Buckskin Pimpernel

by Mary Beacock Fryer

  On August 23, Haldimand appointed Captain Sherwood a justice of the peace for the three townships beside the St. Lawrence that were occupied by the Loyal Rangers. Major Jessup had received the same appointment on November 27, 1783, but he was unwell and planning to winter in Sorel, where he had left his wife, son and daughter. Justus was gratified by the appointment, and he knew he was the logical magistrate in the townships.11

  In September, Reuben Sherwood brought word that his mother had given birth to a son, James, the first white baby born in the three townships which people were calling New Oswegatchie.12 For Justus, the arrival of Thomas' third son was an indication that life would soon return to normal. He was proud of the way the disbanded provincials had embraced life in the wilderness, but disturbed that the long supply lines from Montreal up the rapids had led to serious deficiencies. On October 17 he reported to Mathews:

  Our people have made a very rapid progress in Settlement but they are now much disheartened at not having received any seed wheat altho' they had sufficient Ground Clear'd I don't know what we shall do for bread another year but hope Gov't will lengthen our provisions.13

  By the time Justus was writing his letter, Major Jessup had left for Montreal. When he reached the city, en route to Sorel, he reported that there were only six horses, eight oxen and eighteen cows at New Oswegatchie, to share among nearly 600 people. At the same time, Jessup recommended to Mathews that one man be entrusted with a liquor licence, and suggested Ephriam Jones, the commissary to the late Major Daniel McAlpin's men, as worthy of the responsibility in the three townships occupied by Loyal Rangers beside the St. Lawrence. In time Haldimand approved the appointment, which pleased Justus. Local Indians were getting rum at Fort Oswegatchie, and while drunk were disturbing the settlers.14

  Young Samuel returned to school in Montreal on one of the last brigades of the season, and Justus built a second cabin for his slaves, to allow the family more privacy. Elijah wanted to stay with them, rather than spend a gloomy winter by himself some distance away on his land. Afterward everyone settled down to an uncomfortable time in small quarters. Justus and the slaves spent their time cutting down trees, to prepare for planting between the stumps when the spring came. Sarah used some of the daylight hours teaching Levius and Diana their lessons. Oil for lamps was non-existent and so were tallow candles. When necessary they burned pine torches which filled the cabin with smoke the chimney did not draw. Most days the family rose with the dawn and retired when the light was gone in the evening.

  Meanwhile, Haldimand had taken a leave of absence and did not expect to return to Canada. He had asked the government to appoint a successor for he wanted to retire. In His Excellency's absence, the deputy-governor, Henry Hamilton, would rule the province, and Canada was divided into two administrative districts — Quebec and Montreal. Barry St. Leger, now a brigadier-general, commanded at Montreal and was responsible for the refugees in the new townships, assisted by Major Ross, his subordinate at Cataraqui.

  Many of the men who had worked in the British Secret Service, Northern Department, were not far from Justus. Although Dr. Smyth was at Sorel, his sons, Terence and Thomas, were in Township Number 8, and so was Caleb Clossen. Other scouts were near Cataraqui, while a surprising number of men from New England had settled in New Oswegatchie. James and David Breakenridge were in Township Number 7; both had held commissions in the King's Rangers, but they elected to settle among more of their own kind. Justus' long time resident agent in Arlington, Elnathan (Plain Truth) Merwin was near his farm, while a Connecticut man destined to play an important role in the development of Township Number 8 was Ensign William Buell, King's Rangers.

  With the arrival of the spring of 1785, Samuel returned from school in Montreal. The Sherwoods scratched up the soil between their stumps and planted the seed the government had provided, as well as some Justus purchased. The felled trees were stripped of their branches, the logs manhandled to the side of the clearing, saved for the day when their owner could assemble a timber raft to take to Quebec City. Shifting logs and working the soil was back breaking toil and draft animals were not available. Justus resolved that before the season ended he must have some horses, and if possible a yoke of oxen.15

  The May 12 issue of the Quebec Gazette showed that Justus had been appointed to the Legislative Council as a representative for the District of Montreal. This was a great honour. Brigadier St. Leger, who had recommended Justus, did not choose Major Jessup because he had left on a lengthy visit to England and would be of no use to the government for some time.16 Sir John Johnson was also on the council, but Justus was the only half-pay captain on the list published in the newspaper.

