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SIEBERT
The Exodus of the Loyalists from
Penobscot to Passanaquoddy
Volume XVIII
Number 26
The
Ohio State University
Bulletin
THE EXODUS OF THE LOYALISTS
from
Penobscot to Passamaquoddy
Interna tigijatS^iaaou^
April, 1914
PUBUSHED BY THE UNIVERSITY AT COIvUMBUS
Entered as second-class matter Noveiiiber 17, 1905, at the postoffice
at Columbus, Ohio, under Act of Congress, July 16, 1894
THE EXODUS OF THE LOYALISTS
from
Penobscot to Passamaquoddy
(With Map)
Bv
WILBUR H. SIEBERT, A. M
Professor of European History
Published bv
The Ohio State University
Cokimbus
1914
Copyrighted 19 14
By
WlI^BUR H. SlEBERT
Contents
I'AGE
-^j The loss of old l''ort Powuall b}- the Americans 7
\^^ The departure of Colonel Thomas Goldthwait 7
The project of establishing a new military post on the Penob-
scot S
'\ ,
Knox's plan for a lo3'alist province between the Penobscot
and the St. Croix S
John Nutting and the British expedition to establish the
A^ post 9
y The unsuccessful siege of the new post b}' the Americans. . . 12
The behavior of the local inhabitants during the siege 13
Removal of American refugees to the post 14
The missions of John Nutting and Dr. John Caleff to
I{ngland 16
The constitution proposed for the loyalist province 17
The plan to settle the Penobscot country with loyalists from
New York i >S
The growth of the refugee population at Penobscot 19
Refusal of the Americans to give up the Penobscot country
at the peace 19
w Removal of the loyalists from Penobscot to Passamaquoddy . . 20
V^ vSurveyor General Robert Morse at Passamaquoddy 20
Contention between Massachu.setts and the loyalists over the
Passamaquoddy region 21
The loj^alist settlement on St. Andrews Point, and its
activities .. 23
The town plot and grantees of vSt. Andrews 24
Church and school at St. Andrews 25
lixtent of the grants at Passamaquoddy to the Penobscot
Associated Loyalists; the .settlements founded 27
3
[K L-2]
^
Page
vSt. George's Town 28
Settlements formed by loyalists from localities other than
Penobscot 27
The town of St. Stephen 28
Settlements on the Digdeguash in the Parish of St. Patrick. 29
Settlements on the lower Magaguadavic and the L'Etang. . . 29
The settlement of the Royal Fencible Americans on the west
side of the lower Magaguadavic 30
The settlement of Pennsylvania Quakers at Pennfield 31
The occupation of the small harbors east of Pennfield ... 32
The settlement of the Cape Ann Association in the Parish of
St. David 32
The loyalist settlers on the Island of Grand Manan 33
The loyalist settlers on the Island of Campobello 35
The loyalist occupants and settlers of Deer Island ... .... 35
Loyalist .settlers of the smaller i.slands 36
The census of 1784; occupations of the .settlers 37
Increase of the population to 1803 38
Creation of the district court and the townships at
Passamaquoddy 39
The boundary dispute 4^
The boundary commission and its decision 4o
Contention over the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay 42
The island commission and its verdict 43
The Exodus of the Loyalists from
Penobscot to Passamaquoddy
In September, 177S, the British government ordered General
Clinton at New York to secure pose on the Penobscot River in
Maine for the purpose of erecting a province to which loyal
adherents of the Crown might repair.' An earlier post, Fort
Pownall, which had occupied the bold, rocky promontory at
Cape Jellison at the mouth of the Penobscot was no longer in
existence, having been dismantled and burned by the militia
under Colonel James Cargill in July, 1774. For eleven years
previous to its destruction, the old colonial fort had been under
the comiuand of Colonel Thomas Goldthwait, who by his com-
pliance with an order from General Gage permitted a detachment
greatl}^ outnumbering his own meagre garrison to carry off the
cannon and spare arms of the fort, and thus incurred the censure
of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts Ba}^ the loss of his
command, and virtual banishment. Colonel Goldthwait deserves
a word of more extended notice on account of the important part
he took in settling and developing the Penobscot \"alley. W' hile
in command of Fort Pownall, he was appointed agent for a vast
tract of land belonging to the Waldo heirs in that region.
Later, in conjunction with Sir Francis Bernard, then governor
of the province of Massachusetts Bay, he purchased a part of the
Waldo Patent from General Jebediah Preble, and appears to
have been chiefly instrumental in settling the Penobscot countr\'
with a population which lie estimated at "more than 2,400 able
men."-
Colonel Goldthwait did not participate in establishing the
new post at Penobscot, but remained in retirement there or at
Castine until July, 1779. when he went aboard one of the frig-
ates of the British fleet that entered Penobscot Ba}' to lay siege to
Bagaduce. Taking passage on this vessel for New York after
1. Report on tlic Am. il/ss. in tlic k'oy. Inst, of (,'. /hit., /, 2S4;
Dorchester Collection, /, No. 7.
2. Ale. Hist. Magazine, /A, 23, 18S, 254, 258, 273, 363; A', 94, 96.
7
1<: L-[ :i ]
the success of the British expedition, he had the satisfaction of
being borne to his destination by the ship that carried the good
tidings to Ch'nton. It may be added that Mr. Goldthwait's stay
in New York City lasted only from the early part of September to
December 23, when he took his departure to England, there to
remain during the rest of his life.'
The project of planting a British force on the coast of Maine
had long been cherished by William Knox, a Georgia loyalist,
who was under-secretary in the Colonial Office in London. Knox
argued that it would serve to distract the attention of the
Americans from operations in other quarters, that as a military
and naval base it would protect the country to the east from
attacks by land and sea, and last, but not least, that it would
form the center and bulwark for a new province for the friends
of government, who were leaving the Colonies in ever increas-
ing numbers, and were already flooding the home authorities
with insistent claims for compensation.- Lord Germain, Knox's
superior officer, was not ea.sily convinced of the advantage of the
project, but at length was brought around, giving what was evi-
dentl}^ his own chief reason for its approval when he wrote to Gov-
ernor Haldimand at Quebec, April 16, 1779, that if the Kennebec,
or even the Penobscot, were secured, it would keep open direct
commimication between the Canadian capital and New York at all
seasons, and so do away with the tediousness and delays in corre-
spondence by way of Halifax. However, this explanation did
not satisfy Haldimand, who still doubted the efficacy of the
measure.-^
Meanwhile, Knox was anticipating with evident zest the suc-
cess of an expedition yet to move against the coast of Maine, by
arranging the details of the province that was intended to reach
from the Penobscot River to the vSt. Croix, and become the Ca-
naan of the refugee loyalists. "Lying between New England and
'New Scotland' (Nova Scotia), it was to be christened New Ire-
land, perhaps," a^> Batchelder suggests in his iliaminating stud}'
1. Me. Hist. Jfagaziiie, A', 95, 96.
2. Batchelder, yt)/;« Nutting, (Reprint from the Proceedings of the
Cambridge Hist. See.) 74, 72.
3. Can. Arch., /SS^, 302, 327.
8
of the subject,^ "in delicate reference to Knox's own national-
ity." With manifest appropriateness, all of the oflficials of the
proposed prov'ince were to be loj'alists of high repute, if not, in
every case, of experience in administrative matters: thus, Thomas
Hutchinson was to be governor, Daniel Leonard, chief justice,
Dr. John CalefT, one of the leading tories of Penobscot, clerk of
the council, and the Reverend Henry Caner, formerly of King's
Chapel, Boston, bishop. Although Hutchinson was named as one
of the beneficiaries of the scheme, he wrote from London that it
was a "most preposterous measure," and that but few people
there thought well of it. -
However, as the measure already had the necessary official
approval, it only remained to decide where the post should be
located, and send out the expedition to establish it. These were
important matters, to be sure, and the advice that proved con-
clusive in regard to them came, strangely enough, from a
carpenter of Cam])ridge, Massachusetts, who, having arrived in
England in the fall of 1777, had succeeded in ingratiating him-
self with Under-vSecretary Knox. This carpenter of surprising
career was John Nutting, wdio rendered valuable service in his
trade to the British in Boston before the evacuation, and in Halifax
afterward. In the latter place, especially, he had found oppor-
tunity to display his Yankee resourcefulness and ability as "Mas-
ter Carpenter and Superintendent of Mechanics," and, despite
the lack of skilled workmen, had performed the feat of erecting
within a limited time "no less than ten large block houses, each
mounting sixteen guns." In England, b}^ direct application to
Lord North, he secured the appointment as overseer to the King's
works at Landguard Fort in East Anglia. His isolation at this
rather remote point on the coast of the North Sea did not prevent
his visiting London occasionally, or keeping himself in the recol-
lection and esteem of his patron of the Colonial Office. So it
came about that he was called into consultation concerning the
proposed expedition to the Maine coast. As Mr. Nutting had
invested some years before in shore lots in what is now Castine,
across Penobscot Bay and up the Bagaduce River, he must have
r. Batchelder,yo//« Nutting, 74, 75.
