Township

An Act concerning Town Property in Dartmouth, 1850 c53

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An Act concerning Town Property in Dartmouth, 1850 c53

An Act concerning Town Property in Dartmouth.
(Passed the 28th day of March, A. D. 1850.)

BE it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council and Assembly, as follows:

Three trustees of Public Property to be chosen for the Township of Dartmouth – their duties, &c.:
I. After the first Annual Town Meeting in the Township of Dartmouth, Three Trustees of Public Property shall be chosen, in whom shall be vested the legal possession of the several Water Lots that have been reserved for the use of the Public along the shores of the Town Plot of Dartmouth, and of a certain Lot of Land and School House now known and distinguished as the School Lot, lying in the Town Plot, to be recovered, held and preserved by the Trustees for the uses to which the same respectively have been reserved and applied, but the School House and School Lot shall be preserved exclusively to the use of Schools and Education, and nothing herein shall exclude the possession and control of the Trustees to be appointed under the Act passed in the present Session for the support of Schools if the School House and Lot might otherwise come under the control of such Trustees.

All other Public Property in Dartmouth not under the claim of any person to be vested in Trustees:
II. Any other Public Property in the Township of Dartmouth not legally possessed by or under the charge and supervision of any person, shall also be legally vested in the Trustees appointed under this Act, to be recovered held and preserved by them for the uses for which the same have been granted, reserved or appropriated.

Trustees to be appointed at Annual Meeting:
III. Three Trustees shall be annually thereafter appointed at each Annual Town Trustees to be appointed at Annual Meeting of the Township, and in case of any failure in such annual appointment the Meeting. Trustees in office shall continue until another legal election shall take place.

Inhabitants at Meetings may declare for what purposes Property shall be applied:
IV. The Inhabitants, in Town Meeting, at any time may declare the purposes to which the Town Property shall be applied by the Trustees, provided those purposes shall not be inconsistent with the uses to which the property has been granted, reserved, or legally appropriated.

Governor may appoint Trustees:
V. The Governor in Council may appoint Three Trustees for the purposes of this Act to remain in office until the next Annual Town Meeting in Dartmouth.

“An Act concerning Town Property in Dartmouth”, 1850 c53

An Act to define and establish the Lines of the Township of Dartmouth, 1846 c49

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An Act to define and establish the Lines of the Township of Dartmouth, 1846 c49

An Act to define and establish the Lines of the Township of Dartmouth.
(Passed the 20th day of March, 1846.)

Preamble:
WHEREAS some uncertainty exists as regards the limits of the Township of Dartmouth, and it is desirable that the Boundaries thereof should be defined and established :

Boundaries of Township of Dartmouth:
1. Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and Assembly, That the Lines and Boundaries of the said Township of Dartmouth shall be established and settled as follows, that is to say :- Beginning on the Eastern side of Bedford Basin at the head of Pace’s Cove at low water mark, and thence to run North seventy-four degrees East until it meets the main stream running into Lake Major, thence Southerly through the centre of Lake Major and West Salmon River to the waters of Cole Harbor, thence in a direct line to the centre of the Narrows or entrance into Cole Harbor, and thence Southwestwardly along the shore the several courses of the shore to Roaring Point, thence northerly following the course of the Shore of the Main Land at low water mark to the place of beginning, so as not to include any Islands lying on or near the said Shore.

“An Act to define and establish the Lines of the Township of Dartmouth”, 1846 c49

For regulating the Dartmouth Common, 1841 c52

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An Act for regulating the Dartmouth Common.
(Passed the 10th day of April, A. D. 1841.)

Preamble:
WHEREAS, by Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of this Province, bearing date the fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Eight, His late Majesty King George the Third was pleased to grant to Thomas Cochran, Timothy Folger and Samuel Starbuck, their Heirs, Executors and Administrators, the Common of the Township of Dartmouth, situate on the eastern side of the Harbour of Halifax, in special trust, for the use of the Inhabitants settled and resident in the Town Plot, or that might thereafter settle and actually reside within the said Township of Dartmouth, as a Common, for the general benefit of such resident settlers, and not otherwise : And whereas, by an Act, passed in the twenty-ninth year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, entitled, An Act to enable the Inhabitants of the Town Plot of Dartmouth to use and occupy the Common Field, granted them by His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, in such way as they may think most beneficial to them the proprietors and persons interested in the said Common Field, and the Trustees thereof, are invested with certain powers in respect to the said Common; And whereas, by an Act, passed in the thirty-seventh year of the Reign of His said late Majesty King George the Third, entitled, An Act to enable the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander in Chief for the time being, to appoint Trustees for the Common of the Town of Dartmouth, on the death or removal of the Trustees holding the same, and to vacate that part of the grant of the Common aforesaid, which vests the trusts in the Heirs, Executors or Administrators, of the Trustees named in the said grant, on the death of such Trustees, the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander in Chief for the time being, is authorized to appoint Trustees in lieu of the original Trustees, and to supply any vacancies among the Trustees to be so appointed ; and, by the said last mentioned Act, so much of the grant as devolves the trust on the Heirs, Executors or Administrators, of the deceased Trustees therein named; And whereas, on the thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Eight, under the said last mentioned Act, Michael Wallace, Lawrence Hartshorne and Jonathan Tremain, Esquires, were appointed Trustees of the said Common, in place of the Trustees named in said grant, with the same powers given to the said original Trustees by the said Act herein first mentioned: And whereas, the said Trustees, so last named and appointed, are all now deceased, and there has for. several years last past been no proper authority to take charge of the said Common, to prevent Tresspasses, or to effect improvement thereon ; And whereas, the said Common fronts on the Harbour of Halifax, and some of the Water Lots in front thereof have been granted to certain individuals, and it would be advantageous if a certain portion of said Common, fronting on the Harbour, were demised in Lots to persons who would be willing to pay rents for the same; And whereas, a certain Plot of the said Common has, by the consent of the Inhabitants interested therein, been enclosed as a Burial Ground for the Roman Catholic Chapel at Dartmouth, which it is desirable should be confirmed for that use; And whereas, it is requisite, for the purposes aforesaid, to appoint new Trustees for said Common :

Trustees of Common to be appointed:
I. Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council and Assembly, That it shall and may be lawful for the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander in Chief for the time being, to nominate and appoint three fit and proper persons to be Trustees of the said Common, at Dartmouth; and in case of any vacancy among such Trustees, by death, resignation, removal from office, or permanent absence, from time to time, to supply such vacancy.

