History of New Brunswick

Peter Fisher

History of New Brunswick

To the Reader

Having at different times collected what information I could obtain relating to the Province of New-Brunswick, I intended whenever I had a sufficient fund of correct materials, to publish them in such a shape as to diffuse a general knowledge of the Country, its productions, sources of wealth, &c. For this reason I had kept the different Counties, as well as the several subjects of which I intended to treat, separate, in order to receive such additions as I could from time to time make. But as I am happy to find that it is one of the objects of the New-Brunswick Agricultural and Emigrant Society, to publish a Geographical and Statistical Account of the Province, as soon as materials can be collected, I have given up my first design – being convinced that such a Society can collect correct information and the materials for such a desirable object with far greater facility and accuracy than an individual. In the mean time, I have given these Sketches to the public, hoping they may serve to give a faint knowledge of the Country, till a more perfect Work is prepared. It is no small matter to give any thing like a full description of a new Country like New-Brunswick, where the Compiler has but few helps – where there are but few written documents to resort to, and where neither Animals, Minerals, or Plants, have been properly arranged; and where there are but few correct materials to guide him in pointing out the changes of the seasons and other natural phenomena, with many other things which are requisite in a complete description of a new Country. The labour of even arranging the different Parishes was considerable, which the statement of the population of the Province, (had I possessed that document in time,) would have at once supplied.

It was my intention to add a concise history of the principal transactions that have taken place in the Country from its first occupation to the present time, from such sources both written and oral, as came within my researches; but have for the reasons before stated relinquished that design.

The description of some of the Counties is not so full as I could wish, but it may be observed this is but an outline of what I at first designed; and that the information I had collected of some of the Counties, was very scanty; but that I intended to extend it to considerable length, as correct materials could be procured. Having therefore abandoned my first design, I had to contract the description of some of the Counties of which I had a fuller knowledge, to make the Work more uniform; and not to appear partial to some parts of the Province, or to have forgotten others.

Fractional accuracy cannot be expected in such a brief outline; neither indeed is it of much consequence. I have, however, endeavoured to come as near the reality as possible, and given as full a detail as the size of the Work would allow.

THE AUTHOR.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Old Settlers on the River Saint John. New-Brunswick erected into a Government, and settled by the Loyalists in 1783-4. Difficulties of the first Settlers. List of successive Governors and Presidents

The Province of New-Brunswick formerly formed a part of Nova-Scotia, which was the first European settlement on the Continent of North America. – The first grant of land in it was given by King James the First to Sir William Alexander, in 1621 – from whom it had the name of Nova-Scotia or New Scotland. It was at that time regarded by the English as a part of Cabot's discovery of Terra-Nova. The first settlers, however, were emigrants from France, who as early as the year 1604 came to the Country with De Mont, a French adventurer, and gave it the name of Acadia.

This country frequently changed masters; passing from the French to the English, and back again, till it was finally ceded in full sovereignty to the British at the peace of Utrecht in 1713.

In 1760, a number of persons from the County of Essex, in Massachusetts, obtained a grant of a Township, twelve miles square, on the River Saint John, from the British Government; and after several delays in exploring and surveying, they commenced a settlement at Maugerville.

During the American War of 1775, they were joined by a number of other families from New England: the district adjoining Maugerville was settled, and the whole called by the general name of Sunbury, where the Courts of Justice were held till 1783: when the peace with America left the Loyalists who had followed the British standard, to seek an asylum in some part of the British dominions.

Prior to this period a number of families from Yorkshire in England, and others from Massachusetts, had settled in and about Cumberland, where many of their descendants still remain. – These people, actuated by different attachments, lived during the war in a state of hostility with each other; – one part adhering to the British, and the other to the Americans.

In the month of April, 1783, about three thousand persons, men, women, and children, sailed from New-York for the River Saint John; many of them being passengers, but the major part persons who had joined the British army, and were now sent to this Country to be disbanded and settled. In the month of October following, about twelve hundred more arrived from the same place. Those as well as the former had to seek a shelter from the approaching winter, by building log and bark huts; a few indeed were admitted into the houses of the settlers who had resided here before and during the American war. Provisions and clothing were furnished by Government for the first year, with a few implements to commence a settlement. Lord Dorchester appointed the Rev. Mr. Sayre, George Leonard, William Tyng, and James Peters, Esquires, as agents to apply for lands and locate them. Major Studholm was soon after added to the number by Governor Parr. – This Officer at that time commanded the Garrison of Fort Howe, at the entrance of Saint John River. These agents appointed the Rev. Mr. Arnold for their secretary. The duties that devolved on these gentlemen were of the most arduous nature; they had however the satisfaction of receiving the thanks of the Governor and Council of Nova-Scotia, for their upright conduct in transacting that business.

