New England Planters

New England Planters were people who moved from the British New England colonies into the British Canadian colony of Nova Scotia between 1759 and 1768. They relocated in response to an invitation from the Royal Governor of Nova Scotia to take advantage of free land grants and other benefits. The plan was mutually beneficial—farmable land was getting scarce in New England, and Nova Scotia had land it wanted to fill with people loyal to the British Crown. About eight thousand people took advantage of the offer and relocated.

This northerly move represented the first significant European migration within North America, and the first large influx of English-speaking people into Canada that had not come from Great Britain. The planters, with their strong family relationships and religious beliefs, helped establish the culture of Nova Scotia. Although later influxes of British Loyalists who left the American colonies during the American Revolution diluted the planter’s influence, it was never completely diminished.

Background

The arrival of the New England Planters—planter being an Elizabethan English word for colonist—was the result of a deliberate attempt on the part of the government of Nova Scotia to repopulate its land. The area had been home to a large population of Acadians, people from France who first arrived in Nova Scotia in 1604. Although they had French ancestry, the Acadians considered themselves independent from France and had no specific allegiance to their country of origin.

The British of Nova Scotia and the Acadians coexisted for many years, until France and Britain entered into a conflict over territory in North America in 1754. The conflict, known as the French and Indian War, was part of a larger European conflict known as the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763). The British became alarmed when the French began building forts and increasing their troop presence in the area. When several hundred Acadians were found among the troops inside Fort Beauséjour after the English conquered it, the British Royal Governor took action. In July 1755, after the Acadians refused to swear allegiance to Great Britain, Royal Governor Charles Lawrence ordered the Acadians be deported.

Between 1755 and 1763, more than ten thousand Acadians were forcibly removed from the area and sent to the British colonies in America, France, or the Caribbean. Many died during the trip, and families were separated. Eventually, it was recognized that the Acadians did not represent a threat to the British occupants of Nova Scotia and some were allowed to return, though most never returned.

Overview

The forced expulsion of the Acadians would prove to be a boon for many British residents of the American New England colonies. More than 90 percent of the people living in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were farmers. Each new generation of colonial farmers was finding it more difficult to acquire their own land for farming. The fertile land formerly occupied by the Acadians represented a new option for the land-starved American colonists.

At the same time, Governor Lawrence was eager to have that land occupied by settlers who would be loyal to the British Crown. On October 12, 1758, Lawrence posted a notice in the Boston Gazette announcing that the land would be resettled. Three months later, a second notice announced that each settling family would receive one hundred acres plus fifty acres per member of the household, up to one thousand acres. The land would be free for ten years, after which a small rent would be charged, and the new residents would have to improve one-third of the land every ten years until it had all been developed. Other incentives were offered as well; none of the new residents would be conscripted into the military for ten years, weapons for self-defense would be provided as would transportation to the new land, and the fifty poorest families to come would be provided with monthly food allotments to help them get established.

The proposal attracted a great deal of interest among the American colonists, particularly those in southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. They formed a group to explore the possibility and sent a delegation of five men to Nova Scotia in April 1759. They agreed to send a total of 450 families to the area to resettle the land. The success of their negotiations inspired others, and before long, several hundred more families were committed to making the move from New England colonies to Nova Scotia. When fishermen from the same areas of New England expressed interest in relocating as well, the same deal was struck with them.

By the spring of 1760, the first families began arriving in Nova Scotia, with some of the first arriving on a ship called Charming Molly. Within a year, about two thousand people had relocated to the former Acadian lands. They encountered some difficulties with reviving the farms the Acadians had left behind, and their family units were often not assigned land next to each other, but the new planters worked things out. They established their own town-meeting form of government and traded and reassigned land to bring families back together.

Things went relatively well for the New England Planters for a while, until revolution began to erupt in the American colonies. At that point, the New England Planters found themselves in a similar situation to that of the Acadians; their loyalties were suspect because they had been American colonists, and Nova Scotia was a British colony. Despite the promises of self-governance, the Planters increasingly found themselves under suspicion. They were placed under martial law and even took part in a short battle with the British in October 1776.

When the American Revolution ended in 1783, British Loyalists fleeing the newly independent United States moved into Nova Scotia, reducing the former New England colonists to a minority.

Bibliography

Cahill, Barry. “New England Planters at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia.” Nova Scotia Archives, archives.novascotia.ca/townships/planters/. Accessed 19 July 2022.

“The Forgotten Immigrants: The Journey of the New England Planters to Nova Scotia, 1759-1768.” Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/journey-of-new-england-planters-to-nova-scotia. Accessed 19 July 2022.

“Imprint of the New England Planters: the Beginning.” Tantramar Heritage Trust, 1 Jan. 2000, tantramarheritage.ca/2000/01/imprint-of-the-new-england-planters-the-beginning/. Accessed 19 July 2022.

Marsh, James H. “Acadian Expulsion (The Great Upheaval).” Canadian Encyclopedia, 15 July 2015, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-deportation-of-the-acadians-feature. Accessed 19 July 2022.

“New England Planters.” Annapolis Heritage Society, 2022, annapolisheritagesociety.com/genealogy/our-holdings/new-england-planters/. Accessed 19 July 2022.

“New England Planters.” Avon River Heritage Society, www.avonriverheritage.com/new-england-planters.html. Accessed 19 July 2022.

“The New England Planters.” Planter Studies Home Page, 1 Jan. 1998, www.cyberus.ca/~bharvey/planters.shtml. Accessed 19 July 2022.

“When 8,000 New England Planters Moved to Nova Scotia.” New England Historical Society, www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/when-8000-new-england-planters-moved-nova-scotia/. Accessed 19 July 2022.