Old St. Andrews

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The Sessions of Charlotte

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Extracts from the Sessions of Charlotte

 

Beacon
June 19/1890
Delving in the Past
How We Did our Business a Century Ago
Interesting Extracts from the First Court of Sessions in Charlotte
Among the books and documents in the custody of the County Secretary, there is none that possesses greater interest to the resident or native of Charlotte, than the record of the first court of sessions held in this county. Through the kindness of Mr. Grimmer we are enabled this week to publish a number of extracts from this interesting historic volume, and it is possible that at a future date we may be able to take the matter up again.
            The first court of sessions was established in Charlotte county, in June, 1785, but the first record which appears is that of September sessions of that year, the opening entry being as follows:--
            At the Inferior Court of common pleas and general Sessions of the Peace of our Lord the King held at the Court House in the Town of St. Andrews in and for that County Charlotte on the first Tuesday in September being the sixth day of September in the twenty-fifth year of His Majesty’s reign, Anno Domini, 1785.
            The justices who participated in this first meeting over one hundred years ago were Robert Pagan, William Anstruther, Colin Campbell and Nehemiah marks. Thomas Wyer was Sheriff, and as subsequent extracts will show his office was no sinecure.
            Methods of punishment prevailed then which for many years past have been obsolete, as witness the following, which was copied from the sessions record of September 9, 1785.
            Dominus rex vs. Duncan McEachern—Bench warrant on complaint of the Grand Jury, for insulting and abusive language to them, on duty: the said Duncan McEachern being brought before the court and the charges alleged against him being proven to their satisfaction, Ordered, that he be set in the public stocks half an hour for the said offence. The Sheriff returns that he has executed the said sentence as by warrant commanded. Dominus rex. Vs. James Piercy—Bench warrant for disrespectful behaviour, profane swearing, etc., in open court. Ordered that the said James Piercy be confined in the public stocks for one hour for the said offence. The Sheriff returns that he has executed the said sentence as commanded.
            At the sessions of July, 1786, the justices present being John Curry, Robert Pagan, William Anstruther, James Campbell, Jeremiah Pote, Nehemiah Mar4ks, Hugh Mackay and Henry Goldsmith, the following license fees were agreed upon:--
            Licences to tavern keepers and retailers of spirituous liquors above one hundred gallons from the 18th July 1786 to the third April next, twenty shillings license and bond one and a half dollars, upon certificate by two neighboring justices.
            HOW THIEVES WERE DEALT WITH
            In the treatment of criminals, no morbid sentiment prevailed in those days. A prisoner was given a fair trial, and discharged if found innocent, but if he was adjudged guilty, summary and severe punishment was usually meted out to him. Here is an entry copied from the record of August, 1786:
            Timothy Houston was brought before the court in consequence of a warrant issued against him by Jeremiah Pote, on suspicion of petty larceny, and upon examination there appeared to be no foundation for the charge against him, ordered that he be discharged.
            Also, Joshua Lock, on suspicion of the same, to wit, for stealing a pair of silver buckles from Phebe Webb, confesses the charge, ordered that he receive twenty lashes on the bare back at the public whipping post forthwith, and be banished the county for twelve months, and that a warrant be made out directed to the Sheriff for that purpose, and that the buckles be returned to the above-named Phebe Webb, the rightful owner.
            A CHIMNEY ROBBER
            Houses were constructed on a different principle then from what they are now, and it was not an unusual occurrence for a robber to enter a house through the chimney and make his exit in the same way. At the sessions of 23rd March, 1787, a prisoner was indicted on a charge of having entered a house by the chimney route:--
            Cornelius Ryan, who being apprehended on a warrant issued by James Campbell, on suspicion of going down the chimney of the dwelling house of Neil McNichol and stealing from thence sundry articles at different times, the property of the said Neil McNichol and John McPherson, upon the oath of Neil McNichol, ordered to be committed to the Common Jail till discharged by due course of law.
            NAUGHTY WIDDERS
            At the April session of the General Sessions, 1788, the grand Jury made a number of presentments, among them being the following:--
            The widow Helms of the parish of West Isles, for keeping a disorderly house. The widow Polly, of the said Parish, for the same. Also, Peter McDougall, of the town of St. Andrews, Tailor, for harbouring and concealing William Bowers, an apprentice servant of Andrew Martin’s of the same town.
            The same jury rapped the magistrates over the knuckles for not paying “that attention to the laws in general of this Province, that they are required to, especially an Act passed in the year of our Lord 1786, entitled an Act to Prevent Nuisances, Hedges, Weirs, Seines, and other Encumbrances obstructing the Passages of Fish in the Rivers, Coves and Creeks of this Province.”
            FISHERY REGULATIONS
            Regulations overseers of the fishery Saint Stephens, 2nd April, 1788:--
            The subscribers being appointed overseers of the fishery on Scoodiac river beg leave to propose to the honorable court the following regulations to be observed in the sessions:

