(2.) In council, 5 August, 1784: In consequence of discontents at Shelburne as to allotments of land, the governor and council appointed the following persons there, as agents to assign lands to the settlers, according to the king's instructions, and to report to the gover nor : Isaac Wilkins, James McEwen, Abraham Van Buskirk, Joseph Brewer, David Thompson, Joshua Watson, Benjamin Davis, Charles McNeal, Ebenezer Parker, Alexander Leckie, Joshua Pell, Nicholas Ogden, Robert Gray, justices of the peace; Valentine Nutter, Peter Lynch, William Charles White, John Lownds, Alexander Robinson, Patrick Wall, Michael Langan. Isaac Wilkins, and any four of the rest, to be a quorum. (Mr. Isaac Wilkins was father of the late judge Wilkins, and grandfather of the present judge of that name.) (3.) Sheriffs appointed by the governor, 1784 :— Francis Green, Halifax; Robert Tucker, Annapolis; Charles Baker, Cumberland; William Dalton, Lunenburg; Elisha Dewolf, King's county; John Emerson, Hants; James Clark, Queens county. November, 1784. Mr. Botsford, reverend Mr. Brudenell, colonel Barton, and messrs. Hill and Stump, were authorized by the governor to lay out and assign unlocated lands in Digby to such persons as were unprovided. (However well Hill and Stump may have acted in their official capacity, Field and Grove would have better met the wishes of new settlers.) (4) 10 June, 1784. Grants were ordered to Benoni Dentremont, Pierre Meuse and others, of lands in Argyle. Fees were established for the governor, secretary, and other officers, on grants of lands, chancery decrees, &c. &c. For the lands granted to the soldiers and loyalists at this time, these fees were charged to the government. CHAPTER IV. ́ 1785. In the first part of this year we find Escheat proceedings to annul the earlier grants of land were frequent.—In Halifax, the orphan house appears to have been abandoned, as the building and ground were advertised to let for seven years. Surveyors' bills for £1170 3s. 4d. were passed. 18 Feb'y. Edward Howe was appointed a justice of the Inferior court of Common Pleas for the county of Annapolis. (He most likely was a son of the captain Howe, killed by the Indians near fort Lawrence.) At Annapolis a plot was discovered. Young had 50 desperate fellows under his command, and they had settled a plan to be carried out on the Queen's birth night. While the principal inhabitants were at the anniversary ball or assembly, they were to murder justice Bunhillplunder the town, and convey the pillage on board a vessel, and go off to Boston. Young was arrested, and confined in the gaol at Annapolis. Governor Wentworth resided at this time in Halifax, as we find the house and grounds he occupied are advertised-stated to rent for £250 per annum. 1 April. The further importation of lumber from the United States was forbidden. 21 April. The import of provisions from the United States was also forbidden after 30 days, except in British vessels, as frauds had been committed, and other goods brought in. In April, 194 negroes arrived in a most destitute state from St. Augustin, and rations, clothing and blankets were asked for by the governor from the military stores for their present relief. Some commotions now arose in Shelburne, (created by a few factious persons,) chiefly connected with the allotment of lands, but they soon subsided. A memorial had been presented to the governor against Mr. Isaac Wilkins. It seems that Mr. Wilkins had bought 5000 acres of land on the St. John river in 1770, and also owned 750 acres near Parrtown, (St. John.) He had waived his rights there in favor of the loyalists, submitting to an escheat of his lands, on a promise of a new grant here, which he received, of lands in the county of Shelburne. This was charged against him, and he cleared himself triumphantly of the accusation. [N. S. Gazette, 19 April, 1785.] The late attorney general, Gibbons, received an address of thanks from the loyalists in New Brunswick, for his attention in forwarding their grants of land. 26 April. He offers his house and garden at Halifax, upper side of the parade, to sell or let.-A charter was granted by governor Carleton, dated 18 May, 1785, by which the inhabitants of Parr town, on the East side of the harbor, and of Carleton, on the West side, at the mouth of the St. John river, were incorporated as a city, by the name of the city of' Saint John.' They were to have a mayor, recorder, six aldermen, and six assistants. The city was divided into six wards. Ward Chipman, (the attorney general), was thereby made recorder; Bartholomew Crannel, city clerk; George Leonard, Thomas Menzies, William Paine, William Pagan, Stephen Hoyt and John Holland, to be aldermen; John Colvill, Munson Jarvis, Richard Seaman, Fitch Rogers, John Ness and Adino Paddock, assistants; George Leonard, chamberlain and treasurer; James Stewart and Amos Arnold, marshals; Ebenezer Holly, high