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Archives provinciales du Nouveau-Brunswick

Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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CROCKER, DAVID R. (1795-1856)

CROCKER, DAVID R., road supervisor, JP, and churchman; b. Charlotte Co., N.B., c1795, s/o Robinson Crocker and Jane Marple; brother of Rowland Crocker; m. Mary Newcomb, a native of Chatham; d. Derby, 1 Aug 1856.

David R. Crocker's father was a Massachusetts Loyalist who suffered severely as a consequence of "his active exertions in the American Revolution," and had "a very narrow escape from becoming a sacrifice to the vindictive spirit of his countrymen." After the war he settled in Charlotte County, N.B., where he was a surveyor of lumber and operated a grist mill.

David R. Crocker applied for a lot on the Southwest in 1815 and soon became a permanent settler at Derby. He was a leading member of that community, as was his wife, who "possessed a vigorous intellect," and who throughout her long life was a particular friend of the Micmac Indians of the Miramichi.

In 1836 Crocker had an appointment as supervisor of the main road along the Southwest, for construction and repair purposes, and he continued to receive appointments annually as a supervisor of 'great roads'. He was responsible for the road between Swim's Ferry and Newcastle in 1837, but most of his appointments from 1838 to 1854 were for the Richibucto-Chatham and Newcastle-Bathurst-Campbellton roads. In this period he and Alexander Goodfellow were the principal supervisors of highways in the northeastern part of the province, and for many years reports compiled by them were printed in the annual Journal of the House of Assembly.

Crocker was among the first to propose the construction of a bridge across the Northwest branch of the Miramichi near Wilson's Point, and he was one of the directors of the North West Bridge Co. when it was formed in 1853. In 1854 he was designated by the company to oversee the construction of the approaches to the bridge. In 1855 he supervised the erection of the trusses, the construction of which was contracted to James Murray and John Stothart. The ten-span, 1200-foot covered bridge was sufficiently near completion in May 1856, three months before he died, for the mail stage to use it. It had been privately built and was to have been a toll bridge, but after it was finished it was bought by the province for the free use of the public. Later known as the Sinclair Bridge, it was in service for over ninety years, until destroyed by fire on 7 September 1947.

In 1822 Crocker enlisted in the militia as a lieutenant. He was promoted to captain in 1824 and became adjutant of the 2nd Battalion in 1835. From the 1820s onward he was the most active school trustee in Nelson parish and the most influential figure in the establishment and operation of schools in the Derby area. He held other responsible parish offices at various times, including those of overseer of the poor and tax collector. In 1838 he was appointed a justice of the peace, and he evidently retained this appointment until the year before his death.

Crocker was an early supporter of the Methodist church on the Miramichi, and it was through his "liberality and zealous efforts," in combination with those of his brother Rowland Crocker, that a chapel was erected at 'Crocker Settlement', in Derby (then Nelson) parish and officially opened, by the Rev. Ingham Sutcliffe, on 4 March 1845. Previously, church services had been conducted at the Crocker home, where a welcoming hand was always extended to the missionaries of the Miramichi Methodist circuit.

Crocker and his wife, Mary Newcomb, had at least eleven children. Robinson Crocker and five younger children were baptized together in 1830. The children born after 1830 included Mary Crocker, the first wife of George Brown.

Sources

[d] Gleaner 3 Aug 1856 / Advocate 23 Nov 1892; Daily Gleaner 8 Sep 1947; Facey-Crowther; Ganong Collection (scrapbook #4); Gleaner 28 Jun 1836, 11 Apr 1837, 10 Apr 1838, 18 Sep 1838, 26 Mar 1839, 16 Jun 1840, 26 Jan 1841, 23 Feb 1841, 15 Apr 1843, 14 Feb 1844, 8 Apr 1845, 11 Apr 1846, 16 Feb 1847, 11 Apr 1848, 10 Apr 1849, 21 Apr 1851, 12 Apr 1852, 21 Feb 1853, 11 Apr 1853, 21 Jan 1854, 15 Apr 1854, 19 Aug 1854, 28 Apr 1855, 26 Apr 1856, 3 May 1856; JHA (re. roads, bridges, and public works); NB Almanac & Reg.; PANB (petition of Robinson Crocker, Charlotte Co., 1814; petition of James Newcomb, #561, 1810; and petition of David Crocker, #673, 1815)

Remarques

Crocker's wife, Mary Newcomb, is thought to have been a daughter of James Newcomb, a middle aged former soldier, and his teenaged wife Amy Rogers, whom the minutes of the Sessions show to have been married in 1797 by John Carpenter, JP. Amy Rogers was later the wife of Alexander Esson.


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