'%-MM&''-^/'y HISTORY OF THE County of Annapolis is^^^^^fti ./',,^ ^-^ .^/i^^i^^^/'y'y'M^^'y^y^M'yM^X^^y-yy'y'^M^yy/iyy'yyyyi'^^^^ fyxmW mmmxi% §xMx^ BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND- THE GIFT OF _ .: Hcnrg m, Sage 1891 ^ ^ Cornell University Library F 1039A2 C16 ^'®?PiriyiiiiSlI„I&S„.FS''"*y °* Annapolls : inc olin 3 1924 028 897 639 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028897639 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ANNAPOLIS. Fort Anne Officers' quarters (standing). Barracks, biu-nt 1830, Site of block-house. Site of bomb-proof and brick barracks. Powder magazine. Entrance of Blac'.c Sally-port. Site of old prison. Old well. Queen's Wharf. Armoury. Places for heating shot. Bridge over moat. Site of old French wharf. Cemetery. Mapazine well. Site of old French barracks and mess-room. House built by Benj. .M. Goldsmith, and lonp •)C- cupied by Andrew (;il- nior, an old soldier of the fort. HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ANNAPOLIS INCLUDING OLD PORT ROYAL AND ACADIA, MEMOIRS OF ITS REPRESENTATIVES IN THE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT, AND BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES OF ITS EARLY ENGLISH SETTLERS AND THEIR FAMILIES. BY THE LATE W. A. QALNEK Member of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. EDITED AND COMPLETED BY A. W. SAVARY, M.A. AUTUOR OF THE " SAVERT GENEALOGY," Judge of tlie County Courts of Nova Scotia, Member of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, the Wiltshire (England) Archaeological Society, and the American Historical Association. ffitt^ ^ortrHits mxis Ulnsiratioirs. Salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia telhts, Magna mr0.m. —Virgil, Georg. Lib. ii. 173. TORONTO : WILLIAM BRIOGS, MONTREAL: C. W. COATES. HALIFAX: S. F. HUESTIS. LONDON : PHILLIMORE & CO., 36 Essex St., Strand. i8q7 h. Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven, by A. W. Savaby, at the Department of Agriculture. EDITOR'S PREFACE. From a draft prospectus of a " History of the County of Annapolis, its Townships and other Settlements from 1604 to 1867" among the papers of the late Mr. Calnek, I gather that he was led to attempt this work as an "historical essay" by the persuasion of the late T. B. Akins, Esq., D.C.L., Record Commissioner of Nova Scotia, who gave him free access to the "valuable collection of historical material in manuscript known as the Nova Scotia archives." He also consulted Champlain and L'Escarbot, and other early French writers, for the translation of which he expressed obligations to the late P. S. Hamilton, Esq. He soon became convinced that justice could not be done to the subject in a mere essay, and the work " gradually grew into the dimensions of a good-sized volume." As far as the work had then advanced toward completion, he sub- mitted it in 1875 to the governors of King's College, Windsor, and received for it the " Akins prize " for county histories. It then consisted •of Chapters I. to VIII., as here arranged, and what was intended for the first chapters of the histories of the townships of Annapolis, Granville, Wilmot and Clements, now forming Chapters X., XII., XIII. and XIV., w^ith the histories of the other settlements, here embraced in Chapter XV., and about a third of the biographical memoirs. His plan embraced every township and settlement in what is now the County of Digby, down to the division of the county in 1837, and the memoirs of the members from that county down to 1867. After 1875 he proceeded quite far in the completion of the remaining memoirs, leaving only about seven of those prior to 1837 untouched. The memoirs he afterwards determined to publish in a separate volume. He, later still, postponed indefinitely the completion of the history and memoirs, and proceeded to collect and put in order materials for a volume to be entitled " Biographical and Genea- logical Sketches of Early English Settlers in the County of Annapolis and their Descendants," which was nevertheless to be in form a " sequel to the history." For this book he took up a large subscription list. Previous to his death it was generally understood that this last work was near completion ; but it had evidently expanded on his hands to VI EDITORS PREFACE. very unexpected dimensions, and I found that a very large amount of research and labour was yet to be devoted to it. To bring the male descendants of each ancestor and their children down to the present generation, including every family that came before 1784, and remained and multiplied here, would have produced a volume of great bulk. I am quite sure that it was his intention to include sketches of the following families, besides those given : Amberman, Dunn, Felch, Merry, Pierce, and probably others. The biographical notes of each pioneer settler were, as a rule, quite extended, and in -almost every case very interesting, especially to his descendants ; but in no one instance was the genealogy of a family complete. When he died, I not only felt the loss of a gentleman with whom I was on the most agreeable terms, and with whom it was to me always a great delight to discuss the interesting story of old Annapolis ; but I was also keenly sensible of the misfortune the county and the reading public everywhere had sustained by the untoward interruption of the important work to which he had devoted so much time and labour. Not long after his death, the late Mr. R. S. McCormick, whose sudden and untimely death also the community has had lately to deplore, and who, in the press under his control, had done much to encourage and assist the lamented author, called on me to inquire if I would undertake to complete the work, or assist him and the deceased author's son, Mr. F. H. S. Calnek, of Westville, Pictou County, in trying to discover some one who would. Conscious of my inability to do it justice, and doubtful if I could spare the time from the imperative claims of official duty, I declined ; and it was not until two years or more had elapsed, and neither of us could think of any one who was willing or might be persuaded to assume the task, and I felt that the early publication of the work had become a necessity, that I communicated to the gentleman named my tardy and reluctant consent. On receiving the manuscripts and carefully examining them, I came near laying by the genealogies in utter despair; but soon found that to do so would grievously disappoint very many, for it was in them rather than in the history and memoirs that the local interest had mainly centred. I therefore resolved to include all the material intended for the three books in one, completing the history and memoirs, but compressing the biographical sketches, and curtailing the genealogies by confining them to the first two or three generations. To procure the material to fill up the blanks in the genealogies, and to correct the numerous errors unavoid- able in the original draft of such a work, and to rearrange and rewrite this matter so as to make it convenient for publication as a supplement to the history, involved enormous correspondence and the closest possible application for many months. This portion I was obliged to entirely EDITORS PREFACE. VU recast and remodel. I should say here that the etymology of the sur- names is almost always my own ; and so in the great majority of cases is the line of descent given from the immigrant ancestor, derived from genealogical publications recently issued. In the memoirs I have endeavoured to strike out anything already given in the earlier por- tions, intended for a separate book, but I regret to find that, in one instance, through an oversight, I have partially failed to do so. In other respects, except in the slight changes necessary to avoid an apparent anachronism, all Mr. Calnek's work is just as he left it. The result of my later discoveries in connection with early events is found in footnotes or appendix, and in " Additions and Corrections " in the concluding pages. The memoir of Judge Johnstone is an abbreviation of the one published by Mr. Calnek in pamphlet form in 1884. Voluminous notes of the author, from which he intended to com- plete the history, came into my hands, a rudis indigestaque moles, much of it only capable of intelligent use by its compiler ; and I have been obliged to make continual application to old records of various kinds at Halifax in order to bring down to date the history from the point where Mr. Calnek had left it. In this I have received the most cheerful and industrious assistance from Mr. Harry Piers, of the Legislative Library. In the genealogies I am equally indebted to Mr. William E. Chute, whose knowledge of Annapolis County family history is prodigious. To those two gentlemen I am under a very great obligation. To the following gentlemen also I am indebted : Rev. Dr. Willetts, President, and Rev. Professor Vroom, Librarian, of King's College, for placing the essay in the library at my disposal ; Dr. Charles Gray, of Mahone Bay, for some notes of his own, and a good deal of the matter recorded on page 180 ; Mr. Isaiah Wilson, author of a history of the County of Digby ; that most valuable institution, the N. E. Historic- Genealogical Society of Boston, and Mr. F. W. Parks, its assistant Librarian; Mr. W. H. Roach of this town, for accurate information always cheerfully afforded ; Mr. G. S. Brown, of Boston, author of a history of Yarmouth ; Rev. Anson Titus, of Tufts College, Massachusetts ; the military authorities in Halifax, for permission to search the military records there, and to Sergeant-Major Thomas, for making the searches ; Rev. Dr. Patterson, of New Glasgow, for important matter recently com- municated ; Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, for permission to use the illustration of Champlain's fort, from Bourinot's "Story of Canada" ; and Mr. Louis Whitman, C.E., for the plan of Fort Anne in the frontispiece. Nor must I omit the press of Annapolis and Digby counties, especially the Bridgetown Monitor. I further acknowledge substantial pecuniary assistance toward the cost of publication from Dr. Maurice Calnek, of Costa Rica, and the oifer of similar aid, if necessary, from Hon. J. W. Longley and C. D. Cory, Esq., of Halifax. vm EDITORS PREFACE. The books to which I am indebted are for the most part mentioned in the footnotes ; but I should especially add the " Chute Genealogies," "The Transactions of the N. S. Historical Society," "The N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register," Parkman's works, Archbishop O'Brien's "Life of Bishop Burke," Bill's "Fifty Years with the Baptists," Smith's "History of Methodism in Eastern British America," and Eaton's " History of the Church of England in Nova Scotia." I feel I have but imperfectly accomplished a task that should have fallen into abler and more practised hands ; but I venture to hope that the result of my labour may not be without interest and utility to the people of this county, and to the readers and students of history generally. W. A. CALNEK. The birth and ancestry of Mr. Calnek appears in the Calnek genealogy, page 485. He was educated at the Collegiate School, Windsor, N.S., but did not matriculate for the university. His pre- paratory education was excellent, but he had no knowledge of French. In early life he taught school, but later adopted land-surveying as a profession, and afterwards was for a number of years editor of county newspapers. Later, he resumed the work of land-surveying, and was, in 1872 and 1873, employed by the " Anticosti Colonization Company," in a responsible position on an exploratory survey of the Island of Anticosti. History, biography and genealogy had for him irresistible charms, and he was early a valued member of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. Intelligent application to authorities, the faculty of critical analysis, and a retentive memory were qualifications in which he was conspicuous, and which well fitted him for the task he had undertaken. I have no doubt completion of the work was in later years delayed by his failing health, as well as by the necessity of attending to his regular avocations. He was a man of genial and kindly disposition, and while of strong political convictions, moderate and considerate in his expression of them, a loyalist and patriot to his heart's core, and a gentleman at all times and everywhere. The circumstances attending his death are stated in the following obituary notice from the Bridgetown Monitor, of Wednesday, June 15, 1892 : " This community was greatly shocked on Monday evening by tlie announcement that Mr. Wm. A. Calnek, well and favourably known throughout the entire county and province at large, had suddenly fallen from a chair in the store of John Lockett, Esq., and almost Instantly expired. During the afternoon Mr. Calnek had been driven to town by a friend from Clarence, at whose residence he had passed the preceding night, and intended taking the afternoon express for Paradise, at which EDITORS PREFACE. ix point he had been engaged to do some land-surveying. Not arriving in time to make the connection he decided to remain until the foUovi^ing day, and spent the remainder of the afternoon in calling on his intimate friends about town, repairing to the Revere House at six o'clock, where he partook of tea. To all appearances he was in his usual health, though he had informed one or two parties with whom he had conversation, that he rather over-exerted himself on Saturday, and as he ex- pressed it, thought he was threatened on Sunday night with an attack of pneu- monia, as he had laid on his bed in a state of great restlessness which was attended by considerable pain about the chest. " After tea he proceeded to Medical Hall for the purpose of purchasing a bottle of medicine, but finding it closed, stepped across the street into the store of John Lockett, Esq., with whom he was enjoying a social chat, when his eyes suddenly became fixed, and an instant afterwards he fell to the floor. Mr. Lockett at once called J. G. H. Parker, Esq., who happened to be passing, into the store, and he was followed by his brother-in-law, James Primrose, D. D. S. , when the unfortunate man was laid on the counter, and everything done for his comfort and relief. Dr. DeBlois was soon on the spot, and every possible effort made to restore life, all of which proved fruitless. Throngs of people had in the meantime gathered about the head of the street, and many were the expressions of deep regret and sympathy when it was found that life was extinct. "Mr. Calnek, as stated, was widely known, greatly respected, and was looked upon by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance as one of the most brilliant and intellectual Nova Scotians of the day. A large portion of his early life was spent in the publication of newspapers, and we believe he was the first to establish a newspaper — the Western News — in this, his native county. As a poet he has gained for himself many flattering encomiums, and as a writer, historian and scholar, he was recognized as one of the clever men of the period. His facile pen has contributed many articles to some of the leading magazines and other prominent publications now being issued, all of which have displayed rare literary ability. " Mr. Murdoch, the accomplished author of the well-known " History of Nova Scotia," deemed the " /?i menioriam stanzas " written by Mr. Calnek, " to the memory of Henry Godfrey, commander of the privateer Rover, who died in Jamaica in 1803,'' worthy of being perpetuated in his book, where they will be found in the Appendix to Chapter XVI. of Vol. III., page 200. CONTENTS. Chapter I.— 1604-1613. PAGE Voyage and explorations of Demonts — His resolve to settle at Port Royal — Joined by Pontgrav^ with more colonists — His return to France— Comes back with the lawyer and poet L'Escarbot and more emigrants — Life at the fort — First ship and mill built — The Indian Chief Membertou — Poutrinoonrt goes to Paris and returns to Port Royal — Conversion and baptism of Indians — Destruction of the fort and settlement by Argall 1 Chapter II.— 1613-1686. Biencourt and some colonists remain — Sir W. Alexander and the Scotch fort — The De la Tours — Razilli— D'Aulnay de Charnisay— Quarrels and war between him and Latour — Takes Latour's fort — His death — Le Borgne — Capture of Port Royal and its restoration — La Vallifere — Perrot — Census — Names of French colonists ... . . 16 Chapter III.— 1686-1705. Menneval appointed Governor — Capture of Por,t Royal by Phipps— Piratical raid — Villebon returns and takes possession — His death — Brouillan Governor — Discords, jealousies and scandals — Seigniory of Port Royal granted to Latour's heirs — Colonel Church's invasion — Death of Brouillan . 37 Chapter IV.— 1705-1710. Subercase Governor — Attack from Massachusetts under Colonel March — Events and vicissitudes of the siege — The English withdraw with heavy loss — Ordered to return — The struggle renewed — English again discom- fited — They retire — Diary of the expedition by a Chaplain — Bomb- proof powder magazine built and barracks finished — Final capture of Port Royal by Nicholson .47 Chapter V.— 1710-1732. Vetch the first English Governor — Aoadians ■ complain of his treatment of them — Seek aid from the Governor of Canada to leave — Bloody Creek — Nicholson Governor — Queen Anne's letter — Census of 1714 — Phillipps Governor — Council appointed — Mascarene's description of the town — XU (!ONTENTS. PAHE Attacks by Indians — Civil court estaljlislied — A clerical scandal-^ Treaty with the Indians -Armstrong Lieut. -Governor — Doucet's death —French take qualified oath — Commission of the Peace— Cosby Lieut. - Governor — Phillipps returns to the seat of Go\'ernment — Again leaves — Armstrong Lieut. -Governor — Land grants . . 63 Chapter VL— 1732-1742. Acadians troublesome — Petty crimes in the tovfn — Police established — Arm- strong's hostility to Winniett — He discusses the claim of Latour's family — Mrs. Buckler's strange story — Grant of township of Norwich — Suicide of Armstrong — Mascarene returns — Cold and scarcity — Death of Winniett and Cosby ... ... . . 82 Chapter VII.— 1742-1746. Mascarene's description of town and fort — He becomes Governor of both — War with France — Le Loutre leads the Indians in an attack — Invests the town — Du Vivier's formidable attack — He fails to terrify the neutrals into joining him— Skirmishes and proposals for capitulation — He raises the siege — Marin's weaker attempt — Position and conduct of Acadians — Naval defensive measures . . 97 Chapter VIIL— 1746-1756. Ramezay invests Annapolis — Mascarene reinforced — Noble's force at Grand Pre surprised and out to pieces — Arrest of twelve French traitors wanted — Morris' proposal to settle English families between the Acadian settlements — Peace — Halifax founded by Cornwallis — Becomes the capital — Acadians refuse to take unqualified oath— Ask leave to depart — Leave refused — How's treacherous murder — Lawrence Gov- ernor — French at Annapolis again ask leave to retire — Their sudden seizure and dispersion .... . 109 Chapter IX. The seizure and dispersion of the Acadians reviewed and considered lil Chapter X.— THE TOWNSHIP OF ANNAPOLIS.— 1755-1775. Description of the township — Evans' journal — Passengers by the Charming Molly— Census of 1768 and 1770— State of township in 1763— Social aspects, 1770-80 — Appendix — Names of grantees in grant of 1759 . 145 CH.A.PTER XL— TOWNSHIP OF ANNAPOLIS, CONCLUDED. Loyalist refugees arrive— Invasion of the town in 1781 — The Loyalists — A plot to rob and mui-der in 1785 — Capitation tax list of 1792— Court-house and jail — Town officers, 1797 — Description of the town in 1804— The same in 1826— Its antiquity — The fort— Churches — Old buildings — The fire record — Kevived prosperity — Appendix — A remarkable prayer — Verses— Relics— The Goldsmiths — The " Rising Village " . . 161 CONTENTS. Xlli Chapter XII.-THE TOWNSHIP OF GRANVILLE. PAGE- Description — Grants Issued — Settlers arrive— Names of grantees — Census of 1767 and 1770— Names of early settlers and their families— The Patten- Farnsworth feud — Representation of the county— River fisheries — The Shaw enibroglio— Names of militiamen — Arrival of Loyalists — Roads to Bay of Fundy — Shaw and Millidge election — Disputes about the fisheries — Bridgetown . . 192. Chapter XIIL— THE TOWNSHIP OF WILMOT. Description — Grant to Philip Richardson — General Ruggles— Grant of 1777 — Loyalists and settlers from Granville — Capitation taxpayers, 1792-94 — New Grants — Letters of Surveyor-General Morris — Colonel Bayard- Melancholy event at Reagh's Cove— Fires — New Roads — Bridges — Returns of cultivated land imder Bounty Act, 1806-7 — Petition for union with Aylesford in a new county — Middleton — Torbrook and Tor- brook mines — Margaretsville ......... 225 Chapter XIV.— THE TOWNSHIP OP CLEMENTS. Grant of the township — Villages — Names and notices of grantees and settlers — Capitation tax list of 1791 — New families — The herring fishery — Allain's River bridge— Bear River, past and present — Notes by the Editor on the place names ....... . 243 Chapter XV. -LATER SETTLEMENTS. Dalhousie — Lots granted — Return of settlers in 1820 — Fatal quarrel — Families of early settlers — A foul murder — Maitland — The Kemptons — Early grantees — Northfield — Delong settlement — Perrott settlement — Rox- bury — Bloomington — New Albany — First grantees of — Statement of settlement, 1817 — Springfield— Falkland — Lake Pleasant . . . 260' Chapter XVL— HISTORY OF THE COUNTY AT LARGE, CONTINUED. Roads and bridges — Mail communications and facilities for travel improving — War of 1812 — Sundry events — Election of 1836 — Division of the county — Politics of the county — Responsible government — J. W. Johnstone — The college question — Recent politics — Appendix — W. H. Ray — Remarkable storms and weather — Executions in the county — A sad event 282; Chapter XVIL— RELIGION AND THE CHURCHES IN THE COUNTY. Roman Catholic — Church of England — Congregationalist — Baptist — Methodist — Presbyterian — Adventists . 295- Chapter XVIII. Lists of public officers — Justices of the Peace— Members of the Legislature, etc. — Census statistics— The apple trade 309' XIV CONTENTS. BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS PAGE Of members of the Provincial Parliament for the county of Annapolis and its several townships, from the year 1759 to the year 1867 . • . 323 BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES Of the families of the early English settlers and grantees of the county of Annapolis, arranged alphabetically, Armstrong to Young . 465 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. Full names of Demonts and others — More about the Masonic stone — Biencourt's alleged death in Acadie discussed — Further account of Masoarene — Proscription of Loj'alist women — List of loyal companies at Annapolis — Grand jury, 1797 — Demolition of block-house — First responsible Executive — Further particulars of the political strife, 1843 to 1847, in Annapolis county — Further list of magistrates — Phineas and James R. Lovett, M.P.Ps. — Moody's sword — Further notes on Barclay, the Ritchies, and Bass, Berteaux, Chipman and Clark families . . . 641 ILLUSTRATIONS. Fort Anne, Annapolis Royal Frontispiece OPPOSITE PA8K Champlain's Plan op Port Koyal, 1605 (from Bourinot's "Story of Canada," by permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York) 6 Paul Mascarene . . . . . Sir William Fenwick Williams Sir William J. Ritchie Fort and part op the Town in 1829 The Old Court-house Judge James W. Johnstone Rev. James Robertson Rev. Robert A. Chesley . Col. James De Lanoey Judge Thomas Ritchie Judge T. C. Haliburton Rev. James J. Ritchie Rev. Abraham Spurr Hunt The Old " Williams House " 93 159 177 183 286 289 299 306 342 394 418 576 606 629 ERRATA. Page 82, 4th line of the title, for "■ Mascarene " read " Cosby." " 164, line 25, for "officers" read "officer." " 180, line 12, for " this " read " their." " 183, line 33, for "1878 "read "1881." (See page 646.) " 307, line 11, for "Wm. M." read "Charles M." " 311, between lines 4th and 5th from the bottom, read " 1816. County, Cereno U. Jones, in place of Peleg Wiswall." " 315, line 29, opposite "Perkins, Rev. Cyrus," for "Immigrant" read "Loyalist." " 396, line 30 (15th from bottom), for "10th " read " 13th." " 480, line 17, for "Elizabeth " read "Martha." " 490, line 34, strike out here the words " by second wife," and read them between 8th and 9th lines from the bottom, before " xii. Thomas Holmes." " 580, line 8, after " Mayberry " read " nee Bruce." FURTHER ERRATA. Page 475, 12th line from the bottom, for "Asa'' read "Abel." " 491, 16th line from the bottom, for "1792 " read " 1720," " 501, line 23, for "Jane" read "Isaac." " 502, line 12. for " 1787 " read " 1797." " 505, line 4, for "Catharine" read "Elizabeth"; line 19, for "Miss Baker" read "Ann Robinson"; line 22, for "1820" read " 1821 "; line 25, for "Allan" read "Alline." " 515, 11th line from bottom, should read "vi. Henry, b. 1797, d. 1869, m. Mary Bent, had 6 or 7 ch., all living near Annapolis." " 516, line 21, for " d. unm." read " m. Maria, dau of. R. Leslie Hardwick." " 553, line 11, for "Newton" read " Morton." " 556, line 26, for "country" read "county." " 571, 16th line from bottom, for "Richard J." read "Richard, jun." " 581, line 14, for " — Parkman" read "J. D. Parkinson, of Forest Glen, Maryland." " 593, 8th line from bottom, "Elizabeth G., dau. of Joseph Rice," should be "Elizabeth S., dau. of James Rice." (See p. 571.) " 602, 7th line from the bottom, for " Obadiah Moore " read " Obadiah Morse." " 619, 13th line from bottom, between "Jane" and "Ditmars" read "dau. of George Vroom, and wid. of Isaac." " 620, after line 17, add " vi. Lemma, m. Isaac Ditmars." " 623, line 21, for "George" read "David" (See p. 504.); line 22, for "young" read "aged, unm." " 625, line 4, for " memoir " read " memoirs." " 626, 5th line from bottom, after "dau. of" and before "Edward" read ''Ebenezer, and sister of"; 4th line from bottom, for " Osmond " read " Esmond." " 627, line 2, for " Edward " read " Edmund Spurr." " 639, lines 27, 31 and 32, transfer Chalmers from ch. of Elisha to ch. of Isaac Woodbury, jun. " 640, line 7, for •" James " read " Edward M." HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. CHAPTER I. 1604-1613. Voyage and explorations of Demonts — His resolve to settle at Port Royal Joined by Pontgrav^ with more colonists — His return to France — Comes back with the lawyer and poet L'Escarbot and more emigrants — Life at the fort — First ship and mill built — The Indian Chief Membertou — Poutrinoourt goes to Paris and returns to Port Royal — Conversion and baptism of Indians — Destruction of the fort and settlement by Argall, WHAT memories cluster around the basin of old Port Royal ! What visions of brave hearts and strong hands, of adventurous enterprise and religious zeal, of toil and hardship, and of alternate suc- cess and failure rise before the mind at the mention of its name ! It was beside its waters that the first permanent settlement was made by European immigrants in this great Canadian dominion. Three years before a white man's hut had been built on the site of Quebec, a fort and village were to be found upon its shores, and the problem of the cultiva- tion of Acadian soil had been successfully solved by the production of both cereal and root crops. Its waters also received on their smiling bosom the first vessel built on the Continent, and the first mill con- structed in North America was built on a stream whose limpid waters found their way into its hill-surrounded and protected reservoir. Its shores, too, witnessed the first conquest made by Christianity, in the conversion of the brave and friendly old Indian sachem, Membertou, and there also echoed the first notes of poetic song heard in British America — sung in honour of the founder of the French dominion in the New World. Its shores formed, for more than one hundred years, the centre of civilization and progress in Acadie — a civilization that was to extend to the valleys of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence ; and its waters were reddened by the first blood shed in the long and fiercely contested struggle between France and England for the possession of the Continent. These and many other facts and incidents connected with its early days and history, make this locality of especial interest to every 1 2 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Canadian, no matter to what province he may belong, or from what lineage he may have descended. According to the most reliable accounts it was probably about the middle of June, 1604, that Demonts and his associates with their vessels entered the Annapolis Basin, and it is more than likely they were the first Europeans whose eyes had rested on the glorious picture presented by the natural features of that deUghtful locality. The ships which conveyed the adventurers to the scene of their future settlement, sailed from Havre-de-Grace, on the 7th of March, 1604, and reached Lahave after a voyage of one month's duration. From this place they proceeded to the harbour of Liverpool, from which, after having confiscated the vessel of a trader — whose name, Rosignol, is still perpetuated in the name of one of the lakes in Queens County — they sailed onward to Port Mouton, where they landed and remained nearly a month, awaiting the arrival of another ship of the expedition laden with supplies. During this interval Demonts* and his secretary, Rallieu, accompanied by Champlain and a few others, among whom was D' Aubrey, a priest, proceeded in a boat, or patache, along the coast westwardly to Cape Sable, thence northwardly through St. Mary's Bay and Petite Passage, into the Bay of Fundy, and thence eastwardly to the strait leading into Port Pioyal Basin, through which they passed into it, though it does not appear that they then explored its extent. It was during this little exploratory voyage that the priest managed to lose himself in the forest of Meteghan.f Having seen enough of the beauties of the basin to induce them to pay it another visit, they hastened their return to the ship at Port Mouton, from which— the storeship having arrived — they set sail again and made for St. Mary's Bay, and on their arrival in its waters, they were rejoiced at discovering the priest who had strayed from his friends seventeen days before. The joy felt by the Huguenots of the party was most animated, as they had been charged, tacitly at least, with having murdered him. They then proceeded through the strait before named into the bay, and thence to Port Royal Basin, which it had been determined to explore more fully. *"Oii the ]9th of May, 1604, Demonts, with Rallieu, his secretary, and ten others left Port Mouton while he awaited the arrival of Morel's ship, sailed along the coasts into the Bay of Fundy and into Annapolis Basin, and returned to Port Mouton about the middle of June, and on the next day the expedition sailed towards the ha.j."— Maine Hist. Society Coll., Vol. VIII., 1876. 1 1 do not know our author's authority for the statement that this happened at Meteghan. According to Murdoch and Haliburton it was while they were search- ing for ores that the missing priest was found, and therefore it must have been on Digby Neck or Long Island that he was lost, for it was there that they had seen traces of the iron known to exist, especially on the Neck. According to Halibur- ton, they only sailed from the east to the west side of the peninsula during the seventeen days between the time of his loss and his discovery, filling up most of the time in searches for their missing companion. — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 8 Taking the above dates and delays into consideration, it will appear that Demonts reached the site of Port Royal, on the second visit, about the middle of June, when the forest buds were about bursting into full leaf, and the white blossoms of the Amelanchier, or Indian plum, exhibited their showy petals with pride, as the earliest gift of Flora to the newly borji summer. It was, indeed, a beautiful view which presented itself to the eyes of these adventurous Europeans. As they passed up the basin, on the left hand they beheld a range of hills, rising somewhat abruptly to an average height of from four to six hundred feet above the level of the river, and separating its valley from the Bay of Fundy. These hills were then densely clad with primeval forest trees. The beech and the birch — two varieties of the former and three of the latter — six species of maples, two of elm, two of ash, with a great variety of evergreens, embracing pines, spruces, firs and larches, in one unbroken wilderness exhibited their various forms over a vast extent of landscape. On their right they saw another range of hills extending in a generally parallel direction, but less abrupt in appearance, sloping gradually upward as far as their sight could reach, with here and there a depression, through which streams of greater or lesser magnitude flowed northwardly into the waters over which they were sailing. These heights and slopes were also crowned and clothed with a similar forest, and as entirely unbroken. Looking to the westward, the strait or channel through which they had entered this charming basin being entirely hidden from their view, they saw another range of hills separat- ing it from the head waters of St. Mary's Bay, also covered with a continuous forest, and on the eastern face of which, just one hundred and eighty years afterwards, the ill-starred American Loyalists founded the beautiful town of Digby. In the direction in which they were moving, a forest, situated on level and less elevated land, bounded their view and seemed to bar their further progress. On landing they soon learned that they had cast anchor before a cape or headland, formed by a spur of the south mountain, which, at this point, protrudes itself into the head of the basin and compresses the river — to which they gave the name of L'Equille — into very narrow limits — limits so contracted, indeed, that this part of the stream is to this day emphatically termed "The Narrows." They seemed to have remained in the basin for a very few days only, long enough, however, to gain a very favourable impression of the place as possessing many of the desirable requisites for a permanent settlement. Having made these observations they sailed into the bay again, along the shores of which they coasted eastwardly as far as Minas Basin, where they tarried a few days to examine its extent, coasts and surroundings. From this place they directed their course to the northern shores of the bay, and thence 4 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. westwardly to the mouth of the great river which discharged its waters at a point nearly due north from the strait leading into the basin of Port Royal, where they arrived on the twenty-fourth day of June, on the festival of St. John, on which account the river received its name. After a little delay they pursued their course westward to Passama- quoddy Bay, where, on a small island, which they .named St. Croix, they fixed their winter-quarters. This island seems to have been near the mouth of the river now bearing the same name, and to have been separated from the mainland by a narrow channel only; and it must have been a very small one, for L'Escarbot says, that among the " three special discommodities " suffered by Demonts and his friends during the ensuing winter, was a " want of wood, for that which was in the said isle was spent in building," which could not have been said if the island had been of considerable size. It is not necessary to detain the reader by reciting the doings or sufferings of Demonts and his party during the long and inclement winter of 1604-5. In the spring, Champlain* tells us : "Sieur Demonts decided upon a change of place, and upon making another habitation in order to escape the rigours of climate which we had experienced at Isle St. Croix. Having found no other fulfilling these requirements, and there being little time remaining for us to build suitable residences, two vessels were equipped and fitted out with the woodwork of the houses at St. Croix, to take the same to Port Royal, at twenty -five leagues distance, which was considered a, milder and much more pleasant place of residence. Le Pontgravi and I set out to go there, where, having arrived, we sought a spot suitable as a place to build and sheltered from the north-west wind, with which we considered that we had been already too much tormented." Before proceeding to relate the events which followed the resolution to remove to Port Eoyal, I will let Champlain describe that basin as he saw it in 1604. He says : " We entered one of the most beautiful ports which I had seen on these coasts, where two thousand vessels could be anchored in safety. The entrance is eight hundred paces in width. Then we entered a harbour which is two leagues in length and one in breadth, which I have named Port Koyal, into which descend three rivers, one of which is large, flowing from the east, called the Eiver L'Equille, that being the name of a fish of the size of a smelt, which is fished there in quantity, as they also do herring and many other kinds of fish which abound in their season. That river is near a quarter of a league wide at its entrance, where there is an island, which may compass near a league in circuit, covered with wood as is all the rest of the land — as pines, firs, spruces, birches, aspens and some oaks, which mix in small numbers with the other timber. There are two entrances to the river, one north and one south of the island. That to the north is the best, and vessels * Champlain accompanied Demonts in this expedition as "Royal Geographer," and was an eye-witness of what he relates. This and a few succeeding extracts are taken from Lavidiere's "Champlain," Chapter X. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 5 can there anchor under shelter of the island at five, six, seven, eight and nine fathoms of water, but one must take care of the flats which extend from the island." Nearly every writer who has described the events of the initial period of our history, has fallen into the error of representing them as having transpired on the site of the present town of Annapolis ; but a reference to the writings of Champlain and L'Esoarbot, and to the maps they made of the basin and its surroundings, makes it very evident that the spot selected for the first settlement was on the Granville shore, and a little to the ea.stward of Goat Island, which is still known as the locus of the old Scotch fort of 1621-31. In Champlain's map of the fort or stockade, and basin of Port Royal, the River Imbert — now absurdly called Bear River — is named St. Antoine ; what is intended for Riviere d'Orignal — now Moose River — is called Ruisseau de la Roche or Rock Brook ; and the now miscalled Lequille is simply called Mill Brook. In L'Escarbot's map what is now known as Goat Island — not named in Champlain's map — ^is called Biencourtville, in honour of Poutrincourt's son Biencourt. Both maps represent the fort on the spot above named, and both writers affirm the same thing. Champlain says : " After having searched from side to side we could find no spot more suitable and better situated than a slightly isolated place around which are some marshes and good springs. This place is opposite the island, which is at the entrance of the River L'Equille. To the north, at the distance of a league, there is a range of mountains which extend nearly ten leagues north-east and south-west. The whole country is filled with very dense forests, except a point which is a league and a half up the river where there are scattered oaks, and a quantity of a species of wild vine, which place could be easily cleared and put under tillage, although the soil is poor and sandy.* We had almost resolved to build at this place, but we considered that we should have been too far within the port,t and up the river, which caused us to change our opinion. " Having recognized the site of our habitation as a good one, we commenced to clear the land, which was covered with trees, and to put up the houses as rapidly as possible — every one was thus employed. After everything was put in order, and the greater part of the buildings done, Sieur Demonts thought of returning to France in order to represent to His Majesty what was needful to be done for the enterprise. To command in his place in his absence he would have left Pierre d'Orville ; but home-sickness, with which he was troubled, would not allow him to satisfy Sieur Demonts' desire, which was how it happened that Pontgrav^ was spoken to, and he was given in charge, which was agreeable to him, and he under- took the work of completing the buildings. I, at the same time, resolved to remain there too, in the hope that I should be able to make some discoveries in the direc- tion of Florida, Sieur Demonts agreeing thereto. " * This was undoubtedly the " cape," or present site of Annapolis. 1 1 should prefer the word " harbour " for " port " where it occurs in the trans- lation of this document. — [Ed. ] 6 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. L'Escarbot (Div. IV., Chap. VIII.) says : "They chose their dwelling place opposite an island, which is at the entrance of the River L'Equille, now called the River Dauphin. It was called L'Eqiiille because the first fish they caught there was an equille. " Pontgrav^, who had spent the winter in France, returned to St. Croix about the time Demonts had resolved to make Port Royal the scene of his contemplated settlement, with an addition of forty men to join the new colony, and a considerable quantity of supplies. Soon after his arrival he was ordered to superintend the removal of the colonists and their effects, A work in which he was assisted by Champlain, who accom- panied him to the basin, in advance of the ships bearing the woodwork of the dwellings they had used the past winter, to aid him in the selec- tion of a site for their re-erection. They finally determined upon a spot near what they called the mouth of the river, opposite Goat Island, in Granville ; and when the vessels reached the port they were ordered to that point to discharge their cargoes, and the work of founding a per- manent settlement was immediately begun and rapidly carried forward. When the work of building was fairly advanced, Demonts announced his intention to return to France to make further arrangements for the safety and welfare of his enterprise. He appointed Pontgrave to be his deputy during his absence, and, accompanied by his friends Poutrincourt and D'Orville, Rallieu, his secretary, and a few others, he sailed for France, promising to return in the spring with additional men and supplies. Champlain and Champdore, the former of whom was three years later to become the founder of Quebec, remained to aid and assist Pontgrav^ in finishing the preparations necessary for the coming winter, which was now near at hand. Friendly relations were soon established with the Indians, who readily parted with their furs, game, and other articles of trade for such commodities as they were offered in exchange. The winter, no doubt, seemed long and dreary enough to the adventurers, who remembered with a shudder the miseries which some of them endured at St. Croix a year before, but by comparison there was less suffering now than then, a fact that was not without its consolations. Only six of their number died before the spring had fully opened. The labour of grinding their corn in hand-mills, insufficient surface drainage, and the drinking of snow water may be assigned as the predisposing causes of this mortality. To these may perhaps be added the fact that their huts had been hastily erected, and proved inadequate as a defence against the severity and changefulness of the winter. In the spring of 1606, Pontgrave fitted out a vessel which had been kept at Port Royal during the preceding winter, with the intention of exploring the coasts southward in order to find a better site for settle- ment — a situation where the winters would be less long and severe ; but CHAMPLAINS PLAN OF PORT ROYAL IN ACADIA IN 1605. f \Key to illustration : A, Workmen's dwelling ; B, Platform for cannon ; C, Store- house ; D, Residence for Champlain and Pontgrav^ ; E, Blacksmith's forgje ; F, Palisade; G, Bakehouse; H, Kitchen; I, Gardens: K, Burying ground; L, The river ; M, Moat; N, Dwelling; of Demonts ; and O, Ships' storehouse. (From " The Story of Canada." New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons.) HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 7 having been frustrated in his attempts by a long continuance of adverse winds, he relinquished his designs, and the supplies which Demonts had promised to send out early this summer not having come to hand, nor any tidings concerning them having been received, he turned his attention to shipbuilding. He constructed two small vessels, "a barque and a shal- lop," which were intended to be used in conveying the colonists to Canseau or Isle Royale, where it was possible he would fall in with French ships, ■ in which to transport the settlers back to France if, in consequence of the non-arrival of the required supplies, he should find it necessary to abandon the settlement. His was the first shipyard established in North America, and the vessels which he launched from it were the first built on this continent. Poutrincourt, who had gone home with Demonts in the autumn of the preceding year, induced Marc L'Escarbot, an advocate of Paris, to join the adventurers at Port Royal, and from his writings we glean very much of our knowledge of the events which occurred there at this period. These, in conjunction with some merchants of Eochelle, procured a ship named the Jonas, in which they sailed for Acadie, on the 13th of May, 1606. After a long and tedious voyage, on the 27th of July they reached their destination, where they found only two men, who had been placed in charge of the buildings and property left by Pontgrav^ on his departure homeward, with the remainder of the inhabitants some weeks before, in the new vessels he had built. He returned, however, a short time after the arrival of the Jonas, having been accidentally informed by some fishermen whom he met, that that ship had passed Canseau on her way out. Soon after the arrival of Poutrincourt, he made active preparations for clearing away the forests, with a view to agricultural operations, and at the same time commenced repairing the buildings on the site of the new town. The Jonas brought out a number of new immigrants and considerable fresh supplies, which was a matter of much rejoicing. L'Escarbot was delighted with Port Royal, " its fair distances and the largeness of it, and the mountains and hills that environ it,'' and his admiration afterwards found vent in verses written in their honour. The priests who had come out with the expedition of 1604 having returned to France, and Poutrincourt having, in the haste of departure, neglected or failed to secure the services of others, the settlers were without religious guides. In their absence L'Escarbot assumed the duties of catechist and teacher, and as such strove successfully to impart to the Indians in the neighbourhood a knowledge of the Christian religion ; and his efibrts paved the way for their ultimate conversion. During this summer Poutrincourt made an exploratory voyage down the American coast, as far as Cape Cod. He was accompanied by his son Biencourt, Dupont Grave, Daniel Hay, an apothecary, and several others. 8 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Five young men, having landed, were attacked by the Indians, when three of them were killed and the others wounded. One of the latter died from the effects of his wounds, but not until after his return to Port Royal, on the 14th of November. The survivors were greeted on their arrival with much enthusiasm and great rejoicing. L'Escarbot, who, as we have already seen, was a poet as well as an advocate, wrote verses in honour of the occasion. These verses were the first uttered in this Dominion in any European language. The rejoicings over, the chiefs paid a visit to the corn-fields which they had previously sown on lands situated on the peninsular cape on which the town of Annapolis now stands. This visit was productive of great pleasure to them, as the growth of the grain since the period of being sown pointed to a future, not far distant, when they would be relieved from the necessity of seek- ing their food supplies from the Mother-land. This was the initial step made in farming in North America. This year (1606) also witnessed the construction of the first limekiln, and the erection of the first smith's forge, and charcoal for the use of it was first manufactured at this time also. The first efforts at road-making were also put forth in this year. The winter of 1606-7 seems to have been passed very pleasantly and agreeably by the denizens of the fort on the Granville shore. The chiefs formed themselves into a sort of club to which they gave the title, "Order of Good Times." This Order consisted of fifteen members who were furnished with regalia and other insignia of office, and forms of observance were instituted for the guidance of its proceedings. Each member in turn became the caterer to his brethren, a plan which excited so much emulation among them that each endeavoured to excel his pre- decessor in office, in the variety, profusion and quality of the viands pro- cured for the table during his term of office. Game was captured in the surrounding country by their own efforts or bought from the friendly Indians who had killed it. Parkman* says : " Thus did Poutrincourt's table groan beneath the luxuries of the winter forests, iiesh of moose, caribou and deer, beaver, otter and hare, bears and wild-cats, with ducks, geese, grouse and plover ; sturgeon, too, and trout and fish innumerable, speared through the ice of the Equille, or drawn from the depths of the neigh- bouring sea." Quoting L'Escarbot, he adds : " And whatever our gourmands at home may think we found as good cheer at Port Royal as they in Paris, ajid that, too, at a cheaper rate." Parkman continues : ' ' The brotherhood followed the Grand Master, each carrying a dish. The invited guests were Indian chiefs, of whom old Membertou was daily present at * See Volume I., pp. 243, 244. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 9 table with the French, who took pleasure in the red-skin companionsh'ip ; those of humbler degree, warriors, squaws and children, sat on the floor or crouched together in the corners of the hall eagerly awaiting their portion of biscuit or of bread, a novel and much coveted luxury." This little Round Table band included several distinguished names in its membership. Poutrincourt, now the lord of the Manor of Port Royal, its real founder, occupied the first place. Champlain, the founder of Quebec two years later, and the historian of many of the events we have before recorded; Biencourt, the unfortunate son and successor of Poutrin- court j L'Bscarbot, advocate, poet and historian of this early period iii the history of Acadie ; Louis Hebert, one of the first settlers of Quebec a few years later ; Robert Grav^, Champdore, and Daniel Hay, the surgeon- apothecary — the first of his profession who had a medical practice in the Dominion of Canada — are a,ll known to have spent this winter on the shores of Port Royal, and to have been members of this, the first social club organized in North America. Though the winter had been a mild one four of the settlers died toward the spring, and were buried near the graves of those who had succumbed to the severity of the preceding winter. When the spring opened the settlers resumed their agricultural labours on the cape ; and Poutrincourt built a grist-mill, the first erected in the Dominion or on the Continent. The site of this mill is traditionally fixed near the Read of the tide, on what they named, in consequence. Mill Brook, and which was afterwards known as the AUain,* now miscalled the Lequille River, in the immediate neighbourhood of Lockwood's mills, f That tradition tells a true story is evident from the remains still visible of the fort built near it, a few years later, for its protection in case of assault by an enemy. It was early in the summer of 1607 that Membertou, the Micmac sachem, then nearly one hundred years old, undertook a war against the Armouchiquois Indians, a tribe of aborigines inhabiting the coasts of what was afterwards called the Province of Maine. He was joined in the expedition by the Indians of the St. John River, and scored a victory over his warlike enemies. He was much esteemed by the French, to whom he, in return, gave proofs of a sincere friendship. He is said to have encouraged the raising of tobacco by his tribe, a statement which, if true, assures us that these aborigines were not without a rude notion, at least, of the art of agriculture. He has been described as tall in stature, possessed of a noble presence, and as wearing a beard. Early in the year a vessel arrived in Port Royal from France, bearing * Louis Allain at one time owned land at the head of the tide, recently part of the Easson estate. — [Ed.] t Now Dargie's factory. — [Ed. ] 10 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. ill news to 'Poutrincourt. Her commander, Chevalier, delivered letters to him, in which he was informed that the promoters of the new Acadian colony could no longer defray the expenses necessary to its further con- tinuance, and nothing seemed left but to abandon it and return to France. This news came at a most inopportune time, for the settlers had begun to form an attachment to their new home, and were then busily engaged in exploring some of its remote surroundings. L'Escarbot, Champlain and others were employed in examining the river to the head of the tide, and perhaps farther, while others were employed in enlarging the clearing at the cape, or in gardening at their fort near Goat Island, and all were animated by a spirit of hope for the success of their adven- ture. It was with sad hearts therefore that the colonists received the news now communicated by their leader, Poutrincourt, who, however, informed them of his determination to return as soon as he could succeed in making the arrangements necessary for the continuance of his enterprise. On July 30th, L'Escarbot, with all the inhabitants, except eight souls, left Port Royal in the "shallop and patache," which had been built at their fort the year before, to proceed to Canseau, where the Jonas was awaiting their arrival (having reached that place in May), in order to convey them to France. On their way they put into Lahave for a short time, and probably at other points along the coast. Poutrincourt, however, delayed his departure until the grain at the cape had ripened, that he might be able to carry samples of it to Paris ; and as we are informed that he left the basin on the 1 1th of August, it might reason- ably be inferred that rye was the grain to which reference has been made, though it is possible that winter wheat had been sown there during the previous autumn, in which case the crop might have reached maturity at the time named. The voyage to Canso was successfully made by both the parties, and they set sail on the 3rd of September, 1607, reaching their destination after a quick voyage, about the beginning of October. The desertion of the colony was complete ; not a European was left in the hamlet or the fort, or in their vicinity. Great was the grief of Membertou and his people. He had been an honoured guest of the Knights of the Port Royal Order of Good Times. His people had been the recipients of many favours at their hands. He had been filled with admiration at their mode of living, and won over by the wise kindness shown to himself and those over whom he ruled ; and although Poutrincourt had made him a present of the supplies remaining after his departure, the gift gave but slight consolation for the grief caused by the absence of those whom he had learned to regard as the true friends of himself and his tribe. On his arrival at Paris, Poutrincourt applied to the king, Henry IV. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 11 for a confirmation of the grant of the seigniory of Port Royal, which Demonts had given him in 1605. The request was complied with; but it does not appear that he visited Acadie again before 1610, though it seems certain that somebody did visit the abandoned fort in 1609 ; for in 1827 a stone was discovered on or very near the site of the old fort, on which were engraved the Freemasons' arms and the date 1609. This- stone, which I saw many years ago in the office of the late Samuel Cow- ling, was in the possession of the late Judge Thomas C. Haliburton^ and is now the property of his son, Robert Grant Haliburton.