HOME

Saint Croix Courier, St. Stephen, NB
October 19, 1893

GLIMPSES OF THE PAST

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

LXXXVI [sic - should be LXXXVII] – THE PORT MATOON ASSOCIATION-Continued.

Some of the Morristown grantees, no doubt, had applied for their lots as a matter of speculation; others, who had intended to become actual settlers, found themselves unable or unwilling to endure the hardships and privations of pioneer life, and therefore abandoned their lots, or sold them for a nominal sum to those who remained.

It would be difficult, and in some cases impossible, to trace the present ownership back to the original grantees.

Lot No. 1, of Jones Division, (the Dunbar lot,) was deeded on the 10th of January, 1786, from Archibald Murphy, of St. Andrews, to Alexander Gordon, of St. Stephen,¹ but the deed does not state how Murphy obtained his title to the lot.  At this time Dunbar and wife were still alive, and it would seem probable that they had sold their claim to Murphy.²

How the claim to an abandoned lot might be extinguished is seen in the following deed of gift of the adjoining lot:-

KNOW ALL MEN by these presents that I Nehemiah Marks of the Parish of Saint Stephen in the County of Charlotte and Province of New Brunswick Esquire, for divers good Causes and Considerations me thereunto moving-and from the Affection and Good will I bear to my Grandson John Nehemiah Marks Brewer, son of John Brewer of plantation Number four in Passamaquody in the County of Washington and Commonwealth of Massachusetts Esquire,³ and my Daughter Hannah Brewer his wife-have given and granted, and by these presents do freely and fully give, grant, confirm and convey unto the said John Nehemiah Marks Brewer, his Heirs and Assigns forever All that Lot of Ground situate lying and being in the Parish of Saint Stephen and County of Charlotte aforesaid-known and commonly described by the name of Garden Lot number two in Jones Division on the right being the same Lot which was given and granted by Letters patent under the Great Seal of the province of Nova Scotia unto James Wall-bearing Date on the sixteenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty four-and was since sold at public Auction-to pay for his Delinquency of Labour on the Highways in Saint Stephen-and was purchased by me-as by the said Grant and the Sheriff’s Deed of Sale to me bearing Date on the twenty first day of March One thousand seven hundred and ninety five remaining upon Record may more fully appear-

To have and to hold the said Lot Number two with all and singular the Rights, Members, priviledges and Appurtenances of any kind whatsoever thereunto belonging or in any wise appertaining unto the said John Nehemiah Marks Brewer, his Heirs and Assigns, and unto his and their only proper Use and Behoof forever.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal at Saint Stephen aforesaid, this nineteenth Day of July in the Year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety six, and in the thirty sixth Year of His Majesty’s Reign.

       NEHE’AH MARKS.

Signed sealed and delivered
in the presence of
PETER MCDIARMID
DUN’N CAMPBELL
OLIVER HOWARD

¹Mr. Arthur M. Hill has the original deed, among papers belonging to the estate of his grandfather, the late Aaron Upton, a later owner of the eastern part of said lot, on which the soap factory now stands.

²When the writer was a child there was a story current that the original owner sold the lot for a bottle of rum.

³General Brewer, of Robbinston, which township was then known as Plantation No. 4.

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

Article lxxxii.-The Passamaquoddy district court of 1784 was held at Campobello.  Mr. Raymond writes:-In his evidence before the Boundary Commissioners, Robert Pagan says he came to St. Andrews early in the year 1784, and that he held a commission as a magistrate under the government of Nova Scotia for the county of Sunbury; and that a court of general sessions of the peace was held on Campobello island under the government of Nova Scotia, at which he (Pagan) attended.  It is therefore clear that the Campobello courts, which ceased to be held during the Revolutionary war, were resumed at its close.

Article lxxxiv.-Thomas Tompkins was engaged in farming, not in commercial business.

Article lxxxvi.-Mr. Marks remembers being told that John Dunbar lived here, in a log house, for a year or more, and that the inhabitants were very glad when he left.

The foot note stating that the public landing was reduced to its present width by a grant to Aaron Upton in 1821 is incorrect and should be erased.  In 1831, (May 26,) the land at the foot of King street, together with a strip one chain and ninety-five links in width lying between Upton’s wharf and the street and extending to low water mark, was granted to the justices of the peace in trust for a public landing, having before considered as crown property.  The triangular strip reserved in the original grant was included in this, and now forms part of the width of Water street between the C. P. R. station and the Commercial hotel.

Correction: Article LXXXIX states that this one should have been numbered LXXXVII.