tabusintac

Horatio Lee Dodd's Kidney Pills Endorsement
Horatio Lee: Dodd's Kidney Pills Advertisement/Endorsement. From The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 27 January 1906, Saturday, Page 16. This advertisement appeared in many Canadian newspapers, including The Victoria Daily Times (Victoria, British Columbia Saturday Apr. 8, 1905). Horatio gathered information about early Tabusintac settlers at the behest of Dr. W.F. Ganong, who incorporated portions thereof into his History of Tabusintac. Horatio was married to Jane McRae Hierlihy, daughter of James William Hierlihy, and granddaughter of Charlotte Hierlihy, nee Taylor. Note: Error in the Papers: Tabusintac, Northumberland County, New Brunswick.
Tabusintac – Table of Contents
Scroll down/click down to explore Sections 1.0-20.0 ⇓ 
1.0 From Environment Canada
2.0 The History of Tabusintac by W.F.  Ganong
3.0 From Loyalist Families of New Brunswick by D.R.  Jack
4.0 From The Ganong Papers N.B. Museum – New Brunswick Settlement
4.1 Letter from Horatio Lee to Dr. Ganong June 5,  1905
4.2 Letter from Horatio Lee to Dr. Ganong April 13, 1908
4.3 Letter from Horatio Lee to Dr. Ganong June 4, 1908
4.4 Letters from Horatio Lee to Dr. Ganong April 20,  1909
5.0 From A History of Tabusintac by Mrs.  Elva Avery
6.0 From A History of St. Andrew’s United Church, Tabusintac, New Brunswick (United Church of Canada)
7.0 From One Hundredth Anniversary of St. Andrew United Church, Tabusintac, N.B.
8.0 From History of Tabusintac by Grade 11 Tabusintac High
9.0 From HomeMakers Magazine – For Openers by Sally Armstrong
10.0 From Charlotte: Mother of Tabusintac by Kimberley A. Branch
11.0 From Duncan Robertson Genealogy Compiled by Kenneth C. MacInnis
12.0 From The Davidson Papers New Brunswick Museum
13.0 From The Northwest Miramichi by Doreen Menzies Arbuckle
14.0 From Tabusintac and French Cove 1804 Compiled by Roy Hales
15.0 From Granted Lots Parish of Alnwick Provincial Archives of New Brunswick
16.0 From The Winslow Papers Harriet Irving Library, U.N.B.
17.0 From The Ships of Miramichi by Louise Manny
18.0 From Micmacs and Colonists by L.F.S. Upton
19.0 From Some Materials Relating to the New Brunswick Indian Collected/Edited by W. D. Hamilton

20.0 From The Saint John New Brunswicker

 

1.0 From Environment Canada

“… Name of Wetland: Tabusintac Lagoon and River Estuary, New Brunswick … Situated in the southwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence 50 kilometres northeast of Chatham, New Brunswick … permanent shallow waters less than six metres deep at low tide, includes sea bays and straits.   Subtidal acquatic beds; includes kelp beds, sea grasses, tropical marine meadows.  Sand, shingle or pebble beaches; includes sand bars, spits, sandy islets.  Intertidal marshes; includes salt marshes, salt meadows, saltings, raised salt marshes, tidal brackish and freshwater marshes.  Brackish to saline lagoons with one or more relatively narrow connections with the sea.  Most of coastline is less than eight metres from mean sea level  …

The area contains … estuarine flats … salt marsh … sand dunes and beaches … saline ponds … inshore islands … black spruce – jack pine forest is found on the Covedell Peninsula … mainly a shallow coastal estuary.  One large river, the Tabusintac, empties into the bay and is the main source of fresh water, it is interesting to note that navigation through the bay is complicated by constantly shifting underwater sand bars, often blocking well used channels.  The topography is characterized by gently sloping lands, and underlain with sedimentary rocks (red sandstone,  shale, conglomerates and mudstones) … Tabusintac Bay is protected from the Gulf of St. Lawrence by the Tabusintac Beach barrier beach and dune system, a 15 km long system comprised of shoals, beaches,  islands and dunes.  The productivity of the system can be attributed to the distribution of eel grass (Zostera marina) flats within the bay, consisting of over 80 percent of the total area.  The adjacent Tabusintac Black Lands contain deep organic soils, making this site attractive for peat extraction  …

Tabusintac Bay is particularly important as migration habitat for waterfowl flocks … in particular; scoters,  Common Eider,  Brant, American Black Duck, Canada Goose, and Oldsquaw.  Freshwater ponds located in the Tabusintac Black Lands are used extensively by Canada Goose.  The Tabusintac Beach system supports … nesting Common Tern … A large Great Blue Heron colony exists in the Covedell Peninsula area.  Ospreys nest in the uplands of the Tabusintac Black Lands. “

2.0 From The History of Tabusintac by W.F. Ganong

Excerpt from Pages 314 to 332

“… The eastern coast of New Brunswick sweeps in a great crescentric curve from Cape Tormentine on the south to Miscou on the north.  Somewhat above midway the Miramichi opens as a sharp gash in its contour,  while the part thence to Miscou is cut by five minor waterways, around which all the settlement of the area has centered.  And of these the one which lies nearest the Miramichi is the Tabusintac.  Like its neighbours on the north, it presents towards the Gulf a line of sand beaches or islands, cut here and there by shifting gullies, and enclosing a shallow marshy lagoon, out of which the mainland rises most gently.  From near the middle of this lagoon there extends westward a broad tidal estuary, of quiet but pleasing scenery, which ramifies into many a cove and creek of the low-lying upland, contracting, however, in a rising country as it extends to the head of the tideway, fifteen miles from the sea.  Above this the Tabusintac is a clear and swift, but smooth, river of great charm, winding in a deep valley, cut in places over one hundred feet below a plateau country.  The river abounds in fine trout, including the so-called sea-trout (which is simply the large sea-visiting individuals of the common brook-trout),  while its ample forests have yielded a steady supply of lumber for more than a century.  … salmon and lobsters are caught outside the beach, smelts and clams in the bay, eels and some other fish in the river, while many water-fowl are taken in the abundant shallow waters.  And there is also one other resource which will be some day of great value, namely, the immense deposits of pure peat which lie between Tabusintac and Neguac.  These form the well-known Blacklands, which the sea is cutting away in miniature cliffs …

Such is the place called Tabusintac;  …  people who have lived there.  First of all were the Micmac Indians, to whom its extreme abundance of game and fish and its ample canoeable waters must have made it a favourite resort  … they had a considerable village at Cains, or Etiennes Point,  …  and elsewhere in the Indian Reserve, and at Wisharts Point and at Indian Point.  Indian Point was an especial favorite of theirs, as proven not only by tradition but also by relics which have been found there … articles show that the Indians had here a burial ground, which appears to be the only one known upon the Tabusintac.  At one time Indian Point was a small Indian reserve, as was also Wisharts Point; but when the Indians abandoned the river the neighbouring settlers gradually occupied their lands, and hold them now by possession.  … Tabusintac (a word which is always pronounced with strong accent upon the last syllable)  is Micmac Indian,  as all living Micmacs agree.  It is a corruption of Taboosimkik, sometimes written by the French, Taboujamteque, involving the roots Taboo, ‘two’, and ‘kik’,  place.  I have been told by an old lumberman, who knows Tabusintac well, that the name is descriptive of the appearance presented to one ascending the river as he rounds Wisharts Point and sees before him French Cove and the Main River opening up like two large and equal rivers.  I have no doubt this explanation is correct.  …

Tradition asserts that two Acadians, Victor and Anselme Breaux, wintered two or three winters at French Cove hunting and trapping before they settled at Neguac and became the founders of that place.  It was Jacques Breaux, son of one of these, who became the first permanent settler of French Cove  … With, or very soon after, Jacques Breaux came David Savoy, who had lived for a time at Oak Point, Miramichi,  came to Tabusintac about 1790, and later married a daughter of Philip Hierlihy (David Savoy, who married Helene Hierlihy, was a son of Anastasie Breaux,  sister of Victor and Anselme,  which shows how closely related were the members of the first group of Acadian settlers at Tabusintac.  David Savoy’s father was Amand born at Shepody about 1743, and his grandfather was Jean Baptiste, who was one of those who dug their way out of Fort Cumberland)  … The earliest definite knowledge of the first English settlers of Tabusintac that I have been able to find, is expressed in a note sent me by M. Gaudet,  based upon studies of his own, to the effect that Philip Hierlihy, Duncan Robertson, John McLeod and William Tobin arrived at Tabusintac in 1798 as its first settlers,  and were joined in 1803 by John Murray, son of John, a Loyalist.  These arrivals must have marked the beginning of an active immigration, for the next year,1804,  as the invaluable map of that year by Dugald Campbell  … will show, some additional families,Turner, Buchanan, Wishart, McRaw, Blake, other McLeods, Blake and Casey, had either settled or taken up lands there.  We must now consider somewhat more exactly these founders of Tabusintac, whence they came and their part in the development of the settlement.

The leader and very first of this group of settlers is universally said by local tradition to have been Philip Hierlihy,  with his wife,  Charlotte.  They came from Miramichi in or about the year 1798, and settled at Wisharts Point,  which is therefore the site of the oldest English settlement on the Tabusintac.  It is not difficult to understand the causes which brought them here.  At that time the best lands on the lower Miramichi had been largely taken up, and the steady export of white pine timber had removed the most accessible of that valuable product from the main stream.  Hence attention was beginning to turn to other places, and the good pine forests, the excellent lands, the fine fishing and the proximity of the Tabusintac must have proved an attraction to some of the more progressive or venturesome of the Miramichi settlers.  Of Philip Hierlihy little is known,  except that he was of Irish descent, had been a soldier, and had settled on the Miramichi.  I presume he was a relative, very probably the son, of Lieut.-Col. Timothy Hierlihy, who came from Ireland to Middleton, Connecticut, in 1753, took the side of the Crown in the Revolution,  served in Loyalist regiments, commanded troops in Prince Edward Island, and finally settled at Antigonish, all of which facts are stated, with others about him, in papers relating to the Loyalists recently published in the Second Report of the Bureau of Archives of Ontario.  He did not live many years after his arrival at Tabusintac, for the plan of 1804 calls his wife ‘Widow Charlotte Hierlihy’, but he left sons, who later became,  as their descendants are today, leading residents of Tabusintac. 

