up to 1971. These censuses are ones which were intended to be Island- wide, administered by the authori- ties at Port La Joie or Charlottetown. Not included are several censuses in individual townships or lots commis- sioned by the respective proprietors, such as censuses of 1824-26 in Lots 2,4,5 a n d 6, of which the proprietor was William Hill. Curiously, Dale's list indicates that the first census on the Island under the British regime was that of 1798. Admittedly, it was the first to be of any substantive use to genealo- gists. However, there was a census in 1768 which has been long known to Island historians. In addition, there is a census taken a year or two earlier - one which has been hitherto virtually unknown to historians. This article presents the census of 1766 or 1767, and seeks to glean information from it and the 1768 census concerning economic activ- ity on St. John's Island during the 1760s. It also throws some light, where possible, on the handful of individuals - the Island's first British settlers - named in the 1768 census, and explores changing demograph- ics as revealed by the three censuses By Earle Lockerby as a group. For the first time these censuses are examined critically and analytically. numeration of the people is did it record the names and ages of E known to have been conducted all family members, it gave the place since Biblical times. The Romans of birth of the head of the household Francklin's Census placed much importance on a quin- and of his wife, the number of years quennial census for the purpose of that the head of the household had The first of these censuses shall be determining the civil status and cor- resided on the Island, his occupation referred to as "Francklin's census" responding liabilities of each mem- and certain information on farm ani- or, alternatively, the "1766 cen- ber of the population. In England mals owned and grain sown. sus," though, as will be noted, it census taking began with a flourish Ralph Waldo Emmerson wrote may have been prepared in 1767. when William the Conqueror com- that "the true test of civilization is It may be found in the Colonial missioned the Domesday Book, not the census, nor the size of cit- Office records for Nova Scotia of completed in 1086. This exceedingly ies, nor the crops - no, but the kind which St. John's Island was then a comprehensive survey was a one- of a man that the country turns out." part. With a letter to the Colonial time wonder - not until 1801 was a While all censuses clearly have their Office, dated 22 November 1766, the national census again established in limitations in recording what kind lieutenant governor of the colony, England. of men, and women, are enumer- Michael Francklin, enclosed a copy The North American colonies of ated, the earliest census of St. John's of a blank, printed census form Britain and France seem to have been Island during the British regime are entitled "A Return of the State of more given to census taking than for the most part greatly lacking in the Township of the First of their mother countries. As early as the this respect. Being totally or largely January, 1767." The form provides for mid-17th century New France (both aggregate census, they either don't a very considerable amount of census Quebec and Acadia) introduced a peri- provide the names of individuals or data concerning people, land granted, odical census. The earliest in He St- do so only to a limited degree. other major assets and farm produce. Jean, now Prince Edward Island, was Genealogist Janet Dale discussed According to the letter, Francklin taken in 1728. The most comprehen- the various censuses in Prince sive census undertaken on the Island Edward Island, beginning with the *See J. Dale, "The Censual Genealogist/' The during the French regime was that of census in 1728.* She compiled a list Island Magazine, No. 6, Spring/Summer 1977. Sieur de la Roque in 1752. Not only of all censuses taken on the Island had in the fall of 1766 distributed departures. Almost certainly, this three areas together. No indication copies of the form to each township. must have been due in some cases to is made of whether these numbers In two places there have been hand data not being collected rather than are "by computation" or from some alterations to the form; one of these an intended "zero." other sources. At this time there being the date in the title of the form was no "magistrate" resident on St. x This census of St. John's Island wherein the second "7" °f l^l has raises many questions. One of these John's Island, which was probably been largely obliterated. stems from a remark on the spread- true as well for other parts of Nova The next mention of the census in sheet that "No return was made Scotia remote from the administra- Francklin;s correspondence with the from St John's [Island] - so that it tive center of Halifax, including Colonial Office is about a year later. is by computation." What is meant Miramichi, the St. John River and In a brief letter dated 17 December by that? One line on the spreadsheet Cape Sable. Another question which 1767 to the Lords Commissioners reads: "Omitted Miramichy, St. applies to the census in general: If for Trade and Plantations; Francklin John's river & Cape Sable," yet num- the census was taken in the late fall wrote: bers