* It is a silent but sure witness that some person or persons visited the fort in that year, and it is also the oldest masonic memorial in the Dominion, and probably in North America. It does not appear to have been an easy matter for Poutrincourt to perfect his arrangements for a speedy return to Acadie ; but whatever were the difficulties with which he had to contend, he finally overcame them all, and opened the way for his return to Port Royal with a con- siderable number of emigrants. In February, 1610, he set sail from France, and reached the site of the settlement about the 1st of June, the passage having been prolonged by unexpected delays in various harbours along the coasts. The arrival of the new settlers was, however, early enough to enable them to sow the seeds they had brought out with them, a work which was immediately commenced by the farm labourers,, whom he had brought with him ; and the mechanics were employed in repairing the houses which had been left vacant more than two years, before. The king had coupled with his confirmation of Poutrincourt's. grant the condition that he should take out with him on this occasion a Jesuit priest or priests, with a view to the conversion of the aborigines of the country. In consequence of this condition he was accompanied by Father Plesch^ who, on the 24th of June, baptized a number of Micmacs,. among whom was their honoured sachem, our old friend Membertou. I believe that this was the first instance of the administration of this rite in the Dominion of Canada, and that Membertou was the first convert to the Christian faith among the Indians of North America. Soon after the interesting ceremony took place, Biencourt was despatched to France to convey the welcome tidings to the French king, and was directed by his father to bring out with him, on his return, fresh supplies for the sustenance and comfort of the new colony during the coming winter. He did not complete his arrangements, however, until January, 1611. * It is now in the custody of the Royal Canadian Institute, Toronto. It was- discovered by the late Dr. Charles Jackson, of Boston, the celebrated chemist and geologist, and his companion, Francis Alger, while on a geological survey of the Province. Dr. Jackson, in a letter now in the possession of the ' Historic Genealogical Society of Boston, says they found it on the shore of Goat Island. — Proceedings of Grand Lodge of Mass., 1891, pp. 19, 20. — [Ed.] 12 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. On the 26th of that month he set sail, taking with him two additional priests — Fathers Biard and Mass^ — but did not reach Port Royal until the 22nd of June, which was Whitsunday. The vessel used on this voyage was of sixty tons burthen only, and her crew and passengers numbered in all only thirty-six souls. Poutrincourt must have felt unmingled satisfaction as he beheld this vessel coming safely into port. Twenty-three persons had been depending on him for maintenance during the long winter, and the food had diminished to such a degree that he had been compelled to rely on his Indian neighbours to supplement his stores with such products as they were able to furnish. The vessel having, however, brought but small additional supplies, it was thought necessary to obtain an immediate augmentation of them, for he now had fifty-nine mouths to feed, instead of twenty-three. "With this intention, he made a voyage to the coasts of what has since been called New England, where he fell in with four French vessels, from which he obtained what he sought ; and having induced their captains to acknowledge his son as vice-admiral, he returned to Port Royal, where he announced his intention to revisit France. His object was to secure further advantages for his infant settlement. All the inhabitants, except Biard and Mass^ and twenty others, whom he left under the command of Biencourt, accompanied him on the homeward voyage. In this year (1611) the recently converted Micmac chieftain, Mem- bertou, died, and received Christian burial. From him and his family it is more than probable that Biard and Masse obtained much of their knowledge of the Indian language, and it was, no doubt, with feelings of considerable regret that they performed the rites of sepulture over the remains of the aged and esteemed sachem. His body was buried near the fort, and probably in lands now owned by the Robblee family, in Granville.* Poutrincourt, who, we have seen, left Port Royal in July, reached France in August, but did not succeed in accomplishing the object of his visit till near the close of the year. It was not, indeed, until the last day of December that he was able to despatch a vessel from Dieppe with provisions and other necessaries to the colonists whom he had left in Acadie. The vessel arrived at Port Royal on January 23rd, 1612, not a moment too soon for the relief of its inhabitants, who had been placed ■on allowance some weeks before, in order to make the most of their scanty provisions. This ship was commanded by Simon Imbert, whose name was given afterwards to the stream which we now call by the * In the author's imperfect MS. in the library of King's College it is said he was interred by his own consent in the burial-ground which had been recently conse- ■crated for that purpose. — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 13 corrupted, commonplace and falsely distinctive name of Bear River. In this vessel came Gilbert du Thet, a priest of the Order of Jesus, to take the place of Father Mass^, who had gone to the St. John River with a son of Membertou, having adopted the Indian mode of life, the better to enable him to pursue the study of the aboriginal languages. During the summer Poutrincourt paid a visit to Chiegnecto and Minas, and came near being wrecked on the homeward voyage, which induced him on his return to order another barge or shallop to be built at Port Royal, which when completed was used by Biard, Jean Baptiste, charpentier, and a servant in continuing the exploration of the river and in fishing. The winter of 1612-13 is reported to have been one of considerable want and hardship to the settlers. Biencourt, who began to distrust the priests, for whom he does not seem to have had much regard, had been informed of the purchase of the rights of Demonts in Acadie, by Madame de Guercherville, and he fancied he had cause to fear that plans were being secretly matured, which, if carried out, would endanger his father's rights in Port Royal, and a general feeling of uneasiness and distrust crept into the little community, which tended to increase their difficulties and depress their hopes. The lady above named having purchased Acadie, except Port Royal, determined to send out fresh emigrants and ample supplies to that country. In March, 1613, she therefore despatched a vessel from Honfleur with forty-eight persons, including her crew, together with horses and goats and a year's allowance of food, which arrived at Port Royal late in May. On her arrival, five souls only were found in the town, Biencourt and his men being absent on exploring expeditions in various directions.- H^bert, the apothecary, acted as governor in the absence of Biencourt,' and to him were delivered the letters from the Queen of France authoriz- ing the return of Fathers Biard and Mass^ by the vessel of Madame de Guercherville. The ship having discharged her freight and received these gentlemen on board, together with Du Thet, the new priest who had accompanied Poutrincourt on his return thither, sailed to the island of Mont Desert and made a landing on the mainland nearly opposite to it, perhaps with a view to forming a new settlement there ; but whatever may have been their object, it was suddenly and rudely interrupted and frustrated by the occurrence of an unexpected and undesirable event. The English, who had recently formed a settlement at Jamestown in Virginia, began to look with jealousy, not perhaps unmixed with fear, at the establishment of a fort and settlement in Acadie by France, and commands had been sent to the Governor of that colony to compass the destruction, by capture or otherwise, of the town and works at Port Royal. In agreement with these orders. Captain Samuel Argall was despatched with several vessels and a number of men to carry out this- 14 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. object, and while on his voyage thither he accidentally fell in with the French ship and party at Mont Desert, and made a prize of the one and prisoners of the others, but not till after a sharp fight, in which Du Thet was killed while gallantly defending his countrymen. These Argall sen,t to Virginia by one of his ships, and with the remainder proceeded to Port Royal, where he arrived about the time of the return of Biencourt, with whom it is said that he held an interview in a meadow or marsh near the town, which was already in the hands of Argall. It is supposed that this conference was solicited by the former with a view to some com- promise which might save the place from utter destruction. During its continuance, there can be no doubt that he urged his own right to the settlements, his desire to live at peace with the English, his helplessness to injure them, even if he desired to do so, and the ruin that would ensue to innocent and harmless people on the destruction of their dwellings and improvements ; but the English commander was deaf alike to the eloquence and the logic of the Frenchman, and he proceeded to execute his orders to the letter. Murdoch (Vol. I., page 58) says : " Argall destroyed the fort and all monnments and marks of French power at Port Royal. He even caused the names of Demonts and other captains, and the Jleurs de Us to be effaced with pick and chisel from » massive stone on which they had been engraved, but he is said to have spared the mill and the barns up the river." It was, indeed, a sad sight for Biencourt and his friends to witness so melancholy a conclusion to an enterprise that had already cost more than one hundred thousand crowns, and that had in some degree, at least, given promise of a happier and more desirable result. When the wretched news of this disaster reached Poutrincourt, he gave up forever all connection with Acadie, and returning to the service of the king, was killed at the storming of Mery sur Seine, in December, 1615. It has been stated that an epitaph to his memory was cut "into the marble and trees, at Port Royal, by order of his son Biencourt," but no remains of any description have been discovered to verify the statement. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS, 15 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER I. The first mill was built on the easternmost mouth of the Lequille, where it discharges its waters fresh from Grand Lake into the tideway at the head of the marsh. The remains of the old dam are plainly visible to-day, having been composed of stones and earth, and may be viewed by walking a few rods down the stream from Dargie's mills. The structure, it will be seen, stood at the foot of a steep hill of considerable elevation, and the visitor, if he choose to climb to the summit of that portion of it which is in the north-western direction from the dam, will be rewarded by seeing the remains of the works once erected by the French settlers for the defence of the mill in case of attack. The remains of the breast- works, which formed a shelter to their musketeers, may be traced many rods, in an irregular curve, from where the chief battery was fixed, in a north and westerly direction, following the summits of the heights ; and the ditch which was made in excavating the material to form this work is still visible in many places. The main battery commanded the head of the marsh so as to render an attack by way of the river by boats both dangerous and difficult. It also covered the mill, and commanded the high lands on the opposite side of the stream. These remains are well worthy the notice of tourists, and should be better known to our own people. CHAPTER II. 1613-1686. Biencourt and some colonists remain — Sir W. Alexander and the Scotch fort — The De la Tours — Razilli— D'Aulnay de Charnisay — Quarrels and war between hira and Latour — Takes Latour's fort — His death — Le Borgne — Capture of Port Royal and its restoration — La Vallifere — Perrot — Census — Names of French colonists. ALTHOUGH the dwellings at Port Royal had been destroyed, it is. certain that some of the inhabitants, who were absent during Argall's visit, probably at their barns and cornfields, or mill, or who had otherwise escaped, him, either returned and rebuilt their houses, or built others amidst their cornfields, on the present site of the town, and continued to inhabit the country until the advent of Sir William Alexander's colony in 1621. Biencourt is known to have resided there in 1617, and it is also known that a company of French adventurers, connected with the peltry trade of Acadie, sent out some RecoUet mis- sionaries in 1619, who, among other duties, were charged "to undertake the care of some old inhabitants of the district who had remained there with Monsieur Biencourt.'' The little community supported themselves as best they could by means of the produce of their flocks and gardens, and of the fishery and the chase, until the arrival of the British colony in Granville, when they thought it unsafe to remain longer, and sought a temporary asylum at Cape Sable, where, under the leadership of Charles Amador de la Tour, they built a fort which they called St. Louis, and obtained protection and a home for several years. Biencourt attached himself to the fortunes of Latour soon after the Argall conquest, and became his friend and lieutenant. The anxieties, perplexities and hard- ships which attended his life during the interval of 1613-22, had a fatal efiect upon his constitution, and death closed the scene of his mis- fortunes in 1623. He left all his possessions and command at Port Eoyal, by will, to Latour, whose name and that of his father, Claude de la Tour, were destined to become from this time so intimately and interestingly connected with the history of Acadie. In 1621 Sir William Alexander became the possessor of the country under a patent from James I., and sent over a number of Scotch colonists HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 17 under the command of his son, who, on their arrival, made a settlement and rebuilt the French fort in Granville on a site nearly opposite the eastern extremity of Goat Island. This fort — commonly called the Scotch Fort — was situated about four miles in a direct line from the site of the second French fort, and commanded the northern or main channel of the river. Some of these new settlers probably took possession of the vacated houses and gardens of the French on the cape, for it is certain that Sir David Kirk left an addition to their number on the occasion of his visit there in 1628. On his return voyage to Quebec, Kirk captured a French ship bound to that port, on board of which was Claude de la Tour, whom he made prisoner and conveyed to England. This Claude de la Tour, or Latour, had been connected with Acadie and New France for a period of nineteen years before this event. His first visit appears to have been to Port Royal in 1609, as will be shown further on, and seems to be associ- ated with the oldest remaining memorial of the French dominion on this continent. It was at this eventful period of his life that Latour made the acquaintance of the new proprietor of Acadie, from whom he obtained large grant of lands in that country for himself and son, on condition of a change of allegiance on their part. Before leaving England he married a maid of honour to Henrietta, the English queen, and was created a knight-baronet of Nova Scotia. The lands, of which he had accepted a grant as the price of his treason toward his sovereign, included within their limits the settlement and fort of his son Charles at Cape Sable, embracing all that part of the Province lying between Cape Forchu and Lunenburg, and extending forty miles in a northwardly direction. The condition of this grant was that the fiefs thus conveyed should be held under the Crown of England. Its acceptance, therefore, involved a total change of allegiance, which was made on the spot by Claude, who also pledged himself to obtain the like change on the part of his son Charles, when he should arrive at Cape Sable, a pledge he was unable to redeem owing to the inflexible determination of his son to remain faithful to the French king, his sovereign. These events took place in 1629, during the summer of which Latour, accompanied by his bride, sailed for Cape Sable, and on his arrival com- municated his plans to his son, who, on hearing that the advantages gained had been purchased at the price of treason, refused to listen to his father's proposals. Finding that persuasions and threats were alike use- less, he repaired to Port Royal, where he remained with the English till near the close of the following year ; when, having received a letter from his son informing him that he — the son — had been appointed lieutenant- general for the French king, and that men, arms, ammunition and other supplies had been sent out to him, Claude determined to commit a second treason. He was strongly urged to this course by his son ; and on the 18 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. promise of being protected and provided for, he and his wife left Annapolis and went to live at Cape Sable, where his son built a house for them. The accounts that have come down to us concerning affairs at this time are scanty and fragmentary, and it is almost impossible to weave them into a readable and trustworthy narrative. That Latour on finding his negotiations with his son a failure, sought refuge in Port Royal (then in English possession), there is no doubt. It would be interesting to know how his wife regarded the change from an honourable position and life in the Court of Charles I. to life in an Acadian wilderness ; to be informed how they amused themselves during the days of the dreary winter months of 1629-30, and to learn what plans for the future were discussed. But of these things we can now glean no positive information. It is much to be regretted that his wife drops entirely out of sight after her removal to Cape Sable. Before passing from this period of the history of Port Royal, it may be well to suggest to the reader that during the twenty-eight years since the first landing of Demonts, very considerable changes had taken place there. Besides those that existed on the site of the first settlement, opposite Goat Island, clearings had also been made at the cape and in its neighbourhood, especially toward the mill, which, as I have already said, stood near the head of the tide on Mill Brook, now miscalled Lequille. Gardens had been cultivated and farms commenced in all these districts, and meadows had been reclaimed, and domestic animals introduced, which now, no doubt, began to be quite numerous. In the letter of King Charles I. to Sir William Alexander, dated in July, 1631, he charges him "to demolish the fort that was builded there by your son and to remove all the people, goods, ordnance, ammunition, cattle and other things belonging to that colony." This statement makes it certain that the Scotch settlers were possessed of live stock, and in order to its ' sustenance the soil must have been cultivated. Now, as this settlement contained seventy families, and they were about ten years settled there, the improvements made must have been very considerable. It is a matter of regret that we know so little of the sayings and doings, and the wants, wishes and hopes of these first British settlers; of their relations to the Indians, of their mode of living and pursuits, and more especially of the particulars which attended their ultimate extinction. From a statement made by the elder Latour to his son after his removal to Cape Sable, we learn that seventy settlers wintered on the shores of the basin of Port Royal in 1629-30, and that out of that number not less than thirty died of scurvy and other diseases. The remainder of them, unprotected by the presence of Latour and receiving no aid from home, were attacked by the Indians and fell victims to the scalping-knife and the ravages of want and sickness, with the exception HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 19 of one family only, two membeijs of which were living in 1635, having become Roman Catholics and married French wives. Thus ended the first attempt at colonization on the part of Great Britain in Nova Scotia. By the Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, Port Royal, with the whole of Acadie, passed again into the hands of France (March, 1632), and Isaac from the late M. D'Aulnay to Jacob Bourgeois it is bounded by the road and the River Uauphin ; the number of feet in width being left in blank. The road did not suit Brouillan, who wished to erect a building which he could see from the fort in perspective. To effect this he proposed to continue the Rue St. Antoine and lay out a town in that direction. Three or four owners whose land would be severed by continuing this street, opposed the notion ; but he got Bonaventure and Goutins to take a title of the opposite lands from the lady of the manor. "Charges of immoral conduct were made against Brouillan and Bonaventure. The former is accused of affronts to officers, and of meddling for private gain with the trade in provisions. Bonaventure is charged with sending one hundred and ten quarts of brandy for sale to Boston in 1700 ; of trading with Indians and miscon- duct with sativagesses. The Indians are said to have made songs on the subject, which they sing in the woods. There are many other petty charges in La Touche's letter. " In another memoir of this year, supposed to have been written by Mandoux, the cure, it is said that ' he took possession, at his coming, of the land of an indi- vidual to build on, which land the owner did not wish to part with, as it served to support a large family.' The other charges made by La Touche are reiterated as well against Brouillan as Bonaventure. Villieu mentions his having undergone two years' imprisonment and suffered much from fatigue in command of war parties both in Canada and Acadie, where he slept six months in the woods, without any other nourishment but some corn and tish, which failed him often when needed. Owing to all this he had now a very severe asthma, that had confined him to an arm chair for more than three months in the summer of 1701, and as long as that in 44 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 1702. . . . Ues Goutins says he 'has to work on Sundays and holidays at the king's stores, five or six hours in a place, without fire, in the coldest severity of winter.' " This man was Judge, and as such presided in the settlement of all •civil suits and disputes. His wife was a Miss Thibedeau, an Acadian by birth. The Jacob Bourgeois before mentioned as the purchaser of Hog Island from D'Aulnay (about 1660) was many years afterward a pioneer in the settlement of Petitcodiac, though it is uncertain whether he ever removed his family to that place. In 1703, the King of France granted the seigniory of Port Royal to begin at two thousand paces from the fort, and to extend five leagues (twelve and one-half miles) up the river, and two leagues (five miles) in width on both sides, enclosing a district of about sixty square miles of the cream of the county. This grant included mines and minerals, and was to be divided into seven equal shares, each share to become the property of one of the following persons : Charles Latour ; Mary Latour, the widow of Le Borgne de Bellisle; Madame D'Entremont ; Anne Latour ; Madame Melanson, the widow of Jacques Latour ; Marguerite Latour, the widow Pleinmaris, and the remaining two shares to the children of Madame Bellisle. These persons were the children and grandchildren of Charles Amador de la Tour by Jeanne Motier (Madame D'Aulnay), iiis second wife. More repairs were made on the fort during this year, in reference to which Brouillan says that the inhabitants work cheerfully, and he pays .a small allowance to the soldiers for their work. The people of Port Royal at this time subscribed 800 livres toward building a new church, to replace that which was destroyed in 1690, and a portion of the garrison was sent to Minas to awe the inhabitants of that place into submission, as some of them had been heard to say publicly that " if the English should appear they would join them." This detachment was commanded by Boularderie, and its presence had the desired effect, as we are informed chat the Minas people sent a party to assist in renewing the fort at headquarters. Early in the autumn one Jouin, a Bordeaux speculator, took several vessels from the English on the coast, and sent them as prizes into Port Rt)yal. Two of these arrived safely, but the third, in which Jouin himself was a passenger, was recaptured by her ■crew, who put the Frenchman to death. Among other accusations, the Governor was this year charged with having tortured two soldiers, with having interfered with the engineer, with having exacted fees from the prisoners in the guard-house, with a liaison with Madame Barrat, who it was said had followed him from France to Acadie, with disturbing the wedding festivities of Pontif, the surgeon, and many more equally mean and annoying actions. It is more than probable that most of them were without foundation in fact, and HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 45 were circulated from motives of jealousy and pique. Bonaventure, formerly of the French navy, but at this period an officer of the garrison, was charged with an illicit intercourse with Madame Frenouse, whom we have already seen was " the only widow in Acadie." The fruit of thi& amour was a child born in September, as appears by the parish registur. This scandal made a great noise throughout Acadie, and formed an additional element of discord to the distracted social relations of the community then domiciled in and near the Acadian capital. Charles Latour now claimed the ownership of the two thousand paces lying between the fort and the recently created seigniory, and demanded rent from the Government for the lands occupied by them, but it does not clearly appear whether his demand was complied with or refused. The Massachusetts colonists determined to make an attack on Port Royal early in 1704. An expedition was fitted out at Boston, and placed under the conimand of Colonel Benjamin Church, and sent into the Bay of Fundy. It consisted of several armed vessels and boats, the latter of which proceeded with the smaller vessels to Minas, where the dykes were cut by the soldiers, with a view to the destruction of the marsh lands there ; they also did what other damage they could to the cultivated corn grounds. During the time these events were transpiring there, the larger vessels remained in the lower basin of the Annapolis River awaiting the return of the others, by whom they were soon rejoined, when a council of officers was held, at which it was decided not to be prudent to attack the fort up the river at this juncture. Previous to coming to this con- clusion they had seized the guards at the strait, and landed some of their troops, who approached within two or three miles of the town, carrying ofi" one family and committing more or less pillage upon others, while at the same time the fleet, consisting of ten ships, anchored near Goat Island, where they remained for some days. The French were much alarmed at this threatened attack, and were much rejoiced when they saw the enemy re-embark his troops and take his departure. These events took place between the second and twentieth of July. The shipyard of Port Royal during its centenary year witnessed the launching of a vessel of twelve or fourteen guns, intended for the public service, and the year was further marked by the imprisonment of Charles Labour. We learn from this episode in his history that he resided in the town and owned a dwelling there, for special mention is made of his having been put under arrest by the Governor and kept " a prisoner in his own house." The cause leading to this event is probably to be sought in his conduct regarding his claims to the disputed two thousand paces of land between the fort and the new seigniory. In December, Brouillan sailed for France, leaving Bonaventure to command in his place. At the time of his departure there were not less than two hundred men in the garrison, of whom one-fourth were too 46 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. weak and infirm to be of use. These Bona venture directed to be released from duty and billeted among the inhabitants, that they might be fed, warmed and otherwise cared for. Under this treatment they were restored to health and fitted for the efficient discharge of their duties in the spring. In the early days of 1705, a marriage took place in Port Royal which excited considerable interest amongst the gossips at the time. Frangois du Pont du Vivier, a captain in the garrison, had for some months pre- viously been guilty of improper intimacy with a dashing young belle of the place, a descendant of Charles Latour, the hero of Acadie, which rendered marriage necessary. This denouement was forbidden by Bona- venture, the acting commandant, and by Du Vivier's relatives. It is only reasonable to believe that their opposition would have been withdrawn if they had been aware of the critical circumstances which environed the parties. The priest. Father Justinien Durand, to whom the facts had become known, insisted on the necessary rites, and performed them ■secretly, notwithstanding the opposition of the authorities. The ceremony took place on the 12th January, and on the 25th April following, this entry was made in the registry book of the mission : " Born to Frangois du Pont du Vivier and Marie Mius de Poubomcoup, a daughter, baptized the same day." Such an event, the reader will easily conceive, did not tend to lessen the discords in the community in which it occurred. The witnesses to this marriage were M. Bellisle, the old seigneur of Port Royal, Charles Latour, uncle to the bride, and Des Goutins, the Judge. Bona venture after this refused to acknowledge the claims of her uncle to the rents of the lands within the two thousand paces, and ordered them to be paid to Des Goutins, as King's Receiver, declaring that the money ought to be given to the hospital. This action of Bona venture may be attributed to the annoyance he had experienced from the con- duct of Latour in the marriage of his niece to Du Vivier. A period now approached when the heart-burnings and jealousies which had so long consumed the peace of Port Royal, were to have an end. Brouillan died on his outward voyage from France, in the mouth of Halifax (then Ohebucto) harbour, in September, 1705. His body was consigned to the waves of the Atlantic, but his heart Was taken out and conveyed by the Profond, Captain Cauvet, to Port Royal, where it was buried by Bonaventure with proper ceremonies, "near a cross where it was intended to build a chapel." It is believed that his death was not regarded as a public calamity ; indeed, Des Goutins says, " The public were unable to conceal their joy at his loss." Shipbuilding continued to be prosecuted. A frigate named La Biche was launched toward the close of 1705, making at least two vessels set afloat within three years. It is impossible at this day to determine the exact locality in which these vessels were built. CHAPTER IV. 1705-1710. Subercase Governor — Attack from Massachusetts under Colonel March— Events and vicissitudes of the siege — The English withdraw with heavy loss — Ordered to return — The struggle renewed — English again discomfited — They retire — Diary of the expedition by a Chaplain— Bomb-proof powder magazine built and barracks finished — Pinal capture of Port Royal by Nicholson. SUBERCASE succeeded Brouillan as governor in 1706. In this year fifty-one prisoners* arrived at Port Royal from Boston, many of whom were in very indigent circumstances and required aid from the settlers. Toward the end of the year Des Goutins wrote the minister : " There has not yet been so much wheat collected in this country as during this year. The inhabitants see more than ever the necessity there is of attending to the uplands, and that if they had done so at first and worked as much on them as they have done on the marshes they would have been incomparably more advanced, and would not have been subject to the inconveniences that happen to the marshes. The tide was so great on the 5th of November last (1705) that it overflowed all the marshes of this country without exception, an occurrence that had not taken place within the memory of man. This determined them to think of the high lands. They know now that the marshes, when abandoned, will yet produce hay, whereby they may increase the number of their cattle and obtain manure for their uplands." Subercase, the new governor, b}' his urbane and pleasing demeanour, soon won the confidence of those over whom he ruled. Bonaventure, who administered the affairs of the colony till his arrival, still continued to reside at Port Royal. In a report to the French home authorities, dated Christmas Day, 1706, Subercase says, in answer to charges of dishonesty against Des Goutins : " That which concerns the Sieur des Goutins, on the subject of the pillage of treasure in 1690 ; Port Royal having been taken in that year by a species of capitu- lation, they surrendered with the fort and agreed to give account to the English, and deliver to them everything as it stood. M. des Goutins, as he was treasurer and foresaw that he would be called to account — as he was, in fact — entrusted the king's money that was in his possession into the hands of a habitant, who con- cealed it in a pot in a corner of his garden, without the English having any * Probably French prisoners exchanged. — [Ed.] 48 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. knowledge of it. The English called on M. des Goutins to show the expenditure of the money which the king had sent out that year. He gave them an account, with which they were contented. In the year following, Des Goutins, having returned to Acadie with the Sieur de Villebon, they proceeded in company to the habitant's house, who dug up the pot in their presence and the money was counted. Out of this sum enough was taken to pay the salary of the Sieur de Portneuf, lieutenant, and the balance was placed in the hands of the Sieur de Bonaventure, who carried it to France, and, by order of the Council, paid it over to M. de Lubert." He also defended Bonaventure from some charges which had been made against him, and said that the zeal of the clergy " had engendered disrespect to men in office," and that " the Church for a long time past has held here the right of commanding, or at least of sharing, the temporal authority." A vigorous but unsuccessful attack was made upon Port Royal in 1707. The English colonists of Massachusetts — enterprising, restless and daring — ^determined upon its capture, and early in the year (May 24th) embarked about twelve hundred men on board twenty-three transports, which had been previously provided and sent to Nantasket, in Boston Bay. These transports were convoyed to the scene of operations by H. M. S. Deptford, a vessel of fifty guns, commanded by Captain Stukeley, and the provincial galley, Captain Southack, and arrived in the basin on the 6 th of June. At the strait which forms the entrance to this beautiful sheet of water the French kept a guard constantly posted, with a view of obtaining news of the arrival of an enemy at the earliest possible moment. The guard at this time consisted of fifteen men, who reached the fort but a short time in advance of the invader's flotilla. Colonel March, who commanded the military wing of the expedition, immediately landed with seven hundred men on the south side of the river at a distance about two miles below the fort, and ordered Colonel Appleton to land with three hundred men on the opposite, or Granville shore. The French, who appear to have had no information that they were likely to be attacked, were taken by surprise and much alarmed at the sudden appearance of so formidable a foe ; but Subercase proved himself equal to the occasion. He immediately summoned the militia from the surrounding settlements to come in to his assistance. The first of these arrived on the same day on which the English landed their forces, and he at once sent them forward to skirmish with, and as far as possible retard, the advance of the attacking battalions until further detachments arrived, who, as fast as they came in, were sent to the front to reinforce their comrades already there. This conduct was exceedingly wise on the part of the French commander, as the regulars comprising the garrison were by these means kept fresh to defend the fort if it should become necessary to do so. On the 8th of June hi.s HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 49 forces had been augmented by all the available militia within fifteen miles of the town, who rendered most valuable services in the defence made by their countrymen. General orders were given them not to advance so far as to suffer themselves to be cut off from the fort. They were soon attacked and driven back by their adversaries, but not before they had inflicted considerable injury upon them.' On the north side of the river, the division under Appleton soon drove their foes in to a point nearly opposite to the town. Here Subercase had sent boats and canoes to carry them across the river, with a view to sending them to the support of their comrades, who were engaged in disputing the advance of Colonel March, on the south side. These were placed under the com- mand of Denys de la Ronde, a brother of Bonaventure, who was unable to take an active part in these operations owing to sickness. Later on, on this day (June 8th), Subercase joined De la Ronde, and in an engage- ment which immediately followed had his horse shot under him. In this encounter one Frenchman was killed and another wounded ; the English loss was considerably greater. The superiority of the numbers of the invading force compelled Subercase to retreat, which he did in good order, the enemy not making any pursuit of a pressing character. In fact, they made no further hostile movement until the third day after the conflict, when they drew near to the fort and prepared to assault it. At this crisis Subercase ordered a number of buildings which stood near the fort to be torn down, lest they should afford shelter to the besiegers during the attack, and which from the small- ness of the garrison he could neither occupy nor defend with advantage, nor hope to preserve with any certainty of success. He then detached eighty men, mostly militia, with orders to harass the English parties who had been ordered to kill the cattle of the habitans in the neighbouring settlements. A part of these ambushed in the forests on each side of the river, where they knew the English must pass in order to effect their purpose. St. Castine is said to have commanded one of these parties, and to have killed six of the English in a skirmish, and after- wards to have attacked their full force with such impetuosity as to compel them, in disorder, to fall back to their camp. On the evening of the 16th of June, the besiegers being ready to assault the fort began their attack by a heavy and repeated discharge of musketry, under cover of which March sent four or five hundred men to force the breaches, which he supposed to be easily assailable. The cannon of the fort, however, played so furiously upon the assailants that they were soon compelled to abandon their attempt ; in fact they were forced to retire before the vigorous cannonade and musketry fire under which they found themselves. Colonel March, though thus repulsed, did not become disheartened ; and near midnight Subercase found his 4 50 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. citadel closely invested on every side, every valley and ravine in its vicinity swarming with armed foes, and it was his turn to become appre- hensive for the result of the apparent determination of the besieging soldiery. An attempt was now made by them to destroy a French frigate, and some other vessels, which were lying at anchor uader the guns of the fort ; but in this they were foiled by the vigorous resistance offered by the besieged. Something like a panic appears to have seized the English when their failure became apparent. A report gained credence that the works of the French were mined, and that an assault, even if made successfully, would only terminate in the destruction of the captors ; they therefore retired, first to their trenches, and at day- light in the morning to the camp at first occupied by them. Having sustained a loss of about one hundred men in their various skirmishes and abortive attempts to capture the fort, on the 17th of June they re-embarked on board their transports, and abandoned further proceed- ings. They had, however, succeeded in doing much damage, having burned all the dwellings in the lower town and many of those in the upper, besides driving away and destroying the cattle of the surrounding farms. The English, thus defeated in the main object of their expedition, sailed to Casco Bay, from which place Colonel March reported to Governor Dudley, and asked for further orders. He declared that his officers and the troops refused to assault Port Royal, and laid all the blame of failure on them. The Bostonians and the Governor gave but little credit to the statement, and blamed March himself and Appleton and Wain-vyright for the want of success. Captain Stukeley, of the Deptford, defended the conduct of the soldiery. When the news of the defeat of the expedition reached Massachusetts, Dudley, the Governor, determined to have the effort to capture the place renewed, and with this object in view, he sent one hundred recruits to Casco Bay, to make good the losses recently sustained, and, thus reinforced, the armament was ordered to return and renew its attempt upon Port Eoyal. Of the 750 men who had returned with their commander, many had become, from various causes, unfit for service, and all were dispirited by their recent failure, so that the prospect of a second attack did not promise very favourable results. However, as their orders to return were peremptory, nothing remained but to obey, and they found themselves before the old town again on the morning of the 24th of August, when March, either being ill, or feigning illness, refused to act as commander-in-chief, and gave that position to Wain- wright, the next senior officer, who ordered the troops to land on the shores of Granville, not far from where Appleton had, two months before, landed his division of the forces. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 51 A renewal of the struggle had not been anticipated by Subercase, and it excited considerable alarm. His little garrison had been reinforced in the interim by the crew of a French frigate, but this did not add very materially to his means of defence, and it is very likely the English would have met with entire success had they pushed forward their attack without delay, as the militia could not have been brought into the fort, owing to the distance at which the greater number of them resided, and without their co-operation and assistance, Subercase knew that defence could not be prolonged for any protracted period. The invaders, however, acted very deliberately, and by their delay enabled the French to assemble their militia and place the fort in a posture of defence. As the English troops had been landed on the side of the river opposite to and below the fort, and Subercase was uncertain what their plan and object might be, instead of sending out men to oppose their advance, he kept his forces in the fort, ready to be used as emergency might require. The enemy after landing, pushed forward up the river, past the fort and " narrows," and formed an encampment on what has long since been known as "Troop's Point," which is situated to the eastward of the village of Granville Ferry,* and not far from it. The French commander, ever vigilant and active, supposing their intention to be to destroy the dwellings and other property of the hamlets above the town, immediately sent out a party of eighty Indians and thirty of the militia, with orders to ascend the river on the fort or south side sufficiently far before crossing it to enable them to ambuscade themselves at a point where their foes would be sure to pass in order to accomplish their purpose, and where they could be suddenly attacked and easily defeated. While the invaders were yet engaged in fortifying their camp, their commander sent a detachment of his men, probably amounting to about one hundred and twenty, pioneered by a guard of ten others, under the command of a lieutenant, to distress the settlements to the eastward and cut off the supplies of the garrison in that direction. The guard, being in advance, were surprised, and its officers and eight of its men were killed, and the two remaining ones taken prisoners. From these captives the French were made acquainted with the plan of Wainwright, which was to take his cannon and vessels through the " narrows " on the flood- tide the next evening, and then by crossing his men to the fort side of the river, to make his advance toward the fort from the east side of the cape. In order to frustrate this scheme, the French were ordered to build fires along the stream at this point during the night. The detach- ment above referred to, immediately after the disaster to the guard, * The author wrote "New Caledonia," a name once given to the village, but now happily fallen into disuse. — [Ed. ] 52 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. returned to camp, where for some time they were kept in continual alarm by the movements of the garrison. So fearful did they become about sending out scouts in any direction, that March says, " he judged it unsafe to proceed on any service without a company of at least one hundred men." In proof of this statement he adds : " About four in the afternoon I suffered a number of men, about fifty or sixty, to go down to the bank of the river to cut thatch to cover the tents. All returned well, except nine of Captain Dimmiok's men, who were led away by one Mansfield, a mad fellow, to the next plantation to get cabbages in a garden, without the leave and against the will of his officer. They were no sooner at their plunder than they were surrounded by at least a hundred French and Indians, who in a few minutes killed every one of them, their bodies being mangled in a fearful manner.'' It is quite certain that the British encampment was on the point forming the north-east side of the " narrows," for it is known that its occupants were driven from it by the artillery of the fort, which could not have been the case if their camp had been higher up the river. On the 25th, being unable to remain there any longer, they removed to a position nearly opposite the fort, probably at some distance to the west- ward of the present village of Granville Ferry, but here they soon found themselves as much, if not more, exposed to the guns of the fortress, and Subercase soon compelled them to retire from the position to one nearly a mile farther west, which they did on the 26th; but even here they were not allowed to rest, for detachments of the French militia were sent across the river to harass them and endeavour to force them to still farther retreat. These tactics proved entirely successful, for after sulTering several casualties, they were compelled to retire to a point still nearer to their ships. This state of things continued until the 30th of August, when the English took to their vessels, leaving Granville in the undisputed posses- sion of their adversary. The French governor saw in this movement a change in the design of the invading forces, and took immediate steps to prevent its successful issue. The Baron de St. Castine was ordered to ambush 150 men in the forest, near the spot where they believed their foe would land on the fort side, to renew their attack. St. Castine and his party awaited the approach of the English in silence, and allowed them to come very near before they discovered themselves at a given signal, when they poured three several and successive volleys of musketry into the surprised enemy's ranks, doing so much damage as to cause them to retreat, after making a brave but short resistance. Subercase, being informed of this success, sent Boularderie with 150 additional men to reinforce St. Castine ; and soon after, leaving the fort under the command of Bonaventure, he followed in person, with another reinforcement of 120 men, thus having in hand 420 combatants with which to meet the HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 53 invaders. On his arrival at the front he saw the enemy retiring toward their boats, as if to regain their ships, and ordered Boularderie to advance and attack them. Murdoch thus graphically describes what follows : "This officer, burning with impatience to engage his opponents, marched too fast, and began the attack with only sixty or eighty of his men. He jumped into one of their entrenchments, carried it and killed some of the English. Excited by his first success, he cast himself into a second entrenchment, when he received a sabre cut in the body and another in the hand. St. Castine and Saillant took his place ; a severe hand-to-hand conflict with hatchets and the butt-ends of muskets ensued, and the enemy to the number of 1,400 or 1,500 men (as stated by Charlevoix) retreated at least 1,500 paces toward their shallops. Meanwhile some of the English officers, ashamed of the retreat of their men before inferior numbers, rallied them and brought them back on the French, who were then retiring toward the woods,* because St. Castine and Saillant had both been wounded. The French seeing the enemy coming back, faced round and showed so much resolution that the English did not venture to come to close quarters, but fired several volleys at them and withdrew again. Suberoase availed himself of this opportunity to withdraw his wounded, and rest his troops." Grainger, a native militiaman, was placed at the head of Boularderie's band to renew the attack, but the English had made their final effort ; they returned to their ships, and lost no time in leaving the basin. This siege lasted fifteen days, and cost the English (by their own account) only sixteen men killed and as many wounded ; while the assailed French reported a loss of but three men killed, and a number wounded. Among the latter was the brave De Saillant, who but six weeks before had been married to Anne Mius de Poubomcoup, a descendant of the Latours ; he died of his wounds eight days after the departure of the English. In reviewing the incidents and events connected with the double attack of the English colonists in 1707 upon the old Acadian capital, the reader cannot but wonder at its want of success. In point of numbers they were more than equal to the French, and the men, when engaged, behaved bravely and fought well ; yet, on both occasions, when victory was on the point of being achieved, they were suddenly withdrawn to their ships, with all the odium of disaster and defeat. This conduct can only be accounted for by assuming that there were distractions in the councils of their commanders, and a want of true leadership for the soldiery. In the last expedition the landing of all their forces in Gran- ville was a great mistake on the part of Wainwright, and contributed much toward the demoralization that is known to have existed among his men. We cannot, however, but admire the generalship of the French com- mander, Subercase ; the management of his small force was admirable, *From this statement, I think the scene of these confliots may be fixed at the western extremity of the Dugas marsh. 54 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. and he was ably and bravely seconded by De Saillant, St. Castine, and Boularderie, whose activity and vigilance were deserving of all praise. The personal courage and calm demeanour of Subercase contributed largely toward the creation of an esprit de corps among his men and officers, which tended much to assure to him the success he so well merited, and which has made his defence so memorable. There is a relation of the events which attended this expedition done by an eye-witness, which is of so interesting a character that copious extracts from it should find a place in this history, especially as I believe that neither Haliburton nor Murdoch had seen it. It will therefore be entirely new to our readers. It is to be found in the autobiography of the Rev. John Barnard, who was born at Boston in 1681, and who was therefore twenty-six years of age in 1707.* " In the spring of 1707 I was appointed by Governor Dudley one of the chap- lains to the army which was sent to Port Royal (now Annapolis) to reduce that fort, and with it Acadie, or Nova Scotia, to obedience to the Crown of England, under the command of Col. John March, of Newbury, as General ; having under him two regiments, the first red: Colonel, Francis Wainwright ; lieut. -colonel, Samuel Appleton, both of Ipswich ; major, Shadrach Walton, of Piscataqua, with nine com- panies ; Capt. Holmes, of the Grenadiers, of Boston ; 1st, Capt. Gridley, of Boston ; 2nd, Capt. Boyenton, of Topsfield ; 3rd, Capt. Burrill, of Lynn; 4th, Capt. Putnam, of Salem; 5th, Capt. March, of Newbury; 6th, Capt. Freeman, of Harwich ; 7th, Capt. Kent, of Newbury ; 8th, Capt. Williamson. The other regiment, the blue : Colonel, Winthrop Hilton, of Exmouth ; lieut. -colonel, William Wanton, of Rhode Island ; major, Spurr, of Dorchester ; captain, Otis, of Scituate. The Grenadiers : 1st, Capt. Nichols, of Reading ; 2nd, Capt. Frothingham, of Charles- town ; .3rd, Capt. Tileston, of Dorchester ; 4th, Capt. Hunt, of Weymouth ; 5th, Capt. Talbot, of Taunton ; 6th, Capt. Cook ; 7th, Capt. Church, of Freetown : with 1,076 soldiers under them. There were five chaplains to the army, viz., Mr. Daniel Epps, of Salem ; Mr. Samuel Moody, of York ; Mr. Samuel Hunt, itinerant, of Dunstable ; Mr. John Barnard, itinerant at Boston ; Mr. William Allen, itinerant at Greenwich. The fleet consisted of the Deptford, man-of-war, Capt. Charles Stukeley, of -50 guns, 280 men ; the province galley, Capt. Cyprian Southack, 24 gims, 104 men ; transports. Success, galley, the storeship, Capt. Ebenezer Wentworth, 14 guns, 28 men ; Friendship, Capt. Jarvis,4 guns, 10 men ; the Hannah and Mary, Capt. Gallop; the Randolph, Capt. Zach. Fowls, 9 men; the Abigail, ' Ca.-pt. Deering, 10 men ; the Friendship, Capt. Isa. Fowls, 9 men ; a brig, Capt. Waters ; sloops, the Richard and Sarah, Capt. Carr, 7 men ; the Balhsheba, Capt. Cranson, of Rhode Island, 8 guns, 26 men ; the Mary and Abigail, Capt. Newman, 5 men ; the Henrietta, Capt. Phillips, 6 men ; the Mary, Capt. Saunders, 5 men ; the Sarah and Hannah, Capt. Winsley, 7 men ; the Bonnetta, Capt. Sacomb, 5 men ; the man-of-war's tender, Capt. Cunningham, decked sloop ; open sloops, tenders, the Success, Capt. Hilton, 2 men ; the Charity, Capt. Hill, 2 men ; the Adventure, Capt. Atkins, 2 men ; the Speedwell, Capt. Carney, 3 men ; the Success, Capt! Gardner, 3 men ; the Endeavour, Capt. Lowell, 4 men : about 450 sailors. Besides * Not discovered by the author until after the preceding was written, it strongly confirms the conclusions just expressed. Parkman in his " Half Century of Conflict," Vol. I., page 124, refers to it. — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 55 these there were Colonel Redknap, engineer ; bombardiers and cannoneers, 14 ; William Dudley, Secretary of War ; Capt. Lawrence and two tenders ; doctors and mates, 7 ; commissaries, Arthur Jeffries and two under him; field-marshals, 2; armourers, 2; the general's trumpeter and boy, 2; so that the whole number of forces consisted of about 1,150 men. " The thirteenth day of May the fleet came to sail, by sunrise, from Nantasket with an easy south-west wind. In our passage we met with contrary winds and calms. May I7th, a council of war held on board the Deptford ordered that Col. Appleton should land on the north side Port Royal Basin, with his own company and Major Spurr's, and Capt. Talbot's and Burrill's, and Putnam's and Hunt's, and Capt. Freeman's company of Indians chiefly, about three hundred men ; while the General and the rest of the forces, about 750, should land on the south side. The 26th of May we came to anchor in the basin, lauded our men that afternoon between four and five o'clock, under Col. Appleton, with whom I was, on the north side. It being so late eje we landed, we could not reach the place of our designed encamp- ment, but after several hours' travel, partly through hideous woods and fallen trees across our way, which sometimes we climbed over, at other times crept under, at length we arrived where were two or three houses and barns, and at nine at night took up our quarters there. There also Capt. Freeman and his company of Indians who flanked our left as we marched along, who also had a sharp skirmish with forty or fifty French, came to us without the loss of a man. The 27th, early in the morning began our march ; came to a^eep gully where we were ambushed by about sixty French ; lost two of our men ; marching a little farther we took two prisoners, and by noon came to a spot where we fixed our camp, almost north of the fort, little more than a musket-shot over the north river.* About half an hour after Col. Appleton landed on the north. General March with about 750 men landed on the south shore, but so far distant from the fort, by reason of the wind blowing in their teeth, that they were forced to encamp that night by the way. Early the 27th, in the morning, they set forward, were ambushed (at a place called Allen's Creek) by the French Governor, Subercas, with nearly three hundred men, who lay hid in the thick brush on the other side of the creek. Our array marched with trumpets sounding, drums beating and colours flying, on upon the marsh between them and the creek ; gave three huzzas. Then the enemy dis- charged, from their covert, their whole voUej' upon our naked men. Our men pressed forward, and after a warm dispute the enemy retreated up a hill which lay behind them. Our men passed the creek and ascended the hill after them, the enemy all the while firing briskly upon them till we had gained pretty near them, and then they turned their backs and fled down the other side of the hill to the foot. By all the fire from the ambush, and while we were gaining the hill, which lasted above an hour, through divine favor we lost not so much as one man, and had but five men wounded. Our army was too much fatigued to pursue them to the fort, but encamped in some houses at the foot of the hill ; set a strong guard near the fort to prevent any surprise. "By some deserters who came from the fort to us, we learned that there were about five hundred men in the fort, and 220 women and children, which rendered it likely, that upon a few bombs thrown into the fort, the cries of their wives and children would oblige them to surrender. The artillery therefore were ordered up to us. Redknap promised to see them sent next day, but none came. Upon inquiry it was found that the engineer and captain of the man-of-war and province galley * The river northward from the fort. 56 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. had agreed in their sentiments that it was raorall}' impossible to send the artillery up to us, which must pass within command of the fort. "May 31st. A council of war was held, in which it was unhappily agreed not to stay to break ground ; but was dissented to by Col. Appleton, Capt. Otis and Boyenton. The reasons given were— the fort mounted forty-two guns, some of 36-pounders, five hundred men in it, our men unacquainted with attacking a fort, and no prospect of getting up the artillery ; and therefore the army should decamp, and go to Menis and Seconnecto and try what they could do there. But before they decamped they concluded by the movement of Col. Hilton and brave *Col. Wanton to burn the church, the storehouse, and all the houses close by the north bastion of the fort. " When Col. Appleton went over to Col. March's camp, he took me along with him. After the council of war was over, General March meeting me, took me aside and said to me, ' Don't you smell a rat ? ' I, who knew not what he intended, answered, ' No, sir.' ' Why,' said he, ' Col. Appleton is for staying to break ground only to have his wages increased. ' I said, ' Sir, I am a stranger to Col. Appleton's intentions and designs.' He then said to me (somewhat roughly), ' I have heard you should say the artillery might be brought ' — and indeed I had said so to Col. Appleton, and projected a safe method for it — and I said to him, ' Sir, I think it may.' ' Well, then,' said he, ' if it should be attempted, you shall be one that shall bring it up.' I replied, 'Sir, that is not my business, as you well know; however, if it will be of public service, and yo9 please to command me to it, I will readily venture myself in it, and find a wa5' to do it.' 