But Philip Hierlihy,  as founder of Tabusintac, is overshadowed by his wife Charlotte, who is entitled to rank among the remarkable women of New Brunswick.  She was an Englishwoman, her maiden name Charlotte Taylor.  I think it is likely she was a sister of Alexander Taylor,  a prominent early resident of Miramichi, and one of the first representatives of Northumberland in the local legislature.  There is a letter of his in existence (printed in Raymond’s Winslow Papers),  … stating that his sister and her husband had come to Miramichi in 1777.  Mr. Raymond says this sister was Agnes Brown, but it is quite probable there were two sisters.  At all events, it is known that Charlotte Taylor’s first husband was Captain Blake, an early resident of Miramichi.  He is said by tradition to have been that captain of the ship carrying Wolfe’s remains who destroyed the Indian church at Church Point in reprisal for the murder of some of his men, as Cooney relates in his History of Northern New Brunswick and Gaspé.  Charlotte Taylor is said to have come out in a ship commanded by Commodore Walker, who had an extensive establishment at Bathurst,  destroyed by American privateers in 1776; and she is believed to have married Captain Blake at Miramichi.  They settled at the mouth of Blake’s, now corrupted to Black Brook, on the present site of Loggieville.  Captain Blake died sometime prior to 1785, for in a map showing all the settlers of that year on the Miramichi  … she is called Widow Blake.  Some time after 1785 she married William Wishart, of Miamichi, who apparently did not live long,  as he left but one son.  Her third husband was Philip Hierlihy, whom she married before 1798, for in that year a grant was made in Chatham to Charlotte Hierlihy.  When she went with her husband to Tabusintac in 1798, she was accompanied,  or was later followed, by three sons of her former marriages,  Robert and John Blake and William Wishart, who with herself and her husband, took up lands as shown by the Campbell plan of 1804.  But her connection with the founding of Tabusintac did not end here, for a daughter of her’s by Blake married an early Scotch settler, McRaw; one daughter by Hierlihy married Stymest,  an early settler of Loyalist descent; another married David Savoy; while an adopted daughter married Duncan Robertson, another early resident.  She became the ancestress of many of the principal families of Tabusintac, and there are few in the settlement who cannot trace descent from her.  She was thus the principal founder, and may well be designated the mother, of Tabusintac.  She died in April, 1840, at the home of her son-in-law at Stymests Millstream, and was buried in the Long Point burial ground.

With, or soon after, the Hierlihys came several men from the Nashwaak, said to have been soldiers of the 42nd Highlanders, disbanded on that river.  This regiment, the famous Black Watch, fought through the Revolution, and at its close was disbanded on the Nashwaak River.  Many of the men, however, were dissatisfied with the lands assigned them and removed elsewhere, especially to the lower Miramichi, whence some of them found their way to Tracadie, Tabusintac and elsewhere on the North Shore.  The men who came to Tabusintac were Donald Murdoch, John McLeod, Duncan Robertson and Duncan McRaw (or McRae).  That the tradition as to most of them is correct is shown in part by the mention on the Campbell plan of 1804, and in part by the fact that in the roll of that regiment in the Crown Land Office at Fredericton, all of their names appear except that of Robertson, although it is possible he is the same as the Donald Robertson of that list.  Somewhat later another soldier of the regiment, David Bruce, settled higher up the river, and another early settler, Ross, is said to have been also of that regiment.  Nearly all of these men married, some of them daughters of Charlotte Taylor, as already mentioned, and left descendants who are still residents of Tabusintac. 

Of the other early settlers of Tabusintac, whose names occur upon the plan of 1804, Roderick and John McLeod were natives of Sutherlandshire, Scotland; they emigrated in the year 1803, as their tombstones standing in the old burial ground at Tabusintac amply attest, and they came here, no doubt, via Miramichi  … Of the two Turners of the plan of 1804, and of William Tobin, nothing is known.  John Murray was from Prince Edward Island, son of that John Murray, Loyalist, of Albany, New York, who settled on the Island after the Revolution.  Daughters of the latter married Loggies, prominent early residents of Burnt Church.  Donald Buchanan was from Scotland; … Samuel Casey moved to Tracadie.  Angus Fraser was from Scotland.  So much for the very earliest settlers, the real founders of Tabusintac, all of whom were there before 1804. 

During the next few years, in the interval between that year and the great grant of 1811, some others arrived from various sources, including Munro and Leslie, of whom nothing further is known.  Others who came early, but were not grantees, were John Campbell from Rossshire, Scotland, and John Beattie from Dumfriesshire.  Later, about 1817, James Johnstone came from Dumfries, Scotland, took up land at the mouth of Cowassaget Brook, developed a fine farm and carried on an extensive lumbering business.  He died about 1862 and left many descendants  … with descendants through his daughters at Tabusintac  … Other early residents, most of whom have left descendants, were Hugh Murray, and Gay (about 1817) from Prince Edward Island, and McCallum, probably from the same place, Brown (about 1805) from England, William McWilliam (about 1829) from Prince Edward Island.  Another prominent early resident was William Urquhart.  This Urquhart’s father was from the United States; he was the first resident Presbyterian clergyman on the Miramichi, and his wife was Margaret Milligan,  locally said to have been a relative of John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States.  Their daughter Louisa married James Hierlihy,  son of Philip, and a number of their descendants live in Tabusintac or vicinity  …  Another prominent early family was that of Benjamin Stymest, son of Benjamin, a Loyalist who had settled at Bay du Vin.  The younger Benjamin came to Tabusintac about 1810,  married a daughter of Charlotte and Philip Hierlihy,  settled on Stymests Millstream, and became the ancestor of a number of the present residents of Tabusintac. 

In later years some other families have settled in Tabusintac, coming from diverse sources, and their descendants still live in the settlement to this day.  The principal of these are Vanadestine (about 1835); McEachran (about 1840); Palmer (About 1853),  all from Prince Edward Island; McKenzie (about 1845), from Dumfries; Mcleod (in 1837), from Sutherlandshire, Scotland; Fayle (about 1850) from Waterford, Ireland; Grattan (about 1833) from Queens County,  Cork, Ireland; McLean (about 1840) from Douglastown; Adam Stewart (about 1836) and Alexander Stewart (about 1847) from Miramichi; Loggie (about 1823) and Simpson (about 1865) from Burnt Church; Ashford (about 1850) from Tracadie.  Horatio Lee came to Tabusintac in 1865  …  Johnathan Loofbury received a grant for a mill at the head of tide on the main river, but was drowned there, and the mill was never built.  Other families,  which have left no descendants, are McInnis (about 1830), McClelan (about 1853),  from New Richmond, Quebec; Dick (about 1875) from Napan; Petrie (about 1870) from Prince Edward Island.  All of the names of this paragraph together with those of many of the earlier settlers, occur upon the map of Tabusintac on Roe and Colby’s map of Northumberland County of 1875  …

The English population of Tabusntac included so large a population of Scotch that the first church built was naturally Presbyterian.  It was finished in 1835 on Long Point, where its foundation may still be seen, surrounded by the well-kept old burial-ground  …  Tabusintac was included in the first parish of Alnwick, established in Northumberland County in 1786, and remains a part of that parish and county to this day. “

Notes from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. Philip Hierlihy, presumably, was a brother of Lieut.-Col. Timothy Hierlihy, the founder of Antigonish, Nova Scotia.  Alternately, Philip may have been a relative. 
  2. Charlotte Taylor was not a sister of Alexander Taylor (an early Justice of the Peace at Miramichi).  His sister was Agnes or Anne Taylor, wife of William Brown, who had settled there earlier than Alexander Taylor.  
  3. The ship that carried the remains of Wolfe back to England was the Royal William.  John Blake was not the Captain of this vessel.  The destruction of the Indian church occurred in 1758 (Burnt Church).  It was part of the British campaign to destroy French settlements around the Gulf of St.  Lawrence.  To this end General Murray was ordered to the Miramichi area with his men while Wolfe conducted similar work in the Gaspe.  
  4. Elizabeth Williams/Williamson married Duncan Robertson on September 22, 1791, at Bay du Vin, New Brunswick (certified by James Horton Esq.).  It is my  belief that she was the eldest child of Charlotte Taylor, born of Charlotte’s relationship with a stableboy/groom(?), butler (?), or West India merchant(?).
  5. Charlotte Taylor (Mrs. Charlotte Hierlihey) died on April 25, 1841 at the home of her daughter Charlotte Stymiest at Stymiest’s Millstream.  Her death certificate was filed in the Office of the Common Clerk,  Saint John, New Brunswick and her obituary was printed in the May 5, 1841 Royal Gazette.
  6. In the Editor’s Notes of the History of Tabusintac by Grade 11 Tabusintac Rural High it is stated that the McCallums did not come from Prince Edward Island – that in fact they came directly from the old country (Scotland).
3.0 From Loyalist Families of New Brunswick by D.R. Jack

Excerpt from Volume 11,  Pages 107 and 108

”  …  Philip Hierlihy, with others, arrived at Tabusintac in 1798, as one of its earliest settlers.  Said by local tradition to have been the leader and the very first of a group of settlers who located there.  He, with his wife Charlotte,  the latter being probably a pre-Loyalist, settled at Wishart’s Point, which is therefore the site of the oldest English settlement on the Tabusintac  …  He did not live many years after his arrival at Tabusintac for the plan of 1804 by Dugald Campbell, reproduced with the record of John Murray (Prince Edward Island), calls his wife the ‘Widow Charlotte Hierlihy’  …  Charlotte  …  was an English woman (a pre-Loyalist),  her maiden name Charlotte Taylor.  She was three times married, first to Capt.  Blake, an early resident of Miramichi.  Second,  sometime after 1785 to William Wishart  …  Third husband was Philip Hierlihy, whom she married before 1798 for in that year a grant was made in Chatham for Charlotte Hierlihy. “

