fant slumbers were disturbed
by these rude Dutch boors, was afterwards the marchioness de
Vaudreuil, the wife of one governor general of Canada and the mother
of another.

It is evident the authorities at Quebec knew little of the value of
the lands on the St. John river or they would hardly have granted
them with such prodigality. The Sieur de Soulanges seems to have been
highly favored by Frontenac for the three seigniories granted to him
included an area of more than a hundred square miles. The one at
the mouth of the river possessed all those natural advantages that
have made St. John the leading commercial city of the maritime
provinces. That at the Jemseg was for a short time the head
quarters of French power in Acadia and in its modest way the
political capital of the country. The third seigniory--at the very
heart of which lay the site of Fredericton--remains to be described.
In the grant to Soulanges it is termed, "the place called Nachouac
(Nashwaak), to be called hereafter Soulanges, upon the River St.
John 15 leagues from Gemesk, two leagues on each side of said river
and two leagues deep inland." The grant was made in consideration
of the services rendered by Soulanges and to encourage him to continue
those services; it was made so large because little of it was
thought to be capable of cultivation. This seigniory would include at
the present day the city of Fredericton and its suburbs, the town of
Marysville, villages of Gibson and St. Mary's and a large tract of the
surrounding country; the owner of such a property today would be
indeed a multi-millionaire.

Upon Chambly's appointment as governor of Granada he was succeeded as
governor of Acadia by the Sieur de Soulanges who did not, however,
long enjoy the honors of his new position, for he died about the year
1678 and his widow and children soon afterwards removed to Quebec.
Count Frontenac's interest in the family continued, and on March 23,
1691, a grant of a large tract of land on the River St. John was made
to Marie Francoise Chartier, widow of the Sieur de Soulanges. Her
seigniory included the larger portion of Gagetown parish in Queens
county, the central point being opposite her old residence or, as the
grant expresses it, "vis-a-vis la maison de Jemsec."

The seigniories granted to Soulanges and his widow proved of no value
to their descendants; either the titles lapsed on account of
non-fulfilment of the required conditions, or the lands we