In the year 1785, the present limits of New-Brunswick were divided from Nova-Scotia, and a separate Charter of a Constitution was granted to the Province, under Governor Carleton, with a Council composed of the following gentlemen: – Beverley Robinson, Gabriel G. Ludlow, George D. Ludlow, Abijah Willard, Jonathan Odell, James Putnam, Joshua Upham, Edward Winslow, William Hazen, Gilfred Studholm, and Daniel Bliss. – Beverley Robinson, Abijah Willard, and James Putnam, died soon after, when Beverley Robinson, the son of the former, with George Leonard, and John Saunders, were appointed to succeed them. The above Members of the Council transacted the business of the Province for a long while. Governor Carleton was authorized from the Crown to locate lands to the Loyalists and disbanded Troops in proportion to their ability and rank.

From this period the Province slowly improved in Agriculture, Ship Building, and the exportation of Masts, Spars, &c. to Great-Britain, and Fish, Staves, Shingles, Hoop Poles, and sawed Lumber to the West-Indies. Receiving in return coarse Woollens and other articles from England; and Rum, Sugar, Molasses, and other produce from the West-Indies. – a Town was built at the mouth of the River Saint John, and another at St. Ann's Point, called Fredericton, where part of two Regiments were stationed till the French revolution. – Barracks and other public works were erected in different places, and the upper part of the Country settled by establishing two military posts in the interior, one at the Presqu-Isle, eighty miles above Fredericton, and another at the Grand Falls, fifty-two miles farther up. But the difficulties to which the first settlers were exposed continued for a long time almost insurmountable. Having been reared in a pleasant Country, abounding in all the comforts of life, they found themselves suddenly transplanted to a wilderness with a rigorous climate, devoid of almost every thing that could make life tolerable. – On their arrival they found a few hovels where Saint John is now built, the adjacent country exhibiting a most desolate aspect; which was peculiarly discouraging to people who had just left their homes in the beautiful and cultivated parts of the United States. Up the River Saint John the country appeared better, and a few cultivated spots were found occupied by old settlers. At St. Ann's, where Fredericton was afterwards built, a few scattered huts of French were found; the country all around being a continued wilderness – uninhabited and untrodden, except by the savage and wild animals; and scarcely had these firm friends of their country began to construct their cabins, when they were surprised by the rigors of an untried climate: their habitations being enveloped in snow before they were tenantable. The climate at that period (from what cause has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained) being far more severe than at present. They were frequently put to the greatest straits for food and clothing to preserve existence; a few roots were all that tender mothers could at times procure to allay the importunate calls of their children for food. – Sir Guy Carleton had ordered them provisions for the first year at the expense of Government; but as the country was not much cultivated at that time, food could scarcely be procured on any terms. Frequently had those settlers to go from fifty to one hundred miles with hand sleds or toboggans through wild woods or on the ice to procure a precarious supply for their famishing families. The privations and sufferings of some of those people almost exceed belief. The want of food and clothing in a wild, cold country, was not easily dispensed with or soon remedied. Frequently in the piercing cold of winter a part of the family had to remain up during the night to keep fire in their huts to prevent the other part from freezing. Some very destitute families made use of boards to supply the want of bedding: the father or some of the elder children remaining up by turns, and warming two suitable pieces of boards, which they applied alternately to the smaller children to keep them warm; with many similar expedients.

Some readers looking only at the present state of the country may smile at this account as wildly exaggerated, and may suppose that the skins of the moose and other wild animals would have been a far better substitute for bedding. But I have received the account of the above facts, with many other expedients which were at that time adopted by the settlers, from persons of undoubted veracity, and who had been eye witnesses of what they related. It is, however, needless to enlarge upon the hardships they endured, as most of the sufferers are now no more. Some indeed were discouraged and left the country; but most of those who remained had the pleasure of seeing the country improved and their families comfortably settled. Many of those Loyalists were in the prime of life when they came to this country; and most of them had young families. To establish these they wore out their lives in toil and poverty, and by their unremitting exertions subdued the wilderness, and covered the face of the country with habitations, villages, and towns.

I have not noticed these circumstances as if they were peculiar to the settlers of New-Brunswick; but to hold up to the descendants of those sufferers the hardships endured by their parents; and to place in a striking point of view, the many comforts they possess by the suffering, perseverance, and industry of their fathers. All new settlements formed at a great distance from the parent state, are exposed to difficulties, till the country becomes improved. Many of the Colonies in North America, when first settled, were more than once on the point of total extinction. The remnant of the inhabitants of some of them were even embarked to abandon the country altogether, when they were stopped by succour from home. The remembrance of the difficulties of the first settlers should make their descendants contented with their present advantages, and instead of wishing to change, to use their own exertions to improve the country, and duly to appreciate the many blessings and privileges they enjoy.