 

  1. that all vessels and craft shall lay as near to high water mark as possible, and that they shall cure their fish on shore.
  2. that no boars, canoes, or craft of any kind shall be allowed to go above the middle landing after the 10th day of May.
  3. That no seine shall be drawn at the point at the foot of the Salt Water Falls, nor to extend more than one-quarter of the breadth of any part of the river.
  4. that all the offal shall be buried at last forty feet from the banks of the river.
  5. that no fish shall be taken on Sunday, but e allowed a free course up the river. Samuel Mulberry, Michael Simpson, Benjamin Getchell.

            THE GAOLER’S PERQUISITES
            The Gaoler to be allowed at the rate of twenty pounds per year, to be paid as contingent funds of county will admit, in proportion with other allowances to be paid from them, and liberty for retailing spirituous liquors free, at the same time the thanks of the court to be delivered to him by the clerk of the court for his past services. Adam Smith was the name of the Gaoler.   
            SENDING PAUPERS BACK
            The following appears in the record of sessions, 28th April, 1788:--
            Upon information of Robert Pagan, that on Saturday evening last a poor woman named Boyle, with two young children, were left in his absence within his dwelling house, attended with other circumstances of rudeness by a man who said he was a servant of Mr. Owen, of Campobello, alleging that he the said servant had brought the said woman and children from Campobello, and that he acted by his master’s orders,”
            --the matter was referred to the overseers of the poor, who reported that the paupers had no claim to a settlement in the parish of St. Andrews.
            The court having taken into consideration the matter of right as the manner of sending and leaving the poor persons in question, within the parish of St. Andrews, and conceiving the power abrogated by the said servant and his conduct in consequence thereof in the premises, as n indignity offered to the authority of the County of Charlotte at large, and an injury to the parish of St. Andrews in particular, do order that the paupers aforesaid be sent back to the place from whence they came and that a copy of the proceedings in this business be transmitted to Mr. Owen to the intent that he may be informed of the conduct of his servant therein, which the Court cannot suppose Mr. Owen to have been heretofore acquainted with.
            COMMONS REGULATIONS
            At the court of sessions, first Tuesday in April, 1789:--
            Ordered that each inhabitant of Saint Andrews owning a horse, cow or ox, be requested by the commissioners appointed for that purpose, to give a day’s work of one for each, and every two under two years old, to be considered as one, and on refusal that their cow, horse, or ox be excluded the privilege of the said Common. And say inhabitant importing cattle for sale, who shall put any such cattle on the said Common shall pay to the Commissioners to be laid out for extending the Common six pence per month, after the first month, and that Colin Campbell, John Dunn, Capt. Pote, and Robert Pagan, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners for the purpose of carrying the above regulation into execution.
            WHARF AND VESSEL BUILDING
            On the 3rd September, 1789, Robert Watson asked permission “to put out a small wharf and erect a store on it for the convenience of fishing on the beach of the river St. Croix, in the line of part of the road running through Morris Town,” which was complied with.
            At the same time John Campbell and Co. were given permission to use a lot of land to build a vessel on.
            THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS ENCROACHING
            At the session of the court held 8th September, 1790, the following resolution was adopted:--
            This court being informed that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have of late repeatedly discovered a disposition to exercise their jurisdiction over Moose and Dudley Island, to the great inconvenience of the inhabitants of this County in general, and of those island in particular, therefore resolved, that Mr. Curry, Mr. pagan and Mr. Campbell be appointed a committee to enquire into the particulars of the late conduct of the said Commonwealth respecting those island, and after obtaining the necessary information thereupon, in the name of this Court to write an official letter to His Excellency our governor respecting their situation and requesting that he will be pleased to adopt such measure as may be most expedient for securing the inhabitants of those islands and their property from the unjust encroachments of foreign power and for protecting them in their allegiance to His Majesty.
            ROAD AND BRIDGES IN ST. GEORGE
            In April, 1791, Donald McDougall, Gideon Vernon, and James McNabb, in behalf of themselves and other inhabitants of the parish of SG, urged the expediency of having “a good passable road cut through from one extremity of the parish to the other,” in consequence of “the badness and danger of the navigation of the river Magaguadavic in the Spring and Fall.” They also urge the building of bridges across the rivers Bonny, Little Digdeguash and Magaguadavic where the public roads cross the said rivers. It was pointed out that “a good and sufficient bridge can b erected on the main river Magaguadavic with a few days labor of the inhabitants for 25 pounds cash.
