Saint John, New Brunswick

“ A Canadian statesman, born at Fredericton, New Brunswick. When the boy was only five years old, the family removed to Saint John, where he was educated. After engaging in shipping, and after a short period spent in England, he entered the Parliament of his province in 1846, holding his seat down to the union of 1867. He was Mayor of Saint John (1849) ; Surveyor-General of New Brunswick (1851-54) ”

“ It gives name to the British court.
St. John, a river of North America, rises in the highlands of North Maine and crosses the continent in an easterly direction and falls into the Bay of Fundy after a course of 450 m., of which 225 m. are in New Brunswick; is navigable for steamers as far as Fredericton.
St. John (39) , embracing the adjacent town of Portland, chief commercial city of New Brunswick, on the estuary of St. John River, 277 m. NW. of Halifax; has an excellent harbour; shipbuilding, fishing, and timber exporting are the chief industries ”

“ While the first recorded exploration of the southern shores of New Brunswick is that of de Monts and Champlain in 1604, there can be little doubt that European fishers and traders had entered the Bay of Fundy before the close of the 16th century and had made the acquaintance of the savages, possibly they had ventured up the St. John river. The Indians seem to have greeted the new-comers in a very friendly fashion and were eager to barter their furs for knives and trinkets. ”

“ St. John as a winter port for the Dominion; the short line railway with Montreal; St. John Harbor Commission, etc. In religion he is in accord with the Presbyterian form of worship, and is an elder in St. Andrew’s Church. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative. He was married to Agnes Turner, a lady of Scotch descent, on the 18th June, 1873, and has a family of six children.
Hopper, Rev. John Elisha, M.A., D.D., Pastor of the Brussels Street Baptist Church, St. John, New Brunswick, is a native Canadian, having been born in Salisbury, Westmoreland county, N.B., on 18th December, 1841. ”

“ Of the church organized at Waterborough in 1800, Elijah Estabrooks became the pastor, Edward Coy and Joseph Estabrooks deacons, and Zebulon Estey clerk, “all by a unanimous vote.”
Further particulars of the organization of this church, which was the first of the denomination in western New Brunswick, will be found in Dr. Bill’s History of the Baptists.
The Esteys proved a prolific stock and their descendants on the River St. John are numerous. ”

“ John on the 29th of June. The late J. W. Lawrence makes no mention of this Summer fleet in his “Foot-Prints;” in fact nearly all of our local historians have ignored it. Moses H. Perley, in his well known lecture on early New Brunswick history, mentions it very briefly. Lorenzo Sabine, in his Loyalists of the American Revolution, incidentally refers to the date of arrival. The reference occurs in the biographical sketch of John Clarke, of Rhode Island, of whom we read:—
“At the peace, he settled at St. ”

“ St John is an important station of the Intercolonial, Canadian Pacific, and New Brunswick Southern railways, and shares with Halifax the honour of being the chief winter port of the Dominion, the harbour being deep, sheltered and free from ice. It is the distributing centre for a large district, rich in agricultural produce and' lumber, and has larger exports than Halifax, though less imports. ”

“ Night has settled upon New Brunswick and upon ancient Greece before we reach the Kennebeckasis Bay, and we only see from the car windows dimly a pleasant and fertile country, and the peaceful homes of thrifty people. While we are running along the valley and coming under the shadow of the hill whereon St. John sits, with a regal outlook upon a most variegated coast and upon the rising and falling of the great tides of Fundy, we feel a twinge of conscience at the injustice the passing traveler must perforce do any land he hurries over and does not study. ”

“ John's as far as the Straits of Hudson, were placed under the jurisdiction of Newfoundland. The islands of Cape Breton and St. John, now Prince Edward, became subject to the Government of Nova Scotia, which then included the present province of New Brunswick. The northern limit of the province did not extend beyond the territory known as Rupert's Land under the charter given to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670, while the western boundary was drawn obliquely from Lake Nipissing as far as Lake St. Francis on the St. Lawrence ”

