SARGEANT, CHARLES (1833-1893)

SARGEANT, CHARLES, sawmill owner and Indian superintendent; b. Newcastle, c1833, s/o Moses Martin Sargeant and Maria Louisa Wood; m. 1st, 1867, Fanny Harley, d/o John Harley and Ann Coughlan, and 2nd, 1888, Josephine Burchill, d/o George Burchill and Bridget Percival; d. Chatham Head, 28 May 1893.

Charles Sargeant attended the Newcastle Grammar School when it was conducted by John H. Sivewright and subsequently entered the sawmill business. James Mitchell was his partner in the purchase of the Robinson Crocker sawmill at Chatham Head after Crocker's failure in 1864, together with the mill which Crocker owned at Nelson. The partnership would seem to have been strictly financial and was soon dissolved.

In 1876 Sargeant sold the Nelson millsite, which contained a steam mill, residence, and other structures, to George Burchill. At the same time, he began construction of a new sawmill at the Chatham Head site. This was built under the supervision of John B. Webster, a master millwright who oversaw the erection of all of the principal sawmills on the Miramichi in this period. The large-capacity mill was opened in October 1876, with David Creighton as plant engineer. In 1897 it was still regarded as "a fine mill, admirably equipped."

Shortly after Confederation, Sargeant was named to the part-time position of Indian superintendent of the Micmac reserves in the province. In this capacity he played a leading part in having schools established on the reserves at Burnt Church (1880) and Eel Ground (1882). As the owner of a sawmill he also assisted the Indians directly, becoming one of the largest employers of Indian labor in the province. Indian men hired by him earned the same wages as other men, except that a few of them who were more able than their non-Indian counterparts were paid at a premium rate.

Sargeant continued to act as Indian superintendent until his death, enjoying excellent relations at most times with both the leaders of the different bands and government officials. "The Indians have lost a friend," stated the Union Advocate at the time of his death, "whose hand was ever ready to help them from his own means when there was no government [money] available." He was a liberal supporter of church and community causes and was a major donor in 1890 to the building fund for St Mark's Anglican Church at Nelson.

Sargeant and his first wife, Fanny Harley, were the parents of a daughter and two sons who lived to adulthood. The sons, John H. and Charles Sargeant, took over the sawmill business in 1893, but they soon gave it up and found other employment in Newcastle, where they both made their homes.