History of Halifax City

1805. Press warrants were granted by the Council on the 6th May to Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell, then in command of the station, for fourteen days. He afterwards demanded an extension of his warrant for six months, which was refused by the Council at their meeting on the 18th. In their reply to the Admiral they mention that the number of seamen engaged in the West India trade, etc., had been so reduced by captures, imprisonment and other causes that there were not sufficient in the port to man the vessels, and that all the seamen to be found in the town would not now be enough to meet half the demand for one sloop-of-war in the fleet. Moreover, that there were many at the time in French prisons whose families were supported by charity in the town. This, together with the high rate of wages in the United States, had reduced the commerce of the port to the greatest necessity. Finally, that the execution of impress warrants on shore were attended with much disturbance and annoyance to the laboring poor and others not fit for service, and the Council were of opinion that it should only be resorted to on the most urgent occasions and when advantage from it was to be reasonably looked for.

Mitchell, finding he could not prevail on the Council, undertook, in the following October, to send press gangs through the town without warrant. An armed party of sailors and marines from the Cleopatra, frigate, under the command of one or more officers, were sent out. The citizens resisted and a riot ensued, which resulted in the death of one person and the wounding of several others. One of these encounters occurred in the store of Messrs. Forsyth & Co., where a number of merchant sailors had secreted themselves. General Wentworth called a meeting of the Council on 23rd November, and it was ordered that the Solicitor-General should proceed to prosecute all persons belonging to the ships war who had been engaged in impressments. The Attorney General, R. J. Uniacke, Mitchell's father-in-law, was in England at the time, on leave of absence. The Admiral's gang had broken open the store of Forsyth & Co. under the pretense of looking for deserters, and Sir Andrew defended his conduct under the authority of a warrant from the Admiralty, but he was condemned in heavy damages for his illegal proceedings.

The town artillery at this time consisted of three companies commanded by Captains Charles Morris, Bremner and Fillis, and there was another under Capt. McIntosh of Spryfield, which did duty at York Redoubt, composed principally of market fisherman who were regularly trained to battery exercises. Governor Wentworth appears to have been assiduous in his efforts to keep up the local defences of the town, and to have placed much reliance on the volunteer companies for that purpose.

There was a plentiful harvest this year throughout the whole province. Provisions of all sorts were plentiful in the town, so much so that the arrival of the fleet and a large export to Bermuda and Newfoundland did not augment the prices. The importations of flour from the United States, both this and the following year, were very extensive.

In October an unfortunate French prisoner named Pierre Paulin was executed on the common for the murder of a fellow prisoner. The Governor and Council refused to reprieve him.

In December the town was illuminated and other joyful demonstrations made by the inhabitants on the news of the Battle of Trafalgar.

1806. In the month of February, Lieut. – General Gardner, the commandant of the garrison, died at Halifax; his funeral was attended with much military pomp and ceremony. He was buried under old St. Paul's Church.

A general election occurred in 1806, when Edward Mortimer of Pictou, Simon B. Robie, S. G. W. Archibald and William Lawson were returned for the county, and John George Pyke and Foster Hutchinson for the town. Cochran, the old member, petitioned against Lawson on the ground of qualification.

The Government House remained still unfinished. The sum of £4,292 had been expended on the building since the last session, which was £2,000 more than had been voted.

On the 29th April Halifax was thrown into alarm by the appearance of a number of large vessels in the offing. Signal guns were fired from the alarm posts in the harbor, and the military and militia were under arms. There was another alarm of French invasion on or about the 20th May, when several large vessels were again reported off the harbor. The militia of the town were again assembled, but the greater part of them were without arms. Governor Wentworth had previously made several applications to the Imperial Government for arms for the Halifax Militia, but it does not appear that much attention was paid to his solicitations.

Among the advertisements which appeared in the Gazette this year was notice of a periodical publication to be called the "Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Magazine or Historical Library," which was offered for sale at the book stores of Messrs. Morrison, Bennet, Edmund Ward and William Minns. Morrison kept his book and stationer's shop at the corner of Duke and Granville Streets, afterwards known as Joseph Robinson's hat store, now owned by Mr. Kiezer. He was succeeded in his business by George Eaton, who was the principal book seller and stationer in the town for several years. This old building, with others along the upper side of Granville Street was destroyed by fire about 1827. At this time there was a law in existence to prevent persons building wooden houses in the town above a certain height. The present wooden building at the corner was then erected under this law and did not exceed what by measurement was deemed one story and a half. Several stone and brick buildings were erected in consequence of this law. That to the south of Kiezer's corner occupied by Mr. Simonds and others, another in the same block built by the late William Macara, druggist, and the large double three story stone building in Barrington Street, nearly opposite St. Paul's, were all erected about this time by Mr. Matthew Richardson on the site of the late Andrew Belcher's garden. Several old gamble roofed houses, the remnant of the first settlement, were destroyed by the above-mentioned fire.