  The crop planted, Caesar Congo remained to tend it and help Sarah while the other slaves joined Justus' survey party in the back concessions of the townships. Lots were needed for the wave of settlers now coming in. Ever the businessman, Justus charged the government one shilling and sixpence per day for the labour of each slave. On September 30, 1785, for nine days of surveying, he drew three pounds, seven shillings and sixpence in salary for himself, and his account to Deputy-Surveyor John Collins showed that he drew three axes, a grindstone, and twenty-one gallons of rum.17 He did not say how many men were in his survey party, but if it was a small one the men would not have accomplished much. West Indian rum was very high proof. Nevertheless, his workers were much more contented in the new townships than Justus' garrison had been in the austere setting of the Loyal Blockhouse — and so was their leader.

  Chapter 19

  In Government Circles

  As soon as his family was reasonably comfortable and his farm was beginning to produce crops, Justus became once more the man he had been in New Haven, taking initiatives on behalf of his fellow settlers. In the absence of Major Edward Jessup, he was the leader in New Oswegatchie, organizing meetings that were suspiciously close to the ones he had chaired as proprietor's clerk back in the Green Mountains. A New England town meeting was hardly an institution any British official would condone, but Justus plunged ahead.

  Since he was a legislative councillor and the only magistrate, he felt compelled to hold meetings to help the residents wrestle with their problems. In Quebec City, Henry Hope had succeeded Henry Hamilton as the deputy-governor. Hope would have been horrified had he been aware of such political activity. All decisions were to be made by Major John Ross at Cataraqui, or Brigadier St. Leger. Yet faced with the need for roads, schools, draft animals, supplies, clothing and provisions for settlers on their lands as well as new arrivals, Justus ignored such legalities.

  He also conducted marriages, using his own copy of the Book of Common Prayer, a duty pernitted magistrates in the absence of qualified men of the cloth, to prevent couples living in sin. All the while he continued surveying more concession lines and farm lots. Once the crops were planted, Caesar Congo and the boys were able to cope with that aspect of the family's means of livelihood. Justus was so busy, both physically and mentally, that for some time he failed to notice the word ‘seigneury’ on certain documents referring to the new townships. Gradually, as 1785 drew to a close, the significance of the term bothered him, and he sent an enquiry to Brigadier St. Leger, who explained about the quit rents that must be paid after ten years. This robbed Justus of sleep, and he called a meeting of the officers to discuss the matter. All agreed that such a demand would be a hardship on everyone, especially the enlisted men who were not entitled to half-pay. A petition expressing their alarm was in order, but for the moment they would forbear. Perhaps this regulation would be shelved because it was an unjust law.

  In May, 1786, Justus was chairing a roads committee, organizing the settlers into work parties to run a path across the front of Township Number 7.2 He had no authority, but his people needed a means of communication by land. He was also busy surveying and at home, making his cabin more livable and worrying about the education of all three children. Mr. Stuart had closed his academy in Montreal. Justus made a journey to that cit
y to purchase draft animals from his earnings and the half-pay of four shillings and sixpence a day. For 12 pounds each, he bought two Canadian horses, small but sturdy, one dappled gray, the other black. Later in the summer Lemuel Bothum arrived from Vermont bringing a team of Justus' oxen from the farm in New Haven where Simon was still living.

  Now the Sherwoods and their slaves set to work hauling logs to the shore and building a raft to ride to Quebec City, where they would sell the logs. Justus had his slaves lash the huge logs together with lengths of willow sinew called withes, praying that their handiwork would be strong enough to withstand the battering the raft must take when passing down the rapids. Thomas Sherwood contributed logs from his land, and the men worked in shallow water since they could never launch such a heavy raft. Each log was floated once it had been drawn to the shore, and secured to its neighbour.

