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.)
The company obtained in October, 1765, a grant of five townships on
the River St. John known as the townships of Conway, Gage, Burton,
Sunbury and New-Town, of which all but the last were on the west side
of the river. The first three were named in honor of Gen. Henry S.
Conway, Secretary of State; Gen. Thomas Gage, who was one of the
grantees; and Brig. Gen. Ralph Burton, who was stationed in Canada at
the time. The location and extent of the townships may be generally
stated as follows:
1. Conway, 50,000 acres, included in its bounds the parish of
Lancaster and a part of Westfield extending from the mouth of the
river up as far as Brandy Point.
2. Gage or Gage-town, 100,000 acres, extended from Otnabog to Swan
Creek and included the present parish of Gagetown.
3. Burton, 100,000 acres, extended from Swan Creek to the River
Oromocto, including the present parish of Burton and part of the
adjoining parish of Blissville.
4. Sunbury, 125,000 acres, began at Old Mill Creek, a little below
Fredericton, and extended up the river as far as Long's Creek,
including the City of Fredericton, the parish of New Maryland and the
parish of Kingsclear. A part of this grant (20,000 acres) was added a
little later to the Township of New Town on the opposite side of the
river.
5. New Town extended about eight miles up the river from the Township
of Maugerville on the east side opposite Fredericton and at first
contained 20,000 acres, afterwards increased to 40,000.
It is an interesting circumstance that the site upon which Alexander
Gibson's mills at Marysville stand today, was selected by Beamsley
Glasier and his associates in 1765 as the most desirable mill site
along the St. John river. We even know the names of the pioneers of
milling in that locality.
In the month of July, 1766, the sloop, "Peggy and Molly" sailed from
Newburyport for St. John and on the way she called at Portsmouth and
took on board Capt. Beamsley Glasier and five mill-wrights, Jonathan
Young, Hezekiah Young, Joseph Pike, Tristram Quimby and John Sanborn
each of whom paid Simonds & White 20 shillings passage money. Soon
after their arrival they framed and erected the first saw mill on the
Nashwaak, probably the first built by English hands in the province.
In September, same year, the "Peggy and Molly" brought a large
consignment from New England for Capt. Glasier, including all the mill
gear, a quantity of seed corn, barley and garden seeds, some live
stock and fowls, household utensils and provisions. Capt. Glasier says
in a letter to Wm. Hazen written in August, 1766, "Young and all the
Carpenters intend to stay and settle here and he begs you'll be so
good as to acquaint his wife and family of it." No permanent
settlement, however, seems to have been made at the Nashwaak at this
time other than Anderson's trading post at the mouth of that stream.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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