On 22nd December, the American Government laid an embargo on all vessels within American ports bound to any foreign places, and the officers of the Customs throughout the States were directed to refuse clearances to all such vessels. This was a great check to trade, and Halifax felt the result in the scarcity of provisions and particularly of flour, which went up immediately to £5 per bbl., the inhabitants having been in a great measure dependent on the States for that article.

A sailor named John Wilson had been taken from the American Frigate Chesapeake on charges of mutiny and desertion. He was tried in Halifax by Court Martial on board the Flag Ship Belleisle on 26th August, condemned and executed 31st. Two other seamen were in October following executed on board the Jason, Capt. Cochran, for mutiny.

The following list of town officers appointed by the Grand Jury for the Town in 1806, will be found interesting:

The Grand Jury present to the Worshipful Court the following as proper persons to serve as Town Officers for the ensuing year, in the different offices to which they are named, viz:

William Lyon, County Treasurer; Henry Yeomans, Town Clerk; Samuel Muirhead, Stephen Oxley, Clerks of the Market; Richard Woodin, Michael Denny, William Hogg, Enoch Wiswell, Surveyors of Lumber and Fence Viewers; Joseph Hamilton, James Romans, Sealers of Leather; Nicholas Vass, Thomas Adams, Patrick Ryan, William Ford, John Knowdie, Frederick Stormy, Surveyors of Pickled Fish; Thomas Adams, William Ford, Cullers of Dry Fish; Nicholas Vass, William Ford, Frederick Stormy, Gaugers of Oil; John Fleigher, Gauger: Henry Shiers, Richard Woodin, William Graham, Measurers of Wood; Francis Le'Guire, Measurer of Wood and Coals for the Fuel Yard; Richard Woodin, Henry Shiers, William Graham, Measurers of Grain; Richard Woodin, Henry Shiers, William Graham, William Hogg, Measurers of Salt and Coal; John Brown, William Ford, Cullers of Hoops and Staves; James King, Edward King, Weighers of Hay; John Metchler, Surveyor of Bricks and Lime; W. G. Forsyth, Lawrence Hartshorne, John Sullivan, John William Morris, Hogreaves; John Phelan, Pound Keeper; Thomas Stone, John Atkins, John Mansfield, David Fletcher, William Shea, George Isles, Peter Laffen, Edward Herbert, John Clarke, Richard Munday, Henry Wright, Hugh Chisholm, Andrew Bowers, Francis Wade, Alexander Cummings, Patrick Tobin, Constables; Jacob Michael, Constable for Dutch Town; Peter Shaffro, Constable for Dutch Village; John Mc'Alpin, Overseer of Highways for Dutch Village and Pen.; Jacob Bower, George M'Intosh, Overseers for Harriot and Spryfields; William Adams, Constable for Harriot and Spryfields; Peter Vambolt, John Duffeney, Constables for Margaret's Bay; Christopher Boutteleer, Overseer of Highways for Margaret's Bay; Frederick Boutteleer, Measurer of Cordwood for Margaret's Bay; George Duffeney, Fence Viewer for Margaret's Bay; George Mc'Intosh, Overseer of Highways from Spryfield to Catch Harbour; William Keys, Overseer of Highways from Windsor Road to Gay's River; Robert Fletcher, Terence Canty, Constables for the Shubenacadie Fisheries; Edmund Bambrick, Jonathan Shelling, George Hiltz, Overseers of Roads from Sackville Bridge to the extremity of the County; Jacob Haverstock, Overseer of Roads from Nine Mile River to Hammond's Plain; George Dunn, George Hiltz, Surveyors of Lumber for Nine Mile River to Hammond's Plain and Windsor Road; Colin Grant, Christopher Shultz, Robert Anderson, Fence Viewers; Christopher Haverstock, Joseph Fielding, Jacob Pentz, Constables for Windsor Road and Hammond Plains; Henry Bambrick, George Fultz, Hogreaves; John Shultz, George Hershman, Hugh Bambrick, Assessors of the County Rates; Henry Miller, Pound Keeper; Edward Foster, Surveyor of Highways from Dartmouth Town Plot to the Basin; Samuel Hamilton, Constable from Dartmouth Town Plot to the Basin; Jon. Tremain, Sr., William Penny, Surveyors of Highways, Dartmouth Town Plot; David Larnard, Constable, Dartmouth Town Plot; James Munn, Pound Keeper, Dartmouth Town Plot; Henry Wisdom, Surveyor of Highways from the Ferry up the Preston Road to Tanyard; Mark Jones, Constable; John Wisdom, Hogreave; Mark Jones, Pound Keeper; George Simpson, Surveyor of Highways and Fence Viewer from Tanyard to Simpson's; Hugh Ross, Constable; Thomas Settle, Surveyor of Highways and Fence Viewer from Simpson's eastward to the new bridge; Philip Molyneux, Constable; Timothy Crane, Surveyor of Highways for all Preston, and Fence Viewer; John Richardson, Constable; Thomas Settle, Surveyor of Lumber and Bark; George Horn, Hogreave; John Stewart, Surveyor of Highways from Cole Harbour to Turner's; Robert Collins, Surveyor of Highways from Turner's to Jones'; Robert Turner, Constable; Peter Mc'Nabb, Surveyor of Highways, Eastern Passage; Benjamin Horn, Constable; Adam Archibald, Musquodoboit, Surveyor of Roads; William Gould, Constable; George M'Leod, Robert Nelson, Fence Viewers; Hugh Archibald, Pound Keeper; Archibald Crawford, Overseer of Roads for Meagher's Grant; Alex. Grant, Constable for Meagher's Grant; Peter Ogilvie, Overseer of Roads from Meagher's Grant to George Anderson's; Peter Gordon, Constable for Meagher's Grant to George Anderson's; Jacob Bayer, Overseer of Roads from Musquodoboit Harbour; John Turple, Constable for Musquodoboit Harbour; George Bayer, Overseer of Roads for Pitpiswick; George Baker, Constable for Pitpiswick.

