Saint Croix
Courier, St. Stephen, NB
June 22, 1893
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST
Contributions to the History of Charlotte County and the Border Towns.
LXXII – PENN’S FIELD.
There appears to be no existing record of the date of the arrival of the Pennfield colonists.
Their leader, Joshua Knight, came from Abbington, a suburb of Philadelphia. With other members of the society of Friends, he had sought protection in New York; and his abandoned property was confiscated by the Whig authorities.
Early in 1783, the following advertisement was published in New York:-
Notice is hereby given to those Belonging to the Society of people commonly called Quakers, and to those who have had a Birthright among them, and now wish to promote that Society, and have made A Return of their names in Order to be removed to the river St. Johns in Novascotia, that it is the request of some of that Society that they will call at No. 188 in Water street between the Coffee house Bridge and the fly market,1 where a mode of proceeding will be Proposed to them, which it is expected will be agreeable to them: in so doing they will oblige Several Well wishers to that Society.
In answer to the above, forty-nine persons agreed to settle on ‘the river St. Johns in Novascotia,’ and adopted the following regulations:-
Rules and regulations for the Government of the society of people called Quakers, who settle together on the river St. Johns Novascotia, to be entered in their book of records as a standing rule to them, and Kept inviolate by every Member of Said society-
Article 1st. that a proper Book be procured by said society in which their proceedings shall be recorded, and that a Clark be appointed annually to make a fair entry of the Same-
2nd. that every publick matter which concerns the society in general, shall be Determined by a Majority of votes of the members of the society who are arived to the age of Twenty one years.
3rd. that five persons belonging to said Society shall be appointed annually by the members of the Society, to hear and determine all complaints and controversies which May arise in Said society, and that any three of the Aforesd persons meeting Shall be a sufficient number to hear and determine in those cases
4th. that no slaves be either Bought or sold nor kept by any person belonging to Said society on any pretence whatsoever-
5th. that in case any dispute or complaint shall be Brought before the committee appointed for Setling complaints and Disputes by a person not Belonging to said society, it Shall be their duty to See Justice done to the Complainants as soon as possible-
6th. that no person belonging to the Said Society Shall be permited or have a right to Sell or Convey the lands aloted to him in said society to any person which the said Society Shall not approve of-
those regulations to remain in force until some others may take place-
The original memorandum of agreement is of such interest that we reproduce it in fac simile:-
[Joshua Knight, John Rankin, John Loofbourrow, Samuel Fairlamb, Gidn. Vernon, Amos Strickland, Evan Griffith, Joseph Tomlinson, John Strickland, Peter Price, Nathaniel Loufbourrow, Daniel Regester, Samuel Tomlinson, Peter Woltma(n), Abram Rankin, Samuel Stillwell, Joseph Thorne, Jeremiah Frith, Moses Winder, Thomas Buckley Junior, Thomas Buckley, John Burk, Edward Burk, Andrew Hamton, Benj. Brown, Richard Buffington, Jonathan Paul, John Dennis, Mathias Kizer, Richard Lawrence, Nimrod Woodward, Isaac Woodward, Jno. Hineham, Rachel Done, widow, Joseph Way, Daniel Southwick, Jon(athan) Remington, Gershom Remington, Richard Mathews, Abraham Wood Ward, Amos White, Jesse Walton, Anthony Woodward, Anthony Woodward, Junr., Abner Hamton, Wm. Reynolds, Robert Woodward, Jacob Woodward, George Fielder.]
This document was written fifty years before the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies, and eighty years before the emancipation proclamation in the United States. The fact that slavery then existed in New England, and that some of the New York Loyalists who settled in other parts of Nova Scotia brought slaves with them, makes its anti-slavery declaration the more remarkable.2
At a meeting of the society on the 5th day of June, 1783, it was agreed that three agents should be appointed to locate their lands; and Samuel Fairlamb, John Rankin and George Brown were selected for the purpose.
A month later the following advertisement appeared:-
Notice is hereby given to those of the people called Quakers who have entered into an agreement to settle together in Nova-Scotia that they are requested to meet at the house of Joshua Knight, No. 36 in Chatham-street, a little above the Tea-Water Pump, on Seventh Day next, the 5th of July, at four o’Clock Afternoon, in order to conclude upon some matters of importance to them; and those who mean to join the above-mentioned body are requested to call at No. 188, Water-street, between the Coffee-House Bridge and the Fly-Market, and have their names entered as soon as possible.
New York July 2, 1783.
They had reached their destination, as we have seen, before Oct. 12. The story of their journey, and of their arrival at Beaver Harbor, is unknown to the writer, and further information on the subject would be gladly received.
A vessel bringing the Quakers and their goods probably accompanied one of the later fleets sailing for St. John. It may be surmised that the agents had chosen Beaver Harbor as a place of settlement in preference to any lands they found available on the St. John river, and made their report to that effect when the ship arrived. If this were so, the same ship would probably have brought them to Beaver Harbor.3 Their new settlement was called ‘Penn’s Field,’ in honor of the founder of Pennsylvania.
The subsequent history of the settlement shows that lots were drawn by persons who never came, and that some who did come remained but a short time, and went away leaving their lots unimproved. Redistribution was made from time to time; and a list of grantees of certain lots in 1787 contains the following additional names:-
Samuel Stillwell, John Knight, Caleb Paul, Elias Wright, Moses Foulk, Benjamin Field Brown, John Gill, John Horner, James Harris, Joseph Parker, Jeremiah Fitz, Richard Mead, Jacob Buffington, Freeman Smith, Joshua Knight, jr., George Bennison, Jesse Woodward, jr., Evan Thomas, Robert Robbins, Samuel Woodward.4
Tradition says that the Pennfield settlers brought a considerable amount of property with them; but this appears doubtful, as we know that the colony received aid from friends in England.
1 The word, ‘Fly,’ in this name, is a corruption of the Dutch word ‘Vallei.’ The following note from Mrs. Lamb, editor of the Magazine of American History and author of the History of the City of New York, explains its use:-
The Fly Market was near the foot of what is now called Maiden Lane. It was a salt meadow with a creek running through it into the East River, when the market was established there. The Dutch word for valley was ‘v’lei’ – thus it was commonly styled the ‘V’lei-Market,’ and hence the corruption into ‘Fly-Market.’ Being on the East River it was a convenient place for meetings.-Martha J. Lamb.
2 ‘No slave master admitted,’ to my mind, makes that page one of the most magnificent in all our history, or in any history.-W. F. Ganong.
3 It seems to me not improbable that the Quakers left New York in a fleet of 26 sail under convoy of the Magician frigate of 40 guns and the Tarrier sloop of war, which sailed from Sandy Hook for different parts of Nova Scotia, on Saturday, July 12, 1783. In this case, they might have come to St. John, and, finding the delays in alloting grants, have removed, say in the month of August, to Beaver Harbor. It will be remembered that there was an inclination in the minds of St. John Loyalists to remove in considerable numbers to Passamaquoddy.-W. O. Raymond.
4 Early in the present century Elias Wright was living in Pennfield, at Beaver Harbor, as I have heard my father speak of stopping at his house there when on his way to Saint John. Jacob Buffington seems to have been a land surveyor, as I have often heard of Buffington’s lines, in the eastern part of Charlotte County.-E. Jack.
Correction: Article LXXX contains the following correction to this one: "In the list of names, for 'Hineham,' read 'Hinchman.'