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Early in 1768, Prince Edward Island, then known as St. John’s Island , was established as a separate Province. In May of that year, the Hon. Michael Francklin,* then Lieut. Governor of Nova Scotia , instructed the Chief Surveyor , Hon. Charles Morris, to proceed to the Island to lay out the ground on which its capital, the town of Charlottetown was to be built. Francklin at the same time appointed Isaac Deschamps, the First Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and Superintendent for the new Province. Deschamps, of Swiss extraction, had early come to Nova Scotia and in 1768 was one of the Justices of the Peace for the Court of Common Pleas in Kings County.** He was in 1785 appointed Chief Justice of Nova Scotia.

     Deschamps, in obedience to Francklin’s instructions, left Windsor, where he then lived and proceeded to Cobequid. Thence he went overland to Tatamagouche where a vessel awaited to transport him and his luggage to his new capital. He was preceded by Morris in a vessel, which loaded with stores, materials and provisions for the new settlement had put in at Tatamagouche from Halifax.

*Hon, Michael Francklin came to Nova Scotia from England about 1752 and soon became one of the lading merchants and traders in Halifax . He was made Lieut. Gov. in 1766 and retained this office till 1776. He was afterwards Commissioner of Indian Affairs for Nova Scotia and is generally given great credit for controlling the Nova Scotia Indians during the War of the Revolution.
**Kings County was one of the five original Counties set up in Nova Scotia by the Council in August 1759. It comprised besides the present County of Kings, a corner of Lunenburg, the whole of Hants, the half of Cumberland and the third of Colchester. Tatamagouche was included within its bounds.