THE EXODUS OF THE LOYALISTS

from

Penobscot to Passamaquoddy

(With Map)^*

 

By

WILBUR H. SIEBERT, A. M.

Professor of European History

 

Published by

The Ohio State University

Columbus

1914

 

* The map of the Loyalist Settlements at Passamaquoddy Bay was based on a map in Dr. Ganong's 1904 A Monograph of the Origins of the Settlements in New Brunswick. In order for the image to appear, the file "Passamaquoddy.jpg" must accompany this transcription. — RWH

 

The Exodus of the Loyalists from

Penobscot to Passamaquoddy

In September, 177S, the British government ordered General Clinton at New York to secure post on the Penobscot River in Maine for the purpose of erecting a province to which loyal adherents of the Crown might repair.¹ An earlier post, Fort Pownall, which had occupied the bold, rocky promontory at Cape Jellison at the mouth of the Penobscot was no longer in existence, having been dismantled and burned by the militia under Colonel James Cargill in July, 1774. For eleven years previous to its destruction, the old colonial fort had been under the command of Colonel Thomas Goldthwait, who by his compliance with an order from General Gage permitted a detachment greatly outnumbering his own meagre garrison to carry off the cannon and spare arms of the fort, and thus incurred the censure of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts Bay, the loss of his command, and virtual banishment. Colonel Goldthwait deserves a word of more extended notice on account of the important part he took in settling and developing the Penobscot Valley. While in command of Fort Pownall, he was appointed agent for a vast tract of land belonging to the Waldo heirs in that region. Later, in conjunction with Sir Francis Bernard, then governor of the province of Massachusetts Bay, he purchased a part of the Waldo Patent from General Jebediah Preble, and appears to have been chiefly instrumental in settling the Penobscot country with a population which lie estimated at "more than 2,400 able men."²

Colonel Goldthwait did not participate in establishing the new post at Penobscot, but remained in retirement there or at Castine until July, 1779. when he went aboard one of the frigates of the British fleet that entered Penobscot Bay to lay siege to Bagaduce. Taking passage on this vessel for New York after the success of the British expedition, he had the satisfaction of being borne to his destination by the ship that carried the good tidings to Clinton. It may be added that Mr. Goldthwait's stay in New York City lasted only from the early part of September to December 23, when he took his departure to England, there to remain during the rest of his life.³

The project of planting a British force on the coast of Maine had long been cherished by William Knox, a Georgia loyalist, who was under-secretary in the Colonial Office in London. Knox argued that it would serve to distract the attention of the Americans from operations in other quarters, that as a military and naval base it would protect the country to the east from attacks by land and sea, and last, but not least, that it would form the center and bulwark for a new province for the friends of government, who were leaving the Colonies in ever increasing numbers, and were already flooding the home authorities with insistent claims for compensation.⁴ Lord Germain, Knox's superior officer, was not easily convinced of the advantage of the project, but at length was brought around, giving what was evidently his own chief reason for its approval when he wrote to Governor Haldimand at Quebec, April 16, 1779, that if the Kennebec, or even the Penobscot, were secured, it would keep open direct communication between the Canadian capital and New York at all seasons, and so do away with the tediousness and delays in correspondence by way of Halifax. However, this explanation did not satisfy Haldimand, who still doubted the efficacy of the measure.⁵

Meanwhile, Knox was anticipating with evident zest the success of an expedition yet to move against the coast of Maine, by arranging the details of the province that was intended to reach from the Penobscot River to the St. Croix, and become the Canaan of the refugee loyalists. "Lying between New England and 'New Scotland' (Nova Scotia), it was to be christened New Ireland, perhaps," as Batchelder suggests in his illuminating study of the subject,⁶ "in delicate reference to Knox's own nationality." With manifest appropriateness, all of the officials of the proposed province were to be loyalists of high repute, if not, in every case, of experience in administrative matters: thus, Thomas Hutchinson was to be governor, Daniel Leonard, chief justice, Dr. John Caleff, one of the leading tories of Penobscot, clerk of the council, and the Reverend Henry Caner, formerly of King's Chapel, Boston, bishop. Although Hutchinson was named as one of the beneficiaries of the scheme, he wrote from London that it was a "most preposterous measure," and that but few people there thought well of it.⁷

However, as the measure already had the necessary official approval, it only remained to decide where the post should be located, and send out the expedition to establish it. These were important matters, to be sure, and the advice that proved conclusive in regard to them came, strangely enough, from a carpenter of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who, having arrived in England in the fall of 1777, had succeeded in ingratiating himself with Under-Secretary Knox. This carpenter of surprising career was John Nutting, who rendered valuable service in his trade to the British in Boston before the evacuation, and in Halifax afterward. In the latter place, especially, he had found opportunity to display his Yankee resourcefulness and ability as "Master Carpenter and Superintendent of Mechanics," and, despite the lack of skilled workmen, had performed the feat of erecting within a limited time "no less than ten large block houses, each mounting sixteen guns." In England, by direct application to Lord North, he secured the appointment as overseer to the King's works at Landguard Fort in East Anglia. His isolation at this rather remote point on the coast of the North Sea did not prevent his visiting London occasionally, or keeping himself in the recollection and esteem of his patron of the Colonial Office. So it came about that he was called into consultation concerning the proposed expedition to the Maine coast. As Mr. Nutting had invested some years before in shore lots in what is now Castine, across Penobscot Bay and up the Bagaduce River, he must have been aware of the natural strength and well-recognized strategic advantages of that locality. When, therefore, he suggested Penobscot as the best site for the new post, his quality of "uncommon Loyalty," for which he had received deserved commendation in Halifax, was not being sacrificed to his self-interest, although the happy blend of the two must have pleased him in no small degree. His suggestion was adopted by the King's ministers, and Nutting was ordered to London to carry Germain's despatches to Clinton at New York, and accordingly set sail early in September, 1778. A fortnight out, his vessel, the government mail packet Harriet, was overtaken by an American privateer, the Vengeance, and Nutting, rid of his despatches which he sunk in the sea, but wounded in four places as he later testified, was taken prisoner with the other people on his ship. In less than two months, however, the King's messenger was again in London, having had the good fortune to be exchanged.⁸

Undaunted, Mr. Nutting undertook a second voyage in January of the next year, and after fourteen weeks on the ocean was able to hand detailed instructions to Clinton.⁹ In compliance with these orders, the latter directed Brigadier General McLean at Halifax to carry into effect the plan of fortifying a post on Penobscot River, and instructed him to prepare materials for a respectable work capable of accommodating three hundred or four hundred men. McLean was unable to comply fully with Clinton's instructions concerning the troops to be taken, but he made such substitutions as were necessary, and set out on the expedition at the end of May, 1779. He was accompanied by four hundred and forty men of the 74th Regiment under Lieutenant Campbell, and two hundred of the 82nd under Major Craig, his convoy comprising four men-of-war under Captain Andrew Barkley and the flagship Albany under Captain Henry Mowatt. He also took with him stores for nine hundred men, which would be the total number when the engineers .should be included. Nutting, who was to be employed as overseer of carpenters in building the fort, acted as pilot. On June 13, the expedition arrived at the mouth of the Penobscot, and after reconnoitering the river for several days, the troops were disembarked on the little neck of land which had been chosen for the fort. The most advantageous part of the peninsula being wooded, some time was spent in clearing it. There was also .some difficulty in landing the provisions, which had to be rolled up a steep hill. These preliminaries were not completed until July 2, when the work on the fort began.¹⁰

Contact with the local inhabitants disclosed the fact, as McLean wrote Clinton, that they "had been artfully led to believe that His Majesty's troops were accustomed to plunder and treat the Country where their operations led them with the greatest inhumanity." To remove that prejudice, the leaders of the expedition issued a proclamation extending clemency to all who would take the oath of allegiance. This procedure so far restored confidence that about five hundred persons subscribed to the oath in the limited time allowed, although McLean wrote that the number would have been considerably increased if he had been able to send to "some distant settlements the Inhabitants of which requested that indulgence from the impossibility' of all attending the places appointed."¹¹ The testimony of Colonel John Allen, the American superintendent of Indians in the Eastern Department, is of a confirmatory character. In a letter written at Machias, Maine, July 16, 1779, he states that most of the inhabitants at Penobscot had submitted and taken the oath of allegiance to the King after the capture of that place by the English. But his condemnation is particularly reserved for those east of the Penobscot, who had gone a distance to acknowledge themselves British subjects, including most, if not all, of the people at Union River, Nashkeag, and Deer Island, and two or three at Frenchman's Bay, and Goldsborough.¹² Dr. Caleff tells us that about a hundred of those who were well disposed showed their good will by coming in on July 19 with their captain, John Perkins, and helping three days to clear the ground in front of the fort.¹³

McLean explained that the attitude of the people to the east of Boston, who were in want and distress, seemed in general friendly, but that they were prevented from any marked demonstration by the threats of the enemy. Their open allegiance, he thought, could be won only when they should be furnished a force strong enough to afford them complete protection in their persons and property. However, he had to admit the existence of a division of sentiment among the inhabitants, remarking that "numbers of young men of the country had gone westward, and attempts have been made to raise the people, tho hitherto without success."¹⁴ The force under McLean's command was certainly not large enough to inspire the remaining population with feelings of safety and reviving loyalty; but, small as it was, it was nevertheless reduced by the withdrawal of Captain Barkley with four of his warships in order to shield the coast of Nova Scotia against the threatening presence of nine American vessels, which had recently been sighted in the offing. Thus, only the Albany was left to stand guard at the mouth of the Penobscot, the solitary ship being in turn protected by a battery erected for that purpose.