are provided, lumping these of 1766, why did Francklin wait vir- tually a whole year before transmit- My Lords, ting it to London? Perhaps it was in I have now the honor to inclose ~ Table 1 ~ fact assembled in 1767. your Lordships a General Return of the State of this Province up to A General Return of the Several In addition to how such an enu- the first of January 176/, conform- Townships in the Province of Nova meration of the population of St. able to the printed forms sent to the Scotia: St. John's, Island of John's Island was arrived at, one Magistrates of each Township and wonders how accurate it can be and district, by me in the fall of the year White Males Men 266 what interpretations may be drawn 1766. This return is as correct as Boys 100 from it. It was on 23 July, 1767, only, our situation, and from a first Essay when the various townships or lots Negro Males Men HBBHi on St. John's Island were granted could well be expected. As I shall Boys 1 adopt the same Plan for this year by lottery, and not until 1770 that organized, or proprietor-sponsored 1767, I flatter myself the next will White Females Women 72 Girls British settlement, is known to have be more so. 9 begun. By 1763, and possibly a year The return, a copy of which was Negro Females Women HBHHHI or two earlier, however, there were enclosed with the letter and certi- Girls 1 individuals from Britain and/or New fied to be a "true return/7 is totally England colonies who had come to in manuscript form - a single spread- Total Protestants 243 St. John's Island to engage in fish- sheet which precisely mirrors the Total Roman Catholics 276 ing and the cutting of white pine earlier hand-amended, printed form. Total Persons 5i9 for masts. The earliest known such It provides information regarding Origin individual was Gamaliel Smethurst, 28 townships of Nova Scotia, plus English 130 an Englishman with New England several outlying dependencies, connections. He began operations x ;; Scotch 7 including "S John's, Island of. The Irish 112 on St. John's Island in 1762 or 1763. information for St. John's Island, to American 70 Though initially there were few such people, and they were some- the extent provided in the return, is German and other Foreign 3 reproduced in Table 1. Acadian 197 what transient, their numbers no The census compilation, in the doubt increased gradually during format forwarded to London, also Livestock the 1760s. At this time, also, there includes columns for the numbers Horses 50 was a garrison of British soldiers of Indian men, women, boys and Oxen and bulls 1 0 at Fort Amherst. In the early 1760s girls; the amount of various crops Cows 2 0 they numbered 65 to 70. In the latter harvested; the number of inhabit- Young neat cattle 15 1760s their numbers may well have ants who arrived in and departed Sheep 50 been somewhat less. Francklin's the jurisdiction since the last year; Goats - spreadsheet specifically states that and the number of births and deaths Swine 2 0 "Neither Navy or Army are included in this return, except in the deaths." during the last year. In all these Mills cases the return shows a blank for As will be seen later, the num- Grist - ber of Acadians enumerated agrees St. John's Island. The Island how- Saw - ever is not unique in this regard. well with those enumerated in a Indians are shown in only four of Vessels census taken in 1768. Furthermore, Nova Scotia's townships, and total Fishing boats 30 such numbers of Acadian settlers only 28 - clearly most of the Indian Schooners and sloops 1 0 is entirely plausible. However, the population was omitted. Similarly, Square rigged - numbers of non-Acadian residents while all townships show signifi- shown in Francklin's census appears cant numbers of inhabitants, some Quintals dry codfish 4300 inexplicably high - wildly high, compared to the corresponding seven show no crops raised and ten Barrels of oil 100 show no births, deaths, arrivals or numbers in the 1768 census. Based ~ Table 2 ~ Return of the Number of Persons Residing on the Island of Saint John with the Number of the Township on Which They Reside July 21,1768 Names Number of the Township Men Women Boys Girls Total Vessels John Urquhart No. 39 2 2 1 1 6 2 Schooners John Hamilton Ditto 3 3 1 1 8 1 Ditto Joseph Moss Ditto 1 1 •<% 3 7 1 Ditto Ayres Ditto 1 1 1 2 5 1 Shallop 5 William Lovingston * No. 59 2 |Ik/' - - - 2 1 Schooner James Davidson* Ditto 2 - :/i-~;:.,; ~ 2 2 Ditto William Creed* Ditto 1 1 % - - 2 1 Ditto Michael Molyneaux at Princetown 1 1 2 2 6 1 Ditto : William Coffin* No. 37 1 ••§;- •' W^ - 1 Sloop John Coffin* Ditto 1 - ••:'-• - :} (shared) Dr. Fergus* No. 53 3 3 " - 6 - * No. 58 6 3 7 6 2 2 24 *5 H *5 68 NB: Of the above only those marked * are settlers on lands in behalf of the Grantees. The others are on Sufferance. Charlottetown July 21 st, 1768 Signed: Is. Deschamps