Note from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. Philip Hierlihy married Charlote Black (Blake) on September 11, 1787 in Newcastle. 
4.0 From The Ganong Papers N.B. Museum – New Brunswick Settlement
4.1 Letter from Horatio Lee to Dr. Ganong June 5, 1905

Tabusintac,  June 5th,  1905
Dear Sir, 

‘After I fear too long a delay I have succeeded in gathering up some – all I can of the early history of Tabusintac and its first French and English settlers …The first English settler was Phillip Hierlihy – wife and family – Mrs.  Hierlihy was the widow of William Wishart and also the widow of John Blake – I am not certain of the Christian of Blake.  He was the man that Piloted in the English frigate who wreaked her vengeance on the Indian church on her way out and carried captive the Indians to Halifax for the murder of the sailors at French Fort Cove – Mrs.  Hierlihy’s maiden name was Charlotte Taylor who came to America a single woman and married her husbands all three in Merrimachi.  She came a passenger in His Majesty’s Ship under Commodore Walker and commanded by Captain Skinnear,  who first made land at and entered the Restigouche River and from there to the Merrimachi where Miss Charlotte Taylor landed and settled (with the first husband Blake) at Black Brook now known as Loggieville.  Blake was buried at Willson’s Point Burial Ground – I think that Wishart was buried at Moorfield Burial Ground and Hierlihy at (Burnt Church) – Mrs.  Hierlihy lived on the Wishart Point until her death, which occurred about the year 1843.  Robinson married an adopted child she brought up and who took the name of Hierlihy …the Blakes who are the grantees of 1810 were sons of the original Blake …Robinson reared a large family who all settled in and around Tabusintac – Robinson was drowned by falling out of a canoe at the bottom of the Tabusintac Bay about the year 1824.  … Cains Point was settled by the Indians because of its good fishing … Eel fishing … and good hunting up the river was their chief support – It also afforded a short portage to Neguac Brook and thence down to the coast and to Burnt Church Point where their chapel stood (there was not any other chapel here then).  They raised some crop on Cains Point and kept cattle with the hay cut on Big Marsh – none of the Tribe now live on the Point’. 

H. Lee

Notes from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. The Indian church (Burnt Church) was destroyed in 1758 during the widespread destruction of French settlements on the Gulf of St. Lawrence by the British.   
  2. The reference to the captive Indians was, I believe, an entirely separate episode that occurred on the Miramichi in 1777.  The captured American privateer Lafayette, accompanied by HMS Viper, was used to lure the Micmac chiefs on board and after a bloody battle they were taken prisoners to Quebec and afterwards to Halifax.  This occurred during the American Revolutionary War when the Micmac were encouraged by the American revolutionaries to commit ‘depredations’ against the pre-Loyalist settlers who resided there at that time. 
  3. Robinson was actually Duncan Robertson.  He married Elizabeth Williams/ Williamson, presumed eldest child of Charlotte Taylor.

Questions from Ganong to H.  Lee

Questions from Ganong

Answers from Horatio Lee

1.  Were the Blakes, whose names
     among the grantees in 1810 sons of
     hers by her first husband?

Yes. 

2.  Were the Wisharts (among the first
     settlers) sons by her second
     husband?

William Wishart only son from Wishart who married Widow Blake. 

3.  Where did the McGrays (McRaes)
     come from?

McRae was Scotch.  McRae married Miss Blake a daughter of the original Blake. 

4.  Did Stymest settle first at Indian
     Point or at Wisharts Point?

Settled on Stymest Mill Brook.  He came from Long Island.  The first Stymest married a Hierlihy. 

5.  When did your people come to
     Tabusintac and where from?

My parents were dead before I came to Tabusintac in 1865 and I am of English parents – my Father was a Lieut.  in 15th Foot and was all through the Peninsular War and with Sir John Moor at Corruna where he fell and was buried. 

6.  Is the head of tide above Trout
     Brook or below it?

Trout Brook empties into the Tabusintac at the Head of the Tide. 

7.  How many different mills have been
     on Tabusintac waters and just
     where?

One on the Stymest Mill Brook a saw mill and one on what is called McLeod Mill Brook about one mile above the Bridge on the south side of the river.  She was a grist mill. 

8.  Was here an Urquhart lived at
     Tabusintac? If so was it William,
     the minister?

William Urquhart son of Minister Urquhart lived here at Tabusintac.  He and his wife both of them died at their home about 3/4 mile above Bridge north side of River and were buried in the Church Point Tabusintac Burial Ground. 

9.  Are there any men who have
     become prominent in any way who
     were born or lived formerly in
     Tabusintac?

I do not know of any Tabusintac man became Prominent in any way other than here among their neighbours notable James W.  Hierlihy,  Esqr., well and favourably known for his Justice,  Truthfulness, Kindness and Hospitality. 

H. Lee

4.2 Letter from Horatio Lee to Dr. Ganong April 13, 1908

Tabusintac, April 13th, 1908

My Dear Mr. Ganong

‘I write you to inform you that I have after long delay succeeded in delivering the Book you sent me to the descendants of the first settlers of Tabusintac by seniority and those persons have handed round to the younger members of the families – All have expressed themselves as delighted with your efforts in getting up the Book.  In your last letter you write me that you may call on me for further information.  Your letter has stirred me up making enquiries and I find that I can find leading points to the following Tradagies. 

Namely one at Cut Throat Brook there was a meeting of the neighbours at J. W. Hierlihy’s Esq.  and some one passing saw a man standing up against a tree with the Blood running from his throat the person ran on to Hierlihy’s and reported what he saw and among the others that ran back was the old grandmother Hierlihy who had her fit ? out of needles and she sewed up the wound in his throat he was then carried to Robinson’s and Mrs.  Robertson attended him and cured him – 

… then there was another two neighbours living on the North side of the Tabusintac River and it is reported that they quarreled over night and one watched with a shotgun in the early morning and shot the other.  It was in winter and he put on snowshoes and started to the Southard as soon as it became known – Benjamin Stymist and an other started in pursuit and overtook him some where camped for the night the man being armed with his gun fired on them and Stymist received part of the shot in the front of his head but did not disable him altogether but it gave the culprit a chance to escape but two nights after they secured their man and brought him to justice –

Then there is another tragedy an Indian named Battleman ? shot or some way killed another Indian and he was taken up and brought to justice,  the records at Newcastle will give particulars and dates but I do not know how to get access to them – there is the last about 25 to 30 years ago a man from the settlement back of Chatham came this way offering to sell his horse and wagon he did not succeed in making a sale and turned back for home but when nearly two miles from here towards Chatham some one passing found the horse standing on the road and the man dead hanging to the limb of a tree – I will keep on gathering information for you hoping that it may be of some use in assisting your compiling a History of this much forgotten north shore.  Please call on me at any time I am ever at your service’. 

Yours respectfully

H. Lee Postmaster,  Tabusintac,  N. B. 

Notes from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. On the Dugald Campbell Plan of 1804 the lot of James William Hierlihy, son of Philip and Charlotte Hierlihy was situated directly across the Tabusintac River from the lot of Duncan Robertson, husband of Elizabeth Williams/Williamson, presumed eldest child of Charlotte Taylor.  If the above-referenced account is correct, the unfortunate Cut Throat Brook victim was probably ‘carried’ by boat to the Robertson home. 
  2. In the 1861 Census for the Parish of Alnwick, District of Tabusintac, Northumberland County, N.B., the enumerator was Duncan Morrison.  He has recorded that at that date Benjamin Stymist, age 85 and blind was living with Charlotte Stymist (daughter of Philip and Charlotte Hierlihy), age 66.  Could the blindness have resulted from the above-referenced incident in which he ‘received part of the shot in the front of his head’ ?
4.3 Letter from Horatio Lee to Dr. Ganong June 4, 1908

Tabusintac, June 4th,  1908
My Dear Mr. Ganong

‘Accept my sincere thanks for book received.  I have looked over the Tabusintac history and I think you have put it together real well and considering the very broken up and scattered information you gathered I think it is extra – I was much disappointed in not getting the Tabusintac Historys, intending them for a Christmas present to the oldest of each of the descendants of the first settlers of Tabusintac, The Breaux, Savoys, Blakes, Wisharts, Hierlihys, Buchanans and a number of others, as the number of Book, that I yet hope to receive supply a tribute to the memory of those hardy pioneers who faced the forest and stream doing their travelling in summer in log or birch canoe propelled with the spruce pole, and in winter on the snowshoe – now the travel is done in summer with steam boat and on good roads with horse and covered buggey with all other modern comforts and conveniences and among other good things the Race feeling that then existed between the English and French inhabitants has entirely disappeared.  The French people retaining their nationality with a firm loyalty to the Crown of Great Brittain.  In conclusion hope that I will hear from those St.  John Printers ere long and wishing you a happy and prosperous new Year’. 

Yours with respect and esteem

H. Lee
Tabusintac, N. B. 

4.4 Letter from Horatio Lee to Dr. Ganong April 20,  1909

Tabusintac, April 20th, 1909
Dear Mr.  W. F. Ganong

‘I herewith send you the only picture known to be taken of any of the old settlers of Tabusintac that have passed away (together with the history of the man – James W. Hierlihy Esq. , eldest son of Philip and Charlotte Hierlihy born in 1791 and died at his home at south side of the Tabusintac Bridge where he made a large farm and lived all his life there.  He married Louisa Urquhart daughter of William Urquhart – son of first resident Presbyterian Minister on the Merrimachi – William Urquhart’s wife was Margaret Millican an aunt of John Quincy Adams 5th president of the United States a very notable man in American List.  My wife is a daughter of James and Louisa Hierlihy …

Horatio Lee                                                          Tabusintac, N.  B. 

PS  I am registering this letter to make the delivery safe – Please do return the picture when you are done with it – I would not lose it for anything it is so greatly prized by all here.’

Note from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. The eldest son of Philip and Charlotte Hierlihy was Philip Hierlihy born circa 1787 – 1789.  James William Hierlihy was the second born.