'Very well,' said he. I then took the opportunity of being alone with him, and said, ' Sir, will you please to give me leave to observe some things to you, in which it seems to me you are greatly concerned?' He replied, 'Yes, sir.' I then said, 'Sir, you are perfectly well acquainted with the design you came hither upon ; you know how much the welfare of your country and your own honour lays at stake. I am afraid some you are connected with are not so much concerned for either of them as I could wish. I beseech you, sir, to consider, if j'ou retuin with the forces (somewhat of whose vigour and bravery you have seen) without doing anything further, whether all the fault will not be thrown upon you as the head of all ? As for those gentle- men, who seem to me to oppose your measures, they will feel little or nothing, while I fear your name and honour will be exposed in such a manner as I shall be exceed- ingly sorry to hear of.' He listened to me, hugged me in his arms, and thanked me ; and said he would immediately call another council. He did so ; and employed my hand in writing letters to the gentlemen that were on board the vessels. " June 3rd. The Council sat, and then concluded to stay, get up the artillery, and attack the fort. The next day I went on lioard our ship to get me such accommodations as I wanted, concluding we should remain here at least a month longer. But lo ! I was sadly disappointed and surprised by the commissary's knocking at the cabin door, before sunrise, and informing me the army was come down in order to embark. For it seems they held another council in the evening, and concluded to burn the houses and march to the fleet, and they did so ; and upon June 5th the whole army embarked. ' ' While we lay at Port Royal, I experienced signal deliverances ; one, as I was crossing over the river to the General's camp, the fort fii-ed a cannon at me, the ball of which struck pretty near to the canoe. The other was, in order to take a plan of the fort, and avenues to it, I marched alone, well dressed, with a large pistol stuck in my girdle, and pen, ink and paper in my hands. I marched till I came ♦William Wanton, born 1670, was Governor of Rhode Island in 1732, died 1733. -[Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 57 to the entrance of a straight, narrow lane leading to the fort, it may be more than a rausket-shot off. The French, supposing me to be the engineer, fired a cannon at me, the ball of which struck the ground so near me, a, little to the right, as threw some dirt upon me. I thought with myself, that I had no business here, and retreated slowly backward out of danger ; and, thank God, I escaped what was designed against me. ' ' The fleet sailed away, having sent away a packet to the Governor, and June 5th, came to anchor in the spacious harbour of Casco Bay. While we lay there, letters came from the Governor to General March, ordering him at his peril to return to Port Royal, and telling him the Government were raising forces to send to us. "July 7th. Arrived to us at Casco Bay the Ruth, frigate of twenty-four guns, Capt. Alden, commander, and two companies, Capt. Ephraim Savage with his fifty men, and Capt. Buckminster, with his fifty men, which did not neaf make up the number of our deserters since we lay at Casco. With them also came three gentle- men, Col. Elisha Hutchinson, Col. Penn Townshend and Mr. John Leverett, and the Reverend Mr. Bridge, their chaplain. The said three gentlemen were deputies from the Government and superintending counsellors to General March, without i\'hose advice he was to do nothing. "July 11th. A number of boats went out this morning to catch lobsters and plaice among the islands, which are many. I went among the rest. One of the boats went near to the shore of one island, and we, who were next to them, were suddenly alarmed with the firing of about twenty small arms, and looking to the island whence the noise came, we saw about forty of the Indians scalping three of the men ; the other two men that were in the boat they took prisoners. We were so near to the enemy that their shot would have reached us ; but they all immedi- ately betook themselves to their canoes (being about 150 that lay hid in the bushes), and paddled away for life. The army took the alarm, and in a few minutes the ships' boats, with several hundred men, and General March at the head of them, were upon the full chase after the Indians, but could not come up with them. ' ' July 24th. An express from His Excellency to the three commissioners, ordering the forces to sail for Port Royal ; but the mutinous disposition of the men, too much encouraged by officers, with the jealousies and bickerings of the tield-officers (excepting Col. Hilton and Col. Wanton) among themselves, foreboded no good by going. ' ' July 25th. The fleet came to sail. Upon our passage, General March told me (upon a signal made by the man-of-war to bear away for Passamaquoddy Bay, and my asking him where we were bound), he ' knew nothing of the matter, nor of our coming to sail, nor where we were bound ; the three commissioners, instead of being a council to him, did what they pleased, gave him their positive orders, which he should always obey. "30th July. Came to anchor in Passamaquoddy with a fine north-west wind, which we lost. " So far my journal goes, which I have made some short extracts from. I shall only add what I well remember. We went to Port Royal, landed in an orchard,* were ambushed, and lost about fourteen men, drove the enemy before us, returned to the orchard, spent a few days there, and then embarked our men ; but about 110 men of the French, mostly privateers, with their captain at their head (who arrived in our absence), came and lay hid in the thicket of the woods and underbrush, just without a log fence, where Capt. Talbot with forty men were placed as a guard, * Where was this orchard ? 58 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. and observed till our men were mostly embarked and the boats ashore for the last freight, and Capt. Talbot called off from the guard, and then they broke in upon the orchard, where were only some of the officers, beside Talbot's guard and a few others, with myself, and poured in their shot upon us and killed us seven men. I had a shot brushed my wig, and was mercifully preserved. A few boat-loads of men going off immediately returned, and we soon drove them out of the orchard, killed a few of them, desperately wounded the privateer captain, and after that we all embarked and returned for Boston as fast as we could. When we came home, the General found it to be sadly true, what I suggested to him at Port RoyaL Not only was he reprimanded and slighted by the Government, but despised and insulted as he walked the streets by the populace ; the very children, at the sight of him, crying out, ' Wooden swords ! ' Though in himself a valiant man, yet I think his capacity was below the post he sustained." Early in 1708 the Loire, a French man-of-war, arrived at Port Royal, but she brought no goods for the use of the inhabitants, who appear to have been in want of iron and earthenwares. During the summer, Subercase built a bomb-proof powder magazine, capable of holding a large quantity of powder, and a large building, part of which was to be used as a chapel, and part as lodgings for the almoner, the surgeon and Des Goutins. The barracks were finished at this time also. In one of his despatches to the French minister, he tells him : ' ' The land is good and fertile, and produces everything that France does except olivex. There is abundance of grain and an inexhaustible supply of wood of all sizes for building. All along the coast are fine harbours, easy of entrance. The people here are excellent workmen with the axe and the adze. " Very considerable damage was done to the English colonists of Boston and elsewhere by French privateers during the early summer of 1709. One Morpain, who was present and assisted in the defence of Port Royal in 1707, commanded one of these, and succeeded in capturing a coast- guard ship, which had been sent from Massachusetts Bay for the purpose of making a prize of him. Morpain brought his prize to Port Royal. The fight which preceded this event, and which resulted so badly for the English, seems to have been a very, severe one. It is said that while the Frenchman had only five killed and less than a dozen wounded, the loss of the former amounted to one hundred men, the captain being among the killed. Many captures of colonial vessels had been made by Morpain a few weeks previous to this affair. The commander of another privateer was about the same time shot dead in the streets of the town by a soldier whom he had insulted some time before. The soldier was tried by court-martial for the crime, convicted and executed. In relation to the success of the French corsairs, Subercase informs his Government that "they (the corsairs) have desolated Boston, having captured and destroyed thirty-five vessels." No less than 470 prisoners had been made from the English by the French during 1709, and were sent to HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 59 New England before the winter set in. Toward the end of this year Subercase ordered the- inhabitants to " cut down the woods which were too near us on both sides of the river." Of these people he observes : "They have more facilities than any people in the world — flax and hemp growing there almost to a marvel. I look upon them, and they are really the most happy people upon the earth. They are wholly relieved of the mischiefs which the English inflicted on them two years ago." The precaution, named in the first quotation, seems to have been taken on account of the rumour which had reached the fort that urgent efforts were being made in Massachusetts for the reduction of French power in Acadie by the capture and conquest of Port Royal in the coming year ; nor was the rumour ill-founded. Colonel Francis Nicholson,* who had, even at this date, an exten sive experience as a colonial governor, and who was therefore well acquainted with colonial affairs, was the leading spirit of the enter- prise which was henceforth to make the year 1710 remarkable in the annals of this province. Colonel Vetch, who had assisted Nicholson while in England to impress upon the British Government the neces- sity of renewing the endeavour to wrest from the French Crown its colonies in North America, came over to Boston in May, 1710. Nicholson, who had obtained assistance in England, arrived a little later in the season in H.M.S. Dragon, which was accompanied by the Falmouth and two smaller vessels. These were to be added to a squadron to be provided by New England. Besides these H.M.S. Chester, Leostaffe and Feversham, already on this station, were ordered to join the expedition. The transports were furnished by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and they were twenty- four in number, which, with those before named and some others, made a grand total of thirty-six vessels connected with the expedition, which was placed under the command of Nicholson, with Vetch as adjutant- general. The military portion of the armament consisted of one regiment of marines, two regiments from INfassachusetts, one from Connecticut, and one from New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The grenadiers of the New Hampshire regiment were commanded by Paul Mascarene, a gentleman whose name, from this time for nearly half a century after- wards, is to be continuously and honourably connected with the history of this province. The expedition sailed from Nantasket, in Massa- chusetts Bay, on the 18th September, and six days afterwards it safely * Born in England ; Lieutenant-Governor of New York under Andros, 1687-89 ; Governor of Virginia 1690-92, and 1699-1705 ; and of Maryland 1694-99. After serving as Governor of Nova Scotia he was knighted in 1720, and was Governor of South Carolina in 1721-25, and died in 1728.— [Ed.] 60 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. entered the lower basin of Port Royal, where it remained until after the first day of October. Two days later Nicholson sent the following summons to Subercase : "You are hereby required and commanded to deliver up to me for the Queen of Great Britain the fort at present under your control, which by right belongs to Her said Majesty, together with all the territories which are under your command by virtue of the undoubted right of her royal predecessors, and also with all the guns, mortars, magazines of war, and troops likewise under your command, otherwise I shall exert myself with diligence to reduce them by force of Her Majesty's arms. " Given under my hand and seal-at-arms, the third day of October, in the ninth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady Queen Anne, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, annoque Domini, 1710. "(Signed), F. J. Nicholson. " October 3rd, 1710." This summons was sent while the fleet was still in the lower basin, and it was not till the 5th that it came to anchor a little below the fort. On the next day the troops were landed— the major part of them on the south side the river, and the remainder on the Granville or north side, as had been done by March in the first siege in 1707. The condition of the fort and the feelings of its defenders, especially of the militia, made the defence a subject of uneasiness to Subercase. The conduct of France toward its subjects in this place had always been unwise and impolitic, and since the siege so recently raised no supplies had arrived at Port Royal, though the colony then stood in sore need of them. During the three years since that event everything which reached them had been taken from the enemy by the activity and daring of the privateers who appear to have made this part of Acadie their headquarters. The almost studied neglect with which the colonial inhabitants were continually treated by their countrymen at home, had, in some measure, alienated their affections from the French monarch, while the comparative cheapness of English goods acted as a bribe to their cupidity, and led them to view a conquest as not the greatest calamity that could befall them. Even the supply of clothing to the garrison was dealt out with a niggardly parsi- mony, or entirely withheld, and no one knew better than Subercase the feelings which animated the people around him, in consequence of these things ; indeed, it may be fairly said that his only object on this trying occasion was to obtain as favourable terms as possible from his formidable enemy. Nicholson having summoned the garrison to surrender did not long remain idle, but as we have seen immediately landed his forces and pre- pared for an attack. He had determined if possible to assail the fort on the two sides at the same time. The portion of his forces which had been landed in Granville, were to proceed to a point above the town to be transported thence to the opposite shore, where they would be enabled HISTOEY OF ANNAPOLIS. 61 to approach the fort toward its eastern glacis, while those who had landed on the Clements shore should proceed to invest it on the western and southern sides, and it is quite certain this plan was carried into operation. Murdoch (Vol. I., p. 313) say,s: ' ' There is a tradition that Nicholson passed his troops by night in small vessels by the fort, and round Hog Island, up the narrow part of the river, landing some- where in the rear of the spot where the late Judge Thomas Ritchie's mansion is built, and gradually made his approaches in front of the site of the court-house of Annapolis." ♦ I think there is every reason to believe that the artillery and part of the men were so conveyed, and that the boats used for that purpose were afterwards employed to bring over the Granville detachment. An attack made from the south-west, on the 6th, having been repelled with loss to the besiegers, they, on the next day, followed the western bank of Allain's (now Lequille) river upwards to what was long afterwards — in fact, even to this day — called the " General's Bridge," where they crossed the stream without opposition, and were thus able to reach the fort from the south, and unite their operations with those of their brethren, who had already landed on the south-eastern side. This manoeuvre was covered by a can- nonade from the north and west — the river side of the fort — from the vessels which were anchored there. While the cannonade from this quarter continued, the remaining artillery and ammunition of the English were successfully sent through the narrows to the camp already formed in that direction, or to speak more correctly, which was then being formed. On the 8th Subercase ordered a violent cannonade upon this camp, with the immediate object of preventing them from erecting batteries, and he was so successful that they were obliged to abandon their intention for the time, and to select another spot for that purpose. The French artillery continued to throw bombs and other missiles into the English camp during the earlier part of the 9th, but ceased in the afternoon owing to heavy rain. On this day some of the English ships approached the town and bombarded the fort, discharging forty-two bombs of two hun- dred pounds' weight, but without serious effect upon the besieged, who endeavoured in return to bombard the ships, but failed through the bursting of their mortars. On the 10th of October, having enlarged their batteries and more thoroughly entrenched themselves, the English renewed the bombard- ment, and continued it during the night of that day and the morning of the next. During the night several soldiers and about fifty of the inhabitants deserted from the French, and Charles Latour was wounded by a fragment of one of the bomb-shells which exploded in the fort, into which it had been thrown from one of the invaders' batteries. On the 11th the inhabitants petitioned Subercase to ask for terms, alleging if 62 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. the place was held any longer against the enemy no quarter would be given them. The English batteries, on the 12th, had been pushed for- ward to a point within a very short distance of the works of the besieged, and a furious cannonade was commenced, which, for a time, was as hotly returned by the French, but the Governor finding that the spirit of the garrison was completely broken, and that further effort could not long prevent the fort being taken by assault, sent an officer to Nicholson to propose a capitulation. The terms of surrender were soon agreed upon etween the parties, and the fort was delivered up to the English on the 16th, when the garrison, to the number of over two hundred men, were found to have been reduced to a miserable condition, being left without either food or clothing. So great was the scarcity of provisions that the British commander found it necessary to distribute food from his own stores to the starving sufferers. Four hundred and eighty persons, including the garrison, were afterwards shipped to Rochelle, in France, in accordance with the terms of capitulation. By another clause in the terms it was agreed, " that the inhabitants within cannon-shot of the fort should remain upon their estates, with their corn, cattle, and furniture, during two years, in case they are not desirous to go before — they taking the oath of allegiance and fidelity to Her sacred Majesty of Great Britain ; " and, by a memorandum appended, it was stated and agreed that a "cannon-shot " should be held to be equal to a distance of three English miles in all directions from the fort. This district was known as the hanlieue* and was quite populous. Thus, for the sixth time. Port Royal, 105 years after its foundation, became by conquest a possession of the English Crown, but not, as ever before, to pass from its rule again either by treaty or conquest. * French word for the " outskirts " of a place. — [Ed.] CHAPTEE V. 1710-1732. « Vetch the first English Governor — Acadians complain of his treatment of them — Seek aid from the Governor of Canada to leave — Bloody Creek — Nicholson Governor — Queen Anne's letter — Census of 1714 — Phillipps Governor — Council appointed — Masoarene's description of the town — Attacks by Indians — Civil court established — A clerical scandal — Treaty with the Indians — Armstrong Lieut. -Governor — Doucet's death — French take qualified oath — Commission of the Peace — Cosby Lieut. -Governor — Phillipps' return to the seat of Government — Again leaves — Armstrong Lieut. -Governor — Land grants. IN 1711, the French inhabitants of the Annapolis valley sent a letter to the Governor of Canada (Vaudreuil), praying him to commiserate their condition and furnish them with the means of leaving the country. In this document they complain of Governor Vetch, saying that he "treats them like negroes,'' and that he asserts that they should be grateful that he did not treat them worse. Provisions being scarce, Mr. Capon, the commissary of the fort, with five or six friendly French, went up the river about nine miles -to arrange for a supply, and while in the house of one Le Blanc he was made prisoner by an armed party and carried some distance, but Le Blanc followed and redeemed him with his own money. One Sunday morning Vetch sent up the river a force of fifty men under Captain Abercrombie, who arrested the cure. Father Justinien, and four of the principal inhabitants and brought them to the fort, where the Governor told them they should remain in custody until the people delivered up the abductors ; and shortly after went to Boston, taking the cur^ and an Indian with him as hostages. The town does not appear to have been deficient in the means of punishment by way of imprisonment, as the Governor confined Louis Allain and his son in a dungeon, where he put them in irons. They were charged with encourag- ing desertion among the troops of the garrison, which then consisted of five hundred men, some of whom were regulars, and others New England volunteers. Murdoch (Vol. I., p. 323), says : "It is stated that of this number more than three hundred and forty had died of sickness and in sorties up to the first day of June, 1711, that is, within seven months of the surrender of the place. " 64 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Christopher Cahouet describes the condition of the fort at this period as being anything but good ; it was in a " tumble-down " state and the English had repaired the breaches in the walls by means of checanx-de- frise and stockades only. He also informed his French master that the inhabitants and Indians, to the number of five or six hundred, meditated an attack upon it at an early day. It was during this year that a massacre occurred, which has given a name to one of the tributaries of the Annapolis River, which it still bears. , I refer to the "Bloody Creek" brook, near Bridgetown. Such of the French in this locality as were willing to supply wood and timber for the fort were harassed and prevented by the Indians, incited to ever-recur- ring acts of hostility to the English by Gaulin, a missionary priest. Men cutting wood were sometimes shot by enemies in ambush, and rafts were often cut adrift. To guard the inhabitants thus employed from such molestations, and show the Indians that the French were performing such services under compulsion, as well as to overawe the unruly among the latter, the Governor, at the request of Major Forbes, the engineer, sent an expedition of eighty men, the elite of the garrison, up the river in two flat-boats and one whale-boat, under command of Captain Pidgeon. Having lost a tide on the way, the Indians got news of their approach, and not anticipating danger, the whale-boat was nearly a mile ahead of the others, when its occupants were surprised by a party of Indians con- cealed in the woods, which everywhere then lined the banks of the stream. They had reached the mouth of the creek in safety, and were proceeding up the winding channel when the attack was made. It is probable that the Indians allowed them to pass quietly up to the head of the tide and to effect a partial landing, before they discovered themselves by making their murderous onslaught. This seems the more certain, because tradition points to a spot on the left bank of the stream, and a little to the southward of the present highway, as the scene of this disaster. The men in the other boats, hastening at the sound of firing to the help of their comrades, were speedily caught in the same ambush. Thirty of the English were killed and the .remainder made prisoners, although the attacking party consisted of only forty-two men. The fort major and the engineer, and all the boats' crews were killed, and two captains, two lieutenants and an ensign, with the remainder of the soldiers, were compelled to surrender at discretion. The immediate effect of this affair was to encourage the French and their Indian allies to carry out their design of attempting to recover the possession of Port Royal. Gaulin, the Jesuit missionary, instantly on the receipt of the news, assembled two hundred men, and with them marched to Annapolis. The inhabitants of the hanlieue, as well as those of the river settlements, joined the besieging force, the former HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 65 alleging as a justification of their traitorous conduct, a violation of the articles of capitulation in the preceding year, Whereby they were freed from the oaths they had then taken. The garrison was thus confined to the limits of the fort. Gaulin having caged his foes in this manner, left the investing battalions and went to Placentia to secure additional aid from Costabelle, the Governor of that place, from whom he obtained twelve hundred pounds of powder, blankets, guns and other necessary materials ; but at this juncture, and shortly after he had sailed to return, startling news reached Placentia. A large fleet of sixty sail of ships had been seen making their way toward Quebec, and Gaulin's vessel had been captured by one of these after making a very courageous defence. Yaudreuil, the Governor at Quebec, had received the inspiriting news of the battle of " Bloody Creek," and had without delay fitted out an expedition intended to be sent to Annapolis Royal to assist in its reduc- tion ; but before its departure, the intelligence that measures had been taken both at New York and Boston to send forces for its defence, was received by him, and he abandoned his project. Vetch had indeed left Annapolis for Boston, leaving Sir Charles Hobby in command, and had obtained reinforcements to the number of four hundred men for its defence, thus for the time effectually securing it against further danger from its assailants. The reader must not forget that France ardently desired and con- fidently looked forward to the repossession of Port Royal. With this end in view Vaudreuil had, at the beginning of 1711, appointed Anselm, Baron St. Castine, whose wife was a Port Royal woman, to be his lieu- tenant in Acadie. In 1707, he had married Charlotte D'Amours, and was present and assisted in the defence of the town during the sieges of that year, and was wounded in repelling one of the attacks then made upon it. These acts of the French colonial authorities show that they looked upon the recent conquest as one that was not to be of long con- tinuance, and even after the distinct cession of Nova Scotia by the Treaty of Utrecht, they did not give up their hope of its recovery by reconquest. In June, 1713, the Queen of Great Britain, in whose honour the name of Port Royal was changed to Annapolis (the City of Anne), sent the following letter to Francis Nicholson, then Governor-in- chief of this pro- vince, which, as it relates to the French settlers here, I transcribe in full : "Anne R. Trusty and well beloved . we greet you well. Whereas our good brother the most Christian King, hath at our desire, released from imprisonment on board his galleys, such of his subjects as were detained there on account of their professing the Protestant religion ; we being willing to show by some mark of our favour toward his subjects how kind we take his compliance therein, we have there- fore thought fit hereby to signify our will and pleasure to you, that you permit such 5 66 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. of them as have anj' lands or tenements in the places under your Government in Aeadie and Newfoundland, that have been or are willing to continue our subjects, to retain and enjoy their said lands and tenements without any molestation, as fully and freely as other our subjects do, or may possess their lands or estates, or to sell the same if they shall rather choose to remove elsewhere. And for so doing, this shall be your warrant, and so we heartily bid you farewell. "Given at our Court at Kensington, the twenty-third day of June, 1713, in the twelfth year of our reign. " (Signed), Dartmouth. "F. Nicholson, Esq., Governor." The history of Annapolis, and of the whole Province, from this period to 1755, will consist chiefly of a relation of the struggles made by the French to prevent the permanent settlement of the country by the English, and of the eflorts of the latter to bring the inhabitants to become true and loyal subjects of the Crown of Great Britain. In 17M, a census of Port Royal — or Annapolis Royal, as it must henceforth be called — that is, of all the hamlets on the Annapolis River, was made, in which the surnames of the families are given. The total number of inhabitants was 637. The names are as follows : Abraham, Alain, Barnab^, Beliveau, Beaumont, Beaupre, Bernard, Blanchard, Blondin, Bonappetit, Boudrot, Bourg, Bourgeois, Breau, Brossard, Cadet, Crane, Champagne, Cle- menceau, Commeau, Cosse, D'amboise, Debert, Dubois, Denis, Doucet, Dugas, Dumont, Dupuis, Emmanuel, L'Etoile, Forest, Gentil, Girouard, Godet, Gouselle, Grang^, Guillebeau, Hubert, Jean, Labaune, Langlois, La Libert^, Laurier, Landry, La Rosette, Lafont, La Montagne, Lapierre ; Lanoue, Lavergne, Le Basque, L'Esperance, Le Breton, Leblanc, Le- marquis, (2) L'Etoile, Lionnais, Maillard, Martin, Melanson, Michel, Moire, Nantois, Olivier, Paris, Parisien, Piltre, Pellerin, Petitpas, Potier, Poubomcoup, Raimond, Richard, Robichau, (2) La Rosette, Samson, Savary, Savoie, Sellan, Surette, St. Louis, St. Scenne, Thibodeau, Tourangeois, La Verdure, Villate, Vincent, Yvon. The Beaupr^s probably had their dwelling on the farm lately occupied by Mr. "William Carty, as the marsh adjoining it still bears their name. The Beliveaus lived on the Bell Farm (Fitz-Randolph's), near Bridge- town, as may be proved bj' an old deed of those lands, in which it is called Beliveau's farm, the prefix " Bell," by which it is still known, being a contraction of the name Beliveau. The Dugas lived a short distance below the town of Annapolis, and gave their name to the marsh in that district. The La Rosettes gave their name to the marsh and beautiful district to the eastward of the town, which it bears to this day, and the Oliviers owned a house and lot in the town, which was on the east side of the old Cooper lot so called, a fact which may be verified by an old deed of 1717, now or recently in the possession of HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 67 Mrs. Samuel Bayard, of St. John, N.B. Mr. Olivier was buried in the old graveyard near the fort, where a stone with an inscription still marks "his grave. He died in 1731. There can be no reasonable doubt of the accuracy of this statement. In the document referred to he is called Antoine Olivier, and in the inscription he is called Mr. Anthony Oliver. The Pellerins had a house near, if not precisely on, the present site of the Cowling House, now standing in the old capital. In this year I find the first mention made of Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong, who for so many years resided in Annapolis, and conducted the affairs of the colony, and who unfortunately ended his faithful services and useful life by committing suicide. In 1711 he was sent to England by Vetch, who then commanded at Annapolis, to solicit the aid of the Board of Trade in procuring the means to strengthen and repair the defences of the town, and to urge upon them the value and resources of the country, and the wisdom of taking active and immediate measures to preserve it to the Grown. He informed the Board that the garrison was dependent on the merchants of New England for supplies, and that they demanded extravagant prices for what they furnished, and recommended settling a sufficient number of English people here to produce the food required, and suggested that the town should be made a free port. Concerning the fortifications he says : ' ' As to the fortifications, they are in form a regular square, with four bastions made up of earth and sod- work; the earth, a loose gravel or sand, subject to damage Ijy every thaw, and to great breaches which happened by the fall of the walls into the ditch till a, method was found to revest the works with timber from the bottom of the ditch to the friezes, eighteen feet, and above that with four feet of sod, the greatest part of which being done while General Nicholson was last here. The houses and barracks where the officers and soldiers lodge, with the storehouses and magazines, are in a ruinous condition, and not like to stand three years without thorough repair." This description was written in 1716. Vetch, in 1715, was appointed governor a second time (this time succeeding Nicholson whom he had preceded), but iu 1716 Colonel Richard Phillipps was appointed Gov- ernor-in-chief of the Province. It seems strange to us at this day that no earnest attempt had been made to colonise Nova Scotia with EngUsh settlers, as one of the first acts of the new governor was to advise such a course, giving it as his opinion that "Government should give all encouragement to the settlement of British subjects here, as a means of securing the fidelity of the conquered French hahitans.'' If this wise advice had been followed, it would have entirely changed the complexion of Acadian history from the time of the conquest. The expulsion of 1755 would not have been necessary, and an event that cannot be regarded but as a sad one, nor justified by any plea but that of necessity, 68 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. would not have occurred to blot and disfigure its pages ; nor would the advancement of the country and the development of its resources have been retarded for nearly half a century, as they manifestly were. Phillipps did not arrive at Annapolis till the spring of 1720. He had previously recommended that place for the seat of government, and asked that means should be provided him to make a survey of the adjacent coasts. On his arrival he reviewed the garrison which he found in a tolerably good condition, but the fortifications were wretch- edly out of repair. A few days after he was visited by the priest of the settlements, who was accompanied by about one hundred and fifty " lusty young men." This demonstration was probably intended to impress the mind of the new governor with an idea of his importance ; but he seems to have failed in his object, for he was ordered by Phillipps to read to his followers and the other inhabitants assembled, a procla- mation which had been previously prepared announcing His Majesty's intentions concerning them. Having produced a salutary effect by his firmness, he proceeded to form a council to aid him in the administration of the public affairs. This council, which was the first formed in this province, consisted of the following persons, most of whom took the prescribed oaths on the 6th of May, 1720 : (1) John Doucet, lieutenant- governor, captain in the 40th regiment; (2) Lawrence Armstrong, major in the 40th regiment ; (3) Paul Mascarene, major in the 40th regiment ; (4) Rev. John Harrison, chaplain in the 40th regiment ; (5) Cyprian Southack, sea-captain; (6) Arthur Savage; (7) Hibbert Newton, collector of customs; (8) William Shirreff; (9) Peter Boudre, captain of the sloop Charlemont ; (10) John Adams, sworn in Maj- 9th, and (1 1) Gillam Phillipps, who was not sworn in until the 16th of August. Of these Mr. Doucet remained lieutenant-governor until his decease. It was he who three years before sold his house and lot to Olivier {see ante, p. 66). Arthur Savage was made naval officer of the port, and all sea-captains were required to report their vessels at his office on their arrival or departure, as well as at the office of the collector of customs. He was also the first provincial secretary of Nova Scotia, having been chosen to fill that office immediately after the formation of the Council. Hibbert Newton was the first collector of customs appointed in the Province. Very little is known of Mr. Adams, who was a native of Massachusetts, to which province he retired, when iijfirm with age and blind, to die. He was probably employed in trade from the time he settled in the country. During this year (1720) it was ordered that the French inhabitants on the Annapolis River should elect from among themselves six deputies, whose duty it should be to promulgate the orders and proclamations of the Government, and to see that their directions were carried into HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 69 ■execution. The names of the first deputies thus chosen were : Alex- ander Robichau, Prudent Robichau, Nicholas Gautier, Bernard Goudet, Charles Landry and Pierre Goudet. Phillipps then gave notice that he would give the inhabitants four months in which to come in and take the oath of allegiance to the king, at the end of which, if they failed to comply, he informed them they would be required to leave the country and the property they possessed would be confiscated. This oourse was rendered imperative upon him by the royal instructions, though he felt that he " had not sufficient power to drive them out of the Province," or to prevent them from doing as they pleased in the premises, much less to punish them for refusal or disobedience. Before the expiration of the time named the priests had convinced their people that it would be the height of folly for them to take the oath required, the chief argument used being that the promise to grant the free exercise of their religion was only a sham and a delusion. The proclamation therefore became a dead letter ; the hahitans did not come in and take the oath, but continued to make improvements on their lands as they had hitherto done, and in many other ways began to manifest contempt for their new rulers. The Governor and Council now applied to Eng- land to establish garrisons at Minas and at Chiegnecto, with a view to compel respect for their authority, and suggested the propriety of send- ing over a ship of war of fifty guns and a couple of sloops to be employed as occasion might require. The year 1721 was marked by the establishment of a Court of Judica- ture at Annapolis. At a meeting of Council held on the tenth day of April it was resolved, "That the Governor and Council do sit as a General Court or Court of Judicature four times a year," and they appointed the first Tuesdays in February, May, August and November for the sittings of the court. Peter Boudre, one of the Council, who commanded the sloop Charle- mont, was employed in conveying stores from the magazine in Annapolis to the garrison which had been established in Canso, and which had been placed under the command of Armstrong. A vessel had been built at Boston for the Nova Scotia Government which, when not otherwise employed, was to be used in a survey of the southern and eastern coasts. This vessel, sometimes known as the "provincial galley," was named the William Augustus, and was ordered to convey the Governor to Canso in August, which she did, arriving there in safety on the 5th of September. On the 13th of the same month the schooner Hannah, William Souden, master, with supplies for the garrison, was cast away at the Tuskets, and became a total wreck, to the great regret of those for whom her cargo was intended. On the 26th, the sloop of Captain Alden, who was a trader between Boston, Annapolis and Minas, was placed in quarantine 70 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. for fear the infection of small-pox might be on board, as that disease was. prevalent in the former city at the time of her leaving it. She brought a cargo of woollen and cotton goods, probably for Winniett and other merchants then of Annapolis. I transcribe the following description of the town as given by Major Mascarene in 1721, eleven years after the conquest : " Two leagues above Goat Island is the fort, seated on a sandy, rising ground on the south side of the river, on a point formed by the British River and another small one, called the Jenny River. The lower town lies along the first, and is commanded by the fort. The upper town stretches in scattering houses a mile and a half south-east from the fort on the rising ground between the two rivers. From this rising ground to the banks of each river, and on the other side of the less one lie large flats or meadows, etc. On both sides of the British River are a great many fine farms, inhabited by about two hundred families." From the last statement here made, allowing the families to average five members each, the population outside the town would amount to one thousand souls, which would be an increase in the country settlements of over 100 per cent, since the last census — a very respectable increase. At a council held at Annapolis Royal on Tuesday, October 11th, 1720 : Present : General Phillipps, the Hon. President (Armstrong), Mascarene, Savage, Adams, Newton, Skene and Shirreif : "A complaint of the Honourable Lieutenant-Governor in writing, of the 10th instant, to His Excellency, relating to his public orders for the Province, given out before the arrival here of His Excellency, was read and advised on. On which Mr. Wroth was sent for before the Board and examined in relation to some reflections that were cast upon the Lieutenant-Governor by giving out some of these orders, who said that he had heard some words by William Shirreff, Esq. , tending to that purpose. . . Mr. William Winniett, being in company at the same time when the aforesaid reflections were cast, was sent for in before the Council, and asked by the Honourable Lieutenant-Governor whether he had any objections to make against his administration while he had the honour thereof to be within the chair of the Government before His Excellency's arrival, who answered he had none." " Mr. William Winniett, desiring leave of His Excellency to go up the Bay of Fundy with his sloop to trade, His Excellency declared he has leave, qualifying himself according to law." . " It is also further resolved, and ordered new. con.. That William Winniett, haveing behaved himself before His Excellency and Council in an insolent, disre- spectful, audacious, contemptuous and undutiful manner, as is believed to be without president (sic) or example, he shall be obliged to ask pardon, and make his humble submission in writeing to His Excellency and Council acknowledging his ofience in the most submissive manner, and in particular to two of the members of this His Majesty's Council, viz.. Major Paul Mascarene and John Adams, Esq., having reflected in the vilest manner on the character of the latter in council, and deliver in the same, signed by himself, to His Excellency and Council to-morrow at the hour of twelve, who will then sit at the place aforesaid. And that the said William Winniett be served this day with the copy of this Order in Council. " (Signed), Richard Phillipps." HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 71 Whatever may have been the cause of Winniett's conduct toward the Council on this occasion, and especially to Mascarene and Adams, it had no influence to prevent the future good offices and friendship of the estimable Mascarene toward Mr. Winniett's family after his decease — nor, in fact, to himself long before that event occurred, for the records of the same Council show that within six months after the occurrence of this event it employed him in the discharge of duties involving delicate handling and only to be entrusted to a person of loyal sentiments. It is more than probable that some hasty expressions escaped him in rela- tion to some order of the Council touching the manner in which the trade with Minas should be conducted, and which he thought interfered with his interests in that place. Early in 1722, the collector of customs, Newton, and a son of Councillor Adams were made prisoners by a body of hostile Indians in Passama- quoddy Bay, while on their way home to Annapolis from Boston, where it is probable they had spent the previous winter. They were passen- gers in a vessel owned and commanded by Captain Blinn, a New England trader, and had gone on shore with a party for water, when they were ambushed and seized. They were, however, shortly afterwards ransomed and returned to Annapolis. The Indians were very active in their hostility to the English colonists during this year. They captured several vessels, among them one which had been despatched by the Government from Canso with supplies to the garrison at headquarters. Flushed with their success, and believing the fort would be without food for its defenders, they contemplated a blockade of it, and hoped to be able to reduce it by famine ; but their scheme was happily frustrated by the timely arrival of succours in food and other materials necessary to sustenance and defence. Soon afterwards Lieutenant-Governor Doucet succeeded in making captives of about twenty of their number who had encamped in the neighbourhood with the hope of soon being able to carry out their wicked designs. This event tended to intimidate them and their associates, and soon all danger from that quarter disappeared, to the great relief of the garrison and inhabitants. The Governor-in- chief, Phillipps, returned to England in the autumn of this year, leaving the administration of affairs in the hands of Mr. Doucet. Among the officers stationed in Annapolis in 1720 was a lieutenant, John Jephson, and Phillipps, in a letter to Major Armstrong, then commanding at Canso, and bearing date October 24:th, speaks of him as "having a large family of small children in a starving condition," and adds that "his subsistence is engaged for the payment of debts," and that he has not sufficient officers to try him by court-martial, but gives permission for him and his family to be removed to Canso, on condition that he should be sent back to Annapolis for trial whenever such a demand should be made. 72 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Councillor Adams was at this time the owner of a vessel which was employed in the fishery at Canso, and Mr. Winniett was about the same time sent to that place to appraise the value of the stores there. Major Alexander Cosby succeeded Armstrong in the command at Canso in 1723. This gentleman was the son-in-law of Winniett, whose eldest daughter, Anne, he had shortly before married. Phillipps stated in a report to the Board of Trade and Plantations this year that the garrison consisted of five companies, comprising in all two hundred men, exclusive of officers ; that there were about a dozen families of English who lived under cover of the fort in a suburb having no foreigners in it, and that the fort itself had gone much to decay, a considerable portion of the work having tumbled down. In 1724 an attack was made upon the town by a party of fifty or sixty Indians, one-half of whom are said to have been Malicetes from the north shores of the Bay of Fundy. They shot and scalped a sergeant, McNeil, of the garrison, and killed a private soldier, besides wounding an officer and several men. These events took place in a sally made by the garrison against the besiegers, who successfully repulsed the attack, forcing the troops back into the fort. Having burnt a dwelling-house belonging to an Englishman and killed the sheep of the people in the vicinity, they suddenly disappeared, carrying away with them several captives, among whom were two men, a woman and two children belonging to the garrison. These were ransomed soon afterwards and returned to their home. Lieutenant-Governor Doucet, in order to avenge the death of McNeil, ordered an Indian prisoner to be put to death on the same spot where the sergeant had been killed. He was shot and scalped. On this affair, Murdoch very properly says • " The execution of the hostage or prisoner I cannot but regard as a blot on the fair fame of our people ; while great allowance should be made for the feelings of the English, exasperated as they doubtless were by the barbarous cruelties exercised on their countrymen in New England and Nova Scotia, and the treachery they found at work everywhere. However this execution may be palliated, I see no grounds on which in any way it can be justified." A clerical scandal occurred at Annapolis in September, 1724, which may be best stated in the words of a minute of Council made on the 22 nd of that month "The Board unanimously agree, that whereas it appears that the Revd. Mr. Robert Cuthbert hath obstinately persisted in keeping company with, Margaret Douglass, contrary to all reproofs and admonitions of Alexander Douglass, her husband, and contrary to his own promises and the good advice of His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor ; " That he, the said Mr. Robert Cuthbert, should be kept in the garrison without port liberty ; and that his scandalous affair and the satisfaction demanded by the HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 73 injured husband be transmitted in order to be determined at home, and that the Honourable Lieutenant-Governor may write for another minister in his place. ' ' Then the Revd. Mr. Cuthbert, being sent for to give his reasons for stopping Alexander Douglass' goods, etc., as is represented in said Douglass' petition, who, having come and being asked, made answer, ' No,' that he did not ; he might have them when he liked, and that he did not insist upon anything from him, his wife, or child." Mr. Cuthbert was the successor of Mr. Harrison as chaplain to the garrison. Early in 1725 he came and took possession of a house in the lower town, belonging to Samuel Douglass,* alleging that it was church property. Douglass had bought it in 1715 from Lieutenant Jephson, who became its owner by purchase from Governor Vetch. The matter was referred to the Council, who gave Douglass leave to remove it. Armstrong, who had been in England from the time he was relieved by Cosby in the command of the garrison at Canso, was made Lieutenant- Governor of the Province in 1725. He did not come to Annapolis, however, until 1726, though he arrived at Canso early in the following year. Soon after his arrival he summoned the Councillors, Mascarene, Newton, Skene and Shirreff to meet him at that place. This year witnessed the first expression of opinion in favour of constituting a House of Assembly to assist in making laws for the government of the colony. Mr. Armstrong thought that an assembly to consist of twenty members should be elected for this purpose, and asserted his belief that otherwise it would be impossible to govern it satisfactorily. There were at this period forty-nine English families settled in Canso — being the largest English settlement in the country. They were chiefly engaged in the fisheries, and were generally in a prosperous condition. Shortly before his arrival at Annapolis, in 1726, he wrote to the Board of Trade, that without a speedy and thorough repair the garrison of the capital would be " without lodgments, provisions or defence." On the 15th of June an interesting occurrence took place in the town in the form of the ratification of a treaty with the Indians. At the flag bastion of the fort Mr. Doucet — in the place of Armstrong, who had not yet reached headquarters — met the Indians and French deputies, where the text of the treaty was read first in English and then by sworn interpreters to the parties concerned, Prudent Robichau and Abraham Bourg being the interpreters employed. The Indians having assented to the terms, the articles were duly signed, after which an entertainment was given and presents distributed to the chiefs and their hostages released. The Board of Trade were afterwards informed by Mr. Doucet that the treaty had cost him about three hundred pounds * This gentleman was twice married, and the stone erected over his first wife's grave is the oldest grave monument existing in the Dominion. 74 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. in presents and feasting, a fact which seems to indicate that feasting was not furnished by niggardly hands, or that the presents lacked substantial value. Captain Doucet did not long survive this event, having died in the fort on the 19th of November. He was buried in the graveyard near the scene of his death, but no memorial exists to indicate the spot where his remains rest. In the December of 1725, three Frenchmen, named respectively Paul Francis du Pont de Villieu, Saint Joly de Pardeithau, and Alexandre Poupart de Barbour, came to Annapolis from Quebec and applied to Governor Doucet for protection against the Indians, alleging that they had killed two of them whom they had employed as guides to pilot them hither, and whom they had liberally paid for the service. Having detected them in an attempt to deceive them a quarrel had ensued, and that they had been killed in the scuffle which then took place. Doucet had them separately examined touching this story, and found each to state the same particulars concerning it, upon which the Council advised that they should be kept in custody until the truth or falsity of their statements could be confirmed, a course which the Frenchmen themselves suggested, as they feared to live with the inhabitants or to make the attempt to leave the Province, lest their act being known, they should become the victims of their revenge. They were kept in custody until the 12th of May following (1726) when Winniett, in a letter from Minas, confirmed the tale of these strangers, and the Council resolved it would be cruel to detain them any longer, and therefore found them a passage in a vessel bound to Boston, from whence they could obtain the means of conveyance to their own country. On the 17th of December, 1726, Armstrong arrived at the Govern- ment House in Annapolis. He at once summoned the Council and produced his commission as lieutenant-governor, and a copy of that of the Governor-in-chief (Phillipps), and of the royal instructions. The French deputies who had also been summoned for the occasion, were shown a copy of the oath of allegiance which the inhabitants would be required to take if they would retain their possessions in the colony, and they were given till the 2.5th of the month to return an answer from their constituents as to whether they would comply with the wishes of the Government or not. As this council was held on the 21st, only four days were allowed them to make the required reply. On the day appointed, however, they assembled at the "flag bastion" in the fort, and a translation of the oath into French having been read to them the deputies requested that a clause should be inserted exempting them from bearing arms, and some words to that effect having been written on the margin they took the oath, and "having drank His Majesty's health, and several other loyal healths," they bade the Governor "good HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 75 night " and departed to their homes. A little after this time Captain Joseph Bennett and Ensign Erasmus James Phillips, of the garrison, were sent to Minas to administer the same oath to the people of that place. Owing to the prevalence of unfavourable weather they failed to reach the settlements there, and the matter was postponed to a future day. Lieutenant Millidge, an officer of the Board of Ordnance, was directed to place pickets around the fort for security against an apprehended attack on it by the Indians later in the year; "it being impossible," in the opinion of Armstrong, "to repair the breaches in the walls this winter." It was in this year also that a council was held in the house of John Adams to consider a complaint made by Governor Armstrong against Robert Nicholes, his servant, for an assault upon him made at Canso, nearly a year before. He was found guilty and sentenced as follows : "You, Robert Nicholes, being found guilty of the crime wherewith thou art charged by the Honourable Lawrence Armstrong, Lieutenant-Governor and Com- mander-in-chief of this His Majesty's Province of Nova Scotia, the punishment therefor inflicted on thee is to sit upon a gallows three days, half an hour each day, with a rope about thy neck and a paper on your breast wliereon shall be wrote in capital letters Audacious Villain ; and afterwards thou art to be whipped at a cart's tail from the prison to the uppermost house on the cape, and from thence back again to the prison house, receiving each hundred paces five stripes upon your bare back with a cat-o' -nine-tails, and then thovi art to be turned over for a, soldier. "* As the distance to be walked was not less than half a mile, this poor wretch must have received as many as ninety lashes before he suffered the crowning penalty of his oiFence — -that of being turned ovet- as a soldier ! Charles Latour, who had retired to Louisburg soon after the conquest, visited his old home — the scene of his childhood — in the autumn of 1726, with his vessel, which he got permission to lay up for the winter. He also obtained leave to remain till the next spring. He had been sent by St. Ovide, the Governor of Cape Breton — or Isle Royale, as it was then called — to purchase certain provisions and goods which were required for the officers there. The first formal commission of the peace for this province seems to have been issued in March, 1727 — a hundred and seventy years ago — when Adams, Skene and Shirreff were appointed justices of the peace to form a civil court, their judgments to be reported to the Lieutenant- Governor for confirmation. Francis Richard, a habitant, was made high constable, or sheriff, on the 5th of April (1727), and on the same day 'See Minutes of Council in MS., Archives, 1726-27. 