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Deer Island (New Brunswick)

Coordinates: 44°58′32.4″N 66°58′53.6″W / 44.975667°N 66.981556°W / 44.975667; -66.981556
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deer Island
Map
CountryCanada
ProvinceNew Brunswick
CountyCharlotte
Settled1770
Area
 • Total
38.32 km2 (14.80 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)
 • Total
718[1]
 • Density18.7/km2 (48/sq mi)
 • Pop 2016-2021
Decrease 9.9%
 • Dwellings
475

Deer Island is one of the Fundy Islands at the entrance to Passamaquoddy Bay in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. It was first settled by colonists around 1770.[2] The economy is primarily fishing and aquaculture. The Old Sow, the largest tidal whirlpool in the western hemisphere[3] can be viewed from Deer Island Point Park.[4]

Although its population is only half what it once was,[5][6] Deer Island is the main centre of West Isles Parish and falls under the Southwest NB Regional Service Commission.[7]

History

[edit]

There are "traces" of visits to the island by indigenous Passamaquoddys, although no settlement by either either the natives or French appears to have ever been attempted.[8][9][10][11] In 1604, Samuel de Champlain noted that a crewmember, Mssr. Poutrincourt, had almost become lost on the island.[12] The origin of the name is attributed either to Estêvão Gomes having dubbed the Penobscot River the "River of Deer" in 1525 leading to the island's similar naming,[13], or a Passamaquoddy legend about the island being a deer chased by wolves represented by the Wolf Islands.[12]

Until the end of the French and Indian Wars in 1760, it was not considered safe for English families to settle in the region due to the French influence over the natives since at least 1704 when the Le Treille family settled Indian Island.[6] In 1762 the colony of Massachusetts, and in 1767 the colony of Nova Scotia, began cautiously settling the area as the Passamaquoddy were now friendly and open to trade.[6] Josiah Heney, John Frost, Alexander Hodges and James Parsons were among the first Loyalist settlers in 1763, building homes near Pleasant Point although legally squatters without title.[14][15].

The government assigned formal ownership of Deer Island to Joseph William Gorham on August 21 1767 on condition that he settle families there as per an agreement of Dec 2 1766.[6] However Gorham was appointed to command in Newfoundland and unable to keep his pledge to settle and oversee the island, so agreed on February 3 1770 to sell the island to another officer, Thomas Farrell for 470 pounds sterling.[6] Here, ownership became more murky and the subject of legal battles.[8][16]

Farrell led a multifaceted life, gifting land and selling cheaply on the island to families that would settle there - regaling them with tales of a marriage to a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Charlotte, his duels and time in battle as a British lieutenant.[17] Farrell said he had served as an ensign under Gnl. Edward Braddock at the Battle of Fort Duquesne.[6] Six months after signing the purchase of Deer Island from Gorham, Farrell listed his Montreal property for sale and in 1805 he claimed to have relocated to Deer Island as his "general residence" by 1772 although again it is contested as he was not listed among residents when the government surveyed all early settlers to ascertain which local river had been commonly named St. Croix to settle a boundary dispute.[6] It was later surmised that Farrell had agreed to sell the property on January 21 1778 to an American, Thomas Macdonald Reed of North Carolina, for the same 470 pounds sterling he'd paid himself as Farrell was himself heading to the United States to take up arms against the British as part of the American Revolution where it appeared he was named a Captain.[6]

In 1783, John Rolf and his widowed daughter and six grandchildren moved to the island where she married John Fountain who had moved to Deer Island with his son and daughter in 1777 after nine years on Indian island.[14][6] Other loyalist settlers include John Appleby who settled in Chocolate Cove, Obediah Clarke who founded Clarke's Point at Northwest Harbour, and the Dow family.[14] Richardsonville was founded by Isaac Richardson, who had fought alongside Gnl. Wolfe in Quebec. George Cline of Maine had been a Sergeant during the Revolutionary War and died on Bar Island. In 1809 Joseph Conley moved to the island and later piloted the ship HMS Terror in the War of 1812, prior to its later calamity.[14] Daniel Lambert spent his post-Revolution time between Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Deer Island, founding Lambert's Cove.[14]

