a powerful preacher
and also, a most influential citizen. He had been officiating
in the Temperance Hall in Middle Sackville, which amongst many other
uses, was adopted by Christopher Harper for teaching Sunday School.
The hall was decorated with a picture of Satan with horns, hoofs,
and tail and furnished with a pitch fork, all of which were calculated
to terrify poor sinners with the flames of Hades; whether for good
or bad, is today unimportant for the world moves on, and has ceased
to be horrified at pictures which to-day are the butt of scoffers.
Rev. Dr. Clarke labored on his sacred mission forty-seven years, being
ordained in Ireland a Missionary of the Reformed Church when thirty-two
years of age, then becoming a pioneer missionary in a wide district
of country with Amherst at its centre. His field of labor was
most extensive, as he established no less than fifteen churches.
He was a most forcible and impressive preacher and always exercised
a powerful influence with those with whom he was brought in contact.
BAPTISTS
The story has often been published how Sackville became the seed bed
in Canada of the Baptist denomination. In 1763 -- eight years
after the deportation of the French, Nathan Mason and wife, Thomas
Lewis and wife, Oliver Mason and wife, and a single lady by the name
of Experience Baker of the second Baptist Church in Swanzea, Mass.,
and Charles Seaman and wife and Gilbert Seaman and wife, thirteen
persons in all, organized a church on the 21st of April, with Nathan
Mason their Pastor, and sailed for Sackville. They remained
here eight years during which the Church increased to have about sixty
members. Mr. Job Seaman of Attleboro, Mass., was amongst them
and was converted. In 1771, Elder Mason with some of his disciples
moved back to Massachusetts. Apparently there is no record of
the proceedings of the Church from 1771 until 1797 when four Baptists
in Cornwallis: Messrs. Payzant, Chipman and Edward Manning devised
a plan for an association to consolidate the body. The first
meeting of the Association took place in Sackville on the 25th of
June, 1810.
The proceedings were as follows:
1. Sermon by Brother Daniel Merrill.
2. Prayer by Brother Harding.
3. Brother Harding chosen moderator.
4. Brother Thomas Annesley Scribe, and Brother William
Freeman, Assistant.
5. Brothers E. Merrill and H. Hale from Lincoln Association,
Maine invited to take a seat.
6. Read letters from the Churches.
7. Prayer Meeting.
8. Sermon from Elder Merrill.
9. Circular letter prepared by Elder Crandall.
10. Elders Manning and Harding appointed to the Church
at New Port.
11. and 12. Relating to a day of fasting and prayer.
13. Brother Hammond to be examined for Ordination.
14. Brother Hammond may be ordained here.
15. Elder Manning to supply the First Baptist Church at
Digby.
16. The Association appointed for next year at Onslow.
17. Elder Harding to write the circular letter.
18. Elder Annesley to write the corresponding letter.
19. Elders Manning and Annesley appointed Messengers to
the Lincoln Association.
20. Elder Manning to preach the Introductory Sermon.
In case of failure, Brother Crandall.
21. Six hundred copies of the Minutes to be printed.
22. Brothers Manning and Harding to superintend the printing
and distribution.
23. Articles of the Lincoln Association be recommended
to our Churches.
24. Ten dollars voted to each Messenger.
25. Elder Crandall to receive the same for attendance
last year.
26. Brother Hammond examined for Ordination and accepted.
27. Ordination of Brother Hammond.
Churches
Elders and Messengers
Total
Digby
James Manning
63
Lower Granville James Manning
60
Upper Granville Thomas Ansley
55
Cornwallis
Edward Manning
56
Horton
Theodore S. Harding
270
Newport
William Smith
90
Onslow
Nathan Cleveland
36
Amherst
Thomas S. Black
15
Digby Neck
Peter Crandall
69
Salisbury, N. B. William
Sinton
46
Sackville, N. B. Joseph
Crandall
55
Waterbury, N. B. Elijah
Estabrooks
50
Prince William, N. B. L. Hammond
37
Wakefield, N. B.
22
______
924
Baptist Churches were built in the following years:--
Sackville, 1839 and 1883; Point Midgic, 1859; Point de Bute, 1852;
Moncton, 1828 and 1850; Salisbury, 1800 and 1879 and 1882; Shediac,
1864; Buctouche, 1838; Cocaigne, 1862.
1848
The following is a list of Baptist Churches in Sackville and its neighborhood
with dates of formation and members in 1848:--
1798, Sackville, No. 1, 141; 1798, Sackville, No. 2, 147; 1825, Dorchester,
No. 1, 62; 1845, Dorchester, No. 2, 15; 1828, Moncton, 121; 1798,
Salisbury, No. 1, _____; 1847, Salisbury, No. 2, 25; 1839, Salisbury,
No. 3, 37; 1844, Buctouche, 28; 1852, Point de Bute, 1854, Point Midgic.
METHODIST
In April, 1835, John Fawcett made a memorandum as follows: "There
was no meeting house in this township until 1788, when services were
held in a small schoolhouse located near where the Central Schoolhouse
is now standing. On the 17th of December, 1788, the Methodists
met to consult as to what should be done, their Pastor, James B. Kay,
being president. It was agreed to build one as near to the centre
of the township as ground could be procured. They had secured
half an acre where the Methodist burying ground is for three pounds.
The land was purchased and a deed written by the Rev. James Mann.,
agreeable to the form of settling meeting houses amongst the Methodist.
William Carnforth, John Fawcett, and William Fawcett undertook to
erect a building on the ground 30'x28', and finish it with what assistance
could be got. A subscription paper was passed around but all
that could be obtained was twenty-eight pounds; however, they pressed
forward the work and in a few months it was completed and was opened
by the Rev. James Mann. This was the first Protestant place
of worship erected in Sackville.
In 1816, an agitation was started for a meeting house at Crane's Corner.
This was opposed by the Methodists from the upper part of the district.
Mr. Fawcett wrote as follows: "It seems though some at the lower end
of the village began to think it was too far to travel one and half
to two miles to worship God and to meet their northern brethren, some
of whom had much further than that to travel and they begun to give
away to a wish to have worship nearer their own doors;" it was also
unnecessary to state that the circuit was indebted to 'Squire Charles
Dixon for thirty pounds borrowed money to defray expenses of building
for a preacher's house, and it is further in need to state that Mr.
DeBar was on this circuit, and Mr. Avard also lived in this vicinity
being contiguous to one another, no doubt they and some other residents
began to express a wish that a meeting house was nearer home.
In order to accomplish this object, Squire Dixon offered to give the
thirty pounds to them if they should build with which offer Mr. DeBar
and Mr. Avard fell in. The matter was brought forward at a very
thin district meeting, Mr. Edward Dixon and Richard Bowser being there,
but no one from this quarter to oppose it, and the circuit steward
being too easily led to fall in with the strongest side so it was
carried. The brick house was built at a cost of nearly eight
hundred pounds." In 1835, Mr. Fawcett protested to Rev. John Strong
against the brick house monopolizing the services and turning off
"The Upper Church with the dregs". Mr. Fawcett and the Upper
Sackville people were deeply affected by the separation and he wonders
"how they who brought it about would answer before Him that requires
truth in the inward parts and justice in the outward conduct."
The late Mr. John Palmer stated, "Rev. John Millidge was the first
Minister of the English Church that I knew. He lived at Fort
Lawrence. He christened myself and my father's children.
He travelled around visiting people at their homes. The first
man I ever saw Baptized was at the grist mill at Morice's Pond.
His name was John Patterson. He lived at Coles' Island, he was
a mason by trade. Rev. Joseph Crandall officiated." The late
Rufus Cole, Esq., stated, "Joseph Read and Ebenezer Cole were the
founders of the Baptist Church here. the earliest I can remember
was a brick meeting house at Crane's Corner. There was another
one in Upper Sackville. There was also a small Baptist Meeting
House where Bethel stood above Morice's Mills. He, Mr. Cole,
was present at a revival at the latter church, conducted by the Rev.
Fathers Crandall and Tupper. There were twenty-five persons
immersed in Morice's Pond; a woman got up to exhort the people.
She handed an infant, six months old to a by-stander to hold.
He inquired who she was, the reply was, "She was Mrs. Tupper." The
infant grew to manhood and became the Rt. Honourable Sir Charles Tupper,
Baronet."
A letter written by Mr. Edward Dixon on 24th April, 1842 is the best
account of the struggles, defeats and triumphs of Methodism in Sackville,
from 1772 until 1839. He states:--
In the earlier times the people were Calvinists in their creed, were
strangers to Methodism and hostile to it, and very generally adopted
the sentiments of Henry Alline. For nine years the few Methodists
were uncared for, save by the local brethren from Point de Bute.
In 1781 William Black went to Sackville and held some meetings and
began to preach, and for two years made regular visits to it, during
which time many professed faith in Christ. Mr. Alline went among
the people, caused a division and 70 persons withdrew from the Society.
Mr. Black, being publicly informed, they have, is quoted as saying
"the people have nothing to do with the law of God: that David was
a man after God's own heart, while living in adultery and murder,
and that it is only the body and not the soul that sins; after two
years Mr. Black went to Windsor and other places, and with the exception
of an occasional visit to the Sackville Society, was left without
a preacher for four years. The case was all the worse, because
"among the English emigrants, or those converted under Mr. Black,
there was no person who could hold a meeting, give an exhortation
or lead a class." In 1787 William Grandine came and was succeeded
in the winter of 1783 by James Mann for a short time, and who was
followed by James Wry. In 1790 Mr. Mann again appears at the
dedication of the first Methodist chapel in Sackville and the first
Protestant place of worship in the village and the second Methodist
church in Canada. Mr. Mann's text on the occasion was the four
verses of the 9th Chapter of the Book of Proverbs.
A New Methodist Chapel was built at Crane's Corner, Sackville, in
1838, and was opened by the Rev. E. Wood. In size it was 60x40',
and three years later an annex 40x15' was built. Mr. Boultenhouse
supplied the bell. During the next 16 years the following ministers
labored there for a longer or shorter period: Thomas Whitehead, John
Black, John Abraham Bishop, James and John Mann, at Middle Sackville;
Benjamin Wilson, John Cooper, Joshua Marsten, William Bennett, Thomas
Oliphant, and Stephen Branford. Special mention is made of the
good result of Mr. Bishop's short stay of three months, not the least
important of which was the introducing Thomas Roach to exercise his
talents as a social preacher, which he did for many years with much
acceptance, but while the work grew elsewhere no progress was made
in Sackville, the soil seemed ill adopted to the seed sown by the
Methodists for after more than 30 years of more or less attention,
Mr. Bramford found only seven members meeting in society. From
that time a better state of things began, "there has been a regular
succession of ministers and religion has greatly revived.".
In 1809 John Fawcett was appointed leader of the class. In 1811
the Mission House was commenced under the auspices of James Knowland
and finished the next year. Mr. Charles Dixon and Mr. William
Carnforth gave a site for a Methodist parsonage of about four acres.
A brick house was erected about 1810. In 1850 it was demolished
and a wood one erected in its place. This served as a parsonage
for many years until a new one was erected on the Charles F. Allison
property, west of the Methodist Church. In 1815 the first weekly
prayer meeting was organized by Joseph Avard of whom mention has been
made in previous papers, and, "who in various ways rendered very considerable
service to Methodism both in Sackville and in the neighboring townships
as a local preacher and class leader." In 1818 a new chapel was built
to replace the old one and another at the upper end of the township
at Tantramar. Revivals of great power were spoken of as taking
place in the years, 1823, 1836, 1839 and 1841, the results of which
are thus summed up: "there are now nine classes together numbering
135 members; two local preachers and seven exhorters, beside many
who pray in public; a mission house tolerably well furnished, with
four acres of land attached to it, with a barn, outhouses, and other
things necessary for the comfort and the accommodation of the occupants.
The vine, though planted in an unfriendly soil, has taken deep root
and has filled the land. The self denial, patience and fervent
zeal of these passengers of peace, i.e., the early preachers, can
never be forgotten. In summer they travelled on horse back,
in winter on snow shoes in order to preach as the opportunity was
afforded them, the unsearchable riches of Christ. They rest
from their labors but their work remains. After having been
for many years connected with Cumberland and later known as the part
of the Westmorland circuit, it was given its present name in 1829.
It had, however, been the head of the circuit since 1812, when William
Bennett took up his abode in the new stone parsonage, and which stood
on what is now Squire Street on the site then occupied by the house
of Hiram M. Copp. Since then the record of ministerial supply
has been as now given, always remembering that Point de Bute, Dorchester,
and other places shared in their labors for a time.
1811-13, William Bennett; 1813-16, Stephen Bamford; 1816-18, James
Dunbar; 1818-19, James Prestley; 1819-21, John B. Strong, 1821-23,
James Prestley; 1823-26, Stephen Bamford and William Murray; 1826-28,
William Temple; 1828-30, Sampson Busby; 1830-33, William Smith and
Alex W. McLeod; 1833-35, Michael Pickles and R. Douglas, 1835-37,
John B. Strong; 1837-39, Richard Williams, Joseph F. Bent, Wm. Bannister;
1839-41, Henry Daniel; 1841-43, Richard Shepperd; 1843-46, Arthur
McNutt; 1846-49, William Miller, 1849-53, James G. Hennigar; 1853-54,
John Allison. Duncan D. Currie; 1854-57, William Temple; 1857-58,
James R. Narraway, Henry Holland; 1858-60, James R. Narraway, Stephen
Humphrey; 1860-61; James De Wolfe; 1861-63, John Snowball; 1863-64,
Edmund Botterell; 1864-67, Alexander W. Nicholson; 1867-70, Samuel
W. Sprague, 1870-73, Elias Brittle; 1873-76, Joseph Hart; 1876-77,
Humphrey Pickard; 1877-80, Douglas Chapman; 1880-81, Wm. W. Percival;
1881-82, Jobe Shenton; 1882-84, John S. Phinney; 1884- 87, Richard
W. Weddall; 1887-88, Ralph Brecken; 1888-89, John S. Allen; 1889-92,
Frederick W. Harrison; 1892-95, William Harrison; 1895-99, Samuel
Howard; 1899-1902. Howard Sprague; 1902-1906, George Steel.
Church at Wood Point was built in 1838. Church at Sackville
enlarged and re-opened on the 16th October, 1842, by Enoch Wood.
The musical exercises were led by Joseph Avard, then 82 years of age.
Three bass viols were played by three brothers. Mr. Wood reported
the music a little slow, and needed more female voices but the tunes
used were good old Methodist ones. "The bell was given by one
good old friend, Mr. Boultenhouse."
Services were only held on the Sabbath until McNutt's time in 1843.
Organ music introduced in 1854, when the old practice of giving out
the hymns, two lines at a time, was of necessity abandoned.
New chapel at Upper Sackville dedicated by Dr. Knight in 1855.
First Sunday School in Sackville and Upper Sackville were started
in 1833 by William Smithson.
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH
St. Ann's Church at Westcock was erected before 1820, chiefly by the
exertions of Hon. Wm. Botsford. The rectory at Westcock (later
sold, and the proceeds devoted to a rectory at Sackville) was erected
in 1822-23. It was destroyed by fire. St. Paul's Church
at Sackville was erected in 1855 on lands donated by Joseph F. Allison,
Esq. Until the Westcock rectory was built, the rector and his
family occupied a brick residence on the hill North East of Fort Cumberland
owned by Mr. _____ Carter. Services were held at the Fort, at
Mount Whatley, at Westcock and at Dorchester and occasionally at Shediac.
There was a small garrison at the Fort until 1833, when it was withdrawn.
The memorial windows in the tower and chancel of St. Paul's, Sackville,
were the gifts of the families of Hon. William Crane and Hon. Amos
Botsford to their memory. The parish hall was erected chiefly
by the Cogswell family -- grand children of Hon. Wm. Crane.
From the beginning of services up to and including Rev. G. G. Roberts'
ministry, the rector was supported by a grant of two hundred pounds
a year from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts, the parishes having then become self-supporting the grant was
withdrawn.
Episcopal Ministers in Sackville: John Burnyeat, 1818-20; Christopher
Milner, 1820-36; John Black, 1836-47; G. G. Roberts, 1860-73; David
Nickerson, 1873-75; J. D. H. Browne, 1873-75; R. I. Uniacke, 1878-79;
C. P. Mulvany, 1875-80; C. F. Wiggins, 1880-1930.
The late Venerable Archdeacon Raymond -- the New Brunswick historian
wrote an account of the services of Rev. C. Milner to the Church,
of which the following is an abbreviation:--
"He arrived with his family in Halifax in 1818. At the request
of the Earl of Dalhousie he consented to take charge for a short time
of the Collegiate School at Windsor. In 1820, Rev. John Burnyeat
having retired from the Mission of Sackville, he accepted that and
removed first to Fort Cumberland pending the erection of a rectory
at Westcock. The old church at Mount Whatley had fallen in a
ruinous condition; it was rebuilt and opened by him in March, 1821,
a large congregation attending. In 1822, he established services
every Sunday at Sackville, Fort Cumberland and Dorchester. The
congregations at Sackville nearly doubled. He also visited Shediac
once in quarter. There by his efforts, 200 pounds had been subscribed
for a Church and the frame was up, also a schoolhouse built.
The parsonage at Westcock -- a neat brick building was then lately
built. Dorchester was eight miles distant and Fort Cumberland
twenty-one miles. At this time (1822) a Missionary was appointed
in Amherst. In August, 1822, the Church at Shediac was enclosed
and the tower. Bishop Inglis wrote to the Home Society: "Much
is due to Mr. Milner's zeal and labor in building churches." Dr. Wills,
Ecclesiastical Commissary, wrote: "Mr. Milner was instrumental in
moving the people to build the church more than any other man and
it was through him that the Madras School was established. The
Madras School was conducted by Mr. Barbarie and had 85 pupils.
In 1836 Mr. Milner was transferred to Westfield and Greenich.
In 1859, in July, when rowing in his boat from Greenich to Westfield,
after morning service, he suffered a sun-stroke, which ended his labor
as a Church Minister.
MOUNT ALLISON
Hon. Charles F. Allison, having become convinced of the necessity
of giving the youths of the country a higher education than that provided
in the common schools and being compelled by his sense of personal
duty to promote it, he wrote a letter to Rev. Wm. Temple, District
Chairman at St. John regarding his intentions to erect a boarding
school at Sackville, which being accepted by the local Wesleyan Minister,
a committee being appointed, to carry this design into effect met
in Sackville on the 17th of January, 1840, when internal arrangements
were decided upon, and on the 9th of the following July "an immense
concourse of people came together" to witness the laying of the corner
stone of the new building. The service was conducted by the
chairman of the New Brunswick District, William Temple, and participated
in by Richard Knight, chairman of the Nova Scotia District, William
Croscombe, Sampson Busby, George Millar and William Wilson.
The placing of the stone in position was performed by Mr. Allison,
saying as he did so:--
"The foundation stone of this building I now proceed to lay, in the
name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And may
the education here furnished by the institution be conducted on Wesleyan
principles, to the glory of God and the extension of His cause, Amen."
The formal opening took place on June, the 29th, 1843. Educational
work had, however, been previously begun on the 19th of January of
the same year. The ministers present on that occasion were:
Richard Williams, and Samuel D. Rice, and among the laymen the honored
founder of the academy. It was indeed "the day of small things"
as only seven students were reported, but additions were soon made
to the number of eighty. These were reported as "well disposed
and industrious," all attending the religious exercises and conducting
themselves with marked decorum. There were classes in geography,
arithmetic, English grammar, geometry, navigation, natural philosophy;
French, Latin and Greek. The Governor and Chaplain was Albert
Debrisay, and the Principal Humphrey Pickard. The formal opening
took place, as already stated, on the 29th of June of that year, and
was an occasion of great interest to the Methodists of the Maritime
Provinces. In the report of the proceedings as given in the
B.N.A. magazine of that time, the ministers in attendance and taking
part were Richard Knight, William Croscombe, A. W. McLeod, William
Wilson, William Webb, Charles Churchill, Sampson Bushby, and Arthur
McNutt. The names of William Temple and Enoch Wood are not among
the number, why, no reason is given. The good feeling of outsiders
was evidenced by the presence of such representative men as the Hon.
Messrs. Botsford, Crane and Chandler of New Brunswick and Hon. Mr.
Prescott of Nova Scotia. The day was delightfully fine, the
audience large and sympathetic, the addresses appropriate and the
entire proceedings of a highly interesting character. From "the
feast of reason and the flow of soul," some seventy persons sat down
to a sumptuous repast which had been prepared for them in the dining
hall of the institution.
But the establishment of the male academy was only the beginning,
the first of a number of institutions which have won much more than
a provincial reputation. The Ladies' Academy was opened on August
17th, 1854; Lingley Hall on January 30th, 1855; the college began
its work in 1862; Centennial Hall was opened on October 9th, 1884
and Owens' Art Gallery was transferred from Saint John to Sackville
in 1893.
Academical term commenced 19th January, 1843. Second on 29th
June. Rev. Messrs. Williams, Wilson, Shepherd, Rice, and C.
F. Allison were present. The 7 pupils present increased to 30,
before April. Classes in Geography, English Grammar, French,
Latin, Natural Philosophy, Geometry, F. M. Wood, Grammar School Master
at Richibucto, was English Master.
The boys came in by schooner and steamer and a few by stage.
The Academy had forty bedrooms, into which they were installed.
These were Spartan in their appointments; two boys to a room.
The furniture consisted of a bed, a table and two chairs; also a small
wood stove. There was plenty of good dry wood in the wood yard,
to which the boys could help themselves or go with cold fingers.
There were no luxurious bathrooms with hot and cold water. There
was a spring at the foot of the hill where the boys could take their
pitchers and help themselves without extra charge.
In the halls were long black pipes leading from the boys' rooms.
They added nothing to the beauty of the "landscape," and they sometimes
gave off the odor of pyroligneous acid. The rooms were lighted
by glass lamps containing whale or seal oil, with a double candle
wick. Later naphtha came in vogue, then kerosene. The
menu at the dining hall was Sybaritic enough to prevent indigestion.
There were pie days, pudding days and hash days. The latter
received the sobriquet of resurrection hash. One of the stunts
was to go to the old church, Westcock, on Sunday mornings, two and
a half miles away. This was hardly an example of genuine piety,
for the boys always received as a reward a double portion of pie.
Work went on day after day with military precision. Instead
of the bugle horn, bells were rung for every event. The half-past
five bell was to get up. The ten o'clock bell, all lights out
-- go to bed. At this hour all exit by the outside doors was
barred. There were rumors that more venturesome lads, off on
a frolic, or to raid an orchard, had a basket and a rope mode of escape,
from an upper window.
Rev. Dr. Humphrey Pickard who was first Principal of the Male Academy
and first President of the Mount Allison College, was a very successful
administrator. The work of financing a boarding school and making
it pay requires special talents and adding to that the teaching and
disciplining of a large body of students who without any deep sense
of rule or order were for the most part imbued with the spirit of
lawless adventure was a task most admirably discharged by Dr. Pickard.
Dr. David Allison, the second President, added to his scholarly gifts
a disposition somewhat emotional, that entirely won the hearts of
the boys, which became an important factor in promoting the educational
work of the institution. Dr. J. R. Inch, the third President,
had the gift of order and precision with an eminently judicial mind.
His rule was most successful and when he resigned to accept the position
of Superintendent of Education it was greatly to the regret of the
friends of the institution. Dr. Byron C. Borden, the fourth
President, showed himself to be a capable administrator, and possessed
a genius for finance. He did much to meet the needs of a growing
institution keeping in touch with the advanced movement of the times.
These four educationists, in life pursuing the same beneficent ends,
have in death together found an early resting place in the Rural Cemetery
where they rest from their labors.
HISTORICAL DATA
Following are some dates in the history of the Mount Allison Institutions,
Methodist:--
1839, Jan.--C. F. Allison proposed to the New Brunswick Conference
to purchase a site, and erect a suitable building for an Academy.
1843, Jan. 19--Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy opened.
1854, Aug. 17--Mount Allison Academy, Female branch, opened.
1855, Jan. 30--Lingley Hall dedicated.
1858--Act passed by New Brunswick Legislature authorizing establishment
of College with powers to confer degrees.
1861--Old lodge built.
1863--First class in Arts graduated.
1866--Second Academy building erected.
1874--South wing of Ladies' College built.
1875--Commercial building erected.
1882--Third Academy building erected.
1884, Oct. 9--Centennial Hall dedicated.
1886--Charter amended and corporate name changed to "University of
Mount Allison College."
1890--Conservatory of Music erected.
1893, Nov. 18--Laying of corner stone of University residence.
1894, May 29--Laying of corner stone of Owens' Art building
1899, Nov. 1--Laying of corner stone of second university residence.
1903--Ladies College annex built.
1903--Massey Treble school of household science opened.
1904, April 19--McClelan School of Applied Science established.
1910, May 26--Charles Fawcett Memorial Hall opened.
1910--Jairus Hart Hall built.
1913--Charter amended and corporate name changed to "Regents of Mount
Allison."
1919--Skating rink built.
1920--Addition to Ladies' College.
1920--Separate residence for university women.
1921--New gymnasium built.
1924--Mount Allison farms united and barns and cottage built.
1925--Addition to Academy residence
1925--Biology building erected.
1927--Memorial Library opened.
1928--$40,000 received from the estate of Hon. A. R. McClelan.
1929--A half million dollars subscribed for building and endowment
purposes. New McClelan School of Manual Training built.
1931--Installation of Central Heating Plant.
1933--$147,000 given by the Carnegie Corporation as endowment for
the Department of Chemistry.
1933, March 1st.--Academy burned.
1933, March 17th--"Old Lodge" and Centennial Hall burned.
1993--Centennial Hall rebuilt. Fourth Academy residence built.
CHAPTER X.
THE GRAVEYARDS
The Acadian French, who occupied our country, a hundred and fifty
years before the expulsion, have left no individual monuments in their
numerous settlements as a record of their lives. Their descendants
have not the poor satisfaction of visiting their graves in a churchyard
where:--
"Their names, their years, spelt by the unlettered muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply",
but we can recollect that such remembrances are after all a modern
contrivance for even--
"Imperial Caesar, dead, and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away."
Tradition says that the Acadians had a graveyard at their chapel at
the Four Corners, but that has been ploughed land for a hundred years.
The old graveyards in the parish are the one at Westcock, the one
at Middle Sackville and the one at Four Corners. The Middle
Sackville one is on the site of the first Methodist Church in the
parish, erected by Yorkshire settlers in the early days of Methodism.
It was the second Methodist Church built in Canada. The graveyard
has been badly kept, or rather not kept at all, old tombstones have
fallen down and in some cases broken. There is an air of neglect
about the place.
This graveyard was badly neglected, undergrowth with weeds and briers.
Owing to the efforts of Dr. Fred A. Dixon in 1933, the land has been
cleared and the rubbish carted away, making the place of the dead
much more presentable.
Amongst other tombstones, can be mentioned that to Susannah D. Roach,
wife of Hon. William Crane, now dead nearly a hundred years.
William Fawcett died in 1814, aged 75 years, and his wife who died
in 1812, aged 77 years. Nearby is one of John Fawcett, died
in 1830, aged 86 years.
The forebears of the Bowsers are also there,--Thomas Bowser, died
in 1816, aged 72 years, and another one records the death of his wife,
Mary. She was the mother of twelve children, three daughters
and nine sons. The headstone of Christopher Harper, now broken,
records his death in 1820 in the 90th year of his age and his wife,
Elizabeth. Another one is of Charles Dixon, died 1817, age 88,
and Susannah Coates, died in 1826, also 88 years of age. Captain
Richard Wilson died in 1810 at the age of 70 years and his wife Ann,
who died in 1825. The Atkinson family is also represented here
by Robert, who died in 1817 at the age of 75 years and his wife, Mary,
and also their daughter Mary, who died in 1794. John Ogden erected
a stone to the memory of his son William, who died in 1825, aged 35
years.
The site of the graveyard was given by William Carnforth. His
tombstone is marked 1792.
MIDDLE SACKVILLE CEMETERY
Robert Atkinson, died 1817, aged 75 years.
Thomas Atkinson, died 1792, aged 75 years.
Elizabeth Atkinson, died 1858, aged 58 years.
Fannie Bowser, died 1869, aged 40 years.
Ann, wife of David Derry, 1819, aged 77.
Elizabeth Bulmer, died 1859, aged 32.
(Lost her life, when the house was burned.)
Mrs. Geo. Bulmer, died 1835, aged 68.
George Bulmer, died 1811, aged 81.
Rhoda Dixon, died 1799, aged 30.
Susannah D., wife of William Crane, 1830, aged 31.
Obegial, wife of Nelson Bulmer, 1872, aged 59.
Edward and Mary Dixon, in memory of their children:--
John, 1810,--
George, 1824--aged 11.
Benjamin Wilson, drowned 1824.
Martha, his wife, died 1843, aged 74.
William and Sarah Harper, died 1804.
Charles Dixon, 1817, aged 88 years.
Susannah Dixon, died 1820, aged 88 years.
Christopher Harper, died 1820, aged 90.
Rebecca, wife of John Morice, died 1821, aged 43.
William Carnforth, died 1791, aged 53.
Joseph Bowser, died 1869, aged 78.
William Fawcett, died 1832, aged 63.
Eldest son of Joseph and Ann Bowser, died 1843, aged 20.
Andrew Kinnear, born 1750, died 1818. Served His Majesty-- (obliterated.)
John Ogden, erected to his son, William, 1825.
Eliza, wife of Robert Scott, died 1812.
Thomas Bowser, died 1816, aged 72.
His wife Mary, born in Liverpool, died 1836, in 89th year.
Sarah, wife of William Fawcett, died 1845, aged 68.
William Fawcett, died 1796, aged 79.
--wife, died 1812, aged 77.
--wife of John Harris, died 1825, aged 45.
Richard Wilson, Esq., died 1810, aged 70.
His wife, Anne, died 1825, aged 66.
Martha, wife of Duncan Shaw, died 1818.
Susannah, daughter of Charles Dixon, died 1835, aged 68.
Charles Bulmer, died 1864, aged 77.
His wife, Elizabeth, ----- -----
_____, wife of James Scotson, died 1844, aged 72.
John Bowser, died 1879, aged 81.
George, son of Thomas Bowser, died 1840, aged 55.
Andrew Kinnear who came to Chignecto with the Loyalists and was Commissary
at the Fort for thirty years, was married to his cousin, Letitia Boyd
of Londonderry, Ireland. She was born in 1768; married in 1789,
and died in 1834. They had seven sons as follows: Thomas, Alexander,
George, Lennox, Courtney, John, Francis, Andrew, William Boyd, Harrison
Galen.
TANTRAMAR GRAVEYARD
Anna, wife of John Fawcett, died 1848, aged 62.
Eleanor, wife of John Fawcett, died 1826, aged 57.
Timothy Charles, died 1886, aged 62.
His wife, Mary Ann, 1887, aged 54.
Thomas Anderson, 1841, aged 90.
James Anderson, 1828, aged 50.
Sarah, wife of James Anderson, died 1839, aged 54.
Thomas Wheaton, 1830, aged 72.
John Bulmer, born 1787, died 1863, aged 76.
Allison, son of Eliphalet and Rebecca Read, died 1842.
Sarah, wife of Samuel Hicks, died 1818, aged 46.
David and Dorothy Stokes, born 1786-82, died 1868.
Rebecca, wife of Reuben Chase, died 1807, aged 22.
William Lawrence, died 1822,--
Huldah, his wife, born 1782,--
Simon Outhouse died 1812, aged 52.
Francis, wife of Jonathan Estabrooks, died 1842, aged 33.
Thomas E. Anderson, born 1813,--
Josiah Hicks, born 1799, died 1850, aged 51.
Michael Grace, died 1836, aged 67.
Joseph Thompson, died 1884, aged 75.
Sarah, wife of ----------, died 1869, aged 54.
John Thompson, died 1837, aged 77.
Lavinia, his wife, died 1877, aged 59.
Jane Estabrooks, died 1839, aged 50.
Wm. Estabrooks, died 1838, aged 87.
Lily, wife of James Estabrooks, died 1844, aged 62.
James Estabrooks, died 1861, aged 88.
Elizabeth, wife of William Estabrooks, died 1856, aged 34.
Thomas Ayer, drowned in Dorchester River, 1839.
Alex Tait (of Aberdeenshire) 1791-1859.
Elizabeth, his wife, 1804-1892.
William Tait, 1891--62
Ann Griffin, 1858--66
Alex Mackintosh, 1861--86.
Valentine Snowdon, 1877--77.
Robert D. Carter, 1856-26.
William Milner, 1832--28.
William Milner, * ---, aged 92.
*William Milner came from England about 1820. He was a tailor
by trade and settled at Westcock. He had four sons -- Thomas,
William, Robert and Joseph. Thomas was a ship carpenter.
He left two boys, Edmund and Winslow. William died early and
left one boy, Capt. Wm. Milner, a successful master mariner.
Joseph had three boys, Charles, Robert and Isaac, all mechanics.
SACRED TO
THE MEMORY OF
TOLAR THOMPSON
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE
JUNE 23RD, 1846, IN THE
67TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
Naked as from the Earth he came
And entered life at first;
Naked to the Earth returns
And mingles with the dust.