The fort was not yet half completed when the American fleet "to the number of thirty-seven sail of all sizes," with 2,600 troops aboard, traversed Penobscot Bay, and laid siege to the place. On August 7, according to Caleff, the Americans scoured the country round for the loyal inhabitants, destroyed their movables, killed their cattle for meat, and, having captured a number of persons, imprisoned them aboard ship.¹⁵ For three weeks, McLean and his men held out, relief from Halifax failing to put in an appearance. On the morning of August 14, a party reconnoitering without the fort discovered that the Americans had abandoned some works which they had constructed, in their attempt to avoid a clash with the King's fleet, under the command of Commodore Sir George Collier, which had opportunely arrived from New York. In desperation, the American fleet sailed up the Penobscot River, where the loyal inhabitants were released, and the shipping was .set on fire, while the enemy's troops retreated in various directions without opposition.¹⁶ Thus, Collier's coming resulted in the destruction of the Americans' vessels and the dispersal of their land forces.¹⁷ Among the ships that went up in flames on the Penobscot flats was the privateer Vengeance, to which Mr. Nutting owed his capture when first he sailed from England with Germain's despatches for Clinton.¹⁸

No doubt some of the local inhabitants were recreant to their oath of allegiance. If so, McLean excused it on the score that they had been compelled to join the enemy; but he insisted that most of them had been employed in working for the Americans, "tho," he added, "some of them were in arms." Learning that a number of these people had withdrawn from their habitations with the intention of going to the westward, on account of the fear of the resentment of the British, McLean issued a new proclamation in order to reassure them and "prevent the breaking up of the settlement."¹⁹ Collier, however, was more severe in his judgment of the recent conduct of the inhabitants. In a letter to Clinton, he denounced them as rebels who took an oath to the King one day and another to the Congress the next, and asserted that all had "assisted the rebels in everything they could during the siege."²⁰ It would seem, however, that the denunciation of Commodore Collier was too sweeping in its character. It could scarcely have been the case that those who placed themselves under the protection of the British post, and whose need of supplies was causing a shortage of provisions, had been guilty of the sort of double dealing charged against all the inhabitants by the prejudiced Commodore.²¹ Moreover, Colonel Thomas Goldthwait, who had settled a large number of people in the Penobscot region, wrote to Clinton, October 2, 1779, urging the continued importance of the post to the Crown: "If the present arrangement of his Majesty's troops won't permit of a reinforcement there, at this time," says the refugee's letter, "I myself will undertake to raise a Battalion out of the militia of that country, which notwithstanding their seeming delinquency in their late unhappy situation, I'll pledge myself for it, that they will make as good subjects as any the King has got. 'Twas I, principally, yt settled them in that country; I commanded them, and I fully know their principles, and have estate enough to carry into execution what I propose."²²

Even while the loyalty of these people was being thus favorably or unfavorably commented upon, many friends of government were removing to this haven of refuge. McLean, who returned to Halifax at the close of November, 1779, wrote to Clinton from that place that a considerable number of inhabitants had taken refuge on the peninsula, that their distressed situation rendered it necessary that they be supplied with provisions from the King's stores, and that he proposed sending a further supply by the Albany to complete their stock to the end of May.²³ Besides the people who were coming in from the immediate neighborhood, others were arriving from localities farther removed both in Maine and Massachusetts. One such party came from Falmouth under the guidance of a tory named Baum, who was afterwards captured by the Americans, tried by a court-martial presided over by Major Burton, condemned to death, and executed by order of General Wadsworth. It was in revenge for this execution that Wadsworth and Burton were captured by a detachment from Penobscot, and imprisoned there until they made their escape, June 15, 1781.²⁴ Among the loyalists from Falmouth who early sought protection at the post were Captain Jeremiah Pote and his two sons-in-law, Robert Pagan and Thomas Wyer.²⁵ Pagan did not go directly to Penobscot, but in February, 1776, sailed with his family for Barbadoes. On his return, he settled in the growing Penobscot colony, where, with two brothers, he purchased dwelling houses from Lieutenant Colonel Campbell in 1781.²⁶ Moses Gerrish of Newbury, Massachusetts, who was a graduate of Harvard College, and was stationed at Penobscot as an officer in the commissary department, remained there until the post was evacuated by the British forces.²⁷ Colin Campbell, another loyalist, acted as assistant commissary.²⁸ The garrison found its surgeon, and for a while its chaplain, in Dr John Caleff, a former resident of Ipswich, who had served as a member of the Massachusetts legislature, but had sought .shelter at the post before the siege.²⁹ For a season, Caleff was also employed as inspector at Penobscot. On his departure for England in May, 1780, he was succeeded in this position by Robert Pagan.³⁰ John Jones of Pownalborough (now Dresden), Maine, escaped from Boston jail, and arrived at Quebec at the close of August, 1779.. There he joined Colonel Rogers' regiment, receiving a commission as captain, and was .sent to Penobscot. From that point he engaged in forays against the Americans at the head of a company known as "Jones' Rangers." His swarthy complexion gained for him the nickname of "Black Jones"³¹ Simeon Baxter, the superintendent of hospital stores in Boston, was another of those whose loyalty was too active to be tolerated by the revolutionists. He was, therefore, condemned to be incarcerated in the jail at Worcester, but breaking away, he did not regard himself as beyond the reach of danger until he had gained the shelter of Fort George.³² John Long, a native of Nantucket, also resorted thither probably as early as the year 1779. In his new retreat he made himself useful by securing intelligence for Captain Mowatt, but fell into the hands of the enemy. However, he succeeded in making his escape, and during the remainder of the war commanded a privateer belonging to the Pagan brothers.³³ Another Massachusetts tory who joined the contingent at Penobscot in 1779 was James Symons of Union River. Like most of the other refugees who settled within the shadow of the post, he remained there until the peace.³⁴ Meantime, Nutting was serving as overseer of the works with such satisfaction to Colonel Campbell, who was then in command of the fort, that the latter "in consideration of his Attachment to His Majesty's Government," made at "Gratuitous Grant" to Mrs. Nutting of "a lot of land to settle upon . . . . . . . on the N. E. side of y Road Leading to Fort George, formerly the Property of Joseph Pirkins now in Rebbelion." Upon this lot the overseer built him a house, which he valued at £150.³⁵ Thus, a population of loyalists was gathering within the boundaries of the proposed province of New Ireland.

This development may have had something to do with Nutting's departure for England in the spring of 1780, by the particular advice and recommendation, of General McLean. At any rate, soon after his arrival in London, Nutting announced that he had laid a plan before Lord George Germain which, if put into execution; would prove "of the greatest Utility to Government." The concerns of the prospective province were .certainly receiving a great deal of attention at this time among the loyalists at Penobscot, for; in May of the year named above, they sent Dr. Caleff to England to do what he could toward getting the British authorities to fix upon the River Penobscot as the dividing line between themselves and the United States.³⁶

While the object of Mr. Nutting's journey is less clear by reason of the lack of documentary proofs; the fact that he now crossed the ocean at what was virtually the request of McLean, to whom had been entrusted the first step towards erecting a loyalist province in eastern Maine, suggests strongly that the present mission of the Overseer of Works was in connection with the carrying into effect of the second and principal part of the programme, namely, the establishment of the province itself. It was certainly more than a mere coincidence that the whole New Ireland scheme received a fresh impetus soon after Nutting's arrival in London. On August 7, 1780, Germain wrote to Knox expressing the hope that New Ireland still employed his thoughts, that he was more and more inclined to prefer Oliver (the ex-chief justice of Massachusetts Bay) for the governorship, and that he wished they might "prepare some plan for the consideration of the Cabinet." No sooner said than done, the plan was produced with astonishing promptness. Its form was that of a constitution for the new province, concerning which Germain wrote on August 11th: "The King approves the plan — likes Oliver for Governor, so it may be offered him. He approves Leonard for Chief Justice."³⁷

The instrument, thus approved, placed the province absolutely under the control of the British Parliament. On acquiring land, whether by inheritance, purchase, or grant from the Crown, every landlord had to declare his allegiance to the King in his Parliament. There was to be, of course, a governor and a council, but no elective assembly for the time being. This omission was obviously intended as a means of forestalling any disposition of the people to republicanism. There was, however, to be a middle branch of the legislature, of. which the members were to be appointed by the Crown for life, but also subject to suspension or removal by royal authority. These legislators might have conferred upon them titles, emoluments, or both. The traditions of aristocracy were to be further secured by the granting of land in large tracts, thus providing at once for great landlords and a tenantry. The Church of England was to be the established church, and the governor, the highest judge in the ecclesiastical court, with the additional function of filling all benefices. The power of ordination was to be vested in a vicar-general, the way being thus opened for a bishop. The establishment of schools was left wholly unprovided for.³⁸ Such was the constitution of New Ireland, the purpose of which, according to that thorough-going loyalist, the Reverend William Walter, was by its "liberality" to show to the American Provinces "the great advantages of being a portion of the Empire and living under the protection of the British Government."³⁹ hat these advantages remained untested insofar as New Ireland was concerned was primarily due to Attorney General Wedderburn, who held that the territorial possessions of Massachusetts extended to the western boundary of Nova Scotia, and that the charters of both provinces precluded a new one from being interposed between them.⁴⁰

