Saint Croix Courier, St. Stephen, NB
April 12, 1894
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST
Contributions to the History of Charlotte County and the Border Towns.
CXI – JAMES BOYD.
Some further documents relating to James Boyd and his claims may be of interest here, before returning to the doings of the Penobscot Loyalists. They are contained in the Chalmers MSS., a valuable collection of historical papers now in Lenox Library, New York.1 The estimate of his character which they enable us to form is useful as bearing upon the value of his deposition in respect to the determination of the river St. Croix.
Boyd seems to have visited Halifax in the spring of 1767, for the purpose of pressing his claims to a grant of certain lands at Passamaquoddy, and apparently succeeded in getting a minute of council, of which the following is a copy:-
NOVA SCOTIA-
At a council holden at Halifax on the 13th March 1767
On the memorial of James Boyd praying for Liberty to occupy an Island called Isle Lutterel or fish Island whereon he has erected several Buildings & Flakes for carrying on the fishery, and that he may have a Reservation of Land to the eastern head of Scoodick River, he proposing to introduce fifty Families thereon…..
Ordered that a Licence of Occupation be granted to the memorialist & that fifty Thousand acres of Land lying & situate on the River Scoodick, the Lands allotted to Major Gorham & others, be reserved (and laid out agreeable to his majesty’s Instructions) for one year from the first Day of June nextR’D BULKELEY
He received his commission as a magistrate on the 17th of the same month, and his grant of 1000 acres at ‘the westermost of the three rivers in the grand bay of Passamaquoddy’ on the 28th.2
‘Isle Lutterel, or fish Island,’ was the same as the Perkins Island included in the grant to the Canada Company in 1765. Boyd must have been aware of their identity, if, as stated in his deposition, he had settled there in 1763; and he certainly must have known something of the claims of James Simonds and his partners as members of the Canada company. Lord William Campbell and his council were evidently at the time ignorant of the fact, if the attested copy of the minute is correct;3 and the reservation of ‘lands allotted to Major Gorham and others’ can only be explained by the supposition that Boyd had presented what appeared to be a prior claim. Such a claim would need to be well established before Major Gorham, a member of the council, would agree to give up the lands allotted to him. The Gorham lands, extending from St. Andrews to Oak Bay, the Tucker lands, at the head of navigation, and the Sheriff and Gamble lands, lying between, would cover the 50,000 acres. Since these lands were granted4 a few months after the date of the order in council reserving them for Boyd, it must be supposed that the order, if it ever were passed, had in the meantime been revoked.
Boyd, however, knew nothing of the Gorham and Tucker grants, or chose to ignore them.
He continued to make applications to the governor for his grant; and, as we have seen,5 made some attempt to place settlers both at St. Andrews and at Schoodic.
The following letter from Wm. Nesbitt, in 1773, shows the state of affairs at that date; and also shows, (if genuine,) that it did not then require much erudition to qualify a man for the office of attorney-general:
Halifax Nova Scotia
November 12th 1773.
My Lord
Your Lordship may perhaps be surprised at receiving a Letter from a person altogether unknown to you, but as it is on the account of one Mr. James Boyd late of Kilmarnock, one of your own Dependents whom You were pleased to reccomend to Lord Wm Campbell for a Grant of Lands in the Province. In which he tells me Your Lordship is to be concerned, and judging Mr. Boyd under some difficulties, on his comeing here to sollicit for a Grant of his Lands as well upon Lord Williams being Gone home to England, who had often promised a Grant of those Lands, as some late Instructions from his Majesty to our Governor, not to make out or give any further Grant of Lands in this Province untill further orders, and as I found him a Stranger and much at a Loss how to proceed, I undertooke to sollicit his affairs, As I am well acquainted with all Government matters in this Province, having been Attorney Generl for the Province for these twenty years past, this I presume will be sufficient Appoligy to Your Lordship for this Present freedom.