            COMPLAINING OF RESERVES
            Robert Pagan, Colin Campbell, and Henry Goldsmith were appointed a committee “to write to His Excellency John Wentworth, stating the great injury to this county from the large reserves that have been made on the Schoodick and Digdeguash rivers, by which the settlement in that part of the county is impeded, also to inform him that the growth on those rivers is chiefly hardwood, and to request that he would be pleased to take off such reserves, where there is no growth of pines.”
            AFRAID OF SAVAGES
            Among the entries of the September sessions, 1791, appears the following:--
            The Grand Jury, considering the peculiar situation of this County, being situated on the frontiers of this Province, that the last spring an unusual number of Savages assembled on Pleasant Point on the American shore, and some uneasiness has arise respecting the claims of some islands on the frontier, we beg that a request may be made to the commander-in-chief that a sufficient number of troops may be sent down for our protection as may be thought necessary.
            WHAT JOHN WISHED TO KNOW
            John Ross, a seaman, was arrested in April, 1792, for neglect of duty on the British ship “Queen.” Evidently Jail life did not agree with John, for he presented the following petition:--
            To the gentlemen of the court: I would wish to inform the court, that I would wish, as I have no friends in this place, and I should like to know, whether I am to lay in her and suffer or not, so no more at present from your humble servant, John Ross.
            STATING INNOCULATION
            The Grand Jury being informed that the small pox is about to be introduced into Saint Andrews by inoculation, are much alarmed at the ill consequences that such a matter may be attended with to the public welfare in general at this time, therefore pray that the Worshipful Court will take such steps as may be necessary that the inoccupation may be stayed until the Fall of year. The court concurred in this recommendation.
            John McKenzie announced his intention of building a vessel of upwards of one hundred tons in SA, and asked for a lease of land at the same time.
            James Cristy, of SS, at the same court, prayed for a lease of land on the top of the hill, near John McCollum’s farm, “for the purpose of erecting a house or houses and lumber yard to carry on a trading in lumber, and provide suitable accommodations for the traders who may occasionally come this way.”
            The “Waweig Ferry” was granted to Edmond Dougherty “on giving security to go from sunrise to sunset, 3d. per man, 1s. a cow, 1s. an ox, and 1s. a man to Oak Point Bay. Not to keep a passenger more than an hour.
            CHIMNEY REGULATIONS
            At the September sessions in the same year, it was ordered “that every householder within the town of St. Andrews shall once in three months at least sweep all their chimneys where constant fire is kept or burn the smut during rain or snow, and to enforce the said regulation they hereby order that every person whose chimney will take fire and has not bee swept, or otherwise cleared within the time above mentioned, shall be subject to a fine of ten shillings for very such offence, to be appropriated to the county Funds.
            A CLERGYMAN ROADMAKING
            Rev. Samuel Andrews made a strong appeal to the sessions at that time “to devise a more certain and equal support for their poor.” He also presented a petition for a road to Chamcook Island, stating that he had been proprietor of the island for seven years [since 1785 then, which would mean Osburn sold to him the same year he acquired the island, and the 1791 deed is post-dated, as it seemed to be] and had not been able to get a road from the town to it. “Much the greater part of the time he has been obliged to go to and from the island upon the sea shore, and to cross the water of the Cove, which has been the occasion of much trouble and great delay to him and has sometimes been attended with personal danger to himself and others.” He goes onto say that he had cut three road through the woods but had been obliged to give up two of them as soon as made. “Finding finally that he must give up the island altogether, or aught of any land he could get for a road to it he has complied with the offer of the proprietors of the land about Chamcook bar, and by their friendly assistance has but a road through the woods, to a line between them from the Bar till it strikes the great road, which leads from town to the country. This has been an expensive undertaking, and tho’ assisted by the others immediately concerned in the road with him, it has cost your memorialist at least six pounds currency, over and above his quota of work upon the public road.” He asked for certain concessions, which were allowed.
            A WINDMILL AT INDIAN POINT
            In April, 1795, Nathan Frink asked for leave to erect a wind-mill at Indian Point. The petition was complied with, twenty shillings per year being required as rent, “the building to be completed within a twelve-month hereafter, the toll to be what is commonly taken in this country, viz. 1/16th for grinding only and if boulted 1/16th, the preference of ground between him and John Campbell to be drawn up for by lots.
            THE TWELVE COMMANDMENTS
            The following regulations were ordained in 1793 with regard to tavern keepers and retailers of liquors:--