2. Hutchinson, Piaiy and Letters, II, 21S, 290, 291.
l)eeii aware of the tjatural strength and well-recognized strategic
advantages of that locality. WHien, therefore, he suggested Pe-
nobscot as the best site for the new post, his qualit}' of "uncommon
Loyalt}-," for which he had received deserved commendation in
Halifax, was not being sacrificed to his self-interest, although the
happy blend of the two must have pleased him in no small degree.
His suggestion was adopted by the King's ministers, and Nutting
was ordered to London to carry Germain's despatches to Clinton
at New York, and accordingly set sail early in September, 1778.
A fortnight out, his vessel, the government mail packet Harriet,
was overtaken b}- an American privateer, the Veyigeancc, and
Nutting, rid of his despatches which he sunk in the sea, but
wounded in four places as he later testified, was taken prisoner
with the other people on his ship. In less than two months,
however, the King's messenger was again in London, having
had the good fortune to be exchanged.'
Undaunted, Mr. Nutting undertook a second voyage in Jan-
uary of the next year, and after fourteen weeks on the ocean was
able to hand detailed instructions to Clinton.- In compliance
with these orders, the latter directed Brigadier General McLean
at Halifax to carr^' into elTect the plan of fortifying a post on
Penobscot River, and instructed him to prepare materials for a
respectable work capable of accommodating three hundred or
four hundred men. McLean was unable to comply fully with
Clinton's instructions concerning the troops to be taken, but he
made such substitutions as were necessary, and set out on the
expedition at the end of May, 1779. He was accompanied by
four hundred and forty men of the 74th Regiment under Lieu-
tenant Campbell, and two hundred of the 82nd under Major Craig,
his convoy comprising four men-of-war under Captain Andrew
Barkley and the flagship Albany under Captain Henry Mowatt.
He also took with him stores for nine hundred men, which would be
the total number when the engineers .should be included. Nutting,
who was to be employed as overseer of carpenters in building the
fort, acted as pilot. On June 13, the expedition arrived at the
mouth of the Penokscot, and after reconnoitering the river for
1. Batchelder, John Xnfliiig^ 1^-11-
2. Ibid., 77, 78.
several da\s, the troops were disembarked on the little neck of
land which had ijeen chosen for the fort. The most advanta-
geous part of the peninsula being wooded, some time was spent in
clearing it. There was also .some difficult}' in landing the ])ro-
visions, which had to be rolled uj) a steep hill. These prelimi-
naries were not completed until July 2, when the work on the
fort began.'
Contact with the local inhabitants di.sclosed the fact, as
McL,ean wrote Clinton, that they "had been artfull>' led to believe
that His Majesty's troops were accti-stomed to plunder and treat
the Country where their operations led them with the greatest
inhumanity." To remove that prejudice, the leaders of the
expedition issued a proclamation extending clemenc}' to all who
would take the oath of allegiance. This procedure so far restored
confidence that about five hundred persons sub.scribed to the oath
in the limited time allo«u'ed, although McLeau wrote that the
number would have been considerably increased if he had been
able to send to "some distant settlements the Inhabitants of which
requested that indulgence from the impossibility' of all attending
the places appointed."- The testimony of Colonel John Allen,
the American superintendent of Indians in the Eastern Depart-
ment, is of a confirmatory character. In a letter written at
Machias, Maine, July 16, 1779, he states that most of the inhabit-
ants at Penobscot had submitted and taken the oath of allegiance
to the King after the capture of that place by the English. But
his condemnation is partictilarly reserved for those east of the
Penobscot, who had gone a distance to acknowledge themselves
British subjects, including most, if not all, of the people at l^nion
River, Nashkeag, and Deer Island, and two or three at French-
man's Bay, and Goldsborough.-' Dr. Caleff tells us that about
a hundred of those who were well disposed showed their good
will by coming in on July i9 with their captain, John Perkins,
and helping three days to clear the ground in front of the fort.'*
1. Report 07i the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst, of C. /hit., /, 440, 441,
458; Batchelder, John Nuttitig, 78; Report 011 the . hii. Mss. in the Roy.
Inst, of G. Brit., //, 14.
2. Ibid., /, 458.
3. St. Croix Courier series, L.
4. Caleff, Sieo;e of Penol^scot (IMs. in Harv. University Library);
Batchelder, /cV/;/ Xuttin^, 79\ St. Croi.x- Courier series, LI.
McLean explained that the attitude of the people to the east of
Boston, who were in want and distress, seemed in general friendly,
but that they were prevented from any marked demonstration by
the threats of the enemy. Their open allegiance, he thought,
could be won only when thej^ should be furnished a force strong
enough to afford them complete protection in their persons and
property. However, he had to admit the existence of a division
of sentiment among the inhabitants, remarking that "numbers
of young men of the country had gone westward, and attempts
have been made to raise the people, tho hitherto without
success."^ The force under McLean's command was certainly
not large enough to inspire the remaining population with
feelings of safety and reviving loyalty; but, small as it was, it
was nevertheless reduced by the withdrawal of Captain
Barkley with four of his warships in order to shield the coast of
Nova Scotia against the threatening presence of nine American
vessels, wdiich had recently been sighted in the offing. Thus,
only the Albany was left to stand guard at the mouth of the
Penobscot, the solitar}^ ship being in turn protected by a battery
erected for that purpose.
The fort was not yet half completed when the American fleet
"to the number of thirt^^-seven sail of all sizes," with 2,600
troops aboard, traversed Penobscot Bay, and laid siege to the
place. On August 7, according to Caleff, the Americans
scoured the country round for the loyal inhabitants, destroj-ed
their movables, killed their cattle for meat, and, having captured
a number of persons, imprisoned them aboard shij:).- For three
weeks, McL,ean and his men held out, relief from Halifax failing
to put in an appearance. On the morning of August 14, a party
reconnoitering without the fort discovered that the Americans
had abandoned some works which they had constructed, in their
attempt to avoid a clash with the King's fleet, under the com-
mand of Commodore Sir George Collier, which had opportuneh'
arrived from New York. In desperation, the American fleet sailed
up the Penobscot River, where the loyal inhabitants were released,
and the shipping was .set on fire, while the enem3''s troops retreat-
1. Report of the Ant. Mss. in the Roy. Inst, of G . Brit., /, 460, 462.
2. St. Croix Courier series, LI .
12
ed in various directions without oi)])Osition.' Thus, CoUier's
coming resulted in the destruction of the Americans' vessels and
the dispersal of their land forces."-' Among the ships that went
up in flames on the Penobscot flats was the privateer [ 'cnoeance,
to which Mr. Nutting owed his capture when first he sailed from
England with Germain's despatches for Clinton.-'
No doubt some of the local inhabitants were recreant to
their oath of allegiance. If so, McL,ean excused it on the score
that they had been compelled to join the eneni}'; but he insisted
that most of them had been employed in working for the Ameri-
cans, "tho," he added, "some of them were in arms." Learning
that a number of these people had withdrawn from their habita-
tions with the intention of going to the westward, on account of
the fear of the resentment of the Briti.sh, McLean issued a new
proclamation in order to reassure them and "prevent the breaking
up of the settlement."^ Collier, however, was more severe in his
judgment of the recent conduct of the inhabitants. In a letter
to Clinton, he denounced them as rebels who took an oath to the
King one day and another to the Congress the next, and a.sserted
that all had "a.ssisted the rebels in everything they could during
the siege. "^' It would seem, however, that the denunciation of
Commodore Collier was too sweeping in its character. It could
.scarcely have been the case that those who placed themselves
under the protection of the British post, and whose need of supplies
was causing a shortage of provisions, had been guilty of the sort
of double dealing charged against all the inhabitants b}^ the preju-
diced Commodore.^ Moreover, Colonel Thomas Goldth wait, who
had settled a large number of people in the Penobscot region,
wrote to Clinton, October 2, 1779, urging the continued impor-
tance of the post to the Crown: "If the present arrangement of
his Majesty'stroops won't permit of a reinforcement there, at this
time," sa3\s the refugee's letter, "I myself will undertake torai.se
1. .sy. Croix Courier, series L. I.
2. Report on the Am. /Ifss. i)i the Roy. Inst, of C . Brit., II, 15, i6,-
Coltects. Me. Hist. Sac., Series If, I'. /, 391, 392.
