Township

1849

by

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

The year 1849 was long remembered by residents hereabouts. For one thing, the winter was very severe, and the summer unusually dry. Halifax celebrated its 100th anniversary in June, and by the end of the year was enjoying its first street lighting and water system, and also the first telegraph connection with the United States, via Amherst and Saint John, N.B.

Cold weather seems to have prevailed through most of January and February, without any sign of a thaw. Sub-zero temperatures gradually froze the harbor until the ice extended to Mauger’s Beach on McNab’s Island. Only by keeping a channel open at night, was the ferry able to maintain communication.

The ill-wind of that winter blew somebody good in Dartmouth, because pedestrians and market people no doubt took advantage of the ice-bridge to make uninterrupted journeys to the City. Usually the upper part of the harbor-ice was safer, and according to old residents, the popular landing place at Halifax was on the soft beach near the foot of Cornwallis Street.

On February 11th, the heaviest snowfall in 51 years so completely buried houses in hollow places that inmates had to shovel themselves out through tunnels. All street traffic was at a complete standstill for a full day afterward. Old residents recalled that there was a similar fall of snow and drifts in 1798, and that no mild spell came until April of that year.

Animals inhabiting Dartmouth forests must have been starved out by the storm, for in the deep snow one morning were seen tracks of a large wildcat that had evidently crossed the harbor. A day or two afterward, the ferocious feline was discovered and killed in the cellar of William Grant, Water Street, Halifax.

James Wilson, the Dartmouth distiller, petitioned the Assembly asking that the excise tax on home manufactured spirits be either abolished or collected more systematically. The petition stated, that the heavy tax levied by Nova Scotia was oppressive and caused a great deal of illicit traffic in liquor, much of which was .smuggled here from the United States, He pointed out that the Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick and Newfoundland did not impose an excise tax on such articles.

Here in Dartmouth, the enterprising townspeople were taking advantage of every opportunity to obtain the proposed railway terminus for our side of the harbor. A public meeting, with Andrew Shiels as Chairman and Dr. DesBrisay as Secretary, was held at the Mechanics’ Institute early in February when resolutions were passed pledging the breadth of way required for a railroad to extend through the township of Dartmouth, and making provision for compensating the several landowners.

The Halifax Sun reported that the meeting was “very spirited and numerously attended. Those present pledged themselves as being ready to raise by voluntary tax, their proportion of the amount the Province is required to guarantee”.

The weather that season was the hottest and most oppressive within the memory of the oldest inhabitant. For nearly four months there was scarcely any rain, so that grain and hay scorched on the stalk. On September 2nd, the thermometer rose to 96 at noon, and according to the Nova Scotian, “a dense smoky haze produced by the surrounding fires filled the atmosphere and seemed to belt the horizon. The sun peered with a bloodshot eye through the misty stifling vapor, and beneath its scorching beams everything drooped and withered”.

1847

by

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

The year 1847 opened with a severe spell of weather. Newspaper items early in January inform us that “there was superior skating on the Dartmouth Lakes”. The thermometer at Citadel Hill registered 15 below on the 20th. The Axe Firemen of Halifax made merry on an exhilarating sleigh drive to Schultz’s Inn at Grand Lake, and returned through Dartmouth in Hiram Hyde’s Mammoth Tea Party Sleigh with six-in-hand and colors flying”. Another newspaper report that month mentions a misfortune of the Mailboat brig Margaret, which had been driven up on shore at Black Rock on the Dartmouth side of the harbor.

Distress and disease prevailed among the Mi’kmaq tribes at Shubenacadie and Dartmouth where several deaths had resulted from an outbreak of fever that winter. Forthwith the Provincial Government directed that an [indigenous] Hospital be prepared in the vicinity of the encampment, with Dr. Jennings as the Superintendent.

As the latter was a Conservative, and a comparative stranger on our side of the harbor, the Liberal newspaper Nova Scotian indignantly asked why he received the appointment over the head of Dr. DesBrisay, a Dartmouth physician, who had long ministered to the [Mi’kmaq] gratuitously.