In 1801, the Loyalist Sgt. George Leonard of New York moved to Deer Island for the remainder of his life, founding Leonardville.[18] There was a boundary dispute with the United States over ownership of nearly all the Passamaquoddy Islands, which was settled by the 1817 Passamaquoddy Bay Commission which reaffirmed an 1803 commitment that only Moose, Frederick and Dudley Islands would not be British.[5][19]

Thomas Farrell re-settled in New Brunswick post-Revolution, as the southwest corner of the province was notably fluid in its allegiance between the two nations and not concerned with his American service,[6] seeking to have Deer Island re-granted to him and not gifted in title to a number of local families now petitioning the government for relief.[6] He claimed that Reed had never paid him in full before his death, so the earlier sale was null - and that he had been unaware of any obligation to register his initial purchase from Gorham for which he could produce the uncontested papers.[6] Complicating matters in 1789, Reed's surviving son David unsuccessfully filed suit claiming ownership of his late father's island.[6] Patrick Flinn held in 1805 that he'd been undisturbed as a squatter improving a family farm and controlling Bar Island since the 1780s, other than a brief period a Thomas Doyle had spent a season building a fishing camp on the southern tip which Flinn later sold to Warren Hathaway, claiming at no time did Thomas Farrell play any role on Bar Island.[6] Farrell's neighbours on the island did not participate in the lawsuit seeking title deeds, while 22 others, including boys not yet adults, collectively sought 200 acres apiece guided by lawyer Ward Chipman including ironically threatening that if not granted title deeds by the British government in Canada they would remove themselves to the United States and swear loyalty there - while still seeking to impress upon the Crown Farrell's disloyalty in having done the same.[6] Ultimately the government re-granted the land back to Thomas Farrell in 1810, denying the families' petitions - leading author Martha Barto to surmise it may have been to protect the large tracts of land held by lumber and shipping magnates in St. Andrews on the mainland, as non-petitioners, John Wilson, Thomas Wyer, Dr. John Calef, Robert and William Pagan each had a vested interest in Farrell retaining ownership.[6] The re-grant noted that the island comprised approximately 6,300 acres - of which 4,000 acres were unsold - recognising the sales and gifts Farrell had given over the years.[6]

In 1821, 35 petitioners on the island again brought an unsuccessful suit to the government seeking title deeds to award them each land on the island in view of having lived on the island for decades.[6] In 1822, Thomas Farrell died and his will assigned half his estate to his youngest and favourite child Sophia, and half his estate to be shared between his son George and other daughter Isabella.[6] This led to the sale of the lands on Deer Island for approximately 1,000 pounds sterling, allowing settled families to finally obtain legal title.[6]

One of the oldest houses to remain standing on the island is the Leonard/Garrison House near Chocolate Cove, built by the family of William Lloyd Garrison whose mother was born on the island and later tutored the family of Capt. John Shackford in Maine, and whose relatives continued inhabiting it.[16][20]

In 1822, brothers Coburn Leonard Cummings and William Cummings built a shipyard which became Cummings Cove, although it ceased production ceased by 1850[6] or 1876.[8] In 1850, Thomas Richardson began building fishing boats at Richardson, a business turned over to his son George Everett and family who continued the business until 1965.[16][6]

Religiously, as of 1876, the Churches of Christ were planted at Bar Island Harbour, with Free Will Baptist and Methodist churches elsewhere on the island.[8] There were 800 members of the Churches of Christ, 646 Baptists, 74 Anglicans, 111 Methodist, 9 Catholics and 6 Adventists, as well as 15 professing no religion.[21]

Leonardville and Bar Island

The island was historically a dry county,[12] forbidding the sale of alcohol even outside Prohibition, with author John Lorimer noting in 1876 "No license for rum-selling goes from Deer Island into the county treasure box. Prohibition is hers. The flag of total abstinence waves proudly over her rocky hills and verdant valleys. Deer Island has set an exmaple to her sister isles worthy of all imitation", and predicting Deer Island would excel above the rest of the region due to its stance.[8] In 1874, Charles Dudley Warner advocated that the United States seize Deer Island and Campobello by force, to the point of war if necessary - to ensure Canada was not used against the United States.[22][23][24]

The island was not easily reached except by those with private boats, until 1900 when the steamship Viking began taking passengers from the mainland to Leonardville.[16] In 1904, a telephone was set up from Eastport, Maine.[16] The primary source of electricity was Richardson's shipyard's generator until 1938 when connection was made to the mainland.[25] In 1959, Canada's first summer theatre was set up at Chocolate Cove.[26]

