Tag: 1750s

From The Story of Dartmouth, by Dr. John P. Martin: From Volume I of Knox History Journal we learned by a perusal of the diary of Major Robert Rogers that his famous Rogers’ Rangers were quartered at Dartmouth for a time during the 7-Years’ War. According to the record they had been stationed at Fort William Henry, and proceeded from there to the port of New York: June 1757—. . . sailed with 100 vessels bound to Halifax, where we soon arrived and according to orders, I encamped on the Dartmouth side of the harbour. . . . The Rangers …

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by Dr. John P. Martin: Initially there were about 30 men at the Eastern Battery at Imperoyal, but in the autumn of 1755, military records tell us that a considerable number of soldiers spent the winter on this side of the water. These were none other than the troops of Colonel John Winslow, who had just returned from their job of expelling the Acadians. Winslow’s diary of November 1755 says that “My 54 non-commissioned officers and privates are at Dartmouth”. In the same records is a memo signed by Henry Dobson stating that Lieut. Billings and Ensign …

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by Dr. John P. Martin: During 1754, gangs of soldiers are busily engaged cutting a road from Dartmouth to the new settlement at Lawrencetown. (This is probably the beginnings of Old Ferry Road from Parker’s wharf over the Cameron Street hill to Cole Harbor, by a route which no doubt avoided the outlet at Maynard’s Lake.) Of all the fortifications built to protect the harbor of Halifax in early times, one of the first was constructed a$ the Eastern Battery, mentioned on page 11 .Engineer John Brewse was in charge, and he had seven heavy …

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by Dr. John P. Martin: More local activity is inferred from a Halifax newspaper of January 1753 which informs us that Mr. G. Gerrish, blacksmith, has finished a crank for a new sawmill erecting at Dartmouth, which weighs nearly 17 cwt. The mill to go by wind and to carry 18 saws.

From The Story of Dartmouth, by Dr. John P. Martin: Furnished in the minutes of Cornwallis’ Council for February 3, 1752, is when John Connor was given exclusive rights to operate a ferry service. The preamble points out that great inconvenience attends the inhabitants of Halifax and Dartmouth for want of a constant ferryboat. Henry Wynne of Halifax, and William Manthorne of Block “B”, lot no. 4, took over the service the following December. There were 53 families with a total population of 193 within the town of Dartmouth, according to statistics of 1752. (This might possibly include the township). …

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by Dr. John P. Martin: According to Harry Piers’ pamphlet on early blockhouses, the timber for the one at Dartmouth was prepared in Halifax. Governor Cornwallis employed French inhabitants squaring logs for that purpose during the winter of 1749-1750. The first mention of ours, is on February 23, 1751, when the Governor orders a “Sergeant and ten or twelve men of the military of Dartmouth, should mount guard at night in the blockhouse, and that they should be visited from time to time by the lieutenant”. But the blockhouse evidently did not afford much protection …

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After the Treaty of Utrecht, the first recorded proposal for a settlement on the Dartmouth side from British officials originated with Captain Thomas Coram of London in 1718. One of the districts selected for establishing colonists was “northeast of the harbor of Chebucto”. Massachusetts influence opposed this plan as being detrimental to their fisheries. When Hon. Edward Cornwallis set out to settle Halifax in 1749, he carried a complete plan of the harbor, the Basin and the surrounding shores, which had been previously surveyed by British Admiral Durell. The latter’s information about useful places on the eastern side must have …

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