Title to Common to be in Trustees:
II. And be it enacted, That in the said Trustees, for the time being, the legal estate and title of and in the said Common shall be and be deemed at all times hereafter absolutely vested for the benefit of the said Inhabitants of Dartmouth.

Trustee to execute Deed to the Roman Catholic Clergyman of the part used as a Burial ground by the Roman Catholics:
III. And be it enacted, That the said Trustees shall, when appointed as aforesaid, make and execute to any persons who may be named and selected for that purpose, by the officiating Roman Catholic Clergyman, at Dartmouth, a Deed or Conveyance, in fee simple, of so much and such portion of the said Common as is now enclosed and used as a Burial Ground for the Roman Catholic Congregation, at Dartmouth, to be held by such persons, and their heirs, for the purpose of being so used and employed as a Burial Ground, as aforesaid.

Part of the Common to be laid off into Lots:
IV. And be it enacted, That the said Trustees shall, immediately after they shall be so appointed as aforesaid, proceed to lay off and divide into proper, convenient, and suitable lots and parcels, all that portion of the said Common, which is bounded in front, westerly, on the Harbour of Halifax, and in rear, eastwardly, by the road leading from Water Street, in Dartmouth, to the Wind Mill: Provided, that there shall be reserved and laid off, through the said Lots so directed to be laid out as aforesaid, a Public Road, sixty feet wide, along the line of high water mark, or as near thereto as may conveniently be.

Lots laid off to be leased:
V. And be it enacted, That after the said several lots or parcels of Land shall have been laid off as aforesaid, the said Trustees shall fix and apportion for each lot or parcel of Land some small annual rent; and, after due notice of such sale, publicly given by advertisement, shall proceed to offer such respective lot or parcel of Land for sale, at Public Auction, for the highest price to be obtained for the same, subject to the annual rent as aforesaid, for the term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years.

Trustees to execute Leases:
VI. And be it enacted, That the Trustees aforesaid, shall. make and execute Leases to the said respective purchasers, for the said term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, on payment of the price for which the same shall be sold, subject to the rent reserved, to be by the said Lease, made payable half yearly; and such Leases shall suffice to vest in every such purchaser the lot or parcel purchased by him, subject to the rent reserved for the term aforesaid.

Proceeds to be applied to improve Common:
VII. And be it enacted, That the price to be obtained for the said lots or parcels of the said Common, to be so sold as aforesaid, as well as the rents to be annually received there-from, shall be paid and applied to the improvement of the remainder of the said Common, and of the road leading through the same, hereinbefore mentioned.

Trustees impowered to sue for rent:
VIII. And be it enacted, That the Trustees in office, from time to time, under this Act, shall have power to demand, sue for and recover, the rents reserved, and monies to be received, from and upon said Leases, and shall pay and apply the same, as hereinfore directed.

Trustees to account to inhabitants of Dartmouth:
IX. And be enacted, That the Trustees shall annually submit an account of all Monies received and paid by them to the Inhabitants resident in the Town Plot of Dartmouth, at a meeting to be called for that purpose, on the first Monday in March, in every year, at which Meeting a Committee of three of the said Inhabitants shall be appointed to audit the accounts, so submitted by the said Trustees, who shall make their report in writing at the next Annual Meeting of the said Inhabitants.

“For regulating the Dartmouth Common”, 1841 c52

To extend the Act relating to Commissioners of Highways to the Town of Dartmouth, 1828 c27

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1828-27
1828-27

An Act to extend to the Town of Dartmouth, the Act relating to Commissioners of Highways in Halifax, and certain other Places.

Act 7th Geo. IV C. 3, with exceptions -extended to Dartmouth:
Be it enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council and Assembly, That, from and after the passing of this Act, the Act, passed in the seventh year of His present Majesty’s Reign, entitled, An Act relating to Commissioners of Highways in Halifax, extended to and certain other places, and every matter, clause and thing, therein contained, except the first, second, twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth Clauses or Sections thereof, shall be extended, and the same are hereby extended to the Town of Dartmouth.

Appointment of Commissioners of Highways for Dartmouth:
II. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander in Chief for the time being, by and with the advice of His Majesty’s Council, to appoint, and commission during pleasure, three fit and proper Persons, Inhabitants of the said Town, to be Commissioners for repairing, keeping in mouth repair, and paving, the Streets and Highways in the said Town of Dartmouth; and upon the death, removal, or refusal to act, of any one or more of the said Commissioners, it shall and may be lawful for the said Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander in Chief, by and with the advice of His Majesty’s Council, to appoint and commission some fit and proper Person or Persons, being an Inhabitant or Inhabitants of the said Town, to supply such vacancy, and such appointment to renew, whenever necessary : So that the said Commissioners may always continue to be three in number.

Jurisdiction of Commissioners:
III. And be it further enacted, That the Jurisdiction, Powers and Authority, of the Commissioners so to be appointed for the said Town of Dartmouth, shall be confined and restricted to the bounds and limits following, that is to say :-to the distance or space of one Mile, measured in a Southwardly, Easterly, and Northwardly direction, from the Public Landing, or Steam Boat Company Wharf, in the said Town.

