ds.

GERVAS SAY,
ANNA SAY.

(Witnesses.) Daniel Palmer, Fran's Peabody, Sam'l Whitney, Richard
Estey, George Hayward, David Palmer, Edw'd Coy."

The respectability of the witnesses, and the solemn terms of this
marriage covenant, suffice to show that marriages thus solemnized were
regarded as perfectly regular, and it is probable that in the absence
of a minister competent to perform the ceremony this was the ordinary
mode of marriage.[127] It will be noticed that Daniel Palmer, whose
daughter Mary had married Joseph Garrison a little before this time,
was the first witness to the marriage covenant of Gervas Say and Anna
Russell.

[127] See Dr. Hannay's sketch of the Township of Maugerville; N. B.
Hist. Society Collections, vol. I., p. 72.

Joseph Garrison's lot in the township was No. 4, opposite the foot of
Middle Island in Upper Sheffield. His father-in-law Daniel Palmer and
his brothers-in-law Daniel Palmer jr., and Abijah Palmer were his
nearest neighbors. His third son, Abijah Garrison, born in the year
1773, married Fanny Lloyd who was born on Deer Island, near St.
Andrews, in 1776. Their youngest son, William Lloyd Garrison, was the
celebrated advocate of the abolition of slavery. Joseph Garrison is
said to have been the first of the settlers to engage in mining coal
at Grand Lake. The coal was shipped to New England on board one of the
vessels of Simonds & White. His name occurs among the first customers
in their books after the establishment of their trading post at the
mouth of the river in 1764, and he had frequent business transactions
with the firm.[128]

[128] See Page 234 of this history.

COY.

The progenitor of those of this name now living in the province was
Edward Coy, who came to the River St. John from Pomfret in Connecticut
in 1763. The name was originally McCoy; but the "Mc." was dropped by
Edward Coy's grandfather and was not again resumed by his descendants.
By his wife, whose maiden name was Amy Titus, Mr. Coy had a family of six
sons and five daughters. His third daughter was the first female child
born of English or American parents on the River St. John. The well
known inlet on the river, called "The Mistake," was originally called
"Coy's Mistake," the name doubtless suggests by the circumstance of
Coy's mistaking the channel in ascending the river, and after
proceeding some miles finding himself in a "cul de sac." Edward Coy was
one of the original grante