A few weeks later when Dr. Jennings’ accounts for attending these [Mi’kmaq] were up for discussion in the Assembly, a Committee of the House recommended that a sum of money be also set apart for the remuneration of Dr. DesBrisay “whose humane disposition has urged him to supply the numerous [Mi’kmaq], who annually resort to the neighborhood of Dartmouth, with advice and medicine during a period of 14 years”.

Another Legislative Committee headed by Hon. Hugh Bell reported on possible sites for a Provincial Insane Asylum. One property owned jointly by G. A. S. Crichton and the heirs of Michael Wallace, comprising about 100 acres on the western side of First Lake, was available for £500. Another at Birch Cove in Bedford Basin, had 900 acres and would cost £1200. A third was at Prince’s Lodge, and contained 470 acres with a price of £1500.

The Birch Cove land was recommended because it was conveniently situated for a supply of fresh water from a higher elevation. The Dartmouth site was strongly urged by Hon. J. E. Fairbanks on account of its commanding situation and beautiful view; but the objection was that the water supply would have to be forced up the slope from the lake by artificial means.

The Simultaneous Polling Act, by which elections were to be held on a single day, became law in that session of 1847. This important Bill was introduced by Attorney General Johnston, a summer resident of our town. Provision was made for polling places at numerous centres, one of which was to be in the township of Dartmouth. No longer would freeholders hereabouts be obliged to travel to the Halifax polling booth where disorder and heckling generally prevailed during the long-drawn-out elections under the old arrangement. (In the enactment of this piece of legislation, Nova Scotia led all other British colonies.)

Dartmouthians evidently were continuing in their efforts that winter to obtain a water supply from neighboring lakes. In February, a meeting was announced to be held in the Mechanics’ Institute on a Monday afternoon, when a report from a Committee on that subject would be submitted.

Mrs. Gould’s account of early Dartmouth mentions an entertainment held in the old schoolhouse by General Tom Thumb and his manager P. T. Barnum. This may have been in February of 1847, because the famous midget spent a few days in this port while waiting for the steamer to proceed to Boston. Tom and Mr. Barnum were returning from a four-year tour of Europe.

On this occasion, the Halifax Morning Post published a lengthy account of Tom’s talents and his enormous earnings while abroad, noting that “he speaks French fluently, plays the piano and has taken part in French plays in the principal French cities. He has received valuable presents from the principal sovereigns of Europe, and has kissed more than a million and a half of ladies”. (Mrs. Gould does not mention any such osculations in Dartmouth.)

About this time, there was much misery and privation being suffered in Scotland and in Ireland where hundreds were actually dying from starvation. On this Continent, campaigns for famine funds were carried out in almost every large centre.

At Halifax, the Secretary of the Relief Committee was the well-known Alexander James. By March, they had collected £1,317. The contribution from Dartmouth amounted to £325, and the number of persons subscribing in this town was 86. Their names are preserved in the columns of the Halifax Sun, and constitute a valuable record of prominent citizens resident in Dartmouth at that period of our history.

Many on the Halifax and Dartmouth lists gave only a few shillings, indicating that our people were also feeling the pinch of poverty, for at that time the whole Province was in the doldrums of another depression. One newspaper reported that the price of flour and bread was the highest in 30 years.

This was partly caused by a sudden depletion of provisions, particularly meat and vegetables, resulting from an influx of over 1,000 immigrants suffering from typhus fever. Local bakers took advantage of the panic to double the price of bread.

Governor Harvey issued a proclamation that Friday, May 14th, be observed as a day of fasting and humiliation “that people may unite in supplication to Almighty God for pardon for their sins and for the removal of those heavy judgments under which we are suffering”. On that day, church services were held, and the closed shops along silent streets cast an appearance of solemnity over downtown Halifax and, we trust, over industrial Dartmouth.

If our industries in those days were down, they were not completely out, for there was at least one ship constructed at Lyle’s that year. She was the 270-ton “Mercy”, launched at flood-tide on the last Saturday morning of April.