Sometime in the Year 1767 Mr. Boyd came to this Province recomended as mentioned before to Lord Wm. Campbell, our then Governor, and applied to him and our Council for the Licence of Occupation of a certain Island called Lutterel or fish Island in the Harbour of Pasamaquady in this Province for a fishery, and at the same time applied for a reservation of fifty thousand acres of Land on the River Scooduck in sd Province and near sd Island on the main which he the sd Boyd obtained as by minute of Council dated the 13th of March 1767 may appear, after which sd Boyd with the utmost diligence and very great expence sett out to procure Settlers in order to settle on sd Lands in order to fulfill his Engagement to Government, it being part of the conditions he had entered into with the Government to settle fifty familys on sd Lands to entitle him to a Grant of the same, said Lands being Intirely wild & uncultivated Lands and accordingly he, the sd Boyd has already settled on sd Land 26 Families consisting of 125 persons on sd Lands. and has Ingaged a great many more to come there this Ensuing Summer, and being well assured by repeated promises from Lord Wm. Campbell our Governor that he should have a Grant of those Lands on proper application for the same, but said Boyds affairs requiring his special attendance to keep the sd settlers together and supply them with necessaries for carrying on the settlement, coud not possibly come to Halifax the seat of Government for this Province untill the beginning of this present November, to sollicit his Grant, and then found Lord William Campbell removd from his government & gone to England, upon which sd Mr. Boyd presented a memorial to his Excellency Francis Legge our present Governor, praying a Grant of this Lands, which being read in Council it was determined that a grand of sd Lands could not pass because it is contrary to his majestys Instructions or order in Council dated the 7th of April Last: as you will see by an attested copy of sd Boyds memorial & answer to the same.
The crowns scheme (as I am informed is) that they mean to dispose of the Lands in this Province for certain sums of money without charging them with Quit Rent, which I should think a better way both for the Crown and Grantees, as the Quit Rent falls heavy even at a farthing an acre, on uncultivated lands, and the fees on taking out of Grants are Heavy. And I should for my own part much rather purchase, from the Crown provided it was on reasonable terms than to be subject to a Quit Rent or the fees of taking out the Grant, (which would be upwards of 50) but then on the other side if the Crown Inclines to sell the Lands here free of Quit Rent the purchaser must be very Cautious, and not bid to High, for really those uncultivated Lands are in themselves of very little value, were it not for the Scituation and fishery, the clearing the Lands or any way Improving them so as to make them profitable, will be a [?] purchase of the same to the first undertakers. So that in fact the purchaser of those Lands ought not in point of prudence, give much for uncultivated or wild Lands in this Province. It should not exceed half a farthing an acre at 20 years purchase, so as I said before it is Scituation & commerce that makes them any way valuable. It will at least cost £20 Hx [?] to reclaim and even make arable an acre of this wood Land.
On the whole what I have advised Boyd in this affair upon his being refused those Lands on account of those Late Instructions, that he Imediately applies to your Lordship, that you would be pleased to Petition his Majesty for a Grant of those Lands, for Yourself (that is if you choose to be concerned) James Boyd and his Brother &c. Setting forth what James Boyd has done towards the Settling those Lands, and the Govermts License and Reservation of sd Lands to him, and his great Expense and trouble in procuring settlers for sd Lands, that he acted by Your recomendation and praying a Grant of those Lands or his majestys mandamus or Letter to grant the Same, or if the Crown will sell the sd Lands to purchase them, if they are to be purchased I woud advise that Boyds great Labour and Expense in procuring Settlers for sd Lands might be set forth, and allowance for same in the purchase, and am of oppinion these matters properly represented the purchase might be very Low. Indeed on any terms, In my opinion it should not Exceed £200 (Mr. Boyd is very desirous that an Island called Moose Island in the Harbour of Pasamaquady and a Point of Land Nor’west on the River Scoodick joining to a place called St. Andrews Point) all this I have advised Mr. Boyd to recomend to your Lordship as I beg leave now to recomend the same.
I must also advise Your Lordship to apply to Lord Wm. Campbell, who is now in England and is knowing to all this matter, and was at campo bello two years Past near those Lands & saw Mr. Boyd there and some of his settlers and faithfully promised Mr. Boyd he shoud have his Grant, which most certainly he would have had had it not been for the late Instructions. I know my Lord Wm. will Exert himself in it if you but recomend it to him, I am my Lord with all due respect
Your Lordships most faithfull & obedt Humble Servt
WM. NESBITT
If your Lordship Should honour me with a line Direct for Wm. Nesbitt at Halifax atty Genl for the Province of Nova Scotia.
There is room for a suspicion that this was written by Boyd himself.
The person whose influence was thus sought is evidently Lord Erroll, as will be seen by the following letter addressed to Mr. Chalmers by a nephew of James Boyd:-
Aberdeen 20 Janry 1815
Sir
The very kind & friendly wish expressed in your Letter of the 15th Nov that “you would be glad to be of use to the revd Wm Boyd” encourages me to hope for your forgiving my troubling you with a more particular acount of the affair than Mr. Burnet was able to give you.
About the year 1760 my Father William Boyd then a manufacturer in Kilmarnock sent out a younger Brother James Boyd to North America to sell goods for him.
