The Passamaquoddy Indians of St. Andrews
St. Andrews was long a locus for at least a ceremonial native presence, dating back well before white settlers laid eye on the place. There are shell middens, ancient dwelling foundations, many native tool artefacts and legends of native burial grounds in the area., and good evidence of a burial ground near the old trainstation at the corner of Water and Patrick. The Passamaquoddies saw the arrival of Champlain and DeMonts in 1603, and their disastrous winter settlement on St. Croix Island. There is a story of the marriage of a French nobleman to a local chief's daughter, reproduced below; legends of battles with neighbouring tribes. Early history of the tribe is faint. Sometime after the arrival of the main Loyalist influx in 1783, the Passamaquoddies were driven from the area and took up settlement at Indian Island and later at Pleasant Point, now in Maine at the other end of Passamquoddy Bay. The only Passamaquoddies left in St. Andrews were the Nicholas Family, a remnant of which in the Akagi family still resides at Indian Point and near Waweig. It is unclear just why this family was allowed to say and none else. The excerpts below tell a few tales of the Passmaquoddies and in particular of the Nicholas family, mainly Chief John Nicholas, patriarch of the clan, who died just after the turn of the century at the age of 103.