At a foundry in Dartmouth, a set of cast-iron steps was moulded, and placed in front of the store of J. Wallace & Co., at Halifax, during the summer of 1847. These steps, novel in design, were highly praised for their utility, being tastefully perforated so as to admit light into the cellar. From the favorable comment in newspapers, one gathers that such a type of steps had hitherto been unknown. Thus is scored another mark in the record of Dartmouth’s “first things”.

A transatlantic “first” was made by the Dartmouth-built “Barbara” which arrived in this port after a record run from Ireland. The Halifax Morning Post of May 20th noted this remarkable achievement:

The barque Barbara with 296 passengers on board, arrived yesterday in 12 days from Galway—the shortest passage yet ever made by a Nova Scotia built vessel. The Barbara was built at the Ship Yard of our well-known builder, Mr. Lyle at Dartmouth.

1841

by
1841-52

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

When the new House met in February 1841, Joseph Howe was chosen as Speaker. That appointment brought a bit of political prestige to our side of the harbor, because Dartmouth was the largest center in Mr. Howe’s constituency.

An Act incorporating the City of Halifax was passed by the Legislature that session. Of more local interest, however, was an Act for regulating Dartmouth Common.

“An act for regulating the Dartmouth Common”, 1841 c52: “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 Township of Dartmouth”

This was the “new town-plot” … As the trustees of the Common were all dead by 1841, there was no one in authority to prevent the increasing number of squatters from occupying parts of the Common, especially those portions adjacent to the waterfront in the vicinity of Black Rock. (The whole area of the new town-plot must have been so called from earliest times, no doubt from the black color of the slate rock there.)

The Act of 1841 appointed new trustees in the persons of John E. Fairbanks, Henry Y. Mott and William Foster. They were empowered to subdivide the large area of Common land on the western side of Windmill Road, extending from about the present line of the new bridge on the north, to Geary Street on the south.

William MacKay, a well-known surveyor of that time, subsequently laid off the section into 41 building lots which were advertised at auction and conveyed to the highest bidder for 999 years, subject to an annual ground-rent of £1. Thirty-one of the lots were sold that summer. Some were bought outright by the holders, but others continued paying ground-rent for many years afterwards. (The MacKay map of the section, is still preserved at the Town Engineer’s office.)

According to the Act, revenue from the sale of these lands had to be applied to improve the remaining portion of the Common, and provide for the laying out of a street along the waterfront. (This is the present Shore Road).

Names of other streets in that vicinity like Fairbanks, Hare, Mott, Best and Lyle, commemorate trustees and original property owners. (Geary Street was named after the Priest who had charge of the Catholic cemetery. Turner Street, directly opposite, runs through the old Turner tanyard. The name of Foster certainly should be applied somewhere to honor a forgotten family who were long included among our early industrialists.)

From the Dartmouth “Atlantic Weekly” of April 29, 1899, readers may obtain the number of each lot of Common land, and the price paid for same at time of sale. The following names were among the first purchasers: George Turner, James Synott, William Stairs, C. A. Mott, James Whiteley, John Fenton, David Hare, Gilbert Elliott, James Keating, William Walker, Richard Best, Michael McKenna, John Thornham, John B. Woodworth, John Kennedy, Alexander Lyle, John E. Fairbanks, Richard McLearn and John Tapper.

On June 8th 1841, the Nova Scotia Philanthropic Society celebrated the Natal Day of Halifax by holding a picnic and athletic games at Turtle Grove “near the Windmill in Dartmouth”, whither they were transported on the “Sir C. Ogle”.

Another large group enjoyed an outing at Dartmouth on the afternoon of St. John’s Day, June 24th 1841, when the members of St. Mary’s Total Abstinence Society of Halifax crossed the harbor. A brass band on the deck of the “Sir C. Ogle” kept playing lively airs during two or three trips, until the full crowd of people had been transported.

These then “marched to a beautifully situated field, half a mile from the ferry, and kindly loaned for the occasion by Mr. Boggs. The progress through the pretty village of Dartmouth, and through the rural ways and woodpaths, was delightful”, says the account in the Nova Scotian. Between 700 and 800 met on the appointed ground where they indulged in games of ball and bat, and other sports. Quadrille and Contra dances were also got up on the green.