3 Batchelder, Joh// A'littiiio-, So.
4 Report of the Am. Jlsy. in the Roy. Inst, of C Brit., II, 17.
5 Ibid.
6 //>/</., 66.
a Battalion out of the militia of that country, which notwithstand-
ing their seeming delinquency in their late unhappy situation,
I'll pledge myself for it, that they will make as good subjects as
an}' the King has got. 'Twas I, principally, yt settled them in
that country; I commanded them, and I fully know their princi-
ples, and have estate enough to carry into execution what I yiro-
pose.""^
Even while the loyalt\- of these people was being thus favor-
ably or unfavorably commented tipon, many friends of govern-
ment were removing to this haven of refuge. McLean, who
''eturned to Halifax at the close of November, 1779, wrote to
Clinton from that place that a considerable number of inhabitants
had taken refuge on the peninsula, that their distressed situation
rendered it necessary that they be supplied with provisions from
the King's stores, and that he proposed sending a further supply
by the Albany to complete their stock to the end of May.^ Be-
sides the people who were coming in from the immediate neigh-
borhood, others were arriving from localities farther removed
both in Maine and Massachusetts. One such party came from
Falmouth under the guidance of a tory named Baum, who was
afterwards captured by the Americans, tried by a court-martial
presided over by Major Burton, condemned to death, and executed
by order of General Wadsworth. It was in revenge for this ex-
ecution that Wadsworth and Burton were captured by a detach-
ment from Penobscot, and imprisoned there until they made their
escape, June 15, 1781.^ Among the loyalists from Falmouth who
early sought protection at the post were Captain Jeremiah Pote
and his two sons-in-law, Robert Pagan and Thomas Wyer.^
Pagan did not go directly to Penobscot, but in February, 1776,
sailed with his family for Barbadoes. On his rettirn, he settled
in the growing Penobscot colony, where, with two brothers, he
purchased dwelling houses from Lieutenant Colonel Campbell in
1 78 1.''' Moses Gerrish of Newbury, Massachusetts, who was a
1. Rcpoi t oil the A)ii. iMss. in the Roy. /)ist. ofG. Brit., I/, 20, 45.
2. Ibid, 66.
3. Report of the Am, J/ss. iti tlie Roy. Iiixt. of (• . Urit., If, 258;
vSabine, Am. Loyalids, 1847,148, 626.
4. Aeadiensis, July, 1903, 175.
5. Ibid., ]u\y, igoj, 22T,; See. Rep., Jlureau of .Irehiies, Out., PI. /,
304 307; Sabine, Am. Loyallists, 502.
14
graduate of Harvard College, and was stationed at Penobscot as
an officer in the commissary department, remained there until the
post was evacuated by the British forces.' Colin Cam])bell, an-
other loN'alist, acted as assistant commissary.'-' The garrison
found its surgeon, and for a while its chaplain, in I)r John Caleff,
a former resident of Ipswich, who had served as a member of the
Massachu-setts legislature, but had sought .shelter at the po.st
before the siege. '^ For a .sea.son, Caleff was also employed as
inspector at Penobscot. On his departure for PvUgiand in May,
1780, he was succeeded in this position by Robert Pagan. ^ John
Jones of Pownalborough (now Dresden), Maine, escaped from
Boston jail, and arrived at Quebec at the close of August, 1779..
There he joined Colonel Rogers' regiment, receiving a commis-
sion as captain, and was .sent to Penobscot. From that point he
engaged in forays against the Americans at the head of acompan\-
kown as "Jones' Rangers." His swarth}^ complexion gained for
him the nickname of "Black Jones"''' Simeon Baxter, the super-
intendent of hospital .stores in Bo.ston, was another oj" those whose
loyalty was too active to be tolerated by the revolutionists. He
was, therefore, condemned to be incarcerated in the jail ait Worces-
ter, but breaking away, he did not regard himself. as-beyond the
reach of danger until he had gained the shelter of, FoTt, George.*^
John Long, a native of Nantucket, also resorted .thither probably
as early as the year 1779. In his new retreat 'he made him.self
u.seful by securing intelligence for Captain Mowatt, but fell into
the hands of the enemy. However, he succeeded in making his
escape, and during the remainder of the war commanded a priva-
teer belonging to the Pagan brother.s.'_ Another Massachusetts
tory who joined the contingent at Penobscot in' 1779 was Jame.s
Symons of Union River. Like most of the other refugees who
settled within the .shadow of the post, he reniained there until
1. Coll. N. B. Hist, Soc, I, No ^3, ■^^\ Acadifitsis, July 1906, 170..
2. Repo)i ou the Ain. Mss. in tlir'Rdy. inst. of G.-'Brit., ffl, 122, 132:
Acadiensis, ]\i\y, 1907,277-279. - .N.-. :. ' .. ' :
-K. Coll. Me. Hist. Sac., Series //, Vol. I. 392.
4. Report oil tlie Aut. Ms's.^^'n-the^Roy/ hist. 0/ (,'. h'rit.J//, 229. ,^, ^i^-sfiir'^'
5. .-^/A^i/ZdV/.w^, July, 1907^276^ ■7'^' '';''■'•' , ■ ,..,^;C0^ ■'
6. Audit Office ClaihT's^,'^Xir,'4:f:'lni tU^' PiilDlic Record Office, I)on^'n.)
7. See. Report . /!/n\ ii/'Arelitz;es,'07i't.v/'t-B, 315-3^7- ->?•'''>' "^
[K L-i]
"^'<<' the peace. ^ Meantime, Niitling "«-as serving as overseer of the
- -works with such satisfaction t6 Colonel Campbell, who was then
in command of the fort, that the' latter "in consideration of his
■.V Attachment to His Majesty's Government," made at "Gratuitous
Grant" to Mrs. Nutting of "a lotiof land to settle upon
on the Nj E. side of y Road Leading' to- Fort George, formerly-
r the Property of Joseph Pirkins now in Rebbelion." Upon this
, lot the overseer built him -a house, which he valued at £,\ 50.'-^
Thus, a population of loyalists was gathering within the bound-
aries of the proposed province of New Ireland.
■ This development may have had something to do with Nut-
- ting's departure! for England in the spring of 1780, by the partic-
ular advic'e and recommendation, of . General McLean. At any
rate, soon after hisarrival in London,' Nu^ttingannounced that he
t had' laid a -pilan-before'' Lord George' Germain which, if put into
ij, execution; would prove "of the greatesfUtility to Gov^ernment."
The concerns of the prospective province were .certainly receiving
■ ^ a great deal of attention at this time a^mo^g the loyalists at Pe-
. inobscot, for; in May of the year named above, they sent Dr. Caleff
to England to do what he could- toward getting the British author-
ities to fix upon the River Penobscot asthe dividing line betw^een
- them.selves and the United States.^
■ ■ . While the object of Mr. ^Nutting's journey is less clear by
; reason of the lack of documentary proofs; the fact that he now
■ -i'. crossed the ocean at what was virtually the request of McLean, to
-whom had been entrusted the 'first step towards erecting a loyalist
•^ province in eastern Maine, suggests stronglj^" that the present
i. mission of the Ovenseer of Works was in connection with the
carfj'ihg into effect of the second and principal part of the pro-
gramme, namely, the' establishment of' the province itself. It
■w'as certainly more -than a m^re coincidence that the whole New
•Ireland scheme received a fresh' impetus soon after Nutting's
arrival in London. >On' August 7, 1780, Germain wrote to Knox
expressing the hope that New Ireland still eniplo3'ed his thoughts,
1. Sec. Report, Bur. of Archives, Out., PI. /, 323, 324.
2. Batcheldei ,yi9/;« Nu/fing, 82.
3. fbid., 'Ra.\.ch^\di&T,Joh)i Nutting, 82,816; Report on the Am. Mss. inthe
Roy. Inst, of G . Brit., II, 118, 420; ///, 229; Ganong, Eivl. of the Bound-
aries of A'. B., 260; Raymond, Winsloiv Papers, 25b.
16
that he was more and more inclined to prefer Ohver (the ex-chief
justice of Massachusetts Baj^) for the governorship, and that he
wished they might "prepare some plan for the consideration of
the Cabinet." No sooner said than done, the plan was produced
with astonishing promptness. Its form was thatof a constitution
for the new province, concerning which Germain wrote on
August nth: ''The King approves the p/afi — likes Oliver for
Governor, so it may be offered him. He approves Leonard for
Chief Justice."'
