Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
History
Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784
Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
New Brunswick -- History; Saint John River Valley (Me. and N.B.)
This sentiment was not shared by the Acadians of Memramcook, who found
difficulty in resisting the claims of the heirs of DesBarres to the
lands they had settled. Two Lots in the upper part of the Township of
Maugerville were granted to Governor DesBarres and had he settled
there he would have been the next-door neighbor of the Widow Clark,
but there is nothing to show that he made any attempt to improve his
lands in that quarter and so his connection with the settlement is
nothing but a name.
Joshua Mauger, the other non-resident grantee to whom reference has
been made, was an English merchant who came to America as a contractor
under government for furnishing supplies to the army at Louisbourg.
When Cape Breton was restored to France, in 1749, Louisbourg was
evacuated and Mauger came with the troops to Halifax. Shortly after
his arrival he and other merchants asked permission to build wharves
on the beach for the accommodation of their business. In 1751 he was
appointed agent for victualling the Navy. Grog was at that time freely
dispensed in the army and navy, and Mauger erected a distillery where
he manufactured the rum required for the troops and seamen. As the
business was lucrative he soon accumulated much property in and around
Halifax, including the well known Mauger's Beach at the entrance of
Halifax harbor. He had also shops at Pisiquid and Minas--or, as they
are now called, Windsor and Horton--where he sold goods and spirits to
the French and Indians. He returned to England in 1761 and was
appointed agent for the Province of Nova Scotia in London. The year
following he was elected a member of Parliament.
Joshua Mauger in his position as Agent for the province was able to
render it essential service, and in the year 1766 the legislature
of Nova Scotia voted the sum of L50 for a piece of plate as a
testimonial of their appreciation of his "zeal and unwearied
application" in their behalf. As already mentioned, it was chiefly
due to his energy that the Massachusetts settlers on the River St.
John were confirmed in possession of their township. For his
services in this connection, however, he was not unrewarded; not
only was the township named in his honor, but the large island,
since known as Mauger's or Gilbert's Island, was granted to him,
together with ten lots, at the lower end of the township. When the
Loyalists arrived they looked with somewhat covetous eyes on these
interval lands which were settled by tenants at a yearly rental of
L3 for each lot. Mauger's Island was purchased by Colonel Thomas
Gilbert, the well known Loyalist of Taunton, Massachusetts, and by
him bequeathed to his eldest son, Thomas Gilbert, jr. The latter
writes so entertainingly and so enthusiastically of his situation,
in a letter to his sister and her husband, that we venture to depart,
for a moment, from the chronological order of events in order to
give some extracts.
"On Board Major's Island, Sept. 30, 1799.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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