76 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Prudent Robichau was made a justice of the peace and Rene Martin, con- stable. In this year Lieutenant Otho Hamilton took the place of William Shirreff, as secretary to the Council, the latter having sent in his resigna- tion of that office. A dispute arose at this time between the Lieutenant- Governor and Messieurs Winniett, Blinn and Bissel, who were the chief traders or merchants of the town, and the subject having been brought before the Council, Blinn was proved to have used disrespectful language to Armstrong, and it was ordered that "the aforesaid Blinn be com- mitted to prison for said offence." Edward How's vessel was chartered by the Government to visit the French settlements with a view to administer the oath of allegiance to those of the people who had not yet taken it. Ensign Wroth, adjutant of Phillipps' regiment — the 40th — was sent in her to Minas to that end. This is the first mention made of Mr. How, who afterwards acted so con- spicuous a part in Nova Scotia affairs. At the close of the previous year there were but three members of the Council residing at Annapolis, in consequence of which, and in order to secure a quorum, the following gentlemen were sworn in on the 13th of May at the house of Mr. Adams, namely, Capt. Joseph Bennett, Capt. Christopher Aldridge, Major Alexander Cosby and Capt. John Blower, all of the regiment stationed in the capital. Of these, Major Cosby, having received a commission constituting him "Lieutenant- Governor of the town and fort of Annapolis," was not sworn in until the 30th of October, 1727. He was, as we have before said, a son-in-law of Winniett, and from this time Armstrong regarded him with jealousy and distrust. The Governor-in-chief, Phillipps, paid a visit to the Province in 1729, having arrived at Canso in June, and at the seat of his Government on the 20th of November. One of the objects of his visit was to endeavour to reconcile differences and disputes which had for some time distracted the community, including the members of Council and the Lieutenant- Governor, and he had the satisfaction to find his efforts attended with considerable success. The following extracts from a letter of Armstrong addressed to the Board of Trade in June, 1728, will explain the nature of some of these distractions. He complains against Breslay, the cur^, whom he accuses of " usurping to himself the authority of a judge in oivil matters," and charges Cosby with having " sympathized with and defended him in his insolence." He complains also of Cosby having acted violently towards Mr. Maugeant, "a French gentleman who had been employed to read and translate a Government proclamation to the habitans" and adds that "his insulting conduct had its motive in dislike to himself." He concludes by informing the Board that "it is impossible His Majesty's service can be advanced or promoted while he remains in HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 77 the station he is in, for the Province will be rent and torn by parties and factions." Phillipps met with a joyful reception on his arrival at Annapolis, and was specially welcomed by the French. His first official act was to appoint Major Henry Cope to a seat in the Council. Two others were needed, and on the next day he selected Mr. Winniett to fill one of these vacancies. He calls Winniett " the most considerable merchant and one of the first British inhabitants of this place and eminent in his zeal for H. M. service." Before his presence much of the discords and jealousies which had previously existed faded out of sight, and general joy and satisfaction appear to have prevailed among the people. The first Surveyor-General appointed for this province was David Dunbar, in 1730. On the 18th of May, in that year, Major Cosby was made President of the Council, and a new provincial seal was sent out to the Governor. Captain Bissel was ordered to call, with his vessel, at Pemiquid, on his return from Boston, to bring Dunbar to Annapolis where he was to make arrangements to commence a survey of the lands in the neighbourhood of that place. Erasmus James Phillips, of the 40th regiment, was sworn in as a member of the Council, at the request of the Governor, on the 7th of December, and a proclamation was issued on the 24th calling upon the Acadians to bring in their deeds, leases and grants to the Secretary's office by the end of February ensuing, in order to receive new grants under the great seal of the Province. Mr. Armstrong, who had visited England after Phillipps had per- sonally resumed the government, returned in 1731, arriving at Annapolis in July, and was the bearer of orders for the return of the Governor, who, in a letter to the Duke of Newcastle on that occasion, expressed his fears that things would not prosper in Nova Scotia under the administration of his lieutenant, Mr. Armstrong, whom he seems to have regarded as an enemy. On August 27th, 1731, Phillipps left the Pro- vince never to return, though he continued to hold the place and take the pay of Governorrin-chief for several years thereafter. From this time to that of his melancholy death, in 1739, Mr. Armstrong found his position as administrator of the public affairs to be anything but an enviable one. The councillors soon became divided on questions of precedency, and the French inhabitants, who appear to have always distrusted and disliked him, continued to oppose and thwart his wishes as often as circum- stances gave them opportunity ; while he, on his part, seems to have regarded them with much ill-will. He frequently speaks of them in his despatches as "perfidious," "headstrong," "obstinate" and "conceited," and suggests to the Board of Trade that an Assembly appeared to be the only cure for existing troubles. In 1731, several small grants of land were made at Annapolis. One 78 HISTOKY OF ANNAPOLIS. of these, of a small piece on the water side near the fort, where a limekiln stood, was to John Dyson, "sergeant and storekeeper"; another to Ensign Handfield (whose name, long honourable and conspicuous in the affairs of Annapolis, was here for the first time mentioned) of a " plott of ground behind his house " — a piece of land that was claimed by the heirs of Sir Charles Hobby and others ; and another, of eight acres on the Cape Road, to Paul Mascarene, who, having obtained leave to visit Boston, had his place in the Council filled by the appointment of Lieutenant Otho Hamilton. The name of Edward Amhurst appears as one of the witnesses to the subscription of the oath of allegiance of 1730. This gentleman's daughter afterwards became the grandmother of Sir W. F. Williams, of Kars. Mr. Amhurst was an officer in Phillipps' regiment. The quarrels and litigations among the French people kept the Council, as a Court of Judicature, busy during a great part of 1732. During this year, Mr. Winniett, one of the Council, was frequently out of the Province on private business. Cosby, his son-in-law, the President of the Council, had withdrawn his attendance, and Phillipps was employed elsewhere ; the Council, therefore, virtually consisted of Mascarene, Adams, Skene, Shirreff and Hamilton. Armstrong, in one of his letters of this year, speaks of the death of Charles Latour, and his leaving issue in Annapolis. He also says that Alexander Le Borgne, son of Madame Bellisle, had married an Indian woman, and lived among the tribe. About this time the authorities at Annapolis published, in the New England newspapers, an advertisement offering grants of land in this province, in fee simple, to all Protestant settlers who might come from those colonies ; but it does not appear that it had any effect in augmenting the settlement of the country. In September new deputies were chosen, in the persons of Prudent Robichau, Nicholas Gautier, Alexander Hubert, Joseph Bourgeois, Peter Lanoue, Claude Girard, William Blanchard and Prudent Robichau, jun., and the 11th of October in each year was fixed for their election there- after. George Mitchell, a surveyor — a deputy of Dunbar — who arrived at Annapolis at this time, was directed to make a survey of the lands surrounding the basin. The dispute between Mascarene and Cosby as to precedence at the Council Board was settled by the direction of the Lords of Trade, who declared that seniority should be the principle followed — the senior councillor to act on all occasions as president, and to be administrator in the absence of the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor. The same authority forbade the appointment of the French inhabitants to be Justices of the Peace, as they, being Romanists, could not take the required oaths. St. Ponc(^ was accepted as officiating priest for the settlers on the HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 79 Annapolis River, and under his advice, his parishioners were induced to petition the Government for permission to remove their church from the town " to the midst of their settlements up the river." This request was refused, on the ground that the church had been removed to Annapolis on account of " a massacre contrived by the priest Charlemagne, and Felix of Minas, and some of the people, to be perpetrated by the Indians." Armstrong tells them : " There are none of you but know how barbarously some of His Majesty's subjects were murdered and wounded by these unthinking and infatuated people." In order to revenge themselves for this decided refusal of compliance with their wishes, the inhabitants raised the prices of all articles which they usually furnished for the use of the garrison. Further grants of land were made at this time. Samuel Douglass received a grant covering a . piece of land which reached from the street now called St. George eastwardly to William Street, and lying between the lands of Adams and James Horlock in the lower town. I think this lot could be now identified from the measures stated in the grant, which were 230 feet from St. George (Dauphin) Street to William; and as these streets are not parallel, and still occupy the sites they did then, that line could be determined. Its breadth was 120 feet on St. George Street. In a grant to James Horlock, we find mentioned " Frederick Street, for- merly called St. Anthony Street." John Hanshole and Francis Wetherby also received grants of lots in the same neighbourhood. Captain John Jephson had two acres and upwards granted to him, which were near the hospital. Charles Vane received a grant of nearly five acres, bounded as follows : " On the north-west side, by the road leading to the cape, and running along by said road from the churchyard to a garden formerly belonging to M. de Falais, at present in the possession of Major Alex- ander Cosby, as Lieutenant-Governor of the fort ; and along by said garden from the road S.S.W. to the swamp or marsh, and from thence, or the foot of Captain John Jephson's garden, along the said marsh N.W. to the glassee (glacis); and from thence along the S.E. side of the churchyard N., and by E. to the aforesaid road." This piece of land had been sold years before by Margaret and Anne Latour to John Adams, and now by him to Vane, and is easily identified by the given bounds to be the land on which the present court-house, Wesleyan chapel and manse, and the residence of the Rev. J. J. Ritchie* now stand. The Rev. Mr. Harrison obtained a grant of about five acres in the lower town, for a glebe. This piece of land is that adjoining the railway station on the north-east. Another grant was made of a lot of four acres, in the upper town, to one William Haw, a tayleur, who, in 1733, * Now (1897) owned and occupied by Rev. H. How.— [Ed.] 80 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. having been charged with selling liquor, contrary to an ordinance of the Council, in a fit of chagrin returned his patent, declaring that he would not stay in the country, and his grant was cancelled. It was also in 1732 that the case of Joseph Jennings against William Winniett was tried before the Council, Winniett absenting himself from his seat at the Board during the trial. Jennings appears to have been living in Annapolis since 1711, and the house which was the subject of dispute, was said to have been bought by him from Cahouet in that year. It was proved before the Council that the plaintiff had " bought, paid for, and improved the premises, by building a useful and expensive wharf." Winniett was, therefore, forced to give up possession, and to pay the costs. A lawyer named Ross lived in the town at this period, and was Jennings' attorney. Winniett was displeased at the decision, and incurred the censure of the Council for some language used by him in relation to it. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V. By the Editor, An admirable account of Samuel Vetch, the first English Governor, from the able and erudite pen of Rev. George Patterson, D.D., appears in Vol. IV., Nova Scotia Historical Society Collection, 1884. He was not only able as a military commander and adviser, but as a civil governor, and entitled to rank with Mascarene as the wisest and most worthy of our colonial governors during the first fifty or sixty years of British occupancy. He assumed, by royal instructions, the ofiice of Governor of the fort and country, on its surrender to Nicholson, who on the 28th of the same month left him in command of the garrison. The Indians were not only troublesome in open war, but threatened, interfered with, and harassed the French when they undertook to supply wood and necessaries to the fort. The French showed a disposition to become reconciled to the English rule under his administration. Against the Indians he, with the aid of his brother-in-law. Major Livingstone, of New York, recruited a company of one hundred of the Iroquois Indians, and sent them to Annapolis, where their services were very valuable in many ways. He reported them as "of wonderful use," and " worth three times the number of white men." With their labour he built a fort, afterwards known as the Mohawk Fort, which is described as " about a quarter of a mile from the grand fort," and " a long square, composed of a dry stone wall of a reasonable thickness about six feet high, heaped with sods, with a ditch before it about four feet deep, and between five and six feet high, having at each angle the form of a bastion, except toward the river, where it is in a direct line having a breast-work or parapet of sods, with embrasure for a cannon, capable to HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 81 be made use of for a battery and commands the river very well there- abouts." He says, " It may prove of very great service to those of Her Majesty's subjects who inhabit the town betwixt the two forts, as well as a barrier betwixt this fort and the enemy upon that side, and more particularly by more immediately commanding the passage up the river, and the preventing the carrying up of ammunition and artillery above the fort as was practised at the reduction of the place." It was prob- ably at this fort, near the Acadia S. S. Co. pier, that the block-house stood which in 1749 was taken down and removed to Minas. Vetch involved himself in irretrievable debt in the support of his garrison and in carrying out his designs in the interests of the nation, while the British Government neglected to pay his bills, and left him and his garrison in a most distressed state. Meanwhile, Nicholson, whom he trusted as a friend, was treacherously undermining his influence with the authorities in London, and in 1714 succeeded in superseding him in the government of the Province, but himself spent but little time in it, and that to its disadvantage. To vindicate himself and his administra- tion Vetch repaired to London, and was restored to the governorship, which he held for nearly two years, until the appointment of Phillipps in 1717, but probably did not return to Nova Scotia, the lieutenant- governors discharging the functions in the absence of their superiors. The saddest thing of all to relate about him is that, financially ruined in the service of the country, and neglected by the administration who continually promised him a position which would afford a competency, he died in a debtor's prison, April 30th, 1732. He planned an expedi- tion for the reduction of Quebec in 1711, which would have been assuredly successful had it not been for the gross ignorance and incompetency of the English Admiral. Had he remained Governor at Annapolis, as he would have been but for the intrigues of Nicholson, and been properly supported at home, the subsequent difficulties with the Acadians would probably not have occurred and Nova Scotia would have been spared a dark page in her history. His daughter Alida, born Christmas Day, 1701, married Samuel Bayard, of New York, and was the mother of William Bayard, the father of Samuel Vetch Bayard, of Wilmot, to be hereafter mentioned. Governor Vetch was through her an ancestor of the celebrated Bayard family of St. John, N.B. CHAPTER VI. 1732-1742. Acadians troublesome — Petty crimes in the town — Police established — Armstrong's hostility to Winniett— He discusses the claim of Latour's family — Mrs. Buck- ler's strange story — Grant of township of Norwich — Suicide of Armstrong — Mascarene returns — Cold and scarcity — Death of Winniett and Mascarene. THE years which intervene between the date of the events just related and the year 1755, are filled with incidents of consider- able historical interest, and reveal many facts which, when dispassion- ately considered, constrain us to modify our opinions regarding the super- excellence of the character of the Acadians. The alleged entire and ready obedience to their rulers, their freedom from disputes, controversies and litigations, and the absence of crime in their communities, become extremely doubtful if not entirely mythical statements when illustrated by an appeal to facts. The Abbe Raynal's description of their habits and characteristics generally has long been received as true and adopted as a, faithful picture; but it would seem that his estimate was formed from insufficient data or from incorrect information, for the records of the Council abound with memoranda of their quarrels and disagree- ments in relation to their lands, their rights as neutrals and their privileges as religionists. Even their domestic infelicities are sometimes referred to the English authorities for a hearing and adjustment. In fact, during the long period when their affairs were administered by their own countrymen, it was their common custom to appeal from their decisions to their superiors at Quebec, and that, too, at an expense ruinous to their own and their families' interests. In June, 1733, Goat Island — then called Armstrong's Island — was granted to Charles Vane, who was at the time in the employ of the Board of Ordnance. In the grant it is said to be near to a place called the "Scotch Fort.'' It was for several years afterwards known as Vane's Island. In this year, also, Alexander Le Borgne, Sieur de Bellisle,* * This Le Borgne's mother was Marie, a daughter of James Latour, one of the co-seigneurs of Port Royal. His uncle Charles had retired to Isle Royale at the time of the conquest ; but he remained in the country. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 83 came forward voluntarily and took the oaths of allegiance. He had been married to an Indian woman, and had hitherto been inimical to English rule. He soon after asked to be restored to his seigniorial rights, or those of his late father, and his petition was forwarded to the Board of Trade, who refused to grant its prayer. A ship from the Tower (London) freighted with cannon, ammunition and other ordnance stores, and clothing for the soldiery, arrived at Annapolis on the 21st of September of this year, and great rejoicings attended the event. Armstrong in one of his despatches to the Lords of Trade says : ' ' The ship from the Board of Ordnance which is to carry home all the cannon, mortars, etc., hath much revived us; they having also sent some artificers, with directions to their storekeeper to put the garrison and outworks in repair, which at present it wants much. We have ever since the spring been employed in patching and repairing the roofs and the foundations of the houses to prevent their falling, and I hope that in a few years the whole garrison will be in a tolerably good condition ; and I heartily wish our storehouses and magazines were likewise ordered to be made bomb-proof. " An exact plan of British (Annapolis) River from surveys made by Mitchell during the preceding year was forwarded to the Board of Trade in November, with a request that provision 'should be made for the payment of the surveyor and his assistants for their services. This demand was recommended as reasonable, as Mr. Mitchell had found it necessary to hire a boat and an interpreter, in addition to his usual staff, in the prosecution of this work. In December, Prudent Eobichau was commissioned as " Receiver of' Quitrents and Fines of Alienation," for the district of the hanlieue. About this time the Council sentenced one Francis Raymond to be " whipped at the cart's tail," at the block- house, at the fort gate, at the cape and at Mr. Gautier's ; and at each of those places " to receive five stripes on his bare back with a cat-o'-nine- tails;" and Francis Meuse "to receive forty stripes at the fort gate on his bare back with a cat-o'-nine-tails." The former had been convicted of theft, and the latter of having obstructed the highway by felling trees across to prevent the garrison from receiving its necessary supplies of fire-wood.* Early in 1734, the Lieutenant-Governor, whose quarrel with Winniett had not been healed, suspended that gentleman's functions as a member of the Council, alleging as a reason his refusal to attend the meetings of that body. In March he appointed John Hamilton, gentleman, to be "naval oflBcer" for the port of Annapolis. On the 10th of April the officers of the garrison petitioned the Council for the use of a piece of ground for a " bowling green," and their request was readily granted ; the lot of land conceded was a portion of the White House Field, or * Murdoch, Vol. II., Appendix, page 493. 84 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Governor's garden, and was probably that on a part of which the late Andrew Henderson built the shop in which the post-office was for some time kept.* In a communication to the Board of Trade, dated August 3rd of this year, Phillipps,' the Governor-in-chief, says of the habitans of the Annapolis Valley that " they raise both corn and cattle on the marsh lands that want no clearing ; but have not in almost a century cleared the quantity of three hundred acres of woodland." He also says they are " a pest and incumbrance to the country, being proud, lazy, obstinate and untractable, unskilful in their methods of agriculture, and disaffected to the Government." Their " being Roman Catholics," he alleges, puts their disaffection " beyond all doubt," and he proves their bad husbandry by a statement so incredible that it seems to have been the result of prejudice and false information — that when the manure near their barns becomes too troublesome, " they, instead of laying it on their lands, get rid of it by removing their barns to another S2^ot !" His reports, like those of Armstrong, are very unfavourable to the Acadians. In August, 1734, Mary Davis made complaint before the Council that Jane Picot, the wife of Louis Thibald, had falsely accused her of having murdered her two children, and after a patient and full investigation of the charge, they declared the report to be "a vile, malicious, groundless and scandalous " one, and ordered by way of punishment that the said " Jeanne Picot be ducked on Saturday next, the 10th instant, at high- water." She was also required, with her witness, Cecil Thompson, to be bound over to prevent the recurrence of such slanderous reports. The generous-hearted complainant, however, shocked at the severity of the sentence, applied to the Council to change it by requiring the defendant to ask her pardon publicly at the door of the church. To this the court consented and the apology was given and received as a sufficient atonement. Cecil Thompson, was, I think, the daughter of James Thompson, a sergeant in the 40th regiment, from whom, about this time, one Matthew Hurry had stolen five pounds, for which theft he was sentenced to receive " fifty lashes on his bare back and to return the money." So frequent had petty thefts and robberies become that in September, 1734, the Council author- ized the establishment of a night police for the town's protection, the members of which received orders to fire on all those who refused to answer after being three times challenged. This was the first police force organized in Nova Scotia. Mr. Adams, who had served as a member of the Council for fourteen years, obtained leave of absence to visit England, with a view to obtain- ing some remuneration for his long, loyal and faithful services. The * Henderson's store and post-office were on or near the site of the brick building built by Aug. Harris and now owned by the Union Bank. — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 85 Lords of Trade, to whom the suspension of Winniett had been referred, declared they were " unable to form any judgment on that matter, as the charges made were not sufficiently explicit to enable them to do so ; " but they reminded Armstrong that "a councillor should have full freedom of debate and vote," and that "when there were so few civil inhabitants " he " should not too lightly part with one of them out of the Council." To this, Armstrong replied some months later as follows : " I am entirely of opinion that there being so few British subjects in this place that they ought to be used with tenderness and not rigour upon every slight occasion (which is contrary to my nature), but I hope your lordships will agree that a vacancy is preferable to a deceitful member, and that is my reason why (for the good of His Majesty's subjects) I suspended William Winniett, Esq., from his seat, upon information laid against him, and his other disrespectful and contemptuous behaviour, not only in Council, but likewise abroad, to the overthrow and prejudice of every- thing proposed for the good of His Majesty's service." The causes, whatever they may have been, or the differences, whatever they were, which resulted in the suspension of Mr. Winniett, were shortly after this removed or reconciled, for it is certain that he again took his seat at the Board, and that the Lieutenant-Governor treated him with marked consideration, and frequently spoke of him and his conduct in terms of approbation. In November, Mr. Armstrong addressed a lengthy despatch to their lordships of the Board of Trade, in which he discussed the claims of certain of the Latour family to the seigniory of Annapolis or Port Royal. The extreme length of this document, though it is full of interest, prevents my giving it in extenso, but the reader will find both pleasure and profit in the perusal of the subjoined extracts from its contents : ' ' I heartily thank your lordships for a copy of your report of Mrs. Campbell's petition, which, being sent for my guidance in relation to the seigneurs and French titles, I must beg leave to present your lordships — though I wish her good success — that she hath set forth in her petition several things prejudicial to truth, and the interests of her aunt and cousins, who have all along remained in the Province, and pretend to an equal share with her in these demesnes, which she claims. And therefore, first, I think myself obliged to contradict her assertion {which, I suppose, was intended only to move compassion) that her first husband. Lieutenant Broad street, was killed by the Indians, it being so notoriously known that after a long, lingering illness he died on his bed, I think in December, 1718, and that we had no disturbances from the Indians till the year 1722, and these orders which she mentions were only given her in charity, as an officer's widow, during pleasure, and not as any right she ever claimed, which is well known in this place. And I must observe to your lordships that Cobequid and Chiegnecto were allwise distinct from any claim of the Latours, they being given by the French king to one Matthieu Martin, who is but lately dead ; and as to the other I never heard that Monsieur Latour, or any of his heirs, ever laid claim. 86 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. ' ' Her assertion that her several brothers and sisters, her co-heirs of the lands and premises in question, returned soon after the publication of Her late Majesty's letter, into the neighbouring provinces under the dominion of France, and left her" by conveyance, sole proprietor, is almost of equal force with the former, for she never had but one brother, and her elder sister inarried a French officer, and retired with her Uncle Charles immediately upon the reduction of the Province ; and her said Uncle Charles committed, or endeavoured to commit, hostilities on board a privateer, upon His Majesty's subjects, from that time to the Treaty of Utrecht, and her youngest sister is still here and never retired from the Province ; and her brother being at that time a minor, I humbly submit whether any conveya,nce from such a person can be of force, or agreeable to the purport of Her Majesty's aforesaid letter. ' ' I only beg leave to say that there can be no such thing as a forfeiture in this province, for all those that did retire as in manner aforesaid hath equal right to dispose of their estates to such of their friends and acquaintances as remained, which will be a continual bar to His Majesty's British subjects. I must therefore observe to your lordships that her claim by conveyance from her brother can be of no force, because he was then a minor ; and had he been of age could only dispose of his own part ; so that, according to my conception of your lordships' opinion, she can only be entitled to her own share as a parcener. ' ' I can noways contradict her grandfather's patent letters from the French king further than this, that I must remark to your lordships, that according to the best information I have met with here (having no other records of advice to apply to than tradition), that during the life of the Marquis D'Auney, he ( Latour) was entitled by patent to that part of the Province, reaching westerly on St. John's River, on the north side of the Bay of Fundy, and after Monsieur D'Auney's death. Monsieur Latour having married his widow, he was through her interest absolved from the crimes of mal-administration alleged against him by her former husband, who had been Viceroy of the Province, and his power was then enlarged, but being unable to answer His Majesty, the French king's intentions in settling of the Pro- vince, he applied himself to one Le Borgne, Sieur de Bellisle, for assistance, who supplied him with money and other effects to a very great sum, in order to enable him to prosecute his design, whereupon the said Sieur le Borgne sent over his son to seize and take care of his interest according to the agreement made between them two, and as things went cross with Monsieur Latour, he put the son in posses- sion of most, if not all his estate, as a security for the debt, which not being as yet paid, the son's widow, one of the daughters of the said Latour, by Madame D'Auney, holds part of it to this day (1731). ' ' I must again by the same report observe to your lordships that Madame D'Auney, after the death of her husband Latour, considering the low estate she and her five children were reduced to, the estate being disposed of as aforesaid, applied to the French king for relief. That it was ordered upon her petition that Bellisle, as a valuable consideration of the money advanced should be seigneur and receive the rents and profits for seven years, and that the siegneurial estate should be divided share and share alike among her five children. This is asserted by the ancient people in this place and is affirmed to be contained in a book called "Arrets de Court,'' which I have not been able to get sight of. " So my lords, supposing the conveyance from her brother and one of her sisters *Mrs. Campbell (Agatha Latour) was a daughter of Jacques Latour, the eldest son of Charles Amador Latour by Madame D'Aulnay. Her mother was Anne Melanson. Her first husband was Edmund Broadstreet. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 87 is good, she can only, in my humble opinion, be entitled to one-fifth part, and those of the other branches who are now, and allwise have remained in the Province (the remainder). I must also with submission to your lordships, in some measure oppose her assertion of the amounts of the rents, for as I am informed those of Menas do not amount to a greater value than those of this river, of which having sent you an account I presume to refer to your lordships' consideration. ' ' Upon the whole, I hope your lordships will pardon my freedom ; I am of opinion that no government, at that time, could give away to any person whatever, that which was then and allwise hath been judged to be His M. 's property, without special directions from His M. 's Government, communicated to the Council for that purpose. And further I presume to signify to your lordships that unless she is limited in her demands, your honourable Board will be eternally troubled with con- tinual claims by the other co-heirs, her heirs and cousins, who upon thoughts of retiring at the publication of Her late Majesty's letter, made the aforesaid convey- ances, and not her brother and sister upon which she founds her claims, and as I am informed only conditionally." * In another despatch, written this year, Armstrong states of the French inhabitants that they have declined or neglected to take out new grants of their lands, and that "most of them have a mile of frontage and a league in depth," being dimensions that would enclose 1,600 acres. Samuel Cottnam, ensign in the 40th regiment, was sent to Minas to enforce the ordinances of the Council regulating the customs, it having been reported to the Board that much clandestine trade was being carried on in that district. He received orders to seize the vessels and the traders engaged in it. John Hamilton (naval officer at Annapolis) and Peter Blinn were likewise empowered to make similar seizures. It is probable that Mr. Cottnam was an ancestor, in a maternal line, of the late William Cottnam Tonge, who became in later years one of the ablest debaters in the Assembly of Nova Scotia. So great had become the desire of the French population to annoy and distress the garrison of the old capital that they refused to bring in wood to supply it with fuel except at extravagant prices, and the Council were, in consequence, compelled to fix a price which should be accepted by them. The sum thus stated was about equal to fifty cents of our money per cord. The Council, in its capacity of a Court of Judicature, held a session in Minas this year (1735). The causes tried had their origin in disputes among the Acadians in that settlement, breaches of the customs, ordinances, and other matters. About this time. Captain Aldridge, 40th regiment, who had been civil and military commandant at Canso, was superseded by the appointment of Major Paul Mascarene, of the same regiment, who was expected to be — as, indeed, he proved to be — a more popular and successful administrator of affairs than his predecessor had been, who from his arbitrary, and * Mrs. Campbell's second husband — Ensign James Campbell of the 40th regiment — died before her. She died at Killarney, in Ireland. 88 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. sometimes unjust, conduct, had been very unpopular. In December, Guion, Doucet and Pino were punished for offences committed by them ; the first, for theft, was sentenced to receive fifty lashes from the mass- house to the cape, and to serve Stephen Jones,* from whom he had stolen, for three years "in recompense ; " the second was doomed to suffer " twenty-five stripes at the cart-tail, and fined four-fold the value of the goods stolen ; " and the last, who was a boy, was sentenced to restore four times the value of what he had stolen, and " to whip the two others."! In June, 1736, a derelict vessel, the brigantine Baltimore, was brought into Annapolis in charge of George Mitchell, the surveyor, and Monsieur Charles D'Entremont. She had been found in Jebogue harbour about the beginning of the year, at which place eight dead bodies were dis- covered on the shore, and a Mrs. Buckler among the Indians of that district, who afiirmed that she was the only survivor of those who had embarked on the ship, and that she was the sole owner of it and the cargo, and had been robbed of great "treasures in gold, silver and merchandise," by the Indians. The mystery by which the affair was surrounded caused considerable excitement in the communities on the Annapolis River, and was never wholly explained. No treasures were ever recovered from the Indians though every efibrt was made to that end. Mrs. Buckler soon afterward found her way to Boston, where she was lost sight of. Mr. Armstrong, in a letter addressed to the Duke of Newcastle, dated November 23rd, 1736, speaks of this affair as follows : " The brigantine Baltimore, of which I wrote to your Grace before, I have now brought into this port ; and as to the person who called herself Mrs. Buckler, I have now sufficient reasons not only to suspect her rela- tion, but likewise herself. It is reported that the vessel aforesaid sailed from Dublin last fall, with about sixty or seventy passengers, most of them convicts, who, it is supposed, rose upon the owner, Mr. Buckler, the master, and company, and committed a most barbarous massacre, and afterwards, not knowing their course, or afraid to enter into an}^ place where they might be known, put into a most unfrequented harbour in this bay, where they all perished — God knows how — except that miserable woman, who, perhaps, was too deeply involved in the guilt to discover the true story of their misfortunes." j. In May, St. Ponc^, the local priest, and another, named De Chevreaux, having deported themselves in a very insolent way before the Council, their functions were suspended, and they were ordered to leave the Pro- vince. A new chapel had been recently built " up the river," which is said to have been better furnished than that in the capital. It is *An English marine trader in the Bay of Fundy. tRecords of Council for 1735. J Murdoch, Vol. I., p. 318, in an appendix. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 89 probable that this church was situated in Granville, not far from Bell- isle.* Mr. Shirreff, secretary to the Council, having obtained leave of absence to visit England, Mr. Otho Hamilton was made secretary ^ro tern, in his place ; and Edward How, f who was henceforth to act so worthy a part in the events of the next twenty years, was appointed a member of the Board. He had for several years been employed as com- missary of musters at Canso. The 40th (Phillipps') regiment at this time consisted of nine companies, stationed in Annapolis, and one in Placentia, in Newfouridland. Several changes took place in it this year. James Harrison and George Ingram were made captains in it, and John Morris was appointed Captain, vice Gledhill, who had been promoted and made Governor of Placentia. A grant of fifty thousand acres of land was passed in 1736, in August, to the persons named hereunder. It was described in the patent by the name of (the township of) " Norwich, in the County of Norfolk, in Nova Scotia.'' This tract of land was situated in or near Chiegnecto, in what is now Cumberland County, and was escheated and revested in the Crown in 1760. The grantees were Richard Phillipps, colonel of the 40th regiment ; Lawrence Armstrong, lieutenant-governor, and lieutenant-colonel in the same regiment ; John Adams, merchant and member of the Council, a native of Massachusetts ; William Shirreff, | a member of the Council and provincial secretary; Henry Cope, a member of the Council and major in the 40th regiment ; Erasmus James Phillips, a member of the Council, a captain in the 40th regiment and afterwards the first representative of the county in the Assembly ; Otho Hamilton, a member of the Council and a lieutenant in the 40th regiment ; Edward How, a member of the Council and commissary of musters (afterwards murdered by the French or Indians at Port Cum- berland) ; King Gould, agent of Major-General Phillipps ; Alured Popple, sometime secretary to the Board of Trade and afterwards Governor of the Bermuda Islands, where he died ; Henry Popple, his son, or, perhaps, brother ; Andrew Robinson, a captain in the foot-guards, one of the heirs of Armstrong under his will ; Henry Daniel, a captain in the 40th regiment ; John Handfield, a lieutenant in the 40th regiment, afterwards a member of Council (he lived for forty years in Annapolis and was com- mandant there at the period of the expulsion in 1755) ; Donald McQueen, 40th regiment ; Edward Amhurst, a lieutenant in the 40th regiment, deputy surveyor under Colonel Dunbar, successor to George Mitchell, and great-grandfather of General Williams ; Thomas Armstrong, 40th * A tradition exists to that effect to this day ; besides, if I mistake not, some remains have been found indicating the fact. + For full particulars of this gentleman's services, the reader is referred to the article in the genealogical part of this work. XM.r. Shirreff was a descendant of James, Marquis of Hamilton. 90 HISTOKY OF ANNAPOLIS. regiment ; Rowland Phillips (probably a brother of E. J. Phillips, perhaps a son) ; James Gibson ; Charles Vane, an ensign in the 40th regiment, grantee of Goat Island, and either a direct or collateral descendant of Sir Harry Vane of historical note; Samuel Cottnam, an officer in the 40th regiment ; John Hamilton, of the 40th regiment, probably a son of Otho Hamilton ; John Slater, a captain in the 40th regiment (a sub- scribing witness to Armstrong's will); John Dyson, a sergeant in the 40th regiment and storekeeper to the Board of Ordnance at Annapolis ; George Mitchell, first deputy surveyor of lands under Dunbar ; William Winniett, a member of the Council, then the leading merchant in the Province; Nathaniel Dounell, merchant of Boston, and long connected with the trade of the Province ; Peter Blinn, a sea-captain and marine trader in the Bay of Fundy ; George Craddock, Robert Babin and John Forrest. A case of arson occurred in Annapolis in 1737, being the first crime of that name committed there. The Council had, under the royal instructions, exercised the powers of a court of judicature in all cases except capital felonies, in regard to which those instructions were silent. They were, therefore, unable to bring the offender to trial. He was an indentured servant of Lieutenant Amhurst, and had maliciously set fire to his master's dwelling house, which, with its contents, was entirely destroyed. A commission met this year at Hampton, in New Hampshire, to define and settle the boundary line between that province and Mas- sachusetts. The commissioners were selected from Rhode Island and Nova Scotia, of which the former furnished four and the latter three members, namely, Dr. William Skene, Erasmus James Phillips, and Otho Hamilton. Major Alex. Cosby, who had recently succeeded Mr. Mascarene in the command at Canso, arrested captains John Jephson and Patrick Heron of his regiment on some charges that do not clearly appear, though they were tried by court-martial at Annapolis several months afterwards and were acquitted. It was in this year also that Mrs. Campbell (Agatha Latour), by indenture dated December 10th, conveyed to King Gould, of London, her house in Annapolis. In this document she styles herself as " of the City of Kilkenny, in the Kingdom of Ireland, widow," and by it she conveyed all her " right, title, and interest in and to one house and garden, together with all outhouses thereunto belonging," for the sum of ten guineas. The site of this dwelling was, probably, near the homestead of the Rev. Jas. J. Ritchie,* Rector of Annapolis, as the land in that section of the town is known to have belonged to the Latours. In April, 1738, Armstrong, in a letter to Cosby, at Canso, tells him * Now of Rev. Henry How. — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 91 that the winter had been unusally mild and the spring was very early, adding Mrs. Cosby was well, and that her father (Winniett) had sailed a few days before up the bay in one of his vessels. He concludes by counselling unity among the officers stationed there, in allusion, perhaps, to the differences which had resulted in the arrest of Jephson and Heron, who had not at the date of writing been brought to trial. In June the Council addressed a letter to the Governor-in-ohief, Phillipps, who still continued to live in England, in which, among other things, they affirm that the establishment of civil government here was impossible, as the inhabitants being Roman Catholics were not eligible to election as representatives; that as they are permitted to hold the best lands, and the Government demands two pence an acre quitrent on other lands, settlement is greatly retarded, if not completely prevented, especially as immigrants into the other colonies can obtain lands free from quitren<|j; that the military force in the Province should be augmented in order to enable them to, gain control over the Prench settlements at the head of the bay ; and they alleged that members of Council have of necessity to be selected from the officers of the garrison as there are no other British subjects (fit) to choose from ; and they conclude by stating that they had never had fee or reward for their services as councillors, and had ever discharged their duties to the best of their ability, "with a due regard to the liberty of the subject and the peace and well-being of the Province.'' Grants of lots of marsh lands on AUain's River — now Lequille — were made to Erasmus James Phillips, to Captain Heron and to Otho Hamilton; and Bear (Imbert) Island was patented on the 10th of November to Captain Henry Daniel. This island contained twenty-five and one-quarter acres and one rood, as shown by a survey made by Lieutenant Amhurst. In 1739 Mr. Armstrong sent an officer of the garrison. Captain John Slater, to Minas to enforce the payment of quitrents due by the settlers there. In his instructions to Slater he says : " As you are also one of His Majesty's Council, (you are) to proceed thither with a sergeant, corporal and eight men under your command, and there with the Secre- tary of the Province, to inquire into the behaviour of these people, and report to the Lieutenant-Governor for further directions." On the 25th May he ordered Shirreff to proceed to Minas to aid Slater in performing the work assigned him. During this summer Lieutenant Amhurst, a deputy surveyor of Dunbar, received instructions from his superior to prepare a patent for a township on the Strait of Canso in favour of Edward How and Com- pany ; 'but this grant was opposed by Mr. Shirreff who alleged it would be contrary to the royal instructions to make such a conveyance, and. 92 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. in consequence, the project was abandoned, although the Lieutenant- Governor was known to be in favour of it. Five only of the ten companies forming the 40th regiment were stationed at Annapolis at this time, and each company consisted of forty-one men only ; the garrison, therefore, comprised but little more than 150 men exclusive of officers, and many of them are said to have been raw recruits. The fort itself was in a state of great dilapidation. Toward the close of 1739 an event occurred in the old capital of a startling and horrifying character. Mr. Armstrong's health had been for some time in a declining condition, and many circumstances had happened, during his long administration of affairs, to harass and annoy him and render his life anything but a pleasurable one. He seems to have been possessed of a very sensitive nature, and to have been of a very excitable disposition. Small matters — what to others would appear as trifles — were often magnified in his morbid imagination into objects of great concern and disquietude ; and it is more than probable that his recent differences with Mascarene, Shirreff and others tended to produce the melancholy condition of mind which resulted in the rash act of suicide by which his life was terminated. He had executed a will on the 14th of November, and ended his existence on the 6th of December by stabbing himself in the breast five times with his sword, which was found near his dead body. By his will he devised his property equally between Captain Robinson, of the foot-guards, George Armstrong, of the Ordnance office, and Ensign Charles Vane, of the 40th regiment. The witnesses to this document were Archibald Rennie and John Slater, officers of the garrison, and Walter Ross, an attorney, the first attorney of whom any mention is made as being a resident in Annapolis. Mr. Armstrong's official acts seem, generally, to have been character- ized by a strict sense of justice and love of fair-play, and to have been tempered by due consideration for the wishes and feelings of those whom they were to affect ; and when not excited by opposition, or other influence, his conduct toward those with whom he associated was marked by much gentleness and urbanity of manner, and, on most occasions, he was inclined to counsel moderation, often using his best efforts to modify the acerbities and conciliate the disputes which at times disturbed the peace of the communities over which he presided. An inquest was held in consequence of his sad death on the following day and a verdict of "lunacy" returned, and on the same day John Adams, as senior councillor and acting president, assumed the com- mand of the Province. On the 8th of December he wrote an account of the tragic event to the Governor-in-chief and to Governor Belcher. His command, however, was of short duration, the position of right ^u^ca^cy'i.^^^^ Hon. Col. Jean Paul Mascarene, (loi-ei'iior of Nora Scotia, al Ammpoli.s. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 93 belonging to Mascarene, who was the senior of Mr. Adams at the Council Board, and was only prevented from assuming it on account of his absence from the capital when the death of Armstrong took place. In January, 1740, Mr. Adams issued an order to attach the estate of his deceased predecessor, and to forbid the executors, John Handfield and Edwai-d Amhurst, from disposing of it, or any part of it, until the seigneurial rents and other crown dues, which had been received by the deceased, should be accounted for to the King's Receiver for America. Mascarene, who was absent in Massachusetts on leave at the time of Armstrong's death, on hearing of that event hastened to return, and arrived at Annapolis on the 20th of March ; and on the 22nd called a meeting of the Council, over which he claimed the right to preside. This being opposed by Adams it was agreed to leave the question to the other members of the Board to determine; whereupon, after consul- tation, they unanimously decided in favour of the claims of Mascarene, who was accordingly sworn into office, and immediately issued a proclamation giving notice that he had assumed the government of the Province, and commanding all persons whom it concerned to govern themselves accordingly. Mr. Adams appealed from the decision of the Council, and asked leave to absent himself from its sittings till his remonstrance should be determined in England. His request was granted, but his appeal did not result in his restoration to office.* Major Cosby, on the demise of Armstrong, became lieutenant-colonel of the 4:0th regiment ; and Mascarene became major, vice Cosby. Mr. Winniett was despatched to Chiegnecto with Mascarene's proclamation announcing his assumption of the administration of the Government, and with instructions to report upon the condition of the settlements in that district. In a letter which he wrote to Mr. Bergereau, the President requests him to show every suitable attention to Winniett, who was a gentleman for whom and whose family he affirms he had a high esteem. In his initial despatch to the Duke of Newcastle, dated in November, 1740, he states the following facts concerning himself: "I entered this place a captain at its surrendering to the English Government, and had the honour to take possession of it in mounting the first guard, and was brevetted major by Mr. Nicholson, the commander-in-chief of that expedition. I was put down the third on the list of councillors when Governor Phillipps called a Council to manage the affairs of this pro- Aance, and have served in the military, being now major to Major-General Phillipps' regiment, and in the civil capacity, ever since, having been employed in several transactions with the neighbouring governments, * Mr. Adams was at this time sixty-seven years old, having been born in 1673. In his memorial to the Duke of Newcastle he calls himself "poor, helpless, and blind." 94 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. especially as a commissioner in behalf of this Government to settle the peace with the Indians." In his first despatch to the Lords of Trade, he tells them, as his predecessor Armstrong had often told them before, that it was impossible to form a civil government owing to the paucity of English-speaking Protestant inhabitants, " there being only two or three English families besides those of the garrison." Early in 1741 Alexander Bourg was commissioned as Notary and Receiver of the king's dues. The rapidity with which news is now disseminated will appear the more wonderful when contrasted with the slowness of movement of a century and a half ago. Mascarene, writing on the 14th of March, 1741, to England, informs his correspondent that the latest news received in the colony from Europe arrived in the pre- ceding July; and the latest advices from New England reached Annapolis during the previous October. Minutes now perform the feats which tlten required months for their accomplishment. The winter of 1740-41 was a severely cold one ; and to augment the evil a scarcity of food prevailed, rendering the condition of the inhabi- tants most distressing and deplorable. In consequence of this calamity, orders were sent to the king's receivers, at Chiegnecto, Minas and Piziquid, in April, to forward the value of the money collected by them in grain and peas to be distributed to the starving families in the Annapohs settlements. This scarcity was not confined to Nova Scotia, but extended to Europe and the West Indies. In England it was so great that the exportation of food was strictly prohibited. During the same month, Shirreif, the secretary, Skene and Erasmus James Phillips left Annapolis to go to New England, to meet the other com- missioners appointed to make an adjustment of the boundary disputes between Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The early months of this year witnessed the death of Mr. Winniett, who had for many years been the leading merchant and ship-owner of t"he Province, and for several years a member of the Council, and whose decease was felt as a calamity by the whole community. He left a will which was dated February, 1726, in which he bequeathed his whole estate, which was no inconsiderable one for that period, to his wife, Magdelaine Winniett, whom he appointed sole executrix. This docu- ment was proved before the Council in August, 1741. One clause of it had special relation to one of his daughters (Margaret), who, it appears, was afflicted with some personal deformity or infirmity which rendered a special provision necessary in her case, should she survive her parents. She did not, however, outlive them ; and it is a somewhat singular fact that the tombstone of this child is the only existing memorial of the family to be found in the ancient graveyard at Annapolis. Mr. Winniett HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 95 was survived by, at least, four of his children : (1) Anne, who married Lieutenant-Colonel Cosby, of the 40th regiment, and who died without issue ; (2) Elizabeth, of whom I have not been able to recover any particulars ; (3) Joseph, of whom the reader will find a full notice in the " Biographical Memoirs " which form a portion of this work ; and (4) Matthew, who died without leaving issue. The oflSciating priest at Annapolis, in 1742, was named Nicholas Vauxlin, or Vaquelin, who came there in 1739. He seems to have urged upon the French inhabitants the duty of submission and obedience to the English authorities, and to have received the approbation of Mascarene. There had been no chaplain to the garrison since 1738, and the want of one was much felt, and his absence deplored by those of the people who needed his services. A vessel arrived at the port near the beginning of the year, without anchors ; and her captain, Trefry, applied to the administrator of the Government for the loan of those belonging to the brig Baltimore, of Mrs. Buckler notoriety, which, since 1738 had been laid up near the fort, waiting for the appearance of an owner, and his request was referred to Erasmus Phillips, who held the commission of King's Advocate in the Court of Vice-Admiralty, whose decision in the matter does not appear. Des Enclaves now succeeded Vaquelin as priest. These missionaries were required to obtain leave from the Council before they were permitted to exercise their functions in any part of the Province ; nor were they allowed to move from one parish or place to another without permission from the same authority. This course on the part of the Government was necessary to prevent the introduction of priests who were known, or supposed to be inimical to English interests, and was the means of keeping them, in some degree, in subjection or under control. On this subject, Mr. Mascarene, in a despatch to the Duke of Newcastle, tells that nobleman that it would prove most injurious to the well-being of the Province to permit the Bishop of Quebec to send missionaries into it at will, and that such a course would render it impossible to bring the French inhabitants into due obedience to the Government. As the beginning of 1742 was clouded by the death of Winniett, so the close of 1742 was darkened by the decease of his son-in-law, Cosby, which took place on the 27th of Deceinber. He had served for several years as commandant at Canso, and had long held the honourable posi- tion of Lieutenant-Governor of the town of Annapolis ; and besides being an active and intelligent officer, he was generally respected by the inhabitants of all parts of the country. His popularity among the French was perhaps traceable, in part, at least, to his marriage with Anne 96 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Winniett, who was a native of the Province, and esteemed by the French people as — through her mother — a scion of their race. Her father, as the reader already knows, had been a prominent member of the community from the conquest, in 1710, to the day of his death in 1742. