Page:Acadiensis Q2.djvu/365
and while there a public ball was given to which they both went: there they met Miriam Pote, who was remarkably handsome. At that time she was engaged to be married, but became so fascinated with the courtly manners of Mr. Pagan and his superiority to the other man that she determined to break off the match; of course the admiration was mutual, and she eventually married her new admirer. After the wedding she went to Scotland and visited her husband's relatives, who were very much taken with her beauty and wit. While there she formed an acquaintance with a Mrs. Grant, of Sagan, a literary celebrity of that time who wrote 'Letters from the Mountains.' The original letters were in the possession of the family for many years."
The trip to Scotland was perhaps the occasion referred to by Mr. Pagan who makes affidavit that " In the month of February, 1776, he privately embarked his family on board a Brig he had in the Harbour of Falmouth and sailed for Barbadoes. From there he went home." This was the Brig Falmouth, which was "taken going into Bridgetown by the Argo, Captain Gardner" and on which occasion he lost " His Stores for a voyage to Britain for Self and Family £33 Sterling."
As Mr. Pagan settled in Casco Bay in 1769, and no record of the date of his marriage is at present obtainable, only a mere surmise can be made upon the subject. This trip may have been the occasion referred to by Mrs. Stickney, or it may have been on one of the several annual voyages which his business may have rendered expedient. From the nature of his business relations with Lee, Tucker & Co., it is not unlikely that a "trip to Scotland" was by no means an uncommon occurrence.
The originals of the portraits of Robert and Miriam (Pote) Pagan are in possession of Mr. T. Herbert Street, formerly of St. Andrews, N. B., now of Vancouver, B. C., and are said to be good likenesses.
Robert Pagan died at St. Andrews, N. B., on the 23rd of November, 1821, aged 71 years, and Miriam, his widow also died at the same place in January, 1828, aged 81 Years.