Although this opinion prevailed, the plan does not seem to have been abandoned by its originators, for in the winter of 1781 Germain "urged upon Clinton the ministry's favorite scheme for the disposition of the throngs of Tories at New York: "Many are desirous of being settled in the country about Penobscot and, as it is proposed to settle that country and this appears to be a cheap method of disposing of these loyalists, it is wished you would encourage them to go there under the protection of the Associated Refugees, and assure them that a civil government will follow them in due time; for I hope, in the course of the summer, the admiral and you will be able to spare a force sufficient to effect an establishment at Casco Bay, and reduce that country to the King's obedience."⁴¹

Massachusetts, of course, wanted "the viperine nest at Penobscot" suppressed, and appealed feelingly from time to time to the French and to Washington to strike the decisive blow. In truth, her authority had been so far encroached upon by the enemy that she was no longer able to collect taxes or contributions from any place to the eastward of their stronghold. The garrison there was ever on the alert, and improved the defences of the post until it was declared by the Commander-in-chief of the Continental forces to be "the most regularly constructed and best finished of any in America." These excellent ramparts sheltered a throng of loyalists and their families, while nearby a refugee settlement grew up, which by the end of the war consisted of thirty-five houses (a few of two.stories), supplemented by the barest utilities in the form of three wharves and two stores.⁴²

It remained to be .seen whether this outpost of loyalism would survive the undercurrents of diplomacy during the negotiations for peace, as it had weathered the storms of war. If so, it might still become the capital of a real province of New Ireland, and by the favor of the authorities secure a population of some thousands out of hand from among the swarms of loyalists that had been gathering for years at New York. In the conferences of the peace commissioners England contended that the frontier of Massachusetts extended no farther than Penobscot Bay: she gave it out that she wanted the territory to the eastward "for masts." But John Adams, who was a member of the board of treaty commissioners, was a Massachusetts man, and was thoroughly conversant with conditions at Penobscot. He pertinently remarked to Count Vergennes, while the contention was in progress,⁴³ that "it was not masts, but Tories, that again made the difficulty," and that "Some of them claimed lands in that territory, and others hoped for grants there," not forgetting to add that "the grant of Nova Scotia by James I to Sir William Alexander, bounded it on the St. Croix." Adams was no less positive when face to face with the English commissioner, Mr. Oswald, and told him plainly that he "must lend all his thoughts to convince and persuade his court to give up" the disputed region, else "the whole negotiations would be broken off."⁴⁴ The unyielding character of the man from Massachusetts was confirmed by Lord Shelburne, who was constrained to report to the House of Lords that he "had but the alternative either to accept the terms proposed or to continue the war."⁴⁵ Mr. Secretary Knox, in the bitterness of his personal disappointment over the final collapse of his budding province, gratified his own animosities by alleging that Penobscot would never have been evacuated at all had it not been for the jealousy of Wedderburn and the ignorance of Shelburne.⁴⁶

The provisional articles of peace were agreed to at the end of November, 1782. It was not until the middle of the following June that Carleton wrote to Governor Parr, of Nova Scotia, that two ships had been sent to Penobscot to remove such persons as should choose to go to his province.⁴⁷ Three weeks later, it was reported that some people of Machias, Maine, had "moved to Passamaquoddy and possessed themselves of lands between the river St. Croix and the River Scoodie [Scoodiac]."⁴⁸ About the middle of August, Parr wrote to Brigadier General Fox at Halifax concerning the rumored encroachments east of the St. Croix, encroachments made, he said, under pretense that the lands between that river and the Scoodiac belonged to Massachusetts. He informed General Fox that the invaded lands were "intended chiefly for the immediate settlement of part of the Provincial disbanded troops and one hundred and fifty refugee families from Penobscot," and therefore suggested that an armed detachment be sent there to protect the boundary.⁴⁹ Thus, before the definitive treaty of peace was signed, (September 3, 1783), a new boundary dispute had emerged, in which the luckless Penobscot loyalists were involved as before. This their agents discovered when they arrived at Passamaquoddy at the close of August, for they were there greeted by a letter from the authorities at Boston, warning them not to form a settlement in the disputed region. The agents communicated this news to Parr, with the further information that the transports intended to convey their people to Passamaquoddy had already arrived at Penobscot, news suggesting that the loyalists would soon be at their destination and take possession.⁵⁰

Meantime, Robert Morse, the chief engineer, had received instructions to proceed to Passamaquoddy and report on the situation there. He soon learned of the alleged encroachments, and wrote to Carleton, August 15, 1783, of the difficulties that might arise about the boundary river, explaining that the name St. Croix had been indiscriminately applied to the three rivers which empty into Passamaquoddy Bay, and that while the westernmost had been the old boundary between Maine and Nova Scotia, the middle and by far the most important one was meant for the new boundary, thus opening the way for dispute.⁵¹ Early in September, Morse reached Passamaquoddy,in time, .as he explained to Carleton, "to point out to the surveyors employed in laying out different towns, and the land.s adjoining, such spots as appeared proper to be reserved for the use of Government, and future protection of the country."⁵² He was detained there eight days before he was able to sail for St. John's River. On November 1, he again wrote the Commander-in-chief at New York to say that the town laid out for the people from Penobscot was "on St. Andrew's point — their lands extending up the east side of the River Scodiac." This position he conceived to be "totally out of dispute," and though it was contested, as we shall see later, the country to the east of the Scodiac was adjudged to be part of Nova Scotia and the settlers remained in possession. Morse was equally correct in asserting that the stream called the St. Croix by the Massachusetts people and alleged by them to be the true boundary was in fact the "Majiggaducey" (Magaguadavic), which he declared to be "quite out of the question." Hence, he urged that an early explanation should be required of the authorities of Massachusetts, "lest the unfortunate people from Penobscot should be again disturbed, or before any military force is sent there." He added that a British man-of-war was already under orders to proceed to Passamaquoddy.⁵³

At Penobscot the loyalists had formed an association with Captain Jeremiah Pote, Robert Pagen(sic) , and a third member. whose name is unknown, as agents to complete arrangements for the removal to Passamaquoddy, Many of the associators had already gone (about October 1) to the location chosen for their new settlement to erect houses,⁵⁴ and had evidently been there about three weeks when Colonel John Allan, the agent of the Massachusetts authorities, arrived on the scene, only to find the surveyors exploring the rivers.and preparing to lay out townships, while a number of settlers were already in possession of St. Andrew's Point. He remonstrated with the surveyors,: and, discovering one of them, Zebedee Jerry(sic) , of Freetown, to be a proscribed refugee, "cautioned him from appearing on any lands of the United States in future, as he certainly would be made a prisoner," and at the same time directed the Indians "not to suffer any British subjects to pass on the river Passamaquoddy on such business until further orders." In obedience to their instructions, the Indians soon after took captive the loyalist, Captain (John) Jones, of Kennebec, whom they found marking trees on the river. Jones was placed on parole, but had no compunctions about making his escape at the earliest opportunity.⁵⁵

Allan was further disturbed by the arrival on October 3 of two large transports and several smaller vessels bringing forty families from Bagaduce. The ships were warned not to land their passengers, but nevertheless did so a few days later. On the 17th of October, Allan visited the refugees and pointed out to them what he considered to be their precarious situation at St. Andrew's. In reply, they disclaimed any intention of encroaching upon American .soil, reminding him that they had been landed where they were by the King's transports, and praying that they might not be molested until spring, as they were poor and the season was already far advanced. The deputy surveyor of Nova Scotia, Captain Charles Morris, Jr., was on the ground, and when called upon after a few days' interval by Allan, explained courteously that he was merely following out positive instructions in laying out the lands for the new settlers, and freely showed the charts in his possession, namely, those of Holland and DesBarres, in which, as Allan remarked, "the westerly branch of Passamaquoddy called Cobscook is set down as the River St. Croix." Soon more families disembarked, and Allan notes that vessels were daily arriving with supplies, that a number of houses were already built, as well as a large store for government provisions, and that valuable timber was being constantly cut and shipped. His letter went on to say — on good authority, as he asserted — that the British intended to claim all the timber lands on Passamaquoddy Bay as part of Nova Scotia, and that a company of wealthy persons under the management of one Pagan, formerly of Casco Bay, and others, was ready to go into the lumber business, having sufficient influence with the government to obtain settlers enough, including disbanded soldiers, to keep possession of the Passamaquoddy region. To prevent this, Allan advocated immediate steps "to remove those settlers from St. Andrews."⁵⁶

