/,,
^ixtt
HIS EXCELLENCY WILLIAM SHIRLEY, ESQB.
Captain General and Governor in Chief, etc., of the Province
of the Massachusetts Bay in New England and Colonel of
one of His Majesty's Regiments of Foot
AMERICANA
April 1915
Chapters in the History of Halifax,
Nova Scotia
No. I— THE FOUNDING OF HALIFAX IN 1749
BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
When England's power at last would be complete
On all the tide-washed shores of Acadie,
She sent Cornwall is with a friendly fleet
To found this goodly city by the sea.
Acadian Ballads.
I
HE history of Nova Scotia has an interest wholly
disproportionate to the size and remote geograph-
ical position of the small peninsula which with the
island of Cape Breton constitutes the present prov-
ince bearing that name. Of the nine British provinces that com-
pose the Dominion of Canada, Nova Scotia stands lowest but
one in point of size, but on the stage which her comparatively
small land area presents have been enacted some of the most
striking events which find place in the drama of American his-
tory.1 It was the peninsula of Nova Scotia that formed the
chief part of the ancient French province of Acadia, it was here
that the first permanent European settlement except James-
town, Virginia, was made, and it was from the wooden walls
of this new world Port Royal, that the white flag of the Bour-
bons, proclaiming France's ownership of Acadia, long flew to
i. The province of Nova Scotia (with the island of Cape Breton) comprises
21,428 square miles, or 13,713,771 acres. It has a total population of 492,338. Of
this number, 122,084 afe 'n the island of Cape Breton, 370,254 in the peninsula.
The city of Halifax, together with Dartmouth, its main suburb (across the har-
bour), has a population of 51,677. The city itself, however, has only 46,619. Of
other towns, Nova Scotia has but six that have populations of over five thousand,
these are: Sydney, 17,723; Sydney Mines, 7,470; New Glasgow, 6,383; Truro, 6,-
107; Springhill, 5,713; North Sydney, 5,418.
269
270 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the breeze. In the island of Cape Breton, which for many
years now has been part of Nova Scotia, though it was originally
not comprehended in Acadia, France reared her strongest for-
tress in the new world except Quebec, and it was in the present
province of Nova Scotia at large, as at Louisburg and Beause-
jour, that some of the most vigorous military movements which
resulted in the complete overthrow of French power on the con-
tinent were pursued.
In the tragedy of the expulsion of the Acadians from the
shores of Grand Pre in 1755, Longfellow found the theme for a
narrative poem of remarkable beauty, the world-famed Evan-
geline, but almost from the beginning of New England, Boston
enterprise had found play at various spots on the Acadian sea-
coast, and at last in 1760 a tide of New Englanders, from Mas-
sachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, swept into Nova
Scotia and made the desolate Acadian farms and many never
previously cultivated places in the province blossom as the rose.
At the Revolution, between 1775 and 1783, from thirty to thirty-
five thousand Loyalists for a longer or shorter time found refuge
in Nova Scotia, and here, in the old province, or in that part of
it that in the latter year, on the demand of the Tories was set
off as the province of New Brunswick, a very considerable num-
ber found all the scope that remained to them for the rest of
their days for the distinguished abilities they had manifested in
their native provinces— abilities which, directed in favor of Eng-
land, had made them supremely hateful to the leaders of the
American cause.
In the year 1749 George II. was on the throne of England
and Louis XV. on the throne of France. On the eighteenth of
October of the preceding year the long, wasteful struggle be-
tween France and England known as the "war of the Austrian
Succession," which began in 1744, had come to an end, and by
the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, which signalized its close, the
strong fortress of Louisburg, won to England chiefly by the
fierce determination of New England militia troops in 1745, in
exchange for Madras had been blindly restored by the British
plenipotentiaries to France. In England the inglorious Pelham
ministry was in power, and in France Madame de Pompadour
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 271
was at the height of her influence over the volatile king, whose
subjects were having a short breathing spell before the begin-
ning of another seven years war. In New England, William
Shirley, the most powerful Englishman in America, whose influ-
ence as an adviser of the crown and a director of American
affairs had been conspicuously felt here before the beginning of
the then recent war, and had contributed more than that of any
other public servant of the crown to the final overthrow of
French power on the continent, was governor of the province
of Massachusetts Bay.
At the head of Annapolis Basin, on the Bay of Fundy shore
of Nova. Scotia, stood the scattered village and dilapidated for-
tress of Annapolis Royal, which since the destruction by a French
force from Louisburg under Du Vivier, in May, 1744, of the
small garrison at Canso, and the removal of the men as prison-
ers to Louisburg, had been the only important centre of Eng-
lish influence in the whole province. Of other inhabitants of
English extraction and speech, save about the fort of Annapolis
Royal, there were very few, and these scattering New England
fishermen and small traders and in Cumberland, miners, who
probably, for the most part, in winter returned to their New
England homes.
The successful campaign, which included in its scope every
position where the French had strongly intrenched themselves
throughout America, was planned and in large measure car-
ried out under the direct supervision of Shirley. In Cape Bre-
ton the fortress of Louisburg frowned threateningly not only on
the British ownership of Acadia, but on "his Majesty's interest
and the security and prosperity of the colonies of New England,"
and second in importance to that, within the confines of Nova
Scotia, was Fort Beausejour, near the isthmus of Chignecto, in
what is now the county of Cumberland in this historic province.
The destruction of both forts was in Shirley's plan of cam-
paign, and inspired by his determination and roused to greater
action by racial antagonism and religious zeal, New England
militia troops, assisted at Louisburg by British war-ships, in
1745 effected the overthrow of Louisburg, and ten years later
made successful capture of the lesser fort. To determine prop-
272 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
erly the direct responsibility for the expulsion of the Acadians
in 1755, it is necessary to read carefully the correspondence of
Shirley with his superiors in England and his fellow crown
officials in the various American colonies. The question of how
best to neutralize the influence of the French in Nova Scotia, so
that in any future designs France might have on the new world
they should be harmless, was frequently in Shirley's mind, and,
as is well known, his proposal for a long time was to distribute
people of British allegiance among the French in Nova Scotia so
thickly that through intermarriage and in other ways the loyalty
of the latter to France should be weakened and the hold of Eng-
land upon them gain greater strength.
That it was Shirley's immediate suggestion that determined
the home government finally to establish a civil government
and create a strong strategic military centre at the Nova Sco-
tia point where Halifax stands we are not explicitly told, but
we can hardly believe that the plan was first presented to the
British ministers by any one else. In any case, in 1747 the min-
istry requested Shirley to draw up a plan for civil government
for N/ova Scotia, and in February, 1748, the governor submitted
to the Duke of Bedford such a plan. His plan was of a char-
ter government, and was not accepted, but a year later, in
February, 1749, Louisburg again being in French hands, and
the French ministry having by no means given up the idea of
some day recapturing Acadia, the government did adopt a plan,
which in the meantime had been devised, for establishing such
civil government, for that purpose sending out a large body of
colonists to Chebucto Bay, as Halifax Harbour was then called,
to create a town. In pursuance of this plan, the following March
the Lords of Trade published in the London Gazette an adver-
tisement calling for volunteers for the enterprise.
The substance of the proclamation was also soon published
in French and German newspapers, the terms offered being
briefly, a free passage and support for twelve months after land-
ing ; arms and necessary utensils ; the establishment of a secure
civil government; lands in fee simple, free from payment of
quit-rents or taxes for the period of ten years,— fifty acres to be
awarded every private soldier or seaman, with ten acres for
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 273
every person in his household, eighty acres to be given every
officer under the rank of ensign in the land service, and of lieu-
tenant in the sea service, and fifteen acres to each person in his
household, while ensigns were to receive two hundred acres each,
lieutenants three hundred, captains four hundred, and officers
above the rank of captains six hundred, all the members of the
households of these various officers to receive thirty acres apiece.
Surgeons, it is declared in this prospectus, whether they have
been engaged in his Majesty's service or not, are to fare in the
distribution of lands as ensigns in the service. For the expense
of this scheme parliament voted a subsidy of forty thousand
pounds sterling.
The special encouragement given soldiers and sailors in this
proclamation of the Lords of Trade was of course due to the
fact that at the termination of the war with France a large
number of both had been thrown out of employment and needed
to have some provision made for them. The advertisement in
the London Gazette begins: "A proposal having been presented
under his Majesty, for establishing a civil government in the
province of Nova Scotia, in North America, as also for the bet-
ter peopling and settling the said Province, and extending and
improving the fishery thereof, by granting lands within the
same, and giving other encouragement to such of the officers and
private men lately dismissed his Majesty's land and sea service,
as shall be willing to settle in the said province ; and his Majesty
having signified his Royal approbation of the purport of the said
proposals, the Right Hon. the Lords Commissioners for Trade
and Plantations, by his Majesty's command give notice that
proper encouragement will be given to such of the officers and
private men lately dismissed from his Majesty's land and
sea service, and to artificers necessary in building or husbandry,
as are willing to accept of grants of land, and to settle, with or
without families, in the province of Nova Scotia."
Chebucto Bay, now Halifax Harbour, lies on the southeast
coast of Nova Scotia. It is a magnificent harbour, about six miles
long by a mile wide, with excellent anchorage in all parts, and in
spite of its northern latitude is open for navigation all the
year round. In the north, a narrow passage connects it with
274 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
what is called Bedford Basin, a lovely sheet of water, six miles
long by four wide, and deep enough for the largest men of war
to enter, and on this harbour it was proposed to locate the new
Nova Scotia town. Chebucto Bay was of course well known to
European voyagers to the province, and only recently, in 1746,
it had been the refuge of the melancholy fleet of M. de la Roche-
foucauld, Due d'Anville, when, on its way to seize the forts of
Louisburg and Annapolis, attacked by storm and pestilence, it
had been forced to anchor in Bedford Basin until, though
wretchedly depleted, it had regained strength to return to
France. In anticipation of the settlement, the government had
taken pains to acquaint itself intimately with the harbour and
the coast near it, shortly before the project took final shape em-
ploying Captain, afterwards Admiral, Philip Durell, who had
commanded one of Warren's ships at Louisburg in 17-15, in mak-
ing a careful survey of both.1'
Command of the new expedition was given to the Honourable
Edward Cornwallis, M. P. for Eye (a borough long in the hands
of the Cornwallis family), sixth son of Baron Charles Corn-
wallis, and his wife Lady Charlotte Butler, whose father was
Eichard Earl of Arran. Colonel Cornwallis, who was born Feb-
ruary 22, 1713, had served as major of the Twentieth regiment
in Flanders in 1744 and 1745, and in the latter year had been
appointed lieutenant-colonel of his regiment. On the decease of
his brother Stephen he was chosen for Eye, and during the ses-
sion of parliament following was made a groom of his Majesty's
bedchamber. On the ninth of May, 1749, he became colonel of
the Twenty-fourth regiment, and received the appointment of
2. In a letter of Governor Cornwallis to the Duke of Bedford of July 23, 1749,
we find Cornwallis saying: "As perhaps no copies were taken of the Plans sent
me of the Harbour, I send along with this a copy of Durell's plan." Of this plan
of Durell's, Cornwallis in another letter says, "the two points that make the en-
trance to Bedford Bay are marked as the places proper to fortify." In his cor-
respondence with the Lords of Trade the governor also refers to "a copy of Durell's
Plan of the Harbour and Bay."
Admiral Philip Durell, as "Captain Durell," commanded the Eesham, one of
Warren's ships at the first taking of Louisburg. In Boscawen's fleet at Halifax,
in May, 1758, we once more find him as commander of the Princess Amelia, 80
tons. April 4, 1759, General Jeffery Amherst writes to Governor Lawrence : "I
wish Admiral Durell had had the men he wanted for his ship^ from the Massa-
chusetts Government in the manner I desired, which Mr. Pownall I thought readily
consented to; I fear it will fall on the Regiments to _ give him men to get out or
he will be too late, and the regiments will suffer by it."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 275
Governor of Placentia, in Newfoundland, and Captain-General
and Governor-in-Chief in and over his Majesty's province of
Nova Scotia or Acadia.3
To the government 's proclamation so large a number of people
responded, not only soldiers and sailors retired from active ser-
vice, but mechanics of various sorts, and farmers, that early
in May, 1749, a fleet consisting of thirteen transports and a
sloop of war, carrying in all 2,576 persons, set sail from Eng-
land for Chebucto Bay. In about a month some of these an-
chored at Chebucto, some, however, not arriving until late in
June. The ships in the fleet were the Spinx, war sloop, which
brought Cornwallis and his suite, the frigates Charlton and Can-
non, and the ships Winchelsea, Wilmington, Merry Jacks,
Alexander, Beaufort, Roehampton, Evcrly, London, Brother-
hood, Baltimore, and Fair Lady. Of the settlers conveyed in
these ships there were two majors in the army, one foot-major
and commissary, six captains, nineteen lieutenants, and three
ensigns. Of retired naval men and others there were three lieu-
tenants, five lieutenants of privateers, twenty-three midshipmen,
one cadet, one artificer, five volunteers, one purser, one engi-
neer, fifteen surgeons, one lieutenant and surgeon, ten surgeon's
mates and assistants, one surgeon's pupil, one clergyman (Rev.
William Anwyl), one "gentleman and schoolmaster" (John Bap-
tiste Moreau), one commissary, one brewer and merchant, one
attorney, several "gentlemen," four governor's clerks, and one
clerk of stores. Of the total number of settlers the number of
adult males was 1,546, five hundred of these being former men-
of-war sailors. Among the names of the colonists that in the
progress of the settlement became more or less prominent were
Richard Bulkeley, Alexander Callendar, John Collier, John
Creighton, Robert Ewer, John Galland, Archibald Hinchelwood,
3. In 1757, Colonel Cornwallis was advanced to the rank of major-general and
in 1760 to lieutenant-general. On his retirement from Nova Scotia he went to
England and was unanimously elected to parliament from Westminster, which con-
stituency he represented for a few years until he was appointed Governor of
Gibraltar. Edward Cornwallis was an uncle of Charles Cornwallis, first marquis
and second earl, who from 1776 until the close of the American war was in com-
mand of British troops in America, and later was Governor General of India. Ed-
ward Cornwallis married in 1753, Mary, daughter of Charles, second Lord Vis-
count Townsend, and died, without issue, December 29, 1776. See Collins's Peer-
age, Vol. 2.
276 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
William Nesbitt, Lewis Piers, and John Pyke, the last of whom
is believed by his descendants to have been private secretary to
Cornwallis.
Before reaching Chebucto, Cornwallis touched at Lunenburg,
or Merligueche as it was called by the French. There he found
a small French settlement, the people living in * ' tolerable wood-
en houses, covered with bark." They had a good many cattle
and had cleared more land than they needed to cultivate, and
Cornwallis says they were favourable to English rule and heard
of the new settlement to be made at Chebucto with unfeigned joy.
The first site chosen for Halifax was "Sandwich Point," near
the end of Point Pleasant, that spot being considered, as it was,
very favourable for defence, especially since the North- West
Arm, which the settlers named Sandwich River, was navigable
for war ships to its very head. For at least a day the settlers
worked there, cutting down trees, but the depth of water in
front of the place, the exposure of the spot to the south-east
gales, and "other inconveniences," led them to abandon it for
the present site. The city of Halifax to-day extends, north,
south, and west, far beyond its original limits, but in the begin-
ning, Buckingham Street on the north and Salter Street on the
south marked its utmost bounds. Regarding the location of the
town Governor Cornwallis writes to the Duke of Bedford:
"Your Grace will see that the place I have fixed for the town is
on the west side of the harbour — 'tis upon the side of a Hill
which commands the whole Peninsula, and shelters the town
from the Northwest winds. From the shore to the top of the
hill is about half a mile, the ascent very gentle, the soil is good,
there is convenient landing for Boats all along the Beach, and
good anchorage within Gunshot of the shore for the largest
Ships." On the spot finally chosen, John Brewse or Bruce, the
English engineer who had come with the settlers, and Mr.
Charles Morris, of Massachusetts, the government surveyor, were
ordered to lay out the town. By the fourteenth of September
the plan was completed and the lots appropriated to their re-
spective owners. The town, says Dr. Akins, "was laid out in
squares or blocks of 320 by 120 feet deep, the streets being 55
feet in width. Each block contained 16 town lots, 40 feet front
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 277
by 60 feet deep, and the whole was afterwards divided into five
divisions or wards, called Callendar's, Galland's, Ewer's, Col-
lier's, and Foreman's divisions, after the names of the persons
who were appointed captains in the militia, each ward being
]arge enough to supply one company." "Foreman's new divi-
sion was afterwards added as far as the present Jacob Street.
The north and south suburbs were surveyed about the same
time, but the German lots in the north were not laid off till the
year following."
For the first few weeks after reaching their destination, many
of the colonists either remained on board the transports which
had brought them, or found shelter under canvas or tarpaulin
tents. In some instances, it is said, the trunks and boxes in wThich
their goods had come "served as a temporary floor to protect
them from the dampness of the ground." By the last of Octo-
ber about three hundred small one-story houses were scattered
up and down the rocky hillside, between what are now Buck-
ingham street on the north and Salter street on the south. Many
of these houses were built of pickets, set up vertically in rows
close together, on which boards were nailed, but for at least the
governor 's house and St. Paul 's Church the frames were obtained
from Boston. By the last of October also two forts were fin-
ished and a barricade around the town was completed. By March,
1750, Cornwallis had had the frame of a hospital erected, the
sick until this time having been cared for on one of the ships.
He had also in process a schoolhouse for orphan children, where
these unfortunate little ones should be cared for until the boys
were old enough to be apprenticed to fishermen. He was expect-
ing soon from New England the frame of the church, which was
to be an exact copy of Marylebone Chapel in London, and was
to cost, by the estimate that had been sent him from Boston, a
thousand pounds. In October, 1749, the town was named, with
what formal ceremonies we do not know, for the Earl of Halifax,
a nobleman then at the head of the Board of Trade.4
4. The Council of Trade and Plantations, created in 1695, and lasting until
1782, exercised an important control over mercantile matters at home and the
settlement and trade of the colonies wherever they existed, and in 1748, George
Montagu, Earl of Halifax, of not particularly happy memory, became president of
this body. The exact date of the naming of Halifax is clear from the Governor's
dispatches. Until the I7th of October, 1749, Cornwallis sends his letters from
"Chebucto"; on the above date he first uses the name Halifax.
278 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
On the thirteenth of August, 1749, a sloop arrived from Liver-
pool, England, after nine weeks voyage, bringing a hundred and
sixteen more settlers to the town. For these people two new
streets were added, and more lots were assigned. In August,
1750, the colony was still further increased by the arrival of three
hundred and fifty- three more English settlers in the ship Alder-
ney (a vessel of five hundred and four tons), whom it was con-
sidered best to settle on the east side of the harbour, where until
then there had been no settlement made. For these new arrivals,
therefore, in the autumn of 1750, the town of Dartmouth was
laid out, its name being given in honour of William Legge, first
Earl of Dartmouth, a nobleman high in the favour of Queen
Anne, who had made him in 1710, one of her principal secre-
taries of state, and in 1713 Lord Privy Seal.5
July 13, 1750, three hundred and twelve German Protestants
from the Palatinate arrived in Halifax in the ship Ann. The
British government had engaged a Rotterdam merchant, Mr.
Johann Dick, to make contracts with such families or persons as
he could find willing to settle in Nova Scotia, and to arrange
for their transportation thither, and these German emigrants had
been sent from Rotterdam by him.6 The provision made by gov-
ernment for maintaining the colony was not sufficient, and the
coming of these new settlers gave Cornwallis'and his council no
little anxiety. As cold weather drew near the problem of their
support became very serious, and through the long hard ensuing
winter they were undoubtedly very poorly housed and fed. When
spring opened they were set to work clearing land, building a
5. The Earl of Dartmouth died December 15, 1750, very soon after the Nova
Scotia settlement bearing his name was formed.
6. Johann or John Dick, the Rotterdam merchant mentioned here, undertook
to send over a thousand continental Protestants, at a guinea a head, and he seems
to have fulfilled his agreement in a most unscrupulous way. He was later accused
by Governor Hopson of having advised the poor emigrants whom he engaged,
probably in order to secure more room on the ships, to sell even their bedding,
before they embarked. On this .account they were obliged during the whole tedious
voyage to sleep on the bare decks or elsewhere without any beds or proper bed-
coverings. Among the people he sent to Halifax were "many poor old decrepid
creatures, both men and women, who were objects fitter to have been kept in alms-
houses than to be sent as settlers to work for their bread." When the people were
landed there were over thirty of them who could not stir from the beach, eight of
these being young orphans, who had to be put in an orphanage as soon as one was
established.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 279
battery and fort on George's Island, and constructing a palisade
around the settlement of Dartmouth.
In 175.1 and 1752 some thirteen hundred more foreign settlers
came, the greater part of them Germans, but some Swiss, and
some French from Montbelliard or Mumpolgarter, the capital
city of an arondissement in the French department of Doubs.
Some Germans who came in the spring of 1751 the Council pro-
posed to place at Dartmouth, opposite George's Island, and in
preparation for locating them it sent Captain Charles Morris
to survey the land. For some reason, however, the Germans
were not located there. Six of the ships in which the settlers
of 1751 and 1752 came were the Pearl, Gale, Sally, Betty, Mur-
doch, and Swan.
On the 28th of May, 1753, 1,453 of the German and French
emigrants were sent by Governor Hopson, Cornwallis's succes-
sor, to Merligueche, where already, as we have seen, there were
a few French settlers of the old Acadian population, favourable,
however, to British rule. The fourteen transports on which
they sailed from Halifax were under convoy of the provincial
sloop York, commanded by Sylvanus Cobb, a New England sea-
captain, who in 1755 was engaged in the removal of the Aca-
dians, in 1758 conveyed General Wolfe to a reconnoitre at Lou-
isburg, later made his home in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, but died
at Havana in 1762. The first company of Germans who came to
Halifax were from Luneburg, the chief town of a district in
the Prussian province of Hanover, and in recognition of their
native place the settlement of Merligueche (or " Malaga sh")
was now re-named LunenburgJ "I pitched upon Merlegash for
the settlement of the foreigners," writes Governor Hopson to
the Lords of Trade in July, 1753, ' ' it was preferable to Musquo-
doboit, as there is a good harbour, which is wanting at Musquodo-
7. The departure of these German settlers from the Duchy of Luneburg, in
Hanover, says the Rev. Mr. Roth, a Lutheran clergyman once settled in Lunen-
burg, Nova Scotia, is at once interesting and pathetic. "On the eve of departure
they were summoned by the bell to their church and there for the last time they
sang sacred songs of faith and trust, united in the prayers that were offered for
their guidance and protection by the power of the Almighty, listened to the ex-
hortations of their faithful pastor, and then amid the tears and farewells of their
dearest friends took leave of the home of their childhood, the associations of their
youth, and the land they were destined never to see again. Some of them came in
extreme destitution and their sufferings in their new home were not few nor light."
280 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
boit. Had it been possible to have sent the settlers by land it
would have been a great satisfaction to me to have saved the ex-
pense of hiring vessels, but on inquiring, found it absolutely im-
possible, not only as they would have had at least fifty miles to
go through the woods but there is not any road."
The removal of the Halifax Germans in general to Lunenburg
did not, however, take all of these foreigners who had come to
the town. It is difficult to say how many remained, but the Kev.
Dr. Partridge, historian of St. George's Parish, says that some
twenty or twenty-five families who had received grants in the
north and south suburbs of Halifax made their permanent
homes there.
In a letter to the Lords of Trade, written August 20, 1749, Gov-
ernor Cornwallis says that a good many people from Louisburg
have settled in the town, and ' ' several ' ' from New England, and
that he is told that over a thousand more New England people
desire to come there before winter. "I have ordered," he says,
''all vessels in the Government's service to give them passage."
To his letter the Lords of Trade reply that they are very glad
to hear that such numbers of people are preparing to come down
from New England, and that they approve the measure he has
taken to enable them to get a ready passage. Every acquisition
of people, they say, will be an acquisition of strength, and they
hope that the design of "the French Protestants from Martini-
co " to settle in Halifax may likewise take effect.8 In July, 1752,
the governor had a census of the town taken, the various divi-
sions being the North Suburbs, the South Suburbs, within the
Town, within the Pickets, within the Town of Dartmouth, on the
several islands and harbours employed in the fishery, and at the
Wock house and the isthmus.9
As one reads the names of the citizens of Halifax as given
in this census, one is struck by the number of New England, gen-
8. Cornwallis writes, August 20, 1749: "A French merchant has been here and
proposed to bring some Protestant families from Martinico, with their effects, if I
would give them encouragement, protection, and land. He has given me a list of
their names, with what each of them is worth— he makes their fortunes amount to
above £50,000 sterling. I have promised all kinds of protection and he is gone to
get a passport at Louisburg. From thence he goes to Martinico, and thinks they
shall be able to get here before winter." The Martinique Protestants never came.
See Nova Scotia Archives, Vol. I, p. 579-
9. The whole number of the population as given in this census is 5,134.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 281
erally Boston, names. Among such are, Fairbanks, Fillis, Ger-
rish, Green, Lawson, Morris, Prescott, and Salter. That this
should be so is not, however, at all strange, for ever since the
final capture of Port Royal in 1710, which capture had been
effected largely through New England troops, there had been
constant close communication between Annapolis and Boston,
while Canso, the extreme eastern point of the Nova Scotia penin-
sula, had long been a New England fishing and trading station,
with warehouses for the storage of fish. At other places on the
shores of Nova Scotia, and notably at Chebucto itself, single men,
and perhaps families, from New England, had been more or less
permanently located, gathering fish in summer, and selling goods
in small quantities to the Acadians in return for the products of
their toil. One Boston firm, indeed, had before 1749 secured a
grant of four thousand acres at Chignecto, in what is now Cum-
berland county for the purpose of coal mining, and when Corn-
wallis came were more or less vigorously digging coal. By the
lease granted this Boston company by the military government
at Annapolis Royal, the firm receiving the privilege was required
to pay the government a quit rent of one penny an acre.10 Of
Malachy Salter of Halifax, who was a Boston born man, and who
in the progress of the town came to be one of the most important
men in trade, politics, and social life, the tradition is well estab-
lished that he, and perhaps his family, had been settled at
Chebucto some time before Cornwallis came.
Describing rather graphically the earliest condition of Hali-
fax as a town, Dr. Beamish Murdoch in his valuable documen-
tary history of Nova Scotia says: "Halifax in the summer and
autumn of 1749 must have presented a busy and singular scene.
The ship of war, and her discipline, the transports swarming
10. It is said that in 1733 no less than forty-six thousand quintals of dry fish
were exported from Canso, and that at the most prosperous time of the fishery
there in the summer season from fifteen hundred to two thousand men were em-
ployed in fishing. Even whale fishing, it is said, was carried on at Canso, though
in a limited way; and the trade of enterprising New Englanders at this point with
the French on the peninsula and Cape Breton shores, must have been very consid-
erable, dry goods, and other articles of British or American manufacture for do-
mestic use, as well as prints, vegetables, oats, shingles, bricks, flour, meal, and bis-
cuits, being given in exchange for fish, oils, and furs.
Our statement concerning mining operations at Chignecto we have found in
Brown's "History of Cape Breton."
282 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
with passengers who had not yet got shelter on land, the wide
extent of wood in every direction, except a little spot hastily and
partially cleared, on which men might be seen trying to make
walls out of the spruce trees that grew on their house lots, the
boats perpetually rowing to and from the shipping, and as the
work advanced a little, the groups gathered around— the Eng-
lishman in the costume of the day, cocked hat, wig, knee-breeches,
shoes with large glittering buckles ; his lady with her hoop and
brocades ; the soldiers and sailors of the late war now in civilian
dress, as settlers; the shrewd, keen, commercial Bostonian, tall,
thin, wiry, supple in body, bold and persevering in mind, calcu-
lating on land grants, saw-mills, shipping of lumber, fishing
profits ; the unlucky habitant from Grand Pre or Piziquid, in
homespun garb, looking with dismay at the numbers, discipline,
and earnestness of the new settlers and their large military
force,— large to him as he had known only the little garrison of
Annapolis ; the half wild Indian, made wilder and more intracta-
ble by bad advisers who professed to be his warmest friends ;
the men-of-war's men; the sailors of the transports, and per-
haps some hardy fishermen seeking supplies, or led thither by
curiosity, — of such various elements was the bustling crowd
composed."
The arrival of Cornwallis at Chebucto with the commission of
captain-general and governor-in-chief of the province brought
to an end Nova Scotia's thirty-nine years military rule. The
military governor of the fort at Annapolis Royal since 1740 had
been Major Paul Mascarene,11 and this excellent official had been
duly apprised beforehand of the sailing of the Cornwallis fleet.
Shortly after his arrival, the new governor sent the transport
Fair Lady, whose passengers had been landed on George's Isl-
and, to Annapolis Royal to bring Mascarene and a quorum of
his council to Halifax to be formally dismissed from office. On
the 12th of July the Annapolis officials arrived and Cornwallis
displayed to them his own commission and took the oaths of office
in their presence. On the 14th, Friday, on board the Beaufort,
ii. For an account of Major Mascarene see the "New England Historical and
Genealogical Register," Vol. 9, p. 239; and the "Correspondence of William Shir-
ley," Vol. i, pp. 337, 338.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, XOVA SCOTIA 283
in the harbour, he chose a new council, and thus formally organ-
ized the civil government. The members of the new council
were : Paul Mascarene, Edward Howe, John Gorham, Benja-
min Green, John Salusbury,12 and Hugh Davidson, the last of
whom became the first secretary of the province under civil rule.
Very soon William Steele, Peregrine Thomas Hopson (who on
account of his higher military rank at once took precedence of
Mascarene), John Horseman, Robert Ellison, James Francis
Mercer, and Charles Lawrence, were added to the list, the number
thus being raised to the full complement of twelve, the number
of the earlier military council. The formation of the council was
announced to the people by a general salute from the ships in
the harbour and the day was given up to general festivity. The
table around which the first council sat on the Beaufort is now
in the small Council Chamber in the Province Building, and is
one of Nova Scotia's most famous historical relics. On the 18th
of July Cornwallis appointed John Brewse or Bruce, Robert
Ewer, John Collier, and John Duport, Esquires, justices of the
peace, for the township of Halifax, thus organizing a minor town
government for the new settlement, in addition to the govern-
ment-in-chief.
By his commission, Governor Cornwallis, "with the advice
and consent of his Council and Assembly, or the major part of
them respectively, ' ' was given full power and authority to make,
constitute, and ordain laws, statutes, and ordinances for the pub-
lic peace, welfare, and good government of the province, these
laws to be submitted to the home government for its approba-
tion or disallowance within three months after making. It will
thus be seen that the home government from the first contem-
plated the establishment, as soon as circumstances should make
it possible, of some form of representative government for Nova
Scotia, but it was not until 1758, nine years after the settlement
under Cornwallis began, that a representative assembly was
formed. Until then the governor and his council exercised un-
12. John Salusbury, who returned to England in the spring of I753». and died
in 1762, was of a Welsh family, and was a friend of Lord Halifax. His wife, a
Miss Cotton, is said to have brought him a fortune of £10,000, "which he spent in
extravagance and dissipation." His daughter was Mrs. Thrale, afterwards Mrs.
Piozzi, famous as during her first marriage the friend of Dr. Samuel Johnson.
284 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
limited control in the province, and it was naturally not without
much unwillingness that these functionaries suffered any part
of the government of the province at last to pass out of their
hands. The interests of the newly appointed council of Nova
Scotia and the governor-in-chief were many and varied. The
French and Indians had to be promptly dealt with, the defences
of the town and suburbs vigorously pushed, conditions of trade
determined, the sale of liquor regulated, offenders against the
law tried and punished, houses, wharves, a church, a hospital,
and an orphanage built, allowances to needy settlers granted,
Sunday traffic kept in check, the town divided into wards, a ferry
to Dartmouth established, a light-house placed at the entrance
to the harbour, and an efficient militia established and trained,—
these were some of the many tasks that at once claimed the at-
tention of the newly formed government and taxed its executive
powers.
In November (1749) the council ordered that all trees remain-
ing within the forts or barricades should be left standing for
ornament or shelter for the town, none to be cut down or
"barked." For each tree destroyed in defiance of this order,
the penalty was forty-eight hours imprisonment and a fine of
one pound. The order, however, did not hinder any one from
cutting trees on his own lot. In December, housekeepers were
ordered to give notice within twenty-four hours to one of the
clergymen of the town of any deaths that had occurred in their
houses, the penalty for failure to do this likewise being impris-
onment and fine. Persons refusing to attend a corpse to the
grave, when ordered to do so by a justice of the peace, were to
be imprisoned, and it was strictly enjoined that "Vernon the
carpenter" should mark the initials of every deceased person
on the coffin in which his body was inclosed. In June, 1750, a
market place was ordered to be set apart for the sale of black
cattle and sheep. In July the proprietors of lots were ordered
to clear the ground in front of their lots to the middle of the
streets which ran before them. January 14, 1751, it was ordered
that the town and suburbs be divided into eight wards, and that
the inhabitants be empowered to choose annually the following
officers for managing such prudential affairs of the town as
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 285
should be committed by the governor and council to their care,
namely, eight town overseers, a town clerk, sixteen constables,
and eight scavengers.13
Regarding the settlement of French in the environs of Halifax
before the coming of Cornwallis 's fleet, we have not very much
knowledge, but we do know something. June 22, 1749, Governor
Comwallis writing from Chebucto to the Duke of Bedford says :
"There are a few French families on each side of the Bay [the
name he always uses in speaking of Bedford Basin], about three
leagues off ; some have been on board. ' ' A month later, the 23rd
of July, he writes the Duke: "Tis twenty -five leagues from
hence to Minas and the French have made a path by driving their
cattle over. ' ' In the same letter he says : ' ' Another company
I shall send to the head of the Bay, where the road to Minas
begins." Indeed, among the older residents of Halifax in recent
times a clear tradition existed that before Cornwallis came there
was a scattered settlement of French on the southwest shore of
Bedford Basin, near what is now Bockingham, which continued
on the opposite shore, near what is now Navy Island. As in
King's and other further western counties of the province it is
not many years since the foundations of what are said
to have been French houses could plainly be seen on the
Bedford Basin shores, between Bockingham (Four Mile
House) and Fairview (Three Mile House), a certain point
here being very well known as "French Landing." There
is also a tradition that a few French houses, probably of
settlers who were occupied in fishing, were scattered
along the shore of the Northwest Arm.14 That the French in the
environs of Halifax when Cornwallis came were very few, and
the settlement at Bedford, if such existed, very inconsiderable,
13. When Halifax was founded, New York was a hundred and twenty-eight
years old, Boston a hundred and fifteen, and Philadelphia sixty-seven.
14. These last interesting facts have been given us by Harry Piers, Esq., the
able Nova Scotia archivist and curator of the Provincial Museum, who says that
"French Landing" may have been the place where D'Anville disembarked his men
to recuperate, in 1746. "Is it not likely," says Mr. Piers, "that D'Anville landed
his men close to these French houses, in order to get fresh vegetables for which
his men were suffering? D'Anville' s men who died were buried near by, in what
is now woods. There is an old cemetery (I have unearthed there many bones my-
self) which plainly antedates the settlement of Halifax, at Birch Cove, a couple of
miles above French Landing. The cemetery has no stones."
286 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
is proved by a statement made by the Rev. William Tutty to the
venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in a letter
written by him on board the Beaufort in Halifax Harbour, Sep-
tember 29, 1749. Mr. Tutty says: "The nearest of the French
settlements lie at the distance of about forty miles from the Town
of Halifax, so that 'tis very difficult to have any communication
with them, at least such comimunication as might convince them
of the errors of their faith. ' '
Of the number of Indians located near Halifax we know still
less than we do about the French. "The Indians," says Gov-
ernor Cornwallis in a letter to the Duke of Bedford dated July
23, 1749, "are hitherto very peaceable, many of them have
been here with some chiefs. I made them small presents, told
them I had instructions from his Majesty to offer them friendship
and all protection, and likewise presents, which I should deliver
as soon as they could assemble1 their tribes and return with pow-
ers to enter into treaty and exchange their French commissions
for others in his Majesty's name." "The Indians of this
Peninsula, when we first arrived," says the Rev. Mr. Tutty,
"came frequently amongst us with their wives and children,
traded with us and seemed not in the least dissatisfied with our
settling here. But they vanished all at once, summoned as we
learned afterward by their priest at Chignecto, who was endeav-
oring to stir them up to arms, and has himself now, as he did in
the last war, appeared about Minas at the head of some of
them. But as an officer is posted there with an hundred men,
and is so fortified as to be a match for all the Indians of the
Peninsula, there is no danger to be apprehended on that side."
Any favourable opinion Cornwallis may have formed, of the
Indians, however, he was destined soon to change. No later
than October of the year of the settlement he felt obliged to
publish a proclamation authorizing all his Majesty's subjects
"to annoy, distress, take or destroy the savages commonly called
Micmacks wherever they are found, and all such as are aiding-
and assisting them," and to offer a reward of ten guineas for
every Indian taken or killed. The occasion of this proclama-
tion was several depredations committed by the Micmacs short-
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 287
ly before, some of them on the settlers of Halifax itself.15 The
worst of the earlier atrocities committeed by the natives was an
attack on the people located at Dartmouth, in May, 1751, in
which a number of white people, one of whom was Mr. John
Pyke, were killed and scalped, and others carried off as prison-
ers. The Indians concerned in this tragedy were not, however,
drawn from anywhere near Halifax, they are said to have col-
lected first "in great force" on the Basin of Minas, then to have
ascended the Shubenacadie river in canoes, and at last through
the almost trackless woods to have come stealthily on their prey.
The administration of Governor Cornwallis, as we have seen,
lasted only three years. His task in organizing and firmly
planting a new colony and in directing all its pressing affairs
was one of great difficulty and he discharged it in the main with
comprehensive and wise judgment and with singular force of
mind. For a short time, between him and the Lords of Trade a
certain lack of harmony existed, but whatever fault this body
had to find with him was clearly due rather to a failure on his
part to understand fully the proper conduct of financial business
than to an obstinate determination to have his own way, and in
the end his English masters must have been well satisfied with
his management of the difficult enterprise they had entrusted to
his hands. That the colonists themselves for the most part ap-
proved of and liked him we are strongly assured, the only seri-
ous complaint that we know of against him having been made by
a Jewish trader, Joshua Mauger,16 whose unscrupulous smug-
gling of goods into Halifax he made determined efforts to stop.
Somewhere between the middle of June and the last of July,
1752, Cornwallis, worn out with his labours, resigned and went
home,17 and on the 3rd of August Major-General Peregrine
15. Nova Scotia Archives, Vol. i, p. 582.
16. In the February issue of Americana we have said that Joshua Mauger.
whose name figures prominently in early Halifax history, had a daughter who be-
came the wife of the Due de Brouillan. This is incorrect. We are indebted to
Mr. George Mullane of Halifax, an indefatigable and accurate student of Halifax
local history for the fact that Miss Mauger was married to a Captain D'Auvergne,
R. N., a native of the island of Jersey, who became heir to a Due de Broiii'lan, of
whom he is said to have been a left-handed relative. At the peace of Amiens,
D'Auvergne went to Paris to urge his claims to the Brouillan title, but he was ar-
rested at the instance of Napoleon, who was angry with him for the part he had
taken in an expedition against the French coast in connection with the emigres.
17. Shirley's correspondence (Vol. i, p. 503) informs us that when Cornwallis
288 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Thomas Hopson was sworn into office as Governor of Nova Sco-
tia. When Louisburg was restored to the French under the
treaty of Alix-la-Chapelle, Hopson was the English commander
of that fort ; after the delivery of the fort he came up with the
troops to Chebucto, and was sworn in senior councillor, taking
precedence, as we have said, of Paul Mascarene, governor of
Annapolis Eoyal, because of superior military rank. As
governor he resided in the province a little more than a year,
on the first of November, 1753, sailing for England, whence he
never returned. On his departure from Halifax, Colonel Charles
Lawrence, another English officer from Louisburg, was appoint-
ed to administer the government, a formal commission as lieu-
tenant-governor under Hopson being given him the next year.
was given his commission he was promised that he should be relieved in two
years. March 28, 1750, Shirley asks that he may be appointed governor of Nova
Scotia, in addition to his Massachusetts governorship, if Cornwallis should leave
before the two years, as he seems to think he might possibly do.
[The following slight changes should be made in our articles entitled "Rhode
Island Settlers on the French Lands in Nova Scotia" in AMERICANA for January
and February, 1915. In the January number, p. 21, note, we have stated that only
Falmouth and Newport sent members to the legislature. This is not true, Windsor
also had representation. On pp. 36, 37 the name Winckworth, of Col. Tonge's
estate, is said to be in late years "incorrectly spelled Wentwprth." The fact no
doubt is that the name Winckworth was by design (and legitimately) changed to
Wentworth by the Cunningham family when they acquired the estate. This correc-
tion has been kindly suggested to us by Mr. Harry Piers, the able archivist of Nova
Scotia, who is likewise a very accurate local historian. In the February issue, p.
92, we have said that Joshua Mauger's only daughter was married to the Due de
Brouillan, this, as Mr. George Mullane has shown us, is not true. Proper correc-
tion of the statements appears elsewhere in this issue. On p. 97 we have said
that Perez Morton Cunningham died unmarried. This, Judge Savary informs us,
is also incorrect. The facts of Cunningham's marriage, however, we are at pres-
ent unable to give. A. W. H. E.j
THE HAMLET AT THE BOUWERIJ 763
ers of lands thereon from llth Street southwardly to 4th Street
and from 20th Street northwardly to 23rd Street to reset (at
their own expense) the curb and gutter so as to reduce the car-
riage way to the same width of 40 feet and to grant permission
to such owners, between 4th and 23rd Streets to enclose 15 feet
of the sidewalks within court yards, as had been permitted in
the case of Fifth Avenue, of 23rd Street, etc., etc., and if neces-
sary to obtain from the Legislature an Act authorizing such
enclosures. The Corporation further agreed to place a foun-
tain, equal to that in Union Square, in each of the enclosures
aforesaid, the same to be under the control of the City officials.
(Mins. C. C., Vol. XVII:3). The release is not of record.
On August 4, 1849, the "widening [sic] of the sidewalks in
Second Avenue, from 60 to 45 feet" and the resetting of the
curb and gutter in the Avenue from llth to 20th Streets were au-
thorized and the question of building fountains was referred to
the Croton Aqueduct Board with instructions to procure plans
and estimates and submit them to the Common Council. Said
Department was directed on October 11 to erect the fountains
and $7,500 was appropriated to cover the expense.
Considering the above action it is rather disconcerting that
the Mayor should have approved resolutions, Jan. 5, 1850, open-
ing as a public square the triangular piece of ground lying be-
tween and contained by the Bowery, Third Avenue and 7th
Street, (Vol. XVII :566) and that the Legislature should have
passed a law, March 16 of that year laying out a public place
on the above plot to be known as Stuyvesant Square, (Chap. 65.)
This has now become Cooper Square and lies just south of
Cooper Union.
Many people of note settled around the original square. Those
families which inherited parts of the Stuyvesant farm were
anxious to live thereon and built substantial brick mansions
along the broad stretch of Second Avenue. Their following went
with them and a great deal of the social gaiety of the City was
transferred away over to the East Side. There still remain
many of these fine old houses where people live in comfort and
it is yet a highly respectable place of residence which, although
fashion has passed by, clings tenaciously to its old home charms.
Chapters in the History of Halifax,
Nova Scotia
No. II — THE COMING OF THE BOSTON TOBIES
BY AETHUE WENTWOETH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
"Time was when America hallowed the morn
On which the lov'd monarch of Britain was born,
Hallowed the day, and joyfully chanted
God save the King!
Then flourish 'd tho blessings of freedom and peace,
And plenty flow'd in with a yearly increase,
Proud of our lot we chanted merrily
Glory and joy crown the King!
"But see! how rebellion has lifted her head!
How honour and truth are with loyalty fled !
Few are there now to join us in chanting
God save the King!
And see! how deluded the multitude fly
To arm in a cause that is built on a lye !
Yet are we proud to chant thus merrily
Glory and joy crown the King!"
Loyalist Poem by the Rev. Jonathan Odell, M. D., on the
King's birthday, June 4, 1777. Printed in the Gentleman's
Magazine.
OF THE several provinces that constitute the Domin-
ion of Canada, Quebec and Nova Scotia were the only
ones at the time of American Revolution that could
be considered settled. The nearest of the provinces
to the colonies engaged in revolt was Nova Scotia, and the fact
that her population had in great part only recently been drawn
from New England, and that her trade was still most largely
with Boston, gives this province a significance in the great strug-
(764)
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 765
gle for independence that is second only to that of the revolt-
ing colonies themselves. Political sympathies are usually most
strongly determined by racial connection and commercial inter-
est, and with a large proportion of the people of Nova Scotia
at the period of the Revolution, near ties of blood and the neces-
sities of trade naturally combined to produce a feeling of sym-
pathy with the revolt, that showed itself strongly throughout
the province, particularly in the two important but widely sepa-
rated counties of Yarmouth and Cumberland. That in the Rev-
olution the political fate of Nova Scotia "hung upon a very
slender thread" is a statement that has recently been boldly
made in Nova Scotia itself, and strong as the statement to many
people may seem, the facts in the case we believe fully warrant
the historian in making the charge that his statement implies.1
Geographically, Nova Scotia and the adjoining province of
New Brunswick, which until 1783 was reckoned as part of
Nova Scotia, belong with New England, and in the commissions
of several of the governors sent out as the chief executives of
Massachusetts, Nova Scotia was included as part of the terri-
tory over which these officials were empowered to exercise con-
trol.2 For two-thirds of a century before the Revolution, ever
since England had gained the final undisputed right to rule Aca-
dia, intercourse, political and social, between the two provinces
had been of the closest kind. Massachusetts, indeed, for much of
this time had been in a military way much more than a friendly
1. Edmund Duval Poole in "Annals of Yarmouth and Harrington," page i.
2. Sir William Phips's commission, in 1692, gave this governor control of
"the Old Colony, the Colony of New Plymouth, the Province of Maine, of Nova
Scotia, and all the country between the last two mentioned places." See Sparks's
American Biography, Vol. 7, p. 77. William Shirley's commission, in 1741, reads :
"Whereas by a Royal Charter under the Great Seal of England, bearing date the
Seventh day of October in the 3rd year of the Reign of King William the Third,
the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, the Colony of New Plymouth, the Province of
Main in New England, the Territory of Acadie or Nova Scotia, and the Lands
lying between the said Territory of Nova Scotia and the Province of Main afore-
said were United, Erected, and incorporated into one real Province, by the name
of Our Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. . . . We repos-
ing Especial Trust and Confidence in the Prudence, Courage, and Loyalty of you
the said William Shirley. ... do Constitute and Appoint You the said Wil-
liam Shirley to be Our Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over Our
said Province of the Massachusetts Bay." "The Correspondence of William Shir-
ley," edited by Charles Henry Lincoln, Ph.D., Vol. i, pp. 28-36. The "seventh day
of October in the third year of the Reign of King William the Third" was Octo-
ber 7, 1691.
766 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
neighbor to the more easterly province, she had, primarily of
course for her own protection, used her forces unsparingly in
guarding the interests of Nova Scotia against the machinations
of the common foe of all the eastern American colonies, the
papistical French.3 In the matter of trade the two provinces
had been extremely valuable to each other, important commer-
cial intercourse between them having begun even earlier than the
time that De Razilly's warring lieutenants, D'Aulnay Charni-
say and Charles La Tour, were waging their petty wars for su-
premacy in the Acadian woods.
As we have seen, there was no attempt at British settlement
of Nova Scotia until 1749, and thereafter no further attempt un-
til 1758, so that the political grievances of which long settled
Massachusetts had come to complain had had no chance to de-
velop in the former province. But the population of Nova Sco-
tia, wherever population existed in the districts outside of Hali-
fax, had been largely drawn from New England, and as has
been said, and as we should expect, these Nova Scotian New
Englanders soon after the outbreak of the Revolution showed
unmistakable signs of close sympathy with the cause to which
their relatives and friends in the colonies they had left behind
had given their passionate support. At Halifax, however, mat-
ters were different, many of the most influential inhabitants of
the town, it is true, were New Englanders, but society there had
begun on a distinctly aristocratic plan, the governor was an
Englishman, the council, into which several New England men
had already been admitted, was a body which stimulated and
gave exercise for the love of power which most men possess,
and already a considerable number of the Boston Congregation-
3. In 1747, Governor Shirley wrote the Duke of Newcastle that "New Eng-
land had furnished for years the only succour and support the Garrison at An-
napolis Royal had received, and that the General Assembly of Massachusetts were
growing tired of haying the burden of defence thrown upon them, and desired
his Majesty's more immediate interposition for the protection of Nova Scotia."
Archdeacon Raymond, LL.D., in "Nova Scotia under English Rule; from the
Capture of Port Royal to the Conquest of Canada, A. D. 1710-1760," published in
the "Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada," Third Series 1910, p. 68.
March 28, 1750, Shirley writes the Duke of Newcastle that Nova Scotia hav-
ing long been the object of his attention, appears to him "immediately to affect
the safety of all his [Majesty's] other Northern Colonies, particularly those of
New England, and in its consequences the interests of Great Britain itself in a
very high degree." "The Correspondence of William Shirley."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 767
alists settled in the town had conceived an attachment, stronger
or weaker, for the Anglican Church. When the Revolution
began, therefore, self interest for most of the Halifax men
seemed to demand that whatever might come they should keep
loyal to England, hence the strong censure with which any disaf-
fection towards British control was visited at Halifax from first
to last through the whole continuance of the war.
The Revolutionary conflict started in Massachusetts on the
nineteenth of April, 1775, by the march of some eight or ninte
hundred royal troops from Boston towards Concord to seize
stores of ammunition and food the provincials had collected there
for use in the impending certain strife. The attempt was un-
successful, and before long Boston, where the British forces
were gathered, was completely surrounded by provincial troops
and all supplies for the King's army were cut off. As soon as
this fact became known in Nova Scotia, Governor Legge of this
province ordered shipments of provisions from the Bay of Fun-
dy, and likewise dispatched four companies of the 65th regi-
ment, then stationed at Halifax, to assist the royal troops in the
beleaguered town. In the Massachusetts Archives is a mass of
documents which reveal with great clearness the unhappy con-
ditions which existed both in Nova Scotia and in Massachusetts,
from the prohibition of all intercourse between the two prov-
inces by the patriot authorities of Massachusetts, throughout
the progress of the strife, until the enactment of the resolve of
July fifth, 1792, by the Massachusetts Great and General Court
abolished privateering and put trade relations once more on a
friendly basis.
Fear that the interruption of trade relations, and more es-
pecially that the close relationship that existed between a
great part of the inhabitants of Nova Scotia and the people of
New England, might produce a feeling of sympathy in Nova
Scotia with the revolting colonies, caused the government at
Halifax to bestir themselves vigorously almost as soon as the
Revolution began to check any outward demonstration of dis-
loyalty the N^ova Scotians might be disposed to make. At the
opening of the Legislature in June, 1775, Governor Legge in
Ms speech said diplomatically : * ' On so critical a conjuncture of
768 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
affairs in America I cannot forbear expressing the great pleas-
ure and satisfaction I receive from your steady and uniform be-
haviour in your duty and allegiance to the King, and in your
due observance of the laws of Great Britain. Nothing can more
advance the good and welfare of this people, nor render us more
respectable to Great Britain, nor be more subservient to procure
the favour and protection of our Royal and most gracious sov-
ereign; as on the continuance of his protection our safety, our
prosperity, and the very existence of this colony depends." The
replies of the Council and the Assembly to this speech were as
loyal in tone as could be asked, but the Governor soon began in
letters to the Home Government to charge disloyalty to England
on most of the people under his rule, clearly insinuating that
even members of the Council itself were tainted with treasonable
feeling.4 Positive orders issued both by the revolted colonies
and the Governor and Council of this province prohibiting in-
tercourse between Nova Scotia and the other colonies soon pro-
4. At Halifax the restraint of trade was of course severely felt, and a few
persons there were charged by name with unfriendliness towards the English
cause. A quantity of hay had been bought from Mr. Joseph Fairbanks for the
King's troops at Boston, but by some means it was burned before it could be got
away. Responsibility for destroying it was publicly laid on two Massachusetts
residents of the town, John Fillis, formerly of Boston, and William Smith. They
stoutly denied the charge, however, and the council exonerated them. In Octo-
ber, 1777, an order was passed in council for the arrest of Mr. Malachy Salter,
one of the most prominent merchants of the town, also a native Bostonian,
on a charge of correspondence of a dangerous tendency with parties in Boston,
and a prosecution was ordered against him for unlawful correspondence with
the rebels. In the next session of the Supreme Court Mr. Salter was tried but
he too was honourably acquitted.
The Eddy rebellion in Cumberland county in 17/6, led by Jonathan Eddy, John
Allan, and Samuel Rogers, all of whom had been members of the Nova Scotia
Legislature, is a conspicuous matter of Revolutionary history. How the news of
this rebellion affected the government at Halifax a minute of the council books
shows. This notable entry is as follows :
"At a council holden at Halifax, on the I7th Nov., 1776, Present the Honoura-
ble the Lieut. Governor, the Hon. Charles Morris, Richard Bulkeley, Henry New-
ton, Jonathan Binney, Arthur Gpold, John Butler.
"On certain intelligence having been received that Jonathan Eddy, William
Howe, and Samuel Rogers have been to the utmost of their power exciting and
stirring up disaffection and rebellion among the people of the county of Cumber-
land, and are actually before the fort at Cumberland with a considerable number
of rebels from New England, together with some Acadians and Indians. It was
therefore resolved to offer £200 Reward for apprehending Jonathan Eddy and
£100 for apprehending John Allan, who has been deeply concerned in exciting said
rebellion.''
A fact never entirely lost sight of by historians of Halifax is that in this
Eddy rebellion in Cumberland a young Irishman, Richard John Uniacke, who in
later life was to hold high positions in the local government and to found in
Halifax a family of the first importance, took part against the British authorities.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 769
duced a most unhappy state of feeling all over the province;
Nova Scotia had lost her markets, privateering on both sides was
rampant on the seas, so large a number of prisoners were being
brought into Halifax that the prison ship in the harbour and
the jail in the town were full to overflowing, and to crown all an
order had gone out from Governor Legge for the enrollment of
a large body of militia in various parts of the province for im-
mediate service, if necessary in the field. Legge, who was a rel-
ative of the Earl of Dartmouth, was the most unpopular gover-
nor Nova Scotia has ever had, he was autocratic and suspicious,
and in the three years that he spent as head of the government,
he managed hopelessly to antagonize not only the lieutenant-
governor, Mr. Michael Francklin, and the members of the Coun-
cil, but the people at large of perhaps every settled township in
the province under his rule. His order to the militia was re-
ceived throughout the province with marked disapprobation;
* ' Those of us who belong to New England being invited into this
province by Governor Lawrence's proclamation,'1 say the peo-
ple of Cumberland, "it must be the greatest piece of cruelty
and imposition for them to be subjected to march into different
parts in arms against their friends and relations." Protests
from Onslow and Truro speak of the hardships of the militia
law, since it takes men from their avocations, and also leaves the
parts of the country from which they come exposed to attack.
The movement of Loyalists from Massachusetts to Nova Sco-
tia began very soon after the skirmish at Lexington. Many per-
sons of comfortable fortune, in and near Boston, foresaw that if
the provincials triumphed their own fortunes must lie elsewhere
than in their native province, and cast their eyes on Nova Scotia
as a place of refuge. Early in May, 1775, therefore, several
vessels arrived in Halifax harbour with families that were glad
to escape thus early from the scene of what clearly threatened
to be a miserable and protracted civil war.
The first Massachusetts Loyalists that we know to have ar-
rived in Halifax were a group who embarked at Salem on the
twenty-ninth of April, 1775, in the brig Minerva. This group
comprised Mr. George DeBlois, a local Salem merchant, a first
cousin of Gilbert and Lewis DeBlois, the well known Boston
770 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Tories who died in England,— Dr. John Prince, a Salem physi-
cian, Mr. James Grant, and a Mrs. Cottnam and her family.5
A little over a month later, on the eighth of June, 1775, Edward
Lyde and his family of Boston left their native city, in some
vessel, and sought refuge in Halifax. Edward Lyde was a
prosperous iron merchant, a man of the first social position, who
had managed to make himself highly offensive to the patriots,
and his flight from his native town at this early period seems
to have been necessary for his safety. Precisely where in Hali-
fax he lived during the year he spent there we do not know, but
when his friends from Boston arrived with General Howe, as
we shall presently see, he met Chief Justice Peter Oliver, and
at once took him to his house, where he kept him during his stay.
Some time in 1776, Mr. Lyde embarked for London, though he
did not long stay abroad. In 1779 he came to New York, where
he had important business interests, and in that city he spent
most of the remainder of his life.6 When Howe's fleet reached
Halifax, among the Refugees that came with it were Mr. By-
field Lyde of Boston, Edward Lyde's father, and two or three
sisters of Edward Lyde. Of these sisters, Sarah, became in
3777, in Halifax, the second wife of Dr. Mather Byles.
Very soon after the battle of Lexington, Major John Vassall
of Cambridge and Boston, and his family, and Colonel Isaac
Royall of Medford, sailed for Halifax, and with the latter prob-
ably went also Sir William Pepperrell, 2nd, Colonel Royall 's son-
in-law, and Lady Pepperrell. In Halifax Lady Pepperrell died,
her funeral taking place there October eighth, 1775. Late in
1775, or early in 1776, Rev. John Troutbeck, who had been for
about twenty-one years assistant minister of King's Chapel,
also took refuge in Halifax, and with the exception of the Pep-
5. See the writer's "Old Boston Families, No. i, the DeBlois Family," in the
N. E. Hist, and Gen. Register for January, 1913. Mrs. Cottnam afterward kept
a school for girls, first in Halifax, then in St. John. She and her daughter are
occasionally referred to in the Byles correspondence.
6. Edward Lyde's movements are clearly learned from the deposition he
made before the commissioners appointed to receive petitions from Loyalists for
compensation for their losses in the Revolution. See "Ontario Sessional Papers,*
Vol. 37, Parts n and 12 (2 Vols., 1905).
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 771
perrells these persons were all in Nova Scotia when Howe's
iieet arrived in March and April, 1776.7
Almost immediately after the battle of Lexington, as we have
said, Boston came into a state of siege, General Gage promptly
ordering the inhabitants of the town to have no communication
whatever with the country around. Just before the battle of
Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775), General Howe said to his troops:
"Remember, gentlemen, we have no recourse if we lose Boston,
but to go on board our ships, which will be very disagreeable to
us all." On the seventh of March, 1776, Howe's situation "was
perplexing and critical. The fleet was unable to ride in safety
in the harbour. The army, exposed to the mercy of the American
batteries and not strong enough to force the lines, was humiliat-
ed and discontented. The Loyalists were expecting and claim-
ing the protection that had so often been guaranteed to them.8 In
7. Rev. John Troutheck was in Boston as late as October. 1775. when he
signed the address from the gentlemen and principal inhabitants of Boston to
Governor Gage. When Dr. William Walter, Rector of Trinity Church, Boston,
arrived in Halifax we do not know, but it was probably earlier than the coming
there of Howe's fleet.
Colonel Isaac Royall left his beautiful mansion in Medford (which is stand-
ing still) with great sorrow, three days before the battle of Lexington. He ex-
pected to go to Antigua, but he soon decided to go to Halifax, and in that town
he remained until the Spring of 1776. Probably in May, 1776, he embarked for
England, and there without ever revisiting his native country, he died in 1781.
One of his daughters was the wife of Col. George Erving, another the wife of
Sir William Pepperrell, 2nd.
Of Colonel RoyalFs house at Medford, Mr. Stark writes: "The mansion it-
self was inded one of the finest of colonial residences, standing as it did in the
midst of elegant surroundings. In the front, or what is now the west side, was
the paved court. Reaching farther west were the extensive gardens, opening from
the courtyard, a broad path leading to the summer house. The slave quarters
were at the south. . . . The interior woodwork of the house is beautifully
carved, especially the drawing room, guest chamber, and staircase. The walls are
pannelled, and the carving on each side of the windows is very fine."
This notable mansion was the scene of great hospitality. "No home in the
colony," continues Mr. Stark, "was more open to friends, no gentleman gave bet-
ter dinners, or drank costlier wines." Colonel Royal was a kind master to his
slaves, a charitable man to the poor, and a friend to everybody. From Halifax,
March twelfth, 1776, he wrote from Halifax to Dr. Simon Tufts of Medford,
directing Tufts to sell some of his slaves. See Stark's "The Loyalists of Massa-
chusetts," pp. 293, 294; and Brooks's "History of Medford," p. 173.
8. Public acts of the Massachusetts Loyalists that were particularly offensive
to the patriot party were, a respectful address of the merchants and others of
Boston to Governor Hutchinson, May 30, 1774, before Hutchinson's departure for
England; an address of the barristers and attorneys of Massachusetts to Gover-
nor Hutchinson on the same day; an address of the inhabitants of Marblehead
to Governor Hutchinson, May 25, 1774; an address to Governor Hutchinson from
his fellow townsmen in the town of Milton shortly before the Governor sailed ;
an address presented to his Excellency Governor Gage, July u, 1774, on his ar-
rival at Salem; a loyal address from the gentlemen and principal inhabitants of
772 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
addition, the belief was general that no despatches had been re-
ceived from the government since October." Accordingly, on
the 7th of March, 1776, Howe convened his officers in Council,
and in a speech, impassioned and forceful, told them that in
spite of the humiliation which the action would involve, and
of the losses that the Loyalists under his protection must inevi-
tably suffer, in order to save the army he must evacuate the town.
Ten days later the formal evacuation came. On Sunday the
17th, very early in the morning, the troops began to embark.
"About nine o'clock," says Frothingham, "the garrison left
Bunker Hill, and a large number of boats, filled with troops and
inhabitants, put off from the wharves of Boston." How soon
after his final decision was made to leave Boston Howe notified
the majority of the Loyalists under his protection, we do not
know, but the Rev. Henry Caner, Eector of King's Chapel, tells
us that he himself had only a few hours given him to prepare for
his flight.
Although the formal evacuation occurred on the seventeenth
of March, the whole fleet did not leave Boston harbour for sev-
eral days, and Frothingham says that during that time the
British officers wrote many letters to their friends. On the day
of the evacuation, one wrote from "Nantasket Road": "The
dragoons are under orders to sail tomorrow for Halifax,— a
Boston to Governor Gage, October 6, 1775, shortly before he sailed for England;
and a "loyal address to Governor Gage on his departure, October 14, 1775, of
those gentlemen who were driven from their habitations in the country to the
town of Boston."
In September, 1778, was passed by the General Court of Massachusetts the
Banishment Act of the State, "an Act to prevent the return to this state of cer-
tain persons therein named, and others who have left this state or either of the
United States, and joined the enemies thereof." In this were included many gen-
tlemen in various professions and businesses prominent in several towns of the
State. The second section of the act reads : "And be it further enacted by the
authority aforesaid, that if any person or persons, who shall be transported as
aforesaid, shall voluntarily return into this state, without liberty first had and ob-
tained from the general court, he shall on conviction thereof before the superior
court of judicature, court of assize and general gaol delivery, suffer the pains of
death without benefit of clergy." On the 3Oth of April, 1779, was passed the "Con-
spiracy Act," or Act of Confiscation, "an Act to confiscate the estates of certain
notorious conspirators against the government and liberties of the inhabitants of
the late province, now state, of Massachusetts Bay." (The term "notorious con-
spirators" was highly insulting to men who were honestly convinced that what-
ever the mistakes the British Government was then making, it was wrong to
thrpw^off allegiance to the mother land. Private letters of Harrison Gray in the
writer's custody show how indignantly they resented it, and how inappropriate it
really was).
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 773
cursed, cold, wintry place, even yet; nothing to eat, less to
drink. Bad times, my dear friend." On the twenty-fifth of
March, another wrote: "We do not know where we are going,
but are in great distress." On the twenty-sixth, still another
wrote: "Expect no more letters from Boston. We have quitted
that place. Washington played on the town for several days.
A shell, which burst while we were preparing to embark did very
great damage. Our men have suffered. We have one consola-
tion left. You know the proverbial expression, t neither Hell,
Hull, nor Halifax,' can afford worse shelter than Boston.9 To
fresh provision I have for many months been an utter stranger.
An egg was a rarity. Yet I submit. A soldier may mention
grievances, though he should scorn to repine when he suffers
them. The next letter from Halifax."
The whole effective besieging force that withdrew with Howe,
says Lossing, including seamen, was about eleven thousand, and
the number of Refugees about eleven hundred, but a list of the
latter in the handwriting of one of them, Mr. Walter Barrell,
Inspector General of Customs, which was long ago printed in the
"Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society," gives
the number as nine hundred and twenty-seven.10 In Barrell 's
g. "There is a proverb, and a prayer withal.
That we may not to three strange places fall :
From Hull, from Halifax, from Hell, 'tis thus,
From all these three, good Lord, deliver us!"
John Taylor (the "Water Poet"), 1580-1654; in "News from Hell, Hull, and
Halifax."
The siege of Boston had been in progress for ten months when Howe evac-
uated the town.
10. "Proceedings of the Mass. Hist. Soc.," Vol. 18, p. 266. Also Stark's
"Loyalists of Massachusetts," pp. 133-136. In his "Siege of Boston," Richard
Frothingham, Jr., gives the number of Refugees with Howe as "more than a thou-
sand." Of members of Council, commissioners, custpm-house officers, and others
who had occupied official positions, he says, there were a hundred and two ; of
merchants and other inhabitants of Boston two hundred and thirteen ; of persons
from the country a hundred and five; of farmers, traders, and mechanics three
hundred and eighty-two, and of clergymen eighteen, all of whom "returned their
names on their arrival at Halifax." About two hundred others, he adds, did not
return their names. Where the "return" made at Halifax, that Frothingham
speaks of, was ever deposited we do not know. Nor can we feel at all certain
that Frothingham's summary is correct. It is impossible, for instance, that there
can have been eighteen clergymen among the Refugees. The only Massachusetts
clergymen that the fleet can possibly have carried were Rev. Dr. Henry Caner,
Rector of King's Chapel, Rev. Dr. Mather Byles, who had been Rector of Christ
Church, Rev. Moses Badger, whose home was in Haverhill, and possibly though
not at all likely, Rev. Dr. William Walter, Rector of Trinity Church. When Dr.
774 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
list we find besides Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Oliver and his
servants, six persons in all, eleven members of council, and a
clerk of the courts, they and their households numbering in all
seventy-three,— a group of custom house officials numbering no
less than thirty-seven, they and their families aggregating a
hundred and thirty-two, and two hundred and twenty-eight other
men, with their families, these comprising the greater number
of the Bostonians in private life who were regarded as occupy-
ing the most prominent positions in the town. Among the Refu-
gees were Hon. Harrison Gray, Receiver General of the prov-
ince and member of council, Brigadier-General Timothy Bug-
gies, Hon. Foster Hutchinson, Col. John Murray, Col. Josiah
Edson, Mr. Richard Lechmere, Col. John Erving, Mr. Nathaniel
Ray Thomas, Messrs. Abijah Willard, Daniel Leonard, Nathan-
iel Hatch, George Erving,— and leading representatives of the
families of Atkinson, Brattle, Brinley, Cazneau, Chandler, Cof-
fin, Cutler, DeBlois, Dumaresq, Faneuil, Gardener, Gay, Gore,
Gray, Green, Greenwood, Holmes, Hutchinson, Inman, Jefferies,
Johannot, Joy, Loring, Lyde, Oliver, Paddock, Perkins, Phips,
Putnam, Rogers, Saltonstall, Savage, Sergeant, Snelling,
Sterns or Stearns, and Winslow. That several other important
Boston men like Thomas Apthorp, and Major John and Wil-
liam Vassall, are not found in this list of Refugees with the fleet
is to be accounted for by the fact that they had left, either for
Halifax or directly for England, some time before.12
Walter went to Halifax, we have nowhere found recorded, it may have been
with the fleet, or it may have been, as was the case with Rev. John Troutbeck, a
little earlier. There may have been several army or navy chaplains on Howe's
ships, there were no Massachusetts clergymen except those we have mentioned.
11. On page 136 of his "Loyalists of Massachusetts" Mr. Stark gives the names
of thirty-six mandamus councillors appointed August 9, 1774. Of these, several,
like Foster Hutchinson, Timothy Ruggles, and Nathaniel Ray Thomas, going with
the fleet, settled permanently in Nova Scotia.
12. Judge Curwen, of Salem, one of the most important Massachusetts Loy-
alists, landed at Dover, England, July 3, 1775, and after visiting the castle there,
at once took coach for London. The next evening, at seven o'clock, he arrived at
the New England Coffee-House, on Threadneedle Street. He remained in Eng-
land until 1784, when at the urgent solicitation of his old friends, "the principal
merchants and citizens of Salem," he returned to New England. At Salem he
says, "not a man, woman, or child but expressed a satisfaction at seeing me, and
welcomed me back." His affairs were in so bad a condition, however, that he
thought he might have to "retreat to Nova Scotia," but he staid in Salem, and
died there in 1802. April 24, 1780, he writes :
"This day, five years are completed since I abandoned my house, estate, and
effects and friends. God only knows whether I shall ever be restored to them,
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 775
On the thirtieth of March, 1776, so tradition has it, the Hali-
fax people, who had had no previous notice of the action of
Howe, were startled to see a fleet sailing into their harbour.13
Their first thought was that another French fleet bent on re-con-
quest of Nova Scotia had suddenly surprised the town, but the
truth was soon learned, and then the greatest perplexity arose
to know how to house the thousand civilians who wished to dis-
embark from the ships, and to provide food for the more than
eleven thousand soldiers and sailors that General Howe's forces
comprised. To supply shelter every available spare room in the
town was quickly secured and tents were thrown up on the
Parade, and for food, cattle were rapidly driven in from the
suburbs and slaughtered, and all shops and storehouses were
taxed to the limit of their supplies. So great was the demand
for food that as in all such crises the price of provisions rose to
what was then an exorbitant figure, and this went on until the
Governor was obliged to issue a proclamation fixing the price of
meat at a shilling a pound, milk at sixpence a quart, and butter
at one and six-pence a pound.
At this time, it will be remembered, Halifax was only twenty-
seven years old, and its regular inhabitants numbered not more
than between three and four thousand, and we can well imagine
the excitement that must have prevailed in all ranks of society
at the sudden descent of such a force on the town, and at the
prospect of such a permanent increase to the population as the
remaining there of a large number of the Bostonians would
make. Towards the troops and the people who accompanied
them, however, there seems to have been generally the kindest
feeling shown, and however limited the hospitality the Hali-
gionians were able to offer, the Boston people were no doubt
thankful to their hearts' core to receive it, for they had been
living for months previous to their enforced embarkation in a
or they to me. Party rage, like jealousy and superstition is cruel as the grave; —
that moderation is a crime, and in time of civil confusions, many good, virtuous,
and peaceable persons now suffering banishment from America are the wretched
proofs and instances." See Curwen's "Journal and Letters," and Stark's "Loy-
alists of Massachusetts," pp. 246-254.
13. This is the tradition, but it is also said somewhere in print that when
General Howe found that he must leave Boston he dispatched Brigadier-General
Robertson to Halifax to make ready for the troops.
7;6 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
state of apprehension and in some cases of real physical discom-
fort. The distress of the troops and inhabitants of Boston dur-
ing the siege, some one wrote at the time, "is great beyond all
possible description. Neither vegetables, flour, nor pulse for the
inhabitants; the King's stores are so very short none can be
spared for them; no fuel, and the winter set in remarkably se-
vere. The troops and inhabitants absolutely and literally starv-
ing for want of provisions and fire."14
Details of the voyage of these Boston Tories to Halifax are
not entirely wanting. In the Journal of Chief-Justice Peter Oli-
ver, as quoted in Thomas Hutchinson's "Diary and Letters,"15
we have one prominent Bostonian's account of it. On the sev-
enteenth of March, the day of the embarkation, Judge Oliver
writes : * ' The troops at Boston embarked, and about 20 sail fell
down into King's Koad by 11 o'clock this morning." On the
twenty-seventh, then well at sea, he writes : "I sailed from Nan-
tasket, at 3 o'clock, afternoon, in the 2nd and last Division of
the fleet, about 70 sail, for Hallifax, under convoy of the Chat-
ham, Admiral Shuldham, and of the Centurion, Captn Braith-
waite— 28th, A good wind. 29th, Ditto. Were on Cape Sable
Bank. 30th, Wind about N. E. A tumbling sea, supposed to be
occasioned by the indraught of the Bay of Fundy. 31st, Ditto.
April 1st, A tumbling sea : wind at N. E. 2nd, A southerly wind
and smooth sea. Made land, on a north course, about 3 o'clock
afternoon, and came to anchor before Hallifax at half an hour
past 7 at night. 3d, Landed at Hallifax. Edward Lyde, Esq. in-
vited me to his house, where I tarried till I embarqued for Eng-
land. I was very happy in being at Mr. Lyde's, as there was so
great an addition to the inhabitants from the navy and army,
and Refugees from Boston, which made the lodgings for them
very scarce to be had, and many of them, when procured, quite
intolerable. Provisions were here as dear as in London. The
rents of houses were extravagant and the owners of them took all
advantages of the necessity of the times, so that I knew of three
rooms in one house wch house could not cost 500£ Sterlg, let for
£250 Sterlg p year. Thus mankind prey upon each other. . . .
14. We can understand from this account how it was that the Old North
Church, the Church of the Mathers (Dr. Increase and Dr. Cotton Mather), with
about twenty other buildings, was torn down for fuel during the siege.
15. "Diary and Letters of Thomas Hutchinson," Vol. 2, pp. 46-54.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 777
I pitied the misfortunes of others, but I could only pity them : for
myself, I was happily provided for, and was the more happy, as
I had been very sea-sick during my 6 1-2 days voyage, so that I
could not enjoy to my wishes, the grand prospect of the ocean
covered with ships in view, and some of them so near as to con-
verse with our friends on board them. ' '
How Halifax appeared to the Refugees we also learn from
Judge Oliver's journal. "Halifax," Oliver writes, "is a very
agreeable situation for prospects, and for trade: it is situated
on a rising ground fronting the Harbour and ocean. There are
6 or 7 streets parallel to each other on the side of the hill, of
about 1 1-2 or 2 miles in length, very strait, and of good width.
There are many others which ascend the hill, and intersect the
long streets. On the top of the hill there is now a most delight-
ful prospect of the harbour, Islands near the entrance of the
harbor, and of the ocean, so that you may see vessells at a very
great distance at sea : and when the woods are cleared off, there
will be a most delightfull landscape, but at present there is not
a great deal of cleared land.
"The harbor of Hallifax is a most excellent one, capable of
containing the whole English navy, where they may ride land-
locked against any storms ; at this time there are 200 sail before
the town ; and when Ld Lodoun was here in the year 1757, there
were above 300 sail of vessells in the harbor. It is above a mile
wide for 3 or 4 miles, and it is deep with good anchorage, and a
bold shore. Above the harbor there is a Basin which empties
into it; it is 5 or 6 miles broad, and 7 or 8 miles long; a good
shore, and in some places 50 fathom deep. In this Basin Duke
D'Anville retired out of observation in ye year 1745 [sic], and
here he left one of his 70 gun ships, which is now at the bottom
of this Basin.
"The houses of Hallifax seem to have been sowed like mush-
rooms in an hot-bed, and to have decayed as fast; for although
they have been built but a few years, yet there are scarce any of
them habitable, and perhaps a conflagration might occasion a
Phoenix to rise out of its ashes."16
16. Chief Justice Oliver further says: "During my stay at Hallifax, as well
as during my residence in Boston, I was treated with ye utmost politeness, not to
7;8 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Until early in June Howe's fleet lay at Halifax, the general
up to this time having undoubtedly been waiting for the arrival
of his brother, Admiral Lord Richard Howe, with instructions
for his further movements. In June the fleet sailed for New
York, and there in July the general was joined by his brother,
who brought with him a large force, and came armed with the
King's authority to the general and himself to treat with the
rebels, who it was fondly believed could yet be cajoled into more
complaisancy towards the mother country.17
Of the high standing in Boston of these Refugees with Howe's
fleet, a writer in the "Memorial History of Boston," giving the
names of a hundred and forty of the Loyalists proscribed in
1778 as inveterate enemies to the State, says: "When it is con-
sidered that forty-five of the above were termed esquires, nine
were ministers and doctors, and thirty-six were merchants, we
can form some idea of the great social changes produced by the
Revolution. ... It can easily be seen that this forced emi-
gration must have had the effect to destroy the continuity of the
social history of the town. The persons who adhered to the
Crown were naturally the wealthy and conservative classes. They
composed the families which had prospered during the preceding-
century and which had been gradually forming a local aristoc-
say friendship, by General Howe, who offered and urged me to every assistance
I might wish for, and assured me, now at Hallifax, of being provided with a good
ship for my passage to England ; but the Harriot Pacquet, Capn Lee, being sent
to carry home Govr Legge of Hallifax, Mr. Legge invited nr.v niece Jenny Clarke
and myself to take passage with him; not suffering us to luy in any stores for
ourselves, but to partake in his, of which he had made ample provision."
Judge Oliver then proceeds : "We accordingly embarked in the sd Packet on
ye 1 2th May, having as passengers in the cabin Govr Legge, James Monk, Esq.,
Solicitor General of Hallifax, and his lady, Mr. Birch, Chaplain of a Regiment,
and Miss Clarke and myself. We embarked at 8 o'clock in the morning, and came
to sail at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. There were six sail more in company, con-
voyed by the Glasgow Man-of-War, Capn How." the voyage to England was made
in three weeks, the ship reaching Falmouth harbour about midnight of the first
of June.
It is probable that in the "six sail" Judge Oliver mentions went to England
most of the Tories who did not wish to remain in Halifax, or that did not a few
weeks later continue with Howe to New York.
17. In Dr. Ezra Stiles's Diary (Vol. 2, p. 168) we find recorded a dispatch
from Halifax of June 13, 1776. The dispatch reads : "The British Fleet is gone
from this place for New York ; great Dissention prevailed on their Departure,
among officers and soldiers. This morning about 2 o'clock two Transports found-
ered in a gale of wind near this place and about 300 troops perished."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 779
racy. The history of the times which should omit these families
would be fatally defective."18
A considerable group of Boston Loyalists, among these some
who sailed with the fleet to Halifax, for a longer or shorter time
afterwards, settled in Bristol, England. In a letter to William
Pynchon, Esq., of Salem, written April 19, 1780, Judge Cur-
wen enumerates these as follows : Miss Arbuthnot, Mr. Barnes,
wife and niece, Mrs. Borland, a son and three daughters, Na-
thaniel Coffin, wife and family, Miss Davis, Mr. Faneuil and
wife, Robert Hallowell, wife and children, Nicholas Lechmere,
wife and two daughters, R. Lechmere, brother of Nicholas, Colo-
nel Oliver and six daughters, Judge Sewall, wife, sister, and two
sons, Samuel Sewall, "kinsman to Mr. Faneuil," Mr. Simp-
son, John Vassall, wife and niece, and Mr. Francis Waldo.19
Some of the Boston Loyalists also seem to have located for a
time, at least, in Birmingham, England, but the majority settled
in London, where many of them spent the rest of their days. In
London in 1776, they formed a club for a weekly dinner at the
Adelphi, Strand, the members being Messrs. Richard Clark, Jo-
seph Green, Jonathan Bliss, Jonathan Sewall, Joseph Waldo,
Samson Salter Blowers, Elisha and William Hutchinson, Sam-
uel Sewall, Samuel Quincy, Isaac Smith, Harrison Gray, David
Greene, Jonathan Clark, Thomas Flucker, Joseph Taylor. Dan-
iel Silsbee, Thomas Brinley, William Cabot, John Singleton
Copley, and Nathaniel Coffin. To these names also must be add-
ed, Thomas Hutchinson, previously governor of Massachusetts,
Samuel Porter, Edward Oxnard, Benjamin Pickman, John
Amory, Judge Robert Auchmuty, and Major Urquhart.20 In
May, 1779, the Loyalists in London formed an association, evi-
18. William H. Whitmore in the "Memorial History of Boston," Vol. I, pp.
563, 564.
19. "Journal and Letters of the Late Samuel Curwen, Judge of Admiralty,
etc.," pp. 237, 238.
20. ''Journal and Letters of the Late Samuel Curwen, Judge of Admiralty,
etc. (1842), p. 45. Later the members of this club must have met regularly for
their weekly dinner at the New England Coffee House. On the 4th of July, 1782,
Judge Curwen writes in his journal: "Went to London to the Thursday dinner at
New England Coffee-House." July nth he writes: "Dined as usual at New
England fish-club dinner." July 27th : "Dined at New England Coffee-House on
fish, in company with Mr. Flucker, Francis Waldo, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Gold-
thwait, etc."
78o THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
dently for united political action, or for the improvement of
their own condition, composed of representatives from all the
New England colonies, and mjade Sir William Pepperrell, sec-
ond baronet of the name, who was a leading one of their number,
president.21
The unhappy condition of probably a good many of the Boston
Refugees when they reached Halifax, is reflected in a letter of
Rev. Dr. Henry Caner, of King's Chapel, written to the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel, shortly after the Loyalists
arrived. Under date of May tenth, 1776, Dr. Caner says: "I am
now at Halifax, but without any means of support except what
I receive from the benevolence of the worthy Dr. Breynton. Sev-
eral other clergymen, Dr. Byles, Mr. Walter, Mr. Badger, etc.,
are likewise driven from Boston to this place; but [all] of them
have some comfortable provision in the Army or Navy as Chap-
lains, a service which my age22 and infirmities will not well ad-
mit of. I have indeed greatly suffered in my health by the cold
weather and other uncomfortable circumstances of a passage to
this place ; but having by the good providence of God survived
21. The Loyalists who went to England did not lose sight of Nova Scotia.
On the i8th of January, 1784, Chief-Justice Oliver writes from Birmingham :
"Nova Scotia populates fast — 60,000 already." February gth he writes: "Parson
Walter is arrived from Nova Scotia; many other Refugees are come. America is in
a bad plight — they will lose their whale and cod fishery, and Nova Scotia will
ruin the four New England governments." March 5th he writes from London :
"Mr. Winslow and family are there [Halifax]. Mr. Walter is here, having left
his family at Port Roseway. Col. Ruggles hath built him a large house near to
Annapolis : they settle there very fast. The whalemen are leaving Nantucket for
Nova Scotia, and the New Englanders will suffer extremely by overacting their
importations, and English merchants will suffer by them." Again he writes : "A
new Province is made on St. John's river, and called New Brunswick. Gen1 Carle-
ton's brother, Col. Carleton, is the Governor, and the General to be Govr Gen-
eral of Canada and all. Col. Willard with a thousand Refugees, I hear, is em-
barking for Nova Scotia, so that that they will encrease rapidly, and I suppose that
our Province will sink as they rise, for none can return to it without the expense
of Naturalization." "Diary and Letters of Thomas Hutchinson."
22. Dr. Caner was then seventy-six. He too went to England in the Spring
of 1776, and when he reached there, the S. P. G. appointed him at his own re-
quest, to the mission at Bristol, Rhode Island. Whether he ever came to Bristol
or not we do not know. At some time after he left Boston he married a young
wife, and at one time lived with her in Wales. He died in England in 1792. In
one of the record books of King's Chapel which he took with him from Boston,
he wrote: "An unnatural rebellion of the colonies against His Majesty's govern
ment obliged the loyal part of his subjects to evacuate their dwellings and sub-
stance, and take refuge in Halifax, London, and elsewhere ; by which means the
public worship of King's Chapel became suspended, and is likely to remain so
until it shall please God, in the course of his providence, to change the hearts of
the rebels, or give success to his Majesty's arms for suppressing the rebellion."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 781
the past distress, I am in hopes some charitable hand will assist
me in my purpose of proceeding to England, where the com-
passion of the well-disposed will I hope preserve me from per-
ishing thro' the want of the necessaries of life. If otherwise,
God 's will be done. ' ' A letter has reached the Society from the
Rev. Dr. Byles, writes the Secretary of the S. P. G. in the So-
ciety's report for 1776, who is "now at Halifax with five moth-
erless children, for a time deprived of all the means of support."
But towards these clergymen, as indeed towards all the Refu-
gees that needed help, not only by Dr. Breynton, but by all the
leading secular officials and private gentlemen of Halifax, un-
remitting and thoroughly appreciated kindness seems to have
been shown. "Two letters have been received in the course of
the year from the Society's very worthy missionary, the Rev.
Dr. Breynton," writes the secretary of the S. P. G. in the report
mentioned above, ' ' lamenting the unhappy situation of affairs in
America ; in consequence of which many wealthy and loyal fam-
ilies have quitted New England, and in hopes of a safe retreat
have taken up their residence at Halifax, thereby becoming a
great acquisition to the province, and a considerable addition to
his congregation. For many of them, tho' Dissenters in New
England, have constantly attended the service of the church
since their arrival in Halifax."
Of the social life of Boston, from which these Halifax Tories
were so unwillingly obliged to flee, we get glimpses in the ' * An-
nals of King's Chapel," that admirable history of the mother
Episcopal parish of New England, of which so many of the Tor-
ies were members. King's Chapel, says the annalist, "saw all
the rich costumes and striking groupings of that picturesque age
gathered in that ancient day, within its walls. Chariots with
liveried black footmen brought thither titled gentlemen and fine
ladies ; and the square pews were gay with modes of dress which
must have brightened the sober New England life— as the ruf-
fled sleeves and powdered wigs, and swords ; the judges, whose
robes were thought to give dignity and reverence to their high
office as they set upon the bench; the scarlet uniforms of the
British officers in army and navy, — all mingling with the beauty
and fashion which still look down from old family portraits the
782 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
special flavour of an age very different from our own. ' '23 At the
chapel, says the historian, writing of two decades before the Rev-
olution, "worshipped not a few of the first gentlemen of the
Province, now at the meridian of success and distinction, who
in twenty years were to be swept away in the vortex of the
Eevolution. "24 "We see again the Royal Governor in his pew
of state. . . . we recall the British officers of the army and
navy crowding here as honoured guests ; we hear the familiar
prayers for King and Queen and royal family repeated by loyal
lips. The Church as it was, seemed to be in some sense a part of
the majesty of England. Then the sky lowers, as the blind and
senseless oppressions of the British ministry change a loyal
colony to a people in rebellion. For a time the church brightens
more and more with the uniforms of the King's troops, as the
church is changed into a garrison; till, on a March Sunday in
1776, they hurriedly depart, never to return, and the dutiful
prayers vanish, to become a dim vision of the ancient world, so
different from ours. A large part of the congregation went
also ; and at their head went their aged rector, whose pride and
life-work had been with unwearied pains to ensure the erection
of the noble structure to which he bade farewell as he followed
his convictions of duty to his King."25
Nor was the noble gravity and dignity of King's chapel as a
building at all out of harmony with the character of the houses in
which these Loyalists of Boston lived. On King Street, and
Queen Street, and Beacon Street, and Tremont Street, as on
Milk and Marlborough and Summer streets, stood fine colonial
houses, that had rivals, indeed, in Roxbury, and Cambridge, and
Medford, and Milton, in all which there was architectural beauty
23. "Annals of King's Chapel," by Rev. Henry Wilder Foote, Vol. i, p. 549.
24. On the registers of King's Chapel most of the names prominent in Bos-
ton before the Revolution are sooner or later to be found. Many strictly Congre-
gational families as they rose to wealth and influence gave the Chapel more or
less support. Some families of importance, however, were from the first Episco-
palians, not Congregationalists. Among the King's Chapel worshippers were fam-
ilies of Auchmuty, Brattle, Brinley, Coffin, Cradock, DeBlois, Gardiner, Green-
leaf, Hallpwell, Hutchinson, Lechmere, Lyde, Minot, Oliver, Royall, Sewall, Shir-
ley, Snelling, Vassall, and Winslow. A notable family was the large family of
Mr. Samuel Wentworth, originally a Portsmouth, New Hampshire, man, but
long one of the most prominent merchants of Boston. He died before the Revo-
lution, but his wife lived, we believe, with her son, Benning in Halifax, near her
daughter Lady Frances Wentworth, wife of Governor S'r John.
25. Annals of King's Chapel, Vol. II, p. 336.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 783
and stately elegance. Some of these houses were large, two or
three story mansions, with handsome approaches, dignified hall
ways, wainscotted drawing-rooms, fine stair-cases with carved
balusters, ample tiled fireplaces, classic mantlepieces, and walls
hung with portraits and landscapes by the best American paint-
ters before the Bevolution. Lady Agnes Frankland, as is well
known, up to the time of the siege lived chiefly at Hopkinton, but
her house in the North End of Boston, to which she came early
in the siege, is minutely described by James Fenimore Cooper.
The Frankland house was of brick, heavily trimmed with wood,
and had a spacious hall, off which led the drawing-room, the
panels of whose walls were painted with imaginary landscapes
and ruins. The walls were also " burdened with armorial bear-
ings," indicating the noble alliances of the Frankland family.
"Beneath the surbase were smaller divisions of panels, painted
with various architectural devices; and above it rose, between
the compartments, fluted pilasters of wood, with gilded capitals.
A heavy wooden and highly ornamental cornice stretched above
the whole, furnishing an appropriate outline for the walls. . . .
The floor, which shone equally with the furniture, was tessellated
with small alternate squares of red cedar and pine. ... On
either side of the ponderous and laboured mantel were arched
compartments, of plainer work, denoting use, the sliding panels
of which, being raised, displayed a buffet groaning with massive
plate."
In 1766, John Adams wrote in his diary : ' ' Dined at Mr. Nick
Boylston's— an elegant dinner indeed. Went over the house to
view the furniture, which alone cost a thousand pounds sterling.
A seat it is for a nobleman, a prince. The Turkey carpets, the
painted hangings, the marble tables, the rich beds with crimson
damask curtains and counterpanes, the beautiful chimney clock,
the spacious garden, are the most magnificent of anything I
have ever seen.26
As early as 1708 John Oldmixon, an English author, after
visiting Boston wrote: "A gentleman from London would al-
mjost think himself at home at Boston, when he observes the
number of people, their houses, their furniture, their tables,
26. "Memorial History of Boston," Vol. 2, p. 452.
784 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
their dress and conversation, which perhaps is as showy as that
of the most considerable tradesmen in London." Thirty- two
years later, in 1740, Mr. Joseph Bennett, another Englishman,
writes : ' * There are several families in Boston that keep a coach
and pair of horses and some few drive with four horses, but for
chaises and saddlehorses considering the bulk of the place they
outdo London. . . . When the ladies ride out to take the
air, it is generally in a chaise or chair, and then but a single
horse ; and they have a negro servant to drive them. The gentle-
men ride out here as in England, some in chairs, and others on
horseback, with their negroes to attend them. They travel in
much the same manner on business as for pleasure, and are at-
tended in both by their black equipages. . . . For their do-
mestic amusements, every afternoon, after drinking tea, the
gentlemen and ladies walk the Mall, and from thence adjourn
to one another's houses to spend the evening,— those that are
not disposed to attend the evening lecture; which they may do,
if they please, six nights in seven the year round. . . . The
government being in the hands of dissenters, 'they don't admit
of plays or music houses, but of late they have set up an assem-
bly, to which some of the ladies resort. . . . But notwith-
standing plays and such like diversions do not obtain here, they
don't seem to be dispirited nor moped for want of them, for both
the ladies and gentlemen dress and appear as gay, in common,
as courtiers in England on a coronation or birthday. And the
ladies here visit, drink tea, and indulge every little piece of gen-
tility to the height of the mode, and neglect the affairs of their
families with as good grace as the finest ladies in London."
' ' I remember, ' ' says Miss Dorothy Dudley of Cambridge, writ-
ing after the Revolution of her beloved Christ Church, in the
university town, "the families as they used to sit in church.
First, in front of the chancel, the Temples, who every Sabbath
drove from Ten Hills Farm ; Mr. Robert Temple and his accom-
plished wife and lovely daughters. . . . Behind the Tem-
ples sat the Royalls, relatives of Mrs. Henry Vassall, the In-
mans, the Borlands, who owned and occupied the Bishop's Pal-
ace, as the magnificent mansion built by Rev. Mr. Apthorp, op-
posite the President's house, is called. The house is grand in
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 785
proportions and architecture, and is fitted in every respect to
bear the name which clings to it. It was thought that Mr. Ap-
thorp had an eye to the bishopric when he came to take charge
of Christ Church, and put up this house of stately elegance. . . .
Among his congregation were the Faneuils, the Lechmeres, the
Lees, the Olivers, the Ruggleses, the Phipses, and the Vassalls.
Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Lechmere, and Mrs. Vassall the elder, are sisters
of Colonel David Phips, and daughters of Lieutenant-Governor
Spencer Phips. The ' pretty little, dapper man, Colonel Oliv-
er,' as Reverend Mr. Sergeant used to call in sport our some-
time lieutenant-governor, married a sister of Colonel John Vas-
sall the younger, and Colonel Vassall married his. Mrs. Buggies
and Mrs. Borland are aunts of John Vassall 's. These families
were on intimate terms with one another, and scarcely a day
passed that did not bring them together for social pleasures.
. . . I well remember the train of carriages that rolled up to
the church door, bearing the worshippers to the Sabbath service.
The inevitable red cloak of Judge Joseph Lee, his badge of of-
fice in the King's service, hung in graceful folds around his
stately form; the beauty and elegance of the ladies were con-
spicuous, as silks and brocades rustled at every motion, and In-
dia shawls told of wealth and luxury. ' '
From Copley's portraits, painted in Boston during the ten or
fifteen years preceding the year 1774, when the painter finally
left for Europe, we can see how richly the Boston people
dressed. One of Copley's woman sitters is in brown satin, the
sleeves ruffled at the elbows, a lace shawl and a small lace cap,
and is adorned with a necklace of pearls. Another has a bodice
of blue satin, and an overdress of pink silk, trimmed with
ermine. One is in olive-brown brocaded damask, one in white
satin, with a purple velvet train edged with gold, one in blue sat-
in, a Marie Stuart cap, and a sapphire necklace, one in pink da-
mask, open in front to show a petticoat of white satin trimmed
with silver lace, and one in yellow satin, also with silver lace,
and with a necklace and earrings of pearls. Hardly less richly
dressed, also, are Copleys men. One full-wigged gentlemen
wears a brown broadcloth coat and a richly embroidered satin
waistcoat, one a gold-laced brown velvet coat and small clothes,
786 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
one a blue velvet doublet with slashed sleeves and a large collar
trimmed with white lace (evidently a fancy costume), one a
brown dinner coat, a blue satin waistcoat with silver buttons,
and ruffles at the neck and wrists, and one a crimson velvet
morning gown, with white small-clothes, and a rich dark velvet
cap.27
Before the Revolution, as we have seen, a very considerable
group of New England families were permanently settled in
Halifax, the Brentons, Fairbankses,Fillises,Gerrishes, Gorhams,
Greens, Lawlors, Lawsons, Monks, Morrises, Newtons, Pres-
cotts, Salters and others ; when the Revolution was at its height,
or had passed, we find the New England element permanently
increased by such important families as the Blowerses, Brattles,
Brinleys, Byleses, Gays, Halliburtons, Howes, Hutchinsons,
Lovells, Lydes, Minots, Robies, Rogerses, Snellings, Sternses,
Thomases, Wentworths,28 and Winslows, with others besides.29
Among well known Boston Loyalists who died at Halifax were
William Brattle, Theophilus Lillie and Byfield Lyde, who died
in 1776, John Lovell, the Tory schoolmaster, in 1778, Jonathan
Snelling, in 1782, Christopher Minot, in 1783, Jeremiah Dum-
mer Rogers and Edward Winslow, Sr.,30 in 1784, Jonathan
27. See Mr. Frank W. Bayley's "The Life and Works of John Singleton
Copley," Boston, 1915.
28. Sir John Wentworth, Bart., who was governor of Nova Scotia from 1792
until 1808, was from New Hampshire, but his wife, who was his first cousin, was
a daughter of Mr. Samuel Wentworth of Boston. Lady Wentworth's brother
Benning was also one of the Refugees in Halifax and for some years was secretary
of the province. To this position Sir. John's only son, Charles Mary, was like-
wise appointed, but he probably never assumed the office.
29. In a letter to his aunts in Boston, written from Halifax December 24,
1783, Mather Byles, 3d, eldest son of Rev. Dr. Mather Byles, 2d, writes: "The
final evacuation of New York has taken place and many New England gentry
arrived here from that place are appointed to the first offices in the Garrison.
Messrs. Brinley, Townsend, Coffin, Winslow, and Taylor are among the number,
so that our Refugee party will be very strong this winter." From other records
we know that some of the Loyalists who settled permanently in Halifax went on
to New York with General Howe, but several years later returned to Halifax.
This was true of Edward Winslow, Sr.
30. Mr. Edward Winslow's funeral at Halifax in June, 1784 (he died June
8) was conducted with great ceremony. The pall-bearers were Mr. John (after-
wards Sir John) Wentworth, General Edmund Fanning, then lieutenant-governor
(under Governor Parr), Hon. Arthur Goold, Brigadier-General John Small, Hon.
Judge Foster Hutchinson, and Henry Lloyd, Esq. The chief mourner was Colo-
nel Edward Winslow, Jr., who was followed by the family servants in deep
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 787
Sterns or Stearns in 1798, Judge Foster Hutchinson in 1799,
George Brinley in 1809, Archibald Cunningham in 1820, and
Chief-Justice Sampson Salter Blowers in 1842. Of Sir John
Wentworth, Baronet, the ninth governor of Nova Scotia from
Colonel Cornwallis, a New Hampshire man but with a Boston
wife, we shall have much to say in a later chapter of this series.
Brigadier-General Timothy Buggies, previously of Hardwick,
Massachusetts, one of Gage's mandamus councillors, died in
Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, in 1795, and Hon. Nathaniel
Bay Thomas of Marshfield, Massachusetts, another mandamus
councillor, died at Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1791.
When we come to follow the fortunes of Halifax in detail af-
ter the arrival of the Boston Loyalists, we shall see how greatly
the large, energetic group of these people that settled perma-
nently there stimulated the town's activities and gave fresh col-
our to its social life. But the prominence in the Nova Scotia
capital of these new comers was not by any means viewed with
entire complaisance by the earlier settlers. There had been at
the very first beginning of the settlement of Halifax, ' ' says Mur-
doch in his History of Nova Scotia, "something like a division
between the settlers from England and those who joined them
from New England, but this difference died out shortly after,
without occasioning much mischief, the people being united to
defend themselves against the French and their Indian allies.
Now, however, circumstances had brought into the country a
new and numerous population from New England, New York,
etc., and a rivalry of interests sprang up between their promi-
nent men and the older inhabitants. . . . The party division
mourning. After this walked in pairs, Sampson Salter Blowers and William
Taylor, Esq'rs. their excellencies the Governor and the General of the forces,
Gregory Townsend, Esq., and Lieutenant Hailes of the 38th Grenadiers, William
Coffin, Esq., Captain Morrice Robinson, Rev. Dr. Mather Byles, Captain Adden-
brooke, the Governor's aid-de-camp, and Lieutenant Gordon, major of brigade.
Next came the members of his Majesty's Council, "a number of the respectable
inhabitants," and many gentlemen of the army and navy. The funeral service was
rendered in St. Paul's Church by the Rev. Dr. Breynton and the Rev. Joshua Win-
gate Weeks, and the burial was in the town burying-ground in Pleasant street,
which bears the name "St. Paul's." In this cemetery a stone was erected to Mr.
Winslow, which bears a lengthy inscription. See Proceedings of the Mass. Hist.
Soc., 2nd Series, Vol. 3.
;88 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
thus originated extended for some years to the house of assem-
bly, and it was long before it was quite allayed. An anonymous
correspondent of the Nova Scotia Gazette at this time alludes to
it as a division into 'old comers and new comers,' or 'loyalists
and ancient inhabitants. ' ' '
One of the most serious local issues of this strife was a severe
charge of maladministration of justice, brought by two attor-
neys, Messrs. Jonathan Sterns or Stearns and William Taylor,
refugees from Massachusetts with Howe's fleet, against the
Nova Scotia chief-justice, Isaac Deschamps, and an assistant
judge of the supreme court, Judge James Brenton. Deschamps
was of Swiss extraction and had long been in the province, Bren-
ton was from Newport, Rhode Island, and he too had early set-
tled in Halifax. The attorneys publicly charged that cases
brought by Loyalist settlers could not get fair trial at the hands
of these judges, and so strongly did they press their charges
that the judges were finally impeached. For a time the lawyers
bringing the charges were disbarred, but the Chief Justice re-
signed his office, and Judge Brenton like him for some time
remained under a cloud. At last, however, in 1792, when the
case had dragged along for between four and five years, the
Privy Council in England, to whom it had been appealed, ac-
quitted the judges and the matter was finally set at rest. In a
letter to his sisters in Boston, in May, 1788, the Rev. Dr. Mather
Byles writes: "From this day [April 2nd] to the 21st, my time
was entirely engrossed by the dispute between the old inhabi-
tants of this Province and the American Loyalists. The flame,
which has been so long kindling, now blazes with the utmost vio-
lence. I first joined in a remonstrance to the Governor signed
by more than two hundred inhabitants of Halifax, and when this
was not properly attended to, I wrote several letters to my Eng-
lish correspondents recommending Sterns and Taylor, who on
the 21st sailed for England as our agents, to seek that redress
at White-Hall which it was impossible to obtain from a corrupt
junto. They are both gentlemen of the law, my particular
friends, and men of the most unblemished character ; they have
been grossly injured, and I hope God will graciously succeed
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 789
them. The case was so perfectly plain that I thought myself
obliged to be open, active, and fearless ; and I have the pleasure
to learn that remonstrances similar to ours signed by many hun-
dreds, are constantly arriving from all parts of the country. ' '
The coming of thousands of New York Loyalists to Nova Sco-
tia in 1783 furnishes material for a highly interesting chapter of
Loyalist history, which, since the facts all have a close bearing
on Halifax history, we shall feel it necessary to give in some de-
tail as this narration proceeds. Among the vast number of New
York Tories, who finally settled in New Brunswick a consider-
able number of Massachusetts Tories also settled, and some of
the historic families of New Brunswick, like the Blisses, Chal-
oners, Chipmans, Coffins, Paddocks, Sewalls, Uphams, and Win-
slows, have been of this stock. The most influential New York
Loyalist that settled in Halifax was the Bight Reverend Charles
Inglis, D. D., previously Kector of Trinity Church, New York
City, who in 1787 came to Halifax as the first incumbent of the
newly erected Nova Scotia Anglican See. Until 1816, when he
died, Bishop Inglis continued to exert an influence in Nova Sco-
tia and New Brunswick in religious and educational matters,
that has not ceased to be felt to the present day.31
31. "An Occasional," writing in the Halifax Acadian Recorder newspaper for
March 21, 1914, says :
"Let me remind you that Charles Inglis, the first Episcopal bishop of Nova
Scotia ; Sir John Wentworth, governor of this province at the beginning of this
century; Edward Winslow, a member of a distinguished Massachusetts family,
whose death at Halifax, in 1784, was followed by Tuneral ceremonies of unusual
distinction; Sampson Salter Blowers and Ward Chipman, chief justices, the first
of Nova Scotia, and the second of New Brunswick; Judge Sewall, of New
Brunswick, an early and intimate friend of John Adams ; Foster Hutchinson,
judge of the supreme court of Nova Scotia; Jonathan Bliss, attorney-general of
New Brunswick, and Benning Wentworth, provincial secretary of Nova Scotia,
were all Loyalists, and all, with two exceptions, graduated at Harvard ; that Sir
Brenton Halliburton, whose life story has been well told by the Rev. Dr. Hill ;
Egerton Ryerson, founder of the well-known school system of Ontario ; Joseph
Howe, of whom no Nova Scotian can be ignorant; and Judge Stewart, of the
Supreme Court of this province, were sons of Loyalists ; that Sir John Inglis, the
brave defender of Lucknow ; Sir Frederick P. Robinson and Sir W. H. Robinson,
both knighted on account of their military services ; Lemuel Allan Wilmot, like
Joseph Howe, a leader in the struggle for responsible government, and, like him,
at one time a governor of his native province; Sir George Cathcart and Major
Welsford, who fell in the Crimea . . . were grandsons of Loyalists. The late
Sir Robert Hodgson, lieutenant-governor of Prince Edward Island, was also of
Loyalist descent. Let me remind you of these and of many others living or dead,
whose names may occur to you, with the suggestion that a study of the history of
the Loyalists at large would swell the brief list given to an almost indefinite ex-
790 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
In the next chapter of this history we shall discuss the social
life of Halifax after the war of the Revolution, giving also some
account of the striking physical features of the town.
tent, and you may form some idea of the value of the men and of the descendants
of the men who were driven abroad by the bitterness of the revolutionary victors."
In this enumeration the writer makes the mistake of supposing that it was
Judge Foster Hutchinson of Massachusetts who became a judge in Nova Scotia.
The Nova Scotia Judge Foster Hutchinson was son of the Massachusetts judge.
SOME HEROIC WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION 827
Housekeeping was conducted on unalterable rules, and no
work that could be avoided was done on Sunday. All meals
were served cold. A member of Groton Church. Every
year for fifty-six years she read the Bible through. In
1813, Commodore Decatur was blockaded in New London
Harbor by an English fleet. Inhabitants feared battle. Women
fled into the country taking their children and valuables.
"Mother Bailey" sent her effects, but remained to face
the danger. Supply of flannel being short for wadding, a
search was made in the village for some but not half enough was
obtained. After a moment's hesitation, "Mother Bailey" seized
her scissors, which every matron of that day carried at her side,
quickly clipped the strings of her flannel skirt and stripping the
garment from, her person handed it to the messenger saying:
"It is a good heavy one, but I do not care for that." The mar-
tial petticoat and its patriotic donor have ever since been re-
nowned in our local annals.
She was honored with visits from distinguished soldiers and
statesmen. Lafayette and suite called upon her in 1824. Presi-
dents Monroe, Jackson and Van Buren, Colonel R. M. Johnson
and General Cass. She was noted for her qualities as a nurse.
Mr. Bailey died in August, 1848, it is said he was the last sur-
vivor of the Fort Griswold massacre, first postmaster of Groton
office held till his death and thereafter Mrs. Bailey held the office
till her death three years later, January 10, 1851, aged ninety-
two years.
The foregoing is a copy of some of the facts contained in an
article written for the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter by Mrs.
H. T. Palmer and Miss M. E. Benjamin, and published by Con-
necticut Chapters D. A. R. and sent to the magazine by A. A.
Thomas.
Chapters in the History of Halifax,
Nova Scotia
NO. Ill
SOCIAL LIFE OF HALIFAX AFTER THE REVOLUTION
BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
"All hail to the day when the Britons came over
And planted their standard, with sea foam still wet,
Around and above us their spirits will hover,
Rejoicing to mark how we honour it yet.
Beneath it the emblems they cherished are waving,
The Rose of Old England the roadside perfumes,
The Shamrock and Thistle the north winds are braving,
Securely the Mayflower blushes and blooms."
— HON. JOSEPH HOWE.
(On the hundredth anniversary of Cornwallis's landing at Chebucto.)
"Be aristocracy the only joy:
Let commerce perish, let the world expire!"
— ANONYMOUS SATIRCAL POEM.
IN the landscape of Nova Scotia at large, to the cultivated
traveller as to any impressionable native of the province,
there is a strongly compelling if never wholly definable
charm, that stirs deeply the romantic and poetic elements
in the mind. If the romance of the early settlement of the coun-
try, which was one of the most conspicuous and treasured of the
colonies of ancient Bourbon France, is ever exaggerated in the
mind of the historian or the poet,— the romance of Port Royal,
Pisiquid, Beausejour, and Grand Pre, — there is yet in the varied
natural charm of the landscape enough to cast an unusual spell
over the imagination and quicken the soul to poetic fervor. The
Nova Scotia landscape has great variety, we find in it the verd-
ant luxuriance and apparently exhaustless fertility of the broad
dyke-lands about the Bay of Fundy, the deep Italian blue of
Minas Basin, the sweet, sheltered grace of the Valley of the
(828)
THOMAS CHANDLER HALIBURTON
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 829
Gaspereau, the gray lights and purple shades and wraith-like
mists that pass over the steep slopes of the North Mountain, the
stern aspect of Blomidon, as it looks out coldly on the restless
tide, the marvellous orchard-bloom that rolls, pink and per-
fumed, in great waves across the landscape in early June, the
red glow of the laden apple trees in October, the wide-spreading
fields of red clover, the ridges of flaming goldenrod, the splen-
did patches of purple wild asters,— with on the Atlantic sea-
board and along the rivers that flow thither, in contrast to the
drowsy islands that dot the bays where these rivers empty, a
tumbled wealth of rugged scenery that gives virility and strength
to the whole.
Of the situation and natural setting of the capital of Nova
Scotia, the city of Halifax, a graceful Canadian writer, Dr.
Archibald MacMechan, has recently written: "One feature
must be plain even to the least observant, the unmatched mag-
nificence of the setting. 'Beautiful for situation,' the phrase of
the Psalmist for his sacred city, fits the capital of the Mayflower
Province. Before her feet lies the great land-locked harbour,
where the old three-deckers used to swing at their anchors ; on
her right hand extends the long picturesque fiord we call the
'Arm;'1 on her left is a second inner haven, twenty miles in cir-
cuit, called Bedford Basin. In the very centre is the hill crowned
with a citadel. From this point of vantage you can see how the
peaceful roofs huddle close around the base of the projecting
stronghold, and how the dark blue water washes all sides of the
triangular peninsula on which the city stands. ' '
In general aspect Halifax is a gray, smoke-coloured town,
largely built with wooden houses, but containing likewise a good
many substantial buildings of brick and stone, the most historic
i. The "Northwest Arm" extends inward from the sea perhaps more than
a mile, and is lined on both sides with comfortable cottages, occasional club-
houses, and tiny bungalows for summer use. Near the head of the Arm is an
islet known as Melville Island, which one reaches by a road called the "Dingle
drive." On this island stands the little naval prison, where after the war with
France, numbers of French sailors who had been captured on ships-of-war, pri-
vateers, and merchant vessels were for months confined. These sailors were
cheerful, industrious fellows, who employed themselves by making bone boxes,
dominoes, and other small articles, and it became the fashion to row over to
the island in summer, or skate across in the winter, to purchase trinkets from the
men. The war with the United States, of 1812, brought crowds of American
prisoners also here.
830 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of which are the Province Building and Government House.
The first of these buildings Frederic Cozzens, an American
author of the last generation, in his book "A Month with the
Bluenoses, " describes as a structure of great solidity and re-
spectability, and this emphatically the building is. There can be
few more solid or better proportioned buildings on the continent.
It is constructed of rich brown freestone, its corner-stone was
laid August 12, 1811, and the structure was completed in 1819, at
a cost of $209,400. For two or three decades after it was built it
was often said to be the finest building, architecturally, in North
America. Within its walls are the House of Assembly, the Leg-
islative and Executive Council Chambers, and the combined
Provincial and Nova Scotia Historical Society's libraries, which
contain not only many valuable books, but a great wealth of
manuscript records of priceless value for purposes of history.
On the walls of the Legislative Council Chamber hang portraits
of King George II, King George III, and King William IV;
Queen Charlotte and Queen Caroline; Sir John Eardley Wilmot
Inglis, the "Hero of Lucknow;" Sir Fenwick Williams, the
"Hero of Kars ;" Sir Charles Hastings Doyle, Sir Brenton Hal-
liburton, Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton, the author of
"Sam Slick," and a portrait by Benjamin West of Sir Thomas
Andrew Strange, in scarlet gown, and wig.2 This Province
Building is distinguished not only as the home of the Pro-
vincial Legislature, but as having been the scene of several his-
toric balls, one as early as 1826, in honour of Sir James
Kempt, an English governor of the province, one in 1841, in
2. There are other portraits in this building besides the ones we have men-
tioned, notably a recently acquired one of the late King Edward. In private
houses in Halifax there are also a few notable portraits, the finest being a Cop-
ley of the elder Dr. Mather Byles, of Boston, painted in 1774, it is believed, the
year Copley finally left Boston for England. This distinguished Copley belongs
to W. Bruce Almon, Esq., M. D., and has been reproduced, by its owner's kind
permission, in the writer's latest book, "The Famous Mather Byles.'' In Hali-
fax also, in the possession of Major William B. Almon, is an interesting por-
trait of Miss Catherine Byles, daughter of Dr. Byles, senior, which was painted
by Henry Pelham, Copley's half-brother. This also, by the owner's kind per-
mission has been reproduced in the writer's book.
A highly important and very complete resume of paintings and engravings
done in Halifax by Robert Field. William Valentine, and others, who worked in
this province, has lately been published by Mr. Harry Piers, the able archivist
and local historian of Nova Scotia, in the eighteenth volume of the Collections
of the Nova Scotia Historical Societv.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 831
honour of Prince de Joinville, and one, the best remembered of
all, in 1860, in honour of his late Majesty, King Edward Seventh,
then Prince of Wales.
The first Governor's House in Halifax was a small wooden
building, the frame of which, as we have seen, was ordered from
Boston, which stood on the site of the present Province Build-
ing, its primitive defences being cannon mounted on casks or
hogsheads filled with gravel. Whether this house was com-
pleted as early as October, 1749, we do not know, but by the
fourteenth of that month Governor Cornwallis had removed
from his ship to the shore, and the Council was meeting in his
"apartment." In 1758 Governor Lawrence built a new resi-
dence on the same spot, to which Lord William Campbell added
a ball-room, later governors still further enlarging and beauti-
fying the house. In 1800, on the site of an old wooden building
on Pleasant Street long used to shelter field officers and for other
military purposes, the corner-stone of the present Government
House was laid, and here ever since it was finished successive
governors have kept their little courts, holding state levees, giv-
ing state dinners and balls, and more quietly entertaining hos-
pitably not only native Nova Scotians but many distinguished
foreign guests as well. This Government House is an exact copy
of the famous London Lansdowne House, and for many decades
it was naturally the chief centre of Nova Scotia 's smartest social
life.3
3. The governors of Nova Scotia in succession, from 1749 to 1800, all of
course during their terms of office residing at Government House, were : Col.
the Hon. Edward Cornwallis ; Col. Peregrine Thomas Hopson : Col. Charles Law-
rence; Henry Ellis, Esq.; Col. the Hon. Montagu Wilmot; Rt. Hon. Lord Wil-
liam Campbell, fourth son of the fourth Duke of Argyle; Major Francis Legge;
John Parr, Esq. ; Sir John Wentworth, Bart. From 1800 to 1900 they were : Sir
John Wentworth ; Lt. Gen. Sir. George Prevost, Bart ; Gen. Sir John Coape Sher-
brook, K. B. ; Lt. Gen. George Ramsay, ninth Earl of Dalhousie ; Lt. Gen. Sir
James Kempt, G. C. B. ; Gen. Sir Peregrine Maitland, K. C. B. ; Major Gen. Sir Colin
Campbell; Viscount Falkland; Sir John Harvey, K. C. B. ; Hon. Augustus Con-
stantine Phipps, 2nd Marquis of Normanby and Earl Mulgrave ; Sir Richard
Graves Macdonnell. K. C. M. G. ; Sir William Fenwick Williams, Bart., K. C. B.
a native Nova Scotian, hero of Kars ; Sir Charles Hastings Doyle, K. C. M. G. ;
Hon. Joseph Howe, a native Nova Scotian, whose father was John Howe, the
Boston Loyalist; Hon. Sir Adams George Archibald, K. C. M. G., a native Nova
Scotian ; Matthew Henry Richey, Esq. ; Archibald Woodbury McLelan, Esq. ;
Hon. Sir Malachy Bowes Daly, K. C. M. G. ; and Hon. Alfred Gilpin Jones, a
Nova Scotian of New England descent, who was appointed August 7, 1900, and
died in office March 14, 1906.
832 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
In a later chapter of this history detailed account may be
given of the defences of Halifax, the great Citadel, surrounded
with its moat, the various shore batteries along the harbour,
the forts on McNab's and George's islands and at Point Pleas-
ant, Fort Clarence, on the Dartmouth side of the harbour, and
York Redoubt, far out in the bay. Until about 1870 two regi-
ments of the line were always stationed here, but Egypt and
Ireland needing more troops, one was finally withdrawn, and
for perhaps thirty years before the Imperial troops were re-
moved there was but one Line Regiment, with the force of Artil-
lery and Engineers about equal in number to a full regiment.
There has always been, likewise, in Halifax, a corps of Sub-
marine Engineers specially trained by Imperial officers for man-
ning the harbour defences. As a matter of course there are in
the vicinity of the Citadel extensive barracks for the accom-
modation of soldiers and their families, and quarters for those of-
ficers who, unmarried, are not living in rented houses in the town.
Not far from the centre of the city, towards the South, is Belle-
vue, now an officers' mess, a large wooden house which was long
the residence of the General in command, and in the far northern
part of the town, overlooking the Dockyard, stands what was
''Admiralty House," where until the Dockyard was closed, from
May to December of every year the Admiral of the Fleet on the
North American station gave a succession of agreeable dinners
and balls. The beginning of the Citadel was a block-house with
a parapet, built in 1753, on the sumimit of the hill, then eighty
feet higher than now, that overlooks the town. This block-house
has port-holes in its sides for cannon, and all around it a ditch
and ramparts of earth and wood, strengthened by palisades or
pickets driven close together. In 1795 his Royal Highness the
Duke of Kent caused the old fortifications to be removed and
began the erection of the present Citadel, which has accommo-
dation within for a regiment, and has always had ready signal
communication with the harbour forts. For many decades in
the past, with measured march, from the eastern entrance of
the fortification little companies of soldiers would often be
seen issuing, while on extraordinary occasions, as for church
parades, the greater part of the regiment, with its band playing,
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 833
would magnificently march, down the side slope of the hill. Be-
low the glacis, directly facing the middle of the town, is still the
old square clock-tower, another conspicuous memorial of the
residence in Halifax of the Duke of Kent.
The Dockyard, which was begun in 1758, nine years after Hali-
fax was founded, occupies half a mile of the harbour front, and
within its guarded walls anciently stood the Commissioner's res-
idence and other houses for the several employees whose official
duties included the landing and shipping of naval stores. The
final inclosure was made, as the figures over the central gate an-
nounce, on the line of the present wall, in the year 1770. In
1815, one of the historic loyal celebrations of Halifax took place
here, after the victory of Waterloo, and many a time the Dock-
yard has been the scene of brilliant aquatic contests, of which
many have been held in Halifax harbour, in earlier or later times,
Until late in the nineteenth century, throughout the summers
there was hardly a week that several war-ships of the British
fleet were not flying their flags in the harbour, hardly an evening
when the music of magnificently trained ships ' bands did not float
from mid-stream across the water to the Halifax or Dartmouth
shores. Halifax, as we have intimated, was the headquarters of
the Commander-in-Chief of the North American Naval Station,
from the middle of May till the latter part of October ; then the
war-ships took their departure for Bermuda, Nassau, or Ja-
maica. During their stay society was always in a whirl of din-
ner giving and dancing, and this gayety was often still further
increased by the visit, for longer or shorter time, of some Ger-
man, French, or American man-of-war.
The closing of the Garrison Chapel in the north end of Hali-
fax made one of the greatest losses the town suffered by the re-
moval of the Imperial troops. From the time when it was
opened, the year 1846, until 1905, it was the authorized place
of worship for the British soldiers who were not Roman Cath-
olics or Presbyterians, and nothing could exceed the heartiness
of the service performed there.4 From the Wellington Bar-
4. The corner-stone of the Garrison Chapel was laid in October, 1844, the
Rev. Dr. John Thomas Twining then being chaplain. The chapel was closed in
1905, and the next year was purchased by the congregation of Trinity Church,
which until 1907 worshipped in a church in Jacob Street. This congregation
834 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
racks, from Artillery Park, and from the Citadel, on Sunday
mornings, the troops, with bands playing, would march to the
church for a crisp military service, for when the twelve o'clock
gun fired the prayers and the short sermon must promptly be
done. To civilian worshippers it was always an inspiration to
hear the soldiers' firm responses, and their hearty singing, as
accompanied by the organ and several instruments of the band
they rendered the familiar chants of the Prayer-Book and the
"Ancient and Modern" hymns. Soldiers who were Presby-
terians as a rule went to St. Matthew's Church, and Roman
Catholics to St. Mary's Cathedral, on Spring Garden Road. Not
infrequently in the quiet Halifax streets would be heard the dull
beating of the muffled drum which headed the sad funeral pro-
cession of some private soldier or soldier's wife or child, who
as the waning sun threw purple shadows round the Citadel, in
barracks or hospital had breathed his last on earth and gone into
the unseen. On a low gun-carriage the still form would now
be passing to Camp Hill Cemetery, or the Military Burying
ground at Fort Massey, or to the Cemetery of the Holy Cross,
there to be laid away to moulder slowly to dust. From the
burial, the band, according to custom, would always return, play-
ing no longer the ''Dead March in Saul," but the liveliest pop-
ular airs the bandsmen knew. In these Halifax burying grounds
where soldiers and soldiers' families lie are touching inscrip-
tions to the memory of men of all ranks in the service, lieuten-
ant-colonels, captains, ensigns, colour-sergeants, staff-sergeants,
and corporals, and to many a hard-working soldier's wife or
sweet little one, who in the long, cold Halifax winter, perhaps
rendered more susceptible to the climate by previous residence in
Bermuda or India, had sadly drooped and died.
has occupied the Garrison Chapel since 1907. A newspaper notice at the time
of the laying of the corner-stone of the chapel reads : "Yesterday afternoon, Oc-
tober 2jd, 1844, at three o'clock, the corner-stone of the new Military Chapel
was laid. The troops were in attendance, accompanied by the band of the Royals.
Sir Jeremiah Dickson, Colonel Calder, Colonel Bazelgatte, and Major Tryon, and
other officers belonging to the military department were in attendance.
"A part of the o.oth Psalm was sung, and the Reverend Doctor Twining offered
prayer. Sir Jeremiah Dickson performed the ceremony of laying the stone, on
which was a suitable Latin inscription. Reverend Doctor Twining remarked in
the course of his address that he had held services in no less than eleven different
buildings." For a brief sketch of Dr. Twining, see Eaton's "History of King's
County, Nova Scotia," p. 851.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 835
A highly picturesque feature of Halifax has always been the
"Green Market," held on Wednesday and Saturday mornings
on the sidewalks, near the Post Office and the Market Slip. All
summer through, as regularly as these mornings came, a mixed
company of ' ' Chezzetcookers ' ' and negroes, the former some of
the dark-skinned descendants of the old Acadians, have been
accustomed to troop into town, across the Dartmouth Ferry^
their rude wagons laden with farm produce, poultry, flowers, and
domestic small wares of various sorts, and ranging themselves
along the side-walks unobtrusively offer their goods for sale.
The negroes, descended from slaves who at the time of the Rev-
olution or in the war of 1812 escaped from the Southern States,
are so like those one may see still in Portsmouth, Virginia, or
Charleston, South Carolina, that watching them squatted on the
pavement in motley garments and gay head coverings, and lis-
tening to their thick negro dialect, one might easily imagine
one's self in far more southern climes. Describing the buyers
at this open-air market, some writer of early in the nineteenth
century whose name is unknown to us said : ' ' Here we can see
the regimental mess man, the smart gun-steward from the Dock-
yard, the caterer for the ships, and the natty private soldier
who has just set up housekeeping with a newly made wife from
the servant class of the town, jostling gentlemen's servants in
livery and eager-eyed boarding house keepers, or even the mis-
tress of some aristocratic mansion, who in fresh morning gown
has thriftily risen early to do her own marketing for the day."
The Halifax fish market, too, has always been liberally sup-
plied and well patronized,— salmon, cusk, halibut, pollock, mack-
erel, lobsters, herring, gaspereaux, and trout being abundant
and cheap. A story is told of a certain naval captain of old
days, new to the station, who, probably better accustomed to the
prices which ruled at Billingsgate than at Halifax, once gave his
steward a sovereign to buy lobsters for the cabin dinner. The
man returned with a small boat load of the crustaceans in two
or three wheelbarrows and presented them to the captain, whose
surprise can be easily imagined.
The residences of the wealthier Haligonians have in large
part been built on the sloping wooded shores of the beautiful
836 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
"Arm," but they have not by any means been confined to these
charming outskirts of the town, they have been scattered through
the city, some even daring to show themselves far in the mostly
unfashionable extreme " north end."
Another interesting feature, added to Halifax in the nine-
teenth century, is the large park, at Point Pleasant, in the south
part of the city, the point where the Arm opens in from the
Atlantic below the steep, heavily wooded shore. The Park com-
prises several hundred acres in an almost natural state, but with
nature's primeval ruggedness judiciously softened and refined.
The Halifax Public Garden, too, has been for years a spot of
unusual beauty, in artistic arrangement and marvellous wealth
of shrubbery and floral bloom easily rivalling the finest public
gardens of the old or the new world.5
These were some of the attractive physical features of the
Halifax of the nineteenth century, as they are of the Halifax of
to-day,— who, it will be asked, were the people who actually
created and gave character to the finished town! The negative
answer to that question is that they were not, save in a few
cases, the original British settlers that came with Colonel Corn-
wallis in 1749.6 To no small extent they were native-born Bos-
tonians, or other New Englanders, who almost immediately after
Halifax was founded, drawn thither through previous knowl-
edge of the province, or by the fresh fame of the Cornwallis en-
terprise, brought their families here, and in official positions, or
in trade,7 or both, soon rose to influence, and in some cases to a
5. The able director of the Halifax Public Garden for many years has been
Mr. Powers. One often wishes that the Boston Public Garden could have had
the benefit of his artistic skill.
6. The character of many of the settlers of Halifax Governor Cornwallis
brought with him from England was not by any means pleasing to this eminent
leader in the British colonization of Nova Scotia. On the 24th of July, 1749, he
writes the Lords of Trade that the number of men among the colonists fitted to
carry on the settlement creditably is very small. Some were "idle and worthless
persons who had embraced the opportunity to get provisions for a year without
labour, or sailors who only wanted a passage to New England" and had embraced
the opportunity afforded by the expedition to obtain passage free to American
shores.
7. Almost immediately after his arrival at Halifax, though the precise date
we do not know, Governor Cornwallis entered into an agreement with Messrs.
Charles Apthorp and Thomas Hancock, influential merchants of Boston, to fur-
nish the new colony with supplies, and this contract evidently lasted for years.
At some early period, Messrs. De Lancey and Watts, of New York seem to have
shared in furnishing Halifax with supplies.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA 837
much wider prosperity than had found opportunity to gain in
their native provinces. The great migration of Bostonians to
Halifax, as we have seen in an earlier chapter of this history,
came when Boston was evacuated by the British in March, 1776,
but from 1749 to that period probably not a year had passed in
which some native of Massachusetts, usually of Boston, had not
transferred himself, and his family if he had one, permanently
to the new Nova Scotia capital. Among very early influential
families in Halifax, it is true, were such families of immediately
British origin as Best, Bulkeley, Collier, Nesbitt, Piers, Pyke,
Wenman, etc., but from Massachusetts, chiefly from Boston, much
before the Revolution came the Belchers, Binneys, Blagdons
("Blackden"), Clevelands, Fairbankses, Fillises, Gorhams,
Grays, Greens, Howes, Lawlors, Monks, Morrises, Newtons,
Prescotts, Salters, Sandersons, Shaws, Tidmarshes, and others,
almost all which families had been people of excellent standing
among the New England commercial gentry to which they be-
longed. At, or following in the wake of, the Revolution came
another for the most part highly connected group of permanent
settlers from New England, families named Blowers, Brinley,
Brown, Byfield, Byles, Clarke, De Blois, Gay, Greenwood,
Halliburton, Hart, Howe, Lawson, Minns, Nutting, Robie, Saw-
yer, Snelling, Stayner, Wentworth, Winslow, and Wylde; while
in the same movement came from New York the Inglis family,
and the Lynch, Pryor, Thorne, Tremaine, and Wilkins families ;
from New Jersey the Boggs, Cunard, and Odell families; from
Maryland the Stewarts ; from Virginia the Wallaces ; and from
Georgia, through the island of Jamaica, the Johnstons. A large
number of Halifax families of note in the nineteenth century
did not trace to the United States, but came independently and
singly at intervals, before the end of the eighteenth century or in
the early part of the nineteenth, directly, or in some few instances
through other British colonies, from Great Britain or Ireland.
Such were the Allans, Allisons, Andersons, Archibalds, Beck-
withs, Blacks, Bowies, Bremners, Breyntons, Brymers, Bullocks,
Butlers, Campbells, Cochrans, Crawleys, Creightons, Crichtons,
Cunninghams, Dalys, Donaldsons, Doulls, Duffuses, Fancklins,
Francklyns, Frasers, Georges, Grahams, Grassies, a second
838 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
family of Grays, the founder of the Hare family, the Henrys,
two families of Hills, the Hostermans, Kennys, Macleans, Mc-
Donalds, McNabs, Mitchells, Morrows, Murdochs, Oxleys, Park-
ers, Richardsons, Richeys, Rltchies, Slayters, Stairses, Sterlings,
Thomsons, Tobins, Twinings, Uniackes, Woodgates, and Youngs,
some of whom, however, like the Archibalds, Macleans, and Rltch-
ies had settled first in other counties of the province. Of import-
ant American names that came into Halifax through the migra-
tion from New England to other parts of Nova Scotia in 1760,
we have Albro, Chipman, Cogswell, Collins, De Wolfe, Harring-
ton, Hunt, Longley, Starr, Troop, Whidden, and Wier. The
Almon family, always of high social standing in Halifax, was
founded here by Dr. James William Almon, a physician, born
probably in Newport, Rhode Island, though on his father's side
of Italian origin, who married after the Revolution the eldest
daughter of the noted Tory clergyman, who fled here from Bos-
ton, the younger Dr. Mather Byles.
The character of the social life of Halifax throughout the
town's whole history, has depended of course very largely on the
town's commercial prosperity, and for a small, remotely situ-
ated eastern American town the prosperity of Halifax for many
decades was rather unusually great. Along the water front of
the city stand many staunch granite warehouses, where before
the days of steamships not a few considerable fortunes were
made in the United-States or the British- West-Indian trade.
In Halifax, as is well known, the Cunards early established a
business that laid the foundation of their world-renowned en-
terprise, the great steamship line that bears their name.8 In
8. Mr. Frederick P. Fairbanks, a native Haligonian, from whom this chapter
will hereafter quote liberally, writes :
"In 1838 Samuel Cunard was a prominent merchant in Halifax and agent for
the East India Company. In response to certain circulars sent out by the British
government he went to England and became associated with George Burns and
David Maclver ; and together they raised money and started the Cunard Service.
Then they made a contract with the government to carry the mails for seven
years between Liverpool and Boston, and Halifax and Boston ; and they got a
subsidy of $80,000 per annum for this service. They were to employ four steamers ;
these were at first the Britannia, Acadia, Calendonia, and Columbia. The Britannia
sailed from Liverpool on Friday, July fourth, 1840 and inaugurated the serivce. The
facts connected with this service are very interesting; the above ships were fol-
lowed by the Hibernia, Cambria, America, Niagara, Europa, Asia, Arabia, Persia,
and Scotia. These ended the paddle wheelers. The Britannia took 14 days and
eight hours to cross.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 839
1825 a group of merchants of local note, of whom Samuel
Cunard (afterward Sir Samuel Cunard, Bart.) was one, found-
ed here the first joint-stock banking house in the province, and
one of the founders of this bank, the Honorable Enos Collins, of
a Cape Cod, Massachusetts, family, son-in-law of Sir Brenton
Halliburton, finally died in the town worth six and a half millions
of dollars, a very great fortune for the days in which it was
acquired.9 Nor did the town's commercial prosperity cease
when sailing ships gave place to steamships on the busy seas,
after that period, as is true of it to-day, Halifax became a chief
distributing port for almost the whole of British America.
Given a certain amount of commercial prosperity, the over-
shadowing and largely controlling influence in the social life of
Halifax in the nineteenth century was undoubtedly exerted by
the presence of the army and navy. But even this influence,
strong, and foreign to practical American social ideals, as it was,
could not change the fact that fundamentally Halifax was, as it
had been from the beginning, essentially an American town. Up
to the Revolution, Boston had been virtually an English
provincial community, but with an independence of spirit and
a power of creating fresh ideals that belonged strictly to the
new world rather than the old. From the start, Halifax drew
much of its best life directly from Boston ; its earliest trade was
with the Massachusetts capital, and the frames of its first public-
buildings came from there, from Boston shops the necessary
housejiold stores of its people were replenished, and almost im-
mediately after its founding, as we have seen, Boston people of
"In my younger days the arrival of what was then generally designated 'the
English steamer' was a matter of public importance. All vessels were signalled
from the citadel. The first signal was by balls signifying a large or small steamer,
then would come the Cunard private signal showing that it was coming to the
Cunard firm, then the distinctive flag denoting the 'English Mail' ; so the people
would breathe sighs of relief. This experience would be repeated every fort-
night right along through the year."
9. The other founders of the bank besides Cunard and Collins were John
Clarke, Joseph Allison, William Pryor, James Tobin, Henry Hezekiah Cogswell,
and Martin Gay Black. (Eaton's "History of King's County, Nova Scotia, p.
481). Sir Samuel Cunard died worth five millions of dollars, Mr. William Mur-
doch worth over a million and a half, and Mr. Charles Murdoch worth a mil-
lion. Many persons in Halifax in the igth century accumulated from seven or
eight hundred thousand down to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Chief Justice
Sampson Salter Blowers (a Boston born man) died worth four hundred thousand,
and Chief Justice Sir William Young worth three hundred and fifty thousand.
840 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
influence poured into the town. When a judiciary needed to be
established for the province, as of course was quickly the case,
an able Boston born lawyer of eminent family, Mr. Jonathan
Belcher, was called to be the chief justice, and in the determined
movement of the Halifax people soon after for representative
government, Mr. Belcher, in opposition to the governor, as be-
came a man reared in a province where representative institu-
tions largely prevailed, was the chief mover. When the first
Assembly was actually created, an overwhelming number of the
members elected were, like Mr. Belcher, Boston born men.10
In structure and general tone, Boston before the Revolution
was much more aristocratic than it was after the struggle. And
it is a great question whether with the passing of the town's
control into the hands of men steeped in the democratic spirit,
Boston did not suffer forever the loss of some of her very finest
ideals. In Halifax there was no Revolution, and here we may
say emphatically, the best social ideals and most hospitable
customs of pre-Revolutionary Boston, for many decades after
the Revolution continued to prevail. It is quite true that the
general intellectuality, that increased rather than diminished
in Boston after the Revolution, was always sadly lacking in
Halifax, and that the people, divorced from libraries and having
little to stimulate them to think world-problems out, absorbed
themselves largely in business and pleasure and petty politics, and
that in religion, when they felt the power of religion, they accept-
ed without question common traditional orthodox views. For a
long time, both before and after the Revolution, we know, strict
moralists deplored the frivolity of Halifax, and censured in
scathing terms the low moral standards of its smart social life.
Of the controlling power of the army and navy in Halifax, no
visitor to the town in the whole of the nineteenth century could
fail to be aware. About the time of the Crimean war, probably
10. The strength of the New England element in Halifax in 1758, is shown
by the fact that probably no less than twelve of the nineteen members elected in that
year to the first House of Assembly were from either Massachusetts or Con-
necticut. These were : Jonathan Binney, Robert Campbell, Joseph Fairbanks,
Henry Ferguson, John Fillis, William Foye, Joseph Gerrish, Philip Hammond,
Henry Newton, William Pantree, Joseph Rundle (probably Randall), and Robert
Sanderson. The last of these, Sanderson, was elected Speaker. From the first
appointment of members to the Council, Boston men figured largely in that body
also.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 841
very soon after the fall of Sebastopol, when Nova Scotia, al-
ways, to the present moment, staunchly loyal to England, was
more than usually aglow with military ardor, Frederic Cozzens
of New York, visiting Halifax, wrote of the town: "Every-
thing here is suggestive of impending hostilities, war in bur-
nished trappings meets you at the street corners, and the air
vibrates from time to time with bugles, fifes, and drums." "But
0," he adds, "what a slow place it is. Even two Crimean regi-
ments, with medals and decorations, could not wake it up."11
Though Cozzens speaks strongly in praise of the hospitality
of Halifax, the morals of the place, so far as we remember,
he does not criticize. It is a matter of common knowledge, how-
ever, that popular British military and naval stations, for ob-
vious reasons, are universally places where superficial love of
pleasure and often easy virtue in social relations, among the
commoner classes at least, are apt to prevail. Of the com-
parative slowness of Halifax in anything besides pleasure, Judge
Thomas Chandler Haliburton, a quarter of a century earlier
than Cozzens, had made his Yankee "Clockmaker" in answer
to the question "What do you think of the present state and
future prospects of Halifax?" Say: "If you will tell me when
the folks there will wake up, then I can answer you; but they
are fast asleep."12
The only important connected study of Halifax social life in
the first half century of the town's history that to our knowledge
IT. Frederic Swartout Cozzens, "Acadia, or a Month with the Bluenoses."
New York, Derby and Jackson, 1859. "That the Haligonians are a kind and good
people, abundant in hospitality," Cozzens says, "let me attest. One can scarcely
visit a city occupied by those whose grandsires would have hung your rebel
grandsires (if they had caught them) without some misgivings. But I found
the old Tory blood of three Halifax generations yet warm and vital, happy to
accept again a rebellious kinsman, in spite of Sam Slick and the Revolution."
(Cozzens does not remember that some of the Massachusetts patriots would
have hanged the Tories with right good will ; it is not at all clear that the reverse
was the case).
12. "The Clockmaker : Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville,"
first printed as a series of sketches in the Nova Scotian newspaper in 1835, soon
afterward published in book form. Judge Haliburton, whose books are many,
was of New England descent, but was born at Windsor, Nova Scotia. His fam-
ily in Nova Scotia belong to the New England migration to that province in
1760. A United States author who has mentioned the external features of Hal-
ifax is Charles Dudley Warner, in his "Baddeck and That Sort of Thing." This
book "a narrative of a journey to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton,"
was published in Boston by James R. Osgood and Co. in 1874.
842 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
has come into print was made about 1860 by the Eev. Dr.
George William Hill, then and for long after, Kector of St.
Paul's Church in Halifax, in his memoir of Sir Brenton Halli-
burton, Kt., the seventh chief justice of Nova Scotia.13 After
describing the public buildings and the external features in gen-
eral of Halifax, and giving some important facts of the town's
13. Sir Brenton Halliburton (who was knighted when he was very old) was
born in Newport, Rhode Island, and came to Halifax with his parents at the
Revolution. His father, John Halliburton, was born in Scotland, but married in
Newport Susannah Brenton, whose brother (Judge) James Brenton settled early
in Halifax, as did also did her sister Mary, wife of Hon. Joseph Gerrish. The
importance of Hon. Jahleel Brenton and his family in Newport has often been
mentioned in print. Mr. George Champlin Mason in his "Reminiscences of New-
port (1884)" says: "Jahleel Brenton was fond of society and kept an open house,
both at the homestead [on Thames Street], and at Hammersmith [near Fort
Attains], where he was always prepared to entertain a large number of guests.
He was public-spirited, gave the clock that hangs in Trinity Church steeple, was
one of the original members of the Artillery Company, and one of the committee
to build the State House. But however well off in landed property, he was at
times crowded for ready money, and when he died, in 1767, his estate was en-
cumbered" (p. 369).
Of Dr. Halliburton, Mr. Brenton's son-in-law, Mr. Mason writes: "At the
foot of the Parade, where there is now a modern brick building, there stood until
within a few years a large gambrel-roof house that dated far back in the last
century. When the ground on which it stood was wanted for other purposes it
was removed to Bridge Street, where it still does service for shops and tenements.
On its old site it was occupied in succession by a number of physicians, all of
whom doubtless found it a good location. The first was Dr. Thomas Rodman,
who came from Barbadoes in 1680, and here resided up to the time of his death in
1827. His son Thomas, also a physician, was his successor. After him came Dr.
William Hunter, a Scotch physician, who was eminent in his day, and whose
worth has been frequently dwelt upon. Dr. John Halliburton was the next phy-
sician to occupy the house. He was residing here when the war broke out, took
sides with the Crown, and in 1781 was suspected of keeping up a secret commun-
ication with the enemy. So strong was the evidence against him that he left
hastily in a boat and made his way to New York early in 1782; for in one of his
letters now before me, dated New York, March 17, 1782, he speaks of his sudden
departure and expresses regret at having to leave one of his very sick patients,
Mr. William Tweedy. In this letter he urges his friends in Newport to see that
his wife and children were sent to him by the first flag. When his family joined
him, he removed to Nova Scotia and settled there; but for a time at least his
position in his new home was not a comfortable one, for in a letter dated at Hal-
ifax, September 8, 1782, he writes: 'A few casual acts of civility I have now and
then experienced, but that sincere and generous hospitality that was formerly
practised in Rhode Island is seldom to be met with in any country. . . . There
are a few agreeable and courteous people here, from whom we have received
some civilities, but whether for want of a proper knowledge of us, or from what-
ever cause, they want that cordial and generous confidence, that smiling ease
and cheerful communication which alone make civilities palatable.' In time this
feeling was changed ; there was a better understanding between the doctor and
the people of Halifax, who had learned to know and esteem him highly. He
died in 1807. Mrs. Halliburton, who was a daughter of Jahleel Brenton, died
in 1818. Their son Brenton Halliburton, chief justice of the province, was hon-
ored with Knighthood." (pp. 28, 29).
-* Rev. Dr. George Hill's "Memoir of Sir Brenton Halliburton" (207 pp.) was
printed in Halifax by James Bowes and Sons in 1864. It m?y be found in Boston
libraries.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 843
history, Dr. Hill says : ' ' The private dwellings were usually
small, covering a very limited area, and seldom more than one
story in height, finished above with an attic. Although the town
was laid out in squares, each containing sixteen lots, of forty
feet in width and sixty feet in depth, each individual obtained,
if he could, except in the central part, more lots than one. Thus
the residences of many were quite detached, and ample scope
afforded for gardens, which were assiduously cultivated by the
proprietors. . . . Not a few planted trees before their
doors, under the shade of which the dairy cow loved to ruminate
during the hot days of summer, and to lie down at night, to the
inconvenience and danger of the pedestrian.
"The furniture in the dwellings of those who possessed means
was of a far more substantial character than that now used by
persons of the same class, and was considerably more expensive.
. . . It was usually made of a mahogany wood, of a rich,
dark color; the dining-room table was plain, but massive, sup-
ported by heavy legs, often ornamented with the carved re-
semblance of a lion 's claw ; the side-board was high, rather nar-
row and inelegant; the secretary, or covered writing desk, was
bound with numberless brass plates at the edges, corners, and
sides ; the cellaret, standing in the corner, which held the wines
and liquors brought up from the cellar for the day's consump-
tion, was also bound elaborately with plates of burnished brass ;
the chairs, cumbrous, straight-backed, with their cushions cov-
ered with black horse-hair cloth, were as uncomfortable as they
were heavy; the sofa, though not common, was unadorned but
roomy; the great arm-chair deserved its title, for it was wide
enough and deep enough to contain not only the master of the
household, but, if he pleased, several of his children beside.
These for the most part comprised the furniture of the dining-
rooms of the upper classes. That contained in the bed-room
was built of the same wood, and of a corresponding style. The
bedsteads were those still known as four-posted, invariably cur-
tained, and with a canopy overhead. . . . The chests of
drawers and the ladies ' wardrobes were covered with the ubiqui-
tous brazen plates, and being kept bright, gave the room an air
844 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of comfort and cleanliness. In almost every hall stood a clock,
encased by a frame of great size. . . .
"The kitchen department in those early times was of the
greatest importance. The day's labor began at early morning
with the often unsuccessful attempt to produce fire from flint
and steel; baking and brewing, as well as ordinary cooking, were
for the most part attended to at home, and all was done for
many years at the open hearth, on which hard wood was burned
for fuel. . . .
"It was the habit to dine at an early hour, and take supper
between eight and nine o'clock. The fashionable dinner hour
was three o'clock, and on some state occasions it was made as
late as four.14 As a consequence of this custom, business ceased
to be transacted, at least by the public offices, soon after mid-
day. It was too late to return when the somewhat lengthened
meal was over. In the ordinary course, a custom prevailed of
walking on a fine day, after dinner, sometimes towards the
Point, sometimes to the North, and in less favorable weather to
the Market, for a promenade beneath the balcony. On return-
ing home, those whose resources in themselves were small, usu-
ally played cards until supper was laid; while among the more
intellectual it was the admirable custom that the gentlemen
should read aloud while the ladies worked at embroidery. The
standard English authors were their text books on these oc-
casions ; they had but few, but these were the works of the ablest
historians and the more distinguished poets. Few are aware
how well informed, in spite of many disadvantages, were the
upper classes of society in those early times. . . . The full
and accurate acquaintance of many ladies with History, ancient
and modern, with Milton and Shakespeare, with Pope and Dry-
den, and with others of equal fame, may yet be traced through
a few of their daughters who survive— themselves old ladies
now— to adorn their native land. Many of them learned the
French language, and both wrote and spoke it fluently. ' '
Later in his description Dr. Hill says : "It is quite indicative
of the general ease and lack of urgent business in the community
14. Speaking of food, Dr. Hill tells us that porcupines were much used as
game.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 845
that even as late as 1796, . . . there were no less than
twenty-four holidays, during which the public offices were clos-
ed." Levees at Government House, he adds, were very fre-
quent, on which occasions the streets leading to the executive
mansion were filled with gentlemen in powdered hair, and silk
stockings, and with silver-hilted swords.
Full dress for the women of the period was commonly a stiff
brocaded silk or heavy satin gown, with a long prim waist, from
which the ample hooped skirt spread off like a balloon, the
sleeves being tight to the arm. Over the neck and bosom a lace
handkerchief was likely to be spread, fastened by a heavy
jewelled pin. For church a richly wrought apron, and spangled
white kid shoes, with peaked toes and high heels were worn. The
hair, dressed with pomatum, was drawn over a cushion perhaps
twelve inches in height and sprinkled thickly with powder, a
white rosebud or other natural flower crowning this extraor-
dinary dome. In these days there were few hair dressers in
Halifax, so people were obliged to begin very early in the day
to prepare for afternoon or evening entertainments, and very
clever must the fashionable hair-dresser have been who man-
aged to keep all his patrons in good humour as he went his slow
rounds from house to house. Full dress for men consisted of
knee-breeches, silk stockings, shoes with silver buckles, a white
neckerchief of great thickness, a straight-collared coat with
large buttons, a brilliantly coloured waistcoat, and the silver-
hilted sword or rapier we have spoken of.
Many of the large dinners of early Halifax were given at a
three-story wooden hotel at the corner of Duke and Water
streets, known as the "Great Pontac, " a house built before 1757.
For dinners the cooks of the war-ships were often called into
requisition, and when naval officers themselves were the hosts
the dishes would be brought up to the windows of the hotel by
ships' stewards, rowed by sailors in spotless white, and handed
in for the several courses. In 1757, before the second taking of
Louisburg, Generals Wolfe and Amherst were entertained at
the Great Pontac, and for many years thereafter few distin-
guished men visited Halifax who did not find accommodation
within its hospitable walls.
846
About 1790 there was but one closed carriage in Halifax, and
the owner of this vehicle was so gallant that on the evening of
grand balls he was accustomed to send his servant round for
many of the ladies of the smart set, in turn. For a long time
sedan chairs were commonly used in the town. An advertise-
ment in a newspaper in 1794 announces that sedan chairs may
be ordered in Barrington Street at one shilling, one and three-
pence, and sixpence a ride. For church on Sundays the price
was an eighth of a dollar ; to Dutchtown, near the Arm, the price
was a shilling.15
In a former chapter we have described in some detail the re-
markable accession to the population of Halifax that came with
the exodus from Boston in 1775 and 1776 of almost the whole of
that town's acknowledged aristocracy. As the Revolutionary
spirit in Massachusetts grew, the position of those who felt com-
pelled to take strongly the British side became more and more
intolerable, and as early as the spring of 1775, singly or in
small groups, Boston and Salem families of importance began
to seek shelter in the Nova Scotia capital. When the formal
withdrawal from Boston of General Howe's troops was posi-
tively determined on, the British sympathizers who had always
lived in the town, and those who from other places had recently
sought refuge there, also hastily prepared to leave, and on the
seventeenth of March, 1776, families and single men to the num-
ber of between nine and eleven hundred persons embarked with
15. As we have shown in the first chapter of this history, a considerable
number of Germans came to Halifax in the wake of the Cornwallis English
settlers. Many of these removed to Lunenburg, but a considerable group remain-
ed in the north end of Halifax. Among these Germans some picturesque social
customs prevailed. At their weddings the bridal party walked to church in pro-
cession, led by the bride and groom elect, the women dressed in white with white
caps and ribbons, the men wearing white trousers and round blue jackets. At
the conclusion of the ceremony all went to a tavern, and partook of refreshments,
after which they went home for two or three days' feasting and dancing. For
one German wedding, in Halifax, the good things provided, included several
sheep, eighteen geese, soups, hams, puddings, pies, cakes, and wines in abundance.
The best fiddler that could be found was secured and the people danced all night
and perhaps all the next day. It is said that the host and hostess generally in-
sisted on the guests staying until all the food was eaten up. One quaint custom
observed at these weddings was for some guest at the wedding supper, on the
first day of feasting, to ask the bride to take off one of her shoes, which he then
passed round to each of the party for a coin as a gift to the lady. Usually guests
gave a dollar apiece, and sometimes the shoe was sold at auction to the highest
bidder, who returned it to the bride, together with the purchase money.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 847
the fleet. The arrival in Halifax of this bruised and heart-sick
multitude, the straits to which they were put to find even tem-
porary comfortable lodgment on shore, the departure of many
of them in a few weeks for England, and of some of them later
with the fleet for New York, their reinforcement before long by
others of their sort from the middle and southern colonies, the
introduction of many of those who settled permanently in the
town into the highest public positions, and the natural jealousy
felt towards such by the older inhabitants— these are incidents
in the progress of the history of Halifax that we have already
tried to describe. The establishment of an Episcopate in Nova
Scotia, and the consequent founding there of a college in which
Anglican principles should be taught, were two of the results of
the coming of the Loyalists, and the appointment in 1787 of
Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis as bishop, and in 1792 of Mr. John
Wentworth as governor, tended soon to make these later comers
to Nova Scotia well nigh supreme in the councils of church and
state.
