History of Halifax City Part 21

The Dutch in the north suburbs usually built with the ends of their houses to the street; those of the better sort had ornamental windows and heavy cornices with weatherc.o.c.ks, One or two of these old houses were to be seen in Brunswick Street about thirty-five years ago. Among the old houses which have now disappeared was one which stood in the field opposite the lower wharf, near Point Pleasant; it was built about 1770, and occupied by General Fanning about 1783.

A year or two after the settlement Mr. Gerrish built several small stone houses near the tower; the clearance east of the pine woods is still to be seen; they were occupied for a short time by the settlers from the north of Ireland who went to Cobequid.

A large wooden building stood in the centre of the enclosure now occupied by Government House, built before the American Revolution, and used as a residence for field officers and other military purposes. The public hospital stood on part of the land now occupied by Government House to the north of the present house; it was afterwards sold; probably the spot on which St. Matthew's church now stands.

The first jail stood where the late Mr. Robert Brown's house in Hollis Street stood, opposite the Halifax Hotel; the jail was kept there till 1787, or thereabouts. In 1777, the Provost Marshal was suspended from his office in consequence of the repeated escape of prisoners from this building.

In 1752, government purchased a small stone house built by Col. Horseman for a prison, probably a military one; this was near where St. Mary's Cathedral now stands.

One remnant of the first settlement, now forgotten, was an old hardwood tree which stood on the beach, just above high water mark, at the corner of the Market Slip; this tree was used as a public gallows from 1749, and was there within the recollection of one or two aged persons living in 1825; it was cut down about 1763, but the stump remained until 1784 or '5.

The progress of crime between 1749 and '54, was perhaps less rapid than might have been expected among a population of 5,000 or 6,000, composed of such materials. During the first five years there were fifty criminal trials on record, many convictions for grand larceny, which was then the subject of capital punishment. After the appointment of Chief Justice Belcher, convictions were less frequent; most of the executions, as in the time of the general court, were for stealing or receiving stolen goods.

The Dockyard was first established at Halifax in 1758. It was extended and improved in 1769. The date over the gate is 1770. The walls have since undergone several renewals.

The Town Clock was erected early in the present century jointly by the garrison and the town. The merchants of Halifax raised a subscription towards the object. It was placed at the head of George Street for the convenience of the inhabitants. It was managed by the garrison. The late James Dechman, senior, was keeper, and resided in the clock for many years; he died about 1829 or 1830.

According to the plan of the town made by Col. Desbarres in 1779 or '80, and published in his nautical charts in 1781, there was a nine-gun battery about where the Ordnance wharf now is, and the five-gun battery a little to the north, but on an angle with the other. Gerrish's wharf, since known as Marchington's wharf, was immediately north of the five-gun battery, and Joshua Mauger's wharf at the foot of Jacob Street.

Proctor's wharf appears to have been situated near where Cunard's old wharf now is. The old market wharf, known as Fredericks' wharf, and afterwards as Beamish's wharf, was as at present. Fillis' wharf appears to have been that now known as Mitch.e.l.l's, south of the Queen's Wharf.

Terrance Fitzpatrick's wharf was situated about the spot now occupied by Esson & Boak's wharf. Crawley's was to the south of the latter, and Collier's about where Pryor's wharf now is.

There was a battery at the Commissioners' point at the south end of the Dockyard, and the storekeeper's wharf ran out to the south of the Commissioners' point somewhere, apparently, in the vacant s.p.a.ce between the Dockyard and West's property. Joshua Mauger's Distillery was situated between the Dockyard and the present hospital grounds. Guns were mounted on the careening wharf. Three batteries with ditches and enclosures were formed by Col. Spry, Chief Engineer, on the lower side of Brunswick Street; one on the corner of Brunswick and North Streets, one on the south corner of Dockyard Lane, and the other down Gerrish Street below the Dutch burial ground. It was generally understood that these works were on the opposite or western side of Brunswick Street, but Desbarres' plan places them on the east side. The works on Citadel Hill appear to consist of a small enclosure, but no regular fortifications appear.

EARLY PRINTING IN HALIFAX.

In 1751 printing was first introduced into Nova Scotia. The first press was established at Halifax, and there was not a second in the province until 1766. Bartholomew Green, Jr., was the grandson of Samuel Green, of Cambridge, Ma.s.sachusetts, and was of the firm of Green, Bush.e.l.l & Allen, of Boston. He removed to Halifax with a press and type in August, 1751.