“ Beyond Woodstock and Newburgh Junction the journey along the St. John is diverted by characteristic New Brunswick scenery—steep hills running up to low mountain peaks, rough patches of trees with peaceful intervening pastures, the paraphernalia of lumbering and milling, logs hurtling through boisterous waters, brooks chattering down secretive glens, grey river rocks that serve as precarious pedestals for well-accoutred fishermen . . . In this country angling that is sport for well-dowered visitors is a vocation for men to the wilderness born. ”

“ John river, a trading village was laid out in 1762 at Portland, now part of the city of St. John; and in 1763 an important agricultural community was formed farther up the river, at Maugerville, a few miles below Fredericton. In 1767 a census was taken of the province, and the total population was found to be over 13,000. Of these 1200 were in the territory afterwards forming part of the province of New Brunswick, and there were 500 in Prince Edward Island. The remaining number were in Nova Scotia proper. ”

“ John, New Brunswick, where his father was at that time comptroller of customs. His mother was Jane Busby, a granddaughter of the late Colonel Bayard, of Nova Scotia, at one time on the staff of the Duke of Kent. He received his early education at private schools, and from tutors in St. John and Chatham, New Brunswick, and in Melrose and Galashiels, in Scotland. He then entered the classical course at the University of Ottawa, where, after four years’ study, he graduated as B.A. in 1872. He then began his medical studies at Laval University, Quebec. ”

“ John rebuilt their clubs and homes out Germain Street and about Queen Square after the fire. In Germain Street is St. Andrews Church, grandmother of all the Presbyterian congregations of New Brunswick. Even a brief tour of the city should include a sight of Queen Square and its mansions. A three-century-old French cannon hoisted from the bed of the harbour, and a life-size bronze of Champlain add historical interest. The Exhibition buildings and a new Armoury occupy prominent situations at the seaward end of the St. John peninsula. ”

“ John's (New Brunswick) as the site for their colony. The future capital of New France, therefore, was begun on La Sainte Croix (Dochet) Island, near the mouth of the wonderful tidal estuary of the Uigudi (Ouygoudy) River.
Here they passed the winter, but suffered so badly from scurvy [11] that, when in the spring of 1605 Du Pont Gravé arrived from Brittany with supplies, the remnant of the colony was removed to the opposite coast of Nova Scotia to Port Royal (afterwards named by the English Annapolis [12] ) . The French seem to have fallen in love with this place from the very first. ”

“ John at this time was not viewed with complacency by the authorities of Nova Scotia and New England. On the 18th October, 1753, Governor Hopson, of Nova Scotia, wrote the Lords of Trade and Plantations that he had been informed by Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, that since the arrival of a French missionary at the River St. John the conduct of the inhabitants had altered for the worse; the French had now 100 families settled on the river, had greatly strengthened the old fort at its mouth with guns and men, and had built a new one. ”

“ John river counties where their descendants today form a large and influential element in the community.
In his lecture on New Brunswick history delivered in 1840, Moses H. Perley says that in the year 1763 the Maugerville township was settled by 200 families, comprising about 800 persons, who came from Massachusetts in four vessels. There cannot be the slightest doubt that Mr. Perley has greatly over-estimated the number of the original settlers. ”

“ John, New Brunswick, was born in the parish of Studholm, Kings county, N.B., on the 12th December, 1834. His father, Matthew MacFarlane, was born in the parish of Dramore, county of Tyrone, Ireland, and was a descendant of a family of that name, who, with others, sought refuge from the persecution then prevailing in the Highlands of Scotland. The record of the family dates back to the beginning of the thirteenth century. ”

