This is a condensation of a transcription of an audio tape of the April 20, 1982 meeting of the Alexander-Crawford Historical Society. Frank Fenlason gave a talk on St. Croix Island. As with previous condensations comments, explanations, and additional names are in parentheses. (I found two spellings for the first grantee of St. Croix Island, Pierre Dugua Sieur de Mons, and Pierre du Gast, Sieur de Monts.) St. Croix Island was first settled in 1604 by a group of French men led by Pierre du Gast, Sieur de Monts, a Huguenot, or French Protestant, who had been to North America with earlier expeditions. He received a commission from King Henry IV of France to colonize and govern the region from the 40th to the 46th degree north latitude - roughly from Pennsylvania to Cape Breton. de Monts' expedition was financed by wealthy Huguenots and he "departed France on April 7, 1604 with about 120 men and two ships. With him was the king's geographer and historian, one of the great men of France, Samuel de Champlain. In the company also was a Catholic priest and a Huguenot minister as there were many men of both faiths in the crew." They arrived in Cape Le Havre in Nova Scotia on May 8, 1604. de Monts sent Champlain along the coast to find a suitable place for a settlement, one that could be easily fortified and defended. Champlain sailed around the southern end of Nova Scotia and entered the Bay of Fundy and finally ended up in Passamaquoddy and found an island that he thought de Monts would approve of. de Monts arrived on the island about June 27, 1604. He liked what he saw and he named it Isle of St. Croix or in English, Island of the Holy Cross," because the meeting of the rivers above the island resembled a cross. The island was easy to fortify because vessels could not pass up the river except at the mercy of their guns. The settlers immediately built "defenses, houses, barracks, bake ovens and a hand operated grist mill. Gardens were planted on both the island and on the main land. In August de Monts sent his vessels back to France for additional supplies. This left him with 78 men to finish the necessary buildings and do the gardening to supply them with the vegetables to go along with their salt meat, hopefully enough to get them through the winter." The soil on the island turned out to be mostly sandy and very poor for raising crops. "So with short supplies, de Monts did not have long to wait for winter. The first snow fell about October 6 and from then on things got progressively worse." The cold was severe, and there being no spring on the island, they soon became short of fresh water. "It was impossible to get to the main land for water because of the floating ice cakes." Champlain concluded in his writings that there is six months of winter in this country. They were also very short of firewood as they had cut down most of the trees on the island for the fortifications and lumber for the buildings. Scurvy broke out and almost everyone suffered to some degree. "Of the 79 men, 35 died, two of them being the priest and the minister. It is said that the two were buried in a common grave hoping that they could get along better in heaven than they did on earth." On June 16, 1605 a vessel arrived from France with provisions. "On the 18th de Monts and Champlain set out to find a more suitable abode, but the search was not successful so de Monts returned to the St. Croix determined that he would return with this group to France. The arrival of another French supply ship with 40 men changed his mind." He decided instead to dismantle the buildings and move the settlement to a place called Port Royal, a location Champlain had explored prior to the settlement on the St. Croix. The next important date was 1613 when Captain Samuel Argyle of Virginia visited the island. He was on a mission to destroy the French settlements in the area and he burned what remained of the settlement. "No further interest was shown in the island until after the Revolutionary War. The Treaty of Paris which ended the war contained provisions that the St. Croix river was to be the boundary between the United States and the British territory." There was a dispute for many years over where the St. Croix was located as it was known locally as the Schoodic River. The British claimed every river from the St. Croix to the Penobscot and the Americans claimed every river from the St. Croix to the St. John. "Ward Chipman, a Loyalist who had settled in New Brunswick finally obtained a copy of Champlain's map and gave it to Robert Pagan of St. Andrews, and using this map, Pagan did some archeological work on the island and discovered the remains of the French settlement. As a result, in 1798 a decision was finally made. The Schoodic was the true St. Croix as named by de Monts." Through the years, the island was owned by different people from Red Beach and Robbinston. In 1856 the U. S. Coast Guard bought two thirds of it for a light house. On June 25, 1904, the 300th anniversary was commemorated. "This was sponsored by the Maine Historical Society. There were representatives from France, Canada, the United States, along with many warships from these three countries. A plaque was unveiled to commemorate the occasion." It must have been a tremendous celebration because the island could not accommodate all the people and there was also a large observance conducted on the Canadian mainland opposite the island. The island has been known locally and on many maps for different years under different names. It was known as Neutral Island during the War of 1812 because the boats from Eastport would go up to St. Croix Island, or Neutral Island, drop the provisions, and boats from St. Andrews would pick them up. They carried on trade as if no war existed. Later it was known as Bone Island. This was possibly because the graveyard of the men who died in the first winter was on the southern end of the island over the sand pits, and due to the erosion from storms and rains and so forth, bones started to appear. It was also known as Docia's Island. That name is pretty hard to eradicate. Professor Ganong said that there was a girl by the name of Theodocia who lived in Bayside and was quite popular with the young men of the area. She used to take them over to the island for a visit, so the island was locally known as "Doshie," as in "going up to see Doshie." And the French, feeling that must have been a French derivation, called it Doucett to make it sound French. One of the interesting parts about this Docia island is that when the commemoration was held on the main land they passed a resolve that from then on they were going to call it St. Croix Island. "So, back a few years ago, St. Andrews or somebody down there, erected a sign along Bayside, ‘Historic View, St. Croix Island' and in great big brackets underneath, ‘Doucett Island.'" In 1932 William H. Parker and members of his family wanted the National Park Service to approve the island as a national historic site, but the Park Service refused because they did not have full title to the island. In 1935 Senator Wallace White of Maine introduced a bill in congress to authorize St. Croix as a national monument, but no action was taken. In 1949 Senator Owen Brewster introduced a similar bill and this was approved with the exception that they would receive full title to the island before it became a national monument. That same year a second commemoration was held in Calais at the new Calais High School and again dignitaries from France, Canada and the U.S. gathered for the occasion. Judge Harold Murchie was master of ceremonies. William Parker whose family owned part of the island, had a friend, an attorney from Augusta, Ernest L. McLean, start the necessary title search. This work was later turned over to two local attorneys, Elbridge Davis and Francis Brown. This required extensive work because some of the fractional titles were as small as 1/240th. In 1967 the deed was finally accepted by the U.S. government. On June 30, 1968 a formal dedication of the island as a national monument was held at Red Beach, with many dignitaries from both countries present. The latest event was the dedication of the new Interpretive Shelter on the main land at Red Beach on October 2, 1981. An organization was formed in Calais called the St. Croix Island Association. It's main purpose is to work with the Park Association on affairs such as the building of the Interpretive Shelter. The National Park Service didn't have money for this construction. "So with the help of the Georgia-Pacific Company with some money and materials, the Thomas DiCenzo Company with some Red Beach granite, the Votech School (Washington County Vocational Technical School) - we were able to get the Votech School's carpentry course crew to go down and work - we were able to build the building with a minimum of cost to anybody." There was a brief interruption of Mr. Fenlason's talk to discuss Americans and Canadians moving back and forth across the border. Mr. Fenlason said, "Years ago one of our local city officials in Calais was up for reelection and his opposition claimed he should be defeated because he wasn't an American citizen. He was a Canadian. But, he won again."