r it was owned by James White. It was not an
elaborate or expensive building[52] but it had the honor of being the
first home of an English speaking family on the St. John river.

[52] When the affairs of Hazen, Simonds and White were wound up some
twenty-five years later the house was valued at L40.

The situation of the new-comers at Portland Point would have been very
insecure had it not been for the protection afforded by Fort Frederick
across the harbor. The Indians had not yet become accustomed to the
idea of British supremacy. Their natural allegiance--even after the
downfall of Quebec--was to "their old father the King of France."
Their prejudice against the English had been nurtured for generations
and embittered by ruthless warfare, and we need not wonder that the
coming of the first English settlers was viewed with a jealous eye.
Even the proximity of the garrison at Fort Frederick did not prevent
the situation of James Simonds and his associates from being very
precarious, when the attitude of the Indians was unfriendly. Richard
Simonds, who died January 20, 1765, lost his life in the defence of
the property of the trading company when the savages were about to
carry it off.

While the brothers Simonds were endeavoring to establish themselves at
St. John, a settlement upon a more extensive scale was being projected
by a number of people in the County of Essex in Massachusetts. An
advertisement appeared in the "Boston Gazette and News-Letter" of
September 20, 1762, notifying all of the signers under Captain Francis
Peabody for a township at St. John's River in Nova Scotia, to meet at
the house of Daniel Ingalls, inn-holder in Andover, on Wednesday, the
6th day of October at 10 o'clock a. m., in order to draw their lots,
which were already laid out, and to choose an agent to go to Halifax
on their behalf and to attend to any matters that should be thought
proper. The advertisement continues: "And whereas it was voted at the
meeting on April 6th, 1762, that each signer should pay by April 20th,
twelve shillings for laying out their land and six shillings for
building a mill thereon, and some signers have neglected payment, they
must pay the amount at the next meeting or be excluded and others
admitted in their place."

The agent chosen at this meeting was Captain Francis Peabody.[53]

[53] Beamish Murdoch in his History of Nova Scotia, Vol. II, p. 428,
refers to the settlement made at