What gave especial brilliancy to the social life of Halifax in
the last decade of the eighteenth century was the presence there
for part of this time of His Royal Highness Prince Edward,
Duke of Kent, later Queen Victoria's father, who was then in
chief command of the King's forces in British North America.
To this residence of Prince Edward in Halifax we shall devote
an independent chapter as this history goes on. Giving, as it
did, a great and lasting stimulus to the loyalty of Nova Scotians
to the British Crown, it likewise tended strongly to stimulate
gayety in Halifax, and the accounts of social entertainments,
in the town while it continued are highly interesting to read.
•John Wentworth was governor from 1792 until 1808, and for
much of that period of sixteen years he made Government House
the scene of great festivity. Early in 1795 he was created a
baronet, and after that notable event in his career, as before,
he, and his wife Lady Frances, a woman of unusual charm and
accomplishment, devoted themselves with energy to making
Halifax social life as hospitable and gay as they could. ' ' There
have dined at Government House between 12 December, 1794,
and 29 October, 1795, ' ' writes young Nathaniel Thomas, a cousin
848 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of Lady Wentworth (son of Nathaniel Ray Thomas, the well
known Massachusetts Loyalist, who spent the rest of his life
after 1776, and died, in Windsor, Nova Scotia), "two thousand,
four hundred and thirty-seven persons." On the evening of
Thursday, December twentieth, 1792, says a newspaper of the
day, ' ' the Lieutenant-Governor and Mrs. Wentworth gave a ball
and supper to the ladies and gentlemen of the town and the
officers of the army and navy, which was altogether the most
brilliant and sumptuous entertainment ever given in this coun-
try. " Describing in detail the features of the entertainment,
the newspaper pays a highly enthusiastic tribute to the "ele-
gance and superiority of manners ' ' of Mrs. Wentworth, and the
"hospitality, perfect good breeding, and infinite liberality, which
so distinguish the character of our beloved and adored gov-
ernor." On this magnificent occasion, says the article, "every-
thing tended to promote one sympathizing joy, and never was
there a night passed with more perfect harmony and luxurious
festivity. ' '
From year to year, as the history of Halifax in the time of
the Wentworths goes on, we read of social events that surprise
us with their luxury and brilliancy, for the town was then, we re-
member, less than fifty years old. The visits of royal person-
ages were always the signal for elaborate functions and great
display. On the fourth of October, 1786, Prince William Henry,
afterwards King William the Fourth, arrived in H. M. ship
Pegasus, and his visit was twice afterward repeated in 1787,
Magnificent, indeed, were the doings on these occasions, the
presence of a son of the Sovereign making the people almost
wild with joy. Notable also were the celebrations of the birth-
days of royalties, especially of that of King George's rather
staid and exceedingly proper queen. On the eighteenth of Janu-
ary Queen Charlotte was born, and every year as the day came
round, Halifax echoed with the thunders of cannon, while levees
and balls, with brilliant illuminations of the houses, enlivened
the cold and somewhat dreary town. In 1794, the birthday of
Prince Edward, the exact date of which was November second,
came on Sunday, and the popular customs precluded any gayety
on that sacred day. Accordingly there was only a salute from
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 849
the citadel and a quiet levee at Government House. Monday
night, however, there was a magnificent ball and supper at the
Governor's, for which three hundred invitations were issued.
On Tuesday night the town was illuminated, and over the gate
of Government House appeared a crown and the initials P. E.,
"enclosed by a blaze of lights." On the twelfth of August, 1796,
the Prince of Wales 's birthday was celebrated, with parades,
salutes, and all the military pomp possible. A banquet at Gov-
ernment House, "at which Prince Edward, the army and navy
officers, and chief gentlemen of the town were guests of Sir
John Wentworth, concluded the festival."
On Tuesday, the thirteenth of September, 1796, Lady Went-
worth gave a ball and supper at Government House to Captain
Beresford, of one of his Majesty's war ships, who had "success-
fully beaten off a superior French ship, supposed to be a vessel
of the line. " " Most of the ladies and gentlemen of the town, ' '
Murdoch says, "were invited, and the officers of the army and
navy. As a compliment to the captain, all the ladies wore navy
blue cockades, and many had on bandeaux and ornaments of
blue, on which his name was inscribed in gold letters. Splendor
and taste were predominant, and gayety reigned supreme.
The merry dance was not deserted till the small hours of the
morning came on."
Nor did the loyal celebrations of Haligonians lose any of their
fervor after the nineteenth century opened. On Friday, April
seventh, 1820, George the Fourth, who had been nine years
regent, was proclaimed King at Halifax. "At half past ten,
A. M.t the governor went in state to the council chamber. The
members of His Majesty's council, the speaker and several mem-
bers of the assembly then residing or remaining in town, the
justices of the peace in Halifax, grand jurors, and many of the
inhabitants, and the officers of the army and navy, had pre-
viously assembled there. The governor having taken his chair,
the provincial secretary read the official despatches notifying
the demise of the late king and the accession of his eldest son and
heir. A proclamation of the new king's reign was signed by the
governor, councillors, and other chief persons present. His
Excellency having appointed David Shaw Clarke, Esquire, to
850 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
be herald at arms, that gentleman read the proclamation aloud
in a distinct and clear voice. At this time the Royal standard
was hoisted upon citadel hill. The herald proceeded from the
council chamber in a carriage, accompanied by the sheriff, to
the front of the Province House, to the market square, to the
door of St. Paul's Church, and to the new parade on Brunswick
Street, near the North Barracks, escorted by troops and at-
tended by the populace, and at every place repeated the procla-
mation. At the North Parade the garrison were drawn up under
arms, and a salute of twenty-one guns fired from six field
pieces. The procession then returned to the Province House,
and the proclamation was again read in the Supreme Court
room, now the Legislative Library. At one P. M. the Eoyal
standard was lowered to half mast, and minute guns were fired
from the fort on George's Island, which was continued the re-
mainder of the day, in memorial of the deceased sovereign. On
Sunday, sermons suited to the occasion were delivered in the
different places of public worship."
In 1830 was published by Henry Colburn and Richard Bent-
ley, in New Burlington Street, London, an interesting volume,
called ' ' Letters from Nova Scotia, Comprising Sketches of a
Young Country, ' ' by Captain William Moorsom, of the Fifty-sec-
ond Light Infantry, which was written in Halifax in 1829, while
the author was officially engaged "in various tours undertaken
for the purpose of gaining some military information relating to
the province."16 In describing Halifax the author says: "The
garrison forms about one-eighth of the population, and of course
materially influences the tone of society. A young officer in
whose head conceit has not previously effected a lodgment stands
every chance of undergoing a regular investment, siege, and
assault from this insidious enemy on joining his corps in Hali-
fax. He finds himself raised at once to a level above that ac-
corded to the scarlet cloth at home— his society generally sought,
frequently courted, and himself esteemed as a personage whose
opinions are regarded with no little degree of attention.
It is not the fault of the inhabitants if Halifax be not a
pleasant quarter for a stranger, and particularly for a military
16. The book has nineteen chapters. It also may be found in Boston libraries.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 851
stranger. Hospitality, unbounded in comparison with that
which such a person will experience in England, is offered to
his acceptance. . . . The general tone of intercourse is
somewhat analogous to that we meet with in Ireland ; it is in fact
such as naturally prevails where the circle is not very extended,
where the individual members have been long acquainted, and
where military have long been stationed with few internal
changes. . . . There are no regular public assemblies in
Halifax. A theatre, conducted by amateurs, is opened five
or six tunes during the season, but a dearth of female perfor-
mers renders it not particularly attractive. Quadrille cards have
lately been issued every fortnight by one of the regiments in
garrison, and have been received in the light they were intended,
as an earnest of social harmony and amusement. Picnic parties
in summer and sleighing excursions in winter complete the scale
of divertis semens. . . . Whenever a fine day and a well-
formed road combine their attractions, from a dozen to twenty
of the members of the sleigh club may be seen with tandem, pair,
four-in-hand, or postillions a I Anglaise, first making the tour
of the streets, to the open-mouthed admiration of all the little
truant ragamuffins, and the dashing out of town along the fine
' Bason road' to partake of a dejeuner a la fourchette at some
country inn a few miles off. Each preux chevalier is accom-
panied by the lady of his choice, while some in double sleighs
are so unconscionable as to monopolize three or four. The only
sine qua non of propriety seems to be that the signorine shall
be matronized by some one. Strange as it may appear, while
hosts of the unqualified are ready to the moment, matronly
volunteers are rarely to be found ; and the one who is eventually
pressed into the service usually finds her numerous charge as
perfectly beyond all control, as the necessity for which control
is perfectly trivial."
Elsewhere Moorsom says: Were an Englishman "placed in
the midst of the party at the Governor's weekly soiree, he would
not conceive himself to be elsewhere than in some English
provincial town with a large garrison. In fact there cannot
be any town out of Great Britain where this similarity is so
complete as at Halifax." "The winter is here," he continues,
852 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
"as in other places, the season for gaiety similar to that we find
prevalent elsewhere, in the shape of dinner and evening parties,
rational and irrational, festive, sober, and joyous, insipid, dull,
and stupid. How far individual gout, or rather degout, may
act to give a 'jaundiced eye' I know not, but it seems to me the
general tone of these social meetings indicates a stage of luxury
rather than of refinement, of gaiety rather than its com-
bination with that intellectual foundation which renders such
gaiety truly delightful."
In 1842 and '43, an educated Italian named Gallenga, who af-
terward wrote many books under the pseudonym of L. Mariotti,
spent some time in Nova Scotia and saw much of Halifax society.
In a very entertaining book he wrote called "Episodes of my
Second Life,"17 he says, evidently with great pleasure in the
recollection: "Picnics at the Duke of Kent's Lodge, reunions
at Government House, balls given in turn by the officers of the
garrison at the Assembly rooms or by the naval officers on board
the Admiral's frigate, were almost daily occurrences— balls with
such a show of beauty as hardly any other town of the same size
and pretension could exhibit, and to the charms of which, I,
17. In 1842, "Luigi Mariotti" came out from England, where he had just
declined the position of private secretary to Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, to be
professor of modern languages in King's College, at VVindsor. Lord Falkland
was then governor of the province, and Dr. John Inglis, bishop of the diocese, and
Mariotti gives very graphic pictures of these dignitaries and of the other chief per-
sonages of the Province at that time. The Bishop, he says, was a dapper little man
with a lively face on which the sense of what was due to his prelatic dignity was
perpetually struggling to check the impulse of his bustling activity. There was in him
something of the look and manner of Dean Stanley. The Bishop's wife and "four
thin, and not very young daughters," he describes as having stateliness enough for
the whole Episcopal bench in the House of Lords. The new professor seems not
to have been the most contented person in the world, and he was very much dis-
appointed in King's College, his position for one thing proving far more of a
sinecure than he either expected or desired, but he soon set up a modest establish-
ment, bought a horse, engaged a black groom, and embarked on the sea of Windsor
and Halifax society. With Dr. McCawley, the president of the college, and his
wife, he was at once on good terms, and speaking of some of the girls he met at
Windsor, he says that the Miss Haliburtons, the Miss Heads, and the Miss Uni-
ackes "wanted neither prettiness nor animation and showed no invincible objection
to a little flirting." He does not deign to tell us to whom it was, but he confesses
that he lost his heart in Windsor, and when later he settled in Halifax, and was
a frequent guest at Government House (although the beautiful Lady Falkland was
then "in deep mourning for her brother, the Earl of Munster"), at the officers'
mess, and at assembly balls, and hops on the Admiral's frigate, he used regularly
on Saturday to saddle his horse and ride forty miles over a rough road to spend
Sunday in the college town with the fair captor of his affections.
An edition of "Episodes of my Second Life," was published in London by
Chapman and Hall, in 1884. The book may be found at the Boston Public Library.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 853
though I never danced, could not be blind— the charms of. the
acres of dazzling-white bare necks and shoulders of the Arch-
deacon's strapping daughters, of the bright eyes and elegant
figures of the four Miss Cunards, of the fair complexions and
sweet expression of the four Miss Uniackes, two of them stars
of the first magnitude— all of whom whirled before me as crea-
tures of another orbit, happy in the arms of the red-coated or
blue-jacketed gallants encircling their waists."
In recollection of his boyhood and young manhood in Halifax,
Mr. Frederick P. Fairbanks,18 a bachelor of arts of King's Col-
lege, Windsor, much of whose later life has been spent in the
neighborhood of New York City, has written the following pleas-
ant description of the social life, as he remembers it, of his native
town. "Halifax," he says, "had exceptional advantages for
social recreation. Being the summer headquarters of the
fleet of the British and North American squadron and
being garrisoned by two regiments of infantry, several batteries
of artillery and a corps of engineers, the military and naval ele-
ment were largely in the ascendant, and aided to a considerable
degree in the entertainment of the citizens. This element
broughtwith it as residents the Commander-in- Chief of the forces
in America, and the Admiral of the fleet, with their respective
staffs, and Halifax being the place of residence of the Governor
of the Province, the Judges of the Supreme Court, and all the
executive officers of the government, as well as the Bishop of the
Diocese, naturally furnished excellent material for tea parties
and other social events. The respective regiments and ships of
war offered a lavish hospitality to the townspeople, to which
the latter did not fail to make satisfactory response, and hardly
a week passed that cards were not out for a General's, Ad-
miral's, or Governor's ball, or a dance on board ship, or by in-
vitation of the military officers or some one of the prominent
citizens.
' * Then to fill in, there was a constant round of driving parties,
18. Mr. Frederick Prescott Fairbanks, Barrister, of Passaic, New Jersey, a
warm friend of the writer, is one of the few Haligonians who have ever taken the
trouble to describe the social life of their native town as it was about the middle of
the nineteenth century. His manuscript is a notable one and we are glad to re-
produce so much of it here.
854 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
yachting, garden, skating parties, or picnics, the participants in
which generally returned to the house of the patron for an im-
provised dance. Military reviews and parades, and sham fights,
too, were very frequent, concerts by the military bands were
given twice a week at the public gardens during the summer,
and all kinds of out door sports were in vogue, which were
largely attended by spectators. For example, it was not un-
common on a fine winter day, when the ice was good on the North
West Arm, to find assembled there on skates the best representa-
tives of all classes of society. High officials of the government,
judges, lawyers, rectors, and curates, and even the dignified
Bishop joined hands with the crowd; colonels, majors, captains,
and middies were all on skates, and naturally the fair sex of the
city were out in force to greet them. When the sun shone
and the ice was smooth, there was good fellowship and enjoy-
ment which could hardly be excelled.
' ' In all social festivities, the heads of the house of Fairbanks
indulged and encouraged their children to indulge. They ac-
cepted invitations and made bounteous return. For many years
at Briar Cottage they kept open house and entertained freely,
until all the daughters but one were married and that one had
retired from society. Briar Cottage was seldom quiet in the
evening. Both parents and children were fond of company and
liked it best at home. Large and small dances, family dinners,
dinners to politicians, high teas to clerical friends and the peo-
ple of the church, card, charade, round game, and children's
parties were interspersed with an occasional ball, when every-
body in the Army, Navy, or Citizen force considered properly
entitled to an invitation would get one. A feature of these re-
ceptions was the absence of formality. Our parents made no
pretension to style, the ladies wore no dazzling jewels or costly
attire, and a man's income was never regarded as the measure
of his eligibility. Everything, however, was comfortable and
pleasing. The girls looked well, the military came in full dress
uniform with plenty of scarlet and blue and gold-lace, so at-
tractive to the feminine fancy, and the young men of the city
were so well looked after that they could not feel otherwise than
at home during the whole of the event.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 855
"On such occasions the two back parlours were opened for
dancing, the drawing room was reserved for tete-a-tetes and
conversation, and the supper was served in the front sitting
room, where it was laid early in the day, the room not being
opened till midnight or thereabout. During the evening, re-
freshments were served from the pantry or the sideboard in the
dining room. Wine and ale were always provided, and the sup-
per was of a substantial character, generally comprising boned
turkey, chickens, salads, and sweets of various kinds.
' ' The greater part of the time the daughters had friends visit-
ing them, and as men callers were always welcome in the even-
ings, many improvised dances were often got up. Every night
before retiring we had supper, even when the family were alone,
and a good bottle of ale was considered, both at supper and din-
ner a sine qua non. In these days a guest was never allowed
to depart without partaking of some refreshment — a very good
custom, and one which our children would do well to observe.
1 ' At Christmas there was always a family gathering at Briar
Cottage. On such occasions the little front sitting room was
made to do duty for the children, and the recollection of that
room can never fade from their minds. While the children
were allowed their stockings in bed in the morning, they had
to wait until after breakfast for any further inspection of their
Christmas gifts. Then the family adjourned to the sitting room,
where on a round table (trees were not in vogue with us in those
days) the presents were displayed. This little front sitting room
could tell many a tale, if it had a voice, for it was the room re-
served, as well, for the daughters of the house when they were
about to be married. Often at such momentous times the boys
would receive the strict injunction: 'Don't come in without
whistling.' "
In a later manuscript Mr, Fairbanks writes :
' i The principal public functions of Halifax were held at Gov-
ernment House, Admiralty House, the Commandant's residence,
the Provincial Building, and Masonic Hall. The balls on shore
had no distinctive feature, but were like all balls ; it may be noted,
however, that by whomsoever the entertainment was given one
was sure to be treated most lavishly as far as the inner man was
856 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
concerned. The hospitality of Halifax is proverbial, and one's
host was never lacking in his desire to regale one with the very
best that the market afforded or that the most pronounced epi-
cure could desire.
"The most popular of all the social events that took place in
those days, were, I think, the hops on board the ships of war.
This was possibly owing to some extent to the fact that they
possessed certain novel features not met with on shore. The
ships lay out in the stream some distance off the dockyard, and
a constant stream of boats manned by the sailors in holiday
dress, and commanded by midshipmen, moved back and forth
taking the guests from the dockyard to the ship. Once on board,
the most diffident could not but feel at home; he was free to
dance, smoke, sleep, eat or drink, or amuse himself by doing
nothing ; there was simply no restraint, and abundant opportun-
ity was furnished for having a good time in the way one wished.
There was a beautiful deck in the finest condition for the dance ;
there were the ward room and gun room below for those who
desired to indulge in mild dissipation ; and there were numerous
nooks all over the vessel to be used as desired. There was most
deferential attendance, there were eatables and drinkables in
profusion ; and you were away from the hum of the city, floating
serenely on the placid waters of the great harbour, with some
of the finest ships of the British navy in close proximity, and
your surroundings in all ways pleasing. The water of the
harbour was often an intense blue which enhanced the beauty
of the vista from the shore, and there was plenty to look at in
the stream from the deck of the man-of-war.
Of certain popular regiments, Mr. Fairbanks says :
"I remember the arrival of the 62nd and 63rd regiments
which came directly to Halifax after the Crimean war. They
presented a very ragged appearance as they disembarked from
the troop ships and marched to their barracks. The 62nd was
very popular in Halifax and a number of its officers married
Halifax girls. Another very popular regiment was the 78th,
which took part in the relief of Lucknow. It was customary
at that time, and I believe still is, to have concerts by a military
band in the Public Garden (then the 'Horticultural Garden,'
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 857
once or twice a week). There was a musical composition en-
titled * The Relief of Lucknow ' if I remember rightly, which the
78th 's band used sometimes to perform. One part of the band
occupying the stand was supposed to be in the fort, and while
it was playing, another portion of the band was heard
a long distance off in a remote part of the garden playing ' The
Campbells are Coming.' As soon as this became distinct, the
band on the stand took up the air and the two divisions played
it. in unison till the relief party marched into the 'fort,' when
there was tremendous enthusiasm among the spectators. The
Fourth (King's Own) was also a very popular regiment in Hali-
fax.
"A feature of the arrival of troops in the city was that the
town crier turned out, ringing his bell and 'crying down credit'—
that is crying to the effect that all persons were prohibited from
giving credit to the members of her majesty's — th regiment,
and that the government would not be responsible if they did.
I remember one of the town criers very well, I often heard him
cry 'Lost; Strayed; or Stolen!' etc., etc.
"An extremely popular social organization in my day," this
writer adds, "was the Halifax Archery and Croquet Club, a
large and interesting club to which many of the army and navy
men as well as civilians belonged. A portion of the Horticultural
Garden was set apart for its use, and on field days the gathering
was most animated and gay. At that period tennis had not
come into vogue. A few years ago when in Halifax I saw an
aquatic carnival on the Arm. It was said that there were about
a thousand boats on the water. It was one of the prettiest
sights I ever saw. The Governor General of Canada, Earl Grey,
was then on a visit to Halifax, and this and many other interest-
ing social events were arranged in his honour."
In another manuscript by a native Nova Scotian we read:
"When an old regiment was ordered off the station there was
always sorrow in the drawing rooms and deep regret in the
Halifax Club, while on the part of the private soldiers and their
sweethearts there were presumably many tender farewells in-
dulged in and many bitter tears shed. When the last echoes of
' The Girl I Left Behind Me, ' however, had died on the air, and
858 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the new regiment, after disembarking from the ships, with flying
colours had marched into the town, a fresh round of acquaint-
anceships, usually equally pleasant with the old, began to be
made, fresh dinners and dances loomed on the near social
horizon, and the feminine heart, in high circles and low, was
athrob with the anticipation of new triumphs in the matrimonial
line. While imperial troops continued to visit Halifax, the
general ambition of girls in the smart set was to marry officers,
and few families of fashion in the town but succeeded, sooner
or later, in allying themselves with families of greater or less
note in England by marrying their daughters to young officers
of the army or navy. Of these two sets of officers, the latter, on
the whole, had more popularity than the former, for there is
usually a more open confidingness in sailors than in soldiers,
and it used to be felt that naval officers at large had the higher
breeding of the two departments of the British service of public
defence.
"The entertainments common in Halifax in the nineteenth
century were tennis, badminton, polo, lobster-spearing, tobog-
ganing, skating, dinners, luncheons, hops, kettledrums, balls,
picnics, and fairs. The balls given by the naval or military
officers were often especially brilliant affairs, the uniforms in
evidence including those of the line regiments, the artillery, the
engineers, and the various war-ships then on the station. ' '
In one of his essays, Charles Dudley Warner says of the
dramatic social plantation life of the southern States before
the abolition of slavery : ' ' Already, as we regard it, it assumes
an air of unreality, and vanishes in its strong lights and heavy
shades like a dream of the chivalric age." The old picturesque
eighteenth and nineteenth century life of Halifax has largely
disappeared too. For better or for worse, probably much for
the better industrially, certainly much for the worse in point of
dramatic interest, under the influence of insistent modern prac-
tical demands, it has utterly changed. One of the things that
helped give it and that helps it still retain a certain flavor of
the old England which it loves to copy, and in whose traditions
it has a persistent feeling of somehow having a right to share,
was and is the bestowal of occasional knighthoods on Halifax
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 859
men. For special service to the Empire, Britain has always thus
rewarded her sons, and thus she will probably long continue to
reward them. Of such easily given honours, that very likely
tend to keep dignity in the popular life, and that even in a
thoroughly democratic province such as Nova Scotia now is,
cannot at least do much if any harm, Halifax will always, prob-
ably, as long as Britain remains in name a monarchical country,
receive and welcome from the sovereign a modest share.
APPENDIX
Nova Scotians, many of them Haligonians, who have received titles. Several
of these names appear in the Dictionary of National Biography.
i
SIR ADAMS GEORGE ARCHIBALD, K. C. M. G., June 6, 1885 (C. M. G., 1872, Lieu-
tenant-Governor of Manitoba and the North West Territory, 1870-1873 ; of
Nova Scotia, 1873-1883).
SIR EDWARD MORTIMER ARCHIBALD, K. C. M. G., Aug. 26, 1882, British Consul for
some years at New York.
SIR THOMAS DICKSON ARCHIBALD, Kt. Bachelor, Feb. 5, 1873, Judge of the Queen's
Bench, London and Baron of the Exchequer, brother of Sir Edward Mor-
timer Archibald.
GENERAL JOHN CHARLES BECKWITH, C. B., ITALIAN KNIGHTHOOD (order of Sts.
Maurice and Lazarus, received from King Charles Albert, of Italy, Dec.
15, 1848. He was born at Halifax, Oct. 2, 1789, a nephew of Sir Brenton
Halliburton, Kt. Bach.
REAR-ADMIRAL SIR EDWARD BELCHER, R. N., K. C. B., March 13, 1867 (Kt. Bach.,
1843). He was born at Halifax, in 1799, son of Hon. Andrew Belcher,
i M. E. C., and his wife, Marianne Geyer (of Boston), his grandfather being
Chief-Justice Jonathan Belcher, of Nova Scotia, and his great-grandfather
Governor Jonathan Belcher, of Massachusetts and New Jersey.
SIR FREDERICK WILLIAM BORDEN, K. C. M. G., 1902, born in King's County, Nova
Scotia, May 14, 1847. He was for some years Minister of Militia in the
Dominion Parliament.
Rx. HON. SIR ROBERT LAIRD BORDEN, K. C. M. G., 1914, born in King's County,
Nova Scotia, June 26, 1854. Premier of Canada at the present time.
SIR JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT, K. C. M. G., May 21, 1898, born Oct. 24, 1857, died
Oct. 13, 1902. He was Clerk of the Dominion House of Commons, and
a literary man of distinction.
SIR JAMES COCHRAN OR COCHRANE, Kt. Bachelor, March 12, 1845. He was born at
Halifax, June 2, 1794, and was Chief-Justice of Gibraltar from 1840 to
1877. He was an uncle of Sir John Inglis, K. C. B. He died at Gibraltar
June 24, 1883.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL WILLIAM GEORGE COCHRAN OR COCHRANE, C. B., brother of
Sir James Cochran, was born in Halifax April 19, 1790. He was a dis-
tinguished military man, serving in the Peninsular War.
860 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
SIR SAMUEL CUNARD, BARONET, March 9, 1859, was born in November, 1787. In
1840 he successfully inaugurated ocean travel by establishing the Cunard
Steamship Line. His son SIR EDWARD CUNARD, born January i, 1816, suc-
ceeded to his title April 28, 1865 and died in 1869. SIR BACHE EDWARD
CUNARD, born May 15, 1851, succeeded as third baronet in 1869.
:SiR MALACHY BOWES DALY, K. C. M. G., was Governor of Nova Scotia from
1890 to 1895, and again from 1895 to 1900.
SIR JOHN WILLIAM DAWSON, K. C. M. G. September 11, 1884 (C. M. G., 1881),
was an eminent geologist and President of McGill University. He was
born at Pictou, Nova Scotia, Oct. 13, 1820.
COLONEL SIR WILLIAM F. DE LANCEY, K. C. B., a native of New York (son of
Stephen De Lancey) came with his father to Nova Scotia about 1783. He
entered the army, died at Waterloo, and was buried at Brussels. His father
became Chief-Justice of the Bahamas, and later Governor of Tobago. Sir
William's daughter, Susan, was the wife of Sir Hudson Lowe, Governor
of St. Helena when Napoleon was captive there.
SIR SANFORD FLEMING, K. C. M. G., 1897 (C. M. G., 1877) was born in Scotland,
but was for many years a summer resident of Halifax, where he owned
valuable property. Sir Sanford was long one of Canada's most useful
public men. He died at Halifax in July, 1915.
BARON HALIBURTON, 1898, (SiR ARTHUR LAWRENCE HALIBURTON), youngest son of
Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton, was C. B., 1880, K. C. B., 1885, and G.
C. B., 1887, and was raised to the peerage in 1898. He died childless and the
peerage is extinct. Lord Haliburton was born at Windsor, Nova Scotia,
Sept. 26, 1832.
SIR BRENTON HALLIBURTON, KT. BACHELOR, April 13, 1859, was a son of Hon.
John Halliburton, M. D., and his wife, Susannah Brenton (of Newport,
R. I.). He was Chief -Justice of Nova Scotia from 1833 to 1860, when he
died.
SIR JOHN EARDLEY WILMOT INGLIS, K. C. B. January 21, 1858, was a son of
Bishop John Inglis and grandson of Bishop Charles Inglis. He was born
November 15, 1814, and was knighted for successfully defending the Pres-
idency of Lucknow in the Crimean War, in 1857. He is popularly known
in Nova Scotia as the "hero of Lucknow."
SIR EDWARD KENNY, KT. BACHELOR, Nov. 3, 1870, was born in Ireland in 1800,
but was long a resident of Halifax. He was successively President of the
Legislative Council of Nova Scotia, Receiver General of the Province,
President of the Privy Council of Canada, and a member of the Dominion
Senate.
(
SIR JAMES MONK, KT. BACHELOR, born in Boston in 1746, removed with his parents
to Halifax early in the history of the town, and by 1774 became Solicitor
General of Nova Scotia. After 1777 he removed to Montreal and there
became Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench. He was knighted late
in life.
SIR WILLIAM JOHNSTONE RITCHIE, KT. BACHELOR, May 24, 1881, Chief-Justice of
the Dominion of Canada, was born at Halifax Oct. 28, 1813.
SIR THOMAS ANDREW STRANGE, KT. BACHELOR, March 14, 1798, was Chief-Justice
of Nova Scotia, June 6, 1791, to Sept. 9, 1797. He was afterward Chief-
Justice of Madras, India.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 86 1
SIR JOHN SPARROW DAVID THOMPSON, K. C. M. G., Sept. 10, 1888, was Minister of
Justice for the Dominion of Canada, and later Premier.
SIR CHARLES JAMES TOWNSHEND, KT. BACHELOR, was eleventh Chief-Justice of
Nova Scotia, from Nov. 2, 1907 until some time in 1915.
RT. HON. SIR CHARLES TUPPER, BARONET, 1888 (C. B., 1867, K. C. M. G., 1879, G.
C. M. G., 1886). Sir Charles was the most distinguished statesman Nova
Scotia has produced. Like several others in this list he was of New Eng-
land origin. He died in England, October 30. 1915.
SIR CHARLES HIBBERT TUPPER, K. C. M. G., 1893, son of Sir Charles Tupper, Bart.,
was born August 3, 1855, and became Minister of Justice for the Dominion
of Canada.
REAR-ABMIRAL SIR PROVO WILLIAM PARRY WALLIS, G. C. B., May 24, 1873 (K. C.
B., 1860), was born at Halifax, April 12, 1791, and died February, 1892. He
had a distinguished career in the Navy, and was long known as the "Father
of the Fleet." It was he who conducted the Chesapeake into Halifax in 1813.
SIR ROBERT LINTON WEATHERBE, KT. BACHELOR, 1906, tenth Chief-Justice of Nova
Scotia, from 1905 to 1907, was born in Prince Edward Island, April 7, 1836,
and died at Halifax in 1915.
SIR JOHN WENTWORTH, BARONET, 1795, was Governor of Nova Scotia from 1792 to
1808. He died at Halifax April 8, 1820, when his son, Charles Mary suc-
ceeded to the baronetcy. The latter died childless in England, April 10,
1844, when the title became extinct.
VICE-ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE AUGUSTUS WESTPHAL, K. C. B. (?), April 7, 1824. He
was born July 26, 1785, and died January n, 1875. He was wounded at
the battle of Trafalgar.
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM FENWICK WILLIAMS, R. A., G. C. B., May 20, 1871 (C.
B., 1852, K. C. B., 1856), was distinguished in the Crimea. He is known as the
"hero of Kars." He was born at Annapolis Royal, probably in 1799, and died
unmarried in London, England, July 26, 1883.
SIR WILLIAM ROBERT WOLSEY WINNIETT, R. N., K. C. B., June 29, 1849, was born
at Annapolis Royal, in 1794.
SIR WILLIAM YOUNG, KT. BACHELOR, 1868 or 1869, was Chief-Justice of Nova
Scotia from 1860 to 1881. He died at Halifax May 8, 1887.
[Since this list was compiled, another Haligonian, Dr. Charles Frederick Fraser,
has been knighted for conspicuous public service. He was made Kt.
Bachelor, June 3, 1915.
Our list does not include either New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island men
who have received titles].
THE WINTHROP FAMILY 1001
wealth; let Rome tell of her devout Numa, the law-giver by
whom the most famous commonwealth saw peace truimphing
over extinguished war and cruel plunders, and murders giving
place to the more mollifying exercises of his religion. Our New
England shall boast and tell of her Winthrop, a law-giver as
patient as Lycurgus, but not admitting any of his criminal dis-
orders ; as devout as Numa, but not liable to any of the heathen-
ish madness ; a governor in whom the excellence of Christianity
made a most improving addition into the virtues wherein even
without those he would have made a parallel for the great men
of Greece or of Rome which the pen of Plutarch has eternized."
(To be continued)
Chapters in the History of Halifax,
Nova Scotia
SIB JOHN WENTWORTH AND THE DUKE OF KENT
BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
No. IV
Here Wentworth and his Tory compeers came
When fierce rebellion rent the neighboring land,
Foes to the foes of England and her King.
Acadian Ballads.
A woman of fashion and wit and grace,
The Governor's wife, of Portsmouth town,
From Copley's canvas still looks down
Beautiful Lady Wentworth 's face.
Acadian Ballads.
IN September, 1775, after proroguing the New Hampshire As-
sembly at the Isles of Shoals, Mr. John Wentworth, last roy-
al governor of this New England province, found it neces-
sary to flee in haste from his home in Portsmouth to the shel-
ter of the King's troops in Boston. Among the notable fam-
ilies of New England before the Revolution not a single one
stands out more conspicuously than the New Hampshire Went-
worths. Descended from the finest English stock they early
planted themselves in America, and here brought into exercise
the high qualities of intelligence, energy, dignity, and courtesy
that by nature, the heritage of generations of high-bred ances-
tors, were theirs. Both Longfellow and Whittier have celebrated
the family in charming verse, Whittier, especially, in his ' ' Amy
Wentworth, ' ' of whom he says :
(1002)
EDWARD, DUKE OF KENT AND STRATHEARN K G
K. T., K. St. P., Etc.
1003
* l Her home was brave on Jaffrey Street,
With stately stairways worn
By feet of old Colonial knights,
And ladies gently born.
1 ' Still green about its ample porch
The English ivy twines,
Trained back to show in English oak
The herald's carven signs.
' ' And on her from the wainscot old
Ancestral faces frown,—
And this has worn the soldier 's sword,
And that the judge's gown."
The romantic second marriage of Benning Wentworth, first
Royal Governor of New Hampshire as a separate colony, furnish-
ed the subject, also, for Longfellow's poem, ''Lady Wentworth,"
the poet's tale in "Tales of a Wayside Inn." In this poem Long-
fellow followed closely the account given by Brewster, which
runs thus : ' ' The Governor invited a dinner party, and with many
other guests, in his cocked hat comes the beloved Rev. Arthur
Browne [Rector of Qjueen's Chapel, Portsmouth]. The dinner
is served up in a style becoming the Governor 's table, the wine is
of good quality, etc. In due time, as previously arranged, Mar-
tha Hilton, the Governor's maid servant, a damsel of twenty
summers, appears before the company. The Governor, bleached
by the frosts of sixty winters, rises : ' Mr. Browne, I wish you to
marry me. ' ' To whom ! ' asked the Rector in wondering surprise.
' To this lady, ' was the reply. The Rector stood confounded. The
Governor became imperative : ' As the Governor of New Hamp-
shire I command you to marry me. ' The ceremony was performed
and Martha Hilton became Lady Wentworth."1
With a poet's license, Longfellow has given Martha Hilton
Wentworth a title that was never hers, Lady Frances Went-
worth was the only ' ' Lady Wentworth ' ' this continent has ever
known. Moreover, the Wentworth family history says that Mar-
i. This second marriage of Governor Benning Wentworth took place
March 15, 1760. On the iQth of December, 1770, two months after her elderly
first husband's death, Martha Wentworth became the wife of a retired English
army officer, Col. Michael Wentworth, one of the English Wentworths, who
settled in New Hampshire and the rest of his life shared the comfortable for-
tune his distant relative, the Governor, had left.
1004 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
tha was not servant but young housekeeper to the Governor, she
being only twenty-three while her elderly lord was sixty-four.
John Wentworth's grandfather, John, was Lieutenant Gover-
nor of New Hampshire before that Colony became separated from
Massachusetts. Among his sons were Governor Benning Went-
worth, born July twenty-fourth, 1696, graduated at Harvard Col-
lege in 1715, who became as we have said the first royal governor
of New Hampshire as an independent colony; Mark Hunking
Wentworth, an eminent merchant in Portsmouth and a represent-
ative to the legislature, whose son was Governor John Wentworth
of Portsmouth and Halifax; and Samuel Wentworth, father of
Governor John's wife, Lady Frances.
Governor John Wentworth was born at Portsmouth, August
ninth, 1737, graduated at Harvard College, in the class with
President John Adams, in 1755, took his master 's degree in 1758,
and in a short time became, like his father and his uncle Benning,
a leading merchant in Portsmouth. From the standing of his
family in New England and with the administration in England,
and through strong qualities in himself, having already acquired
political influence, when in 1767, on account of age and infirmities
his uncle Benning resigned the governorship, he was at once ap-
pointed in his place ; to the governorship being added the office of
Surveyor of the King's Woods for all North America. On the
llth of November, 1769, at Queen's Chapel, Portsmouth, the Rev.
Arthur Browne united in marriage Governor John and his first
cousin, Frances, the remarkable fact being that exactly a fort-
night before the lady had become the widow of another first cou-
sin of both her and John, young Theodore Atkinson, to whom she
had been married less than eight years.2
For nine years John Wentworth administered the government
of New Hampshire, entertaining lavishly in his comfortable town
house on Pleasant street, Portsmouth, and his roomy cottage at
Wolfeborough, and until his Tory sympathies showed themselves
was generally liked by the New Hampshire people. At last, how-
2. It is said that on the day he married Frances (Wentworth) Atkinson
to her cousin, John Wentworth, Rev. Arthur Browne fell down some stone
steps and broke his arm. Until the appointment of his son, Marmaduke
Browne, as assistant missionary he was the only Anglican clergyman in New
Hampshire. Rev. Arthur Browne was an Englishman.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1005
ever, his quick response to Gage 's appeal for workmen from his
province to help build barracks at Boston for the British troops,
which appeal had become necessary by the refusal of the Boston
carpenters to assist in the work, sealed his own fate and that of
his government, and he had to leave Portsmouth by the back en-
trance and through the garden of his house. With his wife and
infant son, on the frigate Scarborough he fled to Boston,3 and
from Boston, in 1776, sailed with Howe's fleet for Halifax, his
wife and child having previously left on the ship Julius Caesar
for England.
In April, 1776, Mr. Wentworth was at Halifax, in November he
was at Long Island ; in January, 1777, he was in New York City,
and in May of the same year he was at Newport, B.I. In February,
1778, he went to England, and there he remained until August,
1783,4 when as Surveyor General of all the woods in North Amer-
ica that remained to the King, with a salary of seven hundred
pounds a year, he sailed for Halifax, which he reached on the
20th of September. On. the 25th of November, 1791, Governor
Parr died at Halifax, and late in April or early in May, 1792, Mr.
Wentworth was appointed Governor of Nova Scotia. At this
time he was in England, and Saturday, May 20th, he reached
Halifax in his Majesty's frigate Hussar, commanded by Rupert
George.5 On Sunday he disembarked and was received by a de-
3. "His Excellency John Wentworth, Esq., Governor of the Province of
New Hampshire, with his Lady and son, is arrived here in his Majesty's ship,
Scarborough, Captain Berkley." Massachusetts Gazette, and Boston Post Boy
and Advertiser, for September 7, 1775.
"Governor Wentworth has left his retreat at the mouth of the Piscataqua
river, and taken refuge at Boston, with the rest of the Tories." Boston-Gazette
and Country Journal, September n, 1775.
In a letter from Halifax, dated September 23, 1783, Dr. Mather Byles says
that Governor Wentworth and Lt. -Governor Edmund Fanning arrived at Hali-
fax from England, September 20, three days before. December 3Oth, of the same
year, Dr. Byles dined with Governor Wentworth.
4. It is said that in 1778 Mr. Wentworth was also in Paris, and that one
night on leaving the theatre he encountered President Adams. The latter soon
recognized his Harvard classmate, but it is pretty clear, as we may well believe,
that he did not give him a very cordial greeting. Friendship, however, proved
stronger than political rancour, and the two men, in spite of the antagonism in
their political views, whenever they met afterwards met as friends. On this par-
ticular occasion, "not an indelicate expression," writes President Adams, "to us
or to our country or our ally escaped him. His whole behaviour was that of an
accomplished gentleman."
5. It seems impossible that his commission as Governor could have been
issued May i4th, since he reached Halifax May 20th, "after a voyage of five
weeks from Falmouth," but so a printed record reads.
1006 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
tachment of the 21st Regiment, and by the Royal Artillery, who
saluted him with field pieces on the Grand Parade. To Govern-
ment House he was escorted by the acting secretary of the Prov-
ince, Mr. J. M. Freke Bulkeley, and on Monday at one o 'clock was
sworn into office, a salute of fifteen guns being fired by a party of
Royal Artillery drawn up on the Parade. Addresses of congratu-
lation and welcome were then presented him by the magistrates,
the bishop and his clergy, and many societies and individuals.
In May, 1795, Governor Wentworth was created a baronet,6
and on Sunday, the 31st of that month, the Duke of Kent with all
the officers of the garrison attended a levee at Government House,
where congratulations were showered upon Sir John first, and
then on Lady Wentworth in her drawing room. Sir John's ad-
ministration, of the Nova Scotia Government lasted until 1808,
when he resigned, and was succeeded by Sir George Prevost,
Bart. From the time of his retirement until his death, April
eighth, 1820, at the age of eighty-three, he enjoyed a pension of
five hundred pounds a year. Although Sir John was a native of
Portsmouth his wife, Lady Frances, was not. Her parents, Sam-
uel and Elizabeth (Deering) Wentworth, were important mem-
bers of the aristocratic society that on occasion ; ' trooped in full
tide through the wainscotted and tapestried rooms, and up the
grand old winding staircase with its carved balustrades and its
square landing places" of the famous Province House, of Boston,
' ' to do honor to the hospitality of the martial Shute, the courtly
Burnet, the gallant Pownall, or the haughty Bernard, ' ' and that
knelt with proper reverence on Sundays in the high-walled square
pews of King's Chapel, where the Rev. Henry Caner, D. D., or
his assistants the Rev. Charles Brockwell, or the Rev. John
Troutbeck, said Morning or Evening Prayer. Samuel Went-
worth, who was a merchant of prominence, died in 1766, but in
the Revolution his whole family were Royalists, and their lives
generally after the evacuation of Boston may be learned from
the Wentworth family history.
During most of Sir John's governorship of Nova Scotia Lady
6. The Wentworth family history says that at this time he was "further
honoured with the privilege of wearing in the chevron of his arms, two keys, as
the emblem of his fidelity."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1007
Wentworth was with him in Halifax, her charms lending not a
little colour to the somewhat sombre social life of this cold pro-
vincial capital. In England, however, both she and Sir John had
attached themselves to the well known titled English Wentworth
families, the Rockinghams, Straffords, and Fitzwilliams, and with
the last of these, the Earl and Countess Fitzwilliam, Lady Fran-
ces, and her son Charles Mary, had a long and intimate friend-
ship. In England, in close intercourse with these noble kinsmen
of hers, much of Lady Wentworth 's later life was spent, and it is
said that Sir Charles Mary in his last years lived with the Fitz-
williams.
In July, 1798, Lady Frances Wentworth was presented at
court by Countess Fitzwilliam, and Queen Charlotte was so
charmed with the handsome Colonial that she had her appointed
lady-in-waiting, at a salary of five hundred pounds a year, with
the privilege of residing abroad if she wished.
Sir Charles Mary Wentworth, Sir John 's only legitimate child,
named for his God-parents, the Marquis and Marchioness of
Rockingham,7 spent very little of his life in Halifax. He was
graduated at Oxford, acted as private secretary to Lord Fitzwil-
liam when the latter was Lord of the Treasury, and at his fath-
er's death succeeded to the baronetcy. He died unmarried, at
Kingsland, Devon, April tenth, 1844, and the baronetcy granted
7. Sir Charles Mary Wentworth, Bart., was born at Portsmouth, January
20, 1775. On that event, his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Samuel Wentworth,
wrote her sister, Mrs. Nathaniel Ray Thomas, then in Boston, the following
letter.
"Portsmouth, February 2, 1775.
"My Dear Sister,
"I had the pleasure to receive your favour of the loth December, in which
you make no mention of any from me. I wrote some time past and trust it met
your hand. Mrs. Wentworth is safe in bed with a fine, hearty boy, with another
blessing added, in being able to nurse him herself. I need not attempt to tell
you the pleasure this child has brought with it to all its connections. The Gov-
ernor's happiness seems to be complete ; and had a young prince been born there
could not have been more rejoicing. The ships fired their guns. All the gentle-
men of the town and from the King's ship came the next day to pay their com-
pliments. The ladies followed, and for one week there were cake and caudle
wine, etc., passing. I forgot to mention that this young gentleman made his ap-
pearance on the 2Oth January, and this house has been full ever since. Adieu,
my dear sister, and be assured you have not a more affectionate one than
"ELIZABETH WENTWORTH.
"To Mrs. Nathaniel Ray Thomas, Boston."
Mrs. Nathaniel Ray Thomas, it will be remembered, with her husband and
family, came at the Revolution to Windsor, Nova Scotia, and there spent the rest
of her life and died.
1008 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
his father then became extinct. Sir John had ambitions for his
son in Nova Scotia and June sixteenth, 1801, had the latter, then
in his twenty-sixth year, sworn as a member of the council. In
this dignified body the young man sat in 1801, 1802, and 1803, but
in March, 1805, his father reported his seat vacant, and it is
doubtful if he was ever in Nova Scotia after that. When his un-
cle Benning died in Halifax in 1808, Charles Mary was appointed
to the vacant Provincial Secretaryship and the Registry of Pat-
ents and Deeds, Mr. Michael Wallace being appointed Deputy
Provincial Secretary. Three months after his appointment Sir
John retired from the government and the son never personally
assumed the office.8 When Sir Charles Mary died he left his cou-
sin, Mrs. Catherine Gore, the authoress, twenty- three thousand
acres of land in Nova Scotia, including the famous " Prince's
Lodge, ' ' and also the papers, plate, and pictures he had inherited
from his father.
Sir John Wentworth's town house in Portsmouth, as we have
said, was on Pleasant Street. It is yet standing, a comfortable
old Colonial house, still pointed out with pride by the Ports-
mouth people. His house at Wolfeborough, burned the year of
his death, was a hundred feet long, and forty-five feet wide, with
five barns near it, and a large farm about it in which Sir John
took great pride. In Portsmouth Sir John lived in much state,
his stable containing the very considerable number of sixteen
horses. In Halifax he and Lady Wentworth made Government
House the centre of a social life on the whole more brilliant than
Halifax has probably ever had since. As we have said in a pre-
8. In place of Charles Mary Wentworth, Mr. Samuel Hood George was
made Provincial Secretary in 1808. Mr. George held the office until 1813, when
he died. See the writer's monograph on the Cochran family, p. 8. Admiral Sir
Rupert George, then a junior officer in the navy, a young Irishman, married in
Halifax, in 1782, Margaret, eldest daughter (by his first wife) of Hon. Thomas
Cochran of Halifax. The Georges had eight children, of whom Samuel Hood,
born in 1789, was the eldest, and Rupert Dennis, born October 9, 1796, was the
third.
As has been mentioned above, Sir John Wentworth was graduated at Har-
vard in 1755, and took his Master's degree there in 1758. He was also made a
Master of Arts by Princeton College in 1763; an LL.D. by the University of
Aberdeen in 1764, and by Dartmouth College in 1773; and a D C. L. by Oxford
University in 1766. Sir Charles Mary Wentworth, received his A. B. from Ox-
ford in 1796, and his A. M. from the same university later. An honorary A. M.
was also given him by Harvard in 1801. He was further created a D. C. L.
by Oxford in 1806.
HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, VICTORIA-MARY-LOUISA,
DUCHESS OF KENT
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1009
vious chapter, Lady Wentworth's cousin, young Nathaniel Bay
Thomas, Jr., once wrote: "There have dined at Government
House between December 12, 1794, and October 29, 1795, two
thousand, four hundred, and thirty-seven persons." There is a
story told of Governor John in Portsmouth, that one day a coun-
tryman met him among his horses. ' ' They say, ' ' said the rustic,
"that Johnny is short and thick and fond of wine, but on the
whole a pretty clever sort of fellow. How I should like to see
him!" The Governor soon asked him to step into the house,
where the man to his great confusion learned who his companion
was. Among the early entertainments given by the Wentworths
at Government House, in Halifax, was one on Sunday, August
12th, of the year of Sir John's appointment. On that day, the
birthday of the Prince of Wales (afterward King George the
Fourth) Governor Wentworth gave a grand dinner to the officers
of the army and navy and many gentlemen of the town. During
the evening, Government House was brilliantly illuminated.
December 20th of the same year, from the Gazette newspaper
we learn that, "On Thursday evening, the Lieutenant Governor
and Mrs. Wentworth gave a ball and supper to the ladies and
gentlemen of the town and the officers of the army and navy,
which was altogether the most brilliant and sumptuous entertain-
ment given by the Wentworths. The company being assembled
in the levee room at eight o 'clock, the bands which were very num-
erous and excellent, played * God save the King ' three times over,
after which the country dances commenced, two sets dancing at
the same time. The whole house was open — every room illumi-
nated and elegantly decorated. There was a room set apart for
cotillions, above stairs, for those who chose to dance them, and a
band provided on purpose for it. During the dancing there were
refreshments of ice, orgeat, capillaire, and a variety of other
things. At twelve the supper room was opened, and too much
cannot be said of the splendor and magnificence of it; the ladies
sat down at table and the gentlemen waited upon them. Among
other ornaments, which were altogether superb, there were exact
representations of Hartshorne and Tremain's new flour-mill, and
of the windmill on the Common. The model of the new lighthouse
at Shelburne was incomparable, and the tract of the new road
1010 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
from Pictou was delineated in the most ingenious and surprising
manner, as was the representation of our fisheries, that great
source of the wealth of this country. To all these inimitable orn-
aments corresponding mottoes were attached, so that not only
taste and elegance were conspicuous, but encouragement and gen-
ius were displayed. The viands and wines were delectable, and
mirth, grace, and good humor seemed to have joined hands to cel-
ebrate some glorious festival ; but this was only for the friends of
the Governor and Mrs. Wentworth. When the ladies left the sup-
per-room the gentlemen sat down to table, when the governor
gave the several loyal toasts, with three times three, and an ap-
plicable tune was played after each bumper, which had an ad-
mirable effect. At two o 'clock the dancing recommenced, and at
four the company retired. That ease, elegance, and superiority
of manners, which must ever gain Mrs. Wentworth the admira-
tion of the whole community ; and that hospitality, perfect good
breeding and infinite liberality which so distinguish the charac-
ter and conduct of our beloved and adored Governor never shone
with more lustre than on this occasion, when every care of his and
Mrs. Wentworth 's mind seemed to be to give one universal satis-
faction. Everything tended to promote one sympathizing joy,
and never was there a night passed with more perfect harmony
and luxurious festivity. ' '
At some time early in his official career in Halifax Governor
Wentworth purchased land and erected a small villa a few miles
north of the town. To the villa he gave the name, suggested by
Romeo and Juliet, " Friar Laurence's Cell," and there, until the
Duke of Kent came, he probably in summer lived. This place
was leased by his Royal Highness on his arrival, and the house
greatly enlarged, and in it in considerable state, with Madame de
St. Laurent, during his stay the Duke for the most part lived. Of
the Prince 's Lodge, as the place came to be called after the Duke
left, the late Dr. Thomas B. Akins has given the following graphic
account: "This beautiful little retreat," he says, "had been
erected by Prince Edward on the land of the Governor, Sir John
Wentworth. The grounds were laid out and improved at con-
siderable expense under his direction. The Rotunda, or music
room, on the opposite side of the road, next the water, surrounded
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1011
by the rich foliage of the beech groves, and surmounted by a
large gilded ball flashing in the sunlight, presented a beautiful
and picturesque appearance on the approach to the Lodge. The
villa was built altogether of wood, consisting of a centre of two
stories containing the hall and staircase, with a flat roof. There
were two wings containing the Duke's apartments. In the rear was
a narrow wooden building with pointed gothic windows, resem-
bling a chapel, containing the kitchen and offices, which extended
some distance southward beyond the main building. The group-
ing of the beech and birch trees around the house was well ar-
ranged. They were the original forest trees, selected and per-
mitted to stand in clearing away the space for the buildings. The
rooms were not spacious and the ceilings were low, as appears to
have been the fashion of building in Halifax at the time.
"The woods around were very beautiful. They were tra-
versed by walks, and in several places by a carriage road with
vistas and resting places where little wooden seats and several
imitation Chinese temples were erected. Several of these small
summer houses were in existence in 1828 and probably later, and
portions of them could be seen through the openings in the trees
on passing the main road. The Duke erected a range of low build-
ings on the edge of the Basin, a little to the north of the Rotunda,
which were occupied by two companies of his regiment, and con-
tained the guard-room and a mess-room for the officers. This
building was afterwards known as the Rockingham Inn, a favor-
ite resort in Summer, when tea and ginger beer were to be had
under the piazza which ran along the edge of the water. ' '9
In September, 1795, Sir John and Lady Wentworth made a
tour of the western part of Nova Scotia and on this occasion some
now forgotten poet of Granville, Annapolis County, composed
and printed the following poem.
0. The Rockingham Club was established either while the Duke of Kent
was resident in Halifax or very soon after his leaving for Canada. Its members
were Sir John Wentworth, the whole of his Majesty's Council, the Admiral on
the station, several of the principal military officers, and a number of leading
civilians. One of these latter was the Rev. Dr. Stanser, Rector of St. Paul's,
another the Hon. Andrew Belcher, both of whom had villas on the Basin. The
club was partly literary and party social. The members dined together at the
hotel, about this time named the "Rockingham House," a building erected near
the Prince's Lodge for the accommodation of the two companies of his regi-
ment that the Duke of Kent had stationed near him. The name "Rockingham"
was in compliment to Sir John's English connexions.
1012 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
"ON SEEING His EXCELLENCY SIR JOHN WENTWORTH PASSING
THROUGH GRANVILLE ON HIS WAY TO ANNAPOLIS.
"When Tyrants travel, though in pompous state,
Each eye beholds them with indignant hate ;
Destroying angels thus are said to move,
The objects more of terror than of love ;
For grandeur can't, unless with goodness joined,
Afford true pleasure to the virtuous mind.
But when our loyal Wentworth deigns to ride
(The Sovereign's fav'rite and the subjects' pride)
Around his chariot crowding numbers throng,
And hail his virtues as he moves along.
Such high respect shall be conferred on him
The King delights to honor and esteem,
Whose loyalty unshaken, spotless fame,
And social virtues shall endear his name
In every loyal bosom long to live,
As our lov'd Monarch's representative."
The last years of her life Lady Wentworth spent in England,
and from the spring of 1810 to at least the summer of 1812 Sir
John was with her there. She died at Sunning Hill, Berks, twen-
ty-four miles out of London, on the fourteenth of February, 1813,
but Sir John was then in Halifax. His own last days Sir John
spent in lodgings at Mrs. Wentworth Fleiger's, on the east side
of Hollis Street.10 He died April eighth, 1820, aged eighty-three
and his remains were deposited in a vault under St. Paul's
Church. In the church was erected a mural tablet to his memory,
bearing the following inscription: "In memory of Sir John
Wentworth, Baronet, who administered the Government of this
Province for nearly sixteen years, from May, 1792, to April,
1808. With what success, the public records of that period, and
His Majesty's gracious approbation will best testify. His un-
shaken attachment to his Sovereign and the British Constitution
was conspicuous throughout his long life. ' ' Governor Wentworth
10. From a letter of Lady Wentworth's written from Morin's Hotel, Lon-
don, to her nephew, Samuel Henry Wentworth, and dated March i, 1810, we
learn that she and Sir John had recently crossed the Atlantic and had had a
hard voyage. On their arrival they had been met by their son. Other letters
prove that up to July 24, 1812, at least. Sir John was with his wife in England,
but on her death at Sunning Hill, Berks, February 14, 1813, if not earlier, he
returned to Halifax and took lodgings at Mrs. Wentworth Fleiger's.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1013
left nine manuscript volumes of copies of his correspondence, ex-
tending from 1767 to 1808, a period of forty-one years, which are
now in the Provincial Archives at Halifax. Like many of the
most prominent Loyalists of the American Revolution, a complete
history of his life has never yet been written, but it is to be hoped
that at least his correspondence may some day come into print.
Of Sir John's character, the Nova Scotia historian, Mr. Beam-
ish Murdoch in a private letter once wrote : ' ' One thing has im-
pressed me distinctly in my examinations, viz., that although Sir
John was ardently attached to the Royal Government, he had a
great and sincere love for his native land, and disapproved of
most of the measures that incensed the people and produced re-
volt. At every step I have been more and more impressed with
his candor, hospitality, urbanity, constancy, and the affectionate
nature of the man, evinced toward his kinsfolk, friends, neigh-
bors, and his country (America), of whose future he was ever
sanguine. I found the task of following his career as Governor
of New Hampshire a very pleasing one. The confiscation of his
estate must have been very painful to him, as he had taken great
interest in its improvement. ' '
There are Copley portraits in existence of both Sir John and
Lady Frances Wentworth. That of Sir John is a fine crayon, 22
by 18 inches in size, made in 1769. In it Sir John wears a white
wig and a light coat and waistcoat. Lady Wentworth 's portrait
was painted in 1765, when she was nineteen years old. It is a
three-quarters length portrait and an excellent specimen of Cop-
ley's work. In it Miss Wentworth sits by a small table holding
a delicate chain, to which is attached a flying squirrel. This por-
trait is in the gallery of the New York public library.11
The youngest brother of Lady Frances Wentworth was Ben-
ning Wentworth, and he too, and his family were long distin-
guished residents of Halifax. Benning Wentworth was born
March sixteenth, 1757, and baptized at King's Chapel the first of
the following May, Governor Benning Wentworth, Charles Pax-
II. Mrs. Archibald McPhedris (Sarah Wentworth), an aunt of Lady
Frances, was also painted by Copley. Mrs. Theodore Atkinson, another aunt of
Lady Frances, and Mr. Atkinson (second husband of this aunt), with their son,
Theodore, cousin and first husband of Lady Frances, were painted by Blackburn.
1014 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
ton, Esq., and Mrs. Penelope Vassall, being sureties. He was
graduated at Oxford, married at All Saints Church, Hereford, to
Ajine, daughter of William Bird, of Drysbridge House, and after
1788, like his sister, Frances, removed to Halifax. In the north
part of this city he owned a small place known as " Poplar
Grove," the place becoming later the property of Col. John Starr,
M. P. P.,12 and finally having a street cut through it, which was
named ' ' Starr Street. ' ' Before coming to Nova Scotia, Benning
Wentworth must have lived in New Hampshire, for by an Act of
Attainder, in 1778, he was proscribed and banished and his estate
confiscated in that Province. In Nova Scotia, November 12, 1796,
he was made a member of H. M. Council, thereafter becoming
Treasurer of the Province. In 1800 he was appointed Master of
the Rolls, Registrar in Chancery, Captain and Paymaster in the
King's Nova Scotia Regiment, and Provincial Secretary, in
which last important office he died, February 18, 1808. Benning
Wentworth and his wife had eleven children, all of whom sur-
vived their father and went to England with their mother. One
of these was Benning William Bentinck Wentworth, R. N., who
died in England in 1810, aged twenty-one. Mrs. Benning Went-
worth died at Hereford in 1812. About the Wentworths in Hali-
fax clustered a group of their distinguished Boston connexions,
families of Brinleys, Goulds, Monks, and Thomases, some of
whom came before the Revolution, some about the time that the
Wentworths themselves came.
The extraordinary social brilliancy of Sir John Wentworth 's
administration of the Nova Scotia government was enhanced in
no slight degree by the residence in Halifax during part of the
period that it covered of His Royal Highness Prince Edward,
fourth son of King George Third, who while he was stationed in
Nova Scotia was created Duke of Kent.13 In 1790, at Gilbraltar,
the Prince was given command of the 7th regiment of foot (Royal
12. Colonel John Starr was the writer's great-great uncle. He was father
of Hon. John Leander Starr, M. L. C. who married for his second wife a Miss
Throckmorton of New Jersey. A granddaughter of Mr. Starr by this second
marriage is Mrs. John DuFais, of Newport, Rhode Island, and a grandson, Mr.
John Starr Hunt, a lawyer in Mexico City.
13. Prince Edward was born November 2, 1767, he was therefore less than
twenty-seven years old when he took up his residence in Halifax. When he mar-
ried he was between fifty and fifty-one.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1015
Fusiliers). In 1793 he was at Quebec, the next year, February
sixth, he arrived at Boston14 on his way to the West Indies, where
he had been ordered to assume chief command of the troops. In
the West Indies he remained but a short time, for on Saturday,
May tenth, 1794, after a voyage of eleven days from St. Kitts, he
landed at Halifax to take command of the troops on the North
American station. The afternoon of his arrival, at six o'clock,
his Excellency Governor Wentworth waited on His Royal High-
ness on his ship and congratulated him on his safe arrival, then
the Prince and the Governor landed under royal salutes from the
Blanche and the Earl of Moira, warships, and the great fortress
above the town. The next Monday a salute was fired from the
Grand Parade, which was answered by the garrison batteries, and
on Wednesday there was a crowded levee at Government House,
and in the evening a brilliant illumination of the town. At the lev-
ee flattering addresses were presented to the Prince, in which he is
described as the " heroic offspring of highly revered parents, of a
king the undoubted father of his people, of a queen the unriv-
alled pattern of her sex," and as himself having "noble and en-
gaging qualities of active valour and condescending courteous-
ness"— with much else of a like extravagant eulogistic sort. On
Saturday His Royal Highness, attended by General Ogilvie, mili-
tary commander, Commodore George of the Royal Navy, and
other officers, reviewed the troops stationed in Halifax, behind
the citadel Hill. On Monday the 26th, Bishop Charles Inglis pre-
sented the Prince with an address on behalf of himself and his
clergy, by which we see how completely the Bishop also had lost
his head in the presence of royalty, and how far gone he had got
14. A fact of sufficient local interest to be remembered is that on the thir-
teenth of February, 1794, Miss Nancy Geyer's marriage in Boston to Mr. Rufus
Amory was graced by the presence of Prince Edward, who on his way from
Canada to the West Indies was detained in Boston for a few days. Miss Gey-
er's father, Frederick William Geyer, who lived in Summer street, was a mer-
chant of much social prominence in the New England metropolis, and his
daughter's wedding was no doubt a brilliant affair. How the Geyers knew the
Prince sufficiently well to invite him to the wedding we do not know, but it is
recorded that they did invite him and that he came with his aides. It is also re-
corded that he claimed the privilege of kissing the bride and bridesmaids. An-
other daughter of Mr. Geyer, Mary Anne or Marianne, was married in 1792 to
Hon. Andrew Belcher, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, son of Chief Justice Jonathan
Belcher, and became the mother of Rear Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, K. C. B.,
and of Catherine, wife of Charles Maryatt, M. P., and mother of Captain Frederick
Marryatt, the English novelist.
1016 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
from the possibility of expressing himself in unexaggerated prose.
"Your progress Sir," he says "to this part of His Majesty's
American dominions, has been marked by a variety of hazards.
Whilst we admired that heroic ardor and intrepidity, which at the
call of duty and honour led you to spurn every danger from fa-
tigue through inhospitable wilds, from the extremes of climate,
from armed enemies, and from others who were secretly hostile,
we were greatly agitated, and felt the utmost anxiety for your
safety. Like the celebrated Roman, who is equally memorable
for the number of his victories and for the celerity of his military
movements, you flew to the embattled hosts of your enemies ; like
him, you came, you saw them, you conquered."
Prince Edward was, as we have said, the fourth son of King
George the Third and Queen Charlotte, this royal family compris-
ing no less than seven sons,— George the Fourth, Frederick Duke
of York, William the Fourth (Duke of Clarence), Edward Duke
of Kent, Ernest Duke of Cumberland, Augustus Duke of Sussex,
Adolphus Duke of Cambridge; and besides the King's favorite
daughter, the Princess Amelia,15 and we believe four other
daughters who died young, Charlotte, wife of Frederick, King of
WTurtemberg, Elizabeth, wife of Frederick, Prince of Hesse Hom-
burg, and Mary, wife of William Duke of Gloucester.16 Of the
coming to Halifax of Prince Edward, the historian Murdoch says :
"As our colonists were gratified and felt deeply honored by the
repeated visits of Prince William Henry (afterwards King Wil-
liam the Fourth, who came here first as a young naval officer, and
after that in command of a frigate, and were charmed with hi?
frank, genial, and simple manners17 [so] they were dazzled and
15. Miss Frances Burney speaks affectionately of this child as "that en-
dearing child ... the lovely little Princess Amelia."
16. In all, this prolific royal pair brought into the world fifteen children.
"Farmer George" may therefore be pardoned, perhaps, for the rigid economies
with which he is commonly credited.
17. On Wednesday, October fourth, 1786, Prince William Henry arrived at
Halifax from St. John's, Newfoundland, in the war-ship Pegasus. On Thurs-
day morning he landed at the King's Slip, "where the people thronged joyfully
to see him." He was welcomed on shore by Major-General Campbell and Gov-
ernor Parr, who conducted him to Government House. On Thursday, June
twenty-eighth, 1787, he came again, this time from Jamaica, in the Andromeda,
and was received with great applause. On Wednesday, October twenty-fourth,
1787, he came the third time, now from Quebec. Beamish Murdoch's "History
of Nova Scotia," Vol. 3, pp. 50-53, 55, 6r.
On one of Prince William Henry's visits he rode through Windsor and
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1017
impressed greatly by the residence of the young prince, Edward,
who brought with him the personal reputation he had earned for
great activity and zeal in his military profession. Independently
of the eclat which his rank gave him, he gained the hearts of the
civilians by his affability, benevolence, and liberality. His gen-
erosity was displayed in many ways. He gave employment to
workmen of every kind— laborers, painters, carpenters, etc. He
interested himself sincerely in the welfare of families and indi-
viduals, and this feeling continued during his life ; for long after
he bade a final adieu to Halifax, his exertions and influence wore
often used to procure commissions, pensions, or employment for
persons whose parents he had known while here. He remained.
in fact, the ready patron of Nova Scotians until his death,"
Soon after the Prince came to Halifax he leased from Sir John
Wentworth the property out of town we have referred to,
which ever since the Duke's stay in Nova Scotia has been called
the " Prince's Lodge."18 The house in town in which he
first placed his establishment, and to which he probably
from time to time returned, was a dwelling in the North
End that chroniclers describe as a handsome structure, with
a portico on the front resting on Corinthian pillars. After
he went away this house became an army hospital, the stables
in connection with it, which were roomy and large, being used as
a barracks storehouse and for a garrison library. The villa, sev-
en miles north of the town, which His Royal Highness rented
from Sir John Wentworth, originally comparatively small, the
Kentville to Annapolis Royal, accepting hospitality from several private citizens
along the way. He left a quieter record in Nova Scotia than in Barbadoes, for
Leigh Hunt tells us of a certain landlady in Barhadoes who became famous "in
Barbadian and nautical annals" for having successfully drawn up a bill of dam-
ages against His Royal Highness to the amount of seven hundred pounds. The
Prince, then a wild young naval officer, in a fit of ultra joviality begun at the
mess of the 4Qth Regiment had demolished all the good woman's furniture, "even
to the very beds," and as a concluding act of good nature had upset the staid
woman herself as he left the house.
18. In a private letter to John King, Esq., under secretary of state, written
September 27, 1799, Sir John Wentworth says : The Prince "has entered upon
his command with infinite activity, and ideas extremely enlarged, since his de-
parture from here. The arrangement in contemplation promises a plenteous cir-
culation of money, and improvement in this province. He is now residing chiefly
at my house near town, which he requested to reoccupy, and I have accordingly
lent it to him during his stay in Nova Scotia, though I have not another place
to go to for a day's retirement. However, it must be so ! for he wrote to me,
and now says he has more pleasure in that villa than in any other place out of
England." Quoted by Murdoch in his "History of Nova Scotia," Vol. 3, p 181.
1018 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Prince enlarged until it became, as we see by engravings of it
that have come to us, and the description we have already given,
a spacious residence, somewhat in the Italian style, with exten-
sive wings at the north and south, and drawing-rooms in the cen-
tre. The Lodge stood in the middle of a fine open lawn, about
two hundred yards from the post road which winds around Bed-
ford Basin, and was flanked by large and well appointed stables.
Dr. Akins's pleasant picture of it and its surroundings which
we have reproduced is added to or given a little differently by
other historians. The Lodge grounds, they say, though rustic and
retaining a great deal of their primitive wildness, had many
charming surprises, among these an artificial lake, and several
little pagoda-like summer houses and "Greek and Italian" imita-
tion temples which stood on elevated mounds among the thick-
growing trees. In the neighborhood of the Lodge were dwellings
for mechanics and workmen of various sorts employed on the
estate and in directly military service, so that the place was like a
small feudal town. The little Rotunda, containing a single room,
which was richly frescoed and hung with paintings by the Prince
himself, was built especially for dancing, and under the narrow
portico which surrounds this building the Prince's regimental
band used to play in the afternoons. From the house, gravelled
walks used to stretch in all directions, and there the household
and their guests used to stroll at leisure on every fine day. On an
adjoining hill the Prince had a signal station erected, by means of
which he could send his orders into town, a responsive signal hav-
ing been erected by his orders on Citadel Hill.19
19. Writing of Halifax about 1828, Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton
says : "At a distance of seven miles from the town is a ruined Lodge, built by
H. R. H. the late Duke of Kent, when Commander in Chief of the forces of this
Colony, once his favorite summer residence and the scene of his munifiicent
hospitalities. It is impossible to visit this spot without the most melancholy feel-
ings. The tottering fence, the prostrate gates, the ruined grottoes, the long and
winding avenues cut out of the forest, overgrown by rank grass and occasional
shrubs, and the silence and desolation that reign around, all bespeaking a rapid
and premature decay, recall to mind the untimely fate of its noble and lamented
owner, and tell of affecting pleasures and the transitory nature of all earthly
things. It is but a short time since this mansion was tenanted by its Royal Mas-
ter; and in that brief space how great has been the devastation of the elements. A
few years more and all trace of it will have disappeared forever. The forest is fast
reclaiming its own, and the lawns and ornamental gardens, annually sown with seeds
scattered by the winds from the surrounding woods, are relapsing into a state of
nature, and exhibiting in detached patches a young growth of such trees as are
common in the country."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1019
When Prince Edward came to Halifax he was unmarried but
he brought with him from the West Indies a lady who as much as
she was permitted by society shared his social responsibilities,
and who, sincerely attached to his interests and to his person, as-
siduously ministered to his wants. In Martinique, it is said, the
Prince found Madame Alphonsine Therese Bernadine Julie de
Montgenet de St. Laurent, Baronne de Fortisson, and this noble
Frenchwoman was his companion during his stay in Halifax, and
afterwards until nearly the time of his marriage to the widow
who was to become through her alliance with Prince Edward the
mother of Victoria, England's illustrious and greatly beloved
queen. In Quebec the Prince had formed the acquaintance of a
French family named De Salaberry, and this acquaintance rip-
ened into a very close intimacy, cemented by Edward's patron-
age of and continued regard for two of the De Salaberry boys,
Maurice and Chevalier. As a result of this friendship we have
a small volume of the letters of the Prince to Monsieur de Sala-
berry, which contain as frequent and familiar references to Ma-
dame de St. Laurent as if the lady had been the Prince's legal
wife. When Prince Edward first landed in Halifax he wrote De
Salaberry regretting that his friend Madame de St. Laurent had
not yet come, and in almost every succeeding letter written dur-
ing his stay he freely couples her name with his own. How the
Wentworths, at Government House, treated the Prince's mis-
tress we have never been informed, but there are still historic
echoes heard in Halifax of the disapproval with which Mrs. Mi-
chael Francklin, and other conventional ladies (probably like
Mrs. Francklin of Boston antecedents) regarded the lady who
presided over the household and assisted in dispensing the hos-
pitalities of the royal establishment.
In 1818 the Duke of Kent married, and in that rarely interest-
ing gossippy narration entitled the ' ' Creevey Papers ' ' we find a
conversation recorded between him and Mr. Creevey which took
place at Brussels the year before, from which we get a glare of
light on His Royal Highness' state of mind towards matrimony
and towards the lady who had so long and affectionately shared
his varied fortunes. Apropos of the future succession to the
British throne, Prince Edward says : " As for the Duke of York,
1020 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
at his time of life and that of the Duchess, all issue of course is
out of the question. The Duke of Clarence, I have no doubt, will
marry if he can, but the terms he asks from the ministers are
such as they can never comply with. Besides a settlement such
as is proper for a Prince who marries expressly for a succession
to the Throne, the Duke of Clarence demands the payment of all
his debts, which are very great, and a handsome provision for
each of his ten natural children. These are terms that no Minis-
ters can accede to. Should the Duke of Clarence not marry, the
next prince in succession is myself, and although I trust I shall
be at all times ready to obey any call my country may make on
me, God only knows the sacrifice it will be to make, whenever I
shall think it my duty to become a married man. It is now seven
and twenty years that Madame St. Laurent and I have lived to-
gether; we are of the same age, and have been in all climates and
in all difficulties together, and you may well imagine, Mr. Cree-
vey, the pang it will occasion me to part with her. I put it to
your own feeling — in the event of any separation between you
and Mrs. Creevey. ... As for Madame St. Laurent herself,
I protest I don't know what is to become of her if a marriage is
to be forced upon me, her feelings are already so agitated upon
the subject. You saw, no doubt, that unfortunate paragraph in
the Morning Chronicle, which appeared within a day or two
after the Princess Charlotte's death, and in which my marrying
was alluded to. Upon receiving the paper containing that article
at the same time with my private letters, I did as is my constant
practice, I threw the newspaper across the table to Madame St.
Laurent and began to open and read my letters. I had not done
so but a very short time when my attention was called to an extra-
ordinary noise and a strong convulsive movement in Madame St.
Laurent's throat. For a short time I entertained serious appre-
hensions for her safety ; and when upon her recovery I enquired
into the occasion of this attack she pointed to the article in the
Morning Chronicle relating to my marriage.
1 ' From that day to this I am compelled to be in the practice of
daily dissimulation with Madam St. Laurent to keep this subject
from her thoughts. I am fortunately acquainted with the gentle-
men in Bruxelles who conduct the Liberal and Oracle newspa-
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1021
pers ; they have promised me to keep all articles upon the subject
of my marriage out of their papers, and I hope my friends in
England will be equally prudent. My brother the Duke of Clar-
ence is the elder brother, and has certainly the right to marry if
he chooses, and I would not interfere with him on any account. If
he wishes to be King — to be married and have children, poor man
—God help him ! let him do so. For myself, I am a man of no
ambition and wish only to remain as 1 am. . . . Easter, you
know, falls very early this year, the 22d of March. If the Duke of
Clarence does not take any step before that time I must find some
pretext to reconcile Madame St. Laurent to my going to England
for a short time. St. George's day is the day now fixed for keep-
ing the birthday, and my paying my respects to the Eegent on
that day will be a sufficient excuse for my reappearance in Eng-
land. When once there it will be easy for me to consult with my
friends as to the proper steps to be taken. Should the Duke of
Clarence do nothing before that time as to marrying, it will be-
come my duty, no doubt, to take some measures upon the sub.ject
myself.
"You have heard the names of the Princess of Baden and the
Princess of Saxe-Coburg mentioned. The latter connection would
perhaps be the better of the two, from the circumstance of Prince
Leopold being so popular with the nation ; but before anything is
proceeded with in this matter I shall hope and expect to see jus-
tice done by the Nation and the Ministers to Madame St. Laurent.
She is of very good family and has never been an actress, and I
am the first and onlypersonwho ever lived with her. Her disinter-
estedness, too, has been equal to her fidelity. When she first came
to me it was upon a hundred pounds a year. That sum was after-
wards raised to four hundred pounds, and finally to a thousand
pounds, but when my debts made it necessary for me to sacrifice
a great part of my income, Madame St. Laurent insisted upon
again returning to her income of four hundred pounds a year.
If Madame St. L. is to live amongst her friends, it must be in such
a state of independence as to command their respect, I shall not
require very much, but a certain number of servants and a ca-
riage are essentials. Whatever the Ministers agree to give for
such purpose must be put out of all doubt as to its continuance. I
1022 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
shall name Mr. Brougham, yourself, and two other people, on be-
half of Madame St. Laurent for this object.
"As to my own settlement, as I shall marry (if I marry at all)
for the succession, I shall expect the Duke of York's marriage to
be considered the precedent. That was a marriage for the suc-
cession, and twenty-five thousand pounds for income was settled,
in addition to all his other income, purely on that account. I shall
be contented with the same arrangement, without making any de-
mands grounded upon the difference of the value of money in
1792 and at present. As for the payment of my debts, I don't call
them great. The Nation, on the contrary, is greatly my debtor. ' '
Mr. Creevey's reporting this remarkable declaration of the
Duke's which was clearly not intended for other ears than the
first hearer's, causes the editor of his memoirs to say: "It must
be confessed that his Royal Highness was not very discreet in
chosing Mr. Creevey as the repository of his confidence in such a
delicate matter. Creevey seems to have had no scruple in com-
municating the tenour of the conversation to some of his friends.
He certainly told the Duke of Wellington. ' ' Mr. Creevey himself
says somewhat later than the conversation : ' ' The Duke of Well-
ington 's constant joking with me about the Duke of Kent was ow-
ing to the curious conversation I had with the latter at Brussels
in the autumn of 1817, the particulars of which had always
amused the Duke of Wellington very much. ' '
It would be interesting to know the details of the tragical part-
ing between the Duke and Madame de St. Laurent when at last
Prince Edward determined fully for state reasons to sacrifice in-
clination to duty and give up his mistress for a wife, but no such
details have been vouchsafed to the world. The last notice we
have of Madame de St. Laurent is in 1819. Sometime in that
year Major-General de Bothenburg writes Lieutenant-Colonel de
Salaberry sententiously : * * Madame de St. Laurent ha s retired to
a convent."
In 1798 the Duke of Kent had a troublesome accident in Hali-
fax. On the eighth of August of that year he was riding fast
across a little wooden bridge somewhere in the town, when a
plank gave way and his horse fell, coming with all his weight on
the rider's leg and thigh. Prince Edward suffered much from
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1023
the fall, but continued to perform his military duties until Octo-
ber, when on the urgent advice of Dr. John Halliburton, the phy-
sician of the naval hospital, and Dr. William James Almon, the
leading civil doctor, in concurrence with a Dr. Nooth of Quebec,
he decided to go to England for treatment. On the thirtieth of
November he reached Portsmouth, and in England he remained
until August, 1799. On Friday the sixth of September of this
year he once more reached Halifax, and here he stayed until early
in August, 1800, when with many expressions of good-will
towards the people, and attended by sorrowful regrets on their
part, he finally sailed away. On Sunday, August third, he em-
barked in the warship Assistance, the garrison forming a double
line through which, attended by the Governor, the members of the
Council, and the naval, military, and civil officials, he passed to
the King's wharf. As he went through the town salutes echoed
and people crowded to the tops of the houses to cheer the depart-
ing royalty on his way. On the thirty-first of August he landed
at Portsmouth, England, again. On the 29th of May, 1818, he
married at Coburg her Serene Highness Victoria Mary Louisa,
widow of Emich Charles, Prince of Leiningen, the ceremony be-
ing repeated on Monday, the thirteenth of the following July, in
the Queen 's drawing room in England, in presence of many mem-
bers of the Royal family. On the same occasion the Duke of Clar-
ence married the Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg Meiningen.
In Prince Edward 's life at Halifax there is much to remind one
of the simple homeliness of the life at Windsor of his father,
plain ' i Farmer George. ' ' The King used to get up at unseason-
able hours and march round in his shovel hat to poor people's
cottages, he played backgammon every evening regularly with the
dull people of his dull court, while the equerries * ' yawned them-
selves to death in the ante-room" — Prince Edward, we are told,
used often in Halifax to put his own hand to the jack-plane and
drive the cross-cut saw, and there was little in the doings either
of his troops or his ordinary workmen that he did not personally
oversee. If he was deficient in the strict virtue of his mother,
who Thackeray tells us regarded all deviation from the strict path
of conventional morality with absolute disfavor and "hated poor
sinners with a rancour such as virtue sometimes has, ' ' he at least
1024 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
had a large share of his father's energy and his father's simple,
homely tastes.
The great and lasting service the Duke of Kent did for Halifax
was to put its defences on a solid foundation. He had not been a
great while in Halifax when through the governor he called for
help from the militia in constructing the great citadel and
strengthening and rendering more impregnable the various har-
bour forts, and these works, with other industries which he stimu-
lated, soon told greatly on the prosperity of the town. Mingling
freely and affably with the citizens, at the entertainments at Gov-
ernment House and probably in other social ways, he gained the
thorough good-will of the Halifax people, and when he finally left
the Province his going was attended with much more than per-
functory regret on the part of all classes in the maritime town.
Whether he did anything in Halifax for the education of the chil-
dren of the soldiers there we do not know, but he is said to have
been the first commander of a regiment in the whole British army
to establish a regimental school. So highly were his efforts for
the education of soldiers' children appreciated, that in 1811, at
the Free Masons' Tavern in London, the following resolution,
moved by Lord Lansdowne and seconded by Lord Keith, was
unanimously adopted : ' ' That the respectful thanks of this meet-
ing be presented to H. R. Highness the Duke of Kent, whose
friendship to soldiers' children has been shown in that princely
liberality with which H. R. H. has established a school in the
Royals, as Colonel of that Regiment, and set an example which it
is hoped will be universally followed by military commanders,
and thereby promote the welfare of and do honour to the charac-
ter of the British army. ' '
In spite of the general amiability which won Prince Edward
an enduring place in the affections of the Halifax people, and has
done much to keep his memory fragrant in Nova Scotia even to
the present time,20 in his military discipline the Duke of Kent
20. Prince Edward is said to have had the faculty, (as had also his daughter,
Queen Victoria) of never forgetting a face. He was always ready to return, with
apparent friendship, the greetings of any persons he met. At his dinners, though
of course much of the recognized royal etiquette was observed, every one felt
comfortable and at home. In Halifax he encouraged dramatic performances, and
Murdoch says that during the winters of his stay in the town plays seem to have
been given about once a fortnight. As an evidence of his amiability, DeGaspe tells
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1025
was a martinet, and sometimes, one cannot help believing, in his
punishments almost criminally severe. In the journal of Dr. Al-
non, who was the leading medical practitioner of Halifax at the
tune of the Prince's stay, we find mentions of an appalling num-
ber of cases of illness and death among the soldiers of the Sev-
enth Eoyal Fusiliers, the direct result of the severe punishments
inflicted by his orders, and at the Lodge is still shown a burrow or
cave in which tradition says he kept a soldier confined for two or
three years until he died. It is recorded that he ordered for one
poor fellow a thousand lashes on his bare back, and that once or
twice in Halifax a soldier committed suicide from fear of the ter-
rible punishment he had sentenced him to undergo. In the use of
cards and drink in the army the Duke was very strict, in order
to discourage gambling he never touched cards himself, and to
promote temperance both in the army and in civil society he used
great moderation in wine. To prevent drunkenness in his regi-
ment he used to make his men get up at five o 'clock in the morn-
ing for drill, which regulation of course precluded their being
away from barracks in Halifax bar-rooms late at night. At this
early morning drill he used to be present regularly himself.
The severity of the Duke of Kent's discipline we may attribute
partly to inherited traits, partly to the inflexible training he had
received in Hanover, and partly to the almost utter lack of sym-
pathy he seems to have found in his royal father and his
carousing brothers. The Dukes of Clarence, Cumberland, and
Cambridge, all appear to have received from Farmer George
some proper share of consideration, but poor Prince Edward was
early sent away from home, and during his fourteen successive
years of foreign service, in the Mediterranean, Canada, the West
Indies, and Nova Scotia, was kept on a starvation income, and
allowed to contract debts which for many years made life for him
a burden. He was, we believe, one of the best of George the
Third's sons, and why the old King or indeed Parliament, should
us that once, when His Royal Highness was in Quebec he went to the Isle of Or-
leans to see an old woman, a centenarian. Having talked to her for some time he
asked her if he could confer any pleasure on her. "Yes," said the old lady, "I
should like to have you dance a minuet with me, that I may be able to say before
I die that I have danced with the son of my Sovereign." The Prince at once com-
plied with her wish and after the dance, conducted her to her seat and bowed gal-
lantly, the old lady curtseying low in return.
1026 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
have permitted him to live most of his life under a heavy burden
of debt it is quite impossible to tell. It is stated in a pamphlet
published sometime after 1815, called "A detailed statement of
the case of His Eoyal Highness the Duke of Kent, ' ' that Mr. Pitt
shortly before his death became thoroughly aroused to Prince
Edward's necessities and took great blame to himself for not hav-
ing considered his case earlier. Mr. Pitt's death, however, put an
end to any hope the Prince may have had from that quarter, and
so, appeals to his spendthrift brother the Prince of Wales being
met with prompt refusal, at last in 1815 he tried to get permis-
sion to sell by lottery Castle Hill, the only piece of property he
owned, in order to raise sorely needed ready cash. From first to
last he seems to have had a hard time. His earliest military
training was received in Hanover under an execrable man, Baron
Wagenheim, whom his father persisted in keeping as his tutor,
but whom the Prince himself, no doubt quite properly, once char-
acterized as a ' * mercenary tyrant. ' ' When he was twenty, he was
removed from Hanover to Geneva, a better place, but one he
found so utterly uncongenial that as soon as he came of age he
resolved to go to England (without leave) and try by personal
remonstrance to get that consideration which his father had hith-
erto wholly denied him. Accordingly, he went to London and
took up his quarters at an hotel, where he was at once visited by
his brother the Prince of Wales. Together the two went to Carl-
ton House, and were there joined by another brother, the Duke
of York, who undertook to communicate Prince Edward's arrival
to the King. The King's anger was terrible. He refused to see
the Prince, and in a few days sent him written orders to proceed
within twenty-four hours to Gibraltar. On the night before he
left, his royal father deigned to see him for a few minutes, and
this was the first time the King and his son had met for six
years.21
21. Of George the Third himself, Leigh Hunt says: "He was a very brave and
honest man. He feared nothing on earth, and he acted according to his convictions.
But, unfortunately, his convictions were at the mercy of a will far greater than his
understanding; and hence his courage became obstinacy, and his honesty the dupe
of his inclinations." He possessed "an extraordinary mixture of domestic virtue
with official duplicity; of rustical, mechanical tastes and popular manners, with the
most exalted ideas of authority; of a childish and self-betraying cunning, with the
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 1027
In spite of the Duke's extreme severity with his soldiers and
his strictness regarding their conduct, the following amusing
story is told of him. One evening in one of the Halifax streets he
suddenly came upon one of his men who was much under the in-
fluence of drink. Staggering towards his colonel, the soldier joc-
osely said: "Aha Neddy, you've caught me at last!" The Duke
was amused at hearing once more his old nursery name, and
laughing a little to himself passed on without even reprimanding
the man. Prince Edward had a special fondness for young men,
and many a youth who afterward rose to high rank in the army
owed his earliest promotion to the good offices of the Duke.22 It
is said that the 7th Royal Fusiliers needed severer regulations
than other regiments, for the Duke had filled it with good look-
ing fellows, many of whom had little but their fine physical ap-
pearance to recommend them.
The friendship of Prince Edward for Sir John and Lady Went-
worth was of a very intimate and enduring character. When
Mr. Wentworth received his baronetcy in 1795 the Prince, as
we have seen, with all the officers of the garrison, went to
Government House in due form to offer his congratulations,
and it is evident that no important function given by Sir
John while the Duke was in Halifax was neglected by this
royal soldier. When the ocean came to divide the Went-
worths and him the correspondence between the friends
most stubborn reserves ; of fearlessness with sordidness ; good nature with unfor-
givingness; and of the health and strength of temperance and self-denial, with the
last weaknesses of understanding, and passions that exasperated it out of its reason."
22. One of Prince Edward's proteges and warmest admirers in Halifax, among
the young men of the period, was Brenton Halliburton, who began life as a lieu-
tenant in the Duke's regiment, the 7th Fusiliers. In later life, as Chief-Justice of
Nova Scotia, Sir Brenton wrote of the Prince : "A tale of woe always interested
him deeply, and nothing but gross misconduct could ever induce him to abandon any
one whom he had once befriended." Another Nova Scotian who was taken into the
7th Fusiliers was young Charles Thomas, son of Hon. Nathaniel Ray Thomas, one
of the Boston refugees in Halifax (who finally settled in Windsor, Nova Scotia).
Charles Thomas was accidentally shot by a brother officer in a road-house near Hal-
ifax, in August, 1797, and the Prince mourned him as a personal friend. At Lieu-
tenant Thomas's funeral his commander is said to have shown much feeling, and a
little later he had a tombstone erected in St. Paul's burying-ground, bearing the fol-
lowing inscription :
This Stone | sacred to the memory of | Lieut. Charles Thomas | of f His
Majesty's | Royal Fusilier Regiment | who departed this Life | on the i6th of Au-
gust, 1797 | aged 24 years | is placed as a Testimony of | His Friendship and Es-
teem | by | Lieut. General His Royal Highness | Prince Edward | his Colonel.
1028 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
did not cease, and when at last the Prince had married
\*V and his illustrious daughter was born, Sir John sent his own and
Lady Wentworth's congratulations in due form. To Sir John's
letter the Duke replied : " I have received your kind congratula-
tions on the birth of our little girl, which you may be sure I highly
appreciate, as coming from the heart of one of my best and old-
est friends. You will, I am sure, be pleased to hear that the
Duchess has been able to suckle her child from the first to the
present moment, and that both are doing wonderfully well."
When Lady Wentworth died, the Duke wrote Sir John express-
ing his sorrow, and ending with: "I look forward anxiously to
the time when I shall receive you again at Castle Hill, and retain
you there as a guest. ' '
AN AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE 25
world. That is what absolute protection has done for that great
American industry. It is the wonder of the shipping world and
yet, some men actually propose to destroy this business by open-
ing it to the competition of our rivals !
Here is a vast business performed by Americans for Ameri-
cans, under government protection from foreign competition by
laws that are never violated and a vast business that is done bet-
ter and cheaper than any similar business in all the world ; done
better and cheaper than upon the Seven Seas where ocean traffic
is carried on under free trade conditions and with less than half
the wages. The commerce upon the Great Lakes saves the
American people the vast sum of $250,000,000 a year over tho
cheap rail rates, notwithstanding the fact that the American rail-
roads carry freight cheaper than any other railways in the
world.
With these facts before us shall we legislate for America or for
Europe and Asia! Shall we continue to play into the hands of
our commercial rivals or shall we play the game for our own peo-
ple?
Chapters in the History of Halifax,
Nova Scotia
No. V
THE COUNCIL OF TWELVE AND THE JUDICIARY
BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
NO history of Halifax could properly be written that did
not treat at some length of the governmental and judi-
cial institutions of Nova Scotia, that had and continue
to have their source and fountain head in the capital
of the province, and that did not give some account of the Halifax
men who brought these institutions into being. In the first of our
present series of sketches we have shown that almost immediate-
ly after he reached Chebucto, Governor Cornwallis chose a Coun- «
cil of twelve members, whom he associated with himself in the
government of the new colony to which he had been sent. This
Council, which has passed into history conspicuously as the ' * Old
Council of Twelve, ' ' had a long and varied history, the first check
to the oligarchical power it exercised being the creation of a Rep-
resentative Assembly, whose very existence its members fre-
quently felt to be an impertinence, and from whose jurisdiction it
persistently withheld all the governmental interests of the prov-
ince it could.
In this Council were vested legislative, executive, and often
judicial functions. Its members, who by common custom were
styled ''honourable," sat with closed doors, and in the order of
precedence early established took rank next to the Governor,
while at the chief executive's death or in his absence from the
province, the eldest of them as president for the time being ad-
ministered the government. To the Executive this body stood in
(26)
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 27
nearly the same relation as the Privy Council in Great Britain
stands to the sovereign. In its legislative capacity it sometimes
deliberated as a distinct body apart from the executive, but as a
privy council it was always convened by the governor, who was
present at its deliberations. ' * Dissimilar, ' ' says Judge Halibur-
ton in 1832, "as this body is in many important particulars to
the House of Lords, any nearer approach to the original appears
from the state of the country to be very difficult. " ' * Mr. Pitt, ' '
he adds, ' ' seems to have entertained the idea of creating an order
of hereditary nobility in Canada, for the purpose of assimilating
the condition of that province as nearly as possible to Great Bri-
tain."
In the creation of a House of Assembly the power of the Council
of course received a considerable check; but this body still con-
tinued to exercise almost absolute sway over the affairs of the
province, appointing the magistrates, who were thus the creatures
of its will, and often vetoing the most serious and best considered
measures of the Assembly, the people at large being left wholly
without redress. The laws of Nova Scotia explicitly recognized
all forms of religion save Roman Catholicism as having a right
to exist in the province, but the members of the Council for the
most part distinctly favored the Church of England, and when
at last Nova Scotia was erected into the first Colonial Anglican
See, the bishop also became a member of the Council, his appoint-
ment henceforth giving the body a closer interest in the ecclesias-
tical affairs of the province, and naturally leading it to throw its
influence almost entirely on the side of the church of England
and against ' ' dissent. ' ' With an intelligent and steadily growing
population, the opinions of four-fifths of whom were not repre-
sented in the Council, and who were properly growing more and
more jealous of their rights, it was impossible that sooner or later
there should not come a stout conflict between these two branches
of the legislature. Between 1830 and 1840, such a strife did come,
but it was not by any means confined to this province, the govern-
ments of both Upper and Lower Canada were constructed sim-
ilarly to that of the Maritime Provinces, and in all the provinces
the people discovered that they had the same causes of discon-
tent. In Upper Canada, as early as 1820, it was publicly charged
28 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
that the council was averse to every liberal measure, and that its
policy was selfish and narrow throughout. Its members were re-
proached as ''land-grabbers," bigots, and the enemies of public
schools; and fierce complaints were made that the people were
prohibited by law from meeting to talk over their grievances and
frame petitions for the redress of their wrongs. Nor did the
Canadian people complain only of the councils and their direct
acts. The magistrates throughout the country districts in all the
provinces were responsible to no one but the councils, and every-
where, it was charged, neglect, mismanagement, and corruption
were clearly to be seen.
Regarding the Nova Scotia Council in the year 1762, Mr. Mur-
doch says : "It may not be amiss to notice, that although it was
given as the opinion of the crown lawyers in England that the
Governor and Council had not a right to the legislative powers
they had for some time exercised, and that although an Assembly
had now been constituted for four years to supply this constitu-
tional defect, yet the Governor and Council continued on many
occasions to dispose of the moneys raised under the ordinances of
earlier dates, without seeking the concurrence of the representa-
tive body. It will be seen by and by that at subsequent periods
larger funds still were virtually appropriated and disposed of
by the Council without any reference to the House. These being
duties collected under acts for the regulation of trade by the
English parliament, were in point of form controlled entirely by
the English authorities, but in effect the opinion and recommen-
dation of the Governor and Council were almost invariably
adopted and sanctioned in such matters. The consequence was
that the influence and standing of the Assembly was diminished
and rendered insignificant, as that body had but a very small
revenue under its control, while the Council had not only much
public money to give away, but held all the best local offices them-
selves, and exercised the almost exclusive patronage of all others,
whether of honor or emolument. This anomalous and unconstitu-
tional state of things endured far into the present century."
Later, speaking of a conflict between the two branches of the legis-
lature in 1808, Mr. Murdoch says: "The error of all the old
colonial constitutions, which combined in one small body of men
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 29
all kinds of offices and powers, some quite incompatible with
others, was at the bottom of the mischief. The same men were
a Privy and a Cabinet Council and a House of Lords. They also
held most of the executive and judicial offices, and their tenure
of all these functions wras practically for life ; also, on a vacancy
in their number by death or removal they had it much in their own
hands to nominate the person to fill it. Thus a distinct oligarchy
was established. How could they help undervaluing the men
sent for a short period as deputies to the Assembly, who had little
influence as individuals except in the immediate locality of their
homes ! How could they brook being opposed, censured, or called
to account, by parties comparatively so humble ! ' '
The first open break between the Governor and Council and the
House of Assembly, in Nova Scotia, occurred at the close of the
elections in 1799. Hitherto the representation of Halifax, the
metropolitan county, had been held by residents of the city of
Halifax ; in this election the city candidate, Mr. Michael Wallace,
a man of high social standing, was opposed by a Hants County
man, Mr. William Cottnam Tonge, a gentleman of excellent edu-
cation and of well known liberal sentiments, who had already by
his ability and eloquence made himself a power in the House.
When the returns were counted, Mr. Wallace was found to be de-
feated by Mr. Tonge by several hundred majority, but it being
shown that Mr. Tonge had not sufficient real estate in the county
to qualify him as a member, upon a petition he was unseated for
Halifax and relegated to his return for Newport, for which town-
ship also he had been elected. In the previous session of the
House Mr. Tonge had been chosen speaker, now when he was
again presented for this office Governor Wentworth's strong Tory
prejudices and hatred of liberal sentiments led him to exercise
the prerogative, long unused in Great Britain and entirely with-
out precedent in Nova Scotia, of vetoing the choice of the Assem-
bly, and commanding the House to choose another speaker. Prom
Sir John's arbitrary decision there was no appeal, and the House
most unwillingly retired, to elect presently to the speakership
Mr. Lewis Morris Wilkins, a son of Dr. Isaac Wilkins, the old
Westchester Tory lawyer and clergyman, who about 1798 had re-
turned from Nova Scotia to his native land.
30 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
As may be supposed, the temper of the Assembly was not ma«
terially improved by this high-handed act of the executive, and
there was besides at the time another cause of discontent in the
minds of the people and the people's representatives. Soon after
the erection of Nova Scotia into the first Colonial Diocese of the
Church of England, an exclusive and narrow charter had been
secured for a Church College at Windsor, for the education of
such Nova Scotia students as were in a position to take a college
course. The restrictions of the statutes of this college were an
outrage on the intelligent people of the province, four-fifths of
whom were not adherents of the Church of England and had not
the the slightest idea of ever becoming so. In 1805, the Rev. Mr.
McCulloch, an able young Scotch Presbyterian clergyman, well
known through a long and busy life in Nova Scotia as the Rev. Dr.
McCulloch, conceived the idea of founding an academy at Pictou,
that should be open to the whole province without any restriction
of creed. For this purpose an appeal for funds was made to the
legislature, in the popular branch of which it naturally met with
a cordial response. In the Council, however, it was bitterly op-
posed and for fifteen long years this opposition was vigorously
kept up. At last, however, the Home Government was obliged to
step in and administer to the Council a stinging rebuke, and the
body thereupon yielded through fear what it had so long refused
on the ground of justice and right.
During this protracted struggle some of the best speeches of
the House of Assembly were made in favor of the undenomina-
tional academy, and in its progress the people and the people's
party learned not only to understand but boldly to claim their
inalienable rights. The men who, as representatives of the peo-
ple, may be named as constituting the earliest nucleus of the
liberal party in Nova Scotia, besides Mr. Tonge, were Samuel
George William Archibald, Edward Mortimer, Simon Bradstreet
Robie, and William Lawson, but as time went on other notable
men became its champions and friends.
In the ten years between 1830 and 1840, popular feeling in all
the provinces of what is now the Dominion of Canada ran very
high. In Ontario, which had been settled chiefly by Loyalists, a
life and death struggle went on between the two branches of the
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 31
legislature, which was made still more bitter by the controversy
over the Clergy Reserve Fund, the Loyalists generally having a
bigoted attachment to the English Church. In Quebec large and
excited meetings were held, the young French Canadians banding
themselves into societies called "Sons of Liberty," whose aim
was to limit the Council's prerogative and extend the people's
power. At last the struggle passed into the rebellion of 1837,
which culminated in the attempt of the liberals to seize Toronto,
and the fierce engagements of St. Denis, St. Charles, and Bois
Blanc. In the Maritime provinces the opposition, though not con-
ducted with outward violence, as we have said, was no less per-
sistent and strong.
In 1836 Sir Colin Campbell was governor of Nova Scotia. He
was a stern, arbitrary soldier, accustomed to command, unused to
argue, and so very poorly fitted to govern a province where such
a fire of popular discontent had already begun to burn. His sym-
pathies were naturally with the Council and against the people,
and under his administration things rapidly got worse and worse.
At this juncture, in 1837, the Honourable Joseph Howe was elect-
ed to the House of Assembly, and his commanding abilities, his
utterly fearless championship of all liberal measures, and the de-
termined scorn with which he treated the prerogatives of the
Council raised him at once to a position of eminence in the poli-
tics of the province such as no party leader before his time had
ever had.1
Mr. Howe's actual leadership of the liberal party in Nova
Scotia began with the publication in his newspaper the Nova
Scotian of an article charging the magistrates of Halifax with
gross corruption and neglect of duty. Being prosecuted for libel
i. The Hon. Joseph Howe, Nova Scotia's ablest statesman, was the son of
the Loyalist, John Howe, of Boston, who before the Revolution was editor with
Mrs. Draper of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter. Coming with
Howe's fleet in 1776, John Howe settled permanently in Halifax, where in 1781 he
established the Halifax Journal and became King's Printer. He died in 1835, in
his 82d year. His other sons besides Hon. Joseph Howe were William, who was
Assistant Commissary General at Halifax, John, Jr., who became King's Printer
and Deputy Post-Master General, and David, who published a newspaper at St.
Andrews, New Brunswick.
A very important biography of Hon. Joseph Howe was published by the Hon.
Mr. Justice James Wilberforce Longley, D. C. L.. of the Supreme Bench of
Nova Scotia, in 1906, in a series known as "Makers of Canada." Morang and
Co., Toronto; pp. 307.
32 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
he ably conducted his own defence, and on his triumphant ac-
quittal by the jury at once proceeded to attack still further the
venerable abuses in the government. In a short time he boldly
arraigned the Council itself, and for many years, even after re-
sponsible government was secured, continued eloquently and ably
to fight for reform and to advocate progressive measures, as
against the party of ancient privilege, who nowhere believe that
"the voice of the people is the will of God." From this time,
on all popular questions, whether national or local, questions of
the reconstruction of government, the opening of mines, the
building of railways, education, the tariff, confederation, Mr.
Howe was the acknowledged leader of the people's party, and
his views the conservatives found it hard to combat. Unless it be
the late Rt. Hon. Sir Charles Tupper, Bart., whose statesman-
ship was undoubtedly of a very high order and whose political
career was exceptionally able, no Nova Scotian has so distinguish-
ed himself in political life as the Honourable Joseph Howe.
In the session of 1837, the Assembly, led by Mr. Howe, formu-
lated an address to the throne, in which with many professions
of loyalty to the Supreme Authority, its members stated the
grievances of the colony they represented and proposed a remedy.
In the infancy of this colony, they said, its whole government was
necessarily vested in a Governor and Council; and even after
a Representative Assembly was granted, the practice of choos-
ing members of Council almost exclusively from the heads of
departments, and from among persons resident in the capital,
had been still pursued. With a single exception, they added, this
course had been continued for thirty years, and the practical
effects of the system had been in the highest degree injurious
to the best interests of the country, " inasmuch as one entire
branch of the legislature had generally been composed of men,
who, from a deficiency of local knowledge, or from the natural
bias incident to their official stations, were not qualified to decide
upon the wants or just claims of the people ; by which the efforts
of the representative branch were, in many instances, neutralized,
or rendered of no avail. ' ' Among the many proofs that might be
adduced of the evils arising from the imperfect structure of the
upper branch of the legislature, they said, it was only necessary
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 33
to refer "to the unsuccessful efforts of the Assembly to extend
to the out-ports the advantages of foreign trade ; to the enormous
sums which it was compelled, after a long struggle, to resign,
for the support of the Customs establishment; to the difficulties
thrown in the way of a just and liberal system of education ; ' ' and
to recent abortive attempts it had made "to abolish the uncon-
stitutional and obnoxious fees taken by the judges of the Supreme
Court."
After setting forth the injustice of the Anglican Church alone
having representation in the Council, the Bishop having since
1809 belonged to the body while no other denomination of Chris-
tians had been allowed representation therein ; and in other ways
illustrating the evils that existed, the address still further urged
that while the House had a due reverence for British institutions,
and a desire to preserve to the people the advantages of the con-
stitution under which the inhabitants of the British Isles had
enjoyed so much prosperity and happiness, its framers were
obliged to feel that Nova Scotians participated but slightly in
these advantages. The spirit of the British constitution, the
genius of British institutions, was complete responsibility to the
people, by whose resources and for whose benefit they were main-
tained. But in Nova Scotia the people were powerless, since
even with a Representative Assembly, upon the actual governing
body of the province they exercised very little influence, and
over its final action had absolutely no control. In England the
people by one vote of their representatives could change the
ministry and alter any course of policy they found injurious to
their interests; in Nova Scotia "the ministry were his Majesty's
Council, combining legislative, judicial, and executive powers,
holding their seats for life, though nominally at the pleasure of
the Crown, and often treating with entire indifference the wishes
of the people and the representations of the lower house." As
a remedy for the evils under which they groaned the petitioners
implored the King i i to grant them an elective legislative council ;
or to separate the executive from the legislative, providing for
a just representation of all the great interests of the province in
both, and by the introduction into the former of some members
of the popular branch, and by otherwise securing responsibility
34 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
to the representatives, to confer upon the people of the province
what they valued above all other possessions, the blessings of the
British constitution.
Upon the British government and upon Lord Glenelg, then at
the head of the Colonial Office, this address had the desired effect,
and in answer, the Colonial minister forwarded two dispatches
to Sir Colin Campbell, in which he declared the sovereign's cheer-
ful assent to the greater part of the measures of the House, and
stated that his Majesty was convinced that they would be condu-
cive alike to the honour of the Crown and to the welfare of his
faithful subjects.
Having no alternative, the Governor now set to work to reor-
ganize the legislature, and before the opening of the session of
1838 the old Council of Twelve had given place to a Legislative
Council, including nineteen members, sitting with open doors;
and an Executive Council, consisting of the old number of twelve.
Of the latter Council, four sat in the lower house, and two or
three in the upper, but the body which "after a fashion was
charged with the administration of affairs,"2 acknowledged no
responsibility whatever to the Assembly.
Through some mistake of the Home Government, the instruc-
tions sent to Lord Durham, the Governor- General, on the matter
of the Council, differed materially from those sent to Sir Colin
Campbell. By Lord Durham's commission, the Executive Coun-
cil was to be limited to nine members, and the Legislative Coun-
cil to fifteen. Consequently, before the close of the session, the
two councils were dissolved, and two others by proclamation ap-
pointed in their stead. When the appointments to these new coun-
cils became known, it was found that Mr. Huntington, the only
liberal in the Executive had been left out, and that the Legislative
Council contained a "packed and determined" majority hostile to
responsible government.
Nothing could have been more flagrantly opposed to the spirit
of Lord Glenelg 's dispatches than such a policy as this, and the
liberal party, with Mr. Howe at their head, at once began to wage
relentless warfare upon it. In 1839 Lord Durham's famous re-
port as Governor-General of Canada suggested to the Home Gov-
2. Hon. William Annand, in "Howe's Speeches and Public Letters."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 35
eminent a union of all the British American provinces, and the
establishment throughout this confederation of responsible gov-
ernment. The same year Lord John Russell became Colonial Sec-
retary and entered at once with vigor into the affairs of his de-
partment, one of his first acts being the appointment to the gov-
ernor-generalship of Canada of Mr. Poulett Thompson (after-
wards Lord Sydenham), in place of Lord Durham, who had sud-
denly withdrawn. Soon after Mr. Thompson came out, Lord John
sent him dispatches relative to his government of the Canadas
and the Maritime Provinces, which under Lord Dorchester, in
1786, had all been included in one general government. These
dispatches were dated October 14th, 1839, and two days later
were followed by further dispatches from the Colonial Secretary
to all the governors of the British North American colonies, lay-
ing down certain rules thereafter to be enforced, regarding the
tenure of office of colonial officials. These new dispatches which
were wholly in the spirit of Lord Durham's report, and were
much less guarded than those sent two days earlier to Mr. Thomp-
son, declared that offices were no longer to be held for life, that
all officials were expected to retire from the public service as often
as any motives of public policy might seem to make such a course
expedient, and that a change in the person of the governor would
be considered as sufficiently warranting the removal of any one
from office. The new policy was not to extend to ministerial or
judicial offices, but was distinctly to apply to heads of depart-
ments.
In New Brunswick the dispatches of Lord John were com-
mended by Sir John Harvey, then governor of that province, al-
though they displeased his Council, but in Nova Scotia Sir Colin
Campbell shamelessly suppressed them. It is true he introduced
three new members of the House of Assembly into the Council,
but they were from the party of the minority in the House, and
their elevation tended rather to increase than to lessen the popu-
lar bitterness. When the House met in 1840, led by Mr. Howe
its members passed resolutions stating their grievances and de-
claring that the Council as it was then constituted did not possess
the confidence of the House. These resolutions were sent to the
governor, who as might have been expected treated them with lit-
36 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
tie respect, in the course of correspondence taking occasion to
affirm his own entire satisfaction with his advisers of the Council.
The House had now gone too far to recede, and accordingly felt
that it must take the strong measure of asking the Home Govern-
ment for Sir Colin 's recall. In the course of the summer of 1840,
the Governor General came to Halifax to look into affairs, and in
September Sir Colin Campbell was summoned home and Vis-
count Falkland (whose wife was Amelia Fitz-Clarence, one of the
natural daughters of King William the Fourth) was sent out in
his place. A few weeks later five of the members of the Executive
Council sent in their resignations, and three liberal members of
the Assembly, selected by the Colonial Office, Messrs. S. G. W.
Archibald, James B. Uniacke, men of rather moderate views, and
Joseph Howe, were appointed in their place.
In November a general election came on, which was fought
along the old lines of the Council and the Assembly, but the com-
promise that had lately been effected robbed party feeling of
somewhat of its usual virulence, and in the election returns it was
seen that the constitution of the new Assembly differed very
little from that of the one that had sat for the past four years.
Mr. Howe's acceptance of a place in the Executive Council while
that body was still irresponsible, has been variously commented
upon by his biographers, but the truth undoubtedly was that he
felt the necessity of accepting any concession that could be wrung
from the party of the Council, while he still hoped and intended
to agitate for better things. Lord Falkland's administration
began favorably for the liberal party, but before long it was
discovered that the governor was much more in sympathy with
the opponents than with the friends of responsible government.
Accordingly, party strife ran even higher than in the time of Sir
Colin Campbell, for with every year the people of the province
at large had become more imbued with liberal sentiments and
more bitter against exclusiveness and ancient prerogative in
the administration of public affairs. After three years, Mr.
Howe and his sympathizers resigned from the Council, and it was
not until Lord Falkland had left the province he had so sadly mis-
governed, and the much wiser Sir John Harvey had taken his
place, that order began to come out of the political chaos that had
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 37
so long reigned. During the last years of his rule Lord Falkland
was continually the butt of Mr. Howe's brilliant sarcasm, while
by the people at large, in several portions of the province, he was
respectfully but pointedly told in public addresses that his in-
fluence as governor was completely gone.
At last, in August, 1847, another general election was held, and
a strong majority of liberals was returned. The administration
was defeated in Halifax, and in many of the more populous and
important counties of the province, and when in January the ses-
sion of 1848 began, the contest over the speakership resulted in a
victory for the liberals, Mr. Young, afterwards Sir William
Young, being elected to the chair. Almost immediately a motion
of want of confidence in the Executive Council was made by Mr.
Uniacke, the debate on which lasted for two days ; then the house
divided and the motion was carried by a majority of twenty-eight
to twenty-one. In accordance with the practice in the English
Parliament, a new cabinet was now formed, the members of which,
were, the Honourables James B. Uniacke, Michael Tobin, Hugh
Bell, Joseph Howe, James McNab, Herbert Huntington, William
F. DesBarres, Lawrence 0 'Connor Doyle, and George R. Young.
On Mr. Howe was conferred the office of provincial secretary,
which for some time previously Sir Rupert Dennis George had
filled, while to Mr. Uniacke was given the attorney-generalship,
and to Mr. DesBarres the solicitor-generalship. For the first time
in Nova Scotia history the liberals now surrounded the lieuten-
ant-governor and had free access to the Colonial Office, and at
last and forever the old system of prerogative was done. " Re-
sponsible government," says Mr. Annand, "was secured to
British America. Principles and rules of administration, de-
fined and illustrated by the conflicts of the past four years, were
clearly apprehended, and could be mis-stated and mystified no
longer. The right of any party commanding a parliamentary
majority to form a Cabinet, and administer public affairs; the
right of ministers to be consulted, to resign when they were not,
and to go into opposition without injury to the prerogative; in
fact, nearly all the points upon which there had been so much
controversy, were now settled and disposed of. ' '
So came into being Nova Scotia's present system of local gov-
38 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
eminent, the Legislative Council being appointed for life, indeed,
by the executive head of the province, but with greatly limited
powers ; the Executive Council being drawn chiefly from the up-
per and lower houses ; the heads of departments, who correspond
to the Cabinet in the government of the United States, unlike the
members of the United States Cabinet being also representatives
of the people and in the event of a defeat of the government being
obliged to refer again to the polls.
The leading opponent of Mr. Howe in the long struggle between
the two branches of the legislature was Mr. James William John-
stone, successively a member of the House of Assembly, a member
of the Council, Solicitor-General, and Judge in Equity. Like Mr.
Howe, in his last days when the heat of party strife was past,
he was appointed to the governorship of the province, although
he did not live to take office. He was the son of Captain William
Martin and Elizabeth Lichtenstein Johnston, formerly of the
State of Georgia, but long settled in the island of Jamaica, in
which West India island, on the 29th of August, 1792, Jarnes Wil-
liam Johnstone was born. Coming to Nova Scotia in early life
he studied law and was admitted to the bar, and when at last
he rose to the Council, from his position on that board he watched
eagerly the movement in favour of responsible government. Con-
servative by nature and a thorough aristocrat, he soon came out
boldly in opposition to the popular movement, and from that time
on, for many years, he and Mr. Howe were bitter opponents in
general political affairs.
One of the earliest acts of Governor Cornwallis after his arriv-
al, with the approval of the Council he had appointed, was to
make provision for an established Judiciary. In pursuance of
this measure he appointed a Committee of Council to examine the
various legal systems in force in the other American Colonies and
report on their fitness for Nova Scotia's needs. On the thirteenth
of December (1749), Hon. Benjamin Green reported that after
careful investigation the committee had decided that the laws of
Virginia were most applicable to the case in hand, and his report
was adopted. This report, says Dr. Akins, ' ' referred principally to
the judicial proceedings in the General Courts, the County Courts,
and other tribunals. " " The first thing I set about after the de-
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 39
parture of the Charlton, writes the Governor in March, 1750,
was to establish the courts of judicature," and later in the year
he says that it gives him great satisfaction to find that the Lords
of Trade approve of the way in which he has established the
courts. These earliest Nova Scotia courts were three : a Court of
General Sessions, having powers like those of similar courts in
England; a County Court, having jurisdiction over the
whole province, which then comprised but one county, the mem-
bers of which were men in the Commission of the Peace at Hali-
fax ; and a General Court, or Court of Assize and General Jail
Delivery, in which for the time being the Governor and Council
sat as judges. The County Court sat monthly, and except in
criminal matters was invested with all the powers of the Court of
King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, without limitation
of sums, or restriction as to the nature of the action ; either of
the litigating parties, however, having the right, after judgment,
to carry the cause by appeal into the General Court and there ob-
tain a trial de novo. The General Court was held twice a year,
in April and October, and with a jury tried all criminal offences,
and appeals from the County Court in which the sum in dispute
exceeded five pounds. It lasted, however, only until 1752, when
a Court of Common Pleas was erected in its stead upon the plan
of Inferior Courts of Common Pleas in New England.3 This
Court sat four times a year, its judges being selected from those
judges who had presided in the County Court. Inconveniences
soon arising from the peculiar construction of the General Court,
in 1754, a Chief Justice was appointed, and a Supreme Court, of
which the Chief Justice was the sole judge, was established in
place of the General Court. This Supreme Court was also a
Court of Assize and General Jail Delivery, and its jurisdiction
was in all other respects similar to that of the court whose place
it took.
In 1758, when the House of Assembly was created by a tem-
porary act of the legislature, the practice of the Court of Com-
3. The first persons appointed judges of the Court of Common Pleas were
Messrs. Charles Morris, James Monk, John Duport, Robert Ewer, and Joseph
Scott. John William Hoffman and Leonard Christopher, Esquires, were at the
same time appointed justices of the peace. Of the first list, Charles Morris and
James Monk were Bostonians.
40 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
mon Pleas was changed and a new mode was prescribed, com-
pounded partly from the practice of Massachusetts, and partly
from that of England. Two years later New England people
in large numbers settled in various parts of the province and then
new counties were formed and new courts of Common Pleas were
established. As thus constituted the Nova Scotia Judiciary re-
mained until 1764, when on the advice of the Assembly, seconded
by the Council, Governor Wilmot appointed two assistant judges
for the Supreme Court, with salaries of a hundred pounds each,
which amount was afterward reduced to fifty pounds. The per-
sons appointed were the Honourable Charles Morris, a Bostonian
now active in Nova Scotia, and the Honourable John Duport, both
members of the Council and conspicuously able men. The powers
of these new judges were, however, very limited, they were not
permitted to try a cause except with the Chief Justice, or even
to open or adjourn a court without his presence or concurrence.
In 1770, Judge Duport was created Chief Justice of Prince Ed-
ward Island, and Mr. Isaac Deschamps, one of the first judges of
the Court of Common Pleas for King's County, was appointed to
the judgeship he had left. Mr. Morris, however, retained his
judgeship until his death in 1781.
In 1774 an act was passed for the establishment of circuits in
the province, which authorized the holding of courts at Horton,
Annapolis, and Cumberland, to sit not beyond five days at each
of these places. At these courts two judges were required to be
present. The terms at Halifax were fourteen days each, the court,
however, having liberty to continue six days longer if necessity
required. Another act of the legislature, in 1809, raised the
salaries of the assistant judges of the Supreme Court from four
hundred to five hundred pounds currency each, besides travel-
ling fees, and increased their number from two to three. Accord-
ingly, the next year the Governor, Sir George Prevost, appointed
as the third assistant judge, Mr. Foster Hutchinson, another
Bostonian, now senior barrister of the Nova Scotia bar and a
member of the House of Assembly. In 1816 an act was passed
to appoint an associate judge on the circuits of the Supreme
Court, and in pursuance of the act, Peleg Wiswall, Esquire, also
of a New England family, was given a judgeship. At the same
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 41
time Mr. Lewis Morris Wilkhis, a native of New York, was ap-
pointed to a judgeship of the Supreme Court in place of Judge
George Henry Monk, who had resigned.
In 1758 there were also in existence in Halifax a Probate Court,
an Admiralty Court of Appeals, and a Court of Vice Admiralty,
of which the Hon. John Collier was the judge. The judges of
the Court of Common Pleas in this year were Charles Morris,
James Monk, John Duport, Joseph Gerrish, and Edmund Craw-
ley, the first of whom received a salary of sixty pounds, the others
forty pounds each. Three years later Joseph Winniett, George
Dyson, and Henry Evans, Esquires, were named as judges of a
similar court for Annapolis County, and Isaac Deschamps, Henry
Denny Denson, and Robert Denison, Esquires, for the County of
King's. The first Halifax court house stood at the corner of
Buckingham and Argyle streets, but the building was destroyed
by fire in 1783.4
In reading of the appointments to chief places in the early Nova
Scotia judiciary, we see at a glance how preponderatingly large
is the number of New England names in the list. Charles Morris,
James Monk, Joseph Gerrish, and Foster Hutchinson, were all
representatives of important Boston families. Henry Evans,
Peleg Wiswall, Robert Denison and others, in various parts of the
province, were also all conspicuous New England born men.5
Of Judge Foster Hutchinson, it is interesting to note that he
was a son of Judge Foster Hutchinson of Boston, one of the five
judges of the Superior Court of Massachusetts at the outbreak
of the Revolution ; and a nephew of Governor Thomas Hutchin-
son. The senior Judge Foster Hutchinson, who married, April
twelfth, 1750, Margaret Mascarene, daughter of Major Paul
Mascarene, came to Halifax with his family in 1776, his son Fos-
ter, being then probably in his fifteenth year. The Senior Judge
Hutchinson died at Halifax in 1799, but his son rose to as great
4. A tablet has lately been placed on a building now on the spot, to commem-
orate the fact of the court-house having been there. The statement, however, has
been made in print that "as late as 1803" the courts, and the legislative assembly as
well, met in a large wooden building owned by Hon. Thomas Cochran and his
brothers, which stood where the Post Office now stands.
5. Judge Lewis Morris Wilkins, however, as we have said, was of a noted
New York family, his father being Mr. (afterward the Rev.) Isaac Wilkins, the
Loyalist, whose life as a clergyman was spent at Westchester, New York.
42 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
prominence in Nova Scotia as his father had enjoyed in Massa-
chusetts, serving as representative in the legislature for Halifax
town, as senior member of the bar receiving a judgeship in 1810,
and being admitted to the Council in 1813. The testimony of Sir
George Prevost, the governor, concerning Hutchinson was, that
he was " learned in the law, of good estate, and irreproachable
character, ' ' and Mr. Beamish Murdoch exalts him as "a polished
and truly amiable gentleman and a man of remarkable integrity, ' '
his tastes also being "classical and refined." Hutchinson, how-
ever, was not robust and he did not live long to enjoy the dignity
of the bench. He died in Halifax, unmarried, in 1815, in his fifty-
fourth year, and his seat on the Supreme Court bench was given
to the Solicitor-General, Mr. James Stewart.6
The complete organization of the Nova Scotia Judiciary was
effected, as we have seen, in 1754, by the appointment of a Chief
Justice and the establishment of a Supreme Court. The first
Chief Justice of the province was a Boston born lawyer, Mr.
Jonathan Belcher, second son of the Honourable Jonathan Bel-
cher, of Boston, who was successively governor of Massa-
chusetts and New Jersey, and his first wife, Mary Part-
ridge, daughter of a lieutenant-governor of the province of
New Hampshire. The Nova Scotia Chief Justice was born
in Boston, July twenty-third, 1710, and was graduated at Har-
vard College in 1728, after this going to the Middle Temple
in London to study law. In January, 1733, still of the Temple, he
was made a master of arts by Cambridge University, and sooner
or later he seems to have gone to1 Ireland to practice his pro-
fession there. In the Halifax Gazette of Saturday, June eighth,
1754, we find a dispatch from Boston which gives an extract from
a letter from London, dated March nineteenth of that year, con-
taining the announcement that "Jonathan Belcher, Esq., Son of
his Excellency Governor Belcher, is appointed Chief Justice of
Nova Scotia, with a Salary of Five Hundred Pounds Sterling per
6. Of Judge Foster Hutchinson, Senior, Murdoch says (Vol. 2, pp. 575, 576) :
"Mr. Hutchinson, late a judge in Massachusetts, who came here on the evacuation
of Boston, had some very treasonable addresses reprinted in the Halifax news-
paper, thinking to excite the resentment of the people of Nova Scotia by showing
the openly avowed rebellion of New England. The Council disapproved of this
course and Mr. Hutchinson apologized. A proclamation was then ordered to for-
bid the reprinting treasonable documents."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 43
Annum, and is expected here [Boston] from Ireland very soon,
to embark for that Place." On Monday, October fourteenth,
having arrived from Boston, Belcher was sworn in Halifax a
member of the Council, and a week later he took the oath of office
as Chief Justice.7
"On Monday, 14th October," says Mr. Beamish Murdoch,
"Jonathan Belcher, the newly appointed Chief Justice of the
Province, was (by his Majesty's mandamus) sworn in as a mem-
ber of the Council; after which the Council adjourned to the
Court House, where, after proclamation made for silence, the
King's commission appointing Charles Lawrence lieutenant-gov-
ernor was read in public. He was sworn in and took the chair.
The Council addressed him in congratulation and he made a suit-
able reply. A commission by patent for the Chief Justice was
prepared, and on the 21st October (Monday) it was read in Coun-
cil, and the Chief Justice took the usual oaths and oath of office.
On the first day of Michaelmas term, Chief Justice Belcher walked
in a procession from the governor's house to the Pontac, a tavern.
He was accompanied by the Lieutenant-Governor, Lawrence, the
members of the Council, and the gentlemen of the Bar in their
robes. They were preceded by the Provost Marshal, the Judge 's
tipstaff, and other civil officers. At the long room of the Pontac
an elegant breakfast was provided. The Chief Justice in his
scarlet robes was there received and complimented 'in the politest
manner' by a great number of gentlemen and ladies and officers
of the army.
"Breakfast being over they proceeded, with the commission
carried before them, to the church (St. Paul's), where the Rever-
end Mr. Breynton preached from this text : * I am one of them that
are peaceable and faithful in Israel.' A suitable anthem was
sung. After this they proceeded to the Court House, handsomely
fitted up for the occasion. The Chief Justice took his seat under
a canopy, with the Lieutenant-Governor on his right hand. The
7. Various brief sketches of Chief Justice Belcher have from time to time ap-
peared in print, but a much longer and by far the most valuable sketch of him is
by the Hon. Sir Charles Tpwnshend, Kt, whose own Chief-Justiceship of Nova
Scotia lasted from 1907 until 1915. Sir Charles was the eleventh Chief Justice of
Nova Scotia. His successor is the Hon. Chief Justice Graham. Sir Charles's bi-
ography of Chief Justice Belcher will be found in the eighteenth volume of the
"Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society," pp. 25-55.
44 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Clerk of the Crown then presented the commission to Mr. Belcher,
which he returned. Proclamation for silence was made. Belcher
gave some directions for the conduct of practitioners. The grand
jury was sworn and the Chief Justice delivered his charge to
them. After this the court adjourned and his Honor the Chief
Justice, accompanied and attended before, went back to the Gov-
ernor's house."
A few days after these elaborate ceremonies, the Chief Justice
went in his judge's robes, attended by the members of the Bar,
the Grand Jury, and the various court officers, to Governor Law-
rence's house and in his own name and the names of those who
were with him congratulated Lawrence on his appointment to the
governorship. To the address Lawrence replied that the Judiciary
would have his full support in the performance of their functions,
the law, he said, being "the firm and solid basis of civil society,
the guardian of liberty, the protector of the innocent, the terror
of the guilty, and the scourge of the wicked."
The influence of Chief Justice Belcher in Nova Scotia was far-
reaching and wide. The early enactments of the legislature which
form the groundwork of the statutes of the province and make
the basis of the legal order which has been in force there ever
since, were all prepared by him, and there was no important ques-
tion of government during his control of the Judiciary that he did
not in some way influence. On the death of Governor Lawrence
in October, 1760, as president of the Council he for a short time
administered the government, and then, the newly appointed gov-
ernor, Henry Ellis, formerly Governor of Georgia, for some rea-
son not coming to his post, on the twenty-first of November, 1760,
he was formally created lieutenant-governor. Chief Justice Bel-
cher 's greatest achievement for Nova Scotia, however, apart from
his able control of her Judiciary, was his successful appeal to the
Home Government for a Representative Assembly for the prov-
ince. As early as 1755 the question of the legality of statutes made
for the province by the Governor and Council alone was vigorous-
ly raised by Mr. Belcher. " Lawrence and his predecessors in of-
fice," says Sir Charles Townshend, "with the approbation of the
Council had passed large numbers of laws, or as they were styled
ordinances, for the government of the settlement. They had
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 45
furthermore put these ordinances in force as a Court, and adju-
dicated on the rights and controversies of the settlers so far as
these ordinances applied to them. They had even tried, con-
victed, and hanged one man under such authority. All these acts
and proceedings were in good faith believed by them to be author-
ized by the Governor's Commission and the Royal Instructions.
Belcher took exception to such a construction, and contended that
laws could be made only by the representatives of the people duly
elected, and urged upon the Council the necessity of calling a
Representative Assembly for that purpose. Lawrence and pre-
sumably other members of the Council were opposed to that view.
Finally the whole matter was referred to the Home Authorities. ' '
As a matter of course the Lords of Trade gave the matter under
such serious discussion in Halifax their immediate attention, and
on the seventh of May, 1755, they wrote Governor Lawrence
that they had received from both the attorney-general and the
solicitor-general of England an unqualified decision that laws as
then made in Nova Scotia were not valid, and they directed the
governor to take steps to call a representative assembly. Fear-
ing that such an assembly would embarrass him in his govern-
ment of the province, Lawrence remonstrated, but at last, after
much debate, in January, 1757, a detailed plan8 was resolved on in
8. The chief provisions of the submitted plan were as follows : — "That a House
of Representatives of the inhabitants of this province be the Civil Legislature
thereof, in conjunction with H. M. Governor or Commander-in-Chief for the
time being, and His Majesty's Council of the said province.
"The first House to be elected and convened in the following manner and to
be styled the General Assembly, viz : That there shall be elected for the province
at large, until the same shall be divided into counties, sixteen members; four be-
ing for the township of Halifax, two for the township of Lunenburg.
"That until the said township can be more particularly described, the limits
thereof shall be deemed to be as follows, viz. : That the township of Halifax com-
prehend all the lands lying southerly of a line extending from the westernmost
head of Bedford Bason across to the northeasterly head of St. Margaret's Bay, with
all the islands nearest to the said lands, together with the islands called Corn-
Wallis', Webb's and Rous' islands. That the township of Lunesburg compre-
hend all the lands lying between Lahave river and the easternmost head of Mahone
Bay, with all the islands within said bay, and all the islands within Mirligash Bay,
and those islands lying to the southward of the above limits.
"That when fifty qualified electors shall be settled at Pisiquid, Mines, Cobe-
guid, or any other township which may hereafter be erected, each of the said
townships so settled shall, for their encouragement, be entitled to send two repre-
sentatives to the General Assembly, and shall likewise have a right of voting in the
elections of representatives for the province at large.
"That the house shall always consist of at least eleven members present, be-
sides the speaker, before they enter upon business. That no person shall be
chosen as a member of the said house, or shall have the right of voting in the
46 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Council, and the second of October, 1758, nineteen duly elected
representatives of the people, pursuant to a summons from the
Provost Marshal or Sheriff, convened in the first Nova Scotia
Assembly. The newly elected members were: Joseph Gerrish,
Robert Sanderson, Henry Newton, William Foye, William Nes-
bitt, and Joseph Rundell, Esquires; and Jonathan Binney, Henry
Ferguson, George Suckling, John Burbridge, Robert Campbell,
William Pantree, Joseph Fairbanks, Philip Hammond, John
Fillis, Lambert Folkers, Philip Knaut, William Best, and Alex-
ander Kedie, gentlemen,— five of whom in the first group, Ger-
rish, Sanderson, Newton, Foye, and Rundell (as seems prob-
able), and at least six in the second, Binney, Campbell, Pan-
tree, Fairbanks, Hammond, and Fillis, were New England, chiefly
Boston born, men. Of the remaining eight, some were English-
men, and some were Germans who had come to Halifax shortly
after the first group of English settlers came. The speaker chosen
election of any member of said house, who shall be a Popish recusant, or shall be
under the age of twenty-one years, or who shall not at the time of such election, be
possessed in his own right, of a freehold estate within the district for which he
shall be elected, or shall so vote ; nor shall any elector have more than one vote
for each member to be chosen for the province at large, or for any township, and
that each freeholder present at such election, and giving his vote for one mem-
ber for the province at large, shall be obliged to vote also for the other fifteen."
The scheme proposed four members for the township of Halifax, two for
Lunenburg, one each for Dartmouth, Lawrencetown, Annapolis, and Cum-
berland, and twelve for the province at large. (See Murdoch's "History of Nova
Scotia," Vol. 2, p. 234). The correspondence between the Governor and the Lords
of Trade relative to the Assembly will be found in the first volume of the "Nova
Scotia Archives." The proposed plan was formally accepted by the Governor and
Council, but the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor being about to leave for
Louisburg, it was agreed that the Assembly should not be convened until October.
The nineteen members, immediately after they convened elected three of their
number, Messrs. Nesbitt, Newton, and Rundel, to wait on the Governor. The lat-
ter then appointed two members of the Council, Messrs. Green and Morris, to swear
them in. After the oaths had been administered his Excellency requested the pres-
ence of the members at Government House, where they found the Governor sitting
with the Council. They then proceeded to choose a speaker. The minor officers of
the House were David Lloyd, clerk, William Reynolds, doorkeeper, and John Cal-
beck, messenger.
The New England members in the Second Assembly of the province, which
met for the first time in December, 1759, were : Henry Newton, Jonathan Binney,
Malachy Salter, Benjamin Gerrish, Capt. Charles Proctor, Col. Jonathan Hoar,
John Newton, Capt. Simon Slocomb, Col. Joseph Fry, and John Huston.
Among Governor Cornwallis's first councillors, it will be remembered, were at
least three Massachusetts men, John Gorham, Benjamin Green, and Edward How.
By 1758, two others from Massachusetts had been added to the list, Messrs. Jona-
than Belcher and Charles Morris. For Charles Morris, see the writer's sketch of
him in the "N. E. Hist, and Gen. Register," Vol. 67, pp. 287-290. For Hibbert
Newton and his family, see the writer's sketch in the same periodical, Vol. 68, pp.
101-103.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 47
was Robert Sanderson, who had been a merchant in Boston and
was now a merchant and ship-owner in Halifax. He was without
doubt a grandson of Robert Sanderson, silversmith, of Boston, a
deacon of the First Church, who with John Hull was given charge
of the first coinage of shillings, sixpences, and threepences in the
Colony of Massachusetts Bay, in 1652.
Chief- Justice Belcher's tenure of office as lieutenant-governor
of Nova Scotia lasted only from November, 1761, until Septem-
ber twenty-sixth, 1762, when Col. the Honorable Montague Wil-
mot assumed the office. But until his death, which occurred on
the twenty-ninth of March, 1776, the Chief -Justice's interest was
unremitting in public affairs. In the expulsion of the Acadians
from the province in 1755, and the subsequent settlement of the
lands from which they had been removed and the lands never
previously occupied by European inhabitants ; in defending Hali-
fax from possible attack by the French; in regulation of Nova
Scotia's commerce; and in the settlement of no end of local dis-
putes, Mr. Belcher's voice was persistently raised and his influ-
ence strongly felt. "Although from all that is known of him,"
says Sir Charles Townshend, ' i it would seem that he was a man
of strong will, and possibly of despotic temperament, against that
it must be remembered that in the rude and unsettled state of the
Province, and the constant peril and danger surrounding the
country, first from the French and Indians, and afterward from
the outbreak of the American Revolution, a strong and fearless
man in office was required. ' ' I think it is a fair deduction from all
we know of him, ' ' he continues, ' ' that he was a man of pure and
elevated character, that he devoted himself to the land of his
adoption with zeal and energy, and that to his great learning and
his determination we are largely, perhaps chiefly, indebted for
our constitutional rights and for the law and order which have
prevailed in Nova Scotia from the first."9
Chief- Justice Belcher's house in Halifax, was somewhere in
Argyle Street, but he also owned a farm at Windsor, which was
known as "Belvidere Farm." He was more or less interested in
shipping, and he had grants of land at Sheet Harbour and possi-
g. "Jonathan Belcher, the First Chief Justice" by Sir Charles Townshend, in
the "Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society," Vol. 18, pp. 35, 52-
48 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
bly other places, but he never amassed wealth and sometime after
his death his only surviving daughter was granted for her partial
support a pension of fifty pounds a year. On the thirty-first of
March, 1776, he was buried under St. Paul's Church. It is com-
monly believed that in the Kevolution, of which he lived to see
the earlier events, his sympathies were decidedly with his New
England friends who had espoused the patriot cause. He was
succeeded in the office of Chief Justice by Bryan Finucane, Esq.,
an Irish barrister, who assumed the office early in 1778, but be-
tween his death and the arrival in Halifax of Mr. Finucane the of-
fice was temporarily filled by the Hon. Charles Morris.10
Between 1778 and 1797 four Chief Justices in succession ad-
ministered the chief judicial affairs of Nova Scotia, Messrs.
Bryan Finucane, Isaac Deschamps, Jeremiah Pemberton, and
Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange, none of whom were New
England men, but in the latter year a Boston born lawyer once
more became head of the Provincial Judiciary. On the ninth of
September, 1797, Judge Strange 's resignation was placed before
the Council,11 and Sir John Wentworth, who was then governor,
stated that he had His Majesty's approval to make the Attorney
General, Mr. Sampson Salter Blowers, Chief Justice. Sampson
Salter Blowers, son of John Blowers, goldsmith, and his wife
Sarah Salter, was btfrn in Boston, March tenth, 1742 (of our
10. In his interesting sketch of Chief Justice Belcher, Sir Charles Town-
shend speaks of the handsome equipment of the Chief Justice's house and of the
valuable library he owned. "We can fairly presume," he adds that at his hospitable
board many of the notable men who lived in and visited Halifax were worthily
entertained."
The Belcher family, was continued for some years in Halifax by the Chief
Justice's only living son, Hon. Andrew Belcher, who married in Boston Mary Ann
or Marianne Geyer, and among whose children was the distinguished Rear Admir-
al Sir Edward Belcher, K. C. B. In the i8th volume of the "Coll. of the N. S.
Hist. Soc." the writer has given the name of Mrs. Andrew Belcher as von Geyer,
this is a mistake which has repeatedly been made in print, the name was not a German
but a New England name and sometimes was spelled Gaier, Geier, etc., as well as
Geyer. For Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, see the "Dictionary of National
Biography."
n. For the life of Chief Justice Strange, see the "Dictionary of National
Biography." Strange was knighted March 14, 1798, in which year he was removed
for important judicial service to Madras, India. He was born in England and edu-
cated at Oxford. A portrait of him by Benjamin West was painted for Halifax,
and one for Madras by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Strange died in England, July 16,
1841. A more definite account of his appointment in India than that given in the
Dictionary of National Biography says that he left Nova Scotia having accepted the
appointment of recorder in the fort of St. George, Bombay. Before he left Nova
Scotia he made a present of his law library to the province. This became the nu-
cleus of the present library of the Bar at Halifax.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 49
present calendar), the youngest but one of five children, four of
whom were girls. For the rather remarkable name he bore he was
indebted to his maternal grandfather, Sampson Salter, who when
he died in 1778 mentioned him conspicuously in his will.12 At
the age of eleven Blowers entered the Boston Latin School and
and after spending six years there, one year less than the full
course in that school in preparation for college, entered Harvard.
In 1763 he graduated, the twenty-first member in social rank of
a class the whole number of which was thirty-nine, among his
classmates being Jonathan Bliss, afterward Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of New Brunswick, Nathan Gushing, Judge of the
Superior Court of Massachusetts, Dr. John Jeffries, a notable
Tory, remembered for his balloon flight across the English Chan-
nel on the seventeenth of January, 1785, Nathaniel Noyes, Timo-
thy Pickering, Secretary of State for the United States, Josiah
Quincy, and Joshua Upham, Judge of the Supreme Court of New
Brunswick. After leaving college Blowers studied law in the
office of Governor Thomas Hutchinson, and probably in July,
1766, was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.
Blowers 's activity as a lawyer in Boston is declared by the
large number of cases in which the Suffolk Court records show
him to have been concerned, a conspicuous one of these being the
defence of Captain Preston, a British officer, and some other
British soldiers, who had taken part in what is known as the
Boston massacre, in 1770. His colleagues in this case were
Messrs. John Adams and Blowers 's Harvard classmate, Josiah
12. In the Boston fire of 1760, Sampson Salter had a brew-house burned in
Quaker Lane. Mr. Salter made his will March 31, 1778, (proved April 4, 17/8). It
was understood in Boston that he originally intended his grandson to have much
more of his estate than he finally left him, but that he feared that all Blowers had
would be confiscated by the Patriots. For the Blowers family at large, see
Paige's "History of Cambridge, Mass.," p. 489. The Blowers descent of Sampson
Salter4 Blowers was : John3, Rev. Thomas*, Captain Pyam1. John Blowers and
Sarah Salter were married by Rev. Joshua Gee of the Second Church, Nov. 27,
1735, and had children: Sarah, born Sept. 3, 1736; Martha, Dec. 19, 1738; Emma,
March 12, 1740; Sampson Salter, March 10, 1742; Martha, April 8, 1744. The
baptisms of the first three of these children will be found on the Register of the
Second Church, the baptisms of the last two we have not anywhere found. Chief
Justice Sampson Salter Blowers was a second cousin once removed of Chief Jus-
tice Jonathan Belcher of Nova Scotia, and was related, but perhaps even more re-
motely, to Malachy Salter, one of the most considerable merchants of Halifax in
early times.
50 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Quincy.13 When the Revolution came, Blowers 's sympathies
were strongly with the British cause and on the thirtieth of May,
1774, with other barristers and attorneys of Massachusetts he
signed a complimentary address to his friend Governor Hut-
chinson, shortly before the latter 's departure for England. In
this year the Massachusetts courts were suspended, and in No-
vember Blowers himself left for England, where with other Loy-
alists besides Hutchinson we find him from shortly before the
first of January, 1775, until August, 1777. Under date of January
third, 1775, Governor Hutchinson records in his diary: "Three
gentlemen from New England, Ingersoll, Bliss, and Blowers,
came to my house in the evening, with a great number of letters
and papers from my friends. ' ' Of the fourth of January Hutchin-
son says : "In the morning accompanied the New England men
to Ld Dartmouth's, who made a particular enquiry into the af-
fairs of the Province. Bliss gave the fullest account. He was
clear, upon Lord D. asking whether any concession would be like
to satisfy, that it would not, and that nothing but a force sufficient
would bring them to order."14
Under date of January first, 1776, Judge Samuel Curwen, the
Salem, Massachusetts, refugee, writes in his journal kept in Eng-
land: "To the Adelphi, Strand, where by appointment met
twenty-one of my countrymen, who have agreed on a weekly din-
ner here, viz. Messrs. Richard Clark, Joseph Green, Jonathan
Bliss, Jonathan Sewall, Joseph Waldo, S. S. Blowers, Elisha
Hutchinson, William Hutchinson, Samuel Sewall, Samuel Quincy,
Isaac Smith, Harrison Gray, David Greene, Jonathan Clark,
Thomas Flucker, Joseph Taylor, Daniel Silsbee, Thomas Brin-
ley, William Cabot, John S. Copley, and Nathaniel Coffin. Samuel
Porter, Edward Oxnard, Benjamin Pickman, John Amory, Judge
13. For the prominence of Mr. Blowers as a lawyer in Massachusetts, see
"Record Book of the Suffolk Bar," in the igth Vol. of the Proceedings of the
Mass. Hist. Soc. (ist Series), pp. 145, 147, 148, 151, 152. See also Vol. 8, p. 440, and
Vol. 15, pp. 184, 397. See further Suffolk Court Records unprinted; and Blowers's
own testimony before the commissioner on Loyalist claims at Halifax, in 1785.
14. David Ingersoll, a lawyer, born in 1742, was graduated at Yale College in
1761. He like Blowers addressed Hutchinson in 1774. He was the third son of
Capt. David Ingersoll of Great Barrington, Mass., and practiced law in that town.
He died in England Nov. 10, 1796. Jonathan Bliss, born Oct., 1742, graduated at
Harvard in 1763, and like Ingersoll and Blowers practised law. He settled in New
Brunswick about 1784, and became Chief Justice of that province. He was the
father of Judge William Blowers Bliss of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 51
Robert Auchmuty, and Major Urquhart, absent, are members of
this club, as is also Governor Hutchinson."15 On the eighth of
June, 1776, Judge Curwen writes: "Dined with Judge Sewall at
Brompton Row; and with him his wife and sister, Mr. Blowers
and wife, Samuel Sewall, and William Browne, was admitted to
the queen's palace in St. James's Park." March twenty-seventh,
1777, Curwen writes : ' ' Walked out with Judge Sewall and Mr.
A. Willard to Cromwell's garden, which is in ill repair; drank
tea at the house of the former, and passed the evening with the
New England Club, say 'Brompton-Row Tory Club,' at Mr.
Blowers."16
The date of Blowers 's return to America from his sojourn in
England has usually been given in print as some time in 1778,
but his own statement before the commissioner on Loyalist
claims in Halifax, in November, 1785, is that he left England for
New York in August, 1777. 17 From New York he soon went to
Rhode Island, where the British troops were still in control, and
in Newport he remained until April, 1778. On the eighth of De-
cember, 1777, his father-in-law, Mr. Benjamin Kent of Boston,
petitioned the Massachusetts Council that his daughter Eliza-
beth might be permitted to go to Newport to see her sister, who,
he says, had been absent from her family ' ' above three years, ' '
and bring her back to Boston with her. The next day the Council
granted Miss Kent permission "to depart this State for New-
port in the state of Rde Island to see her Sister who has lately ar-
rived there from Great Britain and to return with her said Sis-
ter to this State, provided the IIonble Major Genl. Spencer in-
15. A document printed in Vol. 3, of the New England Historical and Genea-
logical Register (pp. 82, 83) gives the form of agreement made by these gentlemen
to dine at the Adelphi Tavern, every Thursday. There are twenty signatures given
to this agreement, of which Sampson Salter Blowers's is the nineteenth. The ex-
pense of the dinner, exclusive of liquors and waiters is to be two and sixpence each
person present, and no more. The month and day on which the agreement was
signed are not given, but the year was 1775.
16. Judge Curwen tells us that Jonathan Clarke, Thomas Danforth, Edward
Oxnard, Judge Sewall, and himself all lodged in Brompton Row, Kensington, but he
does not tell us whether Mr. Blowers lived there or not.
17. The commissioner who took his evidence in Halifax on the 3oth of Novem-
ber, 1785, was Mr. Jeremy Pemberton, previously a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, who
had been sent out from England to take evidence in the cases of Loyalists who had
lost property in the Revolution. He sat for this purpose in Halifax in 1785-86. He
became in August, 1788, fourth Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, but his incumbency
terminated before May, 1790, when he was succeeded by Thomas Andrew Lumisden
Strange.
52 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
dulges her with a Flag for said purpose, she engaging to carry no
papers or letters detrimental to this or any other of the United
States."18 That Mrs. Blowers did return to Boston with her sis-
ter we know from her husband's declaration before the commis-
sioner in Halifax, for in that he details rather minutely his move-
ments during the Revolutionary struggle.19 In April, 1778, he
says, he went from Newport to Boston to visit Mrs. Blowers, who
was ill, he having previously l i obtained a written leave from Gen-
eral Sullivan" to do so. On his arrival in his native town, "he
was immediately thrown into a Gaol with 4 or 5 Comn. felons and
kept a close prisoner for 8 days and then sent off in a flag of Truce
to Halifax."20 Of this indignity Mr. Edward Winslow, at Hali-
fax, on the thirteenth of November, 1778, writes to Major Barry:
"I've been listening this day with great satisfaction to the ob-
servations of my friend Blowers, made during his barbarous con-
finement at Boston. . . . The harsh treatment which he re-
ceived during his stay at Boston was most unparalleled and cruel.
You may one day hear the particulars from him, I will only tell
you that the dampest, dirtiest hole in the common gaol was the
place allotted him."21
From Halifax Mr. Blowers returned to Newport, and on the
twenty-ninth of April, 1779, was appointed there Judge of the
Rhode Island Court of Vice Admiralty. Newport was evacuated
by the British on the twenty-fifth or twenty-seventh of October,
1779, and he then sailed for England to seek compensation for
his financial losses. The next year he came back to America, this
18. "Revolution Petitions," in the Massachusetts Archives, and also the "Kent
Genealogy."
19. See "Second Report of the Bureau of Archives of the Province of On-
tario" (1905), part i, pp. 490, 491.
20. The fierce act of proscription of the Loyalists who had left the State was
not issued in Massachusetts until September, 1778, so that Mr. Blowers violated no
statute in returning to his native State. This act declared that if any of the ab-
sentees should voluntarily return from exile they should "on conviction thereof by
the Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General Jail Delivery, suf-
fer the pains of death without benefit of clergy." It is said that this visit of Mr.
Blowers to Boston was the last he ever made to his native town.
21. The "Winslow Papers," edited by Archdeacon Raymond, LL.D. Some time
in 1778 Edward Winslow wrote Jonathan Sewall : "The conduct of our dearly be-
loved cousins at Boston towards Blowers gives one a pretty little idea of the present
government. . . . Blowers tells us many extraordinary stories relative to the
improvement of the Bostonians in what a certain lady calls 'the liberal arts.' Would
you realize that the sons of some of our true old charter saints publicly roll in
chariots with kept mistresses, and that many of our former meek and lowly Chris-
tians, now freed from restraint, are rioting at great rate."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 53
time with the appointment of Solicitor General for New York.22
Early in September, 1783, with Mrs. Blowers and her sis-
ter Elizabeth Kent, Blowers sailed for Halifax, although the
evacuation of New York did not take place until November
twenty-fifth of that year.*3
In an interesting letter to Ward Chipman ("My dear Chip")
which he writes from Halifax on the twenty-fifth of September,
1783, Mr. Blowers says of his voyage from New Y'ork and his
reception at Halifax : ' ' Our passage was as well as we had room
to expect, and we are now comfortably lodged at a Mrs. Whittys,
where we have three rooms and a kitchen for eight pounds a
month, and are now all three of us, sitting in tolerable health and
spirit round a good fire. I have been politely received by the
Governor, and have seen several of the great men here, and am
told by them all that my coming among them is agreeable and that
I shall soon find business. This last I am inclined to doubt in any
extreme degree. ' ' The first employment of a public sort he seems
to have obtained was at military headquarters, for on the tenth
of October, 1783, Winslow writes to Chipman: "GenT Fox has
been very civil to Blowers, and on looking about he seems toler-
ably well satisfy 'd. He is appointed one of the Board of Ac-
counts here. ' J24 In the early part of 1784, as we see by the Nova
Scotia Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of February third and Feb-
ruary tenth, where we find published an extract from "General
Orders issued from headquarters by order of General Campbell, ' '
he was acting as military secretary at Halifax.25
In a note to the "Winslow Papers, " Archdeacon Raymond says
that in 1784 Blowers was named as Attorney General for New
22. The date of Mr. Blowers's appointment by the Lords of the Admiralty to
the Rhode Island judgeship was April 29, 1779. Blowers was appointed by Gover-
nor Robertson of New York to the Solicitor-Generalship of New York, "under Seal
of the Province," March 13, 1781. He served also as secretary to the Board of
Loyalists at New York all the time that that Board existed.