March 5, 1806. WILLIAM LYON, Foreman.

On 11th May, 1807, it having been reported to His Majesty's Council that the Grand Jury and Sessions had refused to accept a grant of the piece of land on which the old Market House stood, upon the conditions which had been inserted in the grant, (probably on it being vested in Commissioners) the Governor and Council refused to alter the grant, and if not accepted by the Session it was ordered that the old building be taken down and the ground cleared and remain under the control of the Commissioners of Public Markets. This was the site on which the late City Court House was afterwards erected.

1808. In the month of April, 1808, the new Governor, Sir George Provost, arrived to take the place of Sir John Wentworth, who was allowed a retiring pension of £500 per annum. He brought with him the 7th, the 8th and the 23rd Regiments, consisting of about 3000 men, with Brigadier General Houghton. The Governor came in H. M. Ship Penelope. At six o'clock on the same evening of his arrival, he landed at the King's Wharf under a salute from the Batteries. Sir John Wentworth was at his villa on the Basin – the Prince's Lodge as it was called – when his successor arrived, and did not receive the official letter announcing his appointment until 18 days after the arrival of Sir George Provost. On the 13th April, Sir John came to town and the new Governor was sworn into office.

It was deemed advisable that some trusty person should be sent to the United States to obtain information as to warlike preparations then progressing in that country. Mr. John Howe, the postmaster at Halifax, was chosen. He proceeded to Boston and afterwards visited other parts of the Union. Mr. Howe was again dispatched on a second mission late in the fall, and on his return made a report to the Lieutenant Governor.

Mr. Samuel Hood George, afterwards Sir Samuel, came out with Sir George Provost. He was appointed Provincial Secretary, and afterwards represented the County of Halifax in General Assembly. He was the eldest son of Commodore Sir Denis George, who married Miss Cochran of Halifax, and succeeded his father in the Baronetcy. This young man died early of consumption, and was succeeded both in the Baronetcy and the office of Secretary by his youngest brother Sir Rupert D. George, who remained in office until responsible government was established in the province.

The ships Milan, Observateur and Centurian were stationed at Halifax during the winter. The Centurian was the ship in which Lord Anson circumnavigated the globe. She remained in the harbour as a receiving and store ship for many years, and was broken up at the Dockyard somewhere between the years 1820 and 1823.