However, the new settlement appears to have entertained greater fear of the Indians than of the Americans during the first winter, for Captain (Samuel) Osborne thought it necessary to patrol the bay in the frigate Ariadne throughout that season to ward off the red men. By January, 1784, there were sixty or more houses at St. Andrews, and in February Governor Parr established a court there for the District of Passamaquoddy. In March a part of the Penobscot garrison, the 74th or Argyle Highlanders, arrived at St. Andrews, while others, it is .said, landed at L'Etang (St. George's Town) to await, like the loyalists, the location of their lands. The main body of the Highland regiment had sailed for England more than two months before. By the first days of May. there were ninety houses in St. Andrews, and a letter of that time, still extant, reports "great preparations making in every quarter of the town for more." The letter continues: "Numbers of inhabitants are daily arriving, and a great many others are hourly looked for from different quarters." The writer, William Pagan, had already explored part of the land laid out for the Associated Loyalists from Penobscot, namely, the region round Oak Point Bay and up the Scoodic River. He found it to be of good soil and abounding "with large quantities of hard wood, [and] all kinds of pine timber of a large growth" conveniently located for transportation by water. He remarked that two sawmills had already been erected on the Scoodic, and that he had seen good sites for others. He was convinced that Passamaquoddy Bay could supply the British West Indies with "every species of lumber that could be shipped from any part of New England, except oak staves."⁵⁷ What was actually being accomplished in the shipment of lumber by the people of St. Andrews appears in a communication of somewhat later date (May 26), signed by Robert Pagan and others, in which it is stated that a number of cargoes had already been sent to the West Indies and to various parts of Nova Scotia.⁵⁸ By. the end of December, St. Andrews had expanded to a village of between two hundred and three hundred houses, and other settlements were making rapid headway. General Rufus Putman, who visited Passamaquoddy at the time mentioned, reported that "a town at present called Schoodick, near the head of navigation has one hundred houses; besides which there is a township at the head of Oak Bay, granted to a company of associates at the head of which there is a Mr. Norwood from Cape Ann; another township west of this is surveyed for a company from Connecticut, and these companies obtain the same supplies of provisions as the refugees do."⁵⁹

The plan of St. Andrews, which. was completed perhaps early in 1784, provided for "six parallel streets running from northwest to southeast and thirteen streets cutting them at right angles, thus forming sixty square blocks, besides twelve. blocks on the southwest side of the town more or less indented by the irregularities of St.Andrews Harbor. Each block was divided into eight lots, On August 12, this town plot was granted to "William Gammon and 429 others," .several of the grantees receiving more than one lot. Some of the earliest houses erected in the town had been set up originally at Penobscot, only to be taken down for removal at the evacuation. Among these are the St. Andrews Coffee House still standing at the foot of William Street, the store and the home once owned by Robert Pagan, and houses built by Robert Garnett and Captain Jeremiah: Pote. The first two-story building to be erected in St. Andrews was owned and occupied by John Dunn, who brought the frame and materials from New York in 1784, the year in which the other structures were also set up.⁶⁰ Many of the refugee families were loth to leave behind their coats of arms and their treasures in mahogany and silver. These cherished possessions still remain in some old homes at St. Andrews,⁶¹ and doubtless at other places on Passamaquoddy Bay. By 1788, if we may credit the statements in an old manuscript, the population of St. Andrews and vicinity had increased to more than three thousand, while the town itself now numbered about six hundred houses.⁶² At this time, and for some years afterwards, the place rivaled St. John, New Brunswick, in commercial importance.⁶³

Ever since the settlement of St Andrews, religious services had been conducted by the civil magistrate, who acted as lay reader on Sundays. In November, 1785, the Reverend Samuel Cooke, of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, who had recently removed to St. John where he had been appointed missionary, visited Campobello, St. Andrews, and Digdeguash. At these places he read prayers, preached, and performed baptisms, and then returned to his own parish. In the following year, the Reverend Samuel Andrews, a graduate of Yale College, who had been rector of St. Paul's Church in Wallingford, Connecticut, came to minister at St. Andrews. He found there "a considerable body of people of different national extraction, living in great harmony and peace, punctual in attending Divine Service, and behaving with propriety and devotion." Sent as a missionary by the Society in London for the Propagation of the Gospel, "Parson" Andrews proved to be a man of broad and liberal spirit without any sacerdotal pretensions. This was fortunate, for the majority of the people of his new parish were Scotch Presbyterians. Nevertheless, he won the favor of all, his congregation comprising all the Protestant elements represented in the town. The first vestry meeting was held August 2, 1786. In the following April, Mr. Andrews was temporarily incapacitated for his work by a paralytic stroke; and his son, Samuel F. Andrews, was appointed school master and catechist, being thus able to relieve his father of part of his duty. The missionary's illness did not prevent the taking of prompt measures to erect a church edifice, which was accomplished in 1788, although the structure was not completed until September, 1790. It was called All Saints' Church and measured fifty-two feet in length by forty in width, the expense being met partly out of a fund contributed by the parish, but chiefly out of a government allowance. The church had a bell presented by Mr. John MacMaster, a merchant in London, and was decorated with the royal coat of arms which the missionary had himself brought from Connecticut.⁶⁴ Owing to the fact that most of the inhabitants of St. Andrews professed the Presbyterian faith, the number of communicants remained small, but baptisms, especially of children, were frequent. Besides All Saints' Church, another memorial of the first rector is to be found in "Minister's Island," which had been granted under the name of Chamcook to Captain Samuel Osborne, but was sold by him to Mr. Andrews in March, 1791, Captain Osborne having removed to London, England. On this island, overlooking St. Andrews, the rector built his house and passed the remainder of his life.⁶⁵

Some years after purchasing Chamcook, the genial clergyman gathered about him a little group of the most notable loyalists in the town in an organization known as "The Friendly Society." Its members held weekly meetings, at which they discussed questions of religion, morality, law, medicine, geography, and history, besides contributions of importance in newspapers and magazines. By an article of their constitution, they limited themselves to "spirits and water" as the only refreshments permitted in time of meeting. Their philanthrophy was manifest in their purpose to exert their influence in suppressing immorality in the community of which they were the leaders. It should be added that during the summer of 1800 three members of this society, namely. Dr. Caleff, Colonel Wyer, and Henry B. Brown, together with Mrs. Robert Pagan, rendered heroic service in combatting an epidemic of smallpox that swept St. Andrews and vicinity. Of the five hundred and more cases that developed, only three were lost. The society flourished during the lifetime of its founder, that is, for thirteen years, and then died.⁶⁶

Aside from the town plot of St. Andrews, the Old Settlers' Reserve at Scoodic Falls, (now the town plot of St. Stephen), the Indian Reserve, (now Milltown), and a few scattered lots reserved for public use, six tracts of shore and river lots were granted to the Penobscot Associated Loyalists in 1784. These tracts extend from Bocabec on the inner bay of Passamaquoddy to Sprague's Falls on the St. Croix, and include two ranges of lots on Mohannes Stream. They form the greater part of the water front of the present parishes of St. Patrick, St. Andrews, St. Croix, St. David, Dufferin, and St. Stephen, and extend over nearly half the length of Charlotte County.⁶⁷ In this region, the associators formed their settlements, among which were Bocabec, Dufferin, Moannes, St. Croix, and St. David. St. Croix was first settled along the river of the same name and the Waweig, while St. David sprang up at the head of Oak Bay, all around which extended settlements of the Penobscot loyalists. The village of Chamcook, which arose from the expansion of neighboring colonies, was of somewhat later origin.⁶⁸ Another loyalist village, whose inhabitants came in large part from Penobscot, was St. George's Town. It was laid out on the western side of the little peninsula in L'Etang Harbor, facing the island now known as Fry's Island. Its original grantees numbered one hundred and fifty-three persons, who received their lots under date of November i, 1784. In all perhaps two hundred families settled here, many of the townsmen being disbanded soldiers of the Royal Fencible Americans and probably of the S4th Regiment. Of these men Captain Peter Clinch wrote a dismal account to the Provincial Secretary in February, 1785, charging them with general worthlessness, due to the introduction of rum into the community through the agency of Captain Philip Bailey. Clinch also charged Bailey with exploiting the inhabitants for his own benefit. However, even Clinch admitted that there were many settlers in the town against whom no reasonable objection could be raised.⁶⁹ In 1799, a forest fire destroyed the village, and it had never been rebuilt.⁷⁰

