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fort at Portland Point, and by the united efforts of the party it was erected, enclosed, and on the third day after their arrival inhabited. The women and children had meanwhile found shelter at the barracks on the other side of the harbor, and there on the same night of their arrival, August 28, 1762, was born James Quinton, the first child of English speaking parents whose birth is recorded at St. John. Capt. Peabody's daughter Hannah, then a girl of fourteen, was among those who found shelter at the barracks until the house at Portland Point was fit for their reception. She afterwards became the wife of James Simonds, and her sisters Elizabeth and Hephzibah married respectively James White and Jonathan Leavitt. Capt. Francis Peabody had served with distinction in the "Seven Years War,"^[1] and from the active part he took in effecting the settlement of the Township of Maugerville, as well as from his age and character, he must be justly regarded as the most prominent and influential person on the St. John river while he lived. He died in the year 1773.

The unstable condition of affairs during the war with France had for some time precluded any serious attempt at settlement along the northern shore of the Bay of Fundy, and the New England traders and fishermen who resorted thither were for the most part adventurers. With the return of peace the more enterprising spirits began to make arrangements for securing a foothold against rival traders.

James Simonds and his brother, in the first instance, established themselves at St. John merely with the tacit approval of the Nova Scotia authorities and of the commander of the garrison at Fort Frederick. It was not until three years later that they obtained their first grant of land.

In the grants issued by the government at this