on a variety of other documents as a base as early as 1764. In that Island, [and had] been at considerable dating from the 1760s involving St. year a fishing enterprise involv- expense in building a House and John's Island, such large numbers of ing Messrs. Spence, Mill, Mure Barn, also stocking a tract of land non-Acadians settlers is simply not and Cathcart of London contracted at and near Sl Peters." Burns, along plausible, nor are they consistent with David Higgins to establish a with Spence and Mill, drew Lot No. with the relatively small number of fishery at St. John's Island. Higgins 40 in the lottery of 1767. He served farm animals enumerated. However, took up residence at Three Rivers as a member of the Island's House of if they include transient workers, where he built houses and kilns Assembly and Council during various present only during the summer and erected fish stages. By 1767 he periods in the 1770s and 1780s. months, some of the numbers, eg. 70 had "upwards of 15 Ships under his Soon after arriving on St. John's Americans, assume some degree of Direction employed in the fishing." Island in the fall of 1764 to begin plausibility. They may also include Such an undertaking could reason- his survey of the Island, Samuel would-be settlers who had come to ably account for close to 130 people, Holland wrote that there were about the Island but who became disen- the number of English enumer- 30 Acadian families on the Island, chanted or discouraged and moved ated in Francklin's census. However, living at St. Peters and Fortune on before putting down roots. some, and probably all, of the ves- Bay. According to Holland, the Fishermen from Marblehead, sels under Higgins' direction came Acadians possessed about 100 head Massachusetts are known to have out from England in the spring and of cattle, including some oxen. It been fishing at St. John's Island as returned in the fall. In 1767 Higgins, is possible that there were a few early as 1762 or 1763. In 1765, the along with Mure and Cathcart, drew Acadians settled elsewhere, such year that Samuel Holland completed Lot No. 59 on St. John's Island in as the Richmond Bay (Malpeque) his survey of the Island, he observed the land lottery organized by the area who Holland's men had not that there were New Englanders vis- Commissioners for Trade and yet encountered. Almost certainly, iting the Island, though he gives no Plantations. Higgins was elected in between 1764 and 1767 the Acadian idea of their numbers. In March 1766 1773 to the Island's first House of population on the Island increased The Boston Evening-Post reported Assembly. He remained a resident as Acadians displaced from Acadia the drowning the previous fall of on the Island until his death in 1783. or He St-Jean in the 1750s later made four men, at least two being from One English family which may their way to St. John's Island. Cambridge, Massachusetts, while have been residing on the Island It is reasonable to suppose that going to a Place where they cur cl Fish when Francklin's census was most, or practically all, of the live- calFd Three Rivers in St. John's...the completed is that of Lieut. George stock enumerated on St. John's Boat being found next Morning Burns, a friend of Holland who had Island in 1766 was kept by the drove up to the Stages." Three Rivers served with the latter at the siege Acadians. It is of interest to compare was the name used at that time for of Louisbourg in 1758. Formerly of th the Acadians' livestock holdings the present Georgetown area. the 45 Regiment, Burns had some in 1766 to their holdings in 1752 Similarly, there were English time prior to the fall of 1764 "con- when De la Roque conducted his fisherman using St. John's Island veyed his family and servants on the census. For comparison purposes

10 it will be assumed that all livestock emigrants on the Annabella. The the Island. In 1763 Smethurst had on enumerated in 1767 was kept by only settlers that Drummond reports the Island an employee who he refers the Acadians, though a small part having visited while at Princetown, to as "my negro Scipio." may have been owned by others; however, were Acadian, and accord- such as George Burns. It will also ing to tradition, the Annabella s pas- be assumed that in the 1766 census, sengers were assisted in surviving Deschamps7 Census of 1768 for each Acadian adult male there is their first winter at Princetown by one Acadian household. Given these Acadians, not by any Scots or Irish. The next census of St. John's Island, assumptions, it may be shown that Given all available evidence, it is rea- that of 1768, was also compiled under in 1752 on average there were 2.2 to sonable to conclude that there were Francklin's direction. Early that year 7.2 more farm animals per Acadian few, if any, Irish on St. John's Island, he received instructions form London household than in 1766. The actual at Princetown or anywhere else in for "carrying into Execution a Plan for ratio depends on the species of 1767 or any time during the next the Settlement of St. John's Island." livestock enumerated, the various several years. It is probable that the Colonial Office authorities in London categories being cattle; oxen and Irish count, if accurate, represents considered this initiative to be most bulls, sheep; and pigs. Though this fishermen from Ireland taken aboard important, now that the 67 townships precipitous reduction by 1766, com- English fishing vessels on their out- or lots established by Holland had pared to 1752, may be due in part to ward passage from their home port been granted to assorted proprietors occupational shift, it is also consis- to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Such who thereby acquired an obligation tent with Holland's observation that individuals would