Letter from Horatio Lee to Dr. Ganong April 20, 1909

‘ … David Savoy whose parents came from France and first lived at Oak point (Merrimachi).  David came from there to Tabusintac about year 1790.  Married a daughter of Philip and Charlotte Hierlihy – lived at French Cove – Tabusintac and died there at age of 96 leaving many descendants …’. 

H. Lee

5.0 From A History of Tabusintac by Mrs.  Elva Avery

Excerpt from Pages 9 to 11

“… First English settlers were C. Taylor and husband Philip Hierlihy ca. 1798.  Came from Miramichi and settled at Wishart’s Point  …  Philip was born in 1755 in Ireland – married Charlotte on Sept.  11, 1787.  Philip died ca.1800,  leaving two sons, two daughters and an adopted daughter.  C. Taylor arrived in Canada from England and became ancestress of many of the principal families in Tabusintac.  She was thus principal founder and ‘Mother of Tabusintac’.  Charlotte’s first marriage was to Captain Robert Blake in 1778.  Place of marriage not known.  Lived at Blake’s Brook (later Black Brook and now Loggieville) on Miramichi.  Children: 1) Robert – married Mary Ann (Nancy) Jamieson; 2) John – married Catherine Doe; 3) Mary (Polly) – married a MacRae or MacRaw  ….  Charlotte Howe Taylor Blake later married William Wishart  …  and left two sons,  William and James.  William married a Johnston and James was drowned at Bathurst.  The names of Charlotte and Philip Hierlihy’s children are: Philip who married Jane Lewis; James who settled in Prince Edward Island; daughter (name unknown) married Benjamin Stymiest; Helen married David Savoy; Louise (adopted) married Duncan Robertson.  Duncan Robertson raised a large family all of whom settled in and around Tabusintac, and was drowned after suffering a heart attack and falling out of a canoe ca.1824, at bottom of Tabusintac Bay. “

Notes from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. Captain John Blake is believed to have been Charlotte Taylor’s first husband, although it is possible that she married a man named Williams or Williamson before him.
  2. My research has not uncovered any record of Howe being the middle name of Charlotte Taylor, or of the existence of a General Howe Taylor, purported to be her father.
  3. Charlote Black (Blake) married Philip Hierlihy on September 11, 1787, in Newcastle, New Brunswick.
  4. William Wishart was Charlotte’s only son by Wishart.  James, above-mentioned as having drowned in Bathurst, may have been a relative.
  5. In a letter to Dr. Ganong , April 20,  1909, Horatio Lee stated that James William Hierlihy lived all of his life on the south side of the Tabusintac Bridge. 
  6. Charlotte Hierlihy,  daughter of Philip and Charlotte Hierlihy, married Benjamin Stymiest.
  7. Elizabeth Williams/Williamson, presumed eldest child of Charlotte Taylor married Duncan Robertson on September 22, 1791 at Bay du Vin.  They had a large family of sixteen children. 

Excerpt from Page 13

‘  …  Captain  …  Blake was buried at Wilson’s Point Burial Ground.  Charlotte’s second husband, Wishart, believed to be buried in Moorfield burial ground and Philip Hierlihy in Bartibog.  Charlotte is said to have died in April, 1840, at home of her son-in-law, Benjamin Stymiest, at Stymiest Millstream.  She was taken five miles down the river by a group of Indians and buried.  She now rests at Riverside Cemetery (Tabusintac).  Thus ends the life of a very colourful person who was noted for her strength.  The tale is told of how Charlotte snowshoed to Fredericton one winter to settle a dispute between a Micmac Indian Chief and a Church of England Minister over a land grant.”

Note from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. Charlotte Hierlihy died April 25, 1841.

Excerpt from Pages 14 to 19

”  …  Indians … Believed each thing had a spirit and that spirit lived on after death – so when a man died, whatever his spirit needed in spirit world was buried with him.  The finding of an Indian copper pot by James D. Stymiest at Indian Point with a skull in it, proves this point.  The relic is at Saint John Museum  …  With coming of the French in late 1700s and English in late 1700s and 1800s, when ships coming from Britain to take on lumber brought immigrants, the land gradually got settled.  Settled near the river – as only means of transportation at time was by canoe, sailboat or pine dugouts called ‘pirogues’, followed by the Paddle Boat  … When land was being cleared, crops were planted around tree stumps and the wood ashes were spread for fertilizer.  Another use for ashes was making of lye.  This was done by pouring water over ashes, this solution together with animal fat would be boiled making soap for family wash  …  First settlers got water supply from springs  …  Horses were brought from Prince Edward Island by schooner, so horseback riding was then another means of transportation where trails were made through woods.  Before building of first bridge in Tabusintac in 1859, scows were made from plank,oakum, pitch,  resin and tar, were used for transporting people and goods from one side of the river to another with three locations.  One ferry crossed from McLean’s Landing to Jim Robertson’s shore  …  another from Clyde Munroe’s shore to James McCallum’s shore  …  The road crossed this property and on up through the Hierlihy field; and a floating ferry crossed from McLean’s to Riverside Cemetery.  Horses would swim the river and cattle too, if they could find a good lead cow.  Roads were gradually built but were narrow and winding, as first settlers tried to avoid going up and down hills as much as possible.  Frozen river in winter provided a smooth passage, therefore making it a much travelled route  …  The road on the ice was ‘bushed’ in the fall when ice was formed, that all would follow same route.  Another often used form of transportation in winter was dog sled and snowshoeing. “

Excerpt from Pages 35 and 36

“… First Church in Tabusintac was Presbyterian.  By June 1835 church was incorporated and completed.  Church manse and barn were built at Church Point.  Church was where Riverside Cemetery now stands and there are four posts in the Cemetery marking the spot.  First settled minister was Rev.  Simon Fraser.  The following is the call sent to Rev.  Fraser (October 30,  1837):”

To the Very Reverend                                                                                                                           Presbytery of Miramichi

‘We, the Trustees, Elders and Congregation of St. Andrews Church at Tabisintack, and Church at Balemore, in the Parish of Alnwick, County of Northumberland, and Province of New Brunswick, being pew holders or communicants in connexion with the Established Church of Scotland, being fully convinced of the benefits of having a fixed and permanent pastor to watch over the interests of our souls and being fully satisfied by our own experience of the piety, prudence, literature, and other ministerial endowments and qualifications,  do hereby, invite, entreat, and call you, the said Reverend Simon Fraser, to become our fixed and permanent Pastor, by taking the charge, and oversight of our souls, and discharging amongst us, the various duties of the ministerial office.  And we do hereby promise you all due subjection and encouragement in the Lord.  And we also bind and oblige ourselves to afford you all necessary support and subsistence according to your station and rank in Society.  And we hereby also humbly desire and entreat, the Reverend, the Presbytery of Miramichi, to whom we present this, our call to sustain the same, and to take the ordinary steps, with all due expedition, in order to the settlement of the said Reverend Simon Fraser among us. 

In witness of all which we have subscribed this, our Call, this thirtieth day of October, in the year one thousand, eight hundred and thirty-seven. ‘

Signed: Andrew Milligan, Roderick McLeod, Hugh Murray, Donald Campbell, Robert Loggie, George Murray, John McLeod, James Johnson, Alexander Murray, Alexander Loggie, John Beattie, David Johnson, William Drummond,  Jr. , George Buchanan, Donald McLeod, Sr. , Angus McLeod, Donald Mcleod, Jr. , William McCallum, Thomas McCallum,  William Johnston, William Fraser, John Ferguson, Donald Robertson, Mrs. Margaret Campbell, William McLeod, Jr. , Donald Fraser, William McLeod, Sr., William Loggie, Peter Loggie. 

Excerpt from Pages 51 to 56

“… from the Maritime Conference Archives in Pine Hill Divinity Hall in Halifax,  records show that as early as 1815, a Mr. Thomas D. Stockoe of South Shields, England,  came to preach in Tabusintac and Burnt Church as well as Bay du Vin, where a very nice church had been built a few years earlier, but they had no preacher.  Built him a house and subscribed to his support.  To supply this charge Mr. Stockoe had to travel 85 miles and the crossing from Bay du Vin to Tabusintac was often rough.  … Up until 1802, there was no definite educational system.  Teaching was left to wandering school masters.  First Provincial School Law was enacted in 1802 allowing £10 to each of 45 established schools.  In 1805, a new law authorized two schools in each county with a system of alternate teaching and in 1816,  an elementary Superior School in each county.  The first school in Tabusintac district was built on the Hierlihy property, where the late Mrs. Duncan MacIntosh’s home now stands.  Exact year school was built is unknown, but it was in operation in 1845. “

Excerpt from Pages 100 to 114

“… the Tabusintac Post Office has been in operation since 1845.  First Post Office was situated on property of Will Beattie – Postmaster was James Hierlihy.  … the four corners of the first Presbyterian Church that was built in Tabusintac,  were situated inside the Riverside Cemetery … 4 corners of the old church are clearly marked by 4 posts made by George J. Stymiest.  … The Stymiest Cemetery was formed in 1842 when Lewis, aged three years, son of James and Margaret Stymiest, was drowned at a mill pond on Stymiest Millstream.  The mill was built by Benjamin Stymiest.  …

Wishart’s Camp,  a long established Sportsmen’s Camp … began operations in the late 1800s … is situated on the original grant of land that Charlotte Taylor Hierlihy … granted to William Wishart, a son of a former marriage to William Wishart,  Sr. … The camp is over 175 years old.  The original main part of the house is insulated with birch bark, and the cellar has the old original beams that were all hand hewn.  … The Tabusintac Club House was built in 1907 … A Bed Warmer, formerly owned by the daughter-in-law of Charlotte Taylor, Elizabeth (wife of William Wishart), was donated to the club.

