Acadiensis/Volume 1/Number 2/Incidents in the Early History of St. John
Incidents in the Early History of St. John.
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N A series of articles lately printed in the New Brunswick Magazine, under the title, "At Portland Point," the writer of this paper endeavored to place on record many of the incidents connected with the establishment of the first English settlement, of a permanent character, at the mouth of the St. John river. The date of this settlement is coincident with the arrival of James Simonds, James White and their party—some thirty souls in all—on the 18th day of April, 1764. Some further facts that have lately come to light will furnish materials for one or more papers similar to those that have already appeared in the New Brunswick Magazine.
The war of the American Revolution was at the outset a source of intense disappointment to James Simonds, William Hazen and James White, although in the end it was destined to be the making of their fortunes by sending the exiled Loyalists in thousands to our shores.
Our old pioneers had learned by the experience of a dozen years to conduct their business to advantage; and at the time the war began had everything in train for a promising and remunerative trade with St. Croix in the West Indies. Their situation, once discouraging, was vastly improved. The hardships incident to the establishment of all new settlements were largely a thing of the past, and both Simonds and White were established in comfortable homes, their interests still more united by the fact that their wives were sisters, daughters of Captain Francis Peabody. To add to their pleasurable anticipations, the Hazen family were daily expected from New- buryport to take up their permanent residence at Portland Point.
Prior to William Hazen's determination to remove to St. John, he and his partner, Leonard Jarvis, had been unfortunate in their mercantile transactions at Newburyport. This made it necessary for them to take greater care of their interest in the business at St. John; hence Mr. Hazen's visits to St. John became more and more frequent, and about the year 1771 he decided to take up his permanent residence there and discontinue business at Newburyport altogether. Accordingly, in 1772, a house was built for him at Portland Point, the site a little to the westward of the houses in which James Simonds and James White were then living. This house was destroyed by fire before it was quite finished. A new one, on the same site, was erected November 17, 1773, and is still standing at the corner of Simonds and Brook streets; somewhat altered in appearance, it is true, but in an excellent state of preservation.
It was not until the month of May, 1775, that Mr. Hazen was able to embark with his family for St. John. They took passage in the sloop " Merrimack,"[1] and on the way were shipwrecked on Fox Island. They escaped with their lives but endured much discomfort, besides losing many of their possessions. Scarcely were they settled in their new home when troubles and anxieties, entirely unlocked for, arose in consequence of the war between the mother country and the old colonies.
The departure of William Hazen from Newburyport had been planned, as already stated, several years before it was carried into effect. It was not in any way influenced by the threatening war clouds that hung low in the sky. Mr. Hazen's departure, however, was nearly coincident with the clash of arms at Lexington, and a few months after his arrival at St. John, the events of the war began to interfere greatly with the business of the partnership, which not long after almost entirely ceased.
The three partners were well known in Massachusetts. Many of their relatives were prominent supporters of the American Congress. This fact, for a brief interval, shielded them from the attacks of marauders from Machias, and elsewhere to the westward, who ravaged the shores of the Bay of Fundy and made themselves terribly obnoxious to the loyal element in Nova Scotia. On two occasions, William Hazen succeeded in procuring the restoration of the Company's schooner "Polly" after she had been seized by American privateers.
The condition of affairs on the River St. John during the war has already been pretty fully described by the writer of this article in the papers of the "Portland Point" series.[2] That which follows must, therefore, be regarded as supplementary.
The statement, made in one of the former papers, that up to the close of the year 1776, the company of Hazen, Simonds and White had not ceased to transact business with the Massachusetts Congress, needs some qualification. It was based upon the following document, found among the papers of James White:
Gentlemen,—At sight of this our second Bill (first of same tenor and date not paid) Please to pay to Messrs. William Hazen, James Simonds and James White, or order, forty-one Spanish milled Dollars, for value received of them.
Ezekiel Foster,Lt.David Prescott,Lt.
Edmund Stevens, Capt.Daniel Meservy,Lt.
Portland, Nova Scotia, December 14th, 1776.
To the Honorable Council of Massachusetts States.
It appears, from certain papers in possession of Mr. Ward Hazen, of St. John, that the four signers of the above were on their way to Machias after the failure of the American attack on Fort Cumberland. James White was reluctantly obliged to entertain them at his house, and he says, in a memorandum explanatory of the incident, "The supplies furnished to Prescott & Co. were regarded as for the common cause and benefit to get rid of a needy, lawless banditti."
In connection with the visits of the Machias rebels, James Simonds, too, was forced on several occasions to do his share of the entertaining, and Messrs. Rowe, Eddy, Rogers, Howe, and others, returning from Cumberland, were supplied with provisions at his expense in order to prevent their plundering the houses and stores of the Company.
The garrison at Fort Frederick (in Carleton) had been withdrawn in 1768, leaving St. John in an absolutely defenceless condition. The little colony there became very uneasy, and in September, 1775, James Simonds and Daniel Leavitt went to Windsor in a whale boat to solicit protection from the government of Nova Scotia, but their errand was fruitless. Being apprehensive that the Company's goods in the store at Portland Point would be plundered by some privateer, Mr. Simonds, a few weeks later, carried a portion to Windsor in the little schooner "Polly," and there disposed of them as best he could.
In the two following years, the business of Hazen, Simonds and White being nearly at a stand and their stock of goods in the store small, it was agreed that James White should take charge of the store and keep the books on a commission of five per cent. The amount of business transacted in the two years amounted to 3,150 only. Meanwhile, James Simonds was spending a good deal of his time among the settlers up the river freighting down lumber, produce, and such articles as could be collected on account of the Company's debts.
Early in May, 1777, an attempt was made by one John Allan, of Machias, formerly a resident at the head of the Bay of Fundy, and at one time a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, to take possession of the St. John river valley and there establish an Indian trading post, with the view of encouraging the savages to declare war against the loyal settlers. This audacious design by no means accorded with the ideas of the little colony at St. John. James Simonds proceeded post haste to Halifax[3] and the authorities there promptly sent an armed party in the "Vulture" sloop of war, under Colonel Arthur Goold, by whom the invaders were soon driven from the river. However, they returned a little later and took William Hazen and James White prisoners. The alarm was again raised and Colonel Michael Francklin and Captain Studholme, with a detachment of troops, appeared on the scene. The prisoners were released and Allan was obliged in hot haste to hie back once more to Machias.
In the month of November, 1777, the Company's store at Portland Point was plundered of most of its valuables by a Yankee privateer, whose captain bore the singular name of "A. Greene Crabtree." The situation of the settlers was now become so deplorable that William Hazen hired a sloop and proceeded to Windsor. Here he urgently appealed for protection to Colonel John Small of the Royal Highland Emigrants, and the latter accompanied him to Halifax. Through their united efforts, the authorities were aroused to the necessity of immediate action, and in consequence, Fort Howe was built at the mouth of the river and Captain Gilfred Studholme took post there with a garrison. William Hazen claimed that his visit to Halifax "not only saved the buildings and moveables of the Company, but secured to the King's subjects the greater part of New Brunswick."
- ↑ The Merrimack was one of several small vessels owned by the Company of Hazen & Jarvis and Simonds & White.
- ↑ See New Brunswick Magazine for January, February, March and April, 1899.
- ↑ An item in Mr. Simonds' account shows that the cost of his trip, including boat hire, horse hire, etc., was about £15.