Power of Surveyors of High ways at Dartmouth to terminate on the 1st May:
IV. And be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of May next, the powers and authority of the Surveyors of Highways, within the limits above described in the Township of Dartmouth, shall cease and determine, any law, usage or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding.

“To extend the Act relating to Commissioners of Highways to the Town of Dartmouth”, 1828 c27

An act to enable the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Commander in chief for the time being, to appoint Trustees, for the Common of the Town of Dartmouth…1797 c2

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See 20th Geo. 3d. cap. 6:

An ACT to enable the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander in Chief for the time being, to appoint Trustees, for the Common of the Town of Dartmouth, on the death, or removal, of the Trustees holding the fame, and to vacate that part of the grant of the Common aforesaid, which vests the trust in the heirs, executors or administrators, of the Trustees, named in the said grant, on the death of such Trustees.

Preamble:
WHEREAS by letters patent under the great seal of this Province, bearing date the 4th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight; His Majesty was pleased to grant to Thomas Cochran, Timothy Folger, and Samuel Starbuck, their heirs, executors, and administrators, the common of the township of Dartmouth; situate on the eastern side of the harbour of Halifax, in special trust, for the use of the inhabitants fettled and resident in the town plat, or that might thereafter settle; and actually reside, within the township of Dartmouth, during such residence only ; as a common, for the general benefit of such resident fettlers, and not otherwise. And whereas the said Timothy Folger and Samuel Starbuck, have removed from this Province, by reason whércof the good intent of the said grant, is in a great measure defeated; and great inconveniences may arise from the trust aforesaid, on the death of either, or the whole, of the said trustees, devolving to their heirs, executors, or administrators; for remedy whereof :

Governor to appoint Trustees for the Common at Dartmouth:
I. Be it enacted, by the, Lieutenant-Governor, Council and Assembly, That it shall and may be (l)awful (sic) for the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander in Chief for the time being, to nominate and appoint fit and proper persons, trustees for the common of the town of Dartmouth, which trustees, so nominated and appointed, shall hold the said common on the same terms and conditions, as the trustees, named in the aforesaid grant, are authorised to hold the fame, by virtue of the said grant.

And on the death of any Trustee, to appoint another to exercise the trust:
II. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Commander in Chief for the time being, from time to time, and at all times hereafter, on the death, or removal out of this Province of any of the aforesaid trustees, to nominate and appoint another person, to exercise the said trust.

Former trust vacated:
III. And be it further enacted, That so much of the said grant as relates to the appointing the before named Timothy Folger, and Samuel Starbuck, trustees, as aforesaid, and such part thereof, as, on the death of either of the trustees, therein named, devolves the trust on the heirs, executors or administrators, of the trustee so deceased ; and every matter and thing, in the said grant contained, relating to the fame, shall be, and the same is hereby, vacated, and no longer in force or effect.

Power of Trustees appointed under this Act:
IV. And be it further enacted, That the trustees to be named, in and under this Act, shall exercise, and use, every right power and privilege, heretofore given to the trustees, named in the aforesaid grant, and referred to in an Act, passed in the twenty-ninth year of His Majesty’s reign, entitled, An Act to enable the inhabitants of the town plot of Dartmouth, to use, and occupy, the common field, granted by His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, in such way as may be most beneficial to them.

“An act to enable the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Commander in chief for the time being, to appoint Trustees, for the Common of the Town of Dartmouth, on the death, or removal, of the Trustees holding the same, and to vacate that part of the grant of the Common aforesaid, which vests trust in the heirs, executors or administrators, of the Trustees, named in the said grant, on the death of such Trustees”, 1797 c2

 

Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations; instruction to the Governor of Nova Scotia, directing him not to grant lands to, or permit any subjects of Ireland to settle in that province

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Mr. Ellis, Governor of Nova Scotia, attended the Board, and acquainted their lordships, that since he had received their commands to go to his government, his state of ill health had been such as to compell him to apply to his Majesty’s Secretary of State, for his Majesty’s leave to be absent from that government for some further time, and that his Majesty had been graciously pleased to grant his request.

fo. 152.
Read an Order of the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, dated the 29th ultimo, directing this Board to prepare the draught of an instruction to the Governor of Nova Scotia, forbidding him to grant lands in that province to any of his Majesty’s subjects of Ireland, who shall not have resided five years in that, or some other of his Majesty’s colonies.
Ordered, that the draught of an instruction, conformable to the directions of the said order, be prepared.

Wednesday, May 19.

Present:—Lord Sandys, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Eliot, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Yorke, Sir Edmund Thomas, Mr. Rice.

fo. 153.
The draught of an instruction to the Governor of Nova Scotia, directing him not to grants lands to, or permit any subjects of Ireland to settle in that province, who have not been resident there, or in some other of the colonies for five years, having been prepared pursuant to order, was agreed to and ordered to be transcribed, and a report to the Lords of the Committee of Council was signed.

fo. 158.
Read a letter from Jonathan Belcher, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, dated the 31st of March, 1762, giving an account of the measures he has taken for encourageing settlements upon the forfeited lotts in the new townships; of the state of the Publick accounts, and of the trial, condemnation and reprieve of a soldier convicted of murder; also desiring the Board’s application to Government, for obtaining his Majesty’s pleasure upon the case of Mary Webb, convicted of murdering her bastard child, in the administration of Governor Lawrence, and inclosing,
Business under consideration of the present session of the General Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia begun to be held on the 17th of March, 1762.
Proclamation for compleating the settlement of some of the new townships.
Record of the conviction of William Reach.
Memorial in behalf of William Reach.
Abstract of the state of the civil establishment for Nova Scotia, 1761.