(About this time, the temperance cause was being preached in Europe by Father Theobold Mathew, and his influence was felt in North America. St. Mary’s Society had about 3,000 members. The Halifax Temperance Society had almost as many. In Dartmouth, St. Peter’s Total Abstinence Society had over 1,000, among whom many were Mi’kmaq. Most of Austinville district was then owned by Thomas Boggs. Roughly, the area from Christ Church cemetery to St. Peter’s School grounds was known as “Boggswood”. Not likely Pine Street was as yet constructed. Definitely lower Maple Street was not. The field referred to, must have been somewhere in “Boggswood”, other than the swampy section. [—I believe JPM is referring to the south side of Myrtle Street here]. The “ball and bat” contest mentioned, is the earliest written record of a baseball game being played in Dartmouth.)

1838

by

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

Queen Victoria was crowned on June 28th, and on that day celebrations were held in several centres of Nova Scotia. Crowds thronged to Halifax where the demonstrations started at dawn with salutes of cannon, music of bands and the joyous peal of church bells. The weather was glorious.

All the principal shops were closed and shuttered, bunting billowed in the morning breeze and regal flags fluttered on church towers and other prominent places like Dalhousie College, then on the present location of City Hall.

People in holiday attire kept wending their way to the Common, where there were more parades and reviews of scarlet-coated troops before Governor Campbell and his staff.

On the Parade at noon, groups from Dartmouth joined in a patriotic procession of naval, military and civilian organizations, marching to the stirring music of intermittent bands and pipes through streets lined with hurrahing Haligonians. As each unit rounded the crescent-shaped driveway of Government House, the men halted to receive individual felicitations from His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor.

In the afternoon an immense concourse of people assembled on the green slopes of Citadel “Hill and on the Common, where there was a varied program of amusements and sports. No one went hungry or thirsty. On a massive spit outside the tent of the Irish Society, an entire ox was roasted. Refreshments were served in a large marquee set up by the Coronation Committee. Thomas Medley was chef.

At night there was a gorgeous display of fireworks from the Grand Parade, public and private buildings were illuminated, and a fashionable ball held at Government House.

Our townsfolk, who had probably crossed to Halifax by the hundreds that day, returned home in plenty of time for the Dartmouth celebration because on this side of the harbor the show was then only at the beginning.

As in Halifax, an energetic local committee had solicited subscriptions to defray expenses, and carried out a program most fitting for the occasion. How well they succeeded, may be judged from the fact that nearly 60 years later, elderly folks fondly recalled the memories of Queen Victoria’s coronation night, when they danced until dawn with the gay crowd on the pavilion in Medley’s Tea Gardens.

On the Committee were Dr. DesBrisay, William Hague, Mr. Turner, E. H. Lowe, Allan McDonald, Mr. Foster (probably William), Captain Galt, and Mr. Mcllreith, Secretary.

The Coronation Address commemorating the event was “classically and eloquently spoken” by Robert Jamison, the schoolmaster. The vast throng listened with marked attention throughout, and at the conclusion gave vent to their feelings of loyalty and enthusiasm by uniting with Mr. Jamison in “three times three rousing and rapturous cheers”.

There was also a Coronation song sung, which had been composed especially for the occasion by a Captain Galt. The latter was particularly praised in the newspaper report, as having devoted considerable time and trouble in arranging the program, although a comparative stranger.

Most of the account of the Dartmouth celebration in the “Acadian Recorder” is reprinted here, so that imaginative readers may enjoy vicariously the fun experienced by our ancestors on that June night of 1838. Medley’s Hotel (the present Central Apartments at 59 Queen Street), with its stables, outbuildings and gardens, then occupied the whole of the southern half of Town Block “F”. Down Queen Street to Dundas there ran a slate-rock stone wall in front of a thickly-set curtilage of hawsey trees which continued northerly on Dundas Street, giving that particular block the nickname of “Hawsey Lane”.

The skittle alley stood on the northeast corner of Wentworth and Queen Streets, with its length extending to the present property of the Telephone Company. There were other Inns at the time, like the Mill Bank, the Bush Inn at 63 Ochterloney Street, the Commercial Inn and Skerry’s Inn; but Medley’s had more attractive and spacious surroundings. It was also the stopping-place of the Halifax-Truro stagecoach. The hotel proprietor in 1838 was John Kennedy.