constable; William Sanford Oliver, sheriff of the city; John Hazen, coroner. It is to be observed that the institutions of New Brunswick resemble those of the province of New York, especially in the instance that the seat of government was eventually fixed up the river at Fredericton, in imitation of Albany, while Nova Scotia followed more closely the pattern of Massachusetts. In June, governor Parr asks lord Sydney to allow further rations to the people in the new settlements for another year.' Owing to the absence of messrs. Goreham and Butler, who were in England, and the non-residence of others in Halifax, he appointed Mr. Thomas ---- Cochran, (who had been speaker of the assembly), and Charles Morris, surveyor general, to be members of the council, and they were sworn in 29 June.-15 July. Two negroes were convicted for a rape. 16. Four persons convicted for theft. August 27. Two men convicted for piracy, and executed on George's island, tuesday, 6 Sept'r. Many persons belonging to Nantucket designed to settle here to carry on the whale fishery, and addressed queries to governor Parr as to the reception and encouragement they might expect. Parr wrote, 27 July, to lord Sydney, giving favorable views as to their project. Mr. Morris' accounts of surveys from 1 January to 31 March, 1785, were £1037 2s. 6.,; and 8 August, another account, £918 18s. old. 3 August. Chief justice Finucane died; and 8 Aug't., Isaac Deschamps, who had been 16 years a puisne judge, was sworn in as chief justice. On friday, 5 August, Finucane was buried in a vault under St. Paul's church. In the gazette he is called "an upright judge-an" "honest man—a warm friend, and an accomplished gentle-" man."----4 August, (thursday.) Four men were executed. 1 Sept. A scale of fees for the judges was adopted in council. 3 Sept. The turnpike gate at Sackville was demolished ;rewards of £20 and £5 offered. On the 9th September, Mr. Samuel Sheldon Poole was made a justice of the peace for Queen's county. (This gentleman was a graduate of Harvard college. He was long a member of our house of assembly. He was the father of the house in 1826. He evinced always great integrity, public spirit, and an unaffected simplicity of manners and character. I remember well the filial kindness and attention which Sir James Kempt bestowed on this old man, at his official dinners. I was at Yarmouth in 1839, and saw the ruins of the house he had long dwelt in.) Sept'r. 20. Governor Parr writes to lord Sydney, that, in consequence of the encouragement which he gave them, there had lately arrived. in this port three brigantines and one schooner, with their crews, and every thing necessary for the whale fishery. He expected very soon their families would come here, as well as the value of their property at Nantucket converted into such commodities as should be most convenient for transportation; also he looks for the arrival of a ship and three more brigantines thence, for the same employment. The governor and council, by proclamation, dated 20 Oct'r., dissolved the general assembly, which had existed since 1770. The writs for the new house were returnable 1 Dec'r. The poll at Halifax was to open 8 Nov'r., tuesday, at 8 A. M. The surveyor in chief was ordered to make a return of vacant lands at Dartmouth, in order to grant them to Samuel Starbuck, Timothy Folger, and the rest of the people from Nantucket. Candidates who advertised :- For county of Halifax : J. Brenton, J. G. Pyke, S. S. Blowers, Rich'd. J. Uniacke, Sam'l. Waddington, Jonathan Sterns, Geo. Wm. Sherlock, Michael Wallace; (Brenton withdrew.) For the town of Halifax : John Fillis, Wm. Cochran, Benj. M. Holmes, Ptk. McMaster.Nov'r. 8. Two men were executed for a robbery at Liscomb harbor. Christopher Sower was king's printer in New Brunswick, and advertised a newspaper, to be called 'The New' 'Brunswick advertiser,' to be issued every tuesday, at 10s. per annum. 17 Oct'r. Parr reiterates his complaint that the loyalist settlers would not afford any assistance to the surveyors as chainmen and axemen, not even to lay off their own allot ments. 347 tuns whale oil, belonging to Starbuck and Folger, and 2 tuns belonging to Gideon Gardner, brought to Halifax from Nantucket, were shipped for England in October. "The loyalists and disbanded soldiers complained to governor Parr that Mr. Wentworth, surveyor general of the woods, had exacted fees from them of one shilling for every hundred acres. Parr enquired if this was sanctioned by his majesty, as all the officers of this government were restricted by H. M. from receiving any fees "from these unfortunate people," an order that had been rigorously adhered to. Some of the inhabitants of Halifax petitioned for a charter to incorporate the town. Mr. Parr laid this before the council 17 November. The council were of opinion that it would not be safe, expedient or necessary to comply with the request. |