6.0 From A History of St. Andrew’s United Church, Tabusintac, N.B.
(United Church of Canada)

Excerpt from Pages 5 to 17

“… The first church in Tabusintac was Presbyterian.  Between 1826 and 1828 the Presbyterians were communicating with the Glasgow Colonial Society in Scotland for a Schoolmaster and Catechist.  They offered 50 pounds currency per annum, including the government allowance of 20 pounds together with bed, board and other accommodations.  The young men who came did not stay long, leaving early in 1829.  Two of the main supporters of the new Scotch Church building were John Campbell and Mr.  McLeod.  In 1832 they forwarded a bond with a letter from Mr.  Souter.  Following is the relative part of the letter:

‘ … I have now the pleasure of transmitting to you a bond from a number of the inhabitants of Tabusintac to the annual amount of 60 pounds, N. B. currency, for the period of five years, for one half of a clergyman’s services, and one of a similar description from the inhabitants of Bay du Vin and Black River – The case of the inhabitants of Tabusintac has more than once been alluded to in your Society’s report.  The settlement is about 60 years standing; it contains 40 to 50 families, four-fifths of whom at least belong to the Church of Scotland.  They are chiefly engaged in lumbering and farming.  A church 36 ‘ by 26 ‘, has been built and is quite finished externally, and partly finished internally.  – They have never had a settled clergyman amongst them.  They attended well when I preached’. 

The letter stated that Rev. Johnston got the bond from the other section of the field, Bay du Vin and Black River, and also it was desired that the minister should have knowledge of the Gaelic.  Two years went by.  Finally, in the fall of 1834, their hearts were cheered when Rev. Simon Fraser arrived.  He began his work in Bay du Vin and Black River section of the field.  The people were delighted.  Six weeks he would spend in one part of the field and six weeks in the other.  He could speak to the Highlanders in their own tongue.  Mr.  Fraser was ordained after a meeting of the Miramichi Presbytery, January 16, 1835 in St.  Andrew’s Church, Chatham.  By June, 1835 the Tabusintac Church was incorporated and completed.  Some of the early notes mentioned that prior to this the first services were held in Simeon Simpson’s barn.  The first church buildings – church, manse and barn – were built at Church Point.  They were attractive white wooden buildings.  Ronaldson McEachern has a picture of them hanging in his home.  The church was where Riverside cemetery now is and there are four short posts in the cemetery marking the spot … The Rev.  Simon Fraser … was there until Rev.William McLean was appointed in 1840.  … On October 22, 1836 St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Session met for the first time.  It was resolved that in addition to the day for public prayer, the Session meet once fortnight in Mr. Beattie’s schoolhouse for reading, conference, and prayer and that during the intervening week a Gaelic Prayer Meeting be held.  … On September 8, 1889, the Session met at the New St. Andrew’s Church in the Village of Tabusintac. “

Settled Ministers of St.  Andrew’s Church,  Tabusintac

Reverend Simon Fraser

1836 – 1840

Reverend William McLean

1840 – 1844

Reverend William MacRobie

1857 – 1860

Reverend James Murray

1861 – 1865

Reverend John Robertson

1868 – 1877

7.0 From One Hundredth Anniversary of St. Andrew United Church, Tabusintac,  N.B. by Mrs.  Robert J. Wishart (Janet Hierlihy)

August 9th, 1936
Mrs. Robert J. Wishart (Janet Hierlihy)

‘Shadow figures come from nowhere,
League on league across the plain,
Sweep from evening to the morning
Sweep and fade, and come again. 
And the song of all the ages, 
Dances in the golden glow, 
And our memories seem a-dreaming –
Dreaming of the long ago’. 

” … Today we celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of our church.  What stirring memories, throng in the minds of the very few who remember back seventy five or at the most eighty years! Can we in our imagination picture our fair homeland in those days of long ago? This sparkling river, flowed by, reflecting in turn, the bright cheering beams of the morning sun, or the pale moonbeams of night.  The hills rose from its shore, clothed with the forest primeval.  Along its green and mossy banks, at intervals, was a clearing, small in extent surrounding the home of some pioneer settler. 

Oft we of the younger generation ask why so many of our houses are built so far from the highways; But we must remember that those sites were chosen along the river long before here was any surveyed road.  Besides the log canoes on the rivers, were the only means of transportation.  Do you remember our old church site close by the riverside? Through the dim light of misty years, we can see the canoes carrying the worshipers on the Sabbath morning – ‘to enter into His courts with praise’.

Surrounding the old church site, is the cemetery where from time to time has been laid all that was mortal of loved ones. 

‘How they so softly rest, 
All the quiet dead, 
Who bravely striving, 
Fought and won life’s dreadful battle. 
How they so softly rest
Quiet in quiet graves
Ere to salvation.
They waken once again’. 

What have they,  who so quietly rest here, done for the people of our day.  They held up, in a quiet unassuming way, the torch of truth – teaching our lips to pray; our heats to sing; our Sabbath day to reverence; our God to obey – teaching us to live peaceably in this land to which they sojourned from the old lands across the sea.  How those old pilgrims of the former days treasured the Word of God!  Coming as they did from a land where free thought and speech was often denied them, how they treasured this freedom which was theirs in this land of ours. 

Before the old church was built, they gathered in some home,  where some earnest, zealous, minister of the gospel, proclaimed to them the good news of salvation.  This religious longing,  inherent in all humanity, led, more than all else to the building of places of worship.  … What shall we say of the ministers of the gospel who came to preach glad tidings of peace.  In the early days their fields were far apart and communication difficult.  How often they came over the rude roads of those days, and in winter, as now, over the snow piled highways to break unto their people ‘The Bread of Life’. “

Note from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. Mrs. Robert J. Wishart (Janet Hierlihy) was a Great Granddaughter of Charlotte Taylor (she was also my Great Grandmother).
8.0 From History of Tabusintac by Grade 11 Tabusintac Rural High School

“… tale told of how Charlotte snowshoed to Fredericton one winter to settle dispute between Micmac Indian chief and Church of England minister over land grant.  This is not the only time she had gone to Fredericton however, it is recorded that she made many journeys to secure money from her father’s, General Howe Taylor, estate. “

Notes from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. It is likely that Charlotte Taylor travelled on snowshoes, given that northern New Brunswick was and is a snow belt.  William Davidson’s widow Sarah snowshoed to Fredericton, according to her family, to settle his affairs.  It is possible that Charlotte Sutherland’s well-documented snowshoe trip from Bathurst to Fredericton may have been attributed to Charlotte Taylor by some descendants, a case of mistaken identity.  There is no recorded evidence of Charlotte Taylor having met with Fredericton officials to settle her father’s estate, or the estates of any of her partners.  She did, however, communicate in writing on 7 January 1788 from Miramichi to Jonathan O Dell, Provincial Secretary of New Brunswick and Church of England clergyman. 
  2. There are no records of a General Howe Taylor in the vital statistics/military records of Great Britain or North America. 
9.0 From HomeMaker’s Magazine – For Openers by Sally Armstrong

Charlotte’s Saga – October 1992

” … She was a tall, robust woman, a settler with uncommon stamina.  She was also an aristocrat from England.  … Charlotte Taylor was born in England in 1755  …  There was a butler,  …  a flee-the-country voyage to the New World, an out-of-wedlock child.  Then, there were three husbands, nine more children and the establishment of three settlements.  Today Charlotte lies in the Riverside Cemetery in Tabusintac, New Brunswick.  On her tombstone is a simple epitaph: The Mother of Tabusintac. 

Her story is recorded in bits and pieces; a deed here, a letter there, tales passed from mother to daughter through more than 200 years  …  Young Charlotte had been ‘keeping company’ with the butler.  Her father, General Howe Taylor, found out about the alliance and forbade his daughter to ever see the young man again.  When Papa sailed for Australia on army duty Charlotte decided to flit off to Canada, butler in tow.  They arrived on May 6, 1776, in a raging storm on the rugged coast of Miscou Island in northern New Brunswick.  While attempting to reach shore in a small landing craft, Charlotte’s lover fell overboard and drowned.  The daring Charlotte began her life in Canada alone.  Well, not exactly alone.  She had a child soon after arriving in the New World,  a daughter named Elizabeth.

In 1777, Charlotte married Captain John Blake, had two sons, adopted a daughter and moved to the Miramichi area.  When the Captain died in 1785, she married William Wishart, had one son, and moved to Wishart’s Point.  Wishart died a year later, and in 1787 she married Philip Hierlihy, whose farm was in the Tabusintac area and had five more children.  Today, almost everyone in the vicinity can trace their lineage to Charlotte.

Every time one of her husbands died, she claimed his land, . . . And she never changed her maiden name. Once, she tramped on snowshoes 238 km to Fredericton to demand the deed to a piece of land she insisted was hers. She often marched off to Chatham, the local seat of government 53 km away, to settle disputes within the community, and she was known for travelling on horseback to Micmac camps to help the women when they were ill.

She died in 1840 and was carried by her Micmac friends in a canoe down the river to the burial ground. . . .”

Notes from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. On January 7, 1788 Charlotte Blake sent a letter (Petition) to Jonathan O Dell in which she informed him of her problems with a man named Humphrys, regarding Lot No.  53.  The language in the letter is coarse and blunt,’  …  it seems to me he have a mind to try to cut me out of it after I buying of and paying for it’, and in my opinion has an other than ‘aristocratic’ tone to it.  
  2. I have been unable to find any record of a man named General Howe Taylor.
  3. On September 11, 1787, in Newcastle, Charlote Black (Blake) married Philip Hierlihy.
  4. Charlotte and Philip Hierlihy moved together to the Tabusintac area with his “three stepsons”, John and Robert Blake,  and William Wishart.  They were among the first English people to settle there.
  5. It is well documented that Charlotte Taylor did change her maiden name.
  6. Charlotte Hierlihy died in 1841, not 1840.
10.0 From Charlotte: Mother of Tabusintac by Kimberley A. Branch

”  …  Charlotte Howe Taylor emigrated from England to the rough coast of New Brunswick in 1776, when she was little more than twenty years old.  Her father was a prominent general in the British Army, General Howe Taylor.  There are two stories of her decision to come to Canada.  Both contain enough similarities to be different versions of the same story,  neither completely true nor false  …  The first suggests she fell in love with the butler of her father’s estate.  Forbidden by her father to continue the relationship, she waited until he sailed to Australia on duty to flee across the ocean with her lover.  Presumably pregnant,  Charlotte arrived on Miscou Island in northern New Brunswick.  Unfortunately,  the butler drowned during the landing.  With her daughter she settled in the Miramichi area.  The second story contains slight variations.  It contends that Charlotte and her fiancé travelled to the West Indies to elope (giving credence to the suspicion that this family servant was probably black).  The butler died of Yellow Fever during passage but she persevered and settled in New Brunswick.  Whichever story is truer; there is no doubt that she arrived in British North America without a husband or family (except for an infant daughter).