DARTMOUTH AND ITS VICINITY ON THE DAY OF THE CORONATION

The village on this day came forward with a spirit eminently creditable. It not only contributed its numbers to enlarge the line of the procession in Halifax, but in the evening a large party of about 800, from a circuit of 15 miles, gathered in gay groups to welcome the event by a merry dance.

The whole town of Dartmouth including the Anglican Rector, the Magistrates and their families were present. On no occasion do we believe, within the memory of the oldest resident has so large and respectable an assemblage been seen. A more attractive spectacle pf health and beauty has seldom been assembled, and few prettier faces smiled a welcome to our youthful Queen’s reign on that day.

The green area which separates Mr. Kennedy’s Hotel from the ball alley, was enclosed by an extended awning consisting of more than two thousand square yards of canvas, lined on the inside by the flags of all nations which drooped in festoons from the ceiling, and presented the spectacle of a splendid Turkish tent. It was lit by a variety of chandeliers.

The enclosure of the roof of Mr. Kennedy’s Hotel afforded a very pretty coup d’oeil from its windows, of the glad groups as they joined in the joyous dance. All was lighthearted and merry, and the tout ensemble did eminent credit to the zeal and attention of the gentlemen who conducted the scene.

A great abundance and diversity of refreshments were provided in the ball alley. On a high hill in the vicinity, a huge bonfire blazed during the evening.

At 9 o’clock, after the company had witnessed an exhibition of fireworks in front of Mr. Kennedy’s gardens, the gay dance and quadrille were persevered in until the gray streaks of dawn in the eastern sky, announced that the Coronation was yesterday.

There was a census taken in 1838 giving the names of heads of families in Dartmouth Township which then extended into the suburbs of Tufts’ Cove, Port Wallace, PortoBello area, Woodlawn and Imperoyal districts. The number of males who were heads of families totaled 195. The number of males under 6 was 118. Number of females under 6 was 139. Number of males under 14 Was 128. Number of females under 14 was 136. Number of females above 14 was 371. Males above 14 not heads of families, 163. The total number in the settlement was 1,246. This included 76 people of color.

Speech on Canadian affairs, April 14 1838

1827

by

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

In the summer of 1827, Engineer Hall reported that “800 tons of granite stone have been removed from the Quarry to Dartmouth Lake. A commodious line of road is now completed from the head of Dartmouth Lake parallel with the Canal. By this road, the Lock Stone will be conveyed”.

This must also mean the laying out of Maitland Street, because the terminus of the Canal was at first intended to be located on the shore there.

In July 1827, a fine ship of 344 tons named the “Halifax” was launched at Lowden’s in Mill Cove. The newspaper account stated that “a numerous concourse of people collected on the high ground near the shipyard, and a great many small boats filled with spectators gave the scene a very animated and pleasing effect”.

The gaiety that morning suddenly changed to gloom because of a fatal accident to Joseph Moreland, prominent townsman whose activities have been recorded in this book. He was a ship carpenter. As was customary, the launching was celebrated with a discharge of cannon. One shot had been set off when Mr. Moreland commenced ramming down the second charge. By accident the gun was fired. The unfortunate man had both his arms blown off to the elbows. Within a few hours, he died.

On the very spot where this ship was launched, a Halifax resident had a narrow escape from death a few evenings afterwards. He had just emerged from a dip off the shore, when a huge shark shot violently in on the beach where the bather had just lately stood. The monster was about 12 feet long.

In August, the second annual regatta took place on the harbor. Dartmouth won the 5-oared rowing race, and a $45 prize, in a boat called “Britannia”, built by Mr. Coleman. The crew were Philip Brown, Daniel Cogill, George Bowse, Philip Shears and William Fultz, steersman. (They look like Eastern Passage names).

In September, the Canal colony was increased by about 100 persons when the brig “Corsair” arrived from Greenock with 44 masons and stonecutters. Some brought their families.