 

  1. Tavern keepers shall lodge and entertain as their guests, all travellers, not being of bad report, who may request and tender, if thereunto required, a reasonable satisfaction for the same, and shall be answerable for the goods of their guests.
  2. Tavern-keepers or retailers shall not harbor, under any pretence idle and disorderly persons of bad report, nor any person, not being a traveller, who is retained in any service, nor credit such retained person in any sum exceeding five shillings.
  3. all tavern keepers and retailers shall observe and cause sobriety and good order at be at all times observed and kept in their respective house, and shall not permit any persons not being their guests, or with whom their guests have just cause of intercourse to be or continue herein at such hours as are unreasonable on the Lord’s Day.
  4. All tavern-keepers and retailers shall sell by measures duly stated, and shall render their customers particulars of what they may have received, and shall not detail their goods for the reckoning.
  5. No person license to retail spirituous liquors shall take any pawn or pledge, as security, nor shall they detain or receive wearing apparel, or tools of any kind or description for payment.
  6. No person whatever shall be permitted to sit drinking in the house on the Lord’s day, commonly called Sunday.
  7. No liquor shall on any pretence whatever be sold or given in the house to any one who is in the smallest degree intoxicated.
  8. Tavern keepers shall keep a copy of the foregoing regulations hung or posted upon some place in the house.
  9. Breaches of all or any of the foregoing regulations hall incur the forfeiture of their licence, over and above the penalties and forfeiture to which they are liable in and by the Act for regulating inn holders, tavern-keepers and retailers of spirituous liquors.
  10. No tavern-keeper shall harbor or conceal any idle or disorderly person of bad report.      

