Читать книгу The Diverting History of a Loyalist Town - Grace Helen Mowat - Страница 8

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Now, the Loyalists who came to St. Andrews in that year of Grace, 1783, were not of the number that were organized under Sir Guy Carleton in New York. They were more a “private and personal” company that organized themselves under the name of “The Penobscot Loyalist Association”, and thereby hangs a tale! All on account of an indefinite boundary line; but then, how in the world could boundaries be definite in those days of trackless forests? Well, it was like this: Nova Scotia was the old Acadia, at least it was supposed to extend indefinitely till it came to the equally indefinite boundaries of Massachusetts. Sunbury county answered for the vast tract north of the Bay of Fundy that now forms our neat little Province of New Brunswick.

The few scattered settlements along the coast of what is now the State of Maine vaguely considered the Penobscot the dividing line between Massachusetts and Nova Scotia. While the British flag waved over both indefinite boundaries, it did not matter much; in fact, it was often a convenience. Claims that were refused at Halifax could sometimes be dealt with at Boston and vice versa. Could any situation be more desirable?

However, when war clouds gathered and the sentiments of Whig and Tory, in the early ’70s, became almost too well defined, boundaries began to mean something.

Nova Scotia was definitely British. The rebel leaders had, from time to time, made advances to her to join them, but were treated with silent disdain.

The Tories in the little town of Falmouth (now Portland), alarmed by the mutterings of their townfolk, decided, in the early days of unrest, to form a colony that would be more safely on British soil. Therefore, some of the prominent Tories of Falmouth started a settlement at Fort George, at the mouth of the Penobscot river, considering themselves thus within the Province of Nova Scotia.

Among them were three young men: Robert Pagan, an important merchant of Falmouth; Captain Wright, and Captain Wyer. The story of their undertaking is told in a letter (extracted from one of those hair trunks I before mentioned), written by Mr. Pagan to his wife, at Falmouth. There is, with this letter, another which I will also give on which Mr. Pagan has written: “Parting letter from my dear Mrs. Pagan—inclosing some of her lovely hair.” The hair is still enclosed in the letter.

My dear Mr. Pagan

This day united us in the happy Bonds of wedlock. This Day seems Destained for us to Part for the first time, God forbid it should be a final separation. May we once more meet and be happy as we have ever ben.

May a gracious God Preserve and Protect my dearest Husband from the Dangers of the sea and from the sword of the enemy and from every evile.

It’s hard to part, but it must be so. Go then my Dearest life and Prosper and may the God of all Grace be your Confidence, may our constant Prayers to heaven be for each other’s temporal and eternal happiness—fairwell

Yours Ever

M. PAGAN

The following letter, although only a fragment and unsigned, is written in Mr. Pagan’s handwriting, and evidently sent to Mrs. Pagan, at Falmouth, in the December following the time of the above letter:

Fort George Penobscot 23rd December 17—

My dearest gerl—,

I wrote you of the 19th & 20th inst., informing you of our safe arrival here the 10th after an agreable passage.

I find this to be a most agreable situation even at this season, and I am confident that it must be much more so in summer. The house of Captn. Mowat’s in which Captn. Wright, Captn. Wyer and I live, is glazed, clapboarded and shingled, but has no chimney nor a single room any way finished. Capn. Wright, before I came, had a room partitioned off for a store, and Hearth with a chimney built out of one of the windows which makes that place Tolerable warm. We have a place boarded off upstairs about the bigness of your room, in which we all sleep, and it is Close Borded as to be very comfortable.