23. Hon. Ward Chipman, a close friend of Blowers, writes Edward Winslow,
July 29, 1783 : "Blowers with his family mean to embark in the course of the next
month for Halifax." Major Upham writes Edward Winslow from New York, Au-
gust 21, 1783 : "We shall all soon be with you — everybody, all the World, moves on
to Nova Scotia — Blowers, etc., will soon be there." "Winslow Papers," pp. in, 124.
October 18, 1783, Sarah Winslow, at Halifax, writes Benjamin Marston. In this
letter she says that her family and the Blowers family arrived at Halifax in the
same vessel, on the I4th of September, 1783. "Winslow Papers," pp. 141-143.
24. "Winslow Papers," pp. 139, 140.
25. This extract from General Orders is signed "S. S. Blowers, Secretary."
54 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Brunswick, but that he relinquished this position immediately on
receiving a similar appointment for Nova Scotia.26 In a letter to
Ward Chipman from Halifax, written January fourteenth, 1785,
Blowers says : "You will have heard before this reaches you that
Gov. Parr has made me Attorney General here. I am now in the
full execution of the office. The warrant has not yet arrived, but
I have letters from Sir William P., of the 4th September, ac-
quainting me that Mr. N. was to write me at once.
"Nothing is said respecting my successor in New Brunswick,
but as Matthews' warrant for Louisburg was forwarded by the
same opportunity, I think it probable he is not the man. I wish
you may be.27 In the meantime, would it not be well to get an
order from your Governor and Council for you to do the duty,
and let it be known in England that you are doing it. It will be
necessary to have such appointment when grants are to be made,
for the King's instructions require the Attorney General's fiat. I
will furnish you with the form whenever you want it."28
On the twenty-fourth of December, 1784, Blowers was appoint-
ed Attorney General of Nova Scotia ; in 1785 he sat in the Assem-
bly for the County of Halifax, and on the fifth of December of this
year he was unanimously chosen Speaker of the House. January
third, 1788, he was made a member of the Council, and on the
ninth of September, 1797, he was sworn in sixth Chief Justice of
Nova Scotia, in succession to Chief Justice Strange.29 On the
same date he also took his seat as President of the Council.
In a note on Chief Justice Blowers printed in the "Diary and
Letters" of Governor Thomas Hutchinson, which is signed "W.
26. This note is on page 208 of the "Winslow Papers." Archdeacon Raymond
also refers here to Lawrence's "Footprints or Incidents in the Early History of New
Brunswick," p. 13, and to "Canadian Archives" for 1895, under "New Brunswick."
Blowers undoubtedly never lived in New Brunswick and how often at this early
period of his residence in the Lower Provinces he may have visited there we do
not know.
27. Ward Chipman, born in 1754, another of the many able Massachusetts
Loyalists who settled in the Maritime Provinces, acted as Attorney General of New
Brunswick for some little time, but was never appointed to that office. He was,
however, appointed Solicitor General of New Brunswick, August 19, 1784. In 1809
he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of the same province. He died in
1824.
28. For this letter, see Lawrence's "Footprints," and (in an imperfect form)
the "Kent Genealogy."
29. The annual salary he received as Chief Justice was eight hundred and fifty
pounds.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 55
J. Stirling," we find a much more intimate account of Blowers
given than we have ever been able to get elsewhere. Blowers,
says Mr. Stirling, "was of great ability. He had untiring in-
dustry, vast legal knowledge, sound judgment, impartiality, and
patience. He had little eloquence ; no wit nor imagination. His
mind was grave, deliberate, and cautious. But on one occasion
he showed an irritable temper. Uniacke, the Attorney General of
Nova Scotia after Blowers, a very able, but ruffianly man, had a
street fight with Jonathan Sterns, a Boston Loyalist. Uniacke,
a very strong man, beat so savagely Sterns, a weak and sickly
man, as to cause his death. Blowers, who was an intimate friend
of Mr. Sterns, was so angry that he challenged Uniacke to fight
a duel. Uniacke accepted the challenge, but secretly sent his
wife to inform the police Magistrate. So the two officers of the
law in the Colony were bound over to keep the peace.30 Blowers
had the greatest esteem for Foster Hutchinson, Jr., [nephew of
Governor Thomas Hutchinson, and son of Judge Foster Hutchin-
son, Sr., of Massachusetts], and was greatly grieved by his death.
Blowers retained his faculties to the last. He kept up his College
studies, and always read with pleasure the Greek and Latin
classics. In his latter years he was silent and gloomy and would
not speak of the scenes he had witnessed many years before. He
destroyed all his papers : no letters nor memoranda of any kind
were left by him. In person he was very short and rather thin :
his face had some resemblance to that of Washington ; a portrait
of him is in the Legislative House at Halifax, but does not in the
least resemble him. He had no children, and his property, after
his widow's death, went to a Mr. Bliss." Another note in the
same volume says that in the political and personal disputes be-
so. Accounts which we have of Hon. Richard John Uniacke, Sr., one of the
ablest public men in Nova Scotia, in her whole history, describe the long rivalry
which existed between him and Blowers for public position. Uniacke's_ bitterness
rose to its highest pitch when Blowers was appointed to the Chief-Justiceship in-
stead of him. It was probably in 1797, shortly before Blowers was appointed Chief
Justice, and Uniacke succeeded to the Attorney-Generalship, as he did, that this
duel was proposed. It is said that the duel was prevented by the Chief Justice
(Strange). Uniacke took the oath as Attorney General on the same day, Septem-
ber gth, that Blowers took the oath of office as Chief Justice. Blowers had filled
the office of Attorney General, as we have seen, from December 24, 1784. Jonathan
Sterns, another conspicuous Massachusetts Loyalist, died in Halifax May 23, 1798.
Except as Stirling's account gives it, we have never known the cause of his death.
Sterns was a lawyer and his public career in Halifax is well worth tracing.
56 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
tween Loyalists and the "Old Inhabitants," which for several
years after the Revolution raged in government circles in Hali-
fax, Blowers was the acknowledged leader of his fellow refugees.
In the thirty-five years that he served as Chief Justice of Nova
Scotia "he outlived every person [of his contemporaries] in
public life in the Colony. The Governor and two of his succes-
sors ; the two Judges, and four of their successors ; the forty Mem-
bers of the Assembly, and many who had succeeded to their seats
—all these passed away while Blowers was Chief Justice. He
lived ten years after retiring from the Bench, and died at Hali-
fax, from the effects of a fall, in October, 1842. "31
Of the legal acts or opinions of Chief Justice Sampson Salter
Blowers during his leadership of the Nova Scotia Judiciary we
have few records anywhere remaining. His opinion on the ques-
tion of the legality of slave-holding in the British Colonies, how-
ever, we find recorded. The question was agitated during the
chief-justiceship of Blowers 's immediate predecessor, Strange,
and for several years after Blowers himself became Chief Justice,
and both Strange and Blowers decided against it. Chief Justice
Ludlow of New Brunswick, previously of New York, took his
stand on what he called ' ' the Common Law of the Colonies, ' ' by
which he said the right to hold slaves had been uniformly recog-
nized and established without any act ever having been passed
directly authorizing slavery. In opposition to him, Blowers held
strongly that the Common Law of England was that of the Col-
onies, that these had none other, and that slavery being declared
illegal by the Common Law of England, its illegality in the Colon-
ies was undoubted. The difference in the opinions of these two
Maritime-Provincial Chief Justices, it has been said, may have
been in some measure due to the fact of Ludlow 's training in New
York, and Blowers 's in Massachusetts, in which province "slav-
ery had obtained but a weak foothold and died early and quietly, ' '
while in New York it "had an earlier establishment and a more
extensive development. ' '32
31. "The Diary and Letters of His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Esq.," Vol.
i, p. 341. It is said that to the end of his life Chief Justice Blowers was accus-
tomed to take long walks for his health. It is also said, in print, that the Hon.
Joseph Howe in some speech said that Blowers never wore an overcoat in his life.
32. See "The Slave in Canada," by Rev. T. Watson Smith, D. D., in the tenth
volume of the "Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections," pp. 97-103.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 57
Chief Justice Sampson Salter Blowers married in Boston (the
Rev. Dr. William Walter of Trinity Church officiating) on the
fifth of April, 1774, Sarah Kent, born May nineteenth, baptized
May twenty-seventh, 1758, her parents being Benjamin and Eliz-
abeth (Watts) Kent. In the same year as her marriage Mrs.
Blowers went to England with her husband, and when he re-
turned three years later, came with him to New York. Late in
1777, as we have seen, she received permission to revisit Boston,
and there for a short time she remained. After this we suppose
she was with her husband continuously to the close of his life.
Outliving the Chief Justice a little while, she died in Halifax some
time in July, 1845, having never, so far as we know, borne any
child.33
33. For a minute account of Benjamin Kent and his family, see "Genealogies
of the Different Families bearing the name of Kent in the United States," by L.
Vernon Briggs, Boston, 1898, pp 38-48. Benjamin Kent, third son of Joseph and
Rebecca (Chittenden) Kent, was born in 1708, and after graduating at Harvard in
1727, entered the Congregational ministry. In 1731 he was chaplain of the garrison
at Fort George, Brunswick, Maine, and October 27, 1733, he was installed minister
of the church at Marlborough, Mass. In 1735 he withdrew from this charge and in
time took up the study of the law. He is said in the Kent Genealogy to have been
"a humorist, not sufficiently reverent of things divine to please his straight-faced
contemporaries. He was full of fun, drollery, humor, and had an unmethodical, ir-
regular head, but his thoughts were good and [his] expressions happy. After leav-
ing the ministry he studied for the bar, where he became celebrated for his eccen-
tricity and wit." During the years 1757-67 he practiced in Worcester County, but
later he became prominent in Boston, where he rose to be attorney-general of Massa-
chusetts. Whether Mr. Kent's sympathies in the Revolution were strongly
with the British does not seem to be known, but somewhere between June, 1783,
and January, 1785, probably influenced by his son-in-law, with his wife Elizabeth
he went to Windsor, Nova Scotia, and then to Halifax, where he and his wife
spent the rest of their lives and died. On a tombstone in St. Paul's burying-ground,
Halifax, is the following inscription : Sacred to the memory of Benjamin Kent,
late of Boston, New England, barrister-at-law, who died on the 22nd day of Octo-
ber, 1788, in the 8ist year of his age; and also his wife, who departed this life
on the 2nd day of August, 1802, in the 8oth year of her age." Elizabeth Kent,
eldest sister of Mrs. Blowers, born Jan. 6, 1745, baptized by the minister of the
West Church, Boston, Jan. 13, 1745, was with her sister, Mrs. Blowers, in New
York, for in June of that year her father petitioned the Massachusetts legislature
that she might return to Boston, as she was ill and he feared greatly that
the sultry weather of New York in midsummer would prove fatal to
her. Whether she did return or not we do not know, but apparently the Great
and General Court failed to act on her father's petition. (See "Revolution Peti-
tions," Mass. State Documents, Vol. 188, p. 90. Connected with the petition in this
volume is a draft of the desired permission for Miss Kent to return, but the draft is
unsigned and was never acted on by the Court. The draft bears date June 3, 1782.)
When the Blowerses finally left New York for Nova Scotia Miss Kent was
with them, and she was living in Halifax at least as late as 1818. On the 26th of
May, 1793, Elizabeth Kent, widow of Benjamin Kent, Sampson Salter Blowers and
his wife Sarah, and Elizabeth Kent, single woman, at Halifax, deeded to William
Burley of Boston, for six hundred pounds, a brick dwelling house and land on the
north side of State Street (earlier known as King Street), formerly the dwelling
house of Benjamin Kent, late of Boston, deceased.
58 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Chief Justice Blowers resigned the position of chief of the Nova
Scotia Judiciary in the year 1833, his successor in this high office
being Mr. Brenton Halliburton, born in Newport, Rhode Island,
(the son of Dr. John Halliburton, another notable Loyalist), who
received knighthood shortly before his death, which occurred in
I860.34 Sampson Salter Blowers died at Halifax October twenty-
fifth, 1842, his life having covered, as we have said, a little more
than a full century.35 He was buried in Camp Hill Cemetery, as
was his widow a little less than three years later, and there are
tombstones to their memory. The most conspicuous monument,
however, erected to the memory of Chief Justice Blowers, rests on
the east wall of St. Paul's Church, Halifax, in which church the
Chief Justice for many years worshipped. The monument is a
beautiful piece of sculpture, and bears the following notable in-
scription :
In Memory of
The Honourable Sampson Salter Blowers
For Five and Thirty Years President of H. M. Council
And Chief Justice of Nova Scotia
A Learned, Careful, And Impartial Judge
An Able and Faithful Servant of the Crown
And a True Friend to this Province
Of a Strong and Discriminating Mind and Sound Judgment
Amiable and Benevolent in Manners and Disposition
Exemplary in Conduct and of the Stricted Integrity
After a Long Career of Labour and Usefulness
Honoured and Esteemed by All
He Resigned His Office
And Passed the Decline of Life in Peaceful Retirement
And Died on the 25th Day of October, A. D. 1842
At the Age of One Hundred Years
Chief Justice Blowers 's will was executed at Halifax, Novem-
ber twenty-ninth, 1833, and was filed and recorded in Boston,
November thirteenth, 1843. In it he gives to Sarah Ann Bliss,
wife of William Blowers Bliss, two thousand pounds current
34. An interesting Life of Sir Brenton Halliburton was written many years
ago by the Rev. Dr. George William Hill, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Halifax, and
will be found in the Boston Public Library and elsewhere. An important assistant
judge in Nova Scotia, was Judge James Brenton, an uncle of Sir Brenton Halli-
burton.
35. The exact length of Mr. Blowers's life was one hundred years, seven
months, and fifteen days.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 59
money of Nova Scotia, and also his house and grounds at Wind-
sor, known as "Fairfield Cottage,7' with the furniture, cattle,
and implements thereto belonging. To Mrs. Ann Anderson,
mother of Mrs. Bliss, he leaves two hundred pounds current
money, and to Mrs. Ann Kidston, a like sum of two hundred
pounds. Other legatees by his will are his sister Mrs. Martha
Pritchard, "now or late of Boston," and her children, and the
children of his late sister Elizabeth Rhodes. The rest and residue
of his estate he leaves to his dear wife, "for her use and behoof
during her life, ' ' after her decease the whole residue of his estate
to go to Mrs. Sarah Ann Bliss and her heirs. His executor and
executrix are William Blowers Bliss and his wife Sarah Ann.36
In Boston, Chief Justice Blowers lived in Southack's Court,
now Howard Street, for on the sixth of September, 1784, he and
his wife sold through Dr. Samuel Danf orth, to whom Blowers had
previously given power of attorney, to Elisha Sigourney, for five
hundred pounds, a wooden house, which had formerly been their
dwelling, and the land about it, in the westerly part of Boston,
' ' situated on Southack 's Court. ' '37 The affluence of the Blowerses
36. William Blowers Bliss was the third son of Jonathan Bliss, a classmate of
Chief Justice Blowers at Harvard, a Loyalist and an early Chief Justice of New
Bfunswick, and his wife, Mary Worthington. He was born at St. John, New
Brunswick, August 28, 1795, graduated at King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia,
studied at the Inner Temple, London, practised law in Halifax, and in April, 1834,
was elevated to the Supreme Bench, in place of Judge Richard John Uniacke (son
of the first Richard John Uniacke). He is regarded as one of the ablest judges
Nova Scotia has ever had. He had a handsome residence at Fort Massey, Halifax,
where he died March 16, 1874, aged 79. He resigned his seat on the Bench in 1869.
The "Mrs. Ann Anderson," mother of Mrs. William Blowers Bliss, is said to have
been related in some way to Mrs. Sampson Salter Blowers ; what the relationship
was, however, we do not know. Mrs. Blowers had a sister Ann Kent, but she
probably died in Boston (see the burial records of Trinity Church) early in Sep-
tember, 1782. Judge William Blowers Bliss and his wife Sarah Ann had in all seven
children, three sons and four daughters. One of these daughters, became the wife
of the Rt. Rev. Hibbert Binney, Anglican Bishop of Nova Scotia, and one the wife
of Hon. Senator William Hunter Odell. Chief Justice Jonathan Bliss of New
Brunswick died at Fredericton, N. B., October i, 1822. For a valuable memoir of
Judge William Blowers Bliss, by Hon. Chief Justice (of N. S.) Sir Charles Town-
shend, see Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections, Vol. 17 (1913), pp. 23-45.
37. The instrument appointing Blowers's "good friend," Samuel Danforth, of
Boston, physician, his attorney, was first issued at Halifax, August 7, 1783, and was
affirmed at Halifax, May 8, 1784. It was once more affirmed October 13, 1784,
Mr. Blowers then declaring himself as residing in the city of New York. The in-
strument was first signed, with seals, by Mr. and Mrs. Blowers, in presence of Sam-
uel Winslow and John Amory, Jr. The Blowers's property in Southack's Court is
fully described in the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds. Blowers's losses in the
Revolution are carefuly detailed in his deposition before the commissioner on Loyal-
ist claims.
60 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
in Nova Scotia is amply testified to by the way in which they
lived, they had their town house in Halifax, and their country
place at Windsor, 1 1 a handsome country seat, ' ' as tradition styles
it, whither they drove every summer, with a coachman and two
liveried footmen, from the capital town.
The portrait of Chief Justice Blowers, of which Mr. Stirling
makes mention in the note in Governor Hutchinson's Life, was
painted in 1820 by request of the "Quarter Sessions and Grand
Jury" of Halifax made to Mr. Blowers on the twenty-first of De-
cember, 1819. The painter of the portrait, Mr. Harry Piers tells
us, was John Poad Drake.38
38. See Murdoch's documentary "History of Nova Scotia" under the year 1819.
Mr. Piers speaks of the portrait in his valuable paper in the eighteenth volume of
the Nova Scotia Historical Society's "Collections," entitled "Artists in Nova Sco-
tia." The portrait now hangs in the Halifax County Court House. It is reproduced
in the "Winslow Papers," edited by Archdeacon Raymond, opposite page 614.
Chapters in the History of Halifax,
Nova Scotia
BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, M. A.,. D. C. L.
No. VI
MIGRATIONS FROM NEW ENGLAND IN 1749 AND 1760.
"The present population of Nova Scotia is^not the development of a single
primitive nucleus or germ. Neither has it resulted from a gradual and almost
imperceptible sifting in of promiscuous elements. It is mainly the product of
certain well-defined immigrations of considerable size, capable of being more easily
traced because as a rule they have occurred consecutively rather than simultane-
ously." Dr. David Allison, in Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society,
Vol. VII.
IN any important addition to its population that the prov-
ince of Nova Scotia at large has at any time received, the
permanent capital of the province, Halifax, has naturally
sooner or later come to have a considerable share. The
two strains that by all means predominate in the present
population of Nova Scotia are the New England and the
Scotch, the latter of which is the product of a series of migra-
tions direct from Scotland that began in 1772 and ended some-
where about 1815. Of the close political relations between New
England and Nova Scotia from the time of the capture of Port
Eoyal (Annapolis Royal) by New England troops in 1710 to the
war of the Revolution, far too little has hitherto been written.
Nor is it generally recognized, even in Nova Scotia itself, much
less in New England, how largely the province of Nova Scotia,
and the adjoining province of New Brunswick, which until 1783
was part of Nova Scotia, were in the eighteenth century settled
by New England people, and how closely allied by ties of blood
a great part of the native Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers
today are to many of the Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode
Island families whose names are identified with the history of
(i43)
144 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the progress, politically, religiously, socially, of these various
New England States.
The most widely known of the migrations from New England
to the Maritime Provinces is of course the Loyalist migration of
1775-1783, but the most permanently influential migration, and
the one now most effective in the general progress of at least
Nova Scotia, was not the Loyalist migration, important in point
of numbers and in some quarters of political and social influence
as that was, but the migration, comparatively little known to
United States historians, of New England families of the best
stock from the three states we have mentioned chiefly in the
years 1760 and 1761. Of the importance of this migration, Dr.
David Allison, who has written much on Nova Scotia history,
says : ' ' The settlement during the years 1759-61 of a large part
of Nova Scotia, and that as a rule the most fertile part, by
groups of colonists from New England, is one of the most im-
portant events in the history of our Province. Until recently
this event has unquestionably not received the attention due to
its importance. As a movement of population from west to east
it was a reversal of the usual order, and has quite generally been
confounded with the Loyalist migration to the Provinces, which
it preceded by nearly a quarter of a century, and which in in-
fluence on the political and industrial development of what is
now Nova Scotia it undoubtedly surpassed. ... As a rule
this element has been the most tenacious of all our English
speaking stocks."1
i. See Dr. Allison's article in Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical
Society, Vol. 7, p. 63.
In a pleasantly written article entitled "The Military Traditions of Canada,"
by A. G. Bradley, printed in the Cornhill Magazine for December, 1915, occurs the
following entirely inaccurate statement : "The Maritime Provinces were virtually
annexed en bloc by the United Empire Loyalists, as the exiles proudly called
themselves. The small groups of Acadians on the west and British, etc., around
Halifax on the east were numerically and yet more, morally, overwhelmed by the
influx and count for little in the ethnology of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The United Empire Loyalist element, though their early sufferings in the woods
were great, once these were overcome, enjoyed a comparatively unclouded future.
In every sense they dominated the province. There was no geographical contact
or semi-partnership with French Canadians, no serious influx of doubtful American
emigrants such as kept the loyalists of Upper Canada in a constant state of
uneasiness, and their hands metaphorically always on their sword hilts. . . .
It may safely be affirmed today that at least every second 'Blue Nose' is directly
descended from those brave, unfortunate people, whose devotion to the Empire
forced them to start life afresh in the wild woods of the then dreaded and
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 145
Elements of considerable importance in the present Nova Sco-
tia population, apart from the New England and the Scottish, are
the Scotch-Irish, a strain which was introduced either from Lon-
donderry and other neighboring towns of New Hampshire in
1760, or directly from the North of Ireland in 1761 and 1762 ; the
German and French elements, which as we have seen in our chap-
ter on the founding of Halifax were introduced in 1749 and 1750 ;
the Celtic Irish element which has filtered into the province as it
has into all American colonies in sporadic migrations during many
years, and has had especial influence in Halifax ; and the Acadian
French, a strain which antedates all the others, but which since
the expulsion of all of the people of this blood that could be found
in 1755, has had like the German comparatively little influence in
the development of the province at large in any way.
Migration for settlement in Nova Scotia of New England people
actually began at the capture of Annapolis Royal in 1710, and
of this slight movement, which is interesting but which was too
limited in extent and for the most part too transitory to be con-
sidered more than an incident, we shall give some account when
we come to treat of the earlier capital of the province, the an-
cient town of Annapolis Royal. But the year 1749 brought a
very large New England element to the town of Halifax, and the
people who came to Nova Scotia at this time were almost with-
out exception Bostonians. How largely Halifax business and
social affairs for many years after the Revolution were con-
trolled by Loyalists from not only New England but New York,
unknown North." Whatever truth there may be in this statement as made of New
Brunswick, it is far wide of the truth in its reference to the Province of Nova
Scotia. It is quite true that between 30,000 and 3S,ooo Loyalists, as is estimated,
came into Nova Scotia and New Brunswick between 1775 and 1783, by far the
larger portion of them sailing from New York in the latter year, but there were
very few counties of Nova Scotia as it is today that received permanently any
considerable number of them. Where they finally went is a fair question, the
Province of New Brunswick got as permanent settlers a large share of them, but
it seems almost certain that many of them in longer or shorter time returned to the
United States. In his article on the Shelburne Loyalists, in the sixth volume of
the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Dr. T. Watson Smith says :
"Numbers of these exiles found their way to Britain, the West Indies, and the
Canadas . . . Few records of their wanderings and sufferings have been pre-
served." It is rather surprising how comparatively few well known Nova Scotians
today are of Loyalist stock. The Nova Scotians who rise to conspicuous posi-
tions in this age, like the present Premier of Canada, are much more frequently
descendants of the New Englanders who came in 1760 or '61.
146
New Jersey, and other colonies from which Tories had fled, is a
matter of current knowledge, but the predominating influence
until a late period of the Bostonians who came in shoals at the
town's beginning is a fact that is comparatively little in the minds
of people today. The truth is, that from 1749 to the middle of
the nineteenth century the blood that coursed through the veins
of Halifax was largely New England, and of that chiefly Boston,
blood.
Of United States historians who have dealt with the expan-
sion of New England's population, not one, we believe, has
shown more than the most superficial knowledge of any move-
ment whatever of population, except the Loyalist movement,
from the other colonies to Nova Scotia at any time.2 The great
fortress of Louisburg, as we know, was captured by New Eng-
land troops, and after the capture a considerable number of peo-
ple either in military or in civil occupations remained at the
place. In 1748, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the fortress
was given back to France, and this extraordinary diplomatic ar-
rangement compelled the speedy withdrawal of the English gar-
rison and naturally of the civilian office holders and traders who
had for three years found it convenient to live there. As we
have already shown, Colonel Cornwallis had been but a few
weeks at his post on Chebucto Bay when he wrote the Lords of
Trade who directed the enterprise in pursuance of which he had
come that a group of civilians from Louisburg had arrived to
settle in the new town. Other settlers also, he said, had come
direct from New England, and in the course of the summer and
autumn he expected that over a thousand more would come. The
interest felt in Boston in the Cornwallis enterprise is strongly
indicated by references to it in the Boston press of the time. In
2.. Probably the fullest consecutive treatment of the "expansion" of New
England's population is that of Lois Kimball Matthews in her "The Expansion
of New England, etc., 1620 — 1865." (Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1909, pp. 303). The
extent of this writer's knowledge of the several migrations to Nova Scotia that
we shall in this chapter detail is shown by the following note to page 118 of her
book. Miss Matthews says : "There is no room in this study for the investigation
of the New England migrations to Canada following the French and Indian
War. Fishermen from Cape Cod and Nantucket took advantage of the proclama-
tion of the Governor of Nova Scotia in 1756 [sic], and as early as 1757 the
movement to Cape Sable began. In 1761-62 a number of families founded
Harrington. See the Doane Family, 75, 76." Later in this chapter we shall show
the importance of the migration of 1760 and '61.,
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 147
the Boston Weekly Neivs Letter of June 7, 1750, appears the
following dispatch from Europe:
"Franckfort, March 25
" Printed advertisements have been stuck up and dispersed
in this city, inviting all, who, with permission of their sovereigns,
intend to settle in Nova Scotia, to apply as soon as possible to a
commissary, who is arrived here from Rotterdam to treat with
them for their passage."
Underneath this dispatch are printed the following stanzas
from the Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1750, the reader
being referred by this magazine to the Weekly Entertainer for
the whole poem to which they belong :
NOVA SCOTIA. A NEW BALLAD
To the Tune of King John and the Abbot of Canterbury
Let's away to New Scotland, where Plenty sits queen
0 'er as happy a country as ever was seen ;
And blesses her subjects, both little and great,
With each a good house and a pretty estate.
Derry Down, etc.
There's wood, and there's water, there's wild fowl and tame;
In the forest good ven'son, good fish in the stream,
Good grass for our cattle, good land for our plough,
Good wheat to be reap'd, and good barley to mow.
Derry Down, etc.
No landlords are there the poor tenants to teaze,
No lawyers to bully, nor stewards to seize:
But each honest fellow's a landlord, and dares
To spend on himself the whole fruit of his cares.
Derry Down, etc.
They've no duties on candles, no taxes on malt,
Nor do they, as we do, pay sauce for their salt :
But all is as free as in those times of old,
When poets assure us the age was of gold.
Derry down, etc.3
3. For an important notice of the settlement of Halifax, see the Gentleman's
Magazine for August, 1749. On page 441 of the volume containing this number
of the magazine a plan of the town is found.
I48 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
In the third year after Halifax was founded, the year 1752, a
census of the town was taken and the population probably ac-
curately ascertained.4 In this census the names of families re-
siding in the various sections of the town, and the outlying dis-
tricts, are scrupulously given, and almost everywhere we find
New Englanders in considerable force. The population is stated
as numbering 906 families, or, with unmarried men, 4,249 souls,
and while only a critical comparison of the names with those that
appear in the long lists of people who came from England with
Cornwallis could make us sure of the exact strength of the New
England contingent in the town at this date, we see at a glance
that a large proportion of the names there are New England
names.
In the "North Suburbs," for example, we find such familiar
names as Caverly, Cox, Bowden, Brewer, Dwight, Gerrish, Oil-
man, Harris, Hoar, Ives, Proctor, Rundell, Storer, and Tongue.
In the "South Suburbs" we find Brooks, Chapman, Child,
Clarke, Cleveland, Ferguson, Gerrish, Greenfield, Hammond,
Hardin, Harris, Hurd, Ives, Jackson, Kent, Lamb, Marshall,
Mason, Monk, Pierce, Pierpont, Poor, Porter, Eigby, Rogers,
Salter, Shatford, Steele, Taylor, Trefoy, and Wallace. Within
the Town "we find Cotton, Gerrish, Greenwood, Potter, Saul,
and Steele. "Within the Pickets" we find Blackden, Codman,
Fairbanks, Fillis, Fogg, Foye, Green, Lee, Little, Morris, Rons,
and Scott.41/2 In a census of the province made a little less than
4. "A list of the Families of English, Swiss, etc., which have been settled in
Nova Scotia since the year 1749, and who now are settlers in places hereafter
mentioned." (Halifax, July, 1752). Nova Scotia Archives, Vol. i, pp. 650-670.
In this census no account of the people's origins is given, but there must have
been in the town somewhere between one and two hundred New England families.
Of the departure of these people from Boston we have not found any record in
New England Archives. They were not as a rule among the most important
people of Boston, though some like William Foye were members of families of
the first standing, but they were industrious and energetic, and a number of them
rose to great influence in Halifax. They left Boston, it is probable, as single
families or in small groups. Besides those who had come before the census of
1752 was taken there were no doubt some who came at later dates. The lists of
settlers who came from England with Cornwallis in 1749 are given in the Nova
Scotia Archives, Vol. i, pp. 506-557.
4l/2. The German emigrants, 1,450 of whom in May, 1753, were removed by
the Governor's orders to Lunenburg were almost exclusively settled in the North
Suburbs. A few straggling families or persons engaged in fishing lived on the
islands in the harbour, and a few more were settled at "the Block House and the
Isthmus."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 149
fifteen years later, however, under the direction of the lieutenant-
governor, Michael Francklin, where the population of Halifax
is given as only 3,022 (a little over twelve hundred less than
fifteen years before), we find 1,351 persons given as Americans,
while but 302 are ranked as of English origin.5
Writing of the Halifax population at this early period, Dr.
Thomas B. Akins says: "After the evacuation of Louisburg
the population received a considerable accession ; a number of
the English inhabitants came with Governor Hopson, and many
from New England were daily arriving, and upwards of a
thousand more from the old provinces had expressed themselves
[as] desirous of joining the Settlement before winter. The Gov-
ernor therefore gave orders to all vessels in the Government ser-
vice to give them a free passage. The New England people soon
formed the basis of the resident population, and are the ances-
tors of many of the present inhabitants. They were better set-
tlers than the old discharged soldiers and sailors who came on
the fleet ; most of whom died or left the country during the first
three or four years, leaving, however, the most industrious and
5. It has been stated in print that in this census of Lieut. Governor Francklin's,
which bears date January i, 1767, and is of the whole of Nova Scotia, including
what is now New Brunswick, as well as the islands of Cape Breton and St.
John (P. E. I.), all people born in America, whatever the origin of their parents
may have been, are ranked as "Americans." To what extent this is true we cannot
tell, the part of the population of Halifax that numbers most largely next to
"Americans" is "Irish," and these people we suppose are chiefly Scotch-Irish who
came with Alexander McNutt in October, 1761 and November, 1762, from the
North of Ireland direct. Whether any of their children or the children of the
first settlers from England are ranked as Americans in this census we do not
know, but it is quite certain that in Truro, where the whole population (301) is
given as "Irish," a great many of the people had been born in New Hampshire.
while some had been born in Truro after the New Hampshire Scotch-Irish
emigrants came there. The Halifax population in 1767 is distributed according
to origin as follows: 1,351 Americans, 853 Irish, 302 English, 264 Germans and
other foreigners, 200 Acadian French, and 52 Scotch. The whole population of
Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton and St. John islands, is given in this census
as 13,374. Of these people, 6,913 are given as Americans, 2,165 as Irish, and only
912 as English. For the Scotch-Irish immigrations to Nova Scotia in 1761 and
1762, see the writer's monographs on the "Settlement of Colchester County," in
Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 3rd series, Vol. 6, section 2 (1912) ;
and "Alexander McNutt the Colonizer," in Americana for December, 1913.
"In 1752," says Professor Walter C. Murray, LL.D. (History of St. Mathews
Church, Halifax, in Coll. of the Nova Scotia Hist. Soc., Vol. 16, p. 166. 1912),
"there were 4,249 persons in Halifax, of which Mr. Breynton [Rector of St. Paul's]
estimates one half as members of the Church of England. In 1755, the number of
inhabitants had fallen to one half. The census of 1767 gave Halifax 3,022 persons,
of whom 667 were Roman Catholics. In 1769 the number was much reduced, and
in 1791 the population of the town was 4,897. The exodus during Revolutionary
times made serious inroads on the Dissenting Congregation."
150 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
respectable among them as permanent settlers."6 Of the two
elements in the population, Dr. David Allison writes in the same
vein: "While Cornwallis's transports brought over a limited
number of persons of means, energy, and character, the great
bulk of their passengers were just such people as a rosy-colored
advertisement in the London Gazette would be likely to attract
in a time of great business dulness. They were in no proper
sense of the term settlers. As 'birds of passage' they did not
purpose to continue long in one place. A large proportion
were men without families. Over five hundred had been man-
of-war sailors. They were in great part the very kind of per-
sons to whom the novelty of such an enterprise would be attrac-
tive and its practical hardships distasteful. So long as rations
were the order of the day they remained. When these were sus-
pended and men were expected to work for a living, the place
knew most of them no more. ' ' But of the small group of * ' in-
fluential" New England families that accompanied or closely
followed the departing troops from Louisburg and the much
larger group that soon after came from Boston, he says, the
persons who composed this element of the population in a short
time ' l drew into their hands a large part of the business of the
place, and filled many of the most important positions in the
Colony."7
To these testimonies of older writers to the strength of the
New England element in the early Halifax population, Pro-
fessor Walter C. Murray adds his voice. Akins, he writes, says
that " 'the New England people soon formed the basis of the
resident population,' and Tutty in 1750 nearly doubles his esti-
mate of the population given the preceding year. The increase
is due to the influx of New Englanders. . . . It is perhaps
unnecessary to say but little more in support of the opinion that
6. Dr. Thomas Beamish Akins's "Prize Essay on the History of the Settlement
of Halifax," enlarged and published as the "History of Halifax City," in the 8th
volume of the "Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society" (1895), p. 16.
Dr. Akins says further that many of the adventurers who came with Cornwallis
''caused him and his successors much trouble and annoyance, in demoralizing the
people by the illicit sale of bad liquors, and in other ways."
7. "The Settlement of the Early Townships, Illustrated by an Old Census,"
by David Allison, LL.D., in "Collectio"hs of the Nova Scotia Historical Society,"
Vol. 7 (1889-1891), pp. 45-71. See chiefly pp. 59, 60.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 151
the main current of life in Halifax in the early days was New
England in origin."
Of the English settlers with Cornwallis in 1749, a few from
the start held prominent places in the official or social life of the
town, but these for the most part were persons who were in
close touch with the Governor, some of them indeed having come
out as members of his suite. Such men, as we can see by follow-
ing the subsequent history of the town, were Richard Bulkeley,
John Collier, John Creighton, John Duport, Archibald Hinchel-
wood, William Nesbitt, and Lewis Piers.8 Of New England men
on the other hand, we find many who on account of business en-
ergy or military prestige or breeding and education almost im-
mediately came to rank as among the first citizens of the town.
Among these New Englanders of high standing may be men-
tioned Jonathan Binney, Samuel Blackden or Blagdon, Judge
James Brenton (from Newport, Rhode Island), Rev. Aaron
Cleveland and his brothers, Josiah and Samuel, Preserved Cun-
nabell, Joseph Fairbanks, John Fillis, William Foye (a Harvard
graduate, son of the Receiver General of Massachusetts who im-
mediately preceded Harrison Gray), the brothers, Joseph and
Benjamin Gerrish, both members of the Council, John and Jo-
seph Gorham, Joseph Gray, Hon. Benjamin Green, Edward
How, Jacob Hurd, William Lawlor, William Lawson, Otis Lit-
tle, James Monk, Hon. Charles Morris, Hon. Henry Newton
(whose father, however, had long lived at Annapolis Royal),
Jonathan Prescott, John Rous, Malachy Salter, and Robert San-
derson.
If distinct proof were needed of the preponderating influence
8. Brief sketches of some of these men, as well as of the English settlers
who occupied prominent places in early Halifax, will be found given in valuable
notes by Dr. Akins in the first volume of Nova Scotia Archives, which he edited.
Of Englishmen, Dr. Akins discusses, for example, Captain Edward Amhurst,
Richard Bulkeley (whose escutcheon hangs in St. Paul's Church, Halifax), John
Collier, Captain William Cotterell (the first provost marshal of Halifax), John
Creighton, Hugh Davidson, John Duport, Archibald Hinchelwood, William Nesbitt,
and John Salusbury. Richard Bulkeley came out as aide-de-camp to Governor
Cornwallis, and from about 1759 to 1793 filled the office of Secretary of the
Province. John Collier, a retired army officer, became one of the earliest justices
of the peace, a captain in the militia, and finally a member of the Council. Still
other men of this English migration were William Best. John Burbidge, and
John Pyke. Thomas Cochran, who became a member of Council, came from the
North of Ireland with McNutt, the Tobins and Kennys were Roman Catholic
Irishmen, who came later from Ireland.
i52 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of New England men in the early life of Halifax we should find
it sufficiently in the constitution of the first Representative As-
sembly of Nova Scotia, which was brought into being largely
through the determined efforts of Chief Justice Belcher. In
this first Assembly there were nineteen members elected by the
people, six of whom technically ranked as esquires, thirteen as
gentlemen. Of the six esquires we find five to have been New
England men,— Joseph Gerrish, Robert Sanderson (who was
chosen Speaker), Henry Newton, William Foye, and Joseph
Rundell. Of the thirteen ranked as gentlemen, we find at least
six to have been from New England,— Jonathan Binney, Rob-
ert Campbell, William Pantree, Joseph Fairbanks, Philip Ham-
mond, and John Fillis. Of the remaining eight members, six
seem to have been Englishmen, and two Germans from among
the Continental settlers who were temporarily or permanently
settled in the North Suburbs of the town. In the second assem-
bly, which met for the first time in December, 1759, we find of
New England men, Henry Newton, Jonathan Binney, Malachy
Salter, Benjamin Gerrish, Capt. Charles Proctor, Col. Jonathan
Hoar, John Newton, Capt. Simon Slocomb, Col. Joseph Fry,
and John Huston.9
Before passing on to the second large migration to Nova
Scotia from the earlier settled American colonies to the west and
south, we may properly say a little more about some of these
New England men and their families who largely controlled the
early destinies of Halifax.
JONATHAN BINNEY, originally of Hull, Massachusetts, before
coming to Halifax had been a merchant and ship-owner in Bos-
9. Professor Murray ("History of St. Matthew's Church, Halifax") goes on
to say: "The Governor in 1758 unconsciously paid a tribute to the power of the
New England element when he says that 'too many members of the Assembly are
such as have not been the most remarkable for promoting unity or obedience to
His Majesty's Government here, or indeed that have the most natural attachment
to this Province.' Lt. Col. Morse in 1783 estimated the number of old inhabitants
(exclusive of disbanded soldiers and Loyalists) to be about 14,000 out of a total
of 40,000, and he added 'it may not be improper to observe that a great part of the
old inhabitants, especially the wealthy ones, are from New England, and that
they discovered during the late war the same sentiments which prevailed in that
country. I think it necessary to add that the Legislature is principally composed of
these men and that some of the higher public offices are at present filled with the
most notorious of these characters." (Coll. of the Nova Scotia Hist. Soc., Vol.
16, pp. 148, 149.
HON. JOHATHAN BELCHER,
First Chief Justice of Nova Scotia. Born in Boston in 1710. Died in Halifax in
Portrait by John Singleton Copley. Photograph loaned by
Hon. Sir Charles Townshend, Kt.
1776.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 153
ton, where his first wife, Martha Hall, had died. An uncle of
his, Dr. Joseph Binney, had been a surgeon at the capture of
Louisburg, and in the siege or not long after had died at that
place. The nephew had not, so far as we know, served in the
siege, but it is possible that his uncle's service and death at Cape
Breton had aroused his interest in this eastern province. At
any rate, in 1753 he left Boston and came to Halifax, and here
he married secondly, in 1759, Hannah Adams Newton, daughter
of Hibbert Newton, and sister of Henry Newton, and so founded
the Halifax Binney family, from which came the fourth Anglican
Bishop of Nova Scotia, and other locally important men.
AARON CLEVELAND was the first Congregational minister of
Nova Scotia, and he and William Foye, both of the class of 1735,
and Otis Little, were the first Harvard graduates to settle in
Halifax. The presence of so many Bostonians in the town at
the start drew a Congregational church together almost as soon
as an Anglican parish, and of this church Aaron Cleveland, who
had come with his brothers Josiah and Samuel in 1749, became
the first minister. Cleveland was "a man of distinction and a
scholar," he staid in Halifax only three years, then he went
to England and took orders in the Anglican Church. "On his
way out the vessel sprang a leak. His heroic endeavors to help
save the leaking ship injured his health. After a short time in
mission charges he died at the house of his friend Benjamin
Franklin, in Philadelphia. ' no The Rev. Mr. Cleveland 's brother,
Captain Samuel Cleveland, met a violent death at the hands of
Indians in May, 1753.
LIEUTENANT JOSEPH FAIRBANKS saw service at the first siege
of Louisburg, and in 1752 we find him settled in Halifax with a
family (and servants) consisting of ten persons. He was born
in Sherborn, Massachusetts, September seventeenth, 1718, and
his second wife was Lydia Blackden, sister of the second wife of
10. "The History of St. Matthew's Church. Halifax," by Professor Waller
C. Murray, M. A., LL.D., in Coll. of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 16,
pp. 168, 169. For a very valuable sketch of Rev. Aaron Cleveland, in which the
facts of his brother Samuel's death are also given, see the New England Historical
and Genealogical Register for January, 1888. The sketch is by Benjamin Rand,
M. A., Ph.D., of Harvard University. It is published also as a reprint. Rev.
Aaron Cleveland was great-grandfather of the late Hon. Grover Cleveland,
President of the United States.
154 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Dr. Jonathan Prescott, surgeon and captain of Engineers at
Louisburg, who founded the Prescott family, so distinguished
in Halifax County and in King's.
Joseph Fairbanks left no children by either of his wives. The
well-known and much respected Fairbanks family of Halifax
was founded here by Rufus Fairbanks, his nephew, who was
born at Killingly, Connecticut (where his father was a Con-
gregational clergyman), October twentieth, 1759, and graduated
at Dartmouth College in 1784. Rufus Fairbanks married No-
vember seventeenth, 1785, Ann Prescott, daughter of Dr. Jona-
than Prescott, and inheriting his uncle Joseph's property was
one of early Halifax's comparatively wealthy men. His son,
Hon. Charles Rufus Fairbanks, one of the ablest lawyers Nova
Scotia has produced, in 1832 was appointed Solicitor General,
and in 1834 Judge of Vice Admiralty and Master of the Rolls.
JOHN FILLIS had been in some kind of mercantile business in
Boston, where he was born, and at the founding of Hali-
fax he also with his family removed to Nova Scotia. In the new
maritime-provincial town he became a highly prosperous mer-
chant and ship-owner, and among the Congregational families
of Halifax at least his family occupied a foremost place. He
married first, in Boston in 1747, Elizabeth Stoddard, second, in
Halifax, not long after his settlement there, another Boston
woman, Sarah, widow of Samuel Cleveland, whose first husband
was one of the earliest emigrants from Boston to die. For many
years John Fillis with his son John was engaged in a general
mercantile business in Halifax, and he owned a wharf and no
doubt vessels in which he traded with Boston. It would seem
that for some years until the Revolution he may have had a
branch business or agency in Boston, for his son, who married
Louisa, daughter of Byfield Lyde, was stationed in Boston when
the Revolution began. In 1775 some hay belonging to Mr.
Joseph Fairbanks that was intended for the British troops in
Boston was burned before it could be shipped, and Messrs.
John Fillis, Sr., and another New Englander, Mr. William
Smith, were popularly accused of having been the secret agents
in its destruction. On the sixteenth of June of this year Fillis
and Smith made formal complaint to the Assembly that they had
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 155
been maligned in the accusations, and being unable to detect
their "vile traducers," begged relief from the House. In a
formal resolve of the Assembly both men were completely ex-
onerated of the charge, the government decla'ring that it be-
lieved the accused persons to be "dutiful and loyal subjects of
His Majesty King George."11 Fillis died in Halifax on the six-
teenth of July, 1792.
WILLIAM FOYE was a son of William F'oye, Esq., who was
Treasurer and Receiver General of the province of Massachu-
setts Bay from 1736 to 1759, and grandson of Joseph Foye,
mariner. His mother was Elizabeth Campbell and he had two
sisters, one of whom, Mary, was married as his second wife to
Rev. William Cooper of Boston. William Foye was born No-
vember 1, 1716, graduated at Harvard College in 1735, and came
to Halifax in 1749. Almost immediately after coming there he
was appointed by Colonel Cornwallis provost marshal or sheriff
of the province. Of his family, if he had any, we at present
know nothing. He died at Halifax in 1771, for in the Boston
Evening Post of September 23, 1771, we find :
"Died at Halifax, William Foye, Esq., aged 55, son of the late
Treasurer. He was Provost Marshal of that Province 22 years
and Lieutenant Colonel of the City of Halifax."12 By his fath-
er's will, which was made in Milton, Massachusetts, March 17,
1759, and proved April 10, of the same year, he inherited valua-
ble properties in Boston. As we have said, William F'oye and
Aaron Cleveland, both of the class of 1735, and Otis Little of the
class of 1731, were the earliest Harvard graduates to settle in
Nova Scotia.
JOSEPH GEERISH— Among pre-Revolutionary families in and
about Boston, as further east in the colonies of New Hampshire
and Maine, few families were better known or socially more in-
fluential than the Gerrish family, who were intermarried with
the Sewalls, Waldrons, and Greens. An important member of
11. Murdoch's "History of Nova Scotia," Vol. 2, p. 539; and the Nova Scotia
Gazette of June 20, 1775.
12. See N. E. Hist, and Gen. Register, Vol. 19, pp. 207, 8. The elder William
Foye's estate seems to have been very large and he must have been known as an
extremely rich man. He left a house in Mackerel Lane, Boston, a house in Han-
over Street, Boston, whei* he had lately lived, and a "mansion house" in Milton.
He left also several slaves
156 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the family was Captain John Gerrish, of Boston, one of the
owners of Long Wharf, a merchant of note, and a captain in
the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. With a large number of
daughters he had two sons, the elder of whom, Joseph, after his
father's death, seems to have closed the Boston business, in
which he had a share, and when the call for volunteers for Lou-
isburg came, joined the Third Massachusetts Regiment and went
to Cape Breton. After the capture he remained in military ser-
vice in Nova Scotia, and in the winter of 1746-7 was in command
at Minas, where he received a severe wound. Before 1759 he
was appointed Naval Storekeeper at Halifax, with a salary of
a hundred pounds a year, and on August sixteenth, 1758, was
made a member of the Council, in which position he remained
till his death.
BENJAMIN GERRISH, younger brother of Joseph, also settled in
Halifax, sometime before 1752. He married in Boston in April,
1744, Rebecca Dudley, a daughter of the Hon. William Dudley,
granddaughter of Governor Joseph Dudley, and great grand-
daughter of Governor Thomas Dudley; and in Halifax founded
the important shipping firm of "Gerrish and Gray." Benjamin
Gerrish, like his brother Joseph, was admitted to the Council
and was a member of that body when he died. His death oc-
curred at Southampton, England, May sixth, 1772, and after he
died his widow was married to John Burbidge, Esq., of Corn-
wallis, another member of the First Assembly, who had come out
with Governor Cornwallis, from the Isle of Wight.
COLONEL JOHN GORHAM, eldest son of Colonel Shubael Gor-
ham of Barnstable, Massachusetts, was born at Barnstable De-
cember twelfth, 1709, and married March ninth, 1732, Elizabeth
Allyn, daughter of James and Susannah (Lewis) Allyn. He
lived at Barnstable until 1742, when he entered on military ser-
vice. In 1744 we find him in command of a company of militia
troops at Annapolis Royal, and the next year, in Boston, raising
a company for the expedition against Louisburg. His father
was colonel of the Seventh Massachusetts regiment, and as cap-
tain of the Second Company of that regiment he took part in the
Louisburg siege. Shortly after the siege he was promoted to
a lieutenant-colonelcy, and on the death of his father was made
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 157
full colonel of the Seventh. When Louisburg was taken he re-
turned to Annapolis Eoyal in chief command of the troops sta-
tioned there. When civil government for Nova Scotia was es-<X
tablished. Governor Cornwallis gave him a place on his new />*
Council, but he must have died late in 1751 or early in 1752. His A
widow soon after married Captain John Stevens and removed &
to Gloucester, Massachusetts.13
MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH GORHAM, brother of Colonel John,
was born at Barnstable, May twenty-ninth, 1725, and was prob-
ably a lieutenant at Louisburg. In 1749 he was lieutenant in
the "Bangers" sent from New England to Nova Scotia, and this
position he still held in 1758 and 1759. In 1761 the Rangers
were established as regular troops, and in 1770, as an officer of
the British anny he was commissioned Lieu tenant-Governor of
Placentia in Newfoundland in place of L-t.-Col. Otho Hamilton.
In 1766 he also was admitted to the Nova Scotia Council, and on
the twenty-eight of April, 1790, was made major-general in the
army. He married at Halifax December thirtieth, 1764, Anne
Spry, sister of William Spry, judge of the newly established
Court of Admirality at Halifax, an Englishman, who with his
two sisters had come to Halifax about three months before.
At the time of his marriage he owned a house in Halifax and a
place which he called ' ' Gorham Hall, ' ' near the town of Lunen-
burg. Both he and his brother received grants of land in the
province. His governorship of Placentia did not require his
continued residence in Newfoundland and he still lived mostly in
Halifax, where in his house on Sundays the Eev. Thomas Wood,
curate of St. Paul's Church, frequently instructed the Micmac
Indians, in their own tongue. He died at Halifax probably in
1790, or soon after that year. Of his children, Joseph William,
born September twenty-fifth, 1765, and Amherst, born in Sep-
13. In Parsons's "Life of Sir William Pepperrell," (p. 240), we find a letter
from Col. John Gorham to Pepperrell, dated Halifax, July 5, 1751, describing the
important part Gorham took in the Louisburg siege. The Boston News-Letter
of June 28, 1750, has an account of a wound Col. Gorham had received at Pisiquid,
Nova Scotia, in a skirmish with the French shortly before. Gorham lay for some
time in "the first house in Pisiquid," then he was taken by water round the shore
to Halifax.
A memoir of Major Joseph Gorham will be found in the "Collections of the
Nova Scotia Historical Society," Vol. 2, (1879-1880), pp. 26, 27. He sailed from
New York, June 30, 1762, for the capture of Havana.
158
tember, 1766, were in the British army. He had also a daughter,
Charlotte Spry, who was married twice.
BENJAMIN GREEN— One of the first members of the Council
appointed by Governor Cornwallis was Benjamin Green, a son
of the Rev. Joseph Green, minister of the Congregational Church
at Salem Village, now Danvers, Massachusetts. Before 1745,
Mr. Green was for some years in business in Boston, but when
the expedition against Louisburg was organized he was given
the position of secretary with military rank to Sir William Pep-
perrell. After the capture of Louisburg he remained at the place
in some public position or other until 1749, when like so many
other New Englanders there he removed to Halifax. In 1757 he
was appointed military secretary to the commander-in-chief of
the forces, Governor Charles Lawrence, and also colonel in the
militia. His wife was Margaret Pierce of Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, and she bore him seven children, two or three of
whom intermarried with the family of Hon. Henry Newton. Hon
Benjamin Green was a second cousin of Hon. Joseph and Hon.
Benjamin Gerrish, both like him, as we have seen, members of
the Nova Scotia Council.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL JONATHAN HOAR was a son of Lieutenant
Daniel and Sarah (Jones) Hoar, and was born at Concord, Mass-
achusetts, where his family always lived, January 6, 1707. He is
recorded as having graduated at Harvard in 1740, although
thirty-three years is a very unusual age for men to reach before
leaving college. We are puzzled likewise with other facts in his
record. In 1755 he went as a major to Fort Edward (Windsor),
Nova Scotia, probably in connexion with the expulsion of the Aca-
dians. It may be also that a little earlier he assisted in the capture
of Fort Beausejour. The next year (as lieutenant-colonel) he
went with Major General Winslow to Crown Point, and in 1758
he was at the second capture of Louisburg. In 1759, having re-
ceived a grant of land at Annapolis, he was elected to the legisla-
ture for that township, his election from this constituency being
repeated in 1765. In the Massachusetts Archives we find records
of military service performed by him in 1762 and 1763, his resi-
dence then being given as Concord, Massachusetts. But in 1762,
MRS. JONATHAN BELCHER
Born in Boston in 1727. Died in Halifax, October 9, 1771. From a
painting by Copley. Reproduced from a photograph loaned by
the Nova Scotia Historical Society
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 159
the History of Annapolis tells us, he was a judge there of the
court of common pleas, and active in organizing the militia. In
1767, also, the same History says, he was appointed judge of
probate at Annapolis. In 1771, we learn from Bond's History of
Watertown, where many other facts concerning him are given,
he was in England, whence, having been appointed ' ' governor of
Newfoundland," he sailed for that island. On the way thither,
this record says, he died. The estate he owned at Annapolis was
sold in 1782.14
JACOB HUED, member of a useful and more or less influential
family in Boston, received a water lot in Halifax on the twen-
tieth of July, 1752. For many years he was a prosperous mem-
ber of the Halifax trading community and a little street there
known as Kurd's Lane commemorates his name. He married in
Boston on the twentieth of May, 1725, Elizabeth Mason, and on
the register of the New South Church the baptisms of no less
than fourteen children born to him and his wife in Boston are
to be found. How many of these lived and how many accom-
panied him to Halifax we do not know. His son Nathaniel, how-
ever, a well known engraver, whose portrait was painted by
Copley, spent his life and died in his and his parents' native
town.15
THOMAS LAWLOR and his wife, Susanna, who were connected
with the New Brick Church in Boston, do not seem to have been
especially noted in the Boston community, but their descendants,
if not themselves, came to have considerable prominence in Hal-
ifax, where they removed, although it would seem not earlier than
1757. In Boston they had five children baptized, the second of
whom, William, became an important officer of the Halifax mi-
14. Lt.-Col. Otho Hamilton, governor of Placentia, in Newfoundland, died
in Ireland, February 26, 1770, and very soon after Major Joseph Gorliam, of whom
we have given a brief sketch, was appointed his successor. It is probable that
Lt.-Col. Jonathan Hoar was appointed immediately after Lt.-Col. Hamilton's death,
and that as the record says, he died before assuming the duties of the office. See
Bond's "Genealogies and History of Watertown," p. 298; Ar. E. Plist. and Gen.
Register, Vol. 53, p. 197; and "History of Annapolis," pp. 323-326.
15. Nathaniel Hurd, born in 1730, died in Boston in 1777- He was one of
the earliest important engravers in America, and he also painted a few minatures
on copper. "He engraved the seal of Harvard College, and the seals for most of
the thirteen original colonies." His portrait by Copley, which went to Halifax
after his death and remained there for about a hundred years, was probably
painted about 1770. At the present time it is owned in the United States.
160 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
litia. Their elder daughter, Susanna, became in Halifax, first
the wife of William Read or E-eid, then third wife of the eminent
Loyalist Angelican clergyman, the younger Dr. Mather Byles.
A grandson of William Lawlor was the famous Haligonian, Ad-
miral Sir Provo William Parry Wallis, who when he was only
twenty-two years old took command of the British frigate Shan-
non after her victory over the Chesapeake, and brought both ves-
sels into Halifax harbour, in 1813.16 Admiral WTallis who lived
a little more than a full centuiy was for many years known in
British circles as ' ' Father of the Fleet. He died in England in
February, 1892.
WILLIAM LAWSON, son of John and Sarah Lawson of Boston,
born March 27, 1720, with his wife Elizabeth, whom he married
in 1743, and several children, came to Halifax in or soon after
1749. The family he founded in Halifax, during the whole of the
nineteenth century enjoyed much social prominence. There were
of course continual intermarriages among these Halifax families
of Boston origin.
OTIS LITTLE, of Marshfield, Massachusetts, born January 29,
1711, was graduated at Harvard in 1731, and then studied law.
We find no record in the Massachusetts Archives of military ser-
vice performed by him, but Dr. Akins says he was "Captain of
one of the Independent Companies raised in New England for
Colonial service. ' ' In 1748 in London and in 1749 in Boston he
published an octavo pamphlet entitled "The State of Trade in
the Northern Colonies considered; with an Account of their
Produce, and a particular description of Nova Scotia," extracts
from which are given in the New England Historical and Genea-
logical Register, volume 9, pages 105, 106. When the Comwallis
enterprise was set on foot he was in England, and joining it he
came out in the Channing frigate, and in the new town acted for
a little while as ' l commissary of stores. ' ' From this office Corn-
wallis removed him, but in 1753 we find him "the King's attor-
ney" or attorney-general of the province. He died, we believe
some time before 1758. Of his family we know nothing except
16. Admiral Wallis's mother was Elizabeth Lawlor and his father Provo
Featherstone Wallis of the Halifax Dockyard. His grandfather, William Lawlor,
was major of the First Battalion of the Halifax Regiment. For Admiral Wallis
see the Dictionary of National Biography.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 161
that he had, as it is reported, a daughter who died, we suppose
in Halifax, unmarried. Mr. Little, Rev. Aaron Cleveland, and
William Foye, were the first Harvard graduates to reside in Hali-
n . • 1!*S4
tax. I • :f;*g
JAMES MONK — Before coming to Halifax, James Monk seems to
have been a merchant in Boston, where he had lived for some
years, but before long in Halifax he seems to have practised and
had good standing as a lawyer.17 In 1752 he was named as a
judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and in 1760 " King's Solici-
tor." His wife was Ann Deering, a sister of Mrs. Samuel Went-
worth (mother of Lady Frances Wentworth) and Mrs. Nathaniel
Ray Thomas, and of his children, born in Boston, and most of
them, at least, baptized at King's Chapel, James was appointed
Solicitor General at Halifax in 1774, and George Henry in 1801
was raised to the Nova Scotia Supreme Bench. In 1777, prob-
ably, James Monk, Jr., went to the province of Quebec, and in
that part of what is now the Dominion of Canada in time became
Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench. After he retired
from the Bench he was knighted. He died in England in 1826.
Judge George Henry Monk was long a resident of Windsor,
Nova Scotia, where his relatives the Nathaniel Ray Thomases
lived. Late in his life he went to Montreal, and in that city died
in 1823.18
CHARLES MORRIS— No man in the early history of Halifax save
the governors filled higher positions, or had a more active career,
than Charles Morris, who was born in Boston in 1711. Morris
was captain of one of the six companies sent by Governor Shirley
to Annapolis Royal to protect that place against recapture by
the French in October, 1746. The following December he was
sent to Minas, in King's County, to guard the settlement there
during the winter, and the next month he helped repel the attack
made by French and Indians on the place, in which Lieutenant
Colonel Arthur Noble and his brother Francis, from Maine, lost
17. Whether James Monk was nearly related to George Monk, of Boston, a
well known resident and inn keeper there for many years we have not been able
to make out.
18. Judge George Henry Monk's descendants were for many years in the
igth century very conspicuous in political life in the Province of Quebec. Sir
James Monk died childless.
162 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX," NOVA SCOTIA
their lives. When Halifax was founded, Morris, who had been
trained as a surveyor, was employed by Governor Cornwallis
as one of two men to plan and lay out the town. After this he
became Surveyor General for the province, was made a judge of
the Superior Court of Common Pleas, although he was not a
lawyer rose to a judgeship of the Supreme Court, became a mem-
ber of the Council, and after Chief Justice Belcher died, for two
years acted as Chief Justice. His wife was a daughter of At-
torney General John Read of Boston, and his eldest son Charles,
who also became a member of the Council and a judge of the
Supreme Court, was his successor in the Surveyor-Generalship.
The office thus filled by two generations of the Morris family
became indeed hereditary in the family, it did not pass from
Morris hands until two generations more of the family had dis-
charged its functions and enjoyed its emoluments. The Sur-
veyor General in the third generation was Charles Morris, 3d,
his successor was his son John Spry Morris.19
HENBY NEWTON was one of the three sons of Hibbert Newton,
Esq., only son of Judge Thomas Newton of Boston, to whom a
tablet was placed on the walls of King's Chapel in 1853. The
inscription on the tablet describes Thomas Newton as one of
the original founders of King's Chapel parish, a member of its
first Vestry in 1699, and a Warden in 1704. "He was many
years," it says, "one of the principal lawyers in the Province
[of Massachusetts] and filled various places of honour and trust
here, and at the time of his death was Attorney-General, Comp-
troller of the Customs, and had been a Judge of the Admiralty
Court. He was a gentleman of exalted virtues, and greatly be-
loved and respected, both in this country and in England, where
he was born and educated." Hibbert Newton, early settled at
Annapolis Royal, and there and at Canso served as Collector of
Customs long before Governor Cornwallis came. Henry New-
ton, son of Hibbert, was the first Collector of Customs at Hali-
19. See the writer's sketch of Hon. Charles Morris, ist, in the New England
Historical and Genealogical Register for July, 1913. This sketch is the first of a
series of sketches of "eminent Nova Scotians of New England birth." The second,
a sketch of Hibbert Newton, will be found in the Register for January, 1914. The
writer has also published in the Register genealogical sketches of the Gerrish,
DeBlois, and Byles families.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 163
fax, and this important office he filled honorably for fifty years.
On October 24, 1761, during Chief Justice Belcher's administra-
tion of the Government, he was appointed to the Council, and in
February, 1790, he became President of this body. He died at
Halifax, January 29, 1802, aged seventy, and a tablet to his
memory was later placed on the walls of St. Paul 's Church. His
first wife was Charlotte, daughter of Hon. Benjamin Green, and
his second, Anne Stuart, only sister of Gilbert Stuart the painter,
whose father had settled on his grant at Newport, Hants County,
in 1775. After her husband's death Mrs. Newton opened a
school for young ladies in Medford, Massachusetts. The New-
ton family in Halifax were intermarried with the Binneys and
Uniackes.
DR. JONATHAN PRESCOTT. The surgeon-general of Massachu-
setts troops at Louisburg was Dr. Edward Ellis of Boston, an as-
sistant surgeon (and captain of Engineers) was Dr. Jonathan
Prescott, who was born at Littleton, Massachusetts, May 24,
1725. Dr. Ellis settled in Hants County, although not until 1760,
Dr. Prescott came to Halifax probably in 1749. Receiving im-
portant grants of land in Lunenburg County Prescott settled at
Chester and conducted a prosperous business there, but he had
always a close and intimate connexion with Halifax. He died at
Chester January 11, 1802. He married, first, Mary Vassall, a
daughter of William Vassall, Esq., of Cambridge and Boston.
Mrs. Prescott died in 1757, and he married, secondly, Ann Black-
den, born in London, England, March 21, 1742, died in Halifax
in February, 1810. The family Dr. Prescott founded in Nova
Scotia had much social distinction throughout the province. An
important sketch of it will be found in Eaton's History of Kings
County, pp. 783-785.
CAPTAIN JOHN Eous or ROUSE may have been born at Marsh-
field, Massachusetts, but of what Massachusetts town he was a
native we are not sure. The chief biographical sketch of him
that has yet come into print will be found in John Charnock's
"Biographia Navalis" (vol. 5, pp. 412-414). In that sketch he is
said to have probably early become a lieutenant in the navy, but
the important beginning of his career is placed at the first siege
of Louisburg, in 1745. At the siege he so distinguished himself
164 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
as to attract the attention of Sir Peter Warren, who commanded
the sea force in the attack. Before this attack on the Cape Bre-
ton fort he had been master of a Boston privateer, which after
the capture became the Shirley galley. Of the Shirley he now
became captain, and this position he retained when the vessel
was hired to be a ship of war * ' on the sloop establishment, ' ' and
later when she was put on the higher plane of post ship or fri-
gate. In 1749, as captain of the Albany and in England, he
sailed with the Cornwallis fleet, but in 1755 he commanded an-
other ship, the Success. In the last ship he was at Beausejour,
and then at Annapolis Eoyal, at the expulsion of the Acadians
from that place, in 1755. At the second siege of Louisburg, in
1758, he commanded a fourth ship, the Sutherland, but he died
at Portsmouth (probably England) April 3, 1760. October 1,
1754, he was made a member of the Council at Halifax. Of his
family we know nothing except that a daughter of his, Mary
Rous, became the first wife of Hon. Richard Bulkeley. Mrs.
Bulkeley, who died in June, 1775, bore a son Freke Bulkeley,
who succeeded his father as the second secretary of the province.
MALACHY SALTER, JR., of Boston, son of Malachy Salter and his
wife Sarah Holmes, was born February twenty-eighth, 1714, and
married July twenty-sixth, 1744, Susanna Mulberry (both fam-
ilies belonging to the Old South Church). As we have said in a
previous chapter he was probably the most conspicuous Boston
trader on Nova Scotia shores before Cornwallis came. How early
he moved his family to Halifax we do not know, but he and they
soon became their important people in the town. Salter was
one of the most active and apparently prosperous merchants in
early Halifax and he and Robert Sanderson owned at least one
vessel together. This was the armed schooner Lawrence, which
sailed from Halifax November sixteenth, 1756, ' * on a six months
cruise to the southward against the enemy." Salter had a
number of children, and his family were always prominent in the
Halifax Congregational Church. At one time the various Con-
gregational churches of Nova Scotia received aid from their
sister churches in Massachusetts, and the distribution of the
money raised for their help was given into Mr. Salter 's hands.
It is probable that in the early history of Mather's, later St.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 165
Matthew's Church, Salter and Fillis were the two most important
men. Salter 's house stood at the corner of the present Hollis
and Salter streets. It was afterward for a long time occupied
by William Lawson, then it passed into the hands of John Esson.
ROBERT SANDERSON — The first Speaker of the Assembly, as we
have seen, was Robert Sanderson. Like so many other Bos-
tonians in Halifax he was a general merchant and ship-owner.
He was without doubt a grandson of the Robert Sanderson, sil-
versmith, of Boston, a deacon of the First Church, who with John
Hull was given charge of the first coinage of shillings, sixpences,
and threepences in Massachusetts, in 1652
A Boston woman of the widest social influence in Halifax and
Windsor, from the time of her marriage to her death, was Mrs.
Michael Francklin. The husband of this lady was a highly suc-
cessful merchant of Halifax, who began life there in 1752. He
was a Devonshire man, who came out from England in the ship
Norfolk late in the year mentioned, having previously, we are
told, had some business experience in London, and in the begin-
ning he sold liquor at retail in Halifax. His education and breed-
ing, however, were evidently such as to commend him at once
to the people of best culture in the town, and very soon he
widened his business and rose to great local prominence. Ten
years after he landed in Halifax he married in Boston (February
7, 1762) Susannah Boutineau, a daughter of Mr. James Bou-
tineau, attorney, and his wife Susannah Faneuil, sister of Peter
Faneuil, the princely Boston merchant who built Faneuil Hall.
In the public affairs of Nova Scotia no citizen of Halifax in the
eighteenth century was more active, and in the local government
none had a higher place than he. March 28, 1766, he was com-
missioned lieutenant governor of the province, and this position
he held until 1776. The chief home of the Francklins was at
Windsor, where they had a fine farm, but they naturally spent
much time in Halifax. They reared a large family, who married
well, some of them living in Nova Scotia, some abroad. One or
two of their sons, notably James Boutineau Francklin, occupied
prominent public positions in the province. Both in Windsor
and in Halifax Mr. and Mrs. Francklin were staunch supporters
of the Anglican Church.
166 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
At the time of the Revolution, Mrs. Francklin's parents, Mr.
and Mrs. James Boutineau, her aunt, Mary Ann Faneuil, who
was then the widow of Edward Jones, and her cousins, Peter and
Benjamin Faneuil, were all Loyalists. Mr. and Mrs. Boutineau
went, possibly via Halifax, to Bristol, England, where we believe
they remained until Mr. Boutineau 's death, which occurred some
time before February 20, 1784. For a while after the evacua-
tion of Boston, Mrs. Edward Jones resided (we suppose with the
Francklin's) in Halifax and Windsor. The rich Peter Faneuil
of Boston died intestate in 1743, and no doubt Mrs. Francklin
with the rest of his nieces and nephews shared in his large
wealth. Mrs. Francklin died at Windsor, April 19, 1816, in her
seventy-sixth year. The date of her birth is given in the Bos-
ton Town Records as February 22, 1740.20
Of the settlement of Dartmouth, on the east side of Halifax
harbour, the most important suburb of the capital town, a few
words should here be said. A history of Dartmouth, written by
Mrs. William Lawson, was published (after the writer's death)
in 1893. From this history we learn that the " township" was
not settled until 1786-87, when the vacant lands there were
granted to a small company of Nantucket whalers, bearing such
familiar names as Coleman, Folger, Starbuck, etc., all of them
Quakers in religion, and all expecting to make Dartmouth a basis
for the industry to which they had been accustomed in their
island home. A frugal and industrious people, peace-loving,
God-fearing, says Mrs. Lawson, these Nantucket whalers were,
but the failure of a large business house in Halifax that had en-
couraged the whale fishing here gave the Dartmouth settlement
20. Mrs. Francklin's mother was Mary Bowdoin, of Boston. We find thus
introduced into Nova Scotia the blood of two of the notable group of Huguenot
families that were so thrifty and rose to such high positions in Boston in the
i8th century. Such families were the Boutineaus, Bowdoins, Brimmers, Faneuils,
and Johonnots. The founder of the Boston De Blois family was of Huguenot
stock, but he came at a later time than the others. His descendants and collateral
descendants in the De Blois name came also (at the Revolution), to Halifax. For
an interesting letter from James Boutineau to Mrs. Edward Jones at Halifax, in
1778, and from Mrs. James Boutineau to her nephew Edward Jones at Boston,
in 1788, and her sister Mrs. Jones at Boston in 1785, see "Sabine's Loyalists," under
the name James Boutineau. For Lieutenant Governor Francklin, see a very impor-
tant sketch by Mr. James S. McDonald in the Nova Scotia Hist. Coll., Vol. 17, pp.
7-40. For the Francklin family, see the writer's article on the settling of Windsor,
Nova Scotia, in Americana for February, 1915.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 167
its death blow, and in 1792, the greater part of the Nantucketers
left the province, never to return. A few, however, remained,
for a longer time, one of these being Seth Coleman, a man whom
the historian describes as "a model of piety, industry, and gen-
eral philanthropy."21
The second notable migration from the earlier settled Ameri-
can colonies to Nova Scotia occurred between 1759 and 1762,
chiefly in 1760 and '61. Early in 1755 the French fort Beause-
jour, which stood near the isthmus which connects Nova Scotia
with New Brunswick, was captured, as Port Royal had been in
1710 and Louisburg in 1745, by New England troops, and before
the end of 1755, in vessels furnished by New England, the expe-
dition having been put in command of Lieutenant-Colonel John
Winslow, a Marshfield, Massachuetts, man, the greater number
of the Acadian French throughout Nova Scotia were forcibly
removed and the unfortunate people set down as paupers in little
groups wherever they were allowed to land on the American
coast from Maine to Georgia. The complete destruction of
French power in the province now being effected, the govern-
ment was left free to invite British settlers to the unpeopled
lands which the French had tilled, and to those parts of the
province which had never been settled, and very soon the gover-
nor, then Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Lawrence, began to dis-
cuss projects for settlement with the Lords of Trade. In the
21. "History of the Townships of Dartmouth, Preston, and Lawrencetown,
Halifax County, Nova Scotia," edited by Harry Piers. This book was published
at Halifax by Morton & Company, in 1893. Mrs. Lawson says (pp. 17, 18) : "In
1758, a return was made by the Surveyor-General, the first Charles Morris, to
Governor Lawrence, giving a list of the lots in the town of Dartmouth, and the
names of the proprietors who had complied with the Governor's request regarding
settlement and improvement. The number was small, and from this period the
township was almost derelict. The Indians still collected in force in the vicinity
of Shubenacadie, and were always sending out scouts in search of plunder. The
unhappy inhabitants, in constant dread of an attack, passed a miserable existence,
and were anxious to escape from a place where there was neither assurance of
safety nor promise of prosperity. For nearly thirty years, only these few
straggling families held the unfortunate town. The government did nothing to
induce later arrivals of emigrants to settle among them, nor took any measures to
assist the discouraged occupants in the improvement of the village."
In a note to the above copied by Mr. Piers from "A Description of the Several
Towns in the Province of Nova Scotia, with the Lands Comprehended in and
bordering upon said Towns, drawn up ... Jan'y g, 1762, by Charles Morris,
Esq., Chief Surveyor" we find : "The Town of Dartmouth, situated on the
opposite side of the Harbour, has at present two Families residing there, who
subsist by cutting wood."
i68 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
winter of 1756-7 Governor Lawrence made a visit of some length
to Boston, and when lie returned to Halifax wrote the English
authorities that he had learned that a group of New Yorkers
had been planning a settlement at Cape Sable, the extreme south-
western end of the province, but as no recent attempt had been
made to recapture the French fortress of Louisburg they had
given the project up as unsafe. From what he knew of the coun-
try about the Bay of Fundy, he said, he felt sure that at least
twenty thousand families might be " commodiously settled" in
the parts of the province that have since then become the coun-
ties of Cumberland, Colchester, Hants, Kings, and Annapolis,
and that if the fear of French aggression were entirely removed,
substantial and useful settlers would flock thither from every
part of the American continent. People at Cape Cod, he added,
were very anxious to settle, as New Yorkers had proposed to
do, at Cape Sable, and though he himself had no knowledge of
that remote spot he believed that it might be a suitable place to
make the base of a flourishing fishery. While he was in New
England he had taken every occasion to discover how New Eng-
landers felt about emigrating, and he had found that it was
largely owing to the lack of a representative assembly in Nova
Scotia that they had not already made some movement towards
asking for grants of the evacuated Chignecto and Minas and
Annapolis lands.22
Determined efforts to attract settlers from New England to
Nova Scotia began to be made by the Government in the autumn
of 1758. At that time the Governor and Council prepared a
proclamation, the terms of which they had probably for the most
part if not entirely already discussed with the Lords of Trade,
inviting settlers from New England to the lands formerly oc-
cupied by the French and to the hitherto unsettled lands in the
province, and sent it to Boston for publication. In the Boston
Gazette of October 12, 1758, formal announcement is made that
the enemy who had so long been disturbing and harassing the
province and obstructing its progress had been compelled to
22. Murdoch's "History of Nova Scotia," Vol. 2, pp. 330, 331. Lawrence's
letter to the Lords of Trade, giving this information was written November 9,
1757-
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 169
retire to Canada, and that thus a favorable opportunity was
presented for ' * peopling and cultivating as well the lands vacated
by the French as every other part of this valuable province."
The French lands are glowingly described as comprising "up-
wards of one hundred thousand acres of interval and plow lands,
producing wheat, rye, barley, oats, hemp, flax, etc." "These
have been cultivated, for more than a hundred years past, and
never fail of crops, nor need manuring. Also, more than one
hundred thousand acres of upland, cleared, and stocked with
English grass, planted with orchards, gardens, etc. These lands
with good husbandry produce often two loads of hay per acre.
The wild and unimproved lands adjoining to the above are well
timbered and wooded with beech, black birch, ash, oak, pine,
fir, etc. All these lands are so intermixed that every single
farmer may have a proportionate quantity of plow land, grass
land, and wood land ; and all are situated about the Bay of Fundi,
upon rivers navigable for ships of burthen." Proposals for
settlement, it is stated, "will be received by Mr. Thomas Hancock
of Boston [uncle of Governor John Hancock], and Messrs. De
Lancey and Watts of New York, and will be transmitted to the
Governor of Nova Scotia, or in his absence to the Lieutenant
Governor, or the President of the Council."
The interest which this proclamation aroused in New England
seems to have been immediate and widespread. A great many
men from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island had
taken part in the first capture of Louisburg, not a few Massa-
chusetts soldiers and sailors had made themselves acquainted
with the Nova Scotia peninsula by serving in the capture of
Beausejour and in the expulsion of the Acadians, and fisher-
men, especially of Cape Cod, were thoroughly familiar with the
opportunities for successful fishing in the waters that washed the
shores of the sea-girt province to which New Englanders were
now invited. Consequently, as soon as the proclamation appear-
ed the agent in Boston was plied with questions as to what terms
of encouragement would be offered settlers, how much land each
person would receive, what quit-rent and taxes were to be ex-
acted, what constitution of government prevailed, and what free-
dom in religion settlers would enjoy. The result of these in-
170 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
quiries was that at a meeting of council held on Thursday, Janu-
ary 11, 1759, a second proclamation was approved, in which the
Governor states that he is empowered to make grants of the best
lands in the province. That a hundred acres of wild wood-land
will be given each head of a family, and fifty acres additional for
each person in his family, young or old, male or female, black or
white, subject to a quit-rent of one shilling per fifty acres, the
quit-rent to begin, however, not until ten years after the issuing
of the grant. The grantees must cultivate or inclose one-third
of the land in ten years, one-third more in twenty years, and the
remainder in thirty years. No quantity above a thousand acres
would at first be granted to any one person ; on fulfilment of the
terms of the first grant, however, the person receiving the grant
would be entitled to another on similar terms. The government
of Nova Scotia, it was stated, was constituted like that of the
neighbouring colonies, its several branches being a Governor, a
Council, and an Assembly. As soon as people were settled, town-
ships of a hundred thousand acres each, or about twelve miles
square, would be formed, and each township would be entitled to
send two representatives to the Assembly. The courts of justice
were constituted like those of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
other northern colonies ; and as to religion, both by his majesty's
instructions and by a late act of the Assembly, full liberty of
conscience was secured to all "persuasions," Papists only ex-
cepted. Settlers were to be amply protected in their homes, for
forts garrisoned with royal troops had already been established
in close proximity to the lands of which grants would be made.
The first formal movement in New England towards respond-
ing to Governor Lawrence's proclamation seems to have been
made in eastern Connecticut and E.hode Island. About the mid-
dle of April, 1759, several agents from these two colonies ar-
rived at Halifax, commissioned by groups of intending settlers
to ascertain the exact condition of the offered lands and to put
to the Council questions the proclamation had not entirely an-
swered. On the 18th of April the Council convened at the Gover-
nor's house and the agents met its members there. Questions put
by the New Englanders being satisfactorily answered, the Coun-
cil invited the agents to go in a government vessel round the south-
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 171
ern shore to Annapolis Basin and up the Bay of Fundy to Chig-
necto and Minas basins, that they might make a thorough in-
spection of the chief lands from which the French had been ex-
pelled. After nearly a month, the agents, who had been accom-
panied by Mr. Charles Morris, the government surveyor, one of
their own countrymen and as we have seen a highly important
official at Halifax, returned, greatly pleased, to the Council, and
requested that grants to them and their constituents might im-
mediately be made. Accordingly, on the 17th of the month the
Council ordered two grants to be prepared, of a hundred thou-
sand acres each, in what is now the county of King's, these
grants including a large part of what had previously been one
of the richest and most productive spots in the whole Acadian
country. The "townships" with which the grants were synony-
mous were to be called respectively Horton and Cornwallis, and
the large tracts they comprised were to be distributed in individ-
ual parts of from 750 to 250 acres (a share and a half to half a
share) by some equitable process of division as soon as possible
after the settlers should arrive.
On the 27th of June a grant was made of the township of
Granville, in Annapolis County, and in July, other agents came
and were received by the Council. In August that energetic col-
onizer Alexander McNutt appeared and applied for lands for a
company of Scotch Irish, his own nationality, who or whose
fathers had come to the colony of New Hampshire from ten to
forty years before. In the end we find a large group of town-
ships, which are comprised now in nine of the fourteen counties
in the Nova Scotian peninsula and two or three of the counties of
New Brunswick settled by people from New England who had
responded to Governor Lawrence's proclamation. In the census
of the province (including what is now New Brunswick, and the
islands of Cape Breton and St. John (Prince Edward Island),
which was made under Lieutenant Governor Francklin's direc-
tions in 1766, we find ' l Americans " given as constituting about
half of the entire population of 13,374, and if we add to this
number the population in the two townships of Truro and Onslow
which is ranked as ; ' Irish, ' ' this meaning Scotch Irish from New
Hampshire, we shall see that the New Englanders in these prov-
i;2 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
inces number considerably more than the people of all other
origins combined.
Of the New England people in this migration of 1760-61, those
who settled in Amherst, Annapolis, Barrington, Chester, Cum-
berland, Granville, Liverpool, Maugerville, Onslow (in part),
Sackville, Wilmot, and Yarmouth, were chiefly from Massachu-
setts, but from widely separated towns in that flourishing prov-
ince. The settlers in Horton and Cornwallis, the first estab-
lished townships, were with very few exceptions from the chief
townships of eastern Connecticut. The settlers in Hants Coun-
ty, the townships of Falmouth and Newport, were almost wholly
from the several Rhode Island towns bordering on Narragan-
sett Bay; while Truro and in part Onslow, in what is now Col-
chester County, were settled by Scotch Irish, who had lived in
Londonderry, New Hampshire, and neighbouring New Hamp-
shire towns. In Onslow, however, a large number of the most
important of the permanent settlers were Massachusetts-born
people of strictly English descent.
It is surprising how few mentions have been made by New
England local historians of this large widespread migration to
Nova Scotia in 1760 and 1761, but three interesting notices of
it, though slight ones, we do find. In her history of the ancient
town of New London, Connecticut, Miss Frances Mainwaring
Caulkins says : ' l The clearing of Nova Scotia of the French
opened the way for the introduction of English colonists. Be-
tween this period [1760] and the Eevolution, the tide of immigra-
tion set thitherward from New England, and particularly from
Connecticut. Menis, Amherst, Dublin, and other towns in the
province, received a large proportion of their first planters from
New London County." And in her history of Norwich this
author says : "Nova Scotia was then [1760] open to immigrants,
and speculation was busy with its lands. Farms and townships
were thrown into the market, and adventurers were eager to
take possession of the vacated seats of the exiled Acadians. The
provincial government caused these lands to be distributed into
towns and sections, and lots were offered to actual settlers on
easy terms. The inhabitants of the eastern part of Connecticut
and several citizens of Norwich in particular, entered largely
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 173
into these purchases, as they did also into the purchase made at
the same period on the Delaware River. The proprietors held
their meetings at the town-house in Norwich, and many persons
of even small means were induced to become subscribers, in the
expectation of bettering their fortunes. The townships of Dublin,
Horton, Falmouth, Gornwallis, and Amherst were settled in part
by Connecticut emigrants. Sloops were sent from Norwich and
New London with provisions and passengers. One of these in a
single trip conveyed a hundred and thirty-seven settlers from
New London County. ' ' Mention is also made of the migration in
Macy's History of Nantucket. "It would seem by the preceding
account of the whale fisheries," it says, "that the [Nantueket]
people were industrious and doing well and that business was in
a flourishing state. No one would suppose that under the cir-
cumstances any of the inhabitants could feel an inclination to
emigrate with their families to other places ; yet some, believing
that they would improve their condition, removed to Nova Scotia,
some to Kennebeck, some to New Garden, in the State of South
Carolina, etc."
In several Nova Scotia local histories, however, accounts of
the migration of much greater importance will be found. The
most complete county histories of Nova Scotia are the histories
of Annapolis and Kings, and in both of these much light will be
found on the advent of these New Englanders to the province in
1760 and '61, and on the method pursued of distributing lands to
them. Another work of special interest dealing with the migra-
tion is a volume by Ven. Archdeacon Raymond, LL.D., entitled
"The River St. John, its Physical Features, Legends, and His-
tory, from 1604 to 1784." In his account of the settlement of
Maugerville (in what is now New Brunswick), Dr. Raymond
says:
"At the time the grant of this township was being made out
the obnoxious Stamp Act was coming into force in America and
the Crown Land Office at Halifax was besieged with people
pressing for their grants in order to save stamp duties. " " Nearly
all the first settlers of the township of Maugerville were from
Massachusetts, the majority from the single county of Essex.
Thus the Burpees were from Rowley, the Perleys from Boxford,
174 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the Estexs from Newburyport, while other families were from
Haverhill, Ipswich, Gloucester, Salem, and other towns of this
ancient county, which antedates all others in Massachusetts but
Plymouth."
As we have seen, the people who came chiefly for fishing to
the southwestern shore of the province, were in great part from
Cape Cod and Nantucket,23 while those who chose farms in the
interior were from a variety of towns where agriculture was the
chief occupation. By the History of Annapolis we find that the
people who settled that important county were from such widely
separated, for the most part agricultural, Massachusetts towns
as Barnstable, Byfield, Cambridge, Dorchester, Groton, Haver-
hill, Lunenburg, Mar] borough, Medford, Mendon, Plympton,
Sherborn, Shirley, 'Taunton, Westborough, Worcester, and
Wrentham. Settlers in Onslow came from Brookfield Dudley,
Spencer, Western (now Warren), and perhaps Worcester, in
Worcester County ; Brimfield and Palmer, in Hampden County ;
Medfield in Norfolk; Maiden, Reading, and Woburn, in Middle-
23. "The first people of English descent to fix their abodes at the head of
caves and harbours around the shores of southwestern Nova Scotia were fisher-
men mostly from Cape Cod and Nantucket in Massachusetts. They were not
refugees for loyalty's sake but 'hard liners' and net men, who had found out by
their fearless cruises in 'pink stern' craft that fish abounded in those waters.
The proclamation of the Nova Scotia Colonial Governor inviting settlers from
New England and elsewhere to occupy the vacated lands followed immediately
the expulsion of the Acadians, and as early as 1757, Governor Lawrence writes of
having received 'application from a number of substantial persons in New Eng-
land for lands to settle at or near Cape Sable.' A first company for some reason
or other failed to make a settlement, but in 1761-1762 a large number representing
the best families of Cape Cod and Nantucket removed to the Cape Sable district
and formed a settlement at what is now the town of Barrington. They were for
the most part a lot of intelligent and so far as the times allowed, educated men."
"The Doane Family," Boston, 1902. See pp. 75, 76.
"In 1760-1763, Barrington was settled by about 80 families from Nantucket
and Cape Cod, and in 1767 the township was granted to 102 persons." "Yarmouth,
Nova Scotia. A sequel to Campbell's History," by George S. Brown, (1888) p. 127.
"In 1764 the population of Liverpool was 500. These persons had arrived at
this place in 1762-3-4. There were, however, some arrivals as early as 1759."
"History of Queen's County," by James F. More, Esq. (1873), p. 13. Mr. More
also says that the first warrant of survey for a grant in Liverpool was made some
time in 1759. The first effective grant of the township was made in 1764.
The people of Yarmouth, Barrington, Liverpool, Chester, and Dublin "came
with scarcely any exceptions from the Nantucket and Cape Cod districts of the
Colony of Massachusetts, and save Chester and Dublin these townships are still
mainly peopled by descendants of the original families." Dr. David Allison, in
Cell, of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 7.
"For many years before any families settled in this County, our harbours of
Yarmouth and Chebogue were the resort of American fishermen."
Rev. J. R. Campbell in "History of the County of Yarmouth," p. 25.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 175
sex; and North Bridgewater, in Plymouth. By the History of
King's County we see that the settlers in Cornwall is and Horton
had previously lived in such Connecticut towns as Bolton, Can-
terbury, Colchester, Danbury, East Haddam, Fairfield, Green-
wich, Groton, Guilford, Hebron, Killing-worth, Lebanon, Lyme,
Middle Haddam, New London, Norwich,' Preston, Saybrook,
Stonington, Tolland, Wallingford, Windham, and Windsor. The
earlier homes of the settlers in Falmouth and Newport, we shall
find to have been in the Ehode Island towns of East and West
Greenwich, Little Compton, Middlet-owii, Newport, North and
South Kingstown, Portsmouth, and Warwick.
In the census of the province made under the direction of
Lieutenant-Governor Francklin in 1766, of which we have
already spoken, the nationalities of the people in the several
townships for the first time are given, and in that census we see
that in the peninsula of Nova Scotia, and that part of the province
that since 1784 has been known as New Brunswick, with Cape
Breton Island also, and Prince Edward Island as well, of a total
population of 13,374, the number ranked as "Americans" is
almost 7,000. The nationality that figures most largely next to
American is "Irish," and this of course means Scotch-Irish, of
which people 401 are given as in the two townships of Truro and
Onslow. But the people of these two townships though, as we
have seen, of Scotch-Irish stock, had many of them been born in
New Hampshire, in which colony their parents or grandparents
had settled, in some cases as much as forty years before. A con-
siderable number of these, therefore, we may properly regard
as Americans, but even with such addition we do not think it
likely that seven thousand conies anywhere near the true num-
ber of the original immigrants from New England in 1759-61.
Not a few who were granted lands and came to the province
before 1762 soon became dissatisfied and returned to New Eng-
land, and we cannot feel absolute certainty that the census of
1767 reports with entire accuracy the full number of the people
that remained after these were gone. The most reasonable guess
we could make concerning the actual numerical strength of this
migration would fix the number who came from New England
176 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
in 1759-61 as somewhere between seven and ten thousand souls.24
Of these seven to ten thousand it is probable that something like
two thousand settled in five or six townships of what is now the
province of New Brunswick, on the St. John river or near the
isthmus which connects the two provinces. It is evident that
few settled either in Cape Breton or in Prince Edward Island.
Of the superior intelligence and high moral worth of these
settlers in Nova Scotia in 1759-61 too much cannot- possibly be
said. Many of them were people of influential standing in the
New England towns from which they had come, their willing-
ness to emigrate arising from the common wish, especially with
people of English stock, to be considerable owners of land. One
has only to know intimately the character of the institutions they
reared in Nova Scotia, their interest in education and in religion,
their strong self-respect and the generally high moral worth that
underlay that self-respect, to hold these New England settlers in
Nova Scotia in the highest esteem. From the people of this mi-
gration have come such men as the noted Judge Thomas Chand-
ler Haliburton, the Honourable Samuel George William Archi-
bald, the Bight Honourable Sir Charles Tupper, Baronet, Pro-
fessor Simon Newcomb, the astronomer, the Bight Honourable
Sir Bobert Borden, the present premier of Canada, and many
other distinguished public men. In every sort of industrial and
professional life, members of these notable New England fami-
lies have held foremost places, a great many such naturally find-
ing spheres of distinction and usefulness in those States of the
American Union which were originally the colonies whence their
ancestors had migrated. Known, the continent over are such
names as Archibald, Borden, Chipman, Collins, Dimock, Eaton,
Haliburton, Irish, Longley, Morse, Newcomb, Band, Starr, Tup-
per, Woodworth, Young, and many others.
24. In 1783, according to the report of Lieut-Col. Morse to Sir Guy Carleton,
there were in the peninsula of Nova Scotia and that large part of the present
province of New Brunswick that was called the County of Sunbury, 14,000 "old
British inhabitants," one thousand of whom Morse gives as within the present
New Brunswick limits. It is almost certain that the actual number of these old
settlers was much larger than Morse reported it, but at present we have no means
of knowing what it really was.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 177
NOVA SCOTIA TOWNSHIPS SETTLED FROM NEW ENGLAND BETWEEN
1760 AND 1765, WITH DATES OF THE EARLIEST LARGE GRANTS
AMHERST, 1763.
History in part given by W. C. Milner in Collections of
the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 15.
ANNAPOLIS, August 4, 1759.
History by W. A. Calnek and Judge A. W. Savary in
" History of Annapolis County," 1897.
BARRINGTON, December 4, 1767.
History, in part, given by George S. Brown in ' ' Yarmouth,
Nova Scotia. A Sequel to Campbell's History," 1888. See
p. 127. Also i ' Annals of Yarmouth and Barrington, in the
Revolutionary War," by Edmund Duval Poole, 1899, pp. 133.
CHESTER, October 18, 1759.
The township first called l i Shoreham. ' ' History given in
"History of Lunenburg County," by Judge M. B. Des
Brisay, 1895.
CORNWALLIS, May 21, 1759.
History given by Dr. Arthur Wentworth H. Eaton, in
"History of King's County," 1910.
CUMBERLAND, 1763.
History in part given by W. C. Milner in ' ' Collections of
the Nova Scotia Historical Society, ' ' Vol. 15.
FALMOUTH, July 21, 1759.
History of settlement given by Dr. Arthur Wentworth H.
Eaton in Americana (magazine), January, 1915.
GRANVILLE, June 27, 1759.
History given by W. A. Calnek and Judge A. W. Savary
in "History of Annapolis County," 1897.
HORTON, May 21, 1759.
History given by Dr. Arthur Wentworth H. Eaton in
"History of King's County," 1910.
LIVERPOOL, 1759.
MAUGERVILLE, October 31, 1765.
History given by Ven. Archdeacon W. 0. Raymond, LL.D.,
in "The River St. John, Its Physical Features, Legends, and
History from 1604 to 1784."
NEWPORT, July 21, 1761.
History of settlement given by Dr. Arthur Wentworth H.
Eaton, in Americana (magazine), January, 1915.
ONSLOW, July 24, 1758.
History of settlement given by Dr. Arthur Wentworth H.
Eaton, in "Settling of Colchester County," etc., in "Trans-
actions of the Royal Society of Canada"; Third Series, Vol.
6, 1912.
i;8 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
SA.CKVILLE, 1763.
History in part given by W. C. Milner, in ' ' Collections of
the Nova Scotia Historical Society," Vol. 15.
TEURO, November 24, 1759.
History of settlement given by Dr. Arthur Wentworth H.
Eaton, in " Settling of Colchester County," etc., in "Trans-
actions of the Royal Society of Canada"; Third Series, Vol.
6, 1912.
WILMOT, 1764.
History given by W. A. Calnek and Judge A. W. Savary,
in "History of Annapolis County," 1877.
YARMOUTH, September 1, 1759.
History given in "History of the County of Yarmouth,"
by Rev. J. R. Campbell, 1876, pp. 200; and in "Yarmouth,
Nova Scotia. A sequel to Campbell's History," by George
S. Brown, 1888, pp. 524.*
Of especial interest is "The River St. John, Its Physical
Features, Legends, and History, from 1604 to 1784." By Rev.
William 0. Raymond, LL.D., F. R. S. C., 1910, pp. 552.
APPENDIX
The Province of Nova Scotia has eighteen counties, fourteen of which are in
the Peninsula of Nova Scotia and four in the Island of Cape Breton. Of a few
of these counties detailed Histories of great interest and value have been published ;
of others no complete Histories have been put in print, but published monographs
of value, or yet unpublished manuscripts, may be found in various quarters. Such
Histories and monographs are as follows :
ANNAPOLIS. "History of the County of Annapolis," by W. A. Calnek and
Judge A. W. Savary, 1897, pp. 660. "Supplement to the history of the County of
Annapolis," by A. W. Savary, M. A., D. C. L., 1913, pp. 142. See also "Memoir
of Governor Paul Mascarene," by J. Mascarene Hubbard, printed as a third
appendix to "Historical Records of the 4Oth Regiment," published in 1894.
ANTIGONISH. No history, far as we know, written.
COLCHESTER. History in part written by Dr. Arthur Wentworth H. Eaton,
but still chiefly in manuscript. That part relating to the settlement of the county
however, published in "The Settling of Colchester County by New England Pur-
itans and Ulster Scotsmen," in "Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada,"
Third Series, 1912, pp. 221-265. Also, "Historical and Genealogical Record of the
First Settlers of Colchester County," by Thomas Miller, 1873, pp. 400.
CUMBERLAND. Of this county no history has been written, but a valuable
monograph entitled "History of Beau Sejour," by W. C. Milner (representative
of the Dominion Archives at Halifax) was published in Coll. of the N. S. Soc.,
Vol. 15, and reprinted as "Records of Chignecto." A small volume exists entitled
"The Chicgnecto Isthmus and Its First Settlers," by Howard Trueman, pp. 268.
See also N. E. Hist, and Gen. Register, Vol. 63 (1909).
*The "thirteen old townships," commonly so called, were probably: Annapolis,
Barrington, Cornwallis, Cumberland, Falmouth, Granville, Horton, Liverpool, New-
port, Onslow, Sackville, Truro, Yarmouth.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 179
DIGBY. "A Geography and History of the County of Digby," by Isaiah W.
Wilson (1900), pp. 471.
GUYSBOROUGH. A history of this county has been written by Mrs. James
E. Hart (Harriet Cunningham Hart), which, still in manuscript, is in the custody
of the N. S. Hist. Soc.
HALIFAX. Many monographs on Halifax city will be found in the "Collections
of the Nova Scotia Historical Society," the most important being Dr. Thomas
Beamish Akins's chronicles. Of Dartmouth, Preston, and Lawrencetown, a valuable
history by Mrs. William Lawson was published in Halifax in 1893, (pp. 260). See
also "Footprints Around and about Bedford Basin," by George Mullane (reprinted
from the Acadian Recorder), pp. 49.
HANTS. The chief monograph on Hants county that has been written is
found in a series of three articles in Americana, entitled "Rhode Island Settlers
on the French Lands in Nova Scotia in 1760 and 1761." (Americana for Jan.,
Feb., and March, 1915). By Dr. Arthur Wentworth H. Eaton. See also a sketch
(bound as a small volume) by Ray Greene Huling, entitled "The Rhode Island
Emigration to Nova Scotia," 1889, pp. 49. The chief facts in this sketch are
included in Dr. Eaton's articles in Americana, and mentioned above. See also a
pamphlet by Henry Youle Hind, entitled "Old Parish Burying Ground of Windsor,
Nova Scotia," 1889, pp. 99. The chief facts in this pamphlet also are included in Dr.
Eaton's articles in Americana.
KING'S. "The History of King's County, Nova Scotia, Heart of the Acadian
Land," by Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton (the Salem Press So., Salem, Mass.,
1910), pp. 898.
LUNENBURG. "History of the County of Lunenburg," by Judge Mather Byles
DesBrisay, 2nd edition, 1895, pp. 585. Historical work of great value, it is under-
stood, is now being done in the county.
PICTOU. "History of the County of Pictou," by Rev. George Patterson, D. D.,
1877, PP- 471-
QUEENS. "History of Queen's County," by James F. More, Esq., 1873, pp. 250.
SHELBURNE. Facts in the history of Shelburne are given in Brown's "Yar-
mouth, Nova Scotia. A sequel to Campbell's History," pp. 129-131, and 134, 135.
Several articles of great value in the Collections of the Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick Historical Societies, especially one on the Loyalists of Shelburne by
the Rev. Dr. T. Watson Smith, in the 6th volume of the N. S. Hist. Coll.
YARMOUTH. "History of the County of Yarmouth," by Rev. J. R. Campbell,
1876, pp. 200. "Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. A sequel to Campbell's History," by
George S. Brown, 1888, pp. 524. "Annals of Yarmouth and Barrington, Nova
Scotia, in the Revolutionary War," by Edmund Duval Poole, 1899, pp. 133.
The above are all the counties of the Peninsula of Nova Scotia; on the four
counties of the island of Cape Breton— Cape Breton, Inverness, Richmond, and
Victoria, so far as we know little has been written except in Brown's History of
the whole island.
GENERAL HISTORICAL WORKS ON NOVA SCOTIA
"An Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia." By Thomas Chand-
ler Haliburton, Esq. 2 vols., Halifax, 1829.
"A History of Nova Scotia or Acadia." By Beamish Murdoch, Esq., Q. C.
3 vols. Halifax, 1865, 1866, 1867.
Nova Scotia in its Historical, Mercantile, and Industrial Relations. By
Duncan Campbell, Halifax, N. S., pp. 548. Published in Montreal in 1873-
244 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
army chaplains, receiving army pay. When the founding of
Halifax was projected, the Society appointed two clergymen, the
Rev. William Tutty, M. A., of Emmanuel College, Cambridge,
who had been ordained in 1737, and the Rev. William Anwyll,
B. A., a naval chaplain, of the diocese of Chester j1 and a school-
master, Mr. Edward Halhead, to accompany the expedition. To
minister to the continental French speaking people who it was
learned would follow in the wake of the English settlers, they ap-
pointed also a highly educated French clergyman, the Rev. Jean
Baptiste Moreau, who had been a Roman Catholic, and prior
of the Abbey of St. Matthew, near Brest, but had been converted
to Protestantism and received into the Church of England.2
The first ships that came from England brought Mr. Anwyll
and Mr. Moreau, and a few weeks later, probably about midsum-
mer, Mr. Tutty appeared. On the twenty-first of June, 1749,
which is regarded as the birthday of Halifax, Mr. Anwyll con-
ducted the first service on shore, undoubtedly under the open
sky, and for a little while, when the weather served, services con-
tinued to be held out doors. When Governor Cornwallis's house
was built, on the spot where the Province Building now stands,
the modest drawing-room of this official dwelling was used for
worship, but a little later, until a church building could be erected,
the rude warehouse of a certain half-pay officer, a Mr. Callendar,
who had begun some kind3 of business in the town, was engaged.
Among the first acts of the governor after he landed was to
send to Boston for the frames of two or three buildings. One of
these was his own house, another was St. Paul's Church. In a
letter to the Lords of Trade dated March nineteenth, 1750, Corn-
1. Before coming to Halifax, Mr. Tutty had been curate in a parish in Hert-
ford. For some reason, but what we do not know, very soon after the settlement of
Halifax the Society became dissatisfied with Mr. Anwyll and recalled his license for
this mission. The poor man, however, did not get away from Halifax, but died
there, and was buried February 10, 1750.
2. The Rev. Mr. Moreau's son, Cornwallis Moreau, is said to have been the
first male child of the new settlers born in Halifax. Moreau (whose name Judge
Des Brisay in his "History of Lunenburg" spells Morreau) came out in the frigate
Canning, Captain Andrew Dewar, in the first group of ships that came from Eng-
land. The French who formed his chief congregation came later, but it must have
been well understood by the S. P. G. that they were coming. Moreau preached in
Halifax first, Judge Des Brisay says, September 9, 1750.
3. In a letter to the Lords of Trade written September 16, 1750, Cornwallis says
that he had had service performed in Mr. Callendar's warehouse three times a week
for some time. Nova Scotia Archives, Vol. I.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 245
wallis writes : "I expect the frame of the church will be here
the next month from New England." The church, built of oak
and white pine, at probably the estimated cost of a thousand
pounds, the model for it being St. Peter's, Vere Street, London,
was formally opened for worship on the second of September,
1750, Mr. Tutty alone conducting the service, for before this time
Mr. Anwyll had died.
The biographers of Mr. Moreau take pains to tell us that he
could speak three languages, and from the fact that on the four-
teenth of October, 1752, this missionary writes the Society that
his congregation numbers eight hundred adults and two hundred
children, we suppose that he was able to minister to the German
speaking people in Halifax as well as the French. But the Ger-
mans, who were at least in part Lutherans of the Confession of
Augsburg, seem to have brought with them, or imported soon, a
minister of their own faith, a Mr. Burger, and pastoral work
among them seems to have been performed by him, as well as the
Rev. Mr. Tutty and the Rev. Mr. Moreau. Before long, however,
Burger was won to the Anglican Communion, and with Mr.
Tutty 's and Mr. Moreau 's and the Governor's recommendations,
sailed for England to apply for Orders. Whether, had he re-
turned, he would soon have led most of his Lutheran friends into
the Church of England we do not know, but he was probably lost
at sea on his return voyage, for the town of Halifax never saw
him again. On the eighth of June, 1753, the larger part of the
foreign settlers, both Germans and French, were removed to
Lunenburg, and with them the French clergyman Moreau.4 Af-
4. It is not easy to tell the relative number of Germans and French in Halifax
or Lunenburg. The Germans evidently greatly outnumbered the French, but among
the grantees in Lunenburg were many French names. Such for example, were
Beautillier, Bissane, Contoy, Darey, Deauphinee, Emonout, Jeanperin, Jodery, Lean-
gille, Masson, Morash, Pernette, Risser, Spannagel, Vienot, etc. The Germans were
largely from Luneburg, in Hanover, but some we believe were from Switzerland.
The French came largely from Montbeliard, the capital city of an arondissement in
the French department of Doubs. All these people were Protestants, the Germans
being divided in religion between Lutheranism and the German Reformed faith, the
French being attached to their own form of Protestantism. The latter, it would
seem, more easily conformed to the Anglican Church than the former. French Pro-
testantism as a separate religion in Lunenburg seems to have disappeared soon un-
der the influence of Mr. Moreau, Lutheranism, however, and the German Reformed
faith (although in 1837 this was transformed into Presbyterianism), have lasted
there until the present day. Mr. Moreau continued to minister in Lunenburg as an
Anglican clergyman until 1770, when he died.
246 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
ter this there were left in the town of these foreign people only
from fifteen to twenty-five families of Germans, numbering it is
probable at most not more than a hundred and fifty souls, and to
them Mr. Tutty, who had learned the German language sufficient-
ly well to preach in it, continued to minister when his duties to
his English parishioners would permit.
In 1752, two more Anglican clergymen came to Halifax, the
Rev. John Breyntori and the Rev. Dr. Thomas Wood. The first
of these was an Englishman, a graduate of Magdalene College,
Cambridge, who had been a naval chaplain for several years, the
second was a man who had been "bred to physic and surgery"
in the province of New Jersey, and had served as a surgeon to
troops at Louisburg, but from Louisburg, in 1749, had gone to
England for ordination to the priesthood of the Anglican Church.
For between two and three years after graduation, we suppose,
Dr. Wood had ministered to churches in New Brunswick and
Elizabethtown, New Jersey, but in the autumn of 1752 he came
to Halifax. His long, valuable service to the cause of religion
in Nova Scotia we cannot here take time to describe, in Halifax
and at Annapolis Royal, to the English speaking people, and to
the Micmac natives, whose language soon after coming to Nova
Scotia he took pains to learn, he gave faithful ministry until his
death at Annapolis Royal in 1778.5 Mr. Breynton came out from
England to assist Mr. Tutty at St. Paul's, but early in 1753 Mr.
Tutty went home to attend to some private business, and before
5. The following letter testimonial which Dr. Wood took with him to Eng-
land when he went there to apply for ordination throws light on Wood's history
from 1746 or '47 until June, 1749. The letter reads :
"Louisburg, 3rd June, 1749.
"This is to certify that Mr. Thomas Wood, late surgeon of the Regiment of
Kent, commanded by Capt. William Shirley, during his residence in this place,
which was for the space of two years and upwards, hath lived a sober, regular, and
blameless life, nor hath he written or maintained, as far as we know or believe,
anything contrary to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England.
"P. HOPSON,
ROBT. ELLISON,
J. J. L. BASTION.
JOHN BREYNTON."
After receiving Orders Dr. Wood probably gave up the practice of medicine and
devoted himself to the ministry, and until he came to Nova Scotia (in the autumn
°f I7S2) was S. P. G. missionary at New Brunswick and Elizabethtown in New
Jersey. See the writer's notices of him in "The Church of England in Nova Scotia
and the Tory Clergy of the Revolution" ; and Canon Vernon's "Bicentenary
Sketches" (published in Halifax in 1910).
THE REV. HENRY CANER, A. M.
Minister of King's Chapel, Boston
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 247
the year ended lie had died in his native land. Mr. Breynton was
then appointed Rector of St. Paul's, and in this position, an
active, conscientious, and useful clergyman, he ministered to the
Halifax people for thirty-two years.
The distinction of St. Paul's Church, Halifax, the parish,
which was first fully organized in 1759, and the church building,
still standing, which was erected in 1750, as the mother church
of the Anglican body in all Canada, must render this church an
object of distinction in the thought of all the generations to come.
The church has a further distinction in that its deed of endow-
ment, dated January fourth, 1760, describes it as a " Royal Foun-
dation and of Exempt Jurisdiction," which means that it is, from
its peculiar foundation, not subject to the jurisdiction of the
bishop, since its authorization was directly by the King or by a
subject especially commissioned by him.6 When St. Paul's was
established, the nearest Anglican parishes to it, besides whatever
of a parish existed at Annapolis Royal, were : the Queen 's Chapel
at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, whose rector was Arthur
Browne; St. Paul's Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts, whose
rector was Matthias Plant; St. Michael 's,Marblehead, whose rec-
tor was Alexander Malcolm; St. Paul's, Salem, whose rector was
William McGilchrist ; the King's Chapel, at Boston, where Dr.
Henry Caner was the chief clergyman; Christ Church, Boston,
whose minister was Dr. Timothy Cutler; and Trinity Church,
Boston, the rector of which was the Rev. William Hooper. In
December, 1755, Mr. Breynton informs the Society that the
church building "is completely finished without, and makes a
very handsome appearance, and is aisled and plastered within
and pewed after a rough manner by the inhabitants." Five
years later he writes : ' ' The church at Halifax ( called St. Paul 's )
is almost finished in a neat and elegant manner;" which state-
ment of course refers chiefly to the interior of the building.
Concerning the progress of the parish of St. Paul's in the
earliest years of its history we have much information. Its
boundaries for a good while were coterminous with those of the
6. See an interesting note on this subject by the present Rector of St. Paul's,
Ven. Archdeacon Armitage, Ph.D., in the parish year book for 1910.
248 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
town, and as the general population increased or diminished the
duties of its rectors and curates became greater or less. The
presence of the military, in larger or smaller numbers of course
added vastly to the responsibility and the labours of the busy
clergy, for although, at least after the Revolution, a special gar-
rison chaplain nominally ministered to the troops, the regiments
in great part, and until a spacious garrison chapel was built in
1846, the chief military and naval officers, must have regarded
St. Paul's as their proper religious home. In October, 1750, Mr.
Tutty writes the Society that the civilian population of Halifax
then numbers four thousand, but in July of the next year he places
it at about six thousand. In June, 1753, as we have seen, a large
part of the French and German settlers and some few English
were removed permanently to Lunenburg, and this with the
exodus of many of the less desirable English who had come
with Cornwallis, to other parts of the continent, so reduced the
population that in December, 1755, Mr. Breynton writes the So-
ciety that the town has then but thirteen hundred civilians. Of
these thirteen hundred the rector claims eight hundred as adher-
ents of the Anglican Church.
If Mr. Tutty 's estimate of the population in the two successive
years, 1750 and 1751, is correct, between these two dates some
two thousand persons must have arrived from abroad, and from
New England to join their countrymen who had come from Louis-
burg or directly from Boston in 1749.7 These New Englanders
7. In the Boston Gazette of August i, 1749, appears the following : "We learn
by the latest Accounts from Chebucta that his Excellency Governor Cornwallis hath
appointed a new Council to assist in the civil Government of that Infant Settlement,
most of the old Council being left out (as we learn) on Account of their Distance
from that place, as Chebucta is now to be the Metropolis." In the issue of the same
paper of August 15, 1749, appears an advertisement for carpenters to go to Che-
bucta. Persons desirous to go are directed to apply to Charles Apthorp and Thomas
Hancock. The passage of men will be paid and provisions found for them at the
government's expense.
In the issue of August 15, appears an advertisement for settlers for Halifax. All
persons will be welcome that have been in His Majesty's service by sea or land, and
"all tradesmen, artificers, and fishermen who have a mind to go." New England
settlers "will be on the same footing and have the same encouragement as those
who come from England." The advertisement is inserted by Messrs. Apthorp
and Hancock, by Governor Cornwallis" s orders. Another advertisement to the same
effect appears in the issue of August 29.
The issue of October loth contains an extract from a letter from a gentleman
in Halifax saying that the day the letter was written, "Governor Cornwallis to our
great joy came on Shoar from the Beaufort under the discharge of near a hundred
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 249
with a few exceptions were Congregationalists, who had been
reared in Boston Congregational churches, and as we should ex-
pect and hope, preferring their own religious organization and
mode of worship to the Anglican, they soon took measures to
establish a Congregational Church. In a communication to the
Boston Weekly Neivs Letter of April twelfth, 1750, a Halifax cor-
respondent whose name is not given says : " We shall soon have
a large church erected, and for the encouragement of Protestant
Dissenters a handsome lot is laid out for a Meeting-House and
another for a Minister, in a very pleasing situation. ' ' In another
letter in the same newspaper, probably the same correspondent
writes : ' ' Yesterday the Governor laid the Corner Stone of the
Church [St. Paul's] which is now building, and which I believe
will be the handsomest in America. And as soon as we can get a
Dissenting minister settled here we shall have a handsome Meet-
ing-House with a good Dwelling-House for the Minister, built
at the Public Expense. I have subscribed to the support of Mr.
Cleveland for two months, as have the Governor and most gentle-
men here ; and I believe we have Dissenters enough here at pres-
ent for four ministers."8
In June, 1750, the Congregationalists called a young New Eng-
land minister, Rev. Aaron Cleveland, a graduate of Harvard, of
whom we have already spoken, to minister to their spiritual
needs, and the liberal spirit of Anglican Colonial churchmanship
in that day is commendably shown in the fact that until a Con-
gregational meeting-house was built, this being probably from
one to three years later than the call to Mr. Cleveland, the whole
Congregational community, and no doubt their pastor, worship-
ped comfortably at St. Paul's on Sunday forenoons, while in the
afternoons they were hospitably given the use of the church for
Cannon from the Ships in the Harbour to reside in his own House, which now
makes a very pretty Appearance."
In the issue of January 30, 1750, announcement is made that the sloop Endeav-
our, John Homer, master, lying at Long Wharf, will take freight or people to Hali-
fax. March 13, 1750, a similar announcement is made regarding the schooner
Wealthy, Joseph Rose, master. April 24, 1750, a similar announcement is made re-
garding the brig Dolphin, Ebenezer Rockwell, master, lying at Hought's wharf, in
the North End. (In the last chapter we should have given William Lawson and his
family, five persons, as living in the South Suburbs of Halifax in I752)-
8. This is quoted in the writer's "The Church of England in Nova Scotia and
the Tory Clergy of the Revolution," p. 272.
250 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
their own non-liturgical service. In July, 1751, Mr. Tutty writes
the Society : ' ' There is perfect harmony between the Church of
England and the Dissenters;" even the most "biggotted" of
whom, he says, "seldom fail to come to church every Sunday
morning."
The history of St. Paul's Church has been interestingly
sketched for us by the Reverend Dr. George Hill in an early
volume of the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society,
the history of "Mather's" Congregational Church, by Professor
Walter Murray, in a late volume of these Collections. On the
registers of these churches, which fortunately are well preserved,
will be found most of the names of the early settlers of Halifax
of British or American birth, for until the introduction of Wes-
leyanism in 1781-1785, the Protestant people of Halifax, except
the foreigners in the North End, belonged for the most part to
one of these two churches.9
Of the moral and spiritual condition of the people of Halifax
generally in the forty years between 1750 and 1790, in spite of
the enthusiastic local support which the two chief churches re-
ceived, we find a great many depressing accounts. One of the
more thoughtful New Englanders in the town wrote the Eev. Dr.
g. In 1786, shortly after his removal from Amherst to Halifax, the Rev. Wil-
liam Black, the noted Wesleyan missionary, wrote : "There is [in Halifax] one
large English Church, one small Dutch Church, one Presbyterian Meeting House,
one R. C. Chapel, one of Sandemanians, and one of the followers of Swedenborg;
together with a few of Lady Huntingdon's Society, and a great swarm of Infidels."
Rev. Dr. T. Watson Smith's History of the Methodist Church within the Territor-
ies embraced in the late Conference of Eastern British America (2 vols. Halifax,
Toronto, and Montreal, 1890. Vol. i, p. 173). Of the "Dutch Church" of which
Mr. Black writes we shall give the history later, but of any Swedenborgian chapel we
have no knowledge at all. Of the introduction of Roman Catholicism into Halifax,
Dr. Thomas B. Akins says : "The Penal Statutes [against Roman Catholics] had
been repealed in 1783. The Roman Catholics in the town, chiefly emigrants from
Ireland, having become numerous, purchased a piece of ground in Barrington
Street, where they built a Chapel, which was dedicated to St. Peter. The frame was
erected on the rgth of July, 1784, and many of the inhabitants, both Protestants and
Roman Catholics, attended the ceremony. This building stood in from the street,
directly opposite the head of Salter Street. It was painted red, with a steeple at the
western end." Coll. of the N. S. His. Soc., Vol. 8, p. 86.
A sketch of the history of the Church of England in Nova Scotia by Dr.
Thomas B. Akins, published in Halifax somewhere about the middle of the nine-
teenth century; Eaton's "The Church of England in Nova Scotia and the Tory
Clery of the Revolution," published in New York in 1891 ; and "Bicentenary Sketches
and Early Days of the Church in Nova Scotia," by Canon C. W. Vernon, published
in Halifax in 1910, are other sources to be appealed to for information concerning
St. Paul's Church. Many of the most important facts for the history of the church
are naturally to be found in the first instance in the Reports of the S. P. G.
THE REV. GEORGE WILLIAM HILL, D. C. L.
Fifth Rector of St. Paul's Church, Halifax, 1865-1885
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 251
Ezra Stiles, the well known Puritan divine, laconically in 1760 :
"The business of one-half the town is to sell rum, the other half
to drink it. You may from this simple circumstance judge of our
morals, and infer that we are not enthusiasts in religion." "Un-
happily," writes the Rev. Dr. Hill in his Life of Sir Brenton Hal-
liburton, speaking of the time immediately subsequent to the Rev-
olution, ' ' these days were eminently irreligious days. The laxity
of sentiment and the disregard to the doctrine and precepts of
the Gospel were painfully manifest. Noble exceptions there
were, bright spots amid the murky clouds, refreshing cases in
the desert. But the testimony left on record by those whose
opinions is worthy of trust is that religion was treated with indif-
ference by the many, with scorn by some, and with reverence but
by few. To cite none others, the first Bishop of the Diocese was
so impressed with the fearful condition of the community, the
general tone of society, and the debasing tendency of the opinions
prevailing, that he wrote a letter to some in high places, which is
still extant, bewailing in no measured terms the terrible degen-
eracy of the day, and urging that some step should be taken to
erect barriers against that impetuous torrent, which threatened
to overwhelm religion and morality."10 In June, 1781, the Wes-
leyan minister, Rev. William Black, preached for two days in
Halifax. His sermons fell, he says, on stupid ears, "few seemed
to care for their souls. There was scarce the shadow of religion
to be seen."
Services, nevertheless, in the two churches went regularly on,
and there is almost unvarying testimony to the faithfulness to
his ministry of the Rev. Dr. Breynton of St. Paul's. In the
ministry of Mather's Church the Rev. Aaron Cleveland remained
only until the summer of 1754, then, like the German minister
Burger, he became enamored of Anglicanism and going to Eng-
land was ordained a priest. After his resignation the Congre-
gationalists, for what reason we do not know, suffered them-
selves to go without a settled minister for almost, if not quite, the
space of fifteen years. During this time they were ministered
to by a succession of either Congregational or Scotch Presbyte-
10. "Memoir of Sir Brenton Halliburton," by Rev. Dr. George W. Hill, p. 62.
252 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
rian clergymen, who seem for the most part if not wholly to
have served merely as longer or shorter but still temporary ' ' sup-
plies." Before the end of the eighteenth century, Mather's Con-
gregational Church, owing to a variety of causes, chiefly the in-
coming to Halifax of Scottish settlers, the political separation
between Nova Scotia and New England occasioned by the War
of the Revolution, and very likely the permanent attachment of
themselves of a good many of the Congregational families to St.
Paul's, had become frankly a Scotch Presbyterian Church of the
order of the Established Church of Scotland, its old name being
changed to ' * St. Matthew's, ' ' the name it still bears.
A notable religious service in St. Paul's in the earliest years
of this church's history was an event to which we have already
alluded, the inauguration of Mr. Jonathan Belcher as the first
Chief-Justice of Nova Scotia, on Monday, the twenty-first of Oc-
tober, 1753. After Mr. Belcher had taken the oaths of his high
office, and a reception and breakfast had been given him at the
Great Pontac inn, in his scarlet robes, accompanied by Lieuten-
ant-Governor Lawrence and the other chief public and private
men of the town, the Chief -Justice, with his commission carried
before him, proceeded to the church. There, to a deeply im-
pressed congregation Mr. Breynton preached from the declara-
tion of the "wise woman" in Second Samuel,11 "I am one of
them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel." A few years
later, on Tuesday, the seventeenth of February, 1761, at eleven
o 'clock in the forenoon, the president and members of the Coun-
cil, the officers of the army, and the "chief inhabitants," dressed
in mourning, went in procession from Government House to St.
Paul's to observe the recent death of King George the Second.
To memorialize the sad event the pulpit, reading-desk, and gover-
nor's pew were hung with black, and while the prayers were be-
ing said and the sermon preached, minute guns were fired from
the fortifications of the town.
By 1766, the Rev. Thomas Wood had become sufficiently skilled
in Micmac to conduct service and preach to the native Indians
in their own language. On a certain Sunday in July, 1766, he
ii. 2d Samuel 20:19.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 253
gathered a large number of the red men into St. Paul 's, and there
in the presence of Lord William Campbell, the governor, most of
the officers of the army and navy, and the leading citizens, said
the prayers of the church and preached to these people of the
woods. Before the service the Indians sang an anthem, and then,
it is said, a chief came forward and kneeling down prayed that
God would bless his Majesty, King George the Third, "their law-
ful king and governor," Mr. Wood at the close of his prayer
interpreting it to the white congregation. The natives now sang
a second anthem, and at the end of the whole service "thanked
God, the Governor, and Mr. Wood for the opportunity they had
had of hearing prayer in their own tongue. ' '
The arrival at Halifax with Howe 's fleet in the spring of 1776
of the Boston Loyalists was a highly important event in the
progress of St. Paul 's Church, as it was of course in the general
progress of the town. The larger proportion of the refugees who
settled in the town were either Episcopalians or had no unwilling-
ness to become so, although a good many of the most ardent Bos-
ton Tories were people who had been reared in the Congrega-
tional faith. Of any special activity on behalf of these new-com-
ers to Halifax shown by the then Presbyterian pastor of Math-
er's Church, we are not informed, but Dr. Breynton (for in 1770
in England this clergyman had received an honorary doctorate
in divinity) was indefatigable in his attention to the Loyalists 's
needs. The responsibility of finding adequate shelter on shore
for those who wanted to leave the cramped ships made it neces-
sary to set up canvas tents on the Parade in front of the church,
and these not being adequate, and every house being taxed to its
utmost to give people shelter, Dr. Breynton, we believe, ordered
St. Paul's to be opened for a short time to give those who could
not find accommodation elsewhere a covered place to sleep.
Of the Loyalists who remained permanently in the town, as a
very considerable number did, the DeBloises, who had come from
Salem in 1775, the Blowereses, Brattles, Brinleys, Byleses, Cof-
fins, Cunninghams, Gays, Halliburtons, Hutchinsons, Lovells,
Lydes, Eobies, Snellings, Sternses, Wentworths, Winslows, and
others, all connected themselves with St. Paul's. "Two letters
have been received in the course of the year, ' ' says the secretary
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in his report for
1776, "from the Society's very worthy missionary the Rev. Dr.
Breynton, lamenting the unhappy situation of affairs in America ;
in consequence of which many wealthy and loyal families have
quitted New England, and in hopes of a safe retreat have taken
up their residence in Halifax, thereby becoming a great acquisi-
tion to the province, and a considerable addition to his congre-
gation. For many of them, though Dissenters in New England,
have constantly attended the services of the church since their
arrival at Halifax."12 And in his report for the next year, 1777,
Jie says : ' ' Three letters have been received from the Rev. Dr.
Breynton, acquainting the Society that the number of inhabitants
(which usually amounts to five thousand) is greatly increased
in that mission ; as it hath been for some time the only asylum
for loyalists ; and many of these refugees, from being rigid Dis-
senters, were become regular communicants."
The appearance St. Paul's congregation must have presented
on Sundays, after the Revolution had passed and Halifax with
its population increased with a good deal of the best blood and
breeding of Boston had settled into something like quiet ways,
we may easily picture to ourselves. The Rev. Henry Wilder
Foote in his History of King's Chapel has given us alluring
glimpses of the outward brilliancy of the pre-Revolutionary con-
gregation that on Sundays thronged that historic church. In
an earlier chapter we have quoted exactly much of Mr. Foote 's
description of the scene King's Chapel commonly presented. At
the time of service, chariots with liveried black coachmen and
footmen (for most of Boston's pre-Revolutionary aristocrats
kept slaves) would be seen rolling up to the church door on
Tremont street, bearing fine gentlemen merchants or judges or
councillors or other officers of the Crown, in powdered wigs and
rich brocaded waistcoats and lace ruffles and velvet knee-breeches
and swords and gold or silver buckled shoes. Beside them would
be their wives and daughters, only slightly more magnificent than
12. The report goes on to say: "The peculiar situation of those unhappy fugi-
tives, who had been obliged to leave their friends, part of their families, and most
of their substance behind them, justly claimed all his [Dr. Breynton's] attention; and
from a principle of duty he hath exerted himself in a singular manner to soften
and alleviate their banishment by every civility and consolation in his power."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 255
the men, the heavy silks or satins in which they were arrayed
rustling stiffly or hanging in rich folds as they passed from their
carriages into the church. From their necks and elbows rare
lace would be falling, on their heads would rest plumed bon-
nets of great elegance, surmounting their high-dressed coiffures.
In the Governor's raised pew, on the School Street side of the
church, with its red curtains and canopy-roof Would be seen the
chief representative in the province of royalty, in brave uniform,
some visiting titled Englishman or British army officer of rank,
in red tunic, gold lace, and epaulets, very likely sitting beside
him. In various pews along the middle and side aisles would be
the families who composed the most important set of the local
aristocracy, the James Apthorps, Robert Auchmutys, Thomas
Brinleys, Gilbert and Lewis DeBloises, George Ervings, Sylves-
ter Gardiners, Robert Hallowells, John Jeffries', Richard Lech-
meres, Charles Paxtons, Isaac Royalls, John and William Vas-
salls, and Samuel Wentworths.13
After the Revolution St. Paul's congregation was permanently
enriched by not a few of the same people who had frequently, if
not regularly, worshipped at King's Chapel. But from the first,
the St. Paul's congregation had embraced the chief aristocracy of
the town. Governors, lieutenant-governors, provincial secretar-
ies, the chief-justice, most if not all of the members of council ;
and as well, the officers of the army and navy in their brilliant
uniforms, had habitually worshipped in the church. The English
settlers who came with Cornwallis were, we presume, all An-
glican Churchmen, but a considerable number of the pre-Revolu-
tionary Bostonians who migrated thither, even though they had
been reared Congregationalists, soon identified themselves with
the parish of St. Paul 's. Chief Justice Belcher, for example, be-
longed to a family whose principal place of worship in Boston
was the Old South Church, but he, no doubt in England, had
13. See the plan of the pews of King's Chapel and their owners in 1775, "An-
nals of King's Chapel," Vol. 2, p. 328. James Apthorp had pew 75, Judge Robert
Auchmuty pew 25, Thomas Brinley pew 79, Gilbert DeBlois pew 72, Dr. Sylvester
Gardiner pews 7 and 8, Robert Hallowell, pew 29, Richard Lechmere pew 82, Charles
Paxton pew 4, Isaac Royall pew 10, John Vassall pew 76, William Vassall pew 109,
and Samuel Wentworth pew 9, all on the middle isle. Lewis DeBlois had pew 66,
George Erving pew 65, and Dr. John Jeffries pew 67, all on the left aisle. The
canopied state pew was of course on the right aisle. Almost all these owners of
pews mentioned were on Howe's fleet, but almost all went to England, from Halifax.
256 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
adopted the Anglican faith. In Boston, after his Halifax life be-
gan, he married at King's Chapel, his wife, Abigail Allen, and
until the last member of the Chief Justice 's family disappeared
from Halifax the Belchers were devoted members of St. Paul's.
The Binney family, which gave the fourth bishop to the diocese
of Nova Scotia, was another of the Massachusetts Puritan fami-
lies that in Halifax conformed to Episcopacy. Joseph Gerrish
was reared a Congregationalist, though his wife was a Brenton
of Newport and an Episcopalian, and he, too, naturally con-
nected himself with St. Paul's.14
Of other New England settlers in Halifax, Judge James Bren-
ton, a Rhode Islander, not a Massachusetts man, a brother of
Mrs. Gerrish, had been reared in Trinity Church, Newport ; Miss
Mary Cradock (who must have been visiting in Halifax before
her marriage took place), the second wife of Hon. Joseph Ger-
rish, was a daughter of George Cradock, one of the early prom-
inent supporters of King's Chapel; James Monk (probably an.
Englishman by birth) and his family had belonged to the same
church; the elder Charles Morris, although of a Congregational
family, had married a daughter of John Read, who was likewise
a supporter of King's Chapel ; and the Newtons also were sprung
from a notable founder of this historic parish.
After the Revolution, we find in the St. Paul's congregation
such familiar Loyalist names as Blowers, Brinley, Brown, Byles,
Clarke, Coffin, DeBlois, Gay, Halliburton, Hutchinson, Lynch,
Pryor, Robie, Snelling, Sterns, Stewart, Tremain, Wentworth
and Winslow. A dignified and w'ell-bred throng indeed, it was.
that trod the church aisles every Sunday when the Revolution
was past, performing their devotions with reverence within the
now ancient walls. As great Wealth as that of the King's Chapel
Faneuils and Royalls and Vassalls the St. Paul's congregation
14. It is uncertain to us whether Benjamin Gerrish and his wife Rebecca Dud-
ley (daughter of Hon. William Dudley of Roxbury) were in Halifax chiefly Epis-
copalians or Congregationalists. Joseph Fairbanks was connected with St. Paul's,
though the Fairbanks family generally in later generations were identified with St.
Matthew's. Such families as the Lawlors, and probably the Kurds and others,
though previously Congregationalists, in Halifax belonged to St. Paul's. The
Fillises and Salters, however, prominent Boston-Halifax people, seem never to have
conformed to Episcopacy. The persistently evangelical character of St. Paul's to the
present day may very well be due to the strong Congregational, moderate Calvin-
istic, influence of a large part of its early congregation.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 257
perhaps never had, but Halifax has usually had a rather remark-
able share of business prosperity and incomes have frequently
been sufficiently large to afford of a good deal of luxury. Espe-
cially after the Wentworths were established at Government
House and the Duke of Kent was in residence in or near the
town, expensive modes of living and a great deal of elegant
display seem to have been characteristic of the town's social life.
Writing of Halifax in the first quarter of the nineteenth century,
Dr. Thomas B. Akins says: "Sunday presented a gay scene in
Halifax in those days. There being then no garrison chapel for
the troops, the regiments in garrison preceded by their bands
playing, marched in full dress to St. Paul's and St. George's
churches, amid the ringing of bells and the sound of martial mu-
sic. The carriage of the Governor (who was then always a gen-
eral officer) bearing his Excellency in full military costume, with
his aids-de-camp, drove up to the south door of St. Paul's, the
whole staff having first assembled under the portico, which then
ran along the southern end of the church. His Excellency, fol-
lowed by a brilliant display of gold lace and feathers, the clank
of sabres and spurs, and the shaking of plumed hats of officers,
many of whom were accompanied by their ladies, on entering the
church presented a most brilliant spectacle. All this was fol-
lowed by the old Chief Justice Blowers in his coach and livery,
the carriage of the Admiral, and the equipages of the several
members of the Council.
* ' All being seated in the bodv of the church, full of fashion and
CJ **
dress, the peal of the organ began to be heard, and the clergy
in surplices and hoods (he who was about to preach, however,
always in the black gown) moved from the vestry up the east
side aisle to the pulpit, preceded by a beadle in drab and gold
lace, carrying a large silver headed mace, who after the clergy
had taken their seats deliberately walked down the aisle again
to the vestry with the mace over his shoulder. . . . The ser-
mon in the morning being concluded, the troops marched back to
the barracks, and the General and Staff returned to Government
House." After luncheon, Dr. Akins says, at three o'clock, the
General, attended as in the morning, always reviewed the troops
on the Common.
258 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
In St. Paul 's all the brilliant weddings of Halifax in early days
took place, many of these being of Halifax girls of directly Brit-
ish or New England stock to young army or navy officers, not
rarely men expecting some day to inherit titles. Of imposing
funerals, too, there are many on record in the church's annals.
One of the earliest of these, a funeral of solemn state, was of
Governor Charles Lawrence, the next governor but one to Colonel
Cornwallis, who died on the eleventh of October, 1760, and was
buried beneath the church. In May, 1766, another governor's
obsequies were held here, this governor being the Honorable Col-
onel Montague Wilmot, whose immediate successor in the gover-
norship was Lord William Campbell, youngest son of the fourth
Duke of Argyle. In November, 1791, Governor John Parr's
funeral was held here, and in 1820, Sir John Wentworth's; and
besides these were Chief Justice Belcher's in 1776, Hon. Michael
Francklin's in 1782, Chief Justice Finucane's in 1785, Bishop
Charles Inglis 's in 1816, Chief Justice Sampson Salter Blowers 's
in 1842, and Chief Justice Sir Brenton Halliburton 's in 1860.
The funerals also of all the Boston Loyalists who died in Hali-
fax probably without exception took place in the church, —
General William Brattle 's, TheophilusLillie 's, and Byfield Lyde 's
in 1776, John Lovell, the "Boston Tory Schoolmaster's," in
1778, Col. Jonathan Snelling's in 1782, Christopher Minot's in
1783, Jeremiah Dummer Rogers 's and Edward Winslow, Sr.'s, in
1784, Jonathan Sterns 's in 1798, Judge Foster Hutchinson, Sr.'s,
in 1799, George Brinley's in 1809, and Archibald Cunningham's
in 1820. Of Mr. Edward Winslow 's funeral in June, 1784, we
have a minute description, probably first given in a Halifax
newspaper of the time. From wherever Mr. Winslow died, to the
church, as we suppose, and afterwards to the cemetery on Pleas-
ant street, the procession moved. First, in it, came probably
the two officiating clergymen, the Rev. Dr. Breynton and the
Rev. Joshua Wingate Weeks. Then came six pall-bearers, —
Mr. John Wentworth (not yet a baronet) and beside him the
Lieutenant-Governor of the province, General Edmund Fanning,
both fellow-Loyalists of the deceased; Hon. Arthur Goold and
Brigadier-General John Small; and Judge Foster Hutchinson,
Sr., and Henry Lloyd, Esq. Next came the body of Mr. Winslow,
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 259
probably in a hearse rather than on a gun-carriage, followed by
Colonel Edward Winslow, Jr., his son, and possibly other rela-
tives, and by the family servants "in deep mourning." Then
walked in pairs, Sampson Salter Blowers and William Taylor,
Esquires; their Excellencies Governor Parr and the General of
the Forces ; Gregory Townsend, Esq., and Lieutenant Hailes of
the 38th Grenadiers ; William Coffin, Esq., and Captain Morrice
Robinson ; Rev. Dr. Mather Byles and Captain Addenbrooke ; and
the Governor's aid-de-camp and Lieutenant Gordon, major of
brigade. After these gentlemen walked the members of Council
"a number of respectable inhabitants," and many gentlemen of
the army and navy. The services in the church and at the grave
were divided between the clergymen mentioned first.
The extraordinary brilliancy which the presence of Imperial
troops in large numbers, and throughout the summers when war-
ships were in the harbour, of naval officers and men, gave Hali-
fax, almost from its founding until late in the nineteenth century,
can not easily be exaggerated. Halifax was for many years before
the Imperial troops were withdrawn and the "Dockyard" was
virtually closed, the chief military and naval base for Great
Britain on the Atlantic seaboard of the American continent, and
as such it rejoiced in the presence in successive years of a large
number of the crack regiments of the British army and of many
of the noblest ships of the British war-fleet. In the general out-
ward brilliancy of the town on this account, St. Paul's Church, of
course, to a very large extent shared. For ninety-six years, until
the Garrison Chapel, in the North End was opened in 1846, St.
Paul's, as we have said, was undoubtedly the chief place of wor-
ship for both the army and the navy, and the services there must
constantly have been enriched by magnificent displays of military
and naval uniforms, and enlivened by the music performed by
detachments of the best regimental bands. After the Garrison
Chapel was built the British troops for the most part worshipped
there, and no similar scene on the American continent could
ever have been more thrilling than the movement of troops with
their bands playing on Sunday mornings, in the church parade,
from the several parts of the town where they were in barracks
to the great church where they were to say their prayers and sing
?6o THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
hymns.15 At St. Paul's, for many years before, the spectacle must
have been equally fine, and here in larger numbers than in the
later Garrison Church were mingled with the troops the dignified
and cultured citizens of Halifax who represented the town's and
indeed the province of Nova Scotia's most aristocratic social life.
"The first British infantry regiments to attend St. Paul's" says
Dr. Armitage, "were Hopson's 40th and Warburton's 45th, and
the first corps of artillery, a detachment of the Eoyal Train of
Artillery in the year 1750." "In the years from 1755 to 1760,"
he adds, ' ' there were as many as twelve thousand troops, sailors,
and marines, in Halifax under famous admirals and captains,
notably Holborne, Boscawen, Howe, Saunders, Warren, and Col-
ville, and generals, Lord Lodoun, Lord Dundonald, General Am-
herst, and General Wolfe." During the war of the Revolution
there were several famous regiments here, ' l notably the 33rd, the
28th, the 69th, the Orange Bangers, and the 82nd, in which Sir
John Moore, the hero of Corunna, was captain. From the close
of the Revolution until 1846, St. Paul's was the chief place of
worship of a multitude of regiments, not a few of them among
the most renowned in the Imperial service. And not only the
line regiments, but the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers
found their church home here. ' l Representatives of nearly every
prominent family in the United Kingdom and Ireland have
through our long connection with the Army and Navy, ' ' says Dr.
Armitage, "worshipped in St. Paul's Church."16
After the removal of their fellow countrymen to Lunenburg
in 1753, the few families of Germans who remained in the North
End of Halifax, while welcoming the ministrations which the
clergy of St. Paul's were able to give them, still persevered in
their allegiance to the Lutheran faith. By 1758, their humble but
determined efforts resulted in the building of a simple church,
15. On two or three occasions not long before the Garrison Chapel was closed
the writer had the unusual experience of preaching to the troops there, and he
can never forget the thrill the music gave him as the bands of the various detach-
ments of soldiers approached the church, nor the uplift of the scene as he looked
down from the high pulpit into the faces of the great soldier audience. The sing-
ing of the men, too, was stirring beyond description.
16. The quotations we have given from Archdeacon Armitage will be found in
St. Paul's Year Book for 1910. The list of regiments he gives (on pages 50-52) as
having worshipped in St. Paul's he says were furnished him by Messrs. Harry
Piers and Arthur Fenerty.
26 1
they named St. George's, where in the absence of a minister their
schoolmaster every Sunday read a sermon and some prayers,
while the congregation with true piety joined in singing their na-
tive German hymns. On the fourth Sunday in Advent, 1758, they
organized a church, but they were then and always dependent
upon the priests of St. Paul's to administer to them the Holy
Communion and give such other ministration as according to the
rules of their church laymen could not properly give. At the
opening service in St. George's the sermon was preached in Ger-
man by a Mr. Slater, a visiting English army chaplain, his
double text being Isaiah 48 :17, 18, and Hosea 9 :12. The conse-
cration of the church, however, did not take place until March,
1760, when Dr. Breynton was the chief if not the only officiating
clergyman. At last after New York was evacuated in the Revo-
lution, an educated German Loyalist clergyman, Rev. Ber-
nard Michael Houseal, who had for over ten years been
pastor of a Lutheran church in New York, came to the
town, and possibly raised hopes in the hearts of the faithful
Lutherans that he would remain and minister to them in their
own way. It seems likely that he did so minister for a few
months, but by 1785 he, like Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Burger, had
gone over to Anglicanism, and as an Anglican priest in that year
he came back to this German parish in the North End. The par-
ish now, whether with the approval of the entire congregation or
not, became absorbed by the Church of England. On the 10th of
April, 1800, the corner stone of the present Anglican St. George 's
Church, the ' ' Round Church, ' ' was laid, the Duke of Kent per-
forming this office. In the midst of the graves of the early Ger-
man Christians in Halifax, the little "Chicken-Cock Church," as
it is familiarly called, the first St. George's, in which these
foreigners worshipped, still stands, a monument to the earnest
piety and persistent energy of the little emigrant band, whose
characteristic religious confidence was expressed often in the
great Luther's hymn they sang, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott.
The Rev. Bernard Michael Houseal died in Halifax on the ninth
of March, 1799.
Of the chief minister of St. Paul's throughout the most pic-
turesque period of this church's history, the period which
262 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
covers the whole time of the Revolution and a few
years beyond, some further account must here be giv-
en. The Rev. John Breynton was born in Montgomeryshire,
Wales, probably about 1718, received his early schooling some-
where in Shropshire, at nineteen entered Magdalene College, Cam-
bridge, and from this university in 1741 received his bachelor's
degree. In 1742 he was ordained and became chaplain in the
navy, and for several years thereafter he officiated on the war-
ships Robust, Nonsuch, and Chatham. In one of these ships or
some other of Sir Peter Warren's fleet, in 1745 he came to the
first siege of Louisburg, and it would seem that he remained there
for four years. At any rate he was there in June, 1749, for on
the third of that month he signed at Louisburg a testimonial to
the good character of the Rev. Thomas Wood. In 1752 he was
sent to assist Mr. Tutty at Halifax, and the following year, as we
have seen, he became rector of St. Paul's,17 In this capacity he
laboured faithfully in Halifax until 1785, when he returned to
England, possibly in a somewhat uncertain state of mind as to
whether he would ever come back to his charge, but desiring to
keep the St. Paul's rectorship still. It is said that at one time,
we suppose during a visit he made to England in 1770 and 1771,
he was made chaplain extraordinary to Queen Charlotte, and that
he preached before her in German, which language he had
learned after he was forty years old. After 1785 he never re-
turned to Halifax, but he kept the rectorship of St. Paul's until
1791. His death took place in London on the fifteenth of July,
1799. On the sixth of April, 1770, he received from Oxford Uni-
versity the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Precisely when Dr. Breynton married first we do not know, but
it was probably just before he came as curate to Halifax. His
wife's first name was Elizabeth, but of her family name we are
ignorant. She died at Halifax September thirteenth, 1778, and
17. "St. Paul's Sunday School," says Ven. Dr. Armitage, the present Rector of
St. Paul's Church, "was founded by Rev. Dr. Breynton about 1783. It is one of the
oldest Sunday Schools with a continuous existence in the world, and is today the
largest in the Maritime Provinces. Its foundation was only a year or so later than
the work of Raikes, the founder of Sunday Schools at Gloucester, England, 1780.
The movement obtained a footing in the United States only in 1791, when Sunday
Schools were inaugurated at Philadelphia under the leadership of Bishop White."
Year Book of St. Paul's Church for 1910.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 263
was buried from St. Paul's, September fifteenth. Between 1753
and 1768, she bore seven or eight children. Dr. Breynton mar-
ried, secondly, in Halifax, on the sixth of September, 1779, the
widow of Hon. Joseph Gerrish, a member of the Council, one of
the Boston pre-Revolutionary settlers in the town. Mrs. Gerrish
was originally Mary Cradock, of Boston, and she was the Hon.
Joseph Gerrish 's second wife.18
Dr. Breynton has passed into Nova Scotia history as an
earnest, faithful clergyman and a sympathetic, kindly Christian
man. Chief Justice Jonathan Belcher lived, of course, in very
close relations with him, and this eminent parishioner of his,
pronounces him a man of ' ' perfect good acceptance ' ' in the com-
munity, "indefatigable labors," "experienced assiduity," and
great moderation. * ' He was, ' ' says Dr. Hill, ' ' the personal friend
and counsellor of the successive Governors and Lieutenant Gov-
ernors, the associate and adviser of all others in authority, the
friend and helper of the poor, the sick, and afflicted, and the pro-
moter and supervisor of education." He tried to promote the
18. The second Mrs. Breynton, who was the eldest daughter of Hon. George
and Mary (Lyde) Cradock of Boston, was born May 18, 1723. She had sisters,
Elizabeth, wife of Hon. Thomas Brinley, a refugee with Howe's fleet (who was a
first cousin of his wife) ; Catherine, married to Nathaniel Brinley of Boston, Natick,
and Tyngsborough, Mass. ; and Miss Sarah Cradock of Boston, who made her will
July 10, 1798, and in it mentioned Dr. and Mrs. Breynton. Sept. 21, 1791, Dr. Breyn-
ton and his wife Mary, Elizabeth Brinley, widow, and Sarah Cradock, spinster, "all
of Edgeware Road in the parish of Marybone, Co. of Middlesex," England, sold a
certain property in Boston to Nathaniel Brinley and his wife Catharine, for five
pounds.
Many of the intimate details of Dr. Breynton's life we have received from
Miss Beatrice Hurst of H'orsham Park, Sussex, England, one of his
descendants. Miss Hurst gives Trefeglawys, Montgomeryshire, as the place
of her ancestor's birth, and says that he went to some school or schools, she does not
know what, in Shropshire. His mother, "old Mrs. Breynton," died at Trefeglawys
in the spring of 1779, aged at least eighty-three. In a list of English ships at the
first siege of Louisburg given by Mr. C. Ochiltree Macdonald in his book ''The Last
Siege of Louisburg" (p. 10), the Robust Nonsuch, and Chatham do not appear.
Neither, however, does the Eesham, which we know was there, in command of Cap-
tain Philip Durell, who later became an admiral. For the letter of testimonial to
Mr. Wood signed by Dr. Breynton at Louisburg, see Bicentenary Sketches by Canon
Vernon, pp. 46, 47.
It seems probable that the ship on which Dr. Breynton served longest and last
was the Robust, for on the 28th of August, 1781, he wrote his son-in-law. Captain
Eliot, from Halifax : "I have reason to believe that the 'Robust' Ship of War will
return to Europe this fall and be paid off, and as I have two yrs. pay due from
that ship I have armed my agent with proper certificates to appear at the Pay table
on my behalf. The amount is abt. £250. Mr. Ommaney will lay before you his
difficulties respecting my pay for the 'Nonsuch' and 'Chatham,' the whole amounting
to £160 more or less."
264 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
welfare of the ignorant Micmacs, he influenced the starting of
missions among the New England settlers throughout the pro-
vince who came in 1760 and 1761, he did all he could to alleviate
the distresses of the Loyalists and give them comfort in their
exile from their native homes, and his attitude towards clergy-
men of other denominations seems to have been uniformly friend-
ly and kind. The hospitality he extended towards the Congrega-
tionalists in giving them the use of St. Paul 's church until their
own house of worship could be built no doubt arose from not
only the generous nature of the man but the reasonable conviction
that no one scheme of ecclesiasticism has exclusive divine sanc-
tion, but that all orderly churches are equally commissioned by
God to do the world good. When Freeborn Garrison, one of the
earliest apostles of Methodism in the Maritime Provinces, came
to Halifax in 1785 to promote spiritual religion there, Dr. Breyn-
ton received him with great kindness. "You are on a blessed
errand," he said, "I will do what I can to assist you. I desire to
see the Gospel spread ;"19 and the testimony of a later Methodist
missionary, the Eev. William Bennett, was that he never knew
a man so universally regretted as Dr. Breynton was when he left
the province, "every individual of every denomination" being
sorry to see him go. "A person who during a residence of up-
wards of twenty years in this Province has deservedly gained the
good will and esteem of men of all ranks and persuasions," was
the description of him once given by some man not of his own
communion. ' ' He preaches the Gospel of peace and purity, with
an eloquence of language and delivery far beyond anything I
ever heard in America. ' ' At the annual meeting of the ' ' Church
Society" which took place in St. Paul's in 1770, says Dr. Thomas
B. Akins, "the dissenting ministers all attended at the church to
hear the doctor preach his Visitation Sermon."
With the five New England Episcopal clergymen who came to
Halifax either a little before or under the immediate protection
of Howe's fleet, and with at least two others who came later, Dr.
Breynton had very close relations. The Dean of the New Eng-
19. "History of the Met'hodist Church within the Territories embraced in the
late Conference of Eastern British America." Rev. Dr. T. Watson Smith (1877),
Vol. i, p. 155.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 265
land Episcopal clergy was the venerable Rev. Dr. Henry Caner,
of King's Chapel, and in his first report to the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel after he fled from Boston this aged
clergyman testified feelingly to Dr. Breynton's kindness to him:
"I am now at Halifax," he says, "but without any means of
support except what I receive from the benevolence of the worthy
Dr. Breynton." To Dr. Walter, Dr. Byles, Mr. Troutbeck, and
Mr. Badger, Dr. Breynton was no doubt, so far as they needed
help, equally kind,20 and there was one needy New England
clergyman, who fled to Halifax later than the others, to whom
he was conspicuously a friend. This clergyman was the Rev.