Charlotte soon married Captain John Blake of Black Brook, on the Miramichi River (present-day Loggieville).  A local history of Loggieville details his duties with General Wolfe and Lieutenant-Colonel James Murray (later General).  After the fall of Louisbourg, Lt.-Col.  Murray and eight hundred men were ordered to destroy the Acadian settlements at Miramichi.  Captain Blake, under these orders went to the Indian settlement of Skinouboudiche and burned the stone church.  This village had been known as Burnt Church ever since.  Charlotte gave birth to three children during her marriage to Capt. Blake: Mary, John and Robert. 

Following the Captain’s death, sometime between 1782 and 1784, she married Philip Hierlihy, a neighbour of Irish Catholic background.  A retired sergeant in the Prince of Wales American Regiment,  he was the original grantee in the parish of Chatham of Lot # 9  …  as well as 157 acres on the coast of Bay du Vin, in Glenelg parish …  Together, they decided in 1787 to move to the Tabusintac River area and became the first white settlers there.  Micmac Indians already populated the land.  Added to her four children from her previous marriage (including the child she emigrated with), were her five children with Hierlihy; Philip, James, Charlotte Mary,  Helen (or Eleanor), and Honnor.

From the available material, William Wishart was her third husband.  Wishart did not own land in the Miramichi area and there is no mention of him in correspondence.  She probably married him after her move to Tabusintac.  Unfortunately, both children to him were not living at the time the 1851 Census of New Brunswick was taken, so their birth years are unknown.  However, her youngest son to Captain Blake was born in 1782 and her oldest son to Philip Hierlihy was born in 1785.  The period between these births do not realistically allow for two deaths, two marriages, and the birth of two sons.  Of Charlotte’s tree husbands, William Wishart was the most elusive in research.  He was not mentioned in any document related to her.  The only sign of his existence was that he was the original grantee on Nov 1, 1810 of 141 acres in Tabusintac …

Charlotte …  lived to the old age of eighty-five.  She died in April 1840 at the home of her son-in-law, Benjamin Stymiest and was reportedly carried to her final resting-place by a group of Indian friends …  This incident showed the mutual respect between white settler and Native Indians, whom she is said to have helped in times of need and acted as midwife at births.  She was buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Tabusintac … Tabusintac did not as yet have a church in the early nineteenth-century, although a clergyman was promised to Charlotte Hierlihy by D. Campbell, Esq., mentioned in the land petition of 1809 …  A Presbyterian Church with manse and barn was finally built on Church Point in 1835, and the first minister came in 1837.  Charlotte Hierlihy did not sign the call to Rev. Simon Fraser, nor did any obvious descendants of hers.  Although the Presbyterian Church received the Glebe Lots, a Wesleyan Methodist congregation existed as early as 1815.  The Hierlihy descendants of Charlotte and Philip Hierlihy were the earliest Methodists of the area …  The wording of her deeds implied a deep religious conviction …  Her ability to own and control close to 1500 acres of land was remarkable …

Her first daughter, brought with her from England, cannot be documented.  There was no record of her existence, except as sidebar to say that a daughter was born soon after Charlotte Taylor’s arrival to Canada.  Sally Armstrong, editor of Homemaker’s Magazine and descendant through the Wishart marriage, is the only source that gives the child a name: Elizabeth …  Charlotte’s oldest sons, John and Robert Blake moved with their mother and Philip Hierlihy to Tabusintac …  her daughter Mary married a MacRae (or MacRaw) and stayed in the Black Brook area.  In the 1851 Census of the parish of Glenelg, a widowed Mary McGraw, seventy-six years old, is living with two sons, Donald and Alexander …  Charlotte had five children with Philip Hierlihy, although some sources mention six.  The most credible source was a September 18, 1811 deed … whereby five Hierlihy children, a son-in-law and Charlotte Hierlihy appeared in Newcastle …  to formalize the sale of Philip Hierlihy’s lot in Black Brook (Lot #9) …  The five children were: Philip Hierlihy, James William Hierlihy, Honnor Hierlihy, Charlotte Mary Stymiest, and Elenaar (Helen?) Savoy …  Charlotte had two sons during her two-year marriage to William Wishart.  The eldest, William, was her favourite based on the language of the deeds which left him all of her land and possessions …  The only Wishart family in the 1851 Census, and therefore William’s family, comprises a widowed head of household,  Elizabeth (b.1809, emigrated from Scotland in 1839),  and six children.  Considering the birth dates of the children, Elizabeth, considering she only came to New Brunswick in 1839, must have been a second wife.  William died between 1845 and 1851.  There is little information about her younger son, James, except that he died at Bathurst …”

Notes from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. I have been unable to find any record of a General Howe Taylor in the recorded vital statistics of Great Britain or North America.
  2. Philip Hierlihy was the original grantee of Lot 9 at Black Brook (Loggieville) in 1798.  On the Micheau survey of 1785, Lots 8 and 9 were in possession of the Widow Blake.  Lot 9 appears to have been part of the original Nova Scotia Land License of Captain John Blake.
  3. The Wishart period of Charlotte’s life occurred before she married Philip Hierlihy in 1787, and after the death, sometime before 1785, of Captain John Blake.  Young William Wishart was born circa 1786 – 1787.  An Alexander Wishart, on the Micheau Survey of 1785, held Lot 3 on the north side of the Miramichi.  He and his brother had returned to the area after the American Revolution, in hopes of re-establishing their previous fishing business (Wishart and Co.) that circumstances had forced them to abandon.  Alexander Wishart’s brother was William Wishart.            
  4. Robert Blake, youngest son of Charlotte and Captain Blake was born circa 1782 – 1783.  Philip Hierlihy, oldest son of Charlotte and Philip Hierlihy was born circa 1787 – 1789. The gap between these dates allows for the birth of William Wishart, Charlotte’s only son by Wishart. 
  5. William Wishart, the original grantee of Lot 14 (141 acres) at Tabusintac on November 1, 1810, was Charlotte’s son, born (circa 1786 – 1787) and not her husband. 
  6. Charlotte Hierlihy died April 25, 1841 at Tabusintac. 
  7. I did not sense a particular religious conviction in any of Charlotte’s letters or deeds. 
  8. Elizabeth Williams/Williamson, presumed eldest daughter of Charlotte Taylor, married Duncan Robertson (42nd Highland Regiment) on September 22, 1791 at Bay du Vin, New Brunswick.  It is interesting to note that Duncan Robertson had Lot 48 on the North Bank of the Tabusintac River on the Dugald Campbell Survey of 1804.  The Widow Charlotte Hierlihy was close by on Lot 52. 
  9. Young William Wishart accompanied his mother Charlotte and stepfather Philip Hierlihy to Tabusintac. 
  10. I believe the widow Mary McGraw, enumerated in the parish of Glenelg in the 1851 Census, was perhaps the widow of Neil McGraw (McRae).  Mary Blake, daughter of Captain John and Charlotte Blake, is said to have married Duncan McGraw (McRae/McRaw) of the (42nd Highland Regiment).  I believe that her name was Mary Jane Blake, better known as Jane.  Interestingly, on the Dugald Campbell Plan of 1804, Duncan McRaw had Lot 53 on the North Bank of the Tabusintac River, right beside the Widow Charlotte Hierlihy, on Lot 52. 
  11. Elizabeth Wishart, widow at the time of the 1851 Census, was listed as 42? in the 1851 Census; 56 in the 1861 Census; 62 in the 1871 Census; and 75 at the 1881 Census.  This puts her birth any time between 1804 and 1809.  Her Date Entering Colony in the 1851 Census was recorded as May, 1839.  This date of entry into the colony had to be incorrect, as she had married William Wishart years earlier.  These Census reports were often inaccurate so we can only estimate her birthdate. Her tombstone in the Tabusintac Riverside Cemetery recorded her birth year as 1804.
  12. Charlotte had only one Wishart child, William Wishart born circa 1785 – 1786 in the Black Brook (Loggieville) area.  Horatio Lee confirmed this in his letter to Dr. Ganong of June 5, 1905.  The James Wishart, who is said to have drowned at Bathurst, may have been a relative. 
11.0 From Duncan Robertson Genealogy Compiled by Kenneth C. MacInnis

“… Duncan Robertson, Officer in 42nd Highland Regiment (Black Watch) rank now unknown … at conclusion of (Revolutionary) war regiment disbanded, officers and men given grants of land in various parts of what is now Eastern Canada.  Duncan Robertson it is believed was first given grant of land where cotton mill now stands in Marysville but later moved to grant on Tabusintac River.  Some of his descendants are still there.  Duncan Robertson married Elizabeth Wishart both of Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland.  The latter with a brother William Wishart accompanying her husband to America.  Dates of births and deaths are unknown. “

Note from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. Duncan Robertson married Elizabeth Williams/Williamson, presumed to be the eldest daughter of Charlotte Taylor, on September 22, 1791 at Bay du Vin, New Brunswick.  There is no record of Wisharts residing at that time in Aberfeldy, Scotland but it is possible that Duncan Robertson originated from there.  The Robertsons had sixteen children before Duncan’s death from a heart attack/drowning in Tabusintac Bay (circa 1825). 
12.0 From The Davidson Papers New Brunswick Museum

Court of Quarter Sessions

“… Neguac – Tabusintac Road – Inhabitants of Tabusintac petitioned March 7, 1799 Quarter Sessions of the Peace that the Inhabitants of Neguac be ordered to join them in cutting a road between Neguac and Tabusintac to which the Court agreed and recommended that Otto Robichaud of Neguac and Duncan Robertson Commissioners for Neguac and Tabusintac ? cooperate to carry same into execution.”

