Dr. John & Margaret (Baker)

Very little is known about John Larlee and what little we do know has been passed down as family lore. However, given some understanding of social history in the 18th century, it is possible to extrapolate an early history. 

John Larlee was born between 1735 and 1740 in France. He was probably the younger son of a well-to-do Huguenot family. One piece of family lore is that John was “connected to the Royal Family of Bourbon.” (Crocker) If so, it’s most likely that he would have been related to the Condes, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon descended from Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, who was a protestant leader and general during the Religious Wars in the late 16th century. As a younger son, John’s opportunities for inheritance may have been limited so he would have looked for other ways to make a living. It’s possible that he went to university and may have studied medicine. 

By the time the Seven Years War started in 1756, John would have been between 16 and 21. Assuming he studied medicine, upon graduation he would have sought an apprenticeship with an experienced practitioner. Another piece of lore shared by Anne Crocker was that John Larlee had been a surgeon in Montcalm’s army during the French Indian War. It would have been perfectly respectable for him to join the army and it’s certain he would have gained experience in such a setting! The French Indian War had actually begun in 1754 and by 1756 the French colonists were desperate for help. In 1757, Montcalm and his army sailed to Canada to provide that help. However, in spite of early victories, by 1759, the British were winning and in September, Montcalm fell in battle on the Plains of Abraham near Montreal. 

In his history of the Canadian west, Arthur Morton states that in the summer of 1759, a Frenchman named Jean-Baptiste Larlee arrived at the Hudson’s Bay Company York Fort having come from the French Fort Pascoyac and gave them information about French positions. He says that Jean-Baptiste was “sent off to England.” This is the earliest reference to a Larlee in Canada that has been found to date. How he happened to be at Fort Pascoyac isn’t known. (Note: HBC staff has notified us that he was not an employee of the Fort. It will be necessary to look at the Fort Journals for that summer for the relevant reference for more information.) It’s doubtful John went to England. It’s more likely he somehow heard that lands were available in Nova Scotia and decided to go there.

Meanwhile, in 1755, the authorities in Halifax, Nova Scotia began the expulsion of the Acadians living in territory occupied by the British including the territory of what is now New Brunswick. By 1759, the authorities found themselves with a great deal of land but very few European settlers. So a proclamation was sent out to both England and the British colonies to the south inviting anyone who was interested to settle in Nova Scotia.

Margaret Barker was born in 1746 in Rowley Massachusetts to Jacob Barker and Mary Spofford. By that time the colonies were becoming crowded – new settlers were arriving from England (and Huguenots from France), the children of existing colonists needed land to raise their own families on and colonists were not allowed to expand west of the Appalachians. When the proclamation from Nova Scotia was heard, it struck a chord among many land-strapped New Englanders. One such group was formed in Essex County, headed by Capt. Francis Peabody, who had served in the French Indian War. The group submitted a petition and sent a survey party to the Bay of Fundy to find suitable land for a new settlement. 

The first settlers arrived in 1763, among them Jacob Barker and his family. John Larlee arrived in Maugerville two years later (Wright). At that time, Maugerville would have been the largest settlement on the St. John River and John’s medical skills would have been welcome. He was clearly accepted as a member of the settlement and for the next 30 years or so was the only doctor on the St. John River. When the Maugerville grant was finally issued on October 31, 1765, John “Lalle” was listed as one of the grantees, receiving one share of 500 acres.

John appears to have selected his lot on the other side of the river from the main settlement (the area that later became Burton). Sometime later, probably between 1766 and 1770, John Larlee married Margaret Barker. No record of their marriage has been found to date. During the next 16 years or so, John and Margaret improved their land and raised the first six of their eight children. 

It was also during this time that the American colonies to the south were experiencing increasing dissatisfaction with the British government until finally, in 1775, the Revolutionary War officially began. The Maugerville settlers found themselves threatened by raids from Indians who had been “set on fire by a letter from General Washington…” (Wright2). By May of 1776, the settlers chose a committee to contact the government of Massachusetts Bay and submit themselves and “to ‘share with them in the Event of the present Struggle for Liberty, however God in his Providence may order it…’” (ibid) However, a representative from Halifax was sent to remind them of their loyalties to King George who had generously granted them their land and who was ready to protect them. The Maugerville settlers then reaffirmed their allegiance to the King. The building of Fort Howe at the mouth of the St. John River afforded them protection. 

By 1783 the war was over and the colonies had won their independence. That same year, Guilford Studholm, the Commander of Fort Howe, was faced with having to find land for the influx of Loyalists arriving from the newly formed United States. He sent a part of men up the St. John River with instructions to find out who was settled in the various townships, what title they might have to those lands and what their loyalties to the crown might be. What resulted was a document called the “Studholm Report” that was effectively a head of household census. John Larlee is listed on the report for Burton Township as having “been on about 16 years, built 2 or 3 log houses or buildings and cleared about 15 acres of land. His character good as a subject.” In the reapportionment that followed this report John was granted 201 acres in Burton.

Sometime around 1788, John sold his property in Burton and moved farther north to the Northampton Parish in Carleton County. He was there in 1789 when Rev. John Beardsley, the Anglican minister at Maugerville, traveled upriver. Rev. Beardsley stopped in at a number of the homes, baptizing over forty children and adults from the families he visited. All seven of John’s children were baptized according to records from the Maugerville Anglican Church. (Rosanna had not been born yet.) (Doyle)

John apparently remained in Northampton until his death. There are references that state he traveled extensively up and down the river treating the sick and injured. John died sometime around 1814, but the exact date and where he is buried is unknown. After his death, Margaret may have gone to live with her daughter, Jane. She lived to the age of 96 and died in 1842. She was buried with Jane and son-in-law, Joseph in Northampton.

From: Now and Then by Ruth W. Grant, 1967, p19:

"The first doctor In the area was Dr. John Larlee, one of the old pioneer settlers of Maugerville, who came from New England In 1766.  He lives at Burton where his children; Margaret, Susan, John, Jane, Elizabeth, and Samuel were born.  Shortly after the arrival of the Loyalists, Dr. john Larlee moved to North Hampton and was the only doctor In the vicinity for more than 30 years.  He had a reputation s skillful doctor."  

From Footprints In New Brunswick by Emily Mae Earle, p58:

"The first record of any white man living In the country was of a french gentleman, a Dr. L' Arvis (changed to Larlee) about 1760.  Dr. Larlee built a log cabin In the hard of the dense woods, as a plce called Larlee Creek, In the earliest days known as 'Tobiquasis'.  This headquarters was maintained at Imperial expense and was used as a 'Mail Depot' by Dr. Larlee, who was laso mail carrier from St. John to Reviere-de-Loup.  He used a dugout, then later a birch bake canoe In summer, and In winter he travelled by dog team and on snowshoe.  The Depot was home and Station.  He started his family here.  It Is said that he was he father of John K. Larlee of Tobique Narrowsm who was the first white child born In the vicinity of Perth, and from whom a numerous family of Larlees have descended."  

Note: It Is almost certain that Dr. Larlee was living at Maugerville In 1777 when his son was born.  John K. Larlee was born about 1862 he was Dr Larlee's greatgrandson. 

CHILDREN

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