Jacob Bailey, who like the greater number of the Episcopal clergy
of New England before the Revolution had been reared a Con-
gregationalist. Jacob Bailey was born in Rowley, Massachu-
setts, in 1731, and graduated at Harvard in 1755. For some years
after leaving college he preached as a Congregational minister,
but in 1760 he went to England to take orders in the Episcopal
Church. Ordained deacon by the Bishop of Rochester, and
Priest by the Bishop of Peterborough, he then returned to New
England and began missionary work at Pownalborough, Maine.
As the Revolution progressed, his situation as an Episcopal
20. In all, as a result of the Revolution, twenty-eight Episcopal clergyman took
refuge in Nova Scotia : John Agnew, Samuel Andrews, Oliver Arnold, Moses
Badger, Jacob Bailey, John Beardsley, George Bissett, Isaac Browne, -
Brudenell, Mather Byles, Henry Caner, Richard Samuel Clarke, William Clarke,
Samuel Cooke, Nathaniel Fisher, John Rutgers Marshall, Jonathan Odell, George
Panton, John Hamilton Rowland, James Sayre, John Sayre, James Scovil, Epenetus
Townsend, Roger Viets, William Walter, Joshua Wingate Weeks, John Wiswall,
and Isaac Wilkins (the latter, however, not a clergyman until after he returned to
New York). Of these men, eight were graduates of Harvard, seven of Yale, six
of Columbia, and one at least of Princeton, while only two were educated in Bri-
tain. The New England Episcopal clergy at the time of the Revolution were al-
most all native New Englanders, and the great majority had been reared Congre-
gationalists. Of the five who came a little before or with Howe's fleet to Halifax,
Badger, Byles, and Walter were graduates of Harvard, and Caner was a graduate
of Yale. Troutbeck alone was an Englishman. Bailey and Weeks who came in
1779, and Wiswall, who came in 1782, were also Harvard men. From Halifax
Moses Badger went to New York; after the Revolution he was Rector of the
church that had been King's Chapel, in Providence. Dr. Henry Caner soon left
Halifax for England, and so did John Troutbeck. Both died abroad. Mather Byles,
as we shall show, staid in Halifax for thirteen years, then he settled in St. John.
Dr. William Walter went from Halifax to New York, and in 1783 settled at Shel-
burne, Nova Scotia. In 1791 he returned finally to Boston, and the next year be-
came Rector of Christ Church, in which position he died December 5, 1800. Jacob
Bailey died at Annapolis Royal in 1808; John Wiswall died in Wilmot, Annapolis
County, in 1812. Sketches of all these men will be found in the writer's "Church of
England in Nova Scotia."
266 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
clergyman and a sympathizer with the Crown became more and
more intolerable and at last in a state of destitution he and his
family got on board a small vessel at Kennebec and sailed for
Halifax.
The sufferings in the Revolution of no one of the Loyalist
clergy have been recorded with greater minuteness than have
Mr. Bailey's in the journal he himself kept and the letters of his
that have been preserved. And his portrayals of these suffer-
ings are exceedingly graphic. The picture Halifax presented to
him as he sailed up the harbour when he was first exiled he also
reproduces for us in a vivid way. After describing the outer
entrance to the harbour he says : " As we advanced still further
from the ocean, the town began gradually to open, and we had
in prospect several strong fortifications, as the Eastern Battery,
George's Fort, and strong ramparts upon the neighbouring
heights, with all their terrible apparatus of cannon and mortars.
When we arrived near the above mentioned Island of St. George 's
we had a most advantageous, striking view of this northern cap-
ital, stretching a mile and a half upon the eastern ascent of an
extensive hill, while a large collection of shipping lay either con-
tiguous to the wharves, or elsewhere riding, with the British
colors flying, in the channel, a sight which instantly inspired us
with the most pleasing sensations."
The vessel on which he and his party were, he says, came to
anchor at a wharf near the Pontac tavern, but before they reached
the shore the people on deck were conscious that their ' ' uncouth
habits and uncommon appearance had by this time attracted the
notice of multitudes, who flocked towards the water to indulge
their curiosity." "These inquisitive strangers," he continues,
"threw us into some confusion, and to prevent a multitude of
impertinent interrogations, which might naturally be expected
by persons in our circumstances, I made the following public
declaration, standing on the quarter deck : * Gentlemen, we are a
company of fugitives from Kennebeck, in New England, driven
by famine and persecution to take refuge among you, and there-
fore I must entreat your candor and compassion to excuse the
meanness and simplicity of our dress.'
After they anchored, " I at that moment discovered among the
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 267
gathering crowd, Mr. Kitson [probably Kidston], one of our Ken-
nebeck neighbors, running down the street to our assistance. He
came instantly on board, and after mutual salutations helped
us on shore. Thus, just a fortnight after we left our own be-
loved habitation we found ourselves landed in a strange country,
destitute of money, clothing, dwelling or furniture, and wholly
uncertain what countenance or protection we might obtain from
the governing powers. Mr. Kitson kindly offered to conduct us
either to Mr. Brown's or Capt. Callahan's; and just as we had
quitted our vessel, Mr. Moody, formerly clerk to the King's
Chapel, appeared to welcome our arrival."
If Mr. Bailey could describe with bitterness the ill-treatment
he received at the hands of the Maine ' ' patriots, ' ' he could also
describe with humour the grotesque appearance he and his for-
lorn party made when they reached Halifax and walked through
the streets. "As it may afford some diversion to the courteous
reader," he goes on to say, "I will suspend my narration a few
moments to describe the singularity of our apparel, and the order
of our procession through the streets, which were surprisingly
contrasted by the elegant dresses of the gentlemen and ladies we
hapened to meet in our lengthy ambulation. And here I am con-
foundedly at a loss where to begin, whether with Capt. Smith or
myself, but as he was a faithful pilot to this haven of repose, I
conclude it is no more than gratitude and complaisance to give
him the preference. He was clothed in a long swingling thread-
bare coat, and the rest of his habit displayed the venerable sig-
natures of antiquity, both in the form and materials. His hat
carried a long peak before, exactly perpendicular to the longi-
tude of his acquiline nose.
"On the right hand of this sleek commander shuffled along
your very humble servant, having his feet adorned with a pair
of shoes which sustained the marks of rebellion and indepen-
dence. My legs were covered with a thick pair of blue woolen
stockings, which had been so often mended and darned by the
fingers of frugality that scarce an atom of the original re-
mained. My breeches, which just concealed the shame of my
nakedness, had formerly been black, but the colour being worn
out by age nothing remained but a rusty grey, bespattered with
268 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
lint and bedaubed with pitch. Over a coarse tow and linen shirt,
manufactured in the looms of sedition, I sustained a coat and
waistcoat of the same dandy grey russet, and to secrete from pub-
lic inspection the innumerable rents, holes, and deformities which
time and misfortunes had wrought in these ragged and weather-
beaten garments, I was furnished with a blue surtout, fretted
at the elbows, worn at the button-holes, and stained with a variety
of tints, so that it might truly be styled a coat of many colours,
and to render this external department of my habit still more
conspicuous and worthy of observation, the waist descended be-
low my knees, and the skirts hung dangling about my heels ; and
to complete the whole, a jaundice-coloured wig, devoid of curls,
was shaded by the remnants of a rusty beaver, its monstrous
brim replete with notches and furrows, and grown limpsy by the
alternate inflictions of storm and sunshine, lopped over my
shoulders and obscured a face meagre with famine and wrinkled
with solicitude.
1 ' My consort and niece came lagging behind at a little distance,
the former arrayed in a ragged baize night-gown, tied round her
middle with a woolen string instead of a sash ; the latter carried
upon her back the tattered remains of an hemlock-coloured lin-
sey-woolsey, and both their heads were adorned with bonnets
composed of black moth-eaten stuff, almost devoured with the
teeth of time. I forgot to mention their petticoats, jagged at the
bottom, distinguished by a multitude of fissures, and curiously
drabbled in the mud, for a heavy rain was now beginning to
set in. ' '
The destination of the party was * ' Captain Callahan 's, ' ' nearly
half a mile from the wharf where they had landed. The Calla-
hans like "Mr. Kitson" had been neighbors and intimate friends
of the Baileys at Kennebec, and when the latter reached the Cal-
lahan house the welcome they received was affecting. Soon Mir.
Thomas Brown and Mr. Martin Gay, both refugees from Boston,
came to welcome the clergyman and his family. A few minutes
after they arrived, came "the polite and generous Dr. Breynton,"
rector of St. Paul's. "He addressed us," says Mr. Bailey, "with
that ease, freedom, and gentleness peculiar to himself. His coun-
tenance exhibited a most finished picture of compassionate good
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 269
nature, and the effusions of tenderness and humanity glistened in
his venerable eyes when he had learned part of our history. He
kindly assured us that he most heartily congratulated us upon
our fortunate deliverance from tyranny, oppression, and poverty,
and he declared that we might depend on his attention and as-
sistance to make us comfortable and happy. The turn of his fea-
tures, and the manner of his expression afforded a convincing ev-
idence of his sincerity, and the event afterwards gave me undeni-
able demonstration that I was not mistaken in my favourable
conjectures. Before we parted he informed me that it was ex-
pected I should wait upon the Governor at eleven to acquaint him
with my arrival, and to solicit his countenance and protection."21
To Governor Parr he was soon taken, and both the governor
and the legislature as a body promptly interested themselves in
him and endeavoured to supply his needs. He was taken by one
gentleman's orders to a tailor to be measured for a suit of clothes,
so that he might be more presentable, another man gave him a
beaver, ' ' almost new, ' ' Dr. Breynton procured a house for him
on the east side of Pleasant street, "the most elegant street in
the town," and "much frequented by gentlemen and ladies for an
evening walk in fine weather," and the General Assembly gave
him two hundred dollars in money and private gentlemen con-
tributed nearly three hundred more. A few months after he
landed he received a call to settle in Cornwallis, Kings County,
and thither in October, 1779, he and his family went. In July,
1782, he removed from Cornwallis to Annapolis Royal.
Of the clergymen who came to Halifax with or before Howe's
fleet, Dr. Mather Byles was the only one who remained long in
the town. One priest who arrived later, the Rev. Joshua Win-
gate Weeks, previously Rector of St. Michael's Church, Marble-
21. The interesting extracts from Mr. Bailey's journal we have given above are
taken from a much longer narration which will be found in "The Frontier Mis-
sionary, a Memoir of the Rev. Jacob Bailey, A. M., Missionary at Pownalborough,
Maine; Cornwallis and Annapolis, Nova Scotia," by Rev. William S. Bartlett, A. M.,
sometime Rector of Chelsea, Massachusetts, pp. 365. (Published at Boston by Ide
and Dutt9n, 1853). For further information concerning Mr. Bailey, see this writer's
"History of King's County, Nova Scotia," and the Calnek-Savary "History of An-
napolis County, Nova Scotia."
The Loyalists Mr. Bailey mentions as finding at Halifax were Mr. Atkins,
"formerly a merchant in Boston and afterward a custom house officer at New-
bury," Mr. Thomas Brown, Mr. Martin Gay, Dr. John Prince, previously of Salem,
and "Colonel Phips's lady."
270 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
head, a brother of the Rev. Jacob Bailey's wife, " Sally Weeks,"
did remain there after he came for eleven or twelve years, but
except Dr. Byles he was the only refugee clergyman who staid.
Mather Byles was the eldest son and the only son who lived be-
yond very young manhood of the famous Tory Congregational
minister of Boston, the senior Rev. Dr. Mather Byles. A grad-
uate of Harvard, he too was in 1757 ordained to the Congrega-
tional ministry, and settled at New London, but in 1768 he went
to England for ordination to the Anglican priesthood and before
the end of that year returned to Boston as Rector of Boston's
now venerable Christ Church. In 1775 he withdrew from the
rectorship of Christ Church, intending to go to Queen's Chapel,
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but the troubles of the Revolution
thickening and his Tory sympathies being conspicuously strong,
he was obliged to remain in Boston under the protection of the
King's troops. With the fleet he went to Halifax, where he was
soon made garrison chaplain and given occasional duty at St.
Paul's, and in Halifax, sometimes officiating and sometimes not
having any regular duty, he remained until May, 1789, when
he became rector of Trinity Church, St. John, New Brunswick,
and garrison chaplain in that Loyalist town.22 In his St. John
rectorship he remained until his death in 1814.
Like his father, Dr. Byles was a man of character, education,
and some literary gift. Like his father, also, he was a man of
aristocratic tastes and his social and ecclesiastical connections,
both before and after he adopted episcopacy, were such as we
22. On the 3Oth of September, 1776, Dr. Byles wrote the Society for the Propa-
gation of the Gospel that he had been appointed Chaplain to the Garrison, that he
occasionally assisted Dr. Breynton, and that he had under his care two battalions
of marines, the women and children and invalids of more than twenty regiments, a
large hospital, and a school consisting of nearly four hundred pupils, which he reg-
ularly visited twice a week. Since coming to Halifax (in March) he had baptized
fifty-four, and had buried fourteen. As long as he remained in Halifax, that is
until May, 1789, Byles was nominally chaplain to the garrison, but a great deal of
this time his duties seem to have been only nominal. Until the Garrison Chapel was
built in 1846, probably during Byles's stay in the town as well as later, there were
CTidently small chapels or buildings used for chapels in which services for special
bodies of troops were held, but the subject of these chapels is involved in some
obscurity. At the time of Dr. Byles's third marriage, to Mrs. Reid (Susannah Law-
lor), we know from the Byles correspondence that the Doctor had a little chapel
somewhere in the town. In any case, for some years he despised Dr. Breynton so
thoroughly that he could not possibly have been a worshipper at St. Paul's, much
less have officiated there. This will more emphatically appear if we ever publish, as
we hope to do, our "Life and Letters of the Younger Mather Byles."
THE REV. MATHER BYLES, JR., D. D.
From a painting by his nephew, Mather Brown
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 271
should expect such a man to choose. He was at heart deeply
religious, but he was a man of great natural sensitiveness and a
highly nervous organization, and suffering much, as he did, from
ill health, his temper was frequently anything but equable. In
Halifax, for what reason we do not know, he came to have bitter
dislike for most of the members of the ruling class, and his antag-
onism to his fellow clergyman, Dr. Breynton, was especially fierce.
How deep this bitterness went certain allusions in his correspon-
dence, much of which has been preserved, enables us clearly to
see. While Dr. Byles was in London in 1784, an infant child of
ihis died of small-pox, and both the family in Halifax and he
abroad were plunged by the event into deep distress. What Dr.
Breynton had done on the occasion to excite the family's dis-
pleasure we are not told, but something unpleasant he had done,
of which the family wrote Dr. Byles an account. On receipt of
their letter, after deploring the child's death the father wrote:
"Dr. Breynton 's conduct upon the occasion was perfectly char-
acteristic, equally exciting indignation, horror, and contempt.
Rest satisfied from me that it is not in his power to do me or my
family the least prejudice. My son's behavior was noble and
manly, and exactly what I could have wished it. His modesty,
his condensension, his prudence, and his firmness do him great
honor. It is a mercy to mankind that the greatest bullies when
properly opposed are always the most despicable cowards, and
though w'e are taught to let our moderation be known to all men,
we are at the same time directed not to give place to the Devil.
Well may an old man be peevish when all enjoyments of a dissi-
pated life are past, never to return, and he has nothing to hope
for but annihilation. But brutal behavior in a man will not pur-
chase the fate of a brute. I check my pen, conscious that I have
said enough upon the subject — perhaps too much. Shortly af-
ter Dr. Breynton left Halifax, finally as it proved, for England,
Dr. Byles wrote his sisters in Boston : * * Two events have lately
taken place which are of importance in my history, one is the de-
parture of Dr. Breynton for England, with whose worthless name
I believe I have never before condescended to blacken my page.
It is generally hoped he will never return; and I trust that I
272 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
have bid a final adieu to the haughtiest, the most insolent, ava-
vicious, unprincipled of men."23
In his lifetime Dr. Byles wrote a little good poetry, but as a
poet, like his father, who had, however, distinctly higher poet-
ical gifts, he could occasionally make his verse the medium for
expressing his bitter dislikes. Before he left Halifax he satirized
in verse most of the leading public men of the place, while the
rector of St. Paul's he held up to conspicuous ridicule. One of
the members of the council was a merchant, Hon. Thomas Coch-
ran, a North of Ireland man who came to Halifax in 1761 humble
and poor, but who rose by good business judgment and energy to
the highest social position in the town. By his second wife, Jane
Allan, Mr. Oochran had a family of sons and daughters who when
they grew up came to occupy positions of much importance, but
he had also a daughter Margaret, his eldest child, whose mother
was undoubtedly a North of Ireland woman. In 1778 Margaret
Cochran was about eighteen, and in that year Dr. Breynton's
first wife died. About a year later the elderly rector, who was
probably a little over sixty, married, as we have seen, Mrs.
Joseph Gerrish,24 but in the meantime, if Dr. Byles 's muse is to
be trusted, the clergyman was foolish enough to set his eyes on
his young parishioner, Miss Cochran. Whether the episode of his
proposing to her, which Dr. Byles rather discreditably exploits
in verse, ever happened, or to what extent the details as Byles
gives them were true, we have no present means of knowing, but
in any case the following lampoon which Byles wrote for the edi-
fication of his friends, but which, however, we believe, was never
printed, affords additional testimony to his strong dislike of Dr.
23. The other event of importance in Dr. Byles's history was the marriage,
August 3, 1785, of his eldest daughter, Rebecca, to Dr. William James Almon, a
bachelor of about thirty-one, a promising physician of Halifax. Through this mar-
riage was founded one of the most prominent of the igth century families of Hali-
fax. See the writer's Byles Genealogy in the N. E. Hist, and Gen. Register, for
April, 1915.
24. Miss Beatrice Hurst writes that she has found in Dr. Breynton's corres-
pondence the announcement of his engagement to Mrs. Gerrish, they "to be married
in a few days." Twice in later letters the Doctor says that "he does not think there
could be found in the whole world two beings more happy, more healthy, and more
contented than they were." When he wrote these letters he and his wife were
living in lodgings instead of taking a house, as every year he was hoping to go
to England. He speaks of his increasing infirmities, and of the rigors of the Nova
Scotia climate, and further shows a longing to be nearer his children. The salary
he receives at St. Paul's, however, was of great importance to him.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 273
Breynton. It illustrates, moreover, as well, the remarkable li-
cense in satirical writing that was permitted in the best society
in the eighteenth century, a license that we know well to have ex-
isted in England in at least the somewhat earlier time of Pope
and Swift. Dr. Byles's poem, as it has been preserved in Hali-
fax, is as follows :'25
ST. AUSTIN AND THE FAIR AGATHENE or "A Cure for Love."
The morning was fair and the month it was May,
And the Pine trees exhaled all their wealth,
When a Parson so good and a Lady so gay
Rode out from the town, their devotion to pay
To the Spring for the sake of their health.
His name was St. Austin, and hers Agathene,
His age was three score and a bit;
The Lady just bloomed, in the charms of eighteen,
Like the Goddess of Beauty and Love she was seen,
And he, like Death's head on a spit.
To a valley they came that was still and remote
When the Saint squeezed her hand to his breast,
Thrice attempted to speak, but a burr in his throat
Stopp'd the way and prevented his sounding a note,
Still his utterance he hemm'd, haw'd, and spit to promote,
And at length thus the damsel addressed :
"By my Maker, Sweet Girl ! I'll no longer restrain
The affection which tortures my soul,
For my blood effervesces, and maddens my brain,
Pit-a-pat beats my heart, prayers and fastings are vain,
And my love burns beyond all controul.
"O yes lovely nymph, since your bib you laid by
I have watched every turn in your charms,
I mark'd when your bosom first heaved with a sigh,
And the down on your cheek with the peaches might vie,
Till I saw you mature for my arms.
"Nay shrink not, and seem in this terrible fright,
For I'm sure you can't think me too old,
Pray look at my features, complexion, and height,
And who knows what a cassock may hold."
How distressed was the damsel, she fainted, she cried,
Look'd pale and then red, nor from laughter forbore,
Had her Grandfather's skeleton stood by her side
And thus wooed her, and offer'd to make her his bride,
Her amazement could ne'er have been more.
25. In 1782, Miss Margaret Cochran was married in Halifax to a young Irish
naval officer Rupert George, who afterward became Admiral Sir Rupert George,
Bart., and her eldest son, Samuel Hood George, was Provincial Secretary of Nova
Scotia from 1808 to 1813. Six of Lady George's Cochran half brothers and sisters
were as follows: Judge Thomas; Elizabeth, wife of Bishop John Inglis ; Isabella,
wife of Very Rev. Dean Ramsay of Edinburgh; Lieutenant-General William; Sir
James, Chief Justice of Gibraltar ; and Rupert John, who died in New York.
274 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Still the lover persisted yet nearer to creep,
The Lady his suit to repel
She gave him a push, and his horse took a leap,
When the Doctor no longer his saddle could keep
But into a pond that was muddy and deep
Plump down to the bottom he fell.
Thrice he sunk in the mud, thrice immerg'd to the chin,
And each time that his head he could raise
He was heard to cry out, with deplorable din,
"Oh ! Woman, the flesh and the devil within,
Had I never known thee I had never known sin,
And thus died in the prime of my days."
Tho' his heart was so heavy, yet his tail was but light,
So he just made a shift to creep out,
And then, Oh ! Good Lord, what a laughable sight,
Without hat or wig, and his noddle so white
Was as black as a coal all about.
Hissing hot he went in, but now rose from this bed
Cold as ice like an eelskin all dripping and slack,
Like Aaron's rich ointment the mire from his head
Down his beard to the skirts of his pettycoat spread,
And thus he jogged leisurely back.
But how the folks star'd in the Town on his way
At a rigure so strange and ungain,
Geese cackled, ducks quack'd, asses set up a bray,
The great dogs all bark'd, the small ran away,
And the children all blubber'd amain.
From that time to this, since the story was known
Thro' the whole of the parish, I ween,
How the Parson such wonderful prowess has shown,
Neither maid, wife, or widow, my Lady or Joan,
Would suppose herself safe with the Parson alone,
When she thinks of the fair Agathene.
The only other New England refugee clergyman besides Dr.
Byles who staid long in Halifax was, as w*e have said, the Rev.
Joshua Wingate Weeks. This clergyman, like his brother-in-
law Mr. Bailey, and also Dr. Walter, Mr. Badger, and Dr. Byles,
was of Congregational antecedents, and was graduated at Har-
vard College. From 1762 to 1775, he was rector of St. Michael's
Church, Marblehead, from which place in the latter year he was
obliged to flee. For some time he was at Pownalborough, Maine,
with Mr. Bailey, then he went to England for a little while. Three
weeks after Mr. Bailey arrived at Halifax he too appeared there.
Very soon, his wife and eight children, who had remained in New
England, joined him, and he and they did not leave Halifax
finally until at least 1791. During his stay in Halifax he assisted
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 275
Dr. Breynton, and when the old rector went to England in 1785
he was given temporary charge of the parish. After 1791, when
the Rev. Robert Stanser became rector, Mr. Weeks officiated at
Preston, and at Guysborough.26
An event of great importance to organized religion in eastern
America, and especially to St. Paul 's Church, was the erection of
Nova Scotia in 1787 into the first British Colonial Anglican See.
Until after the Revolution all efforts made in America to secure
the Anglican Episcopate for any of the colonies were unavailing,
consequently, the Church of England was never completely organ-
ized here. When the Revolution had passed, the determined
energy of the few New England clergymen who remained at their
posts at length succeeded in wrenching from Britain the gift
which America ought to have had generations before, and No-
vember fourteenth, 1784, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Seabury was con-
secrated in Scotland Bishop of the first "Episcopal" diocese on
the American continent, the Diocese of Connecticut. On the
fourth of February, 1787, Dr. Samuel Provost and Dr. William
White were consecrated at Lambeth, the former for the diocese
of New York, the latter for the diocese of Pennsylvania, and on
the twelfth of August, 1787, the Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis, who
from March, 1777, until November, 1783, had been Rector of Trin-
ity Church, New York, was consecrated also at Lambeth, for the
diocese of Nova Scotia. Sailing from England the sixteenth day
after his consecration, Bishop Inglis reached Halifax on the
fifteenth of October, and a reception at St. Paul 's was, of course,
promptly accorded him that was entirely in keeping with his own
dignity and with the importance of the change in Nova Scotia's
ecclesiastical affairs which his coming to the province as bishop
meant.27
26. For a much longer notice of Mr. Weeks, see the writer's "Church of Eng-
land in Nova Scotia," pp. 184-186. He, too, for some reason came under the severe
displeasure of Dr. Byles.
27. December 17, 1784, Dr. Byles, in London, writes in a diary letter to his
family in Halifax : "Dr. Seabury has not returned from his Quixotic Expedition to
Scotland, where he has been dubbed nonjuring Jacobite Bishop of Connecticut. By
renouncing his allegiance he has forfeited every emolument from this Country. A
Bishop he certainly is, but not in the Communion of the Church of England, and it is
much to be questioned whether the Revenue of his See will be sufficient to furnish
him with Mitres and Lawn-Sleeves. The Parliament have passed an Act empower-
ing the Bishop of London to ordain ministers for the United States, which is suf-
ficient to convince anybody except Dr. Chandler that there is no Design of sending
276 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
More mural tablets adorn the walls of St. Paul's Church than
are to be found, we believe, in any cathedral or other parish
church on the continent of America, the church has sometimes
fondly been called ' ' the Westminster Abbey of Canada. ' ' In the
twenty vaults beneath the church rest the ashes of a good many
of the most distinguished early residents of Halifax, while these
graceful tablets perpetuate the memory of their virtues and their
useful deeds. On the fronts of the east and west galleries, and in
the vestibule hang also rows of blazoned heraldic shields or hatch-
ments, which give additional testimony to the social importance
of the church's early worshippers, and lend richness to the atmos-
phere we find within the walls of the sacred building today.
Quaint records, too, are to be read in the archives of the par-
ish. At a meeting of the vestry on the twenty-fourth of July, 1770,
it was voted that l i Whereas the Anthems sung by the clerk and
others in the gallery during Divine Service have not answered
the intention of rasing the Devotion of the Congregation to the
Honour and Glory of God, inasmuch as the major part of the
congregation do not understand either the words or the musick
and cannot join therein; therefore, for the future the clerk have
express orders not to sing any such Anthems or leave his usual
Seat without direction and leave first obtained from the Reverend
Mr. Breynton." Voted further, "that whereas also the organ-
ist discovers a light mind in the Several tunes he plays, called
voluntaries, to the great offence of the congregation, and tending
to disturb rather than promote true Devotion; therefore he be
directed for the Future to make a choice of such Tunes as are
Solemn and Fitting Divine Worship, in such his voluntaries, and
that he also for the future be directed to play the psalm Tunes
in a plain Familiar Manner without unnecessary Graces."
An interesting episode of the Revolution in New England was
a Bishop to Nova Scotia. Dr. Benevolence Muckworm might therefore have spared
himself the Trouble of directing your wise Governor and Council to petition against
it." (Dr. Benevolence Muckworm was Dr. Breynton).
In his letters to his sisters, the Misses Mary and Catherine Byles, in Boston,
Dr. Byles several times mentions Bishop Inglis's friendliness with him. April 2,
1787, he writes : "I and my family dined by invitation at the Bishop's. That good
man and I are upon the most friendly terms. We converse with the utmost familiar-
ity and confidence, and I esteem myself happy in the connexion. He frequently con-
sults me and our sentiments seldom differ."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 277
the introduction into Halifax in 1776 of the small sect known as
Sandemanians, which had had an existence in Boston and a few
other places in New England for the preceding ten or twelve
years. The sect was founded in Scotland in 1725, by the Rev.
John Glas, who had previously been an earnest minister of the
Established Church of Scotland, but its doctrines were brought
to America in 1764 by Glas's son-in-law and the most eminent
apostle of his views, Robert Sandeman, who became a member
of the sect while pursuing his studies at the University of Edin-
burgh in 1736, and whose subsequent prominence in relation to
it led to the attachment of -his name to it rather than that of his
father-in-law Glas. The sect was one of the many fugitive or
local sects of Christians that have arisen at various times in the
old world or the new in defense of a literalistic return to the
beliefs and practices of primitive Christianity and in protest
against all departures from what has been conceived to be the
inspired views and customs of the earliest Christian age. With
certain more or less defensible notions of "faith," and with a
firm belief that an exact model for church organization and wor-
ship for all times was to be found in the New Testament, they
adopted a Congregational polity, refused to countenance a paid
ministry, received new members with the imposition of hands
of the "elders" and with the "holy kiss," read the Scriptures
at great length in their public services, practised the washing of
feet, and at the Love-feast, which was held between morning
and afternoon service on Sundays, gave each other religiously
the Apostlic "kiss of peace."
The first Sandemanian church in America was founded at
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, May fourth, 1765, at least one man
of influence there, Hon. Nathaniel Barrell of the Governor's
Council, giving it his strong support. In Boston the first meet-
ings are said to have been held at house of Edward Foster, who
at the Revolution settled at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, but pre-
cisely when the Boston Society was organized we do not know.
By November, 1766, the sect had a chapel of its own, in the North
End, and this being burned in April, 1773, its members soon
erected another. Eventually Sandemanian churches were estab-
lished in other New England towns, as Danbury and New Haven,
278 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Connecticut, and Taunton, Massachusetts, but by 1830 the
movement throughout New England had spent its strength, al-
though lingering remnants of the sect were to be found as late
as the beginning of the present century.
In Boston, always since the downfall of theocratic power a hot-
bed of new religious cults, the Sandemanian doctrine fastened
itself upon the minds and consciences of a small group of some-
what influential people, and when the Revolution came on these
people like others had to choose between sympathy with the pop-
ular cause and continued loyalty to the crown. The injunction
of St. Peter, " Honour the King," they believed to be just as
binding on them as the correlative exhortation * ' Fear God, ' ' so
at the evacuation they had no alternative whatever but to flee to
Halifax with the rest of the Loyalist band.28 Precisely when or
where they organized themselves in Halifax we do not know, but
their permanent place of meeting on Sundays was the upper
room of a wooden building on the north side of Prince street,
between Barrington and Granville streets. In that room, it is
said, Samuel Greenwood, one of the chief Boston Sandemanian
refugees, suddenly died. By the marriage of two of the daugh-
ters of Edward Foster, another prominent refugee, to men of
earlier settled Halifax families, the sect here came finally to
include other names than those of the founders, but it never
increased very largely, and by the middle of the nineteenth cen-
tury, if not earlier, it was represented only by a few persons,
chiefly women. One of the leading members of the sect and an
elder was the Loyalist publisher and printer, the father of the
Hon. Joseph Howe.29
28. In the Diary of Ezra Stiles, D. D., Vol. i, p. 502, we find the following:
"The Sandimanians opened Shops in Boston on Thanksgiving day last and the
Episcopa at Cambridge refused to observe it ; the young Dr. Biles, Episc0 Clergy-
man, refused to open his Church in Boston, to the great Offence of his little Flock,
which are more for Liberty than any Episco. Congregation north of Maryland."
29. From the absence of immediate records of the Sandemanian Church in
Boston it is not easy, or indeed we suppose possible, to make a complete list of the
adherents of the church there before the Revolution. The following, however, were
members: Ebenezer Allen, Walter Barrell (Inspector General of Customs), Alford
Butler, Edward Foster, Mrs. Cotton, Adam De Chezzeau, Samuel Greenwood,
Joseph and John Howe, Edward King, David Mitchelson, Mrs. Rae, Mrs. Richard
(Abigail) Stayner, Isaac Winslow, Sr., and Isaac Winslow, Jr. The last survivor
of this group is said to have been Alford Butler, who died in Boston March 23, 1828,
aged 90. The society was not wholly broken up by the Revolution, in 1817,
it is said, it still had six members.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 279
Drake in his "Landmarks of Boston" says that the earliest services of the San-
demanians were held at the Green Dragon tavern on Union Street, perhaps the
most noted hostelry of Boston in the i8th century. This tavern, Daniel Webster
styled the headquarters of the Revolution. Another account says that the first
meetings were held at Edward Foster's house. It seems likely that the meetings
were first held at Foster's, but that they soon outgrew a private house and went to
the Green Dragon.
The members of the Boston Sandemanian Church who went to Halifax were,
Ebenezer Allen, who became in 1784 one of the original grantees of Preston, Nova
Scotia, and had a tan-yard about three miles from Dartmouth, on what is now the old
Preston road ; Edward Foster, who settled in Dartmouth, and established iron-works
there, and who died in 1786, leaving, Sabine says, thirteen children; Adam DC Chez-
seau, whose family in Howe's fleet consisted of seven persons; Samuel Greenwood
who took to Halifax a family of five persons ; John Howe, who went unmarried but
who later settled in Halifax permanently with a wife, and had an honourable career
in the town ; possibly Edward King, who went with seven other persons in the fleet ;
possibly David Mitchelson, who went with two other persons; widow Abigail Stay-
ner, who took a family of three ; and Isaac Winslowr Sr., who went with a family
of eleven, as also his nephew Isaac Winslow, Jr., who may have taken a family.
At some later time came to Halifax also, Thcophilus Chamberlain and Titus
Smith, graduates of Yale College and previously Congregational ministers, but con-
verts to Sandemanianism. These men were probably before their removal to Nova
Scotia, members of the Sandemanian Church at New Haven, Connecticut. For con-
spicuous notices of them see Mrs. William Lawson's "History of Dartmouth, Pres-
ton, and Lawrencetown," pp. 171-173, 199, 205-207. For them and other Sandeman-
ians, see also valuable notes by "Occasional" in the Halifax Acadian Recorder for
May 27, 1916. For Ebenezer Allen, also, see Mrs. Lawson's History, pp. 108-111.
His family in Howe's fleet comprised eight persons. John Howe's name for some
reason does not appear in Barren" s list of refugees.
A letter written by Edward Foster May i, 1782, is said to show that the Sande-
manians in Halifax were not thoroughly organized as a church at that time. By 1784,
however, they probably were. John Howe was one of their elders in Halifax, and
he is said to have conducted services on Sundays for a long time.
For an interesting account of the "Sandemanians of New England," see an arti-
cle with this title by Professor Williston Walker in the Annual Report of the
American Historical Association for the year 1901 (Washington, 19x12), pp. 131-162.
Interesting manuscript letters of Robert Sandeman will be found in the library of
the Massachusetts Historical Society. See also "Places of worship of the Sande-
manians in Boston," by Henry H. Edes, in Publications of the Colonial Society of
Massachusetts Transactions, Vol. 6 (1899, 1900), pp. 109-130. At their love feast
each person gave the holy kiss to the person who sat next him on each side. The
kiss was regarded as a divinely appointed means "for promoting that mutual love
which is essential to true Christianity."
[Since the foregoing notes were put in print the writer has received a few more
valuable facts concerning the Halifax Sandemanians. In the Acadian Recorder of
May 27, 1916, Occasional wrote: "There is a tradition of a division in the Prince
street congregation on account of consanguinity. The body gradually broke up, until
at last only three ladies, of a later generation, were left. In 1884, an elder, named
Blakeney, an artist by profession, came to Halifax. He was the guest of Mr. Crowe,
of the firm of DeChezzeau and Crowe. On this occasion Elder Blakeney baptized
one of the old ladies mentioned above. The remants of the Sandemanians left in
Halifax were among the Lawson and Piers families." In corroboration of this last
statement Mr. Harry Piers has lately given the writer important information. John
Lawson, born in Boston, who became a notable merchant in Halifax, married for his
second wife a daughter of Edward Foster, the Sandemanian Loyalist, and Temple
Stanyan Piers, Esq., son of Lewis Piers, Esq. (who came to Halifax from England
with Governor Cornwallis), married another daughter, Mercy Foster. Thus mem-
bers of both these important Halifax families, the Lawsons and Pierses, became
members of the Sandemanian church. Temple Stanyan Piers probably continued to
be an Anglican Churchman, but he died early and both his young sons, Temple Fos-
ter Piers and Lewis Edward Piers, were reared by their mother in the Sandemanian
28o THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
faith. "My grandfather, Temple Foster Piers," writes Mr. Harry Piers, "was
through and through a Sandemanian, yet I think I am right in saying that for some
years he did not attend the Sandemanian place of worship, but worshipped at home."
This was probably owing, Mr. Piers thinks, to the fact that one of the members, per-
haps an elder, had married a near relative, a circumstance which gave offence to
some of the stricter members of the church, Mr. Piers among the number. "M,y
aunt, Miss Mary DeChezeau Piers (born 1819, died 6 March, 1906)," says Mr. Piers,
"may be considered the last member of the sect here, if we regard regular induction
into the church and public regard for its forms of worship as constituting member-
ship. On the other hand, my father, Henry Piers (born 1824, died 24 June, 1910),
and my uncle, George Piers (born 1830, died 29 October, 1910) were in belief Sande-
manians, and as such were always regarded and always regarded themselves." The
"three ladies of a later generation" of whom Occasional makes mention, were two,
Miss Lawsons and Miss Mary Piers. Miss Piers, Occasional says, attended a Sande-
manian Conference at Danbury, Connecticut, as late as 1882. Precisely when these
three ladies relinquished public worship according to the usages of their sect, Oc-
casional probably does not know.]
FRANK W. WOOLWORTH 361
and sterling, has been unbreakable by any adverse stroke of
fortune.
He is, indeed, such a man as only the great civilization of the
present could produce; and that which he in sober fact has
wrought seems in the splendor of its progress like the weird
magic of a fairy tale ; for to sum up briefly, without peradven-
ture it may now be said he is the greatest living retail merchant
in the world, he is without a peer in his achievements, and the
great corporation which owns his headship and his guiding
hand boasts the largest number of customers for its wares of
any business of any type throughout the entire universe, is in
its own field the indisputable peer, and in a nation typical of
marvels in industry and enterprise, stands forth an industrial
and commercial wonder of the age. To all these may be added
that he holds in private ownership the very highest busi-
ness building standing on the earth; heavily interested and
actively associated in managing several of the big metropolitan
banking institutions; it would be impossible to here cite all
the ramifications of his varied interests or adequately to
portray the whole that he has done. Captain of industry;
merchant leader; financier and banker; director and conductor
of a host of things and men; the responsibilities of millions
have not made him a machine, but his sympathy with the needy
and unfortunate has found utterance in generous assistance,
and "his left hand has helped many a man and many a cause
of which his right hand makes no record."
And these achievements, this brief history in outline, of this
twentieth century wizard of the modern forces, comprises not
the work of generations, but Frank W. Woolworth, its author,
living, may in his own person view the giant creatures of his
brain, his own work, his own creation, the greatest, the most
lasting, the most monumental, testimonial he could receive.
Chapters in the History of Halifax,
Nova Scotia
BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EIATON, M. A., D. C. L.
No. VIII
Here loyal Bourbons carved the fleur-de-lys
And flung to Heaven the white flag of their Kings ;
Here Britain's war-ships came with flapping wings —
What strifes then rent the peace of Acadie !
Acadian Ballads.
1
HE predecessor of Halifax as the capital of Nova
Scotia was the little town known as Annapolis Royal.
At the head of Annapolis Basin, a beautiful land-
locked bay into which as into other bays on the Nova
Scotia coast the Bay of Fundy drives daily its fierce-flowing
tides, stands this peaceful town. Elms and maples like those of
New England and the rest of Nova Scotia line its well-kept
streets. Houses that bespeak refinement and comfort, with gar-
dens about them in summer rich with varied bloom, are on every
hand. Through the great dykes near the town flows the An-
napolis river, while round the wooden piers of a few old wharves
the Fundy tides dash twice a day, sometimes bearing on their
crests peaceful merchant craft and passenger steamships of
moderate size. Above the Basin, on a lifted plateau, near where
the "upper town" in the eighteenth century used to stand, is an
extensive earthwork lined within with a wall of solid masonry
some twelve feet thick and surrounded by a dry moat. Inside the
great inclosure which once formed this new-world fort stand the
latest barracks ever built here, which are still in a good state of
repair. The prosperous town and the ruined fort of Annapolis
Royal attract many visitors in summer, but few who walk the
streets where the houses stand, or press their feet on the grassy
turf of the smooth fields near the fort, have much knowledge of
(362)
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 363
the long, strange, thrilling story that Annapolis Royal has to tell
when she summons from the realm of shadow the many now al-
most forgotten facts of her historic past.
Save the Spanish settled St. Augustine in Florida, which was
founded in 1565, no town on the American continent had its first
beginning as early as Annapolis Royal, and save St. Augustine
and the English settled Jamestown in Virginia, no town has had
so long a continuous existence as a peopled place.1 Nor in the
varied history of French exploration and military conquest in
America, does any town except Quebec figure so romantically.
* ' Port Royal, ' ' the French explorers called the settlement where
in 1604 they first attempted to found the capital of their great
forest domain. When at last, however, after more than a cen-
tury of intermittent strife for ownership of the province of
Acadia, the country yielded to the superior skill of British
diplomacy and strength of British arms, the English captors of
the fort and so conquerors of the province gave the place in
honour of the reigning British sovereign, her Majesty Queen
Anne, the name it now bears.
For a few years over two centuries now, Nova Scotia, that
part of the French province of Acadia that was most settled and
in every way best known, has had a comparatively peaceful his-
tory, though for thirty-nine years after its final conquest by
England in 1710, until Halifax was founded in 1749, there were
occasions when at Annapolis Royal great apprehension was
felt for the security of British rule over the province, and two
or three times when actual attacks on the fort were experienced.
But there was an earlier hundred years when hostilities were so
many in Acadia, and changes of ownership came so fast that the
historian is almost bewildered as he tries to follow closely the
i. St. Augustine was first settled in 1565, and its history has been continuous
to the present time. Jamestown, the first settlement made by the English on the
continent, dates from May 13, 1607, and its history as a settlement since that time
has had no interruption. Annapolis Royal was first visited and temporarily set-
tled in 1604; its history, however, has been continuous only since 1610. For the
complete history of Annapolis Royal, the town and fort, two works should be con-
sulted, these are "A History of Nova Scotia or Acadie," by Beamish Murdoch,
Q. C, in three volumes, 1865-1867; and an able "History of the County of Annapo-
lis, including Old Port Royal and Acadia, etc.," by William Arthur Calnek and
Judge Alfred William Savary, D. C. L., 1897, (with a later supplement by Judge
Savary, 1913). Murdoch's history is documentary, but it contains a great deal of
graceful writing.
364 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
march of events. For these events in Acadia, Port Eoyal always
furnishes the chief setting, small as the place was, rude and
often dilapidated as its fortifications were, it symbolized and
centred successively the authority of both the great Empires
that held nominal sway over Acadia as a transatlantic colonial
possession. Within its confines during that first century of its
history dwelt renowned explorers like Champlain, DeMonts,
and Poutrincourt, some of these nobles of the then gayest court
in Europe; cassocked priests of the historic orders of Jesuits
and Recollets; eminent Huguenot protesters against the arro-
gant domination of Borne ; and one year the poet Lescarbot, with
his vivacious spirit and varied gifts of mind;— while across the
seas, amidst the splendor of palaces, on their sometimes un-
worthy heads resting the glittering circles that denote power,
played anxiously for the control of its destinies great sovereigns
like the Kings of Nlavarre, the Stuarts, or Queen Anne. In the
hands of such kings and queens indeed the fortunes of Acadia
nominally rested, but the men who actually played the great
game of empire in which it held a conspicuous place on the board
were shrewd, skilful statesmen, who often controlled kings and
queens, men like the French Bichilieu and Mazarin, of the Eng-
lish Clarendon and Pitt.
In the first nearly forty years of its history after the final
conquest of Acadia by England, Annapolis Royal was, as we
have said, the capital of Nova Scotia, the name that ever since
the conquest the Acadian peninsula has borne, and during those
forty years activities went on at Annapolis that since the town
was the immediate and only predecessor of Halifax as the Nova
Scotian capital it is neciessary in sketching the history of the lat-
ter town briefly to tell. As the oldest settlement by far, howr
ever, in eastern America, with a history full of stirring interest,
we may be excused if we run briefly over the whole series of
striking events which give Annapolis Royal distinction, from
the earliest period of its romantic settlement by French ex-
plorers, to the year 1749, when its distinction as a new world
capital forever ceased.
What European first set foot on the soil of Acadia we shall
never know. Whether the Cabots, father and son, even caught
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 365
sight of the peninsula in their successive voyages in 1497 and
1498, or whether Gasparde Cortereal, the resolute Portuguese
mariner, who entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1500, in re-
lating the story of his new-world discovery actually described
Acadia or not we cannot tell. We do know that the Basque fish-
ermen, in remembrance of a cape on the French coast near
Bayonne, sometime in 1504 named the island of Cape Breton.
We know also with tolerable certainty that the Italian Veraz-
zano, in 1554 skirted seven hundred leagues of the American
coast, from North Carolina to Newfoundland, and gave the coun-
try he looked on as he sailed not an Italian name but the name
4 i New France. ' ' We are told, also, that an English sea-captain,
Master Thomas Thorne of Bristol, in 1527 entered the Gulf of
St. Lawrence and went as far south as Cape Breton, and "Aram-
bee," the earliest name given the peninsula of Nova Scotia.
And we are certain that Jacques Cartier in 1534 visited and was
delighted with the northern coast of New Brunswick, and that
at Cape Gaspe he formally took possession of the country, erect-
ing there a cross thirty feet high, hanging on it the shield of
France, and with pious fraud assuring the Algonquin natives
that he had put the monument there only as a landmark for ex-
plorers. The sad fate of the forty convicts brought to Sable
Island by the Marquis de la Roche in 1598 is also a matter of his-
tory. It is said that the Marquis visited the mainland of Nova
Scotia with the purpose of selecting there a place to locate his
oonvict colony, before he placed the wretched men who com-
posed it on the barren sands of Sable Isle. Through the rough
tides of the Bay of Fundy, however, we are not sure that in the
whole sixteenth century a single European vessel ever rode.2
Port Royal or Annapolis Royal's history begins with the
landing there in the spring of 1604 of Sieur de Monts, who had
previously accompanied Chauvin and Pontgrave to the river St.
Lawrence, had become possessed with the spirit of new world
conquest, which at the beginning of the 17th century took so wide
a hold on the popular imagination in France, and had determined
2. In the i6th century, however, European fishermen diligently prosecuted
their calling along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and on the banks of New-
foundland
366 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
moreover to seek riches in the fur trade on these western shores.
There is a French tradition that a little settlement was made in
Cape Breton as early as 154-1, but except for this, Port Royal
was the first settlement ever attempted in any part of the great
province of Acadia, of which the peninsula of Nova Scotia was
always the most conspicuous part.3
In days when there are few worlds left to conquer, and when
the spirit of adventure which characterized the sixteenth cen-
tury explorers is consequently little found, we can hardly im-
agine the eagerness with which French explorers at the begin-
ning of the seventeenth century sought the American continent,
nor the magnificence of the dreams that came to them of vast
wealth and power to be gained in these wooded wilds. At the
beginning of 1604, the mantle of De Chastes, who in his old age
had ardently longed to plant the cross and the fleur-de-lis in the
forests of New France, but who had died in returning from his
first unsuccessful voyage thither, fell on a Calvinist nobleman,
Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts, gentleman in ordinary of the
king's bedchamber, and governor of Pons. Undaunted by the
tragic fate of the Marquis de la Roche, who after the melan-
choly failure of his plans for a convict colony and of all his own
political hopes died miserably in 1599!, and undiscouraged by the
ill success of the later ventures of De Chastes and young Cham-
plain, this nobleman eagerly petitioned the king for leave to-
colonize La Cadie or Accadie, a region he described as extending
from the fiftieth to the forty-sixth degree of north latitude, or
from Philadelphia to Montreal.4 In the face of some opposition
3. It cannot be said that the boundaries of Acadia as a province of France
were ever clearly defined. In the treaty of Utrecht, of 1713, the province is con-
sidered as extending from the St. Lawrence river on the north to the Atlantic on
the south, and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Strait of Canso on the east,
to a Ime: drawn due north from the mouth of the Penobscot on the west, the
country thus embracing the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Ed-
ward Island, a portion of Lower Canada or Quebec, and part of the State of Maine,,
but not the island of Cape Breton. At a much later date, however, the French de-
clared that the province they had ceded by this treaty comprised only about a twen-
tieth part of this great territory, not even the whole of the peninsula of Nova Sco-
tia being included in it. It was thus that until 1755 they persisted in maintaining
a fort, Beausejour, on the isthmus that connects Nova Scotia with New Bruns-
wick. Dispute over the boundaries of Acadia, says Parkman, was "a proximate
cause of the war of 1755."
4. See Parkman's "Pioneers of France," pp. 240-243. Parkman says that the
name La Cadie or Acadie is not found in any public document. The word is said
to be derived from the Indian word aquoadiauke or aquodic, supposed to be the fish
pollock.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 367
De Monts succeeded with the King and soon obtained a com-
mission as Lieutenant-General of the Country of Cadie, to
people, cultivate, and cause to be inhabited the said lands the
most speedily,— to search for mines of gold, silver, etc., to build
forts and towns and grant lands, to convert the savages to
Christianity, and to do generally whatsoever might make for the
conquest, peopling, inhabiting, and preservation of the said
Acadian land. De Chastes had forestalled the jealousy of the
merchants of France of his monopoly by forming a trading com-
pany for his enterprise, and this company De Monts now con-
siderably enlarged, at once taking steps to secure colonists for
his domain.
By the early spring of 1604 the colony was ready, an incon-
gruous mixture of gentlemen of condition and character and
men of low origin and bad reputation, some Protestants, some
Roman Catholics, among the Protestants at least being one
Huguenot clergyman, and among the Catholics one or more
priests. Conspicuous in the company were the ardent young
Champlain, and Baron Poutrincourt, a fellow nobleman of De
Monts, who shared with the lieutenant-general himself the lead-
ership of the expedition. From Dieppe sailed two vessels of the
colonizing fleet and from Havre de Grace two, one of the four
destined for Tadoussac, a fur-trading post in Canada, one, also
in the interest of the fur trade, for Canso, on the northeastern
shore of the Nova Scotian peninsula, and to cruise through the
narrow seas that lie between the islands of Cape Breton and
Prince Edward Island and the Nova Scotian peninsula, two, in
immediate charge of De Monts himself, to come to some other
part of the peninsula.
In the pages of Parkman's "Pioneers of France in the New
World" will be found in detail the story, more interesting than
any romance, of the month's voyage of the French nobleman
and his colony across the ocean, of their exploration of the
coasts and bays of the southern portion of Nova Scotia, of their
discovery of the Basin of Annapolis, enclosed with "sunny
hills, wrapped in woodland verdure, and alive with waterfalls,"
of their removal from here before long to Passamaquoddy Bay,
and of their settlement for one sad winter on the little rock-
fenced island known as St. Croix.
368 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
The first spot in Nova Scotia at which De Monts ' vessels came
to anchor was La Heve, in what is now Lunenburg County, there
they probably disembarked but they soon sailed on to Port
Royal. Near the head of the beautiful Annapolis Basin they
decided to remain, and before long they threw up there some
primitive houses. A few weeks later, however, they determined
on further exploration, and a comparatively short sail found
them in Passamaquoddy Bay. In this water was the little wooded
island of St. Croix, and here they unwisely made up their
minds to stay. Going on shore they at once began again to build
houses, and soon they had erected "a spacious house" for De
Monts and one nearly opposite for Champlain and Sieur D'Or-
ville. In close proxomity to these more pretentious dwellings rose
also smaller houses for the colonists at large, barracks for a com-
pany of Swiss soldiers who had come with the expedition, neces-
sary workshops of various kinds, and withal a magazine and a
rustic church. In a few weeks winter began and with it came
terrible hardships and fatal disease. When spring at last open-
ed all that was left of the colony, a pitiful remnant, with De
Monts and Champlain returned to Port Royal, and here for
two years again they dwelt. In 1707, came the failure of the
French Trading Company, which had nourished the enterprise,
and with this the rescinding of De Monts' monopoly, and the
return of the whole body of colonists to France.
Three years later, in 1610, Pontrincourt, who during the first
brief stay of De Monts and his company at Port Royal, had been
so delighted with the place that he had begged a grant there
for himself,5 having managed to secure enough influence in
France to bring out a new colony, returned to Port Royal and
started the settlement afresh. This time the colony was per-
manent. Again the cleared fields near the head of the Basin
began to yield grain crops, and the gardens that three years
before had been diligently cultivated, to produce vegetables and
fruit. But the place saw many vicissitudes. In the whirligig
5. The contemporary French historian Charlevoix says of Port Royal : "The
climate there is temperate, the winter less rough than in many other places on the
coast, the game abundant, the country charming, vast meadows environed by large
forests, and everywhere fertile lands." It was Poutrincourt who named the place
Port Roval.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 369
of seventeenth century European diplomacy the ownership of
Acadia repeatedly changed, and it was not until a century from
the time of Pontrincourt 's coming had passed that this new
world province with its capital came finally under British rule.6
In 1621 England had nominal possession of the country and
James the First granted it to Sir William Alexander, a Clack-
mannanshire baronet, whom he afterwards created Earl of Stir-
ling.7 From Alexander the country passed to Sir David Kirk,
one of the early merchant adventurers of Canada. By the treaty
of St. Germains, however, Acadia was restored to France, and
Isaac de Razilly was appointed its lieutenant-governor. At De
Razilly's death, D'Aulnay 'Charnisay was made governor, and
then began the long historic strife between him and Charles de
la Tour, in the climax of which figures so nobly as a defender
of her husband's fort in what is now New Brunswick the brave
Madame de la Tour.
After the death of Charnisay, Major Robert Sedgwick, an
officer of Cromwell's army, the founder of the well known New
England Sedgwick family, was ordered by the Protector, who
believed that Acadia belonged to England by right of discovery,
to seize Port Royal and again take possession of Nova Scotia
for England. The capture being effected, Acadia was distribut-
ed by grant among Sir 'Charles St. Stephen, Charles de la Tour,
Thomas Temple, and William Crowne. In 1667 by the treaty of
Breda the province was again ceded to France, but in 1690 Eng-
land once more acquired it. Seven years later, however, by the
Peace of Ryswick it was restored to its first owners.
During these many changes of ownership the French popula-
tion of Nova Scotia slowly grew. The settlers who came with
Poutrincourt were added to in 1632 by Razilly's " three hundred
hommes d' elite," others came with Charnisay between 1639 and
1649, still others with Charles de la Tour in 1651, and a few
6. The first attack on Port Royal by an English force was in the latter part
of 1613. At that time Captain Samuel Argall, afterwards deputy-governor of Vir-
ginia, came from Virginia under orders from Sir Thomas Dale, governor of that
colony, with a ship mounting fourteen guns, to reduce the French settlements of
Mt. Desert, St. Croix, and Port Royal. His attack on Port Royal resulted in the
destruction of the fort, and probably the capture of the little force which defended
it, and the taking of the men as prisoners tp France. The settlement, however,
went on. See for Argall's history the biographical encyclopoedias.
7. It is in Alexander's grant that the name "Nova Scotia" first appears.
370 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
independent groups at later times. Besides the humbler folk,
who constituted the bulk of the population, many of these being
peasants from Saintonge and Poiteau, were a few aristocratic
families like the D'Entremonts and Belleisles, who as well as the
La Tours held extensive baronies or fiefs not far from An-
napolis from the French king, and whose representatives when
the province was finally ceded to Britain went back permanently
to France.8 From Annapolis inward to the rich Minas Basin
country this peasant population extended, growing by natural
increase and by slight immigration, until by the time of the final
cession of the country to England that part of it that lived in
and near Port Royal alone numbered something like seven hun-
dred souls.
In all pioneer colonization enterprises there is untold romance
if we could know the secret springs of action and inner experi-
ences of the people who bring these enterprises to successful
issue. The outward facts of the colonization of new countries
are often unrelieved, however, by anything poetic or exhilarat-
ing to the fancy. But this is not true of the colonizing of Port
Royal,— before the failure of the French Trading Company
and the rescinding of De Monts' monopoly, the sprightly
Frenchmen who conducted the affairs of the settlement brought
grace and good fellowship into the colony 's simple life. Neither
Parkman nor any other historian of Acadia, English or French,
has failed to describe for us with glowing imagination the in-
terchange of polished courtesies and the successful attempts at
simple elegance which characterized the forest life of these
French pioneers. The second winter the colonists spent at Port
Eoyal Champlain founded there the jovial Ordre de Bon Temps,
numbering fifteen, which comprised the whole group of nobles
8. About 1650 Charles de la Tour brought with him from France a gentleman
of Normandy, who claimed relationship with the Bourbons, and whom Louis Four-
teenth created Sieur d' Entremont. He had been one of La Tour's early friends
and when the adventurers reached Port Royal La Tour made him his major and
gave him the seignory of Poubomcoup or Pubnico, in Yarmouth, and the title of
Baron. D'entremont's eldest son, Jacques, married Anne, daughter of La Tour
and previously wife of Charnisay, and the daughter of Jacques and Anne, Marie
D'Entremont, in 1705 became the wife, much against his superior officer's wishes, of
Sieur Duvivier, a young officer of the fort. At the time of the expulsion of the
Acadians Jacques D'Entremont and his family were taken to Boston, but afterward
some of the sons returned to Nova Scotia. From these are descended the D'Entre-
monts now in Nova Scotia.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 371
and gentlemen adventurers who were associated in the settle-
ment of the place. The principal entertainment of this brother-
hood was a weekly bon vivant dinner, conducted with much of
the ceremony the group were accustomed to in the chateaus of
France. As steward for the day of the dinner each man of the
fifteen took his turn, and when the hour for dining arrived
with the jewelled collar of the order adorning his neck and with
a napkin on his shoulder and the staff of his office and an im-
portant dish in his hand would lead the group in procession into
the room where the meal was served. When the meal was done
this functionary would formally resign his office, pledging his
next successor gracefully in a cup of wine.9 As food the Order
had moose and caribou steaks, grouse, wild ducks, sturgeon, and
salmon, for the woods were plentiful in game and the river and
the Basin abounded with fish. A constant guest at these dinners
was the Micmac chief Membertou, whose speedy conversion to
Christianity we may, not uncharitably, suppose was influenced
in some degree by the hospitality the Order extended to him.
First fruit of the zeal of Roman Catholic missionaries in the
American wilds was this wrinkled centenarian Chief Member-
tou, who with a group of his people was baptized into Chris-
tianity at Annapolis on the 24th of June in the year 1610. 10
9. A good and joyous company of gentlemen," says Ferland, "was united about
Poutrincpurt, among whom were to be remarked his son the young Biencourt,
Champlain, Lescarbot, Louis Hebert, and probably Claude de la Tour as well as
his young son, Charles Amadour de la Tour."
10. The permanent founding of Port Royal by Poutrincourt excited much in-
terest among women of the French nobility zealous for the church, and some of
these, like the Marquise de Guercheville, wife of the first esquire of the King, the
Marchioness de Vermeuil, Madame de Sourdis, and Marie de Medicis herself, gave
personal encouragement and pecuniary aid to the religious work of converting the
Acadian natives. The first priest to come to Port Royal was Josue Fleche. This
Jesuit father reached there with Poutrincourt in 1610, and it was he who baptized
the chief, Membertou, and a group of his people, somewhere near the shore of the
Basin, June 24, 1610. The year after two more Jesuits, Pere Pierre Biard, a native
of Grenoble and Pere Evemond or Raimond Masse were sent out chiefly under the
auspices and through the aid of Madame de Guercheville. These men, who by their
devout and humble conduct gained the esteem of the Protestant sailors of the ship
which brought them out, on landing at once set themselves to the task of learning
the Micmac language. In a short time they were joined by two others, Pere Guilbert
du Thet and Pere Quentin, the former of whom died during Argall's attack on
Port Royal in 1613. After Argall's destruction of the settlement it is probable the
other three priests returned to France. In 1619 the Jesuits' places in Acadia were
taken by three Recollet priests, sent by one or more merchant companies who had
obtained the right to carry on the fishery and buy furs in this part of the new
world. These priests, who belonged to the province of Aquitaine, laboured with more
372 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Another incident of historic importance in connexion
with the residence of these vivacious Frenchmen at Port Royal
at this early time should here be recalled. In this primitive set-
tlement Marc Lescarbot wrote some at least of the poems that
he published at Paris in a volume entitled Les Muses de la Nou-
velle-France, in 160D. One of these poems was a masque that
bore the title Theatre de Neptune, which was not only written
at Port Royal but was played there under the author's manage-
ment shortly after it was written. The occasion of the writing
and playing of it Lescarbot himself describes for us in his His-
toire de la Nouvelle-F ranee. In the autumn of 1606, Poutrin-
court, the head of the little company at Port Royal went off on
a cruise along the New England coast. The season grew late
and the voyager had not returned. At last, however, his ship
was sighted in the Basin, and on the 14th of November he drop-
ped anchor at the shore. " Just as we were looking for his re-
turn (with great longing, for had ill befallen him we should have
been in danger of confusion)," says Lescarbot, ''I bethought
myself of setting forth some piece of merriment, which we did.
And as it was written hurriedly in French rhymes I have put it
in Les Muses de la Nouvelle-F ranee," under the title of Theatre
de Neptune, to which the reader is referred." The masque was
" representee sur les flots du Port Royal le quatorzieme de No-
vembre mille six cens six, au retour du Sieur de Poutrincourt
du pais des Armouchiquois." Thus we have given at Port Royal
in 1606 the first play ever performed by Europeans on the whole
North American continent. The characters in the masque were
or less success in Acadia until 1627, when they were driven from the province by
the English. In 1633, however, on the invitation of de Razilly, who had been sent
out to take possession of Port Royal on behalf of the company of New France,
they resumed their mission, and before many years they converted all the Micmacs
permanently to their faith. In 1/53, the French had six churches in the Peninsula
of Nova Scotia, one at Annapolis Royal, with Monsieur des Enclaves as priest, one
at Cobequid. two at Pisiquid, one at Minas, and one at Riviere aux Canard.
Chief Membertou is a notable figure in the earliest days of Port Royal's his-
tory. He was very old when the explorers first found him, his memory going back
to the time of Carrier's visit in 1534. In his day he had been a famous autmoin or
medicine man, and had been believed by his people to have magical powers. Like
others of his tribe he was a great story-teller and he used to sit cross-legged on the
ground telling his new friends marvellous tales of the prowess of his people or of
his own exploits in past times. The bowl of the pipe he smoked as he sat telling
his stories was made either of a lobster's claw or of red or green stone, and the
tube was decorated with porcupine quills.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 373
Neptune, six Tritons, four Indians, and a jovial attendant. To
celebrate the leader's return the fort also was decorated with
laurel.11
A hundred and thirty-eight years later, when Port Royal as
Annapolis Royal was the capital of the English owned province
of Nova Scotia, another play was acted here, ' ' for the entertain-
ment of the officers and ladies" of the place. Of the subject and
treatment and of the performance of the play we know nothing,
but in the prologue, " compos 'd and spoke on that occasion"
occurred the following lines :
" Whilst to relieve a generous Queen's distress,
Whom proud, ambitious Potentates oppress,
Our King pursues the most effectual Ways,
Soothes some to Peace, and then the Storm allays ;
And against others, who 're more loath to yield,
He leads his Britons to the German Field:
Where to his Cost th' insulting Foe has found
What 'tis with Britons to dispute the Ground :
We still enjoying Peace in this cold Clime,
With innocent Diversions pass our Time."12
In 1689, Sir William Phips, then in England, was commission-
ed to lead on his return to Massachusetts a fresh expedition
against Port Royal. Accordingly on the 9th of May, 1690, a
squadron consisting of a brigate of forty guns, two sloops, one
of sixteen guns, the other of eight, and four ketches, left Boston,
the land force these ships carried numbering some seven hun-
dred men. The governor of Acadia, Monsieur de Menneval, had
11. This striking event is described by the late Mr. Frederick Lewis Gay in the
Nation of February 11, 1909. The first American play in what is now English-
speaking America was written and acted, says Mr. Gay, at Annapolis in 1606, "two
years before Quebec was founded, and while Shakespeare was yet alive." The com-
position of the masque and the occasion of acting it are described in Book 4, chap-
ter 16 of Lescarbot's Histoire de la Nouvcllc-France. The poem is the third piece
in Les Muses de la Nouvelle-Francc. It consists of two hundred and forty-two
rhymed lines. Lescarbot was very versatile. From making poetry he would turn
to raising vegetables and digging the moat round the fort, from furnishing enter-
tainment for the soldiers on week days to leading their prayers on Sundays. He
seems to have acted as commissary for the community, directing the men's hunting
and fishing, and regulating the supplies of food when it was obtained, and of drink.
12. A notice of this play occurs in the American Magasine and Historical
Chronicle (monthly) for April, 1744. "A. B." asks the editor of the magazine
kindly to insert the following: "We hear from Annapolis Royal that a play was
acted the last winter for the entertainment of the Officers and Ladies at that
Place," then giving as part of the prologue of the play the lines printed above.
374 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
at his capital a force of only eighty-six soldiers, and almost im-
mediately the fort surrendered. At once Phips assembled such
of the inhabintants of Port Royal and the country about as he
oould get together and made them take an oath of fidelity to
William and Mary, who were then on the English throne. De
Menneval the governor, thirty-nine French soldiers, and two
priests he carried with him to Boston. The next year, however,
the French recaptured the place and again took formal posses-
sion of all Acadia in the name of their king.
The final conquest of Acadia by England was effected in 1710.
In the early summer of 1707, a fresh attack was made on Port
Royal by New England troops, but this the governor, Subercase,
successfully repulsed. The engagement between the besiegers
and the garrison force was a brisk one, and when it was over,
eighty or ninety New England soldiers lay dead on the ground
outside the fort. That the garrison was able so successfully to
withstand the attack was due to the arrival twelve hours before
the New England vessels anchored in the Basin of sixty Cana-
dians, who helped their fellow countrymen in the fort 's defence.
In this engagement the Baron St. Castin, who was present, gave
his fellow countrymen valuable aid. A little later in the summer,
Governor Dudley at Boston sent fresh troops against Port
Royal, but these in turn were likewise forced to withdraw. In
1708, however, Samuel Vetch went from Massachusetts to Eng-
land to solicit aid for the conquest of both Canada and Acadia,
and his efforts to interest the home government met with suc-
cess. In the spring of 1709, having been made a colonel, he sail-
ed for America with her Majesty's commands to the several New
England governors to furnish men for the undertaking. In this
year the ambitious, impetuous Colonel Francis Nicholson, who
first and last was governor of more colonies than any other per-
son known to history, desiring as strongly as Vetch to see the
power of France overthrown in America, and no doubt eager for
military distinction, also went to England with passionate desire
to promote this enterprise. In May, 1710, he returned to Boston
armed with the Queen's commission and at once began the work
of raising troops. By September a fleet was ready, and on the
18th of that month there sailed from Nantasket, with Nicholson
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 375
as general and Vetch as adjutant-general, a group of English
warships, a bomb ship, the Massachusetts province galley, some
transports, hospital and store ships, and other vessels, about
thirty-six sail in all, besides a number of open sloops for carry-
ing lumber and necessary utensils for operating the cannon. Of
land forces on the transports went five regiments of foot com-
manded severally by colonels Robert Beading, Sir Charles Hob-
by, William Tailer, William Whiting, and Shadrach Walton, the
grenadiers of Walton's regiment being commanded by Captain
Paul Mascarene, who after the capture was effected remained
at Annapolis and finally became there lieutenant governor of
the province and lieutenant governor of the fort and town. On
the 24th of September the fleet reached the entrance to An-
napolis Basin, and on the 25th landed near the fort. Immediate-
ly the French under Monsieur Subercase, who commanded in the
fort, fired on the invaders, who quickly answered with guns and
shells. By night and day the fight actively continued, until at
length on the 29th the garrison asked for a truce. After two
days of diplomatic correspondence between the commanders
terms of capitulation were adopted and on the 2nd of October
were formally signed. Three days later Vetch received the
keys of the fort, and on the 16th, Subercase with his small force
of a hundred and fifty men, "all in a miserable condition, in rags
and tatters, ' ' passed out of the gates. With drums beating and
flags flying the troops of her Britannic Majesty then briskly
marched in.13
The capture thus effected, Major Livingston and Baron St.
Castin were at once sent to the governor of Canada, the Marquis
de Vandreuil, to inform him of the fact, and on the 28th of Oc-
13. It is said that 480 persons, including the garrison, soon after this sailed to
Rochelle, in France. "Thus for the sixth time," says the Calnek-Sayary history of
Annapolis, "Port Royal, a hundred and five years after its foundation, became by
conquest a possession of the English crown, but not as ever before to pass from
its rule either by treaty or conquest."
The most detailed account of the capture in 1710 is to be found in the "Year
Book of the Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Publication No. 3, Boston, 1897," pp. 81-126. The article describing it is entitled:
"The Expeditions against Port Royal in 1710 and Quebec in 1711," and covers pp.
81-143. Whatever muster rolls of this expedition are preserved in theJMass. Ar-
chives are here reproduced. See also "Indian Wars of New England," by Her--
bert Milton Sylvester, Vol. 3, pp. 127-131 ; and "Narrative and Critical History of
America."
376 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
tober, having garrisoned the fort with two hundred marines and
two hundred and fifty New England militiamen, Nicholson re-
turned to Boston leaving Vetch in command. With the general
went also the men-of-war and the transports which he had
brought for the attack. Elated with his victory Nicholson next
went to England to beg the crown to take measures for the con-
quest of Canada. On the llth of April, 1713, a treaty of peace,
to which France, England, Holland, Portugal, Russia, and Savoy
were parties, was signed at Utrecht, and on the 22nd of May
was formally signed at Paris. By the twelfth article of this
treaty France renounced forever all claim to Nova Scotia or
Acadia, while it was agreed that Cape Breton and the islands in
the gulf of St. Lawrence should still remain French posses-
sions. Soon after, the king, Louis Fourteenth, made a formal
act of cession of Nova Scotia to England, conformable to the
treaty.
The first English governor of Nova Scotia, Colonel Vetch, re-
ceived his commission as "Adjutant General of all her Majesty's
of Great Britain's forces, General and Commander-in-Chief of
all her troops in these parts, and governor of the Fort of An-
napolis Royal and country of L'Accady and Nova Scotia," Oc-
tober 22, 1710. Two years later, however, October 20, 1712,
General Nicholson, man of many governorships, received a
similar commission, but on the 20th of January, 1715, Vetch
was again commissioned governor. After this we have at An-
napolis Royal during the period that the town remained the cap-
ital of Nova Scotia a rather bewildering number of governors
and lieutenant-governors, some of these having control of the
province at large, some of the fort and town, the authority of the
two sets occasionally clashing, until at last all power in Nova
Scotia, civil and military was centered in one governor-in-chief,
and one lieutenant-governor, who, in the absence of the chief
from the province for many years until Halifax was found-
ed, held virtually supreme general and local control. To give
lists of these governors and lieutenant-governors, and to de-
scribe briefly the men, must occupy a few pages here before we
pass on to other facts.
GOVERNORS-IN-CHIEF OF THE PROVINCE OF NOVA
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 377
SCOTIA, WITH THE DATES OF THEIR COMMISSIONS,
1710-1749.
I. COLONEL SAMUEL VETCH. He was commissioned October
22, 1710.
II. GENERAL FRANCIS NICHOLSON. His commission bears date
October 20, 1712.
III. COLONEL SAMUEL VETCH. He was coir missioned again
January 20, 1715.
IV. COLONEL RICHARD PHILIPPS. Date of commission August
17, 1717. He seems to have received a second commission March
12, 1725, and a third June 20, 1727.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS OF THE PROVIN1CE OF
NOVA SCOTIA WITH THE DATES OF THEIR COMMIS-
SIONS, 1710-1749.
I. LlEUTENANT-CoLONEL LAWRENCE ARMSTRONG. Commission-
ed February 8, 1725.
II. MAJOR JEAN PAUL MASCARENE. Commissioned May 27,
1740.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS OF THE TOWN AMD GAR-
RISON OF ANNAPOLIS ROYAL, WITH THE DATES OF
THEIR COMMISSIONS, 1710-1749.
I. SIR CHARLES HOBBY. He received instructions to act, from
Colonel Vetch, July 5, 1711. See the Annual Report of the
American Historical Association, 1911, vol. I.14
II. MAJOR OR COLONEL THOMAS CAULFEILD. He was probably
appointed in 1713, for in that year he appears in the "Govern-
or's Letter-Book." See Nova Scotia Archives, vol. 2, p. 1.
Caulfield's last letter in the Letter-Book bears date December
24, 1716.
III. CAPTAIN JOHN DOUCETT. Commissioned May 15, 1717.
He arrived at Annapolis Royal October 28, 1717. He died No-
vember 19, 1726. See Annual Report of the American Historical
Association, vol. 1, p. 172.
IV. CAPTAIN LAWRENCE ARMSTRONG. He was appointed by
Royal Commission September 21, 1726.
14. This publication is compiled by Charles M. Andrews of Yale University.
See also Hutchinson's "History of Massachusetts," Vol. 2, p. 140; and Foote s An-
nals of King's Chapel, Boston," Vol. I, p. 175-
378 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
V. MAJOR ALEXANDER COSBY. He was appointed by Royal
Commission March 4, 1727. See Annual Report of the American
Historical Association, 1911, vol. 1. He took oath October 20,
1727, and held office probably until his death in 1742, when
Major Mascarene succeeded. See Nova Scotia Archives, vol.
3, pp. 165, 166. Major Cosby 's wife was Anne Winniett. Cosby
died at Annapolis Royal December 26 or 27, 1742.
VI. MAJOR JEAN PAUL MASCARENE. Major Mascarene suc-
ceeded to the lieutenant-governorship of the town and fort on
the death of Cosby in 1742, but he apparently did not receive a
formal commission for the office until 1744. He was still lieu-
tenant-governor of the town and fort, as he was of the province
at large, when Cornwallis came in 1749.
Precisely who these various officials were it will be interesting
for us to know. The three Governors-in-Chief of the province,
as we have seen, were Vetch, Nicholson, and Philipps, the two
Lieutenant-Governors of the province were Armstrong and
Mascarene. The five Lieutenant-Governors of the town and
Fort of Annapolis Royal were Hobby, Caulfeild, Doucett, Cosby,
and Mascarene. That two sets of lieutenant-governors should
exist in Nova Scotia at the same time was not originally conteir -
plated by the government. This we learn from a letter written
by Governor Philipps to the home government probably in 1741.
Elsewhere, the reason for Colonel Armstrong's appointment
as first lieutenant-governor of the province is explained in the
following way. When Armstrong in 1725 became lieutenant-
colonel of the 40th regiment he found himself subject to the con-
trol of an officer of lower rank in his own regiment, for Captain
John Doucett of this regiir ent was then lieutenant-governor of
the town and fort. This state of things seemed to him anomalous
and was unsatisfactory and he consequently applied to be made
lieutenant-governor of the province. His request was granted
but neither he nor his successor Lieutenant-Colonel Mascarene
received any salary for this office. After Armstrong's death,
Colonel Philipps, in the letter of his to which we have referred,
expressed his hope that the office would be discontinued, but Mr.
Mascarene 's appeal for the place succeeded, and he held the lieu-
tenant-governorship until 1749.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 379
Colonel Samuel Vetch, the first governor-in-chief of the prov-
ince, was a Scotsman, "the son of a godly minister and a glori-
fier of God in the Grass Market" of Edinburgh. In 1638 he was
one of the seven councillors who constituted the local government
of the colony of Caledonia, a Scotch settlement established tem-
porarily at Darien, a little south of the Isthn us of Panama. In
1699 he came to New York, where, or at Albany, on the 20th of
December, 1700, he married Margaret Livingston, daughter of
Robert Livingston, Esq., of Albany. Being adjutant-general
under Nicholson of the expedition against Port Royal in 1710,
after the capture of the fort he formally received the keys, and
on the 22nd of October, 1710, received the commission of "Ad-
jutant-general of all her Majasty's of Great Britain's forces,
General and Commander-in-Chief of all her troops in these
parts, and governor of the fort of Annapolis Royal and country
of L'Accady and Nova Scotia." This important position he
held until the 20th of October, 1712, when General Francis
Nicholson received a similar commission and became his suc-
cessor.15
Of Nicholson's relation to the government at Annapolis Roy-
al, as of his remarkable career in general, the facts are too well
known to make it necessary for us to dwell on them here at length.
Nicholson was successively lieutenant-governor of New England
in 1688, New York in 1689, Virginia in 1690, and Maryland from
1692 to 1698. In the latter year he was appointed governor-in-
chief of Virginia, but in 1710 he was appointed to command the
expedition against Port Royal. His commission as General and
Commander-in-Chief of the forces of Nova Scotia and New-
foundland, and Governor of Nova Scotia and the town and
garrison of Annapolis Royal is dated at Windsor Castle, as we
have said, the 20th of October, 1712. In less than three years
he was supplanted in his governorship of Nova Scotia and of
Annapolis Royal by Vetch, who received a second commission
as governor of "the country and town" January 20, 1715. Dur-
ing Nicholson's term of office it is said that this second governor
15. For Samuel Vetch, see the "Dictionary of National Biography," where his
father also receives notice. See, also, "Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical
Society," Vol. 4, from p. n and from p. 64.
380 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of the province and the fort made but one short visit to Nova
Scotia, his lieutenant from at least 1713, being Major Thomas
Caulfeild, a cadet, it is probable, of the English house of Charle-
mont.16
On the 17th of August, 1717, Colonel Richard Philipps was
comirissioned governor of Nova Scotia and of Placentia in New-
foundland, and captain-general of the forces in both colonies.
Philipps was born somewhere in England in 1661, became lieu-
tenant in Lord Morpeth's regiment of foot February 23, 1678,
and served under William III. in the war against his father-
in-law James. In October, 1719, he reached Boston on his way
to Annapolis Royal, but he did not hurry to his post, giving as
his reason that navigation of the Bay of Fundy was ''imprac-
ticable." On the 6th of April, 1720, however, he left for Nova
Scotia, and at Annapolis on the 25th of the same month he
organized the council. In 1721, some time after the 17th of May,
he left the province again, and we do not find him there until
November 20, 1729. On the last date he landed in the river from
Canso, and before the council, the garrison, and the inhabitants
caused a new con mission he had received to be "publicly opened
and read." In August, 1731, he left his government again and
returned to England, and although he never visited Nova Scotia
after that he remained nominally governor until Cornwallis suc-
ceeded him in 1749. Philipps belonged to a family in South
Wales, founded there, it is said, by a certain Sir John Philipps,
Baronet. His wife was a sister of Colonel Alexander Cosby, but
whether he had children or not we do not know. He died in
England, apparently a general, in 1751. In 1726 the name of an
Ensign Erasmus James Philipps appears in the Nova Scotia
council minutes, in 1730 this gentleman was admitted to the
council board itself. When the published minutes of the council
end, in August, 1736, he is still a member of the board. What
relation this Philipps was to the governor we do not know, but he
is said to have been a relative.17
16. In a note at the bottom of page I, Vol. 2, of "Nova Scotia Archives," Dr.
Mac Mechan, editor of vols. 2 and 3 of the Archives says that Lt. Governor Caul-
feild must have been a son of the 2nd Viscount Charlemont or one of the Vis-
count's brothers.
17. For Col. Richard Philipps, see the "Dictionary of National Biography,"
and also "Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society," vols. 2, pp. 22-24, and
5, pp. 69-76. Also, "Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial Series."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 381
Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence Armstrong was commissioned
an ensign in 1699, then a captain of the 40th in 1717. December
1, 1720, he was made lieutenant-colonel of the 40th and took
chief command of the troops at Annapolis. At this time, as
we have previously shown, Captain Doucett was lieutenant-gov-
ernor of the fort and town, in the absence of Governor Philipps,
and the position he held gave him command over the lieutenant-
colonel of the regiment. Dissatisfaction at such a state of things
naturally at once arose in the mind of Armstrong, as Doucett 's
superior officer in the 40th, and accordingly the lieutenant-col-
onel went to England and asked to be made lieutenant-governor
of the province, an office that after Armstrong's death Philipps
said it had not originally been the government's intention to
create. The commission Armstrong asked was granted, and on
the 8th of February, 1725, he was made lieutenant-governor of
Nova Scotia, an appointment he held for the rest of his life.18
When he came back as lieutenant-governor after the province,
says Colonel Mascarene, writing to Governor Shirley in 1748,
" trouble arose between him and the lieutenant-governor of the
fort, the officers siding some one way and some another."19
On the 23rd of December, 1731, Armstrong petitioned the
Privy Council for payment for his services during the absence of
Governor Philipps, from May 29, 1725, the date no doubt when
he actually assuir ed the lieutenant-governorship, until June 2,0,
1729, which we suppose was the date when Philipps again ar-
rived in the province (probably at Canso) to take upon him-
self once more in person the control of public affairs. Arm-
strong's petition to the Privy Council, however, was dismissed
by that body as not coming under its jurisdiction.20 Colonel
Lawrence was evidently a nervous, sensitive man and none too
robust, and the cares of his double position so weighed upon him
18. This is probably the date of Armstrong's first commission as lieutenant-
governor. He was at Canso, we believe, from before the date of his appointment,
until September 17, 1726, for on the latter date he arrived from Canso. On the
2ist of September he laid before the Council his commission as "Lieutenant Gov-
ernor of his Majesty's Province of Nova Scotia," and took the prescribed oaths.
Nova Scotia Archives, Vol. 2, p. 171, and Vol. 3, pp. 124, 125.
19. See Mascarene's letter to Shirley in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., ist series.
Vol. 6, pp. 120-126. See also "Nova Scotia Archives," Vol. 2, p. 171.
20. "Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial Series," Vol. 3, p. 308 (section 226).
382
that at last his mind became impaired, and in a fit of melancholy
he stabbed himself with his sword on the night of the 5th of
December, 1739. Mr. Murdoch's estimate of him is undoubt-
edly correct, he was, says this historian, a man of "broad
and liberal views, calm, mild, and considerate." He died, we
believe, unmarried.
A name that stands out more prominently and for a longer
time perhaps than any other in the history of Annapolis Royal
during the period we are reviewing is that of Jean Paul Mas-
carene. This gentleman was of a Huguenot family of Castras,
in the province of Languedoc, his father being a lawyer and a
prominent man in the Protestant community there. Educated at
Geneva, and naturalized in England in 1706, in 1708 Paul became
a 2nd lieutenant in Lord Montague 's regiment, but the next year
was detached froir.. his regiment for service in the proposed ex-
pedition -for the conquest of Canada. Embarking in the frigate
Dragon, which left Spithead March 11, 1709, Nicholson and
Vetch, and also Governor Belcher of Massachusetts, being fel-
low passengers with him, he sailed for Boston, where after a
long and disagreeable voyage he landed on the 29th of April.
In 1710, when the force was organizing for the reduction of
Annapolis, he was given a captaincy in Colonel Shadrach Wal-
ton's regiment, and after the capture of Annapolis he remained
in service there, soon receiving the commission of major. When
the Fortieth regiment was organized, in 1717, he was commis-
sioned its senior captain, and in 1720 when Governor Philipps
arrived, was chosen one of the first members of the council the
governor formed. In 1739 he became major of the Fortieth, in
1740, after Armstrong's death, he was made lieutenant-gov-
ernor of the province of Nova Scotia, and in 1742 (though for-
mally commissioned such, it would seem, not until 1744), he suc-
ceeded Major Cosby as lieutenant-governor of the fort and the
town. These several important positions he still held when Gov-
ernor Cornwallis came from England to found the new capital,
Halifax, in 1749. Of his assumption in 1742, at Colonel Cosby 's
decease, of the office of lieutenant-governor of the fort and town,
in addition to the lieutenant-governoship of the province, he
writes to Governor Shirley in 1748: "At Colonel Cosby 's de-
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 383
cease, and in the absence of Governor Philipps, the whole au-
thority and power, both civil and military, became vested in
me, and was further corroborated when Her Majesty was
graciously pleased to appoint me lieutenant-colonel of the regi-
ment and lieutenant-governor of the garrison."21
When Governor Cornwallis arrived at Chebucto in 1749 he
at once sent for Mascarene and the members of the council at
Annapolis, whose commissions by his own appointment as gov-
ernor-in-chief had now been withdrawn, and as a matter of
course the first person on the list of new councillors he created
on board the Beaufort, in the harbour, was Colonel Mascarene.
The next year, however, the old lieutenant-governor sold his
army commission for two thousand eight hundred pounds to
Charles Lawrence and returned to Boston, having up to that
time been absent from his family for nearly twelve years. Short-
ly after he left the province he was at Fort St. George, near the
Penobscot, as a commissioner from Nova Scotia to negotiate
a treaty with the Indians. From this time, however, with prob-
ably only one short interval, he remained at his Boston home,
enjoying the society of his daughters and son and his friends
at large. Among these, we are told, were Sir Harry Frankland,
Sir William Pepperrell, the elder, and President Holyoke of
Harvard College, whose daughter his son John had married.
"His last public service, so far as I have been able to discover,"
says his biographer and descendant, Mr. James Mascarene Hub-
bard, "was to attend in 1754 a conference with the Indians at
Falmouth." In January, 1758, he was gazetted major-general
in the army. Two years later, January 22, 1760, he died, his
remains being deposited in the Granary Burying Ground. He
was in his seventy-fifth year.
Mascarene 's long, valuable service to the province of Nova
Scotia has often been described, but if we want to know it in
fullest detail we must follow it in the archives of Nova Scotia,
printed and imprinted, and in the voluminous correspondence of
Major Mascarene himself. His life was one of the most active
and able in the annals of tne province, a good deal of his time,
21. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., ist series, Vol. 6, pp. 121, 122.
especially in winter, he spent in Boston, but during the nearly
forty years that Annapolis Royal was the capital of Nova Scotia,
he discharged the duties of his several offices there, civil and mil-
itary, with the greatest faithfulness and usually with statesmen-
like and accomplished military skill. In dealing with the French
and Indians, in regulating and controlling, either at Annapolis
or at Canso, the internal affairs of the garrison and the town,
in carrying to a successful issue many other difficult matters of
local governmental administration, he showed not only firm in-
tegrity and kindly purpose, but tactful business judgment and
wisdom in dealing with men. Much of the enjoyment of his leis-
ure hours he obtained from reading, but he lived also in close
friendly intercourse with his fellow officers and the other leading
men of Annapolis Royal. He married in Boston a widow, Mrs.
Elizabeth Perry, and this lady bore him four children, three
daughters and a son. Of his daughters one died unmarried, but
the others were married, like his son, into prominent Boston
families. His house stood in School Street, a little east of the
site of the present city hall.22
Sir Charles Hobby, first lieutenant-governor of the town and
fort of Annapolis Royal, a son of William Hobby of Boston,
a merchant, and his wife Ann, was a gentleman of rather luxuri-
ous and worldly tendencies, who attained a good deal of prom-
inence in military affairs in Nlew England and was very conspic-
uous in Boston's social life. When Governor Joseph Dudley
was given official welcome to his government in 1702, this mag-
nate rode, says Judge Sewall, in Major Hobby's coach, drawn by
22. Sketches of Masacerene's life and conspicuous notices of him in American
books and periodicals are many. Probably the fullest sketch is that of Mr. James
Mascarene Hubbard of Boston, a descendant, read first before the Nova Scotia
Historical Society, and afterwards printed as an appendix to the "History of the
Fortieth (2nd Somersetshire) Regiment, now ist Battalion the Prince of Wales's
Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) from its Formation in 1717 to 1893," by
Captain R. H. Raymond Smythies, 1894, pp. 620. Encyclopoedias of American
Biogranhy ; the "Memorial History of Boston" (Vol. 2, p. 555) ; the "New Eng'
land Historical and Genealogical Register," Vol. 9 ; the "Correspondence of William
Shirley," Vol. i ; the Boston Weekly Journal for January 15, 1728, and many other
sources (besides the Nova Scotia Archives) will be found to yield information
concerning this eminent man.
Mr. Mascarene was long on the vestry of King's Chapel. Boston, and about
1749 he gave fifty pounds sterling for rebuilding the church. His son, John, a
graduate of Harvard, was comptroller of H. M. Customs in Boston; he died in
1778. His daughters married, one into the Hutchinson, one into the Perkins family.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 385
six horses, "richly harnessed." But before long Hobby was set
up by the Bostonians as a rival to Dudley, and was prevailed up-
on to go to England to try to obtain the governship for himself.
"Besides the opposition he [Dudley] met with in his adminis-
tration," says Governor Hutchinson, "endeavours were using
soon after his arrival to supplant him and his enemies prevailed
upon Sir -Charles Hobby (who had been knighted as some said
for fortitude and resolution at the time of the earthquake in
Jamaica, others for the further consideration of £800 sterling)
to go to England and solicit the government. He was recom-
mended to Sir H. Ashurst, who at first gave encouragement of
success. Hobby was a gay man, a free liver, and of very differ-
ent behaviour from what one would have expected should have
recommended him to the clergy of New England ; and yet, such is
the force of party prejudice that it prevails over religion itself,
and some of the most pious ministers strongly urged in their
letters that he might be appointed their governor instead of
Dudley ; for which Ashurst himself, after his acquaintance with
Hobby reproves and censures them."23 In 1710, Hobby was given
command of one, and Col. William Tailer of the other, of the two
Massachusetts regiments sent to the successful capture of Port
Royal. After the capture he was made "deputy governor" of
Annapolis Royal, but as he went almost immediately with
Nicholson to the conquest of Canada, he must have remained a
very short time at his post. He married, but it is said left no
children. He died in 1715, but although he had lived in much
style in his "mansion" in Marlborough (now Washington)
Street, his estate was insolvent. His inventory, however, showed
among other properties no less than six slaves. His widow was
buried in Boston, November 17, 1716. Both Sir Charles Hobby,
and his father, William, were officially connected with King's
Chapel, his father having been a very early supporter of that
church.
Major Thomas Caulfeild (often spelled, probably wrongly,
Caulfield) may have received his appointment as lieutenant-
23. Hutchinson's "History of Massachusetts," Vol. 2, pp. .140, 141- (See also
the "Annals of King's Chapel" (both vols.), and "History of the Ancient and
orable Society," Vol. I.
386 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
governor of the town and fort of Annapolis Royal in 1713, for he
was acting as lieutenant-governor, we believe, late in that year.
His last letter in the ''Governor's Letter-Book" bears date De-
cember 24, 1716, and he probably soon after this left Nova Scotia.
February 2, 1744, he was ' * an officer belonging to the American
Regiment serving at Rattan,"24 after which period we have not
tried to follow his career.
Captain John Doucett of the 40th regiment was commissioned
lieutenant-governor of the town and garrison on the 15th of
May, 1717. Of his origin and early education we know nothing,
we do not know whether he was related to other Doucetts at
Annapolis Royal or not. He arrived at Annapolis the 28th of
October, 1717, 25 as we learn from the Governor's Letter-Book,
and November 5th wrote the Secretary of War in England a
description of the fort. When Governor Philipps formed his
council in 1720 it was in Doucett 's house in the fort, and in the
house the council almost unvaryingly met until Doucett 's death,
which took place on the 19th of November, 1726. Of the family
of this lieutenant-governor of Annapolis Royal, if he had one,
we have no knowledge at all.
Major Alexander Cosby, appointed by Royal Commission
"Lieutenant-Governor of the Town and the Fort," March 4,
1727, was a brother of Brigadier-General William Cosby, colonel
of the 18th Rhode Island regiment and also governor of New
York. In 1717 he was commissioned major of the 40th at An-
napolis, and March 22, 1739, lieutenant-colonel of the 40th. As
lieutenant-governor of the town and fort he took oath October
20, 1727.26 On the 24th of June, 1731, Major Mascarene moved
in the council that he objected to taking his place at the board
under the Hon. Lieutenant-Governor Cosby, whom Governor
Philipps had recently "thought fit" to appoint president of the
council, giving as his reason that he was an elder councillor.
His Excellency laconically answered that he believed himself em-
powered to appoint whatever member he thought fit to sit as
24. "Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial Series," Vol. 3, p. 763.
25. "Nova Scotia Archives," Vol. 2, p. I.
26. "Nova Scotia Archives," Vol. 3, pp. 165, 166. "Annual Report of the
American Historical Association," (1911), Vol. I.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 387
president. Major Mascarene having no recourse, then desired
that his protest and the governor's answer to it should be record-
ed in the minutes, and took the place assigned him at the board.
Later in the careers of Cosby and Mascarene, there seems to
have been continued bad feeling between the men. ' ' In 1744, ' '
says Judge Savary, "Mascarene was made Lieutenant-Gover-
nor of the fort and town, thus uniting in his own person and
functions of two offices or commands, the holding of which by dif-
ferent individuals had so often led to difficulties and disputes
injurious to the peace and harmony of the people and the garri-
son, as well as of the public interests. The Lieutenant-Governor
of the Province was supreme in the administration of purely civ-
il affairs, and the Lieutenant-Governor of the fort controlled and
directed the military duties. This system had been the means of
making enemies of men who otherwise would have been friends,
and the heart-burnings and jealousies which had separated Arm-
strong and Cosby and Mascarene were directly traceable to this
dual system of administration." Colonel Cosby married at
Annapolis, Anne, born in 1712, daughter of William Winniett,
and had among his children a son Philipps Cosby (named for
his uncle by marriage Governor Richard Philipps), who, born
at Annapolis, probably in 1727, became an admiral in the navy.27
Colonel Cosby died of small-pox at his house in Annapolis De-
cember 27, 1742, and Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Mascarene suc-
ceeded to the position he had held, in addition to that of lieu-
tenant-governor of the province, which he had assumed shortly
after the death of Armstrong, in March, 1740. A sister of Col-
onel Cosby 's was the wife of Governor Philipps.28
Until the spring of 1720 the governors of Nova Scotia ad-
ministered the affairs of the province without the _aid of a coun-
cil, but in July, 1719, Governor Philipps, probably then in Eng-
27. A sketch of Admiral Cosby will be found in the "Dictionary of Na-
tional Biography."
28. For the commissions of these governors and lieutenant governors, see
"Nova Scotia Archives," Vols. 2. and 3 ; various encyclopoedias ; sketch of Major
Mascarene in History of the 40th Regiment; and "Annual Report of the American
Historical Association, 1911," (2 Vols. Vol. I, pp. 395-528, 501-507). The last work
is compiled by Charles M. Andrews of Yale University, who gives a list with
dates of commission of Nova Scotia governors to and including Governor Parr,
Andrews' list of governors of the fort and town of Annapolis Royal, is not how-
ever, correct.
388 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
land, received royal instructions to appoint such "fitting and
discreet persons" as he should either find at Annapolis Royal
or should take with him for the purpose, not exceeding the num-
ber of twelve, to be a council to act with the chief executive or
the lieutenants who should serve in his absence in administering
the provincial government. Early in April, 1720, Philipps, who
had come to Boston the October before, arrived at Annapolis,
and there on the 25th of the month he carried out the instruc-
tions he had received.29 On this date, in the house of Captain
John Doucett, governor of the fort, he appointed nine men,
besides Doucett, to serve as the first council of Nova Scotia, these
being Lawrence Armstrong of the 40th regiment ; Captain Paul
Mascarene of the 40; the Rev. John Harrison, chaplain of the
garrison; Captain Cyprian Southack, a notable sea captain of
Boston, a man, however, of English birth ; Arthur Savage, pre-
viously a Boston merchant and then captain of a ship, whom
Philipps made secretary of the council ; Hibbert Newton, a Bos-
tonian, who had been appointed collector at Annapolis; William
Skene, a Scotsman, who was appointed naval officer in 1725, and
surgeon of the garrison May 12, 1746 ; William Shirriff , another
Scotsman, who appears at Annapolis as early as 1715, and who
in his will, made in 1754, calls himself "Secretary and Commis-
sary of the Musters at His Majesty's Garrison of Annapolis
Royal;" and Peter Boudre, apparently a sea-captain, probably
one of the native Acadians of the province. On the 28th of
April a second meeting was held at Captain Doucett 's, at which
2g. In a letter to Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, written April 6, 1748,
Mr. Mascarene gives a detailed account of the forming of the Council. "Mr.
Philipps," Mascarene says, "came over in 1719, Captain General over the province,
with instructions to form a Council of the principal of the British inhabitants, and
till an Assembly could be formed to regulate himself by the instructions of the
Governor of Virginia. Governor Philipps for want of inhabitants formed the
Council with the Lieutenant Governor of the garrison, Mr. Doucett, who at the same
time was a captain in his regiment and named first in the list of councillors ; his
major, Lawrence Armstrong; the first captain, Paul Mascarene; Captain Southack,
commanding the province schooner ; the collector, Hibbert Newton ; the chaplain,
and other staff officers of the garrison ; and Mr. Adams was the only inhabitant
admitted. There was another, Mr. Winniett, who was not then named, but in
process of time was called to the Board; but afterwards dismissed on some dis-
gust. The whole number was twelve, but as it was made up of transient persons it
was soon reduced, and to keep up the number of seven, the commander in chief
took in officers of the garrison or regiment, subaltern officers being often judged
more capable than their captains."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 389
all these councillors were present, and one other besides. This
added member was Mr. John Adams, a Boston merchant, who
had taken part in the capture of Annapolis Royal and had set-
tled there probably immediately after, in pursuance of trade.
Of the eleven councillors, who thus appear as constituting the
first Nova Scotia council, Southack, Savage, Newton, and Adams,
it will be seen, were New England men.30
On Wednesday, April 19, 1721, it was resolved by the governor
and council to hold a general court four times a year for the ad-
ministration of justice, the council to sit in this judicial capacity
on the first Tuesdays of February, May, August, and November,
and until the establishment of a settled judiciary at Halifax this
was the only civil court of justice Nova Scotia had. In a letter
to the Lords of Trade in England in 1740 Major Mascarene says :
" There being only two or three English families (here) besides
the garrison prevents the formation of a civil government like
that in the other colonies, and so the councillors have to be taken
chiefly from the military officers of the garrison or regiment."
"The Council meets upon call in a civil or judiciary capacity.
What relates to the judicial part is referred to quarterly ses-
sions, appointed three or four years ago, in which all matters of
meum and tuum amongst the French inhabitants, who come from
all the settlements of the province, are stated and decided. In
other affairs, the Council meets when anything of moment re-
quires it, and has a messenger under the name of constable to
summon any person required to appear. ' '31
How the council sometimes treated offences is illustrated in
an account that comes to us of its proceedings on the 6th of
August, 1734. At that time the cause of a certain Mary Davis
against Jeanne Picot, the wife of Louis Thibauld, was consider-
ed. Jeanne had accused Mary of murdering two children, and the
30. The number of councillors was never as large as twelve, five, however,
constituted a quorum. At different times the following were added : August 16,
1720, Gillam Phillips, a brother-in-law of Arthur Savage, another Bostonian , May
J3> 1727, Christopher Aldridge, Capt. Joseph Bennett, Capt. John Blower, and Thom-
as Cosby ; at other dates, Henry Cope, Otho Hamilton, William Winniett, Erasmus
James Philipps (a relative of the governor), John Handfield, Edward Amhurst,
John Slater, and William Howe. These were probably all while the council lasted.
31. This letter in manuscript is in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Library. It was
printed in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., ist Series, Vol. 6, pp. 120-126.
390 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
court finding the charge "a vile, malicious, groundless, and scan-
dalous report, ' ' ordered that Jeanne should ' ' be ducked on Sat-
urday next, the tenth instant, at high water. ' ' Mary was merci-
ful, however, and prayed the court to relieve Jeanne of the
ducking and instead oblige her to ask the plaintiff's pardon on
Sunday at the mass house door, and her prayer was granted by
the court. On the 12th of August of the same year, Matthew Hur-
ry, convicted of stealing a five pound note from Sergeant James
Thompson, was sentenced by the council to fifty lashes on the
bare back with a cat o ' nine tails, and to return the money. In
the autumn of 1726, Governor Armstrong's servant man, Nich-
olas, who had committed an assault on his master while at Canso,
was sentenced to sit for half an hour each day during three days
on a gallows, with a rope round his neck and a paper on his
breast with the words " Audacious Villain" in large capitals
printed thereon, and afterwards "to be whipped at the cart's
tail from the prison up to the uppermost house of the cape, and
from thence back again to the prison house, ' ' receiving each hun-
dred paces five stripes upon his bare back with a cat o' nine tails,
and then "to be turned over for a soldier."32
Concerning the acts of this council until well on towards the
time of its dissolution by Governor Cornwallis, twenty-nine
years after it was organized, we have full and accurate informa-
tion in the records of its proceedings, which were published by
order of the Nova Scotia Government in 1908.33 From these
minutes of council we gain indeed very intimate knowledge of
not only the public affairs of the province at large, but of the
social and individual concerns of the people of early Annapolis
Eoyal. In a small, remote community, isolated completely except
by slow water communication from all other settled parts of the
world, its nearest metropolis, Boston, which could be reached
only by uncomfortable voyages in cramped schooners or sloops,
the people were necessarily thrown closely together, and as a
32. "Nova Scotia Archives," Vol. 3, p. 127.
33. The third volume of "Nova Scotia Archives," carefully edited and in-
dexed by Professor Archibald M. MacMechan, Ph.D., gives these minutes of coun-
cil from April, 1720, to August, 1736. The second volume of "Archives," however,
also edited (in 1900) by Dr. MacMechan gives us much light on the council's acts
until 1741.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 391
consequence, rivalries and jealousies and fierce clashings of
petty interests, as well as occasional scandals caused by con-
spicuous violations of social morality, give strong human colour-
ing to the mixed story of the community's life.
The interests of the Annapolis Royal people, and the compli-
cations of the life of their small community, were many and var-
ied. Fishing, farming, lumbering, and the collecting of furs,
had long been carried on successfully in the vicinity by the
French, and in all these occupations, we may believe, the British
settlers likewise to some extent engaged. Of military and civil
officials in this garrison town, we must feel there was a great
superabundance, but several of the leading men like Adams and
Winniett undoubtedly traded vigorously with the French, who
were always in Nova Scotia an industrious and in their primi-
tive way enterprising people. Of the three localities in the
province where the French population was greatest, the dis-
tricts of Annapolis Royal, Minas, and Chignecto, Lieutenant
Governor Caulfeild in 1715 writes the English Board' of Trade,
Annapolis, "the metropolis," had rich, sound soil, produced
ten thousand bushels of grain, chiefly wheat, and some
rye, oats and barley. The district had also plenty of cattle,
sheep and hogs ; "masting" could be had, though with difficulty,
pitch had been frequently made, and since the capture in 1710
forty thousand weight of furs had been shipped each year from
the place.34 In all these commodities the Boston sea-captains
and traders who figure prominently in Annapolis no doubt
found it profitable to deal with the French, and while most man-
ufactured goods except coarse clothing were brought to the
place from Boston, we may conceive the Boston food supplies to
have come in no small measure from the remote Nova Scotia
town. I have it "from very good hands," writes Caulfeild, in
the report from which we have just quoted, that New Englanders
themselves take from the Nova Scotia fisheries at large each sea-
son over a hundred thousand "kentalls," but besides this, he
intimates, great numbers of fish are sold to the merchants trad-
ing with Annapolis as their base.
34. "Nova Scotia Archives," Vol. 2, p. 24.
392 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Except in the island of Cape Breton, there were during these
whole forty years but two British settlements within the confines
of what are now the sister provinces of Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick. These were the settlements of Annapolis Royal
and Canso. Of the earliest trading and fishing ventures of Niew
England men along the Nova Scotia shores only scattered facts
are possible to be obtained, but Canso we know to have become
at an early period, certainly after British rule in the province
began, the most important base for New England fisheries that
Nova Scotia had. Besides New Englanders and Frenchmen
who fished with this point as their base, West of England people
also came every spring for purposes of fishing, "with many
ships,"35 and we are told that very large numbers of New Eng-
land fishing vessels were seen every summer anchored in the
strait of Canso at the point where the town lay. The fortify-
ing of Canso began under the influence of Governor Philipps in
the year 1720, although troops had been sent to the place to pro-
tect it a little earlier than this, but these fortifications seem
never to have progressed very far, for in 1734 William Shirreff,
secretary of the council, reported that Canso lay " naked and
defenceless" against the French, "without so much as barracks
to lodge the four companies of Colonel Philipps 's regiment sta-
tioned there for its defence, or store houses, except hasty slight
erections put up from time to time by the commanders, assisted
by the fishermen. ' ' If the place were taken by the French, Mr.
Shirreff says, "the loss would affect not only Nova Scotia but
New England, New York, and other plantations; for British
subjects resort thither from all parts. As it is the only place in
the province that can be said to have been frequented all along
by British subjects, its loss would very much affect the traders,
and strengthen the French and enable them to do more damage
along the coast with their privateers." In 1723 Major Alexan-
der Cosby was in command of the garrison at Canso, and as
early as 1732 Captain Christopher Aldridge was ' ' civil and mili-
tary commandant there. ' ' At some period after 1734, however,
35. "Nova Scotia Archives," Vol. 2, p. 56. This statement is made of the
year 1719. The great majority of New Englanders went home every fall and came
again in the 'Spring.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 393
though the exact date we do not know, Major Paul Mascarene
for a time held the same position at Canso.36
Intercourse, therefore, between Annapolis Royal and Causo
was constant during these forty years; but Boston was the com-
mercial and social metropolis of the Annapolis people.37 In Bos-
ton a great part of the population had been born, to Boston mar-
kets the traders regularly shipped the products they bought
from the French, and from Boston came all the manufactured
goods except the coarsest clothing that the families of those who
had brought their families to the place used in their homes. Even
the officers of the garrison, we may believe, at intervals varied
the monotony of their dull life in this remote place by excur-
sions to Boston for social intercourse with people who lived in a
larger world. Consequently there was probably not a week in
the year, unless in the depth of winter, that vessels were not
clearing from or entering the harbour of the town.
In all the period of nearly four decades that Annapolis Royal
was the capital of Nova Scotia, no year was so fraught with fear
to the inhabitants as the year 1744. In June of that year, Lieu-
tenant-Go vernor Mascarene received notice that a declaration of
war had been made by France against England,38 and the garri-
son which was too weak to resist any considerable force, and the
people of the town, who knew that the fort was in a ruinous
condition, were alike apprehensive. A little earlier than the
beginning of hostilities between the nations, indeed, a sudden
panic had seized the people of the lower town, where the families
of several officers and soldiers as well as many civilians lived.
The cause of this was a rumor that one Morpin, a famous com-
36. When he died in 1743, Mr. Peter Faneuil, the rich Boston merchant, owned
a store at Canso. In the inventory of his property this store is said to be valued at
about four hundred pounds.
37. In 1739, however, Murdoch says, there was communication between An-
napolis Royal and Canso "scarcely once a year." This, following of course some
reliable document, he attributes to the fact that there was no vessel allowed for the
government." Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, Vol. i, pp. 528, 529 March 14,
1741, Lieut-Governor Mascarene writes to the Duke of Newcastle: "We have no
news from Europe later than July last, nor from our neighbouring governmei
New England since last October, so that we are entirely ignorant of any transac-
tions in relation to war or peace." But this statement must mean only that he am
the council at Annapolis have had no official communication from Boston for many
months, not that they have not had any news.
38. The date of this declaration of war was March 15, 1744-
394 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
mander of a privateer in the previous war, had gone up the
Annapolis river and had gathered a force of French and Indians
numbering five hundred men. Although this report could not be
traced to any author, says Judge Savary, and its falsehood be-
came evident very soon, yet the effect it produced on the minds
of the inhabitants could not be dispelled. In a few days the
Massachusetts galley arrived, with the chief engineer, and on
her return to Boston she took with her for safety as many of the
women and children as she could accommodate. Besides this,
more than seventy women and children, as well as the people's
effects that could be removed, remained sheltered for a time in
the fort.
On the first of July, however, a force of about three hundred
Indians, led, it is believed, by the French priest Le Loutre, did
come to attack the garrison. But the bravery of Mascarene, who
sent word to the besiegers that he was determined to defend the
fort to the last drop of his blood, prevented an overwhelming
attack, and on the fifth of July the Massachusetts galley again
arrived, bringing ''seventy auxiliaries and a captain and en-
sign," and the Indians withdrew and marched eastward to
Minas. Still stronger reinforcements soon came from Boston,
and until peace was declared in 1748, the peace of Aix-la-Cha-
pelle, although apprehension in the town never entirely ceased,
the fort was not again menaced by Indians or French. In the
meantime, however, more of the women and children were taken
to Boston.
The appearance of the houses at Annapolis Royal in this
first half of the eighteenth century, and the details of their ap-
pointments, and the exact modes of life of the people and the
character of their social intercourse we can as a rule only con-
jecture. From private letters of Paul Mascarene to his daughters
in Boston, however, we do gain some glimpses of the Annapolis
Royal habits of life. ' ' I have begun to keep house, ' ' Mascarene
writes in 1740, ''contrary to the intention of Governor Cosby and
other friends, but I thought it of absolute necessity to keep my-
self the more independent and the more at liberty to keep at
home when I found myself inclined to it. My family consists of
an old soldier of my company who behaves very well, another
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
395
who dresses my dinner, and a boy about eight years of age whom
I design to have bound to me." The same year he writes his
agent in Boston that on the King's accession day he had had
Lieutenant-Governor Cosby and the members of the council to
dine with him, and all the rest of the officers in the afternoon to
celebrate the day in the usual manner by drinking loyal healths. ' '
"My appartment, " he in another letter writes his daughter Mar-
garet,39 "contains four Rooms, all contiguous to one another, the
first something larger than our fore Room [in Boston], the floor
none of the best, is covered with the painted cloth. The White
walls are hung in part with four large Pictures of Mr. Smibert
—a walnutt chest of Drawers, a mahogany table, and six pretty
good chairs fill in some measure the remainder. Over the mantle
piece are a dozen of arms kept clean and in good order, with oth-
er warlike accoutrements. In this Room I dine, sometimes alone
but often with one or more of my friends. A door opens from
this into my bed room, where my field bed, four chairs, the little
round table, a desk to write upon, and my cloths chest are all
the furniture that adorns it. The two closetts on the side of the
chimney serve, the one to keep my papers, the other to hang
my cloths. In the great room one of the closetts dispos'd on
the side of the chimney is made to keep my drinkables for daily
use, iny case of bottles, and such like. The other is for a kind of
pantry and att the same time for a passage to another room
wherein I keep my meal, flour, fresh and salt provisions. This
communicates by a door to my kitchen and is the way by which
I go every morning to order my dinner and give out what pro-
vision is necessary for it. The other communication from the
kitchen to the great room is by the parade as farr as from our
back kitchen to our back entry door. I have a bell to call my ser-
vant both from my dining and bed room. My Domesticks are a
good old honest soldyer wTho makes my bed, keeps my cloths
and my apartment clean and attends me very diligently and very
faithfully, another who was my cook when your [sister] Betty
was here attends me in the same office, they have a boy to assist
them both. All three discharge their tasks in an easy and quiet
39. The exact date of this letter is probably December ist, the year is 1740.
396 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
manner and give little or no trouble. The morning, and espe-
cially in winter time I generally pass att home in usefull and
diverting employments. I sometimes dine abroad. The after-
noons I visit some of the familys in our fort or town, and the
evenings Capn. Handfield, Lt. Amhurst, and three or four more
of our officers meet att one another's houses over a game att
ombre for half pence and part att nine, when after an hour en-
joy'd quietly in my own room I go to bed. These rounds I have
gone for these months."
Others of Colonel Mascarene's letters, to his family and his
agent Douglas, in Boston, give us little side lights on the soci-
ety of Annapolis Royal. July 20, 1740, for instance, he writes
Douglas that Mr. Winniett is to carry two of Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor Cosby 's daughters to board at his own home in Bos-
ton, Cosby having insisted on a promise Mascarene had made
him that they might do so, which "I own," he says, "I should
not have been sorry to have found an opening to withdraw
from at this time, as I do not know how long matters may
remain quiet between us." These young ladies were probably
being taken to Massachusetts, as no doubt other Annapolis
children from time to time were, for the benefit of the Boston
schools. In December, of the same year Mascarene writes his
daughter Betty that Annapolis has been visited by an epidemic
of colds for two months past, the ladies of the community
especially falling victims to the trouble. He himself, however,
he says is in excellent health. In an earlier letter he writes one
of his daughters: "Mrs. Cosby has also expressed a great
satisfaction in what you have done for her. The stays fits
each of the children very well." "As for Mrs. Handfield," he
writes suggestively, "the captain has rendered her incapable
of wearing hers for these twelve months to come. ' '
The church where the Annapolis people worshipped for much
of the period under review was "a large and commodious"
building inside the fort, erected by the last French Governor,
Monsieur Subercase, a building eighty feet long and thirty-three
feet wide, half of which was intended by Subercase to be used as
a chapel, the remainder to furnish lodgings for certain officials
of the fort. When the fort was finally invested by English
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 397
troops, services according to the Church of England were at
once begun in this French chapel by the Rev. John Harrison,
"chaplain to Commodore Martin, and left chaplain to the garri-
son by commission from the general." The first service in the
chapel after the capture was held on Tuesday, the tenth of Octo-
ber, 1710, to commemorate the great event, the day having been
set apart for special thanksgiving. On this occasion prayers
were said by Mr. Harrison, but the sermon was preached by the
Eev. Samuel Hesker, "chaplain to the Hon. Col. Reading's
Marines. "40 The building now occupied for Protestant services,
Mr. Harrison himself describes as a handsome chapel, which
under pressure of necessity had been turned into barracks dur-
ing the siege.
The exact length of Mr. Harrison's chaplaincy we do not
know, but this clergyman seems to have been succeeded in active
service in the fort and town by the Rev. Robert Cuthbert as
early at least as 1722. Why he retired we do not know, for he
seems still to have been residing at Annapolis in November,
1732. In this year, probably, Rev. Richard Watts became chap-
lain, but after 1737 until Halifax was founded, Watts evidently,
though nominally chaplain, remained away from his duty, and in
1742 Mr. John Adams, as we shall see, wrote the Lords of
Trade that in the absence of the chaplain "officers and soldiers"
were profaning "the holy sacraments of baptism and ministerial
function by presuming to baptize their own children. " " There
has been no chaplain here, he says for these four years."
As an illustration of the scandals which are sure occasionally
to arise in small communities in the course of years, we hear of
one unfortunate occurrence in this little garrison town in 1724.
The earliest notice we have found of the Rev. Robert Cuthbert
is in the records of King's Chapel, Boston, where we find him
preaching November 4, 1722. In that year he was already chap-
lain at Annapolis, but just when he had been settled there we
40. This was the beginning of regular services according to the ritual of the
Church of England in the whole of what is now the Dominion of Canada. See the
"Journal of Col. Francis Nicholson"; the writer's "Church of England in Nova
Scotia and the Tory Clergy of the Revolution"; Judge Savary's valuable pamphlet
entitled "French and Anglican Churches at Annapolis Royal" (Annapolis Royal,
1910) ; the Calnek-Savary "History of Annapolis" ; and Rev. Canon C. W. Ver-
non's "Bicentenary Sketches and Early Days of the Church in Nova Scotia"
(Halifax, 1910).
398 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
do not know. Less than two years later he was accused by a
certain Alexander Douglass, of Annapolis, of too great inti-
macy with Douglass's wife, and the charge was taken up by the
council. On the 22nd of September, 1724, the Board unani-
mously agreed that "Whereas it appears that the Rev. Mr. Rob-
ert Outhbert hath obstinately persisted in keeping company with
Margaret Douglass contrary to all reproofs and admonitions
from Alexander Douglass her husband and contrary to his own
promises and the good advice of his Honour the Lieutenant
Governor, that he the said Mr. Robert Cuthbert shall be kept in
the Garrison without port liberty, and that his scandalous affair
and the satisfaction demanded by the injured husband be trans-
mitted in order to be determined at home ; and that the Honour-
able Lieutenant Governor may write for another minister in his
room."
Up to 1728, however, Cuthbert was still ministering in the
town, but in that year he was suspended from the exercise of his
ministerial functions and no doubt left. In May, 1725, Mar-
garet Douglas, whose husband, probably a sea-captain, had gone
away, petitioned the board that her husband's brother Samuel
might be compelled to pay her the allowance her husband had
ordered him to pay for that she and her child were destitute.
When Samuel Douglas came before the board he declared that he
had no property of his brother's in his hands, but that, instead,
his brother owed him nearly five pounds.
An important event in the history of Annapolis early in the
period under review was the organizing there of the Fortieth
regiment of foot under Governor Philipps, on the 25th of Au-
gust, 1717. At this time there were four independent companies
of foot in the garrison, left from the force that came from
Boston in 1710 for the capture, and there existed also four other
companies at Placentia, in Newfoundland.41 Under royal in-
structions, Philipps, who was commissioned colonel of the regi-
ment, though he had not yet come to Nova Scotia, now welded
these eight companies into a regiment of the line, and henceforth
41. The garrison that was left at Annapolis immediately after the capture is
said to have consisted of "two hundred marines and two hundred and fifty New
England volunteers."
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
399
until 1749, the troops that garrisoned both Annapolis Royal and
Canso, as well as Placentia, belonging to this regiment. The
first officers commissioned in the regiment were all except Cap-
tain Paul Mascarene British born men, and Mascarene, al-
though born in France and educated in Switzerland, had before
coming to New England been naturalized in England and had
received there a commission in the British army. Later the
regiment naturally drew within its ranks a number of the sons
of military or civil officials resident at Annapolis, where some
of these young officers took wives from among the Annapolis
girls. In 1739 nine out of the ten companies that the Fortieth
then comprised were stationed in Nova Scotia, the tenth being at
Placentia. Of the nine companies in Nova Scotia, comprising
in all about a hundred and fifty-five private soldiers, besides the
officers, five were stationed at Annapolis Royal, four at Canso.42
For much of the long period of its history as a British fort,
the fort of Annapolis was in a dilapidated condition and the gar-
rison, neglected by the absent colonel of the 40th and governor
in chief of the province, wyas in a pitiful state. The next year
after the capture, Vetch sent Lawrence Armstrong to England
to try to induce the Lords of Trade to give him aid in repairing
and strengthening the place, which had been left in sad condition
by the French. The fortifications he describes as "in form a
regular square, with four bastions made up of earth and sod-
work; the earth a loose gravel or sand, subject to damage by
every thaw, and to great breaches which happened by the fall of
the walls into the ditch till a method was found to revest the
works with timber from the bottom of the ditch to the friezes,
42. We learn about the regiment in 1739 from a letter of Governor Philipps
to the Duke of Newcastle in this year. For a detailed history of the 40th, see "His-
tory of the Fortieth (2nd Somersetshire Regiment), now ist Battalion the Prince of
Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment), from its foundation in 1717 to
1893. By Captain R. H. Raymond Smythies." 600 pages, printed at Devonport, Eng-
land, in 1894. The officers at its formation were : Colonel, Richard Philipps ; Major,
Alexander Cosby; Captains, John Caulfield, Lawrence Armstrong, Paul Mascarene,
Christopher Aldridge, John Williams; Lieutenants, Tames Campbell, John Jephson,
Edward Bradstreet; Ensigns, James Erskine, John Keeting. In 1739 the French
garrison at Louisburg consisted of six companies of regular troops, of 60 men
each, and a company of Swiss of 120 men. There was another company of French
soldiers at St. Peter's, four leagues from Canso, and still another in the Island of
St. John (P. E. I.). Canso, where there was a small British force, was without
proper barracks or storehouses for the troops.
400 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
eighteen feet, and above that with four feet of sod, the greatest
part of which being done while General Nicholson was last
here. ' ' The houses and barracks where the officers and soldiers
lodged, with the storehouses and magazines, he describes as "in
a ruinous condition, and not like to stand three years without
thorough repair." Arriving in England, Armstrong told the
Board that the garrison was dependent on New England for
supplies and that the Boston merchants who furnished these de-
manded exorbitant prices. He therefore advised the settlement
at and about the town of Annapolis of a sufficient number of
British people to produce the things the garrison and the town
most needed, and suggested that Annapolis be made a free port.
The natural resources of the province of which Annapolis was
the capital he urged as being very great.
In a letter to the Duke of Newcastle, September 5, 1739, Gov-
ernor Philipps describes the fort as built of earth, with four
bastions, faced with picquets to keep it together, and surrounded
with a small, shallow dry ditch, about six feet deep. ' ' The chan-
nel in Annapolis Basin, he says, is of sufficient depth to allow
men-of-war of from twenty to fifty guns to come within a cable's
length of the fort. In 1743, Mascarene writes the Duke of New-
castle that the fort "is apt to tumble down in heavy rains or in
thaws after frosty weather, as it is formed of earth of a sandy
and pliable nature. To prevent this a revestment of timber had
been made use of, which soon decaying remedies the evil but for
a short time, so that for these many years past there has been
only a continual patching. ' '
In 1721, Mascarene describes the appearance of Annapolis
Eoyal as follows: "Two leagues above Goat Island [in the
Basin of Annapolis] is the fort, seated on a sandy, rising ground
on the south side of the river, on a point formed by the British
River and another small one called the Jenny River. The .lower
town lies along the first, and is commanded by the fort. The
upper town stretches in scattering houses a mile and a half
southeast from the fort on the rising ground between the two
rivers. From this rising ground to the banks of each river, and
on the other side of the less one, lie large flats or meadows, etc.
On both sides of the British River are a great many fine farms,
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 401
inhabited by about two hundred families." In 1743, he writes:
The town ''consists of two streets, the one extending along the
river side and the other along the neck of land, the extremities
whereof are of a quarter of a mile distant from the fort."
Concerning the history of many of the families of Annapolis
Royal during the forty years under consideration we are not
very well informed. In the following brief sketches, however,
some important facts concerning the heads and other members
of a few of them, and especially concerning the families' inter-
relationships, will be found. If records of their ministerial
acts were ever kept by the garrison chaplains we do not know
where they are, consequently of the dates of many baptisms and
marriages performed during the period we are and probably
always shall be entirely ignorant.
JOHN ADAMS, born in 1673, who in 1710 went from Boston in
Sir Charles Hobby's regiment to the capture of Annapolis Roy-
al, is one of the most conspicuous figures in the history of An-
napolis during a large part of this period of forty years.43 Adams
was the eldest of three brothers who were probably sons of a
John Adams, of Boston, who in 1690 and later had a wife Avis,
43. John Adams of Boston, cordwainer, whose wife in 1690 was Avis, re-
ceives a deed from Nathaniel Williams, executor of the will of John Morse of
Boston, Dec. 20, 1688. John and Avis sell the property thus deeded Jan. 19, 1690, to
Abraham Blish. According to the Old South Church register a John and Avis
Adams have children baptized as follows: William, Feb. 12, 1692-3; John, Nov. 5,
1693-4; Ebenezer, Dec. 23, 1693-4. Less than three years after he graduated from
college, Rev. Hugh Adams is said to have written his "dearly beloved brother John
Adams, shop-keeper, Boston," from Charleston, S. C., announcing the death, on the
23rd of Feb., 1699-1700, we suppose at Charleston, of "our godly mother Avis
Adams." In some other writing, possibly a diary, perhaps a letter, the date of which
we do not know, Rev. Hugh Adams mentions with solicitude his "eldest brother
John's" having gone to Annapolis Royal with a company in Sir Charles Hobby's
regiment. If John Adams was the eldest of these three Adams brothers he must
have been born as early as 1672-1674, and we can hardly believe that the mother of
these men was still bearing children as late as 1692-93. Avis Adams may therefore
have been not the own mother, but the stepmother of John, Matthew, and Hugh
although Hugh calls her their mother. For important mentions of this Adams
family, which was quite distinct from the Adams family of Braintree, see the New
England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 10, pp. 89-91, and Vol. 32, pp.
J32» J33- In the latter notice, however, the list of John Adams's children is not
correctlv given.
Of Rev. John Adams, son of John Adams, the Councillor, excellent notices will
be found in Duyckink's "Cyclopoedia of American Literature," and the "National
Encyclopoedia of American Biography." This young clergyman, the first poet reared
in Nova Scotia, is said to have been besides a poet, an eloquent preacher, a master of
nine languages, and a generally brilliant man. He died unmarried at Cambridge,
Mass., Jan. 22, 1740, at the early age of thirty-six.
402 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
but of whose origin and history we at present know absolutely
nothing. The younger brothers of John were Matthew, a mer-
chant of Boston and a lover and collector of books, and Rev.
Hugh, a Congregational minister, born in 1676, who was long
pastor of the church at Oyster River, now Durham, New Hamp-
shire, his college education having been obtained at Harvard,
where he graduated in 1697.
From some letter or diary of his brother Hugh we learn that
John Adams went in a company in Sir Charles Hobby's regi-
ment to the capture of Port Royal in 1710, and in Annapolis
Adams must have established himself as a trader with Boston
very soon after the capture was effected. In the town, as
a person of importance, Governor Philipps found him in 1720,
and when Philipps organized the council, he soon appointed him
one of this board. On the 28th of April, 1720, Adams took his
seat on the council, and henceforth until 1740 there was no more
active member of the Nova Scotia government than he. In
1725 he was appointed Deputy Collector of the port, and when
Col. Lawrence Armstrong, lieutenant-governor of the province,
committed suicide, December 5, 1739, Mr. Adams as senior coun-
cillor in residence assumed charge of the government. The actual
senior member of the council, however, was Mr. Paul Mascarene,
who had been appointed councillor three days earlier than
Adams, and the following March, when Mascarene returned from
Boston, where he had been spending the winter, he relieved Mr.
Adams of the charge. In a short time, it is said, blindness com-
pelled Adams to relinquish his duties at Annapolis and he then
returned to Boston, where we hear little more of him. In the
records of council we find intimations that he was not very well
off, and in 1732, though he could not then have been much over
fifty-nine, we find that he was infirm and was considered old. In
1742, in Boston, it is said he gave his wife Hannah power of
attorney over his affairs.
Who or when John Adams married in Boston we are not able
to say, nor do we know whether he had one wife or two. Con-
cerning the full number of his children we are likewise ignorant,
but the following children, baptized in the Old South parish,
Boston, we know to have been his. By the register of this
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 403
church we find that John and his wife Hannah Adams had
children: Hannah, baptized September 17, 1699; Anne, Decem-
ber 21, 1701 ; and John, March 26, 1704. Of these children Han-
nah became at Annapolis the wife of Hibbert Newton, Anne, we
have reason to believe became the wife of Dr. John Skene, and
John, who graduated at Harvard in 1721, became a Congrega-
tional clergyman (and a poet of some note) and was settled at
Newport, Rhode Island and in Philadelphia. A third daughter
of John Adams, whose name, however, we do not know, undoubt-
edly became at Annapolis the wife of Major Otho Hamilton,
for the wife of Major Hamilton, we learn from this gentleman's
will, was a sister of Mrs. Anne Skene.
On the 12th of March, 1742, John Adams writes from Bos-
ton to the English Lords of Trade : "I would have returned to
Annapolis before now, but there was no chaplain in the garrison
to administer God's word and sacraments to the people; but the
officers and soldiers in the garrison have profaned the holy sac-
raments of baptism and ministerial function by presuming to
baptize their own children. Why His Majesty's chaplain does
not come to his duty I know not, but I am persuaded it is a dis-
service and dishonor to our religion and nation; and as I have
heard, some have got their children baptized by the Popish
priests, for there has been no chaplain here for these four
years."44
MAJOR CHRISTOPHER ABRIDGE was undoubtedly of British
birth, his various commissions in the army being as follows:
Lieutenant, April 6, 1706, Captain, August 24, 1711, and Captain
in the 40th, August 25, 1717. Some time before 1735, he was
made ' ' civil and military commandant at Canso, ' ' in which com-
mand says the history of Annapolis, he was superseded by Ma-
jor Mascarene. May 13, 1727, Captain Aldridge, together with
Captain Joseph Bennett, Captain John Blower, and Thomas
Cosby, Esq., "the commissary of provisions and fort major,"
was admitted to the council, but precisely how long he remained
in Nova Scotia we do not at present know. February 11, 1745,
then " Major Aldridge," he made his will in Boston, where he
44. Murdoch's "History of Nova Scotia," Vol. 2, p. 17, and Eaton's "The
Church of England in Nova Scotia," pp. 21, 22.
404 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
was residing, and April 1, 1746, the will was proved. The chief
persons mentioned in the will are his son, Christopher, his
daughter Mary Bradstreet, his daughter Elizabeth Jepson, and
his daughter Martha Newgent.
LIEUTENANT EDWARD AMHURST'S name appears first in the
council minutes in July, 1733. Amhurst (or Amherst) we sup-
pose was an Englishman, but of his origin we know nothing. He
was commissioned ensign of the 40th regiment either March
12 or May 13, 1722, lieutenant April 3, 1733, and captain-lieuten-
ant July 25, 1748. For several years, until at least 1739, he was
deputy surveyor at Annapolis, and in 1740 he and John Hand-
field were executors of Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence Arm-
strong's will. In 1749 he was in England, and when the Corn-
wallis fleet sailed for Chebucto he came with it. Later, Dr.
Aldus says, he became a major and commanded the troops at
Placentia, in Newfoundland. He had a family, for a great-
grandson of his was the Hon. Sir William Fenwick Williams,
Bart., lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia in the year 1867.
An important person at Annapolis Royal during the period
under review was MAJOR (afterward Lieutenant-Colonel) OTHO
HAMILTON of the Fortieth Regiment, and from 1731 unitl prob-
ably 1744, a member of the council. Major Hamilton was prob-
ably one of the young recruits who came out from England with
or soon after Nicholson and Vetch, for the reduction of Port
Royal, his ensign's commission bearing date June 16, 1710. In
1714 he was ensign in Captain J. Williams 's independent com-
pany at Annapolis Royal, and when this company was incorpor-
ated into the Fortieth he of course became an officer of that now
famous regiment. On the 9th of August, 1718, he was made
lieutenant of the 40th, July 8, 1734, captain-lieutenant, Septem-
ber 3, 1739f, captain, and January 30, 1746, major. In 1744,
Henry Cope, Lieutenant-Governor of the town and garrison of
Placentia, in Newfoundland, died, and by a proclamation dated
at St. James's December 25th of that year Captain Hamilton
was appointed in his place. In 1761 Hamilton resigned from
the 40th, but he must have been made almost immediately a lieu-
tenant-colonel in the army. On the 26th of February, 1770, still
as Lieutenant-Governor of Placentia, he died at Waterford, Ire-
405
land, where he seems to have established a home. Colonel Ham-
ilton married at Annapolis Royal a sister of Anne, wife of Dr.
William Skene, who it seems certain was a daughter of Mr. John
Adams. The first name of Mrs. Hamilton we do not know, and
we are also uncertain when and where she died. The children
she bore her husband were three, John Hamilton, who was for
some time an officer of the 40th, but who resigned from the army
in 1766 and went to live at Waterford ; Otho, Jr., who entered
the 40th as ensign in 1744, and in 1770 became lieutenant-colonel
of the 59th, and who died in England in 1811; and a daughter
Grizel, who became the wife of Colonel Richard Dawson of the
Engineers, an officer who in 1780 was governor of the Isle of
Man. Otho Hamilton, Sr., of Annapolis Royal, was the youngest
son of Colonel Thomas Hamilton of Edinburgh, of the Olivestob
Hamiltons, and his wife Grizel (Hamilton), and was born in
Edinburgh about 1690. He died, at Waterford, Ireland, we
suppose, some time in the year 1770.45
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, JOHN HANDFiELD was probably, like
Hamilton, Shirreff, and Skene, a Scotsman, but precisely how
early he came to Annapolis Royal we do not know. He was
commissioned ensign in the 40th regiment February 26, 1720,
lieutenant April 12, 1731, captain March 22, 1740, major October
15, 1754, and lieutenant-colonel March 18, 1758. He died at
Waterford. Ireland, a brevet colonel it is said, in 1788. In 1755,
when the Acadians were expelled he was in command of the fort
at Annapolis, and obeying orders he assisted in removing these
unhappy people from the town and the country about. In 1759
he was still in service, probably at the same place.
Colonel Handfield's wife was Elizabeth Winniett, a sister of
Mrs. Alexander Cosby and Mrs. Edward How. At what time
45. For a pretty full account of Lieutenant Colonel Otho Hamilton and his
family see a monograph by this writer published at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1899.
The title of this is "Lt.-Col. Otho Hamilton of Olivestob, His Sons, Capt. John and
Lt.-Col. Otho Hamilton, 2nd, and his Grandson Sir Ralph Hamilton, Kt. Judge Cur-
wen of Salem when he was in England at the time of the American Revolution
speaks (see "Journal and Letters," p. 247) of meeting at Liverpool, Mrs. Grizel
Dawson, a native of Nova Scotia, whose husband was then governor of the Isle of
Man. In Vol. 9, "Nova Scotia Record Commission," under date of August 15,
1726, we find an interesting letter from Otho Hamilton to Major Mascarene at
Boston, sent as the writer says by Mrs. Hamilton, his wife. The letter treats of
the garrison stores, of Mascarene's man "Will," etc., etc. Judge Curwen's meeting
with Mrs. Dawson was on June 12, 1780.
406 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
he married we do not know, but in 1731 he petitioned the coun-
cil for a formal grant of a garden plot behind the house that he
had built at a considerable charge, for the convenience of his
family. Of, we believe, his sons, William Handfield was com-
missioned ensign of the 40th, December 1, 1745, lieutenant Sep-
tember 1, 1749, and adjutant July 4, 1758 ; John Handfield, Jr.,
1st lieutenant of the 40th, July 1, 1755 ; George Handfield, en-
sign of the 40th September 13, 1760, and lieutenant April 8, 1762.
His daughter Mary was married at Annapolis August 15, 1752,
to Lieutenant John Hamilton (elder son of Col. Otho Hamilton),
who is said to have been then a young widower. In the absence
of a chaplain to the garrison Captain Handfield himself per-
formed the marriage.46
The first Protestant chaplain settled at Annapolis Royal was
the REV. JOHN HARRISON, we presume a native of England. In
the journal of General Nicholson we find the following entry:
"Tuesday the 10th [October, 1710], was solemnized a day of
Thanksgiving for the success of Her Majesty's Arms in reduc-
ing Port Royal, etc., being so appointed by the General. After
Divine Service which was performed in the Chapel by the Rev-
erend Mr. John Harrison, Chaplain to Commodore Martin (and
now left Chaplain to the Garrison by commission from the Gen-
eral, a sermon was preached by the Reverend Mr. Samuel Hes-
ker, Chaplain to the Hon. Col. Reading's Marines." Later Gen-
eral Nicholson records that he was pleased to " commissionate, "
before he left Boston for Port Royal, among other officers,
" John Harrison, Clerk, Chaplain to the Garrison of Annapolis
Royal." In 1720, as we have seen, Governor Philipps chose Mr.
Harrison one of the first members of the new council he ap-
pointed.47
CAPTAIN EDWARD How, possibly one of the Hows of Sudbury,
Massachusetts, appears either at Annapolis Royal or at Canso
46. Of British officers serving in America after the middle of the :8th century
there was a John Handfield who was Lieut, of the 43d March 7, 1762, and Lieut.-
Capt. of the 6sth Oct. 18, 1762; a Thomas Handfield who was ensign of the 47th
May 23, 1759; and an Edward Handfield, ensign of the 22d Dec. 2, 1759, and Lieut,
of the 22nd April 2, 1762. A William Handfield, also, was Captain of the 94th
May 5, 1762.
47. See the writer's "The Church of England in Nova Scotia and the Tory
Clergy of the Revolution," pp. 16-18.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 407
as early as 1714. He was a sea-captain and trader, and for a
long time his headquarters was at Canso, where he served as a
justice of the peace. It would seem that he had an important
part in supplying the garrisons at Annapolis Royal and Canso
with goods from Boston. Somewhere about 1720 he married
at Annapolis Mary Magdalen Winniett, daughter of William
Winniett the merchant and ship-owner there, and in 1736 be-
came a member of the council. In this body his importance was
so great that when Cornwallis came in 1749 this governor made
him the second member of the council he created on board the
Beaufort in Halifax harbour. At the battle of Grand Pre in
1747, in which Colonel Arthur Noble and his brother Major James
Noble lost their lives by the French, How was present as com-
missary to the small body of troops at Minas and was wounded.
Less than three years later, in October, 1750, at the instigation of
the priest Le Loutre he was "treacherously and barbarously"
murdered near Beaubassin, leaving a widow and a large family
of children, the youngest of whom was but a few months old. In
1759 Mrs. How, who was very poor, petitioned the lords of
trade in England for a grant of eleven hundred and eighty
pounds, eighteen shillings, and sixpence, which she claimed was
due her husband from the government of Nova Scotia at his
death. Her claim was considered by the council at Halifax and
she was awarded the sum of nine hundred and forty-eight
pounds, and sixpence, which sum the council charged to the con-
tingent account of the settlement. On the 23d of November,
1763, Mrs. How petitioned for the balance of her claim, but she
never received any more. Of Captain How himself, Murdoch
says : ' * The esteem he won while living, the general usefulness
of his conduct as an early founder of our colony, and the "cruel
circumstances of his death, commend his memory to us who
enjoy a happy, peaceful, and prosperous home [in the colony]."
Of Captain How's sons, William, who was probably the eldest,
settled in Cumberland county, Nova Scotia, Edward probably
died at Annapolis Royal, one son became an officer in the Royal
Fusiliers, Joseph entered the navy, and Alexander, who became
a member of the Nova Scotia assembly, married Margaret Green,
a granddaughter of Hon. Benjamin Green. Of his daughters,
408 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Deborah was married to Captain Samuel Cottnam of the 40th
regiment, and one, whose name we do not know became, we
believe, the first wife of Col. Winckworth Tonge.
The first collector of the port of Annapolis was HIBBERT NEW-
TON, who was made by Philipps one of the first members of the
council he formed. Mr. Newton was the only son of Judge
Thomas Newton, of Boston, a highly important member of the
early Massachusetts bar, and one of the founders and prom-
inent supporters of King's Chapel. How long Hibbert Newton
remained a member of the Nova Scotia council we do not know,
but his collectorship of the port, and we believe of Canso as well,
lasted, in the former case until his death in 1751, and in the latter
probably until the settlement of Canso was destroyed by Du
Vivier in 1744. In July, 1725, Mr. Newton went to Canso ap-
parently to reside for some time and Mr. John Adams was made
deputy collector at Annapolis, but how long he remained at
Canso we do not know. After this period do not again find
him sitting on the council board.
Mr. Newton married at Annapolis Hannah Adams, a daugh-
ter of John Adams, she being baptized in the Old South parish,
Boston, September 17, 1699. At the founding of Halifax the
chief collectorship of the province was transferred to that place
and Mr. Newton probably but not certainly removed there. At
his death his son Henry was made collector in his place, and the
son also filled this office until his death. Conspicuous tablets
to members of the Newton family will be found on the walls of
King's Chapel, Boston, and St. Paul's Church, Halifax. Hib-
bert Newton had several sons,48 one of whom, Hibbert, was com-
missioned ensign in the 40th Regiment, May 12, 1746, another,
Phillips, ensign in the 40th, April 29, 1750.
ARTHUR SAVAGE, who before 1710, was a merchant doing busi-
ness on Long Wharf and dealing in West Indian products, must
have so ingratiated himself with Governor Philipps during the
latter 's stay in Boston from October, 1919, to April, 1720, that
Philipps decided to take him to Annapolis and make him secre-
48. For an important sketch of Hibbert Newton and of this Newton family
generally, see the writer's sketch of Hibbert Newton in the "N. E. Hist, and Gen.
Register," Vol. 68 (Jan., 1914), pp. 101-103. Henry Newton died in 1802.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 409
tary of the council he was to form on his arrival there. In May,
1714, he was captain of the Massachusetts Province galley "sail-
ing to foreign ports, ' ' and it is quite possible that in this vessel
he took Philipps to his new post. At any rate, he must have
accompanied the governor, for immediately after Philipps came
to Annapolis he was appointed by him both naval officer and
secretary of the province. On the 6th of May he was admitted
to the council, but in 1725 he was again living at Boston. Wheth-
er the fact that Savage's wife's maiden name was Phillipps (not
Philipps), and that Governor Philipps may have been intimate
with members of the Phillips family in Boston, had anything to
do with the governor 's interest in Savage we do not know. Sav-
age married June 1, 1710, Faith Phillips, of Boston, his cousin
once removed, whose brother Gillam Phillips was admitted to
the council in August, 1720, but seems never afterwards to have
taken his place at the council board. Arthur Savage died at his
house in Brattle Square, Boston, after a tedious illness, April
20, 1735.49
WILLIAM SHIEREFF, probably born in Scotland, appears first in
the "Governor's Letter-Book" in 1715, and last in the
"Commission Book" in 1739. Shirreff was introduced
into the council in 1720, and of this body was still one of
the most active and influential members as late at least as 1740.
For a good deal of this time he acted as secretary of the board.
His son probably, named also William, was commissioned lieu-
tenant of the 47th regiment June 25, 1755, adjutant of this regi-
ment September 25, 1759, and captain-lieutenant February 15,
1761. Of his family, other than this son, we know nothing ex-
cept from his will, which was proved in Boston May 24, 1768
(made January 12, 1754). By this instrument we see that his
wife's name was Elizabeth, and that he had children, one of
whom, possibly, was >Charles Shirreff, who was, with John Ham-
ilton and Alexander Hay of Annapolis Royal, a witness of the
will. The testament begins, "I William Shirreff Secy and
Oommy of the Musters at His Majesty's Garrison of Annapolis
Eoyal in the Province of Nova Scotia, North America," etc.,
49. See the Savage Family Genealogy, compiled by Lawrence Park, Esq., in
the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," Vol. 67. For Arthur Sav-
age, pp. 213-215.
410 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
etc. His death, at the age of eighty-three, is announced in the
Boston Evening Post. In this notice he is called "formerly an
officer in the Nova Scotia Government, ' ' and is said to have died
in Boston May 5, 1768.
DR. WILLIAM SKENE we believe to have been born in Scotland
and to have come to Annapolis Royal probably at the same time
as Major Otho Hamilton. He was appointed to the council April
25, 1720, was made naval officer July 22, 1725, and is mentioned
as sitting in council as late at least as August 17, 1736. On the
15th of September, 1758, administration on his estate, he having
owned property in Massachusetts and having lately died intes-
tate, was granted to the Rev. Nathaniel Walter, of Roxbury. In
this order of the Massachusetts Probate Court Dr. Skene is
called "late a surgeon in his Majesty's Garrison at Annapolis
Royal, ' ' and such we know him to have been. His appointment
to this post bears date May 12, 1746, and he perhaps discharged
its duties until 1757, for February 7th, of that year Dr. William
Catherwood was appointed surgeon to the garrison in his place.
The wife of Dr. Skene was with little doubt Anne Adams, a
daughter of Mr. John Adams, of the Annapolis Council. After
her husband's death Mrs. Skene seems to have resided at the
house of the Rev. Nathaniel Walter in Roxbury,50 the reason for
this, as for Mr. Walter's having administered on her husband's
estate, we can only conjecture. On the 16th of June, 1758, war-
rant was given the selectmen of Roxbury to inquire into Mrs.
Skene 's mental condition, and this body after seeing the "gen-
tlewoman" at the house of Mr. Walter reported that they had
found her of sound mind. Their report to this effect, in which
they speak of her as not really belonging to Roxbury but only re-
siding there, bears date July 7, 1758. On the 23d of May, 1772,
administration on Mrs. Skene 's small estate was granted in Mas-
sachusetts to John Newton, of Halifax (no doubt her nephew),
50. A temporary New England resident in Nova Scotia, probably at Annapo-
lis Royal, at a very early time, was the Rev. Nehemiah Walter, founder in the second
generation from England of the well-known Walter family of Boston and Rox-
bury and father of Rev. Nathaniel Walter. Nehemiah Walter, who was born in
Ireland December, 1663, graduated at Harvard in 1684, and shortly after went to
Nova Scotia to study French. In a few months he returned to Boston having at-
tained so much proficiency in the language as to be able to preach in it in the absence
of their minister to a congregation of French refugees in Boston. See "N. E. Hist,
and Gen. Register," Vol. 8, p. 209.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 411
Joshua Green and Joseph Barrell, of Boston, becoming bound
with him for the proper discharge of the trust. In the will of
Lieutenant Colonel Otho Hamilton, made at Waterford, Ireland,
August 23, 1768, the testator leaves ten pounds sterling annu-
ally to his wife's sister, Mrs. Anne Skene, a pension she was
receiving not being, Col. Hamilton says, enough for her sup-
port.51
One of the first members of the council appointed by General
Philipps in 1720 was CAPTAIN CYPRIAN SOUTHACK, who though
born in England spent most of his life on the American continent.
Captain Southack was a son of Lieutenant Cyprian Southack,
E. N., and his wife Elizabeth Oakley and was born in London,
March 25, 1662. On the 16th of July, 1689, he was granted by
the admiralty letters of marque against the French, and on the
29th of April, 1690, in command of the Porcupine of sixteen
guns, with a hundred and seventeen men he sailed from Boston
with Sir William Phips on his expedition against Port Royal.
After the capture of the place Phips sent him along the coast to
complete the work of conquest and he is said to have been the
first Englishman who ever sailed through the strait of Canso. In
August he returned to Boston, and in 1692 we find him in com-
mand of the brigantine William and Mary, which was commis-
sioned as a guard ship in the Massachusetts service "to sweep
the French from the seas. ' ' A little later we find him with Cap-
tain Short of H. M. ship Nonsuch, and from 1696 to 1713 he was
captain of the Massachusetts Province galley. In 1710 he was
with Nicholson at the final capture of Port Royal, and in 1714
was sent by Governor Dudley and Nicholson as commissioner to
Quebec for the exchange of prisoners of war. Two years later
we find him controlling a fishing station at Port Roseway, Nova
Scotia, and in 1720 we see him appointed a member of the coun-
cil at Annapolis. From July 1, 1721, to August 17, 1723, he
commanded H. M. Schooner William Augustus, which was built
in Boston to serve as the "Government Sloop" of Nova Scotia.
In 1723 he returned to Boston and settled finally in the mansion
51. In 1741, the five members of the council at Annapolis appointed to meet
with similar bodies from the New England governments to settle the boundaries
between Massachusetts and Rhode Island were Messrs. Henry Cope, Otho Hamil-
ton, Erasmus J. Philipps, Shirreff, and Skene.
412 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX,, NOVA SCOTIA
house he had built in Southack Street, now Howard Street, fac-
ing the present Scollay square. On the 27th of March, 1745, he
died, his remains being deposited in tomb No. 46 in the Granary
Burying Ground, the slate stone laid on the top of which was
elaborately carved with his arms.
In 1718 Southack was sent as a commissioner to the governor
of Cape Breton to treat concerning the settlement of the long
disputed boundaries of Acadia or Nova Scotia, in 1720 he pub-
lished a chart he had made of the New England coast, and in
1734 he published a second edition of this chart. Between 1702
and 1739 he frequently served as vestryman of King's Chapel,
and in 1711-12 he was a warden of this church. Some time before
1735 he gave a clock to Christ Church, this being cleaned, re-
paired and set up in the tower by Gawen Brown in 1749'-50. He
married in Boston, February 19, 1690, Elizabeth Foy, daughter
of Captain John and Dorothy Foy, who bore him eleven children.
Mrs. Southack died in Boston April 5, 1741.
WILLIAM WINNIETT, whom Governor Philipps calls "the most
considerable merchant and one of the first British inhabitants"
of Annapolis, and whom he describes as ' ' eminent in his zeal ' '
for the royal cause, was an officer in the force which took An-
napolis in 1710. In 1710 or 1711, Mr. Winniett, who was a
Huguenot Frenchman, married at Annapolis Magdelaine Mais-
sonat, one of the native Acadians, and at once settled in the
town as a merchant.52 In the records of the council we find many
mentions of him, which show his importance in the community,
and reveal his activity in the general community life. One of his
daughters, as we have seen, became the wife of Major Alexander
Cosby, lieutenant governor of the town, one the wife of Lieuten-
ant Colonel John Handfield of the 40th regiment, who was for
a good while highly active in the fort, and one the wife of Cap-
tain Edward How. Mr. Winniett was admitted to the council
on the 21st of November, 1729, but his connexion with that body
was not a smooth one, for in 1734, the lieutenant-governor of the
province, Hon. Lawrence Armstrong, "informed the board that
he had summoned William Winniett, Esq., as usual to attend the
52. The Rev. John Harrison performed this marriage, but on precisely what
date we do not know.
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 413
council and that as he had frequently refused to attend by send-
ing frivolous excuses, as appears by the minutes of council, and
had on several occasions behaved himself disrespectfully, that
therefore, and other reasons, which he would lay before his
Majesty, he did suspend him the said William Winniett, Esq.,
from being a member of this board till his Majesty's pleasure
be thereon further known." Long before he became a mem-
ber of the council, indeed, Mr. Winniett had so displeased this
body that he had been arrested by its orders and had been con-
fined for some days in his own house. On receiving from him,
however, shortly after a letter of submission, the council ''out of
their tenderness," forgave him, and he was released. Winniett
had evidently a strong personality and we have only to glance
at the record of his activities which the printed Archives of Nova
Scotia contain to see how important the part was that he played
in the life of the community where he lived. Bad feeling be-
tween him and Mr. Armstrong began as early as 1715, for in
November of that year Major Caulfeild, the second lieutenant
governor of the fort and town, incloses a letter and memorial of
Winniett 's to the lords of trade in England, with one of his own,
in which he says that Winniett has been of very great service to
the garrison at Annapolis and that his behaviour did not in the
least deserve such treatment from Captain Armstrong as it had
received. Mr. Winniett died at Annapolis early in 1742.53
The most distinguished native of Annapolis Royal living in
the nineteenth century was the HON. SIR WTILLTAM FEN WICK WIL-
LIAMS, BART., known from his distinguished services in the Cri-
mean war as the "hero of Kars. ' ' Sir Fenwick was born at An-
napolis in December, 1799, or 1800. His grandfather, Thomas
Williams, was commissary and ordnance storekeeper at Annap-
olis and his grandmother, Ann, only daughter of Captain Ed-
ward Amhurst of the 40th regiment. For a short time in 1867
53. The population of Annapolis Royal and vicinity in 1714, according to the
census of that year was 895, but in 1731 the town and its environs and the garrison
numbered 6,000. Of these inhabitants a great many must have been New England-
ers. Such probably were people bearing the names Bennett, Bissell, Blower, Daniel,
Donnelly, Douglas, Hart, Harwood, Henderson, Henshaw, James, Jennings, Part-
ridge, and many others. A large number of the 6,000 settlers in and near the town,
however, were undoubtedly French.