The instrument, thus approved, placed the province abso-
lutely under the control of the British Parliament. On acquiring
land, whether by inheritance, purchase, or grant from the Crown,
every landlord had to declare his allegiance to the King in his
Parliament. There was to be, of course, a governor and a coun-
cil, but no elective assembly for the time being. This omission
was obviously intended as a means of fore.stalling any disposition
of the people to republicanism. There was, however, to be a
middle branch of the legislature, of. which the members were to
be appointed by the Crown for life, but also subject to suspension
or removal by royal authority. Thqse legislators might have
conferred upon them titles, emoluments^ or both. The traditions
of aristocracy' were to be further secured by the granting of land
in large tracts, thus providing at once for great landlords and a
tenantry. The Church of England was to be the established
church, and the governor, the highest judge in the ecclesiastical
court, with the additional function of filling all benefices. The
power of ordination was to be vested in a vicar-getreral, the way
being thus opened for a bishop. The establishment of schools
was left wholly unprovided for.'^ Such was the constitution of
New Ireland, the purpose of which, according to that thorough-
going loyalist, the Reverend William Walter, was by its "liberal-
ity" to show to the American Provinces "the great advantages of
being a portion of the Empire and living under the protection of
the British Government."^ That these advantages remained im-
tested insofar as New Ireland was concerned was primarily due to
1. Batch eld er, yy//» Abutting, 86, 87.
2. Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., Series ii, Vol. /, 395, 396; Bancroft, Hist, of the
LK S., X, 368.
3. Kaymond, Hist. 0/ the A'iz'er St. Jolin, 2gi.
17
Attorney General Wedderburn, who held that the territorial
possessions of Massachusetts extended to the western Ijoundary
of Nova Scotia, and that the charters of both provinces precluded
a new one from being interposed between them. ^
Although this opinion prevailed, the plan does not seem to
have been abandoned b}' its originators, for in the winter of 1781
Germain "urged upon Clinton the ministrj-'s favorite scheme for
the disposition of the throngs of Tories at New York: 'Man\^
are desirous of being settled in the covmtry about Penobscot and,
as it is proposed to settle that countr3^ and this appears to be a
cheap mtthod of disposing of these loxalists, it is wished you
would encourage them to go there under the protection of the
Associated Refugees, and assure thy
reader on Sundaj's. In November, 1785, the Rexerend Samuel
Cooke, of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, who had recently removed to
St. John where he had been appointed missionary, visited Campo-
bello, St. Andrews, and Digdeguash. At these places he read
prayers, preached, and performed baptisms, and then returned to
his own parish. In the following year, the Reverend Samuel
Andrews, a graduate of Yale College, who had been rector of St.
Paul's Church in Wallingford, Connecticut, came to minister at
St. Andrews. He found there "a considerable body of people of
different national extraction, living in great harmony and peace,
punctual in attending Divine Service, and behaving with pro-
priety and devotion." Sent as a missionary by the Society in
London for the Propagation of the Gospel, "Parson" Andrews
proved to be a man of broad and liberal spirit without any sacer-
dotal pretensions. This was fortunate, for the majority of the
people of his netv parish were Scotch Presbyterians. Neverthe-
less, he won the favor of all, his congregation compri.sing all the
Protestant elements represented in the town. The first vestry
meeting was held August 2, 1786. In the following April, Mr.
Andrews was temporarily incapacitated for his work by a paralyt-
ic stroke; and his son, Samuel F. Andrews, was appointed
school master and catechist, being thus able to relieve his father
of part of his duty. The missionary's illness did not prevent
the taking of prompt measures to erect a church edifice, which
was accomplished in 1788, although the structure was not com-
pleted until September, 1790. It was called All Saints' Church
and measured fifty-two feet in length by forty in width, the ex-
pense being met partly out of a fund contributed by the parish,
but chiefly out of a government allowance. The church had a
bell presented by Mr. John MacMaster, a merchant in London,
1. Raymond, Winslmv Papers, jj^.
2. Acadiettsis, July, 1903, 158.
25
and was decorated with the royal coat of arms which the mission-
ary had himself brought from Connecticut.^ Owing to the fact
that most of the inhabitants of St. Andrews professed the Pres-
byterian faith, the number of communicants remained small, but
baptisms, especially of children, were frequent. Besides All
Saints' Church, another memorial of the first rector is to be found
in "Minister's Island," which had been granted under the name
of Chamcook to Captain vSamuel Osborne, but was sold by him to
Mr. i^ ndrews in March, 1791, Captain Osborne having removed
to London, England. On this island, overlooking St. Andrews,
the rector built his house and passed the remainder of his life.'-^
Some years after purchasing Chamcook, the genial clergyman
gathered about him a little group of the most notable loyalists in
the town in an organization known as "The Friendly Society."
Its members held weekly meetings, at which they discussed
questions of religion, morality, law, medicine, geography, and
history, besides contributions of importance in newspapers and
magazines. By an article of their constitution, they limited
themselves to "spirits and water" as the only refreshments per-
mitted in time of meeting. Their philanthrophy was manifest in
their purpose to exert their influence in suppressing immorality
in the community of which the}^ were the leaders. It should be
added that during the summer of i Soo three members of this society,
namely. Dr. Caleff, Colonel Wyer, and Henry B. Brown, together
with Mrs. Robert Pagan, rendered heroic service in combatting
an epidemic of smallpox that swept vSt. Andrews and vicinity.
Of the five hundred and more cases that developed, onl}^ three
were lost. The society flourished during the lifetime of its
founder, that is, for thirteen years, and then died.^
Aside from the town plot of St. Andrews, the Old Settlers'
Reserve at Scoodic Falls, (now the town plot of St. Stephen),
the Indian Reserve, ( now Milltown ) , and a few scattered lots
reserved for i)ublic use, six tracts of shore and river lots were
1. This coat of arms now hangs over the main entrance of All Saints'
Church in St. Andrews, the second structure of that name.
2. Xc?i' Haven Hist. Soc. Papers, VII, 324, 325; Lee, First Fifty Years
of tlie Cljurch of Enoland in the Province of N. B., 32-35, 8284; Eaton, The
Church in Nova Scotia, 150-152, 158; Acadicnsis, July, 1903. 193; July, 1907,
236, 238.
3. Acadiensis, July, 1907, 1S7-192; Raymond, /r/;/\A'rt' />(?/)(■■;•.<, 455.
p^ranted to the Penobscot Associated Loyalists in 1784. These
tracts extend from Boca])ec on the inner ba>- of Passamaquoddy
to vSprague's Falls on the vSt. Croix, and include two ranges of
lots on Mohannes Stream. They form the greater part of the
water front of the ])resent parishes of St. Patrick, vSt. Andrews,
St. Croix, vSt. l)a\-id, Dufferin, and St. Stephen, and extend over
nearly half the length of Charlotte County.' In this region,
the associators formed their settlements, among which were Boca-
bee, Dufferin, Moannes, St. Croix, and St. David. St. Croix
was first settled along the river of the same name and the Waweig,
while St. David sprang up at the head of Oak Bay, all around
which extended settlements of the Penobscot loyalists. The
village of Chamcook, which arose from the expansion of neighbor-
ing colonies, was of somewhat later origin. - Another lo\alist
village, whose inhabitants came in large part from Penobscot,
was St. George's Town. It was laid out on the western side of
the little peninsula in I/Etang Harbor, facing the island now
known as Fry's Island. Its original grantees numbered one hun-
dred and fifty-three persons, who received their lots imder date of
November i, 1784. In all perhaps two himdred families settled
here, many of the townsmen being disbanded soldiers of the Roy-
al Fencible Americans and probably of the S4th Regiment. Of
these men Captain Peter Clinch wrote a dismal account to the
Provincial Secretary in February, 1785, charging them with
general worthlessness, due to the introduction of rum into the
community through the agency of Captain Philip J3ailey. Clinch
also charged Bailey with exploiting the inhabitants for his own
benefit. However, even Clinch admitted that there were man\-
settlers in the town again.st whom no reasonable objection could
be raised."' In 1799, a forest fire destroyed the village, and it
had never been rebuilt.^
In addition to the settlements formed by the Penobscot As-^
sociated Loyalists, there was a number of .settlements established
in the Passamaquoddy District in the same period by loyalists
from localities other than Penobscot. Among these were the
1. ^-iaufii'/isis, July, 1903, 172.