Under the judicious and paternal care of Governor Carleton, assisted by several of the leading characters, many of the difficulties of settling an infant and distant Country were lessened. The condition of the settlers was gradually ameliorated; agriculture was particularly attended to: The Governor himself set a pattern in which he was followed by several of the leading men in the different offices. A variety of grains and roots were cultivated with success, and considerable progress made in clearing the wilderness. Barren seasons were sometimes experienced, when the scarcity of food was partially remedied by the exertions of the Governor, assisted by several other public spirited gentlemen, who are now no more.

After having governed the Province for nearly twenty years – after having seen the country from a desolate wilderness rising to a state of importance among the surrounding Colonies – after having seen the settlers placed in a state of comparative comfort and independence – and after having in every respect endeared himself to them as their common father and benefactor – Governor Carleton, in 1803, removed to England, when the Government of the Province was administered by the following persons, under the style of Presidents, till his death, viz. – G. G. Ludlow, from his departure till February, 1808; Edward Winslow, Esquire, from that period till the 24th May following; when he was succeeded by Major-General Hunter, who held the Government, with the exception of two short intervals, (during which the Government devolved first on Lieutenant-Colonel Johnstone, and afterwards on Major-General Balfour,) till 1812, when he was succeeded by Major-General Smyth; he having gone to England in 1813, the Government was administered by Major-General Saumarez; but was resumed by General Smyth, in 1814, who having again left the Province, the Government devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Hailes. On the death of Governor Carleton, Major-General George Stracey Smyth, was appointed to the Government by His Majesty's Commission, dated the 28th February, 1817. Governor Smyth died the 27th March, 1823, when the Government was assumed by Ward Chipman, Esquire, who administered the same till his death in the month of February following, when it devolved on John Murray Bliss, Esquire. In the mean time, Major-General Sir Howard Douglas, Baronet, had been appointed to the Government by His Majesty. He arrived in the Province in August, 1824, and immediately repaired to Fredericton, and assumed the Government on the 28th of the same month, and is at present (1825) Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of New-Brunswick, and its Dependencies.

The lively interest which Sir Howard takes in whatever concerns the prosperity of the Province, may be best inferred from his own words in his address to the Legislative Body, and his speech at the formation of the Agricultural Society, which are inserted in full in the Appendix to this short work.

CHAPTER II.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Situation. Extent. Boundaries. Face of the Country. Soil, Animals. Mineral and Vegetable Productions. Inhabitants, Religion, and Government

New-Brunswick is situated between the forty-fifth and forty-ninth degrees of North latitude, and between the sixty-fourth and sixty-eighth degrees of West longitude. It is nearly 200 miles in length, and 180 in breadth, containing about twenty-two thousand square miles of land and water. It is bounded on the North by the river St. Lawrence and Canada, on the West by the State of Maine, on the South and Southeast by the Bay of Fundy and Nova-Scotia, and on the East by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Bay Verte. It is divided into eight Counties, viz. St. John, Westmorland, King's, Queen's, Charlotte, York, Sunbury, and Northumberland, which are again divided into Parishes, according to their extent, and will be described when I come to treat of the Counties separately.

This Province is watered with several fine rivers which lay open the inmost recesses of the country, and are of the utmost advantage to the inhabitants in transporting the products of the forests to the seaports, as their chief trade consists in lumber and other bulky articles. It likewise abounds in lakes, streams, springs, and rivulets, so that there are few places unprovided with good mill seats or water conveyance. It is diversified with beautiful acclivities, hills and mountains, some of which will be noticed in the course of this work.

The appearance of the country along the Bay of Fundy is forbidding, rugged and broken, and the soil indifferent. Advancing from the sea-board into the interior the face of the country becomes more level, being interspersed with gentle risings and vales, with large strips of fertile intervals along the rivers, which being annually overflowed produce excellent crops. In many places along the margin of the rivers, the banks are high and abrupt, and to a stranger the land appears poor and hard to cultivate; but after rising the banks, and advancing a short distance from the water, the land becomes level, and the soil rich; being covered with a thick black mould, produced by the putrefaction of the leaves of the numerous trees with which the country is covered. In other parts the land rises with a beautiful slope from the water, offering many fine situations for buildings and seats. The land in some parts being a second intervale, and in others a good upland with a strong soil.

Most of the rivers have numbers of fine Islands interspersed in their courses, which being chiefly formed by the washing of the currents, consist of rich alluvial soil, producing grain, roots and grass in the greatest luxuriance. These islands may be considered as the gardens of the country, which they enrich and beautify. The rapidity of the rivers, swoln by the melting of the snow in the spring, tears away the soil in some parts, and deposits it in others; by which means their courses are gradually altered; new Islands are formed, and alluvial soil accumulated in some parts of the rivers, while it is washed away in others; and this is more or less the case according to the looseness of the soil, and the bends of the river: so that a man may have a growing estate, or he may see his land diminishing from year to year without the power to remedy it.