fo. 159.
Abstract of the late Governor Lawrence’s arrears, paid by the Honorable Jonathan Belcher, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
Original vouchers for the payment of publick money from the 1st of July to the 31st of December, 1761.
Ordered, that the foregoing abstracts of accounts and original vouchers be delivered to the agent for the settlement of Nova Scotia, and that he be directed to prepare, as soon as conveniently may be, in order to be laid before Parliament, an account of money paid and charges incurred in maintaining the settlement of Nova Scotia for the year 1761.

fo. 160.
Ordered, that an extract be made of so much of Mr. Belcher’s letter, as relates to the case of Mary Webb, to be laid before his Majesty, and that the draught of a letter to the Earl of Egremont, one of his Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, inclosing the same, be prepared.
Read a memorial of Benjamin Green, Esquire, Treasurer of the Province of Nova Scotia, praying that he may be permitted to place some monies, his own private property, now lying in Nova Scotia, in the Treasury there, and receive the like sum from the agent for the Colony here, out of the grant for the current year, when it shall be in his hands.

fo. 161.
Their lordships, upon consideration of the said memorial, were of opinion, that the subject matter thereof was proper for the consideration of the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty’s Treasury, and that it did not lye within the department of this Board to give any directions upon it.
Wednesday, May 26. Present:—Lord Sandys, Mr. Eliot, Mr. Bacon, Sir Edmund Thomas, Mr. Rice.

The draught of a letter to the Earl of Egremont, one of his Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, inclosing an extract of a letter from Mr. Belcher, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, relating to the case of Mary Webb, having been prepared pursuant to order, was agreed to and ordered to be transcribed.

fo. 163.
Thursday, May 27.

Present:—Lord Sandys, Mr. Eliot, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Yorke, Sir Edmund Thomas, Mr. Rice, Mr. Roberts.
The draught of a report to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, upon Mr. Glen’s memorial, having been transcribed pursuant to order, was signed; as was also a letter to the Earl of Egremont, inclosing an extract of a letter from Mr. Belcher, concerning the case of Mary Webb. condemned in the administration of Governor Lawrence for the murder of her bastard child, and reprieved by him till his Majesty’s pleasure was known.

fo. 164.
Their lordships then took into consideration, that part of the minutes of the 17th of March last, which contains their resolution with respect to two Acts passed in the first session of the Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia, the one entitled, an Act to establish the rate of Spanish dollars, the other, to revive and continue two Acts or resolutions of the Governor and Council, that foreign debts should not be pleadable in that province; and it appearing that by the minutes of the Assembly on the 17th of March last, that the latter of these Acts would have expired by its own limitation, so much of their lordships’ order, as relates thereto, was discharged; and the draught of a representation to his Majesty, proposing the repeal of the first mentioned Act, having been prepared, was agreed to and ordered to be transcribed.

 

fo. 167.
Friday, May 28.

Present:—Lord Sandys, Mr. Eliot, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Yorke, Sir Edmund Thomas, Mr. Rice, Mr. Roberts.

The draught of a representation to his Majesty, proposing the repeal of an Act passed in the Province of Nova Scotia in 1758, for establishing the rate of Spanish dollars, having been transcribed pursuant to order, was signed.

 

“Journal, May 1762: Volume 69.” Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations: Volume 11, January 1759 – December 1763. Ed. K H Ledward. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1935. 276-282. British History Online. Web. 2 April 2020. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/jrnl-trade-plantations/vol11/pp276-282.

Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations; Townships, Elections

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Read a letter from Charles Lawrence, Esquire, Governor of Nova Scotia, to the Board, dated at Halifax, November 9th, 1757, transmitting the following papers, and containing his observations on some articles in the estimate for 1758.
Estimate of expence that will arise in supporting and maintaining the province of Nova Scotia in the year 1758.
Minutes of Council from the 3rd of October, 1756, to the 14th December, 1757.
Naval officer’s list of ships and vessels that have entered and cleared at the Port of Halifax between the 1st of July and 31st of December, 1756.
Letter from Mr. Saul, Commissary of Stores, to Governor Lawrence, dated November the 11th, 1757.
Ordered, that the said letter and papers be taken into further consideration on Monday next, and that Mr. Parker, acting as agent for the settlement of the colony of Nova Scotia, have notice to attend the Board on that day.

Monday, January 23.

Present:—Earl of Halifax, Mr. Oswald, Mr. Pelham, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Sloper.

The Secretary then communicated to the Board a letter he had received from Mr. Parker, acting as agent for the settlement of the colony of Nova Scotia, acquainting him that he was confined to his chamber by a severe fit of the gout, and not able to attend the Board as desired, but hoped to give his attendance in a few days.
Their lordships took into further consideration the letter from the Governor of Nova Scotia and the papers transmitted with it mentioned in yesterday’s minutes and made some further progress therein.

Their lordships made a further progress in the consideration of the letter and papers from the Governor of Nova Scotia mentioned in the preceding minutes.

Wednesday, January 25.

Present:—Earl of Halifax, Mr. Oswald, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Sloper.

Their lordships made a further progress in the consideration of the letter and papers received from the Governor of Nova Scotia mentioned in the preceding minutes.
Ordered, that an extract be made of so much of the said letter as relates to the want of an immediate supply of bedding for the troops and cloathing for the Rangers, and also an account made out of the several particulars contained in the estimate for 1758, of what is represented to be necessary for the further security and defence of the province, and the service of the troops stationed there, for the further consideration of the Board at their next meeting.

Thursday, January 26.

Present:—Earl of Halifax, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Sloper.