I have got a very convenient store parted off in the opposite corner of the house from Capn. Wrights. Have laid a good floor for it and seiled it all over. I have also got it all shelved and a fine stove for it, so it is the best store and the most comfortable Room in the whole place. I have not yet been able to open any of my goods nor will I for some days as the getting the vessels dispatched requires my own and Capn. Wright’s constant attention. Tho’ there have several adventurers arrived with goods in two vessels lately from Halifax. Yet I find almost all the articles I brot. with me are in Demand. And as I have a much better assortment that was ever brot. here by one person, I have no doubt of getting a great part of the Custom, and selling to a good profit. I have also the prospect of purchasing lumber, furs &ct to advantage, In short I hope and humbly trust that by the protection and Blessing of that kind and Merciful providence, who has from our Infancy made us both his peculiar care, I shall do well here and make a good winter’s work of it.

It is probable that Capns. Wright, Wyer and I may be concerned in the purchase of one or two vessels, some lumber, furs &ct. during the winter, as it will not be in my power to make such purchases without their assistance, but what share I shall hold has not yet been talked of between us.

I think it is not probable that I shall come up in the spring unless there is a certainty of the Troops going to Falmouth. There is not at present a House in this whole town in which you could possibly live this winter as there is not one finished room in any of them. All the houses in the place are one story high except the one we live in, but if I resolve to stay here next summer (which if the Troops do not go to Falmouth I believe I shall) I will, in the spring, build a small house Which I can do at little expense, for your accommodation and that of your Father and Mother as I am convinced you will choose to come to this place in the spring and will be much pleased in its delightful situation.

Beef is very plenty here at 5d or 6d. currency per lb. also Mutton and at the same price. Butter 1/6 to 2/ per lb. Eggs 1/6 a doz. Wild Fowl 2/ per pair. Milk 6d per quart. Cranberries 10/ per bushel. potatoes & turnips 3/ per bushel. Cabbage, not large, 5/ per doz. all Halifax currency, we have also venison at 6d per lb.

By the schooner Seafoam, Capn. Bell, I intend to send you a kegg of pickled lobsters & some smoked salmon, some potatoes & turnips, some cranberries, some mackerel also a quarter of beef and a side of good mutton, while I shall procure in two or three days.

I have wrote Willie fully relating our little Garrison & several other matters, he will show you the letter.

I am not at all uneasy for our safety or that of our property. I Desire to commit myself, you my dearest, all ours and all that we possess to the protection of that God from whom we have recd. so many signal favors. who we can both, with pleasing satisfaction, say has hitherto helped us and who overrules the Turbulent dispositions of Men as he pleases. He has most mercifully brot. me here in a short and pleasant passage, given me pleasing prospects here and I trust will crown the undertaking with His goodness that our hearts may rejoice yet again in the possession of the blessing of his goodness.

Jonathan Tory, Mrs. Berry’s brother, was at Falmouth about three weeks ago. He says all that family, Mrs. Berry, Mrs. Oxnard and all her friends, Mrs. Ross and her friends, Dr. Coffin and all our friends are well.

Mrs. Ross is not married, nor any foundation for the report.

I hope to be able to forward Mrs. Tyng’s letter also Mr. Oxnard’s in a few days and so inform our friends there of our arrival and all our welfare. I have met with several of the country people here with whom I used to trade. There is a son of Samuel Buckmans here called Sam. He tells me he has often made fun for you and Mrs. Wyer about some old man whose name I cannot recollect.

I have wrote night and day since I arrived here. Owing to a great deal of trouble we had had with the sailors. I shall be obliged to sett up pretty late, or rather early to get my letters done, to go by this opportunity. For this reason I have not wrote Mrs. Tyng nor Mr. Oxnard and did they know how much fatigue I have undergone and how late and early I have been at writing, ever since I arrived here I am sure they will freely excuse me. I will write them both fully by the schooner Seafoam, pleas tell them this and remember me affectionately to all friends. Captn. Wyer wrote Mrs. Wyer fully by this opportunity. I believe he means to settle here also in spring. I have endeavored to mention to you everything I can recollect and yet I am loathe to give over writing to you. The recollection of my pleasing.....

The rest of this letter is missing. The “Willie” referred to is most probably a brother, William Pagan.