Geography

[edit]
There are two inland freshwater ponds, Little Meadow Pond and the Lily Pond near it halfway down the island and speckled trout may be caught in its brooks.[8][16]

Deer Island is covered in pine trees,[8] and wildlife includes partridges, rabbits, waterfowl and historically foxes which were later eradicated to protect poultry flocks.[8] In 1876, the soil was noted as ideal for potatoes, oats and vegetables.[8] Between Richardson and Lord's Cove is a hill locally known as Daddy Good's Mountain, after the quaint gentleman who used to own the property which offered a fire-scarred peak from which to view the Bay of Fundy.[16] Hannah Dow Hill sits in Leonardville, named for a young woman who became lost and froze to death in a snowstorm in the island's early settlement days.[14]

There are eight well-sheltered harbours around its irregular coast, including Chocolate Cove, Clam Cove Head and Cummings Cove.[8] In 1876 there was a store at Cummings Cove, another at Bar Island, another at Fairhaven and two at Lord's Cove although mercantile trade was also operated out of private homes,[8] and by 1908 there were two general stores in Leonardville.[16] Following his father's success, a son of Grand Manan's John Cook opened a satellite lobster factory on Deer Island but it soon faltered.[8]

Low tide at Deer Island Point with the Old Sow in action.

The largest whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere, dubbed the Old Sow, is immediately off the southern tip of Deer Island, caused as tides rush past Indian Island and reach a 400' undersea trench that abuts a 281' underwater mountain.[27] .[16] In 1835, a two-mast schooner was destroyed in the whirlpool drowning two brothers.[27] Three brothers named Stover, were drowned in the 1850s.[8]

The 1803 census found Deer Island contained 32 men, 30 women and 55 children for a total population of 117.[6] The 1840 census found 1,225 residents in addition to two "persons of colour" and another 200 men absent on ocean voyages.[6] The 1851 census found 1,252 residents and five schools on the island, in addition to four churches, two sawmills, five handmills and residents producing moderate amounts of hay, turnips and potatoes while holding 240 milk-cows producing 20,000lb of butter, and 971 sheep.[6] In 1861, the population was 1,190, and sheep had increased to 1,500, and there were 920 acres planted with hay, 103 acres with potato, 42 acres with oats, and 196 farmers now outnumbered the 144 fishermen although the latter industry still employed more labourers.[6] While oxen were plentiful, it was a matter of note that there were no horses to be found on the island.[5][6] There were also nearly 200 barrels of crude oil taken from the island.[6] In 1871 there were 1,556 residents and 23 fishing vessels on the island alongside 208 smaller boats.[6]

In 1880, the census determined there were 332 families in 286 houses, for a total population of 1,661.[21] Of these, 1,446 identified as English, 129 Irish, 55 Scottish, 20 French, 4 Dutch, 1 German and 1 Russian.[21]

As of 1908, there were 43 houses and a Customs Housed in Leonardville.[16]

Mail-day in Lambert's Cove

The only mineral rights held by the Crown are for potential finds of gold, silver or coal - although no traces of valuable minerals are known to exist.[8][6]

A nearby islet, named Pope's Folly, saw a settler named Pope establish an ill-fated trading post.[16] The ship New England was wrecked on the nearby Wolf Islands in 1872.[28] The nearby Doyle's Island, also called Pendleton's Island, has a 500' cliff that historically drew thrillseekers to attempt to climb.[16] Other adventurers were prone to imagine buried pirate treasure, even from Captain Kidd, but with little historical backing.[8]

Infrastructure

[edit]
Deer Island Ferry

The major route is New Brunswick Route 772. Two government ferries, the Deer Island Princess II and Abnaki II, connect Deer Island with L'Etete, New Brunswick on the mainland. During the summer, East Coast Ferries Ltd. operates a ferry, Hopper II, from Cummings Cove on the southern shore of Deer Island onward to Campobello Island. A defunct ferry, the Fundy Trail II, operated between Cummings Cove and the US state of Maine until 2014.

There are two lighthouses on Deer Island, a square frustun tower with balcony and lantern at Leonardville[29][30], and another at Deer island Point.