The young man returned once or twice but at length thought of becoming Planter. Got a Grant from the Halifax Government first of 1000 acres which was afterwards extended to 50,000 acres of Land in the Bay of Passamaquoddy wi Mouse Island Lutterel & some other Islands in the Bay for the Fishery. He applied the money which he had gotten for the Goods which he had carried out with him to cultivate this Land still professing himself to carry on for my Father or for their joint behoof as appears by many of his Letters in my Custody. He recommended to my Father to apply to the Board of Council for Trade & plantations in their joint Names, & in that of their Patron Lord Erroll for a Ratification or Confirmation of the Grant.
1 March 1773 General Gordon of Fyvie gave in a Representation to that effect with my uncles Grants from the Nova Scotia Government to the Board & in his Letter to my Father says he had every reason to expect a favourable answer. From what I have heard the late James Earl of Erroll & my Father say I believe a favourable answer was given. But the American War breaking out & this Land laying between the Republican & Nova Scotia Territories little would be then made of it & I Know not whether the Grant or Confirmation by the British Government was ever extracted. Both Lord Erroll & my Father died before the American War was finished. My Uncle James sought the Protection of the American Government cultivated the Property & has left his Family in very affluent Circumstances. One of them James Erroll Boyd is a General in the American Army & is mentioned as having trained the Canadian Army of the States.
As the Lands & Islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy are now under the British Government I have been advised by some Friends whom I have consulted that this might be a proper time for me to recover the part of the Estate which belonged to my Father or at any rate to recover the money wi Interest which my Father had paid for the Goods carried out by my Uncle & which was by him applied to cultivate this Ground. I have many of the Bills granted by my Uncle or Drawn by him upon my Father now by me, and as my Father when he paid these had them duely protested & registered they are still legal Vouchers of the Debt.
The request which I have now to make to you is this That you would point out the proper means & give your aid to ascertain what has been the fate of the Representation & papers given in by General Gordon in 1773. I waited upon the General two days ago but he says having for above 20 years endeavoured to forget all public matters he had no other recollection of the business than that he obtained some Favour for Lord Erroll & my Father & had heard them speak of Lands in America which might sometime be useful to their family. Could I find that the Grant was confirmed in 1773 or could I hope from the Notorial Copies in my possession to obtain a grant of these Lands I have no doubt but my Uncles Family who continue in possession of them would repay me the money advanced by my Father. A little of that Wealth which they as I am informed could easily spare would be of great use to my father’s family particularly my two Sisters who are in very dependant Circumstances owing to the want of that Money which my Father withdrew from carrying on his own business to enable his Brother James to obtain & cultivate the Property from which his Family have in a great measure derived the great wealth which they possess. Tho they correspond wi some other Relations in this Country they have never taken any notice of my Father’s Family. There would be no possible cause for this but the Knowledge of the Debt due by their Father to ours.
I trust now my dear & much respected Sir that it will be in your power to gratify your wish of being useful to the revd Wm Boyd.
I have mentioned the matter to Mr. Milne of Crimonmggate Member for the Northern Burghs & shall speak of it to Mr. Ferguson M. P. for this County. I trust they will mention me to you as worthy of your Countenance & I am well assured they will afford me any aid in their power when you shall point it out as necessary. Mr. Milne will be in London before the Parlt meets & Mr. Ferguson soon after.
I am with the greatest respect
Sir Your Obedt Servt
W. Boyd Minr of Crimond by Peterhead, N. B.
The writer was greatly in error in supposing that the Passamaquoddy property was still held by his uncle’s children, and perhaps equally so in other respects; yet, after making full allowance for the bitterness engendered by a family quarrel, we may safely take James Boyd’s character at his nephew’s estimate.
After Boyd’s departure from Passamaquoddy, a part if not all of the Bocabec tract passed into other hands by sheriff’s sale. The present owner of the beautiful farm at the mouth of that river, though bearing the same name, is not connected with the family of the original grantee.
1Geo. Chalmers was an official in the office of Trade and Plantations, Whitehall; and his ‘Papers Relating to Nova Scotia,’ bear date from 1745 to 1817. We are indebted to the courtesy of the librarian for permission to make extracts bearing upon the life and fortunes of the subject of our sketch.
3It bears the following certification:
Province of Massachusetts Bay
Essex Sc.
a true Copy taken from the Original & examined by me
JOSEPH COFFIN Just. Peace
Newbury Jan 9, 1768
4See article xl.
5Article xxxviii.