He died about six weeks after his arrival, 52 years of age.

John Bush.e.l.l, who had been the partner of Green in Boston, immediately succeeded him in Halifax. He printed for the government, and in March, 1752,[97] published the first newspaper printed in Nova Scotia. The work for government was inconsiderable, but was the chief support of Bush.e.l.l.

He was a good workman but had not the art of acquiring property, nor did he make the most economical use of the little which fell into his hands.

Bush.e.l.l died in February, 1761. The proclamation published by Governor Lawrence in 1758 for the settlement of the French lands on the Basin of Minas was printed by John Bush.e.l.l. Anthony Henry succeeded Bush.e.l.l as a printer at Halifax. He was a German, and had lived some time with a printer, but had left his master and became a fifer in one of the provincial regiments. With this regiment he came to Nova Scotia, but some time after obtained his discharge. There was then no printer in the province, and his pretensions to skill in this art greatly facilitated his release from the army. There appears, however, to have been a printing office at Halifax in March, 1756, conducted by one Isaac Ourry.

Henry began business with the press and type which had been used by Bush.e.l.l. He published the Gazette. The government, through necessity, gave him some work which was badly executed. This paper was edited for some time by the Hon. Richard Bulkeley, Secretary of the Province.

[Footnote 97: See Thomas' History of Printing in America.]

In 1766 a printer with a new and good apparatus came from London and opened another printing house. He published a newspaper and was employed by government. Henry, who had been inattentive to his affairs, did not despond at the prospects of a rival, but, much to his credit, exerted himself and did better than before. After a few years' trial, his rival, not finding the business so profitable, nor place agreeable, sold out his paper, and Henry was again the only printer in the province. He procured new type and a workman better skilled than himself. His printing from this time was executed in a more workmanlike manner. He remained without another rival until the British army evacuated Boston, in March, 1776, when the printers in that town who adhered to the Royal cause were obliged to leave that place, and they, with other refugees, came to Halifax. Henry continued printing until his death. He possessed a fund of good nature, and was of a very cheerful disposition. He died December, 1800, aged 66 years.

Robert Fletcher arrived at Halifax from London in 1760, with new printing materials and a valuable collection of books and stationery. He opened a book store and printing house near the parade, published a newspaper and printed for the government. Until this time there had been no book store in the province. Fletcher executed his printing with neatness, and raised the reputation of the art in Nova Scotia. He remained in Halifax until 1770, then sent his printing materials to Boston for sale and went into other business.

Alexander and James Robertson, who had been printers in New York, Norwich and Albany, went to Shelburne, in Nova Scotia, in 1783, where they printed a newspaper. John Howe began printing in Halifax in 1776, and was publisher of the Gazette in 1801. Howe commenced the Halifax Journal in 1780. In 1790 his office was at the corner of Sackville and Barrington Streets. This paper was afterwards purchased and carried on by John Munro; his office was where Mr. Kenny's new stone building now is, at the corner of George and Granville Streets. The weekly Chronicle was set on foot by William Minns, a Loyalist settler, in 1786, and was continued until 1828. Mr. Minns kept a stationer's shop in Barrington Street, below the parade. This paper had the Star and Garter at its heading.

Henry's printing office was in Grafton Street, in rear of the residence of the late Attorney General Richard John Uniacke, where his descendants resided for many years. There was another printing office in the same street, further north, which is represented in the engraving of the town in 1776 with a steeple surmounted by a hand holding a pen.

After the peace of 1784, printing found its way into the Province of New Brunswick.

CHAPTER IX.

The following short sketch of some of the persons who took a lead in establis.h.i.+ng the Colony, has been compiled chiefly from public records:

The Honorable Edward Cornwallis, the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief, was a younger son of Charles, third Baron Cornwallis by Lady Charlotte Butler, daughter of Richard, Earl of Arran and uncle to the celebrated Duke of Ormonde. He was born in 1713, was member of Parliament for the borough of Eye in 1749, and was elected member for the city of Westminster in 1753, shortly after he returned from Halifax.

He married the same year, a daughter of the late Lord Townshend, but left no children. He was afterwards raised to the rank of Major General and appointed Governor of Gibraltar. General Cornwallis was twin brother of Dr. Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury.

