304 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The first great grant in New lirunnuick was that to DeRazilly at St. 

 Croix in 1G32, then followed that to LaTour on the St. John in 1G35, that of 

 lG3t) and 1(553 to Denys, including all the North Shore, and that to LaTour, 

 Temple and ('i-owne in 165G. But in 1672 began the series of seigniorial 

 grants in New Brunswick, whoso locations are described in the following 

 pages. The last of these, excepting that of St. Pierre, which was on a some- 

 what ditierent basis, was made in 1700, They were some thiity-five in num- 

 ber, covering some of the best lands and the localities best situated for fishing 

 and ti-ade in the Province. In the great majority of cases, however, nrv 

 attempt whatever appears to have been made by the Seigniors to fulfil 

 the conditions and settle upon them, in which respect they were in remark- 

 able contrast to those of Quebec. At Passamaquoddy there is evidence 

 from the censuses and other sources that St . Aubin, Chartier and Meusnier 

 settled u])on their grants ; on the St. John the two brothers D'Amours, 

 the Sieurs de Freneuse and Clignancourt, later joined by their brother 

 Sieur de ChaufFours, made more or less successful attempts at settlement, 

 as did Martignon, Soulanges and possibly Breuil and Gautier, but there is 

 no evidence that any of the other Seigniors ever even saw their grants. 

 At the head of the Bay of Fundy, La Vallière had a seigniory on which 

 many colonists from Port Royal settled as his tenants, and thus he estab- 

 lished by far the most important seigniory in the present Province of New 

 Brunswick, and one that came the nearest to the ideal for which the 

 seigniorial system was established. It is possible, that, had it not been for 

 the troublous times in that region after 1750, ending with the exj^ulsion 

 in 1755, the heirs of La Vallière might have held lands under his title to 

 this day. Along the Richibucto coast Sieur do Chauflburs had foi'med a 

 settlement before his grant was passed, but later he abandoned it to join 

 his brothers on the St. John. At Miramichi Richard Denys de Fronsac 

 made a settlement, but Enault, though he hud a seigniorj^ at Pokemouche, 

 lived on lands belonging to Gobin at Nepisiguit, and De Grez, after making 

 some settlement at Pokemouche, deserted to the English. The attempts 

 at settlement, therefore, were altogether insignificant in comparison with 

 the number and extent of the seigniorial grants. After 1700 there is, 

 with the single exception of La Vallière, hardly a trace of any of the 

 Seigniors to be found. In 1704 Colonel Church ravaged Passamaquoddy 

 and the Seigniors are never heard of again in the region, and probably the 

 destruction of the settlements along the river by the English expedition 

 against Fort Nashwaak in IG'.M!,' had something to do with the abandon- 

 ment of the St. John. As for those on the North Shore, Seigniors and Seig- 

 niories alike fade away into obscurity and leave scarcely a trace. It is said 

 by Murdoch that most of the Seigniors left the country after Nicholsons 

 conquest (1710), and no doubt most of them vvent to (Juebec where some 

 of them were later granted seigniories in that Province. Even had they 



^ That at Jemseg was not destroyed, and Gyles in bis narrative tells us why. 