WESTCOCK GRAVEYARD
Elizabeth, wife of Wm. Snowdon died 1812, aged 29; William Snowdon;
died 1852, aged 72; Mary, wife of William Snowdon, died 1819; aged
27; Isaac Evans, died 1798--34; Pickering Snowdon, died 1830--82;
William Evans, died 1841--50; Leah, wife of William Evans, died 1848--50;
Cynthia, wife of Thomas Milner, died 1848--38; Charles P. Evans, died
1862--44; Rupert Boultenhouse, died 1848--27; Bedford Boultenhouse,
died 1848--86; Abraham Bass (of Northamptonshire) died 1842--69; Margaret,
his wife, died 1842--78; Stephen Milledge, died 1803--43; Henry B.
Purdy, died 1888--74; Dorcas, his wife, died 1892--79; Michael Taylor,
(of Durham, England) died 1799--79; George Lawrence, died 1910--70;
his wife May, 1929--; George Bulmer, died 1890--77; Latitia, his wife,
died 1877--59; Martha, wife of John Barnes, died 1824--82; John Barnes,
died 1815--77; Edward Barnes, died 1867--46; James Barnes, died 1861--82;
Jeanie, his wife, died 1870--87; John H. Creamer, died 1887--58.
RURAL CEMETERY
The Sackville Rural Cemetery was established in 1864, being located
on lands purchased from Robert Bowser. An act of incorporation
was obtained in April that year, whereupon a meeting took place on
17th October, when Rev. Dr. Pickard, Edward Bowes and C. Milner were
appointed a committee to prepare the By-laws and C. Milner and Edward
Bowes, a committee to solicit subscriptions. At another meeting,
there was present Rev. Dr. Pickard in the chair and C. Milner, secretary;
J. B. Bowser, J. W. Dixon, Andrew Ford, Marcus Trueman, Ed Kinnear,
and Ed. Bowes. In addition to these the following were subscribers:--Harmen
Humphrey, Robson Dixon, David Purington, John Ford, Mariner Wood,
T. W. Knapp, Rev. Jos. Allison, Wm. Cole, Robert Fawcett, Amos Ogden,
Richard Wilson, Wm. Morice, John Morice, W. C. E. Hamilton, Ed. Bowes,
Edward Cogswell, S. F. Black and J. L. Black. C. Milner acted
as Superintendent for many years. He was succeeded by W. C.
Milner who purchased from Eugene Bowser, the field west of the brook,
and erected the keeper's lodge. It was laid off by Messrs. J.
L. Dixon and Amos Ogden with the Superintendent. The lot north
of the original lot was purchased from the Estate of the late Charles
Fawcett in the year 1912. The system of Perpetual Care has been
adopted by the corporation. Payments are deposited with The
Central Trust Corporation, the interest alone being used. The
receipts to date amount at present to about $3,000.
CHAPTER XI.
MILLS AND SHIPBUILDING
At a town meeting held on the 31st of August, 1762, the Morice Mill
Dam was referred to "Upper Mill Dam"; if it was old at that date,
it must have been first constructed by the Acadian French, and their
use of it was probably for grinding grain. At the same time
the stream spanned by the Westcock Aboideau was called the "Old Mill
Dam." The mill built at the latter place by Amos Botsford was in the
year 1812 to saw timer, grind grain and it was fitted with a carding
machine. The latter was the first one ever seen in the country.
He operated it with a gate at first and then he put in an aboideau
and sluice. When he stopped working it, Charles Bulmer bought
the gear and put it into the Mill at Fairfield, later owned by G.
W. Milton. Morice took the carding machine. John Fawcett
purchased the stones and used them in the Mill he built at the brook
north of the Male Academy. The foundation of the timbers of
the Botsford Mill can still be seen, having been preserved by the
salt water.
The mill at Frosty Hollow, erected probably before 1790, by a Mr.
Tower, at first to grind wheat and saw lumber, was sold by him to
a Mr. Snell, who adopted the faith of the Latter Day Saints and removed
to Salt Lake City. He sold to Mr. Geo. N. Bulmer. From
him it descended to his son, Seth. Four years ago, he disposed
of it to Mr. John Wiggins. The machinery having become out of
date, and the mill suffering from old age, he demolished it in 1933.
SHIPBUILDING
There are no official records available for vessels built in Canada
previous to 1819; probably such records have been kept and may have
been removed to England. The first vessel that the late Mr.
John Palmer recollected was the schooner "Hope", 70 or 80 tons, built
by Elijah Ayre, in Dorchester Creek. His son, Mariner, was master.
Years after, Crane and Turner built the schooner, "Jane" in the same
place. The Ayres built the "Dolphin" over a hundred tons.
She carried plaster, lumber and stone from Hard Ledge to Passamaquoddy.
The "Charlotte" 120 tons built by Richard Gross in Hillsboro and owned
by Mr. Boultenhouse took lumber from Chapman's at Dorchester to be
used in the buildings at the Fort in 1812. James Purdy was the
master, and the crew were Anthony Low, John Palmer and Joseph Brown.
This vessel traded between Sackville and Saint John and Passamaquoddy.
She was discharging wood on the south market wharf, one occasion when
the funeral of Speaker Botsford passed up King Street; that trip of
the "Charlotte" brought to Westcock, Mr. Botsford, the late Judge,
Mr. Blair, who owned an estate at River Hebert, and Mr. R. L. Hazen,
later Hon. R. L. Hazen, M. P. P., of Hazen's Cattle, Saint John.
The Calhouns of Shepody owned a sloop which was on its way to Passamaquoddy
with plaster from Hard Ledge when they heard that war (1812) had been
declared. The sloop returned and discharged the plaster on Botsford's
wharf and waited till Fall for an escort. In 1821, the "Sal"
was built by Mr. Starrett in Albert County; it was owned by Mr. Palmer
and James Carter. Mr. John Palmer was master. He carried
a cargo of lumber to Saint John where they sold her. In 1824
Amasa Weldon and James Sayre owned a schooner called the "Dorchester"
that sailed on the Saint John and Eastport route. William Carlisle
was master. At Sackville Jotham Estabrooks and John Best built
a vessel called the "Ruth" on land high and dry. They employed
a big team of oxen to draw it to the tide way; Best was master.
Previously to 1830, William Crane built a vessel at Harris Aboideau,
called the "Hope", which he sent to England and sold there.
Rufus and Martin Cole and William Fowler owned a schooner "Byrante"
which was scuttled off of Apple River. She was sunk at high
water and at low water only partially submerged. They were able
to sell her for one hundred and eighty-five pounds.
In 1824, Wm. Crane built a vessel of 128 tons which he called the
"Charlotte."
VESSELS BUILT AT SACKVILLE
Name
Tonnage Registered Owner
1829--Betsey
37 Rufus Cole
1829--Minstrel Boy
136 M. Delay
1829--Hope
30 Edward Dixon
1830--Good Intent
38 Isaac Lawson
1830--Sackville Packet 36
Sherman Wickwire
1831--Temperance
87 Titus Anderson
1831--Minstrel Boy
166 I. Woodward
1833--Rover
83 Stephen Barnes
1833--Herald
78 C. Boultenhouse
1833--Eclipse
52 Thomas Robson
1833--Victory
48 Joseph Atkinson
1834--Ann
63 William Wood
1834--Lighter
47 William Scott
1834--Susan Crane
150 C. Boultenhouse
1835--Spruce
145 J. & H. Kinnear
1835--Brothers
47 J. Bradley
1835--Lark
61 E. Cole
1835--Ann
88 John Boultenhouse
1837--William
96 William Boultenhouse
1837--Lark
35 David Stiles
1837--Spick
125 J. & H. Kinnear
1838--Pearl
30 William Boultenhouse
1837--Sarah Jane
48 H. Calhoun
1839--Forest Queen
839 Charles Dixon
1839--Freedom
111 John Boultenhouse
1839--Empress
1266 William Wright
1839--Mariner
221 M. Wood
1839--John & Ann
120 John Boultenhouse
1840--Sarah Jane
48 Thomas Kiellor
1840--Wood Point
133 H. G. Kinnear
1840--Loveomia
14 Rufus Dixon
1840--Victory
48 John Beaumont
Isabella 22
Thomas Robson
1840--Sarah Botsford 296
J. & W. Kinnear
1840--Barbara Ann
136 Joseph Atkinson
1840--Sackville
147 Bedford Boultenhouse
1846--Britain
61 Amos Seaman
1847--Amelia
330 Bill H. DeWolf
1847--Olive
61 G. W. Olive
1847--Jane
38 Charles Palmer
1847--Gazelle
60 Rufus Cole
1847--Princess
149 William Boultenhouse
1849--London
91 C. Boultenhouse
1849--Mary Carson
692 C. Boultenhouse
1849--Jane
38 T. Outhouse
1849--Jessie Burne
536 C. Boultenhouse
1849--Triumph
144 C. Dixon
1849--Jane Morice
256 C. Boultenhouse
1851--Water Lily
591 Bedford Boultenhouse
1851--Sarah Louise
377 James Lyons
1851--Bloomer
342 Bedford Boultenhouse
1852--Melrose
79 Martin Cole
1852--Lucy Ann
91 C. Boultenhouse
1853--Falcon
310 George Young
1852--Alert
130 B. Boultenhouse
1852--Falcon
310 C. Boultenhouse
1853--Alpine
514 C. Boultenhouse
1853--Lucy Ann
91 George Saulter
1854--British Made
172 C. Boultenhouse
1854--British Empire 1347
Charles Dixon
1853--Heart
138 R. Wilson
1953--Freedom
111 John Ferish
1848--Industry
75 Bedford Boultenhouse
1848--Cynthia
144 C. Boultenhouse
1855--Dasher Sackville 56
M. Wood
1855--Harrnoby
514 N. S. Demill
1855--Shepherdess
1125 William Wright
1855--Atalanta
930 C. Dixon
1855--William Hyde
295 M. Wood
1856--Mary
572 R. Wright
1856--Westmorland
192 C. Boultenhouse
(Steam)
100 H.P.
1856--Sarah Dixon
1468 C. Dixon
1856--Uncas
1320 C. Boultenhouse
1857--Druid
193 J. S. Jarvis
1858--Brothers' Pride 1236
John Yeats
1858--Frederick
246 Jos. G. Kenney
Wm. F. Hawkins
1858--Havelock
100 J. F. Allison
Rufus C. Cole
1858--Veteria
106 Samuel Freeman
Black
1859--Bella
45 George Anderson
Ammi Anderson
1859--Black Eagle
391 Mariner Wood
John McFee
1859--Cygnet
99 Amos Ogden
Mariner Wood
Stephen Barnes
1859--Xiphias
980 Will. Morice
1860--Minne Haha
51 Elisha Embree
1860--Seamens Bride
167 Henry Purdy
Sam. Freeman
1861--George G. Roberts 161
Amos Ogden
Mariner Wood
1861--Williamina
187 Chris Boultenhouse
1862--Ellen
193 Chris Boultenhouse
1862--Empress
79 Mariner Wood
Amos Ogden
Timothy Outhouse
1863--Martha
206 William McConnell
1863--New Brunswick
839 C. Boultenhouse
1863--Tantramar
386 James Trueman
1863--Mary E. Purdy
288 M. Wood
1864--Charlie Wood
324 Mariner Wood
Henry Purdy
1864--Indian
564 Chris. Boultenhouse
1864--Jane
130 Mariner Wood
Amos Ogden, &c.
1864--Maria
13 Andrew Ford
1864--Mineola
232 John G. Wright
Stephen K. Brundage
Samuel L. Tilley, &c.
1865--Delegate
303 C. Boultenhouse
1865--Sea Crops
298 R. M. Dixon
1866--M. Wood
550 M. Wood
1866--Jim
195 J. L. Black
1866--William
139 M. Wood
1866--Trojan
133 R. M. Dixon
1866--Cadelle
473 C. Boultenhouse
1866--Gussie Trueman 464
George Anderson
1867--Effa
62 M. Wood
1868--Posie
187 George Bidell
1870--Rawport
103 Elias Tower
1972--Amedo
564 J. McIntosh
1872--Emma L. Oulton 667
George W. Oulton
1872--Northern Star
315 George Anderson
1872--Mary C.
99 A. D. Cole
1872--Amady
535 George McLeod
1872--Assyria
728 J. F. Taylor
1872--George H. Oulton 1132
J. S. D. Devebre
The last vessel built in Sackville was in 1896, by Mr. Thomas Egan;
the "Two Sisters."
OLD TIME STEAMERS IN THE BAY
The Steamer, Commodore, 92 tons, was built in Annapolis in 1847.
Her registered owner was W. C. E. Hamilton, later a resident of Sackville.
She was broken up in 1856. The Steamer, Creole, a paddle wheel
boat, was built in New York in 1841. Owner John Levitt.
Lost in 1859 off Green Head. Steamer, Reindeer, 108 tons, built
in 1845, R. Read, owner. Steamer Pilot, 99 tons, built 1857,
John Walker, owner lost off Grindstone Island. Maid of Erin,
John Walker, owner, Captain Belyea, Master, lost off Grindstone Island.
These two steamers made trips from Saint John to Sackville, carrying
down the Bay cargoes of cattle, and country produce. Steamer,
Westmorland, 192 tons, built in Sackville in 1856, 100 H.P. plied
same time between St. John and Sackville, and was then put on the
Summerside, Charlottetown, Shediac Route. Captain Evander Evans
was her Commander. He became commodore of the P. E. I. Steam
Navigation Company. It is remarkable that during his whole career
as a Master Mariner he never lost a man at sea or had an accident.
Soon after the Southern States proclaimed their independence, she
was sold to the American Government. Christopher Boultenhouse
built vessels at Wood Point, previous to 1840, when he moved to Sackville,
where he built one or two vessels every year until 1872. He
died in 1876. Charles Dixon was a successful ship-builder until
he built his two last vessels, the Atlanta, and the Sarah Dixon.
For the former, he refused 14 pounds a ton on the stocks. There
was a sudden drop in vessel property and he was obliged to sell her
for ten pounds a ton, whereby he lost a fortune. He died in
1864, aged 61 years.
The loss of the Steamship, Hungarian on February 20th, 1860, near
Cape Sable, with all on board, was a disaster that caused wide spread
sorrow throughout Canada. The most prominent business man in
Sackville, at that date was Christopher Boultenhouse, for many years
a most successful shipbuilder and at times employed hundreds of men.
His eldest son, William, had gone to England in connection with his
father's shipping interests and returning in the "Hungarian" was lost.
He was a young man of fine ability and much promise.
Henry Purdy at Westcock built a number of vessels. His sons,
John and Reuben were ship masters and James built two steam vessels,
the steamer "Sir John" and the "Albert". The former was burned
to the water's edge in Saint John harbor and the "Albert" was lost
with all on board in a severe storm off Halifax harbor.
CHAPTER XII.
THE PORT OF SACKVILLE
From the earliest times has been more or less a port for shipping.
The Acadian French used it for building and sailing their crafts.
The English used it for the building and repair of vessels and also
for the entry of cargoes and their shipment. The Tantramar River
pursuing a circular course made a loop with a narrow neck. The
land thus surrounded was called the Ram Pasture. The Ram Pasture
neck commenced to wash away by erosion. About the year 1920
it was cut through making the Ram Pasture an island and creating a
direct course for the tides from the Bay up the river. The portion
of the river cut off commenced at once to fill up by deposits from
the tidal waters, destroying all shipping facilities. A little
foresight on the part of our representatives and a small amount of
money expended would have preserved the value of the port as a business
place and also saved the entire value of the Ram Pasture to its owners.
SACKVILLE RIGHTS
The first appearance of Sackville Rights, which produced so many law
suits and contentions was a Memorial signed by George Bulmer, but
in the interests of Thomas Bowser, Timothy R. Richardson, Charles
Bulmer and Duncan Shaw, Robert Atkinson, John Wry and David Crossman,
who with George Bulmer were proprietors of lots 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. They state at the time of the purchase
of these lots and agreeable to Troop's plan, their lots extended back
to the Dorchester line. They learn that parties have applied
for and obtained 800 acres of such land. They pray for a grant
of the balance, 1700 acres. Granted.
On Sept. 29, 1786, Joseph C. Lamb, Hezekiah King and Nehemiah Ward,
a Committee on the part of the town memorialized the Government first
to allot the balance of the town grant amongst the people. This
would be about 70,000 acres, second claiming the mill and stream as
town privileges. An attempt was made in 1785, to escheat about
20 or 30 rights of lands in Sackville belonging to absentees, some
of whom were absent for 20 or 30 years. Upon holding an inquisition,
claimants appeared for nearly every right, some for dyking or purchase
or making improvements. This created so much perplexity that
the inquisition was dropped. After that, some of the residents
purchased the rights of some of the absentees who had removed to New
England (from Amos Botsford's report, 7th Oct., 1786.)
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
The Sackville and Westmorland Agricultural Society was organized on
the 2nd of April, 1825 at the Court House, Dorchester. Those
taking part in the proceedings were: Judge William Botsford; Hon.
Wm. Crane; Hon. E. B. Chandler; Rev. Christopher Milner; Hon. Edwin
Botsford, later Senator; James Black; Edward Dixon of Sackville; Humphrey
Gilbert; John Weldon; Hon. Charles F. Allison; Benjamin Charters;
William N. Venning; Philip Palmer, Esq.; Simeon Outhouse; Harmon Trueman;
William Calhoun; Thomas Bowser; William Fawcett; Christopher Richardson;
Christopher Atkinson and others. All together about ninety persons
took part in the proceedings. The officers elected were: President,
Hon. Judge Botsford; Vice Presidents, Hon. Wm. Crane and John Chapman,
Esq.; Treasurer, John Keiler, Esq.; Secretary, Hon. E. B. Chandler.
The managing committee were as follows, for Sackville: James Estabrooks,
Wm. N. Venning, and Simeon Outhouse. For Westmorland: Harmon
Trueman, George Oulton, and Charles Dixon, Jr. For Botsford:
John Raworth, Sr., Ephraim Allen, John Anderson. For Dorchester,
William Hannington, Humphrey Gilbert and John Weldon. For Moncton:
Solomon Trites, James M. Kelly, and Lewis Trites. For Salisbury:
Robert Scott, Daniel Wheaton, Ralph Colpitts.
Hillsboro: John McLatchy, James Chapman, William Chapman.
Hopewell: Peter McClelan, John Smith, Nathaniel Brewster.
The first active measures the Society took was to secure the purchase
and distribution of seeds at prime cost and charges. The purchase
of forty pounds in timothy seed and ten pounds in clover seed was
ordered. A hundred and twenty bushels of wheat was ordered and
a quantity of oats. At a later meeting, it was decided to purchase
eight rams, one for each of the eight parishes, for which purpose
Hon. Wm. Crane, Joseph Avard and Harman Trueman were appointed committee.
Such were the beginnings of a Society started one hundred and nine
years ago and which has greatly promoted the farming interests of
the community.
There was a plowing match in October, 1839, with prizes given by the
Agricultural Society. The judges were: Hon. Edward Botsford,
George Oulton, and Richard Bowser. First prize was won by Nelson
Bulmer, prize 50 shillings; second prize, Joseph Wells; third prize,
Charles Bulmer; fourth prize, James Anderson. At the same time,
it was announced that the Shorthorns introduced by Judge Botsford
had been purchased in England by the Hon. William Crane and Hon. L.
A. Wilmot.
OLD TIME BUSINESS
There was very little traffic and trading a hundred years ago.
Every household was as much as possible self contained and self supporting.
Beef, grain, butter and wool, products of every farmer gave him and
his family their foodstuffs and clothing. The ministers were
itinerant, so were the teachers, shoemakers and tailors. The
girls of the period had no time for the decorative arts and swains
were not captured by any artificial ornamentations. The lessons
of every day life were severe and left no room for frivolity.
The first store was kept by Stephen Milledge at Westcock-- Amos Fowler
and Titus Knapp also traded at Westmorland Point. The bills
of that day show the limited character of the goods sold. William
Crane commenced business at the mouth of the Lower Fairfield Road
in about 1806. His place was burned--it is said by incendiary
and he rebuilt at Crane's corner. This was the Golden Age for
peddlers. With their packs, on foot, they tramped from house
to house through the settlements--selling their wares and trinkets
and exchanging bits of news and gossip.
In 1812 there was only a trail or path through the woods between Sackville
or rather Westcock and Dorchester, but a passable team road then existed
from Westcock to Tantramar. In the war of 1812, militia were
sent from Westmorland to garrison Saint John. They were under
command of Capt. H. Chapman and Lieut. Shaw. Their transportation
was by schooner. There was a ferry from Westcock to Aulac.
The Ferryman at this time was "Lin" Baizley. He was succeeded
by James Evans. There was at this date a narrow road leading
from Crane's Corner to the great Bridge. The Tantramar was then
much smaller than it became later and was fordable at low water.
A ferry was also maintained at that point. Amos Botsford and
Christopher Harper had gigs to ride about in as early as 1810.
There was an importation of six Concord wagons by some peddlers in
1820. They were seized by Sheriff Sayre -- for debt -- probably
to the crown for duties. People were very lax in those days
about paying customs duties and public sentiment was strongly "agin
the law". It was against the liberty of the subject to pay duties.
As an example, an old residenter related to the writer the following
incident: A trader imported 100 bbls. of flour from the States by
the Wilson vessel. It was hidden in a barn near the Academy
Brook. It was seized by Mr. Burnham who represented the majesty
of the law, and placed in charge of Robert Atkinson. The owner
gathered a force of between 30 and 40 men, seized Mr. Atkinson and
hustled him away and then disappeared with the flour. Later
on, Dr. Backhouse seized a load of goods at Bowser's Brook that were
being hauled by a farmer. The latter cut the traces and made
off with his cattle.
In 1812, Sackville had a visit in passing of Sir George Murray, Quarter
Master General and Admiral Yeo, in connection with mobilizing militia.
The former was a tall, handsome man, the Admiral was short and thickset.
"Tim" Lockhart, representing the artillery branch of the Imperial
Service, fired a salute with a brass cannon in front of the house
of entertainment kept by the widow Evans at Westcock.
The mails at this date were neither large or important. They
were carried by Mark Campbell on horse back in saddle bags, connecting
at Amherst and presumably at Dorchester with other mounted carriers.
Very few of the letters of this date bear any post mark -- evidently
they were carried mostly by private hand and by vessels. Mark
Campbell was a useful man in the community, afterwards he became school
master.
The first Post Office in Sackville of which there is a record was
kept by Crane and Allisons. When the Cunard Line was established
and English mails started, a frontier office for the reception and
forwarding English correspondence became necessary and the government
created a Post Office at Sackville, in 1849, with C. Milner as Postmaster.
He held the office until 1867, when he resigned and Joseph Dixon,
who was assistant postmaster, became Postmaster. He died in
1922, when J. Frederick Allison became Postmaster. At his death
the present incumbent, Mr. Anderson, was appointed. The connection
of Halifax by rail with Saint John and Quebec and later the operation
of portal cars dispensed with the frontier office, which thereafter
became a local office. Before 1867 local mails were dispatched
weekly from Sackville to Westmorland Point, Point de Bute, Jolicure,
Baie Verte, Port Elgin and Cape Tormentine; also to Wood Point and
North Joggins; also twice a week to Middle and Upper Sackville, all
of which places possessed way offices.
The Fawcett Foundry was established about 1857 by John Fawcett and
his son Charles, the former having been previously engaged in the
hardware and tinsmith business. He removed to Moncton, leaving
it in the hands of his sons, Charles and Alfred. The latter
removed to Boston and the former made it a very prosperous concern.
The Enterprise Foundry was started in 1872, by Capt. R. M. Dixon.
He died in 1874 and the property was purchased by Mr. W. S. Fisher,
a wealthy hardware merchant of St. John, who developed it, until it
became one of the most successful stove foundries in Canada.
During the first half of the last century, James Smith and James Ayer
carried on harness and boot and shoe manufacturing in Middle Sackville,
(rechristened as Hide Park) and W. C. E. Hamilton, a very large man,
known as "Big Hamilton," built up a large tannery business.
They were succeeded by James R. Ayer, Abner Smith and Alex Smith and
their establishments were purchased by the "Standard" Company organized
by Mr. A. E. Wry.
Two immigrants from England, George and William Beal, built tanneries
at Morice's Pond and for many years did a thriving business.
At the same time, a Quaker, David Purinton, from United States carried
on the tannery business at Lower Sackville. He retired with
a fortune and better than that, with the reputation of being an honest
man. It seems reasonable that the hides from cattle slaughtered
in this country should be tanned at home, instead of being shipped
to Boston and there made into boots and shoes and shipped back to
the Canadian market employing tanners, curriers and shoemakers from
these provinces who ought to be employed in building up the land that
gave them birth. Thus good Canadian money is spent in Boston,
that ought to be spent at home.
It is a long distance from Mark Campbell, carrying mails by horseback
in his saddle bags or pouch, to the days in the sixties, when Miles
Hoar and Angus McLellan drove for horse coaches from Truro to Monckton
and a still longer distance from those days to the mail trains that
run daily from Halifax across the continent to Vancouver. The
luxuries of the express train were rivalled in the long hours of travel
by the tales of the road recounted by knights of the Whip whose humor
Sam Weller might have envied. Sometimes distinguished men passed
en route to and from Europe. Once a minister, Hon. Mr. Breckenridge,
from the Southern Republic came thro' the hostile lines and travelled
by stage to Halifax for Europe. Another time, the son and heir
of an English Premier (The Marquis of Aberdeen) passed along from
Halifax and disappeared -- his fate has been a long quest. The
line between Truro and Amherst originally owned by Hiram Hyde and
William Stevenson, was sold to Charles Archibald and Col. Edward Purdy
of Westchester. That between Amherst and Monckton was owned
by one of the numerous King Brothers--Patrick. A brother of
his, Arthur, succeeded a notable host -- William Coll at Sackville,
whose house possessed a record for hospitality.
A successor to Hon. Wm. Crane in public spirit was Mr. Joseph L. Black.
His grandfather was a brother of Bishop Black. A cousin, Mr.
Samuel F. Black who did business in Middle Sackville was burned out
there and removed to Lower Sackville where he erected a mansion and
commenced business. He had two sons, Dr. Clarence of United
States Navy, and Dr. Charles A. Black. The latter represented
the county at Fredericton. Mr. J. L. Black occupied Mr. S. F.
Black's premises and entered upon a very successful career of merchandizing.
He was elected to the Legislature in 1878, and immediately the roads
and bridges of the county responded to his impulse. His occasional
addresses in agricultural affairs and public matters -- the result
of personal experience -- were practical and enlightening. He
was an economist in matters of public expenditures and disagreeing
with his colleagues as to appropriations and debt, he retired from
public life.
In 1865, (January 23rd) the "Borderer" Newspaper contained some suggestions
as to local trade at that date. The "Schooner Express" as a
packet between Saint John and Sackville is advertised by Captain R.
M. Dixon, and Capt. Wilson Estabrooks, advertised the schooner "Bella"
on the same route. In those days, American stoves and franklins
were generally used but Mr. Alexander Robb of Amherst announced he
had just erected an iron foundry. Abner Smith was a successful
manufacturer of boots and shoes. He advertised prime doubled
soled boots at $3.25; common boots at $3.00, and men's coarse shoes
$1.75. Oulton Bros., Saint John, advertised groceries wholesale
for the trade. Other advertisers in Sackville were: Mr. J. L.
Black, Charles Fawcett, Lindsay & Vickery, and Andrew Ford, successor
to James Murray.
At this time, Sackville had three tanneries, which furnished a market
for local hides.
A copy of the "Borderer" of 4th September, 1868, contains a notice
of the demise of its founder and editor, Edward Bowes, Esq., the father
of the late J. Alonzo Bowes of Dorchester and of the late Mr. Fred
Bowes, a leading citizen of Halifax. He was a son of William
Bowes who had been a Commissariat Officer at Fort Cumberland.
Mr. Bowes was fifty-five years of age at the time of his death, twelve
years previously to which he had established the "Borderer", which
was, I believe, the only newspaper between Saint John and Halifax.
He was a judicious editor. His paper, while always full of local
news and taking an influential part in political and public affairs,
avoided offensive personalities, won a just popularity. After
Mr. Bowes' death the "Borderer" after passing through the hands of
a number of persons, was, in 1880, amalgamated with the "Chignecto
Post," becoming the "Chignecto Post and Borderer." If this paper had
survived, it would have been eight years of age and ranked amongst
the oldest in Canada.
The advertising columns contain much of interest. The local
merchants advertising were: Andrew Ford, J. L. Black, Lindsay and
Vickery, Abner Smith, Dickson and Company, M. Wood, Thomas Baird,
Reuben Chase and Robert Hallet. The latter also advertised photography
and auctioneer business. William Moore advertised as tailor;
Stephen Ayer harnesses.
At Amherst, Dunlap Brothers, and W. D. Main & Co. had extensive
advertisements. Charles J. Townshend had a professional card
at Attorney-at-Law. He recently died at Wolfville, having risen
to become Chief Justice of Nova Scotia. Amos Page, was then
watch maker. Joseph L. Moore, Dorchester advertisement appeared
as Attorney-at-Law. He was later on elected a member of the
Legislature and made an Executive Councillor. He died five years
later. Allan A. Peck, of Sackville, as Attorney-at-Law, offered
his services to the public.
The Saint John advertisers were: Hannington Brothers, and J. Chaloner,
both druggists; Trueman & Taylor and Oulton Brothers and A. W.
Masters & Co. Radway's Ready Relief and Wister's Wild Cherry Balsam,
notwithstanding their superabundant virtues, have long ceased to cure
the public. J. H. Wilbur, Dorchester, offered for sale the Dorchester
Hotel. A Temperance Hotel was established at Amherst by W. H.
Rogers, prominent publicist and platform speaker. He was afterwards
Fishery Inspector for Nova Scotia. The late Hon. Justice Rogers
of Halifax was a son. Lewis Carvell advertises the time-Table
of the F. & N. A. Railway. Two trains left St. John daily
for Point de Chene, at 7 a.m., and 1:45 p.m. Return, leaving
Point du Chene at 7 a.m., and 11 a.m.
The railway was then being constructed between Moncton and Truro.
H. G. C. Ketchum, the contractor for the New Brunswick section, advertises
for 1000 men to whom he offers $1.00 and $1.10 per day. Pending
through communication by rail with St. John, freighting was carried
on by the "Express Packet Line," consisting of the Schooner "Express",
C. J. Gray, master, and by Wilson Estabrooks in the Schooner "Effa".
Robert Cochran, of Moncton, station agent, had been promoted to the
post of section foreman and was succeeded by James Pitfield.
A. J. Smith, later Sir Albert, advertises his office as the office
of the Union Freestone Company, shipping building stone from Budroes.
At this period Blair Botsford, later Warden of the Penitentiary, was
Sheriff, and E. B. Chandler, later Lt. Governor, was Judge of Probates
and Charles F. Knapp, Registrar of Probates.
Squire Rufus Cole in his relations of old times stated:--
"John Horton's mother lived where the late Israel Atkins lived.
Mr. Crane boarded there. Widow Richardson and three sons, Christopher,
Joseph and Timothy, were sent for by Mr. Dixon. Charles Dixon
built him a brick store on Bridge Street, near where Squire Street
joined it, and afterwards a stone residence near it, where Mrs. Ed
Cogswell was born. He moved into the house at the Corner about
18 or 20 years after. Old Mr. Milledge and Botsford were first
to have carriages from the States. The first tavern was kept
by Mrs. Richardson and Mrs. Humphrey, near the Lower Fairfield Road.
Old Mr. Ward kept tavern next on the Chase place; then Shaw Ross next;
Andrew Fillmore in place of Shaw. He was a hatter by trade.
It was burned down the night he was married for first time.
His wedding took place at Fort Lawrence. My two sisters and
two brothers were over to the wedding. They went over by horseback,
up around the head of Sackville in those days. Old Tim Lockhart
-- first man that ever drove an ox team through the woods -- brought
a puncheon of rum from Dorchester Island. He had no foot money
in those days. Every one had to help us do one day's work on
Dorchester Road."
At the date of peace between Britain and her American colonies, the
total vessels owned in the province was about 250 tons. In 1835
it had grown to 80,830. In 1851, it owned 18 steamboats and
778 sailing vessels, measuring 116,711 tons. For many years
it built 170 vessels per annum. The proximity of shipyards to
tideways, lakes and streams, facilitated construction and cheapened
the cost of vessels until about 1880, when iron became a substitute
for wood in construction. The large population employed in construction
and in sailing them found their occupation gone, hundreds of ship
yards abandoned, and sailor folks looking for other employment.
The trade relations between Bay of Fundy ports and New England ports
were very intimate until 1866, when Reciprocity was abrogated.
This measure adopted by the United States government, was a great
blow to the prosperity of our producers and shippers. Not two
decades later, it was followed by the introduction of iron in shipbuilding.
This ended the wooden ship building business and with it the foreign
trade maintained by our own vessels. The National Policy, adopted
by Parliament in 1879, promised to give a home market for our producers
and manufacturer and employment for our working population.
This result has been achieved so far as Ontario is concerned, which
has largely abolished Maritime Industries, resulting in a large loss
of business, of commercial decadence and loss of population.
