Saint John's, 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) ”

“ REMARKS. On the state of that part of ancient Nova-Scotia lying north of the Bay of Fundy, now in the Province of New-Brunswick, prior to the year 1754.
The French Government in defiance of former treaties continued to erect forts around the harbour of Saint John, and to send troops for the defence of this part of the country (considering it theirs) and to employ the natives to harass and murder the settlers in the district of Maine, thus for many years preventing the settlement of that part of the British dominions as far west as that district or province extended ”

“ On the opposite side of the river the Nashwaack rolls its tribute to the Saint John and adds much to the beauty of the situation. Abundance of excellent water is every where found with a soil peculiarly well adapted for forming gardens, walks, &c. with a pure, healthy atmosphere. From the hills which skirt the town the river can be seen to a great distance winding through the country, till it is lost among the distant Islands.
[48] Fredericton being at the head of the sloop navigation is the main depot for goods from the seaboard. ”

“ ST JOHN, a river of New Brunswick, Canada, rising in two branches, in the state of Maine, U.S.A., and in the province of Quebec. The American branch, known as the Walloostook, flows N.E. to the New Brunswick frontier, where it turns S.E. and for 80 m. forms the international boundary. A little above Grand Falls the St John enters Canada and Hows through New Brunswick into the Bay of Fundy at St John. ”

“ Here is a group of fertile islands, some of which are over a mile in length, and nearly as broad. At Fredericton the river is about three quarters of a mile wide, and flows with a beautiful unbroken current to the falls near the City of Saint John.—A number of fine Islands are scattered in different parts of its bed. These Islands are composed of rich alluvial soil, and produce large crops of grass and grain. Being formed by the washings of the river, they are like garden spots scattered through the country. About nine miles from St. ”

“ John Baptist at Medoctec, erected in 1717, was the first on the River St. John—probably the first in New Brunswick. It received among other royal gifts a small bell which now hangs in the belfry of the Indian chapel at Central Kingsclear, a few miles above Fredericton. The church seems to have been such as would impress by its beauty and adornments the little flock over which Loyard exercised his kindly ministry. It is mentioned by one of the Jesuit fathers as a beautiful church (belle eglise) , suitably adorned and furnished abundantly with holy vessels and ornaments of sufficient richness. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As we wander among the old burying grounds of those founders of Western Canada and New Brunswick, and stand by the gray, moss-covered tablets, with names effaced by the ravages of years, the thought will come to us, what interesting stories could be told by those who are laid beneath the sod, of sorrows and struggles, of hearts sick with hope deferred, of expectations never realised, of memories of misfortune and disaster in another land where they bore so much for a stubborn and unwise king. ”

“ Fredericton, a town of about 9000 inhabitants, on the St. John river, by which it has a daily communication with the city of St. John, 90 miles distant, by steamer, is the capital and seat of government. New Brunswick has considerable mineral wealth; coal and iron are abundant, and the climate is less foggy than that of Nova Scotia; but these great natural advantages are suffered to lie nearly dormant. The colonists are very hardy and extremely loyal ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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'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, 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, Restigouche, and Miramichi; timber is the chief export, but only less valuable are its fisheries, while shipbuilding is also an important and growing industry; coal is mined in good quantities, and the chief towns, St. John, Portland, and Fredericton (capital) are busy centres of iron, textile, and other factories; the climate is subject to extremes of heat and cold, but is healthy; many of the inhabitants are of French origin, for New Brunswick formed part of the old French colony of Acadia. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, there were no racial antagonisms to affect internal development; and the political conflict never reached such proportions as to threaten the peace and security of the people. In New Brunswick the chief industry was the timber trade—deals especially—which received its first stimulus in 1809, when a heavy duty was placed on Baltic timber, while that from the colonies came free into the British Isles. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There, on the side of both the Canadas, and also of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, a widely scattered population, poor, and apparently unenterprising, though hardy and industrious, separated from each other by tracts of intervening forest, without towns and markets, almost without roads, living in mean houses, drawing little more than a rude subsistence from ill-cultivated land, and seemingly incapable of improving their condition, present the most instructive contrast to their enterprising and thriving neighbours on the American side. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Many persons were banished and prohibited from returning to their homes. An American writer, Sabine, tells us that previous to the evacuation of New York, in the month of September, 1783, "upwards of twelve thousand men, women, and children embarked at the city, at Long and Staten Islands, for Nova Scotia and the Bahamas." Very wrong impressions were held in those days of the climate and resources of the provinces to which these people fled. Time was to prove that the lot of many of the loyalists had actually fallen in pleasant places, in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Upper Canada ”

“ Hewlett was born at Hampstead, Queens County, Long Island in New York, and died at Hampstead, Queens County, New Brunswick. His grant of land at 369 the latter place included part of Long Island in the St. John river. He died in 1789 in the 60th year of his age. Two monuments have been erected in his memory, one at Hampstead on the St. John river, the other at his native town of Hampstead Long Island, N. Y. The inscriptions on the monuments are nearly identical. ”