The Secretary laid before the Board the following papers prepared pursuant to the preceding day’s minutes, viz.:—
Extract of a letter from Charles Lawrence, Esquire, Governor of Nova Scotia, to the Board, dated November 9th, 1757, relating to the want of an immediate supply of bedding for the troops and cloathings for the Rangers.
Account of several military services, the charge of which is stated in the estimate for Nova Scotia for 1758, transmitted by Governor Lawrence to the Board, and represented by him to be necessary for the further security and defence of that province and the military establishment there.

Friday, January 27.

Present:— Earl of Halifax, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Stone.
Read a petition of Ferdinando John Paris, gentleman, to this Board, dated the 26th of January, 1758, in behalf of the freeholders at Halifax in Nova Scotia, complaining of several grievances sustained by the inhabitants of the said colony, and inclosing:—
State of facts relating to the complaint of the freeholders in Nova Scotia.
Appendix to the state of facts.
Resolved. that the said memorial and papers be taken into consideration on Tuesday next, the 31st instant; and Mr. Paris. the memorialist. attending without, was called in and acquainted therewith. and that the Board will be ready on that day to hear anything he may have to offer upon it.

Tuesday. January 31.

Present:—Earl of Halifax. Mr. Oswald. Mr. Jenyns. Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Sloper.
Their lordships pursuant to the preceding minutes took into consideration the memorial of Mr. Paris, agent for the freeholders of Nova Scotia. and the papers referred to therein: and Mr. Paris attending as desired with Mr. Forrester, his counsel, they were called in, together with Mr. Bower, an inhabitant of the said province, lately arrived from thence; and Mr. Forrester having opened the nature and effect of the several matters complained of by the said freeholders, and Mr. Bower having been examined touching the alledged declining state of the colony and some particular injury alledged to have been sustained by him from proceedings of the Governor and other officers of government there. Which he stated to be arbitrary and illegal, and several depositions made by persons resident in the said province, touching injurys sustained by them by the proceedings of the Governor and his officers, having also been read, Mr. Forrester then moved their lordships that they would be pleased to advise and recommend to his Majesty to issue his Royal Instruction to the Governor and Commander in Chief in Nova Scotia for the time being, that he do forthwith and without delay proceed to call a General Assembly or House of Representatives in that province under such qualifications and regulations as their lordships shall think fit to offer to his Majesty’s consideration.

That with respect to the plan proposed by the Governor and Council for calling an Assembly in their declaration of the 3rd of January, 1757. Mr. Forrester observed that the freeholders are intitled to such an Assembly as other colonies have, namely to have a free Assembly to be elected by themselves; but the proposition is so framed that the Governor really and in substance may nominate more than two thirds of the members.

 

That the declaration proposes that members should be returned for the province at large 12
For the township of Halifax 4
Lunenburg 2
Dartmouth 1
Lawrence Town 1
Annapolis 1
Cumberland 1
22

That as to the inhabitants of Lunenburg, they are foreigners, such as Germans, Swiss and French Roman Catholicks; the inhabitants at Lunenburg are more than all the other English inhabitants in the colony; many of them have been there seven years, and therefore under the Act of the 13th of his present Majesty, claim to be intitled to the privilege of subjects; but even freeholders, natural born subjects in their circumstances, it’s apprehended ought not yet to vote at all, in electing any members (more especially, not in electing 14 out of the 22 members) because they are upon the foot of poor persons subsisted by charity, indeed by the charity of this nation, though made to believe that they owe it to the Governor’s benevolence, so that to let them at present vote for 14 members would be effectually to give the Governor the power of nominating so many himself.

That as to the inhabitants of Lawrence Town, of Annapolis, and of Cumberland, it is proposed that each of these townships (as called) should elect one member for itself, and join in the election of 12 more, for the province at large; even now, while they are so inconsiderable, as that the inhabitants of Cumberland consist of five old serjeants and soldiers, all sutlers to the garrison there, and subject to military law (for none other was ever heard of in that place); Lawrence Town consists of three sutlers subject to the direction of the proprietors of that tract, and under their influence, and the town decaying every day; and Annapolis is a garrison, of the like sort of inhabitants and a place of no significancy to the Crown.

That it is humbly apprehended that the proposing that those three towns, in such circumstances, should send each their own particular member, and should also join in choosing twelve other members for the province at large, manifestly shews, either one or both of the following matters:—
1st. That the inhabitants are reduced to a very small number,
or
2ndly. That the Governor desires to have the nomination of the greater part of the Assembly.

That as to the qualification and disqualification of the electors and elected, one of the qualifications of the electors and elected is the having a freehold in the place, where voted for, or where elected; but the value of such freehold in either person is not at all limited; so that persons of the very lowest condition, if they have but any such freehold, of ever so mean a value, may elect or be elected, which is conceived not to be agreeable to the British Constitution, nor to the practice in other colonies, and whereby the members may possibly consist of the lowest and most unfit persons to the exclusion of those of the best property and substance; and it is submitted how reasonable or proper it may be to confine the member’s qualification to a freehold in that particular district, for which he is to be chosen, since a more proper person might be chosen, who has a proper freehold though not in that district. It is therefore humbly submitted whether the yearly value of the freehold to intitle a freeholder to elect, and the yearly value of the member’s freehold to make him capable of being elected should not be ascertained, and whether the member’s having a freehold of such value in any part of the province is not a reasonable and proper qualification.

That the declaration excludes non-commissioned officers and private soldiers from voting, by virtue of any dwelling built upon sufferance or by virtue of any possession of freehold, unless the same be registered to him, but it does not exclude even such from being elected members.
That under this head it may be proper to pray that no soldier may at any rate be allowed to vote, there being 3,000 soldiers there, and the inhabitants not more than half that number, so that if soldiers were permitted to vote, and any the smallest freehold (were it but the hundredth part of an acre) was to be a qualification, the other inhabitants can have but little hopes of being represented.