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI. The first Masonic Lodge in Nova Scotia was organized at Annapolis Royal, in 1738. It was fourth in the order of precedence of lodges chartered by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. It was called the Annapolis Royal Lodge, and Erasmus James Phillips was its first worshipful master. — [Ed.] CHAPTER VII. 1742-1746. Mascarene's description of town and fort — He becomes Governor of both— War with France — Le Loutre leads the Indians in an attack — Invests the town — • Du Vivier's formidable attack — He fails to terrify the neutrals into joining him— Skirmishes and proposals for capitulation — He raises the siege — Marin's weaker attempt — Position and conduct of Acadians — Naval defensive measures. IN a despatch of Masoarene to the Duke of Newcastle, dated December 1st, 1743, he refers to the condition of the fort at Annapolis, which, he says, " is apt to tumble down in heavy rains or in thaws after frosty weather, as it is formed of earth of a sandy and friable nature. To prevent this a revestment ,of timbers had been made use of, which soon decaying remedies the evil but for a short time, so that for these many years past there has been only a continual patching. The Board of Ordnance has sent engineers and artificers in order to build the fort with brick and stone, but little more could be done for these two summers past than providing part of the materials, and making conveniences for land- ing them ; so that when I received the above-mentioned directions there were several breaches of easy access to an enemy, which I immediately directed to be repaired, in which the season has favoured us beyond expectation." After stating that an increase was required in the num- bers of the garrison, he thus writes of the town : "It consists of two streets, the one extending along the river side and the other along the neck of land the extremities whereof are of a quarter of a mile distant from the fort, has no defence against a surprise from the Indians. The materials for the new building and the artificers are lodged there, as well as several families belonging to the garrison, who, for want of conveniency in the fort, are obliged to quarter there." A French-Canadian, named Vannier, who was accused of having obtained money under false pretences from the inhabitants of Minas, was arrested in Annapolis about this time and confined in prison for some weeks. The Council finally ordered that he should be sent out of the Province ; an order, however, which was never carried into eifect, as he 7 98 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. saved them the trouble by making his escape from gaol and leaving the country voluntarily. In 1744 Mascarene was made Lieutenant-Governor of the fort and town, thus uniting in his own person the functions of two offices, or commands, the holding of which by different individuals had so often led to difficulties and disputes injurious to the peace and harmony of the people and the garrison, as well as of the public interests. The Lieutenant- Governor of the Province was supreme in the administration of purely civil affairs, and the Lieutenant-Governor of the fort controlled and directed the military duties. This system had been the means of making enemies of men who otherwise would have been friends ; and the heart- burnings and jealousies which had separated Armstrong and Cosby and Mascarene were directly traceable to this dual system of administration, and would not have occurred if this system had not existed. The union of these offices in one individual, therefore, may be regarded as a fortunate circumstance for the colony. War having been declared against the French by England, the com- paratively peaceful complexion of colonial affairs in America became suddenly changed. The Indians were excited into acts of open hostility by the French priests of Acadie, and the French peasantry were but little inclined to render assistance to the Government to which they owed the continued possession of their lands, and the protection of their lives and property. A knowledge of the declaration of war having reached Du Quesnal, the Governor of Cape Breton, before anything of it was known at Port Royal or Boston, the French had ample time to fit out a formidable expedition at Louisburg for the capture of Canso. This armament, which consisted of several vessels and nine hundred men of all arms, burned the village ; took the companies of the 40th regiment then stationed there prisoners of war, and captured the tender of a ship of war which chanced to be in that port. These events happened on the 13th of May, and it was not known at Annapolis that war had been declared until the 18th of June, on which day a proclamation of it was published. Just a month before the date of this event the good people of the old capital suffered a great scare, from a false report which had gained circulation and credence at the same time. It was stated that Morpain, the commander of a privateer during the last war, was up the river at the head of five hundred French and Indians, and intended an immediate attack upon the town. The wives and children of many of the officers were placed on board the vessels then in the port to be transferred to Boston as a place of safety ; and the families of those officers who resided outside the fort were at once placed within it as a sanctuary ; and all articles of value, HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 99 not already there, also found a place of deposit within its walls. It is said the fort contained more than seventy women and children after all these arrangements had been effected. Immediate orders were given to the chief engineer to repair and strengthen the works of the fort, and the French inhabitants were commanded to furnish the timber required for that purpose and to assist in the work.* These precautionary measures for defence were not undertaken a moment too soon, for on the first day of July a party of three hundred Indians suddenly made their appearance before the fort. They were commanded and led by that accomplished arch-enemy of English rule, the priest Le Loutre. As soon as it was known they had arrived in the up-river settlements, the French inhabi- tants, who had been employed on the works, or in other ways, left the town and returned to their abodes that they might not be engaged in its defence against the attacks of their friends. The position of affairs was anything but assuring. The repairs on the fortifications had only been begun, the five companies of the 40th regiment in the garrison did not number one hundred men, and the workmen who had been sent from Massachusetts to assist in restoring the fort, were more or less unwilling to act the part of a soldier, as they had not been originally employed for that purpose. Their leader had collected his forces and formed a sort of camp on the south-eastern side of the cape and might at any moment be moved to the attack. The first bloodshed occurred in this way. Two soldiers, who against orders to the contrary, had ventured a short distance from the town, perhaps to reconnoitre the invading forces, were shot by a skulking party of Indians. On the next day Mascarene sent a missive to the besieging party. It has the ring of the true metal, and reads thus : " Annapolis Royal, July 3rd, 1744. " Gentlemen, — The first shot you heard fired from the fort was according to our custom when we think we have enemies. Afterwards your people killed two of our soldiers who were in the gardens without arms. I'm resolved to defend this fort until the last drop of my blood against all the enemies of the King of Great Britain, my master ; whereupon you can take your course. So I sign my name. "(Signed), P. Mascarene. " To the Indians who are at the Gape." Emboldened by the success of their initial attempt, the savages deter- mined to attack the fort in force. The physiognomy of the grounds surrounding the fortifications was considerably different in those old times from what it is now. A ravine, or hollow, then extended across the highway or street in the neighbourhood of the court-house, and ran north-westwardly to the foot of the glacis, on the south or south-west side * See despatches and letters of Mascarene on this subject quoted in Chapter IX.— [Ed.] 100 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. of the fort. This ravine then offered great facilities to all assailants of the place. Permission appears to have been given to the inhabitants, from time to time, to build huts, barns and stables in that vicinity, and quite a number of them existed there at this period, affording at once shelter to an enemy and a basis of attack. It was from this point that Le Loutre commanded his Indians to make their attempt, which they inaugurated by a sharp, but not protracted discharge of fire- arms ; but the guns of the fort having been turned upon them, they were soon dislodged from their cover and compelled to desist from their operations from this quarter. They then turned their attention to the lower town, which they soon set on fire. Between the fort and the lower part of the town stood a block-house in the middle of the street — probably not far south of the Mohawk Fort already referred to. A guard, under command of a sergeant, occupied it, and finding the conflagration extending rapidly toward them, and fearing that his men and himself might perish in the flames, he sent to Mascarene asking leave to abandon it, which was granted, as it seems that his fears were well founded. At this juncture the engineer proposed to place an additional force on board the ordnance tender, with instruction to get the vessel into a position from which she would be able to sweep the street with her cannon. This scheme was adopted, and a company of artificers and other volunteers formed and placed under the orders of the captain, who was joined by Edward How as a volunteer. Directions were now given to replace the guard in the abandoned block-house so that it might be used as a 'point d'appui for the double purpose of driving back the assailants and arresting the progress of the flames. These plans succeeded admirably ; the Indians were driven out ; the wooden fences near the block-house were removed, and some houses in its near vicinity demolished, as they would otherwise afford shelter to the foe in another attack. At the same time Mascarene ordered the houses and other buildings south of the fort to be pulled down, together with those within half a gun-shot from the fort. In giving these commands the house of Captain Daniel — which had been recently built, and which stood somewhat farther away than the others — was made an exception, though it did not escape destruction, for the Indians rifled it, and the shot from the guns of the fort, used to dislodge them, riddled it so much as to render it useless without very considerable and expensive repair. The assailants, who now found it dangerous to approach the glacis of the fort, fell back to their camp on the cape and contented themselves with stealing some sheep, swine and cattle. A vessel from Massachusetts arrived on the 5 th, having on board seventy men, a captain and an ensign to reinforce the garrison. When this became known to Le Loutre, he and his Micmac and Malicete HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 101 ■warriors retreated to the settlements, near to where Bridgetown now stands; and when they had sufficiently rested themselves they proceeded to Minas, there to await the development of events at Louisburg, from which place they expected reinforcements, and the co-operation of a naval force to act in conjunction with them in case they should be ordered to make another attempt. Scarcely two months had passed away before a fresh attack was made with largely increased forces under the command of Du Vivier.* This interval had been devoted by the English commander to a repair of arms, the drilling of the auxiliaries sent from Massachusetts, and the sending away of the women and children to a place of safety. Du Vivier had landed the reinforcements he brought with him, and which consisted of a company of regulars and two or three hundred militia, on the isthmus at the head of the Bay of Fundy, and made his way thence to Minas by land, where he halted a day or two, uniting with his troops those which had so recently and unsuccessfully attempted to drive the English from their beloved Acadie. Du Vivier now issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of Minas, Piziquid, Cobequid and River Canard, in which he ordered them "to acknowledge the obedience they owed to the King of France," and called upon them to furnish him with horses and men, threatening those who refused compliance with his demands with being punished by delivering them " into the hands of the savages as enemies of the State, as we cannot refuse the demands which the savages make for all those who will not submit themselves." This formal document was dated August 27th, 1744. He then ordered an immediate march of all his forces toward Annapolis ; but having again rested his men near Round Hill, he did not reach the immediate neigh- bourhood of the fort until the first days of September. On the morning after their arrival, flushed with the hope and the promise of victory, they inarched boldly toward the fortifications, with their colours displayed, keeping as much as possible, however, under the cover of hedges and fences in order to avoid the efiects of the discharges of artillery, to which they looked forward as a necessary consequence of their approach. But it was not until they had got well up toward the foot of the glacis, that a gun sent a ball, aimed at their colours, which, it is said, passed so near to Du Vivier and his brother as to give them a very unpleasant apprehension of a too warm reception if they made a nearer approach, and, in consequence, they at once retraced their steps to the eastern slopes of the hills at the end of the cape, whence they determined to make their future onsets by night, thus hoping to avoid, at least to some extent, the effects of the English artillery. Night after night they * Francis du Pont du Vivier, a descendant of the Latours, and a native of Port Royal. 102 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. marched up under cover of the darkness, following the course of the ravine before named, to the parapet of the walls near the covered way. These attacks were exceedingly annoying and embarrassing to the garri- son, keeping them constantly on the qui vive during the whole night. They were continued for some time but without any gain to the besiegers or material loss to the besieged, when Du Vivier determined upon a change of tactics. It was believed that a considerable fleet had been ordered to act in concert with the assailants, and the French commander, therefore, sent his brother under a flag of truce to Mascarene, with a letter to him, in which he assured him he expected daily the arrival of three ships of war of seventy, sixty and forty guns respectively, all of them manned one- third above the usual complement, and a transport vessel having on board two hundred regular troops, with cannon, mortars and other engines of war ; and declared that it would be impossible for the English to, successfully withstand such a force, and that he would, without doubt, be compelled to surrender the fort with its munitions and garrison as soon as they should arrive ; and concluded by suggesting that Mascarene should now enter into conditional articles of surrender, in which he promised very favourable terms, and affirmed, in case such a course should be entertained, that the articles should not be carried into efiect nor be considered in any way binding until statements con- cerning the expected naval reinforcement should be verified by its arrival before the town ; and also if succours should arrive in the meantime for the garrison, they should be looked upon as of no effect. He concluded his communication by stating that he now had a sufficient force to take the place by assault, having in possession and at hand a full supply of scaling ladders and combustibles sufficient to ensure success should he make the trial. He also declared that this overture and the agreement, if entered into, should be regarded as a secret between them as com- manders. Du Vivier's object in this bit of diplomacy was, no doubt, to create dissensions among the officers of the garrison, a result which came very near being realized, as the sequel will show. Mascarene sent the bearer of this letter back, telling him to say to Du Vivier that he would forward a reply on the following day at noon. He then called the officers of the garrison together and submitted the contents of the communication to them, and at the time specified he despatched an answer to the efiect that ;he did not fear the result of an assault, being prepared to meet and repel it, and that it would be suffi- ciently early to determine what course he should pursue when the ships and soldiers referred to should have arrived. This reply does not seem to have pleased Du Vivier, who sent again to Mascarene, proposing a truce to active hostilities until the fleet should have put in an appearance, but on the condition that the terms he had offered should be conditionally HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 103 accepted, urging that the besieged would run no risk in complying with this request. This proposal found considerable favour with the officers, who, in case of its acceptance, would be relieved from the hardships of night vigilance and other disagreeable duties incident to a state of siege ; and all of them but three or four advised concession to the Frenchman's demands. They urged the ill-condition of the fort, the dread of being made prisoners of wa«r after an assault, the uncertainty of the arrival of succours, and above all that no risk was to be run by the proposed arrangements, as reason for their advice. Mascarene was filled with apprehensions at the results of a distinct refusal, and determined, while he appeared to give a reluctant consent, not to sign any terms of capitulation unless forced to do so by other circumstances. He therefore appointed three of his officers as commissioners to wait on Du Vivier and obtain a draft of the terms of the proposed conditional surrender, that he might have them in writing. This was done, the draft was obtained, and its provisions were found to be all that had been promised — very favourable to the garrison. Mascarene was solicited to sign it at once, but he declined to do so, and suggested that the commissioners might themselves sign it, taking due care that the act should be considered as a preliminary only ; and they were sent back to the enemy's camp to inquire if such a course would be agreeable to Du Vivier ; but the Frenchman, losing all patience — or professing to do so — at the reluctance of his adversary, refused to accede to this half-way proposition, and demanded an unconditional surrender, handing them, at the same time, a draft so different in terms from the former that they at once refused even to carry it to their chief, who was much gratified at this termination of the negotiations, and decided to renew hostilities on the next day. It is stated that a few hours before the renewal of hostilities, Masca- rene was informed that the men under his command, not understanding the object of so long a truce and parley with the enemy, threatened to seize their officers and carry on the defence of the fort without them, being apprehensive that they desired to surrender the town without further struggle. This was a very reassuring fact to their commander, who now made them fully acquainted with all that had taken place and of his intention to renew the defence, upon which they gave him three hearty cheers to mark their confidence in him as a leader. From this time to the raising of the siege the daily skirmishes and nightly attacks continued for two or three weeks, but without any issue of consequence. Toward the end of September a brig and sloop arrived from Boston, with a detachment of Goreham's (Indian) rangers, which were intended to be used as scouts. This corps afterwards proved of very considerable service to the garrison at Annapolis and elsewhere in 104 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. the Province. Shortly after their arrival, one of their number having straggled too far from his friends, fell into the hands of the besiegers, and Mascarene sent out a number of his men with a view to his rescue, when a skirmish ensued in which the garrison had a sergeant killed and one private wounded; not, however, without having inflicted as much or more injury on the enemy. Du Vivier, finding that reinforcements had been thrown into the fort, and the fleet and succours promised him having failed to arrive, began to fear that his expedition was to prove a failure. The autumn was rapidly passing away, and the winter as rapidly advancing, when it would be impossible for him to continue the siege, owing to want of provisions and shelter for his men ; he therefore determined to abandon his opera- tions and retire homeward, which he did immediately after the occurrence of the skirmish above mentioned. In an account of these events, Mascarene informed Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, that he had, on the day previous to this afiair, said in the presence of the scout who had been captured, that he intended to pay a personal visit to the enemy's camp as soon as the rangers had returned from the basin — whither he had sent them after wood — and he naively concluded his narrative by saying : " Monsieur Du Vivier did not care to stay for it, for he decamped the next morning, in very rainy weather, toward Manis, to which place he had a very wet and fatiguing journey," and assigns his threatened visit as one of the causes of his hasty departure.* Murdoch (Vol. I., page 37) informs us that "tradition says that the French and Indians entrenched themselves for six weeks, living on venison, as they brought no supplies with them ; that the French flag was shot away, and an Indian, who was making himself very conspicuous on a rock still remaining, was killed by the fire from the fort." The conduct of Du Vivier toward the French inhabitants during this expedition was so manifestly impolitic, unwise and unjust as to excite at once feeUngs of anger and wonder. He certainlj' knew that the treatment of his countrymen by their conquerors had been marked by much kindness and generosity. None knew better than he that it was to their interests to be faithful to the English, who had permitted them to occupy their lands, notwithstanding their forfeiture under the provision of the articles of capitulation, made at the surrender of Port Royal ; that they had been allowed the free exercise of their religion, and exempted from taking arms in defence of the Province against the attacks of France, and that generally they were freer and happier under British, than they had ever been under French, rule. It was therefore certain that if he desired their good wishes and assistance on this occasion, he should have con- ciliated them by a course of conduct marked by a desire for their good, * Printed Archives, page 147. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 105 and should have pledged the fullest security of their property, and immunity from the consequences of their adhesion to his cause. But if we may believe the statements so abundantly and circumstantially made in the records preserved to us, he adopted an entirely opposite course, in which he only succeeded in arousing feelings of alienation and distrust, and that, too, to so great a degree that not a dozen of them volunteered to serve under his standard in this memorable siege. Mascarene says : " As soon as the French and Indians left our river, the deputies of the inhabitants came before me in council, and represented the dread they had been kept in by the French commander producing his written orders, threatening with death those who should disobey. They assured me, however, that notwithstanding the entreaties and threats of Monsieur Du Vivier, none of the inhabitants could be persuaded to take up arms and join the enemy." The same fact was also affirmed by the deputies of the banlieue or Annapolis District. Scarcely had the retreating foe reached Minas, when two ships of war, with a number of officers and men, arrived in the basin, and seized two vessels which came in during the same tide, from Boston, being laden with stores for the Massachusetts' auxiliaries, then in the Annapolis garrison. The commander of the French ships, finding that the siege had been raised, did not make any hostile demonstration against the town, though he was joined on the day after his arrival by a sloop of war having on board mortars, cannons and other warlike stores, but con- tented him with the captures he had made and quietly sailed away. "Thus,'' continues Mascarene in the despatch already quoted above, "were the French with their clans of Indians, obliged to leave us for this year, after making three several attempts, in which, though their measures had been well taken at first, yet were baffled at last, for we have heard since that the men-of-war mentioned by Monsieur Du Vivier had everything ready to come to reduce us, but at some intelligence of an English squadron bound to these northern parts, they dropped their enterprise, and sent the shipping above mentioned." The safety of the fort, he ascribes " to the breaking of the French measures, the timely succours received from the Governor of Massachusetts, and our French inhabitants refusing to take up arms against us. "The first had prepared such a force as, in the opinion of all, con- sidering the ill condition of this fort, we should not have been able to resist ; by the second our men were eased in the constant duty in the many ruinous places in our ramparts required to attend; and if the inhabitants had taken up arms they might have brought three or four thousand men against it, who would have kept us still on harder duty, and by keeping the enemy a long time about us, made it impracticable to repair our breaches, or to get our firewood and other things of absolute necessity.'' 106 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Mascarene fully expected a renewal of the attack in the coming spring and therefore devoted the short days of the intervening winter, which happened to prove very favourable, to repairing the fortifications and strengthening their defences. But the events which were about to develop themselves at Louisburg were such as to render his position more hopeful than it otherwise would have been. The neighbouring colonies had determined to attempt to capture this stronghold of France in Isle Royale, and the knowledge of this fact made it necessary for the Gover- nor of that island to prepare to defend himself instead of making pre- parations to attack others. Annapolis, however, did not entirely escape invasion ; for in the month of May, 1745, Marin, a young Canadian officer, commanding a mixed body of French and Indians numbering about six hundred souls, made a short and futile demonstration against it. He succeeded in taking two small vessels, and made prisoner of a woman ; but having received orders to hasten with his forces to assist in the defence of Louisburg, he soon left the town free from further inconvenience. It was at the time of his approach that Mr. Bastide, the Engineer-in-chief, advised the pulling down of several houses which stood too near the block-house. One of these buildings belonged to a Sergeant Davis, and the others to Olivier, Adams, Ross and Hutchinson. These buildings were situated to the north-east of the block-house, and as the wind blew strongly from that direction, this course was deemed necessary for the safety of the town and fort. The house of Olivier, or as he was called by the English " Oliver,'' was located in what is still known as the " Cooper lot," in Annapolis, adjoining the grounds of the railway station. Governor Vetch was the original owner of this house. He sold it in 1771, and as I have said elsewhere the deed of conveyance is still extant. Part of Marin's forces embarked on board a vessel with a view to reaching Louisburg as soon as possible, but they were so closely watched and pursued by provincial armed sloops that they were hindered from reaching their destination until too late. Marin seems to have adopted the harsh and threatening policy of Du Vivier toward the French inhabi- tants. This is apparent from the written orders issued by him and which are still in existence. Murdoch informs us (Vol. II., p. 74), " The deputies stated that the behaviour of the enemy toward the inhabitants had been very harsh. That coming in the night they sent men to every house whilst the dwellers were buried in sleep, and threatened to put to death any that should stir out or come near the fort. That they had been ordered to furnish weekly a certain quantity of cattle, and to bring their carts and teams, the orders being, most of them, on pain of death." In the autumn of 1745, the supplies of live stock for the use of the garrison at Annapolis, while on their way from Minas were cut off by a party of Indians, who were supposed to have been encouraged by the HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 107 inhabitants of that place ; and a few of Goreham's rangers were surprised on Goat Island, where they were stationed, information of their where- abouts having been probably furnished to the enemy by some of the adjacent settlers. While the siege and capture of Louisburg renders this year memorable in the annals of Acadian history, it made the two following years periods of comparative repose for Annapolis. Mascarene's correspondence with the Duke of Newcastle about this time expressed a fear that the French inhabitants of the Province would join the enemy in case France should send a sufficiently large and well- organized expedition to attempt the recovery of Nova Scotia. He believed their religion, their patriotism and the ties of race alike urged them to such a course ; and he seems to have been justified in coming to this conclusion, for it had been aflBrmed by the Governor of Canada in a despatch to the French minister that "the attachment of the Acadians to the Crown of France could not be doubted." This despatch was written by the Marquis de Beauharnois, then governor, in September, 1745. He writes: "As regards the disposition of the inhabitants toward us, all with a very small exception, are desirous of returning under French dominion. Sieur Marin and the officers of liis detachment as well as the missionaries have assured us of this ; they will not hesitate to take up arms as soon as they see themselves at liberty to do so ; that is, as soon as we shall have become masters of Port Royal , or they have powder and other munition of war, and will be backed by some sedentary troops for their protection against the resentment of the English. . . . The reduction of Louisburg has, however, disconcerted them. Monsieur Marin lias reported to us that the day he left Port Royal all the inhabitants were overpowered with grief. This arose only from their apprehension of remaining at the disposition of the enemy, of losing their property, and of being deprived of their missionaries." This despatch is so filled with interesting particulars that I cannot but transcribe a few more of them. He adds : ' ' The Acadians have not extended their plantations since they have come under English rule ; their houses are wretched wooden boxes, without conveniences, and without ornaments, and scarcely containing the most necessary furniture ; but they are extremely covetous of specie. Since the settlement of Isle Royale they have drawn from Louisburg, by means of their trade in cattle, and all the other pro- visions, almost all the specie the king annually sent out ; it never makes ifs appear- ance again ; they are 'particularly careful to conceal it. . . . The enemy will not fail to stock the place — Annapolis — abundantly with all the stores necessary for its defence, and to strengthen its garrison. This consisted of three hundred riien when Sieur Marin left the place in the beginning of June. There were then six 24- pounders pointed toward the river; one twelve-inch mortar and thirty pieces of cannon on the ramparts. The fort is square with four bastions, being about 180 toises— 360 yards— from one bastion to the other. The wall is of earth faced with squared timber ten to twelve inches in breadth and eighteen feet long, joined together and set up perpendicularly ; the embrasures of the parapets are very open ; the top of the parapets is set off with round sticks, twelve inches in diametev. 108 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. fastened with rope ends, these sticks -being so disposed as to admit of being opened and slipped over the talus of the parapet with a view to break the ladders which would be employed in scaling. The ditch may be ten or twelve toises — twenty or twenty-four yards — wide and half as much deep ; in its centre is a cunette with a palisade ; the covert way is nothing else than the counter-scarpe. The glacis, with well-defined, salient and entering angle, may be fifteen toises — thirty yards. The outworks consist of the three block-houses ; one situated between the mouth of the little river and the fort, and defends the plain ; the other two E.N.K. of said fort defend the approach of the lower town. 'Tis to be observed that during Marin's sojourn all the houses in the lower town were abandoned. The most part belong to the officers of the garrison. " You will see, my lord, by the annexed journal, that Mr. Mascarene had com- menced in May to have the north side of Goat Island cleared, either with a view to discover at a greater distance the ships that enter the narrow mouth of the harbour, the view of which is intercepted by trees, or rather to erect a battery upon it, to defend the only ship channel between that island and the mainland, and by that means prevent vessels going up so far as the fort. It is to be presumed that the English have now erected that battery, and that they will, on receipt of the first news of preparation against Acadie, construct another battery at the entrance of the strait. Should they erect one on Goat Island, it will not prevent ships enter- ing and anchoring in the basin, nor troops landing on the south shore opposite the anchorage grounds. 'Twill be very easy to render the road from that point to Port Royal passable for artillery destined for the attack ; the distance is about three In the spring of 1746 Mascarene detained His Majesty's ship Dover for the protection of the town against a possible attack, though he had a few months before commissioned a vessel called the Ordnance Packet in the public service. She was, however, chiefly employed in carrying pro- visions and stores from Boston to Louisburg and Annapolis. In April the river deputies were ordered to furnish men to assist in building a new wharf near the fort, probably the one in late years known as the Queen's, or " Government wharf," the ruins of which have long been conspicuous. They were required to send at ),east forty for that purpose. It was during this summer that Mascarene commanded that three guns should be fired from one of the bastions, whenever any of the soldiers should be found to have deserted, and the inhabitants were required, when they heard the signal, to guard the various roads and other avenues of escape, and if possible to seize the runaways. About the -same time the schooner Fame was sent to Louisburg with despatches, and the Ordnance Packet ordered up the bay to procure intelligence concerning the movements of Le Loutre and his people in that quarter. Tlie same vessel, later in the season, was ordered to cruise in the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, in order to destroy the enemy's ships which should approach the basin from that direction, or to convoy friendly vessels inward bound, into port, as circumstances or occasion required. She carried a small armament, and a sergeant and ten men from the garrison in addition to her crew. CHAPTER VIII. 1746-1756. Raraezay invests Annapolis — Mascarene reinforced — Noble's force at Grand Pre surprised and out to pieces — Arrest of twelve French traitors wanted — Morris' proposal to settle English families between the Acadian settlements — Peace — Halifax founded by Cornwallis — Becomes the capital — Acadians refuse to take unqualified oath — Ask leave to depart — Leave refused — How's treacherous murder — Lawrence Governor — French at Annapolis again ask leave to retire — Their sudden seizure and dispersion. THE loss of Louisburg had filled France with chagrin and mortifica- tion, and she determined to attempt its recovery, and restore her dominion over the whole of Acadie. To eifect this purpose she fitted out an expedition, consisting of fifty ships of war, and a land force of three or four thousand men, under the command of the Due d'Anville. This great armament threatened to restore and perpetuate the supremacy of France in that part of America, and its commander was specially* instructed to reduce Annapolis as well as Louisburg ; and but for what appears to have been an interposition of Providence, the old fortress of Port Royal would probably have passed once more into the hands of its ancient masters. A succession of storms assailed this ill-starred fleet, and disease and pestilence completed the disasters that were begun by the elements. A Canadian force, under the command of the Chevalier de Ramezay, with Coulon de Villiers and La Corne, as lieutenants, had been organized to aid and support D'Anville in his intended conquests. The Canadian commander received orders to invest the works at Anna- polis, and act in concert with a division of the fleet, which was to be sent into the basin to attack it from that side. He, therefore, with a detachment of seven hundred men, toward the close of September, appeared at the cape, and encamped his men. He made no attempt on the town, however, but waited for the arrival of a naval force before he should commence active operations against it. Mascarene, in the meantime, had received reinforcements from Massa- chusetts to the number of 250 men, which, with His Majesty's ship Chester, .of fifty guns, the Shirley, of thirty guns, and the Ordnance Packet in the harbour, made him not entirely unprepared to make a 110 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. vigorous, if not a successful, defence against any attack that might be made, either on the land or the seaward side. De Ramezay had not been long at the cape, however, before he received information of the complete withdrawal of the broken and crippled armament of D'Anville from the shores of the Province, and he, without delay, evacuated his camp, retiring first to Minas, and afterwards to Chiegnecto, where he intended to pass the winter, and prepare for a new campaign in the spring. The other colonies had been stirred from centre to circumference by the efforts of France to recover the possession of Nova Scotia, and in consequence they voted men, vessels and money to aid in her defence. Mascarene advised the military occupation of Grand Pr^, by a garrison of New England troops— a plan which would be equivalent to removing the scene of spring operations from the seat of Government to that point, while its possession would deprive the enemy of a convenient basis of attack and depot of supplies.* He therefore directed that a detachment of 470 men of the Massachusetts contingent should be sent to that point, and quartered upon the inhabitants. This force was placed under the command of Colonel Arthur Noble and Major Erasmus James Phillips, and Edward How accompanied them as commissioner in charge of the administration of civil affairs, and as commissary. The disembarkation of these troops took place on the day before Christmas, 1746, and news of the event reached De Ramezay on the 8th of January, 1747, at Chiegnecto, who, without hesitation, decided to attempt their dislodge- ment, or destruction, if possible, before the spring. He had every reason for believing that his enemies would not anticipate his intentions, and he therefore quietly and secretly organized a body of about three hundred men whom he despatched overland, via Windsor, under the command of Coulon de Villiers, who commenced the journey on the 23rd of January, and reached Piziquid (Windsor) on the 9th of February ; and at three o'clock, on the morning of the 11th, arrived at Grand Pr^, on which they commenced their attack while the English were reposing in the security of a profound sleep. A blinding snow-storm prevailed, and the French were enabled to enter the village without being observed. They at once assailed the quarters in which they knew the British ofiicers were sleeping, and a violent fight ensued, during which Colonel Noble and his brother were killed, and Edward How wounded and taken prisoner. After the death of Noble, the command was assumed by Captain Benjamin Goldthwaite, who continued the resistance several hours, though he was finally compelled to surrender on terms. These * The Acadians refused to supply Ramezay with provisions while among them with his troops without immediate specie payment, which they kilew he could not make. See "Wolfe and Montcalm," Vol. II., pp. 189, 199, 200. — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Ill were, however, honourable, both to the English and the French. The former were allowed to march out of the village with the honours of war, and were furnished with rations, and permitted to retire to the fort at Annapolis, on making a declaration that they would not bear arms against the French at Beaubassin, Chiegnecto or Oobequid, for six months. How was soon afterwards exchanged for a Frenchman — one Lacroix — who had been made a prisoner by the English in July, 1745, in Cape Breton. Five other prisoners were thrown in with Lacroix, as an equivalent for the commissary, who was held in high estimation by Mascarene and the whole Council. The battle of Grand Pr^ was, perhaps, the most stubbornly contested fight that ever took place in Acadie. The success of the French was entirely due to the suddenness of the assault, and the circumstance of their having been provided with snow-shoes, to the use of which they had become so accustomed during their recent marvellously rapid march, that they could use their weapons with as great facility with them on their feet as they could have done without them, while their power to move with freedom over the mounds of snow which encumbered the streets gave them a marked advantage over the English, who, not dreaming of danger, and all of thejn, save the solitary sentinel, being in their bed and asleep, were compelled to fly to their arms iti their shirts and defend themselves as best they .could. The gallant Nobles were killed in their night-dresses, and How was made a prisoner while in a similar costume. The bowlings of the storm ; the blinding, drifting snow ; the darkness ; the uncertainty as to who the enemy were ; the want of knowledge of their numbers ; the flashing of discharging fire- arms ; the sharp and rapid reports of fusils and musquets, and the cries of the wounded rendered the scene as picturesque as it was awful ; yet the Massachusetts men disputed foot by foot the possession of the points held by them, till daylight brought them a better knowledge of the enemy, who then began to redouble their efforts for victory. Goldthwaite, by his bold and intrepid bearing, inspired his followers with a like spirit, and a hand-to-hand conflict ensued, in which the latter, after some hours of exhausting conflict, found their movements so clogged and hindered by the accumulated snow, into which they sunk deeply at every step, while their racquetted foe moved freely on its surface, that it became necessary to offer a capitulation.* *It is noteworthy that the later the period of Parkman's writings, the more favour- able is he to the Acadians. In Vol. II. of his "Half Century of Conflict," Chap. XXII. , he gives an account of the affair at Grand Pre from trustworthy sources (the journal of Beaujeu, and Goldthwaite's letters to Governor Shirley), and without any partial colouring. Coulon's arrival was a surprise to the habitans as well as to the English, but he made his way to a house where he saw light, and found it to be the scene of wedding festivities. He impressed some of the guests into his service to conduct him to the English officers' quarters, that he might make himself master 112 HISTOHF OF ANNAPOLIS. Ordinances regulating the price of cord-wood were revived by the Council, and owing to its scarcity its exportation was prohibited. Letters of marque and reprisal were issued to the sloop Marigold, of eighty tons burthen, William Knox, master ; and at the same time a proclamation by Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, was published at Annapolis offering a reward for the apprehension of certain persons of this province who were accused of treason. Fifty pounds was the amount of reward, and the names of the traitors given were those of Louis Gautier, and his sons Joseph and Pierre, Amand Bugeau, Joseph Leblanc, Charles and Francis Raymond, Charles Le Roy, Joseph Brouis- sard, Pierre Guidry, and Louis Hubert ; the latter of whom had been a servant to Captain Handfield, of the 40th regiment. They were charged with having aided and assisted the French and Indian invaders of the Province contrary to their oaths of fealty to the King of England. As early as February, 1748, Charles Morris, afterwards the first Surveyor-General of the Province appointed after the founding of Hali- fax, recommended Mascarene to form settlements in various sections of the county by importing Protestant settlers from the various New England colonies. 1. Between the basin and St. Mary's Bay, he says, eighty to one hundred settlers might be located. He speaks of the Joggin near where Digby now stands, as a place where all the people, at certain seasons of the year, could catch as many shad as they pleased, and says that " no French live in this district." 2. From the gut to the Scotch Fort— "a place of importance" — the French possess all the salt- marsh lands. 3. From the Scotch Fort to what is now called Granville Ferry is occupied by twenty French families. He adds that the marshes in this district should be equally divided between them and an equal number of English settlers. 4. From Annapolis Royal to Moose River only eight French households were then settled. He thinks that eighty English families should be settled there. He says there are two large marshes in that locality. 5 and 6. From Annapolis eastward and up the of them first, but they led him to the wrong place, and he complains that the guides would not give him any assistance in the attack. Immediately after the attack Ramezay plied the Acadians with threats of the severest punishment if they should decline to actively aid him, declaring that France had now reconquered the country. They replied in pathetic terms assuring him of their "good heart," their sympathy as Frenchmen, but imploring him to consider their position — exposed to ruin if they failed in strict loyalty to their masters with whom they had been in close contact for so many years. At the same time they sent to Mascarene a copy of Ramezay's letter, begging him to consider that they could not avoid answering it as they did, but assuring him of their unfaltering loyalty to King George. After this Ramezay issued another proclamation invoking the death penalty upon any Acadians who might refuse to take up arms against the English, and asserting that the Bishop of Quebec had absolved them from their oaths. Thus were they threatened on one side with death, and on the other with confiscation and banishment ; and Shirley boldly reproaches the English Government for not protecting them with an adequate force from this constant and cruel pressure from the French, to which he ascribes their " fluctuating state." — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 113 river, ' he states there are two small settlements of thirty French families each, within six miles of the former place, where English should be settled. Twelve years afterwards this advice culminated in fruition under proclamation of Governor Lawrence, but not until after the expulsion of the habitans — an act which might not have been necessary if Morris' plan had been at once adopted. On the first day of June, 1748, His Majesty's ship Mahon and two armed schooners arrived at Annapolis with stores for the garrison, and were placed at the disposal of the Government. They were, shortly afterwards, employed in convoying a vessel, laden with merchandise, to Minas, the proceeds of the sale of which were to be paid to those persons who had supplied provisions to Colonel Noble's troops stationed at Grand Pr^ in 1746-47. The two armed schooners referred to were, probably, the Anson, commanded by Captain John Beare, and the Warren, of seventy tons, under the command of Captain Jonathan Davis. They proved of great service in assisting to keep the French inhabitants at the head of the Bay of Fundy under some sort of control. The war which had existed between France and England during the preceding four years was terminated this year by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, by which the Island of Cape Breton was again restored to the Crown of France. In the autumn several vessels loaded with warlike stores came to Annapolis from Louis burg, and the Anson and Warren returned to Boston, carrying with them a portion of the auxiliary troops which had been furnished by New England for the defence of the Province during the continuance of the late war. Peace brought comparative rest to the garrison of the old capital, and the inauguration of a new condition of aifairs in Nova Scotia generally. During the several recent investments of Annapolis, many private houses and other buildings had been torn down by the orders of the commander-in-chief, to secure the safety of the fort; and early in 1749 several persons put in claims for compensation for the losses which they had sustained in consequence. Among the claimants are to be found the names of Skene, E. J. Phillips, William Shirreff and John Hamilton. They were instructed to make oath to the amounts of their respective losses, and were assured by Mascarene that he would apply to the parent Government for their payment. The proclamation of the peace was formally published at Annapolis in June, and it now only remained to obtain the submission of the Indians, who, for a time, seemed inclined to continue the strife on their own account. I have already hinted that the condition of affairs in the colony was about to undergo a considerable change, a change which was destined to affect the interests of the old capital in a very marked manner, and that allusion had reference to the foundation of Halifax, which was 'ir4 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS, thenceforward to be the seat of government. Soon after the arrival of Cornwallis at Chebucto, Colonel Mascarene, no longer the administrator ■of the Government, and five members of the Council were summoned to wait upon the new governor at Chebucto Bay, on the shores of which the new capital was proposed to be built. On the 14th of July, 1749, Cornwallis appointed a new Council, among whose names we find that of Mascarene. The first act of this Board was to advise the Governor to summon aU the house- joiners, masons, and other mechanics from Annapolis, and to employ them in the construction of the dwellings required for the numerous settlers whom he had brought out from England with him. .The French, having undertaken to build a fort near the mouth of the St. John River, the ship Albany, Captain John Rous, and another armed vessel called the Boston, of Massachusetts, were ordered to Annapolis, where the commanding officer in charge was required to furnish the soldiers necessary to complete the expedition, which was then to •proceed to the St. John, and drive out the French if they should be found there, and destroy their works. Major Erasmus James Phillips •now resigned his commission as King's Advocate in the Court of Vice- Admiralty, an office which he had held for twenty years, having been ^appointed in 1729. The deputies from the French settlements having been ordered to proceed to the new headquarters to take an unqualified oath of allegiance, arrived at Halifax on the 9th August. Those sent from the Annapolis inhabitants were Alexandre Hebert and Joseph Dugas. On the 24th August Edward How, who had been absent from the Province on service, was resworn as member of the new Council, and sent as a civil commis- sioner with Rous' expedition to the River St. John, to which he was of great use in negotiating with the Indians in that quarter, whom he - succeeded in inducing to renew their old treaty of amity with the English. This renewal took place in Halifax, and Mr. How was sent • back with the Indian delegates, the bearer of presents for the sachems who should formally ratify the treaty made on their behalf. Mascarene returned to Annapolis to resume the command there on the 4th of Sep- s'tember, and immediately sent a detachment of the garrison consisting of one hundred men, a captain, and two subalterns, to Grand Pre. This 1 1 a 1 Rbmaeks bt tub AOTHOR. 1 6 1 2 5 3 2 3 i 2 1 2 5 1 2 2 2 5 5 4 2 2 4 6 1 3 5 2 2 1 3 1 .3 3 4 i 1 1 1 2 1 5 7 5 4 10 6 5 1 5 8 4 1 2 6 4 3 2 5 8 9 1 2 1 i 2 2 '2 4 1 '2 1 1 I '3 4 17 4 '3 2 6 8 5 8 2 3 1 4 4 2 5 1 2 1 2 9 2 2 4 2 4 4 2 '2 4 4 2 '2 4 2 15 2 '2 1 8 15 2 6 1 2 1 4 9 3 5 2 4 2 23 1 '2 '2 2 24 io 16 6 4 2 1 2 2 1 '2 1 2 '4 2 1 1 3 3 2 Saw-mill— out 4,000 feet Sanders, Pardon Saunders, Timothy Simpson, Benjamin Spurr, Michael W^ilkie, James of lumber; 1767.* Owned a saw-mill. Walker, Robert tWinniett, Magdalen Williams, Thomas Winniett, Joseph Worthylake, Ebenezer . . . tWinniett, Matthew .... Wood, Rev. Thomas Wood, William Many descendants. Many descendants. Wheelock, Obadiah Wheelock, Elias Wheelock, Joseph Winslow, John Howard . . Winchester, Nathan Whitman Mercy Many descendants. Many descendants. Many descendants. None. Many descendants. Widow. The facts above given may be summarized thus : The total population was 513, of whom 445 were Protestant and 68 Roman Catholic; 370 of them were of American birth, 40 of English, 8 of Scotch, 20 of Irish, and 67 of Acadian birth, and 8 of foreign origin. Of cattle there were 832, of horses 76, of sheep 589, of swine 108. Of mills there were eight — four saw and four grist mills. Of vessels there were two schooners and nineteen fishing boats. The number of families was 99, and the average, of each family slightly exceeded 5. The smallest household comprised only one member ; the largest contained ten individuals. The people were chiefly, in fact almost wholly, devoted to agricultural pursuits, and in the preceding year they raised of wheat 539 bushels, or a trifle over one bushel per head of the population ; of barley 446 bushels, or less than a bushel to each ; of rye 317 bushels, being a small percentage over one-half bushel to each ; it is therefore certain that wheat was the leading grain crop of this period. I now proceed to lay before the reader a portion of the census returns for the year 1770. * The MS. leaves it uncertain to which of the three names. Smith, Sanders or Saunders, the ownership of the mill is intended to be imputed. It can only be shown by reference to the original return. The Saunders family were early engaged in lumbering. — [Ed.] t Widow of William Winniett, and mother of Joseph. X Brother of Joseph ; never married. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 15& NAME. la 'H s 1 1 c 4 s c u ^ < ■< ^ tiJ -ffl o Bancroft, Samuel Baloom, Samuel Bass, Josepli Bent, David BaJ^er, John Bertaux, Philip Baloom, Silas Basterash, Jean Clark, Uriah Corbett, Isaiah Cleaveland, Samuel Como, Francis, jun Como, Francis Como, Jean Como, Justin Dunn, John Daniels, Asa Davis, Elias Dyson, Alice Dodge, Josiah Davis, John Evans, Henry Easson, John Felch, Daniel Fisher, Nathaniel Felch, Ebenezer Frost, John Hardy, A:aron, jun Hardy, Aaron, sen Hooper, Thomas Hardwick, Henry Harris, John Kent, Isaac Kendall, Elisha Langley, John Lawrence, William Lawrence, Jonathan Lawrence, Hannah Lovett, Phineas ! Linsley, John Lecain, Francis Leblanc, Charles Morse, Abner Morse, Samuel Morrison; Archibald Messenger, Ebenezer .... Messenger, Ebenezer, jun Morgan, George 40 572 995 164 500 570 100 1038 272 500 ioo 100 100 500 500 500 400 1000 500 642 1000 748 100 430 1000 500 1498 491 500 500 15 500 2163 2000 1046 769 320 900 132 150 * Obliterated. 