YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 06815 4948

Sieoert, 7.H.
Loyalist settlements on the
Oaspe Peninsula.
Ottawa, 1914.

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FROM TAB TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA
THIRD SERIES— 1914
OLUME vm

The Loyalist Settlements on the
Gaspe Peninsula by
PROF. WILBUR H. SIEBERT

OTTAWA
PRINTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY OP CANADA
1914

Transactions of The Royal Society of Canada
SECTION II
Series III MARCH 1915 Vol. VIII

The Loyalist Settlements on the Gaspe Peninsula.
By Prof. Wilbur H. Siebert of The Ohio State University.
(Presented by W. D. LeSueur, F.R.S.C.)
(Read May 27, 1914.)
In his efforts at the close of the Revolution to find suitable places
for the settlement of those Loyalists who had taken refuge in Lower
Canada, Governor Haldimand sent Captain Justus Sherwood, a trusted
refugee from Vermont, to view the region round the northern side of
the Bay of Chaleurs. This region is part of the Gaspe Peninsula,
which forms the eastern extremity of the Province of Quebec, between
the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the north and Chaleurs Bay on the south.
The eastern end of the peninsula is deeply indented by Gaspe Bay,
after which was named the administrative district that included most
of the peninsula and therewith the scattered, little settlements of the
French on its several shores.
Captain Sherwood left Quebec, May 29, 1783, in the treasury
brig St. Peter, with his family, and bearing a letter of introduction^
from Haldimand to Captain Hugh O'Hara at Gaspe Bay. The
letter stated that Sherwood's mission was to seek a location for a
settlement on the Bay of Chaleurs, and directed that everything in
the way of information and assistance be supplied him.1 On June
7 our explorer reached his destination and landed his family at Captain
O'Hara's, where he was well received. In his journal of this expedition,
which is still preserved among Haldimand's papers, Sherwood tells
us that O'Hara showed himself very ready to serve the distressed
Loyalists, assisted him in the exploration of the country at Gaspe,
and accompanied him on his journey to Chaleurs Bay. Sherwood's
observations were extended to the situation, soil, climate, and products
of this region. Concerning the first named district Sherwood reported
that there was a quantity of level land of good soil and sparsely tim-
i Second Report, Bureau of Archives, Ont., Pt. II, 957; Haldimand Papers,
B. 178, p. 197; B. 202, p. 142.

400 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA
bered on the north and south arms of Gaspe Bay, the amount on
each being sufficient for the sustenance of forty or fifty families.
He also found an equal quantity on the River St. John, which empties
into the bay, a locality which he described as a very pleasant place
for about forty inhabitants, who would find the river abounding with
salmon and the bay well supplied with codfish, eels, lobsters and other
fish. Point St. Peter he recommended as a site for a fishery, but re
marked that the soil there was not fit for cultivation, while Point
Perce possessed the advantage in this respect, affording two hundred
acres of good level land fronting on the sea. Here there was room
for a town of about a hundred houses, with space sufficient for fishing
grounds, gardens, and other conveniences.
On June 16 Sherwood and O'Hara arrived at Pabos, where they
noted the fine harbor with its narrow entrance "somewhat difficult
for large vessels," and they noted also the fertility of the soil. The
neighboring rivers were discovered to be stocked with trout and
salmon and the mountains covered with timber in abundance. The
prime value of the place lay, however, Sherwood judged, in its fine
situation for a fishery. Next to Pabos, Paspebiac was recommended
for its advantages for fishing and trade and for its soil which, the
prospector declared, was the best he had seen in the gulf. The
visitors found Bonaventure, with its fine harbor and wide extent of
level country, already thickly populated ; they formed a good opinion
of the region on the Cascapedia River where the town of New Rich
mond was soon to spring up, and also of the land on the Grande
Nouvelle. Sherwood praised the climate of Chaleurs Bay, and
estimated that 1,500 families might immediately settle at the various
places visited, namely, Pabos, Paspebiac, Bonaventure, Cascapedia,
and Nouvelle, while at least two hundred more might be advan
tageously settled from Perce to Gaspe. He suggested that intending
colonists should be supplied with stock, farming tools, and other
things necessary; but he protested against the practices of a few
designing traders, who kept the inhabitants in debt.
The last stage of the Captain's journey of inspection took him
to the River Miramichi to the south of the Bay of Chaleurs. He
entered this river on July 1, and described it as a fine stream abounding
in various kinds of fish and navigable for vessels of a hundred tons
up to its fork, above which there was good land sufficient for 500
families. By July 14 Captain Sherwood and his companion were
back at Gaspe. Thence he departed with his family for Quebec
on the 20th, arriving at the latter place on August 12th.. His report
to Haldimand was written less than a fortnight afterward.1
1 Haldimand Papers, B. 169, pp. 5, ff,

