New Br un sw ick Histor ical Society

NEW YEARS LEVEE

On January 1, 2014, the New Brunswick Historical Society hosted a New Year's levee for members and the public. Musical entertainment was provided by Cynthia and John Cudmore.

w w w .loyalisth ouse.ca

NEW BRUNSWICK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

120 Union Street, Saint John, N.B. Canada E2L 1A3 n

Apr il 201 4 Newsletter

Telephone (506) 652-3590

The April 29, 2014 speaker: Julie Atkinson, A Tale of Two Loyalist Cities. The meeting takes place in the Mary Oland Theatre of the New Brunswick Museum in Market Square. Doors open at 7:00 pm and the talk starts at 7:30 pm.
Loyalist House

A TALE OF

Two Loyalist Cities

What kinds of experiences did the Loyalist settlers who moved to Saint John, New Brunswick, bring with them from the colonial city of New York? During the mid-eighteenth century, New York was one of largest cities on the continent and benefited from the possession of a unique corporate charter. The charter allowed city leaders to create an extensive web of Federal Hall, New York City municipal offices. From city councillors to tax assessors, constables, chimney inspectors and public whippers, the city took shape as a community built out of multiple forms of civic service. To understand why the Loyalists who came to New Brunswick held up the New York city charter as a model for their new home, April 29, 2014 presentation to the NB Historical Society Julie Atkinson grew up in the USA, and after a decade of living and studying in the UK, moved to Saint John with her husband and children in 2010. She completed her Masters degree in American History at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK). Her doctoral research, conducted at the University of Warwick, examines the development of ideas about the role of the "public," through a study of municipal officers in colonial New York City during the mid-eighteenth century. Julie teaches the occasional American history course at UNBSJ, and also works at Touchstone Academy in Rothesay. we will look at how this tradition of officeholding shaped everyday life in New York and how it influenced the major political event of city residents' lives: the choice to either join the revolutionary movement or remain loyal to the British Empire.

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THE SAINT JOHN ART CLUB PRESENTS JOSHUA THOMSON'S A MARITIME TALE.
A fictional media trilogy based on Saint John's history. The story follows the life of a young boy named Liam as he grows up and lives through critical points in Saint John's history such as The Irish Potato Famine and Partridge Island, The York Point Riot of 1849 and The Great Fire of 1877. Joshua will be showing Chapter's 1, 2 and 3 at the event along with Special Guest Singer/Songwriter Keith Facey who will be performing his new song "Westward Bound," for the first time ever. This song was written by Keith Facey for the revamp of "A Maritime Tale - Chapter 1", which is still in progress. All original artwork for "A Maritime Tale" was created by Saint John Art Club's own Carol Vautour. You are invited to an evening full of magic, mystery, adventure and tragedy. New Brunswick Museum's Mary Oland Theatre - Thursday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m.
The items contained herein are provided for general information purposes only. While care is taken to ensure items are published accurately, all submissions are subject to editing for content and length at the discretion of the editor. No responsibility is accepted for any omissions or results of any actions based upon this information.

UNB Law professor David Bell was the guest speaker for the March, 2014 meeting of the NB Historical Society, where he gave a presentation on the divided nature of early Loyalist New Brunswick by examining the first provincial election in Saint John. In 1783 thousands of Loyalist refugees, most of them from New York and other mid-Atlantic colonies, arrived at the mouth of the St. John River. They were divided between Provincials (veterans of Loyalist military units) and their families and civilian Refugees. In addition to having lost property, livelihoods and family members, the newcomers brought with them grievances directed at elite Loyalists who had sought large land grants in Nova Scotia. Delays over being settled on surveyed farms in the interior spread further dissension within Loyalist ranks at Parrtown and Carleton. The establishment of the separate colony of New Brunswick in 1784 undercut much of this sense of unease but the outlook of the government of gentleman, many of whom were New Englanders who had never set foot in the colony, fuelled continued discontent. In Professor David Bell of UNB Fredericton with Greg Marquis and Elizabeth McGahan of UNB Saint John. the election of 1785, the Lower Cove recognition in the 1689 English Bill of Rights. More than 300 candidates for the provincial assembly, representing the popular protestors signed a petition accusing the government of classes, defeated the government slate of Upper Cove resorting to tyranny and bondage. The government candidates. During the campaign the headquarters of the responded by prosecuting four presenters of the petition. The government slate, the Mallard House tavern, was attacked by government of gentlemen ironically denounced its Loyalist opponents. British troops were called out to quell the election opponents as rebels. Professor Bell, who had examined these riot. Unwilling to accept the results in Saint John, which had events in an earlier book, was struck by three important factors: been incorporated in 1785 in order to instill further social (1) the importance of the popular politics of colonial New York control on the population, the county sheriff held a scrutiny City in shaping political culture in early Saint John: (2) the which disallowed sufficient votes to allow the six conservative aims of much of early New Brunswicks statute law pro-government MLAs to win. (3) the link between Free Masonry and political dissent. Many of The Lower cove faction resorted to the press and to petitioning the opposition activists of the 1780s were members of the citys to protest the outcome and the Loyalist elite, which controlled first Masonic lodge, Hiram Lodge, which reflected the more the legal system and law making, responded with prosecution of democratic membership of Freemasonrys ancient rite. two printers for seditious libel and An Act Against Tumults and Disorders, which criminalized political petitioning, despite its

David Bell on the Loyalist Rebellion at Saint John

On St. Patricks Day, Saint John Mayor Mel Norton, MLAs Dorothy Shepard and Trevor Holder and MP Rodney Weston announced the formation of an 8-person committee that will consult with the community in order to prepare a report on development options for Partridge Island, the heritage site that is owned by the federal government and under control of the Coast Guard. The committee will deliver its report to three levels of government in the Fall of 2014. The members include chairperson John McCann of the Saint John Port authority; Stephen Alexander of the Saint John Waterfront Development Partnership; Gary Davis, representing the Saint John Jewish community; Marijke Block of the Irish Canadian Cultural Association; historian and Partridge Island expert Harold Wright; community representative Joshua Thompson; Bill Hicks of the provincial Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture and an eighth person yet to be named by the Federal government. Despite its importance for the military, marine and immigration history of New Brunswick and Canada, Partridge Island has

Partridge Island Consultation Committee Named

been neglected as a heritage site and is not accessible by the public. Many of its heritage assets have been vandalized or destroyed. Recently the Federal government announced funding for an engineering study of the breakwater that connects the island to west Saint John. The mandate of the committee is to explore options for making Plan of St. John Harbour, 1761, by Partridge Island Lieutenant R.G. Bruce. Partridge Island is depicted in lower right. accessible to the public while protecting its heritage and natural environment.

Terry Keleher:
AN APPRECIATION

Last month the NB Historical Society lost an active member, Terry Keleher. Terry was born in Saint John and earned a BEd from St. Thomas University and a Masters in Education from the University of Alberta. For many years he taught school in Saint John. Terry was president of the Saint John Collectors Club and was an authority on historic postcards. Together with Donald Collins, he was the author of two books, Saint John in the Golden Age of Postcards, 1900-1915 (Arcadia Publishing, 1997) and Saint John: More Postcard Memories (The History Press Limited, 1998). Terry was instrumental in heritage fairs organized at Saint John and in retirement had worked as a tour guide. He was an active volunteer at Loyalist House, often dressing as 18th century British officer Gilfred Studholme, commander at Fort Howe when the Loyalist fleets arrived in 1783. In 2004 he co-chaired the 400th anniversary celebrations of the naming of the St. John River.

Terry also appeared at public events as a town crier. Terry Keleher will be missed by everyone in the greater Saint John heritage community.