A very great drawback to the future business of the place was the
loss of its port, which in the past has been the origin of its settlement
and growth. Tidal deposits at the mouth of the Tantramar river
built up a body of marsh land, known as the Rampasture, connecting
it with the mainland by a narrow neck, inside of which, wharves, had
been built and shipyards established. About a quarter of a century
ago, the neck became eroded and the tides broke through, making the
rampasture an island. The result was the filling up the river
with tidal deposits abreast of the wharves, destroying all shipping
facilities. A little work would have prevented this loss, but
our public men seem to have been dead to public interests. Two
improvements are to be credited to public men. A new railway
station was erected by the late Hon. H. R. Emmerson, when Minister
of Railways, and a new Post Office by Hon. A. B. Copp when M.P.
In 1778, Mr. Carnforth represented to the government, that he had
purchased lots 59, 60, 52, 12, 14, 16, 27, 8, 7, and 54 and 53.
These were land grabbing days and one is not surprised to learn from
the Government's reply that many of these lots had never been granted
at all.
Amongst the early medical practitioners in Sackville were: Marmarduke
Backhouse, father of William Backhouse, for many years Registrar of
Deeds; Dr. Lewis Johnstone, from Wolfville, N. S., who removed to
New Glasgow, N. S.; Dr. Titus W. Knapp, of Fort Cumberland, a thoroughly
trained and capable physician; Dr. A. H. Peck from Albert County;
Dr. William Johnstone, also from Wolfville, who married Susan, daughter
of Mr. Joseph F. Allison. At a later date, Dr. Bowser from Kent
County and Dr. Joseph Calkins, both deceased, and who made an admirable
record here.
OLD TIME TRAVELLING
Mrs. Joshua Tingley travelled from Bristol to Trueman's Mill at Westmorland
on horseback, carrying a bag of grain to be ground and returned the
same day. The distance she travelled was forty- eight miles
(statement from late Jacob Silliker, Esq., Baie Verte.) Squire Rufus
Cole stated: "When I moved my family from Dorchester to Rockport,
in 1824, there were no roads or bridges along the route. In
order to cross the streams we used to start to get over when the tide
was out, we would cross at Benjamin King's, then through a path to
Hard Ledge, then up the Beach to Dorchester Cape. We travelled
that way on horseback. 1837 the roads were sufficiently made
to enable me to take four cattle team with grain to John Palmer's
Mill at Dorchester."
CAPE TORMENTINE RAILWAY
For many years Sackville cherished the ambition of becoming a railway
centre for Prince Edward Island, as the Island mails and passengers,
especially in winter, centred in Sackville. In the 60's, the
"Borderer" newspaper contained a series of articles on the subject
but steel or iron rails at that time were too expensive for practical
results.
In 1874, a number of branch lines were incorporated by the local Legislature,
amongst them the one from Sackville to Cape Tormentine. The
work was subsidised to the extent of $5,000.00 a mile. The Company
was organized with Senator Botsford as its President and Joseph L.
Black, George Campbell, Amos Ogden, William F. George and others as
directors. A brisk agitation through the local press to construct
it was maintained. A survey and plans were made by a private
party. Sir Albert Smith, then Minister of the Crown at Ottawa,
expressed himself as opposed to the "Sackville Farmers" loading themselves
with the attempt to build a railway which he assured them the Dominion
Government would later undertake. This viewpoint was strongly
approved by his supporters in Sackville, who withheld any encouragement
to the scheme. This division prevented any work being done until
after the subsidy had expired. The logic of events ultimately
united the two factions. In 1879 Sir Charles Tupper, then a
Minister at Ottawa, directed Mr. McLeod, C.E., to make a survey.
The survey made the southern terminus at Amherst, cutting off Sackville.
The subsidy of $5,000.00 a mile, having expired, the Company had much
difficulty in obtaining a renewal of it to the extent of $3,000.00
a mile losing $2,000 a mile. This was effected by the influence
of the local members elected in 1878, namely, Messrs. J. L. Black,
D. L. Hannington (later Judge), Pierre A. Landry (later Chief Justice,
Sir Pierre) and Amasa Killam, who saved the terminal for Sackville.
Later Mr. Josiah Wood was elected President. After work was
commenced the Government gave a subsidy of $3,200.00 for rails per
mile. The work of grading was let to Messrs. Gray and Wheaton.
The road was opened for traffic in 1882. It had the reputation
of being the least costly piece of railway ever built in Canada.
The road was through a level country and possessed low grades.
The earth work was of the cheapest kind, practically no rock cutting
and the bridging and culverts were of wood and cheap and primitive
in their character. There was no attempt to ballast except half
the lower line. The rails, fastenings and rolling stock were
requisitioned from the railway dump at Moncton. The entire cost
of the road was less than $8,000.00 a mile. The local and Dominion
Governments providing the entire cost except $60,000.00 which was
a debt. The virtue of economy is not always its own reward.
The company issued bonds for $100.00, which paid off the $60,000 and
left $40.00. This sum was divided amongst the promoters, the
President allotting himself one half. The Dominion Government
afterwards purchased it from the Company for $260,000.00 to make connection
with Prince Edward Island, the Government building docks at Cape Tormentine
and on the opposite side at P. E. Island and putting on ice breaking
steamers, so that transportation of passengers and freight could proceed
without interruption winter and summer; upon the purchase being completed
the Dominion Government made a splendid highway from Cape Tormentine
to Sackville, having to rebuild the whole line -- rails, rolling stock,
ties, ballasting, &c. The subsidies, together with purchase
price and later the cost of rebuilding, made it a most expensive job
for the taxpayers to meet. The profits from heavily subsidized
public works possess a faculty of disappearing and leaving no trace
of the ultimate destination, in the public accounts or otherwise.
The future investigation of national economics may be puzzled as the
hole where $160,000 of the purchase price of the Cape Tormentine Railway
went.
The harbor works on both sides together with the steam vessels connecting
them were designed and built under the direction of D. W. McLaughlin,
C.E., of the Marine Department, Ottawa. The engineering skill
exercised has resulted in overcoming very difficult natural obstacles,
at an economical cost.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE MARSHES
SEWER BOARD
In 1793, Joseph C. Lamb and William Fawcett, chosen to superintend
boundaries of marshes by the proprietors, adjudged Isaiah Tingley
owner of 8 acres of marsh sold him by Benjamin Tower. It had
been drawn by John Moore but not granted in 1770.
In 1813, the marsh owners asked for a change owing to the age of the
ten commissioners and recommend the following persons: James Esterbrooks,
Esq., Charles Dixon, Jr., John Hanes, Thomas Estabrooks.
William Esterbrooks
Geo. Bulmer, Jr.
Samuel Hicks
John Bulmer
William Esterbrooks, Jr.
Wm. Bowser
Agreen Tingley
John Harper
George Kinnear
William Harper
Thomas Bowser
Neh. Ayer
John Wry
Simeon Outhouse
Michael Grace
George Lawrence
Charles Dixon, Edward Dixon Harper Wilson
William Crane
Charles Bulmer
James Lawrence
William Heneghar
Obediah Ayer
James Anderson
Toler Thompson
Thomas. Herrett
Gideon Smith
William Outhouse
Thomas Wheaton
Benj. Jamins, Jr.
George Bulmer
Thos. Ayer
William Lawrence, Jr.
Bardin Turner
Oliver Barnes
B. Boultenhouse
W. BOTSFORD
THE MARSHES
It does not appear that the early Acadian settlers constructed aboideau;
they dyked on both sides of the streams. The only exception
was the attempt of Father La Loutre to aboideau the Au Lac river.
The early New England settlers followed by the Yorkshire ones were
equally unacquainted with the principles of marsh drainage, which
were thought out by an Irishman -- Tolar Thompson, and applied by
him. He met with much opposition, but was supported by Hon.
Wm. Crane, the Botsford family and the Fawcetts, the results being
the enormous values of marsh property.
In 1788, Amos Botsford applies for a grant of 700 acres, the history
of which, he furnishes. In another petition he asks for 250
acres not granted to anyone. He states:--
"That in the Town of Sackville there is a large tract of marsh containing
about 600 acres called Westcock Marsh undyked, which was formerly
divided into 55 shares of 10 1/2 acres each in Letter A. Division,
and the same ever since the settlement of said town by its inhabitants
hath lay open, and its present condition of little value.
That interspersed in said tract the 10 1/2 acres belonging to the
rights No. 49 half 10, 16, 23 half 24, 27, 30, 33, 35, 39, 41, 42,
half 51, 52 and 55 containing 152 acres never were granted, and could
be of little service if granted to any, scarce any two laying contiguous.
That in the first grant of said Town dated 12th October, 1765, No.
3 was granted to Elijah and William Sprague 8 and half 49 to Joseph
Windsor, 14 and half 44 to Joshua Sprague, 36 and half 45 to Nathan
Mason, 38 to Isaac Cole and 40 to James Olney.
That in the second grant of said town dated 25th January, 1773, No.
1 was granted Samuel Ballau; 2 to Joseph Brown; 6 to Nicholas Cook;
11 and half 44 to John Jenks; 13 and half 46 to Samuel Corry; 17 and
half 46 to Benjamin Thurber; 20 to Gilbert Seamans; 21 to Joseph Owens;
25 and half 45 to Charles Olney; 29 and half 48 to John Barnes; 32
to George Sherman; 37 to Jeremiah and Japhet Alverson; 43 and half
48 to William Alverson and half 47 to Samuel Saunders.
That in the third grant of said Town dated 22nd July, 1774, No. 2
was granted to Benjamin Wilber; 7 to Andrew Waterman; half 10 to Samuel
Rogers; 12 and half 53 to William Maxwell; 15 and half 53 to Thomas
Barnes; half 18 to Stephen Jenks; 19 to Gideon Young; 22 to Robert
Foster; 26 and half 51 to Abil Peck; 28 and half 50 to William Brown;
31 to Coggswell Olney; 34 and half 54 to Peleg Williams, and half
of 47 to Joseph Owens.
That all said rights lay in Letter A. Division in Sackville and an
inquisition of office hath been made and returned more than twelve
months and your Memorialist refers to that inquest whether the 10
1/2 acres of marsh belonging to said mentioned Rights ought not to
be escheated.
That could a new grant be made thereof all that tract of marsh now
laying waste and unprofitable might be rendered useful a considerable
share thereof belonging to absentees and might be appropriated for
making compensation for subscriptions for the Roads towards which
your Memorialist subscribed 120 pounds -- and has obtained a transfer
of 15 pounds subscribed by Robert Scott Esq. upon paying the subscription.
That in case the present proprietors, or any of them, should appear
to merit a new grant the same might be given as to your Excellency
should seem meet unless they should consent to dispose of their shares
to your Memorialist.
He prays that the 10 1/2 acre lots should be vacate, and that it should
be escheated. And that he have a warrant of survey for the subscription
35 pounds amounting to 700 acres.
MIDGIC BOGS
The Memorial of Thomas Wheaton, Wm. Esterbrooks, Joseph Sears, Titus
Thornton, James Hicks, Edward Esterbrooks and Angus McFee all of Sackville,
most humbly sheweth that there is a tract of vacant ungranted lands
in the Town of Sackville adjoining the Farm line, Point Midjick and
lands granted to Charles Dixon, Esq., that great part of the tract
consists of Lakes and Sunken lands, and has never been granted or
applied for. That the same would accommodate your memorialists,
they being farmers in the vicinity.
SALT MARSH
In 1805, Mr. Simeon Outhouse applied to the government for a grant
of Salt Marsh, that is land outside the dykes. A protest against
the grant forwarded to the government. It was signed by thirty-two
marsh owners. The opposition to it seems to have been effective.
The names of those opposing it were: Ebenezer Cole, Joseph Richardson,
John Patterson, John Fawcett, Jr., William Fawcett, William Fawcett,
Jr., Isaac Bradshaw, Joseph Thompson, Toler Thompson, Timothy Richardson,
John Harper, William Harper, Nehemiah Wood, Jonathan Cole, John Anderson,
James Anderson, Thomas Anderson, Obediah Ayer, John Fawcett, Sr.,
Charles Dixon, Jr., Gideon Smith, Robert Atkinson, George Lawrence,
William Read, William Estabrooks, Christopher Harper, Israel Thornton,
David Stone, Gideon Smith, Jr., Thomas Estabrooks and John Harris,
and also by Charles Dixon.
PROHIBITION
Sackville has always been considered a strictly temperance community.
In the days when shipbuilding was active at the various shipyards
after the week's pay, rum and plenty of it was in demand and the atmosphere
was boisterous. Otherwise the prevailing sentiment was unfavorable
to king alcohol. The parish took a prominent part in the Prohibition
Act of 1855, championed by Mr. Later, Sir Leonard Tilley. Previously
a Division of the Sons of Temperance was organized. It was No.
40, in over a hundred that were established through the Province.
Its first members were William Morice, Joseph F. Allison, Christopher
Milner, Charles E. Knapp, Oliver Boultenhouse, Samuel McCarthy, George
Campbell, James I. Evans, Christopher Harper, Robert Bell, Anthony
Thompson, Thomas Baird, Samuel Greenfield, E. V. Tait,, Alder Trueman,
Edward Briggs, and Samuel F. Black. It had seventy-six members
that year. As its receipts were 16 pounds and its expenses 4
pounds, it was considered in a flourishing condition. A public
hall was erected, near Ayer's property where for many years public
meetings were held. A monster picnic took place on the John
Wry property on the Upper Fairfield Road. Mr. Carter, an American
orator, delivered the address. He was a short time later lost
on the S.S. Great Republic on his way to Panama, en route for California.
The committee having it in charge was C. Milner and J. C. Everett.
Mr. Tilley, who represented Gourney division No. 7, Portland, had
been Grand Worthy Patriarch. He was succeeded by Mr. H. E. Seeley.
The Grand Scribe was Mr. Keenes; Mr. C. D. Everett as Treasurer.
The Order published a paper, "The Temperance Telegraph" under the
management of Christopher Smiler. The Prohibitory Act was in
advance of the times. Mr. Manners-Sutton, the Lieut. Governor,
who was opposed to the Act dissolved the Assembly. The elections
resulted in a majority against it and it was repealed.
About 1869 the late Mr. Mariner Wood organized a Temperance Society
in the Methodist Church which had something to do with the formation
later of the league to enforce the Scott Act. The officials
of Mount Allison Institutions were very active in this movement which
proved highly successful. The most active man in it was the
late Professor Burwash. The active propaganda both by the Sons
of Temperance as well as the leading citizens has prevented the open
sale of alcohol stimulants greatly to the welfare of the community.
THE MILITIA
The Militia at the beginning of the century assumed a greater importance
and prominence than it ever has since. In Westmorland there
were two battalions, the 1st Battalion was commanded as follows:
Samuel Gay, Major.
Captains as follows: Dalton Dixon, William Scott, James Watson, Cornelius
McMonagle, Abiel Peck, Samuel Cornwall, Robert Colpitts.
Lieutenants: Charles Smith, William Read, Thomas Calhoun, Philip Palmer,
Robert Smith, Robert Scott, Thomas Pearson.
Ensigns: Ralph Colpitts, Tate Taylor, Peter V. Hayter, Joel Edgett,
Samuel Trites, David Ackerley, James Lewis.
Adjutant, James McElmon.
The 2nd Battalion was commanded as follows:--
Major: William Botsford.
Captains: Gideon Palmer, Bedford Boultenhouse, William H. Smith, Henry
Chapman, Samuel McCardy, James Estabrooks, Humphrey Gilbert.
Lieutenants: Robert Ketch, Thomas H. Peters, George Chapell, James
Deery, Richard Bowser, Duncan Shaw, Bill Chapell, George Wells.
Ensigns: Obediah Ayre, David Chapman, Malcolm McEachren, T. Odger
Miles, Martin Chapman, Christopher Carter, William Raworth, James
Hewson.
Adjutant: Joshua Weatherell.
Quarter Master: George Bulmer.
Surgeon: Rufus Smith.
Captain McCarthy had been a Sergeant in a regular army. He had
charge of Fort Cumberland, where at the close of the second American
War until 1833, a Corporal's Guard manned the station.
(1830)
Lt. Colonel William Botsford to be Colonel commanding Westmorland,
4th Battalion. Captain Henry Chapman from 2nd to be Major 4th.
Joseph Chapman, Gent. to be Adjutant with the rank of Lieutenant.
2nd Battalion: Captain Amos Botsford to be Major. To be Captains:
Lieut. Geo. L. Kinnear, Vice Harris, resigned; Lieut. W. P. Sayer,
Lieut. Reuben Taylor.
Gazette on August 4th, 1820, published death of George III, who died
on 26th June previously. The news having been received by barque
"Mary" which left London on 29th June. In mourning.
The officials at Fredericton were: Secretary of the Province: Jonathan
Odell; Attorney General, Thomas Wetmore; Surveyor General, George
Sproul; Receiver General, Andrew Rankin.
In the Supreme Court, Jonathan Bliss was Chief Justice, and John Saunders,
Edward Winslow, and Ward Chipman, were judges.
In 1812, Sackville had a visit in passing of Sir George Murray, Quarter
Master General and Admiral Yeo, in connection with mobilizing militia.
The former was a tall, handsome man, the Admiral was short and thickset.
"Tim" Lockhart, representing the artillery branch of the Imperial
Service, fired a salute with a brass cannon in front of the house
of entertainment kept by the widow Evans at Westcock.
CHAPTER XV.
MARRIAGES
The following is a record of the marriage rite performed by Rev. Chris.
Milner between the years 1820 and 1830 inclusive:--
Where the residence of the groom is not in Sackville it is designated
by the letter "D" if in Dorchester; "S" if in Shediac or Botsford;
"W" if in Westmorland; for Hillsboro or Shepody "H"; Amherst or Cumberland
"C"; "K" Kings and other counties; "M" Moncton.
1820--Smith Dewire and Bridget Siddall (W); Edward B. Cutler and Caroline
Milledge (S); Robert Clarke and Charlotte Harrison (H); William Humphrey
and Mary Trueman; James Estabrooks and Isabella Bulmer; Gideon Ayer
and Lucy Sprague; Arigus McPhee and Rebecca Thornton; David Cook and
Charlotte Towse; Elijah Ayer and Jerusha Hicks; Harrison Kinnear and
Maria Ayer; Thomas Ayer, Jr., and Mary Estabrooks; Joseph Smith and
Mary Carter (W).
1821--John Tingley and Mary Ann Anderson (W); Isaac Derry and Mary
Ann Wood (D); Henry Ogden and Sarah Ayer; Abner Taylor and Rebecca
Cochran (H); Stephen Baxter and Ann Gooden (C); Ezra Beal and Eleanor
McMonagle (C); George Robinson and Rosanna Hickman (S); Benjamin Bowser
and Mary Ann Richardson; William Wry and Rebecca Hicks; Christopher
Humphrey and Ann Bowser; John Dobson and Ruth Burnham (W); George
Lund and Jane Ibbitson; Delancy Grannel and Sarah Wheldon; John Derry
and Catherine Palmer (D); William Atkinson and Ann Keillor (D); John
Tuttle and Catherine Thompson (C); John Gooden and Sarah Faulkner
(W); Thomas Wells and Sarah Hicks (W); William Barnes and Charlotte
Sears; James McLatchey and Janet Scott (H); Edward Wood and Nancy
Dobson (W); Allan Sharp and Mary Thompson; M. L. Backhouse and Eliza
Milledge; Hugh Logan and Elis Openham (W); Joseph Bowser and Ann Bulmer;
Scripo Milligan and Jane Dixon (Colored) (W); John Read and Grisilda
Doherty (W).
1822--John Tidd and Mary Lockhart; Wm. Ogden and Rachel Jones; Thomas
Anderson Jr. and Zene Tingley; Michael Bryn and Olive Fillmore (W);
Charles Oulton and Unice Gooden (W); John W. Smith and Matilda Beal
(C); James Sayer Jr. and Susan Wilson (D); Thomas Davis and Sally
Charters; Richard Hobin and Sally Clarke (W); William Wells and Ann
Maria Allen (W); William Bislock and Jane Harrison (C); Barker Turner
and Sarah Gooden (C); James Lockhart and Eliza Jenks; David Wheaton
and Martha Wry; James Evans and Rebecca Barnes; William Tingley and
Maria Parsons (H) Daniel Elkin and Elizabeth Tallen; Samuel Pitfield
and Mary Holstead (K); John Fillmore and Sarah Reid; James Wry and
Martha Estabrooks; Andrew Weldon and Martha Weldon (D); Joseph Tower
and Mary Ward; John Hagan and Jane Kay; Henry Cookwell and Martha
Wheaton (D); William Huddlestone and Peggy Dobson (W); John Rennison
and Mary Tate (D); Thomas Wilkinson and Mary Hicks; William Logan
and Margaret Duncan (C); Daniel Wadsworth and Maria Stiles (H); James
Turnbull and Sarah Reid (H); Joseph Cuthbertson and Agnes Tait (D);
William Tower and Dorcas Campbell.
1823--John Wood and Ann Derry (D); Thomas Wheaton and Jane Chase;
Val. Snowdown and Mary King; George Wells and Ann Tuttle (W); Thompson
Trueman and Mary Freeze (W); William Seamans and Amy Ward, Edward
B. Baker and Elizabeth Oaley (C); Isaac Doherty and Cynthia Wells
(W).
1824--Henry Bass and Elizabeth McDougall; James Caxton and Elizabeth
Grace Davey; James McGinney and Mary Ann Kirk (C); Alexander W. McLeod
and Sarah Trueman (W); Joseph Crandal and Catharine Wheaton; Jeremiah
O'Leary and Dinah Shaw; Joseph Thompson and Sarah Brownell; William
Lockhart and Cynthia Cook; Robert Fawcett and Jane Daniels Trueman;
Eliphalet Reid Hicks and Martha G. Palmer; Layton Card and Phoebe
Buck (D).
1825--A. S. Easton and Martha Brownell (K); William Kinnear and Elizabeth
Wheaton; John Hatty and Sarah Sear (D); William Lawrence and Pamela
Stewart; Stephen Barnes and Ruth Pearson; John Hopkins and Hannah
Ayer; Nathaniel Hicks and Jemima Sears; Thomas Christie and Martha
Barnes (C); William Morse and Almira Stewart (C); William Chase and
Mariam Estabrooks; Asa Read and _____ Tingley; John Bowser and Mary
Scotsen; William Ward and _____ McFarlane; Joseph H. Cahill and Elmira
Cole; James Wells and Emily King (W); Joseph Atkinson and Phoebe Wilbur
(D); James Clarke and Cynthia Snowdon (C); John Hannington and Alice
Brownell (C); William Hughson and Elizabeth Chandler (W); James Chalmers
and Mary Gallagher; Albert Hicks and Judith Barnes; Thomas Mitchell
and Sarah Bowser; Lewis Jenks and Lydia Evans.
1824--William Hannington and Ann Brownell (C); William Wood and Charlotte
Derry (D); John Watson and Ann McAddow; Christopher Boultenhouse and
Rebecca Harris; Nathaniel Lawrence and Ann Anderson; James Maxwell
and Mary King; Benoni King and Sarah Cook, James Sutherland and Letitia
McGee; Andrew Atkinson and Jemima Phinney; Isaac Tower and Elizabeth
Coalpit (H); Matthew Jackson and Abigail Ayer; Sylvester Murphy and
Mary Wood; William Boultenhouse and Rebecca Barnes; Richard Wilson
and Sarah Ayers; Samuel McClellan and Mary Read; Thomas S. Burnham
and Olive Smith; Benjamin Cole and Jane Lockhart; Caleb Read and Martha
Cole; John Horton and Elizabeth Grey; Robt. William Dobson and Ann
Burnham; Valentine Hicks and Lydia Hicks (D); John McKinley and Elizabeth
Dixon; William Lane and Catherine Trenholm (W); James McAvoy and Mary
Gibson (D).
1825--William Fawcett and Ellis Chase; George Pattison and Jane Atkinson;
William Allen and Hildah Laurence; John Keillor, Jr. and Amy Ann Reilly
(D); Edward O'Brien and Margaret Doherty (D); Thomas Carson and Jane
Hicks (D); James Sinder and Lacinda Ward (D); James Anderson and Diana
Tingley; Meredith McQuire and Bridget McGee; John Horton and Rebecca
McAlphie (K); George Bulmer and Charlotte Read; Ralph Steeves and
Amy Ayer (H); George Darby and Olive Hewson (K); John Bowyer and Elizabeth
Avard (K); Charles D. Roach and Rebecca Carrit (C); Christopher Coalpit
and Olive Weldon (K); William Allen and Cynthia Browning (K).
1826--Richard Furlong and Mariam Akerley (D); Edward Atkinson and
Cynthia Barnes; Ephraim Rayworth and Carlile Chappel (S); Edward Chappel
and Eleanor Fawcett (W); Joshua Tingley and Cynthia Read (W); Benjamin
Tower and Sylvia Cole; Winslow Gamming and Rachel Milner; Samuel Angus
and Sarah Brennan (C) Thomas McMurty and Mary Tailor (D); John Harris
and Sarah Blenkhorne; Gideon Estabrooks and Sarah Blenkhorne; George
Baxter and Mary Hewson (C); Augustus Baxter and Sarah Wilson (C);
John Brown and Jane McEachren (K); Robert Bowes and Mary Dobson (W);
James Read and Elizabeth Estabrooks; John Beal and Halaah Estabrooks;
William A. Robinson and Jeanet Lawder; Alexander Tait and Elizabeth
M. Allen (W); Josiah Stiles and Mary Ann McClennan (W); James Cole
and Olive Lockhart; Gilbert Wall and Maria Dobson; William Walsh and
Johanna Fitzgerald.
1827--James Halliday and Catherine Halliday (C); George Crowson and
Elizabeth Sears (D); Amos Anderson and Mary Fawcett; John Reilly and
Mary Gayton (D); William Milner and Amy Snowden; James Purdy and Sarah
Chapman (C); George Peter Fowler and Rebecca Hicks (D); Henry McClennan
and Elizabeth Bulmer; Charles Hicks and Eliza Cole; James Main and
Jane Murray (K); Joseph Reid and Mary Easterbrooks; Richard Carter
and Milcah Freeze (W); Edwin Dixon and Martha Anderson; James Chubbuck
and Elizabeth Dixon; William Blenkhorn and Elizabeth Anderson, James
Smith and Ann Bent (F); Jonah Hicks and Esther Barnes; Valentine Estabrooks
and Elizabeth Wood; Charles Dixon and Sarah Boultenhouse; John Fawcett
and Anna Terrace; Henry Babcock and Obigail Cole; William O'Brien
and Lucy Sears; James Ayer and Elizabeth Chase; Robert Atkinson and
Elizabeth Huggard; William Page and Margaret Freeman (C); Abraham
Taylor and Matilda Stower (D); Benjamin B. Verge and Christianna Siddall
(C); John Harper and Janet Read (D); Henry Kyle and Catherine Maker
(D); John Beaugment and Mary Ann Taylor (D); Charles Ross and Dorcas
Ewing; William Black Killam and Mary Killam (D); Thomas Dixon and
Cynthia Wilmot (D); Gideon Palmer and Catherine Weldon (D); Hugh Taylor
and Jane Ogden (C); George H. McDonald and Hannah Steeves; Nathaniel
Tower and Elizabeth Kitson (D); Thompson Brundage and Melinda Chappell
(C); Christopher Ward and Phoebe Wry; Stephen N. Shaw and Mary Steadman
(M); John McFadden and Zylphia King; John Fawcett and Rebecca Anderson.
1828--John Tingley and Jane Patterson; Thomas Lowerison and Hannah
Carter (W); John Brown and Lucy Smith (D); Joseph L. Embree and Susanna
Purdy (C); James McLelland and Dorcas Ward; William Smith and Isabella
Estabrooks; John Bent and Cecilia Anderson (C); Robert Atkinson and
Elizabeth Hicks; David Taylor and Sarah Sophia McLaughlan (D); John
Hicks and Maria Sears (W); William Lawrence and Mary McGarry (W);
John Bulmer and Rebecca Lawrence; Matthew Johnson and Mary Robinson
(C); James E. Rockwell and Eleanor F. Oulton (C); George Kinnear and
Hannah Tidd (D); Converse Richardson and Rebecca Copp (H); Joseph
Patterson and Esther Sears; William Brown and Caroline McEachren (D);
William Fagan and Jane Ruth Wilson (I); William Duffy and Elizabeth
Gunning (H); Smith Boss and Sarah King; Joseph C. Smith and Lucretia
Hieter (D); Charles Cahill and Margaret McInnes; John Crossman and
Rebecca Estabrooks; George Richardson and Jane Bowser; William Atkinson
and Elizabeth Bowser; Warren Perrigo and Rebecca Crandal (M); John
Crandal and Olive Cutler (K); Ambrose Cole and Nancy Towse.
1829--Michael Lutes and Elizabeth Gallagher; John Atkinson and Lilly
Hicks; Ronald Campbell and Margaret Keenan; John W. Weldon and Frances
Upham (K); Ephraim Jones and Ann Leaman (H); John Casey and Caroline
Chappell (W); Joseph Richardson and Charity Milner; George Read and
Sarah Richardson (C); William Taylor and Mary Osborne (H); John Lewis
and Lavinia Taylor (H); Patrick Ward and Elizabeth Cook; Lemuel Tower
and Delilah Ward; Daniel McFee and Jane Hiscock; Christopher Richardson
and Jane Hicks; George Carter and Maria Copp (W); John Richardson
and Catharine Sears; John E. Stewart and Martha Weldon (C); Robert
Carter and Phoebe King; Nathaniel Pennington and Catharine Jones;
Silas and Mary Harris.
1830--William Weldon and Mary Ann Bowser (D); David Lyons and Jane
Dixon; John Gamatier and Obigail Read; James Hewson and Phoebe Wry;
John Colpitts and Seraphina Fillmore (M); William Pride and Ann Barnes;
Reuben Sears and Elizabeth McCormick; Cyrus McCully and Mary Tingley
(C); Titus Anderson and Jane Bulmer; John Fenton and Obigail Stone;
Laban Lawrence and Elizabeth Harris; George Harshman and Alice Hannington
(K); John Goodall and Jane Sears (D); John S. White and Martha Dunlever
(D); Robert Keilor and Rebecca Jenks (K); John Spence and Jane Lesdernier;
John Webster and Ann Smith (K); Charles Faulkner and Lucy Gooden (C);
John Phelan and Priscilla Gooden; Hezekea King and Jerusha Cole; Hugh
Alwin and Betty Fitzgerald (H); Robert U. Dickson and Ann Brewster
(H).
William Hugson and Elizabeth Chandler were married on 24th July, 1823,
by Rev. Chris Milner by license. Witnesses, Wentworth Allen,
Olivia Hewson.
William Fawcett and Elsie Chase married on 20th January, 1824 by Rev.
C. Milner. Witnesses, Eunice Atkinson, Thomas Wheaton.
Cynthia Barnes married Edwin Atkinson 12th January, 1826. Witnesses,
John Humphrey, Eurice Ayer.
James Ayer and Elizabeth Chase, 7th June 1826. Witnesses, Thomas
Wheaton and Wm. Lawrence, Jr.
James George married to Elizabeth Fawcett, 21st May, 1831.
1832--Cyrus Snell and Rhoda Barnes.
William Fawcett and Jane Chappell, 23rd August, 1832.
Willard Hicks and Mary Ann Beal, 21st September, 1831. Witness:
George Beal.
Samuel Cahill and Rebecca Chase, 8th Sept., 1831.
Leonard Dixon and Eliza Robson 24th July, 1833. Witnesses, Hugh
Gallaghar and Jas. Dixon.
Nelson Bulmer and Abigail Merrill, 16th May, 1833.
Michael Grace, widower, 20th June, 1833, and Nancy Ward, James Ayer
and Moses Lawrence, Witnesses.
Moses Lawrence and Jane Sharp, 7th October, 1833.
Jonathan C. Black and Elizabeth Scurr 17th Oct., 1833.
Isaac Crocker and Sarah Wood, 24th December, 1833.
George Oulton and Mary Ann Duffy, 31st December, 1833.
David Purinton and Rebecca Read, 11th July, 1834.
Andrew Barberie and Eliza Cornwall, 21st July, 1834.
Michael Pickles and Fanny Wilson, 9th April, 1834. Witnesses,
Ruth Crane and C. F. Allison
Bloomer Ogden and Cynthia Grant, 15th April, 1834.
CHAPTER XVI.
COUNTY OFFICIALS 1812
The County officials act the close of the second American War were
as follows: Representatives in the Assembly, William Botsford, Titus
Knapp, James Esterbrooks, and John Chapman of Dorchester. The
Sheriff was Joshua Wetherell. William Botsford was Clerk of
the Peace. The Justices of the Peace were: Samuel Gay, Ralph
Siddall, Titus Knapp, Duncan Read, William Simpton, Jonathan Burnham,
Rufus Smith, James Watson, John Keillor, Benjamin Wilson, Christopher
Harer, William Wells, James Esterbrooks, Andrew Wheldon, Hezekiah
King, Edward Dixon, and John Chapman. The Deputy Collector of
Customs at Sackville was Jonathan Burnham and at Dorchester, W. H.