13.0 From The Northwest Miramichi by Doreen Menzies Arbuckle

“… On March 25, 1820 the Legislature passed an Act to provide for sick and disabled seamen, not being paupers,  belonging to the province.  An Act was passed in New Brunswick in the 1820s to provide for old soldiers of the American Revolution and their widows.  In 1840 those receiving assistance under Act were:”

Name

Status

Mary McRow

Widow of Neil McRow private 42nd Regiment. 

Elizabeth Robertson

Widow of Duncan Robertson private 42nd Regiment

Sarah McIntyre

Widow of Duncan McIntyre sergeant 42nd regiment. 

Excerpt from Pages 185 and 186

“… Elder David James was associated with the Miramichi Baptist Church from 1823 – 1827, the last year being in full time service on the Miramichi.  He was a native of Wales.  He was sponsored by the Baptist Missionary Society of Massachusetts, to preach the gospel in destitute places.  He submitted to the Society the following account of his labours:

‘I left the North-west of Miramichi on the 27th of January, 1826,  to visit Black River … There are a great many inhabitants scattered in this wilderness, who are altogether destitute of the means of grace … I travelled on foot 40 miles toward mouth of Miramichi to visit some settlements on the sea-shore.  After travelling three days, and wading through bogs, marshes, and creeks I came to Fabishotak (Tabusintac) River, where I preached on the Sabbath three times.  Congregation consisted of about 200 souls.  I visited from house to house, and preached in the evenings three times in the course of that week; the people were very solemn.  … The gospel never was preached in that place before, and most of the wicked characters were under deep distress.  The people contributed to the funds of the Missionary Society’.”

14.0 From Tabusintac and French Cove 1804 Compiled by Roy Hales

The North Bank

Lot

Name

Remarks

No.  43

Savoy, Bonaventure

 

No.  44

McLeod, John

 

No.  45

Casey,  Samuel

Arrived Tabusintac 1804 and later moved to Tracadie. 

No.  46

McLeod, Donald

 

No.  47

McLeod, John

 

No.  48

Robertson, Duncan

Veteran 42nd – married C.  Taylor’s illegitimate (or orphan) daughter Elizabeth Williams.  One of Tabusintac 1798 settlers – appointed Commissioner Tabusintac 1799. 

No.  49

McLeod,  Roderick

 

No.  50

McLeod,  John

 

No.  51

Blake,  Robert

Son of Charlotte by first husband Blake

No.  52

Hierlihy, Charlotte

The celebrated Charlotte Taylor, Mother of Tabusintac, widow of  P. Hierlihy (also Wm. Wishart and John Blake).  She and her late husband P.  Hierlihy led settlement Tabusintac 1798. 

No.  53

McRaw, Duncan

Veteran 42nd – came to Tabusintac 1804.  Married Mary Blake (daughter Charlotte and John Blake). 

The South Bank

Lot

Name

Remarks

No.  20

Buchanan, Donald

From Scotland. 

No.  19

Murray,  John

39 year old Loyalist from New York to P.E. I. then to Tabusintac 1803

No.  18

Turner,  William

 

No.  17

Turner,  Joel Spencer       Murray, George ?

 

No.  16

Hierlihy, Phillip

Son of late Philip and Charlotte Hierlihy. 

No.  15

Hierlihy, James William 

Son of Charlotte Taylor and Philip Hierlihy – Later moved to P. E. I. 

No.  14

Wishart, William

One of two sons by C.  Taylor by William Wishart. 

No.  13

Fraser, Angus

From William Tobin – from Scotland. 

No.  12

  

No.  11

Savoy, Jerome

 

No.  10

Savoy, David

And half Lot No.6 – Believed to have been born about 1785 and married P. Hierlihy and Charlotte Taylor’s daughter Helen. 

No.   8

Savoy, Pierre

 

No.   5

Savoy, Charles

 

No.   4

McLeod, Murdoch

 

Notes from Mary Lynn Smith:

  1. In a letter dated April 20,1909, Horatio Lee advised Dr. Ganong that James William Hierlihy lived all of his life on the south side of the Tabusintac Bridge. 
  2. William Wishart was Charlotte Taylor’s only son by Wishart. 
  3. The above-referencd information is very similar to the Dugald Campbell Plan of 1804.  On that Plan Robert Blake is also noted on Lot 18.  There is nothing on the map for Lot 12.  Lot 10 is also blank.  David Savoy has Lot 9; Francis Breaux Lot 8; Pierre Savoy Lot 7; Jacques Breaux Lot 6; David Savoy and others Lot 5; Charles Savoy Lot 4; Murdoch McLeod Lot 3; John Blake Lot 2; and the Glebe was Lot 1.  Due to Lot 10 being blank on the Plan, and it not being taken into account, the numbering for every Lot below it was off by one number.
15.0 From Granted Lots Parish of Alnwick Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

Map 43 Tabusintac

Lot

Grantee

No.  43

Bonaventure Savoy

No.  44

John McLeod

No.  45

Samuel Casey

No.  46

Donald McLeod

No.  47

John McLeod

No.  48

Duncan Robertson (245 acres)

No.  49

Roderick McLeod

No.  50

John McLeod

No.  51

Robert Blake (260 acres)

No.  52

Charlotte Hierlihy (280 acres)

No.  53

Duncan McRaw (214 acres)

Map 53 Tabusintac

Lot

Grantee

No.  20

Donald Buchanan

No.  19

John Murray

No.  18

Robert Blake (120 acres)

No.  17

George Murray

No.  16

Philip Hierlihy (140 acres)

No.  15

James William Hierlihy (142 acres)

No.  14

William Wishart (140 acres)

No.  13

Angus Fraser

No.  12

 

No.  11

Jerome Savoy

No.  10

Trustees of St. Andrew’s Church

No.   9

David Savoy

No.   8

Francis Breaux

No.   7

Pierre Savoy

No.   6

Jacques Breaux

No.   5

David Savoy

No.   4

Charles Savoy

No.   3

Murdoch McLeod

No.   2

John Blake (Black Lands 115 acres)

No.   1

Glebe

16.0 From The Winslow Papers Harriet Irving Library, U.N.B.

Letter from John Henderson to Edward Winslow May 8, 1810

Miramichi, May 8th, 1810. 
Hon. Edward Winslow Esq. 
Sir

‘Possible my letter of the 29th March has not come to your hand as yet having missed the opportunity in the last of March last.  I have been two different times up the sw branch since the opening of the river; among those people that works on the reserve, and finds that Thomas Dunphy that contracted only for 10 Tons white – 30 Tons red pine with James Fraser and Co. and had a permit for no more,  has cut and hauled out this winter about 300 Tons of red and white pine, and maintains that he will give no more to the contract than he agreed for except at his own price,  though all cut upon the reserve.  John Arbo has cut and manufactured about 200 Tons of red pine or more and all lies now at his own house and all cut on the reserve and ungranted lands and without any contract for government or permit, Joseph Arbo and Nathaniel Underhill also lives on the reserve and works along with those partys that have permits to cut timber on the reservation and I am convinced that they carry great part of it to other merchants in spite of all ? endeavours.  Charles Vye and brother contracted for 160 Tons white pine, and has cut 400, on half of which lies in the woods and the other half (85 sticks) is brought down the river but is not delivered as yet.  Number of the others will not fulfill their contracts on account of their not having hay to hawl their timber out of the woods, I have counted and marked those,  people’s timber that I am suspicious of, but they will desire me do my best as not having it in my power of making them prove where the timber was cut I find ?.  I have made enquiries here for up the forks of Kean’s River ? from its entrance and understands it is about 20 miles and the Indians say there is considerable of fine timber there; but will be attended with difficulty bringing it down owing to the narrows of the river and the short turnings but wherever there is good timber there will be ways and means found of bringing it to market.  The upper boundary of reserve ? I imagine will neigh extend to the forks of Kean’s River, but the distance upstream was never run by a surveyor only marked trees on each side of the river and extending up so far on certain courses and back so far,  and those that drawed land from Government had the reserve lines run on their own cost or they got their lots laid off.  This reserve your honour has given me orders to lay off.  Extending back 5 miles on each side of the river and 10 miles up would need be chained on the 4 corners could be marked without any persistancy.  A surveyor must be employed and men to attend him provisions found that I do not think it would be done under 30 or 40 pounds as wages here is very high; Your honours pleasure about this I wish to know as soon as possible.  The red pine timber that was shipped from this river last summer was approved of very much in His Majesty’s naval yards but I am doubtful if they will get the quantity of red pine required for this year, as the lumberers has combined together in this river to let none of their timber go under 30 shilling for white pine and 40 for red pine for ton which certainly is too high, I should wish to know if I may take it on me to give liberty to those partys who fulfills their contracts best to cut what hay they may find by the river side upon the reservation for they will never agree among themselves about it or if government claims ? no more than timber.  Mrs.  Hierlehoy declares to me that she never cut any timber on the glebe lot sometime ago 2 Indians cut a few pine trees ? by the river side and they lay there yet and maintains they envy her for the hay she cuts on the lot, and I make no doubt that it is so. ‘

I have the Honor to be your
Most Obedient and Humble Servant
John Henderson

17.0 From The Ships of Miramichi by Louise Manny

“… Miramichi shipbuilding was apparently slack in 1842, but Cunards launched the Barques Echo and Nina the Ship Rienzi and the Brigantine Sea.  … Two small schooners were built in 1842.  The Surprize was built at Tabusintac by William Blake and owned by George Parker.  She was burned at Tabusintac The Maria was built by Henry Wallace,  her captain, and owned by him and George Rogers.  She later foundered at sea.  …