On September 25, the Rev. James Morrison landed in Dartmouth. He was a missionary sent out by a Society established in Glasgow to further the interests of the Kirk of Scotland.

The Acadian Recorder has a long account of a banquet held in September at Warren’s Inn by Officers of the 3rd Regiment Halifax Militia, with the dinner “being handsomely provided and the wines excellent”. The bugles of the Rifle Brigade were present and their music “swelled proudly” at the entertainment.

On the morning of September 16, a vivid lightning storm passed over this district. At Port Wallace, Timothy Kennedy was instantly killed when a bolt struck the hut where the victim lay in his bunk alongside two others. Everyone in the encampment was more or less affected by the shock. A woman was knocked senseless as she stood on the floor. Two children in the same hut were likewise struck and somewhat scorched about the chest.

Many customs of bygone days, taken for granted at the time, would never be preserved for this generation but for that trait of human nature which urges a person to register complaints against what he regards as public nuisances. On the slow-going team-boat, for instance, it seems to have been the practice of some passengers during trips, to catch and gut the odd mess of mackerel from the thousands of such fish that came schooling into the harbor in spring and autumn.

This aroused the indignation of other commuters who protested to the Magistrates—the only governing body at that time. Or else, they wrote the newspapers, as did the undersigned in a letter to the “Acadian Recorder” on October 20, 1827:

“Sir, It has fallen to my lot to cross the ferry from Dartmouth to Halifax in the Team Boat during the fall run of mackerel. I have frequently seen the deck covered with fish, and splitting and salting carried on with as much facility as at any fishing establishments along the shore. From the “delicate” manner this complaint was canvassed by the Magistrates last Spring, I am disposed to think the public will be compelled at last to take other steps to regain their rights on the above ferry. Yours etc., A. F.”

In the next issue, another writer defended the practice, and praised Captain Findlay who “always renders the voyage as commodious as possible. If he has sometimes permitted passengers to amuse and exercise themselves with hauling in a mackerel, it is more proof of his desire to accommodate”.

In a Provincial census taken in the year 1827, returns showed that the Township of Dartmouth had 150 families, containing 405 males, 411 females, 93 male servants, and 51 female servants. Total population of Township 960.

Some households were large. Youths learning trades were apprenticed to their masters and lived with them. Robert Lowden, the shipbuilder, was listed as having 11 hired laborers under his roof. John Skerry had 13 in his household, six of whom were probably employed as ferrymen.

Also in the Township were 58 horses, 195 horned cattle, 162 sheep and 130 swine. On 504 acres of land under cultivation, there were raised that year 74 bushels of wheat, 921 bushels of other grain, 301 tons of hay and 8,480 bushels of potatoes. (There was no separate census for the town-plot.)

1815

by

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

The spring of 1815 was very backward. As late as the month of June, slob-ice kept coming down from the Basin. In addition to that, frequent southerly winds blew much drift ice back into the harbor which often impeded the progress of the ferry-boats. Towards the end of July, a hail-storm, attended by rain and thunder, showered down lumps of ice over two inches long, near Burnside.

In this year, much of James Creighton’s Dartmouth property was put up for sale at auction by the executors of the estate. The whole of what is now the Austenville section, comprising some 67 acres, was bought by Thomas Boggs for £348 6/3.

A larger block of 77 acres commenced near the foot of Sullivan’s Pond and included land on both sides of Prince Albert Road over Sinclair Street hills to Christian Bartlin’s line at the town limits. On the west, the boundary extended down through the middle of Lake Banook to Ochterloney Street. The highest bid for this vast area was £450, and the purchaser was Lawrence Hartshorne. As the new Preston Road of 1797 ran through all this property, it looked promising for investment returns.

In 1815 the Halifax Steamboat Company was organized. They obtained from the Legislature the exclusive privilege of operating ferry-steamers for a period of 25 years. The principal incorporators were Hon. Michael Wallace, Thomas Boggs, Lawrence Hartshorne and Charles Morris. Reduced fares were promised.

The Government that year voted a sum of £190 to complete surveys and plans for the Shubenacadie Canal. A previous sum of £250 had been appropriated for the same purpose in 1797.