In addition to the settlements formed by the Penobscot Associated Loyalists, there was a number of .settlements established in the Passamaquoddy District in the same period by loyalists from localities other than Penobscot. Among these were the town of St. Stephen and the Old Ridge, a colony on the Digdeguash above its mouth, another on the Magaguadavic to the Second Falls, Pennfield, and farther east along the coast Lepreau, Mace's Bay, Seeley's Cove, Dipper Harbor, Chance Harbor, and Musquash. The town of St. Stephen at the head of navigation on the St. Croix, together with the country north of the town, including the Old Ridge, was settled by the Port Matoon (Mouton) Association of loyalists and disbanded soldiers of the British Legion. This association took its name from the village it had founded late in 17S3 in Queen's County, Nova Scotia. When the snow disappeared in the following spring, the locality was found to be rocky and sterile. Hardly had this discovery been made when an accidental fire consumed the town, and compelled the immediate removal of the inhabitants. Of these, the majority betook themselves to Chedabucto Bay in the eastern part of Nova Scotia, while the rest decided to accompany Captain Nehemiah Marks to Passamaquoddy. Captain Marks was a refugee from Derby. Connecticut, had served as a captain in the corps of Armed Boatmen and later as lieutenant in the Maryland Loyalists. His party landed where the town of St. Stephen now stands, May 26, 1784, hoisted the British flag, and called the place Morristown, a name it continued to bear for several years. In the following September, 19,850 acres on the Scoodic or St. Croix River were distributed among the members of the association, one hundred and twenty-one in number, while garden lots in Morristown were bestowed upon John Dunbar and one hundred and five others. Captain John Jones, who had first come to Passamaquoddy as a surveyor for the loyalists, was one of the recipients of a farm lot. Among the grantees of the town are found the names of many members of the Penobscot Association, who also held grants in St. Andrews, besides of some who were favored with lots both in St. Andrews and St. George's Town. It is no doubt true that a number of the grantees of St. Stephen abandoned their lands or sold them for a nominal sum; but many others remained, and numerous farms along the Old Ridge are still held by their descendants. Captain Marks became a grantee of both St. Andrews and St. Stephen, and was one of the first justices of the peace in Charlotte County. He died in St. Stephen in July, 1799, having lived long enough to see the community he had planted in the wilderness making substantial progress. By 1803, the parish as a whole had a population of nearly seven hundred. It boasted seven sawmills, or almost half the number to be found in the entire Passamaquoddy District, and was turning out annually 4,000,000 feet, of boards, or more than all the other mills together.⁷¹

The .settlements formed by loyalists who had not come from Penobscot were assigned locations on the east side of Passamaquoddy Bay. Thus, John Curry and forty-two others received 15,250 acres on the Digdeguash in the Parish of St. Patrick, at the end of March, 1784; At the same time, a grant of 2,000 acres was issued to Colin Campbell. Lieutenants Thomas Fitzsimmons and Colin McNab, who were assigned 1,000 acres in the same region, permitted their grant to escheat to the government.⁷²

Two tracts, one on the east side of the lower Magaguadavic, and the other on the L'Etang with its western shoreline on Passamaquoddy Bay, were granted to a score of loyalists, of whom Dr. William Paine of Worcester, Massachusetts, was the most notable. A refugee in Halifax after the evacuation of Boston, Dr. Paine had brought his party to Passamaquoddy late in 1783. but did not obtain the grants, which together amounted to 5,500 acres, until some three or four months later. Of the tract on the Magaguadavic, the Worcester loyalist received 1,000 acres. In addition, he was given the Island of La Tete in recognition of his services in Rhode Island and New York as apothecary to the British forces and at Halifax as physician to the King's hospitals With his family, Dr. Paine took possession of La Tete in the summer of 1784, but within a twelvemonth removed to St. John, New Brunswick, to educate his children and practise his profession. Nevertheless, the County of Charlotte elected him to the Assembly of New Brunswick in 1785; and he was appointed clerk of the House. He was also commissioned as a justice for the County of Sunbury, and held other offices during his residence there. In 1787, having secured the permission of the War Office, he returned to Massachusetts, at first to Salem where he spent six years, thence removing to Worcester to enjoy the privilege — unusual for one of his former attachments — of residing in the paternal mansion and being treated with respectful consideration by his fellow-townsmen. Here he lived out the remaining forty years of his life with means ample to provide for every want. His status as a citizen of the United States, which he had forfeited early in the Revolution, was restored to him by special act in 1825. Samual(sic) Bliss of Greenfield, Massachusetts, one of the grantees of Dr. Paine's party, later secured the concession of the large island at the mouth of L'Etang Harbor, still known as Bliss's Island, and of the small island near it called the White Horse.⁷³

West of the lower Magaguadavic, the Royal Fencible Americans were for the most part settled. Although included among the loyalist corps, the Fencibles had been enlisted in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Such of their officers and men as received grants at Passamaquoddy appear to have been in garrison at Fort Cumberland, where they were disbanded in 1783. Captain Philip Bailey and fifty-eight others landed on November 10 of the same year at the mouth of the Magaguadavic, and perhaps Lieutenant Peter Clinch accompanied them, although he had visited the region in advance. Late in February, 1784, Lieutenant Clinch was granted seven hundred acres extending from the lower falls to the headwaters of L'Etang and in the following month the others received their grant of more than 10.000 acres. That an additional number of the Fencibles came to Passamaquoddy is shown by the muster held at L'Etang, or St. George's Town, on July 3, 1784, when there were present of the "late Royal Fencible American Regiment," one hundred and eight men, forty women, and fifty-three children, or a total of two hundred and one persons. The valley of the Magaguadavic contained rich meadow lands, abundant forests, and ample water powers; but these advantages made no appeal to most of the disbanded soldiers, who occupied themselves with hunting and fishing, or gave themselves over to the pleasures of the cup. Many soon left the country. The others improved their farms, and probably followed the life of the woodsman. The descendants of the latter were joined by new immigrants, the settlement was extended up the river, and lumbering operations were considerably increased. By 1803, the population of the Parish of St. George was four hundred, of which only seventy-eight were men. There were already five mills in the parish, which were cutting annually 2,300,000 feet of boards. In addition, the settlers were raising good crops of various cereals, besides potatoes and flax.⁷⁴

East of St. George's Town, an association of Pennsylvania Quakers settled on the west shore of Beaver Harbor, where a town called Belleview was laid out for them. The association was formed early in 1783 in New York City, where its members had taken refuge. Joshua Knight of Abbington, a suburb of Philadelphia, appears to have been the leader of the "society." Samuel Fairlamb, John Rankin, and George Brown were .sent out as agents to .select a place for settlement on the river St. John, but chose Beaver Harbor instead. Among the regulations adopted before the party sailed was one providing that "no slave be either bought or sold nor kept by any person belonging to said society on any pretense whatsoever." The associators reached their destination sometime before October 12, 1783, and were granted one hundred and forty-nine lots of the nine hundred and fifty constituting the town plot at Beaver Harbor. They renamed their settlement Penn's Field, since contracted to Pennfield, and were evidently joined by other immigrants, for a contemporary writer estimated the population of the place at eight hundred. It is said to have contained about three hundred houses in 1786, but was devastated by fire in the following year. Doubtless, it was this disaster that caused the removal of most of the inhabitants to Pennfield Ridge, Mace's Bay, and other localities, and left those remaining behind in great poverty. Fortunately, two Quakers from Philadelphia visited the town in the late summer of 1787, and noting the distressed condition of the colonists, raised a subscription among the members of their sect on their return home, with which they purchased and shipped a supply of flour and Indian meal, together with other necessaries, to Beaver Harbor. According to certain brief but interesting records of the town, which are still extant, donations were also received from Friends in England, these donations being mentioned under date of March 10, 1789. The records also tell us that in July, 1786, the society at Pennfield decided to erect a small meeting house on ground allotted for the purpose. This intention was carried out, and the meeting house was still standing in the spring of 1789. The loss in population suffered by the Parish of Pennfield during this period is shown by the census of 1803, which reported but fifty-four inhabitants, principally Quakers concerning whom it was noted that they were excellent farmers living on a good tract of land and in comfortable circumstances.⁷⁵

The decline of Pennfield helped to populate the smaller harbors farther east, although some of these had been settled shortly after the war by loyalists who may have come either from St. John or directly from the States. Lepreau was first occupied in 1784; Mace's Bay was settled later by the exodus from Pennfield; Seely's Cove had its origin in 1784 or 1785 as a small loyalist colony formed by Justus Seely; Dipper Harbor and Chance Harbor both began as fishing villages founded by loyalists in 1784, and Musquash was established a year earlier by people of the same class. The expansion of the descendants of these groups has supplied settlers to other places along the coast.⁷⁶

Another settlement worthy of mention was that of the Cape Ann Association in what is now the Parish of St. David. This parish lies northwest of the Bay of Passamaquoddy, and includes the headwaters of Dennis Stream and the Digdeguash River, which are not navigable. The association numbered two hundred and twenty members, and received a grant of nearly 23,000 acres on October 1, 1784. Many of the grantees appear to have come from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and vicinity. Several, however, were from New Boston in New Hampshire. Francis Norwood, the leader of the association, was one of the latter. Twenty-six of those who had grants at St. Andrews drew lands also in St. David; while several others, whose names appear in the Penobscot Association grant, are listed among the grantees of the Cape Ann Association. Among the latter were Moses Gerrish, John Gillis, and William Monroe. These facts indicate that nearly one seventh, if not more, of the Cape Ann company were loyalists. Since, however, most of them did not belong to this class, the association was assigned "back lands," that is, lands back from navigable waters, evidently on the principle that loyalists and disbanded troops were entitled to the best locations. It is probable that the St. Andrews and Penobscot grantees drew "back lands" either for their children, which they had a right to do, or as a matter of speculation. However, the .settlement in St. David did not fulfil its promise, although the .soil there was of excellent quality: in 1788, there were nearly one hundred and fifty absentees, and two years later, all but forty-six lots had been escheated. By 1803, the settlers numbered two hundred and eighty-six, and were reported to be the most independent farmers of any in the County of Charlotte.⁷⁷