undoubtedly be to send settlers to the Island. Among the Island Acadians were extremely dropped off in Ireland during the other things, Francklin was instructed poor, living in great misery and in homeward journey. to set up a "Civil Establishment" for habitations worse than wigwams. Blacks are known to have lived on the Island, ie., a slate of key admin- The discrepancy between 1752 the Island during the French regime, istrative officials. One such appoint- and 1766 concerning livestock per serving as domestics and servants in ment was Isaac Deschamps to the Acadian household becomes larger several of the more wealthy house- position of First Magistrate with still, if a portion of the livestock holds. However, none remained after the added responsibility of superin- enumerated in 1766 is attributed to 1758, the year that the majority of the tendent of affairs of the Island. He non-Acadians. French population was deported to had previously been First Justice Unless horses were temporar- France. According to Francklin's cen- of the Court of Common Pleas for ily brought to the Island by seasonal sus there was one black boy and one Kings County, NS. Deschamps, along fishermen to assist in shore-based black girl on the Island in 1767. They with Nova Scotia's Chief Surveyor, operations, it is highly doubtful that no doubt were brought to the Island Charles Morris, two assistant sur- the number of horses on the Island in the 1760s as servants or domestics veyors and several other newly in 1766 was anywhere nearly as high by British or New England entrepre- appointed civil officials set out for as the indicated 50. If only one-fifth, neurs. One or both may well have St. John's Island from Halifax on or ten horses, are attributed to the been resident in the George Burns 21 May 1768. Among Deschamps' Acadians (according to the 1766 cen- household since Holland reported instructions was one whereby he sus, Acadians account for one-fifth that Burns had brought servants to was to send Francklin "as Soon as the population) then one would have to conclude that there were slightly more horses per Acadian household ^ Table 3 - in 1766 than in 1752 - a most unlikely Acadians All Employed in the Fishery the Greatest Part situation. However, if Holland's esti- in the Aforementioned Vessels mate of 100 head of cattle in 1764 is accurate, then the number of animals, Men Women Girls Total Vessels other than horses, may well be under- Boys ; At Saint Peters 15 13 26 17 71 - estimated in Francklin s census. At Harris Bay Another number which raises called by the French Restico 5 5 10 5 25 2 Shallops questions in Francklin's census is At Bedford Bay the number of Irish - some 112. called by the French Tracadie 10 1 0 17 2 0 57 1 Sloop There is scant support in any 1 Shallop known documents dating from the At Bay Fortune 1 1 2 1 5 1 Shallop 1760s for their presence as settlers. At Richmond Bay One observer, the Rev. William called by the French Malpec 10 1 0 12 2 Schooners Drummond, a Scot who emigrated 13 45 to the Island in June 1770, wrote 4i 39 68 55 203 of encountering "a great many Scotch, Irish and French families" NB: The greatest part of these Acadians have taken the Oaths of Allegi ance and which were "accommodated in fidelity and the others will take them so Soon as they return from the fishing Princetown." Drummond's visit to Princetown preceded by several Charlottetown 21 July 1768 months the arrival there of Scottish Signed: Isaac Deschamps

11 Possible an Account According to the households, two had only one were established on the lands they the best Information you can get resident in each, and another three occupied through permission of or what numbers of People are on the households had only two residents arrangement with the township pro- Island what they are About and by in each - in all households a grand prietor. The other non-Acadians had whom they are Employed." total of 68 people. The Acadians established themselves "on suffer- The surveyors, assisted by sol- were more numerous, some 203 ance," ie., most, if not all of them were diers from Fort Amherst, lost little enumerated in total. As was the squatters. Though Deschamps made time in surveying and laying out case throughout the French regime, no comment about the Acadians in town and pasture lots for the three nominally from 1720 to 1758, the this regard, some, if not most, were county seats - first Charlottetown, largest concentration - just over probably squatters as well. then Georgetown and, finally, one-third in 1768 - was at St. Peters. Among the residents for which Princetown. Coinciding with this The Acadians were more evenly dis- the name of the head of household activity was the conducting of a cen- tributed throughout the three coun- is reported in Deschamps' census, sus by Deschamps, doubtlessly using ties than were the English-speaking there are nine schooners, one shallop in part information which would residents, with Queens County and one sloop, giving an average of have been picked up in the field by having the largest number. Among one vessel per household. However Morris and his men. Deschamps the areas were the Acadians were among the Acadians there were ended his enumeration activities settled in 1768, the only area where two schooners only, plus five shal- on or before 21 July By 