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The New Brunswick Magazine.



Vol. III. July, 1899. No. 1


THE CONTEST FOR SEBASKASTAGGAN.

The present paper, with two that are to follow, may be considered as supplementary to the "Portland Point" series, which terminated with the last number of the New Brunswick Magazine.

The greater part of the old parish of Portland was originally the property of three individuals whose titles were based upon three land grants, dated respectively October 2, 1765; May 1, 1770; and June 29, 1784—all issued before the division of the old province of Nova Scotia. In connection with these three grants to three individuals, three famous controversies arose. The first was that between James Simonds and Hazen and White respecting the division of their lands. It began about the year 1788 and the litigation that followed lasted with but little intermission for a quarter of a century. The second was a prolonged contest, that reached an acute stage in the early days of the present century, between the citizens of St. John and Messrs. Hazen, Simonds and White respecting the fisheries along the northern shore of the harbor from