Page:New Brunswick Magazine Issue 1.djvu/156
He goes on to say that the flour that had lately arrived in the schooner was wet and much damaged; there was no Indian corn to be had; for three months they had lived without coffee or molasses, nor had they any tea except of the spruce kind.
Gradually, however, the circumstances of the settlers at Portland Point improved, and after the marriage of the two partners to two of the daughters of Capt. Francis Peabody[1] they were enabled to surround themselves, little by little, with home comforts, and life became less arduous. Samuel Peabody, their brother-in-law, settled about the year 1770 at Manawagonish, in what was then known as the Township of Conway, now the parish of Lancaster, and Jonathan Leavitt, another brother-in-law, built himself a house in the same locality; both were therefore neighbors to the settlers at Portland Point. Samuel Peabody was a man of spirit and enterprise. In common with others of the early settlers he devoted some attention to clearing and improving his lands, but he was also a land surveyor and one of the first mill owners and lumberers on the St. John river, the centre of his operations being at the Oromocto.
Jonathan Leavitt had a good framed house and barn and about sixty acres of cleared land (marsh and upland) at Manawagonish. Later he built a house at Carleton, which was a more convenient residence for the seafaring business in which he was generally employed. Mr. Leavitt came to St. John from New Hampshire, in 1764, to engage in the service of the company, being then a youth of about 18 years of age. He afterwards married Hephzibah the youngest daughter of Capt. Francis Peabody, receiving with his bride, no doubt, the marriage portion provided by her father's
- ↑ James Simonds and Hannah Peabody were married in Haverhill, Mass., November 9, 1767. James White and Elizabeth Peabody were also married in New England a little later.