Smith.
OLD TIME COURT
The first Court of Common Pleas held in Westmorland after the establishment
of the Province was on July 5th, 1785 at Westmorland Point.
There were present: Jothau Gay, James Law, Charles Dixon, Trustees;
Amos Botsford, Associate Trustee. Amos Botsford was also Clerk
of the Peace. Ambrose Sherman was High Sheriff. In September,
1807, Richard Wilson's name occurs for the first time as a presiding
Judge. The first cause entered was Spiller Fillmore vs. Robert
Cain, which was continued till the following year and a verdict obtained
by the Plaintiff for 2 pounds. 2. 6d. The second case was Amy
Ayre vs. Charles Harper this was tried in July 1786. It was
an action for trover and conversion. The Jury were as follows:
Beling S. Williams, Joshua Horton, William Williams, Marcus Myers,
Stephen Ward, Daniel Ryan, Jabez Rundle, William Trenholm, Samuel
Williams, Michael Taylor, Charles Moore, John Derry. The Plaintiff
recovered 12 pounds damages and 24 pounds, 10s, 2d costs. The
first contested case was Martin Creary vs. Timothy McCarthy.
The Petit Jury sworn were: Elijah Ayres, foreman; Michael Taylor,
David Alverson, Nehemiah Ward, Henry Stultz, Thomas Harrison, Spiller
Fillmore, Marcus Myers, Michael Burk, John Myers. The Plaintiff
recovered the sum of 5 pounds, 15s, 5 1/2d, and 4 pounds, 13s, 2d
costs.
At the January Court some six causes were entered; at the following
July Court some eight were entered. In 1787, Thomas Chandler,
Esqr., appears as Deputy Associate Justice. From the Records,
he appears to have alternated between the Bench and the Bar; sometimes
presiding and at other times pleading and making motions before the
Court. He was the father of the legal profession in this Country,
no other Lawyer appearing before the Courts at this date. He
was a brother of the first Sheriff Chandler of Cumberland. These
were halcyon days for suitors -- only one Lawyer in the whole County
and no counsel fees to pay! Plaintiffs as well as Defendants
appeared in person and every one could revel to the top of his bent
in cheap law. This happy state of things was duly appreciated.
Courts were held in March, June, September and December. The
docket of the first court held in Dorchester (April, 1801) had no
less than 22 cases for trial! The population of the county in
1803, as appears by a record left by Amos Botsford, was 3,046.
This included 19 slaves. The population of the same territory
today is probably 65,000. It would be easy to prove from the
records of the old Common Pleas of Westmorland that the mission of
Lawyers is to wear the olive branch of peace between litigants thirsting
for each other's gore -- the litigation of the present day bearing
no proportion, considering population, to the amount indulged in by
our pugnacious progenitors. This happy state of lawlessness
was interrupted by the advent of the late Judge Botsford, who first
appears acting as Counsel in Sept., 1807, in the suit of William Harper
vs. John Long. Soon after the name of the late Hon. James Shannon
of Nova Scotia appears as an opponent of Mr. Botsford, pleading at
the local Bar. Then comes the late Judge Stewart. Fourteen
years after Mr. Botsford the late Lieut. Governor Chandler.
The first suit the latter's name appears in is December, 1821, Francis
Wheaton vs. David Foster, Mr. Desbarres being the Plaintiff.
The Jury were Charles Dixon, Wm. Trenholm, Abraham Dobson, John Patterson
Jr., Samuel Estabrooks, Josiah Hicks, George Robinson, Robert Fawcett,
Jonathan Smith, Thomas Brownell, John Humphrey, and George Lawrence,
Justice Gay presided. The Jury returned a verdict of 13 pounds
for Plaintiff. For the next twenty years, Messrs. Chandler and
the Stewards enjoyed almost a monopoly of the business. In 1787,
there appears the names as Plaintiffs the firms of De Wolf and Prentice,
Palmer and Knapp and Hugh McMonagle, Titus Knapp, Ralph Siddall, Thomas
Scurr, Moses Delesdernier, Thomas Watson, Samuel Cornwall, Charles
Baker, Jonathan Eddy, Philip Marchincton, Peter Etter, Geo. Bulmer,
Richard Wilson, James Charters, Wm. Freeman, Gilbert Seaman, Charles
H. Chandler, father of the late Lieut. Governor. Palmer &
Knapp were traders at the Point; Mr. Palmer was Gideon, father of
Mr. John Palmer, Dorchester; Hugh McMonagle was an immigrant from
the North of Ireland. He did business as a trader at Mount Whatley,
he was elected member for Westmorland and was drowned in the Saint
John River while on his way to Fredericton to attend the session.
His widow sold his property to the late John Trueman. J. G.
Moir occupies it at present. The last Court held at Westmorland
was in January, 1801. The April Court opened at the House of
Elijah Ayer, Dorchester, the new Court House not being ready for occupation,
the Justices being James Law and Charles Dixon, Esquires. The
first suit in the docket was Ralph Siddall vs. Samuel McCully in which
the Court assessed damages at 24 pounds, 13s, 4d.
GAME
Game was wonderfully abundant in early days. Deer, caribou,
and moose made their home in the adjacent forest, with foxes and sometimes
wolves. Wild geese and ducks in flocks made the Tantramar Marshes
a feeding and resting place in their spring and fall migrations.
The word, "Tantramar" supposed to be from the French, "so much noise"
to be derived from the honking of wild geese. In the upper part
of the Bay alewives and shad flourished in great abundance.
Mr. Nelson Bulmer stated he had known John Bulmer in 1826 to take
in a weir upwards of a thousand shad, in one tide at Little Creek
at the Joggins. Pigeons were remarkably abundant in the forest,
and by nets became an easy prey for our sportsmen. They were
slaughtered without mercy. An old timer relates that in one
day they disappeared as if by magic and failed to return. Shad
were abundant until about 1890 when they became scarce. The
loss of shad, pigeons, and other game is the just result of man's
rapacity -- not willing to let live, game that supply him with food.
CHAPTER XVII.
STATISTICS 1840
Population of the Provinces, 156,162, Counties -- St. John, 32,957;
Charlotte, 18,158; Westmorland, 17,686; Northumberland, 14,620; Carleton,
13,381; York, 13,995. Towns and Parishes -- Fredericton, 4,002;
Sussex, 2,178; Woodstock, 3,186; Dorchester, 3,087; Sackville, 2,366;
Moncton, 1,529; Newcastle, 3,013; Chatham, 3,503; St. Andrews, 3,682
St. Stephen, 3,405.
TRADERS
In 1795, Amos Fowler at Fowler's Hill, ran a vessel to St. John and
dealt with goods required by the settlers. An account of his
with John Keillor is a splendid sample of old time bookkeeping.
Gamblers at present day prices, would do well to examine what our
forefathers paid.
1/4 lb. salt peter, one shilling; 1 lb. tea, 4 shillings; 15 knitting
needles 40; Scythe 0 pounds. 7. 6; 6 lbs. tobacco 0 pounds. 6. 0;
spelling book 0 pounds, 1. 9; 2 yards of cotton 0 pounds. 8. 0; 2
yards linen 0 pounds. 6. 0; 2 tumblers 0 pounds. 2. 6; decanter 0
pounds. 3.0; 1 lb. raisins 0 pounds. 1. 3; l lb. chocolates 0 pounds.
2. 0; 1 1/4 lbs. loaf sugar 0 pounds. 2. 9; 1 1/2 yards rubber 0 pounds.
1, 10 1/2; 1 lb. tea 0 pounds. 6. 0; 1 lb. souchong 0 pounds. 10.
0; 1 hand'chief 0 pounds. 3. 0; 4 lbs. sugar 0 pounds. 5. 4; 6 yards
rusha duck, 0 pounds. 16. 6; 1 1/2 lbs. soap 0 pounds. 1. 10 1/2;
2 yds. linen 0 pounds. 5. 0; 1 lb. ten penny nails, 0 pounds. 1. 3;
black silk hand'ch. 0 pounds. 9. 0; 10 bushels of wheat 5 pounds.
0. 0; 1 gallon rum 0 pounds. 10. 0.
CENSUS OF SACKVILLE OF 1766
A return has come down showing the condition of Sackville about six
years after the advent of the Pre-Loyalists. It had then a population
of 349 persons, all but six being settlers from United States.
They had -- Horses, 42; oxen, 133; cows, 250; young veal cattle, 347;
swine, 63; grist milles, 1; saw mills, 1. Produce -- Wheat in
bushel, 1035; rye, 1278; peas, 53; barley, 55; oats, 54; hemp seed,
10; flax seed, 53; flax, 9.
CENSUS 1851
Sackville County
Inhabitants . . . . . . .
. 3,078
17,814
Children at School. . . . .
507
2,706
School Houses . . . . . . .
12
85
Births . . . . . . .
. . . 99
608
Deaths . . . . . . .
. . . 25
147
Places of Worship . . . . .
8
38
Saw Mills . . . . . . .
. . 23
108
Grist Mills . . . . . . .
. 3
44
Tons of Hay . . . . . . .
. 8,891
33,937
Wheat (bushels) . . . . . .
5,173
40,619
Oats . . . . . . .
. . . . 20,708
145,396
Potatoes . . . . . . .
. . 40,981
282,224
When the census of 1840 was taken Albert was part of Westmorland.
The increase of both counties in eleven years was as follows:--Population,
6,441; Places of Worship, 22, Grist Mills, 4; Saw Mills, 24; Cleared
land, acres, 32,010.
PIONEER FARMERS IN 1820 -- BOUNTY IN GRAIN
In 1826, the Government gave a bounty in grain raised on land newly
cleared, the wood burned in it and cultivated. The farmers who
obtained the bounty were the real pioneers of the province.
The following is a list whose names have been preserved:
Alex Boyes, 27 bushels, rye and buckwheat; John Brownell, 15; William
Tingley, 40 wheat and rye; William Colpitts, 50 buckwheat, 3 wheat;
Allan Price, 70 wheat and rye; George Spence, 56 rye and 20 oats;
James Black, 16 rye, and 7 wheat; William Dixon, 20 rye, 19 oats,
12 wheat; Thomas Calhoun, 21 wheat, 3 buckwheat, 65 oats; Samuel Keith,
10 wheat, 50 rye; Harris Tingley, son of Wm., 50 rye; Jesse Ogden,
16 rye; Israel Styles, 80 buckwheat, 10 barley, 12 oats; James Black,
30 wheat, 14 barley, 35 oats; Archer Alward, 32 rye, 16 buckwheat,
5 oats; William Wilbur, 76 buckwheat; 6 barley; Robert Stiles, 14
barley, 11 buckwheat, 5 wheat, 10 oats; Jonathan Cole, 43 buckwheat;
Charles Alward, 25 wheat, 30 rye, 15 buckwheat; Frances Davey, 33
rye; George Towse, 30 buckwheat; George Keith, 10 wheat, 40 rye, 39
buckwheat.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSIONS
The following is a list of old soldiers living in Westmorland (and
their widows) who served in the American War:--
Years Year
Old Granted
Prudence Martin, widow . . . . .
. 74 1842
Isabella McElmon, widow . . . . . .
75 1839
Thomas Gordon . . . . . . .
. . . . 73
1840
Stephen Baxter . . . . . .
. . . . 86
1841
Joseph Sears . . . . . .
. . . . . 94
1840
Enoch Goodwin . . . . . . .
. . . . 68
1840
John Underwood . . . . . .
. . . . 82
1840
John Ogden . . . . . . .
. . . . . 79
1839
Hezekiah Lyon . . . . . . .
. . . . 84
1840
Suson Boiles, widow . . . . . .
. . 68
1839
WESTMORLAND SESSIONS
The first meeting of the Westmorland Sessions took place at Fort Cumberland
on 1st Tuesday in July, 1885. Amos Botsford was Clerk of the
Peace and Ambrose Sherman, Sheriff. The Justices present were:
Jothan Gay, Robert Scott, James Law, Charles Dixon, Thomas Dixon,
Christopher Harper, William Allen, John Weldon, Joseph Cook Lamb,
Andrew Kinnear, Jonathan Burnham.
The first assessment made was in 1785 was 120 pounds. 0.
0 for finishing the Court house, which was built near the Church at
Mount Whatley. It was levied as follows: Westmorland, 31 pounds,
10. 0; Sackville 24 pounds. 10. 0; Petitcodiac, 27 pounds. 0. 0; Memramcook,
25 pounds. 0. 0; Shepody 12 pounds. 0. 0.
The next assessment was in 1786, for the support of prisoners in jail
as follows: Westmorland, 7 pounds, 17. 0; Sackville, 6 pounds. 3.
0; Petitcodiac, 6 pounds. 15. 0; Memramcook, 6 pounds. 5. 0; Hopewell,
3 pounds. 0. 0.
Another assessment in 1786 was levied to finish the Court House and
Jail. The amount was 52 pounds. 0. 0., as follows: Westmorland,
13 pounds. 0. 0; Sackville, 10 pounds. 12. 0; Hopewell, 7 pounds.
0. 0; Memramcook, 10 pounds. 8. 10; Moncton and Hillsboro, 11 pounds.
0. 0.
SACKVILLE TOWN OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR ENSUING 1785
Town Clerk, Nehemiah Ward; Overseers of the Poor, Gilbert Simmons,
Eleazer Olney, David Stone; Assessors, William Cornsforth, William
Lawrence, Elijah Ayres; Surveyors of Highways, William Estabrooks,
John Wry, Benjamin Tower; Constables, Josiah Tingley, James Jenks,
Jr., Fence Viewers, Pickering Snowdon, Thomas Bowser, Samuel Hicks;
Surveyors of Lumber, Gilbert Simmons, Nehemiah Ayres, John Olney.
FIRST COUNCILLORS COUNTY OF WESTMORLAND
The first Council of the County of Westmorland met on the 7th of June,
1877, and the following are the names of the first Councillors:
Salisbury Parish--Alex L. Wright, Hiram Humphreys
Moncton Parish--Lovell Lewis, Richard Lutes.
Shediac Parish--Duncan S. Harper, C. H. Gallant.
Dorchester Parish--P. A. Landry, R. A. Chapman.
Sackville Parish--Joseph L. Black, Josiah J. Anderson.
Westmorland Parish--Charles A. Black, Rufus C. Wry.
Botsford Parish--James Carroll, William Avard.
A. E. Oulton, Esq., was appointed as County Secretary and Alexander
Robb, County Treasurer.
Councillor P. A. Landry, Esq., was chosen as the first Warden.
In 1870 the County was still governed by the old Court of Sessions,
Mr. C. E. Knapp was then clerk of the Peace. County Municipal
Act did not come into force until 1877. Before that date, the
office of Justice of the Peace was a very important one, as the body
was the taxing institution for the county. At this date the
Postmasters were as follows: Sackville, Joseph Dixon; Shediac, A.
R. Weldon; Dorchester, C. B. Godfrey; Memramcook, S. C. Charters;
Moncton, Joseph Crandall; Baie Verte, John Carey. The Collectors
of Customs were at Sackville; James Dixon; Bay Verte, Edward Wood;
Dorchester, John Hickman; Shediac, Hon. D. Hanington and Moncton,
J. Robertson.
STAGE COACHING DAYS
When the Cunard Steamships commenced their trips to Halifax, they
brought the mails. The Post Office service was then under the
control of the British Postmaster General. Halifax was naturally
the distributing place for British correspondence for all points in
Nova Scotia. Sackville was selected as the distributing point
for New Brunswick and accordingly a British Post Office was in 1849
set up at Sackville, though the steamship was only fortnightly at
first. Bags were made up at Sackville for London and Liverpool,
and for the incoming mails from Britain, bags were made for North
Shore points, as Richibucto and Chatham, also for Saint John and Fredericton.
It usually took two hours to make up the British mails, either coming
in or going out. It was a big change in thirty years from the
courier on horseback to the big coach with four horses, carrying mails
and steamship passengers. At first the mails passed through
Sackville at night; the Saint John coach at midnight and the Halifax
one about three or four o'clock in the morning. When the railways
were completed to Truro and Moncton, they came through four hours
earlier. Their coming and going was never an old story to the
Sackville people, who sometimes caught a glimpse of important passengers.
On the occasion when the Southern Confederacy was in existence (April,
1862) Mr. Breckinridge, envoy from the Southern Republic, worked his
way through the Northern lines and took passage at Halifax for Liverpool.
On another occasion Lord Haddo (son of the Earl of Aberdeen, who was
Premier of Britain at the time of the Crimean War and heir of the
Earldom) passed through on his way to United States and disappeared.
He was never after heard of by his family. These were the halcyon
days for Coll's Hotel, a great resort for the travelling public, where
it was said the lights never went out and the fires never burned low.
The sods of a hundred years will soon cover the host and hostess but
the traditions are kindly that fit them into a pleasant place in the
community's history.
When through trains and postal cars were introduced the glory of Sackville
as an Imperial Office was gone. Up to that time the mail coaches
were driven by Mr. Miles Hoar and Mr. Hiram Burns. The latter
was for a time Assistant Post Master at Sackville, an excellent official.
Mr. Miles Hoar was famous in his day as a raconteur. He possessed
the gift of humor. He could entertain the traveller with endless
stories of men and things, so that a seat beside him was eagerly sought.
He used to tell how his coach was once saved by the sagacity of a
horse. It was at night when the darkness was intense.
The leaders suddenly stopped. One of them kicked and "flared
up". He dismounted to find out the trouble. A bridge on
the Tantramar had been carried out by the tide. A few feet more
and there would have been a disaster. He was given a horn to
blow when going through the villages. Many people who did not
object to a horn, did not like the noise at night, amongst others
the Postmaster. Said he one night to Miles: "You put that horn
under your seat and keep it there and I will give you a new suit of
clothes." It was done and a few Sundays after he appeared rehabilitated
in a new suit. He was for seven years on the Moncton-Amherst
service, when it was discontinued. He then went on the railway
section. As foreman he served for over thirty four years, when
he was superannuated.
He was a native of Albert County, born in 1833 and died in 1915, aged
82 years. When nineteen years of age, he was employed on the
surveys of the I.C.R. When about twenty-one years of age, he commenced
driving between Saint John and Moncton; after seven years he drove
between Saint John and Harvey, Albert County, for three years; when
he went on the Moncton-Amherst route.
The old stage coach with its memories and traditions has gone supplanted
by the locomotive. The locomotive is now on trial; the flying
machine is commencing to do the business of the world. Not only
mails and passengers but heavy loads of mine machinery are now being
carried from Edmonton, Alberta towards the Arctic to Great Bear Lake
Mines.
HONOR ROLL, WORLD WAR 1914-18
These are one who at the call of duty, left their homes and their
home life with its future promise, for the camp in a foreign land,
the trench, the horror of human slaughter and faced death itself and
the grave far away from home and kindred. As a reminder of their
self sacrifice a monument has been erected in the Memorial Park, Sackville,
enscribing their names as follows:
ARTHUR BOURQUE
HOMER PLAMER
ROLAND BEAL
WARREN READ
GEORGE BICKERTON
HARRIS READ
STANLEY CRAWFORD
HAROLD SEARS
ALPHEUS CROSSMAN
ALONZO PATTERSON
RALPH CROSSMAN
CHRISTOPHER PIPER
ARTHUR DEVERENNE
HAROLD ROBERTSON
STEEL PATTERSON
NELSON RICHARDSON
HENRY DIXON
FRED SCOTT
VIRGILE GAUDET
EVERETT SCOTT
WINFRED HICKS
ROY TOWER
WALTER KNAPP
LEONARD TOWER
HUBERT KILCUP
WALTER WARD
WILLIAM KINNEAR
LESTER WARD
JOSEPH LYRETTE
IRVING WIGMORE
FRANK MILNER
RAINSFORD WHEATON
CLARENCE McCARTHY
ARLINGTON WARD
DOUGLAS OULTON
CHAPTER XVIII.
SOME OF THE PIONEER FAMILIES
AVARD
Joseph Avard, the first, was born in Saint Austelle, County of Cornwall,
England, in the year 1761, and in 1786 was united in companion of
his joys and sorrows. After resting for a time in Exeter, Bristol
and London, he removed to the Island of Guernsey. At that time
there was much talk of the invasion of England by Napoleon, and the
people of the Channel Islands were so great alarmed at what might
be the outcome that many of them decided to seek homes abroad.
Through the influence of some unknown friend, Mr. Avard was offered
and accepted a position from a Mrs. Burns, who owned some lands, in
Murray Harbor, P. E. I. to go out and manage her business there.
Several of the Guernsey people having purchased farms from him, and
others having decided to go with them, he chartered a vessel for 300
pounds and on the 15th of May, 1806, a party of 73 of both sexes and
ages, sailed for the island, among whom were those who bore the names
of Brehart, De Jersey, Le Marchon, Le Messieurier and Le Lacheur.
French Methodists could tell of the benefit they received from the
sermons and counsels of Adam Clarke, Methodism's greatest son, Dr.
Coke and of Mr. Wesley himself, who had preached in Mr. De Jersey's
home in Guernsey.
After residing on the island for many years, Mr. Avard came to the
province and settled at Jolicure. He had four daughters, three
of whom died in the Old Land, one of these being buried in City Road
cemetery near the grave of the Rev. John Wesley and the fourth married
Stephen Bovyer of Charlottetown, one of whose daughters became the
wife of the Rev. Frederick Smallwood, and two sons, one of whom, Adam
Clarke Avard, after four years in itinerant life, died in 1821 and
his body lies in the old cemetery in Fredericton. The other
son, Joseph Avard, the second, was born in Bristol, England, came
with his father to this country and married Margaret Wells, resided
in Jolicure until 1847, when he removed to Great Shemogue, where he
remained until his death. His second wife was a widow Black,
of Wallace whose daughter was married to Mr. Avard's younger son,
Charles, son of the said pair bears the name of the great grandmother,
Ivey, Joseph Avard the second was the father of eight sons, George,
Joseph, John, William, Samuel, Adam, Lewis and Charles, all of whom
are now dead, and four daughters, the wifes of the Hon. A. McQueen
(who worthily represented the County for many years), Dixon Chipman,
Robert Copp, and Josiah B. Marven. Joseph Avard was a distinguished
looking man and was very prominent in local affairs. He was
a J. P. and a Judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas.
Joseph Avard the first united with the Wesleyan church in St. Austelle
under the ministry of Adam Clarke, had frequent opportunities of listening
to the discourses of John Wesley, heard Charles Wesley preach his
last sermon, at the close of which the poet composed a hymn suited
to the sermon and which was sung in closing the service. In
Prince Edward Island and in this province he did excellent work for
the church and on September 17, 1816, at the advanced age of eighty-six,
he passed to his reward. His tomb is in the north wall of the
United Church, Sackville, as is also Frances Ivey, his wife, who died
on December 26, 1844, aged ninety years.
A section of the City of Charlottetown, P. E. I., is known as Saint
Avard, a fine tribute to the memory of Joseph Avard, the first and
Frances Ivey, his wife.
HON. CHARLES F. ALLISON
Mr. Allison belonged to the Allison family of Grand Pre. Col. Jonathan
Crane's mother was an Allison, sister of Mr. Allison's father; consequently
Mr. Allison was a first cousin of Hon. Wm. Crane. Mr. Allison
served an apprenticeship with the Ratchford firm at Parrsboro and
when Mr. Crane's business required more help he invited Mr. C. F.
Allison and later his brother, Joseph F. Allison to become partners.
Mr. C. F. Allison retired from the firm in 1840, with a fortune.
He married Milcah, a daughter of Thomas Trueman, of Point de Bute.
They had one daughter, Mary, who died after arriving at womanhood.
The lack of facilities for education and religious training of young
men and young women in the Maritime Provinces appealed strongly to
Mr. Allison's mind as deserving of the most serious attention.
The result was the letter below:--
"St. John, N. B., Jan'y 4, 1839
To Rev. Mr. Temple
Rev. and Dear Sir:--My mind has of late been much impressed with the
great importance of that admonition of the wise man, "Train up a child
in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from
it." The establishment of schools in which pure religion is not only
taught but constantly brought before the youthful mind and represented
to it as the basis and groundwork of all the happiness man is capable
of enjoying here on earth, and eminently calculated to form the most
perfect character--is I think, one of the most effective means in
the order of Divine Providence to bring about the happy result spoken
of by the wise man.
It is therefore under this impression connected with a persuasion
of my accountability to that Gracious Being, whom I shall ever recognize
as the source of all the good that is done in the earth, that I now
propose through you to the British Conference and to the Wesleyan
Methodist Missionaries in the Province of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,
to purchase an eligible site and erect suitable buildings in Sackville,
in the County of Westmorland, for the establishment of a school for
the description mentioned, in which, not only the elementary but the
higher branches of education may be taught, and to be altogether under
the management and control of the British Conference, in connection
with the Wesleyan Missionaries in these provinces.
If my proposal should be approved of, and the offer I now make be
accepted, I will proceed at once to make preparation, so that the
buildings may be erected during the course of the next year, and I
will as a further inducement by the blessing of God, give towards
the support of the school one hundred pounds per annum for ten years.
I shall be glad to hear that my offer has been accepted, and to have
the earliest information of your decision on this subject, and am,
my dear sir,
Yours sincerely,
C. F. ALLISON."
The word "duty" to him was imperious; he proceeded at once to obey
its mandates and he set aside $16,000 to commence a building----the
first Male Academy at Mount Allison. Ten years later he commenced
the Girls' Academy. Both schools were almost from the start
fully occupied. The thousands of students that have passed through
their walls is a great memorial to a great man.
Mr. Allison died November 20th, 1858, age 64 years. The writer
remembers well his appearance, as he appeared driving around the town
or taking up collections in the Methodist Church. His facial
appearance was well marked. His forehead was high and broad,
below which was a long nose, slightly aquiline. His mouth was
somewhat compressed and his lips were thin, giving his face a self-contained,
reserved, and somewhat severe look. The cast of his countenance
was sad, with no suggestion of humor or any invitation to intimacy.
In his latter days, he had but few associates, and amongst the students,
he appeared to refrain from making personal friends. On the
30th of November, 1923, a long deferred and neglected Founder's Day
was celebrated. A striking procession of the Regents, relatives
of the founder, the faculty, students and visitors proceeded to Charles
Fawcett Memorial Hall, where an impressive service was held.
Dr. Palmer, principal of the Academy, gave an interesting historical
summary of that institution. After him, the hymn "For all the
Saints who From Their Labor's Rest". Rev. Dr. B. C. Borden,
President of the University, delivered an eloquent address, showing
that spiritual instincts dominated the life of the founder, making
him eager to contribute in some way to the extension of Christ's kingdom
in earth.
ATKINSON
By tradition there were two Atkinson families that came in 1774 to
Chignecto from England -- one from Yorkshire and the other from Middlesex.
Robert Atkinson, the head of the Yorkshire family settled first at
River Hebert and then at Sackville, on the lands known as Mount Allison.
He was twice married and had fourteen children, named Thomas, Christopher,
Elizabeth, Sallie, Joseph, Robert, William, John and Stephen.
Christopher settled at Point de Bute. He had a large family.
Robert moved to Shediac. Sallie married a Waterloo hero, named
Campbell and settled in Wood Point. They had six sons and four
daughters -- Nelson, Isaac, William, Hance and Joseph. They
were all skilful sailors and became Master Mariners in the good old
days of wooden ships. Then the shores were lined with the habitats
of sailors whose home was on the deep. One of the boys became
a Mormon and went to the land of many wives.
The sword of Lieutenant Campbell and other belongings of his are preserved
as family relics at Westcock.
The head of the Middlesex Atkinsons was a man of means and consequence.
After making a reconnaisance of Nova Scotia in 1774, he returned to
England, chartered a vessel -- The "Arethusa" -- and loaded her with
his family, tenants, farming tools and stock, set sail for the promised
land. He established himself at Fort Lawrence -- now known as
the Torry Bent farm. He had four sons, Robert, Thomas, William
and John. The two latter remained at Fort Lawrence and are the
ancestors of the family there. Thomas moved to Kent County.
Robert was a Master Mariner and sailed his last voyage in 1804, as
he died of yellow fever at sea between Kingston and Jamaica.
He left a son Edward, who was brought up by his grandfather at Fort
Lawrence.
Capt. Robert's wife was Sarah a daughter of Obediah Ayer, who held
a commission from Washington and was a leader in the revolutionary
warfare out of Boston in the war of 1812.
In 1864, there were eleven Atkinson men on the assessment roll of
Sackville, four of them shipmasters, to wit, Capt. Joseph, Capt. Hance,
Capt. Isaac, Capt. William.
THOMAS ANDERSON
In 1809 Mr. Anderson stated that he came as a settler from the County
of York in England about 36 years ago, and fixed as a settler in the
then County of Cumberland and took a farm and by his exertions and
industry about 24 years later, was enabled to purchase a farm on which
he had brought up a family, having three sons and one daughter, all
married who had families.
That on the 29th July, 1798, he purchased a lot or part of marsh from
Elijah Ayer belonging to the share No. 60, Letter B Division in Sackville,
which said Elijah Ayer purchased from Ambrose Hicks, the original
grantee, which lot lays contiguous to his former purchase, the farm
on which he lives laying all around it.
He memorialized the governor in which he stated he is lately informed
that the said Ambrose Hicks had a grant of only a half share, the
other half of the right having been granted to one Nathaniel Lewis
who very soon quit it and returned to New England, he asks for a grant
of the twenty acres or half lot of marsh belonging to No. 60, Letter
B and which he is now dyking in.
Mr. Anderson's statements were certified to by Amos Botsford, James
Watson, Dycon, land surveyors and by Mr. Sproul in the Crown Land
office and his request was complied with.
Titus Anderson, son of Thomas Anderson of Cole's Island, was married
in 1830 to Jane O., daughter of Charles J. Bulmer. He was a
shipmaster in the coasting trade. In 1870 the vessel of which
he was master was driven ashore in a gale off St. John and he was
drowned. His age was about sixty years. His family consisted
of George, also shipmaster in the Bay trade; Ammi, a stone mason,
Charles M., who removed to New Zealand; Thomas R., a successful shipmaster
employed in foreign trade. He met with an accident on the track
of the N. B. and P. E. I. Railway by which he was killed; Gaius who
removed to Fiji. George, was a capable and efficient shipmaster,
left three sons: Rupert T., Ernest L., and Jesse E., who were also
shipmasters, and a daughter, Carrie Bell.
THE AYER FAMILY
Thomas Ayer came to Sackville before the Revolution, and brought his
wife and some of his children. He is the progenitor of all the
Ayers in this country. He purchased lands extending from Morice's
Mill Pond to the Mariner Wood Farm. He lived in a house near
the residence of the late Philip Palmer, the cellar of which was visible
at a recent date. He cultivated an orchard. He died early
in the last century. His widow was seen by Mrs. _____ Atkinson
in 1820. She was then very old and bedfast. He left the
following children: Elijah, Mariner, William, Thomas. Mariner
was born in the schooner bringing the family up the Bay of Fundy,
off Digby. They gave him the name of Mariner.
Thomas Ayer became a noted coaster. He and his brother, Mariner,
died at sea. William removed to Buctouche, where he died and
where also Elijah lived in his last days and died. Elijah purchased
Dorchester Island from Amos Botsford. One of Elijah's daughters,
Hannah, married Leban Cushing of Buctouche and during the war of 1812,
when Elijah (called the Commodore) was busy privateering. Another
daughter married Capt. Robert Atkinson, who died in the West Indies.
She then married Reuben Chase, Sr., who lived at that time at Morice's
Pond, but they afterwards removed to Boston, where he died.
She had one child by her first husband. Dorothea married _____
Ward at Buctouche. Rebecca married another Ward and they went
to United States. Polly married William Snowdon at Wood Point.
She was the grandmother of the late Henry Purdy. Nehemiah Ayer
married Jacobina Ayer at Fort Lawrence. Their children were:
Lucretia married afterwards the late Oliver Barnes of Wood Point;
Thomas who lived at Beech Hill and owned a sawmill there, married
the daughter of deacon Estabrooks. Her sister was the mother
of Commodore Evander Evans; June married James Barnes; Jesse married
a Miss Harper, a daughter of his married the late Capt. George Anderson;
James Ayer, father of the late James R. Ayer, married a Miss Chase
of Cornwallis; Joseph never married; William Ayer married a Miss Siddall
of Fort Cumberland; Sarah married Henry Ogden, father of the late
Warden Amos Ogden; Thomas married a sister of King Seaman of Minudie.
Their children were:--
(1) Lucretia, who married Simon Outhouse, the father of the late Edwin
Outhouse of Coverdale. (2) Abigail who married a shoemaker,
named Jackson, who removed to Illinois. She was the mother of
the late Mrs. Ainsley Bowser. (3) Mariah, married to the late
Hon. Harrison Kinnear of Saint John. (4) Amy, married _____
Steeves of Dover. (5) Sarah, the wife of the late Richard Wilson,
Esq. (6) Emily, wife of Mr. James Barnes. (7) Cynthia,
who died young.
Obediah Ayer married Zilpah Smith. They had two sons and three
daughters, first Elijah Ayer, father of Theodore; second, Gideon Ayer
who lived at Petitcodiac.