156 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. NAME. ^ fe •1 1 § 1 < 1 pel •« 1 3 00 Parker, Nathaniel Payson, Jonathan Rice, Timothy Rice, Judah Rice, Beriah Rice, Ebenezer, jun . . . Rice, Ebenezer Rice, John Rhodda, Stephen Simpson, Benjamin . . Spurr, Michael Sanders, Pardon Wheelock, Elias Wheelock, Obadiah . . . Winslow, John H Wheelock, Joseph .... Winchester, Nathan . . Whitman, Mercy Worthylake, Ebenezer Winniett, Joseph Winniett, Magdalen . . . Williams, Thomas Winniett, Matthew . . . Wilkie, Mary Wood, William Wheeler, James Wood, Rev. Thomas . . Walker, Thomas Walker, Robert 5 2 3 6 4 2 3 3 \" • 8 3 5 1 1 3 2 1 i 4 6 2 4 7 6 1 4 2 2 11 5 6 7 6 1 5 4 1 4 2 2 6 2 4 2 2 10 7 3 10 7 3 6 4 2 12 10 5 2 9 8 1 6 i 1 1 4 4 6 4 4 2 2 5 1 4 8 1 6 1 7 5 1 1 412 1000 1449 1300 1000 262 500 ios 500 1000 1000 340 750 1000 728 2000 100 665 1000 .344 364 150 500 400 100 Comparing these results with those of 1768, it will be seen that there was a decrease in the total of population equal to 17 per cent., while there was an increase in the Acadian or native portion of it of 230 per s\ cent, in three years. The decrease in the American-born as shown by these census was about 54 per cent. This decrease may be accounted for in more than one way. An analysis of the names proves that twenty- four families removed from the township during the interval, some of whom no doubt, being dissatisfied with their position, returned to the colony whence they came, and others removed to other townships. The names of the families who thus left the township were as follows : Black, Bennett, Barnes, Bartlett, Belliveau, Cosby (Ann), Campbell, four Comos and two Dugasts, Frost, Grant, Grow, Gates (Oldham), Gaudet, Hoar, Hurd, Lee, Mealman, Rice, Smith, Saunders. Those printed in italics were Acadian Frenchmen and probably removed to Clare to settle among their countrymen, who had found their way thither after exile, HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 157 while some of the remaining ones, as Gates and Saunders (Timothy) removed to Wilmot, and Spencer and others to Granville. The subjoined is an abstract from a manuscript, entitled " State and Condition of Nova Scotia, 1763 " : "In this county — Annapolis— are only two townships (to wit) Annapolis and Granville. Annapolis has about sixty families, and Granville eighty. Most of these inhabitants have large stocks of cattle ; at least 1,600 head of horned cattle were wintered over by them last year, but they suffered much for want of bread, the inhabitants being reduced to the necessity of eating the Grain they had reserved for Seed, which will reduce them to Necessity this year also unless they can obtain some small supply. It is conjectured about 500 bushels Corn will be sufficient for that end, and if they could be supplied with 200 bushels of Wheat for Seed Early in the spring, these two townships would subsist without further assistance, and be able to pay next year for advances. " "A Court of Common Pleas has been erected consisting of four judges. Two are since dead and two wanting to fill their places." A Commissioner of Sewers for Repairing and amending the Dykes in the township of Granville, is much wanted." " Five Justices have been nominated for Granville but not yet appointed. The townships have none to represent them in the General Assembly. The proprietors of Annapolis and Granville have not yet got a grantt of their lands. A List for that End has been settled by a Committee of Council and approved of. " "Something is necessary to be done for the Public Roads in these townships. £50 has been voted in Council, £20 of which has been paid ; the remainder laid out before winter would be very useful." In August, 1763, Judge Hoar, in a letterj to Governor Lawrence^ recommends William Graves and Benjamin Shaw for subaltern commis- sions in Captain Hall's company of militia; Samuel Wade and Paul Crocker for Captain 's company; Abner Morse and Joseph Bass for Captain Evans' company ; informs His Excellency of the refusal of Mr. Lovett to accept a captain's commission, and recommends Mr. Oldham Gates in his place, and expresses his regret that " one Captain Jabez Snow was neglected, one that was a captain all last war, and behaved with reputation." The Snows of Queens and Shelburne coun- ties are descended from this person. The Captain Hall referred to in this communication was John Hall who came to Granville about the year 1760 with his wife and family, the latter at that time consisting of two children. His descendants are very -numerous and widely scattered over the maritime colonies. Among these the reader may note the name of S. S. Hall, Esq., a leading merchant of St. John, New Brunswick ;. * The assertion that two of the four judges of this court had died since its insti- tution in 1761, requires corroboration. Messrs. Hoar, Evans and Winniett were certainly all living in 1763, yet the writer was certainly in a position to know the facts. + It seems certain from this statement that the grant of 1759 had been cancelled, and the title to these lands revested in the Crown. Yet there appears to be no record of an escheat extant. J See this letter in full in memoirs of Mr. Hoar. 158 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Mr. James I. Fellows, the celebrated druggist and chemist,* lately agent for the Province of New Brunswick in London; of the late James H. Thorne, Esq., of the Post-office Money Order Department in Halifax, and the Messieurs Hall, stationers of the same city, who are his great- grandsons, f The Samuel Wade spoken of was a son of Captain John Wade who, tradition affirms, was at the final capture of Louisburg and ■Quebec, having served with the colonial troops who were employed, and who so nobly distinguished themselves in these undertakings. His great-grandchildren are to be found in great numbers in the Province, -and are generally distinguished by industrious habits and integrity of <;haraoter. The descendants of Messieurs Graves and Crocker are like- wise numerous and to be found in Wilmot and Aylesford, and those of Mr. Gates are also to be found in that section of the country. In 1770 there was a general election, and Phineas Lovett, Esq. — the ■" Captain " Lovett mentioned in Hoar's letter to Lawrence — and Joseph Patten, Esq., were chosen as members of the new assembly for the •county ; and Obadiah Wheelock and John Harris, Esqs., for Annapolis and Granville respectively. Full notices of these gentlemen will be found in another place, to which the reader is referred. At this time road commissioners for the county were appointed, whose duty it was to spend the sums granted for the road service and to collect the taxes levied on the people for that purpose, and to report to the Government ■from time to time on the condition of the public highways and the financial requirements concerning them. During the period from 1770 to 1780 the work of clearing the forests, reclaiming the wild lands,, and turning them into tasteful and , profitable farms went steadily and successfully, yet slowly onward, in the valley sections of this township, the regions beyond the adjoining heights being .a terra incognita, except to a few adventurous hunters and trappers. The river affi)rded the chief means of transit in the summer season, the grist and saw mills being accessible in this way, and the transport of all heavy materials was carried on by means of boats and scows ; yet, as we have seen, the land thoroughfares were not entirely neglected, 1;hough it was not until after the arrival of the Loyalists in 1783 that rapid strides of improvement were made in this direction. In the •county town we catch here and there a glimpse of the inhabitants. In 1776 and 1777 we see Mrs. Mary Wilkie, widow of James Wilkie, in her trim little grocery store, where, among other things, she sold a " wee drap " of rum, which she had bought from Mr. John Fillis, wholesale xnerchant of Halifax. Andrew Ritchie, too, in 1777, was well supplied * Inventor of the well-known ■" compound syrup of hypophosphites. " He has recently died. — [Ed.] + See other particulars in memoirs of Mr. Hall. Sir William Fenwick Williams, K.C.B., Llmitfiiauf-dorpinior of JS^ora Scofia. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 159 with the same article by John Winslow of the same city, and also with an equal number of gallons of molasses. The Rev; Thomas Wood, most worthy of missionaries as he was, was supplied with twenty-eight gallons of wine (for sacramental and medicinal purposes) by James Brown, wine merchant of the Capital; and "Captain" Ticus who preferred wine to the stronger beverage, imported fifty-four gallons of wine to be used as occasion served ; and Captain Robert Young, who must have run a public-house, required 206 gallons of rum with which to supply his customers. The leading magistrates were Joseph Wiiiniett, who held many of the most important county offices, and Thomas Williams, both of whose families have furnished the Crown with an opportunity to, reward distinguished services with knighthood,' a grandson of each having received that distinguished honour at the hands of their Sovereign Lady, our present Queen. It was during this decade that Anne and Mary, Elizabeth and Margaret Winniett — the two younger sisters Alice and Martha not having passed beyond the initial " teen " — were the recog- nized belles of the day, and the objects of admiration by the officers of the garrison. Three of them, Mary, Elizabeth and Margaret, became the wives of Messieurs Hamilton, Nunn and Wolseley, respectively, and when military duty commanded, left their native town, no doubt with regret, to form new associations in other, and to them alien lands. At this period the mails were carried from Halifax to Annapolis once every fortnight, and vice versa, partly on horseback and partly by a foot postman. A vehicle, other than the commonest of common carts, was a thing yet several years in the future. The winter was the joyous and truly enjoyable season of the year, for it was then that the " horse-sled " was put into requisition by old a,nd young, the roads admitting its use, while, from their rude condition they refused to permit the transit of a wheeled carriage. It was therefore in this season that a round of visiting was planned and carried out, of visits to relatives in other townships, and friends in remote settlements ; of the bride in the back- woods to the home of her. girlhood ; of the lover to the plantation where dwelt his " charming " Molly or Sally or Patty as the case may be ; or of the "old people" to the new log-house in the forest, of which their eldest daughter had, during the year, been made the mistress by the stout hearted and ready-handed young yeoman who now called her by the endearing name of wife ; while in older settlements the apples of the French orchards affisrded at once the materials for excellent cider and " paring parties," which the people of the old metropolitan county have not yet entirely forgotten to enjoy. 160 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER X. The following is a correct list of the names inserted in the first grant of the township of Annapolis, in 1759, which for convenience of reference I have arranged in alphabetical order. Quite a number of the persons named never came to the county, which was the case with many named in the first township grants in every county in the Province : Abbott, Ephraim. Abbott, John. Armstrong, Timothy. Bacon, Daniel. Bacon, John. Bacon, Stephen. Baldwin, Nahum. Barnes, Timothy. Bent, Elijah. Bent, Hopestill. Bent, Micah. Bent, P. Bent, Thomas. Bertaux, Philip (Annapolis), Bird, Benjamin. Bird, Benjamin, jun. Boutein, Wm. (Annapolis). Brewer, James. Brewer, Jonathan. Brewer, Moses. Brown, Ebenezer. Brown, Samuel. Brown, Thomas. Brown, William. Cheney, Timothy. Clapp, Joel. Coolidge, Hezekiah. Coolidge, Josiah. Corey, Benjamin. Daggart, Samuel. Damon, Thomas. Dan, William. Darks, Benjamin. Darks, Benjamin, jun. Darks, David. Davis, Caleb. Davis, Joshua. Eddy, Benjamin. Emmes, John. Evans, Henry. Evans, John. Farrar, George, jun. Felch, Ebenezer. Gardner, John. Gates, Amos. Gibbs, Isaac, jun. Gibbs, William. Gibson, Isaac. Gibson, Nathaniel. Gibson, Timothy. Giggs, Samuel. Glazin, Benjamin. Glazin, Jason, jun. Glazin, Jason 3rd. Goddward, William. Graves, Thomas. Hagar, Isaac, jun. Hall, John. Hasey, Nathaniel. Healy, Aaron. Healy, Nathaniel. Heard, Richard. Hemmingway, Sylvanus. Hoar, Josiah. Jenkins, Joseph. Keir, John. Kendall, Eleazer. Kendall, Elijah. Knight, Samuel. Knight, Stephen. Lecain, Francis. Lyon, Enoch. May, Aaron. McCuUough, James. McNamara, John. Mereim, John. Moore, Daniel, jun. Mossman, James. Muzzey, Benjamin. Muzzey, Nathaniel. Newton, Simon. Pierce, Moses. Pool, Samuel. Powney, George. Rice, Ebenezer. Rice, Eliakim. Rice, Ezekiel. Rice, John. Rice, Matthias. Richardson, Antonie. Rixon, John. Rixon, Thomas. Salter, Malachi (Halifax). Sanders, Pardou(Annapolis). Seaver, Comfort. Smith, Ebenezer. Spurr, Michael. Stanhope, Samuel. Stone, Jesse. Stone, Samuel. Troobridge, Thomas. Underwood, Jonathan. Underwood, Timothy. Whitney, Jason. Winslow, John Howard. Wintworth, Edward. Woodward, Isaac. Woodward, John. Woodward, Josiah. Worthylake, Ebenezer. Wyar, James. CHAPTER XI. TOWNSHIP OF ANNAPOLIS, CONCLUDED. By the Editor. Loyalist refugees arrive — Invasion of the town in 1781 — The Loyalists — A plot to rob and murder in 1785 — Capitation tax list of 1792— Court-house and jail — ' Town officers, 1797 — Description of the town in 1804— The same in 1826 — Its antiquity — The fort — Churches — Old buildings — The fire record — Revived prosperity — Appendix — A remarkable prayer — Verses —Relics — The Gold- smiths — The " Rising Village.'' THE breaking out of the Civil War in the older colonies could not fail to deeply interest the people of this county. Some of the class known as " Loyalist Refugees " came and settled here from time to time as the disaffection in those colonies became more pronounced. Disapproving of the measures of the malcontents, from vsrhich they foresaw sanguinary consequences, they sought to escape by a timely removal with their families and fortunes to a community that was peaceful and contented. Immigrants bound to the older colonies, but discouraged by the gloomy prospect which met them there, turned their steps hitherward, where better securities for " life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness " seemed to th^m to present themselves. This accession to our population was of course, when hostilities at length began, augmented in consequence of the bitter persecutions instituted against any who sought even to remain neutral between the contending parties. It is unjust to consider this class of Loyalists any less meritorious than the exiles of 1783. They were equally devoted to the darling principle of a "United Empire," and cheerfully rendered the loyal service which allegiance and patriotism demanded of them in their new homes, while their influence did much to encourage and promote a loyal sentiment among their new neighbours and associates, natives of the colonies in revolt, and children of such natives ; and when the Province was threatened with invasion, they rallied for its defence in " Royal Emigrant Companies." The early settlers in Cumberland and Kings counties memorialized the Government, asking for the same exemption that Governor Phillipps had granted the Acadians as a qualification of the ordinary oath of 11 162 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. allegiance, saying, "It would be the greatest piece of cruelty and injustice " for them to be "subjected to march into diiferent parts in arms against friends and relations." But as a rule the sympathies of the people of this oounty, happy in their new and valuable possessions, and disregarding mere sentimental grievances, were with the Government, to whose bounty they were so freshly indebted — a few notable cases excepted. One was that of William Howe, son of the worthy and celebrated Edward How, whose history is elsewhere given. We are not justified in attributing to Phineas Lovett and John Hall any adverse sentiments stronger • than sympathy with the objects for which the colonists professed to contend in the earlier stages of the agitation that preceded and inaugurated a civil war that was soon to be directed to other aims and objects than the mere " redress of grievances." A certain sympathy born of solicitude for friends and kinspeople engaged in deadly conflict, with or without entire approval of the cause for which they fought, can scarcely fail to find a place in human hearts. Solicitude and sympathy affect the judgment, so that a minority is often turned into a majority when the sword of authority is invoked for the suppression of a rebellion territorial in its area. The " Acts for the Pacification of America," passed by the British Parliament, February 17th, 1778, conceding to the colonies everything they had asked for before they had resorted to arms — more, indeed, than their authorized representatives and delegates had ever claimed — checked any murmurs of disaffection in Nova Scotia, and made any attempt at separation on her part as unjustifiable as it would be to-day, or as the secession of the Southern States was in 1860. This town, however, was not long to rest in the enjoyment of the coveted security. Colonel Phineas Lovett, happening to be a passenger in a vessel sailing from Salem to Machias, Me., was interviewed by one Stephen Smith, who had been a delegate to the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts Bay. Smith inquired of him about the state of the forts at the mouth of the St. John River and at Annapolis, and as to the probable disposition of the people in the event of an attempt by the Continentals to capture the country. Mr. Lovett promptly informed the local authorities at Annapolis of this conversation, and a petition signed by Rev. Thomas Wood, Thomas Williams, ordnance store-keeper. Colonel William Shaw and John Ritchie, with a letter from Matthew Winniett, was sent to the Government asking for a supply of arms and ammunition. Mr. Lovett, who probably was despatched with these documents, appeared before the Council and was examined. As a result, by an order of July 24th, 1775, a supply was sent consisting of six barrels of gunpowder, ball in propor- tion, and four 6-pounders for the forts at Annapolis and Granville. On August 26th, a light infantry company of fifty men was ordered to be formed at Annapolis. Following close upon this, the Council requested HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 163 Captain Le Cras that His Majesty's ship Tartar should go to Annapolis to assist in its protection. In 1776, militia were garrisoning both the forts at Annapolis and Goat Island. The Spring Circuit of the Supreme Court that year was dispensed with, to avert a possible capture of the judge and officers of the court by piratical cruisers in the Bay of Fundy. In short, the settlements in the western parts of Nova Scotia were kept in a perpetual state of terror from the beginning to the end of the war, during which none of our people were more loyal or attached to the Government than the returned Acadians. On August 28th, 1781, two rebel schooners, one of twelve and the other of ten carriage guns, with eighty men, came up the river, and landed half the men under cover of night. They first, according to Murdoch, surprised the guard, consisting of three soldiers from the forts on the St. John River, who were asleep, entered the south sally-port and took possession of the barracks within the stockade, with no loss of life except that of their own pilot, whom they killed by mistake. A well-authenticated tradition in the town corrects Murdoch as to the guard, and declares that there was none what- ever at the fort on this night. The pilot is said to have been a French- man, who had two or three years before made himself amenable to the punishment of branding in the hand for some criminal offence, and now proposed to avenge himself by conducting the enemy into the fort and killing the sheriff whom he expected to find there. He was afterwards buried by the citizens near the block-house without any very reverential funeral ceremony. One of the citizens, the late Mr. John Roach, father of William H. Roach, afterwards M.P.P., who lived near the middle of the Lower Town, was awakened between midnight and morning by the noise of an angry discussion on the street, which he found on opening the window proceeded from two armed men apparently disputing over some property in their possession. One of them at once presented a musket to him and demanded admittance, having gained which he made him a prisoner. Another citizen* just then rushed in giving to his neighbour in excited tones the, by this time, superfluous information that the "rebels " were in town, adding to the epithet an adjective still less complimentary, whereupon one of the intruders pointed his musket at him, and he, startled, sprang quickly backwards and tripped over a cradle containing an infant, and fell with his feet upwards across the cradle in such a ludicrous position that he attributed his escape with his life to his assailant's amusement at his ridiculous plight. All the able- bodied inhabitants were in the same way disarmed, made prisoners and placed in the moat at the fort, and there guarded by armed men, while others of the crew plundered Qvery house and store of everything movable, leaving the townspeople only the garments they were actually clothed in. * Mr. Cossins. 164 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. No second article of wearing apparel for inner or outer use was left. The ladies were spared the shoes they had on, but without the silver buckles. It is related that there was a sick lady* in a house near the present Catholic glebe, whose coloured servant went down to the water-side and appealed to them on behalf of the invalid whom they had deprived of every necessary as well as comfort. One of them ordering her to spread out her apron, they filled it with tea, sugar, etc. They kept possession of the town a considerable part of the day, indulging freely in strong drink, and terrorizing the inhabitants ; but when they heard a rumour that the militia were mustering in the surrounding country, they left suddenly, first spiking the cannon in the fort, and carrying with them as prisoners Thomas Williams, grandfather of Sir W. F. Williams, and John Ritchie, afterwards M.P.P., grandfather of Chief Justice, Sir Wm. J. Ritchie, whom they released on parole and promise of exchange for an American prisoner at Halifax. In connection with this aifair Colonel Phineas Lovett wrote to the Halifax Gazette as follows : "In yours of the 4th, the public is informed of the taking of the town of Annapolis Royal on the morning of the 29th August last, which is true, but that ' when the express came away the pirates were under full sail standing up for the town again,' and that 'there were no militia mustering to oppose them,' is absolutely false." Whatever may be the facts on these points. Colonel Henry Munro, who promptly came down from Wilmot to offer military assistance, afterwards spoke in strong terms of reproach of the inactivity and irresolution of the officers in command here. In the same year the armed schooner Adventure captured a rebel schooner of sixty tons register, and brought her into Annapolis to be disposed of. In the spring of 1782, an American privateer sloop of fifty tons, carrying about forty men and eight guns, created alarm in the town, chasing a vessel of Captain Mowat up as far as Goat Island, but in the afternoon of the same day a British man-of-war, the Buckram, coming in, took her, the men escaping to the woods. During this summer a very interesting character was added to the social and religious life of the town, the Rev. Jacob Bailey, a Loyalist, who had fled from Pownalborough, Me., to Halifax in 1779. The reader is referred to a biography of this clergyman, entitled "A Frontier Missionary," by Rev. Wm. S. Bartlett (Boston, 1853), in which copious extracts from his journal are published, showing the conditions of life and society at that period in Annapolis and Kings counties. Several hundreds of Loyalist exiles came here directly from their former homes in the same year. In 1783, the news that peace had been concluded on terms recognizing * Said to be Mrs. John Ritchie, whose husband they took prisoner. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. ' 165 the independence of the revolted colonies was received at first with doubt and then with dismay in this town and county. Many who gloried in the traditions of the Empire, men who themselves had helped to add to the common renown the achievements at Louisburg or Quebec, now happy in the reward of their services, as well as proud of their part in contributing to the grand result which promised a lasting peace and unfettered progress to their nationality in North America, found it difficult to tolerate the idea that a territory so lately peopled by fellow-heirs of the same heritage of glory should be set up into an independent and rival state, especially under the influence and patronage of France, regarded by them as the hereditary enemy* of the British race * The friends of humanity and civilization may well rejoice at the improved relations that have existed between England and France during the last three- quarters of a century, while they might imagine, from the tone of American writers and speakers in the press and in Congress, that the United States has succeeded France as the arch-enemy of the British Empire and people. English thinkers who, so far from reciprocating such a feeling, rejoice in the great prosperity of the Republic, console themselves that such utterances are but the device of politicians to ' ' catch the Irish vote " ; and when Senator Ingalls a few years ago declared in his place that England had always been "a very devil amongst the nations," the Canadian and British press jumped to the conclusion, and lost no time in announcing that he was a Fenian fresh from the dynamite plots of the Irish Invincibles, whereas he is a descendant of one of the Lincolnshire founders of Lyfin, Mass., a graduate of Williams College, Mass., and probably of as pure English blood as the average native Englishman himself. In our public demonstrations at national festivals and the like, our people seek to show a fraternal feeling, as well as to pay a compliment to American visitors, by displaying the American flag beside our own, Woe betide the unfortunate man who shotild attempt to similarly honour the British flag in the United States. The partial instruction imparted for generations to the youth of the country in their common school books and in Fourth of July orations, replete as these are with bitter and often untruthful invectives, is largely the cause of this unnatural feeling. A large proportion (shall I say, a large majority) of the American press exploit a pinchbeck patriotism by proclaiming that Great Britain and the United States are natural enemies, carefully withhold the Canadian side of the case and misrepresent the issue in any question that arises between the two governments, and propound hostility to Great Britain and everything British, espfecially to Canada as part of the Empire, as a primary duty of American citizen- ship. In the Civil War between the United States and the Southern Confederacy, American troops were freely allowed to pass by rail over Canadian territory from Windsor to the Suspension Bridge at Niagara Falls, to save time and expense in bringing them from the Western States and territories to the seat of war ; biit a few years later, when our first North- West rebellion broke out, the force sent from Ontario and the stores which accompanied it had to be disembarked at Sault Ste. Marie and carried around the rapids, with great delay, in consequence of the refusal of the Government of the United States to permit them to pass through the St. Mary's Canal, although the lives of all the white settlers at Fort Garry, at the mercy of half-breeds and savage bands, depended on their prompt arrival. And yet we are denounced in the United States Senate and press as unneighbourly ! After Canada had consented to a treaty respecting the fisheries, which President Cleveland pronounced to be perfectly just and satisfactory, in lieu of an old one of which his people complained, and it was rejected by the United States Senate, the same President announced to Congress that matters had reached a point at which it became their duty to do all they could to injure Canada ! Sad would it be, and a disgrace to our common humanity, if we should ever be provoked into allowing these feelings to become mutual. Let our rulers, as heretofore, stand strictly within our rights, and let our rulers and people persevere in extending the olive ibranch, and leave a monopoly of unstatesmanlike hostility and unworthy jealousy to such of our neighbours as deem it not inconsistent with the dignity of a great nation to cherish and evince such sentiments. 166 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. and nation. Deprecating the end at which the extreme revolutionists aimed, they were aghast at its unexpected accomplishment. Following fast on the unwelcome news came the living witnesses of its truth in the swarms of exiled and destitute Loyalists who reached the port. To these it was no figment of the poet, but a stern and disastrous fact, that " Honour may be deemed dishonour, Loyalty be called a crime. " In modern times the clemency of Anglo-Saxon governments has generally spared discomfited rebels the penalties to which they are subjected by the laws alike of civilized and barbarous nations. During the American revolution it was the paradoxical lot of those who strove to ii/pliold legally constituted authority in their respective localities, to suffer these very penalties in no mild or diluted measure. Assured in their best judgment and consciences that the circumstances did not warrant a resort to arms, and that to oppose with arms the national government were treason and rebellion, alike a crime against human and divine laws — if they shrank from doing so, or showed favour to authority, they found themselves amenable to formal indictment, trial and condemnation as traitors and rebels. To espouse one side in the unhappy struggle involved them in the guilt of treason ; to favour the other exposed them to its penalties, applied and enforced by the provincial authorities, where these were controlled by the insurgents, acting in advance of established and recognized national existence and autonomy. Even when the outrage of executions, instead of the milder punishment of attainder, confiscation and banishment, followed these travesties of the application of the law of crimen Icesm majestatis, the Mother Country, divided in her councils, with weak officers in the field, and devoted to the policy of merciful measures to restore revolted subjects to allegiance and union, preferred proposals to reprisals, and conducted the war in a vacil- lating and irresolute spirit. But the regular, if illegal, action of judges and juries, and acts of attainder were not all that the unfortunate ■ Loyalist had to dread. In the absence of these he was exposed to revolt- ing outrages at the hands of lawless mobs, who, unrestrained, if not encouraged by those who had grasped authority, set at naught all the dictates of reason and humanity. Nor did the honest attempt to observe a strict neutrality shield his person from violence or his property from spoliation ; and Quakers, whose religious tenets held war in abhorrence in any case, were whipped* for refusing to fight, or hanged for alleged favour to the Government, which had afforded them protection, while it- claimed their fealty. The spirit of the insurgents may be discerned in the * "Journal of the Life and Labours of William Savery, Minister, etc.," p 17. Savery " Genealogy," p. 147. Oarlyle and Koberts executed at Philadelphia in 1777. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 167 conduct of those who invaded Cumberland in 1776, when they seized and carried away the resident Church of England minister, and kept him a prisoner for sixteen months, although as Nova Scotia had not asserted her independence, there could be no question of this non- combatant's loyalty toward his Provincial Government as well as the Imperial. The Americain author of the " Frontier Missionary," referring to the Loyalist clergy, says : " Should a crisis occur when the citizens of one of the United States shall be compelled to choose between the command of his own State and that of the Federal Government, the position of those clergymen may then be appreciated." Seven years after these words were written the crisis came. Have American writers learned the lesson ? In negotiating the treaty of peace the British Government earnestly pressed the United States for reparation to the Loyalists, or their restoration to the property and estates so unjustly plundered and confiscated, only to be told by the American Commissioners that the General Congress, which alone they represented, had no authority to make this concession, but could only recommend it to the governments of the respective States, in whom the necessary power resided, each state being entirely independent of the others. As a matter of form the promised recommendation was made, and except in the case of Georgia, which tardily and partially complied, it was met in the several legisla- tures with contempt and expressions of contumely toward the sufferers ; and redress was refused, in contravention of the usages of civilized nations to extend amnesty and restoration of civil rights to defeated combatants who make due submission to the authority of the successful party in a civil war. Meanwhile, as American publicists and diplomats have freely with an affectation of gratitude admitted, Great Britain generously "endowed"* the new republic with "gigantic boundaries" for the sake of " reconciliation,'' as Lord Shelburne is reported to have said, and in the conviction that perpetual amity would thenceforth exist between peoples so identified in religion, and blood, and with a community of moral and material interests, and so recently estranged through the policy of their respective rulers. This territorial concession was designed to give room for the development and expansion of a great nation, united in alliance, if not in allegiance, with the parent State. " Recon- ciliation," exclaimed Franklin, perhaps with more ingeniousness than ingenuousness, " that is a sweet word." But he asked too much, when not satisfied with a vast and most valuable territory outside the limits of the thirteen colonies, he pleaded as a particularly gracious gift for the cession of all Canada, thus proposing to . coop up the impoverished Loyalists and their families within very narrow limits indeed. And * Hon. John Jay. 168 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. unfortunately the concessions actually made did not close the door to subsequent boundary disputes which have brought war clouds to the horizon more than once in our day, and happy would it be if these were confined to boundaries in which the two nations are really con- cerned. It is to be deplored that the early annals of the young member of the family of nations, destined to such material, if not moral, great- ness, should have been stained by such treatment of those whose only crime was their conscientious adherence to a lost cause : a cause hallowed to their hearts by the traditions of the ages, and identified in their minds with the true interests of their country ; but it was on the part of the new republic a policy as short-sighted as it was vindictive, for it was of untold advantage to the loyal provinces by driving to these shores a large body of subjects, intensely, and by force of circumstances, more intensely, devoted to British institutions and the unity and perpetuity of the Empire. I make these remarks with no desire to keep alive or encourage a feeling of national resentment in the bosoms of any of our people. Nothing could be more irrational or unchristian-like than for people to quarrel because their forefathers quarrelled on the issues that disturbed the harmony of men in the distant past, or for a person to hate another because the latter's ancestor two or three generations ago did the ancestor of the former wrong ; and what is folly in the individual is only aggravated folly and wickedness in the multitude. But the facts regarding the Loyalists and the reason of their coming here are in danger of being lost sight of, through their suppression in the most \ popular American books on the history of those days ; and I would fail in my duty if I did not correct the error so widely prevalent that our Loyalist ancestors came here of their own free-will, prompted only by a sentimental and silly fondness for royalty, instead of the necessity to escape pauperism, or even imprisonment or death in their native pro-sdnces. Halifax, Shelburne, St. John and Annapolis (there being then no houses at Digby to afford them adequate shelter) were the ports most easily accessible to the expatriated Loyalists, and to these they flocked in great numbers, hoping, with the aid of the Government in whose loyal service they had lost all, to repair, in part at least, their shattered fortunes, and to secure for their posterity, with better guarantees of permanence and of just administration, the blessings of law and con- stitutional freedom under the flag which, as a national symbol, was as dear to them as the flag of " the Union " was to any northern volunteer during the second but less successful American rebellion. Unlike the first English-speaking settlers in the country, they brought with them nothing but stout hearts and strong and willing hands, and in many cases mental gifts and culture which added richly to the intellectual, if not material, wealth of the young community. Their chief men were from HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 169 the very flower of old colonial society, and there were among them representatives of every national origin and every religious creed to be traced among the old colonial population. The .author of a small treatise published anonymously at Edinburgh in 1787, entitled "The Present State of Nova Scotia," asserts that Annapolis received an accession of 2,500 by this migration, which increased the extent of the town to six times its former area, with a population larger than it ever before possessed. To give a more accurate account I will quote from Mr. Bailey's journals and letters, as reproduced in the biography referred to. On his arrival in 1782, he puts the population of Annapolis Royal at 120, comprised, as he said in a letter written five years later, in eighteen families, with a considerable number of French in the neighbourhood. Late in October of that year nine transports, convoyed by two men-of- war, arrived, bringing five hundred Loyalist refugees, by whom, Mr. Bailey says, " every habitation is crowded, and many are unable to • procure any lodgings. Many of these distressed people left large [con- fiscated] possessions in the rebellious colonies, and their sufferings on i Austin, Timothy m Austin, Benjamin n Austin, Daniel, jun Lunenburg. Brown, Aaron Lunenburg. Baillie, Isaac n Butler, Simeon Charlestown. Bailey, Josiah Lunenburg. Brynton, Jonathan Bradstreet, Jonathan Belcher, Jeremiah Bradstreet, Samuel Bass, John Better, Moses Bigelow, Benjamin Blair, John Groton. Bell, Jeremiah Townshend. Butterick, Francis n , Ball, Thomas Bolton. Chandler, Joshua Hollies, N.H. Crocker, Paul n Chadwick, William n Carter, Elias Leominster. Coleman, James Dorchester. Name. Residence. Cole, John Jeohegan, N.H. Connant, John Townshend. Chandler, David Hollies, N. H. Croker, John Lunenburg. Carlton, Abraham n Croker, James Narragansett. Crooker, Timothy Goreham. Dalton, Thomas Lunenburg. Dunsmore, John Dascomb, James Davis, Joseph Davis, Samuel Darling, John Darling, Timothy Dowing, Daniel Wilmington. Douglass, Samuel Townshend. Fletcher, Jonas Lunenburg. Fowler, Richard m Farwell, John n Fuller, John n Foster, Jeremiah Canada. Fielder, Aaron Ipswich, N. H. Fletcher, Paul Groton. Gibson, Isaac Lunenburg. Grow, John n Goodridge, Philip n 196 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Name. Residence. Goodridge, David Lunenburg. Goodridge, Joshua n Giberact, William n Gipson, John n Gibson, Reuben n Gibson, Joseph n Griner, Elijah n Growing, Thomas Lynn. Graves, Richard Narragansett. Grow, Joel Petersham. Grout, Jonathan n Gaudell, Joseph Boston. Holt, Jonathan Ipswich, N. H. Holt, William Lunenburg. Hunt, Samuel Lunenburg. Hutching, Joshua n Harding, Elijah Groton. Harding, Andrew Littleton. Hart, Ebenezer Lunenburg. Hazelwood, Nathan n Hosely, Joseph Narragansett. Holden, Asa Shirley. Hewey, John Peterboro'. Harper, Samuel Harvard. Hinds, Jacob Greenwich. Hinds, Benjamin fi Hinds, Joseph n Hinds, Nehemiah n James, William Lunenburg. Judwine, William n Jackman, Abner n Larabee, Benjamin Lunenburg. Lovejoy, John „ Lovejoy, Jonathan Hollies, N. H. Merril, David Lunenburg. Moffit, John Ipswich, N. H. Mcintosh, Archibald Townshend. Parker, Jonathan Lunenburg. Plath, Nathan i, Name. Residence. Page, Nathaniel Lunenburg, Pool, Samuel n Pool, James n Page, David n Poor, David Ipswich, N.H. Read, James Lunenburg. Reddington, Benjamin n Rogers, Nathaniel Charlestown. Reddington, Isaac Lunenburg. Stone, Isaac Harvard. Spofford, Moses Lunenburg. Sterns, Thomas ir Stiles, Levi u Spoflford, Bradstreet n Spoflford, John Charlestown. Stackwell, Ephraim Petersham. Sawyers, Joseph Soughegan, N.H. Sawtell, Uriah Townshend. Sowing, Ebenezer, jun Shirley. Taylor, Aaron Lunenburg. Taylor, Richard n Taylor, Caleb n Taylor, David n Trumbull, George n White, Jonathan Leominster. Wilder, Thomas n Wilson, Jonathan n White, Patrick Lunenburg. Wyman, John n Wallis, Benoni n Wetherbe, Benjamin n Wyman, Ezekiel n Whitney, Jonathan n Wills, Isaiah n Willard, Jonathan „ White, John n White, Charles m Whitney, Ephraim n Wheelock, Abel Leominster. The supplementary grant for the other nineteen shares contained the following names : Erasmus J. Phillips, Henry Newton, John Newton, Thomas Williams, John Taggart, Joseph Winniett, Benjamin Rumsey, Erasmus J. Phillips, William Howe, Joseph Howe, Edward Howe, John Harris, Jeremiah Eodgers, Rev. Thomas Wood and -Robert Sanderson, HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 197 all of Nova Scotia, and Joseph Bennett, of the Province of New York. The condition of this grant was that five families should be settled by the grantees on or before the thirty-first day of May, 1760. It is probable that this grant was cancelled owing to its conditions not having been complied with, as most of the lands seem to have been conveyed by grants bearing dates from 1761 to 1769. The lots of the Chesleys, the Dodges, the Wades and several others were granted in 1764. Joseph Milbury — the progenitor of the families bearing that name — was the owner of two lots in 1770, and from an affidavit made by him in the Farnsworth and Patten embroglio in 1763, it may be inferred that his lands were granted not later than that year. Job Young, the ancestor of the extensive and respectable family of that name, must have been settled here as early as 1760, for the census of 1770 affirms that seven of his children had been born since his arrival in the Province. The same thing may be said of many other families, notably of the Troops, the Wheelocks, the Bolsors and the Woodburys. It is to be regretted the census return of 1767 is absent from the provincial archives. The general results obtained by it, however, are at hand, from which we learn that Granville contained a population of -383 souls in that year ; that they were all Protestants ; that the families were all of American birth, with the exception of ten who were English, of eight who were Scotch, of seven who were Irish, and ten others of foreign birth, mostly German. These people were then possessed of 852 head of horned cattle, 440 sheep, 39 horses, 157 swine, 12 fishing boats and 1 schooner. These particulars will enable the reader to compare the condition of the township then with what it was three years later in 1770, when another census was taken the particulars of which, with the names of the settlers, have been preserved, and which will now be presented to the reader. That part of the return relating to cattle, etc., will be stated in results only. Name. °i I I Brown, .Joseph , 5 1 3 Barnes, Nathaniel 4 2 2 Brown, John 2 2 . . Bent, Samuel 8 2 6 Bolsor, Peter 3 1 1 Chute, Samuel 5 2 3 Chesley, Samuel 8 2 6 Clark, Thomas 2 . . . . Coleman, John 6 2 4 Bodge, Isaiah ._ 7 2 5 Dill, Daniel ' 3 3 .. Name. ^-'I | | Dudney, Samuel 3 . . 1 Dodge, Asahel 3 I 2 Fellows, Israel 7 2 5 Foster, Bzekiel 7 2 5 Foster, Isaac 9 4 5 Farnsworth, Amos 5 3 2 Fletcher, Ensign David 10 2 8 Farnsworth, Jonas 2 2 . . Farnsworth, Solomon 5 2 3 Graves, Lieut. William 8 2 6 198 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Name. 2 I 4 .. Harris, Samuel 8 Hamilton, Andrew 4 HiU, John 5 Hall, John 7 Hammon, Charles 2 Haynes, John 3 Hall, Zachariah 4 Leonard, Jonathan 6 Longley, Israel 4 Leitch, John 8 Munro, Col. Henry 9 Marshall, Isaac 3 Marshall, William 8 Miller, Francis 10 Morse, Rev. Azarelah 4 Morrison, John Milbury, Joseph 6 McKensie, Edward 8 McGregor, Thomas 4 Parsons, John 4 Parker, Abijah 8 2 Presoott, Capt. Peter 1 I Potter, James 4 2 Patten, Joseph 5 5 Phinney, Isaac 8 2 Raddox, George 3 . . Robinson, Alexander 4 2 Ricketson, Abednego 10 .. Roach, Patrick 6 . . 4 Ray, Moses 4 . Starratt, Peter 5 . . Starratt, Joseph 4 2 2 Snow, Jabez 6 3 3 Shankel, George 5 I 4 Sproule, Robert 6 2 4 Shaw, Moses 8 4 4 Starks, John 8 . . 6 Shafner, Adam 7 Saunders, Timothy 6 2 4 Spinney, Samuel 6 6 . . Troop, Valentine 9 1 '6 Troop, Jacob 2 . . 1 Tucker, Richard 4 3 1 Trahee, Thomas 3 . . 1 Wade, John 7 4 3 Woodbury, Jonathan 9 2 7 Wooster, George 10 . . 8 Witherspoon, John 8 4 4 Wheelock, Abel 8 2 6 Walker, Ann 6 . . 5 Wier, Capt. Elias 8 4 4 Young, Job 9 2 7 . Zinclairs, Frederic 3 . . 1 The township contained 747 head of horned cattle, showing a decrease on the number reported in 1767 equal to 13 per cent. ; 581 sheep jdelding an increase equal to 30 per cent. ; 60 horses, giving a gain equal to over 50 per cent., and 104 swine, indicating a decrease of about 30 per cent. The two schooners were owned by John Hall and Joseph Starratt, respectively, and the only sloop in the township found an owner in John McGregor. The population showed a trifling increase of 8 per cent. The English element had decreased, while the Scotch, Irish and German had increased. The following families were either in part or wholly German : Bolsor,* Dudney, Miller and Troop. Charles Hammon and wife. Colonel Henry Munro, George Raddox were all born in Scotland. Patrick Roach and wife, Moses Ray and family, Thomas * The German form is Baltzor. — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 199 Trahee and wife, John Morrison and family, John Parsons and wife, and Peter Starratt and family were all of Irish birth. It will not be out of place here to notice some facts connected with a number of the persons whose names have been recorded in this the first census of Granville now extant. Samuel Bent's descendants are very numerous, and many of them still reside in the township. Peter Bolsor became the progenitor of all the families bearing that name in the county. His grandchildren and great-grandchildren occupy homesteads in Wilmot and other townships. The family of Samuel Chute proved to be a very prolific one, and his descendants may be reckoned by hundreds. There is scarcely a county in the Province that does not contain the home of one or more of them. Samuel Chesley's descendants are both numerous and highly respect- able. The present representative of the family is Thomas W. Chesley, who is a barrister of the Supreme Court, as well as one of the leading agriculturalists of the county. JosiAH Dodge, whose lots adjoined those of Chesley, was also the progenitor of a large and respectable family. One of his sons was for more than forty years a Justice of the Peace of the county. Israel Fellows left sons from whom have sprung numerous families. A distinguished descendant, James I. Fellows, has been mentioned on page 158. Ezekiel and Isaac Foster, who were brothers, both left families that have multiplied manifold. ^ Amos and Solomon Farnsworth have descendants living to this day in Granville, Wilmot and Aylesford, and the great-grandchildren of William Graves are still to be found in the two latter townships. Isaac and William Marshall were brothers. Previous to coming here they were residents of Dedham, in Massachusetts. Their ancestor, William Marshall, who emigrated from England in 1635, was a native of Cranebrook, in Kent, and was born in 1595. He sailed for America on the 17th of June, 1635, in the ship Abigail, Robert Hackwell, master. The passengers by this ship were duly certified by the minister and a Justice of the Peace as being Conformists, and as having taken the paths of allegiance and supremacy. Isaac Marshall was the progenitor of a very numerous family. The late William Marshall, of Clarence Centre, was of this branch of the Marshall tree. Asaph Marshall, Esq., of Paradise, is the representative of this family in the present generation. William Marshall, whose wife was Lydia Willett, of Dedham — the maternal great-grandfather of the author — had also a large offspring, the members of which have become very numerous. He settled in Granville in 1761, where in 1771 he possessed two lots consisting of one thousand acres of 200 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. land. About the year 1776 he sold this property and removed to Western Cornwallis, where he established a new home for himself and family. In 1787 he removed his family once more to Granville, and shortly after he visited Parr Town — ^now St. John, N.B. — where he had become the owner of a town lot, said to have been that long since occupied by the London House, on the north side of the market-square. From this date he was never afterwards heard from. It is known that after he had concluded the business, which was the object of his visit, and no vessel being available to enable him to recross the bay, he purchased snow-shoes (it was about the beginning of winter in 1787 or 1788) and provisions for the occasion, and announced his intention to endeavour to reach his home by way of the isthmus of Bale Verte. In the attempt he perished ; at all events he never again visited his home, and it was generally believed that his body found a final resting place in an inhospitable New Brunswick wilderness. Valentine Troop and his wife were Germans, and had been but a year or two in New England before their migration to Granville. Their eldest child only was born in Massachusetts. His lot was situated a short distance to the eastward of the village of Granville Ferry, just above the lower narrows. The extreme frontage of it is still known as "Troops Point," but made historic nearly half a century before his arrival by a tragedy related in detailing the events of the unsuccessful attempt on Port Royal by the New England troops. This worthy old German little thought that his great-grandchildren should become leading men in the administration of public afiairs ; that one of them should be chosen " first commoner " in the land, and that others should become leading merchants in the two greatest cities in the Maritime Provinces, yet such has been the case.