Herring weirs, the world's largest lobster pound[31] and salmon pens supplement the fishing economy.[26]

There is a primary school on the island, while older pupils attend Fundy High School on the mainland.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Deer Island, New Brunswick.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (February 9, 2022). "Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - West Isles, Parish (P) [Census subdivision], New Brunswick". www12.statcan.gc.ca.
  2. ^ "Deer Island History and Little Known Facts". Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Old Sow Whirlpool". Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Public Parks Recreation Areas Hiking Trails". Quoddy Loop. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Rees, Ronald. "St. Andrews and the Islands", 1995. https://archive.org/details/standrewsislands0000rees/mode/2up?view=theater&q=deer
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad Barto, Martha Ford. Passamaquoddy: Genealogies of West Isles Families
  7. ^ "Communities in each of the 12 Regional Service Commissions (RSC" (PDF). Government of New Brunswick. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lorimer, John G. "History of Islands and Islets in the Bay of Fundy, Charlotte County, New Brunswick", Archive.org copy, 1876
  9. ^ Black, D. W. (1984a). BgDr38: Test Excavations at a Multi-component Prehistoric/Historic Archaeological Site on Deer Island, New Brunswick. Manuscripts in Archaeology 7, Department of Historical and Cultural Resources, New Brunswick,Fredericton.
  10. ^ Sanger, David, "Carson Site and the Late Ceramic Period in Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick"
  11. ^ https://canadianarchaeology.com/caa/publications/archaeological-exploration-deer-island-nb-history-and-recent-research
  12. ^ a b c https://backyardhistory.ca/f/the-song-of-the-old-sow
  13. ^ Letters patent, under the great seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, erecting the province of Upper Canada into the Bishopric of Toronto : and appointing John Strachan, D.D. Archdeacon of York, Bishop of Toronto, dated 27th July, 1839 https://archive.org/stream/letterspatentund00greauoft/letterspatentund00greauoft_djvu.txt
  14. ^ a b c d e f Saint Croix Courier, St. Stephen, NB June 21, 1894, https://carensecord.ca/locations/NewBrunswick/Glimpses/CXXI.html
  15. ^ Siebert, Wilbur Henry. "The exodus of the loyalists from Penobscot to Passamaquoddy"
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thompson and Martin, s:The Smiling Isle of Passamaquoddy, 1908
  17. ^ St Croix Courier, November 17 1892, "Glimpses of the Past"
  18. ^ Sabine, Lorenzo, Biographical sketches of loyalists of the American Revolution https://archive.org/details/cihm_47583
  19. ^ https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/historyofcanadaf00mcar_0/historyofcanadaf00mcar_0.pdf, pg 307
  20. ^ https://archive.org/stream/eastportpassamaq00kilb/eastportpassamaq00kilb_djvu.txt
  21. ^ a b c https://archive.org/details/1880censusofcana01canauoft/page/18/mode/2up?q=deer&view=theater
  22. ^ https://www.heirloomsreunited.com/2021/12/charlers-dudley-warners-1874.html
  23. ^ https://archive.org/details/cihm_49603/page/n57/mode/2up?q=deer&view=theater
  24. ^ https://archive.org/details/baddeckandthats00warngoog/page/n7/mode/2up
  25. ^ Spicer, Stanley T. "Maritimers ashore & afloat : interesting people, places and events related to the Bay of Fundy and its rivers."
  26. ^ a b Wright, Sarah Bird. "Islands of the NE United States and Eastern Canada", https://openlibrary.org/books/OL2206520M/Islands_of_the_northeastern_United_States_and_eastern_Canada
  27. ^ a b https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/close-encounters-with-the-old-sow-48091759/
  28. ^ https://ia801704.us.archive.org/27/items/b29349862/b29349862.pdf
  29. ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Canada: Southern New Brunswick". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
  30. ^ List of Lights, Pub. 110: Greenland, The East Coasts of North and South America (Excluding Continental U.S.A. Except the East Coast of Florida) and the West Indies (PDF). List of Lights. United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2016.
  31. ^ Thompson, Colleen. New Brunswick Inside Out", Waxwing Productions
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Deer Island.

44°58′32.4″N 66°58′53.6″W / 44.975667°N 66.981556°W / 44.975667; -66.981556

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