31 July the they had not been established dur- lops and one sloop, representing an census return had reached Francklin ing the French regime was Rustico. average of one vessel for every five in Halifax who on that date wrote One striking difference between male adults (or households). These a letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, the Acadians and non-Acadians was numbers confirm that the English- a secretary of state in the Colonial the size of household. The Acadians speaking population was engaged Office, with which the return was had on average 5.0 people per adult primarily in trading and the fishery enclosed. Deschamps7 census is in male which compares to 6.0 persons while, as Deschamps states, most of two parts. The first part is of the per household in the 1752 census the Acadians enumerated worked in head of household type and enumer- of De la Roque. Among the English- the "Aforementioned Vessels," ie., in ated the English-speaking segment speaking people enumerated there the British and New England vessels of the population. The second enu- were on average only 2.8 persons enumerated in Table 2. merated the "Acadians all Employed per adult male. This tends to suggest The caption accompanying in the Fishery" and is of an aggregate that some of the English-speaking Table 3 is somewhat ambiguous and nature, ie., it does not provide any "households" may have been tran- leaves room for two interpretations. inhabitants' names. The two parts of sitory or seasonal. Nevertheless, it Deschamps may have meant that Deschamps' census are reproduced would seem that for the most part all of the Acadians on the Island as Tables 2 and 3. the people enumerated in 1768 were worked in the fishery and that Table According to the return, there settled whereas in the census of a 3 enumerates all of these individuals. were little more than a dozen year or two earlier, many of those Alternatively, he may have restricted English-speaking households located enumerated were in fact not settled. his enumeration to those Acadians in six townships, plus Princetown According to Deschamps, the set- who worked in the fishery in which Royalty. Three of the townships are tlers Lovingstone (sic), Davidson, case Table 3 would likely understate in Kings County while two others Creed, the Coffins, Fergus and the the total Acadian population on the are adjacent to Kings County. Of unidentified householders on Lot 58 Island to some extent. In the latter case, however, such understatement is probably not large, since most of the Acadian adult males are believed to have been employed by British and New England fishing interests. Acadian employment by these entrepreneurs continued for some years. In 1770 Governor Walter Patterson wrote on this matter as follows: The French Inhabitants have for some Years past, been maintained by a few British subjects here who have employed them during the Summer in the Fishery, and have been paid their wages in Cloaths, Rum, Flower, Powder and Shot..." The fishery was not the only industry in which Acadians were British copy of a French map, c.1760. employed by non-Acadians. A sworn

12 affadavit by one Jean LeBlanc shows is not mentioned in Drummond's those enumerated who owned two that at Three Rivers some Acadians diary. He resided at St. Peters, less schooners. In the summer of 1776 he were engaged in the cutting of white than 30 km from Stanhope where is described by Benjamin Chappell pine trees in early 1768. Drummond resided. as being a Malpeque resident who Ayres, whose first name was owned a vessel. In the fall of that Andrew, was based at St. Peters and year he wrote from New London Individuals Enumerated probably engaged in a substantial on St. John's Island to the Island's amount of trading. He was a sea cap- Acting Governor, Phillips Callbeck, in 1768 tain and, according to Drummond transmitting freshly received intelli- Most individuals named in and customs records for the port of gence about the threat of rebels from Deschamps' census (Table 2) have Quebec, Ayres made one or two trips the mainland invading the Island. remained as "shadowy" figures there in 1770 and also in 1771 in his No further trace of him is at hand. throughout the more than two cen- vessel, the Bonaventwe. William Creed is one individual of turies since they were enumerated. William Livingstone most likely whom a great deal is known. Said to Who were these individuals, what resided at St. Andrews Point, also have been born in Limerick, Ireland, were their circumstances and what known as Wightmans Point. He is he emigrated to Rhode Island in were they doing? Our knowledge is the individual who in early 1768 1766. He appeared at St. John's fragmentary. Nevertheless various had an Acadian work crew at Three Island around 1768 when between diaries and other documents do cast Rivers which "felled upwards of 25 and 29 years of age. Though glimmers of light on some of these twelve hundred white pine trees; Deschamps' census shows him estab- people. ...two hundred of the said trees were lished at Lot 1, this is very probably John Urquhart was established at more than two feet thro' at the butt." erroneous. If his base was indeed St. Peters on the site of the earlier Smethurst was called upon, presum- in western Prince County, which is French settlement of Havre