Beacon
June 26/1890
Ninety Years Ago
Extracts From the Record of the Sessions
The extracts which we published last week from the record of the first court of sessions held in St. Andrews having awakened a degree of interest, we return again to the subject.
A PROTECTING PRIVATEER
At a court of the General Sessions of the Peace held in St. Andrews, on the third Tuesday of September, 1795, a letter was read from the Brigade Major at Fredericton informing the board “that the privateer brig Union is ordered by government to proceed immediately to St. Andrews, Passamaquoddy, with directions to remain for the protection of that town, the Bay and settlement till further orders.” The Board returned thanks “to his Excellency the governor for the intended protection, with an earnest request for the continuance of the same, as in appearance so publicly necessary for the security of the inhabitants.”
INDIAN MEAL TO BE SOLD BY WEIGHT
In consequence of representations made by the Grand Jury at the April session, 1796, regarding the inconvenience and dissatisfaction prevailing in consequence of Indian and other meals being sold by measure, it was resolved to sell it by weight “at the rate of fifty-two pounds per bushel of yellow meal and forty-eight pounds per bushel for white meal.”
EXPORTING A PAUPER FROM ST. JOHN
In February, 1796, the board was called upon to deal with a complaint from the overseers of the poor, which set forth at a poor man named Wm. Matthews had been landed at St. Andrews from a brig belonging to Mr. Prince, of St. John. An order, was passed to send the man back, and a copy of the proceedings was transmitted to Mr. Prince.
SHOT WHILE TRAYING TO RESCUE CONTRABAND GOODS
Among the matters disposed of at the April sessions of 1797, was a case of homicide se defendendo. The parties implicated were John Robinson, Hugh Lamey, William Stewart and Sergeant Stewart. According to the evidence submitted it appears that on Sunday, the 2nd day of October, 1796, these persons were on board a schooner at Grand Manan, guarding contraband goods that had been seized by Colin Campbell, searcher to His Majesty’s Customs. At the hour of eleven o’clock at night a party, supposed to consist of from eight to eleven persons, “with force and arms,” boarded the schooner and threatened to sacrifice the guardians of the smuggled goods, if they made opposition, “who, being hard pushed and fired at with three musquets, were unavoidably obliged to defend themselves by firing several guns in return, through which mans William Newcomb, of Moose Island, fell dead on the forecastle; the others retreated in confusion, leaving the body of Newcomb on deck.”
THISTLE DOWN
The “rapid increase of thistles in the county” formed a theme for the Grand Jury about the same time. The presentment was filed, with a letter from A. Botsford, of Sackville, in which the regulations of that county respecting thistles were enclosed. The contents of that letter are not entered in the records.
SUPPRESSING VICE AND IMMORALITY
Rev. Samuel Andrews requested the aid of the court in 1789 in suppressing vice and immorality. The Grand Jury replied:--
That they feel deeply impressed with the truths stated by the Reverend Mr. Andrews, particularly the profanation of the Lord’s Day. They lament that the regulations heretofore made to prevent drunkenness on the Sabbath have not had the desired effect; they also beg leave to state that it would be proper for the Sessions to take some measure to prevent fowling and fishing on the Sabbath, which they are sorry to learn is practiced by some persons in town, likewise to prevent boys and servants playing in the streets in different parts of this Town, which has been long complained of as a nuisance. It is customary in many places for the church Wardens to visit public houses and different parts of their parishes during divine service and at other times on the Lord’s Day; they believe such a regulation would be attended with good effect in this parish.
CLERK GARNETT’S RESIGNATION
At the April sessions, 1800, a long letter of resignation was read from Joseph Garnett, clerk of the peace and treasurer. He speaks of having been visited “with a malady dreadful in its nature and most grievous in its extent, with afflictions impossible to describe,” which have compelled him to withdraw himself from the County and from his home, “in the view of obtaining relief from those excruciating agonies I am laboring under without intermission, and in the hope that with the blessing of God of my preservation eventually from an otherwise impending, a rapid, an alarming and a most loathsome dissolution.” He asks that his faults may be looked upon with indulgence, “that my omissions may be attributed to the imperfections of human nature in general, and my variegated sicknesses, sufferings and new –country difficulties,” and “that it may always be remembered I left a beloved wife behind me, who merited every kind and tender return of conjugal love an affection from me, and three little innocents, the pledges of our mutual love, more near and dear to me than life itself.” The closing sentences of his letter are worthy of reproduction:--
May the social unanimity of the County of Charlotte, in its state of infancy, be restored, and but one general competition of strife in who shall do most for its welfare and prosperity among you exist. May the Maker, Ruler and Judge of the Universe (to use the emphatical and memorable words of the Sessions records) continue the exercises of true religion and genuine morality in the land, and keep modern philosophy and atheistical principles at a distance, far removed from the enviable unenlightened, and may the friends of order and regular governments in all parts of the globe, have cause to rejoice for ever victorious over their disorganized enemies and inveterate opposers, and finally (in the language I lived to hear adopted in the States) may all mankind discard the pernicious doctrines of modern liberty and Equality and place a just value upon civil subordination which protects property, and upon regular governments which secure the natural rights of Man.”