Listed among the highway grants of 1815 was an amount of £70 “to assist the inhabitants of Dartmouth township to open a road from Mrs. Floyer’s to Shubenacadie river”.

This appears to be the first mention of communication being opened from Dartmouth to meet the road from Truro leading to Halifax. The latter, known as the “Cobequid Road”, turned westerly to cross Fletcher’s bridge where now stands Fletcher’s Locks. Then it continued for six miles over the hills to emerge at the junction of the present no. 1 highway and Old Cobequid Road, which is about 12 miles from Halifax.

1758

by

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

The first Nova Scotia election was held in 1758*. In that year, inhabitants of the various settlements went to the polls and named representatives to the first House of Assembly at Halifax. It has met regularly ever since. Previously, the laws had been made by a Governor and his chosen Councils

Most of those early Councillors obtained extensive grants of land in Dartmouth township. This partiality seems to have aroused criticism, especially among Halifax settlers who had come up from New England. One of the latter, writing to a Boston merchant in 1757, made the caustic comment that Cornwallis’ Council had been “composed of military officers and a few dependent on him for the advantageous places he gave them”.

Governor Cornwallis, however, did not appropriate any lands for himself; but before his departure from Halifax in 1752, he granted a large island (McNab’s) to his brothers in England. The comment of the above letter was . . . he gave to his family the very best island in the harbor of Chebucto, called Cornwallis’ Island, which in my opinion should have been given in small farms to the many settlers of Halifax, instead of cooping them up on a small isthmus”.

* The Memorial Tower at North West Arm commemorates this event.

1750

by
dartmouth royal instructions 1749

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

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.

As an aside, Martin’s account of Captain Thomas Coram in 1718 and his attempt to establish settlements “northeast of the harbor of Chebucto” isn’t supported by “An historical and statistical account of Nova Scotia” by Thomas Chandler Haliburton, where it is stated that the settlement was instead planned for a location “upon the sea coast, five leagues S.W. and five leagues N.W. of Chebucto”, not on the Dartmouth side. (Five leagues is approximately 28 km). It did make me wonder about the “Bayer’s Lake mystery walls” and whether they are remnants of a such a settlement, made regardless of a lack of authorization from Colonial authorities.

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 been noted, and probably soon inspected by Cornwallis, for he does not lose much time in sending men over to the present Canal stream with the necessary gear to erect the sawmill.

Cornwallis also carried with him royal instructions that called for the founding of two townships “…containing 100,000 acres of land each be marked out at or near our harbor of Chebucto”.

Labaree, Leonard Woods. “Royal Instructions To British Colonial Governors“, Volume II.
New York, Octagon Books, 1967. https://archive.org/details/royalinstruction028364mbp/page/n93/mode/2up

There were about 30 men quartered at the sawmill during the winter of 1749-1750. More were living aboard the “Duke of Bedford” and on an armed sloop, which were anchored in the Cove nearby. It must have been an especially severe season, for the two ships were frozen-in so that ice had to be broken every night to prevent incursions from the shore.

Major Ezekiel Gilman was in charge of the sawmill. This pioneer local industry seems to have been an utter failure. In April 1750 Cornwallis reported to London that the mill had been his “constant plague from the beginning. We have never had one board from it”. This was partly due to Mr. Gilman’s bad management.

On the other hand, the Governor makes more encouraging reports on a second undertaking, presumably carried out on the eastern side of the harbor. In July 1750 he writes that “30,000 bricks have been burnt here which prove very good”.

Brick clay can still be clawed out of the sloping bank along the railway from Tupper Street to the Passage. Mott’s Pottery used tons of it. Until the 1880’s the Wellington brickyard flourished near the Seaplane base at Imperoyal. A record in the New York Public Library says that [Mi’kmaq] before going into battle, used to appear more ferocious by smearing their faces with “that red vermillion found on the east side of Chebucto”.

This clay belt must extend under the surface of downtown Dartmouth, because excavations at 85 Portland Street brought up quantities of plastic mud from the bottom of a 20-foot well, unearthed in the back yard.

