James Simonds (1735 - 1831)

Born 10 Dec 1735 in Haverhill, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Hannah Peabody — married 9 Nov 1767 in Sheffield, Sunbury, New Brunswick, Canada

Descendants

Died 20 Feb 1831 at age 95 in Saint John, New Brunswick

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Biography

James was born in 1735. He passed away in 1831.

SIMONDS, JAMES, businessman, jp, judge, office holder, and politician; b. 10 Dec. 1735 in Haverhill, Mass., son of Nathan Simonds and Sarah Hazen; m. 9 Nov. 1767 Hannah Peabody,^[1] and they had 14 children including Charles* and Richard*; d. 20 Feb. 1831 in Portland (Saint John), N.B.

James Simonds, his brother Richard, and Captain Francis Peabody (his future father-in-law) moved to Portland (St.John), New-Brunswick, in 1762. Simonds and James White brought 30 men to Portland in 1764, including lime burners, fishermen, coopers, and other tradesmen needed for the prosecution of the several businesses in which they were soon involved. Simonds was an aggressive entrepreneur: he created trading arrangements with his own employees, the garrison at nearby Fort Frederick, the Saint John valley Indians, and the New England settlers at Maugerville, in addition to maintaining an extensive trade in fish, furs, lime, and lumber products with Massachusetts. Between 1764 and 1774 the firm employed 17 vessels in its service, and Simonds dispatched to his partners some £30,000 worth of furs and fish, 2,540 hogsheads of lime, 1,171 barrels of castor, and many thousands of clapboards and barrel staves.

He was interred at the Fernhill Cemetery in Saint John.^[2]

Historical records: [1] [2]

Birth record: [3]

Death and Probate records: [4] [5] [6]

Sources

1. ↑ Sheffield Record Book - Marriages, hosted by Rootsweb.com and accessed Dec 19, 2020.
2. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #183537653, James Simonds (1735-1831)

• T. W. Acheson, “SIMONDS, JAMES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed July 12, 2020, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/simonds_james_6E.html.
• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZ39-438 : 14 January 2020), James Simons, 1735.
• New Brunswick Courier, 19 September 1840, Saint John; New Brunswick Archives, accessed 12 July 2020.