prietors
of the several townships, and after the expiration of twenty years to
become the property of the grantees of New Town.

It will be noticed that in the division of the townships the Rights,
or shares, of Moses and William Hazen were drawn in New Town and that
of James Simonds in Sunbury. Mr. Simonds evidently was quite satisfied
for he wrote to Hazen & Jarvis, June 22, 1768.

"The Township of Sunbury is the best in the Patent and New Town is
the next to it according to the quantity of land, it will have a
good Salmon-Fishery in the river which the mills are to be built
on, which runs through the centre of the tract. The mills are to
be the property of the eight proprietors of the Township after
seventeen years from this time, and all the Timber also the moment
the partition deed is passed."

CHAPTER XX.

THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER SOCIETY.

Since the preceding chapters were printed the author chanced to
discover some interesting manuscripts in the collections of the
Massachusetts Historical Society which throw a good deal of light upon
the history of the old townships on the River St. John. It is to be
regretted that this discovery was not made a little sooner, but it is
not too late to give the reader the benefit of it in a supplementary
way.

The association that undertook the settlement of the townships of
Conway, Gage, Burton, Sunbury and New-town has been referred to in
these pages as "The Canada Company," but its proper name was "The St.
John's River Society." The original promoters of the gigantic land
speculation--for such we must call it--set on foot at Montreal in
1764, were chiefly army officers serving in Canada, hence the name,
"The Canada Company." When, however, it was determined to enlarge the
association by the addition of the names of gentlemen in Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, and Halifax, and when the valley of the River St.
John was selected as the place where the most desirable lands were to
be had the Canada Company took a new name and was known as "The St.
John's River Society."

The president of the society was Captain Thomas Falconer, who was
at this time at Montreal with his regiment. The most active
promoter of the society's plans for several years, however, was
Beamsley P. Glasier. This gentleman has already been frequently
spoken of in connection with events on the St. John. He was a
captain in the Royal American Regiment and afterwards attained the
rank