 

Beacon
Feb 11, 1892
Scraps of History
Gleaned from the Old Sessions Records of Charlotte
HOW SCHOOLMASTERS WERE MADE
            September Sessions of Charlotte county, 1815: “order, that application be made to His Honor the President and Commander-in-Chief, recommending Benjamin Caldwell and James Brown, 3rd, residing in the Parish of St. David, in the county of charlotte, to be duly licensed, as a school-master, as by His Majesty’s royal instructions is directed, the said Benjamin Caldwell and James Brown, 3rd, being of good moral character, and in the pinioning, of the said court qualified to keep a school; also, that Ebenezer Bugbee, of the town of St. Andrews, should be recommended as above.”
            A subsequent order makes it appear that two school houses had been provided in St. David, and 60 pounds assessed for their maintenance, and that a school house hade also been built in St. Andrews.
LASHING A PRISONER
            On the same day on which the above orders were passed, George Roberts, adjudged guilty of larceny, was sentenced “to receive at half-past two o’clock of this day thirty-nine lashes upon his bare back, then to be discharged and depart the county.”
            The stern old magistrates of those days were evidently firm believers in the maxim, “Never put off till the morrow that which should be done today.”
MARKET RULES IN ST. ANDREWS
            At the April sessions, 1819, the following rules and regulations were ordained for the government and management of the market established in St Andrews:--

 

  1. The regular market hours shall be from sun rising to sun setting of each day of the week (Sunday’s excepted)
  2. That no fish, fresh meat, poultry or butter of any sort shall be sold in any part of the said town of St. Andrews until the same shall be regularly exposed for sale in the market house for the space of two hours, under the penalty of 20 shillings for each and every offence.
  3. That no person shall purchase any fish, fresh meat, or poultry of any kind, or butter in the said market for the purpose of selling the same again, until after the same shall have been exposed for sale in the market house at least two hours, under the penalty of 20s. for each and every office.