[siebekt] SETTLEMENTS ON THE GASPE PENINSULA 401
The favorable character of this report led the Governor General
to encourage Loyalists to settle on the Bay of Chaleurs, among the
various districts that were then being opened to their occupation.
Accordingly, towards the close of February, 1784, and again early
in May, information was published in Quebec and sent to the several
localities where the refugees were quartered that those desiring to
take up lands in the region indicated should hand in their names and
prepare to embark on the shortest notice. Word of the time and
place of departure was to be announced later. The official corre
spondence of the period shows that the first embarkation was to
take place at Quebec about May 24, although it did not actually
occur until June 9. The response on the part of the refugees was
ludicrously disproportionate to the extensive area mapped out for
colonization in Sherwood's report. On the date named only three
hundred and fifteen persons sailed in the brigs St. Peter, and Polly,
the snow Liberty, the hoy St. Johns, and the four whale boats that
completed the convoy. Of the passengers one hundred and twenty-
nine were men, fifty-two, women, and one hundred and thirty-two,
children. They went provisioned from the first of June to the last of
August. On July 11 thirty-one men of the late 84th Regiment
departed for the same destination, for the purpose of establishing a
fishing settlement; on July 31 thirty-six persons followed with stores
and provisions; on September 10, three men, and on November 8,
twenty-one persons, with stores and provisions. According to this
enumeration of the settlers going to the District of Gaspe, the total
was only four hundred and six.1
The business of assigning lands to these settlers was entrusted to
Nicholas Cox, lieutenant governor of the District. On June 18 Cox
was at Perce, where he met the brig St. Peter and her passengers,
evidently the first to arrive. At the end of the week the Loyalists
proceeded to Paspebiac, where they were sent ashore to view the
land, but — according to the Lieutenant Governor — "could agree to
nothing." On Cox's recommendation Bonaventure was next visited,
because it afforded a convenient landing-place, a quantity of supplies,
and a shelter for the women and children. Attracted by the improve
ments of the Acadian inhabitants of the neighborhood, the Loyalists
were not above proposing to deprive these people of their homesteads
in order to satisfy at a stroke their own needs; but when this was
declared impossible, they decided to return to Little Paspebiac,
which the Lieutenant Governor considered the best site for a town.
Matters now went forward rapidly: the early days of July found
1 Haldimand, Papers B. 222, pp. 83, 84; B. 63, pp. 263, 285, 289, 294; B. 168,
pp. 30-35; B. 64, pp. 41, 238. Sec. I and II, 1914—27

402 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA
O'Hara occupied in laying out the Township of Paspebiac, and George
Geddes similarly occupied at some other point not designated. Al
ready the refugees with O'Hara had planted their potatoes, and were
petitioning for three months' provisions in addition to what they
had brought with them, besides requesting a supply of boards, nails,
seines, etc, A month later they had drawn their lots in the new
township. As Paspebiac was to be a fishery, it was laid out in the form
of a parallelogram, so as to include the beach and adjoining marsh;
and provision was made for a reservation in the rear, partly to preserve
a supply of timber, and partly to protect from molestation a score of
families who had been living there for some years.1
Some of the disbanded soldiers among the new settlers -had al
ready begun to give trouble, and Cox suggested to Haldimand the
appointment of a sheriff and several justices of the peace to maintain
order and administer the law. Another source of disturbance to the
new settlements was a party of American fishermen who, arriving
in four vessels early in July, disembarked at Point St. Peter, Bona
venture Island, and Bonaventure, and there erected their fishing
stages. Cox at once reported this intrusion to the government at
Quebec, and received instructions to warn the trespassers off im
mediately and give them notice that the matter had been communi
cated to the British admiral stationed at Halifax. By the vessel
bringing these instructions Governor Haldimand forwarded a hundred
stands of arms with ammunition, besides other supplies. The arrival
of these bounties was acknowledged by Cox in a letter of August 25,
in which he expressed his belief that the Americans would not leave
the coast unless forced to do so.2
The same letter bore testimony to the progress of the settlement
at Paspebiac, for it reported that the refugees there were cheerfully
occupied in building their homes and were becoming more and more
pleased with their lands. Moreover, a memorial accompanied the
letter, signed by Thomas Pryce Jones, Captain Azariah Pritchard,
and other Loyalists, asking permission to erect a grist-mill for the
benefit of the settlement. An unsigned memorandum, which was writ
ten a few days later than Cox's letter, presents the busy scene of men,
women, and children all engaged in clearing their lots and putting
up their abodes, and predicts that in eighteen months, when their
garden produce and crops are gathered, they will need no further
assistance. The writer adds enthusiastically that it is the best country
for a poor man that he has ever seen, on account of the great quantity
of fish, game, and timber, and the fertility of the soil. Even small
1 Haldimand Papers, B. 202, pp. 186, 164, 196.
2 Ibid., B. 202, p. 168; B. 64, pp. 109, 112-114; B. 202, pp. 204, 195.