  When the raft was ready, a bark cabin aboard to shelter them, Justus left with Thomas and Reuben on their first venture through rapids more treacherous than those in the Richelieu River. The gentle Galops Rapids, below the townsite in Township Number 6, now called Johnstown, posed no problem, but at the Long Sault Rapids a crew of Indians from St. Regis appeared and offered to pilot the raft. They made a crib of small logs, then stationed themselves along the shore beside the whirling water. Once Justus released the crib they watched where it went. This was the safest path, they assured the raft's owners who were looking apprehensive. Aboard, each pilot steered the raft through the patch of white water he had observed, and the precious timber rode safely to smooth water.3

  Indians repeated their performance at the Cedars and again at Lachine. From there on the men had clear sailing, past Sorel, with its many memories, down the gentle Richelieu Rapids and into the harbour of Quebec below the great rock.

  Justus noticed other rafts, and a few enquiries solicited the information that most were from Vermont and New York. In bargaining, Justus found that he could not make as good a deal as he had hoped, because the miscreant Yankees and Yorkers were willing to settle for less. Canadian timber ought to take precedence for the sake of the residents. Then, cash jingling in their pockets, the Sherwoods took a stagecoach as far as Montreal.

  Justus conferred with Brigadier St. Leger on the problems the settlers were encountering, and with Thomas he made some purchases. He paid 3 pounds for a cow that had been bred, a gift for Sarah. She was pregnant and needed milk to preserve her teeth. Then Justus bought a pig and a crate of chickens. Even though he could afford more animals he had to be cautious. Until he had a substantial quantity of land cleared he could not produce enough hay and grain to winter them. The upper St. Lawrence had almost no natural meadow such as existed along Lake Champlain.

  Soon after Justus left Quebec City, Sir Guy Carleton arrived as the new governor-in-chief, welcome news, although his subjects must call him by a new name. Carleton had been made 1st Baron Dorchester as a reward for the work he had done evacuating loyalists and the British army from New York City in 1783. Lord Dorchester was accompanied by another old friend, Major Robert Mathews, now the governor's aide-de-camp.4 Justus looked forward to serving the governor on the legislative council. One matter that had to be cleared up was French civil law, established under the Quebec Act.

  The year 1786 brought two changes within the ranks of the tightly knit Sherwood family. Justus' daughter, Sarah, was born and Diana was thrilled to have a sister.5 Secondly, Justus' brother Samuel announced that he was moving with Eunice and Rachel to Township Number 3 on the Bay of Quinte.6 Samuel wanted to open a store, but Township Number 7 was the wrong place. William Buell had a store in Township Number 8, next door. Nor would Cataraqui fulfil Samuel's ambition, for Richard Cartwright had a mercantile operation there. Justus suspected that Samuel was making a declaration of independence, placing himself beyond the influence of his elder brother's dominant personality in order to be his own man, and he did not blame him.

  That autumn Justus' worry over the education of his sons was eased, for the Reverend John Stuart had moved to Cataraqui and opened a new school there. Samuel and Levius were now twelve and nine, but Justus could not spare them during the growing season. When the autumn work was done, he set out with the boys for Dr. Stuart's school. Justus rode one horse, the boys the other, blankets and packs of provisions on their shoulders. Using the river shore to guide them they soon reached the tract that was unfit for settlers. They rode some fifty kilometres, and camped for the night. The following evening they reached the village at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, which people were calling King's Town. He found lodgings for the boys not far from the school house, and left them to be ‘catechized’ by the Anglican clergyman. Before riding back home Justus made some purchases from Richard Cartwright, who was bringing merchandise from Oswego and whose prices were lower than William Buell's.