Joseph Walton was given a lease of the Market House on paying 100 pounds.
The bell-ringer was ordered to be paid 7s. 6d. for the last sessions.
INSPECTOR FOR THE WEST ISLES
            At a subsequent special meeting the same year Jacob Gold, was appointed inspector and culler of fish for the parish of West Isles, in the room of Jonathan Merrill removed from the said parish.
LEASING MARKET WHARF LOTS
            On the sixth day of January 1820, Thomas Wyer auctioned off a number of lots adjoining he market wharf, to the following persons, at the yearly rent stated:--
            Lot 1. Jonathan Currier, 31 pounds
            Lot 2.John Staples, 17
            Lot 3. Harris Hatch, 19
            Lot 5. Joseph Walton, 21
            Lot 6. Colin Campbell, 16
            Lot 7. Benjamin Stymest, 16
            Lot ?    Samuel Frye, 13.
Adjoining lots were leased to peter Stubs and David W. Jack.
RESTRICTING LIQUOR SALES IN ST. STEPHEN
The April sessions, 1821, ordered “that no person who do now or may hereafter keep a retail store of good in the parish of St. Stephen, shall be allowed to obtain directly or indirectly a tavern license for the purpose of selling spirituous liquors in the said parish, and it is further ordered that all person selling under a tavern license shall have a sign put up in some conspicuous place in front of the house so licensed.”
PUNISHING SEDITION
            Andrew Merrill was arraigned at the same session, on an indictment for sedition. The fury, through their foreman, Charles R. Hathaway, found him guilty, and he was sentenced “to pay a fine of ten pounds to the king, to suffer three months imprisonment and to sit in the stock on the three first Mondays two hours at each time, between the hours of twelve and four o’clock in each day and to pay the cost of court.”
TO CHANGE THE GAOL SITE
At the April sessions in 1823 it was ordered “that it is expedient to build a new gaol, and that committee, consisting of Colin Campbell, Thomas Wyer, Jr., and Peter Stubs, to appointed to find an airy and eligible situation for the site of the said gaol. And to suggest the ways and means to carry the same into execution.”
SWINE IN ST. STEPHEN
Swine were evidently something of a nuisance at that time. No swine were “allowed to run at large in St. Stephen between the still water and Mr. Porter’s bridge without being ringed in the snout in addition to being yoked as directed.”
OPPOSING THE JAIL LIMITS
At the September sessions, 1823, the following order passed:--“that the Jail limits be bounded as follows, to sit, north-westerly by the north-western line of Elizabeth street from high water mark in a north-easterly direction to Parr Street, thence south-westerly along the north-eastern lien of Parr Street to Sophia Street, thence south-westerly along the south-eastern line of Sophia street to high water mark at the bank of the harbor, to include all the wharves now built or that hereafter may be erected, between a prolongation of Sophia street and Elizabeth Street, and a distance of fifty feet round the said wharves, and also to include the space between the said wharves, and to extend to low water mark, between a prolongation in a south-western direction of Fredrick street and Edward Street.” These limits were subsequently extended.
PUNISHING A BLASPHEMER
            If blasphemy was treated now as it was in 1823 more than one set of stock would be needed. Jonathan Currier, indicted for blasphemy at the September term of 1823, was sentenced to “one month imprisonment, to pay 5s. fine to the king, and to be set one hour in the stocks and to pay all costs.”
NO DRIVING ON THE SIDEWALKS THEN
Record of sessions, 1824:--“Ordered, that any person riding on horseback or driving any carriage on the footpath in the town plat of St. Andrews shall forfeit and pay the sum of five shillings for the second offence.”
THE ST. STEPHEN FERRYMAN
Ordered by the session of 1824 “that William Andrews shall have exclusive privilege of keeping a ferry, for three years in St. Stephen, fro the public landing across the river St. Croix, and the fare to be as follows:--for conveying across horse, one shilling; for each person, four pence.”
PROVIDING FOR A HANGING
A special meeting was held 21st August, 1826,, when it was ordered “that a sum of ten pounds be placed in the hands of the sheriff of the county of Charlotte to repay the expense of erecting a gallows for the execution of Maria Stewart and Richard Stewart and other incidental charges.”
TOO MANY TAVERNS
In 1828 the sessions resolved that there were too many tavern licenses in St. Andrews, and a committee composed of John Campbell, Peter Stubs and John Wilson, was appointed to recommend who should retain licenses and the rate they should pay. It was subsequently ordered that no tavern license be granted without a recommendation from the magistrates residing in the parish in which the tavern is situated.
COURT AND GAOL AGAIN
At the same sitting the Clerk of the Peach was instructed to draw up a petition to the Lieutenant governor and Council, and House of Assembly praying that they will grant aid towards the erection of a courthouse and gaol in St. Andrews.
            A bill was also presented authorizing an assessment for the erection of a courthouse and gaol. [assessments here]
            Elisha S. Andrews, Beverly Robinson, Harris Hatch, Samuel Frye and Peter Stubs were appointed a committee to build the gaol pursuant to plans exhibited by D.D. Morrison. A contract with Morrison was entered into on the 29th of June, 1831.
ROBINSTON FERRY
Ferriage fees from the slip, or Joe’s Point to Robbinston, were fixed in 1830 as follows:
            A man, 1s. 3d.
            Man and Horse, 5s.
            All persons in addition, 1s. 3d.
            Man or two men, with chaise or other carriage drawn by one horse, 6s. 3d.
            Carriage and two persons drawn by two horses, 7s. 6d.
            Yoke of oxen, 5s.
            All in addition, 2s. 3d.
            A cow, 2s. 3d.
            Sheep, 3d.
            Calfs, 3d.
Nathan Fifield and N. W. Tattale were given the exclusive privilege of this ferry for five years.
REGISTERED CARTMEN IN ST. ANDREWS
The following were the names of the registered cartmen in St. Andrews, in 1830. Robert Dougherty, John Dougherty, Patrick McCan, James Kehoe, Cornelius Conley, William O’Brien, Jonathan Currier, Thomas Alexander, Thomas Haddock, Henry O’Neal, John Locke, William Babcock, Charles Gillesland, Thomas Boyle, William Rogers, John Maxwell, George Hume, James Maxwell, James Howland, Hugh Thomson, Edward Melver, Adam Melver, Michael Farrel.

