John Nason

John was born in 1735 in Berwick, ME and his baptism took place on March 15th, 1739 in 1st Church of Berwick, ME. He died due to drowned at Beleisle(Bell Island) at the age of 52 in 1787 in Belleisle Bay, Kings, NB.

General Notes
- In 1764 he and his family emigrated to Portland Point, New Brunswick which is now called Saint John. John Sr was the first ship's carpenter and blacksmith there. In 1787 he and his two sons, John Jr. and Lemuel, sailed up the St. John River to find land for the sons to settle on. John Sr. drowned at Beleisle (Bell Island), and the sons returned home. The sons returned the next spring and came up to Oromocto, where they settled.
  Lemuel Nason was granted land on the North Branch of the Oromocto River and he married Mary Tracy, daughter of Jeremiah and Sarah (Leighton) Tracy. Lemuel and Mary had 15 childrend and the following stayed in the area:
  (1)John Nason b Jan 6, 1793 married Martha Dewitt, daughter of Jacob and Salome Tucker DeWitt.
  (2)Lemuel Nason Jr. Married Annie Dunlop.
  
  John Nason arrived in what is now Saint John, NB in 1764 on the schooner Wilmot with the Simonds brothers from Essex County, MA.
  
  In 1764 SIMONDS and WHITE took a party of 30 people to the Saint John River and established an English settlement. Among those 30 people were: Moses TRUE, Moses KIMBALL, Benjamin DOW, Bathelder KING, Edmund BUTLER, William PICET, John NASON, John HUNT, George BERRY, Simon HILYARD, Ebenezer FOWLER, Ezekiel CARR, Benjamin WIGGINS, Benjamin WINTER, Thomas JENKINS and others.
  
  First pre-Loyalist English-speaking people settled in Saint John in 1762 with Simonds, Hazen & White (fur traders). First attempt at shipbuilding was by John Simonds in 1775.

Click here for details of John's family with Sarah Jenkins