Thus far we have been dealing almost exclusively with the settlements formed on the mainland by loyalists, or, in the case of St. David, with a settlement in which loyalists had .some small share. We turn now to the islands. The large islands on the west side of Passamaquoddy Bay, as well as some of the smaller ones, gained a number of settlers at the close of the Revolutionary War. Indeed, the outermost of these islands, namely, Grand Manan, became the resort of several loyalist families⁷⁸ as early as 1779, these families coming from Machias, Maine, where they considered it unsafe to remain any longer. The place in which they built their huts still retains the name of the leader, Joel Bonney, being known as Bonney's Brook. However, they were not permitted to enjoy peace even here, and in 1780 they removed to the mouth of the Digdeguash on the mainland.⁷⁹ With the ending of the war, a license was granted "to John Jones, Thomas Oxnard, Thomas Ross, Peter Jones, and Moses Gerrish, and others, being fifty families, to occupy during pleasure the Island of Grand Manan, and the small islands adjacent in the fishery, with liberty of cutting frame stuff and timber for building." Gerrish and a few of his associates took possession, and began their settlement near Grand Harbor in May, 1784. They found their island to be fourteen miles in length and nine miles in breadth, "very steep and craggy on all sides," but fertile in soil and covered with good timber. Evidently, not all the families expected joined the new community, but so far as we can tell those who came were prominent refugees from Penobscot. Gerrish himself was one of these, although originally from Newbury, Massachusetts, and a family by the name of Cheney was from the same place. Thomas Ross had been a mariner at Falmouth, Maine, and entered the West Indies trade after coming to Grand Manan. He was granted a small island, still called Ross Island, just east of the one on which he made his home. Captain John Jones appears to have returned to Maine in 1786, after disposing of his interest in the island to James and Patrick McMaster, two merchants of Boston, who had become discredited early in the Revolution on account of their loyalty. John Dogget, another of the refugee settlers, was a native of Middleboro, Massachusetts. No doubt, the isolated position of the island retarded its development: at any rate, its population was but one hundred and twenty-one in 1803. Nevertheless, the number of inhabitants was sufficiently large to help establish the British claim to Grand Manan in the long controversy with the United States that followed years after. The retention of the island was regarded of great importance by England on account of its being the key to the entrance of the Bay of Fundy. Together with other islands in Passamaquoddy Bay, Grand Manan was declared part of New Brunswick in 1817. For years, Gerrish was the most prominent resident on the island, and served both as collector of customs and justice of the peace. While he and his associates failed to secure the fifty families required by the license of occupation to obtain a grant of the entire island, the Council of New Brunswick ordered grants to the settlers of their respective possessions and allotments, together with a glebe and a lot for public uses, and these grants were duly passed, November 1, 1810.⁸⁰

North of Grand Manan, the Island of Campobello was partly settled by loyalists, a few of whom remained but a short time. At the opening of the Revolution, John Hanson, a native of Marblehead, Massachusetts, came to the island in a whaleboat, only to pass on to Minister's Island, where he settled. Captain Christopher Hatch, a grantee of Parr Town on the River St. John, went into the mercantile business at Campobello. Later, he sold out to Lieutenant Thomas Henderson, who became the customs officer of the island. Another grantee of Parr Town, who settled temporarily on Campobello, was Nathan Frink, a native of Pomfret, Connecticut, and a captain in the King's Loyal American Dragoons. It is recorded by a historian of the island that many of the early inhabitants, who lived along what is called the North Road, were tories from New York, some of them being of Scotch origin. Later on, this loyalist element appears to have been considerably increased by the accession of numerous families from the mainland, who, dissatisfied with their locations, either sold or abandoned their grants there. In 1803, the population of Campobello, including both loyalists and other settlers, numbered nearly two hundred and fifty persons.⁸¹

North of Campobello, Deer Island had occupants who, as previously noted, went to considerable trouble to take the oath of allegiance to the King at the time of the American attack upon Penobscot. The earliest refugees to join these settlers probably fled from Colonel Allen's rule at Machias. Among these, it would appear, was Josiah Heney, a native of Portland, Maine, who was aided in making his escape from Machias in 1777 by James Brown of Passamaquoddy. Later, Heney .sought the protection of the post at Penobscot, and came thence to Deer Island, where he built a house opposite Pleasant Point.⁸² About the same time, John Rolf and his daughter arrived from Machias. Several members of the Penobscot Association also took up their residence on the island, including Daniel Leemen and William Stewart, the latter settling at Pendleton's Passage. Other loyalists came in from St. John, New Brunswick, one of these being John Appleby, who located at Chocolate Cove. Both Appleby and Leeman have descendants now living on Deer Island. Another settler from St. John was Issaac(sic) Richardson, whose name is perpetuated in that of Richardsonville. It was not long before these loyalist inhabitants were joined by .some of the families from the mainland, who evidently thought they could better their condition by removing to Campobello. In 1803, this island and its dependencies had a population of one hundred and seventeen. In the following year, a .score of these residents tried to establish a claim to the lands on which they were living. The memorial of these petitioners states that they had been on Campobello for twenty years (or since 1784), which would suggest that many of them, if not all, were refugees from the States. Gideon Pendleton, whom we know to have been a loyalist from Long Island, and whose name appears in that of Pendleton's Island, was one of these.⁸³

The island just named had been granted, no doubt, to Gideon Pendleton, as other of the small islands were granted to other adherents of the Crown. However, Moose Island (now Eastport) was inhabited at the close of the Revolution by about half a dozen families, who had been more or less in sympathy with Great Britain during that struggle. It is not known how many outside loyalists joined this little colony, but it is said that George Cline (or Klein), a recruiting sergeant during the War, and Joseph Ferris, a native of Stamford, Connecticut, and a captain in Butler's Rangers, both lived for a time on Moose Island. The former spent the end of his days on Bar Island, and the latter, on Indian Island. James Maloney, who was a mariner and a grantee of St. Andrews, settled on St. Andrews Island, and Matthew Thornton who fled to escape persecution after the battle of Bennington, spent one winter there, being later provided with a grant as a member of the Penobscot Association. Thornton was a native of New Hampshire.⁸⁴

The population of the Passamaquoddy region in 17H4, according to Colonel Edward Winslow's muster was 1,744 persons, of whom seven hundred and ninety were men, three hundred and four, women, and six hundred and fifty, children.⁸⁵ The various regiments and other groups represented comprised the 42nd, 70th, and 72nd regiments. Royal Fencible Americans, King's Orange Rangers, Royal Garrison Battalion, Tarleton's Dragoons, Nova Scotia Volunteers, Regiment of Specht (Brunswick soldiers), various corps at L'Etang, Nehemiah Marks' Company, loyalists and others at Beaver Harbor, Penobscot loyalists, and Lieutenant Colonel Stewart and party, besides two small companies, one in the District of Passamaquoddy and the other on the River Magaguadavic. As we have already seen at some length, most of these people were loyalists, and although the men had pursued the most diverse occupations in their former homes, farming engaged the great majority of them at Passamaquoddy. However, at the time of the landing of the refugees from Penobscot, lumbering operations were already in progress near the headwaters of the Scoodic or St. Croix River, on both sides of which a settlement of fifteen or twenty families was in existence. Most of these families had come from Machias, and had evidently chosen their location on account of the valuable timber and the water power to be had there. At the mouth of Dennis Stream they had built a sawmill.⁸⁶ Thus began the lumber trade of the St. Croix, which may have supplied building material to loyalists who settled farther down the river. However, there were abundant supplies of fine timber along the other large rivers emptying into Passamaquoddy Bay, and there were ample water powers and excellent harbors at hand. The newcomers, appreciating these advantages, established important villages at St. Stephen, Milltown, St. Andrews, St. Patrick, and St. George's Town, and erected sawmills at numerous points of vantage. Sailing vessels were needed for the lumber trade, and so ship-building became an important industry in .several of the parishes that were .settled by the loyalists. By 1803, the Passamaquoddy District had no less than twenty-one sawmills, which together cut 7,700,000 feet of boards, and it also had a fleet of fifty-nine .sails, besides numerous smaller craft. Of the sailing vessels, St. Andrews Parish alone had built forty-two since 1785.⁸⁷ The principal markets for the lumber exported from Passamaquoddy were Nova Scotia and the British West Indies, in both of which regions thousands of loyalist refugees were settling during this period. It need scarcely be added that fishing was an important occupation of many of the .settlers on the shores and islands of Passamaquoddy Bay. The quantity of fish taken in 1803 amounted to 9,900 quintals and 3,000 barrels, besides about 5,000 boxes of herring.⁸⁸

Meanwhile, the loyalists and their fellow-colonists were multiplying in numbers despite the removal of many from Passamaquoddy to other places in New Brunswick or to the States. By 1803, the population of Charlotte County had reached 2,622 persons, or nearly eight hundred and fifty more than that of the year 1784. With the growth in numbers, desirable lots that had been abandoned by the first grantees were taken up and occupied by young men coming into maturity who wished farms of their own, and, following this, new settlements were made on the uplands back of the older settlements. In this way, an expansion seems to have taken place up the St. Croix, Digdeguash, and Magaguadavic.⁸⁹

