Title

6 King's Street- Bermuda from Sail to Steam- 1799

Description

“At an Election of 1799 the chief office of St. George’s was awarded to that solid fatherly citizen John Esten, of liberal and classical education and solid but not spectacular citizenship. He pressed on with the preliminaries for a market and tried to establish a standard in weights and measures, at least between the English and American. But in two years he had to yield his office to John Van Norden, the naval storekeeper and general taker, who during this period of retrenchment which the truce imposed, had plenty of time for civic activity. Happily John Esten was given a seat in the council, though not at the first vacancy.” Footnote on same page “J. Esten was in business with his son and William Tucker. He also had 100 acres of quit-rent land on St. David’s. His St. George’s premises were those of the Dinwiddies in the previous generation, i.e. the harbour front west of Davenport’s and the Square.”
On the establishment of the market: “As the Mayor (Esten) achieved his initial aims, he, with Edward Goodrich, John Musson, and William Tucker, the leading merchants, sponsored two lotteries to raise funds for the wharves and the erection of a permanent building for a market with a town hall above it.”

Year

1799