nty he was sheriff. This office seems
to have had special attractions for the White family, for his son
James was sheriff of the city and county of St. John for more than
thirty years, and one of his daughters married Sheriff DeVeber of
Queens county. Mr. White was collector of customs at St. John when the
Loyalists landed. The emoluments of this office were small, for in the
year 1782 only a dozen vessels entered and cleared at St. John, the
largest of but 30 tons burden. James White spent the closing years of
his life on his farm at the head of the marsh about three miles from
the City of St. John. His residence was known as Gretna Green, from
the fact that a good many quiet weddings were celebrated by the old
squire, who was one of the magistrates specially commissioned to
solemnize marriages. He died in 1815 at the age of 77 years.

Having now spoken of the individuals composing St. John's first
trading company, the nature of the business pursued claims a little
attention. The task that lay before James Simonds and James White was
no easy one. Difficulties, many of them entirely unforseen, had to be
faced and the great diversity of their business rendered their
situation arduous and sometimes discouraging. At one time the fishery
claimed their attention, at another bartering with the Indians, at
another the erection of houses for themselves and their tenants, at
another the dyking of the marsh, at another the erection of a mill, at
another the building of a schooner, at another laying out roads and
clearing lands, at another the burning of a lime-kiln, at another
furnishing supplies for the garrison at the fort, at another the
building of a wharf or the erection of a store-house.

Communication with New England in these days was slow and uncertain
and often the non-arrival of a vessel, when the stock of provisions
had run low, caused a good deal of grumbling on the part of the hands
employed. This was particularly the case if the supply of rum chanced
to run out. The wages of the laborers employed by the company were
generally 2s. 6d., or half a dollar, a day and they boarded
themselves. As a rule the men took up their wages at the store and the
item most frequently entered against their names was New England rum.
The writer had the curiosity to examine the charges for rum in one of
the old day books for a period of a month--the month selected at
random--when it appeared that, of a dozen laborers, four men averaged