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6 MUNICIPAL LANE |
New Brunswick Tourism Region : St. John River Valley
Description From Owner:
- The name is from the Maliseet, Ah-jim-sek, translated as 'depot' or 'picking up place,' since the Maliseet used to cache supplies here.
- In 1659 when Acadia was under British rule, Thomas Temple (1613-1674), an associate of Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour, built a trading post beside the Jemseg R.
- After Acadia was returned to the French, the post was captured by Dutch forces during one of the many seventeenth-century wars.
- The post later passed into the possession of Louis Damours de Chauffours (1655-1708).
- By 1695 he had 25 hectares under cultivation, but because of flooding of the St. John R. in 1701 and the French decision to abandon forts along the St. John River, Damours moved to Port Royal.
- In 1696, Damours 'bought' a 15year-old boy from the Maliseet. Nine-year-old John Gyles (16801755) was captured by a Maliseet raiding party near his home in Pemaquid in present-day Maine.
- He was held as a hostage for six years until he was 'sold' to Damours who in 1698 delivered the young man to the captain of an English vessel that sailed to Boston.
- Gyles later wrote a fascinating account of his experiences, The Ordeal of John Gyles, and a cove is named after him in York County.
- With permission from 'New Brunswick Place Names' David E. Scott 2009
Address of this page: http://nb.ruralroutes.com/Jemseg