That the declaration provides that the voters, if required, should take the usual State oaths, and declare and subscribe the Test, and take the oath therein mentioned, but, which is very wonderfull, requires no such matter of the candidates or persons to be elected.

That the declaration provided that the precept for convening the first Assembly should be made returnable in sixty days, and the reason given for it in express words is, “On account of the present rigorous season,” from whence persons of plain understanding imagined the precept was to issue instantly during the then present, rigorous season. It is now thirteen months since the date of that declaration, and all the seasons of the year have succeeded, but the precept not issued.

That the freeholders rest assured that his most sacred Majesty and the Lords of Trade intended they should have an Assembly, not in name only, but in reality, to be freely elected by the persons of property settled there, and not to be either directly or consequentially nominated by the Governor or elected by the troops, and are perfectly satisfied that their lordships know what is best and most fit for the service of the province and will advise the Assembly to be constituted under such regulations as to answer his Majesty’s most gracious intentions.
With respect to the other matters complained of in the agent’s memorial, Mr. Forrester moved that their lordships would please to transmit the present petition, and the articles annexed thereto unto the several persons complained of, namely:—
Charles Lawrence, Esquire, the present Governor.

Captain William Cotterell, the Governor’s Secretary, the Overseer of the Works, the Clerk in Chancery, and the Collector of the Rum Duty.
Lieutenant Richard Bulkley, another Overseer of the King’s Works, the Commissary for Rum and Molasses, and a Disposer of Contracts for publick works there.

Benjamin Green, Esquire, one of his Majesty’s Council there, the Treasurer, the Naval Officer, the Receiver of the Rum Duty, and another Disposer of Contracts there, and to

Mr. Thomas Saul, Clerk or Agent to the Contractor, the Commissary of Provisions, the Commissary of Dry Stores and the Supplyer of Dollars,
and require them to return forthwith their answers thereto in writing to their lordships, and also to deliver a true copy of the same so soon as prepared to any agent there in behalf of the petitioners who shall request the same:

That in the meantime the petitioners or their agent may have free liberty to take out a summons from any judge, magistrate or justice in Nova Scotia, for their witnesses, whom they shall name, and to examine or take the affidavits or depositions in writing upon oath or affirmation, of such witnesses before such judge, magistrate or justice, to be attested by such judge, magistrate or justice:
That the petitioners or their agent may also have free liberty to examine, search and take copies of any records, and of the Acts and minutes of any court or of the Council, and also the entries in any books containing publick accounts, and to have the same attested by the respective proper officers upon payment of the legal and accustomed fees only for the same:

That the Governor or Commander in Chief there for the time being do instantly upon request sign and affix the province Seal to the usual testimonials to be affixed to all such papers, that such and such persons before whom the proofs shall be made, are such and such judges, magistrates and justices there, and that such and such persons who shall attest the copies of the records, Acts, minutes and entries, are the respective proper officers to attest the same, and that without the Governor, or any his Secretary, or Deputy Secretary, or other officer demanding, or having the same left with him in order to read over, or consider, or take copys or extracts of any one of the papers to be authenticated:

That their lordships will please to require that the freeholders, their committee and agents and witnesses and the judges, magistrates and justices and others who shall act herein, or any of them, be not any way molested, hindred, prevented or troubled in respect of presenting this complaint, or of any lawfull endeavours used, in order to the prosecution, proving or making out any of the several matters thereby complained of, and that the petitioners may have duplicates in the most authentick manner of their lordships’ orders and directions to be made herein.

Mr. Forrester having nothing further to offer he withdrew, and their lordships after some time spent in the consideration of this affair resolved to take it into further consideration on Friday next, the 3rd instant, and the Secretary was ordered to give notice thereof to Mr. Paris, and also to Mr. Cotterell, Secretary of the province of Nova Scotia, now in England.

Ordered, that the Secretary do examine the books of this office with respect to any complaints which may have at any time been made of mal-administration and oppression in his Majesty’s colonies in America and make report to the Board thereof and of the proceedings had and orders given thereupon.

 

“Journal, January 1758: Volume 65.” Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations: Volume 10, January 1754 – December 1758. Ed. K H Ledward. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1933. 360-370. British History Online. Web. 2 April 2020. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/jrnl-trade-plantations/vol10/pp360-370.

Town Meetings under Martial Law

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revolution

“Some townships in Nova Scotia had called town meetings to debate and resolve on several questions relating to the laws and government of the province. The governor and council (14th of April 1770) ordered the Attorney General to notify all persons concerned that such meetings were contrary to law, and if persisted in, that he should prosecute them.”

Murdoch, Beamish. “A History of Nova Scotia, Or Acadie”, 1866 https://books.google.ca/books?id=x7cTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA493#v=onepage&q&f=false

1790s

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

The removal of the Nantucket Whaling Company to Dartmouth in 1785, gave the town its first major industry; and also brought about a marked change in the shape of the 1750 town-plot. A local commission of inquiry set up in 1783, ruled that all but two of the Dartmouth proprietors had failed to fulfill conditions of their grants. The Legislature of Nova Scotia voted a considerable sum of money to assist this enterprise, because candles, sperm oil and other products were as essential then, as are gasoline and electricity in our own day.

Most of the houses and lots in the town-plot were then escheated by the Government, and re-allotted to the Nantucketers. This procedure caused much discontent and created disputes over titles for years afterwards.

These Quaker people were industrious. Years ago, old residents used to relate how they could erect a dwelling within a few days. They must have been co-operative. No time was spent in excavating cellars. That they intended to remain permanently, is evident from the spaciousness of their houses and from the fact that they constantly cultivated and improved the soil by grubbing-up tons of our familiar slate-rock to build breast-high stonewalls along the borders of their gardens and orchards.

