Page:New Brunswick Magazine Issue 1.djvu/26

The growing importance of St. John as a trading centre is indicated by other references to the locality scattered through the minutes of the proceedings of the Governor in Council ; among them the following shows that the excellence of the lime stone had attracted the attention of the imperial authorities at an early date.

Of those who came to St. John with Capt. Francis Peabody in 1762, only Samuel Peabody and one or two others appear to have settled at the mouth of the river, the remainder removed shortly afterwards to Maugerville, where a township had been assigned to them. The small dwelling erected at Portland Point by Capt. Peabody became the property of his son-in-law, James Simonds, but was for some years the residence of James White.

In the year 1763 James and Richard Simonds were actively engaged in the fishery and trading business at St. John and Passamaquondy in conjunction with their relative William Hazen, a young and enterprising merchant of Newburyport who provided the necessary supplies. They had several men in their employ, among them Samuel Middleton, a cooper, and Anthony Dyer; these remained at St. John the first winter. Others of those engaged in the employ of Simonds and his partners seem to have had a previous acquaintance with St. John harbor; Moses Genough for example was there in 1758, and Lemuel Cleveland in 1757 when he says "the French had a fort at Portland Point where Mr. Simonds house was afterwards built."

In order to carry on the business at St. John on an extensive scale, James Simonds decided to form a company for the purpose, but first he made sure of his