shores of the Bay of Fundy
obliged Mr. Jones and nearly all his neighbors of the Township of
Conway to move up the river. But previous to their departure there
occurred John Allan's famous invasion of the St. John. Allan left a
guard of sixty men at the mouth of the river to oppose the landing of
the troops under Major Studholme and Col. Francklin. The British
landed eventually at Manawagonish Cove near the house of Samuel
Peabody and were guided by Messrs. Jones, Peabody and others through
the woods to the place where the enemy were encamped on the west side
of the river near the falls. The Americans were apprised of their
coming and had ambushed themselves--some of them climbing into trees.
Major Studholme sent out flanking parties, which fired upon the enemy
from either side, killing eight of their number, who were buried in
one grave near the spot where they fell; the rest fled terror stricken
with all possible speed to Machias. John Jones at first went up the
river to Jemseg Point, which was then covered with white oak trees.
Later he became acquainted with Edmund Price and, concluding to become
his neighbor, removed to the head of Long Reach and settled at the
place called "Coy's Mistake" on Kemble Manor, where he had a property
of 400 acres of land. It would be quite impossible in this chapter to
follow the various ramifications of the Jones family, for John Jones
had a family of eight sons and seven daughters, fourteen of whom
married and reared large families. One of the sons, Samuel, born while
the family were at Manawagonish, in the first years of the last
century had the responsible duty of carrying his Majesty's weekly mail
from St. John to Fredericton. There was, by the way, a curious
circumstance connected with this mail, namely, that letters from
Halifax to St. John were first carried to Fredericton, as the
headquarters of the province, and then returned to St. John. This
involved a delay of about a week in delivery. Naturally the beauties
of such a system did not strike the citizens of the commercial
metropolis at all favorably, and the consequence was a vigorous "kick"
on the part of the citizens of St. John that led ere long to a change
for the better. The house of John Jones, at the head of Long Reach,
was a favorite stopping place for travellers in early times, and the
reputation of the family for hospitality was proverbial. The loyalist
settlers at Kingston during the summer of 1783 met with much k