[siebert] SETTLEMENTS ON THE GASPE PENINSULA 403
plots, he continues, worked by the fishermen in the most slovenly
manner, produce exceedingly good wheat, peas, potatoes, flax, etc.,
and the industrious are always sure of a good market.1
In settling the Loyalists and in distributing their provisions,
clothing, and implements, Captain Law had rendered important ser
vices, which were highly appreciated by Lieutenant Governor Cox.
Moreover, the latter thought that the new settlements needed special
supervision, and recommended Law as a suitable person to exercise
this function over them. Haldimand acted on the suggestion and,
November 2, 1783, appointed Captain Law as superintendent in the
District of Gaspe, with authority in all matters pertaining to the
Loyalists. He also authorized Cox to commission him as justice
of the peace and Thomas Mann as sheriff.2
Meanwhile, the colony at Paspebiac had spread to the lands
contiguous to the first township surveyed by Captain O'Hara, and
some of the refugees had settled at Gaspe, where they founded Douglas-
town. In both localities fishing became one of the chief occupations,
as shown by the official report of November 10, 1784. This report
stated that during the previous months the new settlers at Gaspe
and the Bay of Chaleurs had exported 25,500 quintals of dried codfish.3
At the close of June, 1785, O'Hara reported from the former place
that the catch had been good up to that time, and that the Loyalists
of both his neighborhood and the Bay of Chaleurs were improving
their lands "in spite of some restless spirits among them." He
called attention to the inconvenience to which vessels trading in
Chaleurs Bay were put by having first to enter and clear at Gaspe,
and enclosed a memorial asking a change. The change contemplated
was the establishment of a customs-house, of which O'Hara wished to
become collector. In another letter, dated September 12, he men
tioned that Cox had transferred the seat of government from Perce
to the Bay of Chaleurs.4
We are able to get some idea of the distribution of the Loyalists
in the region whose newly acquired importance was thus recognized
by .Cox from the register of inhabitants which that official prepared
in 1786. From its pages we find that three had taken up lots at Port
Daniel, sixteen, at Hopetown, nine, in the Township of New Lake,
seventeen, in the Township of Cox's Lakes, and eighty-five in the
1 Haldimand Papers, B. 202, p. 209.
s Ibid., B. 64,. pp. 379, 380; B. 202, p. 204; B. 64, pp. 100, 112-114, 379, 380.
3 Ibid., B. 202, pp. 196, 218; LeMoine, Chronicles of the St. Lawrence, 13;
Haldimand Papers, Q 24-1, p. 61.
4 Haldimand Papers, B. 202, pp. 218, 222.

404 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA
Township of Paspebiac, including Cox himself.1 The register also
shows that most of these settlers were farmers and fishermen, although
there was a sprinkling of artificers and tradesmen. Light on the
previous condition of these people is derived from their testimony
before the commissioners of Loyalist claims in 1786 and 1787. From
this source it appears that some of them had been persons of property
in Albany and Charlotte counties, New York, at the outbreak of
the Revolution, had joined Burgoyne's expedition down the Hudson
and later served in various Loyalist regiments, including Jessup's,
Peters' and Rogers' corps, and the King's and Butler's Rangers.
At the close of hostilities a few of these provincials were quartered at
Machiche until they were sent to Chaleurs Bay, where a group of
them took part in settling New Carlisle.2 The families of several
other refugees joined the small settlement of French Canadians at
New Richmond near the head of Cascapediac Bay, among these being
Captain Azariah Pritchard and his household.3 As Pritchard was
one of the most notable Loyalists in the Gaspe Peninsula, it may not
be out of place to say something concerning his record. He was one of
a number of Connecticut men — among them, his father and brother —
who adhered to the cause of the Crown. During the opening months
of the Revolution he carried on operations at Milford, in southwestern
Connecticut, assisting not less than one hundred and sixty men
across the sound to Long Island. In 1777 he was tried by court-
martial at New Haven for conveying intelligence to the British, and
was acquitted, he tells us, by "bribing the presenter." He then made
his escape to Canada, and for three years served as a guide on the
eastern side of Lake Champlain, after which he raised a company for
the King's Rangers, and although commissioned as a captain continued
in the secret service until the close of the war.4 With other Loyalists
he now undertook to found a settlement at Mississquoi Bay, near the
northern boundary of Vermont, but finding Haldimand unalterably-
opposed to the plan, decided to settle at the Bay of Chaleurs along
with those he might induce to join him. As remarked above, he first
located at New Richmond, but later, apparently, drew several lots
at Paspebiac, and probably settled there. His military services were
rewarded by a grant of half-pay as captain, which he is said to have
received until his death in 1827. "He was to the last," says LeMoine,"
1 Bundle, "L. C, Administration, 1781-1783." (In the Dominion Archives at
Ottawa.) 2 Second Report, Bureau of Archives, Ont., Pt. I, 152, 328-331 335-338 H4
345, 350; Pt. II, 923, 1063.
3 LeMoine, Chronicles of the St. Lawrence, 85.
4 Second Report, Bureau of Archives, Ont., Pt. I, 349,

[siebert] SETTLEMENTS ON THE GASPE PENINSULA-. 405
"a stout, daring old man."1 In 1877 when the writer just quoted
visited the Gaspe Peninsula, he found there numerous descendants
of the American Loyalists, all industriously employed as fishermen.2
1 Bundle, "L. C, Administration, 1781-1783" (In the Dominion Archives at
Ottawa.) 2 LeMoine, Chronicles of the St. Lawrence, 13.