The coming of the loyalists had led to the creation of Charlotte County, together with the seven other counties of New Brunswick, early in 1786. At the same time, Charlotte County had been subdivided into seven towns or parishes, namely, St. Stephen, St. David, St. Andrews, St. Patrick, St. George, Pennfield, and the West Isles. The act establishing these divisions had also declared that St. Andrews should be thereafter the seat of the County of Charlotte.⁹⁰ But before the passage of this measure by the first Assembly of the province, and even before New Brunswick had been made a separate province, Governor Parr had created a court for the District of Passamaquoddy (early in 17S4) by appointing John Curry, Philip Bailey, Robert Pagan, and William Gallop to be justices of the peace therein. All of these men were loyalists, and three of them were grantees of St. Andrews; while the fourth, Captain Philip Bailey, was a grantee of St. George's. Two of them received appointments in addition to that of justice of the peace. Mr. Pagan served the Crown as agent for lands in New Brunswick and in looking after matters connected with grants to the loyalists. He also represented his county for a number of years in the Provincial Legislature. Mr. Gallop was commissioned as first registrar of deeds for Charlotte County, in March, 1786, and continued in that office until 1789. Another St. Andrews loyalist. Colonel Thomas Wyer, became the first sheriff of the county, being appointed in the spring of 1785, and serving until 1790, when he was succeeded by his fellow-townsman, John Dunn, a refugee from New York, who held the position twelve years. Mr. Dunn also acted as comptroller of customs at St. Andrews for a long period.⁹¹

The action of Governor Parr in appointing justices of the peace for the District of Passamaquoddy in 1784 is to be regarded as the revival of an earlier court, rather than as the creation of a new tribunal. Before the Revolution, the general sessions of the peace for the District had been held on the Island of Campobello. That they were resumed there after the war is shown by Robert Pagan's statement that he went to Campobello to attend the sessions in his capacity as magistrate for the County of Sunbury.⁹² A little later, sessions were held at St. Andrews, but whether there or on Campobello, the jurisdiction of the court appears to have extended over all the islands of Passamaquoddy Bay. It should be noted, however, that Grand Manan had at least one resident justice of the peace in the person of Moses Gerrish who, as previously mentioned, served also as collector of customs for that island. Joseph Garnett, who died in St. Andrews in the year 1800, is said to have been "New Brunswick's first master in Chancery and the first deputy registrar of deeds and wills and deputy Surrogate or Judge of Probate for Charlotte County."⁹³

The settlement of the loyalists on Passamaquoddy Bay gave rise, as we have .seen, to a dispute over the western or river boundary of Nova Scotia. That dispute was to remain undecided until 1798. By the treaty of 1783, the boundary had been fixed at the St. Croix; but the topographical location of the true St. Croix was as yet unknown. However, the Nova Scotia authorities had acted on the assumption that the Scoodic was the St. Croix by settling large numbers of loyalists on its eastern bank. John Allan had called the attention of the Massachusetts government to the refugee settlements at St. Andrews in August and again in September, 1783. Thereupon, the Massachusetts House of Representatives had directed Governor Hancock (October 23) to obtain information regarding the alleged encroachments, and communicate the same to Congress. This was done at once, and Congress replied (January 26, 1784,) with a recommendation that representations should be made to Nova Scotia, if the results of an investigation warranted it. The advice was followed, a committee was sent to Passamaquoddy, and on its return reported that the Magaguadavic, lying about three leagues east of St. Andrews, was the original St. Croix. On the basis of this report, Governor Hancock wrote to Governor Parr, November 12, 1784, requesting him to recall such of the King's subjects as had "planted themselves" within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The reply to this communication came from Thomas Carleton, governor of New Brunswick, the province that had been recently erected on the north side of the Bay of Fundy: Carleton wrote that "the Great St. Croix, called Schoodick by the Indians," was considered by the Court of Great Britain as the river intended by the treaty of 1783 to form part of the boundary. President Washington urged the adjustment of the matter in a special message to Congress in 1790: but nothing was done until Jay's treaty was signed four years later, a clause in this instrument providing for the reference of the question to the final decision of commissioners.⁹⁴

It is interesting to note that, first and last, not less than four prominent loyalists took part in the important labors of the board of commissioners thus authorized. Thomas Barclay, a graduate of Columbia College and a captain in the Loyal American Regiment, who had fled to Nova Scotia at the close of the Revolution, was named commissioner for Great Britain. His American colleague was David Howell, an eminent lawyer of Rhode Island, and they together designated Egbert Benson, a distinguished jurist of New York, as the third member of their board. Edward Winslow of Plymouth, Massachusetts, who had served as muster-master general of the loyalist forces at the close of the war, and then had taken up his residence in New Brunswick, became secretary of the commission. Each government had an agent to prepare and present its case before the board. The British agent was Ward Chipman of Massachusetts, a graduate of Harvard college and deputy muster-master general under Winslow. In New Brunswick, whither Chipman removed after the war, he attained the highest honors, serving as member of the House of Assembly, advocate general, solicitor general, etc. The agent for the United States was James Sullivan, one of the ablest members of the bar in Massachusetts at that time. The identification of Bone (now Dochet) Island with the Isle of St. Croix of Champlain, on which the identification of the River St. Croix largely depended, was accomplished by Robert Pagan, one of the loyalist grantees of St. Andrews. After a series of meetings held at various times from August to October 26, 1798, the commission rendered the verdict that the Scoodic was in fact the River St. Croix intended by the treaty of 1783. The source of the stream, thus declared to be the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, was decided to be the eastern or Chiputneticook branch of the St. Croix. This was undoubtedly a fair line of division, inasmuch as the St. Croix had been the old eastern boundary of Massachusetts Bay.⁹⁵

In 1784 and 1785, the question of ownership of some of the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay became a point of contention between the British and American governments. The loyalists and other British settlers of that period laid claim to all of these islands, and were supported therein by the New Brunswick authorities. Nevertheless, the Eastern Lands committee of the Massachusetts House of Representatives had Moose, Dudley, and Frederick islands surveyed (in 1784), and sold Dudley Island to John Allan, who settled there and made some improvements. At about the same time, the same committee was authorized to make sale of Grand Manan and the small islands adjacent, despite the fact that the government of Nova Scotia had already granted a license (December 30, 1783,) to Moses Gerrish and his associates to occupy Grand Manan. In October, 1785, Congress passed a resolution instructing the American minister in London to attempt an adjustment of these matters, or failing that, by commissioners appointed by the two governments. Ignoring both the resolution of Congress and the operations of the Massachusetts committee, the Assembly of New Brunswick enacted a law (January 3, 1786,) dividing the province into counties and parishes, in which the Parish of West Isles in Charlotte County was declared to comprise Deer Island, Campobello, Grand Manan, and Moose, Frederick, and Dudley islands, with all the lesser islands contiguous to them. Several years later (that is, in 1791), Massachusetts played the next card by causing Moose Island to be divided into lots and granting these to the occupants. When the boundary question was taken up by the St. Croix commission, the contention over the islands was wisely excluded from the discussion by the explicit instructions of the British ministry. The next step took the form of negotiations, which were concluded in 1803 by a convention or agreement declaring Deer Island and Campobello, with the small islands lying to the north and east, to be under the jurisdiction of New Brunswick, the others to the south and westward being declared subject to Massachusetts. Strangely enough. Grand Manan was not mentioned.⁹⁶

In the War of 1812, Moose Island was seized by the British, and was permitted to remain in their possession by the treaty of Ghent until its title could be determined. The fourth article of this treaty provided for a commission of two members to settle the island question. Thus, the suggestion first made by the American Congress in 1785 was finally adopted. Two of the loyalists who had shared in the work of the boundary commission, were assigned tasks of like kind in connection with this one. They were Thomas Barclay and Ward Chipman, representing Great Britain as commissioner and agent, respectively. The United States was represented by John Holmes, a prominent citizen of Maine, as commissioner, and James T. Austin, a leading lawyer of Massachusetts, as agent. The memorial of the British agent repeated the old claim of Nova Scotia to all the islands of Passamaquoddy Bay, not forgetting Grand Manan, on the basis of their inclusion within the original limits of that province, the extent of its jurisdiction, the exercise of its civil authority, etc. The counter-claim of the United States was also heard, and the rejoinders on both sides. Finally, on November 29, 1817, the commissioners gave their decision, namely that Moose, Dudley, and Frederick islands belong to the United States, and that all the other islands, including Grand Manan, belong to his Britannic Majesty, "in conformity with the true intent of the second article of the treaty of 1783." As both governments accepted this decision, the dispute over the islands was closed.⁹⁷ Thus, the loyalist settlers, whether on or off the mainland of Passamaquoddy Bay, were finally left to enjoy in peace the lands granted them at the close of the Revolution.

 

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  1. Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst, of G. Brit., I, 284; Dorchester Collection, I, No. 7.

