in the vicinity of Aukpaque, the
largest Indian village on the St. John, required tact and courage, but
Mr. Atherton was equal to the emergency. In 1783, when the Loyalists
arrived, he had at St. Anns "a good framed house and log barn, and
about thirty acres of land cleared--partly by the French." On March
30th, 1773, Benjamin Atherton married Abigail Mooers of Maugerville.
She was a daughter of Peter Mooers and a sister of Mrs. Israel Perley.
At the time of her marriage she was a girl of seventeen. She died at
Prince William, N. B., June 28th, 1852, at the great age of 97 years.
By exchange with government Benjamin Atherton acquired a valuable
property in Prince William in lieu of his lands at the upper end of
Fredericton. His place in Prince William was well known to travellers
of later days as an inn kept by one of his descendants, Israel
Atherton, for many years. Benjamin Atherton was a man of excellent
education. He filled the offices of clerk of the peace and registrar
of the old county of Sunbury when it formed part of Nova Scotia; a
little later he was a coroner. The old prayer book from which he used
to read prayers on Sunday for the benefit of his assembled neighbors
in the absence of a clergyman, is still in existence. Benjamin
Atherton died June 28th, 1816, and his ashes rest beside those of his
wife in the little burial ground in Lower Prince William, hard by
"Peter Smith Creek." His descendants are numerous and widely
scattered; among the number is Dr. A. B. Atherton, the well known
physician and surgeon of Fredericton.

GARRISON.

Joseph Garrison was born in Massachusetts in 1734 and came to the
River St. John as one of the pioneer settlers. He married in 1764,
Mary Palmer, who was born in Byfield, Mass., in 1741, and who was most
probably a daughter of Daniel Palmer, sr., his next door neighbor at
Maugerville. Whether the marriage ceremony was performed at the River
St. John or in New England the writer of this history is unable to
say; but if at the former place it was probably celebrated after the
fashion described in the following document:--

"Maugerville, February 23, 1766.

"In the presence of Almighty God and this Congregation, Gervas Say
and Anna Russell, inhabitants of the above said township, enter
into marriage covenant lawfully to dwell together in the fear of
God the remaining part of our lives to perform all the duties
necessary betwixt husband and wife as witness our han