Miramichi’s Principal Shipyards

Sites

Names of Builders

Dates

Black Brook 

Alexander Fraser

1852

Tabusintac

William Blake

Robert C.  Blake

1842  1861

Bay du Vin

Thomas Williston

John Sinclair

1880s

18.0 From Micmacs and Colonists by L.F.S. Upton

The Micmacs and Government: New Brunswick

Excerpt from Pages 99 to 101

“… By the turn of the century,  other Micmac tribes were complaining of pressure from whites and requesting licences for land.  … The Tabusintac Indians petitioned Carleton in 1801 explaining that they had ‘allowed the English to settle on the lower end of Tabusintack, on Lands which your Memorialists forefathers possessed’, but as the newcomers were moving upstream, ‘a permanent Licence of Occupation’ was necessary to preserve the Indians’ rights to the eeling grounds.  The request ‘appears to be reasonable and can interfere with no settlement’,  noted the surveyor-general.  A licence was accordingly issued in 1802 for 9,035 acres on the Tabusintac River,  240 acres at Burnt Church Point,  and 1,400 acres on the north side of Burnt Church River.  … on 10 July 1812, the council received an agreement guaranteeing the neutrality of the Indians of Charlotte County.  The Micmacs of the Miramichi, Richibucto, and Tabusintac rivers pledged themselves to remain faithful and promised they would ‘not molest or injure or disturb any of His Majesty’s Subjects or their Property or Effects during the present War.  They would remain ‘peaceably and quietly occupied in their ordinary pursuits’.   In return, the British would not require them to take up arms against the Americans. “

Excerpt from Page 109

“… Meanwhile portions of Indian reserve lands were being offered at public auction.  The first to be put up were tracts already occupied by squatters, and the presumption was that the squatters themselves would buy in at the upset price established by the local commissioner.  Anyone else who bought would have to pay the assessed value of the improvements extra.  The seven acres held by William Wishart at Wishart’s Point, Tabusintac reserve for example, were listed at £10 the lot; 425 acres held by Donald McKay on the Eel Ground were offered at 3s. an acre.  But if the squatter did not bid the upset price, and no one else showed any interest, what happened then?  No one was satisfied with the progress made, and no one but Perley had any alternative to offer.  An assembly committee reporting in April, 1847, urged sale ‘as soon as possible’, and another committee a year later simply repeated the hope.”

19.0 From Some Materials Relating to the New Brunswick Indian Collected and Edited by W. D. Hamilton

Proclamation of Neutrality August 20, 1812

Excerpt from Page 66

By His Honor M. Gen. G.  S.  Smyth, etc. 

‘Be it known to whom these Presents shall come that whereas the Native Indians of the Micmac Tribe inhabiting different Parts of the County of Northumberland in the said province have by Andrew Julien Chief of those of the River Miramichi and Lewis Toma Gonis,  Etienne Toma Gonis, and Noel Toma Gonis sons of Toma Gonis Chief of the Tabusintac Indians, Nicola Julien, Pierre Julien and John Atanas, pledged themselves that they will remain faithful to His Majesty the King of the UK of Great Britain and Ireland etc. and will not molest or injure or disturb any of His Majesty’s Subjects or their Property or Effects during the present war with the USA; nor lend any aid or assistance directly or indirectly to the said Enemies or any other Enemies of His Majesty, but are desirous to remain peacably and quietly occupied in their ordinary pursuits during the continuance of the war and have solicited my permission that they the said Indians should remain in a state of neutrality without being required to bear arms against His Majesty’s said Enemies; I do therefore humbly permit the said Indians so to remain peacably and quietly occupied without being obliged to take up arms on the part of His Majesty against His Majesty’s said Enemies so long as they shall continue in a state of strict neutrality, and shall not in any way molest, injure or disturb His Majesty’s Subjects in their persons or Properties. 

Given under my Hand and Seal at Fredericton. 
The 20th day of August 1812
By H.  H. Command
Jon. Odell

Extracts from Mr. Perley’s Report on the Micmacs December 11, 1841. 

Excerpt from Pages 90 and 91

“… we returned to Newcastle, and thence proceeded to Burnt Church Point, at the mouth of the Miramichi.  Here I found 201 souls.  The Micmacs of Miramichi consider Burnt Church as their headquarters, and they assemble there annually on their Festival Saint Anne’s Day.  Their Missionaries meet them at that time, and usually remain with them about a fortnight when the members of the Tribe are examined in the articles of their faith and those from remote places receive religious instruction.  All disputes between individuals are settled … Chiefs and Captains are elected or deposed … marriages are usually solemnized, it being but seldom that weddings take place at any other season of the year.  In general they marry at very early ages; males at 16 or 17, and females at 13 years of age.  … In the winter season this Settlement is entirely deserted, the inhabitants removing to the Tabusintac and other places, where they gain a subsistence by lumbering, and spearing Eels through the ice….  From Burnt Church Point, we proceeded up the coast in four canoes, and first visited the Tabusintac.  No Indians reside near this River in the summer season, although there is a very large Reserve, …

Excerpt from Pages 103 and 104

Reserves at Burnt Church Point

The two reserves at Burnt Church Point … The reserve at the Point, containing 240 acres, is in the exclusive occupation of the Indians.  The other reserve on he North side of Burnt Church River, containing 1400 acres, is in a wilderness state … There are no trespassers on this reserve, but to prevent disputes the boundaries ought to be defined … a survey is needed. 

Reserve on the Tabusintac River

The great reserve on this River commences about seven miles from the mouth of the Harbour and extends five miles up stream, on both sides, with a breadth of three miles, … it contains by estimation nine thousand acres.  … The Road from Miramichi to Bathurst crosses the Tabusintac by a Bridge … Timber is said to have been procured thirty miles further up above the Bridge, and thence floated down to the harbour.  The land on the Tabusintac is generally of very good quality, particularly from the Bridge down to the reserve, yet there is not a single settler upon it …

Wishart’s Point

At this place, which was formerly called M’Gray’s Point, there is a Reserve of ten acres.  It is near the mouth of the River Tabusintac, and is now in possession of William Wishart, who has it all in good cultivation, and under fence.  The Indian’s said Wishart’s house stood on their land; this was denied, but can easily be determined by survey.  Wishart expressed his readiness to give up this tract whenever it was called for, after he got off his crop.  He has never paid rent. 

Ferry Point

At this point, which is below Wishart’s and still nearer to the sea, there is a Reserve of twenty five acres now unoccupied. “

Excerpt from Pages 108 and 110

Report of Surveyor General on Indian Reserves

Crown land Office, 29th June, 1841

‘Sir, – In obedience to your Excellency’s commands, I have now the honor to transmit the following Report, Schedule, and Sketches, shewing the extent and situation of the Reserved Indian Lands in New Brunswick, stating also, at what dates, and for what particular Tribes of Indians, the said Reserves were respectively made.  Fourteen Tracts … have been reserved in this Province for their benefit, but the title to these lands still remains in the Crown, – leave only “to occupy and possess during pleasure”, having been given to the Indians, they cannot at present, of themselves, prevent the encroachments … few of the side or rear lines have yet been surveyed, their exact situation, therefore, is imperfectly known, and they must continue liable to be interfered with … until their precise limits are defined by actual survey … For these reasons, the information contained in the annexed sketches, is rather scanty, nor indeed can they be relied upon as being even so far strictly correct’. 

I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your Excellency’s most obedient and humble servant, John S. Saunders, 
Surveyor General.

County of Northumberland:

9,035 acres on the Tabusintac River, from Cowaseget’s Creek, up five miles, and back from each side one and a half miles, including 10 acres at M’Gray’s Point, and 25 acres at Ferry Point – 18 February, 1802 – for Indian Natives inhabiting the Tabusintac District. 

Return of the Number of Persons Who Have Settled Upon and Occupy Portions of the Indian Reserves in the Province of New Brunswick, 1841. 

County of Northumberland – Tabusintac River – (3 – 87).”

20.0 From The Saint John New Brunswicker

Letter from Moses H. Perley, Esq. to Mr. Till October 4, 1845

Burnt Church Point, October 4th, 1845. 

‘Mr.  Till, – I have to thank you for the file of papers, which were thrown into the canoe, as we were leaving Newcastle for this place, and were a very great treat.  … The Point from which I write this letter, is at the mouth of the Miramichi River, where it is nine miles across; it takes its name from the circumstance of a large and expensive Chapel erected here by the French, at the cost of £5000 as is said, having been burned by the English … the French inhabitants left the Point altogether; and the Indians then took possession of it; they have occupied it ever since.  It is a very beautiful spot for a town, the land being a perfect flat, about fifteen feet higher than the Sea, … There are some six or eight houses occupied by the Indians, but the rest live in Wigwams in the ancient style, The Chapel is large and well-finished – attached to it is the House of the Priest, which I am now occupying.  From one window of my bedroom I look out upon the stone foundations of the old French Chapel which was burnt, with Burnt Church beyond; and from the other window there is a fine view to Seaward, between Portage and Fox Islands, up which chanel ships have been continually passing during the last three days for the Towns on the Miramichi. 

On my way to Tabusintac yesterday, I called at Portage Island to see the fishing establishment of William Davidson, Esquire, who has during the last three years been extensively engaged in putting up lobsters and salmon, … hermetically sealed, for foreign markets.  … This establishment appeared in excellent order, and from its general aspect, … profitable.  I have just returned from the Tabusintac River, which I ascended for some miles to visit an Indian reserve there of 9,000 acres.  The quantity of wild fowl at this time in the lagoons is really astonishing; the flocks of geese are large and the brant are in thousands while smaller birds are ‘too numerous to mention’.  … The land in this vicinity is very good, and with moderate care, yields excellent crops.  Yesterday and to-day I visited the farm of Roderick McLeod, Esq., and Mr. James Johnston, on the Tabusintac, each of whom has housed in excellent condition at least 200 bushels of wheat and 1,000 bushels of oats this season.  The hay crop this year was beyond the usual average, and the after crop is very fine, particularly clover.  The rot has not reached the potatoes in this quarter, which are good and abundant.  This part of the Province has been blessed with an excellent harvest, and the take of fish of all kinds (except mackerel) has been very good.  The want of roads is very severely felt and much retards the settlement of a large extent of excellent land, possessing many advantages. 

I know not whether you will deem this worth the postage, but it has served to fill up a long evening – as it is now bed time, and my candle is nearly out, I must bid you good night’.

 

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