* Francis Miller, who, according to tradition, came from New York, was also a German, or of German descent, and his two eldest children were born before his arrival here. His descendants are very many, and reside on Hanley Mountain and Clarence West, and in other localities. Abijah Parker and his wife were born in Massachusetts, but their children were all of Nova Scotia birth. This family may be fairly ranked among the prolific ones of the township. Edward McKenzib, who settled in the western end of the district, had a large family, and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren yet inhabit the part of the county toward the settlement of which their sturdy ancestor so largely contributed. The families of Timothy Saunders and Samuel Spinney removed to Wilmot and Aylesford, where they continued to increase and multiply, and where many of them are yet to be found. * See the genealogy, post, for notes on the alleged German ancestry of the Troops. -[Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 201 Adam Schafner was a German by birth, and one of the German immigrants of 1752. He did not remain long in Lunenburg where he first settled, but soon after the advent of the New England settlers he removed to Granville where he fixed his abode for the remainder of his life. His son Ferdinand, from whom the present family are directly descended, was born at sea on the passage of his parents from their father- land. He succeeded his father in the possession of the homestead. At his decease he left several sons and daughters. Of the former there were at least four, Ferdinand, Caleb, James and John, every one of whom left children, so that the name has become as common as it is respectable, in Granville, Annapolis and Wilmot. A great-great- grandson of Adam Schafner has been a representative of the county in the Legislative Assembly. Robert Sproule, the father of a family whose male members were the equals of the Bents and Youngs in muscular endowments, was a pioneer settler in this township. His descendants still occupy a place in it. One of them, it is said, has become the possessor of considerable wealth in Nevada, where he has been employed for several years in mining pursuits. Jonathan Woodbury's* household in 1770 consisted of nine members, two of which, himself and wife, were of New England birth ; the remain- ing seven, his children, were all born in Nova Scotia. Mr. Woodbury owned the three lots (covering 1,500 acres), which were afterwards known as the Millidge farm, long the property of Colonel Thomas Millidge. One of these lots is that owned at his death in 1896, by John Bernard Oalnek. It is believed that some time after the arrival of the Loyalists Mr. Woodbury sold his lands to Millidge, and obtained a grant of others in the township of Wilmot, to which he removed his family about ten years before the commencement of the century. This grant adjoins the Ruggles grant on its western boundary, and was therefore situated nearly midway between Gates' Ferry as it was then called, now Middleton, and Dodge's Ferry, late Gibbon's. It was on this block of land that the celebrated Spa spring was discovered. Several sons and daughters survived him, though he lived to a very advanced age. Two of his grandsons married granddaughters of General Timothy Ruggles. His descendants are numerous. George Wooster and his wife were of German birth, f but the eight children that had blessed their marriage were all of Nova Scotia birth, * Mr. Woodbury was a physician by profession. + The German origin of the Wooster family may be questioned. There are two New England families, one descended from Rev. Wm. Worcester, or Worster, who came over about 1639, and another from Edward Wooster, Woster, or Worster, of Milford, Mass., in 1652, who had a son Henry, born August 18, 1666, who died in the array in an expedition against Nova Scotia or Canada. Edward left twelve children, and one of his descendants, David Wooster, was a distinguished general in the Revolutionary army. — [Ed.] 202 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. if the census return of that year is to be taken as a guide. The descen- dants of this worthy couple are chiefly to be found in Lower Granville, where they lived and died. Moses Shaw's descendants long maintained the ascendancy which their founder gained and so worthily held in his adopted township. In ship- building, in agriculture, in trade and commerce and other pursuits their abilities and energies found congenial employment, and more or less profit. This family has furnished in two generations two representatives of the people to the assembly of the Province, — men who were capable of taking a respectable part in the deliberations of that body. Job Young's " little one has become a thousand." The offspring of his family are to be found in various parts of the county and country, and have long been distinguished for personal strength and courage, as well as, generally, for industry and application to business. It was of a branch of this family, that of the late Abraham Young, of Young's Mountain, that the late Professor James F. W. Johnston wrote in his " Notes on North America," when he said that a household existed in the county, one of whose members could go into a forest and mark every tree required for the construction of a ship ; that another could lay down her lines and mould the timbers to their proper shape and dimensions, while others were competent to perform the operations of caulking, rigging and sailing her. Such have been the men furnished by our pre-loyalist fathers, to whose pioneer labours we owe so much for the present improved condition of the country. Surely no niggardly pen should be used in recording the praises of such ancestors. If their eyes could behold the scenes of their early labours and privations as they appear to-day, orchards in the place of wilderness, and handsome and substantial cottages in the place of log huts, " How would their hearts with purest pleasure swell, To see their early labours crowned so well ! " Let us now take a step backward to notice some events of 1763, Among the many curious papers which have been preserved through the agency of the Commissioner of Records, I have found one relating to an old and long-forgotten feud which possesses considerable interest besides illustrating the fact that infant settlements are not exempt from the strifes and conflicting interests that afflict and disturb older ones. This dispute was between Joseph Patten and Amos Farnsworth, and had reference to lot No. 77 in Granville. On Farnsworth's arrival in the Province with his family, he proceeded to take immediate possession of the lot which it appears had been previously assigned him. The following affidavit states the facts as succinctly as possible, and I therefore transcribe it verbatim : HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 203 " We the Subscribers being of Lawful age, Testify and say, that on the 1st day of November, 1763, we were desired by Joseph Patten, of Annapolis Royall, Esquire, to goe with him to his House in Granville on Lott 77, which we did, and when we came there we saw' Amos Farnsworth and wife and some children Standing by the fire near said House, and Mr. Patten said to Mr. Farnsworth that the Honourable Committee had ordered him the possession and improvement of said Lott, But had also ordered that in case Amos Farnsworth Should come a Hearty Settler with his family and stock before the last day of October, 176.3, he should have the Lott after he the said Patten had taken off what he had Raised on said Lott, and was paid for all the improvements He had made on said Lott, which Conditions Mr. Patten offered said Farnsworth to comply with, which Amos Farnsworth utterly Refused to Comply with, and said that he did not Look uppon what the Committee had done as anything ; and Mr. Patten desired Liberty of said Fai-nsworth to take his goods and effects ofif said place. But said Farnsworth utterly Refused Him Liberty to take anything off the Place, and there was cattle on the said Lott near by and Farnsworth said to Mr. Patten, if any of those cattle are yours take them away, for they shall not Stay on the Lott ; and Mr; Patten forbid said Farnsworth from making any improvements on sd. Lott 77, or of taking things off His untill He Had taken off all his Effects and was paid iipon valuation for all He had done on said Lott ; and on the third day of November, 1763, we were desired by Mr. Patten to goe with Him to his House in Lott 77 which we did, and we Saw Amos Farnsworth on the top of the said House at work, and his wife in the House ; and Mr. Patten desired Amos Farnsworth to Deliver Him the Possession of said House and of all his effects which he had taken into His Possession, all which Amos Farnsworth utterly Refused to do unless it were cattle, which if any He Required Him to take them away, and Mr. Patten desired us to take notice of his Improvements and effects, etc., which we did, and further saith not. "(Signed), Joseph Milbury. Job Young. "Granville, Nov. 3rd, 1763." Three days after this affidavit was made Patten addressed a letter to his attorney in Halifax, which was in the following terms : ' ' On the 28th October last Amos Farnsworth Came to Annapolis and brought with Him his wife, two Children, a negro, and an old horse not worth ten shillings, and on the 29th he went up the river to my House and Lott 77 in Granville with his wife and children, and by force and arms Brak open my House, then being locked up and Put therein Sundry jgoods, I not being present or knowing thereof ; neither had He ever seen me or my family or Ever given any of us the least notice that he was come or desired the Lott, and amediately seized on my Sider appels, Potatoes and husbandry tules and everything that I had on the Lott and in the House, and Converted them to his own use ; and on the first of November, 1763, I and one of my neighbours went to my House at about 6 o'clock in the morning, and I Hearing a Noyae in my House unlocked my fore door and Looked into my House, and Saw Amos Farnsworth going out at the end door of my house which He had broken down, and I amediately shut to my door and was locking thereof on the outside of the House and Amos Farnsworth came behind me, and without ever speaking one word to me Struck me with his fist and almost knocked me down, etc. ' ' He and his family eat my Potatoes, Appels, Cabbidges, drink my Sider, make use of my husbandry tules and lend them to others, and let out my Sider mill, etc. And all this by the Advice of a certain man (you may judge who) that hath promised 204 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. old Farnsworth saying, ' If Patten should Commence any action he would engage Patten should lose the case.' I am not at any Stand what Corce of Law to take in such Cases as I have the Law of England and of this Province by me, But as to the act of this Forcible entry or detainer I cannot have Benefit thereof Especially now Squire Harris is not in the County, for Mr. Evans told me that he did not know or understand Law, and that he never had done anything in the Justice office, nor never intended to, and would not act ; and as there is nowhere else I can apply to with the Least Expectation of Having Justice done me in this county unless it be by an honest Jury on which I could safely Rely. But if the Jury should be picked and bribed to serve a Turn, which I dare not say Hath not been the Case in a certain County in this Province." Mr. Patten closes this part of his letter by desiring his correspondent to send him a writ of attachment, "That I piay attach the negro and everything that Farnsworth is possessed of," and instructs him to describe the defendant in the writ as "Amos Farnsworth, of Groton, in the County of Middlesex, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, husbandman, resident in Granville, in the County of Annapolis, in the Province of Nova Scotia, husbandman." He concludes his lengthy letter with the subjoined postscript : "Pray send me by a Very Safe Hand, and as soon as Possible and as private also, as nobody knows hereof at Annapolis ; for the Mickmaos are almost ready to Jump out of their Skins, Hoping that by all their Deviltry they shall discourage me from living in the County, or at Least from Standing by the people and by our Liberties. " Sir, it is as Evident as words Can make it that Amos Farnsworth Hath no intent to Settel in this Country, for I can Prove that when Mr. Easson asked him for the money that He owed Him, Farnsworth's answer was that he did not bring down money to Pay Him, but that He would give Him a Bond for it and Pay Him as soon as He could Settel the affairs of His Lotts at Granville and Sell them ; and his wife and negro hath told many persons that they did not Come to Settel in Granville any longer than till Spring, and that they should Return this Fall in Case they Could Settel their affairs, etc. " I am determined to follow the Committee's (of Council) orders as far as possible and to take Sanctviary in the Law from such unheard-of Abuse, and if the Sivel Law fails, I know of but one more, which, as things are Carried on I fear will soon be made use of among some of the People although I use my utmost Endeavor to Prevent it. "I have wrote to my good Esq. Harris to Supply you with money. I had secured the Sider purposed for you before Farnsworth Come, But the barril of appels He hath Eat up. "Pray Excuse my Troubling you after this Sorte and Let me Hear from you by the first safe opportunity, your goodness Herein shall ever be duly acknowledged by your Honest friend, most obedient and most obliged and very humble Servant. "(Sgd.), Joseph Patten. "Annapolis, 6th Nov., 1763." On the 7th of the same month he obtained another affidavit from Joseph Milbury touching another assault made upon him by HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 205 Farnsworth which he enclosed with the above communication to his Halifax correspondent, and on the 14 th wrote to him again in these words : ' ' I received your Respected favor (pr. Mr. Wade) of the 6th instant and hope that you Have my Letter of the same date and all my other papers therewith sent you. I should Have amediately drove out old Farnsworth according to your advice but that Judge Hoar diswaided me from it, untill I should Have a Return from you of my Letter of the 6th instant, for that neither you nor the Honourable Committee Had Been informed of the Snpprising Conduct of Amos Farnsworth towards me in Sundry Respects, and there is a Hopeful Prospect of the Court of Common Pleas being altered for the good of the Country, you will Please to Consider wheather it will be Best to Commence the action at Halifax or not. There Hath nothing Remarkable happened since my Last, but Farnsworth Continues to Despise and Reproach the Honourable Committee, Comparing them to old appel women, and Rejoices that he Hath such Plentiful stores for man and beast without Labouring for it. Mr. Benjamin Rumsey Sent for me the other day and said that I should make some Blunder or Mistake and Hurt myself. He would inform me that He had taken down what the Halifax Committee had ordered Concerning it Lott 77, which was, that the Possession of said Lott was Reserved to Farnsworth, and that He should Have amediate Possession as soon as He Came down, and that He had an undoubted right to all the Crops, and to all on the Place, He paying me for my Improvements ; but Could not show it under the Committee's Hand, and as I should do nothing Contrary to what you and the Honourable Committee shall order, I therefore wait your further advice and beg leave to Subscribe myself, etc. "(Sgd.), Joseph Patten. " Amaapolis, Nov. 14th, 1763." From the recital in an old bond in the archives bearing date January 3rd, 1764, it has been inferred that the authorities finally granted the disputed lot to Patten on the condition that he should pay to Farnsworth such an amount for the improvements made by him as impartial arbitrators should declare ; a fact which can only be accounted for by assuming that Farnsworth had made improvements on the farm before 1763, which seems probable enough from a reference in the corre- spondence quoted, in which Patten speaks of the indebtedness of the former to Easson, and that the latter had occupied the lands and the improvements in the belief that Farnsworth would never return to claim them. Connected with this affair is an account rendered by Patten for sundries expended by him on the disputed lands, from which may be gathered some information regarding the value of labour, lumber and farm produce at this time. From it we learn that boards were worth $14.00 per thousand superficial feet; hay, |6.00 per ton ; cider, |2.00 per barrel ; potatoes, 40 cents per bushel ; barrels for cider or fish, 60 cents each ; carpenter's daily wage, 80 cents ; and fence posts (morticed), 10 cents. 206 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. As it is believed any statement relating to the original ownership of the Granville lots will prove of interest to the reader, the subjoined •document is inserted : " Know all men by these presents, that whereas the Lott No. 98 in the township of Granville was drawn and first Designed for Richard Mott, then not present, nor of full age, I having answered all Demands in his absence Relative to said Lott ; this is therefore to Certify that the said Richard Mott Has fully paid me for said Charges, and that as the said Lott was placed in my name During the said Mott's absence, I fully Resign my Rights to the said Lott to the damage {sic) of said Mott ; and further, I engage to assist all in my power to Have the same Recorded to Richard Mott, as Witness my Hand this I9th March, 1764. " (Signed), Pabdon Sanders. • " I do hereby Certify that the above is a true Copy of the Original. "(Signed), Joseph Winniett, /.P." This township was admitted to the privilege of representation by a resolution of the Assembly in 1764, and in the succeeding year Colonel Henry Munro became its first representative. Having resigned the trust -after two years' service he was succeeded by John Hicks, who was elected in July, 1768, and who served until the general election which took place in 1770, when the seat was conferred upon John Harris, who held it till 1772, at which time it passed to Christopher Prince. The river fisheries of the county were considered objects worthy of prosecution and preservation from its first settlement. They were for many years placed under the control of the Court of Sessions, a policy which was finally abandoned many years after at the suggestion of the late Judge Wiswall, to the great regret of the majority of the people interested in them. At the April Term of the Court in 1772 the follow- ing regulations were made : "Annapolis SS. In consequence of the within Presentment of the Court of Oeneral Sessions of the Peace, do order and make the following Regulations for the River fishery in said County, viz. -. That the Persons hereafter named be Overseers or Directors of said fisheries, and that they or a major part of them agree on a time and place for people to attend the business in any places for fishery purposes ; and that they give public notice thereof at least ten days before the time so agreed on in order that persons may know of the time and place for them to have the privilege of fishing at the proper seasons, and the said Directors or a major part of them present at each public place of fishery shall be and are hereby clothed with full power to order and direct in said fishery, that no injustice be done to any person in dividing of the fish, each person shall receive in proportion to the work and expence they have done or been at in catching said fish from time to time in the judgment of said Directors, and that the following persons be and are hereby appointed the Overseers or Directors in said affair for the ensuing year : John Hall, J. P. , Moses Shaw, Abednego Ricketson, Andrew Hamilton, John Langley, Francis Lecain, Captain Webber and John Dunn, and that no person shall or may presume to set up or make weirs or draw any seines for the fish at the public places of Bear River and the Joggins, without the direction or consent of the Directors on penalty of the law." HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 207 It seems difficult to believe that the two places here especially indicated should have been the only ones yet discovered in the basin, yet such seems to have been the fact. The only means to prove that herrings were to be caught in any particular place seems to have been by building weirs there, and as this was a work of considerable expense and great labour, it is possible that the " bars " at Goat Island and elsewhere had not, up to that time, been thus tested. Any sketch of the history of this township would be imperfect if it omitted to notice what has been called the Shaw embroglio. In the autumn of 1776, the year of the famous Declaration of American Independence, a number of the rebels of Maine, in conjunction with some disaffected inhabitants of the St. John River in New Brunswick, made a hostile demonstration against the County of Cumberland, in this province, which had hitherto remained faithful to the Mother Country, and during this period, William Shaw, colonel in the militia, called out a number of men under his command to perform garrison duty at Annapolis, and at the old Scotch Fort, in Granville. It was afterwards alleged that Shaw had drawn pay for these men but had neglected to disburse it ; or, that the services for which the Government had granted pay had not been performed as stated by him in his accounts. The following correspondence and affidavits will enable the reader to understand the matter more clearly : " Sir,— Agreeably to your Commands signified to us in a Letter from Mr. Secretary Bulkely, we have examined upon oath the principal part of the people employed by Col. Shaw in mounting Guard and doing other military duty during the course of last Winter. Copies of the several Depositions we herewith enclose by which it will appear that such duty has actually been performed ; that several of them had been paid in part for their Services, and the Common people had received the strongest assurance from Mr. Shaw that he would use his endeavors to procure for them from government Pay and Provisions during the time they had served. It also appears that col. Shaw had been at considerable expense in procuring for them Fuel, Candles and other Necessaries, particularly for the Guard kept at the Scotch Fort. We must further beg leave to assure you from our personal knowledge, that the Duty was punctually performed at the period set forth in the Depositions, and we may venture to say (as far as can be judged from Circumstances) that the preservation of the place is owing in a great measure to the spirited Exertions of the few Inhabitants associated with colonel Shaw for that purpose. " We should have had the honour of transmitting you these Depositions sooner, but that the people were disposed about their fishery and other business, so that it was not possible to collect them, and there are still more who have done duty and whose Deposition may hereafter be taken if thought necessary. "We are with great Respect, Sir, ' ' Your most obedient and most humble servants, " (Signed), Joseph Winniett. Thomas Williams. " Annapolis Royal, July 25th, 1777." 208 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. With this letter was sent a " Return of men raised by Colonel Shaw, of the Annapolis militia for the defence of the Province, during the invasion, by the (American) rebells; that is to say, from the 12th day of Nov., 1776, to the 18th day of Deer, following inclusive." This list is here given, the names having been placed in alphabetical order. It will be found of interest to the antiquarian reader. Allen, Jeremiah. Adams, James. Agard, Judah. Armstrong, Richard. Allen, Ambrose. Barnsfield, James. Bulkey, John. Bertaux, Philip. Berwick, George. Bamond, ^Benjamin. Bennett, Thomas. Butler, Eleazer. Barnes, Seth. Beney, Joseph. Churchill, Lemuel. Cxirtis, William. Crocker, Samuel. Crosby, Ebenezer. Crosby, Jonathan. Cofiferin, William. Coggin, Henry. Colby, Thomas. Clammers, John. Cleaver, Benjamin. Chankler, Edward. Dudney, Samuel. Davis, John. Durkee, Phineas. Davy, John. Darling, Benjamin. Deiry, Moses. Ellis, Ebenezer. Eldrey, Barnabas. Etwell, Nathaniel. EUenwood, Samuel. Frisk, John. Godfrey, Prince. Gorven, Patrick. Go wan, Paul. Gallistan, Stephen. GilfiUan, James. Harris, Thomas (Adjt.). Hammon, Chas. Geo. Harris, Henry. Hooper, Ezekiel. Hibbard, Eleazer. Hammon, Asa. Hinshall, William. Holmes, Peleg. Horsey, David. Hilton, Amos. Kelley, James. King, George. Kelley, William. Lecain, Francis. Lewis, James. Lecain, Thomas. Linsley, John. Lecain, Francis, sen. McGraw, John. McKensie, Eleazer (Lieut.). Morrison, Hugh. Morrison, John. Morrison, Alexander. Morgan, George. Morgan, John. Moring, Thomas. Pitman, Joseph. Purcill, Edward. Provence, John. Pinckham, Edward. Peal, David. Richardson, John. Robins, James. Robinson, Jabez. Roach, John. Ritchie, John. Ray, James. Rust, Nathaniel. Shaw, William (Col.). Shorten, Henry. Skelton, John. Stuart, Joseph. Slayman, Ephraim. Sanders, John Hill. Scott, David. Sanders, Joseph. Shafner, Adam. Stark, John. Terfrey, Joshua P. Thompson, George. Trehay, Thomas. Utley, Nathan. Vooney, James. Williams, Thomas. Wiuniett, Matthew (Major). Worther, George. Worther, Michael. Worther, George, jun. Worthylake, Ebenezer. Wilhams, Csesar. Walman, Jasper. Zeighler, Frederic. The depositions referred to in the foregoing letter were partly made before Joseph Patten and John Wade, and partly before Winniett and HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 209 Williams. Those of James Barnsfield, Henry Shankel, Adam Schafner, Archibald Morrison, George Wooster, John Sturks, James Lewis and William Henshaw were made before the former, and those of Jacob Wooster, George Schafner, John White, Michael Wooster, (Jharles Hammond and John Skelton — not one of whom wrote his name — were made before the latter. These depositions bore date July 5th, 1777. On the 23rd of the same month Major Winniett and George Thompson made the following affidavits, which seem to have been intended to relieve Colonel Shaw of one of the charges made against him, namely, that he had sent in a false account to the Government in which charges were made for services never rendered : " Annapolis SS. Matthew Winniett and George Thompson being duly sworn, testify and say that upon the first alarm of Cumberland being invested by the Rebells, and col. Prince neglecting to call the County Militia together, a Meeting of the Inhabitants of this Town was immediately called, when it was unanimously agreed that it was necessary to keep a regular and constant Guard for the defence, which was immediately carried into effect, and continued without intermission till the arrival of his Majesty's Sloop of war Vulture about Christmas. And as an encouragement of the common People to persevere in their undertaking, Col. Shaw made them repeated promises that he would use his influence to obtain for them Pay and Provisions during the time they were employed upon said Services. That on or about the 13th March, being alarmed with the arrival of an armed force in the Basin with an intent to attack the Town, we were again called upon to do Military Duty, which was from that time continued for about three weeks, and that during the time the Duties were performed these deponents, together with col. Shaw and Mr. Williams, having in rotation had the Care of the Guards are knowing to their having been furnished with Provisions, Fireing and Candles. " (Signed), Matthew Winniett, Major. George Thompson. " Annapolis, July 23rd, 1777." Another affidavit was made by the adjutant employed, and non-com- missioned officers under him as follows : " Thomas Harris being duly sworn, declares that upon the first alarm of Cumber- land being invested by the Rebells, which to the best of his remembrance was on or about the 12th day of November, a meeting was called of the inhabitants of the town of Annapolis, when it was agreed that a constant Guard or Watch should be kept for the Defence of the place which was accordingly continued till the arrival of his majesty's ship Vulture. That upon the second alarm of an armed force being in the Basin on or about the middle of March, the Deponent was again called upon to do Duty, which was continued at that time a fortnight or three weeks. " (Signed), Thomas Harris, Adjutant." " Francis Lecain confirms on oath the preceding Deposition of Thomas Harris in every particular. "(Signed), Francis Lecain. " 14 210 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. " Philip Bertaux, being duly sworn, declares that Military Duty had been done and Guards kept as is above set forth in the Deposition of Thomas Harris. " (Signed), Philip Bertaux." " The foregoing Depositions were taken before us. "(Signed), Joseph Winniett. Thomas Williams." These affidavits settled one of the charges made against Colonel Shaw in his favour beyond dispute. On the other he was unable to make so triumphant a reply, for a committee of the House of Assembly, to whom the matter was finally referred, reported that he had been overpaid by the Government in a small sum which he was ordered to refund. It may be fairly assumed that Joseph Patten, who appears to have been the demagogue of the time, was the instigator and promoter of these charges against Shaw, for, in a note to Colonel Lovett, dated July, 1777, he says : " 'Tis to be observed that upon the examination of the above- named persons that they almost all of them declared that they did not know that Colonel Shaw had received any pay for any services that they had done for the Government." Shaw was one of the members for the county at this period and the successor of Patten, and it is probable that the former had excited the rancour of the latter by his political action. Shaw was afterwards Sheriff of the County of Halifax, the first sheriflF of that county. Samuel Harris kept the Annapolis Perry in 1777-78. He was a settler in Granville, and owned the lands on which the village of Granville Ferry now stands. The following letter to the Provincial Treasurer will explain itself ; " Annapolis Royal, March 20th, 1778. " Sib, — Agreeable to an order from the Lieutenant-Governor of the 8th January last, we herewith enclose you an account of all the moneys received and expended by us in making and repairing the roads and bridges within this county, also a list of non-resident and delinquent proprietors. " (Signed), Joseph Winniett. Phineas Lovett. Christopher Prince. Henry Evans. Thomas Williams." Of these Prince was the only one residing in Granville. Among the names of the non-resident proprietors appears that of Marmaduke Lamont, who was " Clerk of the Cheque " at Annapolis in 1759-60. In the draft of a grant of the township of Granville extant in the archives of the Province, and which was prepared by order of Governor Wilmot, is this clause, " and unto Marmaduke Lamont two HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 211 shares," which would have been one thousand acres. Mr. Lamont was the first registrar of deeds for the county after the advent of the New England settlers in 1760. The book of registry kept by him is still preserved, and may be found in the office of the Registrar at Bridgetown. He was succeeded in that office by .Joseph Winniett, on his retirement, which was .caused by his removal to Jamaica or other of the West India Islands, from which he never returned. Benjamin Rumsey, the progenitor of all the Rumseys of the Province, was a grantee of one thousand acres of land in Granville. He was also a " Clerk of the Cheque," and for many years an inhabitant of Annapolis. His descendants reside in various sections of the county, but chiefly in Granville and Wihnot, and one of them has been a prominent merchant in the city of Halifax. They have always maintained a respectable position in the county. We have now reached the period when the township received an impulse in the expansion of its population and the development of its resources unknown to its previous history. The Revolutionary War in America, which had deluged the older colonies with blood, had been <;rowned with success to the revolutionary malcontents, and thousands of persons were exiled from the homes of their childhood and the land of their birth. The old flag, under whose folds they had been born, and whose glorious traditions they still honoured and loved, and for whose supremacy they had fought and bled, though unsuccessfully, still floated ■over the old Acadian colony, and Granville, like her sister townships, opened her arms and offered a cheering welcome to such of them as might seek new homes within her boundaries. Among the most notable of the new-comers who located themselves in this section of the county, the names of St. Croix, Gesner,* Ruggles,* Willett, Bogart, Mills, Seabury,* Millidge,* Thorne,* James,* Quereau, Mussels, Delap and Robblee, may be given. A few of them, Millidge, James, Ruggles, Thorne and Gesner, had received more or less scholastic training, and soon made their influence beneficially felt in the neighbour- hoods in which they dwelt. Society was improved by their contact with it. Churches and schools were soon called for and became the order of the day. It is true that the first decade of their settlement was marked by considerable privation ; but all the obstacles in the way of the attain- ment of substantial plenty were finally removed or overcome, and the voice of complaint became an unusual sound, and seldom afterwards disturbed the grateful content of a happy people. Valuable accessions to the population were made about this period in the persons of the Baths, Clarkes, Longmires, Olivers and Gilliatts from the north of England, and of the McCormicks and McDormands ' See memoirs of these gentlemen. 212 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. and others from the north of Ireland. The descendants of these people have become very numerous, and continue by their thrift and industry to add to the prosperity of the township. A general election took place in 1785, being the first since the Loyalists' arrival, and one of them, Benjamin James, was brought forward as a candidate for the representation of Granville, and was duly elected. He continued to discharge his legislative duties until 1792. He seems to have been possessed of considerable education, and to have been endowed with a sound judgment and many amiable personal qualities. He owned and resided upon the farm in central Granville, until recently known as the Glebe. He sold this farm to the church- wardens of the parish in 1799, and removed to Annapolis. In 1784 Alexander Howe applied to the Government for a grant of land, as appears from the Surveyor-General's letter addressed to Amos Botsford, one of his duputies for the county, and dated December 1 0th in that year, in which he says : "I beg leave to recommend Captain Howe, the bearer, whose father lost his life in taking possession of the country in 1749 or 1750, by the Indians. He wants some lands. There are only two \ots vacant in Wilmot — numbers thirteen and fourteen, on the west side of Brown's."* Mr. Morris shortly after wrote to Mr. Howe himself, in the following terms : " I had the honour to receive your favour of the I9th ultimo, ever since which I have been very ill and confined with the gout. Your sister, Mrs. Cottnam, seems very desirous of having her thousand acres by herself in this part of the Province. Captain Cottnam had formerly two lots on the Windsor road ; they were by him mortgaged to a gentleman in England, but never any improvements were made by the mortgagee, and the land has become liable to forfeiture. If she can obtain this it is the best I can do for her, and if you can like the land on the intended new road I can make separate Returns of the Warrant, or, if necessary, obtain separate warrants. As soon as you can procure a survey of Mr. Harris, or any other of my deputies, of the land you want, with the proper metes and bounds thereon delineated, and send me, I will do everything in my power to forward the grant. " On the 22nd December, 1787, Mr. Morris again wrote to Mr. Howe and stated that he " was going on with the grant to him and Captain Katherns for two thousand acres on the rear of Major Farrington's and Mr. Johnstone's lands in the south-east of the county." Of Katherns, he adds : ' ' He does not come under the description of a Loyalist or reduced officer serving in the late war, and therefore his grant was a vote of Council, and in all those cases fees are paid in all the offices, which, for one thousand acres in one grant, is thirteen pounds, ten shillings, or thereabouts." * A block of land there is still called " Howe's grant. " HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 213 The block of land granted to Howe at this time is still known as the " Howe grant," and is situated a short distance to the eastward of the Macgregor settlement. Howe was a native of the county and for several years a resident in Gramtille, where he owned what was known at a later time as the Gesner property. He appears to have been a very useful and capable as well as popular man, and may be regarded as the leader of the pre-loyalist inhabitants, and the champion of their interests in the contests and rivalries which sometimes arose between them and their Loyalist brethren. The first mail-courier of whom any mention is made was a resident in their township, James Tattersall by name, whom I take to have been a Loyalist, as his name does not appear among the earliest settlers. In a memorial to the Executive he asks for compensation for losses sustained, and aid to enable him to perform the duty in the future. This was in 1784, and the mail was then carried once in a fortnight from Annapolis to Halifax and vice versa. In May, 1785, Robert Young, of Granville, . applied for the grant of a water lot in front of the ferry for the purpose of building a dock at that place. To this end he asked for a frontage of 412 feet — a quantity thought to be too great by the Surveyor-General,* who referred the matter to Messieurs Winniett and Williams, of Annapolis, for their opinion. It does not appear whether his application met with success or not, but it is certain no dock was ever constructed there. In 1792 Alexander Howe, who was then one of the county members, was employed by the Government to superintend the removal of the negroes — or such of them as were willing to go — from this part of the Province to Sierra Leone. The following letter, addressed by him to the Provincial Secretary, the Hon. Richard Bulkeley, and dated from Granville, February 9th, 1792, is of sufficient interest to warrant its transcription in full : " Dear Sir, — I am honoured with your favour of the 4th inst. I am utterly at a loss what to charge for my trouble and expense with respect to the removal of the blacks. I apprehend that from my appointment, which was on the third day of October to the twenty-third day of December, 1791, I drew the last bills on your Honour (or rather the fifteenth day of January, 1792, when the blacks sailed from Halifax, if your Honour can extend that favour to me). I was a servant of the Government on the occasion, and [as] it was only a short time, a temporary and not a permanent appointment, I ought to be allowed a liberal stipend per day till the * While referring to the correspondence of the Surveyor-General, Mr. Morris, I wish to transcribe the postscript in a letter of his, addressed to Thomas Millidge, one of his deputies, and dated in 1784, as it relates to a matter of some importance to land surveyors in the county. ' ' The eastern boundary line of Granville runs north thirty-two degrees and thirty minutes west to the bay, so that there will be an angle of land which is not granted." The western line of Wilmot runs north 10° west, so that a triangular block with its apex at the river belongs to neither township. 214 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. business was concluded. I was as much detached from my farm business and concerns as if I had gone to Halifax. I made several trips to Digby, and one at the risk of my life. Advertisements were put up on the 9th October, and the blacks, were ready to meet me accordingly when Mr. Clark arrived, which was on the 26th October. The difficulties and trouble must, your Honour will readily perceive, have been greater here than anywhere else. It was quite a novel affair in tfeis part and totally so to me. I sent to Halifax nearly, if not entirely, one-third of the whole number gone to Sierra Leone ; those that came from ■ had to be landed and reshipped. ' ' I am assured that I could not have had anything done here or provided cheaper than I did — this Mr. Clarke knows. I sincerely hope your Honour is satisfied with my conduct in this business. Should anything require a personal explanation on my part, I shall be ready to wait on yoiir Honour at Halifax. You may be assured that however much I stand in need of cash, I had rather have your approbation than any pecuniary reward that might be allowed me. I have made out an account and charged twenty shillings a day from the date of my Commission to the twenty-third of December (and have also charged in another bill) to the thirteenth of January for this reason, that if your Honour can extend to the departure of the blacks from Halifax, it will be so much in my favour ; but that and the sum to be allowed I entirely submit to your opinion, with which I shall be satisfied and content. ' ' I was never more put to it for money than at this time. My Jamaica Attorneys have quite forgot me since I left there. I must beg leave to join my thanks with those of a distressed family for your kind attention to Cottnam Tonge on the death of his father. "(Signed), Alexander Howe." The negroes referred to in this letter had settled in considerable numbers in Digby, Clements and Granville, but especially in the former place. During the Revolutionary War a coloured corps was formed by the Royalists in or near New York for service against the rebels. It was known as the "Negro, or Black Pioneers.'' At the peace these pioneers accompanied the Loyalists of other disbanded corps in their migration to this country, and lands were granted to them in the town- ship of Digby, where the descendants of those of them who did not accept a free passage to Africa, are still to be found. In 1794 the Rev. Archibald P. Inglis was rector of the parish. The autumn of this year (November 25th, 1792) witnessed a general election in which Mr. Howe proved to be the successful candidate for Granville. He was chosen in the place of Mr. James, who had repre- sented it from 1785, and he continued to be the sitting member until the dissolution (by lapse of time) of the Assembly in 1799, at which period his legislative life came to a close. He shortly afterwards removed to Halifax, where he died in 1814, leaving a widow (Susanna Green) who lived to a very great age, surviving him for more than thirty years. None of their descendants are now in the country. Howe was a very active and useful member of the Legislature. It was he, while a representative of the county, who moved the first resolution HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 215 in the Assembly regarding the opening of the iron mines in the Province having on the 17th of November, 1787, called for a committee "to report upon the best means to promote the manufacture of iron," excellent ores of that metal having been discovered. While representing Granville in 1794, he was chosen one of the committee to prepare the address of the House in honour of the arrival of His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent in Halifax. He succeeded Joseph Winniett as Collector of Customs and Excise for the Eastern District in 1789, and held the office until the 30th of September, 1797, when he was succeeded by Robert Dickson. Faithful to his instincts as a pre-loyalist .he sturdily defended Brenton and Deschamps againt the assaults of his Loyalist colleagues, Millidge and Barclay ; and in his defence of those judges he manifested as much ability as he did warmth. Here would be the proper place to insert the return of the assessors for Granville under the Capitation Tax Act, but I regret to say they have not been preserved. Indeed, I am inclined to believe that considerable negligence marked the discharge of the duties of the officers appointed to carry out the provisions of this Act, and it is more than probable that the assessors did not forward a copy of the assessment made by them to the Provincial Treasurer as required by the law. This is the more to be regretted as we are thus deprived of an admirable means by which to estimate the growth of the population between 1770 and 1792-95, and to fix within known limits the advent of many families to the township from other districts of the county or from abroad. At the general election, of 1799, which took place on the 25th of November, the electors of the township chose Edward Thome,* a New York Loyalist, to represent them in the new Assembly. It was about this period that roads to the Bay of Fundy began to be felt necessary. In the original survey of the township the lots were made to extend from the river and basin to the shores of that bay, and roads had been planned at intervals, on the lines of certain lots. Grants of the public moneys were now frequently made to aid the eiForts of the settlers in the con- struction of these roads. Those to Parker's Cove, to Young's Cove, to Chute's Cove, to Delap's Cove, to Phinney's Cove and others were rapidly opened, and settlements formed on the northern slope of the mountain. The reader will note that the names of these coyes were those of the owners of the lots whose homes were by the river side. The same names were applied to those sections of the mountain over which these roads passed — hence Phinney's, Young's, Parker's, Chute's, and Delap's mountains, names which are commonly used to designate them to this day. The northern shores of the township became slowly dotted with the cottages of the farmer and the fisherman, especially in the neighbourhood * See this gentleman's memoir. 216 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. of the coves, and roads were soon afterwards made from cove to cove along the shores, thus affording fresh faciHties for new settlements. On the 18th of July, 1806, a general election was again the order of the day. On this occasion Thomas Millidge, who had formerly represented the township of Digby, and in the late House the county, became a candidate for the township, but he was not permitted to walk the course. Isaiah Shaw, of Lower Granville, then, I believe, the leading merchant of that district, offered himself as a candidate for the suffrages of the electors in opposition. He was of a pre-loyalist family, possessed considerable popularity, and was ent^owed with no mean share of mental and talking ability. The contest which ensued illustrates the spirit of rivalry which animated the old and new settlers in matters political. I do not mean to say that these parties acted together as a unit, for that would have been impossible as local and personal influences would necessarily prevent such action ; but the majority in each party warmly supported those of its own section who were brought forward as candidates for public office or favoui', and hence the election of representatives became, in u, considerable degree, a contest between the Loyalist and Pre-loyalist sections of the community. In this case the chances seem to have been clearly in favour of Millidge. He had been a member of the Assembly for twepty years, and therefore had the prestige of experience. He was custos rotulorum of the county, a Justice in the Court of Common Pleas ; possessed of considerable wealth, and held in general esteem by all classes of the people. It was therefore no ordinary opponent with whom Mr. Shaw had. chosen to contend. In one thing the latter had a decided advantage over the former — he had youth and vigour on his side, no mean allies in such a fight. Mr. Shaw made an exhaustive canvass previous to the polling, which occupied three days, and to the astonishment of his adversary at the close of the poll, Mr. Shaw was declared duly elected by a small majority. Millidge demanded a scrutiny of votes before the sheriff, who, with the aid of two assistants, John Bath and Isaac Woodbury, entered into the investigation desired, which resulted in an increased majority for Shaw, whose return was confirmed. The new House met on the 1 8th of November, and Millidge petitioned against the return. In his memorial he asserted that the sheriff, Winniett, had used his influence against him, and had unduly favoured his antagonist ; that Foster Woodbury, a resident of Wilmot, had acted as inspector for Shaw ; that James Tattersall, "a well-known freeholder," would not swear that his deed had been on record as long as the law required ; that Ferdinand Schafner, another freeholder, was not allowed time to ascertain if his deed had been recorded, while that indulgence had been granted to Gideon Witt, Sylvanus Wade, Benjamin Wheelock, HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 217 Luke Ryder and Joseph Anthony, sen., who had voted against him; that Wilham Kerr, the school- master, was not allowed to vote for him, though he had a life estate in lands since 1786, and which rented for more than forty shillings a year; and that by similar sharp practice, Samuel Willett, Abraham Gesner, and his own son, Phineas Millidge, had lost their votes. After a full investigation by a committee of the Assembly, Mr. Shaw was declared to have been duly elected, and so the matter ended. His first legislative act was a resolution to grant £500 toward the erection of a lighthouse on Briar Island. This occurred on the 30th of December, 1806. In 1808 he was instrumental in obtaining a further sum of £200 for the completion and equipment of that very useful structure. In the same year he introduced and carried through the House a " Bill to Prevent the killing of Seals and Porpoises in the Annapolis Basin," it being commonly believed that such acts were injurious to the fisheries carried on there. The number of acres of land cleared in Granville under the "bounty Act " was less than in any other township in the county. Below is given the return made to Government in 1807, which was accompanied by a certificate signed by Thomas Millidge, Gustos, and Ebenezer Cutler, Clerk of the Peace. Thomas Millidge 3 acres. James Chute 10 Benjamin Chute 6 John Katherns 3J Joseph Troop 7J Robert Mills 7 Henry Rioketaon SJ George Brown 2| John Brown 3| Jacob Eaton 2^ Benjamin Bumsey 4J Benjamin Foster 4| acres. .Joseph Fellows SJ Benjamin Wheelock 24 John Graves 2^ John Hall 3 Ferd'd Schafner 4 Ezra Foster 3i William Young 2J Thomas Phinney 3 J Total 93 acres. It may be noted that all the names in the above schedule, except those of Millidge, Katherns and Mills, belong to the old settlers. There were only five Justices of the Peace in Granville at this time, including the Custos, namely, Samuel Chesley, Moses Shaw, Benjamin Dodge and Edward Thome, of whom the last named only was a Loyalist. In January, 1810, John Healy, Silas Hardy and James Reid, of Granville, yeomen, and Charity Cornwall, widow, petitioned Sir George Prevost, then Lieutenant-Governor, concerning the herriiig fishery at Goat Island, or perhaps, more correctly speaking, concerning the "bar," which forms the eastern extremity of that island. These persons inform His Excellency that they have for some time past "occupied the said bar, and had divided the profits arising from its use as a fishery.'' It appears 218 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. that Mr. Healy had applied for a grant of it some years previously to Sir John Wentworth, but had failed to obtain it "from some motives governing Sir John not particularly known " to him, but which he believes arose from a claim of one Mrs. Morrison, then a part owner of Goat Island. Mr. Healy then sets forth for himself that he " is informed that misrepresentations have been made to your Excellency tending to injure your petitioners by rendering his present application ineflfectual, if possible, by inclining your Excellency to believe him the possessor of large fisheries; that your petitioner, so far from endeavouring to engross advantages the equal rights of others, does not possess or occupy a foot of flats or fishery independent of the bar above mentioned, and that he does not enjoy it at the exclusion of others, but has permitted and would, in the event of his obtaining a Grant, allow the above- mentioned persons, your petitioners, to associate with him in the advantages derivable from it. " Mr. Hardy tells His Excellency that he " is married and has three children — all boys ; that he has resided in Granville for many years ; that he was born in the County of Annapolis, where he has always remained ; that he has no fishery at all except by permission of Mr. Healy ; that he contributed one-fourth part towards the erection of a weir on the before-mentioned bar, and received a proportionate benefit, and that he has never received any benefaction from Government of lands or otherwise.'' James Reid says of himself that he ' ' is lately married, and has resided in Granville some years ; that he has likewise been allowed to receive a part of the profits of the weir ; that he owns no fishery, and never had any grant from Government.'' Mrs. Cornwell sets forth that she ' ' is the widow of the late George Cornwell, who during the Revolutionary War in the neighbouring colonies, suffered greatly in his person and property, and finally was compelled for his loyalty to his sovereign to become an alien to his native soil, and seek refuge in this province, where he remained until his death, which took place about three years since ; that her said husband left her by his will considerable property for her natural life, but to which no fishery was attached ; that she has contributed towards the erection and support of the weir mentioned above, and been allowed by Mr. Healy to take from it a share of the profits corresponding to such in building ; and that her said husband never received any grant of lands from Govern- ment or any recompense for his losses sustained during the war with the revolted colonies." "Your petitioners beg leave further to state to your Excellency that the bar or flat above alluded to remained ever unoccupied until about five years ago, when John Healy proposed and did at an enormous expense build a weir upon the same, it being deemed by every other person a speculation too hazardous to attempt. Its success, however, excited attention, and those who were averse to the risk would now grasp the profit of it ; and it is with reluctance your petitioner! state that the persons now applying to your Excellency for a share in the above fishery with your HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 219' petitioners, already possess the most extensive fishery beach on the shores of Granville. " That the size of the above bar will not admit of more than one weir being built upon it ; and the fish that have hitherto been taken in it are barely suificieut for your petitioners and their families, and to reimburse the expenses of building the said weir. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray your Excellency upon a due consideration of the circumstances will be pleased to grant the above-mentioned bar to your petitioners, or to the said John Healy, as your Excellency may deem best, in either of which oases your petitioners will derive equal benefits. " (Signed), .John Healy. Stlas Hardy. James Rkid. "Granville, January 29th, 1810." Charity Cornwell. " Annapolis SS. John Healy, Silas Hardy, James Reid and Charity Cornwell, who being duly sworn upon their several oaths, declare the facts contained in the Petition hereto annexed are correct and strictly true as relates to each deponent respectively ; and that each of them considers himself and herself a subject of the British Government, and are at all times ready to take the oath of allegiance to its present sovereign. And the said John Healy further deposeth that the facts contained in a former petition to His Excellency Sir 6. Prevost, signed with his hand and forwarded to Samuel Hood George, esqr. , were also strictly just and true. " (Signed), John Healy. Silas Hardy. James Reid. Ch.arity Cornwell. " Sworn before me at Granville, the 29th January, 1810. "(Signed), .Jambs Hali,, J. P." " And the said John Healy mentioned in the body of the Petition saith at the time I was about making tryal of taking fish on said bar I proposed to the late Mary Morrison (now Mary Shafner) who has been a claimant and an applicant for a tithe of the said ' bar ' to join me in erecting a weir on the said bar, but she, the said Mary Shafner, refused totally having anything to do in the enterprise. "(Signed), John Healy. "Sworn before me, James Hall, J. P." " The petitioner, Charity Cornwell, mentioned in the foregoing petition was knowing and hereby deposeth, that in the lifetime of her said husband, George Cornwell, that he the said Cornwell did propose and state to James Thorne (now Captain Thome) that he believed the bar alluded to in said petition would be a profitable fishery, and urged him the said Thorne to join in erecting a weir on said bar, but said Thorne refused saying he would not undertake the experiment. "(Signed), Charity Cornwell. " Sworn before me. Jambs Hall, J. P." The following deposition of Thomas Robblee was annexed to the petition of the other persons named. It was intended that his name should have been found in the "boddy" of that document, as he had occupied a part of the bar and had " received benefits " according to the amount he had contributed toward building the weir. 220 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. " I, Thomas Robblee, depose and attest that I am knowing to the persons mentioned in the foregoing petition, were the first that made the experiment for taking fish on the said bar. " (Signed), Thomas Robblee. " Sworn before me, James Hall, J. P." The result of the application may be read in the endorsement written upon it. It was this: " The petition of J. Healy and the widow Shafner petitioned the late Governor for the Bar or flat within mentioned, but as the granting the sole exclusive right of fishery on the bar to one or two individuals might be attended with public injury, or inconvenience, it was deemed proper to leave it to the magistrates at Annapolis in Sessions to regulate this and the other fisheries on that bar. "(Signed), Charles Morms, Sarveyor-GeiiercU." It may not be out of place here to make a note concerning these petitioners and the persons incidentally introduced by them : Mrs. Cornwell was a native of one of the old colonies, and had been the wife of George Cornwell who came to Digby in 1783, from which some years later on he removed to Granville. The Cornwells were a highly respectable family, of whom two, Thomas and George, were exiled and had their estates confiscated at the close of the revolution. Thomas, who remained in Digby, was in the Commission of the Peace in 1807, and from time to time discharged the duties of several other public oflBces. James Cornwell, late of Clarence West, in Wilmot, was one of his descendants. Thomas Robblee was the son of a Loyalist who was one of the original grantees of the township of Clements. His farm occupies and includes one of the most interesting historical spots in Nova Scotia, the old Scotch Fort, some outlines of which, it is said, are still traceable, although more than two and a quarter centuries old ! His family, it is believed, were of French origin,* and came to this province from New York. John Healy and Silas Hardy were sons of pre-loyalists of 1760-65, and men of excellent standing in the community, having been as remarkable for their enterprise as for their industry. Mary Morrison or Schafner I take to have been the widow of one of the sons of John Morrison, who was settled in Granville in 1770; but of this there is no certainty from any information in my possession. James Thome, incidentally named in one of the depositions as Captain Thorne, was the son of Edward Thome, of Lower Granville, a New York Loyalist, and the father of Stephen Sneden Thorne, so long the representative of the township in more recent times, and of the late Edward L. and Richard W. Thorne, late merchants of St. John, N.B. *See Robblee genealogy. — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 221 James Hall, the magistrate before whom these affidavits were made, was the son of John Hall, a pre-loyalist settler, and the father of the wife of S. S. Thome, of Bridgetown, above noticed. He was also the maternal grandfather of James I. Fellows, of St. John, N.B., before mentioned. The descendants of both these gentlemen are exceedingly numerous. In 1813 the grants to Delap's, Young's and Chute's coves were issued. Granville's contribution to tlie Waterloo fund in the autumn of 1815 was larger than that of any of her sister townships, reaching an amount equal in our currency to |437.62 by 166 persons, of whom the largest contributors were Thomas Millidge, $46 ; Edward Thorne & Son, $40 ; Rev. John Millidge, $23.33, and Samuel Hall, $20. In the year 1818 the herring fishery at Goat Island again became a matter of contention. A number of the inhabitants in that vicinity petitioned Lord Dalhousie in the terms hereunder stated : "That your petitioners are farmers living in that part of the township of Granville situated opposite to Goat Island and a short distance above it, and that no fisheries whatever are attached to any of their lands. " That for some years past a bar or flat, lying in the Annapolis River on the eastern side of Goat Island, opposite to some and nearly so to all your petitioners' farms, has been occupied as a fishery by two or three individuals to tlie exclusion of all others in that neighbourhood : that some of your petitioners have been obliged to purchase of those occupiers their supply of fish for their families at an extravagant rate, and instances have occurred when the fish were suffered to perish and spoil on the [shore or in the weir, rather than let them be taken by persons who could not pay for them." They conclude by praying that the said bar or flat be made a public fishery to be regulated by the Court of Sessions. These are the names of the petitioners : James Hall, James Delap, jun., James Rice, John Hardy, Thos. Delap, John Schafner, John Kennedy, James T. Hall, Israel Fellowes, Thomas Young, Christopher Winchester, Thos. Robblee, James Delap, sen., John McCaul, sen., Westen Hall, George Wooster, Robert Delap, George Hall, Alexander McKinsey, William McKinsey, Moses Shaw, Richard Halfyard. In 1827 the population of the township of Granville was 2,526 ; land cultivated, 4,200 acres ; horses in the township, 264 ; head of cattle, 2,789; sheep, 3,767; swine, 1,194. By the Editor. The first steam ferry to connect the growing village of Granville Ferry with Annapolis was established in 1870 by the late Cory Odell, of Annapolis, and the late David Ingles, of Granville, and the boat was called the Fred. Leavitt. Not proving a successful financial venture, as pioneer adventures of the kind so seldom do, she was sold in 1874 to a 222 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. company in Pictou. But on May 23rd, 1881, the steamer Joe Edwards was built and placed on the service by a company in Granville, and continued running until 1891, when the present more commodious steamer Glencoe took her place. BRIDGETOWN. By the Editor. In the days of the French occupation, as afterwards until 1803, a ferry connected the site of the present village with the hamlets on the south side of the river. Among the latter was an estate or seigniory of one thousand acres " about twenty miles up the Annapolis River," called St. Andre Emanuel, and farther east a hamlet called Robicheauville, divided from the other by Bloody Creek Brook. Peter Pineo, jun., one of the early emigrants to Cornwallis, is said to have built the first house on the site of the present town of Bridgetown, after the houses of the French had been destroyed. He was a native of Lebanon, Connecticut, and • xr Baird,Adan.. ^^''^Tfl- Ditmars. Douwe. Baker, Samuel. Burroughs Jeffrey. Ditmars, John. Baker, James. Bloomer, Frederic. Delancy [Colonel]. Boyce, Peter. Carey, Dennis. Dick— a negro. Boyce, Jacob. Colla, Jacob. Biehler, Nicholas. Clanket, Caspar. Fleet, William. Browne, Danl. Isaac, Esq. Chrystler, Augustus. Fisher, — . * At her death she bequeathed a house and several lots of land to the Church England, at Digby — the property since known as the " Totten Rectory." — [En.] 252 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Gorrical, John. Gruben, John. Hooper, William. Harris, John. Harris, Henry. Hederick, Conrad. Hartman, Gottlieb. Henshaw, Samuel. Henshaw, William, Hoofnlan, Anthony, Hamm, Peter. Hunt, Benjamin. Jones, Samuel. Jones, Nicholas. Jones, Benjamin. Jones, Edward. Jones, William. Jacob — a negro. Lent, James. Long, Jacob. Morgan, George. Milner, Jonathan. Morrison, John. McDormand, Cormao. McDormand, Thomas. Miller, Peter. Opp [Apt ?], George. Odell, Daniel. Pickup, Samuel. Purdy, Samuel. Purdy, Anthony. Potter, Joseph. Potter, Israel. Purdy, Elijah. Polhemus, John. Polhemus, Vandyke. Polhemus, John, jun. Pine, Daniel. Purdy, Gabriel. Picket, Jasper. Ryarson, Francis. Ramson, Jacob. Ramson, John. Ramson, John, jun. Roddy, Joseph. RoUo, Capt. Robert, Rosencrantz, John. Spurr, Shippey. Shudah, Charles. Sneden, Stephen. Sulis, Daniel. Sulis, John. Smith, Joseph. Sach, Joseph. Winniett, William. Wagner, Richard. Windill, William. Warren, Daniel. Wyland, Henry. Wright, Joseph. Wright, Joseph, jun. Wrightman, John. Williams, Csesar. Wethers, Stephen. Williams, Thomas. Williams, Martin. The return from which the foregoing list of names has been copied was made for the year 1791, being seven years after the grant of the township had passed. By these lists it is made certain that the following families had become fresh settlers in Clements in that space of time, namely : Artzman, Brundize, Boyce, Booley, Black, Burroughs, Bloomer, Carey, Colla, Clankett, Chrystler, Criss, Fleet, Fisher, Gorricol, Grueben, Jones, Hooper, Hederick, Henshaw, Hoofman, Hunt, Milner, McDor- mand, Opp (or Apt), Odell, Pickup, Pine, Ramson, Roddy, Rosencrantz, Spurr, Shudah, Sneden, Sulis, Sach, Warren, Wyland, Wrightman, Williams, Wethers, making in all fifty-one male persons above twenty years of age. Of these persons, the Boyces have left descendants who yet live in the county, and the Crisses are yet domiciled in the township. The Fleets are still extant, as are also the Gorricals ; and the Joneses, of whom there Were five who had attained their majority in 1791, have increased and multiplied, and been dispersed far and wide, always maintaining a reputation for general worth and fair ability. William Jones, whose name appears in the list, was one of the first magistrates appointed in this section of the country, and was specially recommended for appointment by the custos rotulorum of the county. Colonel Millidge, in the early part of the century. The issue of the Henshaws in the male line are still respectable inhabitants. The Hoofmans also left descend- HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 253 ants, but they chiefly occupy lands in Bloomington, and so far as I have been able to ascertain have no representative of the name now in this township. The Milners have farms here still, as do also the McDormands and Opps, and a worthy representative of the Pickups resides at Granville Ferry, and is much respected for his manliness and integrity of character. The Pines still find homes in Clements. The de.scendants of Shippey Spurr are to be found in several districts in the county, and outside its limits. The Ramsons and Rhoddys (Rhoddas 1)* are to be found in Delong settlement, Digby and elsewhere. The Snedens lived in Clements in 1791, but shortly afterwards fixed their headquarters in the county town, where they engaged in mercantile pursuits, and long held a first place in the social relations then existing there. Their descendants were and are numerous, but none of them bear the family name, nor are now to be found in the Province, though more than one of them have become inhabitants of the United States of America. This family, if I mistake not, intermarried with the Thornes and Millidges of Granville. The grandchildren of the Sulises still reside at Smith's Cove, in the township of Hillsburgh, which, at the time of which I am writing, was included in Clements. In 1790 the inhabitants of Clements joined with those of Digby and Clare in a petition to the Legislature for a division of the county. Messieurs Isaac Bonnell, Andrew Snodgrass, James Wilmot, Jonathan Fowler and Henry Rutherford certified that this memorial was signed in the handwriting of each signer. This document was dated in February, 1790, and refers to a former petition asking for the same thing, and which had been presented to the Assembly in 1786. I find the following names from Clements, which I desire to notice briefly. Christian Tobias was a grantee in Digby township, and by profession a medical doctor. His descendants settled in the town of Annapolis. Two of these, his sons — Timothy and D wight Tobias — were for many years residents there. The former was for several years Collector of Customs for the port, and died there without issue ; the latter died several years ago, leaving a large family, most of the members of which still live there. Samuel Calnek, an uncle of the writer, in 1798 went to Jamaica, where he married and settled, never having visited the Province since 1804. He died in 1836, leaving an only child, a son, to inherit his name and property in that island. Mr. Calnek was a native of Germany, and came to America with his father, Jacob Calnek, about the year 1776, and to this Province with the Loyalists, in 1783. As I have elsewhere stated, the herring fisheries on the coasts of the basin have often been the cause of many disputes among the inhabitants. * There is an old tombstone in the graveyard at Annapolis inscribed : " To the memory of Stephen Rhodda and his wife, Theodosia." These may, perhaps, be offshoots from them. 254 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. The value of this branch of industry has always been very considerable and for a long series of years the governing powers seem to have had no settled policy concerning them ; at one time believing it best to place them under the control of the Courts of General Sessions of the Peace for the county, as public property, and at another deeming it wise to grant them in fee simple to individuals. I transcribe a memorial of 1796, to Governor Sir John Wentworth, relating to this fishery at Smith's Cove, which was then included in the boundaries of this township : ' ' May it please your Excellency : ' ' We, your memorialists, inhabiting near the mouth of Bear River, in the township of Clements, beg leave to present — That the land which we own and on which we live is situated upon a cove, very useful for the Herring Fishery, to the great benefit of ourselves and the whole neighbourhood. This fishery we and others have hitherto used freely, peacefully and unmolested, but of late have been informed that Daniel Odell has applied, or intends to apply to your Excellency, for a grant and exclusive privilege of said cove and its fishery, which grant, if obtained, will greatly incom- mode and almost ruin your memorialists and their families. " Therefore, we humbly pray your Excellency to be pleased to suspend and postpone such Grant till we shall have time and opportunity to lay before your Excellency a plan of said cove and our lands contiguous, and more fully to explain the injury which we apprehend we should sufi'er by such grant, or suffer us to come in as partners in the grant aforesaid, or give us such other remedy as your Excellency, in your Wisdom and Goodness, shall see fit. And your memorialists as in duty bound, etc., etc. " (Signed), Daniel Sulis. Jeremiah Smith. John Sulis. "Clements, July 23rd, 1796.' The fiats above referred to have long since been granted in fee to the parties owning the adjoining uplands, and have ceased to be a cause of dispute, except in a healthy rivalry as to who among the proprietors shall yearly secure the greatest catch, and obtain the greatest price for their cured fish. In the year 1800, Douwe Ditmars, Esq., was the contractor for the bridge over the Allain River, near Annapolis, and in 1801, he, with John Rice and Francis Ryerson, was a commissioner of roads for the district extending from Annapolis to Bear River. In 1809, Mr. Ditmars and Benjamin Potter were commissioners of roads for Clements, and in 1812 the former was commissioned to construct a new bridge over Moose River; in fact, he appears to have been for a quarter of a century the bridge builder par excellence in Clements. I subjoin a list of the names of those persons in this township who were stimulated to compete for the bounty offered for newly-cleared land in 1805 : HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 255 *Buskirk, Charles 3.5 Acres. *Bertaux, Philip 3.25 „ *Baloom, Abel 2 n *Burrill, John 3.5 „ *Balcom, John 5.25 n Boyce, Jacob 2 „ Biehler, Jacob 6.5 h *Berry, Thomas 5.75 m Camplin, James 2. 