88 acres	Miles, Patrick Simonds	Simonds	02/07/1840
100 acres	MCCARTHY, Michael	Simonds	1842
200 acres, for schools	JUSTICES OF THE PEACE, -----	Simonds	1844
127 acres	O'REGAN, Daniel	Simonds	1844
25 acres	DOUGLAS, John	Simonds	1845
93 acres	PETERS, James Jr.	Simonds	1846
250 acres	BUCKLEY, Bartholomew	Simonds	1846
50 acres	BALL, George	Simonds	1847
100 acres	DONOVAN, Timothy	Simonds	1847
100 acres	MCAULEY, John	Simonds	1848
550 acres	MATTHEWS, George	Simonds	1849
125 acres	LEE, John	Simonds	1853
25 acres	BALL, George	Simonds	1854
50 acres	STOKER, Charles	Simonds	1854
250 acres	HAWKS, William	Simonds	1855
250 acres	POWER, Robert	Simonds	1855
114 acres	BELL, James	Simonds	1855
100 acres	BURLEY, John	Simonds	1855
50 acres	SCOTT, William	Simonds	1855
158 acres	RYAN, John	Simonds	1855

50 acres	Hunter, Andrew	Simonds	19/03/1856
290 acres	HAWKS, William	Simonds	1857
290 acres	POWER, Robert	Simonds	1857
70 acres	JAFFRAY, William	Simonds	1857
50 acres	GREAVES, William	Simonds	1857
50 acres	GREAVES, William Jr.	Simonds	1857
115 acres	RIGGS, Robert	Simonds	1857
90 acres	COGLAN, John	Simonds	1858
50 acres	HAWKS, William	Simonds	1858
50 acres	POWER, Robert	Simonds	1858
100 acres	NEVILLE, Richard B.	Simonds	1861
0 acres Reservoir lot	HENDERSON, Henry	Simonds	1861
100 acres	BOWES, Thomas	Simonds	1861
100 acres	NEVILLE, Michael	Simonds	1861
300 acres	HENRY, Arthur	Simonds	1863
117 acres	MCLEAN, Arthur	Simonds	1868
25 acres	PATTERSON, Samuel	Simonds	1878
112 acres, shared with William Pugsley Jr.	KING, Stephen J.	Simonds	1887
112 acres shared with Stephen J King	PUGSLEY, William Jr.	Simonds	1887
35 acres, shared-Fred E Hannington & Fred Tapley	CARPENTER, James T.	Simonds	1888

Robert Lawton's farm was on the Cottage Rd. at the cross road, above, but do not know as yet when and from whom he bought it.


SIMONDS PARISH IS NAMED FOR SIMONDS, JAMES, businessman, judge, office holder, and politician; b. 10 Dec. 1735 in Haverhill, Mass., son of Nathan Simonds and Sarah Hazen; m. 9 Nov. 1767 Hannah Peabody, and they had 14 children including Charles* and Richard*; d. 20 Feb. 1831 in Portland (Saint John), N.B.

Simonds came to Portland Point with the intention of becoming a businessman rather than a farmer. He began by exploiting the fishery and shipping the product to his cousin William Hazen. Simonds and Hazen formed a partnership with a kinsman, Samuel Blodget, a substantial Boston merchant engaged in the West Indies trade. Ownership of the new firm was split four ways: Simonds, Hazen, and Blodget each received a quarter share; the remaining quarter was divided among Richard Simonds, James White (another of Hazen’s cousins), and Robert Peaslie (Hazen’s brother-in-law). The three junior partners joined Simonds on the Saint John while Hazen handled the distribution of goods in Massachusetts and Blodget remained the sedentary partner.

In February 1764 Simonds received from the Nova Scotia government a licence to occupy the lands at Portland Point together with a licence to carry on fishing and to burn lime. On 1 March the new partnership came into effect. Subsequently the firm was to obtain large grants at the mouth of the river. Simonds was an aggressive entrepreneur: he created trading arrangements with his own employees, the garrison at nearby Fort Frederick, the Saint John valley Indians, and the New England settlers at Maugerville, in addition to maintaining an extensive trade in fish, furs, lime, and lumber products with Massachusetts. Between 1764 and 1774 the firm employed 17 vessels in its service, and Simonds dispatched to his partners some £30,000 worth of furs and fish, 2,540 hogsheads of lime, 1,171 barrels of castor, and many thousands of clapboards and barrel staves. He shared proprietorship of an additional 400,000 acres of land in the Saint John Valley. The loyalists’ arrival in 1783 and mostly settled in the area that became the city of Saint John in 1785. The firm of Simonds, Hazen, and White controlled the north shore of the inner harbour of Saint John, and the Portland Point buildings, mills, and wharfs became the most valuable assets in the colony.

The partners anticipated reaping a rich reward by setting up streets in neighbouring Portland and selling town lots to loyalists. Having acquired control of the Great Marsh, Hazen and White, in 1785, attempted to purchase all rights in the firm from Simonds. He refused and a court case followed.Each partner gained exclusive title to large grants of land Simonds and Hazen had been transformed from minor New England traders to wealthy landed gentry in a new British colony. Simonds lived to a great age.

There is little evidence of his involvement in the business life of Saint John after 1810 – it seems that the family’s affairs were handled by his eldest son, Charles – but his interests continued to prosper and his property to appreciate with the growth of the city. Though it is difficult to evaluate suburban and commercial real estate which was never sold, it is very possible that the Haverhill pioneer’s estate was worth $1,000,000 at the time of his death.


James Simonds

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