Fonds consists of papers of the Chipmans, including business records, missionary records, and papers relating to the Loyalists and to the Boundary Commissions, 1751-1844. This series is known as the "Lawrence Collection". There is also a microfilm copy of correspondence and papers of the Chipmans, held by the New Brunswick Museum, 1783-1839. This material is located on microfilm reels M-153 to M-155.
Chipman, Ward, 1754-1824 : Ward Chipman senior (1754-1824), a lawyer from Massachusetts, was deputy Muster Master General of the provincial forces at New York, 1777-1783, an advocate of the Admiralty Court, and a commissioner to receive claims for supplies furnished to the forces, 1783. He moved to England with Sir Guy Carleton and in 1784 came out to New Brunswick as Solicitor General, a post which he held until 1808. He also served as Surrogate General and Recorder of Saint John and as a Member of the Assembly. He was British Agent (legal counsel) to the Boundary Commissions of 1796-1798 and 1816. In 1806 he was named to the Executive Council and in 1808 to the bench of the Supreme Court, which latter post he resigned on becoming Administrator of the province, April 1823.
This collection originated with Joseph Wilson Lawrence (1818-1892), sometime President of the New Brunswick Historical Society. Lawrence collected the papers of the Chipmans and additional items closely related to their interests and activities. His history of the lives and times of the judges of New Brunswick was continued by Dr. Alfred Augustus Stockton (1842-1907), his literary legatee, and by Archdeacon William Odber Raymond (1853-1923). The completed work was published in Acadiensis, November 1907, as "The Judges of New Brunswick and their Times".