75 n *Clark, William 2.75 „ *Chute, Samuel *Chute, Daniel 5.25 „ *Chute, Thomas 7.5 h *Caseworth, Charles 5 n *Dunn, Edward 2.5 „ Fleet, William 3 „ Harris, John 2.75 n Henshaw, Samuel 2.5 Acres. Harris, Henry 7. 25 n *Kniflfen, George 4 n Long, Jacob 5.75 n *Merritt, John 3.25 ,. Morgan, Edward 3 n Opp, George 2 n Purdy, Elijah 2.25 *Ruggles, Richard 7.5 n. *Rioe, Silas .5 n Spurr, Michael 2 n Spurr, William 2 n *Tremper, Henry 2.5 n * Vroom, John 4. 5 n *Wier, Joseph 4 n Wright, James 2.5 n Warner, Daniel 4.75 n From this return we are able to gather several important facts. Of the thirty-five families whose heads' competed for the land bounty, nineteen,, or more than one-half, became settlers in the township between the years 1791 and 1805. These have been marked with an asterisk, and an analysis of them will show that a large majority of them came from the older sister townships. The Chutes, Olarks, Balcoms, and Merritts came from Granville ; the Dunns, Bertauxs and Rices from Annapolis ; and the Ruggleses and Buskirks from Wilmot ; while Berry, Kijiifen, Caseworth and Tremperf were probably from Digby. These new-comers obtained over 60 per cent, of the money given as bounty, fairly proving that this infusion of new blood into the industrial veins of Clements had not failed to invigorate it with added strength and activity. The Buskirks, or as they should more properly be called, the Van Buskirks, are of Dutch extraction, and came to this province in 1783 from New York or New Jersey. | One branch of them settled in Shel- burne and another at Wilmot and Aylesford. The Clements people of that name, I think, belonged to the latter. The Bertauxs came hither before 1760 from Guernsey, and were grantees in Annapolis township. Philip removed about the beginning of the century to Clements. The family are of Huguenot origin, and have been very prolific, and many descendants bearing the name are yet among the most respectable of the- inhabitants of the county. The Balcoms are also of pre-loyalist date, and. very numerous and highly respectable. Members of this extensive family are to be found in Annapolis, Digby, Kings, and Halifax counties. Henry Balcom, late M.P.P., is from the latter county. Thomas Berry's. 1 1 would suggest that the name is the same that was spelt "Tromper" in the grant (p. 247). It is certainly now always written and pronounced Trimper. — [Ed.], X See genealogies. — [Ed.] •256 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. •descendants still live in the township, as well as those of Edward Dunn. The Chutes are of pre-loyalist date, and a branch of their family settled here at an early period. Thomas Chute,' one of the early settlers of Granville, married Sybil, the eldest sister of the late Andrew Marshall (my maternal grandfather), and bore him a very large family, the members of which and their descendants are domiciled in various places in the Province, but most generally in this county. Merritts are still found in Granville, and Trempers in Clements. Richard Ruggles was a son of Brigadier-General Ruggles, of Hardwick, Massachusetts, who sought refuge here from the fury of his republican neighbours. The grand- children and great-grandchildren of this gentleman reside in Clements, and other townships in Digby County to this day. The descendants of Silas Rice live in Hillsburgh. The Vrooms are of Dutch origin, and came here as Loyalists after the revolution. They are to be found in Clements, Hillsburgh and Wilmot, but are most numerous in the former township. The names left unasterisked are those who were living in the township at and before 1791. Of these the descendants of the Wrights and Henshaws still exist, and occupy good positions in society, and the same may be said of the Harrises and Boyces. The Purdys are also highly •esteemed and very numerous, occupying comfortable homes in Clements and Hillsburgh. In 1815 fifty- nine people of Clements contributed ?.20 to the Patriotic Fund. BEAR RIVER— PAST AND PRESENT. Written in 1890. Two hundred and seventy-five years and a little more are required to Tjridge over the period included betwen 1613 and 1890, and our earliest knowledge of the place dates back to the former year. On the 13th day of January, 1613, a small French vessel commanded by Captain Simon Imbert arrived in the basin then named Port Royal, in the midst of an easterly snow-storm. She was laden with a cargo consisting of supplies of food and settlers for the infant colony, which had been begun on the Granville shore, opposite the eastern end of the island, now Goat, then called Biencourtville, in honour of young Biencourt, son of Poutrincourt, who had previously become proprietor of the settlement by purchase from Demonts, its original founder, six years before. It was the first trip of Imbert to American shores, and the storm preventing him from laying his ■course, he was compelled to seek shelter under the lee of some headland or island, on or near the south shores of the basin. In following this <;ourse he discovered a small island behind which he found safe anchorage and shelter. That island is now called Bear Island, at the mouth of the river bearing the same name. When the storm subsided they discovered HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 257 that they were near the mouth of an inlet or river. The vessel evidently found shelter in the very spot to which in these days the steamboat plying between St. John and Digby resorts, when, owing to a similar storm, she is unable to proceed to St. John. This river Imbert soon afterwards explored beyond the head of the tide, and discovered its two branches. It was the river named St. Anthony on Champlain's map ; but Imbert's countrymen at the fort thenceforth called it Imbert's River ; the name which is given in some old French maps of the district. Its present name is simply a corruption of the name of Simon Imbert (Imbare). We must notice here a curious thing confirmatory of the fact stated. Long before recent investigations into the origin of the name of the stream, and more than half a century ago, the first saw-mill erected near the head oi the tide was commonly known as Imbert's mill, and the hill which separates the east and west branches of the river was as generally known as Imbert's hill, which seems the greater mystery when it is known that the Prench, during their more than a century's occupation of the valley, made no settlement in the district. It is probable that the name was first given to the hill, having been preserved traditionally, by trappers and hunters, and afterwards transferred to the mill referred to. As we have before said, no village, hamlet or settlement was made here by the French, and it was not until after the close of the American Revolutionary war that any permanent settlement by the English was attempted. But it is not to the men, or the descendants of the men, to whom the grant of the township of Clements, then including both sides of Imbert's River, was made in 1784, that we should attribute the honour of being the founders of the present town of Bear River, for it was the earlier pre-loyalist settlers of Annapolis and Granville townships who were the first effective pioneers in changing the forest-clad hills, which still line both banks of the river, into smiling farms and comfortable homesteads. There were a few of the Loyalist settlers who did the same thing in other sections of Clements, but it was the Rices, the Harrises, the Clarks, the Millers and the Chutes, all of pre-loyalist origin, who laid the foundation upon which the superstructure of the flourishing and wealthy town now existing was afterwards built. To these may be added the Bogarts, the Oroscups, the Bensons, and Crouses of Loyalist stock as co-workers. The town is situated in the ravines and on the hills which abound near the head of the tide, which extends to about four or five miles from the basin into which Ihe waters of the river are discharged. The first framed house built in the limits of the village was finished in 1785 by a Captain O'SuUivan Sutherland, and stood not far from the residence of Captain John Harris, on the road leading to the Hessian line. All the houses erected before that year, which were but few in 17 258 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. number, were constructed of logs, and have long, long ago given place to more comfortable and elegant dwellings. On the west side of the river, one of the earliest settlers was the late Christopher Prince Harris, whose descendants still own and occupy the homestead ; and on the opposite side, though much nearer the village, Thomas Chute, the grandfather of Mr. H. H. Chute, a candidate for legislative honours at the coming election, commenced the work of erecting a new home at a very early period. The last-named gentleman informed us that he built the first store on the eastern or Annapolis side of the river, about the same time that Captain Freeman Marshall commenced business on the Digby side. To-day the greater number of stores are on the Annapolis side, where Clark Bros, have become the leaders in Bear River business matters. There are several fine stores on the west side, those of Marshall & Hardwick and Albert Harris being among the finest. No less than nine highways, from all points of the compass, find their termini in the town, and one cannot find a spot on the surrounding hills from which the entire village can be seen, some portions of it being sti-Il hidden away in the ravines which are both numerous and deep. The Baptists, who are the leading denomination here, have a fine place of ■worship on the Digby side, and the Methodists and the adherents of the English Church have each a, neat place of worship on the opposite side of the Bridge The Adventists have also a house of worship in the town. NOTES BY THE EDITOR BEAR RIVER AND MOOSE RIVER. It is with much delicacy and deference that I differ from the author as to the true name of Bear River and Bear Island. I am satisfied the river was called la riviere d'Hebert before it was called la riviere d^Imbert, and I have a personal knowledge of the fact that the earlier name survived the later ; for whenever I heard the name pronounced by the Acadians of Clare it was la riviere d'Hebert, very distinctly. And the corruption from Hebert's, pronounced Abair's, river would be more easy and ■natural than from Imbert's pronounced by the tongue of a Frenchman. The French sound of the first syllable of the latter cannot well be represented in letters to the eye of an Englishman, but Amber River -would be an easier transition from Imbert than Bear River. Benjamin Suite, of Ottawa, an able writer on Canadian and Acadian antiquities, goes so far as to say that the name Imbert was written by a mistake of a copyist in a map by Bellin, a Frenchman who lived a century after Ohamplain, and that the river was named in honour of Louis Hubert, .apothecary in Demonts' expedition, who sought to cultivate the vine HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 25 along its banks, and that it is distinctly so marked in Lescarbot's map. Hubert, who -was a man of mark in his day, left Acadia after the disaster to Port Royal in 1613, but later he and his family became the first real settlers in Canada, where his descendants are numerous. On the contrary, the late P. S. Hamilton, also an able antiquary, thinks the name of the river was that of Poutrincourt's old and faithful servant, Simon Imbert. A locality near the present village did certainly retain Imbert's name, and as it is an honourable one as well as euphonious in either language, it ought to be adopted by some one of the rising villages, or post-office districts, within view of the river. The name " Bridgeport " for that portion of the village of Bear River which lies on the Annapolis side, has fallen into disuse, and " Hillsburgh " is not found in the post-office directory of Nova Scotia. Moose River was called by the French at one period, la riviere d'Orignal or de L'Orignal, L'Orignal's River, probably in memory of the same man whose name is perpetuated in a town in Prescott, Ontario, and the present perversion came from the English confounding the name with the French word " orignol," a moose. CHAPTER XV. LATER SETTLEMENTS. Dalhousie — Lots granted — Return of settlers in 1820— Fatal quarrel — Families of early settlers— A foul murder — Maitland — The Kemptons — Early grantees— Northfield — Delong settlement— Perrott settlement — Roxbury — Bloomington — New Albany — First grantees of — Statement of settlement, 1-817 — Spring- field — Falkland — Lake Pleasant. DALHOUSIE. THIS settlement occupies a generally rough and rugged section of the county, the surface being undulating and considerably broken by granitic boulders, mounds and dykes. The soil, however, is strong and productive, and wherever the plough can be used good crops almost invariably reward the industry of the inhabitants. It is admir- ably watered by springs, lakes and streams, the latter affording number- less fine water-powers, many of which have, during recent years, been brought into successful use. Its progress, in an agricultural point of view, has been slow ; but it must be remembered that disbanded soldiers seldom possess the knowledge, industry and energy requisite to suc- cessful farming, and it was not till after the first generation of settlers had passed away that much improvement could be made or expected. The main highway through it forms an angle with those in the valley of the Annapolis River whose opening widens eastwardly, the distance between these roads at Roundhill being six miles, at Bridgetown nine miles, at Lawrencetown about fourteen, and on the eastern line of the county about twenty miles. Within the points named the settlement is crossed by the Roundhill, Lovett, Spurr and Bloody Creek brooks and the Nictaux River, all running northwardly to the Annapolis River, and the Port Med way and LaHave rivers, with several of their branches running southwardly to the Atlantic. All these streams possess noble stream-driving capacity and multitudes of mill sites, while thousands of smaller streams beautify the landscape by forming lakelet and lake expansions of more or less beauty. The materials for a history of this settlement are sufficiently abun- dant. During the administration of Lord Dalhousie, the survey of a HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 261 road was ordered from a point near the town of Annapolis to the head of Bedford Basin, with a view to a short route between the ancient and the new capital ; and John Harris, one of the deputies of the Surveyor- \ General, was instructed to perform the task, which he did successfully in " 1815. In doing this work, Mr. Harris made offsets and set up bounds, from which afterwards to complete the survey of lots. These bounds defined the breadths of the lots which were to extend northwardly and southwardly, from the road as a centre, so far that each lot should contain one hundred acres, the breadth of each being twelve and one-half chains, and the length eighty chains. The stakes set up to mark these offsets were numbered, as were also the lots, and on the 12th day of July, 1817, a number of disbanded soldiers of the Fencible corps, having previously (by lottery) each drawn a number, proceeded to the vast forest, guided only by the surveyor's line, for the purpose of taking possession of the farms thus allotted to them, and which they were henceforward designed to occupy and cultivate. Each one, as he found the stake bearing the number of the lot, stepped out of the Indian file procession in which they travelled to survey his embryo homestead, and select a site for a shanty. " It was on the 12th of July, 1817," said one* of the men to me fifty years after, " that we were ordered to seek the lots we had drawn, and to take possession of them, and a very warm day it was. " Our number had been diminished by eighty-four when I stepped aside at the post indicating my number (LXXXV.), and my comrades passed on leaving me to view my new possession in solitude and at leisure. I went at once to work to clear a space, a work which I succeeded in accomplishing, and some time afterward constructed a log shanty, not very remarkable for the beauty of its proportions or the thoroughness of its carpentry. I was not then married, and as none of the settlers had commenced to build on the neighbouring lots, I began to be very lonely as the winter drew on, which, from the isolated position I occupied, is not a matter for wonder, and the constant pressing desire for companion- ship, ungratified as it was, and was likely to be, made me so supremely miserable that when the spring came I sought employment in the valley, found it, and never again saw my Dalhousie farm till to-day ! I assure you," he continued, " I do not recognize this as the spot on which half a century ago I was so very unhappy. The dead and decaying trees which I see, as far as my eye can reach, were certainly not then here ; but in their place was a green and vigorous forest, which seemed interminable; yet I c?o remember the brook and the meadow to the east and southward there ; and from their position I think you are correct in saying this is * James Wilson. I was sent to survey the lot to him, being at the time a Deputy Crown Land Surveyor for the county. 262 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. my lot !" "Would you know the spot on which you built the shanty V said I. " Perhaps so," he replied. " I remember the cellar, which was quite small, cost me considerable labour to wall up, but it may remain." I took him in the midst of a clump of scrub pine bushes,* and said, " Is this like the place 1 " " Yes," he replied, " in that hole I kept my pro- visions in the winter of 1817-18. The stones of these walls were then laid by my hands, as you now see, except that many of them have tumbled into the cellar." It was not, however, before 1818 that any serious attempt was made to commence the cultivation of the soil forming the farms in the settle- ment ; but at the close of 1820 we have an excellent means to estimate the progress made. I refer to a return made to the Government, for that year, by Major Smythe, the military superintendent, who had in charge all matters connected with the discharged soldiery who formed it, which is here given to the reader in full. It is not only a census, but it gives valuable information, not usually found in a paper of that kind. I have arranged the names alphabetically for the convenience of reference, though in all other respects it will be found a faithful copy of the original as preserved in the archives of the Province : Rbtubn of Military Settlers Located at the Dalhousie Settlement Showing THE Improvement made by bach, to October 16th, 1820. V g 2 i i C o a c is o a fu 29 31 37 39 B7 98 156 163 170 38 51 87 89 94 P 5 13 12 N tAnderson, Thomas tAnderaon, Thomas, jun . tAul, James tAnderson, Robert Brophy, Dennis . Butler, John . . . Browne, Daniel. Bates, Thomas . Bowie, Thomas. tCarter, Archibald . tCummings, Robert . Cocker, Abraham . tConnell, Patrick . . tCosgrove, Francis . . tDargie, William. Dunn, James tDun, John Raised 100 bushels potatoes, 1820. A mason. Raised 200 bush, potatoes ; ex- pects pension. A shoemalcer. Expects a pension. Tailor ; expects a pension. Shoemaker ; expects a pension. Raised 200 bushels of potatoes. Infirm and aged. Expects a pension. * Pinus Banksiana. t Those thus marked have descendants living in the county. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 263 NAMES. r»i a g 1 ^ 6 o W .2 a Behareb. 30 93 121 157 16V 3 164 173 121 48 Davy, Patrick . . Duffy, Patrick . . iDiffily, James . Dyar, Matthew . Daley, Robert . 120 N 19 N 26 s 121 s 10 N s 11 N 18 N s 22 N s 129 N 41 s 43 s 175 1 s 6 N 6 s 97 N s 20 N" 23 s 39 s 52 s 88 N 89 s 90 N s 94 N 96 N 98 s 175 92 N 19 s 156 s 8 N 9 s 65 •• s 119 isf 3 N s Donnellan, Patrick , . Dudale, Baptist . . . . Dillon, Patrick De le Palma, Joseph De la Hunt, Dennis . . *Foster, Joseph . Farquar, John . . . . Flannagan, John . *Gibson, William. Gossin, Peter *GormIey, James . . *Gallagher, Charles Gaflfey, William . . . Godfried, Dudale. . . *Gillis, Archibald . . . Grant, Alexander. . . Hall, Joseph ■ Hanley, John Holmes (Widow) . . . * Horner, Alexander Hamilton, Gilbert . *Harold, James . . . *Holland, John *Hannem, Stephen. Hackett, Thomas . *Hutchinson, Hugh Hunt, George Hudson, James .... Hannasy, James . . . Hannon, Anthony . *Hogau, Michael. . . Heiler, John 1'Inglis, Henry. Isles, William . *Justings, Joseph * Jackson, Christopher Kinghorn, John Kay, George . . . . Kelley, Thomas Larrimore, Andrew Schoolmaster. Expects a pension. Sickly ; unfit for settler. Crops destroyed by fire. Ho crops ; supposed to have gone off. Raised 100 bushels of potatoes. Lives in Annapolis ; keeps a shop Crops burned. Crops failed. An idle fellow. Crops failed. Husband killed by a tree. Raised 100 bushels potatoes. An idle character. Expects a pension. Carpenter. Expects a pension. Raised 2U0 bushels potatoes. Removed too late to this lot this year. Idle ; expects a pension. Sailor ; crops failed. Blacksmith. Crops destroyed by fire. Lately come. Crops destroyed by fire. * Those thus marked have descendants living in the county, t Widow murdered afterward in 1833. 264 HISTORY OP ANNAPOLIS. S^ rn 4) 1 o i Hi Resiahks. 11 66 124 126 128 155 158 158 161 165 2 7 8 20 27 28 164 65 122 123 126 169 122 1 3 30 96 172 171 125 24 49 95 2 124 168 M 4 25 31 49 50 27 157 117 N N N N N N 12 N N N N N N N N N N N N Lewis, John Late, Joseph Larkin, John Lee, Cornelius *Lonnergan, William, sen. Lonnergan, William, jun. . *Long, James Leslie, Edward Lannerghan, James Lannergan, Michael Martinson, John McLaughlin, David . . McGorman, Andrew Moore, J ames *McLauglilin, James ' Minchin, James . . . . Mc Daniel, Donald.. . *Meddicraft, James . . Mahon, Francis . . . . McConnell, Barney Murphy, Cornelius McGowan, Thomas . . Mahoney, Frederic . . "McCiU, Robert . . . . McGill, James Oliver, Henry . . . , O'Brien, John, jun O'Brien, James .... Ord, John, sen . . *Ord, John, jun , . O'Neil, Patrick O'Neil, William . . Phillips, George Prast, Frederic . . Quilty, John . Ramsay, William Reach, James . . . . Rochfort, Thomas Ryan, John Smith, Henry *Searle, Joseph . . . . "Stephenson, James Speakman, John . . . *Schopp, Adam . . . . Scott, Moses Sweet, John Starks, John *Stoddart, Robert . *Taylor, James 1 Crops failed. Tailor ; expects a pension. Shoemaker. Shoemaker. Crops failed. An idle character. Lives in Annapolis ; keeps a shop. Raised 110 bushels potatoes. Shoemaker ; expects a pension. Expects a pension. Has got this lately. LiverpoolEoad, 100 bush potatoes Liverpool Road, 100 bush potatoes Crops failed. Lives with his father. Got this lot lately. Got this lot lately ; carpenter. A boy ; father lost in the woods. Tailor ; unfit for settler. A bad settler ; gone off. Shoemaker. Ensign's half -pay. Tailor. Cooper and wheelwright. Carpenter. Carpenter. Gardener ; works in the valley. * Those thus marked have descendants living in the county. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 265 NAMES. 21 40 23 25 28 164 167 127 127 I K B 5 13 23 24 165 169 118 Turner Todd, James . . , Tobin, William. . Treasay, Francis Tobin, Richard'. . Toole, James . . . *Taylor, George Trainor, Patrick Toole, Edward Wilson, James Walker, James William, Charles . . . Whitty, Nicholas . . , *Wagstaff, William. Wylie, David * Woodland, Joseph . *Walker, Francis . . . Walsh, William . . . Wylie, William . . . Mason. Lives with his son on lot 123. House burnt. Armourer. Crops and house burnt. Carpenter. Painter ; crops failed. An idle character. Carpenter ; expects a pension. Bricklayer. The Superintendent in the report which accompanied the foregoing return says that there had been a great failure of crops in this settle- ment (in that year) " particularly in grain and turnips," and he assigns several causes among which I notice, "the dryness of the season;" "the sterility of the soil in some of the farms ; " " the idleness of some of the settlers,'' and "fires." "Many of them," he adds, "have sown winter grain for next year's crop, and much meadow land has been cleared and sown down to grass, while several acres of upland have been sown with grass and clover, and are likely to give good yields." Rations of food and rum were furnished these people for some time after they took possession of their farms, depots having been established at several points in the district, namely, at or near Dargie's in the western end ; at Albany settlement, where the Dalhousie Road crossed it, and at Stoddart's near the eastern extremity of the settlement. In the same year, Major Smythe says he had at his disposal (to be distributed among those who had been the shortest time on the ration list) 22,000 lbs. of salt fish. The depots formed the centres of convivial gatherings for the settlers for some two or three years, and were the unintentional cause of much evil to them, by offering an agreeable method of spending their time in idleness and debauchery to the detriment of their farm interests. From this return it may be seen that the district contained 83 women, and 188 children, making together a population in these two classes of ' Those thus marked have descendants living in the county. 266 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 271 souls, besides the men, who when reckoned in, make a total of about three hundred and fifty souls. The settlers had cleared 574 acres of land, and raised thereon 6,145 bushels of potatoes, together with 14 bushels of barley, 541 of rye, 108 of wheat, 12 of Indian corn, 16 of oats, 562 of turnips, 37 tons of upland hay, and they possessed eleven cows, and thirty-three pigs. Assuming the total population at 350, the number of acres cleared would average (for two years' labour) 1.64 per head; the number of bushels of potatoes would give 17.5 bushels per head, while barley gave only one-twenty-fifth, rye one and a half, and turnips one and six-tenths bushels per head of the population. All these averages, except that of potatoes, fell far beneath the wants of the inhabitants, and, of course, the deficiency had to be provided for them at the public expense. It is worthy of note, however, that three-tenths of a bushel of wheat was produced for each man, woman and child for that year. On the 14th July, 1820, Major Smythe wrote from Annapolis to Major Raid, the Governor's military secretary, as follows : " Lands having been laid out in the Dalhousie settlement for two towns, and His Excellency the Earl of Dalhousie having appeared desirous to have them settled as speedily as possible, I have the honour to submit for the consideration of His Excellency the Lieutenant-General commanding, whether it would not be a desirable way to carry it into efiiect by giving some public notice, signed by order of His Excellency [holding out the proposed encourage- ment] to such class of persons as may be deemed fittest," etc. ; and in a foot-note, he recommends Thomas Anderson, first carpenter ; Thomas Anderson, second mason ; and Christopher Jackson,* blacksmith, of the Royal Artillery, to have lots in the town of Ramsay, t This little settlement lies to the northward of the south base of the district of Dalhousie, and nearly south from the only church in it. The road connecting the two is called the Ramsay Road, and was named originally in honour of Lord Ramsay, eldest son of the Earl of Dalhousie, then a mere boy, who paid a visit to the new settlement in this or the following year. The Legislature granted the sum of £300 for the road leading through it in 1820. In another letter addressed to Colonel Darling, then military secretary to Lord Dalhousie, and bearing date, March, 1819, Major Smythe makes reference to several individuals whose names are identified with the history of the county. Of Mossman he says : " He has a wife, a son twenty years of age, and two daughters — one seventeen, the other eighteen years old," and calls the father a discharged artillery-man. In speaking of Robert Daly, he declares that he works hard for a living, " and resides *Afterward killed by Gormley. t Still familiarly called "the township." HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 267' with his father-in-law." Of another, he affirms, "Daniel Larkin had, on certificate of good character from Captain Hoyt, been taken on [the ration list?] again,'' and that "Wilson has a large family, is industrious, and deserves to have the lot of land adjoining lot K." In the spring of 1825, the Administrator of the Government, Mr„ Wallace, was petitioned by a large number of settlers for an alteration in the road leading from Annapolis to their settlement. Their application was .approved in Council on the 25th of May. The change asked for was. designed to avoid, as much as possible, the hills over which the old road had been constructed, and to lessen the distance between their homes and the town where they exchanged the products of their labour for the com- modities required for consumption in their households. The following, are the names of the petitioners : Robert Stalling, William Gibson, John Buckler, John Dunn, Thomas Anderson, James Aul, G. Hamilton,. Christopher Jackson, Henry Inglis, Joseph Matthews, Joseph Woodlands,. Bernard McConnelly, James McLaughlin, Thomas Minchin, John Holland,. James Whitman,* William Dargie, James Wilson, William Lynch, William Ramsay, Thomas Buckler, William Copeland, John Copeland,. William Barry, and James McWade. On the 16th May, Judge Ritchie informed the Government that he could not make any arrangement with the Eassons in relation to the- damages done to them, or that would be done to them in carrying out the prayer of the petitioners, and stated it as his opinion that they should, not be paid more than £50, and that Matthew Ritchie should also be paid for losses accruing to him from the same cause. Among the names of the grantees of this settlement will be found those of James Gormley and Christopher Jackson — names to which con- siderable interest has always been attached from a tragedy connected with them. The affair to which I refer occurred in 1826 or 1827, I think, when the latter was killed by the former in a quarrel which took place- from a trivial cause, while on a visit with several of their neighbours, to Annapolis, probably to draw their pensions. Gormley, excited by passion and perhaps by drink, struck Jackson with an iron instrument. He was arrested in consequence of the blow proving fatal, and tried before the Supreme Court on an indictment for murder, but was convicted of the lesser offence only (manslaughter), and sentenced to imprisonment for a- term of years. An attempt having been made in 1829 to obtain a com- mutation or remission of the sentence, a number of persons memorialized the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, not to grant it for reasons set forth. I need not apologize to the reader for introducing here some short notices of a few of the families whose names appear in the original list of *A pre-loyalist, married a daughter of the Rev. Jacob Bailey. 268 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. grantees in this settlement, and who have continued to occupy the lands without interruption till the present time : William Dargie, J.P., and his brothers Alexander and James — the sons of the late William Dargie, who was the manager of one of the ration stations or depots in the early days — still occupy the homestead and the adjoining lands, besides being the proprietors of a grist and saw-mill, and have acquired in consequence of their industry and integrity, considerable influence in their neighbourhood. It is much to their credit to say that they have taken a very warm interest in educational matters, and soon after the law creating free schools came into operation, the settlement was laid off into sections, one of which, " The Dargie section," was soon furnished with a school-house, and a school opened in which good service has been done, and these results have been largely attributable to the ■efforts of these men and a few of their neighbours. The Dargies and Bucklers at this place were the first to commence lumbering operations on the American system, and thus to give an impetus to the business "that without their efforts would have continued to languish for want of knowledge and enterprise. Another school-house exists at the mouth of the township road (Ramsay) and has been of considerable service there. This part of the settlement rejoices in the possession of the only house of worship in West Dalhousie. It is a neat little building situated on the bank of a beautiful, though small lake and surrounded with a fine grove of the populi-folia, or poplar-leaved birch, under the shade of which are to be seen many small hillocks indicating the last earthly resting place of many of those who were pioneers in the labour of improvement in this region; This church belongs to the Episcopalians, and is now included in the new parish of Round HiU. Saw-mills are owned by various individuals in the settlement besides those named. Edward Devinney and sons own a fine mill situate on the -stream that flows past his dwelling, and Durland and others are the pro- prietors of another on the Port Medway River, near the lakes called "The Spectacles " ; and there are also several others * and a shingle machine in the eastern settlement, from which large quantities of pine and spruce logs have been "driven" down the sinuous channels of the streams leading into the La Have River, through which to find their way to the gang-mills at Bridgewater and its vicinity. These and other causes have much mitigated the condition of the settlers, which for a considerable jperiod was one of chronic poverty and comparative idleness. As the old pensioners died and their pensions fell in, their descendants were obliged to look to other sources for the means to maintain their families, so that * Since the text was written most of these mills have been superseded by portable steam saw-mills. — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 269' poverty is now the exception and humble competence the rule, while many have risen to circumstances of comfortable independence. Among the names of the petitioners above cited there is one that deserves honourable mention for his personal worth — I mean the late John Aul. He came to Halifax in 1804, in an armed brig of war which in that year brought out a detachment of artillery to which he belonged. He was then a young man, and expected from his profession that he might be called to visit many places in different parts of the world. He determined to be made a member of the order of Free and Accepted Masons, if it were possible. He was recommended in the usual way to Virgin Lodge, of that city, by a member of the lodge, accepted and received his first degree, when his detachment was placed under orders to proceed to Jamaica, on which a lodge of emergency was called and he obtained the two following degrees and his Master's certificate. The brig sailed at the appointed time and had an extremely pleasant and rapid voyage until within a short distance of St. Ann's, the port to which she was bound. " The evening,'' said the old gentleman to the writer a few years ago, " was a very fine one, and I was happy in the belief that I would soon be where I might be of use to my king and country. We had reason to think that we might find ourselves in circumstances of danger as we approached the island, as the French had many fine frigates afloat in West Indian waters, but on this evening, knowing from the report of the captain that if no untoward event occurred, at daylight in the morning we should by our reckoning be in sight of the headland covering our port, we were in high spirits, and congratulated ourselves in having escaped the vigilance of our enemies, and we retired to our hammocks in this happy state of mind. At early dawn in the morning we were aroused by the booming, report of a gun of much heavier calibre than any we carried in our small brig, and coming on deck we beheld the land we expected to see, but we also saw what we did not expect to see, a fine large French frigate to windward of us, and so near that there was no possibility of escape. It .was the discharge of one of her guns across our bows that had awakened us. A very short council of war was held, at which it was resolved that it would be an act of madness to fight a ship of her size, armament and crew ; and as we could not run away from her, it was decided to surrender, which we did. The French commander immediately sent a boat with an ofiicer to board us and dispose of us as prisoners of war. This officer spoke no English, but one of ours understood French, though not very thoroughly. At length I was told that the keys to my trunks were required, and I at once delivered them to him. He examined my baggage very closely and took possession of the papers found among them, and glanced at them in a helpless kind of manner — owing no doubt to the lack of knowledge of the language in which they were written — till he reached my Masonic ■270 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. (Certificate, which was written in the Latin tongue, when he asked the inter- ipreter to whom it belonged, and I was pointed out to him as the person. He bowed politely to me, and then told his interpreter to tell us that the •officers of the ship would, if they desired, be put on shore on the point of land nearest to St. Ann's, and allowed to take all their personal property with them. He then expressed his regret that it was out of his power to land us nearer and thereby save us the trouble we might experience in reaching our destination, a thing he would willingly do if it were not for ithe danger he would run in being himself captured by some of our vessels then in the neighbourhood. Our vessel was, of course, taken as a prize, iand the crew and men made prisoners, but the rest of us were safely landed at the cape. All our papers, valuables and other property we were permitted to take with us. Our foe," continued he, "was a Freemason." Mr. Aul was one of the oldest Masons in the Province at the time of his death. He was for several years in government or city employ at Halifax. He was married and had issue. One of his daughters is the wife of John Buckler, Esq., J. P., and has a large family. Her husband and all the families in the county bearing that name are of English origin, and some of the heads of them were natives of Devonshire. They have generally been distinguished by their sobriety, industry and thrift, and possess considerable local influence in their district. In 18.33 a man named Gregory murdered an elderly woman, a Mrs. Catherine Inglis. The circumstances attending this murder excited the people of the whole county. The scene of the outrage was a spot a little to the eastward of the mouth of the Perrott Road, near its junction with the Dalhousie Road, and several days elapsed after the commission of the crime before the body was discovered. The skull of the unfortunate woman had been broken by the use of a triangular piece of ash timber, known as a " stave bolt,'' which was found lying near. In his confession he said the double crime was committed before dark and in great haste, and after killing her he dragged the body aside to the swamp where she was ultimately found ; that on reaching his home and reflecting upon his deed, it occurred to him that he might not have killed her, and that she might survive to testify against him ; and in consequence of this doubt he returned to the spot and found her alive, though speechless, and, with the weapon spoken of, he then finished his bloody work, wrenched her wedding-ring from her finger, and took a small coin — a smooth sixpence — from her pocket, returned home and went to his work. This coin was afterwards a means to his conviction, as well as the ring, and his conduct during the search — the former having been found in his possession and identified as property of the deceased. He was indicted at the Septem- ber term of the court, 18.33, tried and convicted, and soon after executed at Hog Island. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 271 MAITLAND. This settlement is situated on the road leading from Annapolis to Liverpool, and its southern extremity abuts on the south line of the county. It is nearly ten miles in length, and is intersected near its centre by the Liverpool River (why should this stream not be called Eossignol after its discoverer?), down which for many years vast quantities of spruce and pine timber have found their way, by the aid of the sturdy and adventurous stream-driver, to the saw-mills of Queens County, at the head of the harbour of the good old town of Liverpool. Its geological character is somewhat anomalous, its soil being mainly formed of decomposed granite, while the near underlying rocks are chiefly metamorphic slates. Granite boulders predominate in the settle- ment ; and, as I have said, the soils, when cultivated, indicate such an origin, though the hard whinstones and slates which give character to the gold belt of the Province, are always found at no great depth below, and quartz veins have been found in very many places, some of them being of the rose-coloured variety and of great breadth, but whether of gold-bearing character or not has not been determined, nothing having been undertaken to test the fact, nor is it at all probable that anything will be done in that direction until after the timber supply shall have become exhausted. It is possible, however, that another generation may find employment for its energies in the pursuit of gold-mining. The farms in this locality make excellent returns for the culture and care expended on them, but they do not receive the generous treatment and undivided attention necessary to really profitable results, nor will this be the case while the lumber interest, above referred to, continues to be of paramount importance to the settler. The same general fact may be affirmed in relation to horticultural and pomological pursuits, though, from the slight efforts made in these branches of industry, it has become apparent that ample success would crown the intelligent and scientific endeavours of all who might engage in them. The family to which this district is most largely indebted for its gradual and healthy development, bears the name of Kempton. Two or three brothers of that name were the first to begin the work of clearing away the forests preparatory to the creation of homesteads for themselves. and their families in this, then, far-off and remote wilderness. It was about the beginning of the second quarter of this century, that these hardy and adventurous pioneers commenced their labour^. Until the time of the administration of Sir Peregrine Maitland, I think, the place was called " Kempton's Settlement," but at the period indicated it received its present name in honour of the Governor. 272 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. Although scarcely more than a generation has passed away since the " forest primeval " was monarch of all it surveyed, the first settlers and their children, who still own and occupy a large portion of its area, have lived to witness a change seldom brought about in so short a time. In less than half a century the wilderness — the home of the wild beast and of solitude — has blossomed, and the fruit borne has taken the form of homes — the happy homes of many hundreds of intelligent, industrious, moral and loyal subjects of the best sovereign who ever occupied the throne of our " great Mother Country" ; of a people who have erected saw and grist mills, churches, school-houses and temperance haUs, and who have, in their humble yet earnest way, always cast their aid and influence in defending and fostering the right, or what they believed to be the right, in opposition to the wrong, whether in the domain of morals, religion or politics. A triweekly mail which formerly passed through the settlement, has in later years been succeeded by a daily one. The trade of the settlement has two outlets — one towards Annapolis, from which it is separated by a distance of twenty-eight miles ; the other toward Liverpool, which is at a somewhat greater distance. Among the inhabitants who became settlers here at an early period, I must not forget to mention Nimrod Router, a very intelligent, though somewhat eccentric individual, who cast in his lot with the dwellers in this region fifty or sixty years ago ; and of " Mike Sypher,'' the acquisition of a much later period, and who also possesses some very agreeable peculiari- ties.* Mr. Sypher is descended from a Loyalist family which came to Digby in 1783. His cheery "such is life," when any misfortune over- took him was such as to inspire even a misanthrope with good humour and hopefulness. Said he to the writer one day, speaking of the Loyalists who had settled in the district just named, " They were very intelligent and tolerably well educated ; at least they ought to have been, for they always had ' Read, Wright, and Sypher with them ' " — in allusion to his own name and those of two others who had domiciled themselves in the same locality. Maitland is situated in the heart of the lumbering section of the southern part of the county, and its welfare has been much influenced by the prosecution of that industry, and it is to be feared rather injuriously than otherwise. The forests have claimed and received more attention than the farms, and its agricultural interests have suffered in an inverse proportion to the success of the lumbering business. It is to be hoped, however, that this vital industry will soon receive more systematic and intelligent caVe, and that a new era of prosperity will be inaugurated, * Since the author's death removed to Dighy Neck, where he still lives, but still owning his Maitland farm. — [Ed.] HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 273 from which the most beneficial results may be anticipated to the people in the increase of their wealth and the extension of their settlement. This district, like most of the more recent settlements, was largely granted to persons residing in the old townships. Among those who thus held grants I may name Colonel James Eager, of Wilmot; William Morehouse, Esq., of Annapolis ; John H. Ditmars, Stephen Ryerson, James R. Purdy, Gabriel Purdy, Joseph A. Purdy, and Silas Potter, of Clements, and Frederic Hardwick, of Annapolis. Besides these there were several grantees who belonged to Queens County. Of these individuals, Colonel Eager was a Loyalist, who received a grant of land in Wilmot, adjoining that of Colonel Samuel V. Bayard. Mr. Eager died about 1830, leaving one son, John H. Eager, Esq., who survives, and two or three daughters. The old homestead became afterwards the property of Captain Gow, late of Her Majesty's navy, to whom the son sold it. Mr. Morehouse was the son of a Loyalist, and was born in Digby County, where his father had settled. He was a Deputy Surveyor for the county for many years, and it was he who planned and surveyed the settlement. He died at an advanced age at his farm in South Williamston, leaving two sons, both of whom are deceased. For particulars of Ditmars (who married in 1825, Floralia, daughter of the late Abraham Gesner, M.P.P.), Stephen Ryerson, the Purdys and Potters, see the history of Clements, and the genealogies in other parts of this work. Frederic Hardwick, the grantee whose name has been above mentioned, was a son of one of the pre-loyalists of 1760, and who settled shortly after that time near " Saw-mill Creek," on a farm that is yet owned and occupied by his descendants. (See genealogies.) NORTHFIELD Lies to the eastward of Maitland, and but two or three miles distant from it. It is but a small district, and in soil, productions, and in general characteristics resembles the latter settlement, as it also does in the character of its people. The soil is very productive, but not very intelli- gently cultivated, lumbering operations having resulted injuriously in that respect. The settlement lies partly in Annapolis and partly in Queens County, and is provided with a school-house and school, the section, being a " border section," receiving support from both counties. It may be proper to mention here that quartz boulders are found in this settlement, much in the same way they are known to exist at Waverly and other gold districts ; and as the underlying rocks resemble those in which auriferous quartz has been found, it is scarcely problematical that gold exists there, especially as "mundic" or pyritical substances are known to abound in the rocks of the neighbourhood. 18 274 HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. DELONG SETTLEMENT. This small settlement lies to the eastward of Maitland and Northfield, and takes its name from a Mr. Belong, a descendant of a Loyalist family of that name (probably of Huguenot ancestry), who settled in Wilmot in about the year 1800. There are a few other families located here, among whom is one named Roddy or Rawding, whose fathers were Loyalists and original settlers in Digby. The soil in this district resembles that of Northfield, and is very pro- ductive when fairly cultivated, yielding excellent cereal crops and other vegetables. Lumbering is also prosecuted in the winter season by the inhabitants. PERROTT SETTLEMENT. This settlement lies nearly south-east from the town of Annapolis. It was granted in 1821 to a certain number of persons who had belonged to the military branch of the public service, most of whom I believe were of Loyalist origin. It takes the name from a Captain Perrott, a Loyalist, though his name does not appear among the grantees, and consists of a number of farms lying on both sides of the road leading through it, having a length of six or eight miles. The soil of these farms is mostly of a loamy character, well adapted to the growth of staple vegetable crops, but not very thoroughly cultivated — the attention of the farmers having too frequently been diverted to lumbering operations. Most of the inhabitants, however, obtain a good livelihood for themselves and families from these combined sources of wealth, and its educational prospects were soon much improved by the Act of 1864 relating to this vital subject. It has been provided with a place of worship according to the forms of the Church of England, attached to which is a neat burial- ground. The settlement is admirably watered, and several excellent mill sites exist, besides those which are now occupied. The district which it covers is somewhat hilly and diversified in scenery. The list below given contains the names of the original grantees : Anderton, James. Gray, James. Muir, William. Baker, Thomas. Hudson, Lieut. Henry. McLaughlin, John. Barry, William. Ingles, William. Norman, Joseph. Collins, Garrett. James, Thomas. Robinson, Lieut. George. Copeland, John. Keenan, Michael. Smith, Henry. Collins, Richard. Lynch, Hugh. Sanks, George. Gray, William. Lynch, William. Winniett, Ensign J. Morris, Dennis. HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS. 275 ROXBURY, OR DURLAND'S SETTLEMENT. This small settlement is situated nearly south from the beautiful Paradise District and about six miles from it, and derives its original name from Thomas Durland and another of the name who were sons or grandsons of Daniel Durland, an original grantee of Mount Hanley in Wilmot. The settlement lies chiefly between the base line of the front lots of the township of Annapolis and the south line of the same township, and has a soil consisting of the detritus of granitic rocks mingle