2. Gaiiong:, Origins qf Settlements in N./>., 118, 123, 12S, 156, ibj-^'
3. .-Iracfieiisis, July, 1907, 250-260. -' ' ^ . ■•.-•
4. .S7. Ci oi.r Courier series, L.W I V. " 'V' ' ''' '"
town of St. Stephen and the Old Ridge, a colony on the Digde-
guash above its mouth, another on the Magaguadavic to the
« "•' Second Falls, Pennfield, and farther east along the coast Lepreau,
•i '" Mace's Baj-, Seeley's Cove, Dipper Harbor, Chance Harbor, and
-'"I Musquash. The town of St. Stephen at the head of navigation
on the St. Croix, together with the country north of the town,
» including the Old Ridge, was settled by the Port Matoon( Mouton)
Association of loyalists and disbanded soldiers of the British
^ Legion. This association took its name from the village it had
» founded late in i7S3in Queen's County, Nova Scotia. When the
~ t snow disappeared in the following spring, the locality was found
to be rocky and sterile. Hardly had this discovery been made
- when an accidental fire consumed the town, and compelled the
immediate removal of the inhabitants. Of these, the majority
i> betook themselves to Chedabucto Bay in the eastern part of Nova
Scotia, while the rest decided to accompany Captain Nehemiah
Marks to Passamaquoddy. Captain Marks was a refugee from
Derby. Connecticut, had served as a captain in the corps of Armed
'i^' Boatmen and later as lieutenant in the Maryland Loyalists. His
party landed where the town of St. Stephen now stands, May 26,
1784, hoisted the British flag, and called the place Morristown, a
name it continued to bear for several years. In the following
September, 19,850 acres on the Scoodic or St. Croix River were
distributed among the members of the association, one hundred
•' and twenty-one in number, while garden lots in Morristown were
bestow^ed upon John Dunbar and one hundred and five others.
Captain John Jones, who had first come to Passamaquoddy as a
- • surveyor for the lo3alists, was one of the recipients of a farm lot.
Among the grantees of the town are found the names of many
' -a- ' members of the Penobscot Association, who also held grants in
- St. Andrews, besides of some who were favored with lots both in
■^'■■- St. Andrews and vSt. George's Town. It is no doubt true that a
■ ■ number of the grantees of St. Stephen abandoned their lands or
sold them for a nominal sum; but manj' others remained, and
—■' numerous farms along the Old Ridge are still held by their de-
1 scendants. Captain Marks became a grantee ofbothwSt. Andrews
and St. Stephen, and was one of the first justices of the peace in
Charlotte County. He died in St. Stephen in July, 1799, having
- lived long enough to see the community he had planted in the
28
. wilderness making substantial proj^ress. By 1803, the parish as
a- whole had a population of nearly seven hundred. It boasted
seven sawmills, 'or almost half the number to be found in the
entire Passamaquoddy. District, and was turning out annually
4,000,000 feet, of boards, or more than all the other mills to-
gether. ■
i " The .settlements formed by loyalists who had not come from
Penobscot were assigned locations on the east side of Pa.ssama-
quodtj)- Bay. -Thus,'! John Curry and forty-two others received
15,250 acreson the Digdeguash in the Parish of "St. Patrick, at
the end of March, 17H4; At the same time, a grant "of 2,000 acres
was issued to Colin Campbell. Lieutenants Thomas Fitzsimmons
and Colin 'McNab, who were assigned 1,000 acres in the same
region, ipermitted their grant to escheat to the government. ^
■-'■ 'Two tracts, one on the east side of the lower Magaguadavic,
and the other on the L'Etang with its western shoreline on Pas-
-samaquoddy Bay, were granted to a score of loyalists, of whom
Dr. • William- Paine of Worcester, Massachusetts, was the most
notable. A refugee in Halifax after the evacuation of Boston,
■Dr.' Paine had brought his party to -Passamaquoddy late in 1783.
•■ buJt did not obtain the grants, which together amounted to 5,500
acres, until some three or fourhionthSilater. Of the tract on the
'Magaguadavic, the Worcester loyalist ^received 1,000 acres. In
- additiofn, he was given theJsland of LaTete in recognition of his
serk^ices in Rhode Island and New 'York- as apothecary to the
^British forces and at Halifax as^hysician to the King's hospitals
With his family, Dr. Paine too"k possession of La Tete in the
summer of 1784,' but within a twelvemonth removed to St. John,
New Brunswick, to educate his children- and practise his ]irofes-
sion. Nevertheless, the County of Charlotte elected him to the
Assembly 'of New .Brun^\^ick in i785,';atid he was appointed clerk
of the House. <> He was also commissioned as' a ju.stice for the
County of Sunbiir}', dnd held other offices during his residence
there. In 1787, having secured thepermission of the War Office,
r. SL Croix Courier series. CI\\ LXX, LXXXl\ AAAA ///,
LXXX/X, XC XCI, XC//, C/X; OAnon^, Origins 0/ the Settlemenls
in N.B.f- 55, 57, 170; Ganong, Historic Sites i/iX. £., 340; Raymond
Winshnv Papers, 489.
2. Ganong, Hist. Sites in iV. />'., 339.
29
lie returned to Massachusetts, at first to Salem where he spent
six years, thence removing to Worcester to enjoy the privilege
— unusual for one of his former attachments — of residing in the
paternal mansion and being treated with respectful consideration
by his fellow-townsmen. Here he lived out the remaining forty
years of his life with means ample to provide for every want. His
status as a citizen of the United States, which he had forfeited
early in the Revolution, was restored to him by special act in 1825.
Samual Bliss of Greenfield, Massachusetts, one of the grantees
of Dr. Paine' s party, later secured the concession of the large
island at the mouth of I^'Etang Harbor, still known as Bliss's
Island, and of the small island near it called the White Horse. ^
West of the lower Magaguadavic, theRo^-al Fencible Ameri-
cans were for the most part settled. Although included among the
loyalist corps, the Fencibles had been enlisted in Nova vScotia and
Newfoundland. Such of their officers and men as received
grants at Pa.ssamaq noddy appear to have been in garrison at Fort
Cumberland, where they were disbanded in 17S3. Captain Philip
Bailey and fifty-eight others landed on November 10 of the same
year at the mouth of the Magaguadavic, and perhaps Lieutenant
Peter Clinch accompanied them, although he had visited the
region in advance. Late in Februar}', 1784, Lieutenant Clinch
was granted seven hundred acres extending from the lower falls
to the headwaters of L'Etang and in the following month the
others received their grant of more than 10.000 acres. That an
additional number of the Fencibles came to Passamaquoddy is
.shown by the muster held at L'Etang, or St. George's Town, on
Juh' 3, 1784, when there were present of the "late Royal Fencible
American Regiment," one hundred and eight men, forty women,
and fifty-three children, or a total of two hundred and one per-
sons. The valley of the Magaguadavic contained rich meadow
lands, abundant forests, and ample water powers; but these ad-
vantages made no appeal to most of the disbanded soldiers, who
occupied themselves with hunting and fishing, or gave them-
selves over to the pleasures of the cup. Many soon left the coun-
I. .S7. Croix Courier series. LAW'///, AAA'/',- Co//. N.J!. Hist. Soc.
V. /, No. 3, 273; Stark, Loya/isis 0/ Mass. , 2)^^-?>^T> Ganong, Hist. Sites in
A^. B., 339; Chandler, T/ie C/iaud/cr Fajiii/y, 269; Paine, Paine Family
Reo^ister.
30
tr}'. The others improved their farms, and probably followed
the life of the woodsman. The descendants of the latter were
joined by new immigrants, the settlement was extended iij) the
river, and lumbering operations were considerably increased. By
1803, the population of the Parish of St. George was four hun-
dred, of which only seventy-eight were men. There were al-
ready five mills in the parish, w^hich were cutting annually
2,300,000 feet of boards. In addition, the settlers were raising
good crops of various cereals, besides potatoes and flax.^
East of St. George's Town, an association of Pennsylvania
Quakers settled on the west shore of Beaver Harbor, where a
town called Bellevaew was laid out for them. The assocation
was formed early in 17S3 in New York Cit}', where its members
had taken refuge. Joshua Knight of Abbington, a suburb of
Philedelphia, appears to have been the leader of tue "societ}'."
Samuel Fairlamb, John Rankin, and George Brown were .sent
out as agents to .select a place for settlement on the river St. John,
but chose Beaver Harbor instead. Among the regulations
adopted before the part}' sailed was one providing that "no slave be
either bought or sold nor kept b}' any person belonging to said
societ)^ on any pretense whatsoever." The associators reached
their destination sometime before October 12, 1783, and were
granted one hundred and forty-nine lots of the nine hundred and
fifty constituting the town plot at Beaver Harbor. The}' renamed
their settlement Penn's Field, since contracted to Pennfield,
and were evidently joined by other immigrants, for a contem-
porary writer estimated the population of the place at eight
hundred. It is said to have contained about three hundred
houses in 1786, but was devastated by fire in the following year.
Doubtless, it was this disaster that caused the removal of most
of the inhabitants to Pennfield Ridge, Mace's Ba}-, and other
localities, and left those remaining behind in great poverty.
Fortunately, two Quakers from Philadelphia vi.sited the town in
the late summer of 1787, and noting the distres.sed condition of
the colonists, raised a subscription among the members of their
I. S/. Croix Courier scries, L XX /I', LXXVI I-.CoU. N. H. Hist.Soc.
No. 5, 197, 201, 217, 21S; Ganong, Hist. Sites in N. B., 339,- Ganonp,
Origins of the Settlements in N.B., 167; Raymond, Winslow Papers 490;
Aeadiensis, July, 1907, 255, 256.