“ T Young Men's Debating Society, 7; preferred men to measures, 25. Bib.: Hannay, History of New Brunswick; Lovell, Gazetteer of Canada.
St. John Island. See Prince Edward Island.
St. John's. Capital of Newfoundland. Founded in 1582 by Sir Humphrey Gilbert. It was captured by Iberville in 1696, and again during the Seven Years' War, but finally reverted to Britain, with the rest of the island, in 1763. Index: Hd Taken by the French, 44. F Captured by Iberville, 347. Bib.: Ency. Brit.
St. John's. A city on the Richelieu River, Province of Quebec. ”

“ The Loyalists who came to St. John in the first fleet numbered about 3,000. They were mostly natives of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, who had been driven from their homes and forced to seek refuge within the British lines at New York, or on Long Island. There was a scarcity of ships, and the number of those desirous of emigrating to Nova Scotia proved much larger than had been anticipated. It became evident that the vessels must make repeated trips. The following paragraph from an old newspaper is interesting in this connection ”

“ John and Portland, New Brunswick.
The streets of St. John, owing to the unevenness of the ground upon which the town has been built, are very irregular, although considerable pains have been taken to level and smooth the rugged surface. The government and public buildings are generally appropriate and handsome. The principal are the court house, a marine hospital, a poor house, a gaol, and two fine ranges of barracks, with government store-houses at the lower cove, which have materially improved the appearance of this quarter of the city. ”

“ Here, in the most solemn manner, Jesus makes the same assertion to His disciples. The works that He did upon earth were only the beginning of what He would do—the signs, as St. John has expressed it so constantly, of a power to be more completely exerted, of a purpose to be fulfilled. His returning to the Father is to be the crisis and commencement of a new life to the world,—the pledge that all the influences for health and renovation which the Son of Man had put forth, instead of being exhausted, were to go on proving their vigour and winning their victories from generation to generation. ”

“ Many of these old dwellings still stand. You may see them [Pg 235] on Hudson Street, on Laight Street, on Vestry Street, with their dormer windows, their fanlight doorways, and high porches, flanked by tall iron posts. In those days, St. John’s vied with Trinity itself, and with St. Paul’s.
In 1839, when Trinity Church, deemed unsafe, was pulled down and work on the present structure was begun, many communicants of that church came to St. John’s, following their great organist, Dr. Hodges, who played here during the seven years occupied in the building of the new Trinity. ”

“ And possibly also other Apostles whose traditions Papias recorded [see J. B. Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, page 527] , Matthew and Thomas and James, may have had some connexion, temporary or permanent, with this district. Thus surrounded by the surviving disciples of the Lord, by bishops and presbyters of his own appointment, and by the pupils who gathered about him and looked to him for instruction, St. John was the focus of a large and active society of believers. In this respect he holds a unique position among the great teachers of the new faith. ”

“ John, New Brunswick, engaged in business as a merchant, and also became proprietor of the iron works, rolling mills, and nail factories at Moosepath, Coldbrooke, and Rockland, in Kings county, and entered largely into other commercial schemes. He is president of the Maritime bank of the dominion of Canada, a member of the council of the Dominion artillery association, a fellow of the Royal colonial institute, London, England, has been president of the Kings county board of trade, and was chairman of the delegation from St. ”

“ They have all the articles of the Christian creed, the great inheritance of a faithful summary of the words and works of Christ. The Gospel which Paul at first preached in Asia Minor was the starting point of the truth which remained among them, illustrated, expanded, applied, but absolutely unaltered. [226] What the Christians whom St. John has in view really want is the revival of familiar truths, not the impartation of new. No spiritual voyage or discovery is needed; they have only to explore well-known regions. The memory and the affections must be stimulated. ”

“ It is certain, nevertheless, that Henry Alline stirred non-conformist Nova Scotia to its core. After his death the societies which he founded, as a rule, gradually became Baptist churches, and in this way many of the most intelligent and influential New England families became members of that denomination.
In the month of April, 1779, Henry Alline left Cornwallis in response to an invitation to go to the River St. John. On his arrival at Maugerville he was cordially received by the people, who related to him the broken state of their church and deplored the darkness of the times. ”