The uniform of the Cumberland Regiment of Foot (34th) in 1844. Detail is taken from a pencil drawing by Lloyd Scott (1911–68).
Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1973-8-814. From Miss Lulu Dodds, Lakeview Manor, Beaverton, Ontario, through Munroe Scott, Manotick, Ontario. Reproduced by permission of Munroe Scott, Peterborough, Ontario.
With its excellent harbour at the mouth of the St. John River and an extensive fertile valley as its hinterland, it was inevitable that the future city of Saint John would experience a rapid rise in its fortunes. The neighbouring towns of Parr and Carleton were incorporated as the City of Saint John in 1785, and three years later the city was said to have “near 2,000 houses.” According to Edward Winslow, a prominent Loyalist leader, it was “one of the best cities in the New World.”32 And unlike Shelburne, which quickly went into a downward spiral, Saint John prospered and became the largest urban centre in New Brunswick.33
Memorial Stone to the United Empire Loyalists at the gate of the Old Burial Ground in St. Anne’s (later Fredericton). Being the highest point on the St. John River that was navigable for large vessels, Fredericton was chosen as the capital of the province in 1785. It was named after Prince Frederick, the third son of King George III.
Shelburne’s rapid demise seems difficult to comprehend. Jacob Bailey thought its harbour in 1786 was “not being exceeded by any one in America,” having three thousand houses and thirteen thousand people. He observed the “greatly improved lands” and the “great number of shipping belonging to the merchants, nearly equalling that of Halifax … several of which are employed in the whale fishery, a still greater number in the West Indies and the rest in the cod fishery along the banks.”34 Sawmills had been erected and large quantities of cut timber were being exported to the West Indies. Shelburne appeared to be on its way to becoming a major commercial centre, and yet 120 men and their families took one look at the place and left for Prince Edward Island soon after their arrival. Claiming that they had been enticed by offers of good land on the island by an agent of Governor Patterson, they relocated themselves in the summer of 1784. After much delay in securing their grants, they settled at Bedeque Harbour.35 But why did they leave Shelburne?
It seems that Shelburne had acquired the wrong balance of people. They were mainly New Yorkers, too many of whom were carpenters, tailors, and other types of craftsmen, and too few were farm workers and fishermen. People suited to a city life lacked the hardiness and practical skills needed to tame a wilderness. Moreover, Shelburne’s land was not particularly good: possibly the 120 families who left for Prince Edward Island in search of greener pastures were its potential farming community.
As a result Shelburne was short of people to clear its hinterland and create the farms that were necessary to support the town’s economy. It had acquired a few merchants, but they were self-focused men who neglected to organize the town’s overall economic framework. Also, those farmers it did have were naively optimistic about the future and built fine houses before securing the income stream that would pay for them.36
Lord Selkirk noticed how Loyalists in Prince Edward Island were inclined to fall into debt. John Laird, who settled at Lot 50 along the Vernon River, was typical. “He could not deny himself luxuries” and thus bought expensive goods on credit. It took him six to seven years before he paid off his debts, “and in that time he built a comfortable house, acquired cattle and sheep and cleared about 50 acres.”37 However, Shelburne Loyalists could not take such a long-term view. They had to limit their losses and leave. Money had been squandered on grandiose, ill-conceived schemes and too little had been invested in providing a workforce that could catch fish, build ships, grow crops, and cut timber.
Shelburne’s isolated location on the Atlantic side of the peninsula was another disadvantage. It was eclipsed by the rapid growth of Saint John and was only a minor player in the timber trade, since the industry’s prime focus was much farther to the east along the Northumberland Strait. Although Shelburne had been well placed to take advantage of the lucrative West Indies trade, it was badly hurt economically by American traders who flouted the Navigation Acts that were intended to exclude them. The mushrooming growth in timber exports to Britain, which occurred from 1815, would benefit Pictou, Charlottetown, and later the Miramichi, but it would completely bypass Shelburne. Lieutenant Colin Campbell of the Argyll Highlanders Regiment (74th) wanted to live in a town but rejected Shelburne on hearing “some unfavourable accounts” about it, settling instead in nearby St. Andrews, which he was told “has a good harbour and is well situated for the fishing and lumbering business.”38 Campbell made up his mind about Shelburne by August 1783 — only months after it had been opened up to settlers. Many more Loyalists would have done the same.
With the ending of provisions and portable pensions in 1787, Shelburne emptied quickly. It had fewer than three thousand inhabitants by the following year. To add to its economic woes it suffered from severe droughts and fires, a smallpox epidemic, and its black Loyalists, the principal source of cheap labour, were leaving for Sierra Leone.39
When the Reverend Munro visited in 1795 he found that Shelburne had only 150 families and that there were fewer that two thousand people in the vicinity. By the time the Methodist minister, William Black, visited in 1804, its population had shrunk to one-tenth of its original size.40 The Reverend W. Bennett, an Anglican missionary appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to Liverpool (Nova Scotia), observed its “small settlements along the sea coast … many of the houses much demolished and without inhabitants, having been under a necessity of removing through the poverty of the Country.” It had “a neat English Church and a small Baptist Meeting House” and a dwelling house used by Methodists for their services. “The society of Whites and Blacks” numbered between fifty and sixty, living in circumstances that “in general are low,” with “most of their living” being derived from fishing.41 Joshua Marsden, a Methodist preacher, found Shelburne “almost deserted” in 1815, a description confirmed by the Reverend Gavin Lang, a Presbyterian missionary, when he saw it nearly fifteen years later:
The harbour of Shelburne is well known in America as being one of the most beautiful and secure…. When viewed in the distance Shelburne looks somewhat considerable, but alas, on closer inspection, desolation and decay manifest themselves all around. Shelburne has fallen, I am afraid, never more to rise, for the few who remain neither possess wealth nor influence, and are in our mind strongly contrasted with the active and highly polished sons of Caledonia.42
Loyalists drawing lots for their lands in 1784, watercolour by C.W. Jefferys.
The fortunate Sons of Caledonia had settled on the east side of the province, which by this time was benefiting from the growing timber trade with Britain. Like Shelburne, Digby was almost entirely Loyalist, although smaller in size. And, like Shelburne, it had a naturally good harbour