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Saint Croix Courier, St. Stephen, NB
May 24, 1894

GLIMPSES OF THE PAST

Contributions to the History of Charlotte County and the Border Towns.

CXVII – THE CAPE ANN ASSOCIATION-Continued.

The land in St. David granted to William Clark and associates, known as the Cape Ann Association grant, was laid out in two divisions, called Wentworth’s division and Fanning’s division.  The names chosen, as in the case of Bulkley, Parr and Morris divisions in the town of St. Andrews, were those of officials in the provincial government at Halifax.

William Clark, whose name stands first because the first lot fell to him, came from New Boston, N. H., where he had settled in 1765.  He was born at Londonderry, N. H., in 1734; and was an extensive farmer and surveyor of land.  He made surveys for the association in Charlotte county, but early withdrew from the company and returned to New Hampshire.¹

Francis Norwood, spoken of as the leader of the association, is said to have carried on a fishing business at Passamaquoddy after the close of the war, and probably induced other Cape Ann men to join him in the enterprise.  He was probably the son of Francis Norwood, son of Jonathan Norwood, of Goose Cove, near Gloucester,² born in 1736; who had a brother Jonathan and a nephew Jonathan Jr.; also a brother Gustavus, a brother Samuel and a cousin James.  There is nothing in the Gloucester records to indicate that any of these emigrated to New Brunswick.

Jesse Saville was an officer of the British customs at Gloucester in 1770, at the expense of much unpopularity, on account of which he may have contemplated a removal from that town; but if so the purpose was not fulfilled, for he lived and died there.  He had a brother Thomas, of whom nothing more is known.

The names of Lufkin, Sargent, Dennison, Parsons, Cleves, Dana, Davis, Goss, Stevens, and others in the list, are familiar names in Gloucester; but there is nothing to indicate that there was any considerable exodus from Gloucester at the time.

Several of those who became permanent residents of St. David were from the neighborhood of New Boston, N. H., and were the descendants of a colony of Scotch Covenanters from the north of Ireland who settled in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1719.  Particular reference will be made to some of them in next article.

Any one who can contribute matters of interest from family records or traditions, relating to the Cape Ann Association people, will confer a favor by doing so.

¹The compass, scale and chain used by William Clark in St. David are now in possession of his great-grandson, R. C. Mack, Esq., of Londonderry, N. H., to whom we are indebted for this information; and the fact that there is a slight error in the length of the chain may account for the very noticeable inaccuracy in the lines of the Cape Ann Association lots.

²For this and most of what follows we are indebted to an article by A. F. Stickney, in the Gloucester Times of May 11.