31
sect on their return home, with which the}' purchased and shipped
a supply of flour and Indian meal, together with other necessaries,
to Beaver Harbor. According to certain brief but interesting
records of the town, which are still extant, donations were also
received from Friends in England, these donations being
mentioned under date of March lo, 1789. The records also tell
us that in July, 1786, the society at Pennfield decided to erect a
small meeting house on ground allotted for the purpose. This
intention was carried out, and the meeting house was still standing
in the spring of 1789. The loss in population suffered by the
Parish of Pennfield during this period is shown by the census of
1803, which reported but fifty-four inhabitants, principally Quakers
concerning whom it was noted that they were excellent farmers
living on a good tract of land and in comfortable circumstances.^
The decline of Pennfield helped to populate the smaller
harbors farther east, although some of these had been settled
shortly after the war by loyalists who may have come either from
vSt. John or directly from the States. Lepreau was first occupied
in 1 784; Mace's Ba}' was settled later by the exodus from Penn-
field; Seely's Cove had its origin in 1784 or 1785 as a small loyalist
colon}' formed by Justus Seely; Dipper Harboi and Chance Harbor
both began as fishing villages founded by loyalists in 1784, and
Musquash was established a year earlier by people of the same
class. The expan.sion of the descendants of these groups has
supplied settlers to other places along the coast.-
Another settlement worthy of mention was that of the Cape
Ann Association in what is now the Parish of vSt. David. This
parish lies northwest of the Bay of Passamaquoddy, and includes
the headwaters of Dennis Stream and the Digdeguash River,
which are not navigable. The as.sociation numbered two hundred
and twenty members, and received a grant of nearly 23,000 acres
on October i, 1784. Many of the grantees appear to have come
from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and vicinity. Several, however,
were from New Boston in New Hampshire. Francis Norwood,
the leader of the association, was one of the latter. Twenty-six
1. .5"/. Croix Courier scries, LXXII: Coll. N. B.Hist. Soc.. /l\ 73-80;
Ganong, Origins of Ihe Settlcuients in X. B., 158; Raymond, H'inslozv
Papers, 345, 490.
2. Ganong, Origins of l/ie Seltloiwitls in X. /A, 144, 171, 127, 123, 152.
32
of those whohad grants at St. Andrews drew lands also in St. David;
while several others, whose names appear in the Penobscot As-
sociation grant, are listed among the grantees of the Cape Ann
Association. Among the latter were Moses Gerri.sh, John Gillis,
and William Monroe. These facts indicate that nearly one
seventh, if not more, of the Cape Ann company were loyalists.
Since, however, most of them did not belong to this cla.ss, the
association was assigned "l)ack lands," that is, lands back from
navigable waters, evidently on the principle that loyalists and
disbanded troops were entitled to the best locations. It is prob-
able that the St. Andrews and Penobscot grantees drew "back
lands" either for their children, which they had a right to do, or
as a matter of speculation. However, the .settlement in St.
David did not fulfil its promi.se, although the .soil there
was of excellent quality: in 1788, there were nearl\' one
hundred and fifty absentees, and two years later, all but
forty-six lots had been escheated. By 1803, the settlers num-
bered two hundred and eighty-six, and were reported to be the
most independent farmers of any in the County of Charlotte.^
Thus far we have been dealing almost exclusively with the
.settlements formed on the mainland by loyalists, or, in the case of
St. David, with a settlement in which lo>alists had .some small
share. We turn now to the islands. The large islands on the
west side of Passamaquoddy Bay, as well as some of the smaller
ones, gained a number of settlers at the close of the Revolution-
ary War. Indeed, the outermost of these i.slands, namel}-, Grand
Manan, became the resort of several loyali.st families''^ as early as
177Q, these families coming from Machias, Maine, where the}- con-
sidered it unsafe to remain any longer. The place in which they
built their huts still retains thename of the leader, Joel Bonney,
being known as Bonney's Brook. However, the}^ were not per-
mitted to enjoy peace even here, and in 1780 the}- removed to
the mouth of the Digdeguash on the mainland.-^ With the
I SL Croix Courier series, IvXX, CXVI; Ganong, Hist. Sites in N.
^■. 338. 3^0; Ganong, Origins oj the Settlements in N. B., 55; Raymond,
J{'instozv Papers, 489.
2. The families were those of Joel Bonney of Pembroke, Conn., (now
in Mass.), Abiel Sprague. and James Spragne: Cot/. jV. R. Hist. Soc, I'. I,
No. 3, 346.
3. Coll. N. B. Hist. Sac, I'. /, No. 3, 346, 347, 359; Acadiensis, July,
1906, 165; St. Croix Courier series, XCl'I, IJII.
33
endiug of the war, a license was granted "to John Jones, Thomas
Oxnard, Thomas Ross, Peter Jones, and Moses Gerrish, and
others, being fifty famihes, to occupy during pleasure the Island
of Grand Manan, and the small islands adjacent in the fishery,
with liberty of cutting frame stuff and timber for building."
Gerrish and a few of his associates took possession, and begati
their settlement near Grand Harbor in May, 1784. They found
their island to be fourteen miles in length and nine miles in
l)readth, "very steep and craggy on all sides," but fertile in soil
and covered with good timber. Evidently, not all the families
expected joined the new community, but so far as we can tell
those who came were prominent refugees from Penobscot. Ger-
rish himself was one of these, although originally from New-
bury, Massachusetts, and a famil}^ by the name of Cheney was
from the same place. Thomas Ross had been a mariner at
Falmouth, Maine, and entered the West Indies trade after
coming to Grand Manan. He was granted a small island, still
called Ross Island, just east of the one on which he made his
home. Captain John Jones appears to have returned to Maine
in 1786, after disposing of his interest in the island to James and
Patrick McMaster, two merchants of Boston, who had become
discredited early in the Revolution on account of their loyalty.
John Dogget, another of the refugee settlers, was a native of
Middleboro, Massachusetts. No doubt, the isolated position of
the island retarded its development: at any rate, its population
was but one hundred and twenty-one in 1803. Nevertheless, the
number of inhabitants was sufllicienth' large to help establish the
British claim to Grand Manan in the long controversy with the
United States that followed years after. The retention of the
island was regarded of great importance by England on account
of its being the key to the entrance of the Bay of Fvindy. To-
gether with other islands in Passamaqiioddy Bay, Grand Manan
was declared part of New Brunswick in 181 7. For years, Gerrish
was the most prominent resident on the island, and served both
as collector of customs and justice of the peace. While he and
his as.sociates failed to secure the fifty families required by the
license of occupation to obtain a grant of the entire island, the
Council of New Brunswick ordered grants to the settlers of their
respective possessions and allotments, together with a glebe and
34
a lot for iniblic uses, and these grants were dul}' passed, November
I, 1810.'
North of Grand Manan, the Lshmd of Canii)obello was partly
settled by loj'alists, a few of whom remained but a short time.
At the opening of the Revolution, John Hanson, a native of
Marblehead, Massachusetts, came to the island in a whaleboat,
only to pass on to Minister's Island, where he settled. Captain
Christopher Hatch, a grantee of Parr Town on the River vSt. John,
went into tlie mercantile business at Campobello. Later, he sold
out to Lieutenant Thomas Henderson, who became the customs
officer of the island. Another grantee of Parr Town, who settled
temporarily on Campobello, was Nathan P'rink, a native of
Pomfret, Connecticut, and a captain in the King's Loyal
American Dragoons. It is recorded by a historian of the island
that many of the early inhabitants, who lived along what is called
the North Road, were tories from New York, some of them being
of Scotch origin. Later on, this loyalist element appears to have
been considerably increased by the accession of numerous families
from the mainland, who, dissatisfied with their locations, either
sold or abandoned their grants there. In 1S03, the population of
Campobello, including both lo>'alistsand other settlers, numbered
nearly two hundred and fifty persons. -
North of Campobello, Deer Island had occupants who, as
previously noted, went to considerable trouble to take the oath of
allegiance to the King at the time of the American attack upon
Penobscot. The earliest refugees to join these settlers probably
fled from Colonel Allen's rule at Machias. Among these, it
would appear, was Josiah Heney, a native of Portland, Maine,
w.ho was aided in making his escape from Machias in 1777 by
James Brown of Passamaquoddy. Later, Heney .sought the pro-
tection of the post at Penobscot, and came thence to Deer Island,
1. Coll. N. li. Hist. Soc. ]'. /, No. 3, 347-350; Acadie)isis,]\\\y , 1906,
168; ibid., July, 1907, 209; Ganong, Origins of the Settlements in X. /?.,
136; Lorimer, ///,sV. of Islands, II; Raymond, II 'ins/ozc Papers, ^Sg, 4()o,
580, n; Sabine,^-//;/. Loyalists, 1847, 4S<); St. Croijr Courier series, L/ II,
\cifi, xcri, CXff.