414 THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Sir Fenwick was governor of his native province, as he had pre-
viously for a much longer time been of Canada.
With the town of Annapolis Royal before the final capture of
the place by England will always stand connected the memory
of a picturesque incident in the history of the granting of titles,
the creation of the order of "Baronet of Nova Scotia." After
his accession to the English throne, in 1603, James the First per-
sistently sought to replenish the royal treasury by exacting pay-
ment for titles. Almost immediately after coming to the throne
he issued a summons at Hampton Court charging all who owned
land to the value of forty pounds a year to come to the court to
receive knighthood, "or to compound with the commissioners."
About the same time he proposed to confer knighthood upon all
who would give three hundred pounds, to be expended by Sir
Bevis Bulmer in the search for gold mines. A more important
scheme he fostered was the creation in 1611 of Baronetcies of
Ulster, to further the colonization of Ireland and to yield money
for his exchequer. Among English land-owners he created two-
hundred of these baronetcies, each baronet being obliged to pay
into the treasury a sum equal to eleven hundred pounds. James
died in 1625, but his son Charles in conjunction with his father's
favorite William Alexander, the same year established a similar
order for Scotsmen, giving to each of the Scottish baronets he
made a certain tract of land in Nova Scotia and calling the title
after the province where these nominal grants were given. In
1628 Alexander, who before James's death or very soon after,
had risen so high in the royal favour as to be created Earl of
Stirling, sent his son, the young Sir William, with a company of
about seventy Scotch colonists to Port Royal, but during the fol-
lowing year no less than thirty of these died. In 1631, however,
Acadia was again ceded to France, and the Scottish settlement
disappeared. In name, though never in use, the Scottish baro-
nets created under Stirling's influence in the reigns of James the
First and Charles the First, continued to keep the lands in
Nova Scotia that had been granted them, and the title ' ' Baronet
of Nova Scotia" is borne by a large number of Scottish noble-
men today.
On the founding of Halifax by Cornwallis in 1749 the prestige
THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 415
which for well on to half a century Annapolis Royal had enjoyed
as the capital of Nova Scotia forever ceased. The departure of
Lieutenant Governor Mascarene with a quorum of his council
for the new capital soon after Cornwallis's arrival, brings to an
end the distinction the place had so long enjoyed as the seat of
the government of a wide new-world domain. In 1755 Major
John Handfield was in command of the garrison and assisted in
deporting the Acadians who were settled in and near Annapolis
Royal, but without doubt after the founding of Halifax the force
kept there was very small. In 1846 Captain Thomas Inglis, a
son of the third Anglican bishop of Nova Scotia, the Right Rev-
erend Dr. John Inglis, commanded the troops in the fort, the
regiment to which he belonged being the Second Battalion of the
Rifle Brigade, the major part of the regiment being then sta-
tioned at Halifax. The last officer who commanded there, some-
where about 1855 was Lord Kilmarnock, afterwards Earl of Er-
roll, who belonged to the same regiment as Captain Inglis. Af-
ter 1855, it is probable there were no troops left at Annapolis.
This, then, briefly, is the story of the first capital of the prov-
ince of Nova Scotia, whose distinction as capital ended when
Halifax was founded in 1749. Treading the old town's quiet
streets today we see or hear little to remind us of much that has
gone on there in the past. But the visitor, at least, must have
little imagination if he fail utterly to catch glimpses of the many
warlike scenes that have been enacted there, to hear echoes of the
bugle blasts that so long sounded from the fort and the martial
music that was played, to see the French flag and the English
flag in succession floating above the protecting earthworks, and
to watch stern warships plowing the placid waters of the Basin,
and busy schooners from Boston anchoring beside the wharves.
If the tides that daily sweep through the Basin had voices what
strange tales they could tell. If the old fort could speak, or the
red river-banks, or the slight mountain ridges, north or south,
what stories they might pour into our ears of human passion and
human strife they have witnessed. For it is three long centuries
now since Champlain and his companions first sailed up the shel-
tered Basin and stepped foot on the grassy shore.
V;
Dyde's Taverns
THE VlCiSSITUDES OF MINE HOST S CALLING IN NEW YORK A CENTURY
AGO
IW HOPPER STRIKER MOTT
LENDER the General name of "Dyde's" a number of
early hostelrys nourished in New York. Robert Dyde
was an Englishman who had removed to the city from
Long Island, inider an introduction by "a dis-
tinguished person in this city," as one who had lived in affluence
in London, but by a succession of misfortunes had suffered near-
ly the entire loss of his property. He had taken at a very heavy
rental the hotel belonging to A. "Marshall, who the directory lists
as living at 28 Park Row. Thigiiostelry adjoined on the north
the Park Theatre which occupied lots No. 21, 23 and 25 of that
street. The sequence of numbers scorns confusing yet the facts
are as above stated. This' he named the London Hotel (Com-
mercial Advertiser, Jan. .,29, 1806), anckit was announced on his
behalf that he depended for the future\ support of his family
upon his success in this new line of life. "He proposed to keep it
" in a true Old English style, the principal^ of which are cleanli-
ness, civility, comfort and good cheer."
Here occurred £ factional reencounter of note.
The Long Room at Martling's Tavern, at ^7 Nassau street,
corner Spruce/ had been the wigwam of the Tammany Society
' ice 1798, and, immediately after the election of\Fefferson, when
nat Society had become Republican in politics,1 a\division arose
i. Washington's first administration was non-partisan in character, but, with
the institution of the financial policies of Hamilton in 1791, partV lines assumed
definition and the two great parties, Federalist and Republican, sprang into life.
The Federalist, under the leadership of Hamilton, advocated a control of the gov-
ernment based upon aristocracy and wealth ; while the Republican, undej the leader-
ship of Jefferson, upheld the principle of a government based on equal rights and
true popular rule. The Anti-Federalist (Republican) leanings of the Society were
inevitable as they espoused the principle to which it was dedicated. (Saint Tammany,
etc., by Kilroe, 1913, p. 193).
(4l6)
T OF ENC NFLUENCE IN r iKEY
-.- ^
man cruib .itered the Bl Sea and bombard* i two Russian
ports at th> stigation of the Uerman admiral, bui, di ibtless with
the knowledge of Enver Bey, the Turkish Minister of War."96
Turkey was ruled by the army, which for years ha? seen things
through German military spectacles. It was controlle by the Ger
man Marshall Liman von Sanders, and Enver Bey, who was ed'
cated in Germany and was known to fca a pronounced German syia
pathizer. He was a powerful member of the Committee of Unioi
and Progress, the chief organization of the Young Turk movemenl
which also included the Ministers of Marine, Interior and Finance
In point of numbers these four were the minority party of the gov-
ernment, but the majority, including the Sultan and Grand Vizier,
was powerless to assert itself, due to the minority having control of
the army.97 These ministers, as a result of German bribes, were re-
sponsible for Turkey's entrance into the war.98
If Germany hoped to provoke England and Russia into an atlaok
so as to be able to appeal to Mohammedans, the opposite result was
obtained, for British Musselmen realized that the rupture had no'
been brought about by England. Perhaps Germany induced T
key to enter the war for diplomatic as well as strategical reas
hoping that the question of Constantinople would lead to dissent,
among her enemies. The surprising efficiency of the Turkish armt
has been an immediate help to the Teutons in that it has diverted
British soldiers from the western front for the campaigns at the
Dardanelles and in Mesopotamia, as well as holding a Russian army
in the Caucasus Mountains.
In spite of her regeneration, Turkey will probably have com-
mitted suicide by her entrance into the great war. If the Teutonic
powers are vanquished, Turkey will be swept back into Asia • if tb^
are victorious, Turkey will become the vassal and tool of Gei
The end of the war will see the gates to the Black Sea pass in,
hands of a strong power,99 and the end of the Ottoman Empin
Europe, which statesmen have expected for generations, will be ai,
hand.
96. The Times History of the War, Part 28, III, p. 44 to 49.
98. J. Ellis 'Barker,' "Germany and Turkey " Fortnightly Review, CII, p. IDIO.
99. Lord Crc^ T, "The Suiride of the Turk," Spectator, CXV, p. 541.
31
Chapters in the History of Halifax, Nova Scotia
BY AETHUB WENTWOBTH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
NO. IX
\
ROYAL GOVEBNOBS AND GOVEBNMENT HOUSE
"History should invest with the reality of flesh and blood, beings whom we are too
much inclined to consider as personified qualities in an allegory ; call up our ancestors
before us with all their peculiarities of language, manners, and garb ; show us their houses,
seat us at their tables, rummage their old-fashioned wardrobes, explain to us the uses
of their ponderous furniture.'^
— LORD MACAULAY.
"Macaulay held that history, no less than fiction, should be a lively and vivid picture
of the actual, warm, human life of the past. He aimed to give to the narrative of real
occurrences, to the portrayal of genuine personages, the same life that fiction bestows on
the events and characters of fancy."
N the third chapter of our history we have spoken of the
two most historical buildings in Halifax apart from St.
Paul's Church, the Province Building and Government
House. The frames of three or four, perhaps more, of
the earliest buildings of the newly founded town were ordered and
brought from Massachusetts, one of the chief of these being the
frame of a governor's house. For the first few months after his
arrival at Chebucto, Colonel Cornwallis, the governor, kept to his
quarters on the ship in which he had sailed from England, but at
last, in the early part of October, 1749, the frame having come from
Boston, his house was made habitable and the governor set up his
simple establishment on shore. This primitive house of the King's
representative in the first British province in what is now Canada,
in which civil government was established, was a small, low, one-
story house, probably like St. Paul's Church constructed of oak
and pine.
For eight or nine years only this house was suffered to stand,
then in 1758 Colonel Charles Lawrence, the second governor after
32
GEN. SIR WILLIAM FENWICK WILLIAMS, BART., K. C. B.
Hero of Kars; Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, 1867-1873
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Cornwallis, had the building taken down and a new and much room-
ier one built. When Lord William Campbell became governor, in
1766, he urged that this house needed a ball-room, and the govern-
ment added it. Later, at different times, further enlargements or
improvements were made in the official dwelling, and the house was
used or at least stood until 1800, when the corner stone of the pres-
ent Government House was laid.
By 1797 this second governor's residence, which like its rude
predecessor had been built of wood, and green wood at that, was in
such a state of decay that Sir John Wentworth, who had lived in it
since his appointment as governor five years before, complained to
the Colonial Secretary in England that it was utterly unfit for
occupancy, and that his health was suffering so greatly from its
bad condition that he had been obliged to remove his household to
the lodge he owned on Bedford Basin, six miles out of town. In the
course of this year, 1797, an act was passed by the legislature au-
thorizing the erection of a building in which to house properly the
legislature in both its branches and the courts of law, and to serve
as well- for the crown offices, for since 1790 these had all been ac-
commodated in a business building which had been erected and was
owned by the Hon. Thomas Cochran, a member of the council, and
his brothers James and William,1 enterprising North of Ireland
men who had come to Halifax in the first company of emigrants
brought from Ireland, in 1761, by the enterprising Alexander Mc-
Nutt. This "Cochran Building" stood on Hollis Street, almost
immediately opposite the present Province Building, and so on the
site of the Post Office. Before the act could be brought into effect,
however, Sir John managed to have it repealed, and another act
passed carrying out his policy of having a governor's house erected
before a Province Building should be undertaken. For the legisla-
ture and the courts, therefore, a new lease for ten years was taken
of the Cochran building in 1799, and the erection of a Province
I. The Court House having been destroyed by fire, early in May, 1790, the Legisla-
ture passed an act empowering a body of commissioners to treat with Messrs. Thomas,
James, and William Cochran for the rental of their building on Hollis Street, opposite
the present Province Building for the use of the Legislature, the Courts of Law, and
the Crown Offices. This building was so occupied, at a rental, we believe, of two hun-
dred dollars a year, from 1790 until 1820, when the new Province Building was com-
pleted. See Akins's Chronicles of Halifax, pp. 99, 100.
33
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Building remained in abeyance for a little over a decade more.2
The site of the first and second Government Houses was the lot
between Hollis and Granville streets on which the Province Build-
ing stands, when it was determined to erect a new governor's house
there was prolonged discussion as to where this building should be
located. A board of commissioners had been appointed to carry the
project of a new government house out, and at least three sites were
presented for the consideration of these men. In an interesting ac-
count of the discussion concerning the proper site and of the final
decision to build on the well known spot on Pleasant Street where
the now venerable third Government House stands, the Hon. Sir
Adams Archibald, one of the most estimable and able of later gover-
nors of the province, tells us that Sir John Wentworth urged the
site that was chosen and was exceedingly well pleased when a ma-
jority of the commissioners came to his view.3
The corner stone of the new building was laid on the eleventh of
September, 1800, and a few days afterwards the Royal Gazette
newspaper described the event. "On Thursday last," says the
•2. Dr. Akins (Halifax, pp. 213, 214) says of the first Government House : "It was
a small, low building of one story, surrounded by hogsheads of gravel and sand, on
which small pieces of ordnance were mounted for its defence. It stood in the centre of
the square now occupied by the Province Building. About the year 1757 or 1758 this little
cottage was removed to give place to a more spacious and convenient residence. It was
sold and drawn down to the corner of George Street and Bedford Row, opposite the
south-west angle of the City Court House, and again, about 1775, removed to the beach
and placed at the corner leading to the steam-boat landing, where it remained until 1832,
when the present building, lately occupied by Thomas Laidlaw, was erected on the site."
"The new Government House," he continues, "was built during the time of Governor
Lawrence. Lord William Campbell built a ball room at one end, and several other im-
provements were made to the building by subsequent governors. It was surrounded by
a terrace neatly sodded and ornamented. The building was of wood, two stories high.
The office of Capt. Bulkeley, the Secretary, stood at the north-east angle of the square
inside the rails. Prince Edward resided in this house with Governor Wentworth in
1798. This old house was pulled down about the commencement of the present cen-
tury [the igth] and the materials sold to Mr. John Trider, Sr., who used them in the
construction of the building on the road leading to the tower at the head of Inglis Street,
formerly owned by Colonel Bazalgette, and afterwards the residence of the late Mr.
George Whidden." The price paid by Mr. Trider for the materials of the old house,
Sir Adams Archibald says, was a little over two hundred and sixty-two pounds.
3. Sir Adams Archibald's account of the building of the present Government House
will be found in the third volume of Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society,
pp. 197-208. Sir Adams published also in the same Collections (Vol. 4, pp. 247-258) an
account of the Province Building. In both cases this writer has given much information
concerning the legislation referring to the erection of the buildings. The Province
Building, says Dr. Akins, "was fully completed and finished, ready for the sittings
of the Courts and Legislature, in 1820, at the cost of $52,000." See Akins's account of
Halifax in the 8th volume of the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society.
34
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Gazette, "this long projected and necessary building was begun
under the auspices of His Excellency, Sir John Wentworth, Bart.
On this pleasing occasion a procession was formed at the present
Mansion House [the old Government House], which preceded by a
band of musicians playing 'God Save the King,' 'Rule Britannia,'
and other appropriate airs, went to the site prepared for the erec-
tion of the edifice, where the corner stone was laid with the custom-
ary forms and solemnities, and a parchment containing the fol-
lowing inscription was placed in a cavity cut for that purpose in the
centre of the stone: "Deo Favente."
"The corner stone of the Government House, erected at the ex-
pense of His Majesty's loyal and faithful subjects of Nova Scotia,
pursuant to a grant of the Legislature of the Province, under the
direction of Michael Wallace, William Cochran, Andrew Belcher,
John Beckwith, and Foster Hutchinson, Esquires, for the residence
of His Majesty's Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or person ex-
ercising the chief civil authority, was laid September llth. Anno
Domini, 1800, in the 40th year of the reign of His Most Sacred
Majesty, George the III."
On this document then follows a list of the great personages who
took part in the ceremony, — "Sir John Wentworth, Bart, Lieuten-
ant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief ; Vice-Admiral Sir William
Parker, Bart., Commander-in-Chief of all His Majesty's fleet in
North America; Lieutenant-General Henry Bowyer, Commander
of His Majesty's forces in Nova Scotia and its dependencies; Col.
the Rt. Hon. John Lord Elphinstone, Commanding His Majesty's
26th Regiment of Foot; Col. George Augustus Pollen, Member of
the British Parliament, Commanding His Majesty's Fencible Regi-
ment of Loyal Surrey Rangers; the Hon. Sampson Salter Blow-
ers, Chief -Justice of Nova Scotia; the Honourables Alexander Bry-
mer, Thomas Cochran, Charles Morris, John Halliburton, Henry
Duncan, Benning Wentworth, and James Brenton, members of the
Nova Scotia Council; Mr. Richard John Uniacke, Speaker of the
House of Assembly, and the Members of the Assembly then in town;
six Captains in the Royal Navy, Officers of the Nova Scotia Militia,
the Commissary General, Deputy Judge Advocate General, Solicitor
General, Deputy Commissary General, Military Secretary, the Rev.
35
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Eobert Stanser, Kector of St. Paul's Church, and other clergymen;
the magistrates, and many of the principal inhabitants of the town.
Closing this imposing list came the names of Isaac Hildreth, archi-
tect, and John Henderson, chief mason of the building.
Immediately after the corner stone was laid the Eector of St.
Paul's offered a prayer he had evidently written for the occasion,
and then the procession, in which the rules of precedence accepted
in the province were duly observed, moved solemnly back to the old
Government House, where "a cold collation" was prepared for
the august assembly. "From this period," says Sir Adams Archi-
bald, "the building went steadily on. It was made habitable in or
about the year 1805, when Sir John moved into it. But it was still
unfinished as late as 1807. ' ' Of the character of the building, which,
outwardly at least, is an exact reproduction of the famous Lans-
downe House, London, Sir Adams says: "No better Government
House exists in the Dominion, either as to solidity of structure or
convenience of arrangement. The architect, Mr. Isaac Hildreth,
seems to have been fully entitled to the certificate given him by the
Committee of Assembly in January, 1807, when his services in con-
nection with the building were no longer required. They say in
their report that they have * a full conviction of the ability and pro-
fessional skill of Mr. Hildreth and satisfactory proof of his zeal,
integrity, and diligence in the conduct of the work he has been en-
gaged in. ' They recommend a grant of money to be given him as a
testimonial of the public opinion of his merit and services. On the
same day the House ratified the Committee's Report by a Eesolu-
tion giving the grant recommended, the same to be considered 'as
a testimonial of the favourable opinion entertained by the Legisla-
ture of his ability, integrity, diligence, and zeal. ' The whole cost
of the third Government House was about eighteen thousand dol-
lars.
The architect of Government House, Isaac Hildreth, was almost
certainly a Massachusetts man, of the Hildreths of Chelmsford, but
apart from his connection with this building we have no knowledge
of him. Nor do we know certainly how Lansdowne House, London,
came to be chosen as the model for Government House. The famous
London mansion of Berkeley Square was built about the middle of
36
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the 18th century by Robert Adam, and was begun for the first Earl
of Bute, at that time Prime Minister. Before it was finished, how-
ever, it became the property of John Petty, first Earl of Shelburne,
from whom in time it passed to the second Earl, who in 1784 was
created Viscount Calne and Calston, Earl of Wycombe, and Marquis
of Lansdowne in the peerage of Great Britain. The Marquis of
Lansdowne had a stormy political career, which began in 1760 and
ended about 1783. Although the most unpopular statesman of his
time, for he seems to have treated all political parties with un-
measured contempt, he exercised a strong influence in parliament,
and it was probably his persistent refusal until he was forced to
do so in 1782 to give his voice for the independence of the American
Colonies that gave him such prestige with the Tories in New York
that in 1783 they gave their projected town on the southern shore
of Nova Scotia the name ' ' Shelburne. ' ' This first Marquis of Lans-
downe died in 1805.
From the first occupation of this third Government House, in
1805, to the date of Confederation in 1867, says Sir Adams Archi-
bald, * ' thirteen governors have occupied the house, and of all these
men there is scarce one who does not in one way or another tower
more or less above the average of the class to which he belongs.
Some of them have been statesmen of mark, others successful
soldiers, many have performed important duties in other parts of
the empire. Four in succession left the governorship of Nova Scotia
to become governors general of Canada. As a body they may be
classed as able and eminent men." The thirteen of whom Sir Adams
speaks as having come between 1800 and 1867 were : Sir John Went-
worth, Sir George Prevost, Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, the Earl
of Dalhousie, Sir James Kempt, Sir Peregrine Maitland, Sir Colin
Campbell, Lord Falkland, Sir John Harvey, Sir Gaspard Le Mar-
chant, the Earl of Mulgrave, Sir Richard MacDonnell, and Sir Wil-
liam Fenwick Williams.
Including Colonel Cornwallis, to the present day Nova Scotia has
had thirty-two governors (or "lieutenant-governors," as since 1786
these chief officials have correctly been styled). Before 1786 the rep-
resentative of royal authority in the province was "governor-in-
chief," but in that year a governor-in-chief of all the British Prov-
37
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
inces remaining to the crown in America was appointed, with a resi-
dence at Quebec, and under this "Governor-General of Canada," as
he was commonly called, the governors of the general province be-
came nominally "lieutenant-governors." Before 1786, however, the
governors in chief of the single provinces frequently had their lieu-
tenants, and of such we have in Nova Scotia after the founding of
Halifax a list comprising nine.4
The list of civil governors of Nova Scotia, of which as we have
said there have been to the present (the year 1918) thirty-two,
comprises many men who have done the British Empire conspicu-
ous service in various parts of the world and have earned for them-
selves high reputation. In the following pages we shall give some
account of these men and speak of the influence some of them had
on Nova Scotia at large, and particularly on the city of Halifax,
where they made their temporary homes.
COLONEL THE HON. EDWAED CORNWALLIS, appointed Governor-in-
Chief of Nova Scotia on the 9th of May, 1749, was the sixth son of
Charles, Baron Cornwallis, and his wife Lady Charlotte Butler,
whose father was Richard Earl of Arran.5 Colonel Cornwallis was
born February 22, 1713, and early placed in the army. He served as
major of the 20th regiment in Flanders in 1744 and 1745, and in the
latter year was appointed lieutenant-colonel of his regiment. On
the death of his brother Stephen he was chosen member of parlia-
ment for Eye, and during the session following was made a Groom
of H. M. Bedchamber. On the 9th of May, 1749, he became colonel
of the 24th regiment, and was gazetted 1 1 Governor of Placentia, in
Newfoundland, and Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and
over his Majesty's province of Nova Scotia or Acadia." He sailed
from England May 14, 1749, and took the oath as governor, at Hali-
fax, July 14, 1749. His salary as governor was a thousand pounds
(the customary salary of the early civil governors of Nova Scotia).
4. These lieutenant-governors, as we shall see later, were : Charles Lawrence, Rob-
ert Monckton, Jonathan Belcher, Montague Wilmot, Michael Francklin, Mariot Arbuth-
not, Richard Hughes, Sir Andrew Snape Hamond, Edmund Fanning.
5. Colonel Cornwallis was an uncle of Charles Cornwallis, ist marquis and 2d earl,
who from 1776 until the close of the War of the Revolution was in command of British
troops in America, and who afterward served as governor-general of India. Col. Ed-
ward Cornwallis was twin brother of Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury.
38
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
On the 12th of July, 1749, almost immediately after the arrival of
Cornwallis at Chebucto, Paul Mascarene, then lieutenant-colonel of
the 40th regiment, arrived at Chebucto from Annapolis Royal with
five members of his council (a quorum). On the 14th of July, Corn-
wallis formally dismissed Mascarene and his councillors from the
offices they had held and appointed a new council. The members of
this new council were : Paul Mascarene, Edward How, John Gor-
ham, Benjamin Green, John Salusbury, and Hugh Davidson, the last
of whom became the first secretary of the province under civil rule.
Of the councillors, Edward How, John Gorham, and Benjamin
Green were Boston men.0
"In the settlement of the emigrants [he had brought with him
for the founding of Halifax]," says a biographer of the first civil
governor of Nova Scotia,7 "Cornwallis displayed great energy and
tact. He had from the start much to contend with. The settlers
were soldiers who had fought all over Europe and were accustomed
to rough camp and barrack life, and sailors ready for a sea fight
but like their brethren in arms utterly unfit for any other line of
life. There were also disappointed men of all grades of society,
forced by circumstances to face the privations and hardships of a
new life, in which few of them were destined to have success. There
were good men among them . . . but judging by the record left
by Cornwallis, three-fourths of them were as hard a lot as could
have been collected and sent away from the old land to starve, drink,
and freeze in the cold, inhospitable climate of Nova Scotia. During
the founding of the colony, Cornwallis exhibited many sterling
qualities necessary to a leader of men. His executive ability, pa-
tience, and kindness to all under him, deserved commendation and
warranted recognition, but the reverse was the case. No allowance
was made by the authorities for the unforeseen expenses of a new
settlement. Although given unlimited powers of administration,
he was treated with distrust in the matter of expenditures. The
6. See "Governor Cornwallis and the First Council," by Dr. Thomas B. Akms, m
the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 2; and "Hon. Edward Corn-
wallis," by James S. Macdonald in the .same Collections, vol. 12.
7. This summary of Cornwallis's work in founding Halifax is taken from Mr.
James S. Macdonald's sketch of the first civil governor of Nova Scotia in the i2th vol-
ume of the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society (pp. 9, 10). Income few
instances in the quotation we have been obliged to change slightly the writer s English.
39
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
board of trade, frightened at facing parliament with an ever in-
creasing deficit, curtailed his powers, and at several critical times
his bills of exchange were returned dishonored, and his credit was
ruined in the neighboring colonies of Massachusetts and New York.
But though discouraged, he stuck manfully to his post until three
years had passed and the introductory work of founding the colony
had been accomplished."
COLONEL PEREGRINE THOMAS HOPSON was commissioned captain
general and commander-in-chief of Nova Scotia, and also vice-
admiral, March 31, 1752. He took the oath as governor on Mon-
day, August 3, 1752, but on the 1st of November, 1753, he sailed for
England in the Torrington, war-ship, and the command of the prov-
ince devolved on the lieutenant-governor, Major Charles Lawrence.
Col. Hopson was commander-in-chief at Louisburg when that place
was restored to the French by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. In
July, 1749, he came with the forces from Louisburg to Halifax, and
at the latter place was sworn in senior councillor, his superior rank
in the army entitling him to take precedence of Lieutenant-Colonel
Paul Mascarene, who had been the first named of the new council.
He left Halifax for England on the first of November, 1753, and
we suppose very soon after resigned. After he left Nova Scotia he
was in active military service until his death, which took place Janu-
ary 27, 1759.
COLONEL CHARLES LAWRENCE was appointed governor probably on
August 12, 1754. The history of this governor will be found very
carefully given by Mr. James S. Macdonald in the 12th volume of
the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society and in the
" Dictionary of National Biography." He was commissioned lieuten-
ant-governor, probably July 17, 1750, and so acted until his appoint-
ment as governor. His administration as governor covered the im-
portant period of the fall of Fort Beausejour and the removal of the
Acadians in 1755, and the settlement of New England planters
throughout the province, which important movement he did much
to stimulate and carry through, in 1760 and 1761. We find a com-
mission as " lieutenant-governor" given him August 12, 1754, and
find him taking oath as "lieutenant-governor" October 14, 1754,
40
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
but these dates we suppose are the proper dates of his entrance on
the full governorship of the province.
Lawrence was born at Portsmouth, England, December 14, 1709,
and began his military career in England as an ensign in Col. Ed-
ward Montague's (afterwards the llth Devon) Regiment of Foot
in 1727. His captaincy in 1742, and his majority in 1747, were ob-
tained, however, in the 54th (Warbiirton's) Regiment, with which
he served under Hopson at Louisburg, until the troops were re-
moved from that fortress to Halifax in 1749. In 1750 and '51 he
was engaged at Beaubassin and Chignecto, and in 1752 he went
with the German settlers, in command of a small force, to Lunen-
burg, to assist in founding that town. In 1753, when Hopson went
to England, he was given the administration of the government, and
the next year, as we have seen, he was appointed lieutenant-gov-
ernor. In 1756, on the resignation of Hopson he was commissioned
governor-in-chief. In 1757 he commanded the reserve in Lord Lou-
don's expedition, and December 3rd of that year he was promoted
to brigadier-general. In 1758 he commanded a brigade at the sec-
ond siege of Louisburg.
The character of none of the governors or lieutenant-governors
of Nova Scotia has been the subject of so much discussion as that
of Governor Lawrence. This is due chiefly to the part he played in
the tragedy of the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, his connec-
tion with this event earning him from many writers on the ex-
pulsion the reputation of a bad-tempered, pitiless man. The Nova
Scotia historian, Beamish Murdoch, however, only says of him: "He
was a man inflexible in his purposes, and held control in no feeble
hands. Earnest and resolute, he pursued the object of establishing
and confirming British authority here with marked success." To
this tribute Mr. James S. Macdonald adds, that among all the
governors of Nova Scotia in the 18th century, from the first, Colonel
Cornwallis, to the last, Sir John Wentworth, the one who stands
" proudly preeminent" "in intellect, courage, and executive abil-
ity," is Charles Lawrence. As an administrator of government,
says this biographer, he combined all the strong qualities of the
others "without a shadow of their weaknesses."8
8. Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 12, p. 58.
41
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
As we have shown, Lawrence began to build a new Government
House in 1758. On the eleventh of October, 1760, he gave a great
ball, probably to celebrate the completion of the house, at which
there were over three hundred guests. His Excellency was in high
spirits and danced frequently. " During the evening," says Mr.
Macdonald, "he drank while heated, a tumbler of iced water." From
this "he was seized with cramps in the chest, which developed into
inflammation of the lungs and terminated fatally at nine o'clock on
Sunday morning, October nineteenth." On the twenty-fifth his
funeral took place, "fully four thousand of the army and navy, with
four hundred officers, and many citizens" in attendance. From
Government House the procession moved in solemn order to St.
Paul's Church. First came the troops in garrison, the military
officers, two six-pound field pieces, the physicians of Halifax, the
clergy of the town, and then the body in a coffin covered with black
velvet and draped with a pall to which were affixed escutcheons of
his Excellency's arms, the pall-bearers being the whole body of his
Majesty's Council. After the body came the mourners, the provost
marshal, the House of Assembly, the magistrates, the civil officers,
Free-Masons, and many leading citizens. The pall-bearers, clergy,
physicians, and all civil and military officers wore black linen or
cambric hat bands.
As the corpse neared the church the children from the orphan
house sang an anthem. Within, the pulpit, reading-desk, and gov-
ernor's pew were draped with black, bearing escutcheons. The
burial service was conducted by Dr. Breynton, who preached a
touching sermon, at the conclusion of which, with the committal ser-
vice of the Prayer Book the body was lowered into a vault at the
right side of the Communion Table. From the time the procession
began until the burial was completed minute guns were fired from
one of the batteries, the firing ending with three volleys from the
troops under arms.9 The next Tuesday morning, when the Su-
g. What position the officers and men of the navy occupied in the procession we
have not discovered. Governor Lawrence's body was the first interred beneath St.
Paul's Church. A monument to him with an elaborate inscription, costing eighty pounds
was soon ordered by the legislature from London to be placed in the church. It came
out and was affixed to the south-east corner of the church (the first monument placed
in the church), but in a violent storm which occurred in 1768, the south-east end of
the church was badly damaged, and the monument or tablet had to be taken down.
42
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
preme Court assembled, the court-room was draped in black ; and u.
an early issue of the Royal Gazette the grief of the community was
still further expressed in a fulsome eulogium which read as follows :
"Governor Lawrence was possessed of every natural endowment
and acquired accomplishment necessary to adorn the most exalted
station, and every amiable quality that could promote the sweets
of friendship arid social intercourse of human life. As Governor
he exerted his uncommon abilities with unwearied application, and
the most disinterested zeal in projecting and executing every useful
design that might render this Province and its rising settlements
flourishing and happy. He encouraged the industrious, rewarded
the deserving, excited the indolent, protected the oppressed, and re-
lieved the needy. His affability and masterly address endeared him
to all ranks of people, and a peculiar greatness of soul made him
superior to vanity, envy, avarice, or revenge. In him we have lost
the guide and guardian of our interests; the reflection on the good
he has done, the anticipation of great things still expected from such
merits, are circumstances which, while they redound to his honour,
aggravate the sense of our irreparable misfortune."
HENRY ELLIS, ESQ., born in England in 1721, who had previously,
from 1756 to 1760, been governor of Georgia, was commissioned
governor of Nova Scotia in April or May, 1761. When he received
his commission he was in England and arrangements were made by
the Nova Scotia council to receive him fittingly when he should ap-
pear. For some reason, however, he never came to his post, and
in his absence, first Chief Justice Belcher, who was commissioned
lieutenant-governor April 14, 1761, and then Hon. Colonel Mon-
tague Wilmot, who took the oath of office September 26, 1762, ad-
ministered the government. Ellis continued to hold office, however,
until some time in 1763. He died on the shore of the Bay of Naples,
January 21, 1806.10
THE HONOURABLE COLONEL MONTAGUE WILMOT was commissioned
From a shed near by, where it was placed until the church could be repaired, it disap-
peared and its fate has never been discovered to this day. See "Governor Lawrence,
by James S. Macdonald, in Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 12;
and the Dictionary of National Biography.
10. See the National Cyclopoedia of American Biography, Vol. i, p. 49* •
43
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
governor March 11, 1763, although he probably did not take oath
until October 8, 1763. As lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia he
had been commissioned January 13, 1762. In the latter office he was
succeeded in 1766 by the Hon. Michael Francklin. By a proclama-
tion dated at St. James, October 7, 1763, the islands of St. John and
Cape Breton, "with the lesser islands adjacent thereto," were an-
nexed to the government of Nova Scotia.
One matter, at least, of interest to the reader of history, which
received much of Governor Wilmot 's attention during his governor-
ship, was the question of what to do with the Acadian French that
still remained in the Province. In 1764 there were in Nova Scotia,
in the counties of Halifax, Hants (then King's), Annapolis, and
Cumberland, four hundred and five families of these people, com-
prising seventeen hundred and sixty-two persons. On the 22d of
October of this year a project was reported in the council to settle
part of these French in fourteen different places throughout the
Province. Writing concerning the matter to the Earl of Halifax,
Governor Wilmot says : * ' These people have been too long misled
and devoted to the French King and their religion to be soon wean-
ed from such attachments ; and whenever those objects are hung out
to them their infatuation runs very high. Some prisoners taken in
the course of the war and residing here have much fomented this
spirit." The Acadians living in and near Halifax have, he says,
"peremptorily refused to take the oath of allegiance." The in-
tention of the Acadians, he continues, was eventually to settle in
"the country of the Illinois." The province will be much relieved by
their departure, he thinks, for they have always been hostile to Brit-
ish rule.
Governor Wilmot died in office May 23, 1766, and the Hon. Ben-
jamin Green, as president of the council, temporarily administered
the government. The governor's remains also were permanently
placed in a vault under St. Paul's Church.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD WILLIAM CAMPBELL was commis-
sioned governor of Nova Scotia on the llth of August, 1766. Lord
William, who was the youngest son of the fourth Duke of Argyle,
was born probably about 1730, and was early put into the navy,
44
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
where in 1762 he attained the rank of captain. Two years later he
entered parliament. He married, in 1763, Sarah Izard, daughter
of Ralph Izard, Esq., of Charleston, South Carolina. On the 8th
of August, 1766, he was commissioned vice-admiral, and on the llth,
as we have said, governor of Nova Scotia. Governor Campbell suf-
fered from ill health and on the 17th of October, 1771, sailed for
Boston, probably on his way to South Carolina.11 On the 10th of
July, 1772, he returned, much improved in health as he announced to
the council, but in February, 1773, he wrote the Secretary of State
in England that he wanted another leave of absence from his post,
this time for six months, presumably again to recuperate from ill
health. He had, he urged in his request, served the then reigning
king and his grandfather for twenty-four years. He declares his
love for the people of Nova Scotia, and believes he has been of some
service to them. He praises the Nova Scotians' constant obedience
to his Majesty's commands. In the London Magazine for June,
1773, his appointment is gazetted as captain-general and governor-
in-chief of the province of South Carolina, in place of Lord Charles
Greville Montagu.12 In the same periodical occurs a notice of the
appointment of Francis Legge, Esq., to the governorship of Nova
Scotia.
In his documentary history of Nova Scotia, briefly narrating
events in the province in the year 1769, Mr. Beamish Murdoch says :
"In January, Governor Campbell had daily visits from the Indians,
demanding provisions. He attributed their urgent tone to the ab-
sence of troops, but as this was an unusually severe winter the
weather may have caused their importunity. Major Gorham, who
was deputy to Sir William Johnson, the agent for Indian affairs,
was absent, and the governor asks Lord Hillsborough for funds to
make presents to the Indians, and assist them, in order to keep them
quiet." Lord William Campbell died September 5, 1778, from a
wound received in a naval engagement.13
11. Lady Campbell sailed from England for Charleston, South Carolina, on the
23d of January, 1769, but whether she soon came from Charleston to Halifax or not we
do not know.
12. Lord Charles Greville Montagu died in Nova Scotia and was buried under St
Paul's Church, Halifax, in 1784.
13. See the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography.
45
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
MAJOR FRANCIS LEGGE, who was a relative of the Earl of Dart-
mouth, was commissioned captain-general and governor-in-chief
of Nova Scotia, July 22, 1773, and vice-admiral, July 26, 1773. He
was sworn into office as governor October 8, 1773. He has the dis-
tinction of having been by far the most unpopular governor Nova
Scotia has ever had. He left the province May 12, 1776, but con-
tinued to hold office until 1782, during which period the government
was administered successively by Lieutenant-Governors Mariot
Arbuthnot, Mr. Richard Hughes, and Sir Andrew Snape Hamond.
From October 8, 1773, until May 12, 1776, Major Legge, who as
a Nova Scotia writer has said, probably with entire truthfulness,
''had been for many years a thorn in the side of his noble kinsman
the Earl of Dartmouth and leading members of the ministry of
the day," who "had quarrelled and fought with friends and foes
in England, and as a last resort was shipped off to Nova Scotia to
take charge of this new colony, to get rid of his hated presence at
home," was in residence at Halifax. Whatever social events took
place at Government House during these three years we may be
sure were not gay ones, for Legge was uniformly ill-tempered and
jealous, and in his capacity as governor did all he could to cast dis-
credit on men in public life in the province. His official career as
governor was stormy in the extreme. He hated Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor Francklin, who was highly popular and who in public as in
private was an excellent man, he insinuated that Richard Bulkeley,
the Provincial Secretary, an official of unblemished character and
the highest reputation, was dishonest, he accused Hon. Jonathan
Binney and Hon. John Newton, members of the council, "of re-
taining moneys which had been voted them for fees for public duties
and services," actually imprisoning Mr. Binney for three months,
and in his letters to England he (with much more reason) persist-
ently charged disloyalty to the Crown on a large part of the people
generally in the province. So unbearable was his rule that the
legislature as a body had finally to appeal to the English govern-
ment for redress, and the consequence was that Legge was promptly
recalled.
On the 12th of May, as we have said, he sailed for England. As
he left the beach, near the present Market Wharf, in the launch
46
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
which was to take him to the war-ship, in which he was to sail, hun-
dreds of the citizens of Halifax, were watching there to see him go.
"As the boat left the beach, storms of hisses and yells burst from
the assemblage. This so infuriated Legge that he stood up in the
boat and cursed them most heartily, and the last seen of him he was
standing on the deck of the frigate shaking his fists at the amused
and delighted Haligonians. "14
LIEUTENANT- COLONEL JOHN PARE, who was the last governor in
chief of Nova Scotia, was commissioned captain-general and com-
mander-in-chief July 29, 1782, and vice-admiral July 30, 1782. He
took the oath of office October 9, 1782. In October, 1786, Lord
Dorchester was appointed Governor-General of all the British prov-
inces in America, and on the 5th of April, 1787, the King's commis-
sion was read in the Nova Scotia council appointing Parr lieuten-
ant-governor of the province. No period in the history of Nova
Scotia is perhaps so important as that which was covered by the ad-
ministration of Governor Parr. Parr was sworn in governor in
October, 1782, and peace with the new American republic was pro-
claimed on the 30th of November, 1782, and beginning with De-
cember of the latter year the Loyalists of New York and other prov-
inces now states of the union came by thousands to Nova Scotia.
To give these people grants of land, and while they were making
themselves new homes in the province to relieve their immediate
necessities, was a laborious task and one needing the greatest sym-
pathy and tact. To his arduous duties at this critical time Parr
gave himself with unremitting faithfulness. Throughout the whole
of the year 1783, every day found the governor and his council busy
arranging for the welfare of the unhappy exiles. Parr's deep solici-
tude for the Loyalists, says Mr. Macdonald, should never be forgot-
ten by any who have the blood of these people in their veins. He
was not a brilliant man, says his biographer, but he was the very
man for the time he lived in and the duties he had to perform, "a
plain, upright soldier, who prided himself on his attention to duty,
and who endeavoured to discharge the obligations of a distinguished
14. This graphic account of Legge's departure is quoted from Mr. James S. Mac-
donald's memoir of Lieut.-Governor Michael Francklin in the i6th vol. of the Collections
of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, pp. 32, 33.
47
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
position with integrity and honour." During his administration
several important settlements were made in the province, notably
Shelburne and Parrsborough.
In the summer of 1786 and twice in 1787, Prince William Henry,
the * ' sailor prince " as he was commonly called, who afterward came
to the throne as King William the Fourth, visited Halifax and was
the recipient of magnificent hospitality and fulsome praise. His
first arrival in the town is described by the biographer of Governor
Parr as follows : ' l The Prince landed from the frigate Pegasus at
the King's Wharf, which was crowded with the numerous officials.
Governor Parr was there, with General Campbell and Admiral
Byron and the usual number of loyal and devoted admirers, and these
gentlemen conducted him up the wharf to Government House, then
situated on the spot where the Province Building is at present."
A week later than the Prince's arrival, the new governor general
of the British provinces, who previously had been known as Sir
Guy Carleton, but lately had been raised to the peerage as Lord
Dorchester, with his suite arrived at Halifax from Quebec, and he
too was received with delight. Addresses were presented to him,
dinners, receptions, and balls were given for him, and a "gay and
tireless round of frivolities" was indulged in by the loyal Hali-
gonians while his lordship remained.
It was during Governor Parr's administration, in the year 1787,
that Nova Scotia was created by the King by letters patent an
Anglican Colonial See, the Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis, previously Rec-
tor of Trinity Church, New York, being consecrated as its first
diocesan. Shortly after his arrival in his diocese the Bishop was so
impressed with the general immorality of Halifax that in taking his
seat in council he urged that steps be taken by the government "to
erect barriers against the impetuous torrent of vice and irreligion"
which threatened to overwhelm the morals of the community, if not
the whole province.
Governor Parr was born in Dublin, Ireland, December 20, 1725.
He died at Halifax of apoplexy, on Friday, November 25, 1791, and
was buried under St. Paul's Church.15
15. For Governor Parr and the Loyalists, see a highly interesting paper by Mr.
James S. Macdonald in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol 14.
For Hon. Richard Bulkeley see a paper by the same writer in the Collections, Vol. 12.
48
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
THE HONOURABLE SIR JOHN WENT WORTH, BARONET, (who did not,
however, receive his title until 1795) was commissioned governor of
Nova Scotia, January 13, 1792.. He arrived first in Halifax from
England, after the Revolution, on the 20th of September, 1783, in
the capacity in which he had long acted while governor of New
Hampshire, as surveyor general of the King's woods. In the same
ship, with him came also Mr. Edmund Fanning, who immediately
afterward entered on the duties of lieutenant-governor to Governor
Parr. The exact date of the arrival of these officials we have learn-
ed from a private letter from the Rev. Dr. Mather Byles, Jr., a fel-
low Loyalist refugee of Mr. Wentworth, who had come to Halifax
in 1776. Commissioned governor, Mr. Wentworth arrived again
from England in H. M. frigate Hussar, commanded by Captain
Rupert George, after a five weeks' voyage from Falmouth, England,
on the 12th of May, 1792. On the 14th, at one o'clock in the after-
noon he took the oath of office. Sir John resigned the governorship
early in 1808, and from June 1, 1808, until his death on April 8, 1820,
he enjoyed an annual pension from the government of five hundred
pounds. For about half the period of his governorship, Sir John
lived at the second built Government House, but some time in 1797,
it would seem, he felt the house to be unfit to live in and removed
his household temporarily to his lodge on Bedford Basin, probably
staying there for a time with the Duke of Kent.16 Later the official
residence in town must have been somewhat repaired, for the gov-
ernor continued for some time longer to entertain there. In this
house also, on the 16th of August, 1797, occurred the death of Lady
Wentworth 's first cousin, Charles Thomas, a young lieutenant in
the Duke of Kent's regiment, who was accidentally shot by a broth-
er officer in a road-house a few miles from the town.
On the 18th of November, 1799, Sir John wrote Robert Liston,
Esq., the British ambassador to the United States that the Duke of
Orleans and his two brothers, the Duke de Montpensier and Count
Beaujolais, had arrived at Halifax, in H. M. Ship Porcupine, from
16. Dr. Akins says that Prince Edward resided at Government House with Sir
John Wentworth in 1798, but since Sir John considered the house not fit to live in in
1797, and since the Prince had earlier become fully installed at the lodge, this seems very
unlikely. That the two did live together about this time at the lodge seems almost a
certainty. In 1798, however, Lady Wentworth was in England.
49
A
\
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
New Providence, where they had been waiting in vain for some time
to get passage to England. No chance for such passage having
presented itself they had come to Nova Scotia, where they hoped to
find a ship. Being unsuccessful here also they had gone on to New
York in the Lord Duncan, a merchant ship, hoping to be able to sail
from there. "They do not ostensibly," says Sir John, "assume their
rank; visited H. R. H. the Duke of Kent and myself and Admiral
Vandeput. The visits were returned, and they have dined with H.
R. H. at Government House on the public dinner days. The surplus
of cash brought with them they invested in bills of exchange from
the paymaster general of the army, upon the treasury, to be remit-
ted to London. I learn they brought about 10,000 dollars. It seems
to be their intention to proceed to Spain, to meet their mother, as
soon as possible. In all their deportment here they have been en-
tirely discreet. This is the general statement, except that they were
also at a public ball at the Government House, and yesterday dined
with me. Friday they are to dine with the Duke of Kent. As these
prisoners [sic] are of such high connection I thought it would not be
unacceptable to you to be informed of their progress through this
place. ' '
"P. S. 8 o'clock, P. M. Since the preceding, H. R. H. the Duke
of Kent has given the Duke of Orleans a letter of instruction to the
Duke of Portland, of which it may be acceptable to you to be as
above confidentially informed. ' '
The Duke of Orleans, Mr. Murdoch, who prints this letter in his
"History of Nova Scotia," explains "was the prince who afterwards
governed in France as King Louis Philippe. It is said that he
lodged while in Halifax with a Mrs. Meagher, a Frenchwoman, [sic]
and attended service in the small chapel (R. C.) in Pleasant Street,
and sat in the pew of L. Doyle, Esq."
In September, 1804, Halifax had a visitor in the person of Tom
Moore, the Irish poet. Moore had lately been in Bermuda, where he
had for a short time, it is said, occupied the post of registrar of the
court of vice-admiralty. This position he found did not pay him
a sufficient salary and he left it, but before returning to England he
determined to see something more of the world. Accordingly he
made a tour of the United States and Canada, and from Quebec
So
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
came to Halifax, the voyage occupying thirteen days. He sailed
from Halifax for England in the frigate Boston, commanded by
Captain Douglas.
"On the evening of Saturday, April 8," [1820] says Mr. Mur-
doch, "Sir John Wentworth died at Halifax, at his apartments in
Hollis Street. He was in his 84th year. His latter days were spent
in solitude and retirement. On the day before his departure the
city was excited with the joyful ceremonial attendant on the ele-
vation of the Prince of Wales to the sovereignty of this great em-
pire in his own right, mingled with the respect due a monarch who
had for near sixty years presided with moral dignity and conscienti-
ous earnestness over the government and interests of our nation.
To an eminent loyalist like Wentworth, who through chequered
scenes of prosperity and adversity had been the trusted and hon-
ored servant of the crown from an early period of this long reign, if
he were then conscious of what was passing around him, the re-
flections he would make on the dropping of the curtain on royalty,
on the unlocked for loss of Prince Edward, so long his intimate
friend, and on the exit of his venerated master from all sublunary
suffering, must have been exceedingly affecting. Sir John proved
the sincerity of his professions of strong attachment to Nova Scotia
by voluntarily spending his last days here. His baronetcy devolved
upon his son, Sir Charles Mary Wentworth, who resided in Eng-
land, but on the latter 's death without issue the title became ex-
tinct.17
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR GEORGE PREVOST, BARONET, succeeded
Governor Wentworth as the chief executive of the Nova Scotia gov-
ernment. His commission bears date January 15, 1808. On the 7th
of April he reached Halifax, and on the 13th was sworn into office.
He continued governor until 1811, when he was commissioned Gov-
ernor-in-Chief of all the British provinces in America. He left
Halifax for Quebec on the 25th of August, 1811, Alexander Croke,
17. See Dictionary of National Biography ; "Early Life of Sir John Wentworth
and "A Chapter in the Life of Sir John Wentworth" (both yet in manuscript in the
archives of the Nova Scotia Historical Society) by Hon. Sir Adams Archibald,
K. C. M. G.; The Wentworth Genealogy; and Chapter IV of this history.
51
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
LL.D., judge of vice-admiralty, being appointed to administer the
government for a short time.
An event of much importance in the time of Sir George Prevost
was the laying of the corner stone of the Province Building in 1811,
On Monday, the twelfth of August of that year, which happened to
be the birthday of George the Fourth, then regent of the empire of
Britain, at three o'clock in the afternoon the Lieutenant-Governor,
attended by Rear-Admiral Sawyer, Major-General Balfour, Com-
missioner Inglefield, and the different officers of the Staff, with sev-
eral Captains of the Navy, and others, was received at the eastern
gate of the inclosure by the Grenadiers and Light Infantry compan-
ies of the 2d battalion of militia, under command of Captain Lid-
dell, and the Rifle company of the 8th battalion, commanded by
Captain Albro, with arms presented, the band playing "God Save
the King. ' ' Here the Governor and his party were met by the com-
missioners for superintending the erection of the building, who con-
ducted them to a marquee, where they were received by Quarter-
master General Pyke, Grand Master of the Free and Accepted Or-
der of Masons, and other officers and members of the Grand Lodge,
and given refreshments. Then the Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray,
Grand Chaplain of the Lodge, offered a prayer, and the Lieutenant-
Governor performed the great ceremony of the day. The architect
of the building was Mr. Richard Scott. * ' The ceremony was honour-
ed," says the Royal Gazette newspaper, describing the function,
"by the presence of a considerable number of ladies, who were pro-
vided with seats erected for their accommodation. The windows
of the different houses round the square were also occupied by the
fair daughters of Acadia — the whole forming a coup d'oeil of taste,
beauty, and accomplishment that would do honour to any part of His
Majesty's Dominions; and notwithstanding there was a larger con-
course of people assembled than we have almost ever before wit-
nessed in this town, and the different sheds, etc., were crowded with
spectators, we are happy to announce that not any accident took
place, nor any one sustained the least injury."
A notable day, indeed, was this, in the governorship of Sir George
Prevost. In honour of the birthday of the heir to the throne and
regent of the Kingdom, from early morning flags floated from the
5*
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
ships in the harbour and the ports and chief buildings in and about
the town. At noon the troops were reviewed by his Excellency on
the Common, and three salutes of seven guns each, "intercalated
by a like series of feux de joie, echoed to the sky. " " Then came the
usual speech approving of the excellent performance by the troops
and militia, after this a royal salute from the ships of war; then
Sir George went back to Government House to receive and shake
hands with all Halifax at a levee held in honour of the day." It
was "a heavy day" for the representative of his Majesty, says Sir
Adams Archibald, "the address, the dinner, the answer to the ad-
dress and the speech to the toast, the roar of artillery in the morn-
ing, feux de joie, the salutes from the ships, the Volunteer Artil-
lery's salute — to say nothing of the refreshments, which seem to
have been rather profuse — must have sent him to bed tired enough
to make him almost forget that he was emerging from the chrysalis
of Nova Scotia to take wings for a higher sphere ' ' as governor gen-
eral of all the British provinces.
Sir George Prevost was born May 19, 1767, and died in London
January 5, 1816. His popularity in Nova Scotia was very great.18
GENERAL SIR JOHN COAPE SHERBROOKE, G. C. B., was commissioned
lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia, August 19, 1811, and sworn in
October 16, 1811. On the 29th of January, 1816, he like his prede-
cessor was commissioned governor in chief of all the British prov-
inces, but it seems to have been several months before he took his
departure for Quebec. On the 28th of June, 1816, Major-General
George Stracey Smyth was sworn in administrator of the Nova
Scotia government until a new executive head could be appointed.
Sir John Coape Sherbrooke died in England February 14, 1830.18*
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GEORGE RAMSAY, NINTH EARL OF DALHOUSIE,
was commissioned for the government of Nova Scotia, July 20, 1816.
He reached Halifax in H. M. ship Forth, from England, on the 24th
of October, 1816, and the same day took the oath of office. In 1819,
1 8. See Dictionary of National Biography; and "Sir George Prevost" (an unpub-
lished paper in the archives of the Nova Scotia Historical Society), by James S. Mac-
donald.
i8j^. See Dictionary of National Biography.
53
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
he too was commissioned governor in chief of the Canadas and the
other provinces, in succession to the Duke of Richmond, and prob-
ably in October of that year he went from Halifax to Quebec. The
Earl was born in 1770, and succeeded his father in the peerage of
Scotland in 1787. He was created Baron Dalhousie in the peerage
of the United Kingdom, August 11, 1815. Lord Dalhousie was gov-
ernor in chief of Canada from 1819 to 1828, and commander in chief
in the East Indies from 1829 to 1832. He died March 21, 1838.
•The Earl of Dalhousie 's governorship of Nova Scotia lasted but
three years, but these years were full of intelligent activity on the
part of this accomplished, energetic, high-minded man. Of Lord
Dalhousie the Honourable Joseph Howe, himself a later governor,
has written : ' ' The Earl was a square-built, good-looking man, with
hair rather gray when I last saw him. He took great interest in
agriculture and was the patron of 'Agricola,' whose letters appear-
ed in the Recorder when I was in the printing office. His Lordship's
example set all the Councillors and officials and fashionables mad
about farming and political economy. They went to ploughing-
matches, got up fairs, made composts, and bought cattle and pigs.
Every fellow who wanted an office, or wished to get an invitation to
Government House, read Sir John Sinclair, talked of Adarn Smith,
bought a south-down, or hired an acre of land and planted mangel
wurtzels.
"The secret about 'AgricolaV letters had been well kept and the
mystery became very mysterious. At last the authorship was an-
nounced, and it was then discovered that a stout Scotchman, who
kept a small grocer's shop in Water street and whom nobody knew
or had met in 'good society' was the great unknown. Ovations were
got up under the patronage of the Earl, and the Judges and leading
merchants and lawyers came forward and fraternized with the stout
Scotchman, who being a man of good education and fine powers of
mind was soon discovered to speak with as much ease and fluency
as he wrote. All this was marvellous in the eyes of that generation.
But no two governors think alike or patronize the same things, when
Sir James Kempt came he had a passion for road-making and pretty
women, and the agricultural mania died away. Agricola was voted
a bore — a fat Scotchman — and his family decidedly vulgar, and the
54
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA. SCOTIA
heifers about Government House attracted more attention than the
Durham cows. The agricultural societies tumbled to pieces, and
although spasmodic efforts were made from time to time by some
members of Mr. Young's family, agriculture did not become fash-
ionable in my day till Sir Gaspard Le Marchant in 1854 began to
talk to everybody about Shanghai chickens and Alderney cows.
Then a good deal of money was spent. The old breeds of cows,
which wanted nothing but care and judicious crossing to make them
as good as any in the world, were reduced in size that the cream
might be made richer, which it never was, and the chickens were
made twice the size, with the additional recommendation that they
were twice as tough. Sir Gaspard brought his crochets direct from
Court, for Prince Albert was a great breeder, and the Queen and
everybody else went mad about poultry for a summer or two."19
Not only agriculture but higher education in the province deeply
interested the Earl of Dalhousie. When he came as governor, Nova
Scotia had but one college, which was all the province then needed,
or indeed ought ever since to have had, the college known as King's,
situated at Windsor in the county of Hants. Unfortunately, how-
ever, this college, established and always conducted under Anglican
Church control, had at the start burdened itself with bigoted
denominational statutes which made it impossible for young men
of other churches than the Anglican to receive an education within
its doors. Lord Dalhousie was soon properly roused to indignation
at this state of things and determined to do something to remedy it.
Through his efforts and influence Dalhousie College was founded,
a college "for the instruction of youth in the higher classics and in
19. This sketch, by Hon. Joseph Howe, is printed in the ijth volume of Collec-
tions of the Nova Scotia Historical Society (pp. 197, 198). The general title of the
article from which it is taken is entitled "Notes on Several Governors and their In-
fluence." Mr. John Young's "Letters of Agricola," printed first in the Acadian Recorder
between July 25 and December 26, 1818, were designed to stimulate and did stimulate in-
telligent activity in agriculture throughout the province. They appeared anonymously
and their anonymity much increased the public interest in them. In consequence of sug-
gestions they contained, agricultural societies were quickly organized in various places,
ploughing matches were held, and there was a general awakening of interest in improved
methods of farming. By March, 1819, Mr. Young had avowed the authorship of the
letters and had become secretary of a Provincial Agricultural Society, in support of
which the legislature gave a subsidy of fifteen hundred pounds. Mr. John Young, as is
well known, was father of Hon. Sir William Young, Kt, the eighth chief justice of Nova
Scotia. See a paper in the archives of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, by John br-
vin, entitled "John Young (Agricola) the Junius of Nova Scotia.
55
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
all philosophical studies," whose doors should be open to all who
professed the Christian religion, especially those who were narrow-
ly " excluded from Windsor." With great formality the Earl laid
the corner stone of the building of this non-sectarian college on
Monday, the 22d of May, 1820, the Countess giving a ball and supper
to a large company on the same evening. Nine days later his lord-
ship received a farewell address from the people of Halifax and took
his departure also for the chief governorship of the provinces at
large.20
Nothing, writes the Hon. Joseph Howe, could be more "correct
and refining" than the tone given to Halifax society by Lady Dal-
housie. Without being handsome, and dressing with marked plain-
ness, she charmed people with the elegant simplicity of her man-
ners and with her gracious desire to please.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR JAMES KEMPT, G. C. B., was appointed
by the regent, afterwards George the Fourth, to the lieutenant-
governorship of Nova Scotia, October 20, 1819. He reached Halifax,
with his suite, however, not until June 1, 1820, his inauguration tak-
ing place the next day after his arrival. From July 10, 1828, to
November 24, 1830, he also served in the higher position of gov-
ernor general of the British provinces, his successor in Nova Scotia
being Sir Peregrine Maitland. Of Halifax social life during Kempt 's
administration of the Nova Scotia government, from 1820 to 1828,
and the governor's part in it, Mr. Peter Lynch has given us some
graphic pictures. "Winter, notwithstanding its severity," says
Mr. Lynch, "was a merry time. And although the winds were laden
with frost they did not prevent the sun shining brilliantly by day
and the stars sparkling brilliantly by night. A heavy fall of snow
was soon beaten down by the innumerable sleighs which traversed
it, and a number of good hostels at a convenient driving distance
from the town afforded the certainty of a good dinner. If at times
the days were dark and dreary they could always be made bright
and cheerful by the merry music of the sleigh bells, and I have no
hesitation in saying that while then the population was not more
20. See Dictionary of National Biography ; and a paper, still unpublished in the
archives of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, by Professor Archibald MacMechan,
entitled "Lord Dalhousie."
56
m
X
<
^
J
<
ffl
<i! i-"
» • -5-t
V%»ii:^W 1 :|S
cq
U
X
I>
o
^
PUi
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
than half as numerous as it is at present, yet there were twice the
number of horses and vehicles.
"The Tandem Club, one of the institutions of Halifax, was a
splendid sight. It numbered in its ranks the elite of the community,
the Governor and all the officials, the General, his staff, and a large
proportion of the officers in the garrison, and many of our wealthy
citizens, who all made a grand display during their field days.
. . . At the head of the Club rode the captain of the day, always
with a six-in-hand. After him came the Governor, with a fine team
of four horses, and aspres lui le deluge, four-in-hands and tandems
without number, all forming a continuous line of splendid horses,
handsome sleighs, and gaily dressed people, from South Street to
the Provincial Building, all entranced by the many notes of the mel-
low horn and the continued shouting of the crowds which lined the
street on either side.
"Immediately opposite the east side of the Provincial Building
was a very large house then occupied by Miller (a famous host),
who kept the best hotel in the town. There the party all brought
up in several ranks, although wedged in as close as possible filling
the whole space between Prince and Sackville streets. At once the
hotel doors were thrown open and the servants of the house, to-
gether with those of the several messes, and others, streamed forth
in their gay liveries, bearing trays laden with cakes, confections,
and steaming hot negus, then the favorite beverage. After these
refreshments were partaken of, the whole party in order swept
along the streets on their way to Fultz 's Twelve Mile House, where
about three o'clock, then the fashionable dinner hour, the party sat
down to as good a dinner as could be had anywhere, in the Province
or perhaps out of it."
The Sundays in Halifax in Sir James Kempt 's time, Mr. Lynch
says, "could scarcely be called holy days," for except in two small
churches, one a Methodist, the other a Baptist, few people were
found worshipping after the service of the forenoon. "The bells
rang out their invitations, and the doors of the churches stood open
in the afternoons, but few entered their precincts. It was the al-
most universal custom for gentlemen to visit from house to house
after the morning service. Wine and cake were set out on the
57
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
tables as now on New Year's Day (though not with the same pro-
fusion), and the time was spent until the hour for dinner in dis-
cussing the gossip of the day, and possibly sometimes in the ex-
change of bits of scandal.
"After dinner, when the weather permitted it, the community
streamed out to the Common, to see a review of the troops. There
the great and the little were found in their holiday attire, the
wealthy in their carriages, the poorer on foot. At the west side of
the Common, somewhere near where the old race-course ran, the
Royal Standard flaunted its gay folds, and here gathered the fash-
ionable and rich of the town, for at this point the Governor, who
was then a general, and his staff, were to take their places when they
should come. At about half past four his Excellency and suite,
their gay plumes waving in the air, and their bright uniforms flash-
ing, made their appearance and galloping down to the stand took
their position. The several bands played the National Anthem,
and the business of the review proceeded. A march round at slow
step with a salute, and another at quick step without it, and the
review was over and the Common in a brief space of time restored
to the quiet which had pervaded it some two hours before.
"But the business or rather the pleasure of the day was not yet
over. In Hollis street, in one of the stone houses to the south of
Government House, lived a colonel of one of the regiments in gar-
rison, I think Colonel Creigh, and opposite him another military
man, I think a Cochran, and thither, at about dusk, came one of the
regimental bands. From that time until perhaps ten o'clock the
band played dance and other secular music, to an admiring audi-
ence, comprising some of the better element of the town, but con-
sisting chiefly of the great unwashed, who made the Sabbath night
hideous with their coarse jests and noisy conduct. It was a sad
termination to the sacred day which the Great Lawgiver had com-
manded us to remember to keep holy."
In the course of Sir James Kempt 's administration, the governor
of Nova Scotia whom Sir James had immediately followed, the Earl
of Dalhousie, now governor-general of Canada and the other prov-
inces, came to Halifax on a visit. He reached Halifax from Quebec
in the government brig Chebucto, Captain Cunard, on Thursday,
58
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the 3rd of July, 1823, after a voyage lasting eleven days. That
night, late, he landed at the town with his aides, Captain W. Hay
and Lieutenant Maule, accompanied also by Lieut-Col. Durnford, R.
E., and Captain Parker, A. D., quartermaster-general. On Saturday
he held a levee at Government House, at one o'clock, and the next
Tuesday he received an address from the magistrates and other
inhabitants, which was presented by Sheriff Jared Ingersoll Chip-
man.
Shortly after this he went with Sir James Kempt to visit Wind-
sor, Horton, and Cornwallis. On Wednesday the 23rd he was en-
tertained at a "public banquet" at Mason's Hall, in the town, the
Hon. Richard John Uniacke presiding, and the Governor and his
suite, Rear Admiral Fahie, the captains of the navy, field officers
of the army, the staff of the garrison, the members of council, the
magistrates, and many others being guests. At least forty toasts
were given at the banquet by the chair, the band of the 81st, Sir
James Kempt 's regiment, playing appropriate airs after each.
The Earl left at half past twelve, "but," says Mr. Murdoch sig-
nificantly, "the president and company continued till a later or more
exactly speaking an earlier hour."
The next evening the Earl was given a public ball at the Province
Building, the council chamber being used for dancing, and the as-
sembly room for the supper. "All the taste and fashion of the town
were displayed on this occasion, and no expense was spared in
rendering it a treat well worthy the acceptance of a peer of the
realm." "It was asserted," says Mr. Murdoch, "that of all the
fetes ever got up in Halifax this ball to the Earl was the most bril-
liant, in the beauty of decoration, the sumptuousness of entertain-
ment, and the taste that reigned over all. The council room was
illuminated with a profusion of lamps and chandeliers. Sofas were
placed all round the sides of the apartment, the elegant proportions
and loftiness of the chamber being in reality its greatest ornament.
A military band was stationed in an elevated orchestra, placed over
the central doors. The Earl opened the ball with Admiral Fahie 's
lady, a young bride, who had just come on with her husband in
H. M. S. Salisbury from Bermuda. At midnight the supper began,
Mr. Wallace presiding and giving toasts, and the dances were re-
59
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
newed afterwards. ' ' On the 28th of July the Earl left town, on his
way once more to Quebec.
Sir James Kempt was born at Edinburgh, in 1764, became cap-
tain of the 113th Foot and as such served in Ireland and in Holland,
and was commissioned a lieutenant-colonel in 1799. He was at
one time in service in the Spanish Peninsula. In 1813 he was col-
onel-commandant of the 60th Foot, and at Waterloo was severely
wounded. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, and was
also invested with several foreign orders. The 27th of May, 1825,
he was commissioned lieutenant-general, and in 1841 was promoted
general. At one time he was master general of the ordnance. He
died in London, December 20, 1854.21
GENERAL SIR PEREGRINE MAITLAND, G. C. B., was commissioned
Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia some time in 1828. He was
born in Hampshire, England, in 1777, and died in London, May
30, 1854. He entered the army in 1792, served in Flanders and in
Spain, and was at Waterloo, in command of the First British Bri-
gade. On June 22, 1815, for his services at Waterloo he was made
a K. C. B. His wife, Lady Sarah, was a daughter of the Duke of
Richmond, her mother being the Duchess of Richmond who gave
the famous ball at Brussels on the eve of the battle of Waterloo.
In 1818 the Duke of Richmond was governor-general of all the
British provinces in America, and in that year Sir Peregrine Mait-
land was made lieutenant-governor of Quebec. The exact date of
his commission as governor of Nova Scotia we do not know, but he
served in this capacity from 1828 until probably some time in 1833.
While he was in Halifax, on Sunday, April 8, 1832, Lady Sarah gave
birth to a daughter.
From December, 1843, until September, 1846, Sir Peregrine was
governor and commander-in-chief at the Cape of Good Hope. In
1846 he was promoted general, and in 1852 was made a Knight
Grand Cross of the Bath.22
Writing of the change in the tone of social life in Halifax when
Sir James Kempt left and Sir Peregrine Maitland came, Mr. Peter
21. See Dictionary of National Biography.
22. See Dictionary of National Biography.
60
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Lynch writes: ''The advent to the province of the new governor
and his wife, Sir Peregrine and Lady Sarah Maitland, the latter
a Lennox and daughter of the then Duke of Richmond, I am happy
to say put an end to these unseemly orgies [secular entertainments
on Sunday, etc.]. These two excellent people, from their consistent
walk together, with their high rank, at once produced a change in
the tone of society, and the perfume of their sweet lives permeated
all classes of the people. They professed much, and rigidly prac-
tised it. Their garments smelt of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, and while
those immediately about them were constrained by their holy lives
to follow their example, their influence went through all ranks of
the town. As Caligula 'found Eome of brick and left it of marble,'
so these good people, who found here much of riot, dissipation, and
disorder, after their period of abode amongst us left the community
in a very much improved condition. The good seed they sowed
yielded much healthy fruit, and I have no doubt its influence has
lasted to the present day."
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR COLIN CAMPBELL, K. C. B., who has often been
confused with Sir Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde (born at Glasgow,
Scotland, October 16, 1792), was commissioned lieutenant-governor
of Nova Scotia some time in 1833, and left the province probably
in 1840. He was the fifth son of John Campbell of Melfort, and his
wife Colina, daughter of John Campbell of Auchalader, and was
born in 1776. He had a brother, Admiral Sir Patrick Campbell.
In 1792, at the age of sixteen, he became a midshipman on board
an East Indiaman, but in February, 1795, he entered the army as
lieutenant in the 3rd battalion of the Breadalbane Fencibles, then
commanded by his uncle. He served with great ability in India,
and later under the Duke of Wellington on the continent. With
the great duke he had a warm friendship and to this famous gen-
eral owed much of his distinction. He became lieutenant-colonel of
the 65th regiment in 1818, and major-general in 1825. From 1839
to 1847 he was governor of Ceylon. He died in England, June 13,
1847, and was buried in the church of St. James, Piccadilly.23
"On Tuesday, the first of July, 1834," says Occasional in the
23. See Dictionary of National Biography.
61
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Acadian Recorder, "Major-General Sir Colin Campbell, K. C. B.,
arrived in Halifax as Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. For
eighteen months Thomas Jeffery, President of the Council, had
been Administrator of the Government during the absence of Gov-
ernor Maitland in England. Previous to the arrival of Governor
Campbell, the President sent a message to the House of Assembly,
which had just met, with an extract of a dispatch from the Secretary
of State for the Colonies, expressing His Majesty's readiness to
place the casual and territorial revenue at the disposal of the Prov-
incial Legislature, on their agreeing to make a permanent pro-
vision for the public servants, whose salaries had been hitherto paid
from the funds, which it was proposed to surrender. A series of
resolutions, embodying a scale of salaries, were introducted by the
Solicitor General, which excited general indignation as being utterly
disproportionate to the extent and financial circumstances of the
Province.
"And now was the first shot fired in the direction of decided re-
sponsible government. Mr. Alex. Stewart, who afterwards was to be
the champion of the autocratic council, made a vigorous attack on its
constitution, moving three resolutions, having for their object to
open the doors of the council."24
SIK Lucius BENTINCK CAKY, VISCOUNT FALKLAND, P. C., G. C. H.,
was commissioned for Nova Scotia some time in 1840, and remained
governor until 1846. Lord Falkland was returned heir to his father,
the ninth Viscount Falkland (in the peerage of Scotland) March 2,
1809. He married, first, Lady Amelia Fitz-Clarence, sister of the
Earl of Munster, one of the natural children of King William the
Fourth, and this lady was with him in Halifax. His second wife
was Elizabeth Catherine, dowager duchess of St. Alban's. He was
created an English peer May 15, 1832. From 1848 to 1853, Viscount
Falkland was governor of Bombay.
In the second year of Lord Falkland's governorship, the year
1841, his royal highness, the Prince de Joinville, son of King Louis
Philippe of France, made Halifax a short visit, and on Tuesday,
September 14th, was honoured by General Sir Jeremiah Dickson and
24. Acadian Recorder for January 29, 1916.
62
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the officers of the staff and garrison with a brilliant ball in the
Province Building. "Having obtained permission from the proper
authorities for the use of the legislative halls," says Occasional in
the Acadian Recorder,25 "a party of engineers and workmen were
turned in, and, in an incomparably short space of time, the ob-
structive fixtures were removed, the whole interior was purified,
staircases and passages were lined with banners, and bayonets were
formed into candelabra and other ornaments.
"About half -past nine the company began to assemble, and were
received by the General. Besides His Royal Highness, and suite,
and the officers of the French warships Belle Poule and Casaud,
His Excellency, the Lieutenant-Governor and Lady Falkland, Mr.
Stuart, charge d' affaires to Colombia, and lady; Commodore Doug-
las, Captain Leith, and the officers of the Winchester and Sering-
apatam, with the chief officers of the Provincial government, the
Mayor, etc., were among the guests. Dancing was kept up with
much spirit in the Council Chamber until after midnight, when the
doors of the Assembly were thrown open, and the whole company,
to the number of four hundred, sat down to a substantial and elegant
supper, prepared by Coblentz.
"From a cross table, or dais, slightly raised, at the head of the
room, other tables extended the whole length, covered with every
delicacy. The gallery was occupied by the band, and non-commis-
sioned officers and their families. The company having done jus-
tice to the good fare, the health of Her Majesty, of King Louis
Philippe, and of His Royal Highness, the guest of the night, were
given; after which the Prince gave 'Lady Falkland and Ladies of
Halifax. ' Dancing was then resumed and kept up till a late hour—
the Prince retiring about two o'clock."
SIR JOHN HARVEY, K. C. B., was commissioned lieutenant-governor
in 1846. He was born in 1778, and entered the army in the 80th regi-
ment. He was in service in Holland, in France, at the Cape of Good
Hope, in Ceylon, and in Egypt. In 1812 he was appointed deputy
adjutant-general to the army in Canada, with the rank of lieuten-
ant-colonel. He was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington in his
25. Acadian Recorder for April 15, 1916.
63
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Waterloo campaign; from 1837 to 1841 was lieutenant-governor of
New Brunswick; from 1841 to 1846 governor and commander-in-
chief of Newfoundland; and some time in 1846 was commissioned
lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. He was made K. C. B. in
1838. He died in office at Halifax, and was buried there March 22,
1852. A mural tablet to his memory rests on one of the walls of St.
Paul's Church.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL, SIR JOHN GASPARD LE MARCHANT was com-
missioned lieutenant-governor probably in June, 1852. He was
born in 1803 and married in 1839. His father was John Gaspard
Le Marchant, Esq., a major-general in the army, and the first lieu-
tenant-governor of the Royal Military College. Sir John was a
knight of the first and third classes of St. Ferdinand and knight-
commander of St. Carlos of Spain. From February, 1847, to June,
1852, he was lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland. He held the
office of lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia until December, 1857.
From 1859 to 1864 he was governor of Malta. He died in London
February 6, 1874.26
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE AUGUSTUS CONSTANTINE PHIPPS,
SECOND MARQUIS or NORMANDY AND EARL MULGRAVE, was commis-
sioned lieutenant-governor in January, 1858. Earl Mulgrave was
born, July 23, 1819, entered the Scots Fusilier Guards in 1838, and
in 1851 was appointed comptroller and in 1853 treasurer of the
Queen's household. He succeeded his father as marquis July 28,
1863, when he resigned the governorship of Nova Scotia and re-
turned to England. He was appointed governor of Queensland in
1871, of New Zealand in 1874, and of Victoria in 1878.27
THE HONOURABLE SIR RICHARD GRAVES MACDONNELL, K. C. M. G.,
LL.D., distinguished as a jurist, and also as an explorer, was com-
missioned for the Nova Scotia government probably on the 28th of
May, 1864, but remained governor of the province only until Octo-
ber of the following year. Sir Richard was the eldest son of Rev.
26. See Dictionary of National Biography.
27. See Dictionary of National Biography.
64
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Eichard Macdonnell, D. D., Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and
was born in Dublin in 1814. Graduating at Trinity, he was called to
the Irish bar in 1838 and to the English bar in 1840. In 1843 he was
appointed chief justice of the Gambia, and in 1847 governor of the
British settlements on the Gambia. After this, for a long time he
was engaged in exploring the interior of Africa. In 1852 he was gov-
ernor of St. Vincent and captain-general, and in 1855 governor-in-
chief of South Australia, where also he made valuable explorations.
From October 19, 1865, until 1872, he was governor of Hong Kong.
Sir Eichard was made K. C. M. G. in 1871.28
GENERAL SIB WILLIAM FENWICK WILLIAMS, BAKT., K. C. B., com-
missioned lieutenant-governor October 20, 1865, was the first native
born governor the province had. He was born at Annapolis Eoyal,
Nova Scotia, December 4, 1800, and should probably be regarded
as the most illustrious of Nova Scotia's sons. At an early age,
through the interest of the Duke of Kent, he was placed in the Eoyal
Academy at Woolwich. Entering the army he attained the rank
of captain in 1840, and at the Crimea earned for himself undying
fame in British annals as ''the hero of Kars." One of the gallant
defenders of that town during its four months siege by Mouravieff,
General Williams on the 29th of September, 1855, gave the besiegers
battle, and after a fierce conflict of eight hours duration defeated
a force much larger than his own on the heights above Kars. The
town, however, fell, and General Williams was taken a prisoner,
first to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg. Almost immediately af-
terward he was created a baronet. In 1858 he was commander-in-
chief of the forces in British North America. He administered the
government of the British provinces in America from October 12,
1860, until January 22, 1861. He administered the Nova Scotia
government until October, 1867. He died, unmarried, in London,
July 26, 1883, and was buried at Brompton cemetery four days
later.29
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR CHARLES HASTINGS DOYLE, K. C. M. G., was
28. See Dictionary of National Biography.
29. See Dictionary of National Biography; and "Ancestry of the late Sir Fen-
wick Williams of Kars," a pamphlet by Hon. Judge A. W. Savary, D. C. L., of Annap-
olis Royal, Nova Scotia.
65
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
commissioned lieutenant-governor October 18, 1867. He was the
eldest son of Sir Charles William Doyle, C. B., G. C. H., and his
wife Sophia, daughter of Sir John Coghill, and was born in 1805.
He was educated at Sandhurst, and entered the army as an ensign
in the 87th, his great-uncle Sir John Doyle's regiment. He saw
service in the Orient, the West Indies, Canada, and Ireland. Dur-
ing the American Civil War he commanded the troops in British
North America, and in the famous Chesapeake affair showed great
tact. In May, 1868, he was appointed colonel of the 70th regiment,
and in 1869 was made a K. C. M. G. He continued lieutenant-gov-
ernor of Nova Scotia until 1873, Sir Edward Kenny, however, as
president of the council, administering the government in his ab-
sence from May 13, 1870, until the end of his term of office. After
other service to the Empire he died in London, March 19, 1883.
The confederation of the British provinces into the Dominion of
Canada was effected while General Doyle was governor of Nova
Scotia, this event occurring in 1867.30
THE HONOURABLE JOSEPH HOWE was the first lieutenant-governor
appointed for Nova Scotia after Confederation. He received his
commission May 1, 1873. Hon. Joseph Howe, one of the most emi-
nent statesmen of the provinces of the Dominion of Canada, was
born at Halifax, December 13, 1804. His father was Mr. John Howe
of Boston, who was born in that town in 1753, and was editor with
Mrs. Margaret Draper of the News-Letter, the only newspaper that
continued to be published in Boston during the siege in 1775 and
1776. Coming to Halifax as a Loyalist refugee, John Howe
soon became there King's printer. He died in 1835. Hon. Joseph
Howe 's life has been ably written and his letters and speeches have
been published. He has perhaps received more honour from his
countrymn since his death than any other Nova Scotian. He was a
liberal in politics and a consistent champion of the rights of the peo-
ple. He took the oath as lieutenant-governor May 10, 1873, but his
death occurred on the 22d day after. He died at Halifax, June 1,
1873.
The next appointee to the lieutenant-governorship was Mr.
30. See Dictionary of National Biography.
66
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Howe's long time opponent in politics, the Honourable James Wil-
liam Jonhstone, judge in equity, member of the legislative council,
attorney-general, solicitor-general, and representative to the legis-
lature, in politics a distinguished conservative. Judge Johnstone
when he was appointed lieutenant-governor was in the south of
France. He accepted the appointment, but died in England on his
way home. He was born in the island of Jamaica, but came to
Nova Scotia in early manhood and founded an important family in
Halifax.31
HONOURABLE SIR ADAMS GEORGE ARCHIBALD, K. C. M. G., was
commissioned lieutenant-governor July 4, 1873. Sir Adams also was
a native Nova Scotian, he was a son of Mr. Samuel Archibald of
Truro, Colchester county, and grandson of Mr. James Archibald,
also of Colchester county, a justice there of the court of common
pleas. Sir Adams was called to the bar of Nova Scotia as a barrister
in 1839, was a member of the executive council, first as solicitor-gen-
eral, from August 14, 1856, to February 14, 1857, then as attorney-
general, from February 10, 1860, to June 11, 1863. He was a dele-
gate to England to arrange the terms of settlement with the British
Government and the general mining association in respect to Nova
Scotia mines, and also to obtain the views of the government rel-
ative to the projected union of the provinces. He was sworn to the
privy council of Canada, July 1, 1867, but this position he resigned
in 1868. From May 20, 1870, to May, 1873, he was lieutenant-gov-
ernor of Manitoba and the Northwestern Territories, from June
24, 1873, to July 4, 1873, he was judge in equity in Nova Scotia, and
at the latter date, as we have said, he was appointed lieutenant-
governor of Nova Scotia. In 1873 he was also one of the directors
of the Canadian Pacific railway under Sir Hugh Allan. He ceased
to be lieutenant-governor in 1883, but was knighted in 1885. He
died at Truro, December 14, 1892.
The lieutenant-governors since Sir Adams Archibald have been :
31. For Hon. Joseph Howe, see the Dictionary of National Biography; and an
able biography of him by Hon. Judge J. W. Longley of the Supreme bench of Nova
Scotia. See "Howe's Letters and Speeches," edited by Hon. William Annand. For
Hon. Judge Johnstone, see "Three Premiers," by Rev. Edward Manning Saunders, D.
D., and a sketch by Hon. Judge A. W. Savary, D. C. L., of Annapolis Royal, in the
Calnek-Savary History of Annapolis.
67
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Matthew Henry Eichey, Esq., Barrister, Q. C., 1883-1888; Hon.
Archibald Woodbury McLelan, 1888-1890 ; Hon. Sir Malachy Bowes
Daly, K. C. M. G., 1890-1900; Hon. Alfred Gilpin Jones, 1900-1906;
Hon. Duncan Cameron Fraser, 1906-1910; Hon. James Drummond
McGregor, 1910-1915; Hon. David McKeen, 1915-1916; Hon. Mac-
Callum Grant, 1916 — . All these except Sir Malachy Daly have been
native Nova Scotians and men previously active in the political life
of the province.
The Lieutenant-Governors of Nova Scotia from 1749 to 1786,
while the governors were ' l Governors-in-Chief , ' ' were as follows :
COLONEL CHARLES LAWRENCE, appointed July 17, 1750, (commis-
sioned Governor in 1756).
EGBERT MONCKTON, ESQ., afterwards General Monckton, com-
missioned probably December 31, 1755. His commission seems to
have been repeated August 17, 1757, and October 27, 1760. On the
20th of March, 1761, he was commissioned governor of New York, in
place of Sir Charles Hardy, who had resigned. Of Monckton 's
military rank when he was lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia we
are not sure.
THE HONOURABLE CHIEF JUSTICE JONATHAN BELCHER was com-
missioned April 14, 1761, but was relieved of the duties of the office
in September, 1762. He took the formal oath of the office November
21, 1761.32
THE HONOURABLE COLONEL MONTAGUE WILMOT was commissioned
January 13, 1762. Chief Justice and Lieutenant-Governor Jonathan
Belcher apprised the council of Colonel Wilmot's appointment, Au-
gust 26, 1762. Colonel Wilmot took the oath of office September
26, 1762. On the llth of March, 1763, he was commissioned gov-
ernor-in-chief.
THE HONOURABLE MICHAEL FRANCKLIN was commissioned lieuten-
ant-governor March 28, 1766, and filled the office until some time in
1776. He died November 8, 1782.33
32. "Jonathan Belcher, First Chief Justice of Nova Scotia," a sketch by Hon.
Sir Charles Townshend, D. C. L., in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical So-
ciety, Vol. 18.
33. See "Lieutenant Governor Francklin," by James S. Macdonald, in the Col-
lections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 16.
68
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
ADMIRAL MARIOT ARBUTHNOT was commissioned February 16,
1776, and took the oath of office April 22, 1776. He continued in
office until January, 1778, when he was advanced to flag rank and
left Nova Scotia. He was probably a captain when he took office
as lieutenant-governor.34
RICHARD HUGHES, ESQ., R. N., afterward Sir Richard Hughes,
Baronet, was commissioned March 12, 1778, and took the oath of
office August 17, 1778. On the 26th of September, 1780, he was pro-
moted rear admiral of the blue. In April, 1780, he succeeded his
father, Sir Richard Hughes, Sr., in the baronetcy.35
SIR ANDREW SNAPE HAMOND, BARONET, CAPTAIN R. N., was com-
missioned lieutenant-governor December 15, 1780, although as ap-
pears he did not take the oath of office until July 31, 1781. He held
the office until December, 1783, on the 10th of which month he was
created a baronet. About this time he left Halifax for England.36
EDMUND FANNING, ESQ., was commissioned lieutenant-governor
some time in 1783. He was born in Long Island, New York, in 1737,
and graduated at Yale College in 1757. He practised law at Hills-
borough, North Carolina, received the degrees of M. A. from Har-
vard in 1764 and King's (Columbia) in 1772, D. C. L. from Oxford
in 1774, and LL.D. from both Yale and Dartmouth in 1803. In
1777 he raised a corps of four hundred and sixty Loyalists, which
bore the name of the Associate Refugees or King's American Regi-
ment, and of this he became general. Probably in the summer or
early autumn of 1783 he went to Nova Scotia, and September 23,
1783, the King's Commission appointing him lieutenant-governor
of the province was read in council. He at once took the oath of
office and was likewise admitted to the council. In October, 1786,
he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Prince Edward Island
under the governor general of all the provinces. This last office he
held for nineteen years. He died in London February 28, 1818.37
34. See Dictionary of National Biography.
35. See Dictionary of National Biography.
36. See Dictionary of National Biography.
37 See Dictionary of National Biography.
69
Chapters in the History of Halifax, Nova Scotia
BY AKTHUE WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
NO. X
HALIFAX AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
" 'And I abide by my Mother's House,'
Said our Lady of the Snows."
— KIPLING.
T the outbreak of the Revolution Nova Scotia stood in no
essentially different relation to Great Britain and her
rule of her American colonies from that borne by the
thirteen colonies that afterward became the first States
of the Union. She was simply the most easterly of the British
American colonies on the Atlantic seaboard, of which Pennsylvania
extended farthest west and Georgia farthest south, her English set-
tlement having been later than that of the others, but her constitu-
tion and government not differing in any essential particular from
theirs, and her intercourse with them all, especially the New Eng-
land colonies, being very friendly and close.1 The population of this
extreme eastern province, moreover, which numbered between fif-
teen and twenty thousand, had been drawn in great part from New
England, between 1749 and 1762, and never since the people emi-
grated, except perhaps in the depth of the winters, had commercial
and social intercourse between them and the inhabitants of the towns
from which they had come for a single month been intermitted. At
the beginning of the revolutionary struggle, therefore, it was not by
any means a foregone conclusion that Nova Scotia would not range
i. See on this point, "Nova Scotia during the Revolution," an article in the Amer-
ican Historical Review, X, pp. 52-71, by Emily P. Weaver. "Writers dealing with the
period," says Miss Weaver, "frequently assume that Nova Scotia was from the first in
a class altogether distinct from that of the revolting colonies and therefore dp not think
her exceptional course worthy of remark. One of such writers is Green in his His-
tory of the English People."
184
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
herself on the side of the revolting colonies, and in process of time
come to share whatever fortune the general protest of these colonies
against the abuses of the government in England might bring them.
The extent of territory embraced by Nova Scotia, which at that
time, as always until then, had embraced the present province of
New Brunswick, and which also included the recently attached island
of Cape Breton,- was a little greater than that of the province of
New York, and was well up in the scale of square mileage to the
province of Georgia, and her well known fertility and the great
wealth of her forests and fisheries, in spite of her comparatively
scanty population, made her an object of no little consideration in
the eyes of the revolutionary leaders. The importance, moreover,
of the capital of the province as a strategic military and naval base
on the extreme eastern part of the continent was by no means over-
looked. To draw this maritime province into the Revolution, there-
fore, was an issue that the revolutionists strongly desired to effect.
In July, 1775, Benjamin Franklin prepared a sketch of a plan for
permanent union of the American colonies, which while allowing to
each the continuance of the virtual independence it enjoyed, pro-
posed for each adequate representation in an annual Congress,
which should deal with all measures of resistance to injustice and
oppression from any source. Besides the thirteen colonies that sub-
sequently became the first States of the Union, Canada, Nova Scotia,
and Florida were included in his plan, while Ireland, the West In-
dies and Bermuda also were to be invited to join. The plan, another
of whose details was the creation of a certain number of "lords"
for each colony, Nova Scotia to have one, was submitted to the Con-
tinental Congress, but was not acted upon.3
The first action of Congress relative to Nova Scotia, after the Rev-
olution began, was a formal resolve of that body on the 10th of No-
vember, 1775, to send two persons secretly to the province to learn
the disposition of the people towards the American cause, to inquire
into the condition of the fortifications, wherever there were any, and
2. Cape Breton was annexed to Nova Scotia by royal proclamation on the 7th of
October, 1763. In 1784 it was separated from Nova Scotia, and Sydney was made the
capital. In 1820, it was again united to Nova Scotia, as it now is.
3. See Albert Henry Smyth's "Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 10,
p. 291.
185
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of the dockyards at Halifax and probably Fort Cumberland, and to
discover the quantity of artillery and warlike stores the province
had, with also the number of war-ships and other ships lying in the
harbours, as also, of course, the numerical strength of the land and
sea forces. This resolve was evidently at once communicated to
General Washington, at Cambridge, for nine days later Washing-
ton wrote the president of the Congress that as soon as two "capa-
ble persons" could be found he would dispatch them to Nova Scotia
' ' on the service resolved on in Congress. ' ' On the 28th of the same
month he again wrote the president: " There are two persons en-
gaged to go to Nova Scotia on the business recommended in your
last. By the best information we have from thence, the stores, etc.,
have been withdrawn some time. Should this not be the case it is
next to an impossibility to attempt anything there in the present un-
settled and precarious state of the army. ' ' On the 30th of January,
1776, he wrote again from Cambridge, that even if the persons sent
for information to Nova Scotia should report favourably on troops
being sent there, he had no troops that he could send. It would be
quite inadvisable, he thought, to raise troops "in the eastern parts
of this government. ' '
On the 16th of February, 1776, it was resolved in Congress that
this body ' ' submit the expediency and practicability of an expedition
to Nova Scotia to General Washington, and would by no means ac-
cept the plan proposed by Thompson and Obrian so far as relates to
Tory property nor the destruction of the town of Halifax. ' ' On the
27th of March, 1776, General Washington wrote Congress that Colo-
nel Eddy had brought him a petition from Nova Scotia which stated
that the people of that province were afraid they would have to take
up arms unless they were protected. The Nova Scotians think,
Washington says, that it would be better if five or six hundred
troops could be sent them, the presence of whom would quiet the
people 's fears, and would also prevent the Indians taking sides with
the government. He is uncertain what had better be done, "for if
the army is going to Halifax, as reported by them ICol. Eddy and
whoever were his colleagues in presenting the appeal] before they
left, such a force, or much more, would not avail." On the 8th of
186
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
July, 1776, Congress resolved "that General Washington have per-
mission to call forth and engage in the service of Nova Scotia so
many Indians of the St. John's, Nova Scotia, and Penobscot tribes
as he shall judge necessary, and that he be desired to write to the
General Court of the Massachusetts Bay requesting their aid in this
business and informing them that Congress will reimburse such ex-
penses as may be necessarily incurred in consequence of the fore-
going resolutions. ' '
On the 30th of December, 1776, and the 7th of January, 1777,
further resolutions were passed by Congress showing that the reduc-
tion of Nova Scotia was still under consideration, and on the 8th of
January, 1777, a resolution was passed that the Council of the State
of Massachusetts be desired "to attend to the situation of the ene-
my" in Nova Scotia, and if this body thought that an attack on Fort
Cumberland could advantageously be made in that winter or the fol-
lowing spring, "whereby the dockyard and other works, together
with such stores as could not easily be removed," should be de-
stroyed, its members were empowered to raise a body of not more
than three thousand men, under such officers as they should appoint,
to carry on the said expedition and to provide military stores and
convey them to such of the eastern parts of the state as they should
think best. On the 29th of April, 1777, at a board of war, it was re-
solved that if fifteen complete battalions should be furnished by New
Hampshire and Massachusetts, three of these might be employed in
Nova Scotia in such ways as should be thought most conducive to
the general advantage, either for offensive operations or to give pro-
tection to the friends of the United States in this province.
What seems to have been the last important resolve of Congress
in reference to an invasion of Nova Scotia was made on the 21st of
May, 1778, and in negation of such a design. On that date Congress
accepted the report of a committee to whom the matter of such in-
vasion had been referred, to the effect "that the wresting of Nova
Scotia from the British power and uniting the same to these states
is for many weighty reasons a very desirable object, but that the
propriety of making this attempt at the present crisis seems doubt-
ful; and upon the whole it appears wise to wait a while, until the
event of a war taking place between France and Great Britain, and
187
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the consequences that may have upon the British force on this
continent, shall render an attempt upon Nova Scotia more likely to
succeed." If, however, any urgent occasion for immediate action
should arise, the council of Massachusetts was empowered to furnish
the people of Nova Scotia who were loyal to the United States with
a force not to exceed two regiments, to assist in reducing the prov-
ince.
The exact number of English speaking people in Nova Scotia, in-
cluding the present New Brunswick and the island of Cape Breton,
in 1775, we are not able to give, but it was probably, as we have
stated, somewhat under twenty thousand, and of these inhabitants
not far from three-quarters, it is estimated, were people who or
whose parents had been born in Massachusetts, Connecticut, or
Ehode Island, and who naturally shared the spirit of liberty which
so generally animated the people who still remained in the New Eng-
land colonies from which they had come. In a recently published
monograph on that extraordinary man Alexander McNutt, who,
with vision and energy but apparently without sufficient business in-
tegrity or judgment for carrying such an enterprise successfully
through, tried between 1759 and 1765 to colonize Nova Scotia with
North of Ireland people, we have shown that McNutt repeatedly
appealed to Congress to take active measures to capture the prov-
ince for the Revolution.4 When the Revolution broke out he was
living in retirement on an island in Shelburne harbour on the south-
ern shore of Nova Scotia, having long before ceased his efforts for
colonization, and his antagonism towards the Nova Scotia authori-
ties, and doubtless towards British rule at large, impelled him to use
his utmost energies in trying to induce Congress to take forcible
4. Our monograph on Alexander McNutt (Americana magazine, December, 1913)
shows that in January and March, 1779, respectively, McNutt appealed to the Congress
to assist the Nova Scotians to revolt. His appeals were referred to a committee, which
reported in April, 1779. The report proposed that in order to deliver Nova Scotia from
"British despotism" a road should be opened from Penobscot to the St. John river, and
that to prosecute the work a body of men not exceeding fifteen hundred should be en-
gaged, and the sum of fifteen thousand dollars should be advanced. What debate there
may have been on this report we do not know, but the recommendations of the commit-
tee were not acted on. On the 2gth of February, 1779, Benjamin Franklin writes Comte
de Vergennes : "While the English continue to possess the ports of Halifax, Rhode Isl-
and, and New York, they can refit their ships of war in those seas, defend more easily
their fisheries, and interrupt more effectually by their cruisers the commerce between
France and America." Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 7, p. 235.
1 88
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
measures to wrest Nova Scotia from the authority of the Crown. In
his appeals, moreover, McNutt claimed to be acting not by any
means without authorization from the people of Nova Scotia itself,
but rather as the appointed agent of a large body of intelligent Nova
Scotians who were thoroughly disaffected towards the British Gov-
ernment. That McNutt, as he moved about Nova Scotia, with the
island in Shelburne harbour as his base, using his influence to em-
bitter the people among whom he went against English rule, found
in several parts of the province very widespread sympathy with the
Revolution is now a perfectly well recognized fact. "A very large
proportion of the immigrants from the Atlantic States," writes a
well known Nova Scotian, "were open and avowed sympathizers
with the war against the mother country. From Cumberland to On-
slow, and from Falmouth to Yarmouth they formed an overwhelm-
ing majority."5
When the Assembly met at Halifax in June, 1770, the Governor,
Lord William Campbell, reported to the Home Authorities that he
did not discover in Nova Scotia "any of that licentious principle
with which the neighbouring colonies are so highly infected. ' ' Camp-
bell's immediate predecessor, Governor Wilmot, who died in 1766,
had made virtually the same report; some time in his administra-
tion he had written that * ' the sentiments of a decent and dutiful ac-
quiescence ' ' prevailed among the people under his jurisdiction. Yet
as early as July 24, 1762, the inhabitants of Liverpool had strongly
protested against any interference by the governor with what they
claimed as their rights, saying that they were born in a country of
liberty, and were not to be autocratically ruled. By this spirit it is
evident the people of the province generally were controlled, and in
the earlier stages of the Revolution it manifested itself in almost
every place where New England or North of Ireland people in con-
siderable numbers had settled.
Probably the earliest active expression of such spirit was in the
remote colony on Moose Island, in Passamaquoddy Bay, where
the town of Eastport (Maine) now stands. This island, the final
ownership of which as of other territory about Passamaquoddy Bay
5. This statement is made by Mr. W. C. Milner, agent for the Dominion Archives
in Nova Scotia, in his "Records of Chignecto," p. 46.
189
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
and the river St. Croix, which flows into it, was not settled until long-
after the Revolution, was at that time popularly regarded as within
the jurisdiction of Nova Scotia, and the settlers there, some ten fam-
ilies at least, were probably all from New England, though two or
three of them were clearly of North of Ireland stock.6 In the Jour-
nals of the Continental Congress we find under date of November 2,
1775, that "the inhabitants of Passamaquoddy, in Nova Scotia, hav-
ing chosen a Committee of Safety, and having by their petition ap-
plied to the Congress to be admitted into the Association of the
North Americans for the promotion of their rights and liberties," it
was resolved that a committee of five should be appointed to take the
matter into consideration and report what steps it would be best
to take in consideration of the appeal.
On the 14th of May, 1776, a large proportion of the heads of fam-
ilies settled at Maugerville, on the St. John river, all we believe
from Massachusetts, assembled in the meeting-house there and
voted the strongest resolutions of sympathy with New England, ap-
pointing a committee to go to the Massachusetts General Court and
beg for its protection and help. "It is our minds and desire," say
the men, "to submit ourselves to the government of Massachusetts
Bay, and we are ready with our lives and fortunes to share with-
them the event of the present struggle for liberty, however God in
his providence may order it."7 To the Massachusetts legislature,
accordingly, the committee went, and on the General Court records
of the Bay State we find the terms of their petition clearly stated.
The committee express deep sorrow at the general calamity brought
on America by a ruinous and destructive civil war, and complain bit-
terly of the impositions they and the people they represent have
6. "The New England period in Passamaquoddy history began about 1763. From
1760 there had been a general movement from the older provinces to Nova Scotia, and
many thousands from New England settled in the peninsula, while a few hundreds
came to what is now New Brunswick. In 1763 various settlers began to locate about Pas-
samaquoddy." New Brunswick Historical Society's Collections, Vol. i, p. 211. Men named
Bowen, Boynton, Clark, Cochran, Crow, Ricker, Shackford, and Tuttle, are said to have
received grants of land on Moose Island, which was probably the first considerable set-
tlement in the Passamaquoddy region, between 1772 and 1774, and it seems likely that in
summer at least many others resorted to the island for fishing. See Lorenzo Sabine's,
"Moose Island, ".in W. H. Kilby's "Eastport and Passamaquoddy," p. 141, and appendix
A. of this book, pp. 490, 491.
7. Archdeacon Raymond's "St. John River," etc., p. 434.
190
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
suffered from oppressive acts of his Majesty's Government. The
governor of Nova Scotia, they say, "having thought proper effect-
ually to prevent their being supplied with arms and ammunition by
ordering a large penalty on any of those articles being shipped into
the province, at the same time requiring them to assemble in military
array and by force of arms repel all invaders, martial law pro-
claimed throughout the province and civil authority made subordi-
nate, exorbitant taxes required of them to support the war against
the United Colonies, — under these circumstances they find it imprac-
ticable for them to continue as neutors and to subsist without com-
merce, and they therefore now openly declare that they could never
see any shadow of justice in that extensive claim of the British Par-
liament of the right of enacting laws binding the colonies in all cases
whatever, that as tyranny ought to be resisted in its first appearance
they are convinced that the united provinces are just in their pro-
ceedings in this regard. ' '
To both houses of the Massachusetts legislature this appeal was
presented and in the minutes of the General Court we find recorded,
that the St. John river people, "after mature consideration have
thought fit to submit themselves to this Government and desire its
protection and promise to adopt such measures as this Government
shall propose for their future conduct and are ready with their lives
and fortunes to share with this colony the event of the present strug-
gle for liberty; they therefore humbly ask protection as a defence-
less people, and that the Honourable Court will grant such relief
and assistance as is proper, hoping that the Honourable Court will
not tamely see them butchered or plundered for showing themselves
friendly to the cause of America. ' '8
Beginning in the autumn of 1776, various men of Massachusetts
birth who had settled in Yarmouth and Harrington, in the peninsula
8. This petition, as we have said, was presented to both houses, and it was ordered
that the commissary-general should give the agents of the St. John river people (Asa
Perley and Asa Kimball) one barrel of gunpowder, three hundred and fifty flints, and
two hundred and fifty weight of lead from the colony stores, and that the agents should
have liberty to purchase in Massachusetts forty stand of small arms for the use of
their constituents. The committees of correspondence and safety, also in any of the
seaports of Massachusetts, were directed to grant permits to them to transport the
same or any other goods from port to port within the colony. Records of the General
Court of Massachusetts, vol. 35, pp. 65, 66, 85.
191
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of Nova Scotia, appealed to the Massachusetts General Court for
permission to return with their families and effects to their native
province, to escape the hardships they were suffering from the inter-
ruption of friendly relations between Nova Scotia and the Bay State.
"We look on ourselves," some of these petitioners say, as being "as
unhappily situated as any people in the world; being settlers from
the Massachusetts Bay, for whose welfare we earnestly pray, having
fathers, brothers, and children living there." Throughout the strug-
gle then going on, they continue, they have remained loyal to the
cause of liberty, and have done everything in their power to assist
men still living in Massachusetts who have happened to visit them
to get back in safety to their New England homes. Of the distress
to which they have been brought by the interruption of trade be-
tween Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, and the consequent lack of
markets for their fish, they give a melancholy account, and they pray
that provisions shall be sent them for the ensuing winter and until
such time as they can remove from Nova Scotia to their former
homes, "unless these tremendous times are stinted, which God grant
maybe soon."9
In Cumberland County, near the Chignecto Isthmus, and in what
is now Colchester County, the inhabitants of two townships of which,
Truro and Londonderry wholly, and the third, Onslow, in part, were
people of North of Ireland stock, sympathy with New England and
antagonism to the actions of the Nova Scotia Government were very
strong. An oath of allegiance which the Government attempted to
enforce on all adult males in Truro and Onslow in 1777 was stoutly
refused by all except five to whom it was offered. In King's County,
also, whose inhabitants had almost all come from the towns of east-
9. "In the [Massachusetts] House of Representatives, Nov. 15, 1776, whereas it
appears to this Court that the within petitioners, inhabitants of Barrington in Nova
Scotia, have proved themselves firm friends to the United States of America, and on
that account are determined as soon as may be to transport themselves and their fam-
ilies from that province to this state in order to get out of the reach of British tyranny:
And it being represented that the inhabitants of Barrington, from a determined refusal
of trade with the enemies of America have exposed themselves to great hardships
through want of such provisions as are necessary to support them until they can be re-
moved ; therefore Resolved that the prayer of the within petition be so far granted as
that the within named Heman Kenney, be and he thereby is permitted to pur-
chase and export from any town or place in this state to said Barrington, solely for the
purpose of enabling the said inhabitants thereof to transport themselves from thence to
this state, 250 bushels of corn, 30 barrels of pork, 2 hogsheads of molasses, 2 do. of rum,
200 Ibs. of coffee." "In Council Nov. 16, 1776, Read and Concurred."
192
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
ern Connecticut, according to tradition a liberty pole was cut and was
about to be erected when a company of Orange Rangers from Hali-
fax appeared on the scene and prevented the rebellious demonstra-
tion.10
In Cumberland the disaffection was almost as universal and bit-
ter as in Maugerville, the "rebels" there numbering, it is said, about
two hundred men, many of them heads of families and persons of
the largest means and the highest consequence. In this county, near
the isthmus which connects New Brunswick with Nova Scotia, was
situated the most important fort in the Nova Scotian peninsula next
to the much older one at Annapolis Royal,— the little fortification
known when it was in French hands as Beausejour, but after it was
finally captured by New England troops in 1755 as Fort Cumber-
land. In August, 1775, it was reported at Halifax that the "New
England rebels" had cleared a road from St. John river to Shepody
to enable a force to march on this fort. In October, 1776, another
report was made to the authorities that a force was being gathered
on the frontier having the same purpose in view, and the truth of
this report was soon to be established. One of the Cumberland set-
tlers from Massachusetts, a native of the town of Norton, was a cer-
tain Jonathan Eddy, who had taken up his residence in Cumberland
either in 1760 or a little later. With profound sympathy with the
Revolution this man in August, 1776, had gone to the Massachusetts
General Court with a petition, in which he was joined by William
Howe and Zebulon Rowe, other Massachusetts men, neighbors of
his in Cumberland, setting forth that "the enemy" were repairing
the forts in Nova Scotia to the great disturbance of the inhabitants
of Cumberland, their object clearly being "to keep the people in
subjection to their tyrannical measures."11 The greater part of the
10. We have mentioned this tradition in our "History of King's County, Nova Sco-
tia," pp. 431, 432, but what authority it has we do not know.
11. See a "Memoir of Colonel Jonathan Eddy of Eddington, Maine," etc., by Joseph
W. Porter, Augusta, Maine, 1877. Jonathan Eddy was a son of Eleazer Eddy and his
wife Elizabeth (Cobb) of Norton, Mass., and was born in 1726. In 1755 he was an offi-
cer in Col. Winslow's regiment in Nova Scotia, in 1758 he raised a company for the re-
duction of Canada, in 1759 he raised a company for Colonel Joseph Frye's regiment, m
which he served as captain from April 2, 1759, to December 31, 1759. He left active ser-
vice in 1760, when he probably went at once to Cumberland, Nova Scotia. There he
served as deputy provost marshal and in other offices. March 27, 1776, it is said, he
came to General Washington's headquarters at Cambridge with his petition from Nov
Scotia.
193
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX. NOVA SCOTIA
Nova Scotians, Eddy declares, were much concerned at the acts of
their authorities, many being so troubled that they had already left
their farms to be confiscated and had returned to the province of
their birth. The only way that proper relief could come to the peo-
ple on whose behalf he was petitioning, he says, would be by the
General Court's granting them a small force with ammunition and
provisions so that they could "destroy the enemy's forts." The re-
sponse of the Massachusetts legislature to Eddy's appeal was a
resolution that the commissary general be directed to deliver to him
and his fellow petitioners two hundred pounds of gunpowder, five
hundred weight of musket balls, three hundred gun flints, and twenty
barrels of pork.12 At the same time the court ordered that James
Bowdoin, Walter Spooner, and Henry Gardner, Esq., with such
others as the legislature should join with them, should be a commit-
tee "to make inquiry into the intention and dispositions of the in-
habitants of Nova Scotia respecting the cause now in dispute be-
tween the United States and Great Britain, to consider the probabil-
ity of effecting a revolution in that province, and of the way [of]
and means for effecting the same. ' m
The "Eddy rebellion" in Cumberland is one of the most highly
dramatic and best remembered events in the history of Nova Scotia.
In his volume "The River St. John," Archdeacon Raymond de-
scribes the beginning of it as follows. "In July, 1776, Eddy set out
from Boston and proceeded to Machias [Maine]. He left that
place about the middle of August in a schooner with twenty-eight
men as a nucleus of his proposed army. At Passamaquoddy a few
people joined him. He did not meet with much encouragement at
St. John, although Hazen, Simonds, and White refrained from any
hostile demonstration.14 Proceeding up the river to Maugerville, Ed-
12. On September 4, 1776, it was resolved that whereas the General Court by a re-
solve on September 2d, had directed the commissary general to deliver to Jonathan
Eddy, William Howe, and Zebulon Rowe ammunition and provisions, these men having
represented that they wanted bread rather than pork, the commissary should be directed
to deliver to them only ten barrels of pork and as much bread as would amount to the
value of ten barrels of pork. Records of the General Court, Vol. 35, p. 200.
13. General Court Records, Vol. 35, pp. 194.
14. Messrs. Hazen, Simonds, and White were New England men and conspicuous
traders at what is now St. John, New Brunswick. At the outbreak of the Revolution,
says Dr. Raymond, their situation was very embarrassing, they would very likely most
gladly "have assumed a neutral attitude in the approaching contest," but they held small
194
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
dy says, he found the people ' almost universally hearty in our cause ;
they joined us with one captain, one lieutenant, and twenty-five men,
as also sixteen Indians.' ... On his arrival at Cumberland,
Eddy was joined by many of the settlers, but his whole force did not
exceed two hundred men, badly equipped and without artillery. ' n5
Colonel Eddy's attack on the fort and the failure of his enterprise
is described in a letter of the leader himself to the General Court.
His force consisted of a hundred and eighty men, but a hundred of
these he had felt it necessary to send to other points. With the
eighty that remained he proceeded to the fort, to which he began at
once to lay siege. The force within, commanded by Lieutenant-Col-
onel Joseph Gorham, consisted of a hundred men, and these for sev-
eral days kept the besieging party at bay. On the 27th of Novem-
ber an armed ship arrived from Halifax with nearly four hundred
soldiers from the garrison there, and some of these entered the fort.
On the 30th, two hundred soldiers rushed out of the fort to the tem-
porary barracks where Eddy's men were quartered and ordered
the besiegers away. Without making any further resistance, it
would seem, which indeed would have been useless, Eddy and his
men retreated to the St. John river and the fort remained secure in
British hands."16
In a letter of Colonel John Allan of Cumberland, a British born
man, who had been a member of the Nova Scotia legislature, but
who was one of the strongest sympathizers in this part of Nova
Scotia with the Eddy invasion,17 written to the Massachusetts Gen-
official positions under the Nova Scotia Government and they had sworn allegiance to
the King, they therefore remained nominally loyal. Dr. Raymond's "St. John River,"
p. 427.
15. This statement does not seem harmonious with the records of the Massachu-
setts General Court, which give the date of Eddy's appeal to that body for munitions of
war and provisions as the month of August. The extract from Dr. Raymond's book
given here will be found on pp. 437, 438 of the volume.
1.6. A young Cumberland man, Richard John Uniacke, who afterward rose to exalted
position in Halifax, was concerned in the revolt. He was sent prisoner to Halifax. Soon
after his release he went to England to complete his law studies. In 1782, he became so-
licitor general of Nova Scotia, in 1783 member of the assembly for Sackville, and later
speaker of the house, attorney-general, and member of the council. He died October 10,
1830.
17. Colonel John Allan between 1769 and 1776 was Justice of the Peace, clerk of
sessions, and of the Supreme Court, and representative to the assembly, and held other
local offices. From the beginning of 1776 he was suspected of treasonable practices.
For his career and for an interesting genealogical account of the Allan family see Fred-
erick Kidder's "Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia ir, the Revolution." One of John Allan's
195
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
eral Court on the 19th of February, 1777, Colonel Allan declares
that most of the English and all the French capable of bearing arms
in the northern part of Nova Scotia joined the Eddy force. In the
rush of the garrison upon the invading troops, he tells us, only one
invader, and he a white man, was killed; the rest fled pre-
cipitately, the garrison troops following them for the dis-
tance of six miles. On the way, the pursuing party burned twelve
houses and twelve barns, "in which was contained one-quarter of
the bread of the country. " To the residents of Cumberland who had
assisted the invasion, Colonel Gorham soon issued a proclamation
of pardon if they would lay down their arms, but the majority of
them, it would seem, before long with their families fled across the
border of Massachusetts into what is now the State of Maine, at a
town called Eddington in 1785 being rewarded for their sympathy
with the Revolution by grants of land ranging in size from fifteen
hundred to a hundred and fifty acres.
The task of government in Nova Scotia in these suspicious and
troubled times was attended by the greatest agitation among both
public officials and the people who surrounded them. Indeed at Hal-
ifax, especially, where the supreme authority was exercised, there
was among government officials and the people of all occupations
and ranks such deep-seated apprehension and continual fear that
Mr. Murdoch forcibly says the Haligonians lived "under a reign of
terror." On the 8th of October, 1773, Major Francis Legge had
taken the oath of office as governor-in-chief , and his stay in the prov-
ince lasted until May 12, 1776. In the first momentous years of the
Revolution, therefore, he was at the head of all governmental activ-
ities, and if any local-governmental influence was needed to fan the
flame of disaffection against the Crown, if such existed, among the
people at large, into a raging fire, his suspicious and utterly unsym-
pathetic temper was calculated to furnish that influence. In alarm-
ing dispatches to England he charged rank disloyalty not only on
the people generally throughout the province but on the members of
sisters was Jean Allan, born in April, 1759, who was married 7 February 1775, to the Hon.
Thomas Cochran of Halifax, and reared there a family of great local importance. See a
monograph by this author on the Cochran and Inglis families.
196
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
both houses of the provincial legislature as well.18 On the first of
January, 1776, he wrote the Earl of Dartmouth that the great ad-
vances the rebels were making in Canada, and the determination of
these people to capture Nova Scotia for the Revolution gave him
great apprehension. He had had a law passed, he says, to enroll a
fifth of the militia for active service and had tried to put the men in
arms, but that the people of at least two important counties, An-
napolis and Kings, as he understood, had refused to be enrolled. In
the town of Halifax he had proclaimed martial law, and he had nom-
inated a council of war to conduct the military defence of the prov-
ince in general with secrecy and dispatch. On the llth of January
he enclosed to the Earl memorials from the inhabitants of Truro,
Onslow, and Cumberland against the law to arm the militia, and said
that a similar spirit of obstinate revolt existed in all the remoter
districts.19
In November, 1776, after Legge had left the province and the gov-
ernment had passed into the hands of a lieutenant-governor and the
Council, occurred the Eddy invasion, and the news of this and the
rumor that still more powerful measures wTere contemplated to cap-
ture Nova Scotia threw all the authorities at Halifax into a panic of
fear. Immediately a nightly patrol of the town was established,
and a regular inquiry instituted into the characters and employ-
ments of all persons entering the town. Strangers coming from the
country or elsewhere were ordered to report at the Provincial Sec-
18. Lieutenant-Governor, the Hon. Michael Francklin, between whom and Legge
there was very bad feeling, on the 2d of January, 1776, wrote the Earl of Dartmouth:
"It is with the utmost reluctance I am now obliged to inform your lordship there is great
reason to believe and it is confidently asserted that the Governor has made representa-
tions of the officers of government, and that few or none of the inhabitants of this prov-
ince in general, not even the officers of this government but are disaffected, and are in-
clinable to give countenance and assistance to the rebels now in arms against the Crown.
If it be true that Governor Legge has made such representations, I do avow and assert
that such representations are totally untrue and without foundation, which can be made
to appear by a thousand instances." Murdoch's "History of Nova Scotia," Vol. 2, pp. 564,
565-
19. The petitions from Cumberland, Truro and Onslow all urge that if the hus-
bands and fathers were obliged to enroll in the militia and leave their homes, their fam-
ilies would have no means of support, the Truro petition adds in addition that the settle-
ments would be utterly defenceless against attack if the men were thus drawn off.
"Those of us," the Cumberland people say, "who belong to New England being invited
into this province by Governor Lawrence's proclamation, it must be the greatest piece
of cruelty and imposition for them to be subjected to march into different parts of
America, and that done by order of his Majesty."
197
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
retary's office, and all persons under the least suspicion were obliged
to give security for good behaviour. In May, 1777, as we have seen,
an effort was made to exact from all the men of Truro, Onslow, and
perhaps Londonderry, a majority of whom were North of Ireland
Presbyterians, an oath of allegiance to Britain, but this oath all the
men of these townships with the exception of five, as we have also
seen, positively refused to take. In punishment of their disloyalty
the Council with amusing inappropriateness resolved to prosecute
these rigid Protestants as Popish recusants.
Precisely how much ground Governor Legge had for accusing the
members of the Council of sympathy with the Revolution it is not
easy now to say. Three, at least, of them, Binney, Gorham, and Mor-
ris, were natives of Massachusetts, and Newton was of Massachu-
setts stock, and there is no sufficient reason why they may not all
have shared to some extent the spirit which animated their friends
and relatives in Boston who took the popular side.20 Of the Nova
Scotia House of Assembly, out of a total of thirty-three members
representing the province at large, no less than twenty-four were
New England men, while other important public officials like the
chief surveyor, the solicitor-general, the provincial treasurer, the
judge of admiralty for appeals, and the register and marshal of the
court of admiralty were of New England birth. Concerning the Bos-
ton born head of the judiciary, the Honourable Chief Justice Jona-
than Belcher, who however died on the 30th of March, 1776, the tra-
dition is emphatic that he was distinctly in sympathy with the Revo-
lution. That Governor Legge was not far wrong in accusing the
New Englanders, including the New Hampshire Scotch-Irish, in the
province at large, of perfect readiness to separate themselves from
British rule, we have given, as we believe, irrefutable proof.
20. The number of British born men in the Council up to this time had always
t>een greater than of American born. In 1777 the council seems to have had but ten
members, instead of twelve, the full number, the men of as we suppose British birth be-
ing, Richard Bulkeley, James Burrow, John Butler, John Creighton, Michael Franck-
lin, and Arthur Goold. Of these, undoubtedly the most influential was Michael Franck-
lin, who indeed had married into a conservative Boston family, but who retained
throughout his life a strong sympathy with England, from which country he had come.
That the Nova Scotia Council contained a majority of men born in Britain is to be ac-
counted for by the fact that in 1777 civil government in the province had existed only
twenty-eight years, and that since no men in public life were natives of Nova Scotia,
the successive English governors had preferred to surround themselves with men born
in Britain rather than men born in the New England colonies.
198
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Of the influential Halifax merchants of New England birth,
whose trade had been in large measure with Boston, there were some
at least who without any doubt sympathized preponderatingly with
the colonies from which they had come. Among the reputable mer-
chants who had been in the town almost since Cornwallis landed were
Joseph Fairbanks and John Fillis. In the early summer of 1775, Fair-
banks gathered a cargo of hay for the British troops at Boston and
had it ready for shipment. Suddenly it took fire, and some one sent
a statement to Boston that Fillis in conjunction with another New
England trader named Smith had had a hand in burning it. On the
16th of June, Fillis and Smith complained to the House of Assembly
that they were greatly distressed by this unjust report and "were
unable to detect the vile traducers of their characters," they there-
fore begged the legislature to exonerate them. In testimony against
them was the declaration of Mr. Richard Cunningham, who had re-
cently returned from Boston, that he had been told there that Gen-
eral Gage had a list of persons in Halifax disaffected to the Crown,
and that the first names on that list were those of Fillis and Smith,
the former of whom, at least, Gage had been told had had a part in
burning the hay. Whether there was any truth in the accusation or
not we cannot tell, but the House of Assembly cleared the merchants
of the charge, declaring that the gentlemen in question were dutiful
and loyal subjects of King George the Third, and had behaved with
decency and good order. The reports against their loyalty, the As-
sembly voted, were "base, infamous, and false" charges.
Another of the most notable Boston born merchants in Halifax,
and probably the earliest of these who had settled in the town, was
Malachy Salter. On the 10th of October, 1777, an order was passed
in council for Salter 's arrest on a charge of treasonable correspond-
ence with the rebels, and prosecution against him was ordered.
Somewhat later he was allowed to give a thousand pounds security
for his good behaviour and was remanded for trial at the next term
of the Supreme Court. How long he had been under suspicion we
cannot tell, put this action of the council explains the fact that a
month before~"the order was given, Salter, then in Boston, had peti-
tioned the Massachusetts General Court for liberty to transfer him-
199
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
self and his family and their effects from Halifax to the province of
his birth. "Your petitioner," he says to the Massachusetts Legisla-
ture, "was formerly an inhabitant of the town of Boston, but has for
many years past resided at Halifax in Nova Scotia, where he has a
considerable interest in real and personal estate, but having suffered
severely, both in person and property, on account of his political
principles, and for the favor and assistance he afforded to the Amer-
ican seamen and others in captivity there, his residence in that prov-
ince must render him very unhappy ; Your petitioner therefore hum-
bly prays that he may have liberty to depart for Halifax and return
as soon as he conveniently can with his family and effects, to settle
in this State, without molestation of any armed vessel, or any other
person by land or water, belonging to the United States of America,
and that your Honors will be pleased to grant him a certificate for
his protection, and your petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray,
etc. ' ' This petition was presented to the General Court on the 15th
of September, 1777, and two days later was granted by both houses.21
At his trial by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, however, Mr. Salter
was honourably acquitted.
That the Nova Scotians at large, even in remote rural settlements,
kept themselves fairly well informed concerning the progress of
events in New England throughout the whole of the war we have
every reason to believe. The first Nova Scotia newspaper, the Nova
Scotia Chronicle and Weekly Advertiser, published at Halifax, be-
gan its career in January, 1769, and in whatever it said about poli-
tics it showed sympathy for the most part with the assertion of
colonial rights. In its modest columns "the question of war and of
separation of the colonies from Great Britain was freely discussed
six years before the first shot was fired at Lexington, and the people
were informed that great numbers of Englishmen looked on America
as in rebellion. ' ' Besides this means of gaining knowledge of polit-
ical movements in New England, the Nova Scotians were in frequent
receipt, through the coming into their harbours from Boston of trad-
ing and fishing vessels, of newspapers printed in the Massachusetts
21. See the Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 183, p. 136, General Court Records, Vol.
38, p. 29. Also Edmund Duval Poole's "Yarmouth and Harrington in the Revolutionary
War," p. 32.
2OO
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
capital, and of news by word of mouth from the captains and crews
of these vessels and occasional passengers which the vessels brought.
When the stamp act was passed in 1770, the Liverpool people showed
public marks of discontent with it, and we cannot doubt that the peo-
ple of other counties of which we have spoken were just as strong in
denouncing it as they.
The weightiest influence on Nova Scotia in favor of the Revolution
was of course, to a people struggling for a prosperous existence, not
so much political sentiment as the pressure of economic necessity.
On the 17th of May, 1775, it was resolved by Congress "that all ex-
portations to Quebec, Nova Scotia, the Island of St. Johns [Prince
Edward Island], Newfoundland, Georgia, except the parish of St.
Johns,22 and East and West Florida should immediately cease, and
that no provisions of any kind, or other necessaries, be furnished to
the British fisheries on the American coasts until it be otherwise de-
termined by the Congress."23 In the spirit of this resolution of Con-
gress, on the 5th of July, 1775, Governor Legge issued a proclama-
tion forbidding all persons in Nova Scotia to correspond with or in
any way assist the rebels in New England, and directed the justices
of the peace throughout the province to publish the order and cause
it to be read several times in all places of public worship. A second
proclamation, also, under a recent act of the Assembly, was issued
by him, forbidding arms, gunpowder, ammunition, or saltpetre be-
ing exported or carried coastwise except by license from himself.
In the Massachusetts General Court, likewise, on the 9th of April,
1776, the following prohibitive statute was passed: "Whereas it is
apprehended that some of the inhabitants of this colony may be in-
duced from a regard to their own interest to employ their vessels the
ensuing season in the business of fishing, and in order to avoid the
inconveniences they may be exposed to by an act of parliament pro-
hibiting all manner of trade and commerce with the united colonies
•22. "Well governed and generously treated by Parliament, Georgia had little cause
to aspire after independence, but St. John's Parish sent a delegate to the Second Conti-
nental Congress in March, 1775, and its example was followed by other parishes. In
1778, the British captured Savannah, and in 1779 Augusta and Sunbury. Savannah was
held by the British until 1782. The first State Constitution was framed, however, in
February, 1777, and on January 2, 1788, the Federal Constitution was ratified." New
International Encyclopoedia, Vol. 9, p. 633.
23. See "Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, 1774-1775," p. 313.
2O I
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
and declaring forfeited all such vessels and cargoes, etc., as shall be
taken belonging to the same, may make over the property of their
vessels to some inhabitant of Nova Scotia; to the intent therefore
that no inhabitant of this colony may unwarily go into such a method
of conduct, it is resolved that if any inhabitant of this colony shall
upon any pretence whatever transfer his property in any vessel to an
inhabitant of the province of Nova Scotia he will therefore violate a
resolve of the congress prohibiting all intercourse with the inhabit-
ants of that province, and of course may expect to be obliged to sub-
mit to the pains and penalties due to such an offence. ' '24
Besides the strict prohibition of trade with the other colonies un-
less she would come frankly into the Revolution, by which her people
were reduced to great distress, Nova Scotia suffered greatly from
the depredations of Massachusetts privateers. As early as 1775,
armed vessels were fitted out at various places in Massachusetts to
prey on Nova Scotia vessels, and even on private property on land in
places that were accessible from the sea.25 The crews that manned
these vessels in some cases well deserved the name that has been
given them of "brutal marauders," for their conduct was so out-
rageous that even friends of the Revolution in the province were
forced to remonstrate to Congress against their piracies. During
the autumn of 1776, says Archdeacon Raymond, "the Bay of Fundy
was so infested with pirates and picaroons that the war vessels
Vulture, Hope, and Albany were ordered around from Halifax. But
they were not entirely successful in furnishing protection, for the
privateers managed sometimes to steal past the large ships in the
night and in fogs, and continued to pillage the defenceless inhabit-
ants."26
' * Throughout the whole period of the war, ' ' says Mr. Edmund Du-
val Poole, "the Massachusetts General Court was in almost constant
receipt of petitions from individual inhabitants of Yarmouth, Bar-
24. Records of the Massachusetts General Court, Vol. 34, pp. 740, 741. See also p.
200.
25. In 1775, people in the interior parts of the province made earnest appeals to
the Government at Halifax for ammunition for their guns, to prevent the depredations
of pirates.
26. "The River St. John, its Physical Features, Legends, and History, from 1604 to
1784" (Archdeacon Raymond, LL.D., F. R. S. C), p. 437.
2O2
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
rington and other places in the Province, praying leave to return
with their families and effects. These petitions were usually
granted, and a pass issued to each applicant, directing the com-
manders of all ships of war and privateers belonging to the State not
to interfere with or molest the holder on his passage between Nova
Scotia and Massachusetts. But comparatively few availed them-
selves of the privilege after having obtained the desired permission
to return. It is very evident that the written passports were them-
selves the desideratum, and were used as a means of protection
against the reprisals of American privateers while engaged in fish-
ing or coasting in their small shallops or schooners. In a great
many instances our fishermen were able to save their vessels from
capture and confiscation by this shrewd Yankee trick, although it
did not always succeed."
On the part of the Nova Scotians, also, not a little retaliatory
privateering was done, New England vessels being captured and
brought into Halifax and their crews and the passengers on them
imprisoned there. For the confinement of these prisoners of war,
says a recent writer,27 the prison ships and jail were utterly inade-
quate. Moreover, the restraints laid upon the prisoners were ex-
tremely lax, a few were allowed to give their parole and then get
to their homes as best they could, but large numbers of them were
constantly escaping, and the Government does not seem to have
made much effort to recapture them. A great many of them made
27. This writer is the author of the very valuable articles appearing in the Halifax
Acadian Recorder once a week, under the pseudonym "An Occasional." We have re-
produced in a few sentences above, without quoting exactly, his remarks on the subject
in hand. In his discussion of the subject "An Occasional" further says : "Although all
manner of intercourse between the Colony and the Province was forbidden by both
Governments, there was one way by which these conditions could equalize themselves,
and the authorities necessarily shut their eyes to a great deal. From time to time as
provisions grew scarce, it became customary for one or more of our fishermen to load
his shallop with fish or salt (another article in great demand in the Colonies, and with
which our people were well supplied, by reason of their trade with the West Indies),
and to put on board as many of the ex-prisoners as were at hand or could be accom-
modated, and boldly set sail for some Massachusetts port. Often they were held up by
American privateers while on their way, but usually the presence of the Americans on
board, together with the permits described above, served as a means of protection and
they were allowed to proceed. Upon their arrival their vessels were sometimes seized
as the property of subjects of the King of Great Britain." But the next thing in order
would be a petition from the owners or captains of the vessels before the cargoes could
be disposed of, "praying for liberty to sell the fish or salt, to purchase provisions with
the proceeds, and to depart with the same. These petitions were almost invariably
granted."
203
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
their way, sometimes through the woods, sometimes along the shore,
to Barrington and Yarmouth, where they were sure to find friends.
When peace between Britain and the United States was finally
sealed, the restrictions of trade and general intercourse between
Nova Scotia and the other colonies were of course removed, and un-
der changed conditions, but with somewhat of the old freedom, the
earlier relations between the closely allied peoples were resumed.
Why Nova Scotia did not give the Revolution the strong support
the other Atlantic seaboard colonies of Britain in America gave it
and become a fourteenth State in the American Union, instead of
remaining a possession of the British Crown, is a question that it is
hardly necessary now to answer, for the answer is implicit in the
long array of facts we have in this chapter adduced. From first to
last there was no reluctance on the part of a great majority of the
people to throw in their lot frankly with their friends in the New
England colonies who had revolted against British oppression, and
many were anxious to do so, but they were a rural people, lacking
the necessary equipment of war, and too few in numbers and too
scattered to make organized resistance to the authority exercised at
Halifax, without powerful aid from the New England colonies, at all
able to succeed. That such help from the Continental Congress or
the Massachusetts General Court did not come we have seen, and the
Nova Scotia government being firmly in the hands of men loyal
to Britain, a governor-in-chief and lieutenant governor sworn to de-
fend British authority and a council in which Englishmen rather
than colonials were in the majority, nominal allegiance to Britain
on the part of the whole population was preserved. Thus Nova
Scotia in the end was left divorced in large measure from the colon-
ies to which she was bound by the closest geographical, social, and
commercial ties. In such unfortunate isolation she remained until
she became a province of the Dominion of Canada in the federation
of the provinces in 1867.
204
THE ROWLAND FAMILY
Rowland, who was also a passenger on the "Mayflower." Eliza-
beth (Tilley) Howland died December 21, 1687, aged eighty years.
(See Howland II).
NOTE. — References in foregoing will be found in former or future numbers of
"Americana."
271
Chapters in the History of Halifax, Nova Scotia
BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
No. XI
HALIFAX AND THE NEW YORK TORIES
"To go or not to go, that is the question ;
Whether 'tis best to trust the inclement sky
That scowls indignant, or the dreary Bay
Of Fundy and Cape Sable's rocks and shoals,
And seek our new domain in Scotia's wilds,
Barren and bare, or stay among the rebels,
And by our stay rouse up their keenest rage."
The Tory's Soliloquy (printed in the New Jersey Journal).
HE great migration of Loyalists to Nova Scotia as a
result of the Revolution, of which the flight of the Bos-
ton Tories thither with Howe's fleet is the picturesque
prelude, occurred, as is well known, in the years 1782
and 1783, especially the latter year. That by far the larger num-
ber of these later refugees from the other Colonies landed either
at Port Eoseway, Digby, or the mouth of the St. John river is of
course true, but that Halifax more or less permanently received a
share of them is equally true. In an interesting sketch of Governor
Parr, in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, the
late Mr. James Macdonald says:1 "Parr was sworn in Governor
in October, 1782, and peace with the new Republic was arranged
on the 30th of November, 1782. In December following, many ships
with a large number of Loyalists and troops that had fought on the
British side arrived from New York, and the Governor's work
began. Every week brought its quota to swell the already over-
i. "Memoir of Governor John Parr," by James S. Macdonald, in the Collections
of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, vol. 14, pp. 41-78. In quoting at length from
Mr. Macdonald we always have to revise his rhetoric. In this quotation we give his
exact statements, but some changes in the English have been absolutely necessary and
have been made.
272
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
populated town. The feeding of such a multitude was a most diffi-
cult task, and the flour mills at Sackville were kept at work night
and day to provide bread. Parr worked steadily and methodically,
as he had done all his life, and being a seasoned veteran was able,
it is said, to work at times twenty out of the twenty-four hours of
the day at the task of arranging for the subsistence of such a host.
The greatest problem was to have them housed before the severity
of winter came. The troops came by shiploads, and the vivid expe-
rience of Halifax at the declaration of war was repeated. Every
shed, outhouse, and store was crowded with people. Thousands
were under canvas on the Citadel and at Point Pleasant, every-
where indeed where tents could be pitched. vSt. Paul's and St.
Matthew's churches were crowded, and hundreds were sheltered
there for months. Cabooses and cook-houses were brought ashore
from the ships, and the people were fed near them on Granville and
Hollis streets. People suffered all the miseries of unsanitary con-
ditions in an overcrowded town, and there were many deaths among
the strangers. For months the greater number of these ten thou-
sand refugees were fed on the streets, among the people being
many who had been reared in luxury. ' '
Whether it is true that as many as ten thousand Loyalists, includ-
ing troops that had fought on the British side, were for a longer
or shorter period located in Halifax or not, we do not know, but the
Tory migration at this time to the province generally had so
direct and lasting an influence on the capital town that it becomes
necessary to devote a chapter exclusively to it here.
In the colony of New York, which unlike Massachusetts was a
Eoyal or Crown Colony, a large proportion of the people, particu-
larly of Westchester County, Queen's County (Long Island),2 and
Staten Island, were sympathetic with the British cause, and when
the issue of the war became clearly unfavorable for the British, and
finally when peace was declared, these champions of loyalty to the
2. Of Queen's County, Long Island, Judge Jones in his "History of New \ork
during the Revolution" says: "Nearly a third of the whole inhabitants have since the
late peace and the recognition of American independence, preferred the rahospitabl
wilds of Nova Scotia rather than live in a country governed by the iron and opj
sive hand of rebellion, though settled, planted, and improved by their ancest
a century and a half ago."
273
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
mother country saw that nothing was left them but to emigrate.
From the summer of 1776, when the battle of Long Island put New
York in the hands of General Howe, for seven years this town was
the headquarters of British rule in America. Under the protection
of the forces garrisoned there, therefore, many of the most influ-
ential citizens of New York, as of other colonies besides New York,
put themselves, and this was especially true when the act of at-
tainder, passed by the New York legislature on the 22d of October,
1779, proscribed nearly sixty prominent citizens, "for the crime of
adhering to the enemies of the State," declared their estates, real
and personal, confiscated, and proclaimed that each and every of
them who should at any time thereafter be found in any part of the
State should be and were adjudged and declared guilty of felony,
and should suffer death as in cases of felony, without benefit of
clergy.
Thrust from all places of public influence, robbed of their prop-
erty, insulted by mobs, declared felons by the newly constituted
authorities, and as we have seen, even threatened with death, they
soon looked toward Nova Scotia, where six or seven years before
their Boston fellow sufferers had gone, as a suitable place of refuge.
In February, 1782, the new English ministry recalled Sir Henry
Clinton from his command of the American forces, and in his place
appointed Sir Guy Carleton, who arrived in New York and took
command the following April. In November of the same year,
provisional articles of peace were signed at Paris and then the
necessity for the removal of the Loyalists became urgent. Sir Guy
accordingly began a correspondence with the governor of Nova Sco-
tia with reference to their settlement in this province, and the Loy-
alists themselves appointed agents to whom they entrusted the most
important matters connected with their proposed emigration. These
agents were Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin Thompson of Massachu-
setts, better known as Count Kumf ord ; Lieutenant-Colonel Edward
Winslow, Jr., of Massachusetts, Muster-Master-General of the Loy-
alist forces employed under the Crown; Major Joshua Upham, of
Brookfield, Massachusetts, a graduate of Harvard of the class of
1763; the Rev. John Sayre, who at the beginning of the war was
Eector of Trinity Church, Fairfield, Connecticut; Amos Botsford,
274
COUNT RUMFORD
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of Newtown, Connecticut, a graduate of Yale, of 1763; and James
Peters, of New York. It seems singular that of these seven New
York agents, six should have been New England men, and only one
a native New Yorker.
The first emigration of New York people to Nova Scotia took
place soon after the signing of the provisional articles at Paris.
About two months before this, the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova
Scotia, Sir Andrew Snape Hamond, received a letter from Sir
Guy Carleton, in which the latter announced that more than six hun-
dred persons wished to embark for Nova Scotia before winter, and
a much larger number the next spring, but that he could not find
shipping just then for more than three hundred. He recommends
for these intending emigrants that a grant of five or six hundred
acres shall be given each family, and three hundred acres apiece
to single men, and that two thousand acres for a glebe and a thou-
sand acres for a school shall be set apart in each township, no fees
or quit-rents, whatever, to be exacted for these lands. He also
recommends that the ''Refugees" be given materials and the assist-
ance of workmen for their necessary building. About this time Sir
Guy was waited on by the Rev. Dr. Seabury, then of Westchester,
and Col. Benjamin Thompson, of the King's American Dragoons, on
behalf of the Loyalists desiring to go to Nova Scotia. The result
of the conference was a promise from the Commander-in-Chief that
they should be provided with proper vessels to carry them and
their horses and cattle as near as possible to the place in which
they intended to settle ; that besides food for the voyage, one year's
provisions or the equivalent in money should be allowed them ; that
warm clothing in proportion to the wants of each family, and medi-
cines, should be furnished them; that pairs of mill stones, iron
work for grist mills and saw mills, nails, spikes, hoes, axes, spades,
shovels, plough-irons, and such other farming utensils as should
appear necessary, and also window glass, should be given them;
that tracts of land, free from disputed titles and conveniently situ-
ated, large enough to afford from three to six hundred acres to each
family, to be surveyed and divided at public cost, should be guar-
anteed; that in every township, "over and above" two thousand
acres should be allowed for the support of a clergyman and one
275
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
thousand acres for the support of a school, and that these lands
should be inalienable forever. Finally, that a sufficient number of
good muskets and cannon, with a proper quantity of ammunition,
should be allowed, to enable the people to defend themselves against
any hostile invasion.
On the nineteenth of October, five hundred Loyalists from New
York arrived at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia,3 bringing with
them at least one member of the committee appointed in New York to
look after their affairs, a man who founded one of the leading New
Brunswick families, Mr. Amos Botsford. The London Political
Magazine in 1783 says : ''When the Loyal Refugees from the north-
ern Provinces were informed of the resolution of the House of Com-
mons against offensive war with the rebels, they instantly saw there
were no hopes left them of regaining their ancient settlements or of
settling down again in their native country. Most of them, there-
fore, who had been forward in taking up arms and in fighting the
battles of the mother country, finding themselves deserted, began to
look out for a place of refuge, and Nova Scotia being the nearest
place to their old plantations, they determined on settling in that
province. Accordingly, to the number of five hundred, they em-
barked for Annapolis Royal: they had arms and ammunition, and
one year's provisions, and were put under the care and convoy of
H. M. S. Amphitrite, of twenty-four guns, Captain Robert Briggs.
This officer behaved to them with great attention, humanity, and
generosity, and saw them safely landed and settled in the barracks
at Annapolis, which the Loyalists soon repaired. There were
plenty of wild fowl in the country, and at that time (which was last
fall) a goose sold for two shillings and a turkey for two and six-
pence. The Captain was at two hundred pounds expense out of his
own pocket, in order to render the passage and arrival of the unfor-
tunate Loyalists in some degree comfortable to them."
Before Captain Briggs sailed from Annapolis the grateful Loy-
alists waited on him with the following address :
"To Robert Briggs, Esqr., Commander of H. M. S. Amphitrite:
The loyal refugees who have emigrated from New York to settle in
3. Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, vol. 3, says three hundred.
276
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Nova Scotia beg your acceptance of their warmest thanks for the
kind and unremitted attention you have paid to their preservation
and safe conduct at all times during their passage. Driven from
pur respective dwellings for our loyalty to our King, after endur-
ing innumerable hardships and seeking a settlement in a land
unknown to us, our distresses were sensibly relieved during an
uncomfortable passage by your humanity, ever attentive to our
preservation.
;'Be pleased to accept of our most grateful acknowledgments so
justly due to you and the officers under your command, and be
assured we shall remember your kindness with the most 'grateful
sensibility.
''We are, with the warmest wishes for your health and happiness
and a prosperous voyage,
"With the greatest respect, Your most obedient humble servants,
"In behalf of the refugees.
"AMOS BOTSFORD,
TH. WARD,
FRED. HAUSER,
SAM. CUMMINGS,
ELIJAH WILLIAMS.*
"Annapolis Royal, the 20th of October, 1782."
On the fourteenth of January, 1783, Amos Botsford and his fel-
low explorers wrote from Annapolis to their friends in New York,
describing the country. After giving the most favorable account
of the region from Annapolis to St. Mary's Bay, they say: "We
proceeded to St. John's river, where we arrived the latter end of
November, it being too late to pass in boats, and the water not
being sufficiently frozen to bear. In this situation we left the river,
and (for a straight course) steered by a compass through the woods,
encamping out several nights in the course, and went as far as the
Oromocto, about seventy miles up the river, where there is a block-
4. Of the persons whose names are signed to this address, Amos Botsford was
from Newtown, Conn. (See Sabine's Loyalists) ; Frederick Hauser, of whose origin
we know nothing, was a surveyor, and with Amos Botsford and Samuel Cummings
explored St. Mary's Bay and the lower part of the St. John river (see the Winslow
Papers, edited by Archdeacon Raymond, pp. 77, 211) ; Samuel Cummings was from NCMT
Hampshire, and with his wife and two children (at Annapolis Royal) was proscribed
in 1782 (see Sabine's Loyalists, vol. 2, p. 502) ; Elijah Williams, a son of Major Elijah
Williams of Deerfield, Mass., before coming to Nova Scotia had been practising law at
Keene, N. H. (See "The Genealogy and History of the Family of Williams _. . .
Descendants of Robert Williams of Roxbury," published at Greenfield, Mass., in 1847)
He returned later to Mass, and died at Deerfield in 1793.
277
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
house, a British post. The St. John's is a fine river, equal in mag-
nitude to the Connecticut or Hudson. At the mouth of the river
is a fine harbour, accessible at all seasons of the year — never frozen
or obstructed by the ice, which breaks in passing over the falls;
here stands Fort Howe, two leagues north of Annapolis Gut."
"The interval lies on the river, and is a most fertile soil, annually
manured by the overflowings of the river, and produces crops of all
kinds with little labour, and vegetables in the greatest perfection.
The up-lands produce wheat both of the summer and winter kinds,
as well as Indian corn. Some of our people chuse Conway [now
Digby], others give the preference to St. John. Our people who
came with us are settled here for the winter ; some at the fort, some
in the town, and others extend up the Annapolis river near twenty
miles, having made terms with the inhabitants; — some are doing
well, others are living on their provisions; their behaviour is as
orderly and regular as we could expect. * '
These five hundred New York Loyalists were speedily followed
by five hundred and one refugees from the Carolinas, who fled from
Charleston when that city was evacuated. In a dispatch to the
Right Hon. Thomas Johnston, the minister in England, Governor
Parr of Nova Scotia says : "I have the honor to inform you that
with the arrival here of the heavy ordnance from Charleston in
South Carolina, came five hundred and one refugees, men, women,
and children, in consequence of directions from Sir Guy Carletori to
Lieutenant-General Leslie, who has sent them to the care of Major-
General Patterson, commander of the troops in this province, with
whom I have concurred as far as in my power to afford them a
reception. ' '
In January, 1783, the governor notified the English minister of
future arrivals, but it was in the spring of that year that the great
emigration of New York Tories to Nova Scotia began. In April,
two separate fleets left for the Acadian Province by the Sea. The
first, which sailed from New York, April 26th, comprised sixteen
square rigged ships and several schooners and sloops protected by
two ships of war, and carried four hundred and seventy-one fam-
ilies, under command of Colonel Beverly Robinson, its destination
278
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
being Port Razoir, or Boseway, afterwards Shelburne, near the
south-western end of Nova Scotia.
On the fourth of May these people reached Port Roseway and
were met by three surveyors from Halifax, with whose aid they at
once began to lay out a city which they had projected before leav-
ing New York.5 Their plan made provision for five main parallel
streets, sixty feet wide, to be intersected by others at right angles,
each square to contain sixteen lots, sixty feet in width and one hun-
dred and twenty feet in depth. At each end of the town a large
space was left for a common, and when the refugees came, these
reservations the engineers with the assistance of the fatigue par-
ties rapidly cleared, so that tents could be erected for the tem-
porary shelter of the people. July eleventh, the town was divided
into north and south, the streets were named, and the lots were
numbered, every settler being given fifty acres on each side the
harbour, and a town and water lot besides.
The other fleet, which sailed from New York on the twenty-sev-
enth of April, 1783, comprised twenty vessels, on board of which
were three thousand people, men, women, and children. The names
of the vessels were : the Camel, Captain Tinker ; the Union, Captain
Wilson; the Aurora, Captain Jackson; the Hope, Captain Peacock;
the Otter, Captain Burns ; the Spencer; the Emmett, Captain Reed;
the Thames; the Spring, Captain Cadish; the Bridgewater; the
Favorite, Captain Ellis; the Ann, Captain Clark; the Commerce,
Captain Strong; the William; the Lord Townshend, Captain Hogg;
the Sovereign, Captain Stuart; the Sally, Captain Bell; the Cyrus;
the Britain; and the King George. The destination of this fleet
was the River St. John, at the mouth of which, a little distance
apart, stood the two old forts, La Tour, then called Fort Freder-
ick, and the less historical Fort Howe. On the eighteenth of May
the vessels came to anchor in the harbour of St. John, the Loyalists
for the most part landing at Lower Cove, near the old Sydney
Market House.6
5. The Church of England in Nova Scotia, Dr. A. W. H. Eaton, pp. 135, 6.
6. May 12, 1783, Sir Guy Carleton writes General Washington: "An embarkation
was in much forwardness previous to the official information of peace. . . .
fleet sailed about the 27th of April for different parts of Nova Scotia, and including the
279
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
The people of the first fleet are said to have come to their
determination to settle at Shelburne, through advice given them by
Captain Gideon White, a native of Plymouth, Massachusetts, in
which place he was born March 28, 1752. This young man, who
was a great grandson of Peregrine White, of Plymouth, and father
of the late venerable Rev. Thomas Howland White, D. D., of Shel-
burne, at the outbreak of the war made his escape from Plymouth
to avoid being either drafted into the American army or thrown
into prison, and starting for Nova Scotia on a trading voyage vis-
ited various places along the south shore of the province. At Bar-
rington he was captured by an American armed vessel, commanded
by a Captain Sampson, and then was carried back to Plymouth and
thrown into prison, where he found his father. Within a day or
two he was taken out and hanged by the waist to the village ''liberty
pole," but Captain Sampson, hearing of the outrage, landed with a
party of his men and rescued the prisoner from his uncomfortable,
if not dangerous, position. In the list of persons who went to Hal-
ifax with General Howe's fleet, Gideon White's name is found, and
it is probable that he returned with the fleet to New York and there
gave information regarding the Nova Scotia sea-board to the Loy-
alist leaders, who acting on his advice finally determined to found a
city at Port Bazoir.
That St. John should have been chosen by the Tories as the
site of another town is not strange, for the broad, navigable St.
John river, lined with fertile marshes, had long attracted traders
from New England, and on both sides of it, awaiting settlement, lay
an immense tract of country as fertile as the peninsula of Nova
Scotia itself, and even greater in extent.
On the 6th of June Governor Parr informs the Secretary of State
that since January 15th upwards of seven thousand refugees have
arrived in the province, and these, he says, are to be followed by
three thousand of the provincial forces, and by others besides.
troops carried seven thousand persons with all their effects ; also some artillery, and pub-
lic stores."
May 22d, Adjutant General Oliver De Lancey orders, that "the Refugees and all the
Masters of Vessels will be attentive that no Person is permitted to embark as a Refugee
who has not resided Twelve Months within the British Lines, without a special Pass-
port from the Commandant. It is also recommended to the Refugees to take Care no
Person of bad Character is suffered to embark with them."
280
July 6th, he writes that a considerable number of Loyalists had peti-
tioned for land in the island of Cape Breton, and the governor,
who had had instructions to grant no land in that island, asks his
Majesty's pleasure in the matter. In a letter to Lord North, of
the 30th of September, Governor Parr states that from November,
1782, to the end of July, 1783, upwards of thirteen thousand had
arrived at Annapolis, Halifax, Port Eoseway, St. John River, and
Cumberland, and that since July, many more had landed at these
places and at Passamaquoddy, so that the total number in the
province then was probably not less than eighteen thousand. He
had visited Port Eoseway as soon as he could after the arrival
of the settlers there, and had found upwards of five thousand per-
sons, to which number many more, he expected, would soon be
added.7
In September many vessels left New York for Nova Scotia, car-
rying in all some eight thousand refugees. One of these was the
ship Martha, which had on board a corps of the Maryland Loyalists,
and a detachment of De Lancey's 2d Eegiment, in all a hundred
and seventy-four persons. This vessel was wrecked on a ledge of.
rocks between Cape Sable and the Tuskets, and ninety-nine per-
ished, seventy-five being saved by fishing boats and carried to St.