The gentlemen who composed the first Council were Paul Mascarene, Edward How, John Gorham, Benjamin Green, John Salisbury and Hugh Davidson.

Col. Mascarene was a native of Castras in the south of France, was born in the year 1684. His parents were Huguenots and were compelled to fly from their native country on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes when all Protestants were driven from France. He made his way to Geneva at the age of 12, where he received his education. He afterwards went to England, where he received a commission in the British army in 1708. He was appointed Captain in 1710 and ordered to America, where he joined the regiment raised in New England for the taking of Port Royal. He was at the capture of Annapolis Royal that year, and was for some time commander of the garrison as senior major of the regiment. On the death of Colonel Armstrong he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment under General Phillips, and was third on the list of councillors in 1720, when the first Council was organized in Nova Scotia. In 1740 he was appointed Lieut.-Governor of the fort, and administrated the government of the Province until the arrival of Cornwallis in 1749. He remained in command at Annapolis after the settlement at Halifax, and was subsequently engaged as agent of the British Government in arranging treaties with the Indians of New England and Acadia in 1751. He retired from active duties and died a Major General in the British army at Boston, on 20th January 1760. He left a son and daughter. His son was said to be living in New England in 1835, at a very advanced age. The late Judge Foster Hutchinson, of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and the late Deputy Commissary General William Handfield Snelling, were his grandsons. His great-grandson, Mr. W. Snelling Stirling, has his portrait, painted by Smybert of Boston about 1725.

Benjamin Green was a native of the province of Ma.s.sachusetts, born in 1713, youngest son of the Rev. Joseph Green, minister of Salem, Ma.s.s., and graduate of Harvard College. He was brought up as a merchant under his elder brother Joseph in Boston. In 1737 he married a daughter of the Honorable Joseph Pierce of Portsmouth. He accompanied General Pepperal to Louisburg in 1745, as Secretary to the expedition. After the capture of that place by the Provincial army, he remained there as Government Secretary and manager of the finances until Cape Breton was restored to the French, when he removed with his family to Halifax, and was appointed to the Council by Governor Cornwallis in July 1749. After the removal of Mr. Davidson he acted as Secretary of the province. He held several other important public offices, among which were those of Treasurer and Judge of the Court of Vice-Admiralty. On the death of Governor Wilmot in 1766, Mr. Green being then senior councillor, was appointed Administrator of the Government. He died at Halifax in 1772, in the 59th year of his age. His eldest son Benjamin succeeded him as Treasurer of the province. Benjamin Green, Junior, was father of Lieutenant William Green of the Navy, and Joseph Green and Henry Green of Lawrencetown, the latter left descendants at Lawrencetown. The second son of Governor Green was many years sheriff of Halifax, and having married a Boston lady, afterwards removed to that place. His daughter was married to Mr. Stephen H. Binney, son of Jonathan Binney of Halifax, whose descendants are numerous.

John Salisbury was brother to Dr. Thomas Salisbury, the eminent civil lawyer in London. Lord Halifax was his friend and patron, and sent him out with Governor Cornwallis as one of his suite. He does not appear to have taken any active part in the settlement. He married a Miss Cotton, who brought him a fortune of 10,000, which he spent in extravagance and dissipation. He returned to England in 1753, and died at Offley, the county seat of his relative Sir Thomas Salisbury in 1762. His only daughter was the celebrated Mrs. Thrale, the friend of Dr. Johnson, afterwards married to a Mr. Piozzi.

Hugh Davidson also came out with Governor Cornwallis. He was the first Provincial Secretary; he returned to England in 1750 under charges of trading in the supplies and stores for the settlers. Governor Cornwallis in his letters to the Board of Trade, thought him innocent of the main charges made against him.

Captain Edward How was a member of His Majesty's Council at Annapolis in 1744. He was with Col. n.o.ble at the affair at Minas and Grand Pre in 1747, where he was severely wounded and taken prisoner by the French under DeCorne. He came down from Annapolis with Governor Mascarene in June 1749, and was sworn in a member of Cornwallis' first Council. He was well acquainted with the language of the Indians and their manners, and was sent on a negotiation to the French and Indians at Beaubasin in 1751, where he was treacherously murdered by the enemy, though acting under a flag of truce, having been shot through the back from the bush.

