mark, with the mouth of the “Hills” or Pisquid River bearing nearly south of it.

Prior to the date of formal partition, Barker had already disposed of two tracts of what he considered to be his share of the township. The first of these transactions involved 1004 acres extending north from the Hillsborough River to French Creek. In spite of repeated changes of own— ership, this block of fertile farmland retained its identity down to 1875 when the proprietors were compelled to sell their lands to the Provincial Government. From Barker, the estate passed to Robert Campbell, Cap- tain in His Majesty’s 84th Regiment of Foot, and then, on Oct. 9, 1793, to Sir Cecil Wray of Summer Castle, Lincoln County. For a time after March, 1802, the property was in the joint possession of William Town- send and John Stewart, but it later reverted to Esther Wray and her husband, John Bell, Surgeon, of Westmorland, N.B., who managed it for a number of years. Finally, by an indenture made on Oct. 17, 1845 and in consideration of the sum of £550, the 1000 acre plot came under the con- trol of the Rev. Dr. Abraham van Geulder Wiggins, Anglican rector at St. Eleanor’s. By 1875, the so—called “Wiggins Estate” had devolved to the Rev. Dr.’s heirs: Helen Diana Wiggins, Caroline M. Wiggins, and Flora Townsend Wiggins.

The Rent Roll of the Wiggins Estate and information from the 1875 Land Commissioners’ Report reveal that in 1875 the property was divided among 11 tenants. The individual holdings ranged from 3 to 240 acres, leased, mostly, for 999 years at an average rental of .32c an acre. The tenant renting the smallest acreage was the Widow Phelan who held three acres of marshland. Patrick Griffin, the greatest tenant on the estate, held 214 acres, upland, and 26 acres of marsh. The other tenants were Angus Cameron, William MacIntyre, Richard Egan, David Egan, Thomas Feehan, J. and A. McAskill, Allan McDonald, Gabriel McDonald and Donald Steele. When the estate was confiscated in 1875, the Land Commission awarded the Wiggins sisters $4,890. in compensation. The tenants then began buy- ing their farms outright from the Provincial Government.

The second and more momentous of the Barker transactions, as far as the future of Mount Stewart Village was concerned, was the sale of 1826 acres on the south bank of the Hillsborough to John Stewart. It came about that, by an indenture dated Aug. 5, 1789 and in consideration of the sum of £273—18—0, the area which presently encompasses Mount Stewart South came into the possession of that lively descendant of the Stewarts of Bl'ackhall, the “Hellfire Jack” whose exploits so enrich the early pages of this province’s history.

The details of Stewart’s tumultuous political career and what is known of his private life will be related in the next chapter. In his will, dated June 15, 1832 and probated on Aug. 2, 1834, he bequeathed his houses and land at Mount Stewart to Helen Olympia, Wife of John Hunter Littler, and daughter of his late son, Captain Henry Stewart.

Major General Sir John Hunter Littler, a career soldier in the ser- vice of the East India Company, often expressed the hope of one day being able to inspect his properties at Mount Stewart. Long years of service in the Bengal Native Infantry, during the course of which he had two horses shot under him on each of two separate engagements, coupled with ill health during the last years of his life, left this hope unfulfilled. The Littlers therefore had no recourse but to resort to the expedient used by

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