Among the visitors to Halifax this year was the notorious Aaron Burr, late Vice President of the United States. He passed under an assumed name.

1809. The winter of 1808-9 was remarkably severe. During the month of February the cold continued so long that the great expenditure of fuel was felt by all classes of the community. Much distress prevailed among the poor, and large sums of money were raised by subscription for their relief.

An expedition had been fitted out at Halifax, under the command of Sir George Provost, for the capture of the French Island of Martinique. It was composed of the 7th, 8th and 23rd Regiments with a Brigade of Artillery. Having succeeded in this enterprise they returned to Halifax on the 15th April. The gentlemen of the town gave a ball at Mason Hall in honor of their return. Three soldiers of the 7th Fusiliers were the only men killed in the expedition, the place having surrendered immediately on the attack being made. A tablet to the memory of these three soldiers may be seen in the gallery of the Round Church in Brunswick Street.

The Harbour was again this year the scene of another of those Naval executions, which were performed with so much severity during the time of war. A mutiny had occurred, or was supposed to have occurred, on board the Columbine on the 1st August, off St. Andrews. Four seamen and two marines were found guilty and executed on the 18th September. They were afterwards hung in chains on Meagher's Beach.

One of the most atrocious cases of piracy and murder on record occurred this autumn on the coast to the eastward of Halifax. The vessel was the Three Sisters, of Halifax, owned by Jonathan and John Tremain, merchants of the town, commanded by Captain John Stairs, brother of the late Honorable William Stairs, formerly president of the Union Bank. She was on her way from Gaspé Bay to Halifax with a cargo of fish. Edward Jordan, who had been formerly owner of this vessel or in some way concerned with her, took passage for himself and wife and four children with Capt. Stairs for Halifax. The following account is taken from a Halifax newspaper of 16th October, 1809:

"Monday, October 16, 1809. – The following are the particulars received from Capt. Stairs, of the piracy and murder that took place on board the schooner Three Sisters, belonging to this place, some account of which we gave in our last.

"This most atrocious act of piracy and murder, of which none could be guilty but the most diabolical incendiaries in human shape, took place, as has been stated, on the 13th ult. off Cape Canso, on the coast of this province, on board the schooner Three Sisters, bound and belonging to this place from the Bay Cheleaur. Edward Jordan, who has been represented as a passenger, and who had some interest in the vessel, appears to have been the exciter of this act of barbarity. Jordan having corrupted the mate, Kelly, who joined him in effecting his wicked intention, they secured the arms, and availing themselves of that moment most likely to assist their horrid design, which was when Capt. Stairs was below with one of his men,65 shot the other man who was on deck, and taking aim at Capt. Stairs through the sky-light with a pistol, wounded him in the face and shot the man who was near him in the breast. Capt. Stairs immediately ran on deck, where he met Jordan with a pistol in one hand and an ax in the other. Capt. Stairs then retreated into cabin and searched for his pistols but found them taken from his chest with a sword; finding himself destitute of arms he again ascended the deck and saw Jordan giving the fatal blow to the man who was on the deck, when he turned from him and presented another pistol at Capt. Stairs, which flashed when they closed and the pistol in the struggle was thrown overboard. The man who had received the wound below having reached the deck, made an effort to assist his captain, but in his attempt, from weakness, fell on his face, where he was shortly after dispatched with an ax by Jordan. In the scuffle Capt. Stairs called upon his mate (Kelly) for assistance, whom he perceived was in the act of loading another pistol, but who made him no answer. At which time Jordan's wife, a fit companion for so base a monster, attacked him with a boat hook which he parried with his arm, and after much exertion disengaged himself, and seizing one of the hatches, jumped into the sea. The wind blowing a strong breeze, the vessel soon left him to his precarious fate, where he remained about three hours, when he was taken up by the schooner Eliza Stoddard, of Hingham, in an almost lifeless condition from wet and cold."

