The project of settling the shores of Port Roseway had
its birth in the autumn of 1782, when one hundred and
twenty Loyalist families, whose attention had been directed
to that part of Nova Scotia by a friend in Massachusetts,
banded together with the object of emigrating thither.
They first appointed a committee of seven to make
arrangements for their removal; and, a few weeks later,
they commissioned two members of the association, Joseph
Pynchon and James Dole, to go to Halifax and lay before
Governor Parr their desires and intentions. Pynchon and
Dole, on their arrival at Halifax, had an interview with
the governor, and obtained from him very satisfactory
arrangements. The governor agreed to give the settlers
the land about Port Roseway which they desired. He promised
them that surveyors should be sent to lay out the grants,
that carpenters and a supply of 400,000 feet of lumber
should be furnished for building their houses, that for
the first year at least the settlers should receive army
rations, and that they should be free for ever from
impressment in the British Navy. All these promises were
made on the distinct understanding that they should
interfere in no way with the claims of the Loyalists on
the British government for compensation for losses
sustained in the war. Elated by the reception they had
received from the governor, the agents wrote home
enthusiastic accounts of the prospects of the venture.
Pynchon even hinted that the new town would supersede
Halifax. 'Much talk is here,' he wrote, 'of capital of
Province... Halifax can't but be sensible that Port
Roseway, if properly attended to in encouraging settlers