The earliest accounts of the colonists destined to become our first citizens have been obtained from the Secretary of the Public Record Office in London. Their 1750 files disclose that the “Alderney” was getting ready to sail for this port from Gravesend on May 25. On July 6, she was reported at Plymouth, having put in there on account of contrary winds.

Evidently then, the pioneer settlers of Dartmouth sailed from the same English port as did the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620.

The actual day that the Alderney reached Halifax harbor is not definitely known. It was not before August 19, and not after the September 3rd, because Governor Cornwallis’ Council met on the latter date to select a location for the new settlers. The sites suggested were at the head of Bedford Basin, at the North West Arm, in the present Woodside-Imperoyal section and near the Saw Mill. The last mentioned was finally chosen. (The dates given are all old style. To conform to the present calendar, eleven days should be added).

The Alderney was a ship of 504 tons and the number of passengers on board totaled 353. No deaths were recorded on the voyage, mostly because immigrant vessels were by that time fitted-up with the newly-invented system of ventilation. The largest vessel among Cornwallis’ transports of 1749 was the “Wilmington” yet she carried only 340 colonists. Stretching space on the Alderney must have been very limited.

As a conjecture, the hold of the Alderney was also jammed with family heirlooms, household utensils, bedding, clothing, perhaps pet dogs, cats and parrots in the midst of seasick youngsters and oldsters inhaling the garlicky atmosphere so characteristic of old-time steerage accommodations. Hence, transatlantic voyages on these lurching and leaning sailing ships weren’t just exactly luxurious.

How our town came to be called Dartmouth is not definitely known. Dartmouth, England, was probably named for the first Earl of Dartmouth, George Legge the celebrated Admiral. He stood in high favor until suspected of treasonable correspondence with James II. Then he was imprisoned in the Tower for three months until his death in 1691.

William Legge, the second Earl of Dartmouth, was Keeper of the Privy Seal, and perhaps held that office in 1750 when he died. The late Harry Piers, who edited Mrs. Lawson’s History, says that our town was doubtless named after this man.

On the other hand, the name may have come from Dartmouth in Devon on the west coast of England. The 1950 guidebook of the latter town informs us that people from that district of the river Dart, migrated to Newfoundland from earliest times, probably to prosecute the fisheries.

Governor Cornwallis’ reports of 1750 indicate that he is anxious to obtain fishermen in order to make his colony self-sustaining. He hoped to have “people from the West of England next year for the fishery. Mr. Holsworth of Dartmouth sent people here this year, they have cleared ground to begin upon the Fishery next year”.

Dartmouth, England, guidebook states that the Holdsworth family occupied the post of Governor of Dartmouth Castle in hereditary succession until 1832. The descendants still live in Devon, according to recent information received from Mr. B. Lavers ex-Mayor of Dartmouth, Devon.

The town plan as laid out in 1750 comprised 11 oblong-shaped blocks, mostly 400 feet long by 200 feet wide. Each building lot was 50 by 100 feet. Reference to the cut shows that all the streets running north and south, lead to the Point, which is the front part of the settlement. The northern boundary seems to be the present line of North Street. The southern boundary is the present Green Street (once between Portland Street and Front Street), if it were produced through to Commercial St (present Alderney Drive). All the area from that line to the Point would be the 10 acre grant of Benjamin Green.

The eastern boundary is at Dundas Street, and from there the present Queen Street extends through the middle of the plot to Commercial St. But Portland and Ochterloney Streets come to an end at King Street. (No street names appear on first plan).

From that point all the way to Eastern Passage, larger areas ranging from 60 to over 200 acres, and fronting on the shore, were granted to people prominent among Cornwallis’ settlers. Adjoining Davison’s was that of Samuel Blackden (or Blagdon); next was John Salisbury at Hazelhurst shore, then Charles Lawrence in the Department of Transport vicinity; William Steele, Richard Bulkeley, Byron Finucane, Joseph Gerrish, Jacob Hurd, Charles Morris, Leonard Lockman, Rev. Aaron Cleveland, Rev. Mr. Tutty and others.

Page 7 of 7
1 … 4 5 6 7