The Falmouth Loyalists had suffered much from enthusiastic rebels who, one wild night, led by a military gentlemen named Thompson, ran riot through the town with patriotic intentions of plundering the Tories, beginning with their wine cellars, after which they were in good shape for any form of destruction that came to hand, and by morning many important Falmouth Loyalists found themselves homeless.

Next day up came Captain Henry Mowat in a sloop of war, wanting to know what it was all about. This altered the aspect; the inhabitants, by the light of day, began to feel sober and nervous. They explained that some of their people, being rather under the influence of liquor, had got out of hand, as it were, and would the Captain be so kind and understanding as to show them leniency? So the Captain, who really had a kind heart, contented himself by taking on board all the homeless Loyalists he could find and sailing away, and the incident went down in history as “military occupation by Thompson”.

That most uncomfortable incident, however, showed pretty well how the wind blew, and the little settlement on the other side of Penobscot grew apace. The inhabitants formed the Penobscot Loyalist Association, and many loyal refugees joined them there from all points, some coming even from Boston. There they lived in small, rapidly constructed, frame houses until the close of the war. In 1779 it was made a military post by the British, under command of General McLean.

That autumn up came Captain Mowat again to Falmouth, this time with orders to take the place. But no, Falmouth had no intention of giving up its guns; he had not been able to take them the last time and it was not likely he could do it again; in fact, they knew he was easy. But this time the Captain came with orders from headquarters and he had been easy long enough, so he opened fire and destroyed about one-fifth of the town, just to show it was time the other side was heard from. That was a different story altogether. It was all right for Tories to be robbed and homeless, but pious rebels should be spared these inconveniences—Cruel Tyrant! He actually did spare their church, but who asked him to do that? Who wants favours from tyrants? And, what is more annoying than coals of fire?

Well, there was nothing for it but to go and besiege the Tories at the Penobscot, and that was a real siege. Up came Captain Mowat again with the good ship Albany and others to help General McLean hold the fort, and they held it—held it till the very end of the war. Then, awful thought, what if the Penobscot should not be made the boundary? So the Penobscot Association (who were quite a strong force now, having been joined by so many other loyal souls) decided to send a representative to England to represent the situation at the fountain head.

Now, there was one John Calef, then acting as ship surgeon on board the Albany, considered to be a man of parts of pleasing address and persuasive manners, the very man to tell Lord North all the things he needed to know about boundaries.

So off went Dr. Calef across the sea to England, and Captain Henry promised to keep an eye on his wife and family who lived at Ipswich, in Massachusetts. Poor Captain Henry, he had so many things to keep his eye on in those trying days of the War! However, he had a young cousin David who had a vessel of his own in the merchant service; he, therefore, asked him to keep his eye on Dr. Calef’s family. So off sailed Captain David to Ipswich to see how Mrs. Calef and the children were getting on. But the pleasant land of Ipswich was not what it used to be; moreover, they knew all about the siege of Penobscot there and the havoc wrought at Falmouth, and anybody connected with that cruel old tyrant, Captain Henry, had better be taken prisoner. And so it fell out when the young captain did arrive at the happy little Calef home, in Ipswich, under cover of night, after many perilous adventures, he could not sit down by the fire and talk things over with the family, he had to be hidden away somewhere where no one would see him, sometimes in the attic, sometimes in the cellar, sometimes (when he needed air) in the woods beyond the house, or in the loft of the barn. Dr. Calef’s little daughter Mehetible, only twelve years old, took his meals to these secluded spots.

When older people went out in those troubled times they might have stones thrown at them, and always there was the shout of “Tory! Tory!” waiting round the corner for everyone who loved his king and country; but a little girl, just twelve years old, was not so likely to be molested, and little Mehetible was not afraid. She was never afraid, all through her long eventful life she never knew fear. The young Captain could tell her lovely stories, too. Wild tales of the Orkney Islands, where he had spent his boyhood; legends of courtly Spaniards wrecked on those rocky shores long ago from the Spanish Armada, who ever afterwards made their home among the Island people and from whom his family had descended. This tall swarthy weather-beaten sailor became a wonderful person in the eyes of the little Mehetible.