COMMODORE AYER
Soon after the country was occupied by the English, a brick house
was built at Westcock, westerly of the Westcock Houses. It was
occupied by two brothers-in-law, and fellow sympathizers, with the
Anti-British feeling existing in New England. They were Capt.
Eddy and Capt. Ayer. They had married daughters of Ira Hicks
of Dorchester, who was uncle of the late Samuel Hicks of Sackville.
Capt. Eddy's wife died at the house of Samuel Hicks, Jr. They
were partners in trade and ran schooners between the head of the Bay
and Eastport. Previously to this, Capt. Ayer had lived at Dorchester
Island until about 1807, and built a number of coasting vessels there.
He afterwards removed to Westcock where he built a schooner or two.
He built the Dolphin, sailed by Capt. Thomas Ayer. The revolution
developed intense feeling between the loyal Yorkshire men and the
New England settlers. Mrs. Eddy was living in a house on the
hill a quarter of a mile south of Morice's Mill Pond. The house
was burned. There was little doubt about its incendiarism.
Captain Ayer's children were with her at the time but he was absent.
The property of Capt. Ayer was confiscated and regranted to other
people. After Commodore's death, his children received a bonus
of one thousand dollars from the government of the United States in
recognition of his services as Indian agent. Soon after the
Ayer fire, Mr. Harper and his wife went to Fort Cumberland to attend
a ball given by the officers of the garrison there, while there, the
flames of a building on fire were described. When he returned,
in the wee small hours, it was to find his homestead smoking in ashes.
Thomas only had one daughter. She married an English gentleman
by the name of Lamb. It was believed he was a brother of the
then Lord Melbourne and also a brother of Lady Palmerston. Mr.
Lamb was a well educated man and possessed much literary culture.
He lived at Rockland and taught school there. He never communicated
with his English friends. They had ten children: John, Joseph,
Isaac, William, Mariner, Cook, also Polly, who married Gideon Smith;
Sally who married Amasa Weldon; Abby who married Alex Kinnear.
Mariner Ayer married Amy Estabrooks, daughter of Squire Jim Estabrooks,
M.P.P. They had one daughter, Sarah. She married Josiah Wood,
and had two children, first Mariner, second Ann. At Mr. Wood's
death, she married Squire Philip Palmer, M.P.P.
James Ayer was the son of Nehemiah. James R. Ayer, son of James,
was a very energetic business man; he built up a large manufacturing
concern giving employment to many hands. He was the first to
introduce steam engine and boiler into the tanning business.
He was the inventor of the oil tanned moccasin which became a standard
article of trade all over Canada.
BARNES
The tradition in the Barnes family is that John Barnes, Peter Barnes,
and others including Rogers, Ballou and Hawkins, were amongst the
first that came to Sackville from Providence, R. I., after the expulsion
of the Acadians. John Barnes married the daughter of a New Light
Elder, named Deacon Rounds. She had married previously a man
named Asa Read by whom she had a son and three daughters. Her
son, named Benjamin Read, returned to Connecticut, where he died.
John Barnes' first winter here, was in 1767, eight years after the
capture of Quebec by Wolfe. These were times of war and seven
hundred men were reported as quartered in Fort Cumberland. He
was at one time the leading land owner in the Parish. He lived
one winter in the John Snowdon place at Wood Point, another on the
Estabrooks farm at Morice's Pond. He finally settled at Wood
Point on the place where his descendant, Charles Barnes, later occupied,
and there he died. Peter Barnes settled at Beech Hill.
He was the progenitor of the Barnes family there.
John Barnes married Mary, the widow of Nathan Mason. Their children
were John, James and Oliver. Oliver married and had three sons,
Stephen, Charles and Oliver, and one daughter, Rhoda, who married
a Mr. Snell, and went to Salt Lake. James Barnes married and
had six sons, James, who married Cynthia Atkinson; William, who married
Jane Estabrooks; Silas, who married Prudent Beal; John, who married
Rebecca Beal; Edward, who married Vina Lawrence; Alfred, who married
Julia Dixon.
BARNES BROTHERS
In 1809, they state they are sons of one of the first settlers in
the Township of Sackville, where they were born and have always resided.
That Oliver Barnes is thirty-two years of age, has a wife and two
children, and has never obtained any lands from Government, that a
few years since, he purchased some wilderness lots, about thirty acres
of which he has cleared and are now under cultivation, and on which
he has built a house and dam. That your Memorialist, James Barnes,
is twenty-seven years of age, has a wife and two children, that he
obtained about three years since, a grant from Government of two hundred
acres, of which about fifteen acres had since been cleared, and are
now under fence. That your Memorialist, John Barnes, is twenty-two
years of age, is single, and has never had any lands from Government.
Your Memorialists beg leave to state, that Lots No. ten, containing
one hundred acres, and Nos. eleven, twelve, and thirteen containing
one hundred and fifty acres each, situate and being in Lot A Division
in Sackville, and being a part of the Rights or Shares, Nos. ten,
eleven, twelve and thirteen respectively, still continue in a wilderness
state, that they are now, and have been for upwards of twenty years
part claimed by one Samuel Rogers, and his brother James Rogers, who
have never improved the same or cleared any part of them, excepting
about one acre which now lies uncultivated and not even under fence,
that the said lots are in the midst of a flourishing settlement, and
if in the possession of any other persons would make valuable farms,
but in their present state, are a great inconvenience to the farms
on both sides of them.
That the said Samuel Rogers and James Rogers are single men and have
no families or fixed residence, and have never discovered the least
inclination to clear or improve any lands in their possession.
That your Memorialists depend altogether upon their labor and industry
for a living, and are settled very near to the said lots, and in case
they could procure a grant of them, would assist them greatly in the
support of themselves and families.
And your Memorialist, James Barnes, begs leave further to state that
the seven acre Lots No. ten belonging to the said share or right No.
ten situated near the Town Plot in Sackville, also claimed by the
said Samuel and James Rogers, lies in a wilderness state, having never
been cleared or improved by them. That as the same is adjoining
lands owned and settled by your Memorialist, a grant of the same to
him, would in particular degree benefit your Memorialist.
Your Memorialists therefore pray that Your Honor will be pleased to
direct that a commission be issued for the purpose of escheating the
said rights or shares Nos. ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen.
1809.
Mr. Dixon states:--The above Samuel Rogers was proscribed in the year
1776 and has never returned to his allegiance, a bad subject and no
settler. In short, such settlers are a nuisance in a neighborhood;
for the above reason, I recommend the Memorialist.
BLACK
Wm. Black was born in Paisley, Scotland, in the year 1727. His
father was a public official and possessed an independent fortune.
In 1750 he married Miss Elizabeth Stocks of Huddersfield, England.
In 1774 Wm. Black became interested in the new settlements in Nova
Scotia and decided to come out and see the country. He came
to Halifax in May, 1774. From Halifax he travelled by horseback
to what is now Amherst. He secured a considerable estate there
and returned to the Old Country in the autumn of the same year.
In April, 1775, he chartered a vessel in which he brought his wife,
four sons and one daughter, one man and one maid to Halifax.
He brought with him also some good livestock (cattle and horses).
Two weeks after arriving in Halifax he sailed for Cumberland.
A year after his arrival in Amherst his wife, a most accomplished
lady, died.
Some years later Mr. Black married a second wife, Miss Elizabeth Abber.
Mr. Black held the Commission of Justice of the Peace for Cumberland,
and in 1779 was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas. After his
second marriage he divided his Amherst property among the five children
of his first wife and moved to Dorchester, where he purchased some
800 acres of marsh and upland.
He had seven children by his second wife, three daughters and four
sons. He died in the year 1820 at the age of 93 years.
At the age of 88 years he rode on horseback from Dorchester to Amherst,
by the road then used, thirty miles, to visit his sons and made the
return journey in the same manner.
A grandson, Samuel Freeze Black, came from Amherst to Sackville in
1839. He built a store at Middle Sackville on the site now occupied
by The Jos. L. Black & Sons Ltd. He carried on a successful
mercantile business there for some years, sold out to his nephew (who
came from Amherst), Joseph L. Black, and built a store at Lower Sackville.
His property was the land through which Wellington Street now runs.
The store is now occupied by The Sackville Harness Co. Ltd. and his
first residence, built nearly one hundred years ago, still exists,
but is separated into the three houses on the south side of Wellington
Street. He left two sons and two daughters, Dr. Clarence Black,
surgeon in the U. S. Navy, who died in that service, unmarried, and
Dr. Charles A. Black, of Baie Verte, a popular practitioner and a
member of the Legislature for some years. He, Charles, left
one daughter who married Mr. Wilson, of Saint John, N. B.
Joseph L. Black married first Miss Jane Humphrey, sister of the late
Hon. John A. Humphrey. By this marriage he had one daughter,
M. J. Black, who married Edmund Burke, Architect of Toronto.
His second wife was Miss Snowball, daughter of the Rev. John Snowball.
By this marriage he had two daughters, Hattie S., who married B. Eaton
Paterson; Jane S., who married Fulton Macdougall; Frank B. Black,
now Senator, who married Eleanor Wood, daughter of the late Hon. Josiah
Wood; and John W. S. Black, who married Miss Borden, daughter of Judge
Borden, and a second wife, Miss Charters, daughter of Mr. S. C. Charters.
Frank B. Black has two sons and three daughters living and John W.
S. Black, who died in 1916, left two sons, both now living.
Joseph L. Black was an able and successful man. He carried on
in a large scale, merchandising, lumbering and farming. He acquired
a considerable area of timer lands situated between Sackville and
the Northumberland Straits which has been economically managed and
concerved and has been a source of revenue to the owners and employment
to many Sackville citizens for the past one hundred years.
Mr. Black was elected to the legislature. He was independent,
progressive, and had reform ideas which brought him in collision with
his colleagues. This decided him to retire.
While a member he was indefatigable in the public interest.
No member, since the Hon. Wm. Crane had been more useful. He
was a brother of the late Hon. Thos. Black, Senator of Amherst, and
a cousin of the Hon. Wm. A. Black of Halifax. The business established
in 1839 is still flourishing under the name of The Joseph L. Black
& Sons Ltd.
Wm. Black, the second son of the first Wm. Black to come to
this country, was a contemporary of John Wesley. He was the
founder of Methodism in this country and known as Bishop Black.
"The Memoirs of Wm. Black" written by M. Richey, Principal of Upper
Canada College, in 1839 give full details of his life and activities
and contains copies of several letters written to him by John Wesley.
The late Silas Black, carriage maker came to Sackville from Dorchester.
His sisters, Mrs. Amos Ogden and Mrs. James O. Dixon, were descendants
of the Dorchester branch of the family. Mrs. Humphrey Pickard
is the only child of Silas Black now living.
The descendants of Wm. Black are too numerous and scattered to attempt
a history of them in the time and space available. In the shipbuilding
days they occupied a prominent position. Some thirty sailing
ships were built by them in the last century.
Another old Black homestead in Sackville, built ninety years ago,
was occupied by Jonathan Black, Collector of Customs. In its
prime, situated well back from the highway and surrounded by hedges
and fine trees, it was an imposing colonial home.
SENATOR A. E. BOTSFORD
Mr. Botsford was in public life about sixty years, first in the Legislative
Council of New Brunswick where he took the initiative for Union of
the Provinces by resolution that ultimately defeated the Anti-Confederate
Government. His name was on the first list of the Senators of
Canada of which body he was at one time President. He was employed
in many missions of a public character, all of which he discharged
satisfactorily to the authorities. He was Government Commissioner
for opening sundry roads, notably the one across the Tantramar Marsh,
the building of the great bridge and the Etter Aboideau. He
was Colonel of Militia and did excellent work in organizing them when
they were the strong arm of the Government. In 1860, when the
Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), visited Saint John, Colonel Botsford
was in attendance. His horse, a nervous, fiery animal, bolted,
ran up against a stone wall, was killed and both legs of the Colonel
were broken. He was a proud man and in business matters, it
was his nature to be accurate and circumspect. During his whole
career his integrity was on no occasion ever called in question.
As an illustration he was a stockholder to the extent of ten thousand
dollars in a bank (The Maritime) which went bankrupt. A deputation
from Saint John waited on him and urged him to resist payment of the
double liability on the ground of fraud. He heard them and replied,
"No, Gentlemen, I subscribed and took the risk, I shall pay"; and
he paid the additional ten thousand dollars, though it was believed
that he could have successfully resisted.
SPEAKER AMOS BOTSFORD
Amos Botsford was engaged as an agent for settling the Loyalists in
Nova Scotia. He was first located at Annapolis Royal; he then
moved to Dorchester Island which was a port in those days of inconvenience
by the absence of any roads. He sold his property there and
removed to Westcock and built the brick residence still standing there.
He had married Sarah, daughter of Colonel Joshua Chandler. He
had a son, William, who succeeded him as Speaker in the New Brunswick
Assembly, also a daughter, Ann. She married the Rev. John Millidge.
The wedding took place on the 3rd of January, 1797, at the Westcock
House; the ceremony being performed by William Allen, a Justice of
the Peace in the absence of any clergyman. She died at the age
of 22 years. She and her husband are interred in St. Marks Burial
Ground, Westmorland Point.
RELIEF TO LOYALISTS -- AMOS BOTSFORD TO GOVERNOR FRANKLIN
Sir:
I beg leave to inform your Excellency that soon after your departure
from New York in the Packet the Refugees at Bergen and Lloyd Neck
made application to Sir Guy Carleton for his assistance to their removal
and settlement in Nova Scotia which was generally looked on must finally
be an Asylum for that unfortunate people who had left their homes
and taken shelter within the lines unless in case of a peace they
should have a Restitution of Property. The General interested
himself much in their favor and wrote the Governor here in the strongest
terms on their behalf. Capt. Houser from the Post at Bergen
and Mr. S. Cummins of Govr. Wentworth's Volunteers are here with me
soliciting grants of land for the settlers; upwards of 300 persons
are arrived this Fall and now at Annapolis, they are principally sheltered
in the Barracks, except some few who have hired houses and expect
to move on the farms early in the Spring.
The Commander in Chief allowed the settlers one year's provisions,
axes, spades, shovels and some warm clothing and also furnished transports.
Some other matters were asked as window glass, nails, millstones,
irons for grist and saw mills, which not being in his power to give
we expect he may have recommended home and that they may be sent out
next Spring.
We lately arrived here from Annapolis on this business and certainly
meet with great encouragement from His Excellency Govr. Parr who has
lately arrived here as also from Sir Andrew Hammond, who are disposed
to yield every aid in their power to promote the settlement of this
Province and provide for the distressed Loyalist; we expect a larger
number will follow in the Spring and that the Settlement will principally
be made in the Bay of Fundy and about St. John River in that Bay.
That you may be fully informed of this matter; the Commander in Chief
assured us that the Grant of Lands, &c. were not to be considered
as a Compensation for property in the country, which he expected at
the end of the War would be restored or a full identification stipulated
by treaty but considered it as an object with Government to settle
this Province, let the event of the war be what it will and to provide
relief for those people from Bergen and Lloyd's Neck, both of which
are evacuated -- 500 acres of land are proposed for a family and 300
for a single man, and no distinction made between those who left property
and those who had none. This being the case I presume it can
never be urged that the Loyalists are provided for, and that therefore
the object of the war is so far at an end.
AMOS BOTSFORD.
JUDGE WILLIAM BOTSFORD
Judge William Botsford was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1773.
It was then a British colony. The Revolution broke out and in
1782 he accompanied his father, Amos Botsford, in the first shipment
of Loyalists to Annapolis. After peace he returned to Connecticut
where he was educated and he graduated at Yale, in 1792 when nineteen
years of age. He then returned to New Brunswick and commenced
to study the law with the Attorney General, Jonathan Bliss.
He was admitted in 1793 and opened an office at St. John. In
1802, he was married. He was appointed Judge of Vice Admiralty.
When he removed with his family to Westcock, he resigned it.
At his father's death in 1812, he succeeded him in the representation
of Westmorland. In 1817 he was elected Speaker and continued
until 1822 when he was appointed to the Legislative Council and at
the same time became a member of the Government with the office of
Solicitor-General.
On the death of Judge Allen in 1806, the Government recommended Speaker
Wm. Botsford for the vacancy. Imperial authorities had other
views and he was not appointed.
In 1822, Chief Justice Bliss died, Judge Saunders was promoted and
the local Government appointed Mr. Ed. J. Jarvis, prisne judge subject
to the approval of the Imperial Government. The Imperial Government,
which did not approve, appointed Mr. Speaker Botsford, who was then
Solicitor General. It was a little curious how this came about.
In 1802, Mr. Alpheus Morse, of Cumberland, a son of Col. Joseph Morse
of the French and Indian wars, arranged for his son James (later Hon.
James S. Morse) to go to Massachusetts to study law. On his
way, he met Speaker Botsford, who on learning he was a nephew of Rev.
Dr. Ebenezer Morse -- a fellow student at Yale -- invited him to study
in his office. Young Morse returned to Cumberland, got the consent
of his father, accepted Mr. Botsford's offer, went to Westcock and
studied there for five years without fee. This connection had
a very curious result. In 1823, Sir James Kempt, then Governor
of Nova Scotia, was on a visit to Mr. Morse's at Amherst, who drove
him over the marshes to call on Speaker Botsford. The judgeship
matter then came up for discussion between Mr. Morse and Mr. Botsford.
Between Mr. Morse and Sir James Kempt a dispatch was written to the
Duke of Wellington, presenting the facts, with such effect that the
Jarvis appointment was cancelled and Speaker Botsford received the
appointment. Mr. Jarvis received an appointment as Judge in
Prince Edward Island.
In 1825 he was elevated to the Bench, a position which he occupied
until 1845, when he resigned owing to impaired hearing. He was
a pioneer in securing better methods in agriculture and for years
acted as supervisor of roads in Westmorland.
Mr. Wm. (Judge) Botsford married Sarah, a daughter of William Hazen
-- widow of Thomas Murray. He took up his residence at Westcock
in 1807. Mrs. Botsford died in 1850 -- they were 48 years married.
He died in 1864, at the patriarchal age of 91 years. He retired
from the Bench in 1845, conditional on a pension. The Legislature
accepted the resignation but refused the pension.
Daniel Murray, son of Col. Murray, died 1794: grandfather of Hon.
R. L. Hazen, great grandfather of Hon. L. A. Wilmot; Major of King's
Dragoons; represented York three times; retired to United States in
1803; died at Portland, 1832.
BOWES
Edward Bowes came from a Military family at Halifax. They went
into business at Halifax and were for nearly a century leading job
printers in that city. Mr. Bowes came to Sackville early in
the forties and was engaged for some years as a teacher in Upper Sackville.
Most of the old families up there received the rudiments of education
at his hands. He was a well trained man in English and most
painstaking in his work. He married a daughter of a leading
farmer, Frederick Sears, and raised a large family, amongst them being
the late Alonzo Bowes of Dorchester, the late Frederick Bowes of Halifax,
a successful journalist and later proprietor of the Carleton House,
and Edward C. Bowes, a prominent business man in San Francisco.
In 1854 Mr. Bowes gave up school teaching, purchased a printing plant
and established the "Borderer" newspaper, probably the first between
Halifax and Saint John. For a pioneer paper operating in a virgin
field it met with immediate success and it became one of the institutions
of the country. It was conducted on Conservative lines and great
care was exercised while getting all the news, to have it accurate.
During its existence it produced a local history of current events
that today would have been most interesting if not historically valuable.
Unfortunately its fyles were sent to the Legislative Library at Halifax
for preservation, where they were carelessly destroyed. In 1868
Mr. Bowes died. In 1880 it was purchased by the publishers of
the Chignecto Post and amalgamated with it as the Chignecto Post and
Borderer. If continued it would have been eighty-one years old,
the oldest in the Province and to rank with three or four papers in
Canada of aged record.
Although not prominent except as a newspaper publisher, Mr. Bowes
was active in all movements for the benefit of the community and proved
himself to be a worthy citizen whose death was a public loss.
BOWSER
Thomas Bowser was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1774*. He sailed
from Liverpool in March, 1772, with his wife and his two sisters for
Halifax, in the ship, "Duke of York". His wife was Mary Taylor,
Liverpool England. She was born in 1754, and died 1836, aged
82 years. Mr. Bowser died in October 1816, age 72 years.
Their children were as follows: Thomas Ebenezer, Richard, Shepherd,
George, Joseph, William, Benjamin, John Layton and three daughters.
No. 1 married John Smith; second married Ann Boyd; third married Christopher
Humphrey of Sackville. Ebenezer settled at Beech Hill, married
but had no children. Richard, Shepherd, Joseph, and John settled
in Sackville on their father's land. Benjamin settled in Fairfield.
George died at middle age unmarried. William Bowser settled
in Fairfield, married Rebecca Burnham. They had fifteen children,
eight boys and seven girls. Their names were: Thomas, Jonathan,
Joseph, Benjamin, Charles, William, Edward, George, Meriah, Mary,
Sarah, Rebecca, Ann, Ruth, Frances. Thomas Bowser, the second,
born August 29th, 1774; married Frances King who was born in March,
1781. They settled at Coles Island. Their children were
William K. Bowser, Elizabeth, Mary Ann, Charles, Thomas, Ebenezer,
Fanny, Richard G., born 1822. George Bowser lived first at the
corner of Queens Road and Main Street, occupied later by Edmund Kinnear.
He than built a house at Boultenhouse's corner which he sold to Jonathan
Black.
[*EDITOR'S NOTE: sic; someone had added a handwritten note: "1744"]
Joseph Bowser married first Ann Bulmer, second Miss Bent, of Fort
Lawrence. He left two children, George T., married to _____
Black, daughter of Jonathan, also Mary Ann, never married. Richard
Bowser occupied the home place, afterwards sold it to Professor Thomas
Pickard. He left thirteen children, five girls and eight boys:
Mary, who married William Weldon; Sarah, who married Henry Mitchell
-- they moved to Iowa; third Jane, who married George Richardson (the
late Charles W. Richardson was a descendant); Robert and Thomas were
twins; Richard died in Fredericton; Wesley settled in Moncton; Benson
kept the home place, which he sold and moved to Grand Pre, N. S.,
where he married Miss Avery, a niece of Dr. Avery of Halifax.
Their son is a county official at Kentville, N. S. Susan married a
Minister of the Gospel. They removed to United States.
Eliza married Cyrus Black, Esq., J. P. of Amherst.
John Bowser's descendants were, first Mary, who married _____ Scotson,
but left no family. Second, Ruth, married _____ Anderson, third
Ann, who married Christopher Humphrey, no family. _____ Bowser
married Ann Lawrence. Their descendants were: George Bowser
of Leicester, N. S. Lydia married _____ Townsend of Bay Verte Road.
Professor A. E. Bowser, a son of George Bowser, Middle Sackville,
was a distinguished son of the Province. He was a graduate of
Rutger's College, New Jersey, and for twenty-seven years was a professor
there of Mathematics and civil engineering. He was an author
of seven text books on calculus and cognate subjects. He travelled
much and in Syria was quite surprised to find some of his books in
use there. He was born in 1837 and died in Honolulu in 1909.
His ashes were brought to his adopted home at Rutger's and interred
there. He was never married.
Robert Bowser's farm was on the cross street between York Street and
the Upper Fairfield Road. His descendants were: 1st, Robert;
2nd, Richard, who went to Stoneham, Mass., established himself in
business there and was highly thought of as a citizen. He died
in 1832. Charles A., who became an enterprising citizen and
merchant; Rev. Alexander, a Unitarian preacher, who left a fine reputation
as an able preacher. He died in 1933. Eugene who held
the home farm, Henrietta who married Mr. George McCord; Susan who
married a Mr. Trueman.
BULMER
George Bulmer came from England with the Dixons. He was thirteen
years of age when he was apprenticed to Mr. Freeze, a mason.
He married Susannah, second daughter of Charles Dixon and left a family
as follows: Charles, born in 1787 and married to Elizabeth Oulton;
James, married to Ruth Harris, a grand-daughter of William Carnforth.
His family consisted of: William, Rebecca, Edward, Susan, George,
Mary Ann, John and Hazen B. John, born in 1793, married to Rebecca
Lawrence. George, born in 1795, married to Levina Merrill.
He followed John Barnes and Cyrus Snell in the mill business at Frosty
Hollow. Edward, born in 1805, married to Zene Kinnear, daughter
of Courtney Kinnear. Nelson, born in 1805, married to Abigail,
daughter of Nathan Merrill. William, born in 1809, married Jane
Crossman of Moncton. Jane, born in 1785, married William Smith
of Maccan. Mary, born in 1791, married to Benjamin C. Scurr.
He was born in 1788. He was the only child of Thomas Scurr and
his wife, Elizabeth Carnforth. He sailed for the West Indies
and was never heard from again. He had three daughters, Elizabeth
Ann, married to Jonathan Black, Susan and Ruth Grace, the latter married
Squire Jesse L. Bent. Ann married Joseph Bowser, son of Thomas
Bowser. Isabelle, born in 1801, married James Estabrooks, son
of James, M.P.P. Elizabeth, born in 1787, married to Henry McLellan.
They settled in Lunenburg. Rufus, a son of Charles P. Bulmer,
married in 1846 to Ruth Merrill. He lived on the homestead,
later occupied by his son, Nathan.
Mr. Nelson Bulmer made this statement when he was eighty- three years
of age: "My father came out from England as an apprentice with Mr.
Freeze who came out to do mason work on Fort Cumberland. They
landed at Fort Cumberland on the 16th day of May, 1772. Thirty
or forty families came out at the same time; the Blacks, Bowsers,
Dixons, Chapmans and others. They were the first English immigrants
after the French War. My father bought a thousand acres of land
and then got a grant of three hundred acres, commencing at the Shaw
or Harper place and extending to the Anderson Round House. They
lived in Fort Cumberland for some years. Mr. Freeze then moved
to Amherst. My father built a log house near the site of the
Salem Baptist Church. His property was divided up and sold at
his death. He had six girls and seven boys, twelve of whom married
and died. The early families were pretty much mixed up in the
way of marriages. Mr. Carnforth had four daughters, one married
John Harris, Sr., another Jonathan Burnham; another Michael Grace;
and the fourth, Mr. Scurr, the grandfather of the late Charles Scurr.
He lived and died and was buried near the Glebe lot in Mount Whatley.
They left one son. He married Mary Bulmer and lived on the Carnforth
property, situated where the late John Harris and the late John Patterson
lived, and included Spectacle Island and Bear Island. The Carnforth
and Dixon properties butted on each other. Mr. Dixon held the
upland and George Bulmer and Carnforth divided the Spectacle between
them. Mr. Carnforth is buried in the Tingley graveyard.
The last time I saw Grandfather Dixon I was about eight years of age.
He came over to see Mother; (nee Susan Dixon) stopped all day.
At four o'clock Mother told me to yoke the cattle. I did so
and took him down the field cart to the Aboideau from where he walked
home. Old Jonathan Burnham was a big fat man. He was collector
of customs; at his death his son succeeded him. The next collector
was Marmaduke Backhouse.
MICHAEL BURK
1788, states: he served in His Majesty's late Royal Fencible American
Regiment for eight years and in the year 1776 was taken prisoner,
and carried to Boston, where he remained sixteen months in close confinement,
before he was released.
That after the disbandment of the Regiment in 1783 having a wife and
four small children he purchased a lot of land, in the Township of
Sackville, on which he has made considerable improvements, and has
expended his little all on it, and labours under many difficulties
as the quantity of land he is possessed of is too little for the maintenance
of his family. He asks for a grant of lot No. 38 letter B Division,
in the Township of Sackville, formerly granted to a Moore, a Dissenting
Minister but never improved, is now the property of the Crown.
(I do certify that what Michael Burk states relative to his service
and imprisonment is true, and that during that time, he bemeaned himself
as becometh an honest man and good soldier.
RICHARD WILSON,
Capt. Late B. T. Amm. Regt.)
JONATHAN BURNHAM
Jonathan Burnham's father, Jacob Burnham, left England with his family
(he had a number of sons but it is not known how many) and came to
the United States. The whole family settled in some part of
the United States except Jonathan who came on to Sackville and settled
with Stephen Milledge who lived near the Botsford place in West Sackville.
Some time after his marriage with Mary Carnforth he settled on the
Carnforth homestead and lived there until his death. For some
time after his death his eldest son, William, carried on his business
until finally he sold out and moved first to Eastport, Maine and then
to some other part of the United States. Thomas another son
married a Miss Smith from Dorchester and settled on the Bulmer place
at Frosty Hollow. After a time he also went to the United States
and finally died while on his way to California. John the third
son of Jonathan Burnham went to Petitcodiac, married a young lady
from that place and lived there until his death. There were
five girls in the Burnham family who all married and went to live
in different parts of the country. Mary married John Dobson;
Ann married Robert Dobson; _____ married Thomas Fawcett; Mary married
Benjamin C. Scurr.
He occupied what was known as Carnforth's Island being the district
east from Cape Railway Station.
Burnham was the first Customs officer in Sackville; his son, William,
succeeded him. The others in turn were: Dr. Backhouse, Jonathan
Black, James D. Dickson, Wm. C. Milner, Josiah Anderson, F. W. George.
CAHILL
The ancestor of the Cahill family -- John R., born in London in 1777,
was intended by his father for the Church, but during a vacation he
came to Halifax as supercargo in a vessel owned by his father.
The vessel after sailing on her return voyage was wrecked and John
remained in Nova Scotia. He taught school but finally settled
down to farming at Sackville. He married a sister of Martha,
a daughter of Moses LesDernier, by whom he had eleven children.
He received remittances regularly from his father. The late
Stipendiary of Sackville, Walter Cahill, Esq., was a grandson.
CAMPBELL
Ronald, father of George Campbell (who was many times Warden of Westmorland)
arrived in Sackville from Halifax in 1830, where he had landed from
Scotland. He had a remarkable experience en route. He
intended to take the stage at Halifax for Miramichi, but it being
overcrowded, he decided to walk, and he followed the stage on foot.
He arrived at Westchester Mountain (Purdy's) at night as soon as the
stage, where they changed horses. The passengers piled into
the common room where there was a roaring fire in a big fire place,
Mr. Campbell amongst them. Supper was announced and the passengers
sat down at the table, but Mr. Campbell did not move. This aroused
the curiosity of the landlady who asked the other passengers who that
man was, no one knew, but someone said it was a man who followed the
stage from Halifax on foot, the landlady called him again and he did
not reply. She became aware that there was something wrong with
him. She knelt down and felt his feet. She found he was
frozen up to the knees. This discovery raised quite a commotion.
A tub of cold water was hastily placed beside him and his legs were
put in. When the frost came out, he was put to bed and he remained
there several days until quite recovered. In after years, he
used to speak of the sympathy and kindness of the landlady in terms
of the greatest gratitude. His son, George, became the leading
carriage manufacturer in the countryside. He was elected County
Councillor and became Warden of the county. His goodwill, tact,
and sense of fair play was such that he was re-elected time after
time until it seemed to be a life job with him. After his disease,
his son, Clinton C., succeeded him as County Councillor and was like
him, elected Warden year after year until his death which took place
in the year 1928.
CARTER
Thomas Carter the first of the name in this Province, came from Yorkshire,
England, in 1774, and settled near Fort Cumberland, at what is now
called Westmorland Point.
The farm originally was a considerable one, consisting of dyked marsh
and upland, at this date (Aug. 11, 1905) occupied by his direct descendent
-- Trenholm Carter.
Thomas married Jane Thompson, who was a sister of the wife of the
first Keillor.
Their family consisted of three sons -- John, Thomas and Christopher.
Thomas Carter, the first, came to his death by drowning in the Missiquash
River, on his way home from Amherst.
His widow, subsequently became the second wife of William Chapman,
the first representative of that name in Point de Bute and one of
the founders of Methodism in this province. His second wife's
name will be found in the deed from William Chapman to John Wesley
of the grounds for a meeting house at Point de Bute. She died
April 4th, 1813, and is buried in the churchyard there, where there
is a monument to her still in good preservation.
Of the children -- John remained upon the homestead; Thomas settled
first at Westcock near Sackville, but later moved to Dorchester where
he and his descendants at one time owned a large and valuable property.
Christopher settled at Westmorland Point. The three brothers
had large families, in all twenty-three sons and nine daughters.
(See "Chignecto Isthmus", Howard Trueman.)
Descendants -- John, married Ann Lowerison; Thomas married Mary Siddall;
Christopher married Catherine Roberts.
The children of John and Ann Carter:--Thomas married Elizabeth Trueman,
(2) Elizabeth Sharpe; Richard married Milcah Freeze; Robert married
Phoebe King; Edward married Melinda Church, Martin married Lucy Teed;
Rufus married Thomazina Lowther; Charles married Jane Forster; Samuel
married Susan Trenholm; Mary Ann married Joseph Smith; Eliza married
William Bowser; Jane married George Trenholm; Joseph married Lucy
Trenholm, (2) Mary Lowther.
Children of Thomas and Mary Carter -- James Thomas, Ralph, John, Christopher,
William, Charles, Benjamin, Biddy, Jane and Mary.
Children of Christopher and Catherine Carter:--George married Marie
Copp; John married Jane E. Purdy; James married Mary Embree; Henry
married Amelia Hoegg; William married Elizabeth Atkinson; Isaac married
Mary Atkinson; Hannah married Thomas Lowerison; Anne married Thomas
Copp; Betsey (Elizabeth) married Thos. E. Oulton.