As most of the settlements are as yet confined to the margin of rivers and streams, the country a little back is a continued forest, covered with a stately growth of trees, consisting of pines, firs, spruce, hemlock, maple, birch, beech, ash, elm, poplar, hornbeam, &c. In some parts of the country white and red oak are found, but in no great quantity; although men who have ranged the woods in search of pine, say there are large groves in the interior. The islands are generally covered with butternut, basswood, elm, maple, alder, &c. and in some places the same trees are found on them, as on the high land in their vicinity.

As the climate of a new country, abounding with lakes, rivers and streams, and covered with close woods, which exclude the sun, must be daily altering as the country becomes cleared and improved: I shall hereafter notice some of the changes that have taken place in the climate of this Province since it was settled by the Loyalists in 1783.

The domestic animals in this Province are much the same as those in the United States; many of the horses and oxen used in the lumber business, being annually furnished by the Americans. The breed of horses has been improved by stallions imported at different periods from England and other places. In Cumberland the inhabitants have paid considerable attention to the improvement of the breed of horned cattle; in consequence of which, and the extensive marshes in that country, their dairies are superior to any in the Province. The sheep and swine are of a good size and various breeds. As Agriculture has been much neglected in this Province on account of the great trade that is carried on in lumber, not much attention has been paid to improving the domestic animals, till of late, a Society has been formed, and cattle exhibitions instituted, which no doubt will soon make an alteration in that part of the rural economy of the Province.

The wild animals are not so numerous as formerly, and some species are nearly extinct. The Moose or Elk, which were found in great abundance when the loyalists first came to the province, were wantonly destroyed, being hunted for the skin, while their carcases were left in the woods, a few only being used for food, although their flesh is equal to the Ox, and would have supplied the destitute settlers with animal food for a long while, had there been any effectual means at that time to restrain the waste of the mercenary hunter. So great was the destruction of those valuable animals, that in a few years they totally disappeared. A few have lately been seen, and a law has been enacted for their preservation; but they can scarcely be reckoned among the present animals of the Province. The other wild animals are Bears, Foxes, Wolves, Caraboo, Sable, Loup-cervier, Peaconks, Racoon, Mink, Ground and Red Squirrels, Weasels, Muskrats, Wild Cats, Hares, &c. with that valuable animal the Beaver.

The domestic Fowls are Turkies, Geese, Ducks, Hens, and other Poultry; and among the wild are, Partridges, Geese, Ducks, Pigeons, Owls, Crows, and Swans; with a variety of small Birds, which have nothing peculiar to render a particular description of them necessary. There are but few reptiles in the Province, and those are harmless.

Most of the rivers are well stored with Salmon, Shad, Bass, Suckers, and Herrings, with abundance of small Fish, such as Trout, Perch, Chub, Smelt, Eels, &c. Cusks are taken in the winter, and Sturgeon are taken in some parts, but not often.

The Bays and Harbors are well supplied with Cod, Pollock, Haddock, &c. Mackerel are taken in different places at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, and along the coasts.

But little can be said about the mineral or fossil productions of a country which is yet in its infancy, and where the industry of the inhabitants can be more profitably employed on the surface of the earth than in ransacking its bowels. Minerals cannot be procured and manufactured without money. To work mines effectually, many things are requisite that cannot be expected in a new country. Such as capitalists who can risk money on experiments, and wait a long time for returns: for all property employed in the first working of mines is uncertain. The next thing is abundance of cheap labour – then a demand for the articles produced; next to produce it of such a quality, and at such a price as to make it find a market: with many other considerations sufficient to deter men who feeling themselves straitened in pecuniary resources, see the necessity of employing what little they possess in the way that will give a sure and quick return; and to such persons, the surface of the country covered with pines, holds out a more inviting prospect than the concealed riches of the earth. From the appearance of the country, there is reason to believe it is rich in minerals, and that the mountains contain ores of different metals in abundance; but as no attempts of consequence have been made to procure specimens or assay them, it cannot be expected that any particular account of them could be given in this short work. It is probable the time is not far distant when men of intelligence will turn their attention to investigate scientifically the different natural productions of the Province. Coals are found in abundance at the Grand Lake, and specimens have been discovered in several other places, so as to leave no doubt of the Province being well stored with that useful article. Limestone of a good quality is found in different parts of the Province; particularly at the narrows, near the mouth of the river St. John, where there is not only sufficient for the use of the country; but to supply Europe and America for ages, should they need it. Gypsum is also found up the Bay, near Cumberland, and Manganese at Quaco.