 

Beacon
Feb 18/1892
Scraps of History
Gleaned from the Old Sessions Records of Charlotte
THE TIME OF THE CHOLERA
            Who has not heard the old resident dating his affairs “from the time of the cholera?” The first mention of “cholera” appears in the records of the Sessions of charlotte, of April 11, 1832. The following resolutions were then adopted by that body:--
            “Whereas it is enacted by the laws of the Province that all vessels having on board the small pox, yellow fever, putrid bilious fever, or other pestilential or contagious distempers at the time of her departure were known or supposed to prevail or on board of which vessel any person during the voyage had died or been sick of any such distemper or having passengers on board should be subject to such rules and regulations made at any General Session of the Peace.”
            “And whereas a contagious distemper called the cholera morbus, among others, is now raging in the continent of Europe and in Great Britain, and it is highly necessary and expedient that necessary measures should be used to prevent the introduction of all contagious distempers into this Provinces, especially the cholera morbus,”
            “therefore ordered, that all vessels from Europe bound to this County or from any other port having passengers on board shall anchor between the eastern end of St. Andrews island and the Sand reef; that pilots shall furnish masters of vessels with a copy of the printed regulations, or read and explain the same to them. Vessels on arriving within sight of the harbor of St. Andrews to make the signal pointed out by law in the day time and at night to have light in its stead. Captains and supercargoes of any vessel ordered to perform quarantine may hand over to the physician any letters or any papers in such manner as he may direct, which after being sufficiently fumigated to be forwarded to their destination.”
            The day following, the Sessions passed another resolution, ordering “that the pest house on Little Hardwood Island e finished with all convenient dispatch, and that Mr. Hatheway, Mr. Wyer and Mr. Hatch be a committee for that purpose.”
            When the court resumed its business the next day, the Clerk was “directed to borrow two hundred pounds on the credit of the County for the purpose of defraying the expenses incurred in erecting buildings, furnishing provisions, medical attendance, etc., for the emigrants reported diseased, or on board the brig Susan and for preventing the spreading of the cholera morbus and other infectious distempers in this county.
CONVICT LABOR
At a special meeting of Sessions held in May 1833, an order passed “that all persons adjudged to hard labor shall work from 7 o’clock am until 6 o’clock pm that they shall be employed in breaking up stone for the market wharf and levelling and clearing away around the County Gaol and at such other public work as the committee hereafter to be nominated may direct and appoint.” This committee was composed of Thomas Wyer, William Ker and James Douglass, and they were authorized to employ a suitable person to superintend the work of the criminals. In a recent conversation with councillor R. Cogan, of St. Stephen, he stated that his father was engaged as superintendent of the criminal laborers. Some of the best roadwork done in St. Andrews was done by a gang of criminals under Mr. Cogan’s superintendence.
THE PRESENT COURT HOUSE
In April, 1839, the Board of Sessions passed a resolution appointing D. W. Jack, Hon. H. Hatch and Alfred Street a committee to erect a court house, giving them authority to expend a sum not exceeding 1200 pounds in its erection. Cornelius Connolly’s tender was 150 in excess of this sum, but the tender was accepted, and the work proceeded with. Shortly afterward Alfred Street removed from the County and Hon. James Allenshaw was appointed on the committee in his stead. In 1840, the courthouse was completed and handed over, the Sessions holding their first court in it on the 3rd day of October in that year. The land on which the old court house stood was sold at auction in October, 1839, and was bought for town purposes by Hon. H> Hatch who paid 200 for it. This the lot on which the present town hall now stands.
THE BOYS OF FIFTY YEARS AGO
The boys of 1840 were evidently a lively lot of “bloods,” judging from the following resolution which was passed in that year:--“whereas, the good order and peace of the town is much interrupted by unruly boys going about by both day and night insulting females and committing depredations, to the great annoyance of the inhabitants and to the danger of property in the place, Ordered, that John Pike, constable, be employed to look after the disorderly and arrest any improper proceedings in any person and report his doings to the magistrate of the town, as often as the case may demand.” For this duty Constable Pike was paid 2s. 6d. per day.