John, where they had intended settling. Between the end of Sep-
tember and the twenty-first of October, two thousand Loyalists
arrived, and at some time in the latter month what is known as the
"Fall Fleet" reached St. John, bringing twelve hundred more. Oth-
ers coming in single vessels, before and at the final evacuation of
New York, which occurred November 25, 1783, it is estimated that
not less than five thousand spent the winter of 1783-84 on the site
of the city of St. John. August thirteenth of the latter year, Gover-
nor Parr writes Lord North that grants for four thousand, eight
hundred and eighty-two families had passed the great seal of the
7. In a letter from an officer belonging to H. M. Ship Due de Chartrcs, dated Nova
Scotia, October 12, 1783, the writer says : "The great emigration of Loyalists from New
York to this province is almost incredible, they have made many new settlements in the
Bay of Fundy. . . . Numbers of families are also gone to Halifax, but the majority
are fixed at Port Roseway, where they have erected a large city, which contains nine
thousand inhabitants, exclusive of Black Town, containing about twelve hundred free
Blacks, who have served during the war." Quoted in the "Manual of the Corporation
of the City of New York" for 1870.
28l
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
province, and that others were preparing for a hundred and fifty
more. The number of persons already located, he thinks, amounts
to nearly thirty thousand.
The whole number of Loyalists who left the revolting colonies,
first and last, cannot have been less than a hundred thousand souls,
Judge Jones thinks that Sir Guy Carleton must have assisted that
many to leave New York alone. Mr. De Lancey says : * ' They came
to New York to embark for almost all parts of the world, England,
Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Nova Sco-
tia, New Brunswick, the Bermudas, the Bahamas, Florida, Jamaica,
and the lesser West Indies." The Loyalists of the Southern col-
onies chiefly shipped for Florida, the Bermudas, the Bahamas, and
the West Indies. Of the Tory emigrants to Upper Canada, which
was then, like Nova Scotia (and New Brunswick), almost wholly
unsettled, Kyerson, in his " Loyalists of America,"8 says: "Five
vessels were procured and furnished to convey this first colony of
banished refugee Loyalists to Upper Canada; they sailed around
the Coast of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and up the St. Law-
rence to Sorel, where they arrived in October, 1783, and where they
built themselves huts or shanties, and wintered. In May, 1784, they
prosecuted their voyage in boats, and reached their destination,
Cataraqui, afterwards Kingston, in July." Other bands of Loyal-
ists made their way to Canada by land, the most common route
being by Albany.
Many of the Loyalists who had come to Nova Scotia were so
destitute that in May, 1783, an order for a muster was issued by
Governor Parr, so that their needs might be fully known. This
muster occupied a little over two months, from May twentieth to
July twenty-seventh, and the report finally made by Lieutenant-
Colonel Robert Morse, who had the direction of it,9 covers the fol-
lowing nearly thirty settlements: Annapolis Royal and vicinity,
Antigonish, Bear River, Chedabucto, Chester Road, Cornwallis and
Horton, Country Harbour, Cumberland and vicinity, Dartmouth,
8. Vol. 2, p. 188.
9. "A General Description of the Province of Nova Scotia and a Report of the
Present State of the Defences, with Observations leading to the further growth and
Security of this Colony, done by Lieutenant-Colonel Morse, Chief Engineer in America,
upon a Tour of the Province in the Autumn of the Year 1783 and the Summer of 1784."
282
1 3
3. w
•— o
3 »
n
(U
Crt
C
X
n
ffi
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Digby, Gulliver's Hole (St. Mary's Bay); Halifax and vicinity;
about Halifax Harbour; between Halifax and Shelburne, along the
coast; Jedore, Musquodoboit, Newport and Kenticook; Nine Mile
Eiver, Partridge Island, Passamaquoddy ; Pictou and Meri-
gomish; River St. John; Sheet Harbour, Shelburne, Ship
Harbour, Island of St. John (Prince Edward Island), Windsor,
Windsor Road, and Sackville. According to this muster the War
of the Revolution had brought into Nova Scotia 28,347 persons, of
whom 12,383 were men, 5,486 women, 4,671 children above the age of
ten, 4,575 children under the age of ten, and 1,232 servants, chiefly,
no doubt, negroes who had been and virtually still continued to be
slaves. Of these people, 9,260 are reported as at River St. John,
7,923 at Shelburne, 1,830 at Annapolis Royal and vicinity, 1,787 at
Passamaquoddy, 1,295 at Digby, 1,053 at Chedabucto, 856 at Cum-
berland and thereabouts, 651 between Halifax and Shelburne, 480 at
Dartmouth, and 380 in the Island of St. John ; the rest being scat-
tered, in numbers ranging from 16 to 324, through the other places
mentioned above. The name Chedabucto in Lieutenant-Colonel
Morse's report is the original name of what is now Guysborough.
The Indians gave the name Chedabucto to at least that part of
Guysborough County which lies about the harbour or bay.10
10. The record of grants in the Crown Land Office in Halifax shows that soon
after the Revolution, principally in 1784 and 1785, grants were made to persons at
Advocate Harbour, Antigonish, Aylesfprd, Beaver Harbour, Chester, Clements, Country
Harbour, Dartmouth, Digby, Green River, Guysborough, Jordan River, Maccan, Meri-
gomish, Musquodoboit, New Manchester, Parrsborough, Port Hebert, Port Medway,
Port Mouton, Port Roseway, Remsheg and Tatamagouche, River Philip, Roseway
Harbour, Salmon Brook, Sable River, Shelburne, Ship Harbour, Sissibou, St. Mary's
Bay, Tracadie, and Wilmot. These grants were probably not all to Loyalists but
undoubtedly most of them were. Some grants probably were never taken up.
Of Colonel Morse's report, Dr. Raymond writes : "The report of Lt.-Col. Morse
is in the possession of J. W. Lawrence (of St. John), and I have studied it. We
must bear in mind that Col. Morse's muster was made in the summer of 1784, and is
liable to be under the mark, for two reasons. First, a considerable number of the
Loyalists had already removed, owing to their unfavorable impressions of the country,
some to Upper Canada (see Ryerson's Loyalists), some to England — these chiefly of
the more affluent classes, while some had returned to the United States. A second
class, I have no doubt, failed to be enumerated by Col. Morse owing to the scattered
settlements, established at isolated points, and to the hurried way in which the enumera-
tion was completed. Loyalist settlements were made on the St. John river in the sum-
mer of 1783, at some eight or more points, that at Woodstock being a hundred and
forty-four miles from the sea. Other settlements were made at Passamaquoddy
by refugees from Penobscot and elsewhere, at various points at the head of the Bay
of Fundy, along the New Brunswick shore, and at a large number of points in Nova
Scotia and Cape Breton. The facilities for communication were so poor at this time,
283
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Gathered into a publication entitled "Manual of the Corporation
of the City of New York" for 1870, we find many notices from
sources contemporary with the migrations of the removal of Royal-
ists from New York to Nova Scotia, Canada, Jamaica, the Bahamas,
etc., but chiefly to Nova Scotia, in 1783. Under date of April 22 of
that year, a Philadelphia newspaper (but what newspaper we do
not know) says: "Accounts from New York mention that the last
embarkation of refugees, consisting of near 5,000 souls, sailed from
thence on Thursday last for Nova Scotia." A New York newspa-
per of April 23d says : ' l The number of inhabitants going to Nova
Scotia in the present fleet consists of upwards of nine thousand
souls, exceeding by more than one thousand the largest town in
Connecticut, including the out parishes." A Philadelphia news-
paper of April 29, 1783, informs its readers that "a late New York
paper says that the number of souls embarked in the last fleet for
Nova Scotia amounts to 9,000." "Yesterday," says a New York
newspaper of May 17th, "arrived a vessel from Halifax, by which
we learn that the fleet with about six thousand Eefugees, which
lately left this city, were safely landed at Port Roseway, after a
that the enumeration could scarcely have been carried out with exactness, and I there-
fore think the number returned by Col. Morse was much too small." "In addition to the
Loyalist exiles from New York to Nova Scotia during the first ten months of 1783, there
were arrivals at Halifax and Annapolis from Boston and other New England ports,
amounting to probably at least 2,000, of whom 1,100 came at the time of the evacuation
of Boston."
Dr. Raymond's judgment regarding the probable understatement of the number of
Loyalists in Nova Scotia in Colonel Morse's Report is no doubt correct. The general
style of Colonel Morse's report on Nova Scotia shows that he was not a very accurate
observer, and in some degree weakens the value of his statistics. Nevertheless, they
must be duly weighed by any one desiring properly to estimate the number of Loyalists
who came to Nova Scotia at the close of the war. It seems likely, judging from other
data, that the number at Halifax, Shelburne, and on the St. John River, is understated,
for Colonel Morse himself admits that "a very small proportion of the people are yet on
their lands." A few thousands, therefore, might be added to include those overlooked
in the muster, those who had come early to Nova Scotia and had gone thence to Eng-
land, Upper Canada, Newfoundland, or back to the United States, and the few Loy-
alists that might not put in a claim for "the Royal bounty of provisions." Having made
a liberal allowance for all these, however, it is hard to believe, if Colonel Morse's
muster be in any degree accurate, that the number of Loyalists was much more than
thirty thousand in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It is possible, however, that to
this number two or three thousand more may be added and the limits of accurate state-
ment not be transgressed.
Mr. Edward F. De Lancey, editor of Judge Thomas Jones's History of New York
during the Revolutionary War, says he is satisfied from a personal examination of the
manuscript records in the Secretary's office at Halifax that the number of Tories, men,
women, and children, who emigrated from New York to Nova Scotia, amounted to at
least thirty-five thousand.
284
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
six days passage." A Chatham, New Jersey, newspaper of May
21st, says: "The British and their adherents, so habituated to
perfidy, find it difficult to forego it; for in the last Nova Scotia
fleet they sent off upwards of 700 negroes belonging to the good
people of these states."
A New York newspaper of June 7th is quoted as saying: "Yes-
terday arrived the Camel, Captain William Tinker, in eight days
from the river St. John, in the Bay of Fundy, who left the new
settlers there in good health and spirits. Captain Tinker sailed in
company with eight other transports for this port." A Philadel-
phia newspaper of June 10th," says: "We hear that another em-
barkation of his Britannic Majesty's most faithful and loyal sub-
jects, the refugees, will shortly leave New York, destined for Nova
Scotia. They are said to consist of about 6,000."
A New York newspaper of June llth records: "The Schooner
Two Friends, Captain Fisher, arrived here on Sunday last in
seven days from Port Eoseway. A number of transports and small
vessels were preparing to sail for this port under convoy of his
Majesty's Ship Albacora, when Captain Fisher left that port.
. . The Benevolent and Charitable of all Denominations are
hereby informed that a very considerable number of People, having
left their former Habitations, are now embarked for the Province of
Nova Scotia. The greater part of whom, having tender Wives and
little Infants, and having lost All, are left in circumstances ex-
tremely indigent; they are therefore recommended in the most
earnest manner to the Public, as proper objects of charity. Note.
As their Necessities are very urgent it is much to be wished that
those who choose to Contribute will do it without delay." This
appeal is signed by Messrs. Rogers and Murray, and William
Laight, Queen Street; by David Seabury, Peter Bogart, and Eev.
John Sayre, Smith Street ; and by Rev. James Sayre, at Brooklyn."
A Chatham, New Jersey, newspaper, under date of June llth,
records: "From the many accounts from Westchester and the
neighboring towns in the State of New York, near the British posts,
the inhabitants of said towns are in the most unhappy Situation of
any people under the sun. Those called the King's or loyal Refu-
gees continue in their old practice of beating, burning, hanging,
285
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
and cutting men and women in order to extort their money and
other effects ; which is of late continued and put in practice with the
most unheard of cruelties and barbarity that ever was known ; but
especially since the refugees have left Morrisania are now getting
all they can to carry off with them to Nova Scarcity, where they say
is nine months winter and three months cold weather in the year.
They come from New York and Long Island in the night and sculk
about Westchester in the day, and when night comes on again they
exercise the above-recited cruelties; so that the inhabitants dare
not lodge in their houses." Some of the chief offenders are then
mentioned, the names given being, Henry Quaill, Abraham Bonker,
Archibald Purdy, Jonathan Lovebury, and Stephen Baxter.11
How large a proportion of the Loyalist emigrants to Nova Scotia
consisted of officers and men of the various regiments that had
been in service in the other colonies on the British side, so far as
we know has never been exactly estimated. In March, 1783, the
commanding officers of fourteen of the thirty-one provincial regi-
ments named by Sabine12 in his "American Loyalists" petitioned
for grants of land in the still loyal British colonies for their officers
and men, asking also for pensions and half pay.13 A New York
newspaper of August 16, 1783, is quoted14 as saying: "We are
informed that the following British Regiments are intended for
Nova Scotia, viz. : Seventeenth, Eoyal Welsh or Twenty-Third,
Thirty-Third, Thirty-Seventh, Eoyal Highlanders or Forty-Second,
Fifty-Seventh, and that all the other British Battalions are to
depart for Europe." In September of this year the ship Martha,
which was wrecked between Cape Sable and Tusket, started for St.
John with a corps of the Maryland Loyalists, and a detachment of
De Lancey's Second Battalion. General Oliver De Lancey's Bri-
gade comprised three battalions, each five hundred strong, the first
and second of which consisted in part of New York men, with prob-
ably a strong contingent from the Tory towns of Connecticut, such
11. An occasional newspaper notice also appears in the publication from which
these extracts are copied of the foundering of some vessel carrying refugees to Nova
Scotia and the drowning of all on board. Why this publication does not give the names
of the newspapers from which it quotes we do not know.
12. Sabine's American Loyalists, vol. I, p. 73.
13. Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, vol. 3, p. 15.
14. In the "Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York" for 1870.
286
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
as Stamford, Greenwich, Norwalk, and Fairfield.15 The third bat-
talion was drawn entirely from Queen's County, Long Island. The
anger of the patriots was naturally fierce against De Lancey 's whole
brigade, which, in a petition against the men being allowed to
return to their homes in Stamford or Greenwich, was designated as
that "most infamous banditti known as De Lancey 's corps." At
the close of the war this brigade was disbanded in Nova Scotia.
The third battalion, commanded by Captain Ludlow, arrived at St.
John in October, 1783, and it is probable that the second battalion
also spent the next winter at St. John, for Captain Jacob Smith,
Sergeant Thomas Fowler, Corporal Richard Rogers, and others of
this battalion drew adjoining city lots on the south side of Britain
Street, near Wentworth Street,16 in the New Brunswick town. The
following year, October 15, 1784, a grant was passed, under the
great seal of the province of Nova Scotia, of lands to a hundred and
twenty men of this battalion, on the Upper St. John.17 As a rule
each private received a hundred acres, each non-commis-
sioned officer two hundred acres, and each commissioned of-
ficer five hundred and fifty acres. The whole grant comprised
twenty-four thousand one hundred and fifty acres, with the usual
allowance of ten per cent, for roads. The first settlement at Wood-
stock, New Brunswick, was made by members of De Lancey 's corps,
either in the summer of 1783, or more probably in the following
spring.
Regarding the settlement of disbanded troops at Guysborough,
in the eastern part of Nova Scotia, the late Mrs. James E. Hart, a
careful historian of Guysborough county has written : 'The Duke
of Cumberland's Regiment (Lord Charles Montagu's), was the
first to arrive at Chedabucto. These troops reached there in the
transport Content, May 16, 1784. They were disbanded in Jamaica,
October 24, 1783, and Lord Charles made arrangements for then
settlement in Nova Scotia, and himself came with them to Halifax
15 De Lancey's second battalion was commanded by Col. George Brewerton, Stephen
De Lancey, eldest son of the General, being lieutenant-colonel.
16. Early Days of Woodstock (pamphlet) by Archdeacon Raym,
names of these grantees are recorded in the Crown Land Office at Fred-
cricton.
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
in the transports Industry and Argo, arriving there December 13th.
The regiment comprised three hundred men, under Captain Ralph
Cunningham, but as no provision had been made for their reception
the whole force had to spend the winter in huts in Halifax, erected on
the site of the present Province Building. Owing to the severity of
the climate and their poor shelter many of them died, Lord Charles
Montagu himself, to the great grief of the troops, succumbing like
his men.18
"In the autumn of 1783, about eight hundred people, soldiers and
their families belonging to the British Legion, came to Port Mouton,
in the western part of the Province. The next spring a fire des-
troyed all their houses, furniture, clothing, and most of their live
stock. Word of this was sent to Halifax, and with all possible dis-
patch a war-ship was sent to their relief. Not satisfied to rebuild
at Port Mouton, they had scouting parties reconnoitre the Province,
with the result that they decided to go to Chedabucto. On the 21st
of June, 1784, part of them, under Colonel Mollison, arrived there,
sailing probably from Halifax. They are called in the muster-roll
the * Associated Departments of the Army and Navy.'
"On the 13th of July, 1784, the Loyalists from St. Augustine,
Florida, were mustered at Halifax on board the transport Argo,
bound for Chedabucto. They numbered fifty-nine men, twenty
women, thirty-three children, and nine servants. They settled in
Guysborough county, near the entrance of the Strait of Oanso. On
the 17th of July, 1784, the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the 60th, or
Eoyal American Regiment, were mustered at Halifax, on their way
to Chedabucto. They numbered seventy-six men, thirty-four
women, nineteen children, and four servants. They located on the
south side of Chedabucto Bay. They had enlisted in New York,
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, many of them having German an-
cestries, some being of Dutch descent.
"In December, 1783, the transport Nymph arrived at Country
18. Lord Charles Greville Montagu, second son of Robert, third Duke of Man-
chester, was born in 1741. He died at or near Halifax, February 3, 1784. Murdoch in
his "History of Nova Scotia" (vol. 3, p. 24), giving notes of the year 1783, says that
late in the year Lord Charles Montagu arrived at Halifax, "with 200 of his disbanded
corps from Jamaica, via Havana, whither they had been driven by storm." Lord
Charles Greville Montagu is buried under St. Paul's Church, in which there is a mon-
ument to his memory.
288
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Harbour, Guysborough county, with officers and privates, some of
them with families. They belonged to the South Carolina Royalists,
Royal North Carolina Regiment, and King's Carolina Rangers.
Their port of sailing is not known. ' ''
That in the cases of some of the disbanded troops who settled
in Nova Scotia there was unfortunate delay in the granting of lands,
is shown, for instance, by the fact that Colonel Edward Winslow,
Jr., Muster-Master-General of the Loyalist forces employed under
the Crown, and a member of the first council of New Brunswick,
wrote to his friend Ward Chipman: "I saw all these provincials,
whom we have so frequently mustered, landing in this inhospitable
climate in the month of October, without shelter and without know-
ing where to find a place to reside. The chagrin of the officers was
not to me as truly affecting as the distress of the men. Those rep-
utable sergeants of Ludlow's, Fanning 's, Robinson's, etc. (once
hospitable yeomen of the country), addressed me in language that
almost murdered me as I heard it: 'Sir, we have served all the
war ; we were promised land, we expected you had obtained it for
us. We like the country ; only let us have a spot of our own and
give us such kind of regulations as will protect us. ' :
Regarding the Hessian troops who came to Nova Scotia, a large
number of them settling here permanently, as for example in the
locality known as the "Waldeck Line," near Clementsvale, in An-
napolis county, an accurate Halifax local historiographer, Mr. T.
Vardy Hill, in a letter to the writer of this history, says: "On the
15th of April, 1782, the Secretary of State, Lord George Germaine,
sent orders to the chief officer in command of the Hessian forces
at New York to proceed to Halifax with these troops, to place them
there under General Campbell, commanding officer in Nova Scotia.19
On the 13th of August, 1782, one thousand, nine hundred and four-
teen Germans arrived at Halifax. The headquarters office record
of corps, etc., which served in the Nova Scotia command after 1783,
gives the following regiments as leaving New York for that prov-
ince in May, 1783: De Seitz's Regiment, the Hessian Recruits,
io Mr Hill here refers to the Canadian Archives for 1894, P- 390. Major Gen-
eral J9ohn Campbell arrived at Halifax from New York as commander of the forces,
December o, 1783. Murdoch's "History of Nova Scotia, vol. 3, P- 24.
289
Hesse-Hanoverian Grenadiers, Hesse-Hanoverian Yagers, Anhalt
Zerbsters, Waldeckers, Hesse-Hanoverian Eegiment (1st Bat-
talion), and Brunswickers."20 3aron De Seitz, as is well remem-
bered, died at Halifax soon after coming there with his regiment
and was buried in a vault under St. Paul's Church. In the church
still hangs his hatchment, which has the unusual feature of an
inscription. This inscription is as follows : "In Memory of Franz
Carl Erdman Baron de Seitz, Colonel and chief of a Eegiment of
Hessian foot and Knight of the order pour la vertue militaire,
departed this life decbr 1782, in the 65th year of his age. ' '
The arrival of the Loyalists at St. John and at Shelburne and
other points on the rocky Nova Scotia sea-coast, cannot be pictured
without sadness. The age in which these exiles lived was far less
luxurious than that in which we live, yet in the older colonies
from which they came many of them had been the possessors of con-
siderable wealth, a few having had what was then great wealth, and
most of them, at least having owned or been the inmates of com-
fortable homes in prosperous communities. To have been com-
pelled to leave these settled homes for hastily constructed tents and
log houses in the wild forests of an almost unexplored province;
and, men, women, and little children, to be made to suffer all the
privations and hardships of pioneer life, was enough, one would sup-
pose, to have discouraged even the bravest hearts. For such peo-
ple as the Barclays, Bayards, De Lanceys, Ludlows, Eobinsons, and
Wilkinses of New York; and the Blisses, Chipmans, Lydes, Put-
nams, Snellings, and Winslows of Massachusetts, to be obliged to
leave luxurious surroundings for the incredible hardships of life
in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in those days, must have been
much the same as it would be now for the Cuttings, Iselins, Morgans,
or Ehinelanders of New York ; or the Higginsons, Lawrences, Low-
ells, or Thayers of Boston, to banish themselves suddenly to some
lonely part of Arizona, leaving most of their property behind.
To the actual physical discomforts which these people suffered
on sea and land we must add the sorrow many felt at the severing of
family ties, the breaking of friendships that were dear as life itself,
20. Mr. Hill here refers to Canadian Archives for 1894, p. 490.
290
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
and the sad separation from scenes that had become endeared to
them by a thousand tender associations. Bishop John Inglis writes
in 1844, after his first episcopal visit to Shelburne, that he had
found there, still living, some of the New York emigrants, who told
him "that on their first arrival, lines of women could be seen sitting
on the rocks of the shore, weeping at their altered condition;" and
Sabine says, "I have stood at the graves of some of these wives and
daughters, and have listened to the accounts of the living in shame
and anger." At St. John the first dwellings were all log huts, a little
church being the earliest frame building erected. Walter Bates,
describing the settlement of Kingston, on the St. John river, by
himself and his fellow passengers of the "good ship Union," says:
"The next morning with all our effects, women and children, we
set sail above the falls, and arrived at Belleisle Bay before sunset.
Nothing but wilderness before our eyes; the women and children
did not refrain from tears ! John Marvin, John Lyon and myself
went on shore and pitched a tent in the bushes and slept in it all
night. Next morning every man came on shore and cleared away
and landed all our baggage, and the women and children, and the
sloop left us alone in the wilderness. We had been informed that
the Indians were uneasy at our coming, and that a considerable
body had collected at the head of Belleisle. Yet our hope and trust
remained firm that God would not forsake us. We set to work
with such resolution that before night we had as many tents set as
made the women and children comfortable." Soon "every man
was jointly employed clearing places for building, cutting logs,
carrying them together by strength of hands, and laying up log
houses, by which means seventeen log houses were laid up and cov-
ered with bark, so that by the month of November, every man in the
district found himself and family covered under his own roof, and
a happier people never lived upon this globe, enjoying in unity
the blessings which God had provided for us in the country into
whose coves and wild woods we were driven through persecution. ' '
The annual reports of the Church of England missionaries, to
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, give us much insight
into the troubles experienced by the Tory exiles at the beginning
of their new life in these provinces. Not a little of their suffering,
291
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
as in the case of the disbanded troops, came from unavoidable
delays in the allotment of lands for their use. It is quite possible
that the Nova Scotia government may not have been thoroughly
systematic in its methods of arranging for the settlement of these
unhappy people, but it will be remembered that for two or three
years the refugees kept pouring into the province in bewildering
numbers, and that certain formalities were necessary in granting
the smallest amount of government land for their use. No one who
examines the records of the time can help seeing that, as Sir Guy
Carleton in New York was determined to leave nothing undone
that he could do to assist the Loyalists in leaving their old homes,
so Governor Parr in Nova Scotia, was most anxious to help them
find comfortable new homes in the country to which they had come.
But it is clear that Parr and his Council were sometimes at their
wits ' end to know how to provide for this unexpected influx of new
inhabitants.
The progress of the leading Loyalist settlements in Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick can perhaps be ascertained better from the
Reports of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel than in
any other way. The missionaries, who like their congregations
had been obliged to leave the revolting colonies, knew intimately
the condition of the wilderness communities in which their lot was
now cast ; and the exigencies of their missions and the rules of the
Society required that detailed reports of the people's condition
should be sent to England every year. ' ' Of the terrible sufferings
and hardships the Loyalists underwent, who came to Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick," says Mr. Edward F. De Lancey, "the history
of these provinces makes sad mention. Suffice it to say here, that
they have never been paralleled since the persecution of the
Huguenots and their flight from France at the Eevocation of the
Edict of Nantes, in 1685."
Among the Loyalists who left the various colonies now states
of the American Union, for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, were
some seventy men who were promoted to so high official rank, or
became otherwise so prominent in their new spheres, as to have left
their names indelibly stamped on the history of the Maritime Prov-
inces. Thomas Barclay, who after the peace became H. M. first
292
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Consul-General at New York, was one of these men; Daniel and
Jonathan Bliss, Sampson Salter Blowers, Ward Chipman, Charles
Inglis, Jonathan Odell, John Wentworth, and Isaac Wilkins were
others. A great many of the Loyalists who founded families in
Nova Scotia or New Brunswick came from Westchester, New York.
Of this stock are the families of Bates, Bonnett, Bugbee, Disbrow,
Gidney, Merritt, Mott, Palmer, Purdy, Sneden, Wetmore, and Wil-
kins. Other New York names were Anderson, Andrews, Auch-
muty, Barclay, Barry, Barton, Baxter, Bayard, Beardsley, Bedle,
Bell, Betts, Billopp, Bremner, Burton, Campbell, Carman, Coyle,
De Lancey, De Mille, De Peyster, De Veber, Dick, Ditmars, Dunn,
Fowler, Hatfield, Hewlett, Horsfield, Inglis, Livingston, Ludlow,
McKay, Miles, Moore, Murray, Peters, Pine, Pryor, Rapalje, Rem-
sen, Robinson, Sands, Seaman, Thorne, Van Cortlandt, Ward, Wat-
son, Weeks, Wetmore, Wiggins, Willett, and Wilmot. From Mas-
sachusetts came representatives of the families of Ayres, Barnard,
Beaman, Bliss, Blowers, Brattle, Brinley, Brymer, Burton, Camp-
bell, Chipman, Courtney, Cunningham, Cutler, Danforth, Davis,
De Blois, Dunbar, Forrester, Garnett, Garrison, Gore, Gray, Green,
Greenwood, Hallowell, Hatch, Hathaway, Hazen, Hill, Howe, Hub-
bard, Hutchinson, Jones, Kent, Leonard, Leslie, Loring, Lyde,
Mansfield, Minot, Murray, Oliver, Paine, Parker, Perkins, Poole,
Putnam, Robie, Ruggles, Sewall, Snelling, Stearns, Upham, White,
Winslow, and Willard. From Connecticut came Bates, Botsford,
Hanford, and Jarvis. From Rhode Island, Chaloner, Coles, Halli-
burton, and Hazard. From Maine, Gardiner; from New Hamp-
shire Blanchard and Wentworth; from New Jersey, Blauvelt,
Burwell, Cooke, Crowell, Hartshorne, Lawrence, Milledge, Odell,
Van Buskirk, and Van Norden. From Pennsylvania, Butler, Bis-
sett, Boggs, Lenox, Marchington, Stansbury, and Vernon. From
Virginia, Benedict, Bustin, Coulbourne, Donaldson, Lear, Saun-
ders, and Wallace; from North Carolina, Fanning; from Mary-
land, Hensley. Viscount Bury says truly of the settlement of the
Loyalists in the several provinces of what is now the Dominion of
Canada: "It may safely be said that no portion of the British
possessions ever received so noble an acquisition."
The advent of so many thousands of new people to Nova Scotia
293
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
and the unusual interest taken in their welfare by the Home Gov-
ernment and the provincial authorities, naturally created some
jealousy in the minds of the older inhabitants. The Tories were
not in a conciliatory frame of mind, and having lately come out of
a far more advanced civilization than that of the forest girt Nova
Scotian shores, they would, not unnaturally, also make more or less
assertion of superiority to the older settlers at their quiet fisheries
and on their farms along the rough Atlantic seashore and beside the
dyke-lands of the Basin of Minas and Cobequid Bay. The inev-
itable friction that actually did arise between the two bodies of peo-
ple could not be lessened, either, by the fact that many of the Loy-
alists were men so long accustomed to assert themselves strongly
in political and social affairs that in their new sphere they could not
help soon making their influence felt in marked ways. Such per-
sons as General Timothy Euggles, Major Thomas Barclay, Col.
James and Col. Stephen De Lancey, Mr. Isaac Wilkins, and Samp-
son Salter Blowers, could not remain inactive, or take second rank
in any place where their fortunes might be cast. Accordingly, we
find these men, and others of their fellow Loyalists, shortly occu-
pying prominent places in the Council, the House of Assembly, the
Judiciary, and the social life of Nova Scotia ; while in what is now
New Brunswick a distinct agitation very soon began to show itself
for the formation of a new province.
The history of Shelburne, the Loyalist settlement at Port Razoir,
begun with such high hopes and resulting in a few years in such
dismal failure, has a melancholy interest. Its New York founders
from the start determined to make it an important naval and mili-
tary station, and at one time hoped that it would supplant Halifax
as the capital of the Province. In a short time after its founda-
tion, its population rose to between ten and twelve thousand, but
the site chosen for it was so unfavorable, there being no good farm-
ing country about it, that before many years had passed the major-
ity of its inhabitants had moved away, either to New Brunswick,
to other parts of Nova Scotia, or, as in many cases, to their old
homes in the United States, leaving it a sad and disappointed place.
Such of those who returned to the United States locked their doors,
not even removing their furniture, and quietly went away, leaving
294
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
their houses to be taken unchallenged possession of by negroes or
other poor settlers in future times.
"I have lately been at Shelburne," writes Bishop John Inglis
in 1844, m his letter already referred to, "where nearly ten thou-
sand Loyalists, chiefly from New York, and comprising many of
my father's parishioners, attracted by the beauty and security of
a most noble harbor, were tempted to plant themselves, regardless
of the important want of any country in the neighborhood fit for
cultivation. Their means were soon exhausted in building a spa-
cious town, at great expense, and vainly contending against indom-
itable rocks ; but in a few years the place was reduced to a few
hundred families. Many of these returned to their native country,
and a large portion of them were reduced to poverty.
Some few of the first emigrants are still living." How many ac-
tually remained in the peninsula of Nova Scotia, and how many
went back to the United States, it is impossible to say. There are
still many families of Loyalist descent in this province, but a large
number of the most important Loyalist names have now almost or
quite disappeared.
In 1783, as soon as the people of Shelburne were well settled,
Governor Parr came down from Halifax and paid them a visit. On
Sunday, July twentieth, he arrived in H. M. Sloop La Sophie. When
he disembarked, salutes were fired from the ship, and as he landed,
cannon were also fired by the artillery at the port, the officers of
the corps on duty receiving him with due formality. On Tuesday
morning he again landed, amidst loud cannonading, and marched
up King Street, through long lines of the inhabitants assembled to
do him honor, to the place appointed for his reception by the jus-
tices of the peace and other principal inhabitants of the place.
After an address had been presented to him, he named the new town
Shelburne, and "drank the King's health, prosperity to the town
and district of Shelburne, and to the Loyalists, each toast being
accompanied with a general discharge of cannon. ' ' In the evening
a grand dinner was given on board the Sophie, and the next day
another at the house of Justice Robertson, in the town. A public
ball and supper, "conducted with the greatest festivity and de-
295
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
corum," followed later; after which his Excellency, well pleased,
returned to Halifax.
The next year, in May, Sir Charles Douglas, Bart., Commander
of the British Navy, on this station, visited the town and was fit-
tingly received; the same month Sir John Wentworth, then Mr.
Wentworth, Surveyor General of the King's Woods in North Amer-
ica, made Shelburne a brief visit. Four years later, the town
received Prince William Henry, afterwards King William IV, then
a young naval officer, who came in the warship Andromeda and
staid four days. 'During his stay a ball was given for his Royal
Highness, which the Prince himself opened with Mrs. Bruce, wife
of the Collector of the port. In 1786, says Murdoch, "the new city
was a gay and lively place. Every holiday or anniversary of any
description, was loyally kept and mirthfully enjoyed. On St. An-
drew's day, December eleventh, of that year, the St. Andrew's So-
ciety gave an elegant ball at the Merchants' coffee house. The ball
room was crowded on the occasion, and the hours of the night passed
away in the most pleasing manner. ' '
The settlement at the mouth of the St. John River was much
more successful. When the first Loyalists reached that picturesque
bay the shores were densely wooded, only a little spot about Fort
Howe showing that white men had ever been there before. The
refugees lived first in log huts, brush camps, or canvas tents, but
slowly, on the cleared slopes small frame houses arose, a little
Anglican Church, also, being built for worship, as well. In the be-
ginning, the town was laid out in lots and given in two grants, one to
eleven hundred and eighty-four grantees, another to ninety-three.
Other Loyalist settlements also soon arose, — at Fredericton, which
in 1788, was made the capital of the new province, at Gagetown,
Kingston, Maugerville, St. Andrews, Sussex, and Woodstock.
The displeasure of many of the Loyalists, civilians as well as
soldiers, regarding what they felt to be the tardy action of govern-
ment in the apportionment of their lands, or with the allotments
themselves, has frequently been discussed. Both in Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick, this displeasure emphatically showed itself.
At Shelburne, in consequence of discontent with the allotments
already made, the Governor and Council, August 5, 1784, appointed
296
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the following persons as their agents there in the assignment of
lands: Isaac Wilkins, James McEwen, Abraham Van Buskirk,
Joseph Brewer, David Thompson, Joshua Watson, Benjamin Da-
vis, Charles McNeal, Ebenezer Parker, Alexander Leckie, Joshua
Pell, Nicholas Ogden, Eobert Gray, justices of the peace ; Valentine
Nutter, Peter Lynch, William Charles White, John Lownds, Alex-
ander Robinson, Patrick Wall, Michael Langan, Isaac Wilkins and
any four of the others, to constitute a quorum. In November, 1784,
the governor authorized Amos Botsford, the Rev. Edward Brude-
nell, Colonel Barton, and Messrs. Hill and Stump, to lay out and
assign unlocated lands in Digby to such persons there as were
unprovided with land. At St. John there was so great dissatis-
faction that in 1783 four hundred persons signed an agreement to
remove to Passamaquoddy. Tuttle, in his history of Canada, says :
"The Loyalists who settled at the St. John River did not agree very
well with the original settlers. They grew angry with the Gov-
ernor because their grants of land had not been surveyed, and he in
turn charged them with refusing to assist in the surveys by acting
as chainmen unless they were well paid for it. ' '
Soon the Loyalists demanded additional representation in the
Nova Scotia Assembly, but this Governor Parr opposed, on the
ground that his instructions forbade his increasing or diminishing
the number of representatives in the Assembly. Failing in their
efforts to secure increased representation, the people next began
to agitate for a new province north of the isthmus, a policy against
which Governor Parr naturally strongly contended. In the early
part of 1784 as many as three hundred and forty-one persons at
Parr Town (St. John) passed resolutions of various sorts regard-
ing the separation, and so influential were the Loyalists with the
English ministry that their request was granted and in August
news came out to the Halifax authorities, in the packet from Fal-
mouth, that a new province, in compliment to the reigning family
of England to be called New Brunswick, was to be at once set off.
The line between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, it was declared,
was to be at the narrowest part of the isthmus, from Bay Verte to
Cumberland Basin, which division would place Fort Cumberland,
and indeed much of what was then Cumberland County, within
297
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the limits of the new province. The governor of New Brunswick
was to be Colonel Thomas Carleton, a brother of Sir Guy, who had
himself commanded a regiment during the war and was highly
esteemed by the exiled Loyalists.
In October, Colonel Carleton and his family arrived at Halifax
from London, in the St. Lawrence, Captain Wyatt, after a passage
of eight weeks; and on Sunday, November twenty-first, at three
o 'clock in the afternoon, they reached St. John, where they received
a most enthusiastic welcome. As the Ranger, the sloop in which
they had crossed the bay from Digby, entered the harbor, one salute
of seventeen guns was fired from the battery at Lower Cove, and
another from Fort Howe. The house of Mr. George Leonard, at
the corner of Union and Dock streets, had been fitted up for their
reception, and thither, amidst great applause, the distinguished
party was at once conducted. As his Excellency entered the door
the crowd gave three rousing cheers, with ' ' Long live our King and
Governor!" Then the enthusiastic people dispersed, to dream of
the august ceremony that should be held on the morrow, when the
Chief should take the oaths of his office and the new Council be
sworn.
The first Legislative Council of New Brunswick consisted of
George Duncan Ludlow, James Putnam, Abijah Willard, Gabriel G.
Ludlow, Isaac Allan, William Hazen, and Dr. Jonathan Odell, all
of whom had been men of considerable note in the colonies from
which they had come. Five days after the first meeting of the new
Council, its number was increased by the appointment of Guilfred
Studholm, and on the fourth of December, by that of Edward Wins-
low. In July, 1766, two more members were added, Messrs. Joshua
Upham and Daniel Bliss. A judiciary was also appointed, consist-
ing of George Duncan Ludlow, Chief Justice; and James Putnam,
Isaac Allan, and Joshua Upham, Assistant Judges. The Supreme
Court met for the first time on Tuesday, February first, 1785, in
the little frame church, which thus served both for worship and the
administration of justice. The first parliament of the province
assembled at St. John on the third of January, 1786, in a house
known as the "Mallard" house, on the north side of King Street,
the members being : Stanton Hazard, and John McGeorge, for the
298
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
City of St. John; and William Pagan, Ward Chipman, Jonathan
Bliss, and Christopher Billopp, for the county. The Speakership
of the House of Assembly was given to Amos Botsford, the presi-
dency of the Council to the Chief Justice, Mr. Ludlow, the office
of Attorney-General to Dr. Jonathan Odell, and that of Provincial
Secretary to Jonathan Bliss.
Of these high officials, most of whom were for many years after
their first appointment intimately connected with the destinies of
the province they had helped create, George Duncan Ludlow had
been a judge of the Supreme Court of New York; James Putnam had
long ranked as one of the ablest lawyers in America ; Abijah Wil-
lard, of Massachusetts, had been a mandamus councillor and had
served in the army from the taking of Louisburg until 1763, later
being commissary to the troops at New York ; Gabriel G. Ludlow, of
New York had commanded a battalion of Maryland volunteers ; Isaac
Allan had been colonel of a New Jersey corps of volunteers and had
lost an estate in Pennsylvania because of his attachment to the royal
cause; William Hazen, formerly of Newburyport, Massachusetts,
had come to Passamaquoddy and St. John as a trader in 1764; the
Rev. Dr. Jonathan Odell, of New Jersey, had practised medicine,
and had been a successful Church of England clergyman, in the lat-
ter capacity acting as chaplain to the royal troops; and Guilfred
Studholm, probably also a New England man, had been in the prov-
ince for some years in military service, as commander at Fort Howe.
Connected with the city of St. John, in the present province of
New Brunswick, in the days of its founding by New York Loyalists,
is the name of one man whose record in the Revolution no one has
ever attempted to justify. This was the notorious Benedict Ar-
nold. In 1787, Arnold made his residence in St. John, and there
entered into mercantile life, trading chiefly with the West Indies.
"Mr. Sparks suggests," writes Mr. Isaac N. Arnold, "that the Eng-
lish Government granted him facilities in the way of contracts for
supplying the troops there with provisions. At any rate he car-
ried on an extensive business, building ships, and sending cargoes
to the West Indies, his two sons, Richard and Henry, aiding him in
his operations. . . . Arnold is said to have exhibited here some
of his characteristic faults, living in a style of ostentation and dis-
299
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
play, and being so haughty and reserved in his intercourse that he
became personally obnoxious. While the family were residing at
St. John, George Arnold, their sixth child was born." In 1788,
General Arnold and his family returned to London, where they had
first settled five years before. In 1790 they were again at St.
John, but in 1791 they removed permanently to England.
In his survey of the Loyalists at large, Dr. George E. Ellis of
Boston, in the "Narrative and Critical History of America," says :21
"Among those most frank and fearless in the avowal of loyalty and
who suffered the severest penalties, were men of the noblest char-
acter and of the highest position. So, also, bearing the same odious
title, were men of the most despicable nature, self-seeking, and
unprincipled, ready for any act of evil. And between these two
were men of every grade of respectability and every shade of mean-
ness. ' ' The New York Loyalists have often been spoken of as if they
comprehended all the "aristocracy" of that town. Such a state-
ment if made of Boston would be more nearly, though not entirely,
true. In New York some of the most active supporters of the Rev-
olution, like John Jay and Governor Morris, bore names as aris-
tocratic and held places as socially high as any in the province ; and
though the De Lanceys, De Peysters, Philippses, and Johnsons, and
the greater part of the people in society who acknowledged the lead-
ership of these families, were enthusiastic supporters of the crown,
the Schuylers and Livingstons, at least, were known as equally
loyal to the cause of the Whigs.
So far as religion ruled in the colonies, the Episcopalians were
very largely Tory in sympathy, and the same was true of a minority
of the adherents of the Dutch Reformed body wherever it existed.
The Presbyterians, however, of the middle colonies and the Con-
gregationalists of New England almost without exception gave
their support strongly to the patriot cause. In both the middle col-
onies and New England the government officials of all sorts natur-
ally ranged themselves on the royal side, while in such sea-
ports as Salem and Plymouth, and in the trading villages of New
York, including those of Long Island and Staten Island, the mer-
21. "Narrative and Critical History of America," vol. 8, p. 185.
300
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
chants who did business directly with the mother country
and whose interests would necessarily suffer by any disturbance of
the old relations, were opposed to the Eevolution. Besides these
two classes of people, whose material interests made it almost neces-
sary for them to be loyal to Britain, not a single fair-minded histor-
ian in these days fails to recognize that there were among the Loy-
olists countless men and women of the highest principles, who loved
constitutional order, hated anarchy, and believed that obedience to
law was the first duty of honest citizens. The people of this class,
however, were not by any means all so bigotedly conservative, and
so stupidly insensible to their rights as colonists, as to be willing to
endure any hardships that overbearing ministries in England might
impose upon them, but believing that to preserve a united empire
was more important than to secure the immediate redress of tem-
porary wrongs, they were willing to bide their time until the mother
country could be made to see her duty towards her American
colonies and should be willing to abolish their wrongs.
301
De Soto's Route in Arkansas
BY ADA MIXON, WASHINGTON, D. C.
T has never been satisfactorily determined just where De
Soto crossed the Mississippi river, which he discovered
on June 18, 1541, or how far westward he went after-
ward. His wanderings through the present States of
Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi have been traced with a
fair degree of accuracy, but the few writers who have touched upon
his route through Arkansas each give a different account of it.
Some chroniclers state that he went as far west as the Rocky Moun-
tains, unmindful of the fact that it took him two years to travel from
Tampa Bay to the point where he crossed the Mississippi, and that
his travels west of that river occupied only a year. Some writers
have placed the point of crossing at Chickasaw Bluff, and the route
through the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri. Later writers are
of the opinion that the point of crossing must have been a short
distance north of the 34th parallel, and this is far more likely, as
may be determined by the description of his wanderings immedi-
ately after reaching the western bank and by comparing that des-
cription with the present aspect of the same region.
The route outlined on the accompanying sketch has been worked
out from a careful study of the only recorded accounts which are
regarded as accurate. First in importance is the report of the Fac-
tor or Chief Commissary of the expedition, Don Luys Hernandez de
Biedma, which was written from notes jotted down during the
journey. This is very brief, giving only a few essential details,
names of tribes, towns, rivers, resources and some directions. Sec-
ond, the journal of Eodrigo Ranjel, De Soto's private secretary,
which bears evidence that it was an actual journal made during
their travels, and gives more fully than Biedma 's work the direc-
tions taken and descriptions of the various regions traversed. Third,
the account given by an anonymous writer known only as ' ' The Gen-
302
Chapters in the History of Halifax, Nova Scotia
BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
No. XII
THE HALIFAX GARRISON AND SOCIAL LIFE IN THE TOWN
IFE in Halifax among military officers, and the relations
between these and the civilian population, during the
long period that Halifax remained a popular military
station garrisoned by Imperial troops, we should no
doubt find picturesquely illustrated in thousands of unprinted let-
ters and diaries existing in the British Empire, if we could get at
these. Printed descriptions of Halifax military-social life are not
too frequently found, but some such descriptions, as we have before
intimated, certain interesting printed volumes yield.
One such account occurs in the diary of General William Dyott, a
genial officer who died in Staffordshire, England, in May, 1847, at
the advanced age of almost eighty-six.1 General Dyott, who was
born in Staffordshire, on the 17th of April, 1761, stood socially very
high in the army, and his diary extending over sixty-four of the
most interesting years in English history, from 1781 to 1845, has
much of the piquant charm of the diary of the immortal Pepys. In
April, 1787, at the age of twenty-six, a lieutenant in the Fourth, he
was ordered with his regiment from Ireland to Halifax, and in No-
va Scotia he remained continuously until December, 1792. On the
22nd of July, 1787, he arrived in Halifax harbour, and his descrip-
tion of the scenery along the shores and of the town as he ap-
proached it is interesting to read. He says :
"We were agreeably awoke at six o'clock in the morning of the
22nd, and informed that we were in the Bay of Halifax, and should
i. "Dyott's Diary, 1781-1845. A selection from the Journal of William Dyott, some-
time General in the British Army and Aide-de-Camp to His Majesty, King George III."
London. Archibald Constable and Company, Limited. 1007.
419
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
be at anchor by ten o'clock. We all got up happy in the idea of
being released from seven weeks' confinement. The entrance into
the harbour of Halifax has nothing very pleasing. It lies nearly
east and west. The west side is a rock partly covered with wood,
and has at the extremity a lighthouse, there being a very danger-
ous reef of rocks running some distance into the sea. The east side
is pretty enough. There is a large island called Cornwallis Island,
which has some cultivation and a good deal of wood. Near the
town, and about the centre of the harbour, there is a small island
called G eorge 's Island, where the signals are made for the shipping,
and on which there are works. It is very well situated for guarding
the harbour. We came to anchor close to the town about twelve
o'clock. I never was more rejoiced. The Colonel immediately went
on shore to wait upon the Governor. In the afternoon I dressed
and went on shore, after being seven weeks in filth and rags. A
clean coat appeared quite awkward and strange.
"The town of Halifax is prettily enough situated on a hillside, at
the top of which there is a citadel and block-house. The houses are
all built of wood, and in general painted white or yellow, which has a
very pleasing effect, particularly in summer. The streets extend
from north to south along the side of the hill, and are intersected
by cross streets, extending from the shore up the hill towards the
block-house. The Governor, Parr, and the commissioner of the dock-
yard, have both very good nouses. There are three barracks, which
would contain from 600 to 1,000 men. There are also two churches,
both very neat buildings of wood, and one or two meeting-houses.
There is a square in town called the Grand Parade, where the troops
in garrison parade every evening during the summer, and where
all the belles and beaux of the place promenade, and the bands re-
main to play as long as they walk."
Leaving the ship, young Dyott went, he says, to the Parade.
"The first person I saw was Mr. Cartwright, late lieutenant in
the Staffordshire Militia. He was an ensign in the 60th, acting ad-
jutant. We disembarked the next day, the 23rd, about two o'clock,
and dined with the 60th regiment. They were going to Quebec.
We were not able to get into our barrack-rooms, as the 60th did not
embark till Thursday. However, we got an empty room in the bar-
racks, and four of us laid our beds on the floor, "and enjoyed most
heartily our repose, hard as it was.
"July 27.— We began our mess. From the high price of pro-
visions, beef being eightpence and mutton sixpence per pound, we
420
I
W
U
w
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
were obliged to pay high for messing. Two dollars a week and our
rations equal to threee shillings and sixpence more. Port wine
from fifteen to twenty pence per bottle ; sherry nearly the same.
"August 11.— I went on a fishing party with Captain Devernet,
of the artillery. It is one of the principal summer amusements of
this place, and a very pleasant one indeed. There were ten of us;
we had a large boat, allowed the artillery by government, and also
a smaller one for the eatables. . . . We sat down about four
o'clock, and of all the dishes I ever tasted, I never met so exquisitely
good a thing as the chowder. We attempted to make it on board
ship, but nothing like this. It is a soup, and better in my opinion
than turtle. The recipe I don't exactly know, but the principal
ingredients are cod, haddock, pork, onions, sea-biscuit, butter, and a
large quantity of cayenne pepper. In short, the tout ensemble was
the best thing I ever ate. We had some excellent Madeira, of
which we drank a bottle each, and some very good lime punch with
dinner.
"August 20.— A duel was fought between Captain Dalrymple of
the 42d, and Lieutenant Roberts of the 57th, owing to the former
having two years prior to the duel said in a company that Mr. Rob-
erts was not fit for the Grenadiers ; at the same time hinting that he
had sold some of his brother's books. Lieutenant Roberts at the
time this discourse took place was in Europe, and not meeting with
Captain Dalrymple till now, he being quartered at Cape Breton, had
not an opportunity of demanding satisfaction. They fired only one
pistol each, as Captain Dalrymple was wounded in the arm, but not
dangerously.
"Friday, October 2ti.— I dined at the Commissioner's. That same
day the fleet from 'Quebec, under the command of Commodore Saw-
yer, arrived here, consisting of the Leander, 50 guns, Captain Sir
James Barclay, Bart., with the broad pennant; the Pegasus, 28
guns, Captain his Royal Highness Prince William Henry ; the Re-
source, 28 guns, Captain Minchin; and the Wenzel sloop, Captain
Wood. On their passage from Quebec, the Leander struck on a rock
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and was very near being lost. It was
a most dismal situation, as all the Commodore's family were with
him on board. They were obliged to quit the ship, and went on
board his Royal Highness 's ship. When the Leander came in, she
was obliged to be towed up the harbour to the Dockyard and hove
down. Her bottom was found to be in a most shattered condition.
His Royal Highness was rather expected in the evening at the Com-
missioner's, but he did not quit his ship. On his coming to anchor,
421
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the Brigadier-General waited upon him ; he positively declined any
compliments as a prince.
"Sunday his Royal Highness dined at the Commodore's; Mon-
day at the Commissioner's; Tuesday he reviewed the regiment at
11 o'clock. It was the first time I had seen him, and little expected
to have received such marks of his condescension as I afterward did.
Our review was nothing more than the common form; his Royal
Highness expressed much satisfaction at the appearance of the men.
After the review was over, the officers were all presented to him on
the Parade. His Royal Highness is very much like his Majesty, but
better looking. He is about 5 foot 7 or 8 inches high, good com-
plexion and fair hair. He did the regiment the honour to dine with
them; I sang several songs, with which he was much entertained.
He dislikes drinking very much, but that day he drank near two bot-
tles of Madeira. When we broke up from the mess he went to my
room and got my cloak to go to his barge, as it rained a good deal.
I accompanied him to the boat and wished him a good night.
"Wednesday Morning.— I met him walking in the street by him-
self. I was with Major Vesey, of the 6th regiment. His Royal
Highness made us walk with him ; he took hold of my arm, and we
visited all the young ladies in town. During our walk he told Vesey
and me he had taken the liberty of sending us a card to dine with
him on Sunday (a great liberty !). Vesey and I walked with him till
he went on board. He dined en famille with the Commodore. I
dined with Vesey at O'Brien's.
"In the evening a ball at the Governor's. We went about seven;
his Royal Highness came about half after, and almost immediately
began country dances with Miss Parr, the Governor's daughter. We
changed partners every dance ; he danced with all the pretty women
in the room, and was just as affable as any other man. He did me
the honour to talk a great deal to me before supper during the
dance. We went to supper about twelve, a most elegant thing, near
sixty people sat down. We had scarce began supper when he called
out: 'Dyott, fill your glass' (before he asked any person in the
room to drink) ; when I told his Royal Highness my glass was full,
he said, 'Dyott, your good health, and your family.' About half
an hour after, he called out: 'Dyott, fill a bumper'— then, 'Dyott,
here's a bumper toast.' After supper he gave five or six bumper
toasts, and always called to me to see them filled at my table. We
had a most jolly evening, and he retired about two o'clock. The la-
dies all stood up when he came into the room, and remained so till
he sat down.
"Thursday Morning.— I met him on the Parade. He, Major
422
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Vesey, and myself, walked about the town all morning. He would
go into any house where he saw a pretty girl, and was perfectly
acquainted with every house of a certain description in the town.
He dined with the Commodore and Captain of the Fleet at O'Brien's
Tavern.
" Saturday. — I met him at Parade, and attended him all the morn-
ing. He dined with the captain of the Resource. Vesey dined with
me, and we had a good deal of company at the mess, and got very
drunk.
"Sunday Morning. — I met him after church at Mrs. Wentworth's,
Governor Wentworth's lady. He [Mr. Wentworth] was gone up
the country on business, as he is surveyor-general of the woods of
this province. Mrs. W. is, 1 believe, a lady fonder of our sex than
her own, and his Royal Highness used to be there frequently. I at-
tended him from thence to his barge ; as we went along he told me
he would send his cutter for me to any place I chose, to come to din-
ner. I told his Royal Highness I was to go on board with Captain
Minchin in his barge. We went a little after three, all in boots, at
his particular wish (he dined everywhere in boots himself).
"He received us on the quarter-deck with all possible attention,
and showed us into the cabin himself. His cabin is rather small and
neatly furnished. The company at dinner was: The Governor;
the General; two of the captains of the fleet; Major Vesey; Cap-
tain Gladstanes, 57th regiment ; Captain Dalryrnple, 42nd ; Hodg-
son, of ours, and myself. A most elegant dinner; I did not think it
possible to have had anything like it on board ship. Two courses,
removes, and a most elegant dessert. Wines of all sorts, such Ma-
deira I never tasted. It had been twenty-eight years in bottle ; was
sent as a present to his Royal Highness from the East Indies by
Sir Archibald Campbell. We had two servants out of livery, and
four in the King's livery. His Royal Highness sat at the head of
the table, and one of the chaplains of the navy at the foot. No of-
ficer of his ship, as it is a rule he has laid down never to dine in com-
pany with any subaltern officer in the navy. We dined at half-past
three, and drank pretty freely till eight, when we had coffee, and
after, noyau, etc. He found out I had never been on board so large
a ship, and before I came away he told me to come and breakfast
with him the next morning at eight o'clock, and he would show me all
over the ship.
"I went ashore that evening with Captain Minchin, who has a
house in town. Gladstanes, Dalrymple, Hodgson, and I supped
with him. Before I went there I met his Royal Highness and Sir
James Barclay, captain of the Leander, walking about the streets.
423
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
He made me walk with him till near ten o'clock, and some pretty
scenes we had.
"The next day, Monday, the 5th of November, he had fixed to land
as a prince of the blood, to receive the address from the Governor
and Council, to dine with them, and to go to a ball given by the
town. I went to breakfast with him at eight, found the cutter wait-
ing for me at the dockyard and a royal midshipman attending. His
Royal Highness was on the quarter-deck when I went on board. We
immediately went below to breakfast, which consisted of tea, coffee,
and all sorts of cold meat, cold game, etc., etc. His Highness break-
fasted almost entirely on cold turkey. His purser made breakfast,
and his first lieutenant and two of the midshipmen (who take it in
turn) breakfasted. They did not stay two minutes after."
When breakfast was over for the Prince and his guest, his Royal
Highness showed Dyott over the ship, and then the young lieuten-
ant went on shore "to get the regiment ready" to receive the prince :
"At two o'clock the garrison marched down and lined the streets
from the wharf to the Government House. A captain's guard with
colours was formed on the right to receive him, and a detachment of
artillery with three field-pieces fired a royal salute on his landing.
His Royal Highness left the Commodore's ship about a quarter af-
ter two in his own barge (which was steered by an officer). His
barge's crew most elegantly dressed, and the handsomest caps I
ever saw— black velvet, and all except the coxwain's with a silver
ornament in front, and the King's arms most elegantly cast. The
coxwain's was of gold, and his Royal Highness told me it cost fifty
guineas. As he was steered by an officer, what is termed the
strokesman wore the coxwain's cap. The Commodore's ship lay
about half a mile from the wharf where he landed, and as he
passed the ships, followed by the Commodore and captains of the
fleet in their barges, his Royal Highness and the Commodore each
having the standard of England hoisted in their barge, he was sa-
luted by each of them separately, having their yards maimed, etc.
When he came within a hundred yards of the wharf, his barge drop-
ped astern, and the Commodore's and captain's pushed on and
landed to receive him immediately on his stepping out of his barge
(the Governor, Council, House of Assembly, etc., and all the great
people being there to receive him). He was saluted by the field-
pieces on the wharf, and proceeded through a line of troops to the
Government House, the soldiers with presented arms, the officers
and colours saluting him as he passed, and all the bands playing
'God save the King.'
424
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
"When he entered the Government House he was saluted by the
twenty-four pounders on the Citadel Hill. On his being arrived in
the levee room, the different branches of the legislature being there
assembled and all the officers allowed to be present, the Governor
presented the address, to which his Royal Highness read his answer,
and read it with more energy and emphasis than anything I ever
heard. At the same time he had the most majestic and manly ap-
pearance I ever beheld.
"Immediately he had finished, the officers went out to change the
position of the troops from the wharf to the tavern where he was
to dine. He passed up the line and was saluted as before. The
troops then marched to their barracks, and in the evening fired a
feu de, jole on the Citadel Hill. At eight o'clock his Royal High-
ness went to the ball, where, I do suppose, there must have been near
three hundred people. The business much better conducted than I
imagined it would. The supper was quite a crowd, and some such
figures I never saw. His Royal Highness danced a good deal. He
began with Miss Parr, the Governor's daughter. He did me the
honour to converse with me frequently, and walked arm-in-arm
about the room for half an hour. He retired about one o 'clock and
appeared much pleased with the entertainment.
"Tuesday.— He came on shore about twelve, and was made a
member of the Loyal and Friendly Society of the Blue and Orange,
and dined with the Society at our mess-room. All our officers were
members, and invited the Governor, the Commodore, the Commis-
sioner, and Major Vesey of the 6th regiment to meet the Prince. We
gave him a very good dinner, and he was in very good spirits. He is
not fond of drinking himself, but has no objection to seeing other
people. I was vice-president, and sung, etc. He got up about nine,
and as he left the room he called, ' Dyott, ' on which I followed, and
had the honour of walking with him alone to his barge, as he wished
the General and the rest a good night. . . .
"Wednesday.—- 1 met him in the street and walked about all morn-
ing. That day I had the honour to meet his Royal Highness at din-
ner at Governor Wentworth's, or rather Mrs. Wentworth's, the
Governor being away from home. Mrs. Wentworth is a most
charming woman, but, unhappily for her husband, rather more par-
tial to our sex than her own. But he, poor man, cannot see her
foibles, and they live very happy. 1 believe there was a mutual
passion which subsisted between his Royal Highness and her.2 She
is an American, but lived a good deal in England and with people
2. Prince William Henry was almost twenty years Lady Wentworth's junior, he
was born August 21, 1765, the date of her birth was September 30, 1745.
425
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of the first fashion. As I was pretty intimate in the house, she
desired me to dine there. The company was, his Royal Highness,
Major Vesey, Captain Gladstanes, Hodgson of ours, a Mr. and Mrs.
Brindley, the latter a sister of Mrs. Wentworth's, and myself. I
never laughed so much in my life ; he was in vast spirits and pleas-
anter than anything I ever saw. We had a most elegant dinner
and coffee, and then went to dress, as he always dines in boots, and
the Commissioner gave a ball in honour of his Royal Highness. He
dressed at Mrs. Wentworth's and went in her carriage, but not with
her, as the ladies of Halifax are a little scrupulous of their virtue,
and think it a danger if they were to visit Mrs. Wentworth. For my
part I think her the best-bred woman in the province. I was obliged
to go early, as the Commissioner requested I would manage the
dancing, etc. ; that is, that I would act as a master of the ceremonies,
I went about eight. The Commissioner's house and the dockyard
was most beautifully illuminated and made a fine appearance. His
Royal Highness arrived about nine. Everybody stands up when he
enters, and remains so till he desires the mistress of the house to
sit down. Soon after he came we began dancing. I forgot to men-
tion that at Mrs. Wentworth's he told me I was to dine with him
on Friday. He is very fond of dancing ; we changed partners every
dance. He always began, and generally called to me to tell him a
dance. The last dance before supper at the Governor's and at the
Commissioner's, his Royal Highness, Major Vesey, myself, and six
very pretty women danced 'Country Bumpkin' for near an hour.
We went to supper about one. . . .
''Thursday Morning.— I met him in town, and walked in the dock-
yard with him all morning. He dined that day with the 57th regi-
ment. I had the honour of an invitation to meet him. We had an
amazing company; all the great people, but not very pleas-
ant. His Royal Highness retired about eight; and' as we
went out he called me to accompany him. We strolled about
the town, went to some of the houses of a certain description, and
to be sure had some pretty scenes. He did me the honour to say
it was very seldom he took so much notice of a subaltern. He said
it was not from any dislike he had to them, but that he was in a situ-
ation where everybody had an eye on him, and it would be expected
he should form acquaintance with people high in rank. I attended
him to his barge ; he went aboard about ten.
''Friday Morning.— I met him at Mrs. Wentworth's. We stayed
there more than an hour. Then walked the town till two o'clock, as
he dined at three. . . . The cutter was waiting at the dockyard
a little before three. The company : Colonel Brownlow of the 57th,
426
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
who had arrived from England the day before; Major Vesey,
Hodgson, Captain Hood of the navy, and myself. His Royal High-
ness received us on the quarter-deck, and we went to dinner imme-
diately. Not quite so great a dinner as before, but vastly elegant.
He was in great spirits and we all got a little inebriated. We went
ashore about seven to dress for a ball at the Commodore's. He
dressed at Mrs. Wentworth's. When, we first came on shore, he
was very much out indeed, shouted and talked to every person he
met. I was rather late at the Commodore's. The company not
quite so numerous as at the Governor's; the house not being large.
We had a very pleasant ball; 'Country Bumpkin,' the same set, and
a devilish good supper. We danced after supper and till four
o'clock. He dances vastly well, and is very fond of it. I never saw
people so completely tired as they all were. I saw his Royal High-
ness to his barge and ran home as fast as I could.
"Saturday Morning.— W"e had a meeting of the Blue and Orange,
as his Royal Highness gave a dinner to the Society that day at our
mess-room, and was chosen Superior of the Order. He, Major Ve-
sey, and myself, walked about all morning visiting the ladies, etc.
He desired to dine at half -past three. He took the chair himself and
ordered me to be his vice. We had a very good dinner, and he sent
wine of his own; the very best claret I ever tasted. We had the
Grenadiers drawn up in front of the mess-room windows to fire a
volley in honour of the toasts. As soon as dinner was over he began.
He did not drink himself; he always drinks Madeira. He took
very good care to see everybody fill, and he gave twenty-three bump-
ers without a halt. In the course of my experience I never saw such
fair drinking. When he had finished his list of bumpers, I begged
leave as vice to give the Superior, and recommended it to the So-
ciety to stand upon our chairs with three times three, taking their
time from the vice. I think it was the most laughable sight I ever
beheld, to see the Governor, our General, and the Commodore, all
so drunk they could scarce stand on the floor, hoisted up on their
chairs with each a bumper in his hand; and the three times three
cheer was what they were afraid to attempt for fear of falling. I
then proposed his Royal Highness and a good wind whenever he
sailed (as he intended sailing on Monday), with the same ceremony.
He stood at the head of the table during both these toasts, and I
never saw a man laugh so in my life. When we had drunk the last,
the old Governor desired to know if we had any more, as he said if
he once got down, he should never get up again. His Royal High-
ness saw we were all pretty well done, and he walked off. There
were just twenty dined and we drank sixty-three bottles of wine.
427
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
4 'When he went out he called me and told me he would go to my
room and have some tea. The General, Colonel Brownlow, and my-
self were at tea. The General and Colonel as drunk as two drum-
mers. I was tolerably well myself, and knew what I was about,
perfectly. He laughed at them very much. After tea we left
them in my room alid went on a cruise, as he calls it, till eleven,
when he went on board. I don't recollect ever to have spent so
pleasant a day. His Royal Highness, whenever any person did not
fill a bumper, always called out, ' 1 see some of God Almighty 's day-
light in that glass, Sir ; vanish it. '
"Monday Morning.— At seven o'clock his Royal Highness sailed.
I got up to take a last view of his ship as she went out, and as a
tribute of respect to his Royal Highness, from whom I had received
such flattering marks of condescension. I think I never spent a
time so joyously in my life ; and very sorry when he left us. ' ':i
"New Years Day, January 1, 1788.— I dined at Mr. Brindley's,
brother-in-law to Mrs. Wentworth. The same party as on Christ-
mas Day at Governor Wentworth 's. I cannot say I was in very
good spirits. Was asked to dine the next day at Mr. Townsend's
and at the Commissioner's, but as it was the day on which I lost
my dear father, I refused them both and did not leave the barracks
all day."
In contrast to all this dining and wining and exuberant general
gayety, with a little scandal casually thrown in, is the account the
young lieutenant gives of the death and funeral of a daughter of the
Admiral then on the Station:
3. Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, third son of George 3rd, and Queen
Charlotte Sophia, was born in Buckingham Palace, August 21, 1765. He was therefore a
little over twenty-two when he first reached Halifax. On this visit, which lasted from
October 26 to November 13, 1787, he was captain of the Pegasus. His second visit last-
ed from August 17, 1788, until late in November, 1788. This time he came in the An-
dromeda. The whole fleet was under command of Commodore Herbert Sawyer, who be-
came an admiral in 1795.
The Duke of Clarence succeeded to the throne as William IV on the death of his
brother, George IV, on the 26th of June, 1830. Many times during his reign General
Dyott was at court and the King was always gracious to him, usually asking him what
the difference in their ages was, and how long they had been acquainted. But Dyott was
disappointed that the King did nothing to advance him, and his references to his old
companion at Halifax are sometimes tinged slightly with acrimony. On the accession of
William he writes: "Having in younger days seen much of King William the Fourth
and partaken of several weeks familiar intercourse as far as Prince and subject was al-
lowable, I have little hesitation in arguing that William's will not be a reign in which
any great benefits are likely to accrue to the nation from kingly exertion. He has
neither consistency, firmness, nor discretion. I hope I may be mistaken. . . . His
present Majesty three and forty years ago has more than once said to me 'I shall be
glad if I can ever be of any service to you.' Prince's promises are not permanent
proofs." Dyott's Diary, vol. 2, p. 82.
428
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
"On the 30th of January [1788], poor Miss S. Sawyer, daughter
to the Admiral, died, universally regretted by all ranks as a most
amiable, good, deserving young woman. She had had a swelling
in her arm for some months. The faculty agreed it should be
opened, which was done accordingly. It continued in that state, not
healing or mending, for near two months. That at length brought
on a fever, of which she languished for twenty-one days. I was
much hurt, knowing her to be so good a creature. She was only
eighteen years of age, and a very handsome, fine woman. I was de-
sired to attend her funeral as a bearer. I cannot say I ever felt
more in my life than on the occasion, when I reflected that about
three months before I was dancing with her, and that now I was at-
tending her to her grave. It really made me as melancholy as any-
thing I ever experienced. The funeral was a handsome one, as
follows :
"At the head of the procession were the Bishop and Rector; then
the body with eight bearers. That is, on the right side, Lieutenant
Nicholson, 57th regiment; Captain Gladstones, ditto; Lieutenant
Lawford, B. N. ; Captain Sir James Barclay, ditto ; on the left side
Lieutenant Dyott, 4th; Captain Hodgson, ditto; Lieutenant
d 'Acres, R. N. ; Captain Hood, ditto. The under bearers were the
Admiral's barge crew in white trousers, white shirts, with a piece
of love ribbon tied round the left arm, black velvet caps and white
ribbons tied round them. The coffin covered with white cloth hand-
somely ornamented. On a silver plate, 'Sophia Sawyer. Born
10th March '70. Died 31st Jan. '88.'
"After the body, Mr. d 'Acres, secretary to the Admiral as chief
mourner; next the nurse and Miss Sawyer's maid in deep mourn-
ing and white hoods. The bearers had on full uniform ; white hat-
bands and scarves, black sword-knots, cockades, and crape round the
left arm. After the two women followed Colonel Brownlow, 57th,
and Captain Minchin, R. N., General Ogilvie, and the Commissioner,
and the Governor by himself. All with white hat-bands and scarves.
There were also three or four of the family, and some officers be-
longing to the Admiral's ship, with hat-bands and scarves. After
them followed almost all the officers belonging to the fleet ; many of
the garrison ; all the people in town that were acquainted with the
Admiral ; and to close up the whole, a long string of empty carriages.
"As we entered the church [St. Paul's], which is a full rnile
from the Admiralty, the organ began a most solemn dirge, which
continued near a quarter of an hour. The service was then per-
formed, and I think in my life I never saw so much grief as through-
out the whole congregation. I must own I have never shed so many
429
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX,
tears since I left school. I believe sorrow was never more universal
than on the occasion. Tt was a very cold day, and walking so slow
in silk stockings and thin shoes, I was almost perished.
"The following Sunday, all the people who had been invited to
the funeral attended Church, as the Bishop was to preach an occa-
sional sermon. His text was most admirably adapted from the
Thessalonians, and his discourse the most affecting I ever heard.
He frequently pointed to her grave and admonished the younger
part of his hearers, and more particularly those who had attended
the interment, to prepare to meet death, not knowing how soon they
might be cut off. On the whole it was a most admirable sermon,
and called up the passions more forcibly than anything I ever
heard."
Unfortunately for the morals of both the military and civilian
population of Halifax, in August, 1788, the future King of Eng-
land unexpectedly returned, for another and longer visit. Lieuten-
ant Dyott's diary therefore for over three months describes din-
ners, with excessive wine-drinking, balls, suppers, visits at Mrs.
Wentworth's, and public reviews of the troops and other spectacu-
lar events that give glowing colour to his chronicle, but that do not
"bespeak for the town the highest degree of seriousness or morality.
On a certain Friday his Royal Highness dined at the Chief Justice's,
and how it was the lieutenant "does not know," but the sailor prince
set to immediately after dinner, "and I never saw," says Dyott,
"a man get so completely drunk. He desired the General to order
the whole garrison up to Citadel Hill, to fire a feu de joie, but his
Highness was not able to attend to it, as he was obliged to go to bed
at Pemberton's, where he slept for three hours, and then went to
his ship." "I believe I shall never spend three months in that way
again, for such a time of dissipation, etc., etc., I cannot suppose
possible to happen," reflects the diarist on the Prince's departure,
yet, "I must own," he says, "I thought it time as agreeably em-
ployed as I ever experienced, and to be sure the company of a Prince
added not a little to the joyous hours."
In the biography of another young officer of the garrison at a
period some sixty years later than that of Dyott's diary, the biog-
430
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
raphy of Captain Hedley Vicars,4 we are glad to be introduced to a
far different phase of Halifax garrison life from that portrayed by
General Dyott. In the summer of 1851, Hedley Vicars, then a lieu-
tenant, and in his twenty-fifth year, came from Jamaica to Hali-
fax with his regiment, the 97th foot. For a very short time he was
sent probably to Quebec, but soon his regiment was transferred to
the Halifax garrison. In Halifax Vicars remained until May, 1853,
and in that time he developed a spiritual faith and consecration to
true religion that give him a high place in the ranks of fervent dis-
ciples of Christ the ages along. Naturally conscientious, and with
strong religious tendencies, soon after he reached Halifax, it would
seem, he had a profound conversion. ' ' It was in the month of No-
vember, 1851," says his biographer, "that while awaiting the return
of a brother officer to his room, he idly turned over the leaves of
a Bible which lay on the table. The words caught his eye, 'The
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.' Closing
the book, he said, 'If this be true for me, henceforth I will live, by
the grace of God, as a man should live who has been washed in the
blood of Jesus Christ. ' This new spirit of consecration he retained
uninterruptedly to the end of his brief career, which sadly termi-
nated in the camp before Sebastopol, in the war of the Crimea, on
the night of the 22d of March, 1855."
During six or seven months after his resolve, he had to encounter,
says his biographer, no slight opposition from fellow officers, in the
mess. A few, however, wrere also "walking with God," and they
and he had many times of delightful Christian intercourse. The
chaplain of the garrison at that time (and until his death in 1860)
was the Rev. Dr. John Thomas Twining, one of the most devoted
Christian ministers Halifax has ever known, and in him Hedley Vic-
ars and his religious fellow officers found a warm sympathizer and
friend.5 "Under so deep an obligation did Vicars consider himself
4. Hedley Shafto Johnstone Vicars was born in the Mauritius, on the 7th of De-
cember, 1826, his father being an officer there in the Royal Engineers. His first com-
mission he obtained in 1843, his captaincy he reached after he left Halifax, in 1854. He
died of wounds at the Crimea on the 226 of March, 1855. His biography, one of the
most touching religious biographies known to evangelical religious literature, was writ-
ten by Catherine M. Marsh, and published by Robert Carter and Brothers of New
York in 1859 (2d edition 1861), pp. 300. See also the "Dicctionary of National Biog-
raphy."
5. A brief sketch of the Rev. John Thomas Twining, D. D., will be found in Eaton's
"History of King's County, Nova Scotia," ,p. 851.
431
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
to I>r. Twining, that he frequently referred to him as his spiritual
father; and to his spiritual preaching and teaching, and blessed
example of 'walking with God,' may doubtless be traced, under the
mighty working of the Holy Spirit, those clear and happy views of
religion, and that consistency and holiness of life, which succeeded
his conversion." Dr. Twining held Bible classes for the officers
and men of the regiments, and at these Vicars was always present.
On his part, the young soldier taught in the garrison Sunday School,
visited the sick, and took every opportunity to read the Scriptures
and pray with the men of his regiment singly. Of three of these,
wrote one of his fellow officers, Lieutenant-Colonel Ingraham, ''he
could soon say confidently that they had followed him in turning to
God. At the same time he was also the means of awakening some of
his brother officers to make the earnest inquiry, 'What must I do
to be saved?' . . . The name of Jesus was ever on his lips and
in his heart. Much grace was given him to confess Jesus boldly be-
fore others ; and when he was adjutant, his example and his rebukes
to the men for swearing carried great weight, and showed his zeal
for the honour of God." In a touching letter to Captain Vicars'
sister, Lady Eayleigh, written on the 21st of May, 1855, two months
after .Vicars ' death, Dr. Twining says of his friend :
' ' His was a lovely character ; it was impossible to know him and
not love him ; every creature about my house did love him. He had
to suffer a fiery persecution from some of the officers of his regi-
ment. The Lord saw that it was best, and made it a means of
strengthening and confirming him in the faith. You know, my dear
madam, that a certain degree of religion is considered by the world
to be decorous and proper, but there is nothing so much dreaded as
being ' righteous over much. ' It is quite impossible for a Christian
to comply with the maxims and customs of a world which 'lieth in
wickedness ; ' but my beloved friend was strengthened to bear a con-
sistent testimony to the truth, to take up his cross and follow Jesus.
He took part in all efforts amongst us in the Redeemer's cause to
win souls to Him. For example, the Naval and Military Bible So-
ciety, City Missions on the plan of those at home, and a Society for
giving the Scriptures in their own language to the Mic-mac Indians
—the aborigines of this country. Of these Societies he was a mem-
ber, and his memory is now warmly cherished by those with whom
432
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
he was a fellow labourer in these causes. But he rests from
labours, his emancipated spirit is with its Clod."6
his
6. Captain Hedley Vicars' devoted life in Halifax is one of the most beautiful tra-
ditions Halifax keeps. Early in 1918 died in Halifax, at an advanced age, probably the
last person who remembered and had been influenced by Captain Vicars. This was Mr.
Stuart Tremaine. The fact of Mr. Tremaine's friendship with Captain Vicars was al-
luded to by Ven. Archdeacon Armitage at the time of Tremaine's funeral.
433
Moses Qreeley Parker, M. D.
ARKER is an ancient English family name derived from
the occupation of the progenitors who first used it as a
surname, as park keeper, and the forms Parcus and De
Parco are found in the Domesday Book, the eleventh
century. It is unlikely that the numerous English families have the
same original ancestor. Geoffrey Parker, for instance, was in Eng-
land before the year 925, probably a Saxon, while Johannes Le
Parker, a Norman, came with William the Conqueror, and was
a keeper of the royal parks.
Arms. — Gules, on a chevron between three keys erect argent, as
many fleurs-de-lis of the field.
Crest.— An elephant's head couped argent, collared gules, charged
with three fleurs-de-lis or.
Motto.— Secundis dubiisque rectus (Upright both in prosperity
and in perils).
There were no less than twenty-five immigrants named Parker in
the State of Massachusetts alone, before 1650. It is not likely that
they were all closely related, but there is reason to believe that the
Parkers of Reading, Woburn, Chelmsford, and Groton, were broth-
ers or very near relatives. Abraham Parker lived in Woburn, and
in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
Deacon Thomas Parker, who was born in England, embarked for
America on March llth, 1635, in the ship "Susan and Ellen," which
was fitted out by Sir Richard Saltonstall, with whose family a tra-
dition connects the Parkers by marriage. He settled in Dynn Vil-
lage, later called Reading, where he lived in the eastern part, on the
old Parker homestead where Deacon Parker, the immigrant ances-
tor, died, and where Deacon Parker, the last of his family to occupy
it, passed away in 1822. He was an active and prominent citizen, a
man of ability and property. He was appointed a commissioner to
try small causes in 1636, and admitted a freeman in 1637. The
434
L
Chapters in the History of Halifax, Nova Scotia
BY AKTHTJR WENTWOETH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
No. XIII
HALIFAX DEFENCES
"It is most meet we arm as 'gainst the foe :
For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom
But that defences, musters, preparations,
Should be maintain'd, assembled, and collected
As were a war in expectation."
HENRY V., ACT II, Sc. 4.
"Horribly stuffed with epithets of war."
OTHELLO, Act i, Sc. i.
Let's on to Halifax ! There we shall dine to-day
With fine young warriors, fresh from foreign fields,
Glimpse from the Hill that guards the glittering Bay
Symbolled in forts the power that Britain wields, —
And for Old England's rule give thanks and pray.
ITH the King of France still ruler of the province of
Quebec, and with Louisburg again a French fortress,
the question of defence necessarily demanded prompt
consideration from the founders of the new town of
Halifax and organizers there of stable civil government for the
Acadian province. More immediate foes, also, of the peace of the
new community existed in the French inhabitants scattered, in some
places thickly, throughout the peninsula, and in the Micmac In-
dians, who for the most part commonly showed themselves in close
sympathy with the French rather than with the English. The
defences of Halifax, which in their later condition of strength and
security have given the Nova Scotia capital a position of marked
distinction among fortified towns in the British Empire, were
therefore begun in a feeble way almost as soon as Cornwallis landed
his settlers. On the plan of "Chebucto," made by Admiral Du-
rell shortly before the settlers came, the two sides of the entrance
to Bedford Basin, far up the harbour, very near, indeed, the fatal
21
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
spot where the recent calamitous explosion occurred, were marked as
places suitable for chief fortifications, but this suggestion, for obvi-
ous reasons, Cornwallis ignored. Instead, he more wisely fixed upon
Sandwich Point, now Point Pleasant, much lower down the harbour,
and upon the high lands opposite, on the Dartmouth side of the har-
bour, now York Redoubt, and also on the little island first called
Cornwallis Island, but later named George's Island, as the proper
places for establishing defences. On this island he immediately
placed a guard, landed his stores, and prepared to build a magazine
to hold powder. Very soon after, he had block houses erected here,
on which he mounted seven thirty-two pounder guns, then carry-
ing a palisade completely around the works.
One of the first things he urged on the settlers after they had
taken possession of the lots assigned them and had begun to build
their houses, was that they should throw up a rude barricade of logs
and brush around the town, and although at first he found them
unwilling to spend their time on such a work, by the promise of a
mild wage he succeeded in making them do it. From 1750, for at
least four or five years, the encircling defences thus built consisted
of palisades or pickets placed upright, with several block-houses of
logs reared at convenient distances apart. The exact course of the
barricade was from the spot on which St. Mary's Roman Catholic
Cathedral now stands, "to the beach south of Fairbanks 's wharf,
and on the north, along the line of Jacob Street to the harbour."1
Gradually a line of block-houses came to be erected, which extended
from the head of the North-West Arm to Bedford Basin, the pur-
pose of these being to guard the town from the Indians who lived
in various places in the interior. A single block-house also was
erected at Dartmouth, where a gun of greater or less calibre was
mounted for defending the eastern side of the harbour. In "Re-
marks relative to return of the forces in Nova Scotia, ' ' printed in a
volume of "Selections from the Public Documents of Nova Scotia,"
under date of March 30, 1755, we read : * ' New Battery has lately
been begun — likewise not finished. It stands on a rising ground
about two miles east, across the Harbour from Halifax. This to
prevent shipping entering the Harbour under the Eastern shore
JDr. Akin's Chronicles of Halifax ("History of Halifax City"), p. 209. "These
palisades," says Dr. Akins, "were in existence in 1753, but were removed at a very early
period." They were not standing, he says, in 1825.
22
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
without reach of George's Island." The battery here described
was the well-known ''Fort Clarence," and we learn that its erection
had begun, as the extract we have given implies, some time in 1754.
In the diary of Dr. John Thomas, a surgeon in Col. John Winslow's
expedition for the removal of the Acadians in 1755, the statement is
made that about two hundred and thirty of the New England troops
under Winslow were quartered at this fort in December of that
year.
In 1755, Governor Lawrence had four batteries built along the
beach — the first, the " Middle" or "Governor's" Battery, being
where the King's Wharf is, and directly opposite the first built Gov-
ernment House; the second, the "Five" or "Nine" Gun Battery,
being where the "Ordnance Yard" was afterward established; the
third being a little north of Fairbanks 's Wharf; the fourth, the
"South" or "Grand" Battery (which is still in existence), being at
the "Lumber Yard." These four batteries were built of stone
and gravel, supported by cross-logs covered with earth and planted
with grass, and had battlements in front and at the two ends, ele-
vated about twenty or twenty-five feet above the water. According
to the plan of Halifax made by Col. Desbarres in 1779 or 1780, and
published in his nautical charts in 1781,2 there was when
he made his plan a nine-gun battery near where the Ord-
nance Wharf now is, and a five-gun battery a little to the
north of that, "but on an angle with the other." These forti-
-fications were for the most part removed about the year 1783, and
the grounds appropriated to their present purposes. The Ord-
nance Yard, then a swamp around the battery, and the King's
Wharf, were both filled up and levelled by means of stone and rub-
bish removed from the five-acre lots of the peninsula, which were
beginning to be cleared about this time.
From various sources, soon after the founding of Halifax began,
Cornwallis received warning that the Indians in other places in the
province and in the Island of St. John, under the direction of the
'Joseph Frederick Wallet Desbarres (1722-1824), military engineer, also captain in
the 6oth Regiment, made a successful expedition against the North American Indians in
1757, and surveyed the coast of Nova Scotia in 1763-1773. He was lieutenant-governor
of Cape Breton, 1784-1805, was gazetted colonel in 1798, and served as governor of Prince
Edward Island i8o5-'i3. He published charts of the Atlantic and North American coasts.
See Prowse's "History of Newfoundland," p. 423. See also General William Dyott's
Diary, p. 58.
23
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
r
intriguing priest Le Loutre, were laying plans to attack the settle-
ment at some time during the next winter. Before winter began,
indeed no later than the last day of Sepetmber, 1749, the savages
made their first attack. This, however, was not on the town itselfr
but on the scanty settlement which is now Dartmouth, on the east
side of the harbour. In this raid the Micmacs killed four persons
and carried off one. In the spring of 1750 they repeated their
attack on the same settlement, setting fire to several dwellings and
killing and scalping a much larger number than in the first raid. On
Halifax itself there was never, so far as is recorded, any attack
made either by Indians or by the French inhabitants ; there were,
however, occasional murders by Indians in the outskirts of the
town, towards Bedford Basin, of individual men who had found
it necessary to forage in that direction for firewood.
In the summer of 1755, Governor Lawrence sent the authorities
in England a plan of the four batteries he had just completed, to
which we have already referred. They were each twelve feet in
height above high water mark, two hundred and forty feet in length,
and sixty-five feet in breadth. The parapet raised on each was
seven feet high, and the materials were logs and timber framed
and filled up with stones, gravel, and soft earth. The next month
after their completion, twenty guns were mounted on these three
batteries. Later, but just when we do not know, the number of bat-
teries was increased.
In the autumn of 1757, strong appeals were made by the inhab-
itants to the governor and council to put the town in a better state
of defence. The majority of the persons so appealing were Mas-
sachusetts born men, who humbly begged the authorities to let them
know promptly whether their appeal could be granted or not. If
it could not, they desired to take the first opportunity to remove
with their families and effects to some neighbouring colony where
they might be better protected. Probably on the ground of insuf-
ficient revenue, the authorities seem to have disregarded the appeal,
and it was not until July, 1762, that any energetic measures were
taken materially to improve the defences of the town. In the early
summer of 1762, news came that the French had invaded the Brit-
ish settlements in Newfoundland, and fear was newly felt that Hal-
ifax also might be attacked, the authorities therefore called a coun-
cil of war to consult on better means of defence in case this should
24
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
happen. The council met on the 10th of July and continued its
sittings until August 17th, the result of its deliberations being a
recommendation to the governor and council to put in repair and
furnish with guns the batteries "on George's Island, Fort George,
Point Pleasant, and East Battery, ' ' and to erect such works around
the town and at the Dockyard as might be considered necessary to
give the town full protection. As a result of this recommendation,
some of the old works were put in repair and new ones constructed,
but the immediate cause of alarm soon subsiding, ' ' further expense
was deemed unnecessary," and the matter dropped.
In 1763, the palisaded defences of Halifax were in a state of
decay, and the Home Government sent a Swiss engineer, who had
been General Wolfe 's quartermaster-general at Quebec, to Halifax,
to prepare plans for permanent defences for the place. To the
Ordnance department at Halifax the engineer submitted several
plans, the first of which proposed making the place a walled town,
with lines of masonry running up from the water front to the cita-
del, with batteries at intervals on each side. The Dockyard being
so far north of the proposed line of defence that it could not thus
be protected, this plan, however, was given up, but another that
was proposed was adopted, though it was not put in operation until
thirty years later. This plan included the building of a strong
citadel on the hill overlooking the town (which seems to have been
then commonly known as "Signal Hill", and reconstructing and
strengthening all the harbour forts.3
In his chapter on the fortifications of Halifax in his chronicles
of the town published in the "Collections of the Nova Scotia His-
torical Society" in 1895, Dr. Thomas B. Akins summarizes the early
defences thus:
"From the year 1749 to 1754 or '55, the defences of the town con-
sisted of palisades or pickets placed upright, with block houses built
3"At the first settlement," says Dr. Akins, "it had been found necessary to occupy
not only every elevated position in the vicinity, but also large spaces around the town as
at first laid out, for the purposes of defence and other military objects. After the neces-
sity for those defences had ceased it frequently occurred that the military commanders
would lay claim to the grounds as military property, and in this way obstacles had con-
tinually arisen to the extension of the town, a grievance which has continued to be felt
until the present time. Those whose duty it was to plan and lay out the town appear
to have been guided more with a view to the construction of a military encampment than
that of a town for the accommodation of an increasing population." Collections of the
Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 8, pp. 66, 67.
25
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
of logs at convenient distances. This fence extended from where
the Eoman Catholic Cathedral now stands to the beach south of
Fairbanks 's Wharf, and on the north along the line of Jacob street
to the harbour. These palisades were in existence in 1753, but were
removed at a very early period, a time not within the recollection
of the oldest natives of the town living in 1825. . . . There were
several block-houses south of the town — at Point Pleasant, Fort
Massey, and other places. A line of block-houses was built at a
very early period of the settlement, extending from the head of the
North West ,Arm to the Basin, as a defence against the Indians.
The foundation of the centre block-house was still to be seen in
1848, in the hollow below Philip Bayers 's pasture. . . . These
block-houses were built of square timber, with loopholes for mus-
ketry, they were of great thickness and had parapets around the
top and a platform at the base, with a well for the use of the guard."
As the revolution in the colonies adjoining Nova Scotia drew on,
the Halifax authorities became once more greatly alarmed at the
inadequacy of the town's defences. In the autumn of 1774 the
council eagerly discussed the matter and came to the conclusion that
the ground being too rocky for intrenchments, the only practical for-
tifications would be temporary block-houses and fresh palisades. It
was resolved, also, that the Dockyard should be fortified in a similar
way, so that this inclosure might serve as a retreat for the inhab-
itants in case the town should be attacked. Any attempt at increas-
ing the fortifications on Citadel Hill at that moment, owing to the
lateness of the season and the scarcity of workmen and of troops to
garrison a fort, was considered out of the question. On George's
Island, however, additional batteries were erected, and thither the
chief military stores of the town were removed. Sketches of the
town, made by a certain Colonel Hicks, about 1780, and soon after
engraved and published in London, show fortifications then at Cita-
del Hill, Fort Massey, Fort Needham, Point Pleasant, and George's
Island.
Although the better fortifying of Citadel Hill was suspended in
1774, about four years later such a work was undertaken. At that
time a small redoubt with a flag staff and guardhouse stood near the
summit of the hill, which was about eighty feet higher than it is at
present, but the hill had no other fortification. The works then con-
structed were ' ' an octangular tower of wood of the block-house kind,
having a parapet and small tower on top, with port-holes for can-
26
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
non, the whole encompassed by a ditch and ramparts of earth and
wood, with pickets placed close together, slanting outwards. Below
this there were several outworks of the same description, extending
down the sides of the hill a considerable distance."
In 1793, Sir John Wentworth did something towards repairing
the citadel fort, but much more vigorous measures were taken by
his Eoyal Highness Prince Edward in 1795 and 1796 to make it
worthy of the commanding position it held. His efforts extended
also to other forts, notably those at the mouth of the harbour, but
from the citadel fort he swept away the old wooden fortifications,
and cutting down the summit of the hill to its present level he rebuilt
the earth ramparts, at each angle of which he placed five or six
guns, deepened the moat, planted willow trees around the ramparts,
and inclosed the whole fortification with a picket fence. Leading
into the fort, Dr. Akins tells us, he built " covered walks and pass-
ages." In making these important changes, with the cooperation
of the Governor he employed besides garrison troops, the country
militia, and for a time a considerable detachment of the Jamaica
Maroons, who were brought to the province in 1796.
The Halifax citadel as it is now, with its great interior wall of
solid masonry, dates from the year 1812. The disturbance between
Britain and the United States on account of the impressment of
British sailors on American ships culminated in this year, creating
the last great agitation on account of hostile military operations by
a foreign power by which Halifax was stirred until the outbreak
of the present great European war, started by Germany in 1914.
In the beginning of 1812, orders were issued to put- the forts of
Halifax in better repair, among these the citadel fort, which by this
time was in a state of some dilapidation. The commanding engi-
neer on the station, Captain Gustavus Nicholls, accordingly made
the Board of Ordnance an elaborate report concerning repairs
needed, and the carrying out of the details of his plan was imme-
diately begun.4
4Dr. Aikins says : "The towers on George's Island, Point Pleasant, the East Bat-
tery, Mauger's Beach, and York Redoubt were built at the commencement of the present
[the iQth] century. . . . The Chain Battery at Point Pleasant was first constructed,
it is said, by Lord Colville, in or about 1761. The present ring bolts were put down
during the war of 1812 to 1815. The old block house at Fort Needham and that above
Philip Bayers's farm, on the road leading to the Basin, called the Blue Bell Road, were
built during the American Revolution, and reconstructed during Prince Edward's time.
They were there in 1820, but soon after fell into decay, being composed of square timber
only. All the other block houses had disappeared many years previous to that date."
Akins Chronicles of Halifax, p. 212.
27
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Other buildings early erected as parts of the military establish-
ment in Halifax were the North Barracks, built soon after the town
was settled; the South Barracks, built in the time of the Duke of
Kent; a barracks at the East Battery, erected very early, but
rebuilt by Prince Edward in 1800; probably a military prison, the
building being a dwelling house purchased for this use in 1752 ; and
the Lumber Yard and Ordnance Yard, begun about 1784 or 1785.
' i During the Eevolutionary War," says Dr. Akins, "the main guard-
house stood on the spot now occupied by Masons ' Hall. It was used
as a military post at a very early period, as the French prisoners
from Annapolis, etc., were lodged there." A building called the
Military Office, this historian adds, " stood at the south corner of
the market wharf, near where the main guard house now is. It was
used as a military office until 1790, or perhaps later. ' '
In an earlier chapter we have mentioned the town residence of
the Duke of Kent, while he lived in Halifax, a handsome dwelling
having a portico resting on Corinthian pillars. This house stood
on the north slope of the Citadel Hill, in rear of the then stand-
i ing North Barracks, and seems to have been erected for his Royal
Highness' use. After the Prince left Halifax the house was taken
by the military authorities for an army hospital, a low range of
buildings connected with it, which were used by the Duke as stables
and offices, making places for barrack stores and a garrison library.
The times of greatest military activity in the century and almost
three-quarters that the history of Halifax covers, are the periods of
the so-called French and Indian War, between 1754 and 1760, the
American Revolution, between 1774 and 1783, the War of 1812, be-
tween 1812 and 1815, and the present great European War, between
1914 and 1918. The period of the so-called French and Indian War,
between 1754 and 1760, was a time of almost continuous agitation in
Halifax, among both the military and civilian elements in the pop-
ulation. The determined effort of Shirley as commander-in-chief
in Massachusetts, pursuant to the great plan of Pitt, to break for-
ever the power of France in America, included in its scope not only
the destruction of Louisburg and the conquest of Quebec, but the
capture of the only important fort in the peninsula of Nova Sco-
tia that remained in French hands, the little stronghold on the bor-
der line between what the French recognized as Nova Scotia and the
28
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
adjoining (New Brunswick) territory, which they still claimed as
belonging to France, the fort called Beausejour. The only thing
remaining to be accomplished in destroying the French power in
Nova Scotia was the complete subjugation to British authority or
else the removal from their homes and the distribution of them
throughout other British colonies of the nearly ten thousand inhab-
itants who were industriously tilling the soil and fishing in various
parts of the peninsula. To capture Fort Beausejour, Shirley sum-
moned in New England a force of two battalions, to be led respec-
tively by Lieutenant Colonel John Winslow of Marshfield, Massa-
chusetts, and Lieutenant-Colonel George Scott, giving the general
command to Colonel Robert Monckton. On the 16th of June, 1755,
this New England force captured Fort Beausejour, and in the au-
tumn of the same year the authorities at Halifax in conjunction
with the Government of Massachusetts forcibly removed some seven
or eight thousand of the Nova Scotia French from their native
homes in the province and distributed them in pitiful pauper groups
along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Georgia. In July, 1758,
Louisburg for the second time fell into English hands, and in Sep-
tember, 1759, under General Wolfe, Quebec was captured, at both
which events, as at the capture of Beausejour and the removal of the
Acadians, universal satisfaction was felt at Halifax.
The next event to arouse Halifax was the American Revolution,
and the next, after peace was declared in 1783, was the less import-
ant but still important conflict between England and the United
States known as the War of 1812. After this struggle had passed,
the life of Halifax, either military or civil, had remarkably little to
disturb it until when a full century had passed the great European
War broke out in 1914. Of the part Halifax has been made to play
by the military and naval authorities of the British Empire in this
greatest of world-conflicts the history will some day be written ; it
is much too early to write it yet. As a base for the departure of
by far the greatest number of the troops that Canada has dis-
patched for service on the eastern front of the war, the Nova Sco-
tia capital will always stand conspicuous in the great war's annals
when they come into print.
In 1917, a war geography bulletin issued by the National Geo-
graphic Society of Montreal described Halifax and its defences as
follows: "The town was the first English speaking settlement
29
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
in the midst of the French colonies of Acadia, and it speedily took
on importance. Within five years from its founding it became the
seat of British North American government, and Britons have long
termed it the 'Warden of the Honour of the North.' Its harbour
is deep and ample, and said to be sufficient to float all the navies of
Europe. Eleven forts command its spacious waters, and up to
1905 Halifax was a busy British military point. In that year, how-
ever, as a mark of friendly relations with the United States, all
British regular troops were withdrawn and the care of Halifax and
its fortifications was committed to the government of the Dominion
of Canada. With the outbreak of the European war, however, Hal-
ifax was again made the military and naval headquarters for Brit-
ish America, and many German prisoners have been interned upon
the well-guarded islands of its harbour. Here too was the chief
port of embarkation for the numerous contingents which Canada
has contributed to the English armies. During the Napoleonic
wars, Halifax was the scene of many a demonstration of English
powers. The privateers, fitted out by enterprising Haligonians,
frequently returned with their prizes. Distinguished French pris-
oners made use of the enforced hospitality of the Citadel . . .
which still caps the highest ground and is a landmark far to sea."
The number of troops in the Halifax garrison from decade to
decade during the century and almost three-quarters which the
history of the town covers, has greatly varied. And just as diverse
has been the character of the regiments permanently stationed or
briefly located here. The earliest troops to invest the town
were partly British regulars and partly New England militia.
In July, 1750, the garrison of Louisburg was expected but had not
yet arrived, there were here, however, one company of Hopson's
29th regiment, one of Warburton's 45th, both on the regular estab-
lishment, and also sixty men of Gorham's New England Rangers.
In the course of the year 1782, a little before the close of the
American Revolution, there were for longer or shorter periods no
less than thirty-two regiment or parts of regiments in the town,
while during the war of 1812 there were thirteen. After 1837, for
at least thirty years, there were always two full regiments of the
line in this garrison, and during this time, as before, the regiments
30
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
stationed here were often among the most distinguished in the Brit-
ish service.5
In the spring of 1758, the brilliant young soldier, General Wolfe,
visited Halifax. On the 23d of January of that year, being then
lieutenant-colonel of the 20th, he had been commissioned brigadier-
general in North America, with an expedition in view for the cap-
ture again of the fortress of Louisburg. On the 8th of May, 1758,
he reached Halifax harbour in the Princess Amelia, and until the
28th of this month he remained here on his ship. When he stepped
on shore from the ship on the 9th of May, writes Mr. Beccles Will-
son, he "had a pretty exact idea of the fort and settlement, which his
friend and comrade in arms, Cornwallis, had founded nine years
before. ... It was perhaps in the officers' quarters in Hollis
street, the site of which has been marked by an Historical Society
tablet, that Wolfe sat down two days later and wrote a long letter to
his friend Sackville. 'We found,' he writes, 'Amherst's Regi-
ment in the harbour in fine order and healthy. Fraser's and Brig-
adier Lawrence 's battalions were here and both in good condition. '
Although he praised the Highlanders, Wolfe does not appear to
have been impressed by the American Rangers. 'About 500 Rang-
*In the Year Book of St. Paul's Church, Halifax, for 1909, Ven. Archdeacon Arm-
itage, Rector of the church, enumerates carefully the regiments that between 1750 and
1844 have probably worshipped at St. Paul's. The list, which we reproduce here, was
supplied Dr. Armitage by Messrs. Harry Piers, Provincial Archivist and Curator of the
Provincial Museum, and Mr. Arthur Fenerty of H. M. Customs at Halifax, both of
whom have given close attention to the history of the garrison.
The regiments in garrison at Halifax in successive years are as follows : In 1750 one
company of Hopson's 29th regiment, one company of Warbarton's 45th, part of the 40th,
and sixty men of Gorham's New England Rangers. In 1752, Lascelles' 47th; in 1758 the
Royal Provincial Rangers under Colonel Jarvis, the 2d and 3d battalions of the Royal
American regiment, the 22d under Colonel Wilmot, the 28th, 45th, 47th under Colonel
Monckton, the 2d Brigade, I5th, 35th, 4Oth and 63rd, under Colonel Murray; in 1768
the 9Oth and 64th; in 1771 the 35th; in 1773 the 6sth under Colonel Hollingsdale ; in 1774
the Loyal American Volunteer regiment under Colonel Kingslake; in 1776 the Royal
Colonial regiment under Colonel Hilson ; in 1777 the loth regiment ; in 1778 McLean's
82nd, the Cape regiment under Colonel Augustus Waldron, and the Royal Nova Scotia Vol-
unteer regiment under Colonel Lushington, "probably the first Imperial Colonial regi-
ment ever raised for active service"; in 1779 the Hessian regiment of Baron DeSeitz; in
1782 the 3d and 5th battalions of the 6oth or Loyal American regiment of foot, the 7th,
J7th, 22d, 23d, 33d, 37th, 38th, 40th, 42d, 43d, 54th, 57th, 63d, 64th, 74th, 82d, and 84th,
and also detachments of the Royal British Recruits, the Royal Garrison Battalion, the
Royal Fencible Americans, the Royal Nova Scotia Volunteers, the King's Orange regi-
ment, the King's Rangers, the St. John's Volunteers, the Hessian Recruits, the Hesse-
Hanoverian Grenadiers, the Hesse-Hanoverian Jagers, the Anhalt Zerbsters, the
Waldeckers, and the Brunswickers ; in 1784 the loth, I7th, 33d, 27th, 42d, 57th, and 54th ;
in 1786 the 6th and 6oth; in 1787 the 4th; in 1788 the King's Own, the 37th, and the
57th; in 1789 the 6th; in 1790 the 4th, the 20th, and the 2ist; in 1794 the Royal Nova
Scotia regiment, and the ist battalion of the 7th under Colonel Burrows ; in 1795 the 2d bat-
31
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
ers are come, which to appearance are little better than canaille.'
. . . How did Wolfe spend the next fortnight of his sojourn
in Halifax before the squadron sailed for Cape Breton? He cer-
tainly wrote a great many letters, and he passed a great deal of time
in examining the condition and discipline of the troops. The state
of things that met his eye was distressing enough to a man whose
standards were as high as Wolfe's. He wrote Sackville that he
found some of the regiments had three or four hundred men eaten
up with scurvy. ' There is not an ounce of fresh beef or mutton con-
tracted even for the sick and wounded, which besides the inhu-
manity is both impolitic and absurd. Mr. Boscawen, indeed, has
taken the best precautions in his power by ordering 600 head of live
cattle for the fleet and army the moment he arrived. ' Then he goes
on to say, ' The curious part of this barbarity is that the scoundrels
of contractors can afford the fresh meat in many places and circum-
stances as cheap as salt. I think our stock for the siege full little,
and none of the medicines for them arrived. No horses or oxen for
the artillery, et cetera.' ".
One of the incidents of this visit of the famous general was a
dinner he gave at the Great Pontac, at the corner of Duke and Wa-
ter streets, to a group of officers of the army and navy and certain
talion of the 7th; in 1797 the Royal Fusiliers under Col. Layard, the 4th, 6th (Irish
Brigade Division), and 7th; in 1798 the 24th, 47th, and 66th under Colonel Urquhart and
Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Benson, the 4th battalion of the King's Royal Veteran regi-
ment under Colonel Ashburnham, and the 99th under Colonel Addison ; in 1800 the 26th
Loyal Surrey Rangers under Colonel Edwards and Colonel Hollen ; in 1801 the 7th, 26th
Loyal Surrey Rangers, Royal Nova Scotia regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Bayard,
and Royal Newfoundland regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Williams ; in 1802 the
Royal Newfoundland Fencibles, the 7th Royal Fusiliers under Colonel Layard, the 29th
under Colonel Lord F. Montagu, the 6oth and the 83d under Lieutenant-Colonel Smyth ;
in 1803 the Nova Scotia Fencibles under Colonel F. A. Weatherall ; in 1805 the 6oth and
97th; in 1807 the zoist; in 1804 the Glen Fencibles under Colonel Gates; in 1808 the 7th,
8th, and 23d; in 1810 the 2d battalion of the 8th and the 98th ; in 1812-14 the 8th, 27th,
3d battalion of the 2Oth, 6oth, first battalion of the 62d, the 7th Royal Fusiliers, 64th, 8gth
under Colonel Westfield, 98th under Colonel Bazalgette, 99th under Colonel Addison,
I02d, loth Royal Veteran Battalion under Colonel McLaughlin, and Royal Staff Corps ;
in 1816 the isth and 6oth under Colonel Bagnell; in 1818 the 62d and ist Royal Garrison
Battalion under Colonel John Ready ; in 1819 the 7th, 24th, 26th, Royal Nova Scotia,
Royal York Rangers, and Royal West Indian Rangers under Colonel Fortescue ; in 1821
the 8ist ; in 1823 the 74th under Colonel Hiller ; in 1824 the 96th ; in 1825 the ist battalion
Rifle Brigade under Colonel Lord Lenox ; in 1826 the 52d Oxfordshire Light Infantry, a
famous Waterloo regiment, the 74th of Peninsular fame; in 1829 the 34th under Colonel
Fox and Colonel Forrest, and the Royal Staff Corps ; in 1830 the 8th ; in 1832 the Rifle
Brigade ; in 1834 the 83d ; in 1836 the 85th ; in 1837 the 34th, and 6sth ; in 1838 the 6sth ;
in 1839 the 23d Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and the 36th ; in 1841 the 3oth Reserve Battalion
Rifle Brigade under Colonel Hallett, and the 76th ; in 1842 the 30th, 64th, 68th and 2d
battalion of the 76th; in 1844 the 2d battalion of the 2d Royal Regiment, and the 74th.
To these must be added at all times the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers.
32
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
leading citizens, at some time during his stay. The entertainment
was lavish, for a copy of the bill of fare of the dinner was preserved
in Halifax up to a recent date, and the cost of the meal, according
to a duplicate of the inn-keeper's receipt, amounted to seventy
pounds. On the 30th of April, 1759, Wolfe arrived at Halifax again,
from there going very soon to Louisburg, whence in June he sailed
for Quebec. When he came first to Halifax he was major of bri-
gade, when he came the second time he was major-general. He
died at Quebec, as is well known, on the 13th of September, 1759.6
In 1878, the army staff in Halifax was as follows: The Com-
mander of the forces, His Excellency General Sir William 0 'Grady
Haley, K. C. B., colonel of the 47th foot; Assistant Military Secre-
tary, Lieutenant-Colonel A. S. Quill, half pay R. C. Rifles; Aides-
de-Camp, Captain R. H. 0 'Grady Haley and Brigade Major E. L.
England, 13th Foot; Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster Gen-
eral, Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Kerr; Town Major, Captain R.
Nagle, half -pay of late Canadian Rifles; Garrison Instructor, G.
E. Milner, 18th Foot; Officer Commanding Royal Artillery, Colonel
J. H. Elgee, R. A.; Officer Commanding Royal Engineers, Colonel
J. W. Lovell, C. B., District Commissary-General; Assistant Com-
missary-General, J. W. Murray; Commissary-General (Ordnance),
Assistant Commissary-General A. S. Beswick; Principal Medical
Officer, Deputy Surgeon-General, G. A. F. Shelton, M. B.; Chap-
lains, Rev. R. Morrison, M. A., Presbyterian, Rev. A. J. Townend,
B. A., Anglican, Rev. T. Moore, Roman Catholic.
At this time, the Royal Artillery on the station comprised the 3d,
5th and 6th Batteries ; the Royal Engineers, the 9th Company. The
Infantry regiments were, the 20th East Devonshire, now called the
Lancashire Fusiliers, and the 97th (Earl of Ulster's Regiment).
The first of these, the 20th, is one of the famous regiments of the
British army. It was raised in the time of William of Orange, by
Sir Robert Peyton, whose command of it, however, was brief. Sir
"Murdoch in his History of Nova Scotia (yol. 2, p. 363) says: "Though Wolfe
died young, he lived long in the affections of British Americans. I can well remember
seeing his likeness (an engraving) in many of the quiet and happy homes of my native
town of Halifax, which had been preserved among the penates of the colonial hearths
for half a century. I can recall the engraving well: the cocked hat of antique pattern,
the military garb, the bright young face, and the inscription 'General James Wolfe;
aetatis 33.' I fancy this was the workmanship of a Mr. Hurd of Boston, brother of Ja-
cob Kurd of Halifax, from whom Kurd's Lane derives the name."
33
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Robert was succeeded by Gustavus Hamilton, afterward Viscount
Boyne, and under him the regiment fought at the Boyne. The regi-
ment remained in Ireland until the outbreak of the war of the
Spanish Succession in 1702, then it served in the Cadiz expedition,
and at the capture of the Spanish treasure ship in Vigo Bay, after
which it went to the West Indies, where it remained until 1705. Af-
ter the disastrous battle of Almenza in 1707 it was sent to the
Peninsula, where it was in active service until the peace, when it
went to Gibraltar. There it did duty for many years, it being one of
the regiments which defended the fortress against the Spaniards in
the second of the three sieges during the British occupation, from
December, 1727, until June, 1728. Later, it served under Lord
Stair and Duke William of Cumberland in Flanders and in the
North, fought at Dettingen, at Fonteroy, and at Culloden, and made
the campaigns in Flanders, under Cumberland and Wade. After
this it was at home for several years, and incidental notices of it will
be found in the correspondence of General Wolfe, who on the 5th
of January, 1749, was made its major, and in 1750 its lieutenant-
colonel. In August, 1759, it won lasting fame on the historic field
of Minden, in Germany. Tradition says that during this fray, in
which it showed great bravery but met with severe losses, it was
posted near a rose garden, and that its men plucked roses and deco-
rated their hats with them. Ever since then, on the anniversaries
of Minden, the men of the 20th have commemorated the battle by
wearing roses in their caps.
At the outbreak of the Seven Years War, the 20th raised a sec-
ond battalion, and this in 1758 became the 67th. Of this new regi-
ment, on the 21st of April, 1758, General Wolfe was given the col-
onelcy. This regiment, also, like the old 20th, has a long record of
distinguished service.
In the course of years a very considerable number of British mil-
itary officers who have had distinguished careers in various parts
of the world have either claimed Halifax as the place of their birth,
or belonging to other parts of Nova Scotia, in later life have had
close relations with the capital city. Two such were General Sir
William Fenwick Williams, Baronet, K. C. B., who in British mili-
tary annals bears an illustrious name. General Williams, as we
have already seen, was born at Annapolis Royal, December 21,
34
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
1799,7 his parents being Thomas Williams, Commissary and Ord-
nance Storekeeper at Annapolis Royal, and a leading man in the
county of Annapolis in civil and military affairs, and Anna Maria
(Walker) Williams, daughter of Lieutenant Thomas Walker of the
40th regiment, and barrack-master at Annapolis Eoyal. At an
early age he was placed in the Eoyal Military Academy at Wool-
wich, and entering the army rose to his captaincy in 1840. In the
war of the Crimea he earned for himself an undying name as the
"hero of Kars;" one of the gallant defenders of this town during
its four months siege by Moravieff, on the 29th of September,
1855, he gave the besiegers battle, and after a fierce conflict of eight
hours duration, defeated a force much larger than his own on the
heights above Kars. The town fell, however, and General Wil-
liams was taken prisoner, first to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg.
Very soon afterward he was created a baronet, and in 1858 was
made commander-in-chief of the forces in British North America,
From October 12, 1860, until January 22, 1861, he was governor-
in-chief of the British provinces in North America, and from the
18th of October, 1867, until the spring of 1873, was lieutenant-gov-
ernor of his native province. For part of this time he resided at
Halifax. He died, unmarried, in London, July 26, 1883, and was
buried at Brompton. "Firm as a rock on duty," says one of his
biographers, "he had the kindliest, gentlest heart that ever beat."
'In the 9th chapter of this history, page 65, we have given the date of General Wil-
liams's birth, and one other fact concerning this illustrious man, incorrectly. He was
born, so it is believed, on the date we have given here, December 21, 1799, and was en-
tered at Woolwich, but not, as we previously said, through the influence of the Duke
of Kent. He had an aunt married to Col. William Fenrick and his admission to Wool-
wich was secured by Col. Fenwick and his wife. The correct date of his birth and this
fact concerning his admission to Woolwich have been brought out very distinctly in a
monograph by Mr. Justice Savary, D. C. L., (printed in pamphlet form in 1911), enti-
tled "Ancestry of General Sir William Fenwick Williams of Kars." In our sketch of
General Williams as a governor of Nova Scotia we also unintentionally omitted to give
his parents' names. In making these corrections in our sketch in the 9th chapter we are
obliged to differ from the author of the sketch of General Williams in the "Dictionary
of National Biography."
In making these corrections we also herewith state that in almost every instance in
previous chapters where we have attributed statements to Mr. Justice Savary, D. C. L.,
we should^ have attributed them to what is commonly called the "Calnek-Savary" History
of Annapolis County. This valuable book was written by a gentleman long since de-
ceased, Mr. W. A. Calnek, though it was "edited and completed," as the title page tells
us, by Mr. Justice Savary. The statement it contains, therefore, should as a rule be
attributed not to its editor but to the original author. Mr. Justice Savary is the author of
a "Supplement" to this History, published in 1913, and has done a great deal otherwise to
stimulate interest in and increase knowledge of the history and traditions of Nova Sco-
tia at large.
35
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
The next most illustrious name in the list of military officers
whom Nova Scotia has produced, is that of Sir John Eardley Wil-
mot Inglis, K. C. B., son of Bishop John and grandson of Bishop
Charles Inglis. Sir John Inglis was born at Halifax, November 15,
1814, for a while studied at King's College, Windsor, entered the
army as ensign in the 32d foot, August 2, 1833, and as brevet colonel
was in command of this regiment at Lucknow at the outbreak of the
Indian Mutiny in 1857. Succeeding Sir Henry Lawrence in full
command as brigadier-general in July of the same year, he bravely
and successfully defended the residency of Lucknow, and for this
gallant defence became commonly known as "hero of Lucknow."
In 1857 he was appointed major-general and was given the title of
K. C. B. He married in 1851, Hon. Julia Selina Thesiger, second
daughter of the first Lord Chelmsford, who with her three children
was present in the Lucknow residency throughout the defence. Sir
John died at Homburg, Germany, September 27, 1862, and was
buried at Homburg. Lady Inglis, who in 1892 published an inter-
esting book called "The Siege of Lucknow, a Diary," died in Eng-
land in February, 1904.
Another native Haligonian who gained much distinction in the
army was Lieutenant-General William Cochrane (William George
Cochran), born at Halifax, April 19, 1790. General Cochrane was
the third son and sixth child of Hon. Thomas Cochran, a merchant
of Halifax, who came from the North of Ireland in 1761, with the
first company brought to the province from Ireland by Alexander
McNutt. Entering the army as ensign in 1805, he rose to be major-
general in 1851, and lieutenant-general in 1856, his most important
service being in the Peninsular War from 1808 to 1812. During the
period he served in the Peninsula, he was present and took part
with his regiment in many important engagements. On leaving the
Peninsula he proceeded to Canada, where he was employed during
almost two years of the war of 1812, as acting aide-de-camp to Lieu-
tenant-General Sir George Prevost, governor general of the Brit-
ish provinces and commander-in-chief. As lieutenant-colonel he
commanded for several years the 10th regiment of foot. In July,
1838, he retired on half pay, but he continued to fill important posi-
tions until his promotion to lieutenant-general in 1856, and indeed
beyond that, until his death. He died in England, probably unmar-
ried, September 4, 1857. General Cochrane was an uncle of Sir
36
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
John Eardley Wilmot Inglis. He had a younger brother, Sir James
Cochrane, Kt., who was chief -justice of Gibraltar, and a sister Isa-
bella, married to the noted Dean Kamsay of Edinburgh, author of
"Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character."
A military officer born in Halifax, who attained great distinction,
though in a different field of activity from that presented by war,
was Major-General John Charles Beckwith. General Beckwith 's
father, Captain John Beckwith, of the 57th regiment, was a mem-
ber of a noted English military family, and his mother was Mary
Halliburton, daughter of Dr. John and Susannah (Brenton) Halli-
burton,8 after the War of the Eevolution residents of Halifax, but
previously belonging to Newport, Ehode Island. General Beckwith
was born at Halifax, October 2, 1789, and in 1803 obtained an en-
signcy in the 50th regiment. The next year, however, he exchanged
into the 95th, of which his uncle Sydney Beckwith (General Sir
Thomas Sydney Beckwith) was lieutenant-colonel. His career in
the army ended at the battle of Waterloo, where at the age of only
twenty-six he lost one of his legs. Compelled by this misfortune to
seek other than military interests, before long he resolved to do
something towards educating and generally helping the Waldenses
in the valleys of Piedmont. The past history of these people and
their great need so weighed upon him that he resolved to settle
among them and spend his whole time in their service. This he did,
and for thirty-five years, until his death in 1862, he was a devoted
missionary among them of education and religion. "His two main
aims were to educate the people and to arouse in them once more
the old evangelical faith." To educate them he established no less
than a hundred and twenty schools in the district where he had set-
'tled, all of which he continually personally inspected. In 1850 he
married a Waldensian girl, Caroline Valle, and in all ways he iden-
tified himself with the Waldensian people. Throughout the Italian
valleys the one-legged general was universally known and beloved,
and when he died his funeral was attended by thousands of the
peasants, whose lives he had made happier by his devoted work.
The greatness of his services was recognized by King Charles Al-
bert of Sardinia, who in 1848 made him a knight of the order of St.
'Married at Halifax, December 17, 1788, "Captain John Beckwith, 57th regiment,
and Miss Polly Halliburton, eldest daughter of Hon. John Halliburton." See Murdoch s
History of Nova Scotia, Vol. 3, p. 63.
37
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Maurice and St. Lazarus. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel and
made C. B. soon after Waterloo, was promoted colonel in 1837, and
was made major-general in 1846. He died at his home, LaTorre, on
the 19th of July, 1862.
One of the most conspicuous monuments in Halifax is the arch,
surmounted by a lion, which stands just within St. Paul's Cemetery,
on Pleasant street, directly in front of the iron entrance gates. The
monument was reared in memory of two native Haligonians who
fell in the CrimeanWar, Captain William Parker and Major Au-
gustus Welsford. It was erected by the citizens of Halifax in 1860,
its dedication being on the 16th of July of that year. The dedi-
cation prayer was made by the Rev. John Scott, minister of
St. Matthew's Presbyterian Church, who thanked God for the
many mercies He had shown towards the British nation, more
especially for the valour with which He had endowed its soldiers. A
speech was made by the lieutenant-governor, Earl Mulgrave, "re-
ferring in terms of high eulogium to the valour of Parker and Wels-
ford, native heroes, of whom Nova Scotia was justly proud," and
incidentally praising the young naval lieutenant, Provo William Par-
ry Wallis, who commanded the Shannon when she came into the port
with her prize the Chesapeake, to the "peaceful but perilous"
achievements of Admiral Sir Edward Belcher in Arctic seas, the gal-
lant defence of Kars by General Sir Fenwick Williams, and the
prowess of Sir John Inglis at Lucknow, all these fellow heroes with
the men to whom the monument had been erected. After this came an
oration, delivered by the Rev. Dr. George William Hill, rector of St.
Paul's, who was followed in a shorter, martial speech by General
Trollop, chief commander of the troops. The sculptor of the monu-
ment was Mr. George Laing, who, on the dais erected for the speak-
ers, dressed in the uniform of the Chebucto Greys, as the orator
complimented him on the noble work he had produced, "drew the
drapery from the monument and revealed the lion on the top of the
arch standing out in triumphant attitude against the clear blue
sky." As a close for the exercises, a salute of thirteen guns was
fired in slow time by the volunteer artillery. The monument is said
to have cost two thousand five hundred pounds.
Captain William Parker, son of Captain William Parker of the
64th regiment, an Englishman who had retired from the army in
Halifax and settled at Lawrencetown on the eastern side of the har-
38
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
bour on half pay, was born at Lawrencetown, near Halifax, about
1820, and was first educated at Horton Academy, in the county of
King's. In 1839, his mother, who was originally Susan Green, of
Halifax, and was then a widow, obtained an ensign's commission for
him in the regiment in which his father had served. In February,
1843, he became a lieutenant and exchanged to the 78th Highlanders,
and thereafter for twelve years he served in India. In January,
1855, he was promoted captain of the 77th, and on the 8th of Septem-
ber of the same year at the final attack on the Redan in the Crimean
campaign he died bravely, in the thirty-fifth year of his age.9
Major Augustus Welsford, whose memory is honoured with that
of Captain Parker in the Halifax monument, was a son of Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Welsford of the 101st regiment, and was born at Hali-
fax, but in what year we do not know. His early education was
obtained at King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia, after leaving
which he obtained an ensigncy in the 97th regiment. With this reg-
iment he saw service in various parts of the world, in the latter part
of 1854 being stationed in Greece. "When Colonel Lockyer was
made a brigadier," says one of his biographers, "he was for some
time in command of the regiment, serving thus during the last
memorable battle before Sebastopol. In this engagement he re-
pulsed a serious sortie of the Russians with two hundred of his men,
and for his bravery was mentioned by Lord Raglan in official dis-
patches." Major Welsford, also, was killed at the storming of the
Redan on the 8th of September, 1855. Although a thorough soldier,
he was a truly kind-hearted man. His fellow soldiers loved and re-
vered him; "It was a bitter hour for us all," once wrote a sergeant
who had served under him, "when the poor major's body was
brought back to us ; had he lived he would have been crowned with
laurel. Let us hope he has won a brighter crown now."
*See Mrs. Lawson's "History of Dartmouth, Preston and Lawrencetown," pp.
251, 252. The Green family to which Captain Parker's mother belonged was one of the
best known Boston families in Halifax.
39
The Lottery in American History
BY HOWARD 0. ROGERS, PORTLAND, OREGON.
AN is naturally a gambler. Of all human characteristics^
the sporting instinct — the temptation to play the game
of chance in the hope of winning much at the risk of lit-
tle— is one of the strongest and most universal. We find
abundant recognition of this human weakness and want of self-con^
trol to avoid the evil effects of its indulgence, in the vast amount of
present-day paternalistic legislation prohibiting gambling in every
form. Man's inability to resist his own natural cupidity, and the
fascination involved in the thrills of hope produced by the chance-
element, has made it necessary for his government to step in and
protect him against himself.
But prior to the awakening of public conscience in comparatively
modern times, this natural gaming instinct was not only allowed to
be played upon for the profit of individuals, but was exploited by
government agencies and thus made to pay public revenue. In the
fiscal history of nations this human passion has played an important
part.
The instrumentality employed so largely to work this rich mine of
gambling propensity was the lottery. The modern law-abiding
American citizen knows little of the lottery except as a gambling vice
long since banned by the law, and now universally accepted as a so-
cial evil wisely suppressed. But it was not ever thus.
For many centuries this device was not only tolerated by public
opinion, but legalized, encouraged and employed by the state itself.
Lotteries prevailed in the old Eoman times, and the emperors of that
day followed the plan on a magnificent scale. This custom later de-
scended to festivals given by the feudal and merchant princes of
Europe, especially of Italy. It formed a prominent feature of the
splendid court hospitality of Louis XIV in France. One of the first
French lottery charters was granted in the early part of the fifteenth
century, and was employed as a revenue measure to raise funds with
40
Chapters in the History of Halifax, Nova Scotia
BY ABTHUB WENTWOBTH HAMILTON EATON, M. A., D. C. L.
No. XIV
HALIFAX HABBOUB AND ITS FAMOUS TBADITIONS
"Within a long recess there lies a Bay,
An island shades it from the rolling sea
And forms a Port secure for ships to ride,
Broke by the jutting land on either side."
— Dryden's Virgil.
"In addition to its physical beauty, Halifax Harbour is a grand commercial asset,
not only for its residents but for the Province and the whole Dominion as well."
— A. Martin Payne in the New England Magazine for November, 1906.
HE noble harbour of Halifax," says Judge Haliburton,
in his volume "The Old Judge," published long ago,
"is one of the best, perhaps, in the world: its con-
tiguity to Canada and the United States, its accessi-
bility at all seasons of the year, and its proximity to England (it
being the most eastern part of this continent) give it a decided ad-
vantage over its rival [Bermuda] ; while the frightful destruction of
stores at Bermuda, from the effects of the climate, its insalubrity,
and the dangers with which it is beset, have never failed to excite
astonishment at the want of judgment shown in its selection, and the
utter disregard of expense with which it has been attended." From
Judge Haliburton 's opinion of the relative advantages Halifax
harbour there has never been any dissent, it is in every respect one
of the finest harbours in the world. "During fifty years service,"
said, once, a distinguished naval officer, "I have seen all the great
harbours of the world, Sydney (New South Wales), Rio de Janeiro,
Naples, Queenstown, and Halifax, and in my opinion among them
Halifax should be placed first, taking into consideration its ease of
access from the open ocean, its long stretches of deep water close
to the land on both sides, and the perfect shelter it gives ships.
From the view-point of a naval base and the requirements of a great
253
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
commercial shipping post it is unrivalled around the globe." Says
a more recent writer:
"Halifax Harbour is described in nautical works as one of the
best in the world, affording space and depth of water sufficient for
any number of the largest ships with safety. It is easier of access
and egress than any other large harbour on the coast. . . . Unlike
New York, Halifax has no intricate entrance channel such as that
at Sandy Hook, impassible by Atlantic liners at some conditions of
the tide, especially in bad weather." "We have the same broad,
open harbour that delighted Colonel Cornwallis on his first ap-
proach to our shores, the same wide-mouthed entrance through
which the Cunarders in the pioneer days of steamships came and
went year after year without accident, let, or hindrance, the same
great depth and broad expanse of water that was required to float
that huge, clumsy hulk the 'Great Eastern,' the same magnificent
roadstead, which the entire British Navy could manoeuvre in. We
have also along the harbour's shores light-houses, buoys, and signal
stations, and if anything more is needed to make it the most perfect
harbour in the world we can have that too. ' '
Halifax harbour proper is a magnificent sheet of water, from eight
to twelve fathoms deep, from one to two miles wide, and from the
entrance, fifteen miles long, the island known as McNab's giving
it the shelter of a natural breakwater. With its forty-two miles
of shore line it may be described "as a group of harbours, the main
harbour of commerce being flanked on the Dartmouth side by the
Eastern Passage and on the city side by the picturesque Northwest
Arm. ' '
The importance of the part the harbour has played in the recent
world-war, now happily ended, cannot be overestimated, and this
in a future chapter we shall hope as adequately as possible to de-
scribe. In later chapters we shall also give some account of the hor-
rible tragedy that in the course of the war occurred on the shore of
the harbour, visiting with death and destruction much of the north
end of the city, and also of the wonderful series of docks that the
Dominion Government is now at great cost constructing on the lower
harbour for the accommodation of future maritime trade. In the
present chapter we shall run back over the seventeen decades during
which the harbour has been conspicuously used for human enterprise
and sketch briefly the chief maritime — commercial and striking his-
254
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
torical naval events that are the outstanding features of the varied
history of this beautiful bay.
The first striking episode in the history of the harbour was the
sailing into its quiet shelter in the autumn of 1746 of the forlorn
remnant of the fleet of the Due d'Anville, which had proudly left
Eochelle, in France, for America, on the 22d of June of that year.
D'Anville 's fleet consisted of twenty-one war-ships, twenty other
frigates and privateers, and several transports, which carried be-
sides a sea force no less than three thousand one hundred and
fifty soldiers, militia troops, and marines. The commission the
fleet's commander bore ambitiously authorized the retaking and dis-
mantling of Louisburg, effecting a junction with the French troops
collected at Bale Verte and expelling the British from Nova Scotia,
consigning Boston to flames, ravaging New England, and wasting
the British West Indies.1 Fate, however, had decided against the
success of this far reaching policy of the French King, the voyage
across the ocean was made difficult and dangerous by contrary
winds, arid on the 2nd of September, the fleet having reached the
dreaded shoals of Sable Island, the whole squadron was there dis-
persed by a fierce storm, and four ships of the line and a transport
were probably sunk. At last, between the 8th and the 16th of Sep-
tember, six or seven ships of the line and a few transports sought
refuge in Halifax harbour, and there the Due d'Anville and his com-
panion officer Vice-Admiral D'Estournelle both died. On the pas-
sage scorbutic fever and dysentery had been fatal to twelve or thir-
teen hundred of the men, and these diseases now continued their
ravages until no less than 1,130 more, it is said, had died and been
buried on the shore of Bedford Basin, at the upper end of the har-
bour. The Due d'Anville himself died of "apoplexy, sickness, or
poison," and was probably buried on George's Island, while Vice-
Admiral d'Estournelle, "agitated, feverish, and delirious." is re-
ported to have fallen on his sword and as a result died within
twenty-four hours after.
Less than three years had passed after d'Anville 's mournful few
ships steered into the harbour when Colonel Edward Cornwallis
'See C. Ochiltree MacDonald's "The Last Siege of Louisburg," pp. 23, 24; and
many other authorities. By the terms of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which was
concluded and signed in October, 1748, Louisburg so almost miraculously captured,
chiefly by New England troops, in 1745, had been restored to France, a blunder that
cost England another siege of the place in 1758.
255
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
brought hither his fleet, laden with English emigrants to found Hali-
fax, thus opening for the harbour an era of incessant shipping
activity which is destined to continue as long as time lasts. In June
or July, 1749, as a consequence of the restoration of Louisburg to
France, the English and New England civilian residents of the
French town in the island of Cape Breton, as well as the troops that
had occupied the fortress, came up to Halifax, partly in transports
that had been lent them for the passage by Desherbiers, the newly
appointed governor of Cape Breton;2 and these, in addition to the
steady stream of schooners and sloops that came directly from Bos-
ton, bringing settlers from Massachusetts for Halifax, and also
laden with supplies for the civilians and soldiers at the new capital,
made the harbour a busy place.
In July, 1757, Admiral Holburne with a fleet of fifteen ships of the
line and one vessel of fifty guns, carrying at least twelve thousand
men, arrived at Halifax from England, with the intention of re-
capturing Louisburg, but hearing that the French had a larger force
at Cape Breton than he had been led to believe, he abandoned his
purpose. The next year, however, the harbour was the rendezvous
for another fleet, with the same object in view, the chief commander
of this enterprise being Admiral Boscawen. Soon after the middle
of May (1758) twenty-three ships of the line, eighteen frigates and a
hundred and sixteen transports and small craft sailed into the har-
bour, General Jeffery Amherst and General Wolfe and the troops
they commanded being also with the fleet. On Sunday, May 28th,
this formidable armada left for the French stronghold, and the suc-
cess of the expedition is graphically described by Sir Gilbert Parker
and Mr. Claude G. Bryan in their picturesque volume entitled "Old
Quebec."3 "The years since 1745," says these writers, "had been
'In his first letter from Chebucko to the Duke of Bedford, dated June 22, 1749,
Colonel Cornwallis says that he finds that Governor Hopson of Louisburg, who had
been under orders to transport the English troops stationed there to Chebucto, had
no transports in which to bring them. As he does not know when he himself can send
transports he thinks it absolutely necessary to send the sloop by which Hopson has sent
messages to him, to Boston "with orders to Apthorp and Hancock, who Mr. Hopson
has recommendd as the persons that have been always employed on the part of the
Government to hire vessels with all expedition for the transportation of these troops
from Louisburg to Chebucto." A few days later, however, Cornwallis rescinded the
order to Apthorp and Hancock, but before his second order could get to Boston these
enterprising merchants had engaged the transports, so Cornwallis had to pay something
for them. The troops at Louisburg seem to have been conveyed to Halifax partly by
English transports which had brought the Cornwallis settlers, partly by French ships
which had come out with Deshrbiers.
'Sir Gilbert Parker and Claude G. Bryan, in "Old Quebec, the Fortress of New
France" (1903), pp. 253-255.
256
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
years of growing strength for Louisburg, and in 1758 it almost
equalled Quebec itself in importance. Its capable commandant, the
Chevalier de Drucour, counted 4,000 citizens and 3,000 men-at-arms
for his garrison ; while twelve battleships, mounting 544 guns, and
manned by 3,000 sailors and marines, rode at anchor in the rock-
girt harbour, the fortress itself, with its formidable outworks, con-
taining 219 cannon and seventeen mortars. Bold men only could
essay the capture of such a fortress, but such were Wolfe, Amherst,
and Admiral Boscawen, whose work it was to do.
"The fleet and transports sailed from Halifax, bearing eleven
thousand, six hundred men full of spirit and faith in their com-
manders. All accessible landing-places at Louisburg had been forti-
fied by the French ; but in spite of this precaution and a heavy surf,
Wolfe 's division gained the beach and carried the redoubts at Fresh-
water Cove. A general landing having been thus effected, Wolfe
marched round the flank of the fortress to establish a battery at
Lighthouse Point. The story may only be outlined here. First the
French were forced to abandon Grand Battery, which frowned over
the harbour, then the Island Battery was silenced. On the forty-
third day of the siege, a frigate in the harbour was fired by shells,
and drifting from her moorings, destroyed two sister ships. Four
vessels which had been sunk at the mouth of the harbour warded
Boscawen 's fleet from the assault, but did not prevent six hundred
daring blue-jackets from seizing the Prudent and Bienfaisant, the
two remaining ships of the French squadron.
"Meanwhile, zigzag trenches crept closer and closer to the walls,
upon which the heavy artillery now played at short range with
deadly effect. Bombs and grenades hissed over the shattering ram-
parts and burst in the crowded streets; roundshot and grape
tore their way through the wooden barracks; while mortars and
musketry poured a hail of shell and bullet upon the brave defenders.
Nothing could save Louisburg, now that Pitt's policy of Thorough
had got headway. On the 26th of July, a white flag fluttered over
the Dauphin's Bastion; and by midnight of that date Drucour had
signed Amherst 's terms enjoining unconditional surrender.
* ' Then the work of demolition commenced. The mighty fortress,
which had cast a dark shade over New England for almost half a
century, 'the Dunkirk of America,' must stand no longer as a
menace. An army of workmen labored for months with pick and
spade and blasting-powder upon those vast fortifications ; yet noth-
ing but an upheaval of nature itself could obliterate all traces of
earthwork, ditch, glacis, and casemate, which together made up the
frowning fortress of Louisburg. To-day grass grows on the Grand
257
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Parade, and daisies blow upon the turf — grown bastions ; but who
may pick his way over those historic mounds of earth without a
sigh for the buried valour of bygone years. ' '
As every resident of Halifax or visitor to the city knows, the long
water-front of the town is flanked by a succession of nearly fifty
wharves for the accommodation of ships and the pursuit of maritime
trade.4 Writing the lords of trade the day after his arrival at
Chebucto, his impressions of the place selected for the new settle-
ment, Governor Cornwallis says : " All the officers agree the harbour
is the finest they have ever seen," to this adding in a later letter that
it is "the finest perhaps in the world." Along the beach, he says,
wharves may easily be built, one already having been finished
sufficiently ample to accommodate ships of two hundred tons. In
February, 1750, it was proposed in council that a quay should be
built along the shore in front of the town, but several merchants,
among whom were Messrs. Thomas Saul and Joshua Mauger, hav-
ing applied for water lots and liberty to build individual wharves
along the beach, the question of the quay was referred to the pro-
vincial surveyor, Mr. Charles Morris, and the government engineer.
Mr. John Bruce, for their decision.5 The expense of the quay prom-
ised to be so heavy and the time required to build it so long that
these officials reported unfavorably on it, and licenses to build
wharves were accordingly granted.6 At this period, says Dr. Akins,
the line of the shore was so irregular as in some places to afford only
a footpath between the base line of the lots which now form the
upper side of Water Street and high water mark. At the Market
4"There are forty-seven docks, piers, and wharves along the water-front of Hali-
fax proper, nine of which, at Richmond and the deep water terminus, have connections
at the ships' side with the Intercolonial railway." A. Martin Payne, in the Boston
Christian Science Monitor for November 29, 1911.
8A list of men in the "south suburbs" who sometime in 1750 received permission
from Governor Cornwallis to build wharves "on the beach before the town of Halifax,
agreeable to order of Council" is the following: Terence Fitzpatrick, John Shippy,
John Alden and Jonathan Trumble, Rundle and Crawley, Captain Trevoy, Samuel
Cleveland, William Wheeler, Joshua Mauger, Henry Ferguson, and Samuel Sellon.
Most of these were New England men.
"At a Council meeting at the Governor's house on Saturday, February 24, 1750,
the Council announced that merchants and others might build wharves where they judged
proper, and spoke in favour of their doing so. The members, however, prescribed
certain conditions for prospective builders, one of which was that no storehouses should
be built on wharves "in front of the town." "When once this harbour is secure, well
peopled, and a certain fishery established," wrote Cornwallis to the Lords of Trade,
March 19, 1750, "people will come from all parts without any expense to the public,
»nd it will be easy to extend to other parts of the Province."
258
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the tide flowed up nearly to where the [old] City Court House stood,
forming a cove, into which flowed a brook which came down a little
to the north of George Street. Near the Ordnance Yard another
cove made in and this part of the shore was low and swampy many
years after the batteries were built.
From the business advertisements in the earliest modest news-
paper of Halifax in the first year of its publication, the year 1752,
we find mention of at least four wharves that were already built, —
Barnard's, Captain Cook's, Fairbanks', and Grant's, and there were
certainly others like Mauger's, which lay at the foot of Jacob Street.
Gerrish's wharf, afterwards known as Marchington's, lay immedi-
ately north of the Ordnance Yard, Proctor's is said to have been
situated near the spot where the Cunard wharf was in time built,
Frederick's later became Beamish 's, Fillis's, afterward Mitchell's,
was a little south of the King's Wharf, Terence Fitzpatrick's was
situated almost or quite on the spot where Esson and Boak's later
was built, Crawley's was south of this, and Collier's occupied the
spot where the later Pryor's was built. In 1753, as we learn from
the Halifax GazeMe, there was still another wharf known as Bourn
and Freeman's.
On Colonel Desbarres' plan of Halifax, made in 1781, Gerrish's
wharf, afterward known as Marchington's, is shown as immediately
north of the five gun battery, which was slightly north of the Ord-
nance wharf; Joshua Mauger's is at the foot of Jacob Street; Proc-
tor's seems to be near where Cunard 's old wharf now is; Freder-
icks's, afterward Beamish 's, is the present market wharf; Fillis's
seems to be the present Mitchell's, a little south of the Queen's
Wharf; Terence Fitzpatrick's is situated about where Esson and
Boak's now is; Crawley's is slightly south of Fitzpatrick's; and
Collier's is identical with the present Pryor's.7
The Boston merchants whose enterprise in sending ships to Hali-
fax, for more than a decade after the settlement of the town, was
greatest, were Messrs. Charles Apthorp and Thomas Hancock. For
some years before Cornwallis came, indeed, these important Boston
traders apparently had enjoyed almost a monopoly in supplying,
by contract with the Nova Scotia government, the garrisons at
Annapolis Royal and Chignecto, and indeed Louisburg when it was
in British hands. Some time in 1750, Cornwallis complains to the
'See Dr. Akin's Chronicles of Halifax, p. 221.
259
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
lords of trade that Messrs. Ap thorp and Hancock, "the two richest
merchants in Boston, who have made their fortunes out of govern-
ment contracts," because they could not entirely monopolize the.
supplying of Halifax had given him a great deal of trouble. * ' They
distress and domineer, ' ' he says, ' ' and now wanton in their insolent
demands." For some years longer, however, as we have said,
Apthorp and Hancock continued to be the chief Boston merchants
sending supplies to the town.8
The comparative wealth of Halifax up to late in the nineteenth
century is recognized by all historians of the economic and social
condition of the Maritime Provinces to have been in great measure
due to the trade her merchants carried on with the West Indies.
This trade, however, did not well begin until some years after the
signing of the articles of peace between Great Britain and the
United States at Versailles in January, 1783. In the British Parlia-
ment in May, 1784, the question of commercial intercourse between
the British West Indies and the United States was earnestly dis-
cussed. England had hitherto strictly limited the trade of her West
Indian colonies to herself and her other colonies, now peace having
been established between Great Britain and the United States the
West Indian planters remonstrated at such limitation and petitioned
to have it removed. Canada, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Is-
land, however, made strong efforts to convince the home authorities
that the West Indies would still find sufficient markets in British
possessions and would have their own needs adequately supplied
'Thomas Hancock, who built the noted Hancock house on Beacon Hill, Boston, died
August i, 1764. His partner, Charles Apthorp, died November u, 1758. In the obituary,
Mr. Apthorp, in the Boston Newsletter, he is calld "the greatest and most noted mer-
chant on this Continent." For a brief sketch of his life and a portrait of him, see
"Annals of King's Chapel," Vol. 2, p. 144. Thomas Hancock's business, as is well known,
was inherited by his nephew (Governor) John Hancock, who continued to trade
with Nova Scotia until at least 1773. In Council, July 6, 1750, Governor Cornwallis
says that "there having been some difficulty in raising the supplies of money necessary
for the service of the Colony, he has agreed to proposals sent him by Messrs. Apthorp
and Hancock of Boston, who engaged to provide him with dollars upon condition that
they should likewise have the furnishing all stores and materials, which his Excellency
understood as meaning all such as might be wanted from that Province, but that these
gentlemen had since explained their terms so as to oblige him to take everything what-
ever wanted for this Province from them and not to leave it in his power to buy any-
thing whatever here or in any of the northern colonys, which terms he could not agree
to without first consulting the Council." Delancey & Watts of New York, he says, have
written him that provided his Excellency could assure them of the bills being duly
honoured there could be no difficulty in being provided with dollars from New York.
The Council unanimously agreed that to accede to the proposals of Apthorp and Hancock
would be very disadvantageous to the new settlement. See Nova Scotia Archives, vol.
I. See also the "Correspondence of William Shirley."
260
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
from British sources, except indeed in the matter of rice. In dis-
cussing the question, the West Indian sugar planters admitted that
"on every principle of honour, humanity, and justice," the Loyalist
refugees of Canada and Nova Scotia were entitled to a preference
in their trade, provided that Canada and Nova Scotia had the prod-
ucts to supply the West Indies, but they contended that before any
permanent regulations governing their trade should be made, exact
information should be sought as to how much of the annual con-
sumption of American staples in the West Indies these provinces
had hitherto supplied and how much they might be expected in the
future to supply.
When the matter was thoroughly examined by means of custom
house records, it was found that of 1,208 cargoes of lumber and pro-
visions imported from North America into the British sugar-raising
colonies in the year 1772, only seven of the cargoes were from Can-
ada and Nova Scotia, and that of 701 topsail vessels and 1,681 sloops
which had been cleared from North America to the British and
foreign West Indies in the same year, only two of the topsail vessels
and eleven of the sloops were from those provinces. Respecting
Nova Scotia, it was stated that this province had never at any one
period produced enough grain for its own people, and had never
exported lumber "worthy the name of merchandise," and that a
considerable amount of the lumber it was then producing was being
used to build houses for the Loyalists in the town of Port Eoseway.
Between April 3, 1783, and October 26, 1784, no flour, ship-biscuit,
Indian corn or other meal, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, or poultry
came into the island of Jamaica from Canada, Nova Scotia, or
Prince Edward Island, the only provisions were 180 bushels of
potatoes, 751 hogsheads and about 500 barrels of salted fish, with
also some manufactured lumber. Previous to the war of the Rev-
olution, in the years 1768-1772, the whole imports into Jamaica from
Canada, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island were seven hogs-
heads of fish, eight barrels of oil, three barrels of tar, pitch, and
turpentine, 36,000 shingles and staves, and 27,235 feet of lumber.
In the year 1807, however, as is shown by Judge Haliburton in his
statistical account of Nova Scotia, fifty ships aggregating 5,013
tons, arrived at Halifax from the West Indies, while eighty ships,
with a tonnage of 9,269 left this port for the West Indies. Twelve
years later, in the year 1828, a hundred and sixty-seven ships, with a
261
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
tonnage of 17,062 arrived at Halifax, while a hundred and seventy-
seven ships, with a tonnage of 18,739, were cleared for the West
Indies. From other sources than Haliburton we further learn that
the value of imports to Halifax from the West Indies between Janu-
ary 5, 1819, and January 5, 1823, was £348,175, while the value of
exports to these islands in the same period was £621,494. During
the six months ending September 30, 1866, there arrived at Halifax,
from the British West Indies, fifty vessels with a tonnage of 7,844,
and from the Foreign West Indies sixty-five vessels with a tonnage
of 7,446, these ships bringing rum (as the most valuable import),
sugar, molasses, brandy, gin, salt, and coffee. The total value of
imports from the British West Indies in this period was $238,143,
from the Spanish West Indies $233,246, from the French $11,017,
from the Danish $5,326. Exports from Halifax to these islands
included all agricultural products, gypsum, lime, plaster, cattle,
apples, hides, fish oil and fish.9
In all records of the early shipping activities and general com-
merce of Halifax, the names conspicuously appear of Joshua Maug-
er and Thomas Saul, the latter of whom, a member of the Council,
Dr. Akins says, was the wealthiest and most enterprising merchant
of the town from 1749 to 1760. The career of Joshua Mauger we
have elsewhere in this history sketched ; he was the son of a Jewish
merchant in London, who in early life began to trade between certain
West Indian ports, later extending his activities to the French town
and garrison of Louisburg. At the founding of Halifax he took up
his residence in this town, establishing truck-houses in the interior
of the province, setting up three distilleries of rum in the capital,
and also securing there the position of agent-victualler to the gov-
ernment. Of Thomas Saul we know less than we do of Mauger,
but there can be no doubt that he also was an English-born man.
Precisely when he first came to Halifax we have not discovered, but
"See "The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West
Indies," by Bryan Edwards, Esq., 3rd edition, volume 2., Book 6, Chapter 4. See also
Haliburton's "Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia" (2 volumes, 1829),
volume 2; Murdoch's "History of Nova Scotia," vol. 3, pages 445, 503; and "Various
Statements connected with Trade and Commerce of the Province of Nova Scotia for
the Twelve Months ended 30 September, 1886" (Halifax, 1866). Of moderate sized
manufacturing plants, Halifax has had and has a considerable number, most if not all
of which have had their beginning since 1815. These comprise sugar refineries, flour-
mills, bakeries, canneries, cordage-factories, carriage-factories, cabinet works, soap,
candle, glue, linseed oil, comb, brush, tobacco, paper, and confectionery factories, dis-
tilleries of rum, gin, and whiskey, and breweries of ale and porter.
262
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
his trading ventures like Mauger's must have begun soon after
the town was established. About 1753, says Dr. Akins, he built the
most elegant private residence in the town. Having made a fortune
in Halifax, about the same time as Mauger he also probably returned
to England to spend the rest of his days. "Among the principal
merchants in Halifax in 1769," says Dr. Akins, "the Hon. John
Butler, uncle to the late Hon. J. Butler Dight, Robert Campbell on
the Beach, John Grant, Alexander Brymer, and Gerrish and Gray
appear most prominent. Among the shopkeepers and tradesmen who
advertised during this year were Robert Fletcher on the Parade,
bookseller and stationer, Andrew Cunod, grocer, Hammond and
Brown, auctioneers, and Robert Millwood, blocknlaker, who adver-
tised the best Spanish River Coal at thirty shillings a chaldron."
Among the New England born merchants of most note in the early
history of the town were Joseph Fairbanks, John Fillis, Benjamin
Garrish, Malachy Salter, and Robert Sanderson. As the town
progressed we find among the leading merchants, Michael Francklin,
from England, Thomas Cochran and Charles Hill, from the North
of Ireland, Michael and James Tobin and Edward Kenny from
farther south in Ireland, and a good many enterprising men directly
from Scotland, who and whose descendants have always borne a
conspicuous part in the social as well as commercial activities of
the place.
In a valuable monograph on Nova Scotia privateers at different
periods, written by Mr. George Nichols of Halifax, and published in
the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, we find im-
portant facts concerning the ships fitted out at Halifax at different
periods to prey on the sea commerce of hostile countries. In the
autumn of 1756, Messrs. Malachy Salter and Robert Sanderson
together fitted out a schooner of a hundred tons burden, called the
Lawrence, and on the 16th of November started her on a privateer-
ing voyage against the French. This vessel, Mr. Nichols says, was
the first privateer to be fitted out at Halifax. She was armed with
fourteen carriage four-pounder guns, and twenty swivel guns, be-
sides small arms and ammunition sufficient for a six months cruise,
and had a crew of a hundred men, and her captain carried a letter
of marque authorizing him to capture if he could any French trading
ship with her cargo that he might come upon afloat. At the same
time two other trading vessels owned in Halifax, the Hertford and
263
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
the Musketo, the first, owned partly by John Hale, a vessel of three
hundred tons, armed with twenty carriage guns, and carrying a
crew of 170 men, the second, owned by Joshua Mauger and John
Hale, of a hundred and twenty tons, manned by a crew of eighty men.
"During the Seven Years War," says Mr. Nichols, "which lasted
from 1756 to 1763, 1 can learn of at least fifteen privatee? s that were
armed and fitted out at this port. The names of these vessels and
their commanders have been preserved to us, together with the
particulars of their tonnage and armament and the number of their
crews. These privateers were larger and more heavily armed than
their successors of the Kevolutionary period. Several of them were
ships of three and four hundred tons burthen, carrying upwards of
a hundred and sixty men, and armed with as many as twenty car-
riage guns and twenty-two swivels. The tonnage of these vessels
seems to be no indication of their armament, for the small schooner
Lawrence of a hundred tons carried fourteen carriage guns and
twenty swivels, while the Wasp, another vessel of the same size,
carried twenty guns and a hundred and fifty men. The majority of
the cruises starting from Halifax were directed against the French
in southern waters, and the commissions authorizing them generally
named six months as the period during which they might lawfully
be prosecuted. ' ' Several of the privateers sailing from Halifax at
this period, however, were not owned in Nova Scotia, but in other
British Provinces or in England. The Halifax shipping merchants
that were most conspicuous in these privateering expeditions of the
Seven Years War, and so that may properly be considered the lead-
ing ship-owners here at this period, were Messrs. Michael Francklin,
Joshua Mauger, Malachy Salter, Robert Sanderson, Thomas Saul,
and William Ball.