2. Coll. X. IJ. Hist. Soc., V. /. No. 2, 215; .S7. Croix Courier series,
f.XXrfff, CXXIV; WeUs, Campobello, 6; Raymond, JVinslozv /'apers,
490; Ganong, Origins of the Settlei/ients in X'. B., 67.
35
where he built a house opposite Pleasant Point. ^ About the same
time, John Rolf and his daughter arrived from Machias. Several
members of the Penobscot Association also took up their resi-
dence on the island, including Daniel Leemen and William
Stewart, the latter settling at Pendleton's Passage. Other
loyalists came in from St. John, New Brunswick, one of these
being John Appleby, who located at Chocolate Cove. Both Ap-
pleby and Leeman have descendants now living on Deer Island.
Another settler from St. John was Issaac Richardson, whose name
is perpetuated in that of Richardsonville. It was not long be-
fore these loyalist inhabitants were joined b}' .some of the fami-
lies from the mainland, who evidently thought they could better
their condition by removing to Campobello. In 1803, this island
and its dependencies had a poinilation of one hundred and seven-
teen. In the following year, a .score of these residents tried to
establish a claim to the lands on which they were living. The
memorial of the.se petitioners states that they had been on Cam-
pobello for twenty 3"ears (or since 17S4), which would suggest
that many of them, if not all, were refugees from the States.
Gideon Pendleton, whom we know to have been a loyalist from
Long Lsland, and whose name appears in that of Pendleton's
Lslaud, was one of the.se. "-^
The island just named had been granted, no doubt, to Gideon
Pendleton, as other of the small islands were granted to other
adherents of the Crown. However, Moo.se Island ( now l{a.stport)
was inhabited at the close of the Revolution by about half a doz-
en families, who had been more or less in sympathy with Great
Britain during that struggle. It is not known how many out-
side loj-ali.sts joined this little colon3^, but it is said that George
Cline (or Klein), a recruiting sergeant during the War, and
Joseph Ferris, a native of vStamford, Connecticut, and a captain
in Butler's Rangers, both lived for a time on Moo.se Island. The
former spent the end of his days on Bar Island, and tlie latter,
on Indian Island. James Maloney, who was a mariner and a
grantee of St. Andrews, .settled on St. Andrews Lsland, and
1. S/. Croi.r Courier series^ C'X.W, A'A/A', C'/.\'; Loriiiier, Ifisfory of
Islands, 89.
2. St. Croix Courier series C.VAV, CX.\'l/\ Ganong, Origins of the
Settlenients in N. B., 6-]\ Raymond, ]l' in slew Papers, 490.
Matthew Thornton who fled to escape ]:)ersecution after the battle
of Bennington, spent one winter there, being later provided with
a grant as a member of the Penobscot Association. Thornton
was a native of New Hampshire.^
The population of the Passamaquoddy region in 17H4, accord-
ing to Colonel Edward Winslow's muster was 1,744 persons, of
whom seven hundred and ninety were men, three hundred and
four, women, and six hundred and fifty, children. ^ The various
regiments and other groups represented compri.sed the 42nd,
70th, and 72nd regiments. Royal Fencible Americans, King's
Orange Rangers, Royal Garrison Battalion, Tarleton's Dragoons,
Nova Scotia Volunteers, Regiment of Specht (Brunswick
soldiers), various corps at L'Etang, Nehemiah Marks' Company,
loyalists and others at Beaver Harbor, Penobscot loyalists, and
Ivieutenant Colonel Stewart and part}-, besides two small com-
panies, one in the District of Passamaquoddj^ and the other on
the River Magaguadavic. As we have already' seen at some
length, most of these people w^ere loyalists, and although the
men had pursued the most diverse occupations in their former
homes, farming engaged the great majority of them at Passa-
maquoddy. However, at the time of the landing of the refugees
from Penob.scot, lumbering operations were already in progress
near the headwaters of the Scoodic or St. Croix River, on both
sides of which a settlement of fifteen or twenty families was in
existence. Most of these families had come from Machias, and
had evidently chosen their location on account of the valuable
timber and the water power to be had there. At the mouth of
Dennis Stream they had built a sawmill.^ Thus began the lum-
ber trade of the St. Croix, which may have supplied building
material to loyalists who settled farther down the river. How-
ever, there were abundant supplies of fine timber along the other
large rivers emptying into Passamac^uoddy Bay, and there were
ample water powers and excellent harbors at hand. The new-
comers, appreciating these advantages, established important
1. .Sy. Croix Con rit-y series, LI I, CXXI, CXXIV, XC/V, CXI II.
2. [hid., LXl'II. The ficjures given in the text are taken from tlie
original Muster Book, now in the possession of the Rev. Dr. \V. (,).
Raymond, of St. John, N. R.
3. .S7. Croi.r Courier series, LII .
37
villages at St. Stephen, Milltown, St. Andrews, St. Patrick, and
St. George's Town, and erected sawmills at numerous points of
vantage. Sailing vessels were needed for the lumber trade, and
so ship-building became an important industry- in ."Several of the
parishes that were .settled by the loyalists. By 1803, the Passa-
maquoddy District had no less than twenty-one sawmills, which
together cut 7,700,000 feet of boards, and it also had a fleet of
fifty-nine .sails, besides numerous smaller craft. Of the sailing
vessels, St. Andrews Parish alone had built forty-two since 1 785. ^
The principal markets for the lumber exported from Passamaquod-
dy were Nova Scotia and the British West Indies, in both of
which regions thousands of loyalist refugees were settling during
this period. It need scarcel}' be added that fishing was an im-
portant occupation of many of the .settlers on the shores and
islands of Passamaquoddy Ba}-. The quantit}^ of fish taken in
1803 amounted to 9,900 quintals and 3,000 barrels, besides about
5,000 boxes of herring."-^
Meanwhile, the loyalists and their fellow-colonists were
multiplying in numbers despite the removal of many from
Pa.ssamaquoddy to other places in New Brunswick or to the
States. By 1803, the population of Charlotte County had reached
2,622 persons, or nearly eight hundred and fifty more than that
of the year 1 784. With the growth in numbers, desirable lots that
had been abandoned by the first grantees were taken up and oc-
cupied by young men coming into maturity who wished farms of
their own, and, following this, new settlements were made on the
uplands back of the older settlements. In this way, an expan-
sion seems to have taken place up thcvSt. Croix, Digdeguash, and
Magaguadavic.-^
The coming of the loj^alists had led to the creation of Char-
lotte County, together with the seven other counties of New
Brunswick, earh^ in 1786. At the same time, Charlotte County
had been subdivided into seven towns or parishes, namely, St.
Stephen, St. David, St. Andrews, St. Patrick, vSt. George, Penn-
field, and the West Lsles. The act establishing these divisions
1. Raymond, ll'iiislou' Papers, 489-491.
2. Ibid.
3. Ganong, Origins 0/ the Settlements in X. />'., 59, 61.
had also declared that vSt. Andrews should be thereafter the seat
of the County of Charlotte. ^ lint before the passage of this
measure 1)\- the llrst Assembly of the pro\-ince, and e\'en before
New Brunswick had been made a separate i)rovince, Governor
Parr had created a court for the District of Passmaciuoddy (early
in 17S4) by appointing John Curr}-, Philip Bailey, Robert Pagan,
and William CTallop to be justices of the peace therein. All of
these men were loyalists, and three of them were grantees of vSt.
Andrews; while the fourth, Cai)tain Philip Bailey, was a grantee
of vSt. George's. Two of them received appointments in addi-
tion to that of justice of the peace. Mr. Pagan served the Crown
as agent for lands in New Brunswick and in looking after matters
connected with grants to the loyalists. He also represented his
county for a number of years in the Provincial Legislature. Mr.
Gallop was commissioned as first registrar of deeds for Charlotte
Count}', in March, 1786, and continued in that oilfice until 1789.
Another vSt. Andrews loyalist. Colonel Thomas Wyer, became
the first sheriff of the county, being appointed in the spring of
1785, and serving until 1790, when he was succeeded b\- his fellow-
townsman, John Dunn, a refugee from New York, who held the
position twelve years. Mr. Dunn also acted as comptroller of
customs at St. Andrews for a long period. -
The action of Governor Parr in appointing justices of the
peace for the District of Passamaq noddy in 1784 is to be regarded
as the revival of an earlier court, rather than as the creation of a
new tribunal. Before the Revolution, the general .sessions of the
peace for the District had been held on the Island of Campobello.