  2. Me. Hist. Magazine, IX, 23, 188, 254, 258, 273, 363; N, 94, 96.

  3. Me. Hist. Magazine, X, 95, 96.

  4. Batchelder, John Nutting, (Reprint from the Proceedings of the Cambridge Hist. Soc.) 74, 72.

  5. Can. Arch., 1885, 302, 327.

  6. Batchelder,John Nutting, 74, 75.

  7. Hutchinson, Diary and Letters, II, 218, 290, 291.

  8. Batchelder, John Nutting, 71-77.

  9. Ibid., 77, 78.

10. Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst. of G. Brit., I, 440, 441, 458; Batchelder, John Nutting, 78; Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst, of G. Brit., II, 14.

11. Ibid., I, 458.

12. St. Croix Courier series, L.

13. Caleff, Siege of Penobscot (Ms. in Harv. University Library); Batchelder, John Nutting, 79; St. Croix Courier series, LI.

14. Report of the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst. of G . Brit., I, 460, 462.

15. St. Croix Courier series, LI .

16. St. Croix Courier, series LI.

17. Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst, of G. Brit., II, 15, 16, Collects. Me. Hist. Sac., Series II, V. 1, 391, 392.

18. Batchelder, John Nutting, 80.

19. Report of the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst, of G. Brit., II, 17.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid, 66.

22. Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst. of G. Brit., II, 20, 45.

23. Ibid, 66.

24. Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst. of G. Brit., II, 258; Sabine, Am. Loyalists, 1847, 148, 626.

25. Acadiensis, July, 1903, 175.

26. Ibid., July, 1907, 223; Sec. Rep., Bureau of Archives, Ont., Pt. I, 304 307; Sabine, Am. Loyalists, 502.

27. Coll. N. B. Hist, Soc, I, No. 3, 355; Acadiensis, July 1906, 170.

28. Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy. inst. of G. Brit., III, 122, 132: Acadiensis, July, 1907, 277-279.

29. Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., Series II, Vol. I, 392.

30. Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy. inst. of G. Brit. III, 229.

31. Acadiensis, July, 1907, 276.

32. Audit Office Claims, XII, 44: (in the Public Record Office, London.)

33. Sec. Report Bur. of Archives, Ont. Pt. I, 315-317.

34. Sec. Report, Bur. of Archives, Ont., Pt. I, 323, 324.

35. Batchelder, John Nutting, 82.

36. Ibid., Batchelder, John Nutting, 82, 86; Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst, of G. Brit., II, 118, 420; III, 229; Ganong, Evol. of the Boundaries of N. B., 260; Raymond, Winslow Papers, 256.

37. Batchelder, John Nutting, 86, 87.

38. Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., Series II, Vol. I, 395, 396; Bancroft, Hist, of the U. S., X, 368.

39. Raymond, Hist. of the River St. John, 291.

40. Coll. Me. Hist. Soc, Series II, Vol. I, 396; Batchelder, John Nutting, 87.

41. Batchelder, John Nutting, 86.

42. Ibid., 84; Sabine, Am. Loyalists, 10; Mass. Archives, V. 145, 377; Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., Series II. Vol. I, 400.

43. November 10, 1782.

44. Adams, Diary, under the dates Nov. 10, and 18; Coll. Me. Hist. Soc. Series II, Vol. I, 396, 397.

45. Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., Series II, Vol. I, 397.

46. Batchelder, John Nutting, 94.

47. Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst. of G. Brit., IV 276.

48. Ibid., 210.

49. Ibid.

50. Ibid.

51. Ibid., 2S0.

52. Ibid. 442.

53. Report on the Am. Mss. in the Roy: Ins. of G. Brit: IV. 280.

54. The London Chronicle, May 8, 1784; St. Croix Courier series, LXXIX.

55. Report on the .Am. Mss. in the Roy. Inst. of G. Brit., IV., 372-374; St. Croix Courier, series LXXIX, LXXX.

56. Letter of John Allan of Dec. 15, 1783, to Gov. John Hancock, quoted in the St. Croix Courier series. LXXIX.

57. Letter of Wm. Pagan to Dr. Wm. Paine, May 2, 1784, printed in Acadiensis, July, 1907, 210-112(sic)

58. Acadiensis, July, 1907, 213.

59. St. Croix Courier series, CXVI.

60. Acadiensis, July, 1907, 231, 214, 222, 226 228, 225; July, 1903, 160.

61. Ibid., July 1903, 161.

62. Raymond, Winslow Papers, 351.

63. Acadiensis, July, 1903, 158.

64. This coat of arms now hangs over the main entrance of All Saints' Church in St. Andrews, the second structure of that name.

65. New Haven Hist. Soc. Papers, VII, 324, 325; Lee, First Fifty Years of the Church of England in the Province of N. B., 32-35, 82-84; Eaton, The Church in Nova Scotia, 150-152, 158; Acadiensis, July, 1903. 193; July, 1907, 236, 238.

66. Acadiensis, July, 1907, 187-192; Raymond, Winslow Papers, 455.

67. Acadiensis, July, 1903, 172.

68. Ganong, Origins of Settlements in N.B., 118, 123, 128, 156, 167.

69. Acadiensis, July, 1907, 250-260.

70. St. Croix Courier series, LXXVI.

71. St. Croix Courier series. CIV, LXX, LXXXV, LXXXVII, LXXXIX, XC, XCI, XCII, CIX; Ganong, Origins of the Settlements in N.B, 55, 57, 170; Ganong, Historic Sites in N.B., 340; Raymond, Winslow Papers, 489.

72. Ganong, Hist. Sites in N. B., 339

73. St. Croix Courier series. LXXIII, LXXV; Coll. N.B. Hist. Soc. V. I, No. 3, 273; Stark, Loyalists of Mass., 385-387; Ganong, Hist. Sites in N. B., 339; Chandler, The Chandler Family, 269; Paine, Paine Family Register. 30.

74. St. Croix Courier series, LXXIV, LXXVII; Coll. N. H. Hist.Soc. No. 5, 197, 201, 217, 218; Ganong, Hist. Sites in N. B., 339, Ganong, Origins of the Settlements in N.B., 167; Raymond, Winslow Papers 490; Acadiensis, July, 1907, 255, 256.

75. St. Croix Courier series, LXXII: Coll. N. B. Hist. Soc.. IV, 73-80; Ganong, Origins of the Settlements in N. B., 158; Raymond, Winslow Papers, 345, 490.

76. Ganong, Origins of the Settlements in N. B, 144, 171, 127, 123, 152.

77. St. Croix Courier series, LXX, CXVI; Ganong, Hist. Sites in N. B., 338. 340; Ganong, Origins of the Settlements in N. B., 55; Raymond, Winslow Papers, 489.

78. The families were those of Joel Bonney of Pembroke, Conn., (now in Mass.), Abiel Sprague. and James Sprague: Coll. N. B. Hist. Soc, V. I, No. 3, 346.

79. Coll. N. B. Hist. Soc, V. I, No. 3, 346, 347, 359; Acadiensis, July, 1906, 165; St. Croix Courier series, XCVI, LIII.

80. Coll. N. B. Hist. Soc. V. I, No. 3, 347-350; Acadiensis, July , 1906, 168; ibid., July, 1907, 209; Ganong, Origins of the Settlements in N. B., 136; Lorimer, Hist. of Islands, II; Raymond, Winslow Papers, 589, 490, 580, n; Sabine, Am. Loyalists, 1847, 459; St. Croix Courier series, LIII, XCIII, XCVI, CXII.

81. Coll. N. B. Hist. Soc., V.I. No. 2, 215; St. Croix Courier series, LXXVIII, CXXIV; Wells, Campobello, 6; Raymond, Winslow Papers, 490; Ganong, Origins of the Settlements in N. B., 67.

82. St. Croix Courier series CXXI, XLIX, CIX; Lorimer, History of Islands, 89.

83. St. Croix Courier series CXXI, CXXII; Ganong, Origins of the Settlements in N. B., 67; Raymond, Winslow Papers, 490.

84. St. Croix Courier series, LII, CXXI, CXXIV, XCIV, CXIII.

85. Ibid., LXVII. The figures given in the text are taken from the original Muster Book, now in the possession of the Rev. Dr. W. O. Raymond, of St. John, N. B.

86. St. Croix Courier series, LII.

87. Raymond, Winslow Papers, 489-491.

88. Ibid.

89. Ganong, Origins of the Settlements in N. B., 59, 61.

90. Acadiensis, July, 1907, 232.

91. Ibid. 223-225; Coll. N. B. Hist. Soc, V. I, No. 3, 363.

92. St. Croix Courier series, LXXXVI; Ganong Evolution of the Boundaries of N. B., 281, n.

93. Acadiensis, July, 1907, 210, 226, 227.

94. Ganong, Evol. of the Boundaries of N. B., 241-254, and the authorities there cited; Rives, Correspondence of Thomas Barclay, 45. ff.

95. Ganong, Evol. of the Boundaries of N. B., 254-259; Sabine, Am. Loyalists, 144, 711, 208; Stark, Loyalists of Mass., 436, 432.

96. Ganong, Evol. of the Boundaries of N. B., 278-287, and the authorities there cited; Acadiensis. July. 1916, 168.

97. Ganong, Evol. of the Boundaries of N. B., 287-290.