The French officers denied having anything to do with this disgraceful affair, and charged it on Mr. LeLutre, the Indian missionary, who it was said was jealous of Mr. How's influence with the Micmacs. His widow afterwards pet.i.tioned the government for pecuniary aid, in consequence of her husband's services, and for money advanced by him for public service. The late Richard W. How, captain in the 81st regiment, formerly of Halifax, was his grandson.

Colonel John Goreham was a native of Ma.s.sachusetts; he was with General Pepperal at the siege of Louisburg in 1745, as Lieutenant-Colonel of his father's regiment raised in Ma.s.sachusetts. He afterwards had command of a company of Rangers at Annapolis and came down to Chebucto with his rangers to meet Governor Cornwallis in 1749. He took precedence next to Governor Mascarene at the council board. He is styled Captain Goreham by Mascarene and by Cornwallis in his commissions and correspondence. That of Lieutenant-Colonel was probably militia rank only. It is probable he returned to Boston soon after the settlement was formed as his name does not appear on the Council books after 1752. He had a brother, Joseph Goreham, who was also a member of Council in 1766; he afterwards attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the British army. He was engaged in the border skirmishes on the isthmus from 1754 to about 1758, and was afterwards appointed Commandant at Newfoundland.

Lieutenant-Colonels Horseman, Ellison and Merser, who were afterwards appointed to the Council, were the officers in command of the regiments which came from Louisburg. They all retired soon after to England.

Charles Lawrence was a Major in Warburton's Regiment of Infantry. He came up with the army and was engaged during 1749 and '50 in the French wars at Cobequid. He acted as Brigadier General under Amherst at Louisburg; he was a member of the Council and sworn in Governor of the Province on the death of Governor Hobson; the first a.s.sembly was convened during his administration, (2nd October, 1758); he died unmarried on 11th October, 1759, it is said of an inflammation, caused by overheating himself at a ball at Government House; he was deeply respected by the whole community, and the Legislative a.s.sembly caused a monument to be erected to his memory in St. Paul's church "from a grateful sense of the many important services which the Province had received from him during a continued course of zealous and indefatigable endeavors for the public good, and a wise, upright, and disinterested administration." This monument has now disappeared from St. Paul's Church. His escutcheon remains in the East Gallery. Lawrence, though an active and zealous governor, by his desire to favor the officers of Government with a partiality for his military friends, brought on himself an organized opposition from the leading inhabitants of the town, who pet.i.tioned the Home Government for redress of their grievances, which they in a great measure attributed to the Governor and his Lieutenant Colonel Monckton. His resistance to the desire to call a Legislative a.s.sembly was among the chief charges against him. His death shortly after the pet.i.tion put an end to the difficulties. He was succeeded by Judge Belcher as Administrator of the Government.

Charles Morris was a native of England; he was Captain of Provincials under General Pepperal at the siege of Louisburg in 1745. He had been engaged by Governor s.h.i.+rley of Boston in a survey of the interior parts of Nova Scotia with a view to British colonization, in 1745. He also commanded one of the Provincial Companies sent to Minas under Colonel n.o.ble in 1747. He was in Halifax in 1749, and in company with Mr. Bruce the Military Engineer laid out the town and peninsula. He was appointed to the Council in 1755. Though Surveyor General of the Province he acted for some time as Judge of the Supreme Court during the time of Chief Justice Belcher, which offices were both afterwards filled by his eldest son Charles. Captain Morris died in 1781, and was succeeded in the office of Surveyor General by his son Charles, whose son, the Hon.

Charles Morris, also filled the same office and was a Member of Council in 1808. He was the father of John Spry Morris, Esq., afterwards Surveyor General, who was the fourth in succession who had charge of the Surveying Department in Nova Scotia. There are numerous descendants of Captain Morris in Halifax.

Jonathan Belcher, the first Chief Justice, was a native of Ma.s.sachusetts, son of the Governor of that province, of an eminent colonial family; he was appointed Chief Justice of Nova Scotia in 1754, when a young man, and administered the government on the death of Governor Lawrence; Chief Justice Belcher arranged and revised the laws as they appear on our first Statute Book, and rendered good a.s.sistance to Governor Lawrence in founding the settlements at Horton, Cornwallis, Falmouth, &c., in 1758, '9, and 1760. Judge Belcher died poor; the Legislature voted a provision to his only daughter. His son, the Honorable Andrew Belcher, was for many years a resident in Halifax and member of Council.