What is perhaps the last of these walls, still supports the bank at the corner of King and Queen Streets. On that elevation, the Quakers erected Dartmouth’s first house of worship. It was in this building that the Dartmouth Society of Friends made their decision to remove to Wales in 1792. Seth Coleman was clerk.

Houses directly opposite the site of the Meeting House at 63, 65, and 67 King Street, with their very small squared panes of glass over the porches, are typical of Nantucket style. And families still prominent on Nantucket Island, whose ancestors migrated to Dartmouth at the time, include names like Coleman, Coffin, Bunker, Greaves, Swaine, Macey, Ray, Barnard, Leppard and Paddock.

Promoters of the Whaling Company, like Hon. Thomas Cochran of Halifax; and leading Quakers like Samuel Starbuck and Timothy Folger (Foal-jer), got whole blocks of downtown property near Dartmouth Cove. Their idea of reserving Dartmouth Common was to provide grazing-ground for owners of livestock in the town-plot. They builded better than they knew, for the Common has always been the town’s chief recreational centre.

Besides their downtown holdings, Messrs. Folger and Starbuck obtained large tracts in the suburbs. One grant in 1787 comprised 1,156 acres in the present Westphal district. Another of 556 acres bordering Edward Foster’s property, seems to be near the Rope-works. These two men also made application for the swamp land of four acres, which was to be drained and improved for English meadow. Historian George Mullane, writing of this period, calls it the “Folger and Starbuck land grab”.

In the same year that the Quakers left, there occurred the death of Christian Bartling. He was of Danish origin. Despite the fact that he had built a house in the 1750’s, yet his property was escheated for the Nantucket families. Later he obtained Crown grants near Lake Banook. The well-known Walker families of Dartmouth are his descendants.

Another name to note is that of Thomas Hardin (no. 5 Block B). As an illustration of tangled titles and also of the hazardous existence of pioneer Dartmouthians, the following quaint petition of Mrs. James Purcell, dated 1792, is most enlightening:

“To the Hon. Richard Bulkeley,

The humble petition of Mary Purcell, the Grand daughter of Thomas Hardin, most humbly sheweth. That your honor will be pleased to remember that my Grand Father was one of the first settlers in Dartmouth and lived on said place until about 15 years ago. And Bequeathed said Lott of Land to my mother Jean Hardin which served her apprenticeship in Your Honors family and my father Lawrence Sliney likewise, at my Marrying my present husband James Purcell, about four years ago My Mother and Uncle Thomas Hardin Resigned over their Right and Title to us for to subsist our Family- Which is a Lott of Land that was granted by Lord Cornwallis to my Grand Father which he suffered a Vast Deal of Hardship in Clearing and Erecting a House on it. Likewise Lost his Son by the [Mi’kmaq] as he was Obliged to Oppose them by Day and by Night. My husband having registered said Lott pursuant to the Laws of the Province.

But now being informed by a Letter from Mr. Morrice Surveyor General that said Lott is made over by a Grant from his Excellency Governor Par and his Majestys Council to one Cristian Barlet in Dartmouth which has had no Right or Title to said Lott but was to pay to our Family Twenty Shillings Currency a Year. Therefore I Beg and Emplore the favour of your Honour to see me and my poor children Rightified. And will be in duly bound to pray”.

In that same summer of 1792, another menace presented itself. All the munitions for the port were then kept at the Eastern Battery. Several thousand barrels of gunpowder stored in a wooden building near the border of the forest caused considerable alarm, there were frequent fires in the woods. In a petition to the House of Assembly, the inhabitants of Halifax expressed fear for the safety of their town, and asked that the munitions be moved in a more suitable storehouse and in a more remote section.

Hartshorne and Tremaine’s gristmill commenced about this time. The firm purchased the lower mill stream and lands on both sides, where Richard Woodin had his dwelling. They also obtained permission from James Creighton, the proprietor of the upper stream, to lower the bank at the outlet of the lake, and to dam up the river in order to provide a head of water for the millrace.

“Plan of Estate Lawrence Hartshorne Portland, King, Wentworth & A. Lane”, 1871. https://archives.novascotia.ca/maps/archives/?ID=910

In 1793, Lawrence Hartshorne purchased from Samuel Starbuck, Jr., for £100, the square block “L” bounded by King, Portland, Wentworth and Green Streets. On the old plan it is marked “D”. The lofty tenement building demolished at Woolworth’s corner in 1951, was known a century ago as the “Mansion House” of the Hartshornes. The estate was called “Poplar Hill”.

Jonathan Tremaine acquired the triangular block “M” at Green and King Streets, just below “Poplar Hill”. This had been the property of Samuel Starbuck, senior. But Tremaine’s residence is thought to have been in square block “E”, because he was regranted land at the northeast corner of Portland and Wentworth in 1796, and purchased the remaining lots and buildings in that block from the Starbucks. According to Tremaine genealogy, Jonathan died in 1823 at Dartmouth where he had “a country seat.”

At the same time, the wharves and water-lots left by the Nantucket Whaling Company were also taken over by Hartshorne and Tremaine. For many years this firm had the most extensive flour mill in the Province. Their warehouse was on Water Street in Halifax, whither the finished products were transported by the first vessel built in Dartmouth, “The Maid of the Mill”.

The milling business evidently was profitable in those times, for a third windmill commenced in 1798. An advertisement in the Weekly Chronicle of that year announced that Davis and Barker “have erected a gristmill in Foster’s Cove, and are ready to receive grain to manufacture into flour etc.”

A search through every available record fails to reveal the location of the town-plot ferry-dock during the first four decades of Dartmouth’s history. Certainly the present landing was not the place. The original acclivity of Portland Street can best be gauged by bridging with the eye, the space between the natural heights still seen in the rear of properties on each side of Portland Street, just east of Commercial Street.

