Campobello: An Historical SketchWells, Kate Gannett
History
Campobello: An Historical Sketch
Wells, Kate Gannett
Campobello Island (N.B.)
=The Bank.= Remittances did not always come promptly from England, and
money was needed in the Island; so the Admiral set up his own bank, and
issued one-dollar certificates, surmounted by the crest and his motto,
"Flecti non Frangi." But somehow the time never came when he was called
upon "to pay one dollar on demand to the bearer at Welsh Pool," and the
certificates remain, to be utilized, perhaps, under a new epoch of good
will and foolish trust.
=Titles.= The Island must have had some law and order before the advent
of the Admiral, for the town records for the parish of Campobello date
from April 15, 1824, James M. Parker, town clerk. At the general session
of the peace, holden at St. Andrews, the shire town of Charlotte County,
New Brunswick, thirty-two officers were chosen for the small population
of Campobello. As in the old German principalities, every Welsh Pooler
must have craved a title. There were commissioners and surveyors of
highways, overseers of poor and of fisheries, assessors, trustees of
schools, inspectors of fish for home consumption and for exports, for
smoked herring and boxes. There were cullers of staves, fence-viewers
and hog-reeves, and surveyors of lumber and cordwood, lest that which
should properly be used for purposes of building or export be consumed
on andirons or in kitchen stoves.
=Paupers.= In those days there was no poorhouse; though town paupers
existed, for one, Peter Lion by name, was boarded about for one hundred
dollars, and furnished with suitable food, raiment, lodging, and medical
aid. No one kept him long at a time, whether it was because others
wanted the price paid for his support, or because he was an unwelcome
inmate, is unknown. Prices depend on supply; therefore, it happened that
the next pauper was boarded for fifty dollars. Again, a lower price for
board brought about a lower tax rate for the householders; and, in
course of time, another pauper was set up at public auction, and the
lowest bidder was entrusted with his care and maintenance.
By 1829 the exports from the Island justified the creation of harbor
masters and port wardens,--more titles to be coveted.
=Ferryman.= A ferry was established from Campobello to Indian Island and
Eastport. The ferryman was "recognized in the sum of two pounds, and was
conditioned to keep a good and sufficient boat, with sails and oars, to
carry all persons who required between the appointed places, to ask,
demand, and receive for each person so ferried one shilling and three
pence, and no more." If any other than the appointee should have the
hardihood to make a little money by transporting a weary traveller, such
persons should be fined ten shillings, half of it to go to the informer
and half to the ferryman, unless he had previously arranged with the
licensee that he would afford him due and righteous satisfaction for
each person so carried.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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