And all this time Dr. Calef was on his way to London to talk about boundaries with Lord North and other important people.

The war waged on. Danger for the Loyalists lurked at every turn. Mrs. Calef, fearing for the safety of her children, decided to take them to the peaceful and unquestionably British shores of the Bay of Fundy.

The young Captain would gladly take them in his boat. But no, the enemy was hot on his trail, and Mrs. Calef had another errand for him to do. He must take his boat and wait off the coast for the return of her husband and inform him of their whereabouts and bring him back to her at the Bay of Fundy.

So she hired a vessel and took her six children, the family Bible that had belonged to her father, (that good old minister of the gospel, Jedediah Jewett), and her armchair Grandmother Dummer gave her, and a silver tankard, and she packed them all on board with the furniture and other household goods and sailed away to that unknown shore.

Coming up the Bay of Fundy in a snow storm, the little craft bearing the Calef family lost its way and ran aground some miles from the mouth of the St. John River; she and the children had to walk through the storm, around the shore, till they found shelter in the small settlement that is now Saint John.

Meanwhile the end of the war had come with the Treaty of Paris, which severed the thirteen colonies, which were English, from British North America, which was entirely French. The cut was made with a dull knife and some of the edges were not well severed, and over in London Lord North was sadly explaining to Dr. Calef: “Doctor! Doctor! the pressure is too great, St. Croix must be the boundary not the Penobscot.”

That was the word that came to the Penobscot Association in their newly established settlement. “Well”, they said, “it is the ruling of a Divine Providence.” And so they must move again. If the St. Croix was to be the boundary, to the St. Croix they would go, and they went.

Down came the little houses so hastily knocked together for their settlement at Fort George; all the frame-work, lumber and material, everything they had needed there, they would need likewise on the banks of the St. Croix. Furniture and silver and dishes and tools and livestock as well. Those little sailing ships must have been weighted to the water’s edge with such varied and precious cargoes. Then the coffee-house had to come too, the coffee-house that had been the scene of many secret meetings of the Association, so many festive meetings too when it was used as the officers’ mess. They could never get on without it. A bill for the removal of this little building is still in existence, which reads: “Estimates of the Coffee House, with the expense of removing it to St. Andrews.”

Andrew Martin to John McPhail

	Dr.	£	s	d
To the House taken down at Penobscot	30	0	0
	Freight from here to St. Andrews	13	10	0
	Taking down 3,000 bricks	6	0	0
	Freightdodo	2	10	0
	1,000 feet seasoned boards	2	10	0
	Freight ondo	1	10	0
	4 window frames cases and sashes glazed	4	0	0
	1 pannel door	1	0	0
		————
		61	0	0

The Coffee House was then owned by John McPhail and his wife, who ran it as a hospitable tavern. John was away in England at the time and Mrs. McPhail had much difficulty in superintending the removal, and finally got involved in a law suit.

This interesting structure was unfortunately burned, in 1930, when a disastrous fire broke out on Water Street.

With everything on board, even to the Coffee House, that courageous little fleet set sail to found another settlement at the mouth of another river. Anything for peace and the British flag. They had previously sent out agents and a surveyor to inspect the land about the mouth of the St. Croix, and had heard pleasing reports of the present destination.

Of the advance guard was one James Maloney (then spelled Malownay) who, with his family, settled on the island now known as Navy Island, where he was joined by others, and for many years there was a considerable settlement on this island. It is told of James Maloney that, on arriving, he let his little son cut down a small sapling so that he could say he cut the first tree in the new settlement. They feared to settle on the mainland, as the Indians were not particularly cordial. How eagerly must they have watched for the coming of the other vessels.