  On December 19, Justus met with other half-pay officers, and they drafted a letter to Sir John Johnson since he was their superintendent, requesting that they might have their lands ‘by Grants free from any seigneurial claims or any other incumbrances whatever, The King's Quit rent excepted’.7 This was agreed upon after a fierce argument, Justus vehemently opposed, some others in favour, fearful that trying to do away with something the King wanted might be going too far. The authors requested that the country be divided into counties with courts at convenient places, and they appealed for encouragement in the preaching of the gospel, the establishment of schools, and prohibition on the importation of lumber from the United States. Some officers wanted to specify Vermont, but Justus fought that, still hopeful that the Green Mountain people would reunite, if only to protect their commerce.

  As winter closed in, Justus prayed that the petition would bear fruit with Lord Dorchester. He would never pay quit rents, and he was determined to fight this measure in Canada as earnestly as he had fought it in the New Hampshire Grants. Although he was unaware, help was on the way. Dorchester had spoken against demanding quit rents, and had recommended that men who had served their King at such cost should hold their lands without any obligations.8 When snow blanketed the countryside Justus and his slaves cleared more land and surveyed back townships in preparation for settlers who would be arriving in the spring. He taught Thomas Sherwood to run lot lines, while Reuben was apprenticing with him to become a qualified surveyor.9

  As the spring of 1787 began, Justus was chafing, waiting for word that Sir John Johnson had made head-way with the proposals the half-pay officers had sent him in December. By April 15, after many discussions, the officers wrote a petition to Lord Dorchester, calling themselves ‘the Western Loyalists’ and they had eleven requests. They wanted to live under the blessings of the British constitution and to have the English system of land tenure. They asked for help in establishing churches of England and Scotland, schools at New Johnstown, New Oswegatchie, Cataraqui and Niagara, stimulation for the manufacture of potash and the growing of hemp. They needed a loan of three months' supply of pork, and recommended that clothing be given to people who had arrived since the distributions had been made to the first settlers. They wanted the surveying of new townships hastened, and a post road from Montreal to Cataraqui, with post offices along the route, and to have trade with the western Indians encouraged and supervised. They needed depots where the government would receive their surplus grain, and they asked that the commissioners then in Montreal to settle loyalists' claims for compensation be sent to the settlements. Many people could not afford the journey in order to place their claims before the commissioners.10

  In drafting this work, two old adversaries from the Green Mountains co-operated. John Munro, the onetime New York magistrate, signed for Township Number 5, New Johnstown, the name given the townships where the first battalion, King's Royal Regiment of New York had settled. Yet Munro had not forgiven Sherwood, and he was biding his time.

  Once the spring work was in hand, Justus surveyed the town plot in Township Number 7, on Lots 14,15, and 16 in the first concession. In accordance with
Haldimand's orders, these were midway along the township's waterfront. In the centre Justus reserved an oblong section stretching from the shore northward for a green, and he laid out blocks with lots on either side. Unlike ugly Johnstown, his townsite would have a proper New England symbol, where public buildings would face the green.11 Leading the way, Justus resolved to build a decent home for his family, and it would be on the town plot rather than on his farm, only three kilometres to the east. The slaves could reside in the two cabins, close to their work.

  With his slaves Justus set to work hand hewing massive logs. Then, impatient with the time this was taking, Justus went in a bateau to Cataraqui, to the government sawmill, purchased logs nearby and had them squared. He assembled a raft and floated back down the St. Lawrence to the new townsite. In the interval the slaves built two large rubble stone chimneys, with eight fireplaces — four for downstairs, four for upstairs. The house would have four rooms downstairs, four above. It would be symmetrical, with a wide central hallway stretching from the front door to the back. Both doorways must look impressive, since guests would arrive either from the track in front, or from the river by bateau.

  Sherwood's Plan for a Town in the First Concession of Augusta Township

  Meanwhile, the spring had been very dry, and the drought was intensifying. This was serious. Only one year had passed since the first settlers coped without government rations. Many of the original settlers had enough land cleared if the harvest was normal, but relief would be needed before the coming winter was over. Justus resolved to buy provisions in Montreal as a precaution against what might lie ahead.