Children of William, son of Thomas, by (1) Ann Weldon, daughter of
Thomas, son of John Weldon:--
Ann Jane, born Sept. 11, 1816. Married Joseph Weldon, settled
at Dorchester.
Thomas Odbur, born June 9, 1918. Married _____ Lewis.
Children: Lebaron, Albert, Martha, Rainsford.
Martha, born June 25, 1820. Married Christopher Harper, settled
at Dorchester. Children: Amelia, Martha, Jane, William, Christopher,
Mary.
Sarah, born Feb. 20th, 1823. Married Otho Sayre. Children;
William, Annie, Charles.
William Abel, born Feb. 26, 1825, settled at Kingston, Kings Co.
Married Mary Anne Jones. Children: Annie Matilda, Charles Shepherd,
Julia Theresa, William Samuel, Franklin, Byron, Edward Betts Smith,
Constantia Cookson, Arthur Beverly, May Blanche, Grace, Florence,
Roland Ritchie.
John Hazen, born Nov. 14, 1827, settled in U. S. Married Dorcas Brown.
Children: 2 girls.
Isabella, born Jan. 30th, 1830, settled in Sackville. Married
John Ayre. Children: William, Ethel.
Children of William Carter by Ann Eldon his 2nd wife -- daughter of
Andrew Weldon:--
Andrew Weldon, born May 27th, 1831, settled at Cape Elizabeth, U.
S. Married Hannah Pillsbury. Children:--Charles, Frank, and
two girls.
Charles Edward, born Nov. 14th, 1836, settled on the homestead and
later at Amherst, N. S. Married (1) Roslyn Copp. Children: Laura
P., Emily Florence, William Blair, James. 2nd wife, Elizabeth
Travis. Children: George, Harold, Mildred.
WILLIAM CARNFORTH
He lived first on the Bulmer farm on Maple Hill later on Carnforth's
Island, which abutted on the Charles Dixon property on the north side,
then he lived on Haris Island. His daughters married Jonathan
Burnham, John Harris, Michael Grace, and Charles Scurr.
COLE FAMILY
Squire Rufus Cole of Rockport, a pioneer of Sackville, was born at
Coles Island in 1796, the son of Ebenezer and Martha Grace Cole.
His father moved to Coles' Point, Dorchester Cape about 1802.
He went to school in a log schoolhouse, situated near the railway
crossing, a short distance from the Gideon Palmer place. The
teacher was Mr. Ebenezer Cutler, who was a land surveyor and was also
a graduate of Harvard University. He had been a prisoner of
war in France for seven years. His eldest daughter, Lavinia,
married Squire Cole. She was the mother of eleven children,
all of whom grew up to womanhood and manhood. His second wife
was Mrs. Calkin, Mary A. C., daughter of Capt. James Calhoun of Hopewell
Cape. The grave stone of Ebenezer Cole, father of Squire Rufus,
is visible on the Cole farm at Cole's Island. In 1824, Mr. Cole
moved to Rockport in the schooner, "Beaver"; James Calhoun, master.
He lived in a log house for two years. The roof was made of
spruce bark, kept on by poles. He purchased the property at
Peck's Point from his uncle, Martin Cole, put up a frame house and
moved in in 1826. That year he sailed a small schooner called
the "Deliverance". With his brother, Martin Cole, he built a
vessel, which Captain Martin sailed and 'Squire Rufus, confined himself
to farming and making and shipping grindstones. In those days,
there was a good deal of trading with the New England Ports.
During thirty-six years, he carried on this business, he shipped about
twenty thousand dollars' worth of grindstone. He raised a family
of eight daughters and three sons. He drove the first carriage
through the woods to both Dorchester and Sackville. He acted
in various public capacities, by Road Commissioner, Deputy Treasurer,
Sub Collector of Customs, and Justice of the Peace. He died
in 1884 at the venerable age of 89 years. Jonathan Cole, the
grandfather of 'Squire Rufus' came from Providence, Rhode Island and
settled at Cole's Island, about 1763. He was a cooper by trade
but he sailed thirteen times to the West Indies. Once he went
in a boat with only 13 tons burden.
Jonathan Cole settled on Coles' Island probably ten years before the
Revolutionary War. He was grandfather of the late 'Squire Rufus
Cole. Ebenezer Cole, who with Joseph Read was the founder of
the Baptists at Sackville, was a son of his. Besides Ebenezer,
he had two other sons, Martin and Ambrose. Jonathan had the
reputation of being considerable of a traveller. He had been
thirteen times to the West Indies, tho' he was not a sailor by occupation,
but a carpenter. On one trip to the West Indies, he went on
a boat of 14 tons measurement. Jonathan had one daughter, Patricia.
She married Samuel Halliday of Cobequid.
When 'Squire Rufus Cole was a lad, about ten years of age, the people
were not without the advantages of religion. The following were
the places of Worship: (1) A small brick Methodist meeting house at
Crane's Corner. (2) Another meeting house at Tingley's, on the
site of the old graveyard there. (3) Bethel Chapel above Morice's
Mills. There were a number of preachers to warn the people of
the wrath to come, the Rev. Messrs. Crandall, Tupper, McCully.
Morice's Mill Pond was a favorite place for baptizing.
The era of highways, not having arrived, trading and travelling were
done almost exclusive[ly] by small schooners, and to be in touch of
the vessels the first settlement grew up along the rivers and by the
coast lines of the bays. In 1824 at Dorchester there was a schooner
called the "Dorchester" owned by Amasa Weldon and Mr. Sayre.
It traded between Dorchester Island and St. John and Eastport.
The master was Wm. Carlyle. Sackville was the proud owner of
a schooner, "Ruth", built by Jotham Estabrooks and Jack Best.
It was a step in advance as she was fitted up with a cabin and top
gallant sails. In 1826, the "Deliverance", a 60 ton schooner
was built at Hopewell on shares. It was kept carrying grindstone
from Joggins.
Cape Martin Cole and 'Squire Cole purchased the schooner "Brant",
60 tons, for 100 pounds and sold her to Wm. Fowler. It was scuttled
off Apple River by some Wood Point folks. Cargo was saved.
The vessel was raised and sold for 135 pounds. Capt. Martin
and 'Squire Rufus built a vessel of 100 tons, called the Martha Grace,
which they sailed for 12 years.
During these years, Amos Seaman and Joseph Read carried on extensive
grindstone shipments from Minudie to United States, which was very
profitable until killed by the prohibitory duties put on Colonial
products by the American Congress.
CHANDLER
Col. Joshua Chandler was graduated at Yale 1747, being ranked the
thirteenth in the class of twenty-nine in "dignity of the family."
He settled at New Haven, in the practice of law, and his house stood
where the Tontine Hotel was afterwards built and where the public
buildings now stand. He and his son-in-law, Amos Botsford, who
lived on the rear of it, owned the whole of that square. He
owned the Avery estate at New Haven, and also a salt marsh farm five
or six miles out from New Haven, near which passes the railroad.
He got about one hundred Frenchmen from the provinces to dyke it.
This is still called "Chandler's Farm."
At a town meeting at New Haven, 23rd May, 1774, Joshua Chandler, Esq.,
was placed first on a Committee of eighteen, "of Correspondence for
the Public Safety". He was a member of the Legislature of Conn.
1775. But he was soon suspected of loyalty, and was sent to
North Haven as a prisoner by the Whigs of New Haven. Later Mr.
Chandler and his family went off, and so sudden was the departure
that Governor Baldwin, who was then a boy, said afterward he remembered
going into Mr. Chandler's house on the morning after they left, and
there seeing the table spread for a large company, and the viands
all untouched.
While on Long Island, 10th Feb., 1892, he with others, addressed Mr.
Rivington, acting Deputy Inspector General of Refugees on the Island,
and stated that "we were driven from our respective homes, having
left our property in the country, &c."
His property in and near New Haven, Conn., which he valued at 30,000
pounds, was confiscated under the agency of Charles Chauncey, Esq.,
of New Haven.
Joshua Chandler settled at Annapolis, Nova Scotia, on the South Shore
of the Bay of Fundy. "The landing of the Loyalists, May 18,
1783," is one of the remarkable events noticed in their registers,
and that day as it returns is still celebrated by a salute of cannon
firing, at noon.
Col. Chandler (as above stated) had a large property at New Haven,
which he was forced to leave. He sailed for England to see about
a remuneration for his loss. Commissions were appointed to adjust
the claims of the Loyalists. He returned to Annapolis, and on
that fatal March of 1787, he, with his daughter Elizabeth and son
Wm. Chandler, took all their books, papers and evidence of their colonial
property, and sailed across the Bay for St. John, New Brunswick, to
meet the Commissioners, to prove their titles and their losses and
to get their claims allowed. But the vessel, in a violent snow
storm, missing the harbor, was driven on the rocks at Musquash Point,
within about nine miles of St. John. His son, William, hoping
to secure the vessel, fastened a rope around his body and jumped overboard
to swim to the land, but he was immediately crushed between the vessel
and rocks and was drowned. This was the 9th of March, 1787.
Col. Chandler, his daughter Elizabeth and others finally got ashore.
But they were miles from any dwelling and the weather severe.
It is said he urged his daughter to leave him and make her way to
some house, but she refused to leave her father. He then climbed
a high point of the rocks for a look-out, from which, being so benumbed
with cold, he fell and soon died. The others, his daughter and
Mrs. Grant, after wandering about in the woods, perished on the 11th
of March, 1787. Their bodies were found and carried to St. John,
N. B. and buried in the old burying ground, at the head of King Street.
After about seventy years, their remains were sought for, but only
the smallest portion of the larger bones were found. These were
carefully deposited in the lot of Amos Botsford, Esq., in the "Rural
Cemetery", the new and beautiful Woodside grounds, at St. John.
The old slate-stone slabs -- about two by three feet -- were laid
against the embankment of the Botsford lot, the letters of the inscription
having been cut deeper by the pious order of his descendants.
Under the "death's head", with rays and wings, is the following inscription:--
Here lyeth the Bodies of Col.
Joshua Chandler, Aged 61 years,
And William Chandler, His Son, Aged
29 years who were shipwrecked on
their passage from Digby to St. John,
on the Night of the 9th day of March,
1787, and Perished in the Woods, on the
11th day of said Month.
Here lyeth the Bodies of Mrs.
Sarah Grant, Aged 38 Years,
Widow of the late Major Alex Grant;
and Miss Elizabeth Chandler aged
27 years, who were Shipwrecked on
their passage from Digby to
St. John on the night of the 9th
Day of March, 1787, and
Perished in the Woods on the
11th day of said Month.
His son, Charles Henry Chandler, soon after the death of his father,
then about twenty years old, went to Europe to get the claims of the
estate allowed. He took what evidence of the losses of the family
he could find. But they had mostly been lost in the wreck.
Charles H. Chandler remained in England a year, trying to get a hearing
and to get the claims allowed. The Commissioners at last said
to him "We know your father, Joshua Chandler, was wealthy and had
large and just claims, but we do not know how much, and there is no
proof of it. We will allow you each, Mrs. Sarah Botsford, Mrs.
Mary Upham, Thomas Samuel and Charles H. Chandler, 1,000 pounds."
--From
Book of Loyalist Records.
735 lv. Sarah B. 29 Mar., 1752; m. Amos Botsford, of New Haven, Conn.;
737, Vi. William b. 1758; d. March, 1787, aged 29; Y. C. 1775; piloted
Gov. Tryon and his royal forces into New Haven, 5th July, 1779, when
that city was sacked. But he personally, it is said, interposed
and saved the life of the President of the College, Rev. Napthali
Dagget, who, armed with a musket, had rushed to oppose the invaders.
For his toryism he was roughly handled by the infuriated whigs.
He was Captain in the Royal Army. He retired with his father's
family, 6th July, 1779, to Long Island, and in 1783, to Nova Scotia.
He was with his father when they crossed the Bay of Fundy and when
the vessel in the snowstorm, struck the rocks at Musquash Point; had
a rope tied about his waist, and jumped in, in order to reach the
shore, but was crushed, between the vessel and the rocks, on that
fatal 9th of March, 1787. Administration of the estate of Wm.
Chandler, late of New Haven, Conn., but now with the enemies of the
U. S., is granted to Joseph Peck of N. H. Bond of 200 pounds.
First Monday in August, 1781.
738, VII. Thomas B. in New Haven; d. at Pictou, N. S. while
attending the circuit court, aged 61; m. Elizabeth Grant.
739, VIII. Samuel; m. at Fort Lawrence, 1796, Susan Watson.
740, LX, Charles Henry, b. at New Haven, Conn. 13th June, 1768;
m. in Annapolis, N. S. 1st May, 1790, Elizabeth Rice.
741, X. Mary; m. Colonel Joshua Upham, Esq.
THE CHANDLER FAMILY OF CUMBERLAND
Charles H. Chandler, the second Sheriff of Cumberland, was a son of
Colonel Joshua Chandler of tragic memory. The latter was a prominent
loyalist and one of those employed by Lord Dorchester in 1783, to
settle the newly arrived loyalists in Digby and Annapolis. He
was a descendant of William and Annie Chandler who lived in the year
1637, in Roxbury, Mass., being removed from them in the fifth generation.
Charles H. Chandler settled in Amherst, where he held the office of
Sheriff for 38 years, dying in 1851, in his 83rd year. His married
children were: Sarah, married in 1815 to John Morse; Joshua, married
in 1816 to Mary Dickey; Edward Barron, married in 1822 to Phoebe Milledge;
William Botsford, married to Ruth, daughter of Dr. Smith, of Fort
Cumberland; he was a successful lawyer at Richibucto, New Brunswick.
Joshua, the third sheriff of Cumberland, died in 1864, in his 72nd
year, having held the office of Sheriff for twenty-eight years.
He was succeeded in the office by his son-in-law, J. J. Kerr.
Edward Barron Chandler studied law at Westcock with Judge Botsford;
called to the N. B. Bar in 1821, elected to the Legislature in 1827,
and appointed to the Legislative Council in 1836; became leader of
the Conservative party; was in several delegations to England; appointed
to the Senate at Confederation but declined; was a Commissioner for
building the I.C.R. Became Lieut. Governor of the Province in 1878,
and died in 1880 in his 80th year. Mr. Chandler held first rank
as a lawyer and a politician, and his home at Dorchester, N.B., was
noted for its generous hospitality.
Descendants of Colonel Joshua Chandler were:--(1) Elizabeth, perished
at Musquash, St. John; (2) Sarah, married Amos (Speaker) Botsford;
(3) William, born 1758; (4) Thomas Chandler, a Barrister of Nova Scotia,
dying at Pictou, while attending Circuit Court, aged 61 years.
He married Elizabeth Grant, a daughter of an officer in the 42nd Regiment,
who was killed at the battle of Fort Montgomery. His sister,
Lucy, was mother of Thomas Chandler Haliburton (Sam Slick.)
Their daughter, Ann, married Silas H. Crane, a prominent resident
of Economy, N.S., a brother of Hon. Wm. Crane. Mr. Chandler
had also been an officer in his youth in the British service and retired
on half-pay to study law. He was a man of splendid talents and
was successful at the bar as well as in the Legislature.
(5) Mary, who married Col. Judge Upham, of Hampton, N.B. The latter
was a Loyalist, attained the rank of Colonel of Dragoons, in the British
Service; in 1781, he was Deputy Inspector of Refugees at Lloyd's Neck,
N.Y. At the organization of the Government of N.B. in 1784 he was
appointed member of the Council and Judge of the Supreme Court.
Amongst their children were: Kathrin who married George Papan of Richibucto,
N.B.; Charles Wentworth Upham, who was first naval officer in the
British Navy, then a Congregational minister at Salem, Mass.; then
for years, a member of the Massachusetts State Legislature, then President
of the Senate and then Member of 33rd Congress. He also published
historic books.
Another descendant -- Frances Chandler Upham -- married John Wesley
Weldon, the father of the late Charles W. Weldon, M.P., leader of
the Liberal party in N.B.
(6) Col. Samuel Chandler married Susan Watson, daughter of Sheriff
Thomas Watson, who was Sheriff of Cumberland for forty- five years.
Col. Chandler represented Colchester in the N.S. Assembly. His
married children were:
(1) Jane, who married Isaac Rhindress.
(2) Mary, who married Thomas King, of Cumberland.
(3) Elizabeth, who married William Hewson of Cumberland.
(4) Catharine, who married David McElmon, of Fort Lawrence.
(5) Hon. James W., who represented Charlotte County in the N.B. Assembly
for many years and was later Judge of the County Court of Westmorland.
HON. WM. CRANE
Mr. Crane was born at Grand Pre, N.S., in 1784. His father was
the distinguished Colonel Crane, who was for 35 years a member of
the local Legislature of Nova Scotia. While nominally a farmer,
he rose from a Militia command in Kings to take command of the Imperial
forces at Halifax. His grandfather, Silas Crane, was a settler
from Connecticut. The first date at which Mr. Crane is recorded
at Sackville is in 1804. About that date, he commenced trading
at the corner of the Lower Fairfield Road in partnership with Mr.
Barker Turner. From the beginning, he was successful in his
business but the firm was only well settled when an incendiary burned
their store up. Mr. Crane abandoned that place and established
himself at Crane's Corner. Money being a scarce article, he
at once adopted a principle of barter, in selling goods, he was prepared
to take in return anything and everything the farmers could produce.
He did not allow the farmers' products to lay on his hands.
He built cattle sheds where his beeves could be fed, awaiting shipment
either to Miramichi lumber dealers, or to Halifax to feed the troops.
Butter, cheese, wood, wool, also found a market that turned them into
cash. He speedily had vessels on both sides of the Isthmus to
market hogs, sheep, etc., that could not travel on the hoof.
People complained he was a sharp man and selfish; perhaps he was,
but he was not greedy. Selfishness is a proposition that had
two sides. Behind the counter, he was a keen trader, but as
a public man he was all for the people.
His judgment appeared to be infallible because he seldom made mistakes
in his ventures. His word was accepted as final in any business
transactions. He was not crafty; it was not in him to overreach.
He trusted people as the wide range of credits he gave shows.
He was a friend of the struggling man trying to make good, and many
families were placed in a position of independence by his aid.
When Sir Samuel Cunard died, the London Times published an extended
account of his public life, no doubt previously obtained from Sir
Samuel. In that the place of honor was given to Mr. Crane for
the establishment of the Cunard Line. Mr. Howe, Mr. Crane and
Mr. Cunard were en route to England in a sailing vessel, when they
were met by the Serius, the first steam vessel that crossed the Atlantic.
Mr. Crane was powerfully affected by it; he foresaw a revolution in
ocean navigation. He at once proposed to Mr. Cunard to take
up the proposition of a steam line from Liverpool to Halifax and offered
him assistance. He was as good as his word. He and Mr.
Howe joined in a Memorial to the Colonial Secretary. Mr. Crane
was able to convince the latter of the great advantage to the purpose
of such a line.
Mr. Crane was intellectually a powerful man. He was easily a
leader in the Assembly at Fredericton. The officials in the
Colonial office in London, who were not entirely free from insolence
to Colonials, took no liberties with this imposing Coloniel.
He was the commercial man who was able to confront the Minister with
facts and figures to support a subsidy for Atlantic Steamship Service.
Mr. Howe had no such advantage and the Cunard firm doing a lumber
business on the north shore of New Brunswick was then in bankruptcy.
He has never been credited with his leadership by those who vaunt
the success of the Cunard line, tho' the London Times in its obituary
notice of Sir Samuel Cunard, credited him with his service.
Two anecdotes will illustrate his character. On one occasion
he received a letter from Miramichi to a friend of his standing by,--he
said: "This is bad news, Joe Cunard has failed, I am sorry for him,
he has been a good man for the country". His friend asked him
"Does he owe you anything?" Mr. Crane replied, "Yes, a matter of fifteen
thousand pounds". "Too bad -- great loss to the people up there"
-- then he picked up the outside cover of the letter. He saw
nine pence charged on the unpaid letter, and his tune suddenly changed;
"The d- d- rascal to cheat me out of fifteen thousand pounds and nine
pence postage," he roared. In the year 1846 the crops failed
and there was a good deal of alarm in the country as to whether the
food stuffs were sufficient to carry the people through the winter.
Mr. Crane ordered a cargo of flour from Boston, which he directed
should be sold first to those who had no money; said he, "The people
must be fed". He engineered the opening of the highway from
Crane's Corner to Fowler's Hill, previously to which travellers and
the mails went around the head of the marshes. The people at
the head of the marshes were so incensed at this undertaking they
voted against him at the next election and defeated him. The
government immediately put him in the Legislative Council. He
had a great respect for brains and treated Tolar Thompson with much
consideration. One of Mr. Crane's friends was a witness to an
example of this: Mr. Thompson rode down from Tantramar on his horse
which he put up in Mr. Crane's barn, he then went into the kitchen
where he took off his shoes. They probably hurt his feet.
The maid provided him with his favorite drink, a bowl of water, vinegar,
and molasses; stirring it, he wandered off in his sock feet to the
drawing room where Mr. and Mrs. Crane were entertaining a gentleman
from England, who had arrived in his father's vessel at Pugwash.
Mr. Crane introduced him, had him seated and made it pleasant for
him. Mr. Crane was no snob. In the early days of his merchandising,
there were no banks within his reach. He became his own banker;
he was able to make loans. His growing wealth and his sagacity
made him perhaps the most influential public man in the Province.
There was a contest between Hon. Mr. Chandler and Hon. Mr. Charles
Symonds for the speakership of the Assembly. Mr. Crane became
a candidate; they both retired. That was his last official position
and when installed in that office, he was attacked by his last fatal
sickness. He believed the trouble was only temporary and the
lugubrious task of informing him rested upon his physician, Dr. Murphy.
He at once disputed the doctor's opinion. The doctor told him
he had placed a candle at his eye and it had not flinched -- the nerve
was dead. "Which eye?" demanded Mr. Crane. "The left".
"Oh!" said Mr. Crane, in exclamation, "That eye always was weak".
While Mr. Crane was wordly, and animated by a resistless energy, and
ambition to accomplish things, he was at the same time helpful to
the poor and distressed. His mind was not occupied with spiritual
matters but he never failed to recognize that life on this earth is
but a drop of water to the ocean of eternity beyond.
Mr. Crane was first elected to the House of Assembly in 1824.
When defeated on the road question, in 1842, he was elevated to the
Legislative Council, the seat in which he resigned to contest the
County again. He was then returned and was Speaker when he died
in 1853. He was twice Speaker. He was married the first
time, in 1813, to Susannah D., daughter of Col. Roach, of Fort Lawrence.
She was born in 1795. She died in 1830, leaving one daughter
Ruth, who married Edward Cogswell, Esq., of Sackville, who for many
years was chief business manager for Mr. Crane. The second time
he was married at St. John's Church, London, October 25th, 1838, to
Eliza, eldest daughter of Thomas Wood, Esq., of London.
He commenced the erection of his stone residence in 1836. Next
year he went to England and returned in 1838. He brought with
him his bride, Miss Eliza Wood. He returned in a timber ship
to St. John; from there he took a coaster to Sackville. Arriving
in the Bay, they found the river full of ice, so they disembarked
at Wood Point. They found the new house not completed but they
managed to stay there. By the second marriage, he had first,
Mary Susan, born in 1840, married to Capt. Charles Farquharson.
The latter had two children one died young; the other Violet Muriel,
married in 1873, Streeter Lambert. Second, Laura, who married
an English barrister, Robert Sisson, four children. Third, Eliza
Emma, born in 1845, married to Sir Leonard Crane, who was connected
with the British Medical Service in Trinidad. Fourth, Marian,
born in 1851, married to Admiral Sir Thomas Jackson, they have one
daughter Rose. Fifth, William, born 1853, died in 1931, unmarried.
Mr. Crane went on two delegations to England, the second one with
the Hon. L. A. Wilmot was to obtain the transfer of the Casual and
Territorial Revenues to the Province, which was effected. Those
revenues amounted to about a hundred and fifty thousand pounds, annually,
and were transferred on the agreement to pay the provincial civil
list and some other sums amounting to about thirteen thousand pounds.
Mr. Crane was much disabled in the latter years of his life, by rheumatism,
from which he greatly suffered.
Mr. Crane owned at the time of his decease forty-nine independent
lots of land, some of them farms and six hundred and sixty-five mortgages
or other securities.
Mr. John Shannon, of Halifax, father of the late Hon. Herman Shannon,
wrote to Hon. Mr. Crane then in England (1837) in part:- -
"I am glad to hear you were so well received by your old friend, Lord
Glenelg and are likely to have little trouble in completing your arrangements
. . . I am glad you accepted the offer of being
presented to His Majesty; it is satisfactory you had the favor of
the Ministry, in the Revenue matter, but the approbation of the King
from his own lips. Mr. Shannon gives details of commercial crisis
in United States and great numbers of failures in the big cities.
DOBSON FAMILY
The Dobson's George and Richard, two brothers, were among the first
of the Yorkshire emigrants to arrive in Nova Scotia. George
brought with him a wife and grown up family; his daughter Margaret
married William Wells before the family left England. Richard
was a bachelor and report says he was an officer in the English army
stationed in Point de Bute, and a follower of Wesley. Richard
died in February 1773 and George in July of the same year.
George had four sons, George, David, Richard and John and two unmarried
daughters, Elizabeth and Mary. George and John settled in Point
de Bute. John afterwards went to Sussex, N.B.; Richard to Cape
Tormentine and David went to Halifax. John married Miss Polly
Fawcett, of Upper Sackville. They had three sons and two daughters,
John Dobson, Robert Dobson and Joseph Wells Dobson, Mary Dobson and
Ann Dobson. Ann married John Brown. Joseph married Ruth
Trenholm, and had two sons, John Trenholm Dobson, and George Arthur
Dobson; John and Robert both married two Miss Burnhams (sisters);
John married Mary Aiton and had four girls and one boy: Jean, Minnie,
Joseph, Lulu, Jessie. Jean married Wm. Graham and they had two
boys and two girls and live in Colorado Springs. Minnie married
Will. Robinson and had Harvey, James, Joseph, Donald, George
and Mary and they live at Sussex. Joseph emigrated to British
Columbia. Lulu married Mr. Del. Chapman, 1902, and live in Boston.
Jessie lives in Colorado Springs with her sister. George Arthur
Dobson married Mary Eleanor Ryan. Their children are Annie,
born 1867, married H. E. Gould. They have one son, George William,
born 1896; and Cyrus Trenholm, born 1872, married 1902; Eleanor Miriam,
born 1878.
Dr. Dobson, of Poughkeepsie, an able and distinguished physician,
was a son of _____ Dobson. His summer home was on the Morse
(of telegraphic fame) on the bank of the Hudson in the suburbs of
Poughkeepsie, N.Y., his winter home was in Bermuda. He died
in 1934. He married Miss Minnie Wilson, of Amherst. They
left one son, a resident of Bermuda.
In the old graveyard at Fort Cumberland, long since abandoned, as
a "city of the dead", there are one or two gravestones remaining there.
They record the death of the two Dobson settlers.
The Memorial dated 26th June, 1809, of John and George Dobson, sons
of George Dobson Sr. of Point de Bute, states:
"That they never had any land granted them from Government and are
desirous of settling themselves in this part of the country, where
by their care and industry they may be enabled to maintain their families
with comfort. Therefore they humbly solicit your Excellency
to order them a Warrant of Survey and allow them to occupy, improve
and possess a lot of marsh land, lately petitioned for by Thomas Hewson,
Esq. of this town whom we understand has given up the said lot.
It is inclosed by the Westmorland big Batteau, but was not put in
the dyking bill, it being considered not worth paying for it, without
a good deal of improvements by ditching it lying close to Sunken Island
between Westmorland and Sackville Township, and likewise a lot of
wilderness land to contain 500 acres and being on the north side of
Green Bay and joining to the lands granted to William Wood and John
Polly, Your Memorialists humbly prayeth that your Excellency will
take it into your serious consideration.
DIXON
Over forty years ago (1891) Mr. James D. Dixon, grandson of Charles
Dixon, compiled a table of the posterity of Charles Dixon and his
wife Susannah Coates, down to the eighth generation. He had
this printed in book form. They numbered 2805 persons of whom
740 had passed to their long home, leaving 2065 living. At the
ordinary rate of increase they number today over three thousand persons
-- so great a multitude could only have been produced by obeying the
natural laws implied in the Scriptural injunction to increase and
multiply.
Mr. James D. Dixon undertook a most laborious job, involving an immense
amount of research and correspondence -- a work that has been faithfully
performed for which he has earned the gratitude of the Dixon fraternity.
The writer of these notes on Sackville has been greatly indebted to
Mr. Dixon's labors, for many facts, otherwise not obtainable.
The power of the press was exhibited a hundred and fifty years ago.
Mr. Charles Dixon in a letter to Mr. Sproule of the Crown Land Department,
said when the General in command visited Westmorland, he expressed
a wonder how all the English people came to be settled there.
I told him that after my arrival, I wrote to a friend in England,
giving an account of Nova Scotia. He had it published in a newspaper.
The next spring seven vessels arrived from England, chiefly loaded
with settlers.
The Yorkshire immigrants of whom Mr. Dixon was a sample were a vigorous
and moral people possessing respect for the law and high ideals of
duty. Their descendants became the backbone, the sinews and
strength of the country.
Of another and different class were the Puritans, who composed largely
of the riff raff of Britain, landed at Salem in 1629, established
their autocratic government, and an infallible church -- with home
made doctrines which were enforced by brutal persecution. All
who would not subscribe to their tenets were their victims.
The brutality of the Puritan government almost exceeds belief.
It is recorded that two women Mary Fisher and Anne Austin arrived
from Barabados in July, 1656. They were arrested, stripped stark
naked, ostensibly to find evidences of witch craft, imprisoned for
five weeks, were refused communication with anyone and then shipped
back to Barbadoes. Three citizens of Rhode Island arrived at
Lymm to pay a brief visit to an aged and infirm man. They were
Baptists and therefore systematics to the Puritans. One of them,
John Clark, was arrested and fined twenty pounds or in default, to
be whipped. He refused to pay but a friend of his paid it, without
his consent. Another one, Obediah Holmes, was fined thirty pounds.
He would not pay or allow others to pay. He received thirty
strikes with a three quartered whip. In 1691-92, nineteen were
convicted and hanged for witch craft, including Rev. Mr. Burroughs,
who had the temerity to declare "There neither are or were witches".
Puritanism was the seed bed of the American Revolution. The
studied vilification of Britain and her institutions, year after year
was a virus which envenomed the people. The result was the creation
of a volunteer force to repel any attempted enforcement of British
law. It was in evidence sixteen years after the fall of Quebec,
at Lexington.
Charles Dixon and Susannah Coates were married on the 24th of June,
1763. Their children were:--
(a) Mary, born 1764, married William Chapman 1780, settled at Fort
Lawrence.
(b) Charles, born 1766, married Rhoda Emmerson. She died in
1799. He then married Elizabeth Humphrey.
(c) Susannah, born 1767, married George Bulmer 1784. She died
1838, age 67. Mr. Bulmer died in 1841, aged 82 years.
(d) Elizabeth, born in 1770, married Dr. Rufus Smith of Fort Cumberland
in 1789. He died in 1844, age 78 years. She died in 1851,
age 88 years.
(e) Ruth, born in 1772, married Thomas Roach of Fort Lawrence, in
1793. She died in 1810, age 38 years.
(f) Martha, born in 1774, married Benjamin Wilson. He was drowned
at sea in 1824. She died in 1849, age 74 years.
(g) Edwin, born 1776, married Mary, daughter of John Smith, in 1802.
She died in 1854, age 74 years. He died in 1861, age 85 years.
(h) William, born in 1779, married at Shediac, to Matilda, daughter
of John S. Beckwith. He died in 1865, age 87. She, a few
days after, age 62 years.
(a) Mary and William Chapman had twelve children, seven boys and five
girls. He was a joiner and carpenter. He was the master
carpenter on the military buildings at Fort Cumberland. Their
sons, Henry and John, were the pioneers who went into the Green Woods
at Chapman Settlement, Cumberland. Captain J. H. Chapman, a
well known shipmaster, and an official at the Court House, Amherst,
for years, was the son of Henry Chapman, and a grandson of William.
Susan Jane, the second daughter of Henry Chapman, married Stephen
Peacock, a farmer at Botsford. They left a numerous family.
John Chapman, fourth son of William and Mary Dixon Chapman married
Jane Jonah in the year 1817. They both died in 1883, he aged
90 and she 85. Richard Chapman, the fifth son of William and
Mary Dixon Chapman, married Jane Wells, a daughter of William Wells
of Point de Bute. He moved to the Chapman settlement.
Mary Dixon, who married William Chapman, had up to 1891, 854 of a
progeny of whom 645 were still alive.