That they were resumed there after the war is shown 1)y Robert
Pagan's statement that he went to Campobello to attend the .ses-
sons in his capacity as magistrate for the Count\- of vSunbury.-'
A little later, se.ssions were held at vSt. Andrews, but whether
there or on Campobello, the jurisdiction of the court appears to
have extended over all the islands of Passamacpioddy Bay. It
should be noted, however, that Grand Manan had at least one
1. ^■h'ad!('//sis, July, i9<->7, 232.
2. /did. 223-225; ("()//. A". /.'. ///.sV. Soc, I'. /, No. 3, 363.
3. .S7. Croix Courier si-rits, L X X X ! 7 .- Canons Evolution of the
Jlnuintai ies of i\\ /»' , 2S1, n.
39
resident justice of the peace in the person of Moses Oerrish who,
as ])reviously mentioned, served also as collector of customs for
that island. Joseph Garnett, who died in St. Andrews in the
year iSoo, is said to have been "New Brunswick's first master in
Chancery and the first deputy registrar of deeds and wills and
deputy Surrogate or Judge of Probate for Charlotte CountN."^
The settlement of the loyalists on Passamaquoddy Bay gave
rise, as we have .seen, to a dispute over the western or
river boundary of Nova Scotia. That dispute was to re-
main undecided until 1798. By the treaty of 1783, the
boundary had been fixed at the vSt. Croix; but the topographical
location of the true St. Croix was as yet unknown. However,
the Nova Scotia authorities had acted on the assumption that the
Scoodic was the St. Croix by settling large numbers of loyalists
on its eastern bank. John Allan had called the attention of the
Massachusetts government to the refugee settlements at St. An-
drews in August and again in September, 1783. Thereupon, the
Massachusetts House of Representatives had directed Governor
Hancock (October 23) to obtain information regarding the al-
leged encroachments, and communicate the same to Congress.
This was done at once, and Congress replied (Januar}^ 26, 1784,)
with a recommendation that representations should be made to
Nova Scotia, if the results of an investigation warranted it. The
advice was followed, a committee was sent to Passamaquoddy,
and on its return reported that the Magaguadavic, lying about
three leagues east of St. Andrews, was the original St. Croix.
On the basis of this report, Governor Hancock wrote to Governor
Parr, November 12, 1784, requesting him to recall such of the
King's subjects as had "planted themselves" within the Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts. The reply to this communication
came from Thomas Carleton, governor of New Brunswick, the
province that had been recently erected on the north side of the
Bay of Fundy: Carleton wrote that "the Great St. Croix, called
Schoodick by the Indians," was considered by the Court of
Great Britain as the river intended by the treat\- of 1783 to form
part of the boundary. President Washington urged the adjust-
ment of the matter in a special message to Congress in 1790: but
I. Aca(/!r>!sis, ]u]y, 1907, 210, 226, 227.
40
nothing was done until Jay's treaty was signed four years later,
a clause in this instrument providing for the reference of the
question to the final decision of commissioners.'
It is interesting to note that, first and last, not less than
four prominent loj-alists took part in the important labors of the
board of commissioners thus authorized. Thomas Barclay, a
graduate of Columbia College and a cajitain in the Loyal Ameri-
can Regiment, who had fled to Nova Scotia at the close of the
Revolution, was named commissioner for Great Britain. His
American colleague was David Howell, an eminent lawyer of
Rhode Island, and they together designated Egbert Benson, a
distinguished jurist of New York, as the third member of their
board. Edward Winslow^ of Plymouth, Massachusetts, who had
served as muster-master general of the loyalist forces at the close
of the war, and then had taken up his residence in New
Brunswick, became secretary of the commission. Each govern-
ment had an agent to prepare and present its case before the
board. The British agent was Ward Chipman of Massachusetts,
a graduate of Harvard college and deputy muster-master general
under Winslow. In New Brunswick, whither Chipman removed
after the war, he attained the highest honors, serving as member
of the House of Assembly, advocate general, solicitor general, etc.
The agent for the United States was James Sullivan, one of the
ablest members of the bar in Massachusetts at that time. The
identification of Bone (now Dochet ) Island with the Isle of St.
Croix of Champlain, on which the identification of the River St.
Croix largely depended, was accomplished by Robert Pagan, one of
the loyalist grantees of St. Andrews. After a series of meetings held
at various times from August to October 26, 1798, the commission
rendered the verdict that the Scoodic was in fact the River St.
Croix intended by the treaty of 17S3. The source of the stream,
thus declared to be the boundary between Maine and New Bruns-
wick, was decided to be the eastern or Chiputneticook branch of
the St. Croix. This was undoubtedly a fair line of division, in-
asmuch as the St. Croix had been the old eastern boundary of
Massachusetts Baj'.^
1. Gallons, Evol.of the Boundaries of X. /?., 241-254, and the autlior-
ities there cited; Rives, Conrspondciuc of Thomas Barclay, 45. #•
2. {VAWon^, EvoL of thr flouitdarics of N.B., 254-259; Sabine, Am-
Loyalists, 144, 711, 208; Stark, Loyalists of Mass., 436, 432.
41
In i7'S4 and 1785, the question of ownership of some of the
islands in Passamaquoddy Bay became a point of contention be-
tween the British and American governments. The loyahsts
and other British settlers of that period laid claim to all of these
islands, and were supported therein by the New Brunswick au-
thorities. Nevertheless, the Ha.stern Lands committee of the
Mas.sachusetts House of Representatives had Moose, Dudley,
and Frederick islands surveyed (in 1784), and sold Dudley Is-
land to John Allan, who settled there and made some improve-
ments. At about the same time, the same committee was author-
ized to make sale of Grand Manan and the small islands adjacent,
despite the fact that the government of Nova Scotia had already
granted a license (December 30, 1783,) to Moses Gerrish and his
associates to occupy Grand Manan. In October, 1785, Congress
passed a resolution instructing the American minister in London
to attempt an adjustment of these matters, or failing that, by
commissioners appointed by the two governments. Ignoring
both the resolution of Congress and the operations of the Massa-
chusetts committee, the Assembly of New Brunswick enacted a
law (January 3, 1786, ) dividing the province into counties and
parishes, in which the Parish of West Isles in Charlotte County
was declared to comprise Deer Island, Carapobello, Grand Manan,
and Moose, Frederick, and Dudley islands, with all the lesser islands
contiguous to them. Several 3'ears later (that is, in 1791), Mas-
sachusetts played the next card by causing Moose Island to be
divided into lots and granting these to the occupants. When
the boundary question was taken up by the St. Croix commi.ssion,
the contention over the islands was wisely excluded from the
discussion by the explicit instructions of the British ministry.
The next step took the form of negotiations, which were con-
cluded in 1803 by a convention or agreement declaring Deer
Island and Camphbello, with the small islands lying to the north
and east, to l)e under the jurisdiction of New Brunswick, the
others to the south and westward being declared subject to Mass-
achuettes. vStrangely enough. Grand Manan was not men-
tioned.^
I. Gaiioui;, ICi'ol. of thr J,\)in!(/<nifs of X. />., 278-287, ami the
authorities tlifie riled; . Icadicitsis. July. i^K), 168.
42
In the War of 1812, Moose Island was seized by the British,
and was permitted to remain in their possession by the treat}- of
Ghent until its title could be determined. The fourth article of
this treaty provided for a commission of two members to settle
the island question. Thus, the suggestion first made b}- the
American Congress in 1785 was finally adopted. Two of the
loyalists who had shared in the work of the boundary commission,
were assigned tasks of like kind in connection with this one.
They were Thomas Barclay and Ward Chipman, representing Great
Britain as commissioner and agent, respectively. The United
vStates was represented b\- John Holmes, a prominent citizen
of Maine, as commissioner, and James T. Austin, a leading
law3-er of Massachusetts, as agent. The memorial of the British
agent rei)eated the old claim of Nova Scotia to all the islands of
Passamaquoddy Bay, not forgetting Grand Manan, on the basis
of their inclusion within the original limits of that province, the
extent of its jurisdiction, the exercise of its civil authorit}', etc
The counter-claim of the United States was also heard, and the
rejoinders on both sides. Finally, on November 29, 18 17, the
commis-sioners gave their decision, namely that Moose, Dudley,
and Frederick islands belong to the United States, and that all
the other islands, including Grand Manan, belong to his Britannic
Majesty, "in conformity with the true intent of the second
article of the treaty of 1783." As both governments accepted
this decision, the dispute over the islands was closed.^ Thus,
the loyalist settlers, whether on or off the mainland of Passama-
quoddy Baj', were finally left to enjo)' in peace the lands granted
them at the close of the Revolution.
I Ganong, Evol. of the Boundaries of N. B,, 287-290.
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