The financial backers of the company at the first were Hazen and Blodget, who carried on business at Newburyport and Boston respectively. These towns were then rising into importance and were rivals in trade although it was not long until Boston forged ahead. The goods required for trade with the Indians and white inhabitants of the River St. John and the military garrison at Fort Frederick were conveniently supplied from Newburyport and Boston, and these places were good distributing centres for the fish, furs, lumber, lime and other products obtained at St. John. The furs were usually sold in London; the other articles were either sold in the local market or sent to the West Indies. The Company having been formed and the contract signed on the 1st day of March, 1764, the Messrs. Simonds, James White, Jonathan Leavitt and a party of about thirty hands embarked on board a schooner belonging to the Company for the scene of operations. The men were fishermen, laborers, lime burners, with one or two coopers--a rough and ready lot, but with one or two of superior intelligence to act as foremen. Comparatively few of the men seem to have become permanent settlers, yet as members of the little colony at Portland Point and almost the first English-speaking residents of St. John, outside of the Fort Frederick garrison, their names are worthy to be recorded. The following may be regarded as a complete list: James Simonds, James White, Jonathan Leavitt, Jonathan Simonds, Samuel Middleton, Peter Middleton, Edmund Black, Moses True, Reuben Stevens, John Stevens, John Boyd, Moses Kimball, Benjamin Dow, Thomas Jenkins, Batcheldor Ring, Rowley Andros, Edmund Butler, John Nason, Reuben Mace, Benjamin Wiggins, John Lovering, John Hookey, Rueben Sergeant, Benjamin Stanwood, Benjamin Winter, Anthony Dyer, Webster Emerson, George Carey, John Hunt, George Berry, Simeon Hillyard, Ebenezer Fowler, William Picket and Ezekiel Carr. The Company's schooner, with William Story as master, sailed from Newburyport about the 10th of April, arriving at Passamaquody on the 14th, and at St. John on the 18th. The men set to work immediately on their arrival, and the quietude that had reigned beneath the shadow of Fort Howe hill was broken by the sound of the woodsman's axe and the carpenter's saw and hammer. Among the first buildings erected were a log store 20 feet by 30 feet, a dwelling house 19 feet by 35 feet, and a building adjoining it 16 by 40, rough boarded and used as a cooper's shop, kitchen and shelter for the workmen.