Saint- ably by the authorities in Halifax, to rather doubtful, then it was more Pierre and was almost certainly go to Three Rivers to put a stop to likely to have been at Cascumpec involved in fishing and perhaps these "depredations" where, accord- Harbour which is not in Lot 1, a trading. He was one of only two ing to Smethurst, these people were township which lacks harbours of individuals listed as having more "destroying the finest grove of white the type which would have been than one schooner. Precisely when pines that America could boast of." sought for a sizable sailing vessel. Urquhart arrived on the Island is In October 1765 HMS Magdalene In any event, in 1770 he was settled unknown, but it was probably before and HMS Senegal seized at Three at Three Rivers where his business Holland left the Island in the fall of Rivers the vessel Diadem of London life became very much intertwined 1765 to begin the survey of Cape for "Breach of the acts of Trade in with that of David Higgins. In subse- Breton. Writing from Louisbourg in Lading masts without producing quent years his domestic life is said November 1766, Holland mentions Certificate that Bond had been given to have become intertwined with that Urquhart had just arrived from as the law directs." The Diadem that of Higgins as well, much to the St. John's Island and had reported was escorted to Halifax and a few latter's dismay. Creed returned to that "many of those, who came to St. months later was lost at sea on its New England in the early 1770s and John's Island, to become Settlers, had way to England. It may well be that became a prosperous entrepreneur left that Place, & that the Rest talked Livingstone had some involvement and adventurer. In 1785 Creed, his of soon following them, unless some- with the masts being loaded on wife (the widow of David Higgins thing speedy was done, as to the the Diadem. He most likely was no - she had originally been from Distribution of Lands there/7 Holland longer on the Island by the time of Boston) and some of their family had previously encouraged Urquhart Drummond's arrival, since the latter left the American colonies, now in to remain on the Island and to take makes no mention of him despite revolt, and re-established them- on the role of "Superintendent of the repeated visits to Three Rivers. selves at Three Rivers on St. John's Part or Township, I was in Hopes of James Davidson is indicated as liv- Island. They brought with them a obtaining either from the Honorable ing in Lot 59 which would suggest black slave, Dimbo Suckles, a figure Board or Lord Egmont." Urquhart Three Rivers. No other documenta- well known in the history of black was still living at St. Peters in May tion has been discovered which Islanders. At Three Rivers Creed set 1771 as noted in Rev. Drummond's would confirm a James Davidson up a mercantile enterprise - one of diary. Later that year he served on a at that location. However, in the his ledgers is extant.* When he died grand jury in Charlottetown. fall of 1770 Drummond recorded in 1809 he was a member of the PEI House of Assembly. There are many Almost nothing is known of either a Mr. Davidson having a house at Malpeque or Princetown. A James descendants of Creed on the Island John Hamilton nor Joseph Moss today, many of them living within a beyond what is stated in Deschamps' Davidson served on a grand jury at Charlottetown in 1771. He received few kilometers of his former base at census. Drummond does men- Three Rivers. tion that Hamilton was one of two an eight-acre land grant at Princetown people who took Drummond to St. in 1775. The deed styles him as Peters by boat in 1770 to preach and "gentleman," which would suggest baptize children. Hamilton resided a person of some means - the James *See Janet Dale, "Ledgers I Have Loved," The at St. Peters. It is possible that Moss Davidson enumerated in the census Island Magazine, No. 5, Fall/Winter 1978. had left the Island by 1770 since he is one of only two people among

13 Michael Molyneaux was involved names are available through records George Burns and David Higgins, in the activities undertaken in the of wages paid them. Their names were not enumerated in the summer of 1768 by Deschamps to appear in Table 4. A sworn affidavit Deschamps census. Burns and his prepare for the expected settlers. He in connection with the cutting of family apparently left the Island received 42 days of wages for work white pine at Three Rivers has been some time prior to when the cen- as a mason. However he derived previously mentioned. The affida- sus was taken. They are known to much more income by chartering vit indicates that the cutting took have returned to the Island in 1771. out his schooner, Two Brothers, as place in early 1768 and involved Similarly, Higgins, who had no wife a packet to ferry men and supplies nine Acadians whose names may be or family until later years, was not between Tatamagouche; NS and found in Table 4. on the Island during the summer of Charlottetown and to support the 1768. He returned to the Island from survey crews at Georgetown and Britain in the latter part of 1769. Princetown. It is quite likely that he Purpose and Accuracy of In the midst of his enthusiasm or his vessel, or both, played a role in 7 to set up a civil establishment, erect getting around the Island