Re: Des BARRES, JOSEPH FREDERICK WALLET

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> Interesting reading, considering all the emails that were posted
this past week.
> THANK YOU for the attached information. My ancestor was a talented
individual whose life and exploits make great reading.
This information is very helpful.
Joe DesBarres
> http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=36955
>
> Dictionary of Canadian Biography
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> Des BARRES, JOSEPH FREDERICK WALLET (baptized Joseph-Frédéric
Vallet Des Barres), army officer, military engineer, surveyor,
colonizer, and colonial administrator; b. November 1721, either in
Basel, Switzerland, or in Paris, eldest of three children of
Joseph-Leonard Vallet Des Barres and Anne-Catherine Cuvier; with Mary
Cannon he had six children and with Martha Williams eleven;
d. 27 Oct. 1824 in Halifax.
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> The many fields of interest of Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres
have made him a unique figure in the early history of the Maritimes,
and the length and vigour of his career still elicit admiration. A
member of a Huguenot family that originated in the Montbéliard region
of France, DesBarres received his initial schooling at Basel, where he
obtained a thorough grounding in science and mathematics. In 1752 or
1753, under the patronage of the Duke of Cumberland, he entered the
Royal Military Academy at Woolwich (London), England, and there
immersed himself in the study of fortifications, surveying, and
drafting. DesBarres broke his ties with Europe in 1756 when he left
for North America to begin a military career as a lieutenant with the
Royal Americans (62nd, later 60th, Foot). Within two years he was
serving as an assistant engineer at the siege of Louisbourg, ÃŽle
Royale (Cape Breton Island). His ability there impressed his
superiors, and he was commissioned to prepare a chart of the
St Lawrence River, which was used by James Wolfe*. His success led to
further surveys in the Quebec area while he was participating in the
campaigns of 1759 and 1760 as an assistant engineer, followed in 1761
by work on the Halifax defences under the supervision of John Henry
Bastide*. The next year DesBarres acted as an assistant engineer at
the recapture of St John’s [see Charles-Henri-Louis d’Arsac* de
Ternay], and after the French surrender carried out surveying tasks in
Newfoundland in conjunction with James Cook*.
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> In October 1762 Commodore Richard Spry arrived in Halifax to become
commander of the Royal Navy in North America. Soon afterwards he
suggested to the Admiralty that a coastal survey of Nova Scotia would
aid in settlement and improve “the safety of Navigation,” and he
recommended DesBarres, who had volunteered his services for the task.
A year later, Spry’s successor, Rear-Admiral Lord Colvill*, brought
instructions from the Admiralty to have DesBarres make “accurate
Surveys and Charts of the Coast and Harbours of Nova Scotia.” This
project was one of several approved about this time by the Board of
Trade and by the Admiralty for the survey of parts of Britain’s
North American possessions, and it reflected the bias of its sponsor:
whereas the board’s main interest was in land surveys, the Admiralty
was most concerned with sea-coasts and harbours. In part because of
this divergence of interests, DesBarres was to have only limited
contact with Samuel Johannes Holland*, who in 1764 began a survey of
the northern colonies for the Board of Trade. DesBarres was
undoubtedly happy with this arrangement since he resented Holland,
perhaps because of the latter’s seniority and better connections;
indeed, he may have suggested the Nova Scotia survey to Spry in order
to avoid working under Holland. DesBarres’s tendency to think of new
projects is illustrated by his suggestion at this time for the
establishment of a corps of pioneers which would construct roads in
Nova Scotia.
>
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> By May 1764 DesBarres had commenced the survey, which gave full
rein to his surveying and artistic genius. Previous maps of inshore
waters had been poor, inadequate in scale and unreliable in detail.
Thanks to his painstaking methods, however, Des-Barres was able to
refine existing techniques of surveying and adapt others. Each summer
he worked with a staff of assistants, usually numbering about 7, some
20 to 30 labourers, and small vessels detached from the naval
establishment. During the winter he prepared rough drafts of the maps.
The tortuous nature of the shore line was a major problem; DesBarres
commented, “There is scarcely any known Shore so much intersected
with Bays, Harbours and Creeks as this is, and the Offing of it is so
full of Islands, Rocks and Shoals as are almost innumerable.” In
addition, conditions were sometimes harsh and occasionally
dangerous â€" in 1767 he narrowly escaped drowning when landing on
Sable Island.
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> Other problems were administrative in nature. In 1766 DesBarres and
Colvill had a disagreement about the scope of the survey, Colvill
believing that only the Atlantic coastline should be charted and
DesBarres holding out for the entire coast followed by a review of all
work undertaken before it was incorporated in “an accurate and
perfect Map.” DesBarres apparently carried his point with the
Admiralty, but that body was not as accommodating about expenses.
Initially only the cost of hiring a vessel was allowed, there were
disputes over the wages of the labourers, and DesBarres’s own
expenditures were not fully reimbursed. Nevertheless, the survey
continued steadily until its completion in 1773.
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> After returning to England in 1774, DesBarres toiled for some years
to produce his charts and views in a finished form. They were
eventually incorporated in The Atlantic Neptune, a large collection of
charts and views produced by DesBarres. The Neptune was published by
him on behalf of the Admiralty, and appeared between 1774 and 1784. It
consists of four series of charts covering Nova Scotia, New England,
the Gulf of St Lawrence including Cape Breton and St John’s
(Prince Edward) Island, and the coast south of New York, accompanied
by “various views of the North American coast.” Although DesBarres
was indebted to Holland and his assistants for many surveys, a fact
which he acknowledged, his own contribution is not negligible.
Moreover, it is in their artistic quality that the charts and views
especially shine, since their accuracy is combined with an aesthetic
character that places DesBarres among the more notable of the
century’s minor artists. The Neptune does contain some inaccuracies,
but these are probably accounted for by the fact that DesBarres had
rushed production in response to the mounting pressure for
publication, unrest in the Thirteen Colonies having created a demand
for accurate naval charts. Nevertheless, DesBarres’s charts served
as standard guides for navigation until the work of Henry Wolsey
Bayfield* and Peter Frederick Shortland* well into the 19th century.
>
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> While in Nova Scotia, DesBarres became convinced of the great
potential of the Maritime colonies for settlement. He began to obtain
land by grant or purchase, and eventually came to own property in the
Tatamagouche region, Falmouth Township, and Cumberland County in Nova
Scotia, as well as tracts between the Memramcook and Petitcodiac
rivers in present-day New Brunswick. These acquisitions, which made
him one of the greatest landowners in the Maritime colonies, were
procured relatively cheaply, partly because he was friendly with Nova
Scotian officials. The Tatamagouche grant, for example, came to him as
the result of an association with Michael Francklin*, Richard
Bulkeley*, Joseph Goreham*, and others. In addition, DesBarres looked
after the interests of other Nova Scotian landowners such as Frederick
Haldimand*. DesBarres’s dream was that rents would provide money for
his chart-making activities, which were always in need of support.
Some time before 1768 he built a headquarters in Falmouth Township
known as Castle Frederick, and there worked on the surveys during the
winters. When he returned to England he left his mistress Mary Cannon,
whom he had met in 1764, in charge of the Castle and his estates. On
her appointment as his agent in 1776 she was given power of attorney
in land transactions, and was to consult him only for final decisions.
>
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> DesBarres began submitting bills for the Neptune in 1775, but the
Admiralty decided that, given the high costs, parliamentary approval
would be needed before payment could be made. This decision initiated
proceedings that dragged on until 1794 and were never satisfactory to
DesBarres. The confusion in his records â€" the result of an unusual
arrangement whereby he was permitted to receive the profits from the
sale of charts while working for the crown â€" makes them almost
impossible to interpret. But in October 1782 the Admiralty reported
favourably on his requests for compensation, thus vindicating his
honesty and confirming the value of the Neptune.
>
> Â
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> Deeply involved with the war in North America and its aftermath, the
government did not act on DesBarres’s case immediately. However, the
need to establish refuges for the loyalists came to DesBarres’s
assistance, since in May 1784 it was decided that Cape Breton would
be separated from Nova Scotia and made an independent colony for that
purpose. One of the few persons with an intimate knowledge of the
island, DesBarres had been consulted when discussions about its future
were under way, and he had been enthusiastic, claiming that the
fisheries could be developed as they had been under French rule and
that the coal mines could pay for the operation of the government. He
was quick to make a case for his appointment as lieutenant governor in
partial compensation for the 20 years spent on surveys and the
Neptune, which he claimed had cost him money and military promotion
(he had become a captain only in 1775). Thanks in part to his
knowledge of the island, he received the appointment, his commission
being dated 9 Aug. 1784. Governor John Parr* of Nova Scotia was
supposed to exercise some supervision over him, but in practice
DesBarres corresponded directly with London.
>
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> The new colony was not a particularly appealing place. Since its
cession to Britain in 1763, Cape Breton had remained undeveloped
because of indifference in Halifax and the unwillingness of the
British government to see the island’s coal compete with the home
product on the North American market. As a result there were only
about a thousand inhabitants, mainly Acadians and Micmacs, in
scattered locations. During 1783, however, Abraham Cornelius Cuyler*,
a former mayor of Albany, N.Y., had begun to plan for the immigration
of loyalists from Quebec, and 140 arrived in October 1784 at
Louisbourg and St Peters. DesBarres had also been gathering settlers,
mostly poor Englishmen and disbanded soldiers, and 129 persons landed
from the Blenheim at Spanish Bay (Sydney Harbour) one month later.
DesBarres’s settlers were joined by some of Cuyler’s group, and
the lieutenant governor himself arrived at Spanish Bay on
7 Jan. 1785; by spring the colony’s capital, named for the home
secretary, Lord Sydney, had been founded. DesBarres laid out the town
along typically Georgian lines, intending that it should have the
advantage of controlled development. The proposal was unusual for its
time, and a later commentator has claimed that, had it been fully
carried through, it would have resulted in “the only imaginative
planned project in 18th century Nova Scotia.”
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> But while DesBarres shone as a planner, he failed in human
relations. More accustomed to military discipline than to the
compromise needed in civilian government, he rashly tried to impose
his will on others and earned their enmity and opposition. The chief
source of controversy was the shortage of supplies. It soon became
evident that, thanks to a lack of planning in Halifax and Britain,
there were inadequate provisions to support the settlers and garrison
of Sydney. Moreover, when government supplies became available, they
were allotted only to the troops and loyalists. The settlers sponsored
by DesBarres were thus placed in an unenviable position. DesBarres
claimed that as lieutenant governor he alone had the right to
distribute these supplies, but Lieutenant-Colonel John Yorke, the
garrison commander, insisted that he had been ordered to take charge
of them. The acrimonious debate between the two men lasted from late
1785 well into the spring of 1786, and was accompanied by several
confrontations between DesBarres’s supporters and the troops. The
tiny society of Sydney was divided by the dispute, which slackened to
some extent when DesBarres obtained control over some supplies by
seizing those he found in a ship wrecked off Arichat. Yorke had been
willing to distribute supplies to the non-loyalist settlers, but
DesBarres’s refusal to compromise about control drove him to ally
himself with members of the Executive Council who had already begun to
rebel against DesBarres’s strict control, notably Cuyler and
Attorney General David Mathews*. Cuyler, Mathews, and others sent
petitions to the British government condemning the conduct of
DesBarres and his supporters such as Chief Justice Richard Gibbons*
and demanding his recall.
>
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> Unfortunately for DesBarres, by the time the petitions reached
London in the late summer of 1786 his position was less than secure.
In April Lord Sydney had reprimanded him for attempting to promote one
of his favourite schemes, the establishment of a whale fishery, by
encouraging whalers from Nantucket Island and Martha’s Vineyard,
Mass., to settle in Cape Breton. Sydney had reproved Parr for the same
activity. He was also disturbed by DesBarres’s failure to wait for
instructions before entering into agreements with whalers, and his
expenditure of money without prior approval on such items as barracks.
The arrival of the petitions and supporting letters from Parr
apparently decided Sydney to recall DesBarres to explain his conduct.
In spite of DesBarres’s sending Gibbons to London to present his
case, Sydney ordered him to Britain in November 1786. Just under a
year later DesBarres handed over power to his successor, William
Macarmick*, and left Cape Breton.
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> There were several reasons for DesBarres’s failure. Cape Breton
had a low priority with British officials and there was no patience
with disputes in a minor colony. Moreover, a conservative Home
Department showed no imagination about cooperation in the
implementation of DesBarres’s far-reaching schemes. Then too,
ambitious loyalists such as Cuyler and Mathews were unwilling to
submit to DesBarres’s control, and were prepared to use their
influence in Britain. And lastly, Nova Scotian officials resented
losing Cape Breton and were jealous of a contender for government
support; they would hinder the development of the colony as much as
possible.
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> DesBarres’s career in Cape Breton complicated his claims for
compensation even more, since he had been compelled to purchase
£3,000 worth of supplies. To pay the bills, he had to pledge Neptune
plates and mortgage some of his estates. For the next several years
DesBarres’s confusing financial records were examined, while he
demanded every penny he felt was owed him in numerous lengthy
petitions which reveal the singularity of purpose that characterized
his whole life. The government agreed to pay some of the £43,000 that
formed his total claim, but most of the amount was still outstanding
when in 1794 his friend William Windham became secretary at war.
Although not all of the Neptune claims were accepted, apparently
because the plates were considered to be DesBarres’s property and
therefore profitable to him, most were approved. In addition, his
expenses arising from Cape Breton were paid, and he was even granted
half the salary of lieutenant governor from 1787 to 1793.
>
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> DesBarres was 72 in 1794 and the settlement of his claims should
have spelled the happy end of a long career. It did not: he wanted
recognition that his errors in Cape Breton had not been great enough
to deny him another colonial appointment. He remained in England
pressing his case and was not satisfied until May 1804, when at the
age of 82 he was appointed lieutenant governor of Prince Edward
Island, to succeed Edmund Fanning*.
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> During Fanning’s tenure the absentee landlords, who owned most of
the land on the Island, had become suspicious of certain developments,
notably the movement for escheat for non-fulfilment of obligations.
Since the landlords feared that they had not exercised great influence
on the administration of the Island, DesBarres was instructed by the
British government to investigate the situation and make reforms,
especially in the judicial system, which had been the subject of
complaints from several quarters. DesBarres experienced great
difficulty in reaching the Island, and it was not until July 1805
that he arrived in Charlottetown. He brought with him his tendency to
propose imaginative plans but, tutored by the Cape Breton experience,
showed greater tact and willingness to compromise.
>
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> DesBarres was concerned to discover the state of the Island’s
economy, and by the end of 1805 he had forwarded to London both a
census and a detailed account of the crops and livestock in the
colony. The relatively backward condition of the Island prompted him
to attempt changes, and he planned to create a more prosperous future
by erecting public buildings and improving communications. To
accomplish his aims, he adapted the militia organization to fulfill
the statute labour laws; by 1810 new roads were being opened and
public buildings planned [see John Plaw*}. DesBarres also devoted
much time to questions of defence, organizing the militia on a proper
basis and trying to interest both local and British politicians in
improving the Island’s military position.
>
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> At the same time, the lieutenant governor was involved with a
complex political situation. On his arrival DesBarres had found that
Fanning’s supporters dominated the public offices, and he was
therefore forced to turn to one of the few unattached residents, James
Bardin Palmer, for advice. Palmer’s appointment to the Council and
to a number of minor positions raised suspicions among the
Fanningites, or “old party” as they were known, about his
influence with DesBarres. Palmer was already in ill favour with them,
and he became even more so in 1806 when he and some others founded the
Loyal Electors, a society which opposed the “old party” and aimed
at control of the House of Assembly.
>
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> The Loyal Electors and the “old party” maintained a strained
relationship during the following years, one marked by increasing
hostility on both sides. In 1810 matters came to a head when Attorney
General Peter Magowan* died. DesBarres, who had hitherto been
successful in staying out of political quarrels, recommended Palmer
for the position, but the proprietors, led by Lord Selkirk
[Douglas*], distrusted Palmer and succeeded the following year in
having their candidate, Charles Stewart*, appointed. In 1811 as well
accusations were made that a secret committee had been formed to
control the Loyal Electors. Members of the society refuted the charge
in affidavits to DesBarres which were highly critical of Stewart,
Chief Justice Caesar Colclough, and two other judges. When the judges
learned of the attacks they demanded and obtained permission from
DesBarres to examine the affidavits, which they then used to start
legal proceedings against some of the Loyal Electors.
>
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> After a fiercely contested assembly election in 1812 the Loyal
Electors increased their representation. When the “old party”
supporters boycotted the house in September, a rump composed mainly of
Loyal Electors requested from DesBarres an explanation of his role in
the affidavits affair. The lieutenant governor denied that he had
authorized the use of the affidavits for legal proceedings, and the
assembly thereupon condemned the judges’ actions. Shortly thereafter
DesBarres took the opportunity to suspend Colclough, with whom he had
been on bad terms for some time.
>
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> But these events had been overtaken by others in Britain. The
proprietors, alerted to the controversy by Colclough and others, had
attacked DesBarres for being under the domination of Palmer and had
attacked the Loyal Electors as sympathetic to the Americans.
Lord Bathurst, the colonial secretary, was sympathetic to their
arguments and in August 1812 recalled DesBarres; Palmer was stripped
of his public offices. DesBarres was almost certainly not as heavily
influenced by Palmer as was alleged, since he was percipient and
headstrong enough not to be led by advisers. It seems likely that the
Colonial Office, quite apart from the proprietors’ lobbying, felt
that in wartime a younger, more militarily active man was needed to
replace one of 89.
>
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> After his supersession DesBarres left Prince Edward Island for
Amherst, N.S., where he lived until he moved to Halifax in 1817. His
vitality was far from exhausted, for he continued trying to prod the
British government into paying more of his claims, and spent a great
deal of time on his land problems. It is reputed that he celebrated
his hundredth birthday by dancing on a table top in Halifax. There he
died one month short of 103 and was buried beside Martha Williams.
>
> Â
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> Over many years his problems with his lands had grown more and more
complicated, and they had become inextricably involved with his
personal relationships. Mary Cannon had remained in charge of his
estates and during his tenure in Cape Breton had sent timber and
produce to Sydney. Their relationship deteriorated, however, after the
arrival at Sydney late in 1785 of Martha Williams and two of her
children by DesBarres. Williams, a native of Shrewsbury, England, is a
shadowy figure. It is not known whether DesBarres had bothered to
marry her before she arrived in North America, but thereafter he
remained loyal to her and severed personal connections with Cannon,
who continued to defend his land titles in the courts against
creditors and against tenants increasingly seeking to own their own
property.
>
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> During the years in Cape Breton and England DesBarres had had scant
time for his estates. In 1794, however, when prospects brightened for
the settlement of the Neptune and Cape Breton claims, he had taken a
renewed interest in the properties. Claiming that he could not obtain
information on them from Cannon, he appointed Captain John MacDonald*
of Glenaladale as agent in her place. MacDonald discovered that Cannon
had run up £4,000 worth of debts in DesBarres’s name and feared
that she would sue DesBarres for that amount; he also found out that
she was having an affair with an Irish labourer at Castle Frederick.
DesBarres acted coolly, remaining in England and ignoring the estates,
but not making any provision for Cannon and their children. By about
1800 one of their daughters, Amelia, had taken charge of the estates;
like all his children she was loyal to him and tried to enforce
payment of rents.
>
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> When DesBarres was appointed to Prince Edward Island in 1804, he
replaced Amelia with a son-in-law, James Chalmers. However,
Chalmers’s heavy-handed approach to collecting rents drove some
lessees to sell out and move. By this time DesBarres had lost contact
with agricultural and settlement conditions on his estates, and no
manager could satisfy his final visions of landed wealth. Believing
that Cannon had “fraudulently and corruptly betrayed [his] trust
and confidence” in her management of his land, in 1809 he went so
far as to take her to the Court of Chancery in Halifax, but the case
was still unresolved at his death, when it was presumably closed
without any decision. Meanwhile he was unable to divest himself of his
land since disputes with tenants over land values had prevented prices
from being set on his holdings. His children by Martha Williams
inherited the problem, eventually squabbling among themselves and
gaining little. Cannon and her family were totally excluded from his
estate.
>
> Â
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> The long career of Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres unfolded during
the pioneer period of four Maritime colonies. There can be no dispute
that his greatest contribution is the Atlantic Neptune, which stands
as a landmark in Canadian cartographic achievement. His enthusiastic
visions for Cape Breton were not realized and his impatience with
government and opposition spelled failure to his efforts. In Prince
Edward Island his administration was more successful and saw the
formation of what has often been called the first political party in
the colony. Difficulties over land resulted in a time-consuming waste
of energy which soured his later years. DesBarres’s private life was
not altogether unusual in so far as colonial officials in the 18th
century often had families on both sides of the ocean. However, it
must be said that in his treatment of Mary Cannon and her family he
showed callousness, ingratitude, and suspicion.
>
> Â
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> For himself he demanded complete justice, and he showed “Ingenuity
and Contrivance” in obtaining it during the years of subtle battles
over his Neptune and Cape Breton claims, His personality “never
demonstrated an abundance of the pleasing traits,” according to a
recent biographer, Geraint Nantglyn Davies Evans, and could hardly
have been agreeable. Yet his enthusiasm and sheer breadth of vision
appealed to women, politicians, and officials alike. These
characteristics brought DesBarres his successes but the attention to
detail he showed as an artist brought a certain pettiness to his
personal affairs and led to his failures.
>
> R. J. Morgan
>
> The collection of plates which constitutes The Atlantic Neptune,
published for the use of the Royal Navy of Great Britain was printed
in London at various times between 1774 and 1784. The work is
sometimes described as appearing in four editions, dated 1777, 1780,
1781, and 1784, but these dates apply only to the four versions of the
main title page and not to the rest of the contents, which bear
various dates and differ so widely from copy to copy that no two known
sets are alike, and no definitive list of the variant plates is
available despite considerable bibliographical investigation. The
complexities of this publication are discussed at greater length in
Evans’s biography (cited below) and in Robert Lingel’s article,
“The Atlantic Neptune,” New York Public Library, Bull., 40 (1936):
571â€"603. A facsimile reprint of one of the copies bearing the 1780
title page has been published in four portfolios of unbound plates,
Barre, Mass., 1966â€"68.
>
> Â Â Â Â Â DesBarres is also the author of Nautical remarks and
observations on the coasts and harbours of Nova Scotia . . .
([London?], 1778); Surveys of North America, entitled: Atlantic
Neptune . . . (London, 1781), a partial catalogue and price list of
the Neptune plates; A statement submitted by
Lieutenant Colonel Desbarres, for consideration; respecting his
services . . . during the war of 1756; â€" the utility of his
surveys . . . of the coasts and harbours of North America, intituled
“The Atlantic Neptune”; â€" and his proceedings . . . as
lieutenant governor . . . of Cape Breton (n.p., [1795]); and of
Letters to Lord ***** on “A caveat against emigration to America
. . . ”, which was published anonymously in London in 1804.
>
> Â Â Â Â Â BL, Add. mss 21710, 21828, 37890 (copies at PAC). PAC, MG
11, [CO 217] Nova Scotia A, 106; Cape Breton A; [CO 220] Cape Breton
B; MG 23, F1. [William Smith], A caveat against emigration to America;
with the state of the island of Cape Breton, from the year 1784 to the
present year; and suggestions for the benefit of the British
settlements in North America (London, 1803). DNB. G. N. D. Evans,
Uncommon obdurate: the several public careers of J. F. W. DesBarres
(Toronto and Salem, Mass., 1969). R. J. Morgan, “Orphan
outpost.” J. C. Webster, The life of Joseph Frederick Wallet Des
Barres (Shediac, N.B., 1933). Michael Hugo-Brunt, “The origin of
colonial settlements in the Maritimes,” Plan Canada (Toronto), 1
(1959â€"60): 102â€"4. Lois Kernaghan, “A man and his mistress:
J. F. W. DesBarres and Mary Cannon,” Acadiensis (Fredericton), 11
(1981â€"82), no.1: 23â€"42. R. [J.] Morgan, “Joseph Frederick
Wallet DesBarres and the founding of Cape Breton colony,” Rev. de
l’univ. d’Ottawa, 39 (1969): 212â€"27. J. C. Webster, “Joseph
Frederick Wallet Des Barres and The Atlantic Neptune,” RSC Trans.,
3rd ser., 21 (1927), sect.ii: 21â€"40.
>
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> © 2000 University of Toronto/Université Laval
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