Saint Croix Courier, St. Stephen, NB
May 18, 1893
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST
Contributions to the History of Charlotte County and the Border Towns.
LXVII – THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS.
[Rev. W. O. Raymond, M. A.]
14.-The Division of the Province.
A vast impetus was given to the development of the country north of the Bay of Fundy by the coming of the Loyalists. In the course of a few months it passed from the condition of a comparatively unknown region with a mere handful of English speaking people to that of an independent province with an enterprising class of inhabitants-poor in purse, indeed; but rich in experience, determination, energy, education, intellect, and other qualities essential to the building up of a country. By their efforts, within a year towns sprang into existence at St. John, Fredericton and St. Andrews, and thriving settlements were founded at Kingston, Sussex Vale, Gagetown, Waterborough, Burton, and other places on the river St. John as well as in Westmorland county and at various points around the shores and on the rivers of Charlotte county. From these places as centres, other settlements were established. Even the North Shore shared in the benefits of the immigration. This was largely through the enterprise of William Davidson, the pioneer English settler on the Miramichi, who in 1783 engaged fifty families of loyal refugees to settle on the Miramichi and Restigouche rivers. These new settlers, with Messrs. Munro, Doyle and others at the Bay of Chaleur, and Mr. Powell at Richibucto, exercised an important influence in the future development of their several localities.
More than twelve thousand Loyalists came to that portion of the old province of Nova Scotia now called New Brunswick. Many of those mentioned in Col. Morse’s return as settled in the county of Cumberland1 had established themselves on the Petitcodiac river and elsewhere in the present counties of Westmorland and Albert. The number who settled on the St. John river was about ten thousand. The list of those entitled to provisions in this district comprised 4,131 men, 1,619 women, 1630 children over ten years, 1439 children under ten years and 441 servants-9,260 persons in all; but Col. Morse in his return states that for reasons mentioned in the report of Thomas Knox, Esq., Deputy Commissary of Musters, it had been found impossible to ascertain the exact number of Loyalists mustered on the river Saint John. Mr. Knox mentions, among the difficulties encountered in his work in the immense district of country assigned to him, the fact that there had been frequent interchanges among the earlier arrivals, who, unlike the disbanded troops, were not enrolled in companies. He found that absent families were daily expected. Many of the soldiers were not yet on their lands; others had already abandoned them.
The city of Saint John was for a brief period a sort of distributing point, and at the close of the first half year of its existence the population probably amounted to six or seven thousand. But this number rapidly decreased as difficulties respecting the location of grants were disposed of and new settlements sprang into existence in various parts of the province. That portion of the present city lying to the south of Union street at first received the name of Parr. The town was laid out in 1454 lots, by Paul Bedell. A few favored individuals appear to have enjoyed the privilege of selecting their lots; but the great majority were drawn by the Loyalists in the usual manner, as they arrived in the country. Many who came with the intention of proceeding at once to the cultivation of their lands were compelled to remain at the mouth of the river until provision was made for the survey and allotment of their grants. The following words, written by Col. Morse eighteen months after the arrival of the first band of Loyalists, will give an idea of the situation:-
I am sorry to add that a very small proportion indeed of these people are yet upon their lands, owing to different causes-First, their arriving very late in the season; Secondly, timely provision not having been made by escheating and laying out lands, in which great delays and irregularities have happened; Thirdly, a sufficient number of surveyors not having been employed; but Lastly, and principally, the want of foresight and wisdom to make necessary arrangements, and steadiness in carrying them out.
The evils arising from mismanagement, Col. Morse affirmed, would be felt for a long time to come. Hitherto the Loyalists had been mostly employed in building towns, and by their exertions at Port Roseway and at the mouth of the river St. John large towns had been built in an astonishingly short time. These great exertions, in his opinion, would have been more profitably directed in cultivating their lands; since, besides the loss of time, they had wasted their substance in that which was unlikely to prove either profitable to themselves or useful to the country.