In the early period of the American Revolution all the waters
about the Nova Scotia shores were infested with privateering vessels
sent from the revolting colonies, and their crews committed many
serious depredations at various ports. By an act of the Imperial
Parliament any British sympathizer could obtain leave from the
provincial government to arm and man any vessel he owned to resist
and capture the enemy, and under this act a considerable number of
privateer schooners were sent out from various ports, notably Hali-
fax and Liverpool, to seize any booty they could from hostile vessels
anywhere on the seas. "Of their success," says Mr. Nichols, "there
264
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
is no doubt, for while records are meagre, no less than forty-eight
prizes and four recaptures arrived in Halifax alone between the 4th
of January and the 20th of December, 1778, among the captures be-
ing six ships, seven brigs, and nine brigantines. " "Between 1779
and 1781," he further says, "we have records of forty-two prizes
and recaptures brought into this port, among them being three ships,
six brigs, and twelve brigantines." By this time, it is clear, many
of the vessels employed either in peaceful commerce or in privateer-
ing by Nova Scotia traders were built at Nova Scotia ports, but con-
cerning the number and extent of ship building enterprises at or
near Halifax then we are not at present informed.
By 1793, England and France had once more begun active hos-
tilities, and under the authority of the Imperial Government, letters
of marque could be obtained by all owners of armed vessels to seize
French ships and their cargoes wherever they could find them.
The Nova Scotia privateering at this period was conducted by mer-
chants and captains chiefly from the two ports of Liverpool and
Halifax, the greater activity, however, being at the southern port.
In the war of 1812, one of the first hostile measures taken by the
United States against England was to issue letters of marque
against British ships, and within a month after war was declared
Nova Scotians under the personal authority of the governor of the
province, Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, were likewise exercising
the privateering right. Between 1812 and 1815, Nova Scotia vessels
brought into the various leading ports of the province more than
two hundred prizes, exclusive of a number of recaptures, Halifax
of course having her due share of these prizes.10
His Majesty's Dockyard at Halifax, the "Naval Yard," as this
famous inclosure on the shores of the harbour was originally called,
has a long and varied history that links closely with Britain's naval
history at large since the Dockyard was founded. The initial site
""At this period of the war [of 1812] the English ships of war did not molest the
unarmed coasting and fishing vessels of the Americans, but the American privateers were
not of the same mind. Our coasters, fishermen, and colliers were captured, pillaged, and
sometimes used cruelly. On the 8th of October a boat's crew from an American priva-
teer landed on Sheep Island, at the mouth of Tusket river, where lived a poor man
named Francis Clements, and his family. Without provocation they shot the man
dead, ransacked his house, carried off stock, and went away. This privateer was shortly
after captured by the Shannon, and the homicide was identified among the prisoners
as the first lieutenant of the privateer. Clements left a widow and nine orphan chil-
dren, the oldest only seventeen, the second daughter a helpless cripple." Murdoch's
"History of Nova Scotia," vol. 3, p. 333.
265
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
for the Naval Yard was secured under deed on the 7th of February,
in the year of our Lord 1759. The trustees to whom the deed was
given were Admiral Philip Durell, and Messrs. Joseph Gerrish and
William Nesbitt, Esquires, and the purpose for which the two lots
the site comprised, "in the north suburbs of Halifax," were granted,
was specified to be "for the use and uses of a Naval Yard for the
use of His Majesty's Navy or such other uses as His Majesty shall
direct and appoint and to or for no other use, intent, or purpose
whatever." On the 4th of January, 1765, a third lot was obtained
for the extension of the yard, and henceforth for well on towards
a century and a half the Halifax Dockyard was the official head-
quarters of business in connexion with the British navy on the
North American coast. Soon after the first deed of land for the
Dockyard site was secured, buildings necessary for carrying on the
navy's official business were begun, including storehouses for masts,
sails, coal, oil, and provisions, and residences for the commissioner
of the yard and his clerks and other employees. In 1770 the first
conspicuous gate to the Dockyard was built, and this stood until
1844, when another was erected to take its place. In 1883 the gate
was rebuilt again.
In 1783 a naval hospital outside the yard was added to the estab-
lishment, and in 1814 a piece of land high up on the hill overlooking
the yard was purchased for the erection of a large stone dwelling
house for the Admiral on the station, when he should be here, and
the locally famous residence known as "Admiralty House" was /
begun. At some early date, we do not know precisely when, a small i
tract near the Dockyard was set apart for a naval cemetery. In his
"History of Nova Scotia," published in 1829, Judge Haliburton
wrote :
"Of Government establishments [in Halifax] the most important
is the King's Dockyard. This was commenced about the year 1758
and has been not only of infinite service to the navy during the late
war, but by its very great expenditure of money, of most essential
advantage to the Province. It is enclosed on the side towards the
town by a high stone wall, and contains within it very commodious
buildings for the residence of its officers and servants, besides stores,
warehouses, and workshops of different descriptions. It is on a
more respectable footing than any in America, and the vast number
of ships refitted there during the last twenty years, and the prodi-
gious labour and duty performed on them are strong proofs of its
266
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
regulation and order. In the rear of the Dockyard and on an ele-
vated piece of ground that overlooks the works and the harbour, is
the Admiral's house, which is a plain stone building erected partly
by funds provided by Government and partly by a grant of the
Provincial Legislature. This house was completed in 1820, and
as its name denotes is designed for the residence of the Admiral
or senior Naval Officer commanding on the Station."
In his "Old Judge" this same author writes:
"The Dockyard at Halifax is a beautiful establishment, in ex-
cellent order, and perfect of its kind, with the singular exception of
not having the accommodation of a dock from which it derives its
name." Nova Scotia, he writes, is the principal naval station of
Britain on this side of the Atlantic, but it shares this honour with
Bermuda, the Admiral residing in summer at the former place, in
winter at the latter. The arrival of this high official at Halifax in
the spring "is always looked forward to with anxiety and pleasure,
as it at once enlivens and benefits the town. Those common dem-
onstrations of respect, salutes, proclaim the event, which is soon
followed by the equally harmless and no less noisy revels of sailors,
who give vent to their happiness in uproarious merriment. The
Admiral is always popular with the townspeople, as he often renders
them essential services, and seldom or never comes into collision
with them. He is independent of them, and wholly disconnected
with the civil government. 'Lucky fellow!' as Sir Hercules Samp-
son, the Governor, once said; 'he has no turbulent House of Assem-
bly to plague him.' ' "On an eminence immediately above the
Dockyard," he adds, "is the official residence, a heavy, square, stone
building, surrounded by massive walls, and resembling in its solidity
and security a public asylum. The entrance is guarded by two
sentinels, belonging to that gallant and valuable corps, the marines,
who combine the activity of the sailor with the steadiness and dis-
cipline of the soldier, forming a happy mixture of the best qualities
of both, and bearing a very little resemblance to either. 'These
ambitious troops,' my old friend Sir James Capstan used to say,
' are very much in the way on board of a ship, except in action, and
then they are always in the right place. ' '
A complete list of the war ships that have anchored in Halifax
harbour since 1759 would include most of the great ships of Eng-
land's majestic fleet; the naval commanders-in-chief who in suc-
cession have ordered their flag-ships into these smooth waters, and
for the time being have occupied Admiralty House, have included
267
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
many of the greatest Admirals, Rear Admirals, and Vice Admirals
of the noblest navy of modern times.11
No single event in connexion with Halifax harbour has greater
dramatic interest than the arrival in its waters of the British frigate
Shannon with the captured United States frigate Chesapeake in
June, 1813. The war of 1812 was the culmination of a gradually
increasing animosity on the part of the United States against Eng-
land for the frequent exercise of the latter 's claim that she had a
right to impress British seamen or seamen asserted to be British
from on board United States merchant vessels wherever they might
be found. This alleged right the United States strongly disputed,
and England not yielding, at last the inevitable conflict came. One
of the United States vessels from which seamen had been taken was
the Chesapeake, the command of which at Boston in May, 1812, had
been given to Captain James Lawrence, who the year previous had
earned distinction as commander of another American ship, the
Hornet. Dn the 31st of May, 1813, on the Chesapeake, Lawrence
received a challenge from Captain Broke of the British frigate
Shannon, which was then cruising in Boston harbour, and although
the Chesapeake was poorly fitted for an engagement, chiefly owing
to the fact that she had an unreliable crew, the challenge was ac-
cepted and the next day the fight took place. The engagement be-
gan with fierce volleys of shots fired from the opposing ships simul-
taneously, the injury from which to the vessels themselves was
slight, but which caused on both a considerable loss of life. On the
Chesapeake, both Lawrence and his lieutenant, Augustus Ludlow,
were severely wounded, Lawrence having received his wound in the
leg. The anchor of the American ship fouling on one of the after
ports of the Shannon, the crew of the latter was able to board the
Chesapeake, and the sailors of this vessel " could not be made to
repel" the British crew. In the skirmish that ensued, Captain
Lawrence was mortally wounded by a musket shot and had to be car-
ried to the wardroom. While passing the gangway he cried to his
"Other interesting facts in this connexion than those we have here given including
a list of the naval commanders-in-chief who temporarily resided on this station between
1767 and 1891 will be found in an interesting article entitled "Dockyard Mem-
oranda," by Charles H. Stubbing, Esq., a former clerk in the Dockyard, published in the
Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, vol. 13, pp. 103-109. Some time
before 1759 Mr. Joseph Gerrish, formerly of Boston, older brother of Benjamin Ger-
rish, likewise of Halifax, was appointed naval storekeeper at the Dockyard, and this
position he held for a number of years. He received a salary for his work, of a hundred
pounds a year, and he had a clerk who received fifty pounds.
268
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
men " Don't give up the ship!" but the fate of the battle was de-
cided, and Lieutenant Ludlow, himself desperately and as it proved
mortally wounded, who had assumed command, quickly surrendered.
The Shannon with her prize then made for Halifax, but before she
could reach port Captain Lawrence died. In the engagement, sixty
men, including Captain Lawrence, of the American frigate's crew,
were killed, and eighty-three were wounded. Of the British frigate's
crew twenty-six were killed and fifty-seven, including Captain
Broke, were wounded. The ships arriving at Halifax, the Ches-
apeake's commander was buried with military honors in the burying
ground on Pleasant Street, his funeral taking place on the 8th of
June. On the 13th of June Lieutenant Ludlow died at Halifax, and
he too received military burial. Early in August both bodies were
disinterred and carried by Captain George Crowninshield, Jr., in
his own vessel, at his own expense, under a flag of truce to Salem,
Massachusetts, where on the 23rd of August they were given an-
other funeral. They were then carried over land to New York City
and buried in Trinity churchyard again with all the honors of war.
When the two ships reached Halifax Captain Lawrence's body was
landed under a discharge of minute guns at the King's Wharf,
whence it was carried probably directly to the burying ground on
Pleasant Street. On its way it was attended by the Chesapeake' s
surviving officers, the officers of the British army and navy on ser-
vice at Halifax, and many of the leading inhabitants of the town.
The pall was borne by six captains of the Royal navy, a military
band was in attendance, and three hundred men of the Sixty-fourth
regiment followed in the procession. The burial service was ren-
dered by the Rector of St. Paul's, the Reverend Robert Stanser,
D. D., after which three volleys were fired over the grave. Law-
rence's ship the Chesapeake was kept at Halifax until October, 1813,
when she was taken to England and probably put in commission in
the British service. In 1820 her timbers were sold to a miller of
Wickham, in Hants, by whom they were used in the construction of
a flour mill.12
"Captain James Lawrence was the youngest son of Judge John Lawrence, of Bur-
lington, New Jersey, and was born at Burlington, October i, 1781. He entered the navy
as a midshipman in 1798, received his lieutenancy in 1802, and was promoted captain and
assigned to the Hornet in 1811. He died on board the Chesapeake, June 6, 1813.
Lieutenant Ludlow, as we have said, died at Halifax, June 13, 1813. On the loth of
August, under a flag of truce Captain Crowninshield arrived at Halifax from Salem, and
with the bodies of the two officers left very soon. An interesting account of the battle
between the Shannon and the Chesapeake will be found in the late Theodore Roosevlt s
"The Naval War of 1812," New York, 1882.
269
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
In Trinity Churchyard, New York City, a little to the left of the
main entrance from Broadway stands a large granite sarcophagus,
on which the following inscription may be read :
"In Memory of CAPTAIN JAMES LAWBENCE, of the United States
Navy, who fell on the 1st day of June, 1813, in the 32nd year of his
age, in the action between the frigates Chesapeake and Shannon.
He was distinguished on various occasions, but especially when com-
manding the sloop of war Hornet he captured and sunk his Bri-
tannick Majesty's sloop of war Peacock, after a desperate action of
fourteen minutes. His bravery in action was equalled only by his
modesty in triumph and his magnanimity to the vanquished. In
private life He was a Gentleman of the most generous and endear-
ing qualities, the whole Nation mourned his loss and the Enemy con-
tended with his Countrymen who should most honour his remains. ' '
On the east end of the sarcophagus is inscribed the following:
"The Heroick Commander of the frigate Chesapeake, whose re-
mains are here deposited, expressed with his expiring breath his
devotion to his Country. Neither the fury of battle, the anguish of
a mortal wound, nor the horrors of approaching death could subdue
his gallant spirit. His dying words were: 'Don't Give Up The
Ship.' "
On the South side of the sarcophagus is inscribed: "In Memory
of LIEUTENANT AUGUSTUS C. LUDLOW, Born in Newburgh, 1792, Died
in Halifax, 1813. Scarcely was he 21 years of age, when like the
blooming Euryalus he accompanied his beloved Commander to bat-
tle. Never could it have been more truly said 'His amor unus erat,
pariterque in bella ruebant.' The favorite of Lawrence and sec-
ond in command, he emulated the patriotic valour of his friend on
the bloody decks of the Chesapeake, and when required, like him
yielded with courageous resignation his Spirit to Him who gave it. ' '
In the War of 1812, says Mrs. William Lawson, several United
States naval officers were taken prisoners and sent to Halifax for
safe keeping. These were generally quartered on the eastern side
of the harbour, and those of them who were on parole were lodged
in the farm houses in or near Preston and Dartmouth. They were
allowed perfect liberty of action, except in the matter of crossing
the ferry to Halifax, the town being the only point from which they
could hope to escape. They were all quiet, gentlemanlike men, and
were cordially entertained and much liked by the farmers and their
270
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
families, and they were not slow in making love to the girls, in
some cases engaging to marry them. Naturally, however, they
chafed at their internment, and when peace was declared were glad
to leave. The Preston farmers' daughters waited in vain for them
to return to marry them ; the faithless foreigners never fulfilled the
promises they had made "in the rosy twilight or under the glow of
the inconstant moon."
A year after the arrival at Halifax of the Shannon and Ches-
apeake, on the 5th of July, 1814, a British expedition was secretly
dispatched from Halifax harbour for the capture of Eastport,
Maine. Either lower down the harbour or at some point without, a
fleet six days from Bermuda joined the expedition, and together all
sailed for the Maine coast. The whole fleet now comprised the
Ramilies, having on board the commodore, Sir Thomas Hardy, the
Martin, a sloop-of-war, the big Borer, the Breame, the Terror, a
bomb ship, and several transports, on board of which was a very
considerable military force. On the llth of July the ships anchored
abreast of Eastport and the commodore at once demanded the sur-
render of the fort. The officer in command was Major Perley Put-
nam, of Salem, Massachusetts, and he at first refused the demand
and prepared to meet the assault. Through the earnest persuasion
of the inhabitants, however, he was reluctantly induced to order his
flag struck without resistance, and the British took possession of
the fort.
On the 26th of August of the same year, another expedition left
Halifax to seize Penobscot and Machias, Maine. The ships in this
fleet were three 74 's, the Dragon, the Spenser, and the Bulwark,
two frigates, the Burhante and the Tenedos, lately from the Medi-
terranean, two sloops of war, the Sylph and the Peruvian, an armed
schooner, the Pictu, a large tender, and ten transports. The number
of troops they carried was about 3,000, the land forces among which
were directly commanded by Major General Gosselin, with Lieuten-
ant-General Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, then and for nearly two
years longer lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia (under the gov-
ernor general of all the British provinces), in highest command.
The naval squadron was under command of Bear Admiral of the
White Edward Griffith. September 1st the fleet rode into the har-
fepjir^_C^tineand_anchored in sight of the fort. The troops in the
garrison, seeing resistance entirely vain, then blew up the fort and
271
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
fled for safety into the interior. For eight months the British held
this military post, but on the 25th of April, 1815, a treaty of peace
between England and the United States having been signed at
Ghent the previous December, they finally evacuated Castine, and
English power ceased forever in the whole of eastern Maine.13
The commanding officer of the Shannon when she came with her
prize the Chesapeake into Halifax harbour was a Halifax man. In
January, 1812, young Provo William Parry Wallis, who was born at
Halifax April 12, 1791, was appointed second lieutenant of the
Shannon, then commanded by Captain Philip Bowes Vere Broke.
Captain Broke being dangerously wounded in the Shannon's en-
gagement with the Chesapeake, and his first lieutenant being killed,
Wallis, although only a little over twenty-two, was left in command.
Admiral Sir Provo William Parry Wallis, G. C. B., as he afterwards
became, earning for himself in his long distinguished naval career
the title of "Father of the Fleet," was the son of an Englishman,
Provo Featherstone Wallis, who was chief clerk to the naval com-
missioner in Halifax, and his wife Elizabeth (Lawlor), grand-
daughter of Thomas Lawlor, one of the Bostonians who had settled
at Halifax in or shortly after 1749.
In the "Dictionary of National Biography" will be found a sketch
of Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, K. C. B., another Haligonian, who
was born in Halifax in 1799. Admiral Belcher's parents were the
Hon. Andrew and Marianne (Geyer) Belcher, his paternal grand-
father having been the first Chief Justice of Nova Scotia. In 1812
Belcher entered the navy as a midshipman, and six. years later he
was made a lieutenant. A great part of his active life was spent in
making naval surveys, but in 1852 he was appointed to command an
expedition to the arctic in search of Sir John Franklin. For such
a peculiarly difficult command he is said to have had "neither temper
nor tact," and in the enterprise, which was fruitless, he inspired
great dislike among his men. In making surveys he spent much
time in the Pacific and at Behring Straits, on the west and north
coasts of Africa, at Borneo, the Philippine Islands, and China, in
the Irish Sea, and on the west coast of both North and South Amer-
ica. He was made commander in 1829, advanced to post rank in
1841, received knighthood in 1843, attained his flag in 1861, and be-
came vice-admiral in 1866, and admiral in 1872. In 1867 he was
"See Williamson's "History of Maine," 2 vols., 1832.
272
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
further honoured with a K. C. B. The last part of his life he spent
quietly in scientific and literary occupations. Belcher published in
1835 "A Treatise on Nautical Surveying," in 1843 " Narrative of a
Voyage round the World in H. M. Ship Sulphur during the years
1836-1842;" in 1848 "Narrative of the Voyage of H. M. Ship Sam-
arang," in 1855 "The Last of the Arctic Voyages," and in 1856 a
three volume novel entitled "Horatio Howard Brenton, a Naval
Novel." In 1867 he edited Sir W. H. Smyth's "Sailors' Word
Book." He died March 18, 1817,
Two other famous British naval officers were born near Halifax.
These were Admiral Philip Westphal and Captain Sir George Au-
gustus Westphal, sons of George Westphal, Esq., a retired German
army officer, one of the first grantees of and settlers in the township
of Preston. Admiral Philip Westphal, the elder of these men,, was
born at Preston in 1782, and entered the British navy in 1794. From
1794 to 1802 he served successively on the Oiseau, the Albatross, the
Shannon, the Asia, and the Blanche, one of the frigates with Nel-
son at Copenhagen. For his share in this action he was promoted
to a lieutenancy and placed on the Defiance. In May, 1802, he wa8
appointed to the Amazon, with Nelson, off Toulon. After much
more service, in June, 1815, he was made commander. From the
Kent, on July 22, 1830, he was advanced to post rank. In 1847, he
was retired on a Greenwich Hospital pension, rising in due course,
on the retired list, in 1855 to be rear-admiral, in 1862 to be vice-
admiral, and in 1866 to be admiral. He died at Byde, March 16,
1880.
Admiral Sir George Augustus Westphal, younger brother of Ad-
miral Philip Westphal, was born at Preston either March 27 or
July 26, 1785. He entered the navy on board the Porcupine frigate
on the North American station in 1798. He afterward served on the
home station and in the West Indies, in March, 1803, joining the
Amphion, which carried Nelson out to the Mediterranean. Off
Toulon he was moved into the Victory, in which ship he was wound-
ed at the battle of Trafalgar. While he was lying in the cockpit
after receiving his wound, Nelson's coat, hastily rolled up, was put
under his head for a pillow. It is related that some of the bullions
of the epaulettes got entangled in his hair, and that the blood from
his wound as it dried fastened them there so that several of them
had to be cut off before the coat could be released. These bullions
273
CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Westphal long treasured as mementoes of Nelson. After much dis-
tinguished service in many places, he was in 1819 advanced to post
rank. In May, 1822, he was appointed to the Jupiter, in which he
carried Lord Amherst to India. On his return to England, in 1824,
he was knighted. He was advanced in regular gradation to be
rear-admiral in 1851, vice-admiral in 1857, and admiral in 1863. He
died at Hove, Brighton, January 11, 1875. He married in 1817,
Alicia, widow of William Chambers."
The Cunard Steamship Company, as is well known, was founded
by Sir Samuel Cunard, Bart., a Halifax merchant, and for a long
time Halifax was the first stopping place for the Cunard ships on
this side of the Atlantic. The story of the Cunard enterprise will
appear in another chapter of this history.
"For the brothers Westphal, see Mrs. William Lawson's "History of Dartmouth,
Preston, and Lawrencetown," Halifax County, pp. 201-205.
274
JANUARY, 1915
AMERICANA
CONTENTS
PAGE
Rhode Island Settlers on the French Lands in Nova Scotia
in 1760 and 1761.
By Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, D. C. L. . 1
For Conscience Sake.
By Cornelia Mitchell Parsons 44
History of the Mormon Church. Chapter CXIV.
By Brigham H. Roberts 52
I. M. GREENE, Editor.
JOSIAH COLLINS PUMPELLY, A. M., LL.B., Member Publication
Committee New York Genealogical and Biographical So-
ciety, Associate Editor.
VICTOR HUGO DURAS, D. C. L., M. Diplomacy, Historian of the
American Group of the Interparliamentary Union of the
Congress of the United States, Contributing Editor.
Published by the National Americana Society,
DAVID I. NELKE, President and Treasurer,
131 East 23rd Street,
New York, N. Y.
Copyright, 1915, by
THE NATIONAL AMERICANA SOCIETY
Entered at the New York Postoffice as Second-class Mail Matter
All rights reserved.
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW
AMERICANA
January, 1915
Rhode Island Settlers on the French Lands
in Nova Scotia in 1760 and 1761
BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, D. C. L.
"Still stands the forest primeval ; but under the shade of its branches
Dwells another race, with other customs and language."
— LoNGrHLLOW.
AN episode of New England history that has hitherto
been only slightly touched upon by writers in the
United States, or even in Canada, is the very consider-
able migration from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
Rhode Island, to the maritime province of Nova Scotia, shortly
after the tragical expulsion of the Acadians in 1755. In the issue
of Americana for December, 1913, the writer of this article gave
a lengthy sketch of the career of an extraordinary man named
Alexander McNutt, who between 1759 and 1766 made heroic but
for the most part futile efforts to settle the depopulated lands
and the yet uncultivated parts of the beautiful province that
for a century and more after its first colonization by the French,
had borne the musical name Acadia. In the same writer's re-
cent " History of King's County, Nova Scotia, Heart of the
Acadian Land," and in a paper on the settlement of Colchester
County, Nova Scotia, published still later, in the Transactions of
the Eoyal Society of Canada, many details are given of the con-
spicuous migration from New England of which we have spoken.
McNutt 's enthusiasm for the Nova Scotia lands, and his glowing
visions of widespread settlements thereon, were shared to the
full by many groups of New Englanders as soon as the procla-
mation was issued inviting settlement in this historic British pos-
session, and by the close of 1761 the province was richer in popu-
(i)
2 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
lation by some ten thousand souls, probably, than it had been at
the beginning of 1759.
With a rapidly increasing varied population, active in all the
great enterprises that engage the attention and stimulate the
powers of modern men, spreading today enthusiastically through-
out the several provinces of the Dominion of Canada from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, it is as interesting as it is necessary to
recall in detail the first permanent British settlement of any part
of Canada. Thirty-three years before the first bands of Ameri-
can Loyalists, all Britons to the core, began to occupy the rich
unsettled country along the Bay of Quinte and in the Niagara
peninsula, the province of Nova Scotia welcomed to the shores
of its Chebucto Bay the very earliest group of permanent Brit-
ish settlers in the whole Dominion. In 1749, the Hon. Edward
Cornwallis brought out the English colony that established the
town and fortress of Halifax, which as a civil and military
stronghold it was intended should henceforth serve as a bulwark
against French aggression in eastern America, and, in counter-
poise to Louisburg, as a strong strategic centre from which
necessary defensive, or if need be offensive, warlike operations,
might be carried on. The capture of Fort Beausejour, in Nova
Scotia, and the forcible removal of the French population in gen-
eral from this province, both occurred, it will be remembered, in
1755, and the final seizure of Louisburg in 1758, and the historic
fall of Quebec in 1759, at last gave England supreme control in
Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Canada, and brought the long de-
sired day of opportunity for permanent British settlement in
these provinces fully to dawn.
When the removal of French influence from Nova Scotia was
fully accomplished, the Governor and Council of the Province, as
we have intimated, made public proclamation in New England
of their desire to give large grants to New England families will-
ing to emigrate, and the result was that before the end of 1761
many Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island towns had
witnessed the removal of numbers of their best inhabitants to
this ancient province by the sea. In this New England migra-
tion began the modern settlement of the beautiful Nova Scotia
country that borders Minas and Annapolis Basins, and Chignec-
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 3
to Bay, and that stretches to the interior for many miles from
the picturesque wave-washed southeastern Atlantic shore. That
no other single British migration into any part of Canada, at
any time, has so powerfully and with such lasting results influ-
enced the destiny of British America we believe may safely be
asserted. Even the great Loyalist migration of 1776 to 1784,
large as it was, we cannot regard as having such permanent influ-
ence on Canada as this pre-Revolutionary exclusively New Eng-
land settlement in Nova Scotia in 1760 and 1761.
Hants County, Nova Scotia, with the adjoining county of
Kings, and perhaps part of Annapolis, may be said to constitute
what has long been currently known as the "Garden of Nova
Scotia." King's and Hants Counties, rich in agricultural pro-
ducts, covered now with glorious apple orchards, whose blos-
soms in June are veritable
"Banks of bloom on a billowy plain,"
border the blue Basin of Minas, and seem to claim the special
protection of the white-mist-wreathed cliff, Blomidon, which
rears its head like a tall turbanned sheik at the entrance of the
Basin and watches in somnolent silence the daily rush, forward
and backward, of the never ceasing currents of Fundy's tireless
tides. King's County was settled chiefly from eastern Connecti-
cut, as Cumberland, Annapolis, Queen's and part of Shelburne
were from Massachusetts, but Hants County received its fine
population in very great part from the pleasant State of Rhode
Island, a little less than two decades, however before Rhode
Island became a State. Hants County lies east, west and south
along the Avon river, a stream which flows into Minas Basin ; it
is intersected also by the rivers St. Croix, Hebert, and Kennet-
cook. In French times part of the county was a region of inde-
terminate extent known as Pisiquid, and Judge Haliburton, a
distinguished native of the county, in his well known History of
Nova Scotia, tells us, as we know from many other sources, that
it was a part of Acadia held in great estimation by the habitants,
who valued, as they might well do, its priceless alluvial dyke-
lands, some portions of which they inclosed from the sea, and
4 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
its rich upland meadows, on which they raised fine crops of
wheat and other grains, in part for the eager Bostonians, whose
bread-needs afforded them the nearest markets they had.1 At
the time of the Acadian deportation, as Lieutenant-Colonel John
Winslow's journal shows, Pisiquid occupied with Minas the
chief place in the attention of the authorities at Halifax, and
Captain Alexander Murray, who held command at Fort Edward,
the little fort which had been erected five years before at what is
now the town of Windsor, was for some time in constant com-
munication with Winslow at Minas, to whom he made frequent
detailed reports of the progress of his measures for capturing
the unfortunate Pisiquid French. It was within the confines of
this Pisiquid fort, indeed, that the two commanders together
drew up the fatal proclamation from the King informing the
terrified people in both Hants and Kings that it was the govern-
ment's settled purpose to exile them permanently from their
homes.2
The establishment of townships within the limits of the five
first formed counties of Nova Scotia slightly antedates the erec-
tion of the counties. The oldest townships of King's County,
Horton and Cornwallis, were established (though the first grants
were nullified in 1761) on the 21st of May, 1759, while Falmouth,
the oldest of the townships that later came to form Hants Coun-
ty, was set apart on the 21st of July, 1759. The County of King's
was erected by the Council on the 17th of August, 1759, its limits
embracing besides the present King's, a corner of Lunenburg, al-
most if not quite the whole of Hants, more than a third of Col-
chester, and about half of Cumberland. Little by little the coun-
ty was reduced in size, until by the cutting off of Parrsborough
in 1840, and the distribution of this township between Colchester
and Cumberland, only the present territory remained to King's.
The History of King's County, that is, chiefly the present
1. See "An Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia," by Judge
Haliburton (1829), p. 100. The name Pisiquid, which the French gave the region
is also spelled Piziguet, Pigiquit, Piziquid, Pizeqiut and Pizaquid. Judge Halibur-
ton says this name, in its various spellings, is an Indian word signifying the junc-
tion of two rivers (the Avon and St. Croix).
2. By the early part of November, 1755, Lieut. Col. Winslow had sent off, in
nine vessels, 1,510 Acadians of the Minas and River Canard districts, while Cap-
tain Murray's activity had resulted in the deportation of 1,100 persons, "in four
frightfully crowded transports," from the district of Pisiquid.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 5
King's, was published, as we have said, by the writer of this
paper, in a large volume in 1910,3 but since Falmouth and its sis-
ter townships, Newport and Windsor, were in 1781 removed
from King's and organized as Hants, the history of these town-
ships is but slightly touched upon in that book. The writer's
present purpose, therefore, is to give somewhat in detail the
story of the settlement, in large part from Rhode Island, of the
Hants County townships of Falmouth and Newport, and to re-
cord some important facts concerning the peopling of the third
early Hants township, the inhabitants of which were of rather
more varied origin, the township of Windsor.
In the late spring or early summer of 1781, the three then
King's County townships we have just mentioned petitioned to
be erected into an independent county, and on the 17th of June
of that year, the Governor and Council granted their petition. A
Council minute of this date says: "On the memorial of the In-
habitants of the towns of Windsor, Falmouth, and Newport,
praying the said towns may be erected into a separate county,
owing to the distance between said towns and Horton, the county
town in King's County, which creates great difficulty to the in-
habitants and expense to them in crossing the Rivers to attend
the county business, whereupon it was resolved that the said
Townships of Windsor, Falmouth, and Newport, and the lands
contiguous thereunto, be erected into a County to be known by
the name of the County of Hants." In the Crown Land Office in
Halifax we find the following description of Hants County's
bounds :4 ' ' Beginning at the bounds between Horton and Fal-
mouth, Pizaquid River now called Avon, thence to run South
30 degrees East [words missing] Thence in a Right line to the
Bridge on Shubenacadie River, Thence to Run down the Shu-
benacadie River passing through the lake commonly called the
Grand Lake to the mouth or Confluence of that River with Col-
chester Bay. Thence down the said Bay and up the River Avon
3. This volume, which comprises, with a carefully made index, over 900 pages,
was published by the Salem Press, Salem, Massachusetts, late in 1910.
4. Crown Land Description Book 4, folio 112. Hants County covers an area
of 786,560 acres, the adjoining county. King's, of 552,960. The present population
of Hants is reported to be (in 1911) 19,703; of King's, 21,780. In religion 'Hants
has 5,742 Presbyterians, 4,218 Methodists, 3.722 Baptists, and 3,631 Anglicans.
6 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
to the bounds first Mentioned." How the name Hants came to
be given the county, whether some one or more of the important
early grantees of Windsor may have had a special interest in the
English Hants and requested it, or whether the name was chos-
en by the Council at Halifax, we cannot now tell.
The townships regularly organized and existing within the
limits of Hants county in 1781, as we have seen, were but three,
but in time three others were more or less formally created:
Rawdon, bounded by Douglas on the north and east, and New-
port on the south and west, on the 3d of August, 1784 ; Douglas,
which included the Kennetcook river, the Five Mile river, the
Nine Mile river, and the land along their courses, together with
the Gore settlements, also in 1784; and Kempt, a region com-
prising 80,000 acres, which adjoined Maitland to the west and
bordered on the Basin of Minas, east of the mouth of the Avon,
(though much earlier settled) not until 1825.
On Johnston's topographical map of Canada, published in
1874, Maitland also is given as a township, but in Judge Hali-
burton's description of Hants County, Maitland, bordering on
Cobequid Bay and the Shubenacadie river, is properly included
in Douglas. The scope of the present paper forbids any lengthy
description of the settlement of the last three of these acknowl-
edged Hants County townships, but of the settlement of two of
them, Rawdon and Douglas, a few words may here be said.4% The
extent of Rawdon was 24,000 acres, and the first settlers were
soldiers who had served under Lord Rawdon, afterward Mar-
quis of Hastings, in South Carolina, in the war of the American
Revolution. It was thus, of course, that the township received
its name. The township of Douglas was bounded on the north
and east by Cobequid Bay and the river Shubenacadie, south by
the county of Halifax, and west by Rawdon and Newport, the
extent of its territory being 105,000 acres. Douglas was granted
(in 1784, as we have said) to Lieutenant Colonel Small,4% for the
4/4. In appendix No. V we have given a list of the Rawdon grantees.
4^4- Lieut-Col. John Small, born in Scotland in 1726, entered the 42d High-
land regiment, as ensign 29 August, 1747, and as lieutenant served in America under
Abercrombie, and in the West Indies. He received his captaincy in 1762. June 14,
I77S, he was commissioned major to raise a corps of Highlanders in Nova
Scotia to serve in the Revolution. With this force, we suppose, he served at the
battle of Bunker Hill. Later he was appointed major commanding the 2d battalion
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 7
location of the disbanded Second battalion of the 84th regiment,
which he had commanded under Sir Henry Clinton in New
York from 1779. Of the township of Kempt, Judge Haliburton
says : ' ' The upland here is indifferent, and the interval was the
principal attraction to the first inhabitants, who were Ameri-
cans that had enlisted in the 84th regiment while it was stationed
on Long Island, New York.5 In 1879 the county of Hants was
divided for purposes of representation and local government
into two municipalities, and the ancient township divisions tech-
nically disappeared.
Details like these are tiresome, but they are necessary to be
remembered if we would know fully the story of the settlement
from Rhode Island in Nova Scotia in 1761. Since the time of
the Revolution, when the Nova Scotia government by strong,
determined measures kept the province under its control from
joining, as a large portion of its people would have been willing
to have it do, in the movement for independence, the province-
by-the-sea has been to United States people a foreign country,
but from the establishment of the colony of Massachusetts Bay
until the Revolution, Nova Scotia was in close alliance with
Massachusetts, and, through all the political changes the Acadian
province underwent, to the time of the complete destruction of
French power within its borders, the Massachusetts authorities
kept its interests closely at heart. A chapter of local history
that has never fully been written but that offers an interesting
field for searchers among the records of the past is the story of
the mild adventures of the little garrison at Annapolis Royal
from the capture of this historic fortress by Nicholson in 1710
to the establishment of civil government at Halifax and the re-
moval of the chief military power to that place, in 1749. The
record of land-granting in Nova Scotia from 1759 to the end of
the Revolutionary period in America is another subject that
has in it also distinct elements of romance, but land granting in
of the 84th Royal Engineers, with part cf which in 1779 he joined the army
under Sir Henry Clinton at New York. In 1780 he was made lieut.-col., 18 Nov..
1790, col., in 1793 Lieut.-Gov. of Guernsey, and 3 Oct., 1794, major-general. He
died in Guernsey, 17 March, 1796. See Diet, of National Biography and Appleton's
Encyclopoedia of Am. Biography.
5. These settlers were probably part of the troops under Col. Small's com-
mand in the Revolution.
8 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
the province began while the Annapolis garrison still exercised
control over the wild lands of the province, and indeed over the
tilled farms of the industrious French, for on the 13th of No-
vember, 1735, Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence Armstrong, who
was chief in the garrison, announced to his councillors "that
having had two Scrawls of Grants from Mr. Secretary, vizt.,
One for Lands to be granted at Chiconito [Chignecto], and the
other for lands to be also granted at Menis or Piziguet, he
thought it necessary to lay the matter before the board for their
consideration." The grants were then given, in 1736, the Gov-
ernor and Council deciding that the "Township" to be settled
at Piziguet should be called "Harrington in the parish of Har-
rington, "5l/2 that each grant, at Chiconito or Piziguet, should
comprise 100,000 acres, and that the grantees should be re-
quired to place on their grants a certain number of settlers, to
make the grants operative. Undoubtedly the grantees, who
were naturally members of the military government, Armstrong
himself being one, were unable to fulfil the important condition
requiring settlement of their grants, and in 1759, when the in-
tending New England settlers in Hants County desired grants,
the Council at Halifax, that ten years before had supplanted the
Military Council at Annapolis Koyal, announced that the ear-
lier grants at "Piziguet" were no longer in force, for the gran-
tees, Brigadier-General Richard Philipps, Lieutenant-Governor
Lawrence Armstrong and "other official persons," had never
fulfilled the terms of their grants, which therefore must now be
formally escheated to the Crown.
The expulsion of the French from Nova Scotia in 1755, com-
memorated by Longfellow in his famous poem Evangeline, was
a drastic measure that the Lords of Trade in England and the
local authorities at Halifax at last came to feel necessary for
the carrying out of an intention that at a much earlier time had,
with more or less distinctness, taken shape in their minds, to
See Nova Scotia Archives (printed), Vol. 3, pp. 327, 328.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 9
settle the province preponderating^ with people of British
stock. The removal was accomplished,
— "on the falling tide the freighted vessels departed,
Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, into exile,
Exile without an end, and without an example in story, ' '
and when the French were gone and the government had leisure
to carry out its own wishes and the wish of the Home Govern-
ment, as also that of its neighbour colony of Massachusetts, in
reference to British settlement of the province, the Nova Scotia
Council in 1758, under direct instructions from England, adopt-
ed a proclamation relative to settling the vacant lands through-
out the province, both those lands that had formerly been occu-
pied and tilled by the French, and those that had never hitherto
been settled at all. The proclamation stated that by the de-
struction of French power in Cape Breton and Nova Scotia the
enemy who had formerly disturbed and harassed the province
and obstructed its progress had been obliged to retire to Can-
ada, and that thus a favourable opportunity was presented ' * for
peopling and cultivating as well the lands vacated by the French
as every other part of this valuable province." Proposals for
settlement, it was announced, would be received by Mr. Thomas
Hancock of Boston, and Messrs. DeLancey and Watts of New
York, and would be transmitted to the Governor of Nova Sco-
tia, or in his absence to the Lieutenant-Governor, or the Presi-
dent of the Council.
The next step was to have the proclamation issued, and ac-
cordingly on the 12th of October, 1758, the Council caused it to
be published in the Boston Gazette? As soon as the proclama-
tion appeared the Boston agent was plied with questions as to
what terms of encouragement would be offered settlers, how
much land each person would receive, what quit-rent and taxes
were to be exacted, what constitution of government prevailed
in the province, and what freedom in religion settlers would be
allowed. The result of these inquiries was that at a meeting of
6. It seems that posters or flyers were also printed, for Rev. Dr. John Forrest
of Halifax has told the writer that he had one of these.
io RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
the Council held on Thursday, January 11, 1759, a second proc-
lamation was approved, in which the Governor stated that he
was empowered to make grants of the best lands in the province,
that a hundred acres of wild wood-land would be given each
head of a family and fifty acres additional for each person in
his family, young or old, male or female, black or white, subject
to a quit-rent of one shilling for every fifty acres, the rent to
begin, however, not until ten years after the issuing of the
grant. The grantees must cultivate or inclose one-third of their
land in ten years, one-third more in twenty years, and the re-
mainder in thirty years. No quantity above a thousand acres,
however, would be granted to any one person. On fulfilment of
the terms of the first grant the person receiving it should be
entitled to another on similar conditions.
The lands on the Bay of Fundy were to be distributed "with
proportions of interval plow land, mowing land, and pasture,"
which lands for more than a hundred years had produced abun-
dant crops of wheat, rye, barley, oats, hemp, and flax, without
ever needing to be manured. The government of Nova Scotia,
it was declared, was constituted like that of the neighbouring
New England colonies, the legislature consisting of a governor,
a council, and an assembly. As soon as the people were settled,
townships of a hundred thousand acres each, or about twelve
miles square, would be formed, and each township would be en-
titled to send two representatives to the assembly. The courts
of justice were constituted like those of Massachusetts, Connec-
ticut, and other northern colonies; and as to religion, both by
His Majesty's instructions and by a late act of the assembly full
liberty of conscience was secured to persons of all persuasions,
Papists alone excepted. Settlers were to be amply protected in
their homes, for forts garrisoned with royal troops had already
been established in close proximity to the lands proposed to be
settled.7
The reponse to the Governor's proclamations, throughout New
England was widespread and prompt. In April, 1759, a large
number of persons in Connecticut and Ehode Island8 signified
7. See for virtually this same account, Eaton's "History of King's County,"
PP. 59-6i.
8. The number is given as 330.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA n
their intention, if the conditions were as favorable as had been
represented, of removing to the country about the Basin of Min-
as left vacant by the departure of the French. Accordingly they
sent as agents to confer with the Governor9 and personally view
the lands five men, Messrs. (Major) Robert Denison, Jonathan
Harris, Joseph Otis, and Amos Fuller, of Connecticut, and Mr.
John Hicks of Ehode Island, all men of worth and standing in
the towns where they lived. That these agents might be thor-
oughly informed concerning the lands about the Basin, the
Council sent them in an armed vessel, with an officer of artillery
and eight soldiers, the government surveyor, Mr. Charles Mor-
ris, accompanying the party, round the southern coast of the
province and up the Bay of Fundy. At Grand Pre and Pisi-
quid they disembarked, in the latter district finding many of the
houses and barns of the exiled French still standing.10 It was
now about the middle of May and the rich dykes and uplands
showing unmistakable signs of great fertility and in their early
summer greenness so impressed the agents that as soon as they
reached Halifax again they entered into an agreement with the
Governor and Council to settle two townships, Horton, the
French "Minas," and Cornwallis, the French "River Canard."
Two of the agents, Messrs. Hicks and Fuller, also laid before
the authorities "some proposals for settling part of a township
at Pisiquid, desiring that a sufficient quantity of lands there
might be reserved for them until the last day of July next, by
which time they proposed to return a list of the names of the
persons whom they should engage as settlers."11 In recogni-
tion of this proposal the Council resolved that lands lying on
the north side of the river Pisiquid should be reserved for the
g. This was Colonel Charles Lawrence, who was appointed lieutenant-gover-
nor July 17, 1750, and was made governor July 23, 1756. He was energetic in the
removal of the Acadians, and in the subsequent settling of the province from New
England. He died in office on Saturday, October n, 1760, and was succeeded in
1761 by Henry Ellis, Esq., who had been governor of Georgia. Lawrence's prede-
cessors in the civil government of Nova Scotia were Col. the Hon. Edward Corn-
wallis and Col. Peregrine Thomas Hopson. A sketch of Governor Lawrence by
Dr. Thomas B. Akins will be found in vol. 2 of the Collections of the Nova
Scotia Historical Society.
10. At Grand Pre and River Canard the buildings were almost without excep-
tion burned, in the district of Pisiquid for some reason Captain Murray left them
standing.
it. The date of the Council meeting at which this proposal was made was
May 21, 1759.
12 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IX NOVA SCOTIA
applicants and their associates, provided a list of the intending
settlers should be presented on or before the last day of July of
that year, and that the agents should engage to settle fifty fam-
ilies on or before the first day of September, 1760. The Council
on its part promised that the settlers, when they should come,
should receive all manner of protection and countenance from
His Majesty's troops, and should have the same advantage in
respect to transportation of themselves and their families, and
their stock, as had been proposed in the case of the families in-
tending to settle the townships of Horton and Cornwallis. At the
Council meeting at which these declarations were made the
grants of Horton and Cornwallis also were ordered to pass the
seal of the province, and two months later, on the 21st of July,
the township of Falrnouth, covering a large part of the inde-
terminate region known as Pisiquid, and comprising 50,000
acres, was formally set apart. 12 On the 16th of July, as the
Council minutes reveal, Mr. John Hicks, in pursuance of the
agreement made by him and Mr. Fuller with the Council on the
21st of the preceding May delivered a list of the persons who
proposed to settle Falmouth, and a grant ofN this third Minas
Basin township was ordered to be made out. By the govern-
ment surveyor, the three new townships were soon properly sur-
veyed, but in each case the first grant was a little later rescind-
ed. The reason for the withdrawal of these first grants we have
nowhere seen officially stated, but it seems almost certain that it
was chiefly because a considerable number of the first intending
grantees changed their minds about coming to Nova Scotia, de-
ciding to remain in their New England homes.
In a minute of Council of October 26, 1759, the fact is al-
luded to that some of the lands in Pisiquid, including part
of Falmouth, had over twenty years before been granted to
persons at Annapolis Royal and now had to be formally es-
12. Before the townships of Horton, Cornwallis, and Falmouth were organized,
the following townships, and these only, existed in Nova Scotia : Halifax, Lunen-
burg, Dartmouth, Lawrence Town (in Halifax County), Annapolis Royal, and
Cumberland. The limits of these six earliest townships were provisionally fixed by
the Council, and representation in the Assembly given them, January 3, 1757. Nova
Scotia Archives, Vol. I, pp. 718, 719. Falmouth was probably named in recogni-
tion of the famous Admiral Boscawen, 3rd son of Hugh, 1st Viscount Falmouth,
and brother of Hugh, and Viscount. Admiral Boscawen died January 10, 1761.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 13
cheated before they could be granted to others. The minute
reads : ' ' Mr. Amos Fuller and others having made application
for lands for a township situated on Pisiquid River, upon
searching the old Records of the Province it appeared that a
part of the said Lands had been granted away in the year 1736,
to Brigadier General Richard Philipps, Lieutenant-Governor
Lawrence Armstrong and others, and a copy of the Deed where-
by the same were Granted being read and taken into considera-
tion, the Council are of opinion that the Grantees have failed
to perform the several conditions of the said Grant, and that
the Lands are thereby forfeited to the Crown." They therefore
advise the formal escheating of their lands, l i that the crown may
be enabled to grant the said lands to the above persons, who
are desirous immediately to cultivate and improve them."
At the meeting of Council held on the 16th of July, 1759, when
Mr. John Hicks presented his list of intending settlers, it was
debated whether or not it would be better to transport the set-
tlers from Connecticut that autumn to Horton and Cornwallis,
or whether it would not be advisable and expedient to post-
pone their removal until the following spring, "on account of
the French and Indians being more numerous and aggressive
than previously." To settle the matter, Mr. Hicks was called in
and asked his opinion. He gave as his judgment that the peo-
ple would rather wait, whereupon the Council advised that
arrangements for the transportation of the people for these
townships should be deferred. Although Falmouth is not
included with Horton and Cornwallis in this minute of Council
concerning the postponement of the settlement of King's County,
in a letter to the Lords of Trade of September 20, 1759, Gover-
nor Lawrence says: "As the reasons for postponing the Set-
tlements of Minas, Canard and Pisiquid until the next Spring
are fully explained in the Council records of July 16th, I need
not repeat them here, but it may be necessary for your Lord-
ships information to observe that tho' the Settlers grants run
to 500 acres to a family, there are only 25, or thereabouts, of
cleared Land in each Grant."
The actual migration from Rhode Island to Hants County
seems to have begun early in the spring of 1760, for in May of
14 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
that year Governor Lawrence reports that forty families have
come to settle "in the direction of Annapolis, Minas and Pizi-
quid." In May the sloop Sally, Jonathan Lovett, master, is re-
corded to have brought from Newport, Rhode Island, to Pal-
mouth, thirty-five persons, and the sloop Lydia, Samuel Toby,
master, twenty- three more.12V2 In a letter to the Lords of Trade
of April 10, 1761, Lieutenant-Governor Belcher says : ' l The
three Townships of Horton, Cornwallis, and Falmouth will have
their compliment [sic] of settlers this spring, and a considera-
ble addition will be made to Annapolis, Granville, and Liver-
pool, and with little or no expence to the Government."13 July
2, 1762, he writes that since his "last address" many settlers
have come to the townships of Barrington, Yarmouth, Truro,
Onslow, and Newport, and have brought credentials with them
of their industry and knowledge of husbandry.
The details of the movement in Ehode Island for settlement
in Nova Scotia we are left in great measure to imagine. The
proclamations of Governor Lawrence must have produced great
excitement in many towns, and one of the chief topics of con-
versation about Narragansett Bay for many months must have
been the offer of rich lands about the Bay of Fundy and Minas
Basin to any reputable settler who would apply for lands. In
his long letter to the Lords of Trade of December 12, 1760, Lieu-
tenant-Governor Belcher says that great opposition had been
manifested in New England (he says "on the Continent") to
people's coming to Nova Scotia, but how general this opposi-
tion was or where it most manifested itself we have no means
of knowing. The lands in Nova Scotia, Belcher declares had
been depreciated in New England, and men had even been
pressed into military service against the French to prevent
their migrating. It is of course not an intentional omission on
the part of local historians, but yet it seems strange that so
i2l/2. March 10, 1760, the Nova Scotia Council "did advise that His Excellency
should as soon as may be take up such transports either here or at Connecticut as
may be necessary to assist the Province Vessels in the transport of those Settlers
who are to be brought at the Government's Expence."
13. In a letter to the Lords of Trade written November 3, 1761, Belcher says :
"The Towns of Onslow and Truro in the District of Cobequid, of Cumberland in
that of Chignecto, of Annapolis Royal and Granville, have been settled in the
course of this summer with one hundred and fifty Families, by the return of the
chief surveyor to me."
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 15
large a migration of prominent families from Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island towns should have left so little
record as it has done in New England history. In our History
of King's County we have spoken of the slight though signifi-
cant mentions made by Miss Caulkins and Macy in their histor-
ies respectively of New London and Norwich, and Nantucket,
of the Connecticut and Nantucket Island migrations.131/2 Arn-
old's History of Rhode Island tells us that there was "an exten-
sive emigration from New England to Nova Scotia," probably
in 1760, about a hundred persons going from the town of New-
port alone.14 In Rhode Island court records of 1762, also, we
find it stated that many of his Majesty's good subjects born in
this colony had removed to other places. In 1729 Rhode Island
had been divided into three counties, Newport, comprising the
Islands with New Shoreham; Providence, including the town of
that name, Warwick, and East Greenwich; and King's, includ-
ing North and South Kingstown, with Westerly, the shire being-
South Kingstown; and from each of these original counties and
from many towns in the counties important families embarked
for the Nova Scotia shores. From Newport, Tiverton, Little
Compton, Portsmouth, Middletown, Warwick, East and West
Greenwich, and both the Kingstowns, it is probable, the Nova
Scotia settlement was reinforced, but if we can judge from a
casual tracing of the families who migrated it would seem that
Newport, Little Compton, and the Kingstowns sent the most.
The expulsion of the Acadians, as we know, has stirred poet-
ical imagination as few other incidents of American history have
done, but the migration from New England also has had recent
commemoration in verse, for the human interest in it is vital
and strong. Of the coming of the Connecticut people from the
port of New London, and the Rhode Island people from Nar-
ragansett Bay, to the regions of Grand Pre, Riviere aux Ca-
nards, and Pisiquid one poet has sung :
"They come as came the Hebrews into their promised land,
Not as to rocky Plymouth shores came first the Pilgrim band,
The Minas fields were fruitful, and the Gaspereau had borne
To seaward many a vessel with its freight of golden corn.
2. History of King's County, Nova Scotia, pp. 61, 62.
14. "History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,' by
Samuel Greene Arnold (1860), Vol. 2, pp. 233, 494. The Rhode Island court
record given above is also quoted by Arnold.
16 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
"They come as Puritans, but who shall say their hearts are blind
To the subtle charms of nature, and the love of human kind,
New England's rigorous creeds have warped their native faith, 'tis true,
But human creeds can never wholly Heaven's work undo,
"And tears fall fast from many an eye, long time unused to weep,
For o'er the fields lie whitening the bones of cows and sheep,
The faithful flocks that used to feed upon the broad Grand Pre,
And with their tinkling bells come slowly home at close of day."
But no poet can ever fully picture the emotions of any peo-
ple, especially people of such fine mould as the Rhode Island
people of this migration, in leaving loved old homes for perma-
nent residence in lands that are to them utterly strange and new.
Of the vessels that brought the people from Rhode Island to
Nova Scotia, and of the men who captained the ships, we have
been able to gain some information.15 One of the captains who
was most active in transporting the people was Captain John
Taggart, who himself, with two mates, a pilot, a gunner, and
eighteen men, at some time during the migration period com-
manded the brig Snow. Captain Taggart 's services were highly
commended by Mr. Belcher in a letter to the Lords of Trade of
December 21st, 1760. Belcher writes: "As Captain Taggart has
been very diligent and usefull on the Continent in assisting and
promoting the Embarkation of the Settlements, I would beg
leave to recommend his services to your Lordship's considera-
tion." The total expense to the Government of Captain Tag-
gart's services "in hiring vessels and transporting passengers,"
was £3,014.12.111/4, for which Taggart drew on Thomas Han-
cock, Esq., at Boston. A vessel that is conspicuously mentioned
as bringing food for the settlers was the brigantine Montague,
Captain Rogers, whose crew consisted of a mate, a pilot, and
eighteen men. This vessel after unloading provisions for the
people of Horton and Cornwallis, in her passage through the
river Canard ran upon a bank of mud and was "overset so
deep" that she became a total loss. To take her place a new
vessel was purchased at a cost of five hundred pounds. Besides
these vessels we have the sloop Diamond, Peter Rogers, master ;
the sloop Dispatch; the sloop Dragon, Joseph Normand, master ;
15. More or less of this information we have gleaned from accounts appended
to the Nova Scotia Governor Lawrence's correspondence concerning the settlement,
with the English Lords of Trade.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 17
the Hoi ton Packet; the sloop Lidia, Jonathan Molony, master;
the sloop Lucy, James Cox, master ; the schooner Monkton, Sol-
omon Tripp, master ; the schooner Norwich, Packett (1) Trapp,
master; the schooner Pilot, with a master and four men; the
Province Brig, Captain Rogers; the sloop Rain-Bow, Jacob
Kurd, master; the sloop Sally (either this vessel or another
Sally, had as master Jeffrey Grossman), Jonathan Bardock,
master ; the sloop Speedwell, Seth Harding, master ; the schoon-
er Warren; the sloop Wolfe, Joseph Winship, master ; the sloop
Yarmouth; and the sloop York, Captain Cobb, with also a mate,
a pilot, and eighteen men. We have also a record of William
Rockville's carrying thirty-five settlers to Horton, at a charge
of fifteen pounds.
The record of the first Falmouth grant will be found in Grant
Book No. 2, pp. 28-32, in the Crown Land Office at Halifax. It
reads as follows :
"A Grant made by His Excellency Governor Lawrence with
the Advice and Consent of His Majesty's Council for this Prov-
ince to John Hicks, Amos Fuller, and a Number of other Per-
sons (hereafter named) whom they represented as their Com-
mittee, passed under the Seal of this Province Giving and Con-
firming unto them in the respective Shares hereafter specified
the whole of a Tract of Land now erected into a Township by
the Name of the Township of Falmouth Situate lying and being
within the Bason of Minas on Pisiguid River, within the said
Province of Nova Scotia, and is bounded North Westerly by the
Township of Horton, and beginning at a Point of Land on said
Pisiguid River, and running South Sixty Degrees West, measur-
ing Eleven hundred and fifty Chains of four Rods to a Chain,
Southwesterly on ungranted Lands running South Thirty De-
grees East measuring five hundred and Sixty Chains, Thence
North Sixty Degrees East to the River Pisiguid, measuring
Four hundred and twenty Chains, and thence bounded by the
said River according to the Course thereof to the Boundaries
first mentioned containing in the whole by Estimation Fifty
thousand Acres, be the same more or less according to a Plan
and Survey of the same to be therewith registered.
"The Terms and Conditions on which this Grant is made are of
i8 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
the same Tenor as those (of Horton, Cornwallis, etc.) already en-
tered on this Book. The Land Granted to be Improv'd or In-
clos'd, Hemp raised; The Quit Eent to be paid; and The Prem-
ises not suffered to be alienated without License, as in the Said
Grants.
"Fifty of the said Grantees with their Wives, Children, Ser-
vants, and Stock are to remove and settle themselves on the said
Tract of Land on or before the thirty-first Day of May next,
otherwise the Grant to be entirely void & of none effect. But
if performed & fulfilled to be good valid & effectual to the
said fifty. But in Case any of the remaining Grantees shall not
remove and Settle on the said Premises as aforesaid on or be-
fore the first Day of September One thousand seven hundred
& Sixty then the Grant to every Grantee so failing to be null
and void & their Bight or share to revert to the Crown, etc.
"SIGNED SEALED AND DATED AT HALIFAX in the
said Province this Twenty first Day of July in the Thirty third
Year of His Maj 'ys Reign, Anno Domini One Thousand Seven
hundred and fifty nine."
The grantees ' names, in the order in which they are given, are
as follows: Amos Fuller and John Hicks, half a share each;
Benjamin Corey, Jeremiah Trescutt, Edward Cole, Jeremiah
Cook, Elisha Parker, and William Nevil Wolseley, one and a
half shares each; William Piggott, Alexander Phelps, Esq.,
Samuel Gilbert, Esq., Captain Samuel Philer, Jeremiah Angle,
Esq., Ichabod Bruster, David Barker, Benjamin Grimes, Abner
Hall, Gideon Abby, Gideon Abby, Jr., David Sweetland, Silvan-
us Phelps, Silas Crane, Job Piss, Jonathan Crosby, Moses
Cleary, David Parry, Zachariah Parker, Cornelius Stores, Eben-
ezer Down, Joshua Hall, Daniel Hovey, Lemuel Cleveland, Ste-
phen Barnabus [Barnaby], Nathaniel Stiles, John Gillet, Pele-
tiah Marsh, David Waters, Nehemiah Angle, Edmund Hovey,
Moses Phelps, Jessey Gourd, Timothy Buell, Isaac Owen, Rich-
ard Webber, Israel Morrey, Jonathan Root, Joseph Mane, Ru-
ben Cone, Daniel Burg, Ephraim Taylor, Jonathan Dawson,
David Randal, John Davison, Shubeal Dimock, Nathaniel Park-
er, Thomas Hall, Simon Ely, James Calkings, Elisha Dunk,
John Steel, Obediah Hosfurd, Elisha Bill, Jabez Chappel, Heze-
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 19
kiah Cogshill, Joseph Phelps the third, David Carver, Elisha
Huntington, Chloe Fuller, Richard Beal, Mordecai Decoster,
James Willson, Robert Lawson, Wignul Cole, George Northrop,'
Silas Gardner, Benjamin Hicks, William Allen, Hannah Hicks'
Samuel Sample, Abiah Phelps, Barnabus Hall, Nathaniel Cush-
man, William Sweetland, Lebues Woodworth, Cornelius Stores,
Jr., Daniel Hovey, Jr., Nehemiah Wood, Martha Dyer, Joseph
Steward, Judiah Agard, Consider Cushman, Edmund Hovey,
Jr., Robert Avery, Jr., Gamaliel Little, Jr., Ezriah Peirs, Cy-
prian Davison, Jedediah Williams, Jr., John Darsey, Richard
Hakes, John Hovey, Joseph Chamberlain, Benjamin Agward,
William Fuller, David Cogswell, Sebel Cogswell, Nathaniel Ho-
vey, Ephraim Hall, Ger shorn Hall; John Hanks, Samuel Wes-
coat, Eunice Greenhill, John Freeman, John White. (Whether
all of these received one share, or some of them only half a
share, each, the record, we believe, does not say). Of the 113
names which appear in this grant, very few, as we shall see, are
to be found in the effective grant of 1761. A considerable num-
ber of the names in this grant are of Connecticut men, those in
the grant of 1761 of men who actually settled in Falmouth are
almost exclusively Rhode Island names.
The grant of Falmouth which went permanently into effect is
declared to comprise "65 shares or rights." It was given June
11, 1761, and registered July 21st of the same year.16 Each
share of the township was to consist of 500 acres, but the whole
was to comprise 750,000 instead of 50,000 acres, as in the first
grant. As a matter of fact the 65 shares allotted reached only
the sum of 34,000 acres, though the full 100 shares would have
reached the sum of 50,000. The shares on this grant given for
public uses, as we shall see, were, one share for the first minis-
ter, one share of 600 acres for a glebe, and 400 acres for a
school. After this distribution was made, therefore, there re-
mained yet much land to be granted. An undated plan in the
Crown Land Office in Halifax gives the boundaries of this "new
grant of Falmouth on the west side of Pizaquid River" as fol-
lows: "A Tract of Land Situate lying and being within the Ba-
son of Minas being the District commonly called Pizaquid now
16. See Grant Book 3, pp. 37-45-
20 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IX NOVA SCOTIA
called and to be hereafter known by the Name of the Township
of Falmouth within the said Province of Nova Scotia, in which
Township are comprehended the Lands hereby granted, being
bounded northerly by the Township of Horton, Beginning at a
Point of Land on Pizaquid River and running south 60 Degrees
West, measuring Thirteen hundred chains of four Rods to a
chain, Westerly on ungranted Lands running South 30 Degrees
East measuring 880 chains, Southerly on ungranted Lands run-
ning 60 Degrees East to Lands granted to James Monk, Esq.,
and others, measuring 440 chains, and on the Said Land running
North 30 Degrees West 300 chains, thence on the Same North
60 Degrees East 192 chains till it meets with Pizaquid River to
the Boundaries first mentioned, containing on the whole 50,000
acres, allowance being made for Mountainous Lands, Lakes, and
high Ways, according to the Plan."17
By a comparison of the boundaries of the two Falmouth grants
it will be seen that the second grant was somewhat larger than
the first, though the lands in both lay entirely on the west side
of Piziquid river. On the 28th of August, 1759, as we shall see
when we come to describe the settlement of the township of Wind-
sor, a grant of 7,000 acres, known still as the "Councillors'
Grant," was given to seven members of the Council; and on the
first of September following, another large grant, the size of
which, however, we do not know, was given to Messrs. Joshua
Mauger, Michael Francklin, Isaac Deschamps, Charles Proctor,
William Saul, Moses Delesdernier, and Gideon Delesdernier,
very near the former. The territory covered by these grants
and others which shortly followed was known locally as East
Falmouth, until December, 1764, when it was organized into the
17. Dr. Hind says (p. 47) : "That the division of land included within the lim-
its of West Falmouth was not made strictly in accordance with the original agree-
ment with John Hicks and Amos Fuller would appear from the following unpub-
lished letter addressed by the Hon. Jonathan Belcher to Isaac Deschamps :
" 'HALIFAX, 27th June, 1761.
" 'SiR. — If any share in West Falmouth is ungranted you will please to reserve
it till you have my further directions. I shall be expecting your attendance at the
general assembly with the other representatives of the King's county on Wednesday
next, pursuant to the last proclamation.
" 'I am, sir, your most obedient servant,
"'(Signed) J. BELCHER.
" 'ISAAC DESCHAMPS, ESQ.
"'(Ms. letter in possession of Mrs. Wiggins).'"
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
21
township of Windsor. Thus between 1760 and 1764 we find fre-
quent mention in old records of both East and West Falmouth.18
In his "Old Parish Burying Ground"19 Dr. Hind reproduces an
interesting letter, which we believe has otherwise never ap-
peared in print, from the Hon. Charles Morris at Halifax to Mr.
Isaac Deschamps at Piziquid, a little less than four months be-
fore the great grant of Newport township was made, in which
we find significant mention of East Falmouth. The letter reads :
"Halifax, March 31, 1761.
"Sir,— Cap t. Maloney, upon the application of the inhabi-
tants of Horton and Cornwallis, is to return to New London to
take in provisions, but half his lading; he is then to proceed to
Newport [R. I.] to take provisions for East and West Fal-
mouth ; he has also orders to take Dr. Ellis and his family and
effects and one Mr. Mather if they are ready.
' ' The inhabitants of East Falmouth have petitioned to be set
off as a distinct township, and it has been mentioned in council,
but nothing in conclusion done. There is an objection because
of the fewness of the proprietors, but if they will consent to
have an addition of 20 rights, a sufficient quantity of land be-
ing added for that end, I believe they may obtain it. I have
proposed to have it named Newport, from my Lord Newport, a
friend of Mr. Belcher's, and which I believe will be agreeable to
the people if they think it will be of advantage to them. I think
the addition of 20 shares will be no disadvantage, as they have
land equivalent. You can inform yourself of their opinion on
this head.
"I am obliged to you for the assistance you gave my son
among the inhabitants. It will not be long before you will be
here, and then I will fully inform you of the other affairs, till
when, I am, in haste,
"Your most obedient servant,
(Signed) C. MORRIS."
"Endorsed— Rec. 5th April; Ans. 14th do."
18. In the third Assembly of the Province, which lasted from 1761 to 1765,
besides the two representatives for King's County and two each for the townships of
Horton and Cornwallis, the township of West Falmouth has two members. In the
fourth Assembly, however, and thereafter, the name West Falmouth becomes merely
Falmouth. Falmouth and Newport were the only townships in Hants to send mem-
bers to the legislature as long as township representation continued.
19. "Old Parish Burying Ground," p. 56.
22
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
In a little less than four months after the date of this letter the
township of Newport was formed, but it was not constituted
from lands that belonged to what was then popularly known as
East Falmouth, these lands in 1764 fell into the township of
Windsor.
GRANTEES OF FALMOUTH (OR WEST FALMOUTH) IN 1761, IN AL-
PHABETICAL ORDER
Akin, Stephen, y> share.
Akin, Thomas, 1 share.
Allen, William, 1 share.
Barnaby, Stephen, 1 share.
Bayley, Joseph, y2 share
Bayley, Samuel, 1 share.
Brown, Samuel, 1 share.
Burden, Perry, y> share.
Chase, Zacheus, 1 share.
Church, Constant, 1 share.
Church, Edward, 1 share.
Cole, Wigunl. iy> shares.
Crosman, Jesse, 1 share.
Davison, Cyprian, y, share.
Davison, John, 1 share.
Davison, Jonathan, 1 share.
Denson, Henry Denny, Esq., 2
shares.
Denson, John, iy> shares.
Denson, Lucy, 1 share.
Dewey, Christopher, y> share.
Dimmick, Shubael, 1 share.
Doan, Eleazer, 1 share.
Dyer, Martha, y2 share.
First Minister, 1 share.
Glebe, 600 acres.
Green, Daniel, 1 share.
Hall, Abner, ly. shares.
Hall, Barnabas, y2 share.
Herrington, Jabesh, 1 share.
Hicks, Benjamin, 1 share.
Hicks, John, 1 share.
Horswell, Luke, 1 share.
Hovey, Daniel, Jr., i/2 share.
Hovey, Enoch, y2 share.
Hovey, Nathan, y> share.
Hovey, Thomas, y> share.
Jess, Joseph, 1 share.
Lovelass, John, y, share.
Lyon, Henry, 1 share.
Manchester, Edward, y> share.
Masters, Abraham, 1 share.
Masters, Jonathan, 1 share.
Masters, Moses, y? share.
MacCulloch, Alexander, 1
share.
McCulloch, Adam, 1 share.
Meachum, John, 1 share.
Northup, Jeremiah, 1 share.
Northup, Joseph, 1 share.
Owen, Amos, 1 share.
Parker, Thomas, 1 share.
Peasant, Mary, 1 share.
Pyke, David, 1 share.
Randall, David, iy2 shares.
Reynolds, Nathaniel, 1 share.
Roode, Jabesh, y> share.
Saunders, Timothy, 1 share.
School, 400 acres.
Shaver, John, 1 share.
Shaw, Peter, 1 share.
Shey, William, 1 share.
Steel, John, 1 share.
Stoddart, Ichabod, iy> shares.
Sweet, Benoni, y2 share.
Watemough, Edward, 1 share.
Wilson, James, 1 share.
Wilson, Joseph, 1 share.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA -SCOTIA 23
Wolsley, William Nevil, li/> Woodworth, Thomas, 1 share.
shares. York, Edward, Esq., iy2
Wood, Nehemiah, 1 share. shares.
Wood, William, 1/2 share. York, William, 1 share.
A highly important early settler in Falmouth was Colonel
Henry Denny Denson. As will be seen from this list of grantees
in 1761, he received in Falmouth a grant of two shares, 1,000
acres, a John Denson receiving 750 acres, and Lucy Denson 500
acres. In the proprietors' records of the township his name
is very conspicuous, and in 1773, we believe, he was speaker of
the Assembly of the province. The place of his residence
at Falmouth, "Mt. Denson," stills bears his name. He is
said to have left no male descendants. He was probably a colo-
nel in the militia, though it is likely he had held some army com-
mission before attaining that rank.
One of the most eminently useful native Nova Scotians was a
descendant of the Falmouth grantee, Thomas Akin. This was
Thomas Beamish Akins, D. C. L., for many years commissioner
of records in Nova Scotia, who died unmarried at Halifax in
May, 1891. Dr. Akins' Rhode Island ancestry we have not
traced, but the name is found on the register of Trinity
Church, Newport, and probably in other Rhode Island records.
On the death of Dr. Akins the House of Assembly moved that
"this house has learned with profound regret of the death of
Thomas B. Akins, Esqire, who for many years has held the
position of commissioner of records in this province, and
desires to express the recognition of his eminent learning and
research and of the great services which his assiduous devotion
to the records of our provincial history has rendered to the
students of Nova Scotian and indeed of North American his-
tory." The many valuable papers presented by Dr. Akins to
the Nova Scotia Historical Society, his careful editing of the
first volume of the Nova Scotia Archives, and the large
collection of books he left as a legacy to the Nova Scotia His-
torical Society, sufficiently attest his distinguished usefulness.
His summer home to the time of his death was Falmouth, and
in that town, as in Halifax, he was greatly beloved.
Among the many Rhode Island grantees of Falmouth in
24 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
1761 Captain Edmund Watmough was one. In the list, how-
ever, he appears as "Edward Watemough." In Ford's list of
British officers serving in America between 1754 and 1774 he
is called "Edmond" Watmough, and is said to have received
a captain-lieutenancy in the Rangers, September 25, 1761. In
the grant books at Halifax he appears also, October 31, 1764,
with a grant in Falmouth of 500 acres. From Updike's well
known History of the Narragansett Church, with its valuable
notes by Rev. Daniel Goodwin, D. D., we find that "Mr. George
Watmough, an English man," was one of the bearers at the
burial of the wife of Rev. Dr. Mac Sparran, long Rector of the
Narragansett Church, who died in England in 1755, while she
and her husband were visiting there. Twenty years earlier
than this, Miss Rebecca Watmough was married at "St. Paul's
Church," London, to Capt. Benjamin Wickham, of Newport,
Rhode Island. Some years later, this history records, "Mr.
Edmund Watmough, perhaps a brother of Mrs. Wickham, vis-
ited Newport and remained there." He subsequently, however,
it is said, returned to England. Captain Edmund Watmough
married at Newport, R. I., but at what date is not clear,
Maria Ellis, eldest daughter of Dr. Edward Ellis,20 and removed
to Falmouth, but how long he staid there we cannot tell. On
the 19th of February, 1768, James Horatio Watmough and oth-
ers received a grant of 6,322 acres in Newport, Hants County,
and 20 Nov., 1772, he and others, received a grant of S47y2 acres
in Falmouth.
On the Falmouth township book is recorded the marriage, De-
cember 27, 1761, of "Mr. Moses Delesdernier and Mrs. Eleanor
Bonner," also the birth, December 2, 1762, of their daughter,
Martha Maria. Moses Delesdernier (De Lesdernier or De le
Dernier) like Isaac Deschamps was a Swiss. He was born, it is
said, in the Canton of Geneva, and was in Falmouth as early as
November 12, 1757, for at that date Governor Lawrence gave
him formal leave "to go to Pisiquid and there to Repossess
lands, carry on Lawful trade, etc." Lawrence's warrant, a copy
of which we find in the Falmouth Township Book, reads:
20. See Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Titcomb's "Early New England People."
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 25
"Whereas application has been made unto me by Mr. Moses Le
denier for leave to go to Pisiquid and Repossess the Houses and
Lands Commonly called Labradores Farm, which was formerly
occupied by him and his servants with my permission, together
with the Ground that he inclosed near the Fort, which Lands he
intends to cultivate and improve, These are therefore to Certify
all whom it may concern, that I have given, and do hereby give
liberty to the said Moses Le dernier to possess the aforesaid
Premises as he did heretofore, until further orders and that at
his request, I have given him License to carry on any sort of
lawful Trade or Merchandise (selling Spirits mixed or unmixed
to the Troops only excepted) And I do hereby desire and require
the Commanding Officer for the time being of Fort Edward, and
all others whom it may concern to give the same aid, Assistance,
and protection, to the said Moses Le dernier and the People em-
ployed by him, which is due to any of his Majesty's good Sub-
jects, And in case the said Moses Le dernier shall find himself
in a capacity of improving any other lands in that Neighborhood
that are now vacant, he has hereby my permission to Possess the
same for that purpose, untill he shall have orders to the con-
trary. ' '20V2 This warrant is dated November 12, 1757. At some
time after his marriage, Delesdernier removed to the Chignecto
Isthmus, and became a resident of North Joggins, Sackville
(now in New Brunswick), and a trader and it is said army con-
tractor there. In 1774 he was in Philadelphia, "no doubt on a
trading cruise," when happening to notice a number of immi-
grants landing on a wharf from a West Indian vessel, he was
attracted by the appearance of a young man of striking person-
ality. He accosted the youth and found that his name was Rich-
ard John Uniacke and that he had left his home in Ireland to
seek his fortune. Delesdernier invited him to return to Sack-
ville with him and he did so. Uniacke soon fell in love with his
host's daughter, and on the 3d of May, 1775, married her, he be-
ing then twenty-one years of age and his bride less than thir-
2Ql/2. "The country east of the road to Halifax," says Dr. Hind, "fell into
other hands. Among these were Moses Delesderniers, who in November, 1757,
received a warrant entitling him to re-occupy premises formerly held by him, and
to take possession of certain lands about Fort Edward." "Old Parish Burying
Ground," p. 55.
24 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
1761 Captain Edmund Watmough was one. In the list, how-
ever, he appears as "Edward Watemough." In Ford's list of
British officers serving in America between 1754 and 1774 he
is called "Edmond" Watmough, and is said to have received
a captain-lieutenancy in the Bangers, September 25, 1761. In
the grant books at Halifax he appears also, October 31, 1764,
with a grant in Falmouth of 500 acres. From Updike's well
known History of the Narragansett Church, with its valuable
notes by Rev. Daniel Goodwin, D. D., we find that "Mr. George
Watmough, an English man," was one of the bearers at the
burial of the wife of Rev. Dr. Mac Sparran, long Rector of the
Narragansett Church, who died in England in 1755, while she
and her husband were visiting there. Twenty years earlier
than this, Miss Rebecca Watmough was married at "St. Paul's
Church," London, to Capt. Benjamin Wickham, of Newport,
Rhode Island. Some years later, this history records, "Mr.
Edmund Watmough, perhaps a brother of Mrs. Wickham, vis-
ited Newport and remained there." He subsequently, however,
it is said, returned to England. Captain Edmund Watmough
married at Newport, R. I., but at what date is not clear,
Maria Ellis, eldest daughter of Dr. Edward Ellis,20 and removed
to Falmouth, but how long he staid there we cannot tell. On
the 19th of February, 1768, James Horatio Watmough and oth-
ers received a grant of 6,322 acres in Newport, Hants County,
and 20 Nov., 1772, he and others, received a grant of 847y2 acres
in Falmouth.
On the Falmouth township book is recorded the marriage, De-
cember 27, 1761, of "Mr. Moses Delesdernier and Mrs. Eleanor
Bonner," also the birth, December 2, 1762, of their daughter,
Martha Maria. Moses Delesdernier (De Lesdernier or De le
Dernier) like Isaac Deschamps was a Swiss. He was born, it is
said, in the Canton of Geneva, and was in Falmouth as early as
November 12, 1757, for at that date Governor Lawrence gave
him formal leave "to go to Pisiquid and there to Repossess
lands, carry on Lawful trade, etc. ' ' Lawrence 's warrant, a copy
of which we find in the Falmouth Township Book, reads:
20. See Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Titcomb's "Early New England People."
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 25
"Whereas application has been made unto me by Mr. Moses Le
denier for leave to go to Pisiquid and Repossess the Houses and
Lands Commonly called Labradores Farm, which was formerly
occupied by him and his servants with my permission, together
with the Ground that he inclosed near the Fort, which Lands he
intends to cultivate and improve, These are therefore to Certify
all whom it may concern, that I have given, and do hereby give
liberty to the said Moses Le dernier to possess the aforesaid
Premises as he did heretofore, until further orders and that at
his request, I have given him License to carry on any sort of
lawful Trade or Merchandise (selling Spirits mixed or unmixed
to the Troops only excepted) And I do hereby desire and require
the Commanding Officer for the time being of Fort Edward, and
all others whom it may concern to give the same aid, Assistance,
and protection, to the said Moses Le dernier and the People em-
ployed by him, which is due to any of his Majesty's good Sub-
jects, And in case the said Moses Le dernier shall find himself
in a capacity of improving any other lands in that Neighborhood
that are now vacant, he has hereby my permission to Possess the
same for that purpose, untill he shall have orders to the con-
trary. ' '2oy2 This warrant is dated November 12, 1757. At some
time after his marriage, Delesdernier removed to the Chignecto
Isthmus, and became a resident of North Joggins, Sackville
(now in New Brunswick), and a trader and it is said army con-
tractor there. In 1774 he was in Philadelphia, "no doubt on a
trading cruise," when happening to notice a number of immi-
grants landing on a wharf from a West Indian vessel, he was
attracted by the appearance of a young man of striking person-
ality. He accosted the youth and found that his name was Eich-
ard John Uniacke and that he had left his home in Ireland to
seek his fortune. Delesdernier invited him to return to Sack-
ville with him and he did so. Uniacke soon fell in love with his
host's daughter, and on the 3d of May, 1775, married her, he be-
ing then twenty-one years of age and his bride less than thir-
2Ql/2. "The country east of the road to Halifax," says Dr. Hind, "fell into
other hands. Among these were Moses Delesderniers, who in November, 1757,
received a warrant entitling him to re-occupy premises formerly held by him, and
to take possession of certain lands about Fort Edward." "Old Parish Burying
Ground," p. 55.
26 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
teen. During the American Revolution Delesdernier was ac-
cused of disloyalty to the crown, but in letters to the government
at Halifax he stoutly denied the charge, and he was finally ex-
onerated. Mr. W. C. Milner, in his "Records of Chignecto,"
from which some of the above facts are taken, says also that in
1775, in partnership with a Mr. DeWitt, Delesdernier established
a truck business at Hopewell Hill. The next year a certain Cap-
tain Eddy, with a force of 180 men recruited chiefly at Machias,
Maine, and at Maugerville, on the St. John river, attempted to
capture Fort Cumberland in the interest of the Revolution, and
in his campaign sacked Delesdernier 's place, and caused the lat-
ter with his family to seek the shelter of the fort. Delesdernier
died in 1811 at the age of 95 years. Mrs. Eleanor Delesdernier
died at Mount Uniacke, on Friday evening, July 27, 1826, in her
85th year. The newspaper notice of her death calls her "Elea-
nor, widow of the late Moses DeLesdernier, Esq."
One of the Falmouth settlers from Rhode Island in 1761, as
the list shows, was William Allen or Alline, and the famous New
Light religious revival which stirred Nova Scotia for a few years
after 1776, was largely due to a son of his, young Henry Alline.
William Alline had begun life and married in Boston, but before
Henry was born had moved to Newport, Rhode Island. From
Newport he and his family came to Falmouth, and there in 1774
Henry experienced a remarkable conversion. In 1776 he began
to preach as an evangelist, and his fervency had such an effect
on the people of the province that in a short time the country
places were in the throes of a religious revival similar to the
great awakening in New England under Whitefield and others
between thirty and forty years before. Henry Alline died in
Northampton, New Hampshire, in February, 1784, the victim of
consumption, his end hastened no doubt by the tremendous ner-
vous excitement he had for almost ten years without ceasing un-
dergone.21
21. A longer biographical sketch of him will be found in Eaton's History of
King's County, pp. 280-293.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 27
THE TOWNSHIP OF NEWPORT
The township of Newport was named, not as we should natur-
ally suppose from Newport, Rhode Island, from which place
some of the settlers of 1760 and '61 came, but, as a letter from
Hon. Charles Morris which we have already quoted shows, in
compliment to Lord Newport, a friend of Hon. Jonathan Bel-
cher, who at the time of the settlement was not only chief -jus-
tice but also lieutenant-governor of the province.22 In this part
of Hants County the Acadians had not made very much settle-
ment, the lands on which they located lying chiefly in Falmouth
and Windsor. The soil, however, throughout the township was
and is very fertile, and its agricultural capacities great, and
since early in the New England settlement its extensive plaster
quarries have yielded great quantities of this useful ore for mar-
kets in the United States. A month and ten days after the final
grant of Falmouth was ordered by the Council, the great grant
of Newport township was sanctioned by that body. The land
within the limits of the grant was not, however, all yet unap-
propriated, for before the New England settlers applied for
land in the county, a considerable number of grants, as we shall
presently see, partly in Windsor, but very largely also in New-
port, had been given to army officers who had served at Beause-
jour and Louisburg, and perhaps a few other persons of im-
portance, but for the most part the soil of Newport was owned
still by the government and remained in the government 's hands
to give away.
The grant of Falmouth had been given on the west side of the
Pisiquid, or Avon, river, the grant of Newport, which lay out-
side the territory commonly known as East Falmouth, was on
the east side of the Pisiquid, between that river and the portion
of country which later became currently known as the township
of Rawdon. The Newport grant bears date July 21, 1761, and
is made in the description to consist of 63 rights or shares, each
share like the shares in other townships to comprise 500 acres,
22. Thomas, 4th Earl of Bradford and Viscount Newport, died unmarried
April 18, 1762, when all the honors of the family became extinct and the represen-
tation went into the Bridgeman family.
28
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
and the whole to make the sum of 58,000 acres.23 In reality, the
shares allotted by the grant numbered 66, but these aggregated
only the sum of 33,000 acres. The ungranted remainder of the
township, therefore, was thus left for later distribution to indi-
vidual grantees. As in the case of Falmouth, the first minister
was to receive by the grant one share, while for a glebe 600 acres
were set apart, and for a school 400 acres, "making together two
shares for the use of the church and school forever." In the
Crown Land Office Description Book, under date of July 21, 1761,
the boundaries of Newport township are given as follows : * ' Be-
ginning at a stake and stones one mile north of Cochmegun River
on the River Pizaquid and to run into the woods east ten miles,
thence south till it meets with the road leading from Pizaquid
to Halifax thence westerly on the road to the lands granted to
Major George Scott and others, and is bounded by the farm
granted to the said Scott and others till it comes to the River
St. Croix and is bounded westerly by the river St. Croix to Piza-
quid River, and thence by the said Pizaquid River till it comes
to the bounds first mentioned, containing on the whole by esti-
mation 58,000 acres more or less, according to the plan and sur-
vey of the same. ' '231/2
The list of grantees, put in alphabetical order, is as follows :
NEWPORT GRANTEES or 1761
Albro, Samuel, 1 share.
Albro, William, 1 share.
Allen, William, y2 share.
Badcock, Jonathan, 1 share.
Bailey, Joseph, 1 share.
Baker, Jeremiah, 1 share.
Bentley, Samuel, 1 share.
Bourgeois, Peter, i/2 share.
Brenton, Samuel, 1 share.
Brightman, George, y2 share.
Burdin, Benjamin, 1 share.
Burdin, Samuel, y% share.
Butts, Aaron, 1/2 share.
Card, James, 1 share.
Card, Jonathan, i/2 share.
Card, Richard, 1 share.
23. The grant was registered in the Crown Land Office, July 22, 1761. See
Grant Book No. 4, pp. 100-105.
23^2. In the History of King's County, p. 3, we have said that in 1761, from
the part of Falmouth east of the Pisiquid, which was commonly known as East
Falmouth, the township of Newport was set off. This statement, as we have
elsewhere shown, is incorrect, the territory known as East Falmouth in 1764 came
into the township of Windsor, no part of it was given to Newport. The grant of
Newport was given where the New England agents had first requested that land
should be set off to them, that is on the northeast side of Pisiquid river.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
29
Garden, John, 1 share.
Chambers, John, 1 share.
Chapman, Stephen, 1 share.
Church, Edward, y2 share.
Clark, Elisha, 1 share.
De Lesdernier, Gideon, y2
share.
De Lesdernier, Moses, y2
share.
Deschamps, Isaac, y2 share.
Dimock, Daniel, y2 share.
Ellis, Edward, 1 share.
First Minister, 1 share.
Fish, Michael, 1 share.
Glebe Land, 600 acres.
Gosbee, John, 1 share.
Halyburton, William, 1 share.
Hervie, Archibald, y2 share.
Hervie, James, 1 share.
Hervie, James, Jr., y2 share.
Hervie, John, 1 share.
Irish, Levi, ] share.
Jeffers, John, y2 share.
Julian, James, y2 share.
Knowles, Henry, 1 share.
Lake, Caleb, 1 share.
Macomber, Ichabod, 1 share.
Macomber, Stephen, 1 share.
Michenor, Abel, y2 share.
Mosher, James, 1 share.
Mumford, George, 1 share.
Potter, Cornelius,1 1 share.
Reynolds, Benjamin, 1 share.
Rogers, Jonathan, 1 share.
Sanford, Benjamin, 1 share.
Sanford, Daniel, y2 share.
Sanford, Income, 1 share.
Sanford, Joseph, 1 share.
Sanford, Joshua, 1 share.
School, 400 acres.
Shaw, Arnold, 1 share.
Shaw, John, 1 share.
Shey, Peter, 1 share.
Simpson, James, 1 share.
Slocomb, John, 1 share.
Smith, James, 1 share.
Stewart, Gilbert, 1 share.
Strait, Joseph, 1 share.
Wascoat, Robert, Sr., 1 share.
Wascoat, Robert, 1 share.
Wascoat, Stutely, 1 share.
Wascoat, Zerobabel, 1 share.
Weaver, Silas, 1 share.
Weedon, James, 1 share.
Wier, Daniel, 1 share.
Wilcocks, Benjamin, 1 share.
Wilson, Joseph, y2 share.
Wood, John, 1 share.
Woodman, John, i/> share.
Wooley, Amos, T/> share.
Wooley, Benjamin, y2 share.
Woolhaber, John, 1 share.
York, James, y2 share.
From correspondence on the subject between the Government
at Halifax and the Lords of Trade we should judge that a ma-
jority of the Nova Scotia settlers, both from Rhode Island and
Connecticut, received help from the Government in transporting
(themselves and their belongings to their new homes. In a letter
to the Lords of Trade of December 10, 1759, Governor Law-
rence states that the expense of transportation of settlers from
Connecticut and Rhode Island, with their stock and other ef-
fects, and of furnishing them with a quantity of corn, from the
llth of June, 1759, to the end of the winter of 1759-60, will in his
30 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
judgment reach the sum of fifteen hundred pounds. In a letter
to the same body of the 12th of December, 1760, Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor Belcher says that the Government had not engaged to give
free transportation to any of the grantees except those of Hor-
ton, Cornwallis, and Falmouth, but he thinks that other settlers
also should have help. Nor did government aid to the settlers
stop with transportation. "The only circumstance which we
regret in the management of this important business," say the
Lords of Trade in a memorial to the King dated December 20,
1759, "is that notwithstanding the uncommon fertility and other
peculiar advantages of these Lands, which might be deemed to
afford sufficient encouragement to the settlers without incurring
any expence to the Publick, we find that Mr. Lawrence has been
obliged to consent to pay the charge of transporting the first
year's settlers of the three first Townships, and of making them
a small allowance of Bread corn. But we are hopeful neverthe-
less that the Reasons set forth in the said Governor's letter and
in the Minutes of the Council (extracts of which we humbly beg
leave to annex) may induce your Majesty to approve the con
duct of your Governor in consenting to these allowances, rather
than risquing by too strict an attention to Economy the whole suc-
cess of a measure which must be productive of the most essen-
tial advantages, not only to the Colony of Nova Scotia but to
your Majesty's other Colonies on the Continent of North Amer-
ica, and finally to this Kingdom." By a minute of the Nova
Scotia Council of October 24, 1760, we find that Mr. Charles
Morris had represented to the Council concerning Horton, Corn-
wallis, and Falmouth, "that it would be of more advantage to
those settlements if the species of provisions to be allowed them
was altered, and that instead of the whole allowance of Indian
corn they should be furnished with a proportion of mackerel and
flour. Also that it would be necessary immediately to purchase
and send away the same, as the navigation in the Bay of Fundi
would soon become dangerous, and the arrival thereof would be
thereby rendered very precarious." The Council resolved, the
minute adds, "that the proposed alteration should be made, and
that the necessary quantity of mackerel and flour should be im-
mediately purchased and sent to those settlements with the ut-
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 31
most expedition." On the llth of October, 1760, Governor Law-
rence died, and Chief Justice Jonathan Belcher as president of
the Council temporarily assumed the government. Writing to
the Lords of Trade on the 12th of December, concerning the
new townships in the Province generally, Mr. Belcher says:
"Many of the Inhabitants are rich and in good circumstances.
About a hundred of them have transported themselves and their
effects at their own expense and are very well able to provide
for their own support." But of the poorer sort, he declares,
"there is provision made for them until the month of next Au-
gust." "In the engagements entered into for carrying on the
settlements," he adds, "no promises were made of transporta-
tion or corn to any but the grantees of Horton, Cornwallis, and
Falmouth, and although the latter grantees have readily and
cheerfully engaged themselves, yet they pleaded much for such
encouragements, and have found themselves greatly obstructed
for want of these advantages. ' ;
Of the character of the New England «ettlers generally in
King's and Hants counties it is impossible to speak in too high
praise, and one needs only a slight acquaintance with Rhode Isl-
and history to know the unusual prominence and worth of the
families from that colony that came to Falmouth and Newport.
In the Falmouth grant for example, we find the well known
names, Akin, Church, Dimock, Dyer, Green, Harrington, Hors-
well, Northup, Shaw, Sweet, Wilson, and York; in the Newport
grant, Albro, Babcock, Brenton, Card, Church, Dimock, Hali-
burton, Irish, Mumford, Sanford, Shaw, Stewart, and Wier.23%
In a letter dated June 16, 1760, after describing in much detail
the beginning of the settlement of Liverpool, Queen's County,
Governor Lawrence says: "I have just received from Mr. Mor-
ris, His Majesty's Land Surveyor, who went from Liverpool to
Annapolis and Minas with orders to lay out the Townships, very
flattering accounts of the families which are come to Horton,
Cornwallis, and Falmouth. He speaks of them in general as
being substantial, laborious people, adapted entirely to agricul-
ture, and so highly pleased with their present possessions as to
23^- Not a few of these families had intermarried in Rhode Island, and con-
tinued to intermarry in Nova Scotia.
32
declare that they think the lands fertile beyond any description
which had been given of them. ' ' On the 21st of November, Bel-
cher was formally made lieutenant-governor, and for some nine
months after this laboured incessantly to develop the new settle-
ments. Writing to the Lords of Trade on the 12th of December,
he says: "I have the satisfaction to acquaint your Lordships
that the Townships of Horton, Cornwallis, and Falmouth are so
well established that everything bears a most hopeful appear-
ance. As soon as these Townships were laid out by the Sur-
veyor, palesaded forts were erected in each of them by order
of the late Governor, with room to secure all the inhabitants,
who were formed into a militia, to join what troops could be
spared to oppose any attempts that might be formed against
them by Indian tribes which had not then surrendered, and
bodies of the French Inhabitants who were hovering about the
Country, the fate of Canada being then undecided. After the
necessary business, the proper season coming on, they were em-
ployed in gathering hay for winter. One thousand tons were
provided for Horton, five hundred for Cornwallis, and six hun-
dred for Falmouth, and about this time they put some root crops
into the ground, and began to build their houses."
Of the earliest proprietors ' meetings or town meetings of Fal-
mouth the records have fortunately been preserved.24 The first
meeting, as we believe, was held on the 10th of June, 1760, when
a committee of three was chosen to manage the town's affairs.
The moderator was Shubael Dimock, and the clerk Abner Hall,
and the three committeemen chosen were Wignul Cole, Abner
Hall, and David Randall. The second meeting was held on the
15th of June, when it was voted that a herdsman be appointed to
take care of the horses, neat cattle, sheep, and swine, ' ' and keep
said stock off of the land;" and that the owners of stock keep
their stock confined in yards every night until the hay was
mowed, or failing to do so be liable to pay all damages arising
from their neglect. The third meeting was held June 19th,
Henry Denny Denson being chosen moderator, and at this meet-
ing a vote was taken to have three men appointed to survey and
24. These original records were copied by Dr. Thomas B. Akins, and although
the original book is lost are still preserved in Falmouth.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 33
oversee the mending and repairing of the dykes. At this and
subsequent meetings action was taken to distribute systemati-
cally the houses and barns formerly occupied by the Acadians,
and to apportion fairly the lumber they had stored up.
The most immediately valuable part of the settlers' grants
were the fertile dyked lands but on the third and fourth of No-
vember, 1759, a violent storm and extremely high tides had
broken the protecting dykes and for the time had completely
ruined the crops of hay,25 consequently the re-building of the
dykes was one of the first and most pressing concerns of the
settlers. On the 10th of December, 1759, Governor Lawrence
wrote to the Lords of Trade that the marsh lands along the Bay
of Fundy were all overflowed as the result of the tremendous
storm of the preceding month, and that he estimates the expense
of repairing and building them, exclusive of the personal labour
the intending grantees might put on the work as £250 for Corn-
wallis, £100 for Minas, and £100 for Palmouth.20 In repairing
the Falrnouth dykes, as also those of Horton and Cornwallis, the
French who had managed to escape deportation and who were
held in more or less close imprisonment at Fort Edward, were
largely employed, they being far more proficient in the art of
dyke-building than the New England men themselves.
In religion a majority of the Falmouth and Newport settlers
were Congregationalists, but a certain number had become in
Rhode Island adherents of the Anglican Church. To trace these
latter families back to the historic Narragansett and Newport
churches, where they had been worshippers would be an interest-
ing task. The Albros, Mumfords, Stuarts, and Wiers, at least,
had all been communicants of the Narragansett Church and had
been trained in churchmanship by the noted Dr. MacSparran,
while the Haliburton family during their residence in Newport
had attended Trinity Church. Other families, also in Hants
25. "Old Parish Burying Ground," p. 51. The dyked lands of the French were
limited in extent compared with those at present bearing hay in King's and Hants
counties.
26. He estimates the corresponding expense for Granville and Annapolis as
£150, and for Truro and Onslow as £150. "Old Parish Burying Ground," pp. 52-54,
and Eaton's History of King's County, pp. 184-186. Much concerning the repair
of the injured dykes will be found in Lawrence's and Belcher's letters to the Lords
of Trade.
34 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
County, like the Coles, Congdons, and Sweets, may have been
members of the Narragansett Church.
The first public religious services in Hants County after the
settlers came were held by Anglican clergymen. In the autumn
of 1760, Rev. Dr. Breynton of Halifax visited East and West
Falmouth, Horton, and Cornwallis,27 at all which places he
preached to numerous congregations, and though he found the
inhabitants "mostly dissenters" yet he was cordially received
and requested to come again. In the year 1762 both he and his
colleague, the Eev. Thomas Wood, repeatedly visited the new
settlements, and in November of the same year, the Rev. Joseph
Bennett was placed by the Venerable Society as missionary in
the large King's County field.2™ In 1775 the Rev. William Ellis
succeeded Mr. Bennett, and as missionary to the whole county
continued until 1782, when the mission was divided. In that year
the Rev. John Wiswall was placed in Horton and Cornwallis,
while Mr. Ellis was given pastoral charge of Falmouth, Newport,
and Windsor. Notwithstanding the strength of Congregational-
ism in Falmouth and Newport, there was no organized Congrega-
tional Church in either township in 1770, and though a certain
number of the Newport settlers had become Baptists before their
migration from Rhode Island, no Baptist Church was founded
in Newport until 1799. In a letter to the S. P. G. from Fort Ed-
ward, dated January 4, 1763, the Rev. Mr. Bennett says that he
has then been settled in King's County six weeks and by resid-
ing there has prevented the inhabitants of the several townships
sending to New England for "dissenting" ministers. He hopes
in time to be able to reconcile the people generally to the Church
of England. In Horton, he writes, there are 670 persons, of
whom 375 are children, in Cornwallis 518, of whom 319 are chil-
dren, in Falmouth 278, of whom 146 are children, and in New-
port 251, of whom 111 are children.
In the township of Newport, at least two large estates were
early acquired that greatly overshadowed in importance any of
the land holdings of the Rhode Island grantees. These were the
27. Dr. Breynton in his report of this to the S. P. G. says nothing about
Newport
27}^. Reports of the S. P. G. for 1760-1763. See also Eaton's History of
King's County, pp. 241-245.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 35
estates known as ' ' Mantua ' ' and ' ' Winckworth, ' ' the former own-
ed and improved by Dr. George Day, the latter by Colonel Winck-
worth Tonge. Dr. George Day had been a surgeon in the Royal
Navy, and was possibly among the settlers that came with Corn-
wallis to Halifax in 1749. At what time he settled in Newport is
uncertain, but it is said that he was living there, engaged in
farming and in a schooner trade with other places, as early as
1759. His house, indeed, it is affirmed, strongly-built and forti-
fied and of good colonial architecture, was erected in 1758. The
earliest record we have, however, of a grant to him was August
29, 1760, when in conjunction with Major George Scott and oth-
ers he received land in Newport on the north side of the St.
Croix river, the major part of which, on the Windsor side,
" coincides with that of the Tonge estate, as ordinarily known,
but includes a large stretch in the rear."28 Very early in his res-
idence in Newport Dr. Day began to build schooners for trade
with Maritime-Provincial ports and with Boston, his enterprise
later leading him to construct larger vessels for ocean trade. In
the early part of the War of the Revolution he had a contract
to supply the British troops in that town with hay, which com-
modity he shipped in vessels from Miller's Creek on the St. Croix
river and possibly other points.28* After the siege of Boston he
still continued to trade with the New England capital, and some-
time in 1777 he himself started in one of his vessels with a cargo
of hay for that market. When his vessel neared the Massachu-
setts coast, she was struck by lightning and burned, and he and
all his crew perished.
Whom Dr. Day first married, and whether his wife was liv-
ing when he came to Nova Scotia we do not know, but he had
by her a son, John Day, who in 1760 was a young man grown.
Dr. Day's second wife was Henrietta Maria Cottnam, a sister of
Mrs. George Scott and Mrs. Winckworth Tonge, and by her he
had a daughter, Margaret Bunbury, who became the wife of John
Irish, son of Levi Irish, one of the Rhode Island grantees of
28. This description has been given the writer by Dr. David Allison, the well
known educator and writer.
2Sl/2 Dr. Allison says: "Between Mantua and the settlement of the New
England people was a stretch of land called Miller's Creek, bounded easterly by
Mantua and westwardly by the land granted the Rhode Islanders.
36 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
Newport. This second Mrs. Day, after her husband's death lived
probably with her step-son; she died in Newport, January 20,
1838, in her 92d year, the newspaper notice of her death describ-
ing her as "a lady whose amiable qualities endeared her to all
her acquaintance." John Day, son of Dr. George Day, became
an M. P. P. for Newport, and like his father a generally promi-
nent man.29
Colonel Winckworth Tonge appears in the British army lists
as having been commissioned lieutenant of the 45th regiment
(Colonel, afterward Lieut.-General, Hugh Warburton command-
ing) April 8, 1755. In this year he was in command of the en-
gineering party that assisted in the capture of Fort Beausejour,
and in or after 1758, like Major Charles Lawrence, who became
governor of Nova Scotia, he was probably in service at the gar-
rison of Louisburg. His colonelcy he received at some later date
in the Nova Scotia militia. His epitaph in St. Paul's burying-
ground, Halifax, describes him as "naval officer, M. P. P., col-
onel in the militia, justice of the court of common pleas for
the county of Hants," and says that he was born the 4th of
February, 1728, in the county of Wexford, Ireland, and died
February 2d, 1792. After the capture of Beausejour Col. Tonge
received a grant in Cumberland County, stretching southwardly
from the glacis of the fort to the Missiquash river.29% This
Cumberland grant included Tonge 's Island, on which Col. Tonge
is said to have planted the cannon at the siege of the fort.
It is probable that Col. Tonge got his first foothold in Hants
County on the 2nd of June, 1759, when as we have seen, he and
George and Henry Scott received 2,500 acres at ' ' Five Houses, St.
Croix, Pisiquid. ' ' On the 27th of July of the same year he and
William and George Tonge received 1,500 acres at "St. Croix,
Pisiquid, ' ' and from his part of these grants "Winckworth Tonge
created his estate, Winckworth (of late years incorrectly called
29. Dr. David Allison was brought up in the house built by Dr. Day on his
Mantua estate, and to him we are indebted for much of the information we pos-
sess about Newport, and concerning the Day and Tonge families. Two hundred
acres of Mantua are now owned by a family named Mounce. West and south of
Mantua lay the large Tonge estate, comprising Winckworth, Macclesfield, Martha,
etc., etc.
291/2. This land was purchased from the Tonge estate, probably in 1789, by
Titus W. Knapp, a Loyalist merchant who did a large business at Fort Cumberland,
one of the Wiers, it is said, acting as his attorney in the purchase.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 37
" Wentworth"), which lay south of the St. Croix and extended
for three or three and a half miles eastward from the present
town of Windsor.29* On the 20th of May, 1760, he received a
further grant of 1,500 acres in Falmouth, but what disposition
he may have made of this grant we have not inquired.
An advertisement of the various properties of Col. Tonge in
1789, preserved in the archives at Halifax includes his estate
Winckworth, "in Windsor," 2,000 acres; Macclesfield, in New-
port, 600 acres; Martha's farm in Newport, 600 acres; also a
tract in Newport township, 1,500 acres ; wood lots, 600 acres "on
the road from Newport to Halifax, main road, 515 acres at junc-
tion of those roads ; ' ' 400 acres on Ardoise Hill on the main road
to Halifax ; 400 acres one mile north of river Kennetcook ; and a
farm in Westmoreland, New Brunswick, on gently rising ground
in the midst of extensive marsh, called Tonge 's Island, 130 acres.
At the sale of these properties "Winckworth" in Newport was
purchased by Hon. Alexander Brymer, a member of the Coun-
cil, for £2,475. 17. 11%. A certain portion of the Tonge prop-
erty in Hants County, but just what part we are not informed,
came much later than this into the hands of Perez Morton Cun-
ningham, barrister of Windsor, who was born in 1812.
Colonel Tonge married, perhaps as his second wife,30 Martha
Dr. David Allison writes : "Colonel Tonge was appointed in 1760 or there-
abouts to lay off the Rhode Island settlers' lots in Newport, opposite the southern
boundary, the St. Croix river." Of a plan he has roughly sketched of part of New-
port, Dr. Allison says : "You will see on this plan a large ungranted lot between
the Shaw lot and the Mantua place, which latter antedates the township of Newport
two years at least. Long ago on looking at the original plan of Newport in the
Record Office I noticed that the Mantua property seemed entirely too long, i. e.
stretched down the St. Croix river some mile or so further than it should. This
puzzled me. Then, later, I heard that Col. Tonge had failed to lay off the land on
the river to its full extent, i. e. to the western boundary, and had kept the inter-
vening territory for himself. The Colonel got into financial difficulties towards the
end of his life and advertised for sale all of his properties. He offers his Winck-
worth estate, his Fort Cumberland property, sundry wood lots, and noticeably the
two farms of 600 acres each, called Macclesfield and Martha, situated in the town-
ship of Newport, just opposite (across the St. Croix) the home estate previously
mentioned. At present the whole region covered by these two farms is known as
'Miller's Creek.' When offered for sale in 1789 'Macclesfield' and 'Martha' had each
of them a house and barn." The Miller family came from Ireland with Alexander
McNutt, and two sons of the original settler became, as did several other Irish-
men of this migration, tenant farmers on Tonge's estate. The Rhode Island ele-
ment has within the present half century largely encroached on 'Martha' and
'Macclesfield.' The Greeno family got a small slice of Macclesfield from Tonge
himself. In early days Greeno's, at the ferry, was the Newport tavern.
30. If he had a first wife we do not know who she was. In 1820 Mrs. Martha
Tonge was granted an allowance of £80 a year by H. M. home government
38 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
Cottnam, a daughter, we suppose, of George Cottnam, and sister
of Henrietta Maria Cottnam, wife of Dr. George Day of Mantua,
and Mary Cottnam, wife of Major or Colonel George Scott. He
had children recorded in Windsor : William Cottnam, born April
29, 1764; Winckworth, Jr., born October 11, 1765; Caleb, born
November 21, 1767; and William Sheriffe, born December 21,
1772.31 Of these, William Cottnam (born in 1764) was appoint-
ed naval officer by His Majesty's mandamus, probably before
June 14, 1786. Later he became prominent as a representative
in the legislature and was " noted for his eloquence and popu-
larity. ' ' In 1805 he was elected Speaker of the House. Later still,
it is believed, he went with Sir George Prevost to the West Indies
and then to Demerara, where he was appointed secretary, and
remained until his death. Miss Gertrude E. Tonge "of Wind-
sor," a poetess, whose death at Demerara was noticed in the
Acadian Recorder (Halifax) of March 5th and 9th, and appar-
ently July 16th, 1825, was probably his daughter. Dr. Hind
says that his son, Winckworth, 3d, was buried in Windsor in
1799, and his wife in 1805.32
Winckworth Tonge, Jr. (born in 1765) was the "Winckworth
Tonge, Esq., deputy judge advocate general at Jamaica, son of
the late Col. Tonge of Windsor, ' ' who died at Jamaica, W. I., in
1820.
George Scott, who with Henry Scott and Winckworth Tonge
participated in the grant of 2,500 acres at Five Houses, St.
Croix, Pisiquid, June 2, 1759, may have been the George Scott
who was commissioned captain of the 40th regiment, June 28,
1751, and it would seem somewhat probable that he was the
same George Scott to whom Governor Shirley gave command of
one of the battalions of the regiment formed by Lieutenant-Col-
onel John Winslow in Massachusetts for the subjugation of Fort
Beausejour in 1755. Doubt on this last point, however, must be
felt from the fact that Shirley would be much more likely to
give military command to a New England man than to a British
31. Who the William and George Tonge were who shared in the grant at St.
Croix, June 2, 1759, we do not know. Nor do we know who the Henry Scott was
who shared in that grant. In 1781 the small cutter Jack, six guns, was com-
manded by R. P. Tonge, but who R. P. Tonge was we do not know.
32. "Old Parish Burying Ground," p. 12.
THOMAS CHANDLER HALIBURTON
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 39
born man, as we suppose the Captain George Scott of the 40th
regiment to have been, and from the fact that the George Scott of
Beausejour is commonly called lieutenant-colonel.33 The George
Scott who was active in the taking of Beausejour did valiant ser-
vice also at the second capture of .Louisburg, in 1758. "The
boat of Major Scott, who commanded the light infantry and
rangers," says Parkman describing this siege of Louisburg,
' * next came up and was stove in an instant ; but Scott gained the
shore, climbed the crags, and found himself with ten men in front
of some seventy French and Indians. Half his followers were
killed and wounded, and three bullets were shot through his
clothes; but with admirable gallantry he held his ground till
others came to his aid." Side by side with him in this action
was the famous General AVolfe.
The George Scott who received the grant in Hants County in
1759 is said also to have received an immense grant in Halifax
County, near Bedford Basin, the tract including the whole of
Sackville township. He married, but at what time we do not know,
Mary Cottnam, a sister of Mrs. Winckworth Tonge and the sec-
cond Mrs. George Day. Who Henry Scott who also participated
in the grant of 1759 was, we do not know.
The most famous native of Hants County, a man born in
Windsor, but whose New England born grandfather settled in
Newport, was Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton, the eminent
Nova Scotia statesman, jurist, and wit. Judge Haliburton is
known in literature as the pioneer American humourist, his "Sam
Slick," the Yankee clockmaker, being a noted creation of some
three-quarters of a century ago, whose quaint humour and
shrewd reflections on the rural populations of New England and
Nova Scotia, and whose characteristic dialect furnished great
amusement to our grandparents in their day.34 Judge Halibur-
33. See "Winslow's Journal," and Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe," Vol.
i, pp. 246, 249-253 ; Vol. 2, p. 60.
34. "Sam Slick, the Clock Maker," was a clever satire on both the pre-
Revolutionary Nova Scotian Yankee and the pre-Reyolutionary New England
Yankee. It is said that the definite original of Sam Slick was a tin peddler, who
died perhaps twenty years ago in Calais, Maine. In any case, the New England
peddler was a well known character in the British maritime provinces for many
years, and Judge Haliburton, at his home in Windsor, and in Annapolis Royal, where
he practised law for some years, but more especially in his travels on circuit as a
judge, had an excellent chance to become intimately acquainted with him and to
know his peculiarities well.
40 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
ton's grandfather, William Haliburton, was born in Boston,
April 16, 1739, and baptized in King's Chapel parish, May 20th,
of the same year. He married, April 9, 1761, his first cousin, Su-
sanna Otis, daughter of Dr. Ephraim and Rachel (Hersey) Otis
of Scituate, Massachusetts, and came probably by way of New-
port, Rhode Island, where his mother had for some years pre-
viously lived, to Newport, Nova Scotia, in 1760. His parents
were Andrew Haliburton of Boston and his second wife, Abi-
gail Otis, his mother, however, at the time of the migration to
Nova Scotia being the second wife of Dr. Edward Ellis. William
and Susanna Haliburton had in all seven children, the third of
whom, William Hersey Otis, born September 3, 1767, was the
father of Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton and grandfather
of the Judge 's son, Arthur Lawrence, Lord Haliburton, who was
raised to the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1898, and died
in 1907. Lord Haliburton was made a C. B. in 1880, K. C. B.
(civil) in 1885, G. C. B. (civil) in 1897. He married in 1877 Ma-
riana Emily, daughter of Leo Schuster, Esq., and widow of Sir
William Dickason Clay, Bart.
The mother of William Haliburton, as we have said, became
the second wife of Edward Ellis, M. D., of Boston, who served
as surgeon-general at the first siege of Louisburg, in 1745. Dr.
Ellis and his wife also settled in Newport, Nova Scotia, whither
they came, as we have intimated, from Newport, Rhode Island.
Like his step-son's, Dr. Ellis 's grant comprised 500 acres. By
his first wife, Mary (Willard) Cuyler, Dr. Ellis had three daugh-
ters : Maria, who became the wife of Capt.-Lieut. Edmund Wat-
mough, who obtained a grant of 500 acres in Falmouth; Sarah,
who became the second wife of Mr. Isaac Deschamps ; Elizabeth,
who was married to a Captain Peter Jacob Dordin. By his sec-
ond wife, Mrs. Haliburton, he had no children. Dr. Ellis died at
Amsterdam, Holland, about 1769. His wife died, we presume in
Newport, not long before this date. William Haliburton did not
remain long on his Newport farm, his tastes were intellectual,
and he soon removed from Newport to Windsor and in the lat-
ter place began the study of law. After being admitted to the
Bar he practiced in Windsor during the rest of his life.
Gilbert Stewart or Stuart, a Scotsman who had come out to
GILBERT CHARLES STUART
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 41
North Kingstown (Wickford), Rhode Island, between 1746 and
1750, to grind snuff for Dr. Thomas Moffat, a Scotch physician
who had earlier emigrated and who desired to set up a snuff
mill in the Narragansett country, was another of the Rhode Isl-
and emigrants to Nova Scotia. On the 23d of May, 1751, Stuart
had married in Newport, Rhode Island, Elizabeth Anthony,
daughter of Albro Anthony and his wife Susanna (Heffernan),
and between 1752 and 1756 had three children born : James, bap-
tized September 1, 1752, at five months old; Ann, born Novem-
ber 18, 1753, baptized April 18, 1754; and Gilbert, Jr., the emi-
nent painter, born December 3, 1755, baptized April 11, 1756.
Of these children, James died young ; Ann came with her mother
to Nova Scotia, and about 1786 was married in Halifax, as sec-
ond wife, to Hon. Henry Newton, whose first wife had been Char-
lotte, daughter of Hon. Benjamin Green; and Gilbert, Jr., as we
have said, became the famous portrait painter, worthy succes-
sor of his master and teacher, the noted Benjamin West. Al-
though he received a grant in Newport in 1761, for some reason
Gilbert Stuart, the father, did not come to Nova Scotia until
1775, then, because he found it impossible, as the records say,
to maintain his family in Rhode Island, he followed his friends
the Wiers and others to Newport and there we suppose began
to farm. In 1776 Mrs. Stuart and her daughter Ann followed ; but
the year previous young Gilbert Stuart had gone to England to
study and so far as we know he was never in Nova Scotia after
his parents came to the province, although while the Duke of
Kent was at Halifax the Hon. Henry Newton proposed to him
that he should come to the Nova Scotia capital and paint his
Royal Highness, the prince having offered to send a war ship
for him to England or Ireland if he would come. The elder Gil-
bert Stuart died in Halifax in 1793, his widow then returning to
Boston to live with her son, Gilbert, who meantime had returned
to America. Mrs. Stuart died either in Roxbury in 1812 or in
Boston in 1816. A son, Gilbert Stuart Newton, of Hon. Henry
and Ann Stuart Newton, also became a painter of considerable
note. He was baptized in Halifax September 20, 1794, went
early to England to study, there became a royal academician, and
died in Wimbledon, August 5, 1832.
42 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
One of the best known families in Hants County has been the
Wier family, leading members of which held influential posi-
tions in Halifax city, also, for many years. Daniel Wier, the
founder of the family in Newport, in early life removed, perhaps
from Boston (although of his birthplace we are not certain), to
Narragansett, and on the 7th of April, 1744, married at the
house of her parents, the Rev. Dr. MacSparran officiating, Phebe
Mumford, daughter of Mr. Benjamin Mumford, a very promi-
nent member of St. Paul's Church in North Kingstown. In 1752
and 1753 he acted as precentor or parish clerk, and until his re-
moval to Nova Scotia in, we suppose, 1760, maintained his con-
nection with the parish. The part of Newport where Mr. Wier
received his grant was what is known as Scotch Village. It is on
the southern side of the Kennetcook river, and includes what is
known as ' ' Marsters ' hill. ' ' The estate, in whole or in part, was
owned and occupied by members of the Wier family until 1845,
when Benjamin and Joseph Wier of Halifax, Daniel's great-
grandsons, sold it to some other family.
Before they left Rhode Island the Wiers had seven children
born, John, Benjamin, William, James, Ann, James, and Phebe ;
after they came to Nova Scotia they had a son, Samuel, born.
The founder of the Mumford family in Hants County was
George Mumford, a brother-in-law of Daniel Wier, who proba-
bly came with his family at the same time as the Wiers. The
baptism of George Mumford, December 9, 1730, will be found
recorded in the register of the Narragansett Church, but who he
married or how many children he had we do not know. An in-
teresting fact in connection with the history of the Wier family
is that Mrs. Phebe (Mumford) Wier was baptized in St. Paul's
Church, North Kingstown, at the same time as Gilbert Stuart the
painter, the date being Palm Sunday, April 11, 1756, and that
the sponsors at Stuart's baptism were Phebe Mumford 's par-
ents, Benjamin and Hannah (or Ann) Mumford, who also acted
as sponsors, with the child's aunt, Ann Mumford, for their own
child.
A family very widely known and highly respected throughout
Nova Scotia was that branch of the Allison family settled in
Newport. The Allisons came in 1769 from Drumnaha, near Lim-
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 43
avady, County Londonderry, Ireland, and settled in Horton, but
John Allison, born in Ireland in 1753, with his wife, Nancy Whid-
den, whom he had married in Horton or Cornwallis, in 1804, re-
moved to Newport, of which town he became an important resi-
dent. His son, James Whidden, born in Horton December 1,
1795, married in Hants County in July, 1821, Margaret, daugh-
ter of Matthew and - - (Jenkins) Elder, and had seven chil-
dren. He was one of the leading magistrates of Newport, and
for five years represented the town in the legislature. Of his
children, Rev. David Allison, LL.D., has been the most noted.
An eminent scholar and educator, he has held the distinguished
positions of president of Mount Allison University at Sackville,
New Brunswick, and Superintendent of Education for Nova Sco-
tia, and in the field of local historical writing he has done and is
doing important work.
(To be continued.)
" For Conscience Sake "
BY CORNELIA MITCHELL PARSONS
CHAPTEE VIII
GOVENOR WlNTHROP ARRIVES
''She was like a summer rose, making everything and everybody glad about
her.'' — J. HOPKINSON SMITH.
NNETZE, fetch me my hood, lined with crimson,
W v /% please. ' '
It was Mistress Frances who spoke, and the
buxom Annetze hurried away to do her bidding.
Mistress Frances had a basket on her arm, and was about to
gather flowers and feathered grasses which come in the late Au-
tumn. The world was very fair; the air frosty, and the ground
covered with a carpet of yellow and crimson leaves, with a touch
here and there of brown. The birds were singing, and the chip-
munks at work collecting their winter's store of nuts. The wat-
ers of the distant bay sparkled in the sunlight.
' l How beautiful it all is, ' ' Frances murmured to herself. ' t So
beautiful that I would have it last forever. ' ' A voice at her el-
bow startled her. It was not Annetze with her hood, but their
guest, Governor John Winthrop.
' ' The top of the morning to you, Mistress Frances, the birds
would not let me sleep, and seeing you, fair lady, I thought I
might perchance join you, with your permission." And the gal-
lant old gentleman laid his hand on his heart.
"Methinks, sir, it will give me pleasure, I am honored in-
deed."
"You are an early bird, Mistress Frances."
"Yea, in truth, but the early bird catches the worm." She
blushed.
(44)
FEBRUARY, 1915
AMERICANA
CONTENTS
PAGE
Commemorative Tablets of Historic Sites of the Revolution
and Some Revolutionary Relics.
By Edward Hale Brush 79
Rhode Island Settlers on the French Lands in Nova Scotia
in 1760 and 1761. (Part II).
By Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, D. C. L. . 83
For Conscience Sake, Chapters 10 and 11.
By Cornelia Mitchell Parsons 105
History of the Mormon Church, Chapters CXV and CXVI.
By Brigham H. Roberts 116
I. M. GREENE, Editor.
JOSIAH COLLINS PUMPELLY, A. M., LL.B., Member Publication
Committee New York Genealogical and Biographical So-
ciety, Associate Editor.
VICTOR HUGO DURAS, D. C. L., M. Diplomacy, Historian of the
American Group of the Interparliamentary Union of the
Congress of the United States, Contributing Editor.
Published by the National Americana Society,
DAVID I. NELKE, President and Treasurer,
131 East 23rd Street,
New York, N. Y.
Copyright, 1915, by
THE NATIONAL AMERICANA SOCIETY
Entered at the New York Postoffice as Second-class Mail Matter
All rights reserved.
en o
W ^
U w
Z C/3
< H-
K-J
h
iv 92
HH O
< ^
"a
in t^
ffi O
O £
Rhode Island Settlers on the French Lands
in Nova Scotia in 1760 and 1761
BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, D. C. L.
PART II
THE TOWNSHIP OF WINDSOR
1
HE most important town in the interior of Nova Sco-
tia, westward from Halifax, is Windsor, the seat of
King's College, the oldest colonial college of the Brit-
ish empire. As the settlement of Hants County pro-
gressed, the village of Windsor became not only the seat of gov-
ernment for the county, the " shire town," but the centre of its
fashion and wealth. Seventy-five years ago the town of Windsor
boasted that it had, on the whole, the most aristocratic society
outside of England, and indeed its people were, for the most
part, a well-bred and dignified set. The town of Windsor is
picturesquely located near the mouth of the Avon, in full sight
of the great tides that from the Bay of Fundy sweep daily into
Minas Basin, and leave rich alluvial deposits on its winding
shores. A great event in the early history of Windsor
township, and indeed in the early history of Nova Scotia at
large, was the establishment in Windsor village in November,
1788, under Anglican auspices, of an academy for boys, which
was the nucleus of the present King's College. During the war
of the Revolution, and at the establishment of peace, from thir-
ty to thirty-five thousand Loyalists or Tories swept into Nova
Scotia, and here in 1787 was established the first Colonial Dio-
cese of the English Church. The first bishop consecrated for
the diocese was Dr. Charles Inglis, who at the outbreak of the
Revolution was Rector of Trinity Church in New York City, and
(83)
84 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
who brought to Nova Scotia1 the highest educational ideals that
up to that time prevailed in the diocese of New York, in which
he had been a priest. The school Bishop Inglis founded at
Windsor was opened in a house which had formerly been the
private residence of Mrs. Susanna Francklin, widow of Hon.
Michael Francklin, and which was then apparently owned by her
and her son, Mr. James Boutineau Francklin. In 1789, the leg-
islature, no doubt on Bishop Inglis 's urgent petition, passed an
act for the establishment of a still higher school of learning at
Windsor, and two years later, in 1791, the still standing main
building of King's College was begun, an imposing structure,
though built of wood, with a dignified portico raised on high
Doric pillars, noble grounds as a background and setting for
which had been purchased a year before. For the building of
the college the Imperial Government at first granted the sum of
three thousand pounds, adding to this later the sum of fifteen
hundred pounds.
King's college obtained its charter, May 12, 1802, and its first
governors were Sir John Wentworth, Bart., Bishop Charles Ing-
lis, Chief Justice Samson Salter Blowers, Alexander Croke,
Judge of the Court of Vice Admiralty, Richard John Uniacke,
Speaker of the Nova Scotia Assembly and Attorney General,
and the Hon. Benning Wentworth, secretary of the province,
with four others to be elected, one of whom was to be the presi-
dent of the college. The charter was accompanied by an imperial
grant of a thousand pounds per annum, which was continued
until 1834. From 1790 to 1803, before the charter was obtained,
the college had in all two hundred graduates ; from 1803 to 1810,
twenty-one ; from 1810 to 1820, fifty-one ; from 1820 to 1830, six-
ty-nine; and from 1830 to 1840, forty-eight. Of this number,
fifty-four in all became clergymen. Among the famous pre-
charter students of King's were Major-General James Robert-
son Arnold, Colonel deLancey Barclay, Sir James Cochran (lat-
er Chief Justice of Gibraltar) and General William Cochran,
i. Dr. Inglis was consecrated at Lambeth in August, 1787, and came to Nova
Scotia immediately afterward. For several years before his consecration he had
been living in England. The Diocese of Nova Scotia at first included Upper and
Lower Canada, the three Maritime Provinces, and also Bermuda and Newfound-
land.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 85
his brother ; the Hon. Henry Hezekiah Cogswell of Halifax, Col-
onel Sir William F. deLancey, K. C. B., Hon. Charles Bufus Fair-
banks, Lieut.-Col. William Hulme, Judge Richard John Uni-
acke, Rt. Rev. Dr. John Inglis, third bishop of Nova Scotia,
Hon. Sir James Stewart, Kt., Attorney-General of Lower Can-
ada, and Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray.2
The beautiful country bordering the Pisiquid or Avon river,
which in 1764 was legally incorporated as the township of Wind-
sor, began to have special attractions for the settlers of Halifax
almost as soon as Colonel Cornwallis and his company landed at
Chebucto Bay. It was not many years, therefore, before appli-
cations for land in the region were secured by persons of influ-
ence, like members of Council or army officers who had previous-
ly done service in ridding Nova Scotia and Cape Breton of the
French. "Writing to the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in 1826, the Rt. Rev. Dr. John Inglis, third bishop of
Nova Scotia, says of Windsor village: "It is beautifully situ-
ated, and would attract attention in the richest parts of Eng-
land." And such glowing praise of Windsor's natural fertility
and beauty cannot be regarded as at all too high. The most con-
2. A fuller account of the establishment of King's College will be found in
this writer's "The Church of England in Nova Scotia and the Tory Clergy of the
Revolution " The founding of the college brought many cultivated people perma-
nently to Windsor, and before long the great beauty of the town and its com-
parative nearness to Halifax led others, for the most part people of some means
who had more or less connection with the capital, to purchase estates there and
make the town their home. Among such families, toward the middle of the iQth
century, were the Bowmans, whose estate was called Spa Spring, the Butlers, who
owned Martock, the Cunninghams who lived at Saulsbrook Farm, the Frasers,
who occupied Gerrish Hall, the Haliburtons who lived at Clifton, and the Kings,
whose place was known as Retreat Farm, while across the meadow, through the
trees, nearly on the site of the early church of the Acadian French, rose the wood-
en tower of quaint Christ Church, where they all worshipped on Sunday. On
the front of the gallery of the church, at the west end, rested the British Arms,
while near the chancel, at the right, stood the great square pew with a table for
the prayer books, devoted to the Governor's use when he should be there. The
college Encoenia, which always took place in June, was attended with great eclat.
Thither came, in state, from Halifax the Governor and his staff, the Chief Justice,
the Attorney-General, the Bishop, and often distinguished army officers and their
wives. For many years at the time of the Encoenia the Frasers gave a ball at
Gerrish Hall, which was a brilliant affair, but all the year through there were
agreeable dinners and tea-drinkings, at Martock, and Clifton, and Saulsbrook Farm,
and other places, at every one of which people drank excellent wines, sang good
English songs, danced stately minuets and quadrilles, and played religiously, like
all English gentlefolk, their after dinner rubbers of whist. On Sundays they never
failed to occupy their places in the Parish Church, where they prayed as in duty
bound, for the king, and listened, let us hope with profit, to the practical discourses
of their rectors, delivered with precision from the high pulpit on the chancel's left.
86 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
spicuous early grant in what later became Windsor township
was what is still remembered as the ''Councillors' grant." On
the 28th of August, 1759, seven members of the Council at Hali-
fax received here a grant of 7,000 acres, these gentlemen being
Messrs. Jonathan Belcher, Benjamin Green, John Collier,
Charles Morris, Richard Bulkeley, Thomas Saul, and Joseph
Gerrish.3 The plan of the grant allots to the grantees the whole
of the area west of Fort Edward hill and south of the Avon
river, for a distance varying from one to two miles south and
three miles west. The area is divided on the plan into twenty-
eight lots, of which four lots are assigned to each grantee, Hon.
Joseph Gerrish 's being the lot next to Fort Edward, extending
as far south as the spot occupied by the old parish church.4 In
the record at Halifax of the Councillor's grant, the tract is de-
scribed as "situate, lying and being on Pisiquid River, begin-
ning on said River, and thence running south 30 degrees east 9
chains to the upland on which the Fort at Pisaquid stands, and
bounded by the said upland, thence running to the bridge on
the Road from said Fort to Halifax, and on the said Road ac-
cording to the course thereof, measuring in Distance from the
said River four miles, and from the first bounds on Pisaquid
River to be bounded by the said River to measure in a straight
line 240 chains, and from thence on the said River to run back
south 30 degrees East four miles, and from thence course north
60 degrees East to the boundaries on Halifax Road." In the
grant were included all mines unopened except gold, silver,
precious stones, and lapis lazuli. On the first of September,
1759,5 another large grant, previously mentioned, was given to
Joshua Mauger, Michael Francklin, Isaac Deschamps, Charles
Proctor, William Saul, Moses Delesdernier, and Gideon Deles-
3. The grant like all others of this period bears the signature of Richard
Bulkeley, secretary of the province. It was registered September 27, 1759. See
Old Registry Book, pp. 68, 69. Of the grantees, Belcher, Green, Morris, Gerrish,
and probably Saul, had come from New England.
4. See Professor Hind's "Old Parish Burying Ground," pp. 22, 23, 55. Gerrish's
lot, says Dr. Hind, "is bounded on the east by the path from Fort Edward to Hali-
fax, after the path leaves Fort Edward hill." The plan shows, says, Dr. Hind, that
the Councillor's grant "covers the whole of the land west of Fort Edward hill now-
included in the town of Windsor." The parchment plan, he says, is owned by Mr.
P. Burnham of Windsor.
5. Old Registry Book, at Halifax, pp. 70-72. The grant was registered Sep-
tember 28, 1759.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 87
dernier. It is described as a tract of land situate, lying and be-
ing within the District of Pisiquid, beginning ' ' at the North East
end of the land called Burying Island, near the foot of Pisaquid
and bounded North Easterly by the River St. Croix, and to pro-
ceed up the River Till it meets with the Lands lately granted to
William Tonge and others, and to be Bounded south Easterly by
the said Tonge 's Lot, and to proceed according to the Course of
the North Bounds of said Tonge 's Lot, being West 15 degrees
south from the River St. Croix, Till it meets the Road leading
to Halifax, and to be bounded south westerly by the said Road,
to proceed along the said Road to the Bridge called the Fort
Bridge and from thence to the Bounds first mentioned, Preserv-
ing all the uplands on which the Fort stands for the use of the
said Fort, containing in the whole by Estimation 2,500 acres,
more or less." In this grant, also, all mines unopened, except
gold, silver, precious stones, and lapis lazuli, are included. The
distribution of the land was as follows: to Joshua Mauger,
Michael Francklin, Isaac Deschamps, Charles Proctor and Wil-
liam Saul, one-sixth each; to Moses and Gideon Delesdernier
one-twelfth each. The size of the tract is not specified in the
grant.6
The township of Windsor, which Bishop John Inglis in 1826,
in his letter just referred to, says comprised seventy-eight
square miles, and at that time had a population of 2,000 souls,
was organized largely of the areas described above, and probably
other tracts of greater or less extent, on the 24th of December,
1764.7 At a meeting of the Council held on that date it was re-
solved that "that part of the tract of land formerly called Pisi-
quid, on the South-east of the River commonly known by the
name of Pisiquid River, in the Province of Nova Scotia, shall
be erected and incorporated into a township, hereinafter to be
known and called by the name of Windsor, the limits and bounds
6. It is impossible without critical examination to be sure of the exact loca-
tion of some of these Hants County grants, it may be that this grant transcended the
limits of Windsor township and ran into Newport.
7. On the 2Qth of August, 1759, Hon. Benjamin Gerrish and others had a
grant of 1,400 acres at "Pisiquid River," and as Gerrish when he died had a farm
at Windsor we suppose that his part of this grant was in Windsor township. On
the same date Edmund Crawley of Halifax received a grant of 1,400 acres at "Pisi-
quid River."
88 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
of which township shall be as follows, that is to say: To begin
from the South-western limits of lands commonly called the
Justices lands, and extending from the South-west limits of
such lands to the River Pisiquid, and thence to be bounded by
the River Pisiquid till it meets with the River St. Croix, and
thence by the River St. C'roix till it meets the bridge on the Pub-
lic Road or Highway, and from the said bridge thence by the
Common Highway leading from Pisiquid to Halifax, till it
comes to lands granted to William Piggot, and to be bounded by
the said Piggot 's farm, and thence South-west till Thirteen miles
be completed from the said Common Highway, and from the end
of the said Thirteen miles to run North-westerly till it meets the
South-west limits of the said land commonly called the justices
lands, which limits shall hereafter be reputed to be the estab-
lished boundaries of said township of Windsor."8
That part of the district of Pisiquid that was organized into
the township of Windsor in 1764, thus comprised only lands
that had not been included in the township of Falmouth and
Newport, and that, as we have intimated, had probably nearly
all been distributed to men who had been prominent in military
service in the province or who occupied positions of influence at
Halifax. In June, 1773, says Murdoch,9 Lord William Camp-
bell, who was then governor of the province, declared in Council
his intention of reserving for himself a tract containing about
twenty-one acres, around the hill at Windsor, ' ' on which the fort
formerly stood," and this act, says Dr. Hind, "disposed of the
entire area west of the path or road to Halifax.10 The new set-
tlers, when they built houses on their grants, as they undoubted-
8. Council Book, Letter C, folio 515. Dr. Hind (p. g) says that the town-
ship of Windsor as represented on the county map differs in some particulars from
the description here. It is frequently noted that the Council declared the township
of Windsor to be in the county of Halifax, but since we know that until 1781 it
was always in the county of King's we are unable not to believe that Halifax was
written in the Council minutes by mistake for King's. Dr. David Allison, in the
Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 7, p. 67, says : "A letter pre-
served in the Deschamps collection, written by the widow of Col. Winckworth
Tonge, of Beausejour celebrity and proprietor of one of the largest Windsor es-
tates, affirms that residents of Windsor were always electors of King's County,
though it seems to imply that to exercise their franchise they had to cross the
river [Avon] to the neighboring township of Falmouth." The village of Wind-
sor, however, was for a certain number of years, we do not know how many, the
headquarters of probate registration for the whole county of King's.
g. Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, Vol. 2, p. 510.
10. "Old Parish Burying Ground," p. 23.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 89
ly soon began to do, built them chiefly on the slopes of Fort Ed-
ward hill, on the west side, and thence toward the settlement
now known as Clifton.
Describing the township of Windsor and its great fertility
and beauty, Judge Haliburton says : ' ' That portion of it which
fell into the hands of resident proprietors was divided among
a few individuals, and thus was introduced a system of tenancy,
which in Nova Scotia neither contributes to the improvement of
the soil nor the profit of the landlord."11 This system of tenant
farming seems to have prevailed in Windsor as nowhere else in
Nova Scotia, the farmers being in great part, it would appear,
North of Ireland settlers who had come into the province in
1761 through the efforts of the adventurous colonizer, Alexander
McNutt. In 1760, as is well known, McNutt helped organize a
colony of North of Ireland people who were living in London-
derry, New Hampshire, to settle Truro, Nova Scotia, but in
1761 he brought out a group of settlers direct from Ireland it-
self, most of whom finally located in Londonderry, Colchester
County, some, however, either late in 1761 or early in 1762, set-
tling in other townships, a not inconsiderable number planting
themselves in Windsor and Newport.12 In 1766, Lieutenant-
Governor Francklin made a census of Nova Scotia, and by this
census we are able to determine the number of people ranking
as of Irish birth then in the various townships. At Windsor, out
of a population of 243 souls, sixty-three are given as of Irish
origin, in Falmouth, out of a population of 292, twenty are so
given, while in Newport, out of a population of 279, seventeen
rank as Irish.13 Among these Irish settlers in Hants County,
11. "An Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia," (1889), p. 100.
12. See a monograph on "The Settling of Colchester County, Nova Scotia,,
by New England Puritans and Ulster Scotsmen," published by the writer of this
paper in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada in 1912, and one on "Alex-
ander McNutt the Colonizer," in the New York historical magazine Americana, for
December, 1913, by the same writer. McNutt reached Halifax with his first company
from Ireland, October 9, 1761. Some of the people he brought stayed in Halifax,
some went to Amherst, Newport, and Windsor, but a larger number than went
elsewhere settled in Londonderry. The people who went to Londonderry went
probably by way of Windsor.
13. Of the other King's County townships, Horton with a population of 634,.
and Cornwallis with a population of 727, received virtually none of these Irish set-
tlers. The Allisons and Magees, however, of a later small group of Irish settlers,.
did settle further west in King's County.
90 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
chiefly in Windsor, were families, named Caldwell, Clarke,14
Curry, Dill, Elder, Hunter, Jenkins, O'Brien, Palmer (proba-
bly), Patterson, Spencer, and a certain family named Ellison or
Allison, the head of which was Matthew Ellison or Allison, who
bore no known relationship to the founder of the distinguished
Allison family of Nova Scotia.
In 1769, another small group of North of Ireland people, in-
cluding the founders and their children of the well known fami-
lies of Allison, Magee, McColla, McCormick, McHeffey, and Mil-
ler, embarked at Londonderry, Ireland, for Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, where many of their friends and relatives had
previously gone. The vessel in which they crossed the Atlantic
meeting with some misfortune off the coast of Sable Island,
these voyagers took refuge in Halifax, and were induced to
remain there. Before long we find them established chiefly in
and about Windsor and Newport, some of them, however,
pushing on to Horton and even farther west in King's
County. A family of Cunninghams, who were long known in
Hants, and Halifax, and Antigonish, came from Roscommon,
Ireland, but earlier than the McNutt settlers, the vessel in which
they sailed being wrecked and sinking somewhere off Sable
Island. It is possible that the McCollas were in their company
and not in the later one, to which belonged the Allisons and Mc-
Heffeys. The importance of both the Allison and McHeffey
families in Hants County is a matter of common knowledge,
while of McNutt 's settlers, families of Clarkes, Currys, Elders,
Jenkinses, and O'Briens have held no less prominent places.15
One of the most conspicuous early settlers in Windsor, the
proprietor there, indeed, who occupied the highest position
among the local aristocracy and wielded the strongest influ-
ence, was the Hon. Michael Francklin, whose mercantile busi-
14. John Clarke of Windsor we suppose was of the McNutt emigration. He
married, probably in Windsor, Eleanor Palmer, and had children born as follows :
Catharine, November 8, 1766; Jane, June 3, 1768; William, October 18, 1770, (died
September 14, 1775); Mary, August 30, 1772; Elizabeth, December 23, 1774; Isa-
bella, November 14, 1776; Eleanor, August 22, 1778; Susanna, June 23, 1780; John
Palmer, July 5, 1785.
15. Dr. Hind (page 35), gives the following as members of the Presbyterian
congregation and subscribers to the building of the meeting house, in Windsor, Octo-
b.gr 9, 1824: John Clarke, Esq.; Robert McHeffey, Nathaniel Jenkins, Matthew Al-
lison, Richard McHeffey, James Robertson, Ludovick Hunter, Alexander Dill,
John Jack, William Edwards, John Murray, Joseph Caldwell, and Hugh Jenkins.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 91
ness was at Halifax, where indeed his official duties kept him for
much of the year, but whose favorite residence was in the Hants
County shire town. On his extensive farm in Windsor he early
built a roomy mansion, and there, for a great portion of his busy
life, with his large family he spent as much of the year as he
could. Staunch supporters of the Church of England, he and
his wife and children, as we have intimated, actively promoted
the Anglican cause in the Windsor community, and to his gen-
erosity the parish owed the land which Christ Church and the
churchyard occupied.16 Mr. Francklin was a native of Devon-
shire, England, who late in 1752, as a young man, migrated to
Halifax, and began business as a dealer in liquors. He was not
only enterprising, but well educated, dignified, and genial, and
he had signal ability for the management of affairs, and from
selling spirits he soon enlarged his business to selling bread-
stuffs and fine wines, and to the exportation of dry fish to Na-
ples. He also came to take large contracts for furnishing sup-
plies to the army and navy at Halifax. In this general busi-
ness he finally amassed a large fortune and thus became a rec-
ognized power in the province. Gradually he entered into public
affairs, and in 1762 was made a member of the Council. May
23, 1766, Hon. Colonel Montague Wilmot, governor of the prov-
ince died, and on the 23d of August, 1766, Mr. Francklin was
sworn lieutenant-governor, Hon. Benjamin Green having in the
meantime administered the government. On the 27th of Novem-
ber, 1766, the Bight Honourable Lord William Campbell, young-
est son of the fourth Duke of Argyle, was sworn governor, but
during this interval Mr. Francklin held chief command. On
Lord William's assumption of the governorship, Mr. Francklin
was continued as lieutenant-governor, and in this office he re-
mained until 1776, in the meantime having been appointed also
(August 13, 1768) lieutenant-governor of Prince Edward Island.
During his ten years incumbency of the lieutenant-governorship,
Mr. Francklin was obliged to exert a high degree of control in
public affairs, and his influence was always exercised with in-
~tf The deed of this land specifies that it is given "for the purpose of erecting
thereon a church or place of public worship conformable to the Established Church
of England, and for a place of Interment, Burying Ground, or Grave Yard, for
the use of the Christian People of the said township of Windsor.
92 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
telligence and wisdom. He died November 8, 1782. In a highly
interesting monograph on Mr. Francklin in the 16th volume of
the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Mr. James
5. Macdonald writes : * ' Francklin was a man of great personal
magnetism, combined with courage, integrity, energy, and inde-
pendence. His were the qualities which were necessary to a
leader. His splendid example and many virtues were strongly
impressed on his own and possibly the immediately succeeding
generation. ' '
Hon. Michael Francklin married in Boston, February 7, 1762,
Susannah Boutineau, elder daughter of James and Susannah
(Faneuil) Boutineau, and niece of Mr. Peter Faneuil, the prince-
ly Boston merchant who built Faneuil Hall. Mrs. Francklin
died at Windsor, April 19, 1816, in her 76th year. The Franck-
lins had children born as follows: James Boutineau, July 31,
1763; Elizabeth Mauger, September 3, 1764; Susanna, August
23, 1765 ; Ann, August 31, 1767 ; Joshua Mauger, September 1,
1769 ; Michael Nickleson, August 20, 1773 ; John Robinson, July
6, 1774; George Sackville Germaine, January 15, 1777; Mary
Phillipps, October 7, 1779 ; Sarah Nickleson, December 21, 1780.
The earliest of all conspicuous traders in Windsor was Josh-
ua Mauger, an enterprising English Jew, who before the found-
ing of Halifax, with Louisburg as headquarters, traded with the
French population of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia, and at
some time, we do not know precisely when, established truck
houses at Windsor, Grand Pre, and Annapolis Eoyal. A prince of
smugglers, he is also said to have been for years the great inter-
mediary between the French government and the inhabitants of
Acadia, both French and Indian, and next to the priest Le Lou-
tre the most mischievous influence in Nova Scotia with which
the government had to deal. Notwithstanding this, when, very
rich, he finally retired from business and returned to England
to live, he was made London agent for Nova Scotia, a position
he filled for several years. His only daughter was married to
the Due de Brouillan, who lost his head in the French Revolu-
tion. Mauger 's history has been interestingly told in print in
the 12th volume of the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
93
Society.17 How soon after the expulsion of the Acadians Mauger
ceased trading at Windsor we do not know, but he was there at
the expulsion, for just previous to the event Governor Lawrence
ordered Captain Murray at Fort Edward to cut off communica-
tion between the inhabitants and "Mr. Mauger 's people."18 In
1776 the site of the parish Church in Windsor, which had al-
ready been given by Hon. Michael Francklin for Church use,
was somehow, with other property, deeded to him, but on the 6th
of February, 1785, he made over the two acres it and the church-
yard comprised to James Boutineau Francklin, in order that the
original intention of Hon. Michael Francklin might be carried
out.
A name conspicuous in the early annals of Windsor is the
name Deschamps. Isaac Deschamps, who became Nova Scotia's
third chief-justice, like Moses Delesdernier was a Swiss, but how
or precisely when he migrated to Nova Scotia, or who he mar-
ried, we do not know.19 As a young man he was a clerk in Josh-
ua Mauger 's i ' truck house ' ' at Windsor, and in 1754, it is said,
he assisted Captain Murray in suppressing disturbances among
the French in that vicinity. In 1759, as we have seen, his name
appears on a large grant at Pisiquid, and on the 16th of June,
1760, Governor Lawrence appointed him " truckmaster " at Fort
Edward and for King's County, for carrying on commerce on
behalf of the government of the province with the Indians,
Moses Delesdernier having been similarly appointed Novem-
ber 12, 1757. In 1761 his name appears on the general Newport
grant, and the same year he was elected a member of the Assem-
bly for West Falmouth, and also one of the justices of the court
of common pleas. In 1768 he was appointed by Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor Francklin a judge of the Supreme Court in Prince Ed-
ward Island (St. John Island), and in 1770, assistant judge of
the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in place of Judge John Du-
port. October 6, 1783, he was admitted to the Council, and on
17. See also Eaton's "History of King's County, Nova Scotia," pp. 40, 200.
18. See Col. John Winslow's Journal, published in the 3d volume of the Col-
lections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. It is likely that his truck house
was taken over in 1757 by Moses Delesdernier, for in 1757 Delesdernier received a
license to trade at Pisiquid.
19. An Isaac Deschamps, son of Isaac, was born in Boston, 10 Nov., 1674,
and baptized in the Old South Church parish, 15 Nov., 1674.
94 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
the death of Chief Justice Bryan Finucane was promoted, April
21, 1785, to the chief-justiceship. In 1787, with Judge James
Brenton, a native of Rhode Island, he was accused of "im-
proper and irregular" administration of justice, and was in-
volved in a trial which was terminated in his favour by the Privy
Council in England in 1792.20 In the course of the proceedings
he resigned the chief-justiceship, his successor, Jeremiah Pem-
berton, being commissioned chief-justice August 19, 1788.20*
Great indignation was felt at the impeachment of Deschamps
and Brenton, of the former of whom a contemporaneous writ-
er says that ' ' a gentleman of a more tender and benevolent heart
than Justice Deschamps does not at this day exist in Nova Sco-
tia, ' ' and whom he calls * ' the good old man. ' ' Isaac Deschamps
married as his second wife, Sarah Ellis, second daughter of Dr.
Edward Ellis by his first wife, and younger sister of Mrs. Ed-
ward Watmough. He died, but whether at Halifax or at Wind-
sor we do not know, August 11, 1801, "upwards of 79 years old."
George Deschamps, son of Isaac, was Judge of Probate for
Hants County (it is said immediately succeeding his father in
that office), and generally one of Windsor's most important
men. Until a few years ago the stone foundations of his house,
on the west slope of Fort Hill, could still be traced. The oldest
tombstone yet discovered in the old Windsor Churchyard, says
Dr. Hind, bears the names and dates of death of Elizabeth, wife
of George Deschamps, who died in 1779, her son George, who
died in 1776, and her daughter, Sarah, who died in 1778. He
is said to have married a daughter of James Monk, of Boston
and Halifax, and his wife Ann (Deering). The plaster trade of
Newport, that for many years has been one of the chief indus-
tries of Hants County was started by George Deschamps.21
Among the group of young British born men at Annapolis
20. These judges were impeached by two attorneys, Messrs. Sterns and Tay-
lor, who before long were disbarred for statements they had made in a newspaper,
which were considered slanderous. See Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, Vol.
3, p. 101.
2o*/2. His patent was read October 21, 1788, when he opened the Supreme
Court.
21. The Boston Independent Chronicle of February 4, 1802, says: "It is said
that discovery has been made of the earth called Plaister of Paris, of the most
useful quality, equal to any in Nova Scotia. It was discovered near Newton, Sus-
sex County, New Jersey."
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 95
Eoyal in 1731 was Samuel Cottnam, who in 1734 is spoken of as
Ensign Samuel Cottnam, and who we suppose at the latter date,
at least, was a young officer in the 40th regiment.22 December
18, 1731, he was dispatched by Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence
Armstrong, with full powers to treat with the French inhabi-
tant of Pisiquid and Cobequid for provisions for Annapolis
Eoyal,23 and in the same year he is spoken of as deputy collec-
tor. In 1732 he was sent to help build a magazine at Minas,
and in 1734 from Minas he wrote Armstrong giving him an ac-
count of clandestine trade carried on there. September 30,
1734, John Hamilton, deputy collector at Annapolis, was or-
dered to go in the sloop Mary to St. John to prevent illicit trad-
ing there and Ensign Cottnam was authorized to seize vessels,
etc., for the same purpose.24 At some time in his career at An-
napolis he married Deborah How, daughter of Captain Edward
and Mary Magdalene (Winniett) How, whose tombstone in the
Windsor churchyard calls her "Mrs. Deborah Cottnam, wife of
S. Cottnam, Esq., long an officer in His Majesty's service."25
On the 15th of October, 1754, he was commissioned captain of
the 40th regiment. He received grants in Hants County as fol-
lows : August 27, 1764, 1,000 acres on Windsor Eoad ; April 8,
1768, 500 acres somewhere in the township of Newport. How
many children Samuel and Deborah Cottnam had we cannot
tell, they had one daughter, "Grissey Elizabeth," baptized in
King's Chapel, Boston, December 19, 1755; and probably others.
On the relationship of George Cottnam to Samuel Cottnam
22. Nova Scotia Archives, Vols. 2 and 3.
23. From the organization of the 4Oth regiment at Annapolis Royal in 1717,
(see Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, Vol. i, p. 351) the officers of the regiment
were in great measure young British born men of good family who had come to
America to seek their fortunes. The history of this regiment, the "Fighting For-
tieth" is in print, and an important reference to the regiment will be found in the
Calnek-Savary History of Annapolis, pp. 183, 184. From 1717 until 1758, part of
the regiment, at least, was held at Annapolis to garrison the fort there; in 1758 it
was drawn off to assist in the second taking of Louisburg. For many of its offi-
cers, see Worthington C. Ford's list of British officers serving in America between
1754 and 1774, printed in the N. E. Hist, and Gen. Register, Vols. 48, 49. The
regiment is now the First Battalion Prince of Wales Volunteers (South Lanca-
shire regiment).
24. Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, Vol. i, p. 501.
25. For an admirable sketch of Captain Edward How and his family, see the
Calnek-Savary History of Annapolis, Nova Scotia, pp. 527-534. How was a New
England man who settled early at Annapolis Royal, and his murder at Chignecto in
October, 1750, was a tragical event. For the inscription on Mrs. Deborah Cottnam's
tombstone, see Hind's "Old Parish Burying Ground," p. 6.