The most suitable part of the waterfront for pulling up small boats and erecting cribwork wharves, was on the shelving shore of the crescent-shaped bay which then curved from Queen Street to Church Street. The low-lying land, still seen a few yards west of the Belmont Hotel, indicates that some harbor inlets must have flooded little bays of the original beach now covered with tons of fill leveling the area east of the railway tracks.

During the Quaker period, Zachariah Bunker of the Whaling Company, was located at the southeast corner of Ochterloney and Commercial Streets, where now stands Morris’ Drug Store. On the beach not far from his door he had a water-lot and shed set up, no doubt to ply his trade which was that of a boat-builder.

After the Quakers’ departure, all of Bunker’s town and rural property was bought in 1797 by Dr. John D. Clifford, the ship’s surgeon attached to H.M.S. “Leopard”. Whether Dr. Clifford resided in the corner house is not known, but it was in the above mentioned year that John Skerry commenced his ferry service.

There is no apparent record as to who operated ferries from the 1756 charter of John Rock until Skerry started 40 years later. Perhaps there had not been any organized system, and boats ran privately, for in 1785 a bill was introduced in the Legislature by Hon. Michael Wallace for the establishing of a “public ferry” between Halifax and Dartmouth. This might possibly refer to Creighton’s, or the lower ferry, already mentioned as beginning in the year 1786.

Waterfront plans of those years have Skerry’s dock marked “Maroon Wharf”, which suggests that the foot of Ochterloney Street was the landing-place used by the Jamaica Maroons during the four years that they were billeted at Preston.

Although the story properly belongs to the latter township, yet a brief sketch of the Maroons is included here, because their sojourn in our suburbs stimulated real-estate and transportation activities, and also resulted in the laying-out of a new highway.

The Maroons, deported from the island of Jamaica, arrived in this port in the summer of 1796. For a time they were employed by the Duke of Kent on the Citadel fortifications at Halifax. Later, most of the band were settled at Preston where their superintendents Colonel William D. Quarrell and Alexander Ochterloney bought some 5,000 acres of land with funds furnished by the Government of Jamaica. More was purchased on the Windsor Road near Sackville. In addition, Colonel Quarrell secured several properties in the town-plot of Dartmouth.

1867

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

In the winter of 1867, Halifax newspapers carried unusually long accounts of seasonal activities on our lakes, such as games of curling, hockey and ice-boating. Up to about the mid-century there was only occasional reference to such recreations, perhaps because of the few persons participating. Now with a skate factory located in our midst, hundreds of others must have joined in the fashion. Increasing crowds came over from Halifax especially on holidays and Sundays. The bright uniforms of naval and military officers gliding over the glassy surfaces with their lady partners amid the throngs on our various lakes, created quite a colorful scene.

The “Halifax Reporter” of that time observed that it was curious the way that skating enthusiasts of Halifax changed their locations in different seasons. One year Maynard’s Lake in Dartmouth has the best ice; the next year the North West Arm will be the ‘favorite; and another year First and Second Dartmouth Lake will bear the palm, said a writer of that day.

The following account from the same newspaper of Feb. 17th. 1867, clearly proves that hockey was a long-established sport hereabouts:

On Saturday there were about 1,500 people at Oathill Lake. Two well contested games of ricket were being played at the upper end of the lake where a number of young men from Dartmouth and the City were playing their hurleys and “following up” the ball. The centre of the lake was occupied by a number of officers of the Garrison and the Fleet in a match game called hockey, i.e., ricket.

Very little science was displayed in either game, the old class of players seems to have died out, and their successors are not up to the science of leading off the ball, doubling and carrying it through. Instead of the old style, the game as now played is dangerous to outsiders especially the ladies, some of whom were rather roughly treated in the scrimmages after the ball.

On July 1st, 1867, the Dominion of Canada came into existence. One of the last shots fired by the opposing forces was the brilliant speech of Joseph Howe delivered in McDonald’s Hall at Dartmouth. A verbatim report may be found in Volume II of Howe’s Letters and Speeches edited by Sir Joseph Chisholm.

Nova Scotians expressed their anti-Union feelings in the first Dominion elections that September, by sending to Ottawa 18 Liberals and One Conservative. (The latter was Dr. Charles Tupper.) Polling booths in Dartmouth were at Huxtable’s shop near the Engine House, and at Alex. Hubley’s at Black Point, (probably Black Rock). Dartmouth Township gave a majority for the anti-Unionists, while Chezzetcook and Preston voted for the Unionist candidate. Joseph Howe ran for Hants, and was elected. On his return to the City, he was met at the ferry in Dartmouth and escorted in a torchlight procession to “Fairfield”, while bonfires blazed on the hills, and an 18-gun salute was fired.*

One of the worst conflagrations in Dartmouth occurred in mid-November on a rainy and windy Sunday, about two o’clock in the morning. Seven buildings fronting on Portland Street and on King Street at the southwest corner, were completely gutted. The magnificent but terrible illumination could be seen from Halifax and the surrounding country. A fire engine came over from the City.

At the Paris Exhibition in 1867, a model of a quartz-crusher from Symonds Foundry at Dartmouth, received honorable mention. S. Oland and Son bought the Albro Tannery land at Turtle Grove, and commenced their well-known brewery business. The Dartmouth Axe and Ladder Company was organized, with Henry Watt as Captain. St. James’ congregation purchased from Dominick Farrell for $1,600, land at the southeast corner of King and Quarrell Streets as a site for their new church. An 11-year-old boy named Bishop was killed while riding on a car of the inclined plane at the Canal. Contractor Jonathan Elliot died that year aged 70; also Peter Laidlaw 48, and James P. Dunn 42, (the last body in Dunn’s vault).

S. Oland Sons & Co. Brewery
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