Warren Hathaway

Captain Warren Hathaway Esq.[1] (7 January 1774 – 7 April 1837)[1] was a merchant and Justice of the Peace in the early settlement of Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada.[2]

He further served as Commissioner of Highways, and previously worked as a school trustee and assessor of rates.[3]: 89 Because Hathaway was a "popular" citizen of the region, "many families named their sons Warren [or] Warren Hathaway" long after his death.[3]: 119 

Personal life

Warren was one of three sons of Penobscot Loyalist Ebenezer Hatheway, who had purchased and outfitted a privateer ship to attack US interests during the American Revolution, been captured and held at Old New-Gate Prison before escaping to Canada with his five children.[4]: 114  They had initially settled at Burton, New Brunswick.[5]: 84 

Warren Hathaway had allied with judge David Owen in his unpopular legal crusades, while his younger brother Capt. Charles Reed Hathaway became Owen's constant rival.[4]: 115 [5]: 100 

In 1802, Hathaway was written up for selling alcohol without a license in Charlotte County.[5]: 84 

He served as a captain in the Charlotte County Militia.[5]: 85 

He had three sons with his "consort" Nancy Loder who died on Deer Island in November 1820.[5] He married Hannah Peavey in August 1821 and had further children.[5]

Merchant career

Following a dispute over the issuing of titles on Deer Island, Patrick Flinn held in 1805 that he'd been undisturbed improving a family farm and controlling Bar Island since the 1780s, and he'd later sold a camp on the southern tip to Warren Hathaway who built a home, wharfs and a storehouse.[3]: 69  Hathaway used that location to operate a storehouse, which was noted between 1805 and 1816[5]: 84 

As Hathaway was unsuccessful in his bid to be granted Bar Island off the northern shore of Deer Island against the wishes of Thomas Farrell, between 1810 and 1817 the Crown awarded him exclusive grant of six small nearby islets: Hardwood Island, Popes Island, Nubble Island, Dinner Island Simpsons Island and Fish Island.[6][7][8][9]

A fire destroyed his large Eastport storehouse in the winter of 1814, that he had maintained through the War of 1812.[4][10] In 1819, Hathaway built himself a prominent house on Water Street in Eastport, Maine,[11] where prayer meetings were held for the Free-Will Baptist Church.[12]

He became prominently involved in the trade vessels including to Boston[13] and the West Indies,[11] including sending his schooners Hero and Fowler to the Barbados.[14] He also owned the 177-ton Indian Chief,[15] which wrecked on Indian Island in 1837.

Justice of the Peace

He was named Justice of the Peace in 1816.[5]

Hatheway lost his commission as Justice upon emigrating to Eastport, Maine in December 1819.[5]: 85 

Hatheway's first cousin Gilbert Ruggles, also a justice of the peace, had been on friendly terms with Hathaway until issuing an 1820 arrest warrant for Fenwick Bell, the captain of Hathaway's schooner Ruth, and according to Ruggles - Hathaway had responded by assaulting the arresting officer and rescuing his ship captain.[5]: 85 [16] Although the warrant for Bell was ajudged to be improper, Ruggles was awarded forty shilling sueing Hatheway for defamation for having proclaimed his judicial efforts were "no better than brown paper".[5]

Hathaway moved back to New Brunswick and regained his position as Justice of the Peace by 1821.[5]: 85 

Hatheway in turn had Ruggles arrested for an outstanding debt.[5] Ruggles responded by sueing Hatheway for false imprisonment.[5] Ruggles further sued the original arresting officer for libel after he gave evidence Hatheway had not assaulted him, leading the officer to retreat back to his original statement.[5] Both justices began writing extensive articles in the local newspapers, explaining their side of events.[5]

In 1822, eight Justices of the Peace in Charlotte County brought complaint about "conduct derogatory to the character of Magistrates" against both Hathaway and Ruggles, leading Hathaway to bring a petition with 107 signatures defending him.[5]: 81  While Hathaway was acquitted of criminal accusations, he lost his role as Justice of the Peace - later writing to Ward Chipman noting he felt "my situation in the West Isles has become envious to some of the St Andrews gents...I have owned more navigation, done more business and paid more into the revenue than every magistrate in the county together...and from this source have all these conspiracies arisen."[5]: 88 

He died on Deer Island on 7 April 1837.[1] The estate on which he'd been living was named Thomas Point.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics". Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Retrieved 7 June 2026.
  2. ^ An Almanack, for the Year of our Lord, 1823, being the third after bissextile or leap year, calculated for the meridian of Saint John, N.B. Saint John, N.B: Henry Chubb. 1823. Retrieved 7 June 2026.
  3. ^ a b c Barto, Martha Ford (1975). Passamaquoddy: Genealogies of West Isles Families. Saint John, N.B.: Lingley Printing Company. LCCN 78322755. Retrieved 12 June 2026 – via the Internet Archive.
  4. ^ a b c Merrill, Jane (29 March 2022). The Welsh Owens: Squires of Campobello. FriesenPress. ISBN 978-1-0391-4322-7.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Craven, Paul (January 2014). Petty Justice: Low Law and the Sessions System in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, 1785-1867. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-4991-0.
  6. ^ "Adams Island". Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.
  7. ^ "Simpsons Island". Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.
  8. ^ Craven, Paul (2014). Petty Justice: Low Law and the Sessions System in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, 1785-1867. University of Toronto Press. pp. 77, elsewhere. doi:10.3138/9781442649910.
  9. ^ "New Brunswick Land Grant: Grant 920". Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. 26 May 1817. PANB ID 17801. Retrieved 12 June 2026.
  10. ^ Kilby, William Henry (1888). Eastport and Passamaquoddy; a collection of historical and biographical sketches. Eastport, Maine: E.E. Shead & Company. p. 74. LCCN 01008958. Retrieved 7 June 2026 – via the Internet Archive.
  11. ^ a b "Some old Eastport homes and their occupants – a familiar retrospect" (PDF). Eastport Sentinel. 12 April 1882. p. 1. Retrieved 12 June 2026 – via Tides Institute.
  12. ^ "North Baptist Church | 82 High Street, Eastport, Maine | I7-0B2-09 | District #114". Tidesinstitute.org.
  13. ^ "Journal of the House of Assembly of the provinc... - Canadiana". Canadiana.ca. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  14. ^ "Article". Eastport Sentinel and Passamaquoddy Advertiser. Vol. 3, no. 30. 17 March 1821. Retrieved 12 June 2026 – via DigitalMaine.com.
  15. ^ History of Islands & Islets in the Bay of Fundy, Charlotte County, New Brunswick/Chapter 4
  16. ^ "Article". Eastport Sentinel and Passamaquoddy Advertiser. Vol. 4, no. 1. 25 August 1821. Retrieved 12 June 2026 – via DigitalMaine.com.
  17. ^ "St. Andrews standard, New-Brunswick. : Saint An... - Canadiana". Canadiana.ca. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
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