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Saint Croix Courier, St. Stephen, NB
September 28, 1893

GLIMPSES OF THE PAST

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

LXXXIV – THE GRANTEES OF ST. ANDREWS-Continued.

In the list of grantees, published in our last issue, are several names that call for special mention.

Robert Pagan, one of the leaders of the St. Andrews Loyalists, was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and was born in 1750.  While still a young man, he carried on an extensive business in lumbering and ship-building at Falmouth, (now Portland,) Maine.  Remaining true to his sovereign, he was proscribed and banished.  As a business man, a representative in the provincial legislature, a colonel of militia, and a magistrate and judge in the local courts, he had an important influence in the conduct of affairs in this county in its early days.  He died at St. Andrews in 1821, leaving no children.  The pretty little inlet on the west side of Oak Bay, called Pagan’s Cove, or more properly Pagan’s Mill Cove, perpetuates his name.¹

Judge Pagan’s wife was a daughter of Jeremiah Pote, who was also a merchant of Falmouth, and was proscribed and banished for his loyalty.  He died in St. Andrews in 1796, at the age of seventy-one.

Thomas Wyer, another son-in-law of Jeremiah Pote, had been a customs officer at Falmouth.  He became first sheriff of Charlotte, and died in 1824, in the eightieth year of his age.

Daniel and James McMaster were doing business as merchants, in Boston before the war; but, because of their loyalty and obedience to the laws, they were compelled to leave.  One or both of them joined the British at Castine, and came here with the Penobscot Loyalists.  They carried on business in different parts of Charlotte county, and held positions of trust and honor.  Daniel married the only daughter of Rev. Samuel Andrews, first rector of St. Andrews.  One of the daughters of his brother James became the wife of Rev. Samuel Thompson, first rector of St. George.

Thomas Tompkins became a leading business man in St. Andrews.  He died in 1817, aged eighty.  His house stood on the hill top, on land now owned by Dr. Parker.

Dr. John Caleff, a short sketch of whose life was given with his story of the siege of Penobscot,² was a native of Ipswich, Mass.  He died at St. Andrews in 1812, aged eighty-seven.

The road leading north from St. Andrews over Mowatt’s hill was called the Anstruther road, after William Anstruther, who perhaps laid it out.  He is probably the same person as the Major Anstruther mentioned by Sabine.  He seems to have been a prominent man, and was one of the first magistrates of the county.

Capt. Osburne, the grantee of what we now call Minister’s Island, is said to be the same Capt. Osburne who, in the frigate Ariadne, cruised all winter in Passamaquoddy bay to protect the Loyalists from the Indians during the first year after their landing.  He was drowned at the mouth of the Digdeguash.³  Probably the Samuel Osburne of this list is the same person.

Others must be mentioned later.  Capt. Nehemiah Marks, who lived at St. Andrews during the winter of 1784-5, was the leader of another association, some account of which will be found in the next issue; the story of Matthew Thornton will furnish material for another chapter; Capt. John Jones, a man of remarkable appearance and character, and Moses Gerish, a graduate of Harvard, and an equally interesting personage, are more closely connected with the history of Grand Manan.

Some of the grantees of 1784 whose names are now unknown among us probably went back to their former homes after the repeal of the banishment acts; others went to England, or to other parts of the king’s dominions.  Whatever their fates, we honor their names for the motive which brought them here, to build up a town on the debateable territory and hold it for the British crown.

¹More extended notices of Judge Pagan and others mentioned in this article may be found in Sabine’s Loyalists of the American Revolution.

²Article li.

³Mr. Edward Jack.

Since the date of your publication of the account of the siege of Penobscot, a plan, giving all the details of position of forts and fleets at the scene of that important event has come into my possession.  It is on a large scale, and everything is shown with the most minute accuracy.  It was evidently compiled by an eye witness.  Although no name nor date is given, the letters G. R. occur on the water mark of the paper on which it is drawn.  From the marginal references given thereon, I copy the following:

‘10, British fort defended by Gen. McLean with 800, against the whole Rebel force amounting to 3,500 men.’

‘11, Albany, North and Nautilus defending the harbour.’

The numbers are the reference to similar numbers on the plan.

LIST OF REBEL FLEET.  

35 transports ordinance vessels, &c., taken and destroyed.

BRITISH FLEET.  

                                                                                                                                                                - Edward Jack.   

Corrections: Article LXXXVII contains the following correction to this article: "Thomas Tompkins was engaged in farming, not in commercial business."

Article XCVI contains the following correction to this article: "For the paragraph relating to William Anstruther, substitute, ‘William Anstruther, a Scotchman by birth, had held the rank of major in the Royal Garrison Battalion.  He was appointed a magistrate in 1785.  In 1787 he married Isabella McLeod, and shortly afterwards he seems to have left the province.  In 1802 he was in the island of Guernsey, as colonel in command of the Royal Independent Invalids.  Col. Anstruther sold all his property in Charlotte county to Robert Pagan."