John Nairne
Devoting himself to his seigneury, Nairne had it surveyed, and brought some soldiers from the regiment with him to settle the land. Nairne, hoping to establish a
In 1769, Nairne married a fellow Scot by the name of Christina Emery. With Christina, Nairne had four children, but by the time Nairne returned from a 1773 trip to Scotland, three of them had died. Eventually, he would have five more children with Christina Nairne, building a large manor house for his family and continuing his work in the settlement.
In 1775, with an
Nairne's role as Captain was to last just eight years. He served with distinction and eventually reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the British army. During his military career, Nairne fought at Montreal, Quebec and Île aux Noix,a small island located on the Richelieu River, near to Lake Champlain. He would also supervise the building of Fort Haldimand onCarleton Island which was occupied during the American Revolution. The ruins of this fort still exist today and can be visited. They are located in the town of Cape Vincent on Carleton Island.
He also supervised the building of a jail in |Murray Bay]]. Finally, in 1783, after his promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel, he sold his rank in the Royal Highland Emigrants receiving £3000 for it. In contemporary monetary value, his rank as Lieutenant-Colonel in the British army was worth approximately £573,749.79 (2022) or CDN$912,015.45 (2022). Given that this value is being affected by the current global pandemic (2022), consideration should be given to that amount paid while keeping in mind the pros and cons of an economy impacted by war. Following that sale, Nairne returned to Murray Bay where he settled permanently and lived well for the remainder of his life.
At the time of Nairne's death in 1802, his seigneury had more than 500 inhabitants and was prospering economically. Nairne had little to regret, although he deeply wished that his attempts to implant Protestantism had been successful. Still, he was on good terms with the
Of all the things Nairne had seen in his lifetime, his deepest source of sadness was the sudden death of his son, John, in India. Although Nairne had had many children, only one of his sons actually survived him. Thomas Nairne, borne of military tradition, would follow in his father's foot steps and join the British military. Then, in 1813, just 11 years after his own father's death, Tom was killed in battle. He would die, oddly enough, fighting at the fort his father had helped to build all those years earlier, at Carleton Island.