(b) Charles Dixon, eldest son of Charles and Susannah Dixon, married
in 1788, Rhoda Emmerson. There was another wedding at the same
time, Martha Grace was married to Ebenezer Cole. He was the
father of 'Squire Rufus Cole. He had first settled in Sackville,
where he was a successful farmer. Their family were: William,
Charles, Hannah, and Benjamin. Mrs. Dixon died in 1799, in the
30th year of her age. Mr. Dixon then married Elizabeth Humphrey,
eldest daughter of Mrs. William Humphrey. Their children were
as follows: John, born 1800; Elizabeth, 1803; Sidney, 1805; Leonard,
1808; Jane 1810; Ruth, 1813; Christopher Flintoff, 1816; Edward 1818;
Alfred, 1821; Mary, 1823; Martha, 1825.
Mr. Dixon went on a cruise in 1803, with a neighbor, Timothy Richardson.
They travelled to Ohio and from there down past the Mississippi to
New Orleans. From there they secured a passage to New York.
At that place Mr. Dixon got ill with fever and ague. They ran
short of money, but his brother-in-law, George Bulmer, being in the
city, helped them. They took passage home in a vessel of which
Capt. Burnham was master. He erected stone buildings on Bridge
Street on the site of the Rainnie house, for the purpose of brewing
ale, which was not a success. Apparently there was but little
demand for ale. He then erected a wind mill at the same location.
He abandoned that and built a larger mill. This was highly promising
but was destroyed by fire. With his son-in-law, Mr. McKinlay,
they started to build a vessel. When it was well advanced, the
price of ships in England declined and they stopped work and afterwards
sold out to other parties. In 1837, he removed to Ohio.
It seems that he and some members of his family had been converted
to the Communion of the Latter Day Saints, or Mormons. Mr. Dixon
and his family arrived at Kirkland, Ohio, on the 14th of October after
six weeks travelling in emigrant wagons. He purchased a farm
there. In 1854, when he was in his 89th year, he and his wife
and members of his family, left for Salt Lake City. When they
arrived at Rock Island, Mr. Dixon on account of his blindness, fell
from the steps of a hotel which proved fatal. He was buried
at Davenport at Iowa. The family then pursued their journey
to Salt Lake. Mrs. Dixon survived her husband eleven years and
died nearly ninety years of age.
John W., third son of William and Elizabeth Weldon Dixon, lived at
Dorchester, where he was engaged in making boots, shoes and harnesses.
He married Mary C., daughter of Enoch Stiles. Mr. Dixon was
killed while raising a frame of a barn.
Hannah, the only daughter of Charles and Rhoda Emmerson Dixon, married
John Barnes in 1815. In 1836, he and his family, except Rhoda,
removed to Wisconsin, where they settled. Rhoda, the eldest
daughter, married Cyrus Snell in 1832. Mr. Snell had been working
the mills at Frosty Hollow. In 1853, they left Sackville and
removed to Wisconsin. From Wisconsin they went to Spanish Fork,
Utah. Mr. Snell died in 1873, age 64 years. His death
largely resulted from injuries received at Salt Lake, when he was
attacked on the street and robbed.
Banjamin, youngest son of Rhoda and Charles Dixon, married Mary, daughter
of Andrew Welton, of Dorchester in the year 1818. They moved
from Dorchester to Buctouche. In 1845, they moved to Indian
Island. Mr. Dixon was a zealous and effective local preacher,
but his convictions as to baptism induced him to join the Baptist
Church and he was employed by that body as a missionary.
Leonard, the third son of Charles and Elizabeth Humphrey Dixon, married
in 1832, Eliza, eldest daughter of Thomas Robson, who carried on merchandising
at the Great Bridge, Sackville. Leonard's heritage was mostly
wilderness which he cleared and made a fine farm. He died in
1875, age 67 years. James, his eldest son, went to Australia,
where he engaged in mining. Isabel, their only daughter, died
of paralysis in 1887, age 52. Robson M. Dixon was an active
business man. He was engaged in the coasting business and shipbuilding.
He started what has since become the Enterprise Foundry. He
married Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Christopher Boultenhouse.
He left one son, Arthur Rainsford, who married. Henry, another
son of Leonard, was a shipmaster. He married Jenny Jordan.
They had one child, Jenny, who married Horatio N. Richardson, of Sackville.
Thomas, youngest son of Leonard and Eliza Dixon, married Mary L. Stirling.
He lived on the homestead. Their only daughter, Eva H., married
Frank Phinney of Sackville.
(c) Susannah Dixon married George Bulmer in 1784. He came from
England in the "Duke of York" when he was twelve years of age.
Mr. Bulmer developed some cerebral infirmity, which rendered him incapable
of business and the court put his business in the hands of Commissioners.
His wife died in 1835, aged 67 years, and he in 1841, 82 years of
age. They had thirteen children. The oldest (1) Jane,
born in 1785, married William Smith, a farmer at Maccan, also a local
preacher. They had seven children. She died in 1830.
Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married Samuel Horton. He
was a mechanic. He died in 1873, aged 68, and his wife in 1882,
aged 77.
Charles D. Bulmer married Elizabeth Weldon in 1809. He was a
good farmer. They left nine children. He died in 1864,
aged 77; she in 1870, aged 83. Their eldest daughter, Jane O.,
in 1830 married Titus Anderson, son of Thomas Anderson, of Cole's
Island. He was a master mariner. On 8th July, 1870, the
vessel that he commanded was driven ashore outside of Saint John Harbor
and he lost his life, aged 60. Their family consisted of George,
Ammi, Charles M., Thomas R., and Gaius. George was engaged in
shipbuilding and in the coasting trade. He was greatly esteemed
in the community. He married Arabella, daughter of Jesse Ayer.
He died in 1872; his wife seven years later. Charles M. Anderson
was a seafaring man. He was married twice, first to Mary E.,
daughter of Isaac Tory, and next to Bertha, daughter of John W. Dixon.
He removed to New Zealand.
Charles D. Bulmer (2nd) (son of Charles No. 1) married Jane, daughter
of Thomas Carter, Dorchester. He was a seafaring man.
They had nine children. Mr. Bulmer died in 1876, aged 61.
Elizabeth married Ammi Anderson. Charles (No. 3) went to California.
Lucinda inherited her grandfather's malady. Ezra, Albert and
William not married. Amos married Julia, a daughter of Isaac
B. Barnes. Rufus became an engine driver at Moncton. George
N. Bulmer, second son of Charles D. (No. 1) married Lavinia, daughter
of Nathan Merrill. They settled at Frosty Hollow and operated
the Snell mill. They had six children. Mrs. Bulmer died
in 1877; Mr. Bulmer in 1890.
Alma died unmarried. Bedford removed to New Zealand.
Melissa married Frederick Hunter, I.C.R. employee. Richard lived
in Virginia City, Nevada. Seth lived on the home place until
1932, when he died.
Emma Alice married Daniel McQuarie, I.C.R. employee of Moncton.
Rufus Smith, son of Charles D. Bulmer (No. 1) married in 1846 Ruth
Merrill. His wife died in 1886. His daughter, Jane Elizabeth,
married John Estabrooks. Sarah Alice married Turner Bulmer and
lives in British Columbia. Nathan H. married Minnie, daughter
of William C. Bulmer. He lives on the home place. Addie
V. married Adam Carter, Mount Whatley.
Wm. Crane Bulmer, youngest son of Charles D. (No. 1), married Sarah
Ann, daughter of H. Nelson Bulmer, and became an employee of the I.C.R.
at Moncton.
James B. Dixon, second son of George and Susannah Bulmer, married
a daughter of John Harris, whose wife was a daughter of Wm. Carnforth,
one of the Yorkshire settlers. Their children were William C.,
Rebecca, Edward, Susan, George, Mary Ann, John and Hazen B. William
C's children were Joseph, Frank, Turner and Minnie. Joseph (son
of W. C.,) married Martha, daughter of Chipman Chase -- no children.
Turner married to Sarah Alice, daughter of Rufus S. Bulmer -- no children.
Rebecca, daughter of James B. and Ruth Harris Bulmer, married James
Tynon and settled at Denver. Col. Edward, stone mason, married
first Sophia Blanche, next Lydia Briggs. He died in 1864, aged
48. The latter had one son, Frederic, who lives in Massachusetts.
Susan, daughter of James B., married George Bowser -- his second wife
-- no children. She died in 1886, aged 58 years. George
married Miss Fanny Fowler at Fowler's Hill, where he resided.
She died suddenly while on a visit to Saint John, in 1889. Mary
Ann became the first wife of John Estabrooks. John, a blacksmith,
made his home in Boston. Hazen B. married to Annie Laura, daughter
of Rufus Bulmer.
Thomas Scurr and Elizabeth Carnforth were married in 1787. Their
only son, Benjamin C., born 1788, was married to Mary, second daughter
of George and Susannah Dixon Bulmer. Thomas' wife died in 1788,
and he left for the West Indies. He was never heard of afterwards.
Benjamin was brought up by his aunt, Mrs. Jonathan Burnham.
He died in 1853, aged 64; his wife died 1866, aged 75. They
left five children. Their daughter, Elizabeth Ann married Jonathan
C. Black, son of Samuel Black, of Halifax. He was for many years
Collector of Customs at Sackville. They left seven children.
Their son, Samuel, married Mary, daughter of Reuben Watts. They
removed to Calais. Mary Black married William Boultenhouse.
He died in 1860. His widow and their two daughters removed to
Boston.
Albert Black, son of Jonathan, married Rebecca Teed. They removed
to United States. Rebecca, a daughter, married George T. Bowser
-- no family. Benjamin S., another son, married a Miss Marshall,
of Saint John, where they lived, he being an employee of the Western
Union. Louise, another daughter, married John T. Carter.
They had three children. Thomas, their only son, went to British
Columbia in 1890. He and a young man named Purdy, hands on a
steamer, were drowned in the 21st year of his age. William Black,
son of Jonathan, removed to Pennsylvania, where he left a numerous
family.
Susan Scurr, daughter of Benjamin C., was married twice; first to
Solomon Killam in 1837. He died the next year. Four years
after she married James Smith, a prosperous farmer at Fort Lawrence.
He died in 1868, leaving four children. One son, Charles Albert,
exhibited much inventive skill in the way of farm machinery.
Isabel Smith married William B. Fawcett, eldest son of Albert Fawcett,
Sackville. Benjamin Smith, in 1883, was one in a charivari party
at Mount Whatley where he was shot dead.
Ruth Grace, daughter of Benjamin I. Scurr, married Jesse L. Bent in
1839 -- son of Vose Bent of Fort Lawrence. He was for many years
the leading magistrate in Sackville. He died in 1889; she in
1886, aged 68. No family.
Charles, eldest son of Benjamin C. Scurr, inherited a part of his
father's farm at Sackville, and married Eunice, daughter of John Patterson,
Cole's Island. They had three children -- Benjamin, John and
Annie. Benjamin was married twice -- first to Georgina, daughter
of William Ayer, and next to Dulcibel, daughter of John Ford, Esq.
John married Eliza, daughter of _____ Richardson. Thomas Scurr,
married Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Richardson, in 1852.
They lived on the Scurr homestead--a brick house on the Scurr farm.
Mr. Scurr exchanged farms with Mr. Charles Taylor, of Dorchester,
and removed there. He died in 1873, aged 49 years, leaving seven
children.
George, fourth son of Susannah Dixon Bulmer, married Charlotte, daughter
of Joseph P. Richardson. They lived on the Richardson lands
in Sackville. She died in 1859; he in 1862, aged 67.
Anne, daughter of Susannah Dixon Bulmer, married Joseph Bowser, son
of Thomas Bowser, the Yorkshire pioneer. Mrs. Bowser died in
1834, aged 39. Mr. Bowser later married Ann, daughter of Vose
Bent, Fort Lawrence. She left no children, but by the first
wife there were three children, Stephen M., George T., and Mary Jane.
The first died at the age of 19 years. George T. married Rebecca,
daughter of Jonathan Black. No children. Mary Jane never
married.
Mr. Bowser died in 1869, aged 78 years; Mrs. Bowser in 1877, aged
75 years.
The Bowser home, a brick house with a garden on the roadside was on
the site of the residential college, Mount Allison. Mr. George
T. Bowser built a residence for himself easterly of his father's house.
He was an educated and thoughtful man and desiring to promote the
educational welfare of the community donated the property to Mount
Allison.
Elizabeth, fourth daughter of Susannah Dixon Bulmer, married in 1827,
Henry McLellan of Colchester County. They lived in Lunenburg.
Isabel, fifth daughter of Susannah Dixon Bulmer, married James Estabrooks,
son of James Estabrooks, M.P.P. She died in 1842, aged 41 years, leaving
seven children. The oldest, Susannah, married Edmund Kinnear,
a blacksmith and well-to-do resident of Sackville. He died in
1885, aged 65 years.
Sarah Ann, daughter of Isabel Bulmer Estabrooks, married Charles G.
Palmer, son of Philip Palmer, M.P.P., and Provincial Land Surveyor.
Mrs. Palmer died in 1878; he in 1885, aged 68 years. They had
twelve children, five dying in infancy. Their oldest son, Albert,
married Jane Chase. He lived in the Christopher Humphrey farm.
Philip, the second son, became a lawyer and resided in Saint John.
He married Eliza, daughter of Conductor Bartlett -- one of the first
in the E. & N. A. Railway. Hanford was for many years the
efficient Station Master of the I.C.R. at Sackville. Frank married
Lois Estabrooks. He was a prominent farmer in Sackville.
He died in January, 1933.
Edward, fifth son of Susannah Dixon Bulmer, married Asenath, daughter
of Courtney Kinnear. They removed to Hopewell Albert County.
He died in 1868, aged 65; she died in 1873.
(d) Elizabeth Dixon was in 1789 married to Dr. Rufus Smith of Fort
Cumberland. He was a very prominent man at the time. He
had a fine reputation as medical practitioner, as he allowed nothing
to prevent him attending a call. He represented Westmorland
in the Assembly from 1816 to 1834; with a lapse of three years from
1827 to 1830. They had ten children, Fanny the eldest born in
1790, married Martin K. Black, eldest son of Bishop Black. They
had thirteen of a family. Their daughter, Matilda, married Rev.
Dr. Charles De Wolfe, a distinguished divine long a resident of Sackville,
as the head of the theological department of Mt. Allison. Charles
D. Smith, son of Dr. Rufus, was also a medical doctor; he married
Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Wilson. They lived at Dorchester
Island, they had nine children. He lived to the venerable age
of 93 years. Ruth Roach, daughter of Rufus Smith, married William
B. Chandler, a lawyer living at Richibucto and son of Sheriff Charles
H. Chandler of Cumberland. Diana Gay, another daughter of Dr.
Rufus Smith, married L. P. W. Desbrisay, for many years a leading
merchant of the north shore.
(e) Ruth Dixon, in 1793, married Thomas Roach of Fort Lawrence.
Mr. Roach possessed large interests, being farmer, merchant, politician
and a local preacher. He represented his district in the assembly
for twenty-seven years. They had seven children. Mrs.
Roach died in 1810. Mr. Roach then married the widow Mrs. Sarah
Allen, and at her decease, Mary Dickson of Onslow and at her decease,
Charlotte Wells of Point de Bute.
(f) Martha Dixon married in 1793, Benjamin Wilson. He was a
Virginian. When Bishop Black wrote to a Southern conference
for help, he was sent in 1793 and continued in the ministry for ten
years, when he decided to settle at Dorchester Island and engage in
business. He formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, William
C. Dixon, and under the firm name of Wilson & Dixon, until 1820,
when owing to losses in the timber trade, in England, they were obliged
to suspend. He was a very competent man and was elected to the
legislature in 1820. In 1824 he was lost in crossing the Straits
in a schooner commanded by Captain Samuel Cornwall. The crew
as well as the vessel were lost. He left twelve children.
Their fourth daughter, Jane Ruth, married in 1828, William P. Sayre,
who succeeded his father as Sheriff. Their only son, Charles
J. was a lawyer at Richibucto and for some years represented Kent
in the local legislature. The fifth daughter married in 1834
Rev. Michael Pickles, a prominent Methodist minister. Their
sixth daughter married in 1836 James Harris, an eminent manufacturer
of Saint John. Martha, third daughter, in 1822 married Andrew
Weldon, a son of John Weldon of Dorchester. Mr. Weldon was coroner
and registrar of deeds. They had eight children. Their
eldest son, William J., was a prominent and successful hotel keeper
at Dorchester. In 1849 he married Mary J. Hickman. Their
daughter, Martha Ann Weldon married Mr. Justice A. L. Palmer.
(g) Charles Dixon's second son, Edward, lived his days out on the
home place until his death at the age of 85 years in 1861. His
heavy white hair and white beard gave him in his old age a most venerable
appearance.
Mr. Dixon married Mary, daughter of John Smith of Falmouth, a local
Methodist preacher. Mrs. Smith was a sister of Thomas Bowser,
the pioneer settler of that name at Sackville. Mr. Dixon was
a deeply religious man and a very zealous propagandist of the Gospel.
They had ten children, the eldest, Charles, married Sarah Boultenhouse
in the year 1827. They had eleven children as follows:
(1) Sarah, wife of Edward Cogswell.
(2) Mary E., wife of Professor Thomas Pickard.
(3) John E., who lived in San Francisco and was engaged in mining.
(4) W. Bedford, manager of the Enterprise Foundry.
(5) C. Edwin, a broker in London, England.
(6) Charlotte, who in 1864 married Rev. Thomas D. Hart.
(7) Charles, first officer in a ship that was lost at sea.
(8) Henry Arthur, died at sea of cholera in a vessel in which his
brother was master.
(9) Robert Y. followed the sea and has one surviving son, Charles,
whose career is given in the book, "A Million Miles in Sail." Robert
married his cousin, Hannah.
Elizabeth, married James Chubbuck. Four sons and one daughter
reached maturity. Mary Chubbuck married A. P. Bradley, who for
some years in the time of Sir John A. Macdonald, filled the position
of Deputy Minister of Public Works. Sarah and Amelia Chubbuck
never married. Hannah married her cousin, Robert Y. Dixon.
Charles Chubbuck served many years in the Civil Service at Ottawa.
He lived for some time after superannuation, passing away in 1934.
There were twin sons of Edwin Dixon -- George and William Coates.
George was killed by accident at the age of eleven. William
Coates (the same name as his uncle) survived all his brothers and
sisters. He lived for many years in Ontario, and made visits
to Sackville in his later years. His son, James R., resides
at Ottawa and has made frequent visits to Sackville, N.B.
Edwin, the second son of Edward Dixon, married in 1827, Martha, daughter
of Thomas Anderson, Cole's Island. They lived in Sackville.
Their children were: George, Mary Ann, Martha Jane, (who married Amos
Tingley of Sackville), Jerusha, Thomas E., William C., Ruth, John,
Charles, and Elizabeth, in all ten children. His wife died in
1855. He married in 1856 Jerusha, daughter of John Anderson.
They had five children, Archdale, Claudine, Hiawatha, Adrina, and
Edwin C. Mr. Dixon died in 1887, age 82 years.
Jane B., daughter of Edward Dixon, married in 1830, David Lyons, a
ship builder and master mariner. He died of fever at Benin,
on the coast of Africa in 1865, age 57 years. Their son, Rufus
D., was also a master mariner. After a successful career he
died at Iquiqui, in 1873. William H., son of Captain Rufus,
in command of ocean liners, married and made his home in England.
Mary Ann, youngest daughter of Captain David, was a first class and
most successful teacher. She died in 1867, age 46 years.
John E., son of Edward Dixon, removed in 1833 to Ohio. He was
a successful shipbuilder. Rufus S., sixth son of Edward Dixon,
at first learned and followed the shoemaking calling. In 1842,
he felt the call to preach the Gospel, and he became a local preacher,
and six years later, joined the East Maine, M.E. conference.
The next year he married a daughter of Wm. Burnham, lately of Sackville.
He was superannuated at a later date. James D., youngest son
of Edward, and grandson of Charles the pioneer, married Eunice, daughter
of George M. Black of Dorchester. Mr. Dixon was a public spirited
citizen, lending his aid to any cause benefiting the community.
He was collector of the port for twenty-seven years. For some
years he was a member of the Board of Agriculture. His family
are amongst the most prominent citizens of Sackville. He died
in January, 1900, aged 80 years.
(h) William Roach, Edward Dixon's youngest son, in 1820 married Matilda,
daughter of John Steadman Beckwith, and until 1827, lived on his farm
at Sackville, which they sold, and went to Shediac, where they kept
a hotel for some time, later they sold out there and removed to a
farm at Buctouche. He died in 1865, in the 87th year of his
age.
ESTABROOKS
The Estabrooks family came from the New England states in 1761 among
the first English settlers to arrive in the Province. It consisted
of Valentine and his son James, (Squire Jim), and a widow Estabrooks
and her son William, a boy of about 10 years of age.
Valentine's family was Squire Jim a member of the Legislature, Thomas,
Amy and Josannah.
Squire Jim's family consisted of Valentine, William (known as Foxy
Bill), Lois, and James, (known as Moony Jim).
William, sort of the Widow, married Miriam Thornton and their family
was Edward, William, Daniel. James, (Corner Jim) married Lily
Wry, Capt. Sam, married Jane Wry, Sarah married Hicks, and Abigal
married John Smith. Tradition has it that he was first granted
the Palmer Place, but that he traded it for "Lattimore's" Point, later
known as the Timothy Hicks place.
Corner Jim, lived where the Middle Sackville Baptist Parsonage now
stands, but late in life moved a few hundred yards up the road to
the place later sold to his grandson, David Estabrooks. James'
family was Miles, William, known as Corner Bill, James 111 [III ?],
known as "Sappy Jim", Valentine, Edward and Lily.
James Estabrooks was one of the last immigrants from United States.
He had two sons, James and Thomas. The former was a leading
man in the parish. He was a J. P. and a Member of the Assembly.
He lived in a brick house on the place afterwards occupied by the
late Josiah Anderson. He had one son, Valentine and two daughters.
They married (1) _____ Cole; (2) Courtney Kinnear. Valentine
died in 1776. The stone marking his grave is the oldest in the
Upper Sackville Cemetery.
Thomas' family was as follows: Thomas, Gordon, Jotham, Valentine,
Butler, Tabethy.
Jotham Estabrooks did a schooner-trading business between Sackville
and Saint John up to about 1860. Butler Estabrooks purchased
the Brunswick House from the McDonald Estate and he and his family
conducted a hotel business there for many years.
THOMAS ESTABROOKS
1808, says he is a farmer, that he has a wife and six small children.
That he is in possession of the following parcels of land belonging
to number fifty-three in Letter B Division which number was drawn
for your Memorialist about forty years since, he being then a child.
That considerable expense had been incurred in improving the said
parcels of land and he had diked two acres and a half of the said
Marsh, that to deprive him of the said parcels would be ruinous to
him and his family, he therefore prays that his title to the same
may be made good. He also asks for wood lot number thirty-nine
in Letter A Division, situate on the Long Marsh so called and containing
one hundred acres which said lot was formerly drawn by one Fuller,
who left this Province about forty years since. Granted.
CAPT. EVANDER EVANS
Capt. Evans was born in 1820, at Westcock, where the Evans family
have lived since the early settlement of the country; his father being
Wm. Evans, and the family homestead being the farm later owned by
Mr. George Ogsett. William Evans' father's name was Isaac Evans:
he was a native of Wales, and was for many years ferryman between
Westcock and Westmorland Point, at a period before highways can be
said to have existed, and when communication was more sure and speedy
by boats along our shores and up and down our rivers. On a voyage
to Saint John in a schooner, the vessel sank during a violent storm
off Partridge Island and he with his whole crew was drowned.
The brothers of Capt. Evans were James Isaac, residing at Shediac,
Edwin G. living at San Jose, California, and he had one sister, the
wife of Marcus Trueman, Esq. formerly of Sackville, a wealthy
resident of San Jose, California.
Capt. Evans was one of the pioneers as well as one of the best known
steam-boat men in Canada. In 1856, he took command of the steamer
"Westmorland" a vessel built by the late Christopher Boultenhouse
of this place, for the Bay of Fundy service. Previous to this
he had seen considerable service: he was first officer, in her last
days of the old "Maid of Erin" whose bones lay off Grand Aunce shore.
The steamer "Westmorland", after running between Saint John and Sackville
for a couple of years, was transferred to the Shediac-Summerside service,
where she became mail boat. Here she remained until about 1862,
under command of Capt. Evans, when she was sold to the United States
government as a transport to be used in the war against the Southern
Confederacy. Capt. Evans then took command, first of the steamer
"Princess" and then of the "St. Lawrence" of the P.E.I. Steam Navigation
Company from which he retired in 1886. During his active life,
Capt. Evans had been steam boating with P. E. Island developing from
small beginnings, employing but one vessel, to large proportions,
keeping quite a number of steam vessels busy, either for local service
or for the mainland, or for distant ports -- Halifax, Boston, etc.
When the steamer "Westmorland" was first employed, there were not
wanting many croakers amongst the leading business men, who predicted
nothing but disaster for so rash an enterprise.
Capt. Evans was widely known and wherever known was greatly respected.
He was a popular commander and no man in the business, probably, ever
gained so completely the confidence of the travelling public.
He conducted his hazardous business with such good judgment and such
caution and care, that during the whole course of his life, he was
never met with any serious accident, or with loss of life. Few
men could show a more successful and honorable career. He married
Mary E., daughter of the late Thomas R. Lyons of Sackville, who came
from Cornwallis, N.S.
Captain Evans left a wife and family of seven daughters.
The funeral services were performed by Rev. W. P. Hall of the Baptist
Church, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Burwash, Rev. B. C. Borden and Rev.
Mr. Lavers.
Two brothers of Capt. Evans, Edwin and Henry, fought for the North
in the American Civil War. The latter, Corporal Henry A. Evans
died from wounds in the Military Hospital at Washington and was brought
home and buried in the old cemetery at Westcock.
Capt. Evans was a son of William Evans, who was a son of Isaac Evans.
His mother was Lois Estabrooks, a daughter of William Estabrooks,
who was a son of James Estabrooks (Squire Jim) the first Sackville
man to become a member of the local House of Parliament.
James Estabrooks was a son of Valentine Estabrooks who came from Rhode
Island to Sackville in 1761, and his monument is the oldest standing
in the old Four Corner Cemetery. He died October 23, 1770 in
his 48th year.
Both Capt. Evans' father and mother, William Evans and Lois Estabrooks
died when he was a very young man. His only son, Ernest E.,
died when a lad of ten years of age, and there were seven daughters:
Emma (Mrs. Captain Purdy) who died in 1908; Lois A. (Mrs. W. A. Russell);
Grace (Mrs. Captain Charles Moore); Minnie (Mrs. R. C. Tait) who died
in 1927; Annette (Mrs. F. J. Robidoux); Margaret and Gertrude Evans.
The five daughters all reside in Shediac, New Brunswick.
Mary E. Lyons, was of United Empire Loyal descent, daughter of Thomas
Ratchford Lyons, who came from Cornwallis to Sackville. Capt.
David Lyons of Sackville, who died at Benin on the African coast,
was a half brother. Captain James Lyons, who was killed in Saint
John, by falling from his ship, was her own brother. Captain
Rufus and Henry Lyons were sons of Captain David Lyons.
Hon. Sanford Bates, Federal Commissioner of Correction for U.S.A.
is a grand nephew, being a grandson of her sister, the former Lucinda
Lyons of Sackville.
FAWCETT
Three Fawcett brothers, John, William and Robert, left Hovingham,
Yorkshire, in 1774 for America. Robert settled in United States.
He followed the sea and was lost. He left a son and a daughter.
The son followed his father's occupation and met the same fate, was
lost at sea. All connection between the Sackville Fawcetts and
the daughter has long been lost.
William Fawcett and his wife, Anne, settled at the Four Corners.
The widow of the late Fletcher George occupies the site of his homestead.
They raised three children: William, Mary (Polly) and John.
William married into the Holmes family. His location was occupied
later by Mr. James George and his son Charles. William raised
two children, Rufus and Betsy. A tragedy took place that shocked
the whole country. William while seated at a table near
a window in the parlor, was shot dead from outside. Rufus soon
after left the country for United States and was lost sight of.
Betsy married an English gentleman -- James George. They raised
four children, namely: William F., a leading man in the community;
Charles, who occupied his father's place; Elizabeth, who married Rev.
Silas James, and Emma. Mary (Polly) married into the Dobson
family at Sussex; John married a widow. Her maiden name was
Foster and her first husband was a Colpitts. They raised a family
of four: George, who never married; Anne, who married a Glendenning
of Baie Verte; Ellen, who married a Chappell, and Squire William.
He married first Alice, daughter of Stephen Chase, of Cornwallis.
They lived in his father's place. They raised a family of four:
John, Albert, Wesley and Ellen. After Mrs. Fawcett's death,
Squire William married a second time, this time to Anne Chappell.
They had six children: Almira, who married Rev. William Perkins and
went to California; Eunice who married James Fillmore, who also went
to California, Amelia, who married Milledge Anderson, son of John
Anderson of Coles Island; Margaret, who married Alex. Peakes, and
Clara, who married Charles Perkins who went to California, and Chappel
who married Ann Truth and kept the home place of Squire William.
John, also a J.P. married into the Atkinson family who had a family
of eight: Guilford, who went into the Civil Service and lived in Ottawa;
George, William, S _____, Maria, Alice, Edith, May. Albert married
Charlotte, daughter of Mr. John Harris and raised five children; William
B., A. Chase who at one time was a representative in the Assembly;
Alice, Sam., St. P. and Nellie. Wesley Fawcett married Margaret
Goodwin, and raised a family of four: Julia, Nettie, Bliss, Agnes.
Robert Fawcett's descendants moved to Lower Sackville. His grandson,
Robert, occupied a valuable farm, occupied at the time by Miss Ledernier.
Next, south of his was the property owned by his grandson, John, north
of the Male Academy Brook. The latter, associated with his son
Charles, started and built up Fawcett's Stove Foundry. He had
two sons, Alfred and Amos, doing business in Boston; another son Hibbert,
and six daughters, Mrs. George E. Ford, Mrs. Walter Fowler, Mrs. Dr.
Johnson, Mrs. Stephen Ayer, Mrs. Lyman Day, and Mrs. Edward Nash.
Next to John Fawcett's lands came Robert Fawcett on Fawcett Brook.
Robert was a son of Robert who had also had John, Mary, Nancy.
FISHER
In our colonial history there is scarcely a name more prominent than
"Fisher" to which the late William Shives Fisher, the proprietor of
the Enterprise Foundry of Sackville, belonged. His ancestors
were Dutch. They came to Bergen County, in New Jersey, about
1636. Lewis, Mr. W. S. Fisher's greatgrandfather was a member
of the New Jersey Volunteers, and fought against the revolutionists.
He shared the fate of many others in having his property confiscated.
With his wife and child, Peter, they came to New Brunswick as Loyalists
and settled in what eventually became Fredericton in October, 1783.
Peter eventually wrote the first history of New Brunswick -- a most
reliable as well as valuable work. Of his sons -- William, became
Superintendent of the Indians; Henry, Superintendent of Education.
The three others were lawyers, Edward, Charles and Peter. Peter
lived in Woodstock and endowed and created the Fisher Memorial Hospital,
Fisher Memorial Library as well as Vocational School, High School,
etc. Charles, the eldest, a lawyer in Fredericton, was the leader
in New Brunswick in the struggle for responsible government.
He became first Attorney General of New Brunswick, Premier and subsequently
Judge of the Supreme Court. He was one of the Fathers of Confederation,
and the first member for York County in the Dominion House.
One sister became Mrs. Charles Connell, wife of New Brunswick's Postmaster
General, who subsequently became first member for Carleton County
in the Dominion Parliament. W. Shives Fisher was the son of
William. One daughter of William's became the wife of David
Pottinger, C. M. G., the ex-efficient manager of the Intercolonial
Railway, another daughter married Sir George Parkin. One daughter
of the latter married Dr. Grant, head of Upper Canada College, Toronto.
Another married the Hon. Vincent Massey, the first Canadian Minister
to Washington, a third J. M. Macdonnell, General Manager of the National
Trust Company, the fourth Harry Wimperis, one of the leading men in
aviation in Great Britain.
Many years ago, Mr. William Shives Fisher, partner in the wholesale
Hardware firm of Emerson & Fisher Limited, Saint John, purchased
the Enterprise Foundry which had not been a profitable concern.
By his energy, foresight and capacity he developed it until it became
one of the leading manufacturing industries in this part of New Brunswick
and perhaps the Maritime Provinces. Since Mr. Fisher's death
in Saint John 1931, the business has been carried on by his three
sons, all residents of Sackville.
HARPER
Christopher Harper was a Yorkshireman. He came out with some
other immigrants in the Ship, "Albion," that sailed from Hull, in
March, 1774, He arrived at Fort Cumberland in May and was surprised
to find the ground covered with snow. He is said to have brought
with him a stock of cattle and horses. He first occupied a house
at the Fort that had been built by the Acadians. Two years after
he came, the Eddy force from New England appeared to capture Fort
Cumberland. They burned his house. Soon after he sold
his property at the Fort to his son-in-law, Gideon Palmer, who later
removed to Dorchester. Mr. Harper obtained the Mill property,
(Morice's at Sackville) and removed there. It had been the property
of the Ayer's family. Harper had carried on proceedings in the
Supreme Court for burning his house at the Fort. He was a very
strong and determined Loyalist and the Ayers family, or most of them,
were imbued with the New England spirit, of independence. In
1809, he obtained a grant of land from the Government of the Mill
Pond and a considerable area of wilderness and marsh. He had
a son, Christopher, a Captain in the British Army. He was ordered
to Quebec and left via the North Shore route, but he was never heard
of after he left Miramichi. Another son, William, occupied his
lands. A portion of them came into the hands of his son, Christopher,
and his grandson, Chipman. Mr. Harper is said to have owned
the first two wheel chaise that appeared in Westmorland County.