to conduct Deschamps Census housing for the same and lay out the census. He probably came from How reliable and useful is town and pasture lots at the three Nova Scotia with Deschamps' work Deschamps' census? In an inven- county seats, Francklin wrote in the party and no doubt disappeared tory of Colonial Office records per- spring of 1768: "I am informed there from the Island the same year. In taining to Nova Scotia made in the are many people already arrived any event, his name does not come early 1890s by the Public Archives to settle on the Island." Whitehall up agairi after 1768 in connection of Canada, the Deschamps census later severely chastised Francklin's with St. John's Island. is panned: "The total number [of measures as an over-reaction. In William and John Coffin are English-speaking residents] is 68, but the spring of 1769 a letter from the thought to be New Englanders who as this only included those settled Colonial Office to the Privy Council were using the Island - probably on land, the return is worthless for noted that "the present State of this Savage Harbour - in 1768 as a base statistical purposes." This criticism Island [is] almost wholly unsettled, for fishing. They may well have been is less than warranted. Its implica- related to each other, but genealo- tion is that a significant or perhaps a gists have not been able to connect very considerable number of persons them to later families of Coffins on who would otherwise be enumerated ~ Table 4 ~ the Island. They are believed to have were at sea fishing when the census- Some Acadians Who Obtained been transients. taker came calling. There are prob- Non-fishery Employment Dr. Patrick Fergus, a resident of lems enough with confounding of on St. John's Island in 1768 the Three Rivers area, was appointed the census returns by transients and by Governor Patterson in August seasonal workers who were on the Worked for Isaac Deschamps 1770 to the first Council of St. John's Island only during the summer. To during the summer Island. His tenure was short-lived the extent that such individuals were Pierre Galant however. In November 1770 Fergus overlooked in the Deschamps census, Pierre Poirier and his family were aboard a small we are able to get a better picture of Pierre Melanson vessel bound from Three Rivers to actual settlement. Jean Chasson Charlottetown. Everyone aboard per- The Deschamps census was com- Joseph Chasson ished when the vessel was wrecked missioned in anticipation of an Jaques Beaumont on the coast of Nova Scotia during a influx of new settlers establishing Joseph Arsenau snowstorm. themselves on lands which had been Not only did Deschamps fail to recently assigned in London by lot- Worked for William Livingstone at record the names of any Acadians, tery to would-be plantation owners, Three Rivers during the winter there are few other documents avail- though many or most of these turned Jean Lebland able which provide the names of any out to be no more than land specula- Jean Magdeline of the Acadian people living on the tors. To this extent, the numbers of Simeon Lebland Island around the time Deschamps' people, most of whom would be with- Piere Corme census was taken. Unfortunately, out families, who spent the summer Jean Corme this is a somewhat murky period fishing in Island waters, occasionally Piere Arseno in Island Acadian history. It may coming ashore and later returning Piere Purrie therefore be both useful and appro- to New England or Britain, are not Cyprian Gallan priate to list some names which are greatly relevant to an examination Joseph Rishar available from two sources. When of settlement. Their inclusion, unless Francklin set in motion his program carefully differentiated, can only be a * Although the individuals listed in of work on St. John's Island in 1768, source of confusion and confounding Table 4 worked on St. John's Island he noted that "there are a number - something which may well charac- in 1768, it is not certain that all were of Acadians on the Island they may terize the non-Acadian population Island residents. Some may have been be Employed as Axmen to Clear the count in the 1766 census. recruited in Nova Scotia for short-term Streets of wood etc." Indeed some One might ask why two promi- work. Acadians were employed and their nent Island settlers of the 1760s,

H and void of inhabitants." Apart from population during the previous three perhaps less reliable, nevertheless the fact that the Colonial Office was decades. It therefore constitutes a provides useful insight into the no doubt overlooking the Acadians statistically more significant data- Island's sociological and economic and Mi7kmaq on the Island when base. fabric at a very early stage of its exis- referring to "inhabitants/7 the author- By 1798 the population had tence as a British colony. The census ities in London were essentially cor- become much more widely distribut- of 1766, the earliest known from the rect. ed - it now extended to 45 of the 67 British regime, is presumably the There is nothing to suggest that townships. In addition, for those of least reliable. However it comple- Deschamps7 census is substantially British Isles and New England ances- ments the census of two years later, inaccurate. Its numbers of Acadians try, there had been a shift in popula- and offers