96 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
we have no clear light. June 30, 1742, George and Margaret
Cottnam had a son John baptized in King's Chapel, Boston, and
September 5, 1746, George Cottnam was commissioned a first
lieutenant of the 40th regiment. In 1768, Murdoch tells us, as
the troops were to be withdrawn from Louisburg, George Cott-
nam ''as a person of courage and resolution" was appointed
"to keep the peace and execute the laws in the island of Cape
Breton.26 The three Cottnam sisters, Mary, Henrietta Maria,
and Martha, who became respectively the wives of Captain, Ma-
jor, or Colonel George Scott, Dr. George Day of Mantua, and
Colonel Winckworth Tonge, were probably his and not Samuel
Cottnam's daughters. May 14, 1782, a Susanna "Ootman" was
buried in St. Paul's parish, Halifax.
A family that came early to Windsor was the Cunningham
family. John Cunningham, supposed to have been an Irishman,
appears in Halifax on the 7th of April, 1761, on which date he
buys a house and lot on Argyle street, for £ 142. currency. On
the 28th of May, 1763, he bought lots in the south suburbs of
the town, for £ 20. On the 6th of October, 1763, he bought land
in the north suburbs, for £ 233.6.8, and on the 20th of December,
1777, he bought lot No. 10 in Mr. Forman's division for £ 25.
On the 24th of March, 1769, he was appointed Commissioner of
Indian affairs, for the duties of which office he was to receive
ten shillings a day. His tenure of the commissionership lasted
until October 4, 1773, when he gave the office up. The Nova
Scotia treasury at this time was low and his salary was not paid,
so he was at last obliged to appeal to the Bight Honourable the
Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury.
At some period in his career among other purchases of land
out of Halifax, Mr. Cunningham had bought "Saulsbrook farm,"
at Windsor, a property that had originally been granted to
Thomas Saul. In his will, dated June 1, 1785, he leaves this
farm, as indeed most of his property, to his three children, Cap-
tain John Cunningham, Ensign Richard Cunningham, and Mrs.
Elizabeth Boyd, wife of George Frederick Boyd, Esq. His will
mentions also his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Cunningham, his sis-
ters Jane and Magdalen, and his servant James Daly. His
26. Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, Vol. 2, p. 479.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 97
wife's name was Elizabeth, but she must have died before his
will was made.
Of the two sons of John Cunningham, Captain John held a
commission in the Loyal Nova Scotia Volunteers, but of his ca-
reer we know very little, and of his wife and children if he ever
married, nothing. Of Richard Cunningham we know more, he
was commissioned ensign in the Loyal Nova Scotia Volunteers
on the 7th of December, 1781, and he purchased many proper-
ties, principally in Hants County, among these, April 17, 1800,
the Winckworth estate, "two parcels of land, beginning at the
mouth of a creek on the river St. Croix, " from Hon. Alexander
Brymer and Harriet his wife. For this valuable property he
gave £2,700. He married "at the seat of Sir John Wentworth,
Bart." (probably the "Lodge," near Halifax), 22 August, 1809,
Rev. Dr. Benjamin Gerrish Gray officiating, Sarah Apthorp
Morton, eldest daughter of Hon. Perez Morton, of Boston, and
grand-niece of Lady Frances Wentworth, born June 2, 1782,
died July 14, 1844. Richard Cunningham made his will July
15, 1824, and died some time before July 1, 1835, when his
daughters, Eliza Deering Boyd Cunningham and Frances
Sarah Wentworth Cunningham, applied for certain parts of his
estate. He had children: Griselda Eastwick, born August 16,
1810, married Rev. Joseph Hart Clinch; Perez Morton, born
May 2, 1812, graduated B. A. at King's College, Windsor, in
1832, died unmarried, January 21, 1866; Eliza Deering Boyd;
Frances Sarah Wentworth, married Rev. John Storrs; Char-
lotte, born Dec. 23, 1817, married Dr. Howard Sargent of Bos-
ton; John, born June 30, 1820, educated at King's College,
Windsor, died unmarried April 6, 1851.
A family of recognized importance in Windsor for many years
was the DeWolf family, founded there by Benjamin DeWolf,
born in Lyme, Connecticut, October 14, 1744. Benjamin's fath-
er, Simeon, was one of the grantees of Horton, but Benjamin
himself in early life settled in Windsor. There he married,
March 16, 1769, Rachel Otis, a daughter of Dr. Ephraim Otis, of
Scituate, Massachusetts, and sister of Susannah Otis, wife of
William Haliburton of Newport and Windsor. The DeWolfs
had children: Sarah Hersey Otis, born May 14, 1770, married
98 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
to Nathaniel Ray Thomas, Jr. ; Rachel Hersey, born January 7,
1772, died March 1772 ; Rachel Otis, born February 1, 1773, mar-
ried October 14, 1802, to Hon. James Fraser, M. E. C., born in
Inverness, Scotland, their eldest daughter becoming the wife of
Hon. Charles Stephen Gore, G. C. B. and K. H., third son of the
2d Earl of Arran ; John, born and died June 1, 1775 ; Susanna
Isabella, born June 17, 1776, died September 25, 1777; Frances
Mary, born February 23, 1778, died November 17, 1791 ; Isabel-
la Amelia, born October 2, 1779, married August 1, 1821, to Cap-
tain John McKay, H. M., 27th regiment; Harriot Sophia, born
September 8, 1781, married September 17, 1799, to Rev. William
Colsell King, Rector of Windsor.
Another family of note in Windsor was the McHeffey family,
the founders of which came from Ireland with the Allisons, Ma-
gees, McCollas, McCormicks, and Millers, in 1769. This family
was not limited to the township of Windsor, but spread into
other townships as well. Richard McHeffey and his wife Mary
(Caulfield), who were probably married in Ireland in 1756, had
children recorded in Windsor (though some of them were of
course born in Ireland): Robert, February 22, 1758; Daniel,
February 19, 1763; William, August 10, 1765; George Henry,
February 6, 1771 ; Richard, December 26, 1773 ; James, April 9y
1776 ; John, November 21, 1778 ; Joseph, March 4, 1781.
An important family in Windsor after the Revolution was
that of Nathaniel Ray Thomas, born in Marshfield, Massachu-
setts in 1731, whom Governor Gage appointed one of his man-
damus councillors (though he never took the oath), who went
with Howe's fleet to Halifax, was proscribed and banished and
had much of his estate in Massachusetts confiscated, and who
died at Windsor September 19, 1787. His wife, whom he mar-
ried in Boston (intention recorded November 7, 1754), was
Sarah Deering, an aunt of Lady Frances Wentworth; she died
at Windsor in 1810, aged 78. Mrs. Thomas was a lady of recog-
nized worth, and on her death Mrs. Richard Cunningham wrote:
"O, snatched too soon, ere love could find
One life-bound hope decay,
Ere time or sorrow from thy mind
Could steal one charm away.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 99
"For though around thy fading brows
The wintry storms had prest,
Yet all that cheerful summer knows
Was pictured in thy breast;
"Still flashed the eye— and sparkling played,
More than could lips express,
And still the melting smile displayed
A soul of tenderness.
"That soul by sense and judgment moved,
By virtue's self inspired,
Thou wert in every scene beloved,
Through every change admired.
"Though at thy heart so oft were driven
The arrows of Despair,
The tearful eyes were raised to Heaven
And shielding Faith was there."27
The will of Nathaniel Ray Thomas, made at Windsor June 8,
1787, and proved October 5, of the same year, mentions six chil-
dren, in the following order: Nathaniel Bay, Jr., John, Sarah
Deering, Mary, Elizabeth Packer, and Charles. Of the exact
order of their births, however, we are somewhat uncertain, Na-
thaniel Ray, Jr., was born perhaps in 1755, John we know was
born August 30, 1764, and Charles probably in 1772. We should
suppose, therefore, that the three daughters came between Na-
thaniel Ray, Jr., and John.
Of these children, Nathaniel Ray, Jr., married at Windsor,
Sarah Hersey Otis DeWolf, born May 14, 1770, a daughter of
Benjamin and Rachel (Otis) DeWolf. In mature life he became
custos rotulorum and collector of customs at Windsor.27172 His
death occurred at Windsor, August 12, 1823. His children that
we know of were, Charles Wentworth, an officer in H. M. 81st
regiment, and Sarah Rachel (an only daughter), who was mar-
ried January 30, 1828, to Judge Lewis Morris Wilkins, Jr.. of
the Supreme bench of Nova Scotia (born at Halifax, May 24,
1801, died at Windsor March 14, 1885).
27. "Memorials of Marshfield" says : She left an "excellent character at
Green Harbour. During the direful 'dearth of bread,' at one period of the war,
she fed the very people from whom, in the warmth of party feeling, she had met
with much indignity."
27^. On the 24th of April, 1789, the grand jury of the sessions of the peace
for Hants County made a presentment that "George Henry Monk, Esq., and Mr.
Nathl. R. Thomas had neglected to attend divine worship for the space of three
months, to the evil example of society." Whereupon Mr. Thomas was fined ten
shillings, and Major Monk "traversed the presentment on technical grounds and
escaped the fine. See "Old Parish Burying Ground," p. 66. This reference is of
course to Nathaniel Ray Thomas, Jr.
ioo RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
John Thomas, known as Captain John Thomas, was born at
Marshfield, and after he had grown up returned from Nova
Scotia and settled there, on property of his father's that had
not been confiscated. He married in Pembroke, Massachusetts,
first Lucy Baker, secondly Lucy Turner, by his two marriages
having nine children, the youngest of whom was named for his
grandfather and uncle, Nathaniel Ray.28
Charles Thomas, born probably in 1772, was a lieutenant in
H. M. 7th Royal Fusiliers regiment, at that time commanded in
Nova Scotia by His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, Duke of
Kent, Queen Victoria's father. Lieutenant Thomas was acci-
dentally shot by a brother officer, at an inn not many miles from
Halifax, where both officers were resting after a successful hunt
for a deserter, and died at Government House, Halifax, August
16, 1797, in his 25th year. After his death the Duke caused a
handsome table tombstone to be placed over his grave in St.
Paul's burying grounds, bearing the following inscription:
"This Stone Sacred to the Memory of Lieut. Charles Thomas
of His Majesty's Royal Fusilier Regiment who departed this
Life on the 16th of August, 1797, Aged 24 years : is placed as a
Testimony of His Friendship and Esteem by Lieut. General
His Royal Highness Prince Edward his Colonel."
The following "Elegy on the death of Lieutenant Charles
Thomas, of the Royal Fusiliers, who was accidentally shot by
his most intimate friend," was written (and published in the
Halifax Acadian Recorder, April 15, 1820) by a Mrs. Fletcher
of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia:
"Slow moves in funeral pomp the mournful bier,
That gives the warrior to the silent grave ;
While scarce the manly eye can hide the tear;
While sighs respire the bosoms of the brave.
"The martial arm with sable crape entwined,
The drum deep muffled, and th' inverted spear,
The mournful dirge that floats upon the wind,
And strikes in plaintive sounds the pensive ear.
"These wake attention from her silent cell,
Arrest the footstep, fix the wand'ring eye;
These thy sad tale emphatically tell,
And breathe the loud memento, 'thou must die.'
28. See Richards' History of Marshfield, Mass., Vol. 2, pp. 87,
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 101
"In life's gay bloom, in valor's glorious road,
In fame, in honor's warm pursuit he fell,
What manly virtues in thy bosom glow'd,
Thy friends remember, and thy friends shall tell.
"For worth and honor there were deep enshrin'd,
And filial love and tenderness sincere ;
And generous friendship sought thy nobler mind,
That reared with pride her sacred altar there.
"Lamented youth ! how many weep thy fall
With real grief and undissembled woe !
Oh fate! who bade thee guide that rapid ball?
A friend's unconscious hand to deal the blow.
"Ah ! then misfortune hurl'd her bitt'rest dart !
The missile shaft accelerated flew —
Fate only bade it pierce one noble heart,
Friendship had join'd them, and it severed two.
"But tho' in life's meridian pride he fell,
Not in the field with glory's laurels crown'd,
Ere fame her clarion in his praise could swell,
While list'ning thousands caught the glorious sound.
"A nobler meed was thine — a nobler fame —
Think not ye friends his destiny severe,
Whose valour, virtue, and whose fate could claim
From royal Edward's eye th' impassioned tear."
It is impossible to mention here all the separate grants by
which Windsor township was distributed, for unlike Palmouth
and Newport the lands it comprises were not given chiefly en
bloc, but we append a list of individual grants in Hants County,
which contains the most important grants in Windsor. To de-
termine the exact locations and boundaries of any of these grants,
however, would for our present purpose be an impossible task.
INDIVIDUAL GRANTS, IN GREAT PART IN WINDSOR.
1759-
2 June, George and Henry Scott and Winckworth Tonge,
2,500 acres at Five Houses, St. Croix, Pisiquid.
27 July, Winckworth, William, and George Tonge, 1,500
acres at St. Croix, Pisiquid.
28 August, The "Councillors Grant" to seven members, 7,-
000 acres at Windsor.
29 August, Benjamin Gerrish and others, 14,000 acres at
Pisiquid Eiver.
29 August, John Tonge and others, 5,500 acres at Pisiquid.
29 August, Edmund Crawley, 1,400 acres at Pisiquid Eiver.
1 September, Joshua Mauger and others, seven in all, 2,500
acres.
1760-
20 May, Winckworth, William, and George Tonge, 1,500
acres at Falmouth.
7 August, Joseph and Michael Scott, 1,000 acres at Fal-
mouth.
14 August, Moses Delesdernier, A lot "in the township of
Falmouth on the south-west side of Fort Edward."
28 August, Joseph Gerrish, 7,000 acres at Pisiquid River.
29 August, Major George Scott, Dr. George Day, and oth-
ers, 6,000 acres on the River St. Croix, township of
Falmouth.
7 November, John Collier, a grant in Falmouth, amount
not specified in registry.
15 November, Martha Dyer and Moses Masters, a town lot
in Falmouth.
1761-
9 July, Benjamin Gerrish, 1,000 acres in Falmouth.
29 December, Moses Delesdernier, 40 acres in Falmouth.
1762-
3 June, Alexander Grant, 1,000 acres in Falmouth.
25 June, William Hore, 500 acres in Falmouth.
25 June, Henry Denny Denson and Henry Maturin Denson,
750 acres in Falmouth.
28 October, Isaac Deschamps, house lot, and barn and gar-
den, in Falmouth.
1763-
8 June, Walter Manning, 500 acres in Falmouth.
8 June, Edward Cumberbach, 500 acres in Falmouth.
8 June, Terence Fitzpatrick, 500 acres in Falmouth.
8 June, John Gray, 500 acres in Falmouth.
8 June, Simon Parry, 500 acres in Falmouth.
8 June, J. F. W. Desbarres and others, 1,500 acres in Fal-
mouth.
24 August, Henry Tucker, 500 acres in Newport.
6 September, Alexander MacCullock, 500 acres in Falmouth.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 103
1764-
2 February, Benjamin Gerrish, 168 acres in Falmouth.
4 February, Walter Manning, 500 acres on Windsor Road.
4 February, Rev. Joseph Bennett, 500 acres in Newport.
19 July, Abel and Matthew Michenor, 750 acres in Fal-
mouth.
27 August, Samuel Cottnam, 1,000 acres on Windsor Road.
31 October, Edmund W^atmough, 500 acres in Falmouth.
1765-
15 June, Benjamin, Joseph, and John McNutt and Patrick
McCollum, 1,000 acres in Noel.
1766-
22 November, Winckworth Tonge and others in trust to
hold fairs, a grant at Fort Edward hill, Windsor.
1768-
19 February, Henry Potter and others, a grant in Fal-
mouth.
19 February, James Horatio Watmough and others, 6,322
acres in Falmouth.
8 April, James Brenton, 500 acres in Newport.
8 April, Samuel Cottnam, 500 acres in Newport.
8 April, John Garden, 500 acres in Newport.
1772-
11 March, William Haliburton, 14 acre at Windsor.
1 June, James Campbell, 1,000 acres at Kennetcook River.
31 July, Henry Denny Denson, 2,000 acres in Falmouth.
20 November, James Horatio Watmough and others, 847^
acres in Falmouth.
1773-
Ephraim Stannus, 1/4 acre at Windsor.
1775-
8 February, Jeremiah Northup, 500 acres in Falmouth.
1784-
3 August, Captain John Bond and many others, 23,000
acres — the township of Rawdon.
5 November, Rev. William Ellis, 1,000 acres in Newport.
This land is said to have been escheated from John
Carden, Jr.
104 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCO'TIA
1786-
3 April, Joseph Gray, 6 water lots in Windsor.
1797-
23 August, Edward and Philip Hosier (Mosher), 520 acres
in Newport.
17 October, S. Coleman, 2301/4 acres in Newport.
1803-
22 July, Eev. Edward Chapman Willoughby, 600 acres.
1810-
Nathaniel, John, James, and William Jenkins, 1,750 acres.
1815-
3 July, William Haliburton and others, trustees for a mar-
ket in Windsor, a lot at Fort Edward hill, Windsor.
(To be Continued).
MARCH, 1915
AMERICANA
CONTENTS
PAGE
Rhode Island Settlers on the French Lands in Nova Scotia
in 1760 and 1761. (Part III).
By Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, D. C. L. . 179
For Conscience Sake. Chapter XII.
By Cornelia Mitchell Parsons .... 198
History of the Mormon Church. Chapter CXVII.
By Brigham H. Roberts 204
Historic Views and Reviews 265
"The Power to Right our Wrongs," by Anna Fitzgerald
Van Loan.
The National Cyclopedia of American Biography.
I. M. GREENE, Editor.
JOSIAH COLLINS PUMPELLY, A. M., LL.B., Member Publication
Committee New York Genealogical and Biographical So-
ciety, Associate Editor.
VICTOR HUGO DURAS, D. C. L., M. Diplomacy, Historian of the
American Group of the Interparliamentary Union of the
Congress of the United States, Contributing Editor.
Published by the National Americana Society,
DAVID I. NELKE, President and Treasurer,
131 East 23rd Street,
New York, N. Y.
Copyright, 1915, by
THE NATIONAL AMERICANA SOCIETY
Entered at the New York Postoffice as Second-class Mail Matter
All rights reserved.
AMERICANA
March, 1915
Rhode Island Settlers on the French Lands
in Nova Scotia in 1760 and 1761
BY ARTHUE WENT WORTH HAMILTON EATON, D. C. L.
FORT EDWARD, IN THE TOWNSHIP OF WINDSOR
r • 1 HE only fortification that we have record of in Hants
County, save a little place of defence in "West Fal-
mouth" known as "Fort Lawrence," was Fort Ed-
-*- ward, about which the first British settlement in East
Falmouth, afterward Windsor, grew up. Of the history of the
obscure Fort Lawrence, in Falmouth, we know virtually noth-
ing. In the minutes of the town meeting "held in Falmouth on the
13th of October (October 22, new style), 1760," however, we find
record of a note to adjourn to Saturday, the 18th of October,
to Fort Lawrence, "there to proceed to draw for the six acre
lots and also to transact any other affairs of the township that
may occur, and hereafter to be continued every second Monday
as usual."1 Of the more important Fort Edward we have a
pretty continuous record from the time of its building until it
became finally disused.
The little stockade at Windsor known as Fort Edward was
built by Major Lawrence's orders in 1750, a corps of regular
soldiers and probably of "Rangers" from New England per-
forming the work.2 In an account of the defences of Nova
1. This record will be found in the little manuscript minute book of Falmouth
Town Meetings, copied by the late Dr. Thomas B. Akins, and at present in private
hands in Falmouth. Dr. Hind quotes it in his "Old Parish Burying Ground," p. 49.
On page 56 Dr. Hind says that Fort Edward and Fort Lawrence were nearly op-
posite each other, the Pisiquid river dividing them.
2. Dr. Hind says, p. 42: "On his journey to Mines, where a rendezvous of
troops took place in that year [1750], Major Lawrence had under his command 165
regulars and about 200 rangers. Fort Edward was built after his return from
Chignecto, and there can be little doubt that both the regulars and the rangers as-
sisted in its construction. Dr. Hind, p. 7, also states that an order to erect a block
house at Pisiquid was given by Governor Cornwallis to Captain John Gorham,
March 12, 1749.
179
i So RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
Scotia he sent Lord Lodoun on the 21st of June, 1756, Major
Lawrence says:
"Piziquid or Fort Edward is a fort situated upon an eminence
on the South East side of Mines Bason, between the rivers
Piziquid and St. Croix, to which we have access by land by way
of Fort Sackville [in Halifax County] and is distant therefrom
about 40 miles ; we have also a communication therewith by the
Bay of Fundy. There is a necessity of keeping a strong gar-
rison here to send out detachments to scour the country for In-
dians and to keep the disaffected French inhabitants under sub-
jection. "3
Of the "Bangers," who probably helped in the construction
of Fort Edward, a few words should here be said. They were
volunteer troops from the interior of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire, raised early in the history of New England,
to defend the people of Massachusetts against the Indians.
' ' They ascended the rivers, penetrated into the heart of the prov-
ince, and attacked the enemy in their strongholds."4 A corps
of the Rangers was sent to Nova Scotia in command of Major
Joseph Gorham save after the settlement of Halifax, and Dr.
Hind says they passed through Pisiquid in 1750. This corps,
Dr. Akins tells us, was composed chiefly of "half blood In-
dians."5 Early in 1758, under instructions from the Earl of
Lodoun, commander-in-chief of the forces in North Ameri-
ca, Captain, afterward Major, Robert Rogers raised five
additional companies, one of them an Indian company, to aug-
ment the Rangers ' force. The five companies were ready for ser-
vice on the 4th of March, 1758, and Major Rogers says that
four of them were at once sent to Louisburg to assist General
Amherst.6 In 1758, says Dr. Akins, it was again found neces-
sary to procure the services of 250 of the Rangers, and prom-
3. Dr. Hind gives March 30, 1755, as the date of this description "Old Parish
Burying Ground," pp. 5, 6.
4. Dr. Thomas B. Akins, in his "History of the Settlement of Halifax," Col-
lections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 8.
5. Nova Scotia Archives, Vol. i, p. 564. Dr. Hind says of the Rangers:
"Long accustomed to border war with the Indians and French of Canada, they had
become well disciplined and accustomed to hardship and fatigue, and were perhaps
at this time [1758] superior to all other provincial troops in America." "Old Par-
ish Burying Ground," p. 46.
6. "Journals of Major Robert Rogers," p. 78.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 181
ises of high pay and other advantages were made them if they
would come. Whether the corps in the Province at the time of
the building of Fort Edward remained much longer, or what
their movements for the next few years were, we cannot at pres-
ent stop to inquire.7
The name of the Pisiquid fort has sometimes mistakenly been
said to have been given in compliment to the Duke of Kent, who
late in the 18th century spent a few years in Nova Scotia in
command of the British North American forces, but this is not
true, the fort was undoubtedly named for Colonel Edward Corn-
wallis, who was governor of the Province when it was erected,
Fort Lawrence, across the Pisiquid, being named for the lieu-
tenant-governor, Major Charles Lawrence, who in July, 1750,
was made lieutenant-governor, and in July, 1756, succeeding
Colonel Peregrine Thomas Hopson, governor. The name Fort
Edward of the Pisiquid fort appears in documents of the time
certainly as early as 1752, the Duke of Kent was not born until
1767.
At the time of the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, the gar-
rison at Fort Edward was in command of Captain Alexander
Murray, and the proclamation requiring the men of Pisiquid and
Grand Pre to assemble in their respective churches to hear the
King's orders, was drawn up by Col. John Winslow and Cap-
tain Murray, conjointly, within the precincts of the Pisiquid
fort.8 When their countrymen were taken away, as is well known,
a very considerable number of the French of King's County
escaped to the woods, and this is probably more true of the peo-
ple of Pisiquid than of Minas or River Canard. From the close
of 1755 to 1765, says Dr. Hind, the duties of the Pisiquid sol-
7. In a return made by General Amherst of the troops voted to be levied, those
actually raised, and those to remain in service during the winter, for the year 1762,
in all the colonies, we find that nearly 3,000 Massachusetts troops were in service
in this year. Of these 3,000, 500 were at Cape Breton and Newfoundland. Among
these were Major Joseph Gorham's Rangers, "an independent corps which had
previously been recruited largely from Massachusetts." The recruiting office was
at Boston. One of Gorham's officers recruited 34 men in Nova Scotia and 14 at
Boston; those from Nova Scotia are said to have been sent to Boston.
8 Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe," and Winslpw's Journal, published in
Vols 3 and 4 of the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society The part
of Winslow's Journal that relates to the deportation of the Acadians will be found
in Vol. 3.
182 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
diers "were arduous and painful. The Acadians and Indians
appear to have been hunted down as a necessary, though dis-
tressing, precautionary measure. Those of the Acadians who
were not killed were kept as prisoners when taken, many of them
voluntarily surrendering in order to escape starvation." On
the 5th of October, 1761, the number of French families "at"
Fort Edward is chronicled as 231, and of prisoners victualled at
the fort as 82. On the llth of October, 1762, the number of fam-
ilies is said to be 217, and June 12th, 1762, the number of prison-
ers is given as 91. In 1763 the number of prisoners varies from
335 to 391. The unsettled state of the Pisiquid district will show
the reason why the first settlers in Falmouth and Newport were
protected by forts and soldiers . . . and why so little is
recorded of the occupation of the fertile country about Windsor
from 1755 to 1760, a period of four years."9
In 1762, the garrison of Fort Edward was composed of the
militia of King's County, all regular troops being concentrated
at Halifax, with the exception of a hundred men at St. John
Eiver, Annapolis, and Cumberland. As the entire population of
the four King's County townships, Horton, Cornwallis, Fal-
mouth and Newport, in 1763 was 367 families, comprising 1,936
souls, nearly all the able-bodied men of the county must have
been enrolled in order to garrison the forts and blockhouses, of
which Fort Edward was chief. At a meeting of Council, July
26, 1762, it was stated that it had been indispensable for the
safety of the settlers to send a hundred and thirty Acadians
from King's County to Halifax, under a militia guard of a hun-
dred men of King's County.
On the 16th of March, 1759, General Ajnherst at New York
writes to Governor Lawrence at Halifax: "I have wrote to
Governor Pownall for fifteen hundred Provincials to joyn the
five hundred that will be detached from Monckton's and Lau-
rence's Battalions for the protection of Halifax, Nova Scotia,
and the Bay of Fundy, and that there may be no loss of time I
shall order the Provincials to be embarked at Boston and to
proceed directly to the different Garrisons in the Bay of Fundy
9. "Old Parish Burying Ground," pp. 30, 42.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 183
at the following distributions: 400 to Fort Cumberland, 250 to
Annapolis, 250 to St. John's, 100 to Pisiquid, 200 to Lunen-
burg."9% June 1, 1760, Hon. Charles Morris, provisional sur-
veyor, writes Governor Lawrence from Pisiquid that "Captain
Watmore" informs him that he has but 110 men "in both De-
tachments, ' ' a number that he believes his Excellency will think
too small to defend Fort Edward and protect the King's
County settlements, as two of them, Minas and Canard, are re-
mote and cannot depend upon assistance "from hence."10
Before 1773, Fort Edward, says Murdoch, was almost entirely
destroyed, for in June of that year Lord William Campbell,
the governor, declared to the Council his intention of reserving
for himself a tract of land containing about twenty-one acres
around the hill on ivhich the fort had formerly stood.11 Tradi-
tion has it, says Dr. Hind, that Lord William had a race course
round Fort Edward hill, and Judge Haliburton says that "the
ground originally reserved for military purposes in the neigh-
borhood of the fort was granted during the administration of
Lord William Campbell, in the year 1767, to his lordship's
groom, and was afterward purchased for a valuable considera-
tion by government,"12 Colonel Robert Morse, R. E., however,
who in 1783 and 1784, under direction of Governor Parr, made a
census of Nova Scotia and part of New Brunswick, at this later
period describes the fort as still in tolerable order and equipped
for purposes of defence. Fort Edward, he says, "is a small,
square fort of 85 yards exterior front, with bastions, a ditch,
and a raised counterscarp, and is composed of sod. Here are
eight pieces of cannon mounted. This fort . . . was built
early in the settlement of the province, first intended as a place
of security against the Indians, and repaired and improved in
the beginning of the late war to protect the inhabitants of Wind-
sor from the ravages of the American privateers." Colonel
Morse says that the fort had accommodation for 168 men and 8
gl/2. Nova Scotia Archives, Vol. i, pp. 403. 442.
10. See Mr. Morris's letter, appendix.
11. Beamish Murdoch's "History of Nova Scotia," Vol. 2, p. 510.
12. Haliburton's "Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia," Vol. 2,
p. 108.
K°4 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
officers, and that the cannon it mounted included five iron nine-
pounders, one iron six-pounder, and two iron four-pounders, and
that it was supplied with 696 round shot, 10 case, and 10 grape.13
In 1829, Judge Haliburton wrote : ' ' There is a small military
post at Windsor, called Fort Edward, in honor of his Royal
Highness the late Duke of Kent, which is much out of repair
and now scarcely tenantable. It is pleasantly and advantageously
situated on elevated land that commands the entrance of both
rivers. . . . The fortifications, it is said, are to be re-
paired and new and commodious barracks erected. At pres-
ent a subaltern and a small detachment are stationed there."14
In command at Fort Edward in successive years were the
following officers : 1750, Captain John Gorham ; 1751, Captain
St. Loe of the regular army, and Captain Sutherland of War-
burton's regiment; 1753, Captain Hale, relieved November 1
(of that year) by Captain Matthew Floyer; 1754, Captain Floy-
er, Captain Cox (formerly, as was Captain Floyer in 1750, com-
mandant at "Vieux Logis," Minas), and Captain Alexander
Murray; 1755 Captains Murray and Cox, the force they com-
manded being increased, December 5, by Captain Lampson's and
Captain Cobb's companies of the First Battalion of Governor
Shirley's Massachusetts regiment; 1756, Captains Cox, Lamp-
son and Cobb; 1757, Colonel Kennedy (in August the garrison
received part of Colonel Kennedy's regiment, under Lord Lon-
doun) ; 1758, Captain Fletcher of Col. Frye's Massachusetts
regiment, a detachment of the New England Bangers possibly
also being in the fort; 1759, Captain Fletcher, Captain Gay of
Colonel John Thomas' Massachusetts regiment, and Colonel
Nathan Thwing; 1760, Captain Jotham Gay of Colonel Nathan
Thwing's Massachusetts regiment.15
13. Hind's "Old Parish Burying Ground," p. 3.
14 Haliburton's "Nova Scotia," Vol. 2, p. 108. It is in this connection that
Judge Haliburton says that the land about the fort was granted in 1767 to Lord
William Campbell's groom.
15. "Old Parish Burying Ground," p. 43.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 185
APPENDIX I
"To the King's most excellent Majesty
"May it please your Majesty
"The success of your Majesty's
"arms in the year 1755, in dispossessing the French of the sev-
eral encroachments they had made at Beausejour, Bay Verte,
and in other parts of the Colony of Nova Scotia, having afforded
a favourable opportunity of reducing the French Inhabitants of
the Colony to that obedience which as subjects under the faith
of the Treaty of Utrecht they owed to your Majesty's Govern-
ment, or forcing them to quit the Country, Charles Lawrence,
Esqr., your Majesty's Governor of the said Colony, availed him-
self of that conjuncture to try every means of inducing them to
take the proper Oath of allegiance to your Majesty, unqualified
with any Eeservation whatever. But they persisting in an unan-
imous Refusal of such Oath, the said Governor and your Ma-
jesty's Council, assisted by the advice and opinion of Admiral
Boscawen and the late Rear Admiral Mostyn, resolved it to be
indispensably necessary to the security of Nova Scotia, imme-
diately to remove from that colony a set of people who refusing
to become subjects to your Majesty according to the stipulation
of the Treaty of Utrecht, had ever since under the name of Neu-
trals either abetted every hostile attempt of the French by secret
Treachery or countenanced them by open force.
"This Resolution being carried into effectual execution by
transporting the said French Inhabitants to the amount of near
7,000 persons and distributing them in proper proportions among
the colonies on the Continent of North America, vast quantities
of the most fertile land in an actual state of cultivation and in
those parts of the Province the most advantageously situated
for commerce in general and that of the Fishery in particular,
became vacant and subject to your Majesty's disposal: And
the filling them with useful and industrious Inhabitants appeared
to us to be of so great Importance to the future security and
prosperity of Nova Scotia that it became an immediate object
of our utmost attention and sollicitude. Accordingly we lost
iH6 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
no time in recommending it to your Majesty's Governor to con-
sult with such of the neighboring Colonies as abound in Inhab-
itants and whose cleared Lands are already taken up and to use
every other means in his Power toward inviting and procuring
a proper number of settlers to seat themselves on the said va-
cated lands on the terms and conditions prescribed by your
Majesty's Instructions.
1 'In pursuance of these directions your Majesty's Governor
by private correspondence at first and afterwards by two publick
Proclamations (of which we humbly beg leave to annex copies)
made known the quantities, situation, and nature of the Lands,
and the conditions on which he was impowered to Grant them,
appointed agents at Boston and New York to treat with all Per-
sons desirous to become settlers, and in consequence received
several Proposals for settling Townships in different parts of
the Province. And altho' the execution of those proposals has
been greatly delayed by circumstances the most unfavorable to
such undertakings, which necessarily arise in time of war, and
particularly by the dread of those incursions and cruelties of
the French and Indians, with which this Province has continu-
ally been harassed. We have nevertheless the great satisfac-
tion humbly to represent to your Majesty that the zealous en-
deavors of your said Governor have at length been crowned with
a success greatly beyond our expectations and almost equal to
our wishes.
''It appears, may it please your Majesty, by letters and pa-
pers which we have lately received from Mr. Lawrence that an
extraordinary disposition for settling in Nova Scotia, having in
consequence of the said Proclamations diffused itself thro' the
Colonies of the Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Ehode Island,
in the two last of which the Inhabitants are growing too numer-
ous for their present possessions, the said Governor has availed
himself of that spirit not merely to people the cultivated Lands
heretofore possessed by the French Inhabitants, according to
the first idea, but also to grant out with them a very large pro-
portion of wild and uncultivated country. That upon this Plan
he has actually passed Grants of nine Townships containing
100,000 acres each within ye Bay of Fundy, and of four other
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 187
Townships of the like number of acres each on the Cape Sable
shore. In which 13 townships it is covenanted that 2,550 Fam-
ilies, making in the whole 12,750 Persons, shall be seated in the
course of the three ensuing years, in such Proportion and at such
Periods as are specified in the annexed copy of the Abstract of
the said grants, and Mr. Lawrence further informs us that he
is actually in treaty with Persons who have applyed to him for
Grants of Six or Eight Townships more than are mentioned in
the said abstract with respect to the Terms and Conditions on
which the said 13 Townships have been Granted. . . .
"It appears by a copy of one of the Grants which Mr. Law-
rence has transmitted to us as the model by which the rest were
framed that they are conformable to the directions of your Ma-
jesty's Instructions with regard to the Quantity allotted to each
family, the Quit rent reserved by your Majesty and the condi-
tions of cultivation and improvement. And the only circum-
stance which we regret in the management of this important
business is that notwithstanding the uncommon fertility and
other peculiar advantages of these Lands which might be deemed
to afford sufficient encouragement to the settlers without incur-
ring any expence to the Publick, we find that Mr. Lawrence has
been obliged to consent to pay the charge of transporting the
first year's settlers of the three first Townships, and of making
them a small allowance of Bread corn. But we are hopeful
nevertheless that the Reasons set forth in the said Governor's
letter and in the Minutes of the Council (extracts of which we
humbly beg leave to annex may induce your Majesty to approve
the conduct of your Governor in consenting to these allowances,
rather than fisquing by too strict an attention to Economy the
whole success of a measure which must be productive of the most
essential advantages, not only to the Colony of Nova Scotia but
to your Majesty's other Colonies on the Continent of North
America and finally to this Kingdom. For, by the accomplish-
ment of this important undertaking, the Colony of Nova Scotia,
becoming almost at once populous, will rise from the weak
of Infancy to such a degree of internal strength and stability as
will naturally produce its own security, and contribute in a great
measure to that of those neighboring Provinces to which it is a
i88 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
Frontier. In consequence of these advantages it may reasonably
be hoped that this Colony will in a few years cease to be a
Burthen to the Mother Country to whose bountifull assistance it
has hitherto owed its support, and that being thus enabled fully
to avail itself of those great and lasting sources of Wealth which
it possesses, it will not only have within itself all the necessaries
of life sufficient for its own consumption but be in a capacity of
exporting large Quantities of Grain, Hemp, Flax, Fish and other
valuable commodities to the great increase and benefit of the
Trade and Navigation of Great Britain and her Colonies.
' ' For these reasons we think it our duty humbly to lay before
your Majesty the whole Proceedings of your Governor and
Council in this important service (as set forth in the several
papers hereunto annexed) humbly proposing that they may
receive the sanction of your Majesty's Eoyal approbation.
"All which is most humbly submitted.
"DUNK HALIFAX,
SOAME JENYNS,
W. G. HAMILTON,
W. SLOPES.
"Whitehall,
"Decemr20th, 1759."
The thirteen ' ' old townships ' ' referred to in this letter were,
we believe, Horton, Cornwallis, Falmouth (the first townships
formed for New England people), Truro, Onslow, Cumberland,
Sackville, Amherst, Chester, Dublin, Annapolis, Granville, Liv-
erpool. In a letter from the Lords of Trade to Lawrence of
December 14, 1759, the gentlemen comprising this body signify
their approval of Lawrence's attempts "to settle the Province
of Nova Scotia by scheme for Horton and 12 other Townships."
APPENDIX II
Governor Lawrence on the 5th of February, 1759, writes the
Lords of Trade: "Since I had the honour of writing to your
Lordships in December last, enclosing a Proclamation issued in
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 189
the month of October, encouraging the settlement of the vacated
lands, I have received information from Mr. Hancock, who does
the business of this Province at Boston, that various applications
have been made to him in consequence of it by people disposed
to settle the Lands, but that there are some interesting points
which the Proclamation did not fully sett forth and explain, and
that it would be therefore necessary in order to his being ena-
bled to resolve in a satisfactory manner such doubts as might
arise in the people's minds upon these points that he should be
further instructed concerning them. I immediately laid this
letter before His Majesty's Council for their opinion, who ad-
vised me to issue another proclamation which herewith I have
the honour to transmitt [dated January 11, 1759], to your lord-
ships not doubting but as it is as nearly conformable as possible
to His Majesty's commands signified in His Instructions, I shall
be happy in your Lordships approbation of my conduct therein.
"It would be matter of the highest mortification to me should
I hereafter appear to have taken any undue steps in a measure
of so much moment as that of peopling these valuable tracts of
land, and therefore whatever I engage in, without first hearing
from your Lordships I shall undertake with the utmost caution
and circumspection, but as the people on the continent discover
at present a particular spirit to become adventurers in that part
of the country, which if discouraged by any delay might be of
the highest detriment to so desirable an undertaking, I presume
your Lordships would have me use my best endeavours to avail
myself of this favourable crisis and introduce what settlers I
can, etc., etc."
April 20, 1759, Lawrence writes : "I have now the satisfac-
tion to acquaint your Lordships further that agents appointed
by some hundred of associated substantial families residing in
the colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island are arrived here to
visit the Bay of Fundy and chuse lands for the immediate estab-
lishment of two or more townships if in viewing the country they
find it answers the description I have given of it in the Procla-
mation and the accounts handed about by the different people
who have transiently had occasion to know something of its un-
common fertility. I propose sending them away in a few days
190 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
in one of the Province Vessells with the Principal Surveyor
[Hon. Charles Morris], who is well acquainted with every de-
partment in the Bay, and who I am persuaded will bring them
back perfectly pleased and satisfied with every thing that falls
under their observation," etc., etc., etc.1
APPENDIX III
[Letter from Hon. Charles Morris to Governor Lawrence,
taken from the Council Records ].
"PISIQUID, June 1, 1760.
" SIR.— Having left the inhabitants of Liverpool in high spir-
its, extremely well pleased with their situation and the choice
they have made for a Township, and for having discovered
among other things great Quantities of fine Oak for ship build-
ing, on the 24th Inst. I sailed for the Bay, the 29th I put into
Annapolis to deliver the settlers I had charge of; there I found
forty settlers belonging to the Township of Annapolis, arrived
just before us, and a committee for the Township of Granville,
to lay out Lotts for their first setters. These came in a vessel
hired by Mr. Hancock for Mr. Evans and compy. and was to
return the next Day for the remainder of the setlers and stock,
who were not at first ready, so that they have hired one Vessel
to go two Trips instead of two Vessels (I was obliged to tarry
with them part of the next day, in order to satisfy some dis-
contents), on account of the number of Troops allowed for their
Protection.
"Colonel Hoar has not above 70 men reenlisted, the others in-
sisting on being released and sent home, and I find by a Letter he
has received by this Vessel from Governor Pownall there is no
Recruits to be expected from thence, but he informs him the
Troops will soon be otherways relieved ; perhaps he has Advice
that (as it is reported) Louisburg is to be demolished, and the
Troops removed from this Province.
i. Hon. Charles Morris, for many years Surveyor General of Nova Scotia,
was a Boston man. For a sketch of him (by the writer of this paper) see the New
England Historical and Genealogical Register, for July, 1913.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 191
' The want of a sufficient number of Troops at this Juncture
where so many settlements are carrying on, is not a little dis-
couraging to the new Setlers, I am in hopes no Accident will hap-
pen to make a greater number necessary.
''The Gape Sable Indians have been at Annapolis, and have
behaved friendly and left some of their wives and children there,
and propose to return and bring their families, I think Mr.
Hoar told me there were nine families.
"There is one Circumstance I beg leave to take notice of to
your Excellency, mentioned to me by Coll. Hoar, that he had
received Advice from Major Arbuthnot that 160 of his men had
deserted, that he was apprehensive the others would the first
opportunity, and that the Garrison would be in danger if any-
thing should happen in that part of the Country.
"Having put the new Inhabitants at Annapolis, in a method
how to divide and Improve their Land to their Satisfaction, I
set sail the 30th and arrived last night here, and this morning
between Eleven & Twelve, came up Captain Rogers, with six
Transports with Inhabitants, principally for the Township of
Minas, they have been out 21 days and Suffered much for want
of sufficient Provinder and Hay for their Stock. We were obliged
to Land the Cattle here which was done immediately, and pur-
pose after they have recruited to drive them to Minas.
"Captain Rogers informs me that there were many Families
more than they could provide Transports for, waiting at New
London with their Cattle and that Captain Taggart who is daily
expected, will bring a more full account of the particulars.
"I should be glad of your Excellency's immediate orders if
you think proper for sending back the Transports and which of
the Province Vessels you purpose to accompany them, or both,
and whether the vessels belonging to the Inhabitants of this
Province are not to be preferred if there be more Vessels
than sufficient: I am humbly of opinion that this opportunity
of importing the Inhabitants ought by no means to be neglected,
seeing they are ready for embarkation, the vessels already pre-
pared both for Men and Cattle, and the Passage to and from
Connecticut cannot be much longer than a month at this season.
192 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
"June 2d.
"There are four seperate Places to be Settled, Canard,
Minas, North and East side of Pisiquid.
' ' The Places I intend to propose at Canard is Boudrow 's Bank,
at Minas the Vieux Lodgees, at Pisiquid for the North side the
upland (between both marshes) East of Petit Cape in sight of
this Fort, and the other I have not yet examined but intend such
a Place as is within Sight of this Fort, and may by Signal be
relieved.
"I hope your Excellency will think with me it is necessary
at all these Places to have a small Lodgment for the Troops and
a Place of Eefuge in case any attempt now unforseen should be
made. That if they are permitted to scatter in their Settlements
under its Present Circumstances, it may tempt the neutral French
and the Indians to give them a fatal Blow which otherwise they
would not think of.
"That a compact Town will be necessary at all these Places
upon account of Trade and Tradesmen, and that such Settle-
ments placed as they will be in the midst of all their clear Land,
may be as advantageous to the Farmers, but that which is of
the utmost Importance, is defending them at first and securing
them so as to stand in spite of all attempts. Individuals may be
unfortunate but a Settlement so founded will hold its ground.
"The charge of doing these things shall not be great but it
will be necessary to have at least one Load of Boards about 30
in. for covering for the Troops and Stores : The rails I brought
with me will be sufficient but cash will be wanting for Labour,
and for which I shall want your Excellency's orders or leave
to draw for, and which I promise shall be as little as possible.
"Captain Watmore is heartily disposed to serve the Settle-
ments and would be glad of a Share in some of those Lands for
his children if any Vacancy should remain or be forfeited.
"He informs me he has but 110 men in both Detachments, a
number I apprehend your Excellency will think too small to
defend this Fort and protect these Settlements, as two of them,
Minas and Canard, are remote, and cannot depend upon assist-
ance from hence, however I shall proceed tomorrow if possible
with the People to Minas, in order to unload the Vessels and
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 193
have them ready in case your Excellency thinks it necessary they
should immediately return for Setlers, and hope to have Advice
and orders thereon by the Return of the Party.
"I have inclosed your Excellency a Return of the number of
Setlers and have inquired into the deficiency of Arms for which
they have applied and for Ammunition. I have told them I would
make a Return to your Excellency of what Arms were wanting,
as to Ammunition it should be lodged with the officers Command-
ing the Parties, and to be issued only in Time of Necessity.
"I have the Honour to be
"with the greatest Respect,
"Your Excellency's
"Most obliged & obed1.
"humble Servant
"Signed
"CHAS. MORRIS"
APPENDIX IV
It is well known that for many years, almost from the begin-
ning of the settlement of Halifax, Messrs. Charles Apthorp and
Thomas Hancock of Boston and Messrs. Delancey and Watts of
New York were "factors "or agents in the other colonies for the
Nova Scotia Government. At a Council meeting held at Gover-
nor Cornwallis' house, July 6, 1750, His Excellency and six coun-
cillors being present, the Governor informed the Council that as
there had been ' l some difficulty in raising the supplies of money
necessary for the service of the colony, he had agreed to a pro-
posal sent him by Messrs. Apthorp and Hancock of Boston, who
engaged to provide him with Dollars, upon condition that they
should likewise have the furnishing of all stores and materials,
which His Excellency understood as meaning all such as might
be wanted from that Province, but that these Gentlemen had
since explained their terms, so as to oblige him to take every-
thing whatever wanted for this Province from them only and
not have it in his Power to buy anything whatever here, or in
any of the northern Colonys, which terms he could not agree to
without first consulting the Council. . . . That Delancy and
194 RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
Watts write that provided His Excellency could assure them
of the bills being duly honoured, there could be no Difficulty in
being provided with Dollars from New York." Nova Scotia
Archives (printed), Vol. 1, pp. 619, 620.
November 27, 1750, Governor Lawrence writes the Lords of
Trade : * ' Some gentlemen of Boston, who have long served the
Government, because they have not the supplying of every thing,
have done all the mischief they could; their substance which
they have got from the Public enables them to distress and dom-
ineer; without them, they say, we can't do and so must comply
with what terms they think proper to impose; these are
Messrs. Apthorp and Hancock, the two richest Merchants in
Boston ; made so by the public money and now wanton in their
insolent demands. They were proffered to supply all things
from Boston, provided they would do it upon as reasonable terms
as others, and supply money. No— unless every thing wanted
was taken from them, they would not and have endeavored as
far as in them lies, to depreciate the credit of the province. I
have employed Mr. Gunter, a person who has shown his regard
for the settlement by laying out a great deal of money in it,
whereas the others have not contributed a sixpence to it, and
have had the supplying, I dare say, one half of the necessaries
wanted, and this is the return they make. It is quite indifferent
to me who is employed. I wish to God some person you confide
in was sent to transact the affairs of the Country relating to
money matters.
. . . ' ' Messrs. Delancey and Watts of New York, who have
done all in their power to serve the Government, complain great-
ly of Mr. Kilby, his not acquainting them whether their Bills
were paid or not; his threatening them with the charge of the
Protest of their Bills and all costs. Indeed, my Lords, Mr. Kilby
wants looking after, and if the complaints made against him are
true, will ruin the credit and every being of the Province. I
know very little of him, he is a very fair spoken man but in trade
and has his connections in New England, and if what is said be
true gives very unjust preferences in his payment of bills." Nova
Scotia Archives, Vol. 1, pp. 630, 631.
Governor Shirley at Boston in a letter to Governor Lawrence
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 195
at Halifax of January 6, 1755, says: "Your Honour hath, I
perceive, given Colonel Moncton unlimited credit upon Messrs.
Ap thorp and Hancock, and he looks upon himself confin'd by
that to those Gentlemen for every article to be provided for in
this expedition : I have a friendship for both of them and have
been instrumental in introducing them, particularly Mr. Ap-
thorp into the Business of the Board of Ordnance and as mer-
chant factors for your Honour's Government, whc I think stands
upon no appointment nor order of the Board of Trade, but
purely upon the pleasure of the Govrs. of Nova Scotia from time
to time : My kindness still remains for them, and we are upon
exceedingly good terms ; But as I have a Daughter lately mar-
ry'd to a mercht. here, who is a Young Gentleman of extreme
good character, and for whose fidelity and honour in his deal-
ings I can be answerable, of some Capital, and Eldest son to a
mercht. of the largest fortune of any one in Boston I think I
shall not do anything unreasonable by Mr. Apthorp and Han-
cock, if I request the favour of your Honour to let my son in
Law Mr. John Erving be join'd with them in furnishing
money and stores for this Expedition upon the same terms as
they do." Nova Scotia Archives, Vol. 1, p. 399.
Messrs. Apthorp and Hancock furnished Lawrence with ves-
sels in which to remove the Acadians, and presented large bills
for this service. Nova Scotia Archives, Vol. 1, pp. 285-293. De-
cember 12, 1760, Lieutenant-Governor Belcher writes that Mr.
Hancock "has advanced a very considerable sum towards the
transportation and necessary supplies of corn for the settlers."
In 1751 Joshua Mauger was "agent victualler" for the navy at
Halifax.
APPENDIX V
The grant of the township of Rawdon to which reference has
been made in the foregoing paper was given on the 3d of August,
1784, (registered September 4th). The boundaries of the town-
ship as described in the grant were probably virtually the same
as those of the present township of Kawdon. The warrant for
the grant bears date June 26, 1784, and orders the laying out of
1 96
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
fifty-eight allotments of land to ' ' John Bond and other associated
Loyalists." The grant was actually given to Captain John Bond,
William Meek, Colonel Zachariah Gibbs, Captain George Bond,
and fifty-two others, and was for 23,000 acres in all, exclusive of
2,000 acres reserved for a school and glebe and other public uses,
''also for an allowance for all such roads as may hereafter be
deemed necessary to pass through the same. The grantees'
names put in alphabetical order, and not in the order in which
they occur in the grant, are as follows :
Alexander, Robert.
Atwood, Richard.
Bond, Capt. George.
Bond, Capt. John.
Bond, John.
Bowman, William.
Bruce, Moses.
Bryson, John.
Bryson, William.
Bryson, William, Jr.
Costley, Robert.
Covill, Samuel.
Crossian, Jeremiah.
Cunningham, William.
Dimick, Shubald.
Ellis, Joseph.
Fitzsimmons, James.
Frelick, Adam.
Gibbs, Col. Zachariah.
Green, Henry.
Hoyt, Eli.
Landerkin, John.
Lewis, John.
Lively, Reuben.
Martindale, Henry.
Martindale, Henry, Jr.
McAllister, Samuel.
McCullum, John.
McGuire, John.
Sources: Nova Scotia Crown Land Registers; Nova Scotia
Council Records; Nova Scotia Archives, 3 vols. ; Haliburton's
History of Nova Scotia; Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia;
McMullon, Richard.
Meek, John.
Meek, Samuel.
Meek, William.
Murphy, John.
Murphy, Philip.
Murphy, William.
Nichols, James.
Pearson, Col. Thomas.
Procter, Samuel.
Ryland, Peter.
Saunderson, John.
Scott, Robert.
Simpson, Joseph.
Snell, Daniel.
Snell, David.
Snell, George.
Thornton, Abraham.
Thornton, Eli.
Thornton, Thomas.
Wallace, William.
WTier, Benjamin.
Wier, William.
Wrilliams, Thomas.
Wilson, Roger.
Withrow, David.
Withrow, Jacob.
WTithrow, John.
RHODE ISLAND SETTLERS IN NOVA SCOTIA 197
Hind's Old Parish Burying Ground; Falmouth, Newport, and
Windsor Township Books; Eaton's Histories of Kings County,
Nova Scotia, and the Church of England in Nova Scotia ; W. C.
Milner's Chignecto Isthmus; Windsor Parish Register; Park-
man's Montcalm and Wolfe; New England Historical and
Genealogical Register; Updike's History of the Episcopal
Qhurch in Narragansett, 2nd edition, edited by Rev. Dr. Daniel
Goodwin; Arnold's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island;
William B. Weeden's Early Rhode Island, a Social History of
the People ; etc., etc.
The writer has also received valuable help from Dr. David Al-
lison, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, who has a very intimate knowl-
edge especially of the township of Newport.
" For Conscience Sake '
BY CORNELIA MITCHELL. PARSONS
CHAPTER XII
ENGLISH FLAG RAISED — TREACHERY
"Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests."
— EPICURUS
"Conscience is the oracle of God." — BYRON.
I
HERE was much uneasiness in Gravesend. The Eng-
lish colonists were growing restive under the yoke of
Holland, and longed for freedom, and England's rule.
There was much plotting, but Lady Moody, always
loyal to the Dutch and Governor Stuyvesant, spent precious
time in trying to allay the excitement. She was growing old,
and the ' ; grasshopper had become a burden."
George Baxter, as the months had passed, had been exiled
and sent to England, where he spent some time. He returned
with new plans and a decided purpose to rouse the English at
Gravesend.
It was winter tune, December, 1655. The East River had froz-
en over; the ice was very thick. Ensign George Baxter on his
skates easily made his way to the Long Island shore.
It had been a full day fo Lady Moody and Frances. Both
had been busily engrossed with the plans for the coming mar-
riage, which was to take place on the twenty-fourth, Christmas
Eve. Looking from a window, Frances heard shouts, and called
Lady Moody to her side. They could plainly discern that the
English flag had been hoisted in place of the Dutch. The flag-
pole was surrounded by wildly excited English, while the Dutch
women, shaking their fists, and the men with fire-arms, were
198
DECEMBER, 1913
AMERICANA
CONTENTS
PAGE
Alexander McNutt, the Colonizer.
By A. W. H. Eaton, D.C.L., F.E.S.C. . . . 1065
Josiah Stoddard Johnston.
By John Howard Brown 1107
Eleazer Williams and the Prince de Joinville.
Contributed by Duane Mowry, LL.B. . . . 1109
History of the Mormon Church. Chapters XCVI and
XCVII.
By Brigham H. Roberts 1114
Historic Views and Reviews 1154
JOHN HOWARD BROWN, Historian and Genealogist American His-
torical Society, Editor.
JOSIAH COLLINS PUMPELLY, A. M., LL.B., Member Publication
Committee New York Genealogical and Biographical So-
ciety, Associate Editor.
Published by the National Americana Society,
DAVID I. NELKE, President and Treasurer,
131 East 23rd Street,
New York, N. Y.
i
Copyright, 1913, by
THE NATIONAL AMERICANA SOCIETY
Entered at the New York Postoffice as Second-class Mail Matter
All rights reserved.
11
AMERICANA
December, 1913
Alexander McNutt, The Colonizer
BY ABTHUE WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, D.C.L., F.E.S.C.
I
IN early annals of the province of Nova Scotia many notices
are to be found of a remarkable and hitherto rather myste-
rious person known commonly as "Colonel" Alexander
McNutt. It is a far cry from western Virginia to Nova
Scotia, but in western Virginia local history also we are con-
fronted with occasional statements concerning this man. Mc-
Nutt was reared in Virginia, his parents, of the Scotch-Irish race,
having probably brought him from Ireland to Pennsylvania at
about the age of five years. Of the family from which he and
his brothers sprang we have almost no knowledge, it was one
of the many thrifty Scotch-Irish families that came out to Penn-
sylvania between 1728 and 1740, and scattering through the coun-
ties of Chester, Lancaster, Cumberland, and York, and multiply-
ing rapidly there, at last spread over wider areas of Pennsyl-
vania, and penetrated into more southern colonies, where wild,
unbroken forests still remained. In the successive migrations
from Ireland to Pennsylvania there were many families named
McNutt, McNaught, McNitt, and McKnight, and one of these,
the Christian name of whose head was possibly Alexander, after
1732, following in the wake of the pioneer John Lewis and his
brawny sons, with sturdy courage travelled south into that wide
Virginia region known as the County of Orange, west of the
Blue Ridge, and there, like many others of his countrymen,
cleared a farm and began life anew. In 1738 the county of
(1065)
io66 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
Augusta was organized from the county of Orange,1 and from
WaddelPs "Annals of Augusta County" we learn that by this
time in the great Shenandoah Valley county, the Scotch Irish
had become very numerous, families existing there bearing the
names, among others, of Alexander, Anderson, Bell, Brecken-
ridge, Buchanan, Caldwell, Campbell, Craig, Crawford, Cunning-
ham, Davison, Dickinson, Dunlap, Hays, Herison, Kerr, Lewis,
McNutt, Patton, Stuart, and Thompson. Of these people in gen-
eral, we know that no better stock has ever been transplanted to
our shores, they were plain, frugal, hardy, intelligent farmers
and artisans, full of courage, dominated by the Calvinistic faith,
willing and able to endure hardships, and bound to produce men
who should by and by come to places of high control in American
life. Of the McNutt family in the beginning we know, as we
have said, almost nothing. The eleventh governor of Missis-
sippi, Alexander Gallatin McNutt, born in 1801 or 1802, is said
to have been a great-grandson of its founder, and whatever the
first name of the Virginia pioneer may have been, it is clear that
the subject of the present sketch was one of his sons.2
The first notice of any kind we have of the man known as
"Colonel" Alexander McNutt is in connection with the settle-
ment of Staunton, the capital of Augusta county, Virginia, in
1750. In the laying out of that town, the historian Joseph A.
Waddell informs us, "Alexander McNutt purchased for three
pounds the lot of forty-eight poles adjoining and east of the pres-
ent jail lot, where the Bell Tavern afterwards stood."3 That
the buyer of this lot was ' ' Colonel ' ' McNutt seems evident from
the statement of Mr. Waddell that "while living in Nova Scotia
in 1761 McNutt executed a power of attorney authorizing his
brother John to sell and convey his real estate, ' ' in pursuance of
which instrument, ' ' John McNutt, on August 16, 1785, conveyed
to Thomas Smith, in consideration of £110, lot No. 10 in Staun-
i. One historian that we have seen says that it was organized in 1745.
2,. A volume called "Genealogies and Reminiscences," published in Chicago
in 1897, attempts a genealogical sketch of the Virginia McNutt family, but a com-
parison of this sketch with facts we shall give as our paper proceeds will show
the Chicago author's almost entire ignorance of the family.
3. "Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871," by Joseph Addi-
son Waddell, Second Edition, revised and enlarged, published by C. Russell Cald-
well. Staunton, Va., 1902, p. 72.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1067
ton, which was purchased by Alexander in 1750 for £3, as stated
on page 72. ' '4
The second notice we have of Alexander McNutt is in con-
nection with an attempted raid, by order of Governor Dinwiddie
of Virginia, on a remote village of Shawnee Indians on the Ohio
river, in 1756. In this obscure expedition, which is commonly
spoken of as the ' ' Sandy Creek Expedition, " as a young militia
lieutenant, or probably captain, McNutt took part, our knowledge
of this fact coming from established Virginia local tradition and
from an evident casual mention of McNutt in a letter of Gov-
ernor Dinwiddie, in which the latter, relating the preparations
made for the expedition says : ' ' One Capt. McMett5 and some
others proposed some men on a voluntary subscription." The
chief command of this expedition had been given by the governor
to a certain Major Andrew Lewis, probably one of the sons of the
pioneer John Lewis, and tradition has it that during its progress
McNutt kept a journal in which he commented unfavorably on
his superior officer's judgment and skill. Sometime after the
event he handed his journal to the governor, and when Major
Lewis knew of the facts he was so angry that on next meeting
McNutt in the street of Staunton, he attacked him and the two
had a knock-down fight.6 Whether this public quarrel between
4. Annals of Augusta County (1902), p. 230. It is said further, p. 231, that
John McNutt, brother of Alexander, "settled on North River, Rockbridge." This
is a mistake, in 1765 he settled, as a blacksmith, in Nova Scotia, and in Nova
Scotia he thereafter lived until his death.
5. The spelling "McMett," in Dinwiddie's letter, may be a mistake of the
printer. At any rate the reference seems to show that Dinwiddie had only a slight
acquaintance with McNutt.
6. In Alexander Scott Withers' "Chronicles of Border Warfare," first pub-
lished in Clarksburg, in northwestern Virginia, in 1831, describing the "Sandy
Creek expedition" against the Shawnees, the author says : "In Captain Alexander's
company, John M'Nutt, afterwards governor of Nova Scotia, was a subaltern.
. . . A journal of this campaign was kept by Lieutenant M'Nutt, a gentleman of
liberal education and fine mind. On his return to Williamsburg he presented it to
Governor Fauquier, by whom it was deposited in the executive archives. In this
journal Colonel Lewis was censured for not having proceeded directly to the
Scioto towns. . . . This produced an altercation between Lewis and M'Nutt,
which was terminated by a personal encounter." Captain Paul, Withers says, had
proposed to cross the Ohio river, invade the towns on the Scioto, and burn them,
or perish in the attempt. This proposal McNutt supported, but Lewis overruled.
Withers' "Chronicles of Border Warfare" was in part based on some earlier news-
paper sketches by Hugh Paul Taylor. It was edited and annotated by Reuben Gold
Thwaites, and republished in Cincinnati in 1895. See for the account above, this
new edition, pp. 81-86. Commenting on the Sandy Creek expedition, Mr. Joseph A.
Waddell, the Virginia historian, says: "As much doubt remains in regard to many
facts connected with this famous expedition as surrounds the wars between the
io68 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
Lewis and McNutt occurred in 1756 or 1757 we do not know, but
it is not impossible that it may have had something to do with
McNutt 's leaving Virginia and coming north to Massachusetts
and New Hampshire. How soon after the quarrel he did come
north we cannot tell, but in September, 1758, we find him, then
probably aged about thirty, living among his Scotch-Irish coun-
trymen in the town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, the earliest
of whom had landed in Boston from Ireland in 1718. What his
occupation in Londonderry was, or for what purpose, precisely,
he had come north we have no facts to show, but on the 26th of
September of the year given above, as one of a group of seventy-
one "freeholders and inhabitants" of Londonderry, he signs a
memorial of thanks to his Excellency Benning Wentworth, Esq.,
governor, for not permitting an increase of tavern licenses to
be granted the town.7
How much time may have elapsed after this before McNutt 's
military ambition led him to apply to the Governor of Massa-
chusetts for employment in the Massachusetts militia service we
cannot tell, but in the Council records of this colony of the year
1759 we suddenly come on the following entry: "Advised and
consented that a warrant be made out to the Treasurer to pay
unto Captain Alexander McNutt and company the sum of eighty-
Greeks and Trojans. Various writers state that the expedition took place in 1757,
and that the men were recalled when near the Ohio river, by order of Governor
Fauquier, but the Dinwiddie papers show that it occurred early in 1756, and that
the survivors returned home more than two years before Fauquier became Gover-
nor of Virginia. To this day, however, the number of men led out into the
wilderness by Lewis is uncertain, and also how many companies there were and
who commanded them." Mr. Waddell also says: "The person referred to by Gov-
ernor Dinwiddie as 'one Captain McMett' was no doubt Alexander McNutt, a
subaltern officer in Captain Alexander's company. He has been mentioned as the
purchaser of a town lot in Staunton. It is stated that Lieutenant McNutt kept a
journal of the campaign, which he presented to Governor Fauquier, when the latter
came into office, and which was deposited in the executive archives at Williamsburg.
In this journal the writer reflected upon the conduct of Major Lewis, which led to
a personal affray between Lewis and McNutt in Staunton." If McNutt's journal
ever existed nothing whatever is now known of its fate. See "Annals of Augusta
County, Virginia," by Joseph Addison Waddell.
7. New Hampshire State Papers (Town Papers), Vol. g. See index. The
name here signed "Alexander McNutt" can reasonably be no other than that of
the Virginia Captain, for no other person of the McNutt name can be found in or
near Londonderry at this date. As we have elsewhere intimated, _ we have had no
opportunity to examine Virginia local records, but it would seem incontestable that
the Alexander McNutt of the Sandy Creek expedition and the town of Staunton
was the Nova Scotia colonizer. If it were not for the notices of him in Virginia
we should suppose that when he appeared first in New Hampshire he had newly
arrived from Ireland. If he came from Virginia, as we suppose he did, we are
under the necessity of believing that after he began to colonize Nova Scotia he
induced his three brothers and his sister to remove from Virginia also.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1069
one pounds, nineteen shillings and seven pence (to each person or
order the sum respectively due), for their service at Pemaquid
[Maine] from the 2nd day of October, 1759, to the 18th of Octo-
ber, 1760. " On a later page of the same volume of Records we
find recorded a warrant "for payment to Alexander McNutt and
company, the sum of four hundred and seventy-two pounds, six-
teen shillings, and one penny (to each person or order the' sum
respectively due) for their service in the pay of the Province, to
discharge the muster roll beginning the 28th day of April, 1760,
and ending the 30th day of November following. To Captain
Alexander McNutt the sum of nineteen pounds, three and two-
pence, for sending supplies to the men. Amounting on the whole
to the sum of four hundred and ninety-one pounds, nineteen and
threepence.9 In one of the volumes of the unprinted Massachu-
setts Archives that record the military services of Massachusetts
troops before the Revolution, under date of December 8, 1760,
we find McNutt swearing to the accuracy of an account of £491,
19.3., "for payment of a party of thirty-two men belonging to a
company of Provincials under his charge," who had enlisted
April 28, 1760, for Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia, and had
served to November 30, 1760. 10 Accompanying this charge is a
muster roll giving the names of the men and the amount of wages
due each. Several of the company were from Windham, New
Hampshire, one of the Windham men being Samuel Clyde, who
later became a colonel and saw service in the Revolution on the
American side.11 Clyde's wages were £12.3.0., and it seems that
he did not return from Nova Scotia with McNutt and the rest of
the company, but remained, probably at Halifax. Curiously, in
some miscellaneous unprinted "Suffolk Court Records," in Bos-
ton, we find it recorded that January 1, 1761, Clyde, then in Hali-
fax, sued McNutt in Boston for a debt of £21.3.0., due him, and
attached a chest of McNutt 's. In the Inferior Court of Massa-
chusetts, Clyde obtained a judgment against McNutt, and with-
out legal protest McNutt paid the debt.12 The Windham men in
8. Massachusetts Council Records, unprinted, Volume 14, p. 289.
9. Massachusetts Council Records, Vol. 14, p. 293.
10. Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 98, pp. 146, 221.
11. Morrison's History of Windham, New Hampshire, p. 60.
12. Suffolk SS. George the Third by the Grace of God, of Great Britain,
France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc. To the Sheriff of Our
County of Suffolk, his under Sheriff or Deputy Greeting: We command you to
1070 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
this company of McNutt's, the History of Windham says, all
served at Fort Cumberland. In the Council Records of Massa-
chusetts, under date of November 29, 1760, stands a warrant for
the payment to Captain Alexander McNutt of sixteen pounds,
sixteen shillings, to discharge his account for the passage of him-
self and twenty-seven men from Halifax, at two dollars each18
In the Massachusetts Archives are also two undated bills of
McNutt's, one for the sum of £1.12.6., for having enlisted five
men and an ensign for the total reduction of Canada, and one for
the sum of £10.10.8., for payment of a company of sixty men and
a lieutenant, that he had raised for the reduction of Canada, ' ' out
of Colonel Osgood's regiment." The sixty-one names in the
billeting roll accompanying this charge are plainly written, and
many of them prove to be Scotch-Irish names, some of whom,
from New Hampshire towns, we find among the first grantees
and settlers in Truro, Nova Scotia, directed thither, as is well
known, by McNutt.14
The last record of McNutt in the military archives of Mas-
sachusetts is dated December 6, 1760. At this date McNutt ren-
ders an account to the General Court for his expenses in making
two journeys from Boston to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in
quest of deserters; for David Robinson's expenses in travelling
to Bedford and Framingham for deserters; for payment to
attach the goods or estate of Alexander McNutt, gentleman, now residing in
Boston in sd. county, to the value of thirty pounds, and for want thereof to take
the body of the said Alexander (if he may be found in your precinct) and him
safely keep, so that you have him before our Justices of Our Inferior Court of
Common Pleas next to be holden at Boston within and for our said county of
Suffolk on the first Tuesday of April next, then and there in our said court to
answer unto Samuel Clyde of Hallifax in our Province of Nova Scotia, yeoman, in
a plea of the case for that the defendant on the fourteenth day of January cur-
rent, at Boston aforesaid being indebted to the plaintiff in the sum of twenty-one
pounds and three shillings for that sum which the Defendant before that had
received at two different times, viz., twelve pounds and three shillings at one time
of Harrison Gray and the rest before that, and in consideration thereof the
Defendant though requested has not paid them but neglects to pay it to the
damage of the said Samuel Clyde as he saith, the sum of thirty pounds which
shall then and there be made to appear, with other damages and have you there
this writ with your doings therein.
"Witness, Eliakim Hutchinson, Esq., at Boston this 10 day of January, in the
1st year of our reign. Annoque Domini, 1761. Middlecott Cook, Clerk."
On the back of this warrant is endorsed : "Suffolk, January 16,
1761. Then and by virtue of this writ I attached a Chest of the Defendant and
would have left him a Summons but the Defendant paid the plaintiff his demand.
Benjamin Cudworth, Deputy Sheriff." Below is Clyde's receipt: "I acknowl-
edge the above to be true. Witness my hand. SAMUEL CLYDE."
13. Massachusetts Council Records, Vol. 14, p. 291.
14. Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 98, pp. 146, 147.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1071
James Cowan and Moses Blaisdell, "as per account;" for the
payment of the passage of one of his soldiers to Halifax; and
for the payment of a clerk who had made up his muster roll.16
In 1755, as the world knows, occurred that pitiful tragedy, the
forcible expulsion of the French from Nova Scotia, and shortly
afterwards, the Nova Scotia governor, Colonel Charles Law-
rence, with the authority of the crown issued two proclama-
tions15% offering the recently depopulated and hitherto unsettled
lands in the fertile Acadian province freely to settlers of British
stock. That these proclamations should have stirred the imagi-
nation of McNutt as they stirred the ambition of thousands of
native New Englanders, who accepted their terms and trans-
ferred themselves and their belongings to Nova Scotia, is not at
all strange, McNutt, with more than the usual ambition of ener-
getic young manhood was looking for worlds to conquer, and the
alluring possibility of making himself a great colonizer and
peopling the fair province by the sea with families of his own
race soon began to fire his restless brain. It was not until seven
months after Lawrence's second proclamation, however, that he
presented himself to the governor and council in Halifax as de-
siring to assist emigration to the province. In the meantime a
good many agents representing considerable groups of New
England people who had read the proclamations and were seri-
ously contemplating removal to Nova Scotia, had arrived at Hali-
fax and been received by the government. According to the
careful memorial of the Committee of Council to the English
Lords of Trade,16 McNutt came first to Halifax in the month of
August, 1759, and applied to Governor Lawrence for grants of
land "for himself and sundry persons his associates," and his
request was met by a written engagement of the Governor to
have one township set apart for him at Port Roseway, in what is
now the county of Shelburne, at the extreme southwestern end of
Nova Scotia, and six townships in the district of Cobequid, in
what is now Colchester County, on or near Cojiequid Bay and
along the Shubenacadie river, with leave to settle families in
15. Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 98, p. 222.
iej/2 The dates of the issuing of these proclamations were respectively, October
12, 1758,' and January n, 1759- See Eaton's History of King's County, Nova Scotia,
p. 60.
16. This memorial is given as an appendix to the present paper.
io;2 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
thirty-five "rights" in the township of Granville, in Annapolis
County. McNutt's visit at this time could not have lasted long,
and it is doubtful whether he was again in Halifax until April,
1760,16V2 when he took, as we believe, the little company of thirty-
two soldiers to the province to serve for a few months in the gar-
rison at Fort Cumberland. At that time he produced, the Com-
mittee of Council say, a list of six hundred subscribers who had
engaged with him to settle in Nova Scotia, among these, no doubt,
the names of the men who soon after became grantees in the
Nova Scotia township of Truro, in Colchester County. The first
Truro grantees number by actual count, fathers and their young
sons together, only eighty-two, and this substantiates the Com-
mittee of Council's statement that of McNutt's six hundred sub-
scribers only fifty families came to Nova Scotia.
McNutt's first successful efforts at colonizing Nova Scotia
were made among his friends in the Scotch-Irish colony at and
near Londonderry, New Hampshire. On his movements as a
militia captain, and the organizer of the New Hampshire com-
pany which settled Truro, Nova Scotia, in 1761, interesting side-
lights are thrown by the Diary of Hon. Matthew Patten of
Bedford, New Hampshire.17 It has been questioned whether
McNutt was really the organizer of this company, but certain
entries in this Diary show plainly that he was. With the excep-
tion of the Truro colony and one other, the Essex County, Massa-
chusetts, group of families that in 1762 settled Maugerville, on
the St. John River, in what is now the province of New Bruns-
wick,18 in spite of McNutt's own ambitious claims that he had
been instrumental in bringing to Nova Scotia virtually all the
New England people who settled in the province, we have not
i6y2. A careful examination of the Council Books at Halifax shows that Nov.
3, 1760, is the earliest date on which McNutt is mentioned in these records. At this
date it is said that McNutt petitions the Council, as the late Governor of the
Province had promised him land at Cobequid, Shubenacadie, and Port Roseway on
the Cape Sable shore, on condition that he would procure settlers, to give him all the
help this body could.
17. "Diary of Matthew Patten of Bedford, N. H., from 1754 to 1799," pub-
lished in 1903.
18. Archdeacon Raymond's History of the River St. John, chapters 13 and
16, and his first monograph, pp. 81-83. In his "St. John River," chapter 13 (p.
277), Dr. Raymond says: "Lieut-Governor Belcher in 1763 complained to the
Lords of Trade of McNutt's 'percipitate and unjustifiable' act in sending so large
a body of settlers to the River St. John without previous notice or indeed any
suspicion of such a measure on the part of the authorities of Nova Scotia."
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1073
the slightest reason to believe that any one of the other town-
ships peopled by New Englanders in any measure owed its set-
tlement to him. Even with the settlement of Onslow, the adjoin-
ing township to Truro, whose people came largely from towards
the western part of Massachusetts, we find no evidence that Mc-
Nutt had anything whatever to do.19 At this period of his life,
as indeed throughout his whole career, McNutt kept himself
pretty closely identified with the Scotch-Irish race, to which he
belonged, and as early as November, 1760, he tells the Nova Sco-
tia Council that he has already sent a vessel to the North of Ire-
land to bring out settlers from there, and that he soon intends
to go to Ireland himself.20 In the beginning of 1761, even before
his New Hampshire colony had sailed for Truro he did go to Eng-
land, with a letter from Lieutenant-Governor Belcher recominen-
ing him as a proper agent to bring over settlers from Ireland.
From that country, the October following, he brought to Halifax
a company, which he himself represents as "near four hundred
persons," but which Lieutenant Governor Belcher in the year
that they came speaks of as "upwards of two hundred," and
the Report of the Committee of the Council in 1766 gives as
* ' about two hundred and fifty. "21 In November, 1762, he brought
out from Ireland a smaller group, of about a hundred and fifty
persons, which number in his memorial to the Lords of Trade,
read March 23, 1763, he likewise characteristically exaggerates
to "near four hundred."22
Returning soon to England McNutt remained abroad until the
autumn of 1764, his occupation in the interval, he says, being
* * sending away French Protestants to America. ' ' What he really
was doing or how he managed to live, is a mystery to us, but dur-
ing the time the new scheme evidently formed in his mind of
inducing Pennsylvania Scotch-Irishmen and perhaps others to
remove to Nova Scotia, and in the autumn of 1764 he recrossed
the ocean to Philadelphia. Like other ' ' promoters ' ' he naturally
19 See Eaton's "Settlement of Colchester County, Nova Scotia," in the
Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for 1912.
20 Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, p. 64. It is not likely that
had really sent a vessel to Ireland at this early period of his colonization schemes.
21. Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, p. 69, and the Report
Committee of Council, in the appendix.
22. The Report of the Committee of Council gives the number as abo
a hundred and fifty.
1074 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
went first with his project to conspicuous men, and Benjamin
Franklin, who was then at home, was probably one of the first
persons he approached. What his representations to Franklin
and other Philadelphia gentlemen of influence were we can easily
conjecture, for McNutt never minimized his own authority or
presented his schemes in a less alluring light than the facts war-
ranted. That in some way, in the course of his brief negotiations
with Franklin, he became liable to the latter for money, we have
evidence in letters from Franklin's business associate in Wood-
bridge, New Jersey. In a letter of November 23, 1764, Parker
mentions ' ' Colonel McNott, ' ' and in another of January 14, 1765,
he says : "I was returned from Pennsylvania before your let-
ter from the Capes came up, wherein you mention Mr. Nott's
affair. I upon the notice you wrote about it, wrote to Dunlap
and Mr. Nott— the latter of which informed the other that he had
agreed to pay you, and that those orders were gone home ; that
however he, Mr. McNott, agreed to give you a bond for the
money due, which if paid in England could be afterwards taken
up, which bond he executed and sent to me, so I give Dunlap
credit for it. This I hope will be agreeable to your instructions
or intentions. The sum is £48.4.10., payable ye first of May
next.23 In the "Draft Scheme" of his autobiography Mr. Frank-
lin has the item, "Grant of Land in Nova Scotia," but the
autobiography is not carried far enough to give any mention of
the obtaining of the grant. The Grant Books at Halifax, how-
ever, inform us that on the 31st of October, 1765, a grant of
100,000 acres was given at Peticodiac, to Alexander McNutt,
Matthew Clarkson, Edward Duffield, Gerardus Clarkson, John
Nagle, Benjamin Franklin, Anthony Wayne, John Hughes, John
Cox, Jr., Isaac Caton, John Relfe, James Caton, William Smith,
Hugh Neal, Thomas Barton, William Moore, Joseph Richardson,
John Hall, William Craig, Jobina Jacobs, John Bayley, and Ben-
jamin Jacobs. On the same date another grant of 100,000 acres
on the River St. John, was given to almost the same group of
men, Benjamin Franklin among them.
Accompanied by several prominent Philadelphians, no doubt
23. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1902, Second Series.
Vol. 16, pp. 195, 196.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1075
from the group whose names we have just given, in March, 1765
as both McNutt himself and the Committee of Council relate,'
McNutt arrived in Halifax. In one of his wordy memorials he
declares that he brought with him "a great number of families,"
but the Committee of Council in their categorical statement of
McNutt 's services to the Province mention no such company
though they say that ''another Association from Philadelphia,
who had contracted with the Government to settle a Township
at Sepody, sent a ship about this time with twenty-five families,
agreeable to their contracts, seated them on their lands, fur-
nished them with stock, materials for building and farming, and
have supported with provision ever since, in which Colonel Mc-
Nutt had no kind of concern whatever." The only other emi-
grants that we know of from Pennsylvania to Nova Scotia were
six families who arrived at Pictou in the Hope, from Philadel-
phia, June 10, 1765, to settle on the so-called "Philadelphia
Grant." Of these a family of Harrises remained permanently
in the province, as did also a family of Pattersons, but concern-
ing the others we are not informed. It may or may not have
been due to McNutt 's influence that these families came.24
With regard to the gentlemen who accompanied McNutt from
Philadelphia to Halifax, the Committee of Council further say:
These gentlemen "informed the Government that Colonel Mc-
Nutt had assured them that his Majesty's Instructions to the
Governor of Nova Scotia, dated the 20th of May, 1763, directing
the terms of settlement to be granted to the settlers he had intro-
duced into this province from the Kingdom of Ireland, included
them and all others whom he should introduce, and promised that
they should have lands on those terms, which was not only deceiv-
ing those people, but also created many difficulties for the Gov-
ernment here, and those gentlemen declared that they would have
no further concern with Colonel McNutt, and accordingly made
their applications to Government without taking any notice of
him."
We have here, no doubt, the exact facts concerning the emi-
gration of Pennsylvanians to Nova Scotia in 1765, except that
the Association sending the twenty-five families may possibly
24. Rev. Dr. Patterson's "History of Pictou, Nova Scotia," and Campbell's
"The Scotsman in Canada," pp. 94-99-
1076 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
have been formed owing in some measure to the interest aroused
in Nova Scotia by the efforts of McNutt. As a matter of fact,
probably not more than half a dozen, if so many, of the twenty-
five families remained, for we have Mr. Franklin's authority for
saying that most of the Pennsylvanians who came to the Prov-
ince, "with great complaints against the severity and length of
the winters, ' ' before long returned to the middle states.25
In this comparatively unimportant migration of Pennsyl-
vanians to Nova Scotia in 1765, we reach the extremest limit of
McNutt 's success in colonizing Nova Scotia. His own claims to
the Lords of Trade concerning the number of people he had
brought to the Province widely transcend the facts, it is clear
now that the various groups he had brought or induced to come,
limit themselves to the New Hampshire colony that settled
Truro, the two groups he himself led from Ireland in 1761 and
1762, respectively, the Essex County, Massachusetts, people he
influenced to come to Maugerville in 1762, about fifty people who
came from Ireland to join their old friends and neighbors in the
province, in 1765,26 and the very few permanent settlers who may
have been influenced by him to come from Pennsylvania in 1765.
In 1911 an able Canadian historian, Ven. Archdeacon Ray-
mond, LL. D., published in the Transactions of the Royal So-
ciety of Canada a remarkable monograph on "Colonel Alexan-
der McNutt and the Pre-Loyalist Settlements of Nova Scotia. ' '27
In the archives at Ottawa Dr. Raymond found copies of a large
number of papers relating to McNutt and his colonization
schemes during the seven years from 1759 to 1766, and in his
monograph he has given us the main facts of McNutt 's tangled
negotiations with the Nova Scotia Government and the Lords
of Trade in England in the prosecution of his schemes during
those years. At first the government showed him great favor,
for settlers for the province were strongly desired, and McNutt
made representations that seemed to promise a speedy occupation
25. "The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Collected and Edited, with a Life
and Introduction," by Albert Henry Smyth, New York, 1907, Vol. 5, p. 508.
26. See the statement of the Committee of Council in the Appendix.
27. In 1912, Archdeacon Raymond, having in the meantime discovered some
of the facts that we have embodied in this paper, published in the "Transactions."
Another shorter monograph on McNutt, which considerably modified the first.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1077
of a great part of the unsettled Nova Scotia land. Very soon,
however, the colonizer began to complain bitterly of obstruction
to his plans, and until he finally retired from the field he pursued
a course of loud recrimination against the government that we
believe to have been largely unwarranted and to give evidence
chiefly that he was possessed of an unbalanced mind. It is
strongly our opinion that the Nova Scotia Committee of Coun-
cil spoke truly when they finally declared with warmth that the
obstruction to his plans on the part of the Government that
Colonel McNutt so persistently complained of, was chiefly due to
his own "intemperate zeal and exorbitant demands," and that
the Government had been disposed to show him * * the indulgence
and kind treatment that any reasonable man could properly
desire. " Of the Government's willingness to give proper assist-
ance in any reasonable effort to settle the province we need no
further assurance than the fact that between the first of June
and the last of October, 1765, to McNutt and his brothers and
large groups of men whom the colonizer represented as intend-
ing to settle in the province and for whom he claimed to be act-
ing, the governor and council granted the enormous sum of about
a million and three-quarters acres of land. That McNutt 's
claims concerning the number of people who had empowered him
to act for them in obtaining grants were greatly exaggerated,
seems to us certain from the fact that before 1812 by far the
greater part of these huge grants, because of the absence of set-
tlers, by formal escheatment was once more restored to the
crown27^
A remarkable feature of McNutt 's character, indeed, was his
tendency to make exaggerated claims. This is nowhere more
conspicuous than in the declarations he makes to the Lords of
Trade of service he had actually rendered in the matter of col-
2714. The appearance of McNutt's own name on a great many of the grants
in question is explained by the Committee of Council, and we believe truthfully,
to have been due to the Government's conscientious desire to do McNutt no
injustice in its apportionment of lands. Not always satisfied with his conduct,
and finally altogether distrusting the man, they yet recognized "his apparent
zeal for settling the vacated lands" in the Province, and as they conceived that it
might in some measure primarily be owing to him that various groups of men had
applied for land, which persons if they should become settlers would prove a
great acquisition to the young colony, thought it only "just and right" that his
name should be included in grants to all "associations" with whom he appeared
in any way to have been concerned.
1078 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
onizing Nova Scotia. Before us lie four memorials, of the many
which in the course of his efforts to colonize he formally pre-
sented to the Lords of Trade,28 in which McNutt makes state-
ments that are truly astounding. In 1760, he says, he procured
about one thousand families, from New Hampshire, Massachu-
setts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania,
and Virginia, to settle in Nova Scotia. He has employed, he
states, at great expense more than thirty agents, in ten different
provinces to prosecute the colonization of Nova Scotia, and he
has an agent at Halifax to attend to his business there. He has
settled in the Province two thousand families, including a num-
ber of German families, and he has contracts for settlement with
six thousand families more. In March, 1765, he took, he says,
" a great number of families" from Pennsylvania to Nova Sco-
tia, and he adds that the gentlemen who accompanied him had
been appointed to represent "many thousand families who had
engaged to settle in Nova Scotia." He is able and ready to
introduce into the province any number of people from other
American colonies, or Protestants from Germany and France.
The expenses he has incurred in his vast undertakings have been
enormous, and the damages he has sustained by the Nova Scotia
Government's bad treatment of him have reached startling fig-
ures. The real facts of this strange man's services to the colon-
ization of Nova Scotia, as we have shown, are not now difficult to
make out, and many of these statements of his are so grossly
at variance with facts that we hesitate to believe that a person
who could so boldly make them can properly be regarded as sane.
At the time when McNutt said he had settled a thousand families
in Nova Scotia there were only about five hundred families in
all the townships.29 Not only from the plain statements of the
Committee of Council but influenced by many other considera-
tions we say without hesitation that with the removal of the
greater part of the Massachusetts, as with the Connecticut and
28. These Memories bearing the Expective dates of reception by the Lords
of Trade of January 19, March 18, and March 23, 1763, and April 17, 1766, as
well as the Report of the Committee of Council, read November 6, 1766 (See
Appendix), in which McNutt's charges are indignantly refuted and his actual
services to the Province categorically and with due acknowledgment set forth,
were copied at Ottawa by Archdeacon Raymond, and have very generously been
lent by him for use in preparing this paper.
29. Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, p. 63.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1079
Rhode Island, settlers to Nova Scotia, in 1760 and 1761, McNutt
had not the slightest connection. That he was ever concerned or
had any marked influence in sending to any part of America large
numbers of German or French Protestants we do not believe.30
That he had ever directed to Nova Scotia any German families
at all we have seen no evidence of. His assertion that he had
brought to Halifax in 1765 a great number of families from
Pennsylvania we know to have been false. The plain truth
about the man and his statements is without doubt told in the
indignant memorial of the Committee of Council, in refutation of
his exaggerated claims of service, and his fierce charges against
the Government, presented to the Lords of Trade in August,
1766. ''Upon the whole," says the memorial, ''the Committee
of His Majesty's Council are of the opinion the memorial of
Colonel Alexander McNutt addressed to the Lords Commission-
ers for Trade and Plantations is almost and altogether false and
scandalous, that the facts are misrepresented, and his complaints
without just grounds. " * ' That the obstruction Colonel McNutt
complains of from the rulers in this province since the death
of Governor Lawrence have proceeded from his own intemperate
zeal and exorbitant demands. " * ' That the great expense incur-
red by Colonel McNutt in pursuing his scheme of making set-
tlements in this province cannot be charged to any obstruction
he met with from the Government here in any respect, nor can
30. "A rather curious proposition," says Archdeacon Raymond, "was made by
McNutt to the Lords of Trade early in 1763. McNutt offered at four weeks'
notice to provide vessels, properly fitted and victualled, to transport foreign Pro-
testants without any cost to the Government, to South Carolina, on consideration
that he should receive for every man, woman and child embarked, at the rate of
fifty acres of land on the Island of St. John (Prince Edward Island)." "The
Lords of Trade were not disposed to grant so large a quantity of land on the
Island of St. John to one individual, as it might tend to a monopoly inconsistent
with the public interest. They therefore offered the Colonel the grant of a tract
in Nova Scotia, free from the payment of quit rents for ten years, in proportion
to the number of people he should carry to Carolina. In consequence of the
engagements entered into, McNutt at the close of the year submitted a me-
morial to the Lords of Trade stating that he was entitled to 10,000 acres of land
and desired to have a grant on each side of Indian Bay, in the Island of Cape
Breton, with Cape Sherburne and other such parts as he might choose upon
Spaniard's Bay or Harbour." Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, p. 84.
If McNutt was entitled to the 10,000 acres he claimed, i. e. fifty acres for
every person he had taken or directed to South Carolina, then the number of his
emigrants would have been two hundred. Regarding this alleged enterprise we
can only say that no history of South Carolina we have seen makes any mention of
if, and with so many other false statements of McNutt's before us we have no
faith that McNutt here tells the truth. The whole matter, as Archdeacon Ray-
mond says, is indeed most extraordinary.
io8o ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
we tell how it arose that Colonel McNutt, though often called
upon for that purpose, never produced vouchers for the expendi-
ture of one shilling, except he means some accounts from his
agents,31 not signed by them and otherwise very blind and imper-
fect." ''That after inquiry we cannot find any agent Colonel
McNutt ever had at Halifax, unless he means some one of his
creditors of whom he borrowed money, and at his going away
deposited in his hands sundry securities that he had taken from
the settlers he brought into this province for payment of their
passages. " ' ' And we could wish that the great concern Colonel
McNutt expresses at being under the necessity of mentioning
anything in the least tending to the disadvantage of any man's
character, had in any degree prevented his departure from truth
and decency, his reflections on that head being altogether without
either. ' '
"The year 1766," says Archdeacon Raymond, "witnessed the
decline of Alexander McNutt 's fortunes. His plans for the pro-
motion of Irish immigration, which at one time looked so prom-
ising, had been frustrated by the action of the ministry in Eng-
land. He had ceased to be a middleman between the immigrants
of Pennsylvania and the Nova Scotia government. He had quar-
relled with Governor Wilmot and his council at Halifax. In con-
sequence he seems to have concluded it best to retire to Port
Eoseway and do what he could to promote his settlement there."32
From the beginning of his negotiations with the Nova Scotia
Government McNutt seems to have had a special liking for the
country bordering on what is now Shelburne harbor. This har-
bor is indeed a beautiful and spacious one, and so attractive did
it prove at a later time that when in 1783 the New York Loyalists
determined to remove to some part of Nova Scotia it was here
that they planned to settle and did for a time locate. In 1759 the
Nova Scotia government had promised McNutt a township at
Port Roseway, but it was not until 1765 that a grant at this place
was actually given him. On the 26th of September, 1765, a me-
morial from him was read at a meeting of the Council in Hali-
fax asking for a grant at Port Roseway in order that he might
31. Who the "more than thirty" agents McNutt says he had in various
colonies were we should much like to know.
32. Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, p. 95.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1081
found there a township to be called by the extraordinary name
New Jerusalem. This petition was granted and on the 15th of
October the grant was formally made out and McNutt entered
into possession of an immense tract of land, containing roughly
one hundred thousand acres, including islands lying south of the
tract.33 Of these islands the most important was the large island
at the mouth of Shelburne Harbor which still bears the name
" McNutt 's Island," and here McNutt himself, we presume in
conjunction with his brother Benjamin, built a house in which
Benjamin evidently lived until near the time of his death, and
to which Alexander in the intervals of his wandering frequently
returned.34 Of McNutt 's efforts to settle his township, New
Jerusalem, we have found no records whatever, but careful study
of the early history of Shelburne County has made certain the
fact that he brought at least one family, that of his brother Jo-
seph, to a spot on the mainland a little to the southwest of the
Island, called Point Carleton or Round Bay. That he may have
induced a few other families to settle in the township is quite
possible, for in 1786, as we shall later see, one or two men in the
Shelburne tax list are designated, as was the widow of Joseph
McNutt, "old settlers." The period of McNutt 's ownership of
his hundred thousand acres at Port Roseway was, however, very
short. On the 14th of December, 1768, to satisfy an execution of
Henry Ferguson, a merchant of Halifax town, against McNutt,
33. This tract is described as "100,000 acres near Cape Negro River;' Crown
Land register, Vol. 7, fol. 18. In his Akins Prize Essay, in manuscript, in King's
College Library, Nova Scotia, Mr. Thomas Robertson minutely describes the
boundaries of this Port Roseway grant, as "beginning at the first Lake in Cape
Negro River and running from thence N. 33° 15' West and measuring ten miles,
then N. 66° 15' East till it meets with the line beginning at the falls of Green
River and running North 33° 15' West, and is bounded by the ocean on the South
East, and West by the Harbour and River of Cape Negro, together with all the
Islands South of "said limits, containing in all about 100,000 acres." "A short
time after this [the giving of the grant]," says Mr. Robertson, "he [McNutt]
asked leave of the Government at Halifax to allow the first settlers who should
arrive at Port Roseway to settle on the vacant lands in the Townships of Bar-
rington and Yarmouth, together with a small island called Cape Negro Head."
Archdeacon Raymond says : "In one of his later memorials to the Lords of
Trade and Plantations, McNutt speaks of having laid out a tract of land at
Port Roseway, near Cape Sable, on which he proposed to build_ a city, a plan of
which he submits, and prays their Lordships to obtain for him a charter for
establishing and confirming the said city in its rights and privileges. He proposed
to call the city New Jerusalem."
34. Mr. Thomas Robertson says that in 1871, when he wrote his prize essay
on Shelburne "the site" of McNutt's house (by which he probably means traces of
the foundation) wer^ still to be seen.
io82 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
the provost marshal (sheriff) of Halifax County "set off, made
over, and sold" to Ferguson this whole enormous tract. On the
9th of March, 1771, the sheriff gave a formal deed of the prop-
erty to Hon. Benjamin Gerrish of Halifax, the township of New
Jerusalem having been put up at auction by this officer and sold
for Ferguson's benefit to the highest bidder. For his newly ac-
quired property Mr. Gerrish, one of the most prosperous mer-
chants of Halifax, gave the not inconsiderable sum of three hun-
dred and fifty pounds currency. In the Halifax Gazette, three
years after Mr. Gerrish 's death, which took place in 1772, the
Port Roseway grant entire was repeatedly advertised to be sold
at auction, by the executors of his estate. That it was never
transferred to any other person, however, seems clear from the
absence of the record of any such transfer in the Halifax deeds.35
After the Loyalists came to Shelburne, or about the time of their
coming, it became necessary to distribute the Port Roseway land,
and whether with or without recompense to the estate of Mr. Ger-
rish, if the estate still held it, the property was formally es-
cheated, the instrument of escheat declaring that the original
grantee had never fulfilled the conditions under which he had
obtained the grant, he having neither paid quit rent nor settled
the required number of families on his land.36 After 1768, as
we know, no part of the island properly belonged to McNutt or
his brother, but as his brother Joseph and whatever other set-
tlers he had introduced into the township were allowed to remain
in undisturbed possession of the land on which they had been
placed, so he and his brother were permitted still to occupy the
upper end of the island, where their house stood. To that island,
in the intervals of his wandering, McNutt no doubt occasionally
returned, but his brother Benjamin probably stayed there, farm-
ing and fishing most of the time. On the 7th of July, 1785, the
island (which Archdeacon Raymond says in some of the early
plans is called "Roseneath") was distributed among thirty-
35. The facts given here have been gleaned from the registers of deeds in
Halifax and from the Halifax Gazette. In the advertisement in the Halifax
Gazette the land is described as formerly granted to Alexander McNutt, "but
lately the property of Benjamin Gerrish." The auction was to take place at the
house of Mr. John Rider in Halifax.
36. The record of escheatment of this property may be seen in the Crown
Land Office in Halifax, but the endorsement has nothing to show that money
was paid the Gerrish estate when the land was taken by the crown.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1083
eight proprietors, thirty-seven of these receiving fifty acres
apiece, the thirty-eighth, Benjamin McNutt, no doubt in consider-
ation of his having lived there so many years, receiving two hun-
dred and fifty.37 When we come to speak more definitely of Ben-
jamin McNutt we shall see that in his will he bequeathed his
property on the island to his " friend" Martin McNutt, cooper,
probably of Shelburne town.
During the twelve years between 1766 and 1778, Alexander
McNutt lived probably much of the time on the island where he
and his brother had their house, but he was a restless spirit,
and moreover he had interests in other parts of the province,
notably Truro, and in this township we sometimes find him,
among the Archibalds and others whom he had directed from
Londonderry, New Hampshire, in 1761. In 1771 McNutt is reck-
oned in a census of Truro as living, a single man, in Truro, and
on the 8th of May of that year we find him executing in Truro
a deed of two rights (a thousand acres) he had received in Lon-
donderry, Colchester County, to his "loving son Samuel Archi-
bald McNutt of Truro, surveyor. " To an historian unacquainted
with McNutt 's eccentricities this extraordinary deed would be a
puzzling document, for McNutt is believed never to have mar-
ried, and the history of Truro shows no such person living there
at any time as Samuel Archibald McNutt. The deed begins:
"I Alexander McNutt, Esqr., of Jerusalem Pillgrim," and states
that for and in consideration of the love and affection he has and
bears towards his loving son, he gives and grants freely and
clearly and of his own good will and mere motion, to Samuel
Archibald McNutt the land in Londonderry he had received by a
grant from Government, October 31, 1765. Instead of "Samuel
Archibald McNutt, surveyor," the person intended in this deed
was undoubtedly Samuel Archibald, surveyor, a young man of
twenty-eight, whose father, David Archibald, was one of the
Londonderry, New Hampshire, settlers whom McNutt had di-
rected to Truro. The deed is executed before David Archibald,
as justice of the peace, and witnessed also by David Archibald,
•V See Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, pp. 95, ?6, and manuscript
records in Shelburne. Dr. Raymond speaks of a plan of the island preserved at
Ottawa, which is marked "Survey'd, laid out, and granted Benjamin McNutt and
87 others." The number is properly 37.
1084 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
and that McNutt should have given young Archibald, apparently
seriously, a name to which he had not the least claim, and which
would of course make the deed to him valueless is to be as lit-
tle understood as many other freaks of this curious man. Mc-
Nutt 's land at Londonderry, which if we remember rightly com-
prised the only other individual grant besides Port Koseway,
with which the Nova Scotia Government endowed the colonizer,
like the Port Boseway grant to him, was finally seized by the
Sheriff for debt, and on the 29th of June, 1776, the creditor,
James Fulton, of Colchester County, sold it all, except sixty
acres of marsh, which was * t occupied by the inhabitants of Chig-
anoise, " to a group of Colchester men.38
Whatever McNutt 's chief interests were between the time
that he ceased his colonization schemes and his leaving Nova Sco-
tia in the early stages of the Eevolution, it is evident that he
did not cease to annoy the Government with rash and unwar-
ranted acts. This is shown by the fact that in 1769 Attorney
General Nesbitt informed the Council that McNutt had "par-
celled out land to several persons, pretending to have authority
under the King's sign manual to settle all ungranted lands in
the province. On this it was ordered that the Attorney General
should prosecute McNutt, and that a proclamation should issue
forbidding unauthorized occupation of land and cutting timber
under penalties. ' >39 So far as we know the ordered prosecution
was never carried out, and it is natural to suppose that McNutt,
learning of the order of Council felt it wise to desist from the
particular offensive acts of which the Attorney General had com-
plained.
II
In the early summer of 1778, McNutt left Port Boseway on a
vessel for Boston, in which city he took up his residence and at
once began a new species of activities. He was apparently never
so happy as when memorializing governmental bodies, and he
had no sooner reached Boston than he began a series of
38. These facts have been discovered, like the facts concerning the Port
Roseway grant, in the registers of deeds in Halifax, Truro registers also furnish-
ing important information concerning the latter grant.
39. Records of the Council, quoted also by Murdoch in his History of Nova
Scotia.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1085
appeals to the Massachusetts Council, complaining of the robbery
of his house at Port Roseway by a party of "armed ruffians"
from a Boston privateer called the Congress, on the preceding
22nd of June, and begging that the Council would give him re-
dress. His brother, he says, was with him when the robbery was
committed and like himself had suffered violence at the robbers'
hands.40 As soon as the scoundrels left, he tells the Council, he
had departed for Boston, and he relates that on his passage
thither, in a small vessel, he had been seized by a British frigate
but had afterwards been released and set on shore. From what-
ever point he landed he had proceeded in a whaleboat to Fal-
mouth, Maine, from which place he had continued his journey to
Boston on foot." In his memorials he declares strongly his
sympathy with the American revolutionists and challenges "even
Enmity itself" to produce one single instance in, which he has
"deviated from the Resolves of Congress" since the year 1774.
Before he left Nova Scotia, he complains, he had been deprived
(he means, no doubt, by the Government )of property worth
forty thousand pounds sterling, probably much more having
likewise been taken from him since he came away. A certain
Dr. Prince, he says, "with others of like kind," had applied to
Britain for his lands, and for his life, representing him as dis-
affected to the crown, which application had been supported by
the Governor and Council.
Almost immediately after he reached Boston he also began a
series of appeals to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia,
imploring that body to take steps to draw Nova Scotia into the
Revolution. The people of this maritime province, he claimed,
were anxious to get free from Britain's rule and would thank-
fully receive any assistance in securing their freedom that Con-
gress might give. How early after this McNutt visited Phila-
delphia we do not know, but his first appeal was read there before
Congress on the 29th of September, 1778. His memorial was
referred by Congress to a committee of three, and a month later
40 McNutt claimed that he had been robbed by these ruffians of fire-arms
and ammunition, furniture, "superfine Scarlet and Bleu Cloths, Books, Silver
Spoons, Silver Buckles, Plain, Set and Carved, Gold lace, Diamond Rings, with a
number of other articles." McNutt's memorials are found in the Massachusetts
Archives, and have been printed by Edmund Duval Poole in his Annals of Yar-
mouth and Barrington in the Revolutionary War" (1889).
io86 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
the committee reported that ' ' after a conference with the memo-
rialist, it appears unnecessary to take any further action at pres-
ent," and recommended that the sum of three hundred dollars
be given McNutt in consideration of the expenses he had incur-
red in his efforts to serve the United States. In January and
March, respectively, 1779, he makes similar appeals, in the
March petition being joined by Phineas Nevers, one of his orig-
inal colony at Maugerville, New Brunswick, and Samuel Rogers,
who had settled at Sackville, in the same province.41 On the 7th
of April the Committee to whom these appeals had been referred
report on the "memorial of Alexander McNutt and others, agents
for several townships in Nova Scotia, ' ' that in their opinion ' ' it
is greatly interesting to the United States of America that Nova
Scotia should not remain subjected to the government of Great
Britain, to be used as an instrument to check their growth or
molest their tranquillity. That the people in general of that
Province have been thoroughly well disposed towards the United
States from the beginning of the present war. That they made
early application to Congress for direction how they might be
serviceable to the Continental cause, offering to raise three thou-
sand men in ten days. That they have since repeatedly applied
for countenance and aid to enable them to assert their inde-
pendence. That they have as often received friendly assurances
from Congress, though circumstances prevented any vigorous
efforts in their favor. That they begin now to apprehend the
United States will rest satisfied with their own independence, and
leave Nova Scotia under British despotism. That the memorialists
were sent forward by the people to obtain from Congress some
assurances to the contrary, hoping they may not be reduced to
ask for ammunition and a guarantee of their freedom in France
or Holland. That it would tend greatly to animate the well-dis-
posed in Nova Scotia and to secure the Indians to the United
States, as well as to promote desertion from the enemy and facil-
itate supplies of live stock to the eastern parts of the Union, if a
road was opened through the country from Penobscot to St.
John's River. That for such a work a body of faithful men
41. Rogers at a certain date appeals to the Continental Congress to be
allowed to have Saekville and come with his family and their effects to the
United States. See the Journals of Congress.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1087
strongly interested to accomplish it might be found among those
who have been driven by the hand of oppression from Nova Sco-
tia. Your committee therefore propose the following Resolu-
tion: Resolved, That Lieut.-Col. Phineas Nevers and Captain
Samuel Rogers be employed to lay out, mark and clear a road
from Penobscot river to St. John's river in the most commodious
line and in the most prudent manner. That they be empowered
to enlist for such service a body of men not to exceed fifteen hun-
dred. That fifteen thousand dollars be advanced to them for car-
rying on this work, for the faithful expenditure of which they
shall become bound to the United States on a bond to be given
to the Continental treasurer." What debate there may have
been in Congress on this report we do not know, but it is clear
that the recommendations of the Committee were not acted upon,
and after two more appeals to Congress in 1779, one of which
signed also by Joseph "McKnutt," Samuel Henderson, and
Anthony Henderson, prays that certain persons may be allowed
to come from "Great Britain and Ireland'' to the United States;
and still two other appeals, the substance of which we have not
ascertained/2 McNutt in 1781, ceases his memorials to the Con-
tinental Congress.
On the attitude of the people of Nova Scotia generally in the
war of the Revolution, it becomes increasingly clear that the last
word has not yet been spoken. From the entries we have given
and from other mentions in the Journals of Congress we see how
strong the desire of Congress was to draw Nova Scotia also into
the revolt against the British Crown, and as time goes on more
and more echoes reach us of the sympathy that was undoubtedly
felt in various parts of the province with the war for indepen-
dence that was so successful in the thirteen colonies that became
the original United States. From these appeals of McNutt 's to
Congress we judge that before he left Nova Scotia he had been
actively engaged in fomenting rebellion, but how true his claims
are to be the authorized representative of any considerable body
of Nova Scotians in seeking aid from Congress, we are left to
imagine. From what we know of the man and his habitual ten-
42. The two memorials in 1781 were dated respectively, January 3rd 1 and
Tune isth The first of these was read January I3th, and the second, which
indosed "Extracts from memorials presented at Whitehall" by McNutt, was read
October I5th.
io88 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
dency to falsify we may believe that in his appeals to Con-
gress he characteristically misrepresents facts, and in regard to
himself claims authority to represent the Nova Scotia people
which no important community had given him. In this judg-
ment we are strengthened by the following scathing arraign-
ment of him in a letter to Major Studholme at Fort Howe, on
the St. John River, received by that officer about the middle of
October, 1781 : " I am to inform you that there is a certain Col-
onel McNutt, who is well known in Nova Scotia, that he has
pawned [palmed] himself upon the Congress at Philadelphia for
some time past as an agent to transact business with that body
for the inhabitants of Nova Scotia, by virtue of certain powers
invested in him for that purpose; as he is a subtle, designing
fellow, and has endeavored to circulate several letters and dan-
gerous pamphlets throughout the Province, I wish to acquaint
Government of it in order that such necessary steps should be
taken as may be thought proper to suppress such unwarrantable
proceedings and prevent the ill consequences that may attend it. ' '
This letter Major Studholme sent to Lieutenant-Governor
Francklin with the request that after he had read it he would in-
close it to Mr. Bulkeley, the Provincial Secretary.13
Local Virginia tradition says that at the close of the Revolu-
tion McNutt went again to Nova Scotia and remained there some
years, and this Virginia tradition records preserved in the town
of Shelburne fully bear out. In his manuscript history of Shel-
burne County, to which we have several times referred, Mr.
Thomas Robertson says : "In September, 1791, Colonel McNutt
was living on the island in Shelburne Harbor, as I find by a letter
in an old letter book addressed to him from one of the merchants
of Shelburne. ' ' In tax lists of Shelburne of the years 1786 and
1787 Alexander McNutt 's name is found, in that of 1787 his
brother Benjamin's also appearing. In the list for 1786, Alex-
ander is designated "gentleman," his residence being given as
McNutt 's Island, but in the list for 1787 both Alexander and
Benjamin are called "farmers," their taxes respectively being
43. Our authority for the reception by Major Studholme of this letter is,
"Biographical Sketches," in Mr. Thomas Robertson's "History of Shelburne
County," in manuscript in King's College Library, Nova Scotia. Mr. Robertson
wrote his essay in Halifax, and he no doubt found the information above in the
Nova Scotia Archives or the Minutes of Council.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1089
3/3 county tax and 2/9 poor tax. In the previous year Alexan-
der's taxes had been 20/ county tax and 10/ poor tax, but for
both years the taxes remained unpaid until October 5, 1790, when
a summons and execution compelled them to be given in. From
a capitation tax list of Shelburne in 1794, preserved in Halifax,4*
we know that Alexander was still in Shelburne, but from a deed
(of property he did not own and had never owned) which he
executed in Eockbridge County, Virginia, on the 20th of March,
1797, we see that he had left Nova Scotia some time earlier than
this date.45
Of Alexander McNutt 's last years in Virginia we know very
little. The statement that he spent these years at the home of a
brother John at the "Forks" in Lexington, Virginia, is of course
untrue, for his brother John never left Nova Scotia after his set-
tlement there in 1765. In the County Court records of Rock-
bridge County,46 in a document dated September 18, 1802, Mc-
Nutt is designated ' * Colonel Alexander McNutt from Nova Sco-
tia, now in Eockbridge County, and State of Virginia," but
with whom he was living we have no idea. He is said to have
died in 1811, but local tradition is uncertain as to where he was
buried, one statement being that his grave was in the cemetery at
Lexington, the capital of Eockbridge County, the other that he
was buried at Falling Spring. Twenty years after his death
conspicuous notices of him began to appear in Virginia publica-
tions. The first of these, probably, in permanent form, was in
Alexander Scott Withers ' * ' Chronicles of Border Warfare, ' ' first
published in Northwestern Virginia in 1831. In his ' * Historical
Collections of Virginia," published in 1852, the historian
Henry Howe says: "In the Falling Spring churchyard,
on the forks of the James Eiver, is the grave of
44. Four capitation tax lists of Shelburne are preserved in Halifax, of the
years 1791, 1792, 1793, and 1794, respectively, and in all the names of both the
McNutt brothers appear. In all the lists both men are designated farmers, and
their relative ownerships of property are thus indicated; in all four lists Alex-
ander's tax is one shilling, in 1791 and 1792 Benjamin's being the same; m 1793,
however, Benjamin's is 2/7, and in 1794, 2/2. In both 1793 and 1794, Benjamin
McNutt is credited with having three horses and ten sheep, while Alexanders
property is not specified.
45. See Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, pp. 09, 100.
46. Will Book, No. 2, p. 300. See Archdeacon Raymonds first monograph,
p. 101. We have never been able personally to examine Virginia records, but we
take for granted that this particular record is there.
1090 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
Governor M'Nutt, who died in 1811. He was a lieu-
tenant in the company of Captain John Alexander (father of
Dr. Archibald Alexander), in the Sandy Creek voyage, in 1757.
Shortly after, he was appointed governor of Nova Scotia, where
he remained until the commencement of the American Revolu-
tion. In this contest he adhered to the cause of liberty, and
joined his countrymen in arms under Gates, at Saratoga. He
was afterwards known as a valuable officer in the brigade of
Baron de Kalb in the South."47 Mr. Joseph Addison Waddell,
in his much more recent "Ajinals of Augusta County,"
says: "For some years McNutt resided in Nova Scotia,
but the popular beilef that he was governor of that prov-
ince is unfounded. After the Revolutionary War he joined the
American Army at Saratoga, and was afterward an officer under
DeKalb in the South. He died in 1811, and was buried at Fall-
ing Spring Churchyard, Rockbridge. "48 Describing McNutt 's
connection with the Sandy Creek expedition of 1756, Mr. Wad-
dell says : * ' McNutt is supposed to have been in confidential rela-
tions with Governor Dinwiddie, to whom (and not to Governor
Fauquier) he delivered his account of the Sandy Creek expe-
dition. After his affray in Staunton with Andrew Lewis he went
to England, and being recommended by the Governor of Vir-
ginia was admitted to an audience with the King. Ever after-
wards he wore the prescribed court dress. " ' ' The French having
been driven out of Nova Scotia, McNutt received from the Gov-
ernment grants of extensive tracts of land in that province upon
condition of introducing other settlers. He accordingly brought
over many people from the north of Ireland, including
persons of his own name, and a sister, who married
a Mr. Weir. Admiral Cochrane, of the Britsh Navy,
is believed to be a descendant of Mrs. Weir, and others of
her descendants are now living in Nova Scotia." " Alexander
McNutt seems to have returned to Nova Scotia after the Revolu-
tion, as in the deed of 1785 he is described as 'late of Augusta
47. "Historical Collections of Virginia," by Henry Howe, Charleston, S. C,
1852, p. 456.
48. "Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871," by Joseph
Addison Waddell, first published at Richmond, Va., in 1888. (See p. 84, and
Supplement, pp. 440-442) ; 2nd Edition, revised and enlarged, published at Staun-
ton, Va., 1902 (pp. 72, 130, 230).
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1091
county, now of Halifax, Nova Scotia,'49 But he did not remain
there long. He appears to have been a visionary man, and in
his latter days at least, somewhat of a religious enthusiast. While
living in Nova Scotia he attempted to found there a settlement
to be called ' New Jerusalem. ' It is presumed that his lands in
that Province were confiscated when he came away and joined
the American 'rebels;' but in 1796 he undertook to convey by
deed 100,000 acres in Nova Scotia [sic] to the Synod of Virginia,
in trust for the benefit of Liberty Hall Academy, in Rockbridge,
among other purposes ' for the support of public lectures in said
seminary, annually, on man's state by nature and his recovery
by free and unmerited grace through Christ Jesus, and against
opposite errors. ' Possibly finding that this deed would not do,
he executed another next year directly to the trustees of Liberty
Hall, for the same uses. The second deed was witnessed by An-
drew Alexander, Conrad Speece, and Archibald Alexander. It
is unnecessary to say that Liberty Hall did not get the land.
McNutt never married, and left no posterity. His old-fashioned
dress sword was preserved by his collateral descendant, Alex-
ander McNutt Glasgow, of Rockbridge ; but at the time of Hunt-
er's Raid, in 1864, the silver-mounted scabbard was carried off,
leaving only the naked blade. John McNutt, a brother of Alex-
ander, settled on North River, Rockbridge."
In the Staunton, Virginia, Spectator, of February 29, 1888,
appeared a letter from the Hon. William A. Glasgow, of Lexing-
ton, regarding the McNutt family of Virginia, from whom the
writer was descended, and especially concerning his collateral
ancestor "Colonel" Alexander McNutt. Mr. Glasgow repeats
49. "While living in Nova Scotia in 1761, McNutt executed a power of
attorney, authorizing his brother John to sell and convey his real estate. In
pursuance of his instrument John McNutt, on August 16, 1785, conveyed to
Thomas Smith, in consideration of £110, lot No. 10 in Staunton, which was pur-
chased by Alexander in 1750 for £3, as stated on page 72. ... John McNutt,
a brother of Alexander, settled on North River, Rockbridge," etc., etc. "Annals of
Augusta Co., Va., from 1726 to 1871." Second Edition, 1902. We have not been
able to do any genealogical work in Virginia, and as we have said, we know very
little of the McNutt family settled there. By Virginia census returns of the
years 1783-1786 we learn, however, that at that time, somewhere _m Greenbner
County West Virginia, there were living, probably as heads of families, a James, a
John and a Francis McNutt. Who the John McNutt who is said to have set-
tled on North River, Rockbridge, may have been we cannot tell, it was certainly
not Alexander's brother John, for he was a blacksmith in Nova Scotia, where, as
we have said, he lived continuously probably from 1765 to the end of his days.
1092
the statement that not long after the expedition against the
Shawnees, McNutt took passage for England, "it is supposed,"
with strong testimonials from Governor Dinwiddie, in intimate
relations with whom "he is supposed" to have been. When he
returned from England it was with the military title of Colonel,
and "in court dress, which he always afterward wore, and with
a dress sword at his side."
A still later publication in the United States, dealing with
Alexander McNutt, is a volume entitled ' ' Genealogies and Rem-
iniscences," compiled under the auspices of Mrs. Henrietta Ham-
ilton McCormick, a descendant of the John McNutt of Virginia
who is said to have been Alexander's brother.50 In this volume
appears a most uncritical sketch of the Virginia McNutt family,
in the course of which many of the preceding tales of Alexander
McNutt 's greatness are re- told, and the additional flattering dis-
tinction given the gentleman of having been knighted by King
George II "for his services and gallantry." "The sword which
was then presented to him by the King," says this writer, "is
still preserved, though despoiled of its silver mounting, chains,
and ornamented scabbard, by the soldiers of General Hunter's
command, when they made their raid in the Valley of Virginia
during the Civil War." The writer of the sketch repeats the
fond story that after he left Nova Scotia McNutt joined the Con-
tinental forces under General Gates at Saratoga, and then was a
"meritorious officer" on the staff of De Kalb in the South. At
the close of the war, the writer says, McNutt ' ' returned to his es-
tate on McNutt 's Island," from which fact "it would seem that
his original house in Halifax [sic] and his island estate were left
untouched by the British Government." It was Governor Din-
widdie, the writer explains, not Governor Fauquier, who pre-
sented McNutt at the court of George II, and paved the way for
the honors and favors afterwards heaped upon the colonizer.
**As long as this distinguished personage lived,** adds
the writer, "he wore the court costume of the reign of
George II, with buckles and ornamented buttons of silver, and
trimmings of gold lace, a cocked hat, powdered hair, and top
boots. His sword never left his side." The writer concludes by
50. Genealogies and Reminiscences, Compiled by Henrietta Hamilton McCor-
mick. Revised Edition. Chicago: Published by the Author. 1897, pp. 53-64.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1093
saying that McNutt " expired" in 1811, and was " interred" in
the cemetery at Lexington.51 In view of the actual facts of Mc-
Nutt's life as we know them from reliable documents, most of
these flattering statements have to be pronounced entirely untrue.
That McNutt in earlier life was in confidential relations with
Governor Dinwiddie is a baseless assumption, and that soon after
the obscure Shawnee raid, in which as a rustic subaltern he had
taken part, this young militia officer, with Dinwiddie 's introduc-
tion, went to England and had an interview with the King and
received a sword from him is quite impossible, especially as his
supposed patron, Dinwiddie, left the governorship of Virginia
as early as January, 1758. In any case, McNutt 's quarrel with
Lewis took place in Staunton at some time between 1756 and
1758, and as early as September, 1758, and probably somewhat
earlier he was settled among the Scotch-Irish in Londonderry,
New Hampshire. That McNutt was ever in England before
1761, when he went there to further his colonization schemes,
seems next to impossible, and on the 25th of October, 1760,
George the Second had died. That the colonizer ever saw any
distinguished military service whatever is impossible, nor can
we believe that he properly bore the title ' l colonel. " As a mili-
tia officer in Massachusetts he was to the end of his slight service
there, captain, not colonel, and there seems no way that he could
ever have reached any higher military rank.52 Nor did he, after
he left Nova Scotia, serve with General Gates at Saratoga or
Baron de Kalb in the South. On the 17th of October, 1777, Bur-
goyne surrendered to Gates at Saratoga, and it was not until late
in June, 1778, that McNutt came to Boston from his Port Rose-
way home. Baron de Kalb died August 19, 1780, and at that
time, as at least for a year afterward, McNutt was clearly living
between Boston and Philadelphia, busily engaged in his favorite
pastime of drawing up memorials, and publishing through the
51. "Genealogies and Reminiscences," pp. 61-64.
52. In a letter from the Lords of Trade to Jonathan Belcher, Esq., President
of the Nova Scotia Council, written March 3, 1761, McNutt is referred to as
"Captain Mac Nutt." More frequently he is spoken of in official correspondence
of the time as "Mr." McNutt. In a letter dated at Halifax, November 13, 1762,
from Honbles. John Collier, Charles Morris, Henry Newton, and Michael Franck-
lin, to His Excellency Governor Ellis, annexed to a petition from McNutt to the
Lords of Trade, and received April 12, 1763, the gentlemen writing the letter
call McNutt "Colonel." On what grounds they do this, unless it is on some
representation made by McNutt himself, it is impossible to see.
1094 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
printing press of Robert Aitken of Philadelphia a series of
strange pamphlets, some of which have come to us, furthering
a scheme he had conceived of making the Maritime Provinces an
independent republic with a democratic government which he
somewhat ably outlines, and bearing the not hitherto unheard of
name of "New Ireland." That most of the popular stories of
his greatness were invented by himself in Virginia after he
finally left the North seems almost certain, for McNutt was quite
equal to such inventions, and in the remote southern country
where he had been brought up, he no doubt found a receptive
audience.53 In one particular, however, Virginia tradition con-
cerning McNutt is very likely correct, after he returned to Vir-
ginia he is said to have been on friendly terms with Thomas
Jefferson, sometimes visiting this gentleman at Monticello,
whither from Bockbridge County he always travelled afoot.54
The culminating act of McNutt 's singular career, was the
giving, as we have intimated, of worthless deeds in 1796 and
1797, to a Presbyterian academy in Rockbridge County, Virginia,
of a hundred thousand acres of land on the St. John River, which
he speaks of as still "lying in the Province of Nova Scotia."
The lands which he describes in this deed had never belonged to
him, nor indeed with one exception had he ever had any actual
share in lands on the St. John River, and Archdeacon Ray-
mond's chief explanation of his performance is, that he had now
passed his three-score and ten years, and his mind and memory
may have been confused.55
Regarding the publications of McNutt to which we have just
referred, a few words ought to be said. In the Boston Public and
the Massachusetts Historical Society's libraries are to be found
53. McNutt's militia service in Virginia and in New England was so slight
that we cannot help being amused at the statement he boldly makes to the Lords
of Trade that (See Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, pp. 62, in) he
had raised three hundred men for Louisburg, a tale which finds not the least con-
firmation in Massachusetts records, nor astounded at the falsehood which also
occurs in a memorial he presents to the Lords of Trade that ever since the
defeat of Braddock he had been engaged in defence of the Protestant interest,
had been in upwards of twenty engagements by sea and land, and had always served
as a volunteer, having never asked nor received one shilling for all his expenses."
See Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, p. 75, and compare McNutt's state-
ment quoted there, which we have just paraphrased, with the payments he received
for military services from the Massachusetts Council, as recorded in Mass.
54. Archdeacon Raymond's first Monograph, p. 99.
55. Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, pp. 99-101.
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1095
copies of a 16 mo. pamphlet entitled, "The Constitution and
Frame of Government of the Free and Independent State and
Commonwealth of New Ireland. As prepared by the special
dictation of the people, for the consideration of their convention,
when met. Composed by those who are invested with proper
authority for that purpose. Printed by R. Aitken, for the free
and independent State of New Ireland. ' ' The pamphlet covers,
besides a title page and one blank page, thirty-seven pages, and
comprises, in all, four divisions : An opening address ' ' to the
good people of New Ireland," of four pages; a declaration of
the rights of the inhabitants of the State of New Ireland, of
between five and six pages ; ' i the Constitution and frame of gov-
ernment of the free and independent state and commonwealth of
New Ireland, ' ' of eight pages ; and a detailed scheme of ' ' gov-
ernment of the state of New Ireland," of nineteen pages. To
this is appended, in larger type, an ' ' Advertisement, " of a little
less than five pages, unnumbered, signed " A. M' N. of J. P." In
the library of Harvard University is another copy of this same
pamphlet, bound cheaply, together with three separate appeals or
addresses "to the peace makers," numbered respectively iv., v.,
and vi., covering in all twenty-two consecutively numbered pages,
each address, like a sermon, headed with a Scripture text, and
and signed in the following inscrutable way: "A. (a symbol of
the sun) N. P. of S. J. A. & N. i"50 A title-page to the little
volume in which these several publications are brought together
bears the following: "Considerations on the sovereignty, inde-
pendence, trade and fisheries of New Ireland (formerly known by
the name of Nova Scotia)57 and the adjacent islands: Submit-
ted to the European powers that may be engaged in settling the
terms of peace, among the nations at war. Published by order
of the sovereign, free and independent commonwealth of New
Ireland." On the back of the title page is this remarkable pre-
tended authorization of the appeals : "By virtue of the author-
c6 We have found it impossible fully to interpret this collection of initial
letters 'and symbols. The symbol of the sun is probably a hieroglyphic denoting
son (Mac) and this is part of McNutt's name, and the last letters N I. mean
undoubtedly "New Ireland,", but what the others mean, or what the foregoing
island by this name.
1096 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
ity derived from the people of New Ireland, formerly known by
the name of Nova Scotia, comprehending the islands adjacent,
viz., St. John's, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, etc., etc., these num-
bers are published and forwarded for the consideration of the
European courts : the preceding numbers more especially concern
the people of New Ireland, and the United States. A person
vested with full power to act in behalf of the people of New Ire-
land, in the treaty of peace, when this shall take place, will soon
be dispatched to Europe. ' ' At the top of the general title page
of this small volume in the Harvard Library is written : * ' Col.
McNut to Jno. White, ' ' and in the back of the volume is inscribed
in a much more modern handwriting : ' l Written by Col. McNutt
who was in Salem just before the close of the war of the Ameri-
can Revolution." Below this is written in still another hand:
' l The above notice was written by the Rev. Wm. Bentley of Sa-
lem. It appears by the title page that this copy was presented
to John White of Salem by Col. McNutt himself."
In the letter to Major Studholme we have given on a previous
page, the writer says that McNutt ' l has endeavoured to circulate
several letters and dangerous pamphlets throughout the pro-
vince." These pamphlets, we must believe, were the earlier
pamphlets, Nos. I, II, and III, of the series of which McNutt in
the little volume in the Harvard Library, gives Nos. IV, V, and
VI, for McNutt says that these earlier pamphlets, no copies of
which have so far come to our hand, were addressed particularly
to the people of America. In the governmental scheme for New
Ireland that McNutt outlines, an intelligence in matters of gov-
ernment is manifested that would in any age stamp the origina-
tor as a man of unusual clearness of mind and consecutive judg-
ment, but when one remembers that no such state as the New
Ireland commonwealth he assumes as existing really did exist,
and when in his "Advertisement" he says that "Europeans
panting after the sweets of liberty and independence will flock
thither, as well as many well disposed persons from other
states," and adds, "we are happy that it is in our power to
offer them such encouragement as is not to be found in any other
spot on earth;" and when he boldly announces that "wherever
a sufficient number appears, a vessel will be appointed to take
them on board, at the most convenient port or harbor, for the
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1097
customary freight," and further advises people to apply early,
"as the season is advancing," we wonder again whether the curi-
ous man who wrote these pamphlets was sane.58 This whole
series of pamphlets is undated, but they were undoubtedly all
printed by Robert Aitken of Philadelphia, at intervals between
1776 and 1781.
Concerning the relatives of "Colonel" Alexander McNutt who
settled in Nova Scotia many highly inaccurate statements have
been put in print. As we have already stated, the names of his
parents we do not certainly know, but Nova Scotia records give
us considerable light on the brothers and probably the sister he
brought to this province as early as 1765. In the registry of
deeds of Truro will be found a declaration from McNutt, appar-
ently made to prevent the escheatment of a grant he had secured
for his brothers, partly in Londonderry, Colchester County, and
partly in Noel, Hants County, that the owners of the grant, Ben-
jamin, Joseph, and John McNutt, were his "three brothers."59
58. Archdeacon Raymond says: McNutt "was quick to think, quick to
act, quick to write. His memorials to the Lords of Trade and Governors of
Nova Scotia are in some cases very voluminous, seemingly written with haste, not
always elegant in style, and expressed with greater freedom than was customary
in those days. Many of his suggestions were wise, his criticism was often trenchant
and well timed; but on the other hand, some of his plans were very unpractical
and the claims he advanced not always reasonable. He was a staunch upholder
of the cause of civil and religious liberty." First monograph, pp. 61, 67, 68, 93.
59. The declaration is as follows :
''Be it hereby made known and manifest to all whom it may concern that I
the Subscriber did procure a Grant of a Tract of Lands at the Village Noel, and
also in the Township of Londonderry, to Benjamin Me nutt, Joseph nutt, John
Me nutt, &c., which I obtained for them, the said Benjamin Me nutt &c. in the
time of Govr Wilmot and that the said Benjamin Me nutt, Joseph Me nutt and
John Me nutt are my three Brethren, and further that my Brother Benjamin
did in the year 1761 Introduce into this Colony of Nova Scotia and pay the
Passage of a Sufficient Number of Settlers to fully Secure the aforesaid Grants
of Lands forever, from forefeiture, agreeable to my Proposals and Covenants at
White Hall or Westminster, all which is Hereby Certified this 27th Day of Oc-
tober 1787 By
Alexander McNutt [Seal]
Signd Seald in presence of
George Cochran
5/ Kings County Ss, Horton Nova Scotia October 27th 1787 Personally
appeared Alexander McNutt Esqr and made Solemn oath To the truth of the
above manifest or Certificate
Before me Jonathan Crane J. P.
The grant which Alexander McNutt here mentions was given to Benjamin,
Joseph, and John McNutt and Patrick McCollum, June 15, 1765. The subse-
quent history of this grant has been clearly made out. One thousand acres of
it lay in Noel, Hants County, and this was sold by the McNutt brothers to James
Densmore and then on petition of Densmore, probably in order that he might be
able to get a clear title, formally escheated, the petitioner paying the Crown for
escheating. The remaining three thousand acres, which lay in Londonberry, Col-
1098 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
This, of course, is decisive, and tradition has it that Esther Mc-
Nutt, who in Newport, Hants County, where John McNutt,
blacksmith, at first lived, was married to Benjamin Wier, was a
sister of these men.60 The most prolific McNutt family in Nova
Scotia was a family founded in Onslow, Colchester County, in
1761, by a certain William McNutt and his wife Elizabeth (Thom-
son), but this family came directly from Palmer, Massachusetts,
and had nothing whatever to do with the colonizer. William Mc-
Nutt 's father, Barnard, and grandfather, Alexander, both came
from Donegal, Ireland, to Massachusetts, about 1720, Barnard
having at least twelve children, of whom William, born in Pal-
mer, July 25, 1733, was one. The name of this family uniformly
in Massachusetts, and frequently in Nova Scotia, was spelled
"McNitt."61 Of Benjamin McNutt, Alexander's brother, no
doubt the eldest of the three whom Alexander mentions, we
know a good deal. He lived on McNutt 's Island with Alexan-
der, when the latter was there, and farmed and no doubt fished.
He died, probably in Shelburne town, between September 10th
and 21st, 1798, leaving all his property to his "friend," which
Chester County, remained long in the McNutt family and was never escheated.
It will be noticed that Alexander McNutt states that his brother Benjamin in
1761 paid the passage of a sufficient number of settlers into Nova Scotia to settle
on the grant procured in 1765 and thus secure the grant. What truth there may
have been in this statement no one can tell. It would be interesting to know
where Benjamin McNutt lived in 1761, whether he was in any way concerned
in his brother's colonization schemes, and whether at this time he did introduce
settlers into Londonderry, Nova Scotia, whose presence there before the grant
was obtained might have been considered as fulfilling the conditions of the
settlement mentioned in the later given grant.
60. In Archdeacon Raymond's second monograph the incidental statement
appears that a certain Lieut. John Wier of Londonderry, N. H., was Alexander
McNutt's brother-in-law. For this statement, which is not true, the writer of the
present paper and not Dr. Raymond is responsible, the Nova Scotia Wier family
was founded in Newport, Hants Co., N. S., in 1761, by Daniel and Phebe (Mum-
ford) Wier from Rhode Island and so far as we know_ had nothing to do with
the N. H. Wiers. In Nova Scotia the Wiers intermarried with the Cochrans of
Newport township, to whom Admiral Cochrane of the British Navy was in no
way related. Admiral Cochrane, however, did live in Nova Scotia for some years.
61. In "Genealogies and Reminiscences" William McNutt or McNitt is mis-
takeably said to be a brother of Alexander McNutt the Colonizer, and to have
come to Nova Scotia with him. This statement has no foundation in fact, Wil-
liam McNutt, the grantee in Onslow, farmer, and carpenter (for he had the con-
tract to build the first Presbyterian church in Truro, the adjoining township to
Onslow), had a family, the births of part of whom are recorded in the town of
Palmer, Massachusetts, part in Onslow. From this family descends a very suc-
cessful physician, Dr. William Fletcher McNutt of San Francisco, whose name
appears in "Who's Who in America." Other descendants are mentioned in
"Genealogies and Reminiscences."
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1099
probably means nephew, Martin McNutt, cooper.62 It seems cer-
tain that he died unmarried. Joseph McNutt settled early in
Shelburne County, as a farmer, probably at Round Bay, and we
believe died there, or was drowned, in 1785. It seems certain
that his wife was Agnes McNutt, who appears in 1786 and there-
after as a widow at Round Bay, and his children, probably, Jo-
seph, mariner, John, Jr., Arthur, farmer and fisherman, who
lived at Shelburne but was dead in 1795, Francis, mariner, who
lived first at Shelburne but afterwards for many years in Lon-
donderry, Colchester County, where he probably died, Martin,
cooper, who lived and died at Shelburne, Margaret, who was liv-
ing, a spinster, at Point Carleton (Round Bay) in 1807, and in
Shelburne town in 1809, and Ann, a widow Belcher, living in
Londonderry, with or near her brother Francis in 1819. John
McNutt, blacksmith, probably the youngest of Alexander's broth-
ers, born about 1747, as we learn from his tombstone, was living
in Newport, Hants County, in 1781, but sometime between 1785
and 1795 he removed to Londonderry, Colchester County, where
he continued his useful calling. He married, as we have good
reason to believe, Ann Wier, born in Rhode Island, sister of the
Benjamin Wier who married his sister Esther McNutt, and died
childless in Londonderry, June 16, 1813. His wife and he are
both buried in the " Folly" burying ground.
A more active adventurer than Alexander McNutt has perhaps
never been seen on the American continent. He conceived great
schemes, and showed remarkable energy in prosecuting them, but
he seems to have been constitutionally unbalanced, and after
tracing him carefully through the various stages of his checkered
career we are forced to the same conclusion concerning him that
Lieutenant Governor Jonathan Belcher arrived at as early as
1761, that he was from first to last "an erratic individual, lacking
in mental ballast, and one whose proposals needed to be
watched. ' '63 Where he managed to get sufficient money to travel
as much as he did in the enthusiastic pursuit of his schemes we
can hardly see, for he belonged to a family that must have been
comparatively poor, and from the first he was evidently depen-
62. Martin McNutt, cooper, and his wife Rebecca (Stewart) were the parents
of Rev. Arthur McNutt, a well known Wesleyan minister in Nova Scotia.
63. Archdeacon Raymond's first monograph, p. 73.
i ioo ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
dent chiefly on his own exertions. The great expense he claimed
to have incurred in bringing settlers to Nova Scotia was, how-
ever, undoubtedly largely met by North of Ireland shipping mer-
chants whom he had managed to interest in his projects, and
most likely in part by his emigrants, from whom he probably
exacted head money, but we know that he was often unable to pay
large bills he had contracted, and it seems quite certain that he
was occasionally forced to borrow of men with whom he had busi-
ness relations. At one period of his life in Nova Scotia he was
evidently appropriating timber that did not belong to him, and it
is possible that by means of vessels trading between Port Rose-
way and Boston he and his brothers and his nephews may have
been able to establish some little general trade on the Shelburne
shore. As to the honors claimed for him by Virginia historians,
we have shown that these were for the most part imaginary, and
as we have intimated, the most reasonable explanation we can
find of the stories of them that came into circulation in the region
where he spent his last years is that he characteristically in-
vented them himself.
APPENDIX
CANADIAN ARCHIVES, SERIES M, 466, PP. 16-35
B. T. N. S., Vol. 121, N. 108, 1766, 30 Augst.
' t The Committee of H. M. Council, appointed to examine into
the facts stated in the memorial of Colonel Alexander McNutt
addressed to the Et. Hon. the Lords Commissioners for Trade
and Plantations dated the 17th of April, 1766, transmitted by
their Lordship to His Excellency Governor Wilmot, and laid be-
fore H. M. Council by the Hon. Michael Francklin, Esqr., Lieut.
Governor of the Province on the 26th inst. Having deliberately
and maturely considered the several Allegations and examined
into the particular facts therein asserted, do report vizt.
"That His Excellency Governor Lawrence issued a procla-
mation dated the 12th of October 1758 (as Colonel McNutt sets
forth) for the settling the vacated lands in this Province.
"That being found Necessary to declare the terms on which
the same would be granted another Proclamation of the llth of
January 1759 was publish 'd and transmitted to Thomas Hancock
Esqr. then Agent for this Government at Boston.
"That in Consequence of those proclamations many Commit-
HOI
tees Appointed by Persons in the Colonies proposing to settle
themselves on the said Lands came to Halifax early in the Spring
of the year 1759, who were sent at the expense of Government to
view the Lands intended to be granted, and on their return to
Halifax, a contract was made with those Committees for the in-
troduction of twelve Thousand Inhabitants in three years from
the date of their Grants, in the following Townships, Falmouth,
Horton, Cornwallis, Annapolis, Granville, Cumberland, Amherst,
Sackville, Truro, Onslow, Liverpool, and Yarmouth, an Account
of which was transmitted to the Lords Commissioners of Trade
and Plantations.
' That the Contracts above mentioned were made previous to
any Application to Government by Colonel McNutt and many
Thousand Inhabitants are now settled in consequence thereof, in
which Colonel McNutt had no Men-it or concern whatever.
"That in the Month of August of the same year, Colonel Mc-
Nutt arrived at Halifax & applied to Governor Lawrence for
Grants of Land for Himself and sundry persons his Associates,
and obtained a reserve or large tract of Land for that purpose,
which appear by a Written engagement of Governor Lawrence's
to have been one Township at Port Rosaway, and six Townships
in the District of Cobequid, and on the Shubennaccada River,
with leave to settle Families on Thirty-five Rights in the Town-
ship of Granville in consequence of which in the Spring following
He produced a List of Six Hundred Subscribers being persons of
the Colonies who had engaged with Him to settle those Lands, but
of those Six Hundred Subscribers, Fifty Families only came into
the Province who were transported Hither at the expence of
Government, had Lands assign 'd them in the Township of Truro
and were supported there two years, with an additional expence
to Government of building Forts and Barracks for their Security
and Troops were sent for their Protection & lately five Hundred
pounds of the Provincial Funds has been expended, for opening
Roads of Communication from Halifax to those Settlements,
without One Shilling expence to Col. McNutt.
"That no care was taken by Colonel McNutt to Settle Families
on the vacant Rights at Granville in the Time Limetted for that
purpose, therefore those Rights were assign 'd to Substantial
Settlers from the Colonies, that He also neglected to send a suf-
ficient number of Inhabitants to settle on the resedue of the
Lands reserved for Him, at Cobequid and the Bason of Minas,
and the Terms of Agreement being exposed, the Government
have granted some of those Lands to other Persons, but Coll.
McNutt has obtained Grants for Himself and Associates of One
Hundred and Fifty Thousand Acres, part of that reservation to
1 102 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
be hereafter settled, also the Township of Truro and London-
Derry, other part of the before mentioned reserve consisting of
One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Acres more, on part of which
are settled some of those Persons He has already introduced.
"That in October, 1761, Colonel McNutt arrived at Halifax
from Ireland with about Two Hundred and Fifty Persons a very
unseasonable time in this Climate for Seating them on their
Lands, and as most of them were indigent People without means
of Subsistance they clearly remained at Halifax the ensuing
Winter, and were supported by the Government the Charitable
Contribution of the Inhabitants, and some Provisions borrowed
by Colonel McNutt from the Government for which he still
stands indebted.
"That early in the Spring 1762 a contribution was actually
made by the Council and Principal Inhabitants of Halifax, for
the hire of a Vessel to transport those indigent People and their
Families, to the District of Cobequid where the best Lands, and
greatest Quantities of marsh in that part of the Country were
Assigned them also to furnish them with Provisions out of the
Provincial Fund and without One Shilling expense to Colonel
McNutt.
"That in August [It was November], 1762, Colonel McNutt ar-
rived at Halifax from Ireland, with about One hundred & Fifty
Persons more, and was much dissatisfied that the then Lieut.
Governor would not Grant them Lands on the Terms Stipulated
between the Lords of Trade and Him, Nevertheless the Settlers
had Lands Assign 'd them at Le Have on the usual Terms, and
were transported for [from] Halifax to their Lands, and fur-
nish'd with Provisions for the Winter at the expence of Govern-
ment without One Shilling expence to Colonel McNutt.
"That in consequence of His Majesty's Instruction to the Gov-
ernor of this Province dated the 20th of May, 1763, Lands have
been since Granted to all such persons as were introduced by
Colonel McNutt, on the Terms formerly Stipulated between the
Lords Commissioners of Trade and him.
' ' That after enquiry we cannot find any Agent Colonel McNutt
ever had at Halifax unless he means some one of his Creditors
of whom he borrowed Money, and at His going away deposited
in His Hands Sundry securities that He had taken from the
Settlers He brought into this Province for the Payment of their
Passages.
"That from Colonel McNutt 's return to England in 1762 He
never came into this Province till the year 1765, when he arrived
again at Halifax from Philadelphia, and then produced to the
Government sundry lists of Persons in the Colonies associated
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1103
together with a design of making Settlements in this Province,
& was then accompanied by several Gentlemen of ability of Phil-
adelphia who came in behalf of themselves and others concern 'd
in those associations to view the Lands in the Province, and to
apply for Grants, who informed the Government that Colol. Mc-
Nutt had assured them that His Majesty's Instruction to the
Governor of Nova Scotia dated the 20th of May, 1763— directing
the Terms of Settlement to be granted to the Settlers he had
introduc'd into this Province from the Kingdom of Ireland in-
cluded them and all others whom He should introduce and prom-
ised that they should have Lands on those Terms which was not
only deceiving those people, but also created many Difficulties for
the Government Here, and those Gentlemen declared they would
no further concern with Colol. McNutt and accordingly made
their applications to Government for Lands, without taking any
Notice of Him. Notwithstanding which the Government in con-
sideration of Colol. McNutt 's apparent zeal for settling the Va-
cated Lands of this Province & as they conceived it might in
some measure primarily be owing to him that these Associations
were entered into for that purpose and that the procuring such
a number of Inhabitants of Ability was a great Acquisition to
this Infant Colony, they thought it but just and right to have
Colonel McNutt included with each & every Association wherein
he appeared to have been any way concern 'd and his Name was
accordingly inserted in the Grants made to them of about Six-
teen Townships.
"That another Association from Philadelphia who had con-
tracted with the Government to settle a Township at Sepody sent
a ship about this Time with Twenty-five Families agreeable ^ to
their contract seated them on their Lands furnish 'd them with
Stock, materials for Building & Farming and have supported
with Provision ever since in which Colonel McNutt had no kind
of concern whatever.
"That in the same year a Vessel arrived at Halifax from Ire-
land which brought about Fifty Persons chiefly belonging to
Families before introduced and settled by Colonel McNutt, and
we know of no other Embarkation of Settlers whatsoever, made
by Colonel McNutt notwithstanding He asserts to have intro-
duced in several Vessels, several Hundred Families about this
"That the measures complained of by Colonel McNutt prac-
tised by this Government which he says has obstructed the settle-
ment of the Province, have been Conformable to His Majesty s
Instructions, and directions from the Lords Commissioners of
Trade & Plantations except in the Terms of those Grants made
1 104 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
to Him and His Associates, where the Government departed
from those Instructions and directions in order to favour &
Encourage him and his undertaking.
' ' That those Grants of Twenty Thousand Acres made to sun-
dry persons of which Colonel McNutt complains, were made in
consequence of their Petition to His Majesty, and laid out at their
own expence, under the direction of the Chief Surveyor, in such
parts of the Province as they chose, and were intituled to, by the
Tenor of His Majesty's order to the Governor of this Province,
and under the Terms and conditions therein prescribed, but not
within the limits of any of the tracts of Land reserved by Gov-
ernor Lawrence for Colonel McNutt or any other Person, and
notwithstanding, His Majesty was graciously pleased to allow
them ten years for the first period of their Settlement neverthe-
less upon the Grants being passed to those Gentlemen One of the
Grants was immediately employ 'd to procure protestant Fam-
ilies from Germany to settle on those Lands, and a very consider-
able Sum of Money was advanced for that purpose and the Set-
tlers are now daily expected.
"That in July 1765 Mr. Green Commissary of Provisions for
the Garrison of Fort Frederick on the River St. Johns ac-
quainted Governor Wilmot that the Indians were assembled near
the Fort in great numbers, and had given out that there was sev-
eral French Ships of War on the Coast and that they should soon
commence hostilities, and immediately after several reports were
sent to the Governor from other parts of the province to the same
purpose, upon which the Governor thought it advisable to send
expresses to those parts of the province where it was most likely
to discover the truth of these reports, and as several of the
Deputy Surveyors (being persons best acquainted with the
course through the Country) were sent on this Occasion, Orders
were given them to make Surveys of the Land they passed over,
which they perform'd and of the Land so survey 'd Two Hundred
Thousand Acres was Granted to Colonel McNutt and His As-
sociates.
' ' That the great expence incurred by Colonel McNutt in pursu-
ing His Scheme of making Settlements in this Province, cannot
be charged to any obstruction he met with from the Government
Here in any respect, nor can we tell how it arose, that Colonel
McNutt tho' often called upon for that purpose never produced
Vouchers for the expendature of One Shilling except He means
some Accounts from His Agents, not signed by them, and other-
wise very blind and imperfect wherein He is charged with the
Hire & Damage of those Vessels that transported the few fam-
ilies He introduced from Ireland, and the Money advanced for
ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER 1105
sundrys by His Account was idly expended in bringing & hiring
Vessels to coast about the Province in search of, and surveying
Lands, in so much that His Associates made great complaints
and protested against his Measures and refused payment of the
Bills drawn on them for that expence as they found he was or
might have been furnish 'd from the Surveyor's Office at Halifax,
with everything sufficient to answer all His and their purposes.
' That the Obstruction Colonel McNutt complains of from the
Rulers in this Province since the Death of Governor Lawrence,
have proceeded from his own intemperate Zeal & exorbitant
demands from the Government were by His Majesty's Instruc-
tions forbid to Grant in all other respects having had that Indul-
gence and kind treatment from the Government that any reason-
able Man could desire, not on Account of His Knowledge or
Ability, but from a hope the Government had that His Zeal and
application to make Settlements in this Province might be a
means of inducing men of much more knowledge and ability than
Himself to become Inhabitants in it.
"That the remarks already made on the expence incurred by
making these Settlements to Colonel McNutt may be sufficient
yet we must observe further on that head that the proportion
of Land stipulated to be given Him by the plan settled between
the Lords Commissioners of Trade & for him for His trouble and
expence in introducing Settlers into this Province, has been
granted to him by the Governor and Council in such tracts of
Land as He himself chose and fixed upon.
"And we could wish that the great concern Colonel McNutt
expresses, at being under the nesessety of mentioning anything
in the least tending to the disadvantage of any Man's Caracter,
had in any degree prevented his departure from Truth & De-
cency, his reflections on that head being altogether without
either.
"That Colol. McNutt complains, that the Settlers introduced
by Him have been denied several of the Privileges promised and
granted to them, but We know of no Persons who are deprived
of those Rights and that Liberty, which the Laws & Constitution
of Great Britain, or of this Province intitle them to.
"Upon the whole the Committee of His Maesty's Council are of
Opinion that the Memorial of Colonel Alexr McNutt address 'd
to the Lords Commissioners for Trade & Plantations, is almost,
and altogether, false, and scandalous, that the facts are misrep-
resented & his complaints without Just grounds, that His propos-
als in the Latter part of His Memorial, are Presumptions, that
several of them if granted would be very injurious to Private Per-
sons, as He proposes to disposses many of those Grantees of the
iio6 ALEXANDER McNUTT, THE COLONIZER
Conditions contained in their Patents, which they obtain 'd by
Vertue of the King's Order, or by His Majesty's Proclamation
making provision for disbanded Officers, Soldiers and Seamen,
and of their Lands also, unless they submit to the new Terms
proposed by Him.
* ' That other of His proposals would if Granted be highly pre-
judicial to the peace and good Government of this Colony, partic-
ularly that of sending two Members to represent the people in
General Assembly, from each Town He settles, more especially
should those He may hereafter introduce into this Province be
of the same troublesome disposition with the few He has brought,
The Government Here having experienced more difficulty in
Keeping peace and good order in the Two little Towns of Truro
and Londonderry settled by Colonel McNutt's followers, than
with all the other Settlements in the Whole Province, they being
mostly composed of Persons from the Charter Governments who
still retain so great a degree of republican principals that they
make it a point to oppose on all Occasions every measure of
Government calculated to support the Honor and Authority of
His Majesty's Crown and Dignity. The dangerous Influence of
which Spirit cannot be too much garded against as the late un-
happy disturbances in America more than abundantly prove.
' ' That the Laws of Great Britain, & the Laws of this Province
sufficiently secure the Eights Civil & Religious of all His Ma-
jesty's Subjects in it, and the Committee cannot conceive what
inducement Colol McNutt had to suggest, Assert & propose the
several matters contained in His Memorial as we find from the
matter of fact inquired into, that the Government here have pro-
moted, & forwarded His undertaking to introduce Settlers into
this Province, by every means in their Power, and flattered them-
selves that He was employing His Time in collecting Persons to
fulfill His engagements.
"Halifax 30 Augt. 1766
Endorsed :
Report of the Committee of the Council of Nova Scotia on the
Memorial of Mr McNutt
In Lt Govrs Letter of 2. Sept. 1766.
Read Novr. 6. 1766.
N. 108."
University of Toronto
Library
Acme Library Card Pocket
Under Pat. "Ref. Index File"
Made by LIBRARY BUREAU