He was a magistrate and is credited with reading the lessons on Sundays
at the Fort when there was no minister. His daughter married
Capt. Richard Wilson.
The Memorial of Christopher Harper states in the year 1780 he obtained
a judgment in his Majesty's Supreme Court for the Province of Nova
Scotia against Elijah Ayer, and other defendants for the sum of 585
pounds to satisfy which an execution was levied upon the real estate
of the said Ayer, particularly upon three rights of land at Tantramar
in the Township of Sackville, No. 53, 54, and 55, of which same rights
a Sheriff's Deed was duly executed to your Memorialist -- that the
possession of the same rights being afterward wrongly withheld from
your Memorialist he was compelled for the recovery thereof to bring
an action of ejectment against the said Ayer in the Supreme Court
of this Province and recovered a judgment therein for the possession
of the said rights so conveyed to him by the said Sheriff's Deed.
That in executing the writ of possession under the said judgment your
Memorialist discovered that the lots No. 53 and 54 above mentioned
although they had been a long time in the possession of the said Ayer,
had never been granted but still remained the property of the Crown.
Your Memorialist therefore most humbly prays that your Excellency
will be pleased to order a grant to be made to him of the said rights
Nos. 53 and 54. Without them your Memorialist will remain a
very great Sufferer in consequence of the trespasses for which his
action above mentioned was originally brought in the province of Nova
Scotia and more especially as your Memorialist most humbly conceives
no other person has any fair pretention to a grant of the same right.
The present occupiers have possession thereof by the Connivance of
the said Ayer after the Commencement of the above actions at law by
your Memorialist for redress of the manifold injuries he had sustained.
Amos Botsford certified that the facts were correctly stated.
Ward Chipman certified in a letter to Jonathan Odell as to Harper's
rights.
Surveyor General Sproule certified Mr. Harper's claim as remarkably
good, grounded on his well known services at Fort Cumberland during
the rebellion, and the great losses he sustained at that time from
his rebellious neighbours, many of whom are still settled in the country.
Amos Botsford reported to the Government (1786):--
Soon after the levy of the execution in order to defend Harper the
inhabitants of Sackville resumed or escheated the mill and stream
and by a committee of three of which Mr. Cornforth was one, gave a
deed of the same to Nehemiah Ayer, son of Elijah, with covenants of
warrantry. Harper brought an action against the two Ayers, which
was then pending.
Mr. Botsford remarks that nothing is said in any of the grants about
the mill privilege. The Committee asserted the mill was not
kept in repair and it was sold by them on condition it should be kept
in repair.
MORICE'S MILL POND -- 1797
To His Excellency, Governor Carleton, Of His Majesty's Province of
New Brunswick, &c, &c, &c.
The Memorial of Charles Dixon, Esq., in behalf and at the request
of the Proprietors of the Township of Sackville respectfully sheweth:--
That there is a tract of land in the Town of Sackville, overflowed
with water. Originally at first settling of the Town, was set
apart for a Mill privilege for said Town, and as it has never been
granted and the Town of Sackville making a great progress in improvements,
and work of general utility, such as Fulling Mills, &c., much
wanted. Your Memorialist, in behalf of said Town, humbly begs
Your Excellency would grant to such persons in trust for said Town
as may meet Your Excellency's approbation, the above Tract of Land,
that improvements may not be retarded and Your Memorialist, as in
duty bound, will ever pray.
P.S. -- The particulars of what was done and what the Town would wish
to be done will accompany this, with the names of Proprietors of the
Town, at a public meeting respecting the above tract referred to your
Secretary. January, 1797; Amos Botsford, Esq., Step. Millidge,
Esq., John Millidge, Thomas Herret, Isaac Evens, George Boulmar, Wm.
Below, Simon Peefley, Step'n Below, Joseph Lamb, Charles Lewis, Titus
Thornton, John Fluther, Nicholas Simmons, Tho. Bowser, John Fawset,
John Aakinson, Frederick Delesdernier, William Harper, Joseph Lederoy,
Henry Delesdernier, John Wood, John Seares, Agnas Macfee, David Weton,
William Fawset, Jr., Tho. Anderson, John Anderson, John Patterson,
George Patterson, Tho. Anderson, Jr., Ebenezer Ward, Joseph Ward,
Samuel Hicks, James Hicks, Allinandrew Rancday, Richard Wilson, Esq.,
John Harper, John Ogden, Tho. Verlow, John Tilton, Tho. Bowser, Jr.,
Ebenezer Bowser, Captain Eddy.
Mr. Harper had three sons and four daughters. Besides Capt.
Christopher he had John and William, the former married a daughter
of Titus Thornton, and William, one of the Haliday family from Cobequid.
The former made a home for himself at Dorchester and the latter, the
farm occupied later, by the late I. C. Harper at Upper Sackville.
Mr. Harper's daughters married as follows: Charlotte to Bedford Boultenhouse;
Fanny to Thomas King; Annie married Major Richard Wilson and Catherine,
Gideon Palmer. The late Joseph C. Harper, who started the milling
business that gave the town of Port Elgin its first impulse, was a
grandson of Christopher; Frederick Harper, a prominent citizen of
Seattle, United States, a son of Joseph.
THOMAS HERRITT
In 1809, Thomas Herritt petitioned the government as follows: He is
fifty-six years of age, his family consists of a wife and ten children
the oldest of whom is twenty years of age. That about ten years
since your Memorialist obtained a grant under the great seal of this
Province for three hundred and sixty acres of wilderness lands which
he immediately settled, and cleared about twenty acres, which is now
under cultivation, and from which his family is principally supported,
that he has also built upon the same a dwelling house and barn.
That your Memorialist having no marsh land included in his said grant
has met with great difficulties in improving his farm having no other
means for his support than what are derived from his own exertions
and labor. He therefore begs leave to state that in front of
the lands granted to your Memorialist there are twenty-one acres of
marsh which is claimed by one James Rogers, who has never made any
improvement by diking or otherwise, that suffers the same to be in
its rude state tho' he has had possession of the same for nearly thirty
years past. That the said James Rogers also claims a seven acre
lot of which he has had possession for nearly the same time which
said lot still remains in its original wild state.
HICKS
Samuel Hicks was one of those Planters who came from New England in
1772. When Lord William Campbell in 1773 issued a grant of 51
shares of 500 acres each, Mr. Hicks was registered as owner of the
half of Lot 59 in Letter C Division. Mr. Hicks is the ancestor
of the Sackville Hicks family. The members have never shown
any disposal to shine in public life, but belong to that class fortunate
for the country, who as substantial farmers, are satisfied to pay
their bills and while living themselves let others live.
HUMPHREY
In a Memorial dated 4th of July, 1807, Jane Humphrey stated -- That
she came about nine years ago into this Province, a widow with five
children, fatherless and under age, three sons and two daughters,
herself and husband, natives of England.
That by the exertions of herself and family, her eldest son being
now about twenty-one years of age, by the aid of a little property,
they have gained a competent livelihood, having purchased a wood lot
of about forty acres in which she has built a small, comfortable house.
That in a late survey by James Watson, Esq., Deputy- Surveyor, for
the representatives of Benjamin Tower, deceased, there are 300 or
400 acres of vacant land, which are unappropriated and she prays for
a grant of the same. Her husband settled at Falmouth and died
there. Amos Botsford, the first speaker, endorses the application
in these words.
"The facts stated in this Memorial are just. The industry and
exertions of the family are such as to merit consideration and we
do not hesitate to say the prayer of the Memorial is just. The
lands were granted.
Mr. Botsford, in a letter to Mr. Sproule, the Surveyor-General, says
(4th July, 1807): Mrs. Humphrey's family are industrious, meritorious
and have a preferable claim -- this I pledge myself for. Mr.
Watson will do the same, and Mr. Estabrooks may be enquired of."
Her family consisted of five children: William, Christopher and John,
and two daughters, Elizabeth who married _____ Dixon and Jane who
married Mr. Morice.
LAWRENCE
The Lawrence family of Rhode Island belonged originally to Herefordshire,
England. There were three brothers, John, William and Thomas.
John came to Plymouth, Mass. in 1635. In 1674 he was Mayor of
New York and in 1691 Judge of the Supreme Court. They were descendants
from John Lawrence, buried in 1538, in the Abby of Ramses.
William Lawrence of Sackville, N.B., was in the fourth generation
from William Lawrence of St. Albans, Herefordshire.
Deacon William Lawrence came to Sackville from Providence, R.I., in
1760. He died on July 2nd, 1820. He married 1766, Sarah
Seaman of Sackville. His descendants were: First, William; second,
George; third, Nathan; fourth, James; fifth, Sarah; sixth, Elizabeth;
seventh, Hulda; eighth, Rebecca. William married Sarah King.
Their descendants were: first, William, second Moses; third, Nelson,
fourth, Hulda, fifth, Roxanna, sixth, Ann; seventh, Sarah; eighth,
Cynthia. James married Roxanna Bulmer, their descendants were:
first, David; second, Valentine, third, Thomas; fourth, Mary; fifth,
Elizabeth; sixth, Sarah. Sarah married James Estabrooks and
had three sons and five daughters. Elizabeth married Simon Outhouse
and had four sons and five daughters. George married Mary Eddy.
His descendants were: first, Eddy; second, Nathan; third, George;
fourth, William; fifth, Joseph; sixth, Rebecca; seventh, Olive, eighth,
Mary. Nathan married Ann Anderson, their descendants were: Caroline,
Mary, John, Ann. William married Pamela Stewart. Their
descendants were Eddy, William, Lois, Mary Jane.
George married Jacobina Barnes, their descendants were: first, Amos;
second, George, who married Miss Purdy; third, James; fourth, William;
fifth, Laban; sixth, Mary Jane; seventh, Elizabeth; eighth, Jacobina;
ninth, Clarissa; tenth, Emily; eleventh, Ploma; twelfth, Jenny.
Olive Morse, daughter of Joseph Morse, married Capt. Eddy. Their
daughter, Polly, married first, George Lawrence and afterwards _____
King. Eddy lived during the Revolutionary War at Eastport and
was engaged in privateering. One of his daughters married _____
Wilder. Their daughter married the late W. K. Reynolds of Lepreau.
OGDEN
The first Ogden of whom we have any record preferred to spend his
time in prison to swearing allegiance to Uncle Sam. He was a
British soldier; was captured by the rebels, imprisoned, but offered
his freedom if he would change his allegiance, but refused.
He was later exchanged. His nephew John, belonged to Long Island,
came to Sackville with the Loyalists, and occupied the farm later
owned by the late Bloomer Ogden. He married Nancy, a daughter
of John Fawcett. They had eight children: John, William, Henry,
Thomas, Bloomer, Robert, Ann and Jane. Capt. Henry Ogden had
two sons, Amos and William. Amos was very prominent in civic
and municipal affairs and a very useful public man. William
married a daughter of Mr. Bedford Barnes; a daughter, Halibartia,
married Mr. H. H. Parlee, a successful and leading barrister at Edmonton,
Alberta.
MARK PATTON
He states (1788) that there is a right or share of land in Sackville
No. 56 Letter B Division, which was set apart to make good some lots
that the mill pond overflowed by a committee at the first setting
of the town and given to one William Baker. The said Baker and
others put up a mill on the stream adjoining said No. 56. After
some time said Baker purchased the whole of the mill and sold it to
Nathaniel Mason; Mason sold it to Ayers and now by virtue of a judgment
obtained it belongs to Christopher Harper Esq. and said Baker sold
the land No. 56 to David Alvison which said land the subscriber bought
of said Alvison and it has been on record these thirteen years.
I have cleared and improved the same not doubting of a good title,
till Mr. Harper told me he had applied for a grant. As the land,
the mill and stream are different and no way connected nor in the
least interfere with each other, your Memorialist begs to have the
said No. 56 confirmed to him by a grant of the same and he will as
in duty bound ever pray.
Charles Dixon writes: "I have examined the particulars respecting
No. 56 and believe the above account to be just."
Mr. Sproul stated the lot had never been granted to any one.
ELIPHALET REED
Mr. Reed memorialized the Government on the 22nd of July, 1786.
He states that John Olney, Jr., drew lot No. 23 Letter C Division.
That soon thereafter, he went to New England 24 years ago. He
was then dead. Olney put Reed in possession who has put up a
dwelling house in which he resides, besides he has dyked some land
and fenced in land. He wanted a grant which was ordered, to
be issued to him.
THE ROGERS
Charles Dixon in a letter to the government dated 1809 thus describes
the Rogers brothers. The two Rogers have large tracts of land
in Sackville for upwards of forty years back and yet without house
or barn or stock or improvement of any sort, but as they found it
in a state of nature so it remains at this instant. In consequence
of the above neglect, your Memorialist is put to great inconvenience
as the trees are still standing on the same and is not far from the
dwelling house of your Memorialist, which said marsh and seven acre
lot belong to the right number twenty in Lot A Division, Sackville.
That the said James Rogers is a single man, has no family or fixed
residence and never has shown the least disposition to clear or settle
any land.
DANIEL SEARS
He states, 1805, your Memorialist purchases of one Cornwall a lot
of land which had been registered to his son George on which he paid
the sum of fifty pounds, for the purpose of erecting a Grist Mill,
which is much wanted for the use of the Settlement there.
That the said Samuel Cornwall gave to your Memorialist an obligation
(which is hereunto annexed) with a condition to procure for your Memorialist
a legal Title to the said lot. That the said Samuel Cornwall
in the beginning of this winter has again sold the same lot to one
Rhuben Lyon who came over from the River Saint John.
That the said Samuel Cornwall has refused to repay to your Memorialist
the purchase money paid for the said lot and is moreover in such indigent
circumstances as to preclude the chances of recovering the penalty
of the Bond.
That your Memorialist is a man with a family and has never drawn any
land from Government, and therefore humbly prays that the said lot
so by him purchased may be granted to him together with 100 acres
of the adjoining abandoned lot survey for Ezekeal Sears. And
as in duty bound, will ever pray.
Mr. Sproul states: "The lot surveyed for George Cornwall contains
200 acres, the abandoned lot joining it surveyed for Sears contains
500 acres of which 400 acres has been applied for by Josiah Burgess."
SEAMAN
Charles Seaman, a native of Rehoboth, Mass., was born in 1700, removed
to Sackville about the year 1761. He was a highly esteemed deacon
of the Baptist Church, Sackville, N.B. He was the father of
Job Seaman. When Job was about 18 years of age, the New Light
movement spread to Sackville. He became interested, was finally
converted and relating his experience to the Church at Sackville,
became baptized and after a while, determined to devote his time to
the ministry. He commenced his ministerial work in New Brunswick
but in 1772, he supplied the Baptist Church in North Attleborough,
Massachusetts, and in 1773, was ordained its Pastor. He continued
there fourteen years and witnessed two revivals and baptized more
than a hundred persons.
The following account of the Seaman family was written in 1906, by
Miss Elizabeth M. Seaman of Chicago.
REV. JOB SEAMAN'S FAMILY
"The names of Charles Gilbert, Nathan and Job Seaman. The latter
was a son of Charles, known as "Dea. Chas"; Charles Gilbert, Nathan,
John, James, Thomas W., Susannah, Mary Rosamond were children of Thomas
and Susannah Seaman of Swansea, Massachusetts in 1687, when they joined
the "Old Baptist Church" -- "The Myles Church". The children
were born from 1690 on. Thomas was called the "School Master"
of Swansea. I descend from the son John, married Priscilla Wood
and moved across the line to Scituate, R.I. about 1746.
Dea. Chas", born 1700, died 1771 in Sackville: he married in Rhode
Island, Hannah Bowen, and she died in 1798 in New Lindon, N.H., with
her son Rev. Job Seaman. He married Sarah Estabrooks; she was
a daughter of Valentine and Dorcas (Beverly) Estabrooks of Johnston,
Rhode Island. He was ordained 1773, at Attleborough, Massachusetts,
and was closely associated with Brown University in Providence.
He named a son after President Manning. He went as a Missionary
in New Hampshire 1788 and died there 1830. Mr. Manning Seaman
of Brookline, Massachusetts, was a descendant of Rev. Job Seaman.
Gilbert went to Nova Scotia and then returned to the Berkshires, Massachusetts.
His descendants are in Ohio. He had a son, Gilbert, that married
Martha Alger of Scituate, Rhode Island in 1758.
James had a large family in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The "Remington Typewriting" Seamans of Elmira, New York are descendants
of this James.
Mr. A. S. Klein, of Upper Berne, Pennsylvania, claims that all the
Seamans descend from one Nicholas Seaman of Switzerland, 1304.
The descendants of Capt. John Seaman, Long Island, 1660 (Noted Quaker),
claim that they are from Norfolk, England, and have this tradition
"The Seaman family were originally Danish."
In old Norse annals the members of families banded together for mutual
protection and plunder. In one of their excursions they landed
on the Eastern Coast of England, whipped the natives and held the
land. They remained in possession until subdued by Norman Conqueror.
They passed under the name "Seaman" (Men of the Sea). One of
these leaders joined the Crusaders under Richard Ceour de Lion, gained
great renown in the Holy Land and on his return from Jerusalem was
knighted by the King, given a coat of arms and a crest. The
name is spelled between Dutch and English, "Symnds."
A society exists of about 900 Seamans in Pennsylvania who descend
from Julian Luding Seaman of Germany. Mr. A. S. Klein of Upper
Berne, Pennsylvania, is Secretary.
Mr. Frank Haviland of York, Pennsylvania and Mrs. Mary P. Bunker of
Montagle, New York are authorities on Capt. John Seaman, 1660, L.
I. Quaker. This tradition is current among the descendants of
Thomas Seaman of Swansea, Massachusetts. "King James VI of Scotland
became King James I of England. The family were ardent Catholics,
but one member renounced the faith and was banished to Virginia, but
the King was reported to be interested in him and he was allowed to
take his money, treasures and silver. The King gave him a grant
of land in the new country, in part of which Charlston now stands.
The man had a wife and three sons. He died and she married again
and at her death her husband became guardian of the three sons.
He married again and had a family. The mother of _____ which
was anxious to get rid of the Stuart boys. The stepfather took
them to sea and bribed a Captain to take them to the Plymouth Rock
Country under the name of Seaman and get them a home and they would
be provided for. The oldest boy knew why he had been sent away
and when he became of age, he told his brothers of their property
in Virginia and he was going to claim it. He went in a vessel
that was never heard from. Two years later the second boy made
the attempt, but the vessel was wrecked. The third boy decided
that as both of his brothers had lost their lives in the attempt to
claim their property he would remain in the Plymouth Rock Country
and retain the name Seamans".
SMITH
Abner Smith, one of the leading citizens of Sackville, a generation
ago, built up a large shoe-making and tannery business. His
kindly disposition and genial manner will long keep his memory green
in the minds of the people of Sackville. The father of Abner
and James Smith was also named James. He was a non-commissioned
officer in the British Army and was present at the Battle of Corunna,
where he was wounded. He was mustered out of the service with
a small pension. He returned to Scotland where he taught school
for some time. He had three brothers, two of them, George and
John, were master mariners and followed the sea. The third one
was a surgeon in the King's Dragoon Guards. Honorable William
Crane, when he returned from one of his trips to England, said that
in a hotel in London, a young man who had learned he was from New
Brunswick, told him he had a brother living in a place called Sackville,
and that his name was James Smith. Mr. Crane at once established
the entente cordiale by informing him that he was from that place
and knew him well. From papers in the Smith family, it would
appear that the Smiths were stewards to the Earls of Fife. James
Smith landed at Halifax and made his way to Shemogue in the Parish
of Botsford, where he started to carve out a farm for himself in the
wilderness, but imagining Sackville was a better location, he obtained
a grant of lands from the Crown there. The lands are still in
the hands of his descendants.
Abner had a brother Alexander, who engaged in the harness making business
in Sackville. Mr. Abner Smith's business descended to his son,
James.
ELIZABETH SMITH
Elizabeth Experience Smith was married five times, Patrick Ward, Abel
Gore, Foster, Sole Trites, S. Siddall.
By Abel Gore she had three children, one son, Abel Gore, two daughters,
Deborah, who married Lewis Trites and Pollisene who married a Trueman.
Abel Gore's sisters were Mrs. Starr, Mrs. DeWolfe, Mrs. Ratchford,
Mrs. Bishop, Mrs. Newcombe. Abel Gore had a brother in Holland
named Asaph Gore. The Gores came from Ireland County Mayo.
The Gores are descendants of John Gore, England.
RICHARD THOMPSON
In 1788, Richard Thompson stated in a petition for a grant of land,
he had been a settler in this County for nearly fourteen years and
still disposed to remain in the same, but never had as yet received
any grant of land from Government. Beg leave to address your
Excellency for an Escheat of number forty-six and one half of number
forty-four in letter B Division. Westmorland the other half
of forty-four, your Memorialist being in possession of by virtue of
his father-in-law's will, and as your Memorialist has a family of
seven children.
TOLAR THOMPSON
Tolar and his brother, John, came from Ireland. John married
Mrs. Grace, the widow of Michael Grace. Grace was said to have
been the chief gardener of Lord Tolar -- Earl of Norwood. Tolar
at first settled at Wood Point and then moved to Tantramar, where
he soon obtained a reputation as a skilful marsh maker. Tolar
left four sons, John, Benjamin, Joseph and William, all married and
left families.
By tradition, Tolar Thompson was a grandson of Lord Tolar, Chief Justice
of the Court of Common Pleas, Ireland, his father having eloped with
the Judge's daughter.
TOLAR THOMPSON AND THE MARSHES
There are about forty miles of marshes abreast of Sackville which
are the source of immense wealth to the community. The Acadian
French drained and cultivated districts between the creeks.
The great body of it was untouched by them. When Tolar Thompson
came to Sackville the vast surface was composed of floating moss,
swamps, lakes and oozing streams, through which fresh water forced
its way to the Bay. Mr. Thompson was the first man to appreciate
the agricultural value of this area and conceived the idea of making
drains to carry off the fresh water and replacing it with the tides
to make deposits of mud and create firm land. He was followed
in this work by the Botsfords and Fawcetts as marsh-makers.
The late W. B. Fawcett visited the Acadian Settlements in Louisianna
to inspect the methods there adopted of building levees against the
Mississippi floods and also cultivating the lands. He found
they had discarded the time honored dyking space and adopted a system
of power machinery.
In a Memorial to the government Tolar Thompson states that he is thirty-six
years old, and has a wife and four male and three female children.
That he is desirous of obtaining a certain proportion of the vacant
sunken bog in said Sackville, hereinafter described, for the sole
purpose of enabling him to erect fences to keep the cattle from trespassing
on lands which he already holds by purchase in that neighborhood,
and as some compensation for a road he has undertaken to make, and
on which he has already expended three hundred and sixty-four pounds
of currency of his own money on the said road, leading from Great
Bridge River to point Midgic,--to wit commencing at the eastwardly
line of land granted to Charles Dickson, Esq., on the Southerly shore
of Goose Lake so called, thence running along the South shore of said
lake to line of the Township of said Sackville, thence north on said
line to the woods; thence westwardly down the shore to Point Midgic;
thence northwestwardly in a direct line to the southwest end of Houston's
Island (so- called) thence southwestwardly until it strikes the point
of land joining Log Cove (so-called) thence along the rear line of
land formerly granted to James Estabrooks, Esq. and two others, and
also on the rear line of lands granted to Charles Dixon, Esq. to the
first mentioned bounds.
That more than one half of the above described tract is a sunken mossy
bog, in which a pole may (with ease) be run down to the depth of ten
feet or more, and consequently, of no use whatever, but that above
specified.
That the remainder of said tract is covered with water. That
he holds by purchase, the Lot No. 60 in Letter C Division, bounded
by a brook, on the North West side, which brook prevents him from
making a fence on his own ground that might stand; that he is obliged
to erect his fence on a small strip of land containing about one acre,
lying between said brook and the road leading to the new West Marsh,
extending from the bend of the road to the Old Abideau (so-called).
Your Memorialist therefore most Humbly prays that Your Honor will
duly consider the expense that he has been at in making the road above
said, and will grant to him such part of the sunken bog as is herein
before described, as your Honor may think meet.
And as in duty bound will ever pray.
TOLAR THOMPSON.
February 26, 1817.
P.S.:--Your Memorialist would further represent to Your Honor that
he has never drawn any land before, except a small Lake and two lots
of wilderness land, belonging to the right and share of No. 10 in
Letter C the whole of which right was formerly granted to Robert Lattimore.
The Front described in this Memorial contains about 700 acres, most
part of it is low sunk marsh.
GEO. SPROULE.
The facts mentioned in the aforegoing Memorial are correctly stated.
The Memorialist has been engaged for three years past in cutting a
large ditch, at the Head of the Sackville Marsh, which has and will
be attended with great public benefit, and has cost him much time
and expense. The Memorialist is a person of enterprise and industry,
and will by his exertions, reclaim much of the sunken bog applied
for, being amply possessed with the means.
W. BOTSFORD.
The undersigned being acquainted with the tract mentioned in the foregoing,
do hereby certify that the facts mentioned in the foregoing Memorial
are correctly stated. And also that it is their opinion that
the Road mentioned in the said Memorial may be completed for the sum
of sixteen hundred and thirty-six pounds, in addition to what has
been already expended by your Honor's Memorialist, and as the Road
mentioned in the Memorial will open a communication to a very large
tract of vacant or unsettled land, of a very superior quality, and
of great value, (when the road is completed) which for want of said,
must remain a wilderness, and of little or no value, as there is no
other way of convenient communication, with said land. We therefore
beg your Honor in Council to take into consideration the enterprise
and exertion of your Memorialist, which is most certainly a most valuable
enterprise, and if successfully pursued, (as doubt not it will be)
it will be a very great advantage to the Province at large, and to
that part of it in particular, and we beg therefore that your Honor
in Council will comply with the request of your Memorialist.
BENJAMIN WILSON J. ESTABROOKS,
RUFUS SMITH,
JOHN CHAPMAN.
UPHAM
The first wife of Judge Upham was the daughter of Hon. John Murray.
She died in New York in 1782. In 1792 he married Mary, a daughter
of the Hon. Joshua Chandler, of New Haven, a Loyalist. The service
was performed by James Law, J.P. at the Fort.
Stephen Milledge, of Westcock, farmer, merchant and land surveyor,
married a daughter of the Hon. Joshua Chandler. His daughters
married (1) Hon. E. B. Chandler; (2) Dr. Marmaduke Backhouse; (3)
Capt. Mansfield Cornwall.
Amos Botsford's son, William, had eight sons and one daughter.
The latter married the Hon. R. L. Hazen of Hazen's Castle, Saint John.
The sons' names were:
(1) Hazen, who lived and died in the Westcock House. He at the
time represented the county in the Legislature.
(2) Amos, who was a member of the Legislative Council of New Brunswick,
and later became a Senator of Canada.
(3) Chipman, a lawyer who lived at Dalhousie and was at one time a
member of the Legislature from Restigoushie.
(4) George, a lawyer. He was clerk of the Legislative Council
at New Brunswick.
(5) LeBaron, a medical doctor at St. John.
(6) Charles, who went to and lived in United States.
(7) Bliss, a lawyer elected three times to the Legislature and became
Judge of the County Court of Westmorland.
(8) Blair, who for years was Sheriff of Westmorland and then became
Warden of the Penitentiary.
These men were all strikingly large and physically vigorous.
Stephen Milledge, who was Crown Land Surveyor, Sheriff of Westmorland,
and probably the first trader in Sackville, lived at Westcock.
Hazen married a daughter of Mansfield Cornwall and had one son, Milledge,
who was lost at sea. Amos Edwin married late in life, the widow
of Joseph F. Allison, (nee Mary Cogswell of Kings, N.S.)
Chipman married a daughter of Mansfield Cornwall. George married
at Fredericton, Frances, a daughter of Henry G. Clopper. Bliss
married Jane, daughter of Ichabod Lewis. Blair married Miss
Cogswell of Cornwallis, Kings, N.S.
Edward Barron Chandler studied law with William Botsford at Westcock
and married Phoebe, daughter of Stephen Milledge. Another daughter
of Stephen Milledge married Dr. Marmaduke Backhouse, whose son, William,
was for many years Registrar of Deeds, Dorchester. The family
is extinct. Another daughter married into the Cornwall family.
Amelia Cornwall married David Swayne, Collector of Customs at Richibucto.
She with her family removed to United States.
Hon. R. L. Hazen had two children, Captain Frank Hazen and Islem.
The latter married Charles U. Chandler of Dorchester and died without
issue. Captain Hazen, who inherited Hazen Castle, Saint John,
also died without issue. His cousin, Chief Justice, Sir Douglas
Hazen, inherited his estate.
WARD
Jonathan Ward was a native of Yorkshire, England. He was in
the army, operating in America in 1755-59. He was struck by
a bullet in the hip but he died at the age of 97 years in 1827.
He and his wife, No. 2, are interred in the graveyard at Jolicure.
His wife, Tabitha French, followed him to this country. She
brought with her her waiting maid. She showed unusual devotion
to him. After her death, he married again, and had a family
of four girls and four boys. One daughter, Mary Ward, of the
first marriage, grew up and married an officer at the Fort, named
Reynolds. A daughter of theirs married Nathan Merrill of Sackville,
and raised a large family. Hannah, another daughter, married
Abenezer Bowser. Stephen married Glenora Folson and lived at
Point de Bute on the Ward farm. Henry married a Miss Rayworth
at Cape Tormentine. William and Jesse enlisted in the army and
left the country.
Jonathan Ward's father was John Ward, came from Peekskill on the Hudson.
His son, John, born in 1752, and with his sons, Charles and William,
were pioneer settlers at Saint John. The late Charles Ward,
of Upper Sackville, had a picture of John Ward. The older generation
of Wards raised families, Nehemiah, a nephew of Jonathan, raised seventeen
children, four boys and thirteen girls.
CAPTAIN RICHARD WILSON
In a letter to the Lieut.-Governor in 1788, Capt. Richard Wilson states
that he served His Majesty in the Army during the last French War,
and in the late war in America was a Captain in the Royal Fencible
American Regiment, notwithstanding which he has never yet received
any grant of lands from the Crown. That your Memorialist is
desirous of settling with his family in the county of Westmorland
if he can procure a grant of lands there to enable him to support
himself, that the lots Nos. 62, 63 and 64 in the Tantramar Division
Letter B in the Township of Sackville are yet ungranted as are also
the lots Nos. 22, 23, and 24 in the same division which last lots
have been applied for by Charles Dixon, Esq., but are now relinquished
by him in favour of your Memorialist.
Captain Wilson obtained the grant.
THE WOOD FAMILY
Mr. Mariner Wood was the son of Josiah Wood, who was a Loyalist, he
was an educated man and by trade a fuller. He at one time operated
a fulling mill at Newport, N.S. and later one at Dorchester, where
he also taught school. The Wood family being a pretty extensive
one, it has been difficult to trace definitely the lineage of the
local one, but it seems probable that the first Josiah was a son of
Thomas Wood, of Rowley, Massachusetts. The mother of Mr. Mariner
Wood was Sarah, a daughter of Mariner Ayer. Her mother was Amy
Estabrooks, daughter of James Estabrooks, a J. P. and at one time
a representative in the General Assembly. Besides Mariner she
had a daughter named Ann. After the death of her husband, Josiah,
she married 'Squire Philip Palmer, M.P.P. Among their descendants
were: Acalus L., a very prominent lawyer, Member of Parliament, and
later a Judge of the Supreme Court; Charles G., Land Surveyor at Sackville;
Stephen, a merchant at Dorchester; Martin, a lawyer at Hopewell; Doctor
Rufus Palmer, also a resident of Albert County, both of the latter
represented Albert County in the Assembly. Mr. Mariner Wood
was an able business man. He built up a large business in country
trade; he was a shipbuilder in connection with Charles Dixon.
He opened up business from the West Indies. He married Cynthia
Louise, a daughter of Stephen Trueman, of Point de Bute. He
had two sons, Josiah and Charles H., the latter after attaining manhood,
went abroad for his health and died in England from a pulmonary complaint.
Mr. Wood died in 1875 and left an ample fortune and a prosperous business
to his son, Josiah. He was a prominent Methodist and Treasurer
of Mount Allison Institution. While avoiding public life himself,
he was an active supporter of his half brother, Mr. A. L. Palmer,
in his elections in support of the Liberal-Conservative party in its
struggle for Confederation, against Sir Albert Smith, the leader of
the Anti- Confederation party.
Mr. Wood's success was largely due to his brother-in-law, Mr. Trueman,
named after the Rev. Robert Alder. Mr. Trueman being the personification
of integrity, possessed in a remarkable degree, the respect and confidence
of the community.
============END=============
"History of Sackville" Editor and Transcriber:
Carol Lee Dobson
Additional Editing and Proofing:
Penelope Chisholm
___________
September 1998
Published by The Chignecto Project
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