The vessel was captured and brought into Halifax, and Jordan and his wife placed on their trial before a special commission for the trial of piracies on the high seas on 15th November. The Commission of Judges who sat on this occasion were Lieut. – Gen'l Sir Geo. Provost, Vice Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, Chief Justice Blowers; Councillors, Butler, Wallace, Brenton, Hill, Uniacke and Morris; Capt. Lloyd, R. N., Capt. Lord James Townshend, R. N. and Capt. Simpson, R. N., Sir Samuel Hood George, Provincial Secretary, T. N. Jeffery, the Collector of Customs. Doctor Cooke, the Admiralty Judge, refused to attend because the Commissioners would not allow him precedence of the Governor with a veto on the proceedings of the Court. No jury was called under this commission. Jordan was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, which sentence was carried into execution on the beach some distance below Fresh Water Bridge, and the body was afterwards gibbeted on the shore some distance further down. The wife was acquitted, and a subscription was raised in the town to send her to Ireland. Dr. Burke, the Roman Catholic clergyman, Dr. Archd. Gray, minister of St. Matthew's, and Dr. Stanser, Rector of St. Paul's, acted as a committee for the purpose. The court assembled again a short time after, for the trial of the mate, Kelly, who was convicted, but afterwards pardoned.66

This being the 50th year of the reign of King George III, a jubilee was celebrated at Halifax on the 23rd October, with great ceremony.

The market slip, the new fish market and meat market were all repaired and improved this year at the cost of £571, £500 of which had been voted by the Assembly for the purpose. The taxes gathered in the town for liquor licenses in 1809 amounted to £1400.

The Fire Insurance Association of Halifax was established on 24th April, 1809. The first directors were Andrew Belcher, Charles Hill, Lawrence Hartshorne, Foster Hutchinson, James Fraser, George Grassie and H. H. Cogswell. Mr. J. H. Fliegar was secretary and the office was kept in his house in Hollis Street, where it continued to be kept for a great many years. He was succeeded by Mr. William Newton, at whose death Mr. Tremain was appointed.

Meetings of the Committee on Trade were held during the autumn. The Halifax Marine Insurance Company first opened their office for business in Water Street, opposite the fuel yard, this year. The committee of management were George Grassie, Jesse Woodward, Garret Miller, James Kerby, Lawrence Doyle, Lewis E. Piers, John Osborne, Thomas Deblois and John Albro'.

Among the merchants of Halifax at this time we find, in addition to the above, the names of Wm. Stairs, Wm. Bremner, Hartshorne & Boggs, at the old corner of George and Granville Streets, Kidston, Dobson & Co., Richard Kenefick, who had lately brought out Irish linen goods, Forman & Grassie, Shipping Merchants; William Bowie, afterwards a partner of Stephen W. Deblois, and who lost his life in a duel with the late Judge Richard Uniacke, Alexander Izat, Dry Goods, at corner opposite two pumps, corner of Hollis and Duke Streets, now occupied by the People's Bank; Martin Gay Black, Dry Goods; Geo. N. Russell, afterwards Wallace & Russell, Hardware Merchant, corner of Hollis and Prince Streets, now occupied by the Union Bank building; Temple and Lewis E. Piers, Ship Chandlery. This firm several years later purchased the irregular shaped lot adjoining the City Court House lately occupied by Stairs, Son & Morrow, removed a range of one story buildings or sheds known as the Ratstail, and erected a building in which they carried on the ship chandlery business until the establishment was purchased by Mr. William Stairs. Henry Austin, afterwards a partner with William Stairs in ship chandlery, Water Street, south of the fuel yard, and John Owen, shop keeper and shipping merchant.

There was a small newspaper, quarto size, called the "Novator" established or published at Halifax in 1809 by one James Bagnall in Sackville Street. It was not of long continuance.

Jones Fawson was Sheriff of Halifax this year.

From the commencement of the year 1810 until the month of April, 1812, there was a constant apprehension of a rupture with the United States. The garrison and navy enlivened the town by their frequent balls and festivities. The Rockingham Club, before mentioned, continued to have their weekly dining on Saturday at the old Rockingham Hotel on the Basin. It was then customary for the merchants and other principal inhabitants, occasionally to give public dinners to the generals, admirals and principal officers of both army and navy. These dinners, as well as those of the National Societies, were held at the old Mason Hall, that building then containing the most spacious and convenient room in the city.

In January, 1811, the merchants of Halifax petitioned the King, through the Lieutenant-Governor, to permit the coal mines in Nova Scotia to be opened and worked under regulations. A proposal was made this year for the formation of a Joint Stock Bank. The books for subscription were opened at the office of Henry Yeomans, insurance broker, and were first signed on 13th February by the Committee of Trade, consisting of William Sabatier, Andrew Belcher, John Black, James Fraser, George Grassie, Charles R. Prescott and John Pryor. No further proceeding appears to have been taken towards this object.

Much suffering as usual among the poor prevailed this winter. A society for the relief of the poor had been formed, which distributed during the year ending 9th February, 1811: