Moses Gerrish

Grand Manan

As a member of the Penobscot Associated Loyalists, Gerrish was given land in Charlotte County, New Brunswick on Oak Bay near St. Andrews. However, he chose to found a settlement on Grand Manan, an uninhabited island in the Bay of Fundy. A license signed by the governor of Nova Scotia on 30 December 1783 gave Gerrish and four other Loyalists, "and others, being fifty families" the right to "occupy during pleasure the Island of Grand Manan and the small Islands adjacent in the fishery, with liberty of cutting frame Stuff and timber for building".

The first settlers, including Gerrish, arrived on Grand Manan on 6 May 1784. The name was later changed to Ross Island after Thomas Ross, a sea captain who was one of the five licensees. Both Gerrish and Ross made their homes on Ross Island.

Gerrish performed the administrative work of the island. He was a justice of the peace and a customs officer, and had a license to perform marriages.

He and Ross continued in their efforts to attract settlers, with Gerrish assigning lots of land to new arrivals. These grants were unofficial, however, as the licensees did not own the land themselves. In 1804 the government of New Brunswick sent a surveyor to Grand Manan to report on conditions and in 1806 the government, in response to a petition by Gerrish, confirmed the de facto ownership of occupied lands and formalized the procedure for future land grants.

Gerrish died by drowning in 1830 when his boat capsized as he was returning home from performing a marriage ceremony at the village of Seal Cove. He was buried on Ross Island.