To add to the uneasiness of those who were awaiting their lands, information was received, in August, 1783, that fifty-five prominent Loyalists in the city of New York had united in an application for tracts of land in Nova Scotia, amounting to 275,000 acres, and that they had dispatched agents to survey the unlocated lands and select the most fertile spots and desirable situations on the St. John river. The dissatisfaction caused by this proceeding was so great at the town of Parr that four hundred persons signed an agreement to remove to Passamaquoddy. Equal indignation was displayed at New York, where a memorial was speedily drawn up and very largely signed, and presented to the commander-in-chief by Messrs. Samuel Hake, Elias Hardy, Captain Henry Law and Tertullus Dickenson. The memorialists state:
That they had determined to remove with their families and settle in his majesty’s province of Nova Scotia on the terms which they understood were held out equally to all his Majesty’s persecuted subjects. . . . . That chagrined as the memorialists are at the manner in which the late contest has been terminated and disappointed as they find themselves in being left to the lenity of their enemies on the dubious recommendation of their leaders, they yet hoped to find an asylum under British protection, little suspecting there would be found amongst their fellow sufferers, persons ungenerous enough to attempt engrossing to themselves so disproportionate a share of what government has allotted for their common benefit, and so different from the original proposals. . . . . The memorialists cannot but regard the grants in question if carried into effect as amounting nearly to a total exclusion of themselves and families who if they become settlers must content themselves with barren or remote lands, or submit to be tenants. . . . .
The petitioners met with a most favorable reception at the hands of the commander-in-chief, who emphatically ensured them, ‘No one person will obtain a larger grant of lands in Nova Scotia than 1000 acres.’ Sir Guy further stated that in his opinion no persons should be allowed to take up lands in that province but those who mean to reside in it, till the Loyalists were first served. Personally he would do everything in his power for the memorialists, and he believed they would have no cause to complain.
The situation at St. John, however, continued to be a matter of much anxiety. The Rev. John Sayre, writing to the S. P. G., in the month of October, 1783, says that he found on his arrival a multitude of his fellow sufferers at the mouth of the river unsettled, and many of them on the brink of despair on account of the delays in allotting their lands to them.
Complaints were made that whilst their urgent necessities were not properly cared for, the Loyalists could not make their voice heard in the councils of the country, because the settlements north of the bay of Fundy were practically without representation in the provincial assembly.
Governor Parr’s popularity with the New Brunswick Loyalists-if he ever had any-soon vanished. There is every reason to suppose that his Excellency was sincerely desirous of facilitating the settlement of the country; but, giving him all credit for good intentions, it may be seriously questioned whether he were just the man for the emergency. In person he was exceedingly stout2 and this fact, combined with advancing years, unfitted him for very active physical exertion. The difficulties of communication appear to have deterred him from ever visiting Saint John, where serious complications on more than one occasion rendered it highly desirable that active measures should have been employed under his personal supervision. Instead of this he acted through agents sent thither from time to time, and in his letter to the secretary of state, (Lord North), written on the 10th of August, 1784, he says:
I flatter myself that the measures I have taken with the people on the St. John’s river and by bringing some of the leading men of the parties there to this side of the Bay of Fundy will prove effectual to suppress factious commotions in the settlements of that river.
Vain hope! Not thus was the problem to be solved.
Col. Edward Winslow appears to have been the first to suggest the measure of forming a separate government, as the only possible means of effectually remedying the difficulties of the situation. The proposition commended itself to General Fox and was warmly taken up by leading Loyalists.
Dissatisfaction at the time was by no means confined to the town of Parr and the settlements on the river St. John. A very extensive settlement had been established on the shores of Passamaquoddy bay, consisting of Loyalists from New York and Penobscot, with a contingent of the disbanded Royal Fencible Americans. The numbers as given in Col. Morse’s muster were 833 men, 304 women, 340 children over ten years and 310 under ten years-in all 1787 persons. Here, too, dissatisfaction prevailed. In a letter to Ward Chipman, Edward Winslow says:
Since our first proposal, a vast number of settlers have arrived in this country. About all the people who composed the garrison of Penobscot are now at Passamaquoddy. The late American Fencibles, Dr. Paine and a large party are also there, Samuel Bliss with another party-in short the number that have emigrated to that side of the bay is astonishing. All these men are waiting with the most eager impatience for some regulations in their favour. All agree that nothing short of a separate government can effectually serve them. Surely it must happen; it must be for the interest as well as the honor of the British Government to snatch from despair so many of its faithful subjects.
The division of Nova Scotia into two provinces was announced in September, 1784; and on the 21st of November Col. Thomas Carleton, the first governor, arrived in St. John and received a most enthusiastic welcome. In the address presented to the new governor, the resentment entertained towards Governor Parr and his advisors finds expression. The inhabitants term themselves ‘a number of oppressed and insulted Loyalists,’ congratulate Col. Carleton on his arrival to correct the injustice of the past and to establish such laws as are essential to the welfare of the new province, adding that they were formerly free men and again hoped to be such under his auspices.
1By the division of the province of Nova Scotia the largest part of the old county of Cumberland was included in the province of New Brunswick.
2In a letter to Gen. Haldimand, dated July 21, 1784, Governor Parr requests a good strong horse to be sent him from Quebec, as he rides ‘better than seventeen stone,’ (say, 245 lbs).