tailieunhanh - THE ST. JOHN’S RIVER SOCIETY

Since the preceding chapters were printed the author chanced to discover some interesting manuscripts in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society which throw a good deal of light upon the history of the old townships on the River St. John. It is to be regretted that this discovery was not made a little sooner, but it is not too late to give the reader the benefit of it in a supplementary way. The association that undertook the settlement of the townships of Conway, Gage, Burton, Sunbury and New-town has been referred to in these pages as “The Canada. | The St. John s River Society Since the preceding chapters were printed the author chanced to discover some interesting manuscripts in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society which throw a good deal of light upon the history of the old townships on the River St. John. It is to be regretted that this discovery was not made a little sooner but it is not too late to give the reader the benefit of it in a supplementary way. The association that undertook the settlement of the townships of Conway Gage Burton Sunbury and New-town has been referred to in these pages as The Canada Company but its proper name was The St. John s River Society. The original promoters of the gigantic land speculation for such we must call it set on foot at Montreal in 1764 were chiefly army officers serving in Canada hence the name The Canada Company. When however it was determined to enlarge the association by the addition of the names of gentlemen in Boston New York Philadelphia and Halifax and when the valley of the River St. John was selected as the place where the most desirable lands were to be had the Canada Company took a new name and was known as The St. John s River Society. The president of the society was Captain Thomas Falconer who was at this time at Montreal with his regiment. The most active promoter of the society s plans for several years however was Beamsley P. Glasier. This gentleman has already been frequently spoken of in connection with events on the St. John. He was a captain in the Royal American Regiment and afterwards attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He had previously served in the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment in which he was commissioned ensign early in February 1745. The regimentrendered gallant service under Sir William Pepperrell at the taking of Louisburg and we have abundant evidence of Glasier s reputation as a brave determined leader in the following document the original of which is to be found in the archives of the Massachusetts .