Captain Wm. Cotterell was the first Provost Marshal or Sheriff, (there being no county divisions at this time). He was succeeded in that office in 1750 by Captain Foy, who held that situation many years, and received a small pension on his retirement. Mr. Cotterel afterwards acted as a.s.sistant Provincial Secretary.

William Nisbett came out with Cornwallis in 1749 as one of the Governor's clerks. He practised as an attorney and solicitor. He was appointed Attorney General on the resignation of Mr. Little, which office he held for 25 years. He was one of the first representatives in the General a.s.sembly of 1758, and was elected speaker on 4th December 1759. He continued in the Chair of the House (with the intermission of one session when sick) until 1783, when he retired on a small pension and died the following year aged 83. In 1763 he declined a seat in the Council. During the period of his being Speaker, the House sat for 11 years without being dissolved. The old house in which Mr. Nisbett resided situated in Grafton Street, Block letter E, Collins' division, mentioned in a former chapter, still remains, though much changed by the cutting down of the street many years ago. He left no male descendants.

His daughter, Mrs. Swann, died in the old Grafton street house about 60 years ago.

Archibald Hinshelwood was one of Governor Cornwallis' clerks, and performed the duties of Deputy Secretary with Mr. Cotterell and others for many years. Most of the drafts of the letters sent to England by the first three Governors are in his handwriting. He was elected a member of a.s.sembly for Lunenburg in 1759 and again in 1765. Lord William Campbell the Governor appointed him to the Council in 1773, but he died before taking his seat. His property on Argyle Street after occupied by the City Water office fell to his nephew, (he having no children), who left two sons in the navy, both of whom died young. The old property was sold about 60 years since and purchased by Mr. W. A. Black, who resided there many years.

Otis Little was Captain of one of the New England Independent Companies.

He was probably a native of England. Being in England in 1749, he came out with Governor Cornwallis, who appointed him Commissary of Stores, from which office he was dismissed on suspicion of having traded in the supplies for the settlers. He acted as first Attorney General of the Colony, and was probably a lawyer by profession. He was the author of a well-written pamphlet on the resources of Nova Scotia, written in 1748, with a view to encouraging British emigration to the province. Capt.

Little left a daughter, who died unmarried at Halifax early in the present century.

John Baptiste Moreau, designated gentleman and schoolmaster in the book of the settlers, had been originally a Roman Catholic priest, and Prior of the Abbey of St. Matthew at Breste. He joined the expedition under Cornwallis in 1749, and went to Lunenburg with the settlers in 1752. He received ordination as a clergyman of the Church of England in 1750, and officiated to his countrymen and the Germans in the County of Lunenburg, where he died much esteemed and regretted in the year 1770. He left a son, Cornwallis Moreau, who was the first male child born in Halifax, and was called Cornwallis after the Governor. This old man was living at La Have, in Lunenburg County, in the year 1848, being nearly 100 years of age. He received pecuniary a.s.sistance from the Nova Scotia Philanthropic Society in that year.

Doctor John Breynton came up from Louisburg with the army, where he had been acting Chaplain to the Forces. He succeeded Mr. Tutty at St. Paul's in 1751 or 1752, in conjunction with Rev. Thomas Wood. Mr. Breynton was inducted Rector in 1758 or '9, under the provisions of the Statutes of the Province, and Mr. Wood acted as Curate or Vicar. After Mr. Wood's removal to Annapolis in 1763, Mr. Joshua Wingate Weeks, from New England, became a.s.sistant minister at St. Paul's. Dr. Breynton received his degree of D. D. in 1770. He died in 17--, and was succeeded at St.

Paul's, as rector, by the Rev. Doctor Robert Stanser, afterwards Lord Bishop of the Diocese. Dr. Breynton was esteemed an eloquent preacher, and was in the habit of addressing the settlers in English, French and German.

John Creighton was an officer in the army. He served in the Dragoons at the Battle of Fontenoy. Having been discharged at the peace of Aix la Chappelle, he was placed on half pay as Lieutenant of Warburton's Regiment of Infantry, and came out with the expedition in 1749. Mr.