some data not included (203) agrees well with the 197 tion concentrations from the eastern in either of the two later censuses, Acadians enumerated in the 1767 end of the Island toward the cen- namely racial origin, religious back- census. As explained earlier, it is pos- tral and western parts. Of the total ground and agricultural statistics. sible that Deschamps7 census under- population, 32% resided in Prince With the exception of one or two states the total Acadian population County, 46% in Queens and 22% individuals in the 1798 census, all to a small degree if it has excluded in Kings. The present demographic three censuses have unfortunately families not involved in fishing. reality whereby Queens County is overlooked the Island's first inhabit- With regard to English-speaking set- the most populous county, followed ants, the aboriginal people. These tlers, the 1768 census is almost cer- by Prince and Kings, had already three eighteenth century censuses tainly a more reliable picture than established itself over 200 years ago. are forerunners of more regular that of 1766 which may well include Historians have frequently and comprehensive enumeration in substantial numbers of transients, pointed to the fact that of the three Prince Edward Island in the nine- and which has a somewhat murky county seats designated by Samuel teenth century. provenance. Holland, Princetown had the unique distinction of never in fact assum- ing its designated role. Considering Sources The Census of 1798 by Fox that Princetown was a "stillborn77 county seat, it is ironic that in 1798 The most important source for this The census of 1798 was conducted Princetown Royalty had 243 resi- article is the Colonial Office records in April of that year by Robert dents, more than any township on (CO 217 and 218 for Nova Scotia; CO the Island, while no residents were 226 and 227 for St. Johns Island). Some Fox, Deputy Surveyor, by order of information was extracted from British Governor Edmund Fanning. It gives enumerated either in Georgetown Admiralty and Treasury Office records the names of the heads of house- Royalty or in Lot 53, the only town- and from the Archives des Colonies holds, as well as the numbers of ship which adjoins Georgetown (Serie G1 and C1XB) held by the Archives males and females in each of three Royalty. The combined population Nationales de France. The De la Roque age categories. The data are broken of Princetown Royalty and Lot census may be found in the Report down by lot or township. No infor- 18 - the only adjoining township Concerning Canadian Archives for the mation is provided about occupa- - was 431, more than Charlottetown Year 1905, Vol. II. The Deschamps tion, or about farming or fishing Royalty's 421. census was published in Warburton's operations. In 1798 the Acadian population History of Prince Edward Island and the 1798 census appears as an appendix in The historical geographer, made up 15% of the total popula- Duncan Campbell's History of Prince Andrew Hill Clark, describes this tion, down considerably from 1768 Edward Island. The Coventry Papers, census as "the first organized British as a result of major immigration copies of which are at PEI's Public census of the Island,77 while refer- of people from the British Isles Archives and Records Office [PARO] ring to Deschamps7 compilation as and New England. As in 1768, the were quite useful. Gamaliel Smethurst's "intelligence77 provided to Francklin. Acadians of 1798 resided in all three narrative, originally published in 1774, The difference may be largely one of counties, but were to be found in has been reprinted in a book entitled terminology or semantics, though of only three or four main areas. In the Garland Library of North American course the 1798 enumeration would 1768 they were settled mainly at Indian Captivities, Vol. 10. Francis W.P. have been a much bigger undertak- Richmond Bay, Rustico, Tracadie, Bolger's Canada's Smallest Province, provided bits of information concern- ing and no doubt involved a greater and St. Peters. Thirty years later ing certain individuals enumerated in degree of organization to complete their settlements at Richmond Bay Deschamps' census, as did the diary in a timely fashion. In regard to and Rustico had expanded, Fortune of William Drummond, a transcript of the question of how accurate the Bay/Rollo Bay had become a sizable which is held at the public library in the 1798 census is, Clark writes that "it settlement and the Acadian presence Confederation Center, Charlottetown, has been supposed to have missed at Tracadie and St. Peters had disap- and the diary of Benjamin Chappell, a few people, but its total of 4,372 peared. held at PARO. Creed's ledger is also must have been little short of the The 1798 census clearly provides held by PARO. Other books consulted 77 fact. Though no more detailed a reasonably reliable demographic include Jim Hornby, Black Islanders and than the earlier censuses, the one of Andrew Hill Clark, Three Centuries and picture of St. John's Island - one year the Island. 1798 clearly is more reliable since later to be renamed Prince Edward it involves many more people, as Island - at the end of the eighteenth a result of a very large increase in century. The 1768 census, though

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