1904 Handwritten Letter From New Brunswick Archdeacon - Reverend George Coster - to a Clergyman Colleague Regarding a Subordinate

On offer is a curious letter, dated Fredericton N. Brunswick Feb 19, 1848, from George Coster regarding a curate of his who is leaving the province to seek employment in the receiving Reverand’s diocese. Closing with a heartfelt thanks for their experience with his daughter. It is unclear to whom the letter is addressed to. A typed identifying fragment cut from a page accompanies the letter.

Some discernible text reads:

Right Reverend & Dear Sir,
I must trouble you with a few lines on account of Mr. Roberts who is leaving the province to seek employment in your diocese. By this time… I ought to…  give you a faithful & correct account of him… to call “extreme views”, and requires a curb. I do not however consider him as one whom a person having lawful authority over him would find it difficult to manage, and… He was for several years my curate… and even reluctant to quit it.
… charge to which the Bishop of Fredericton thought… to remove him soon after his arrival here…
… he would still be right himself in obeying… education in a military school… he will find a flock so submissive to him as their Pastor… this is what he intends to do… commencement of his new career.
I have gone … length, and ought to make haste to close. But I cannot do so without relating my cordial thanks to yourself and Mrs. D… for your very great kindness to my daughter. She writes about you and your family with the same enthusiasm as my brother does. Believe me always
Right Rev & Dear Sir,
Your faithful and much obedient servant
George Coster

Rev. George Coster (1794-1859) was a Church of England clergyman and professor. He was the eldest of three brothers who served as missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), and who all eventually settled in New Brunswick. The Rev. Coster, was a graduate of St. John's College, Cambridge, and appointed the first Archdeacon of Newfoundland in 1825. He resided at Bonavista and personally served at the very large outport parish. He travelled extensively by boat and is credited with leading his parishioners in building the colony’s first three miles of roads. In October 1829 Coster was appointed to succeed the Reverend George Best as archdeacon of New Brunswick and rector of Fredericton until his death in 1859 (30 years). Their household became a centre for the British community in Fredericton.  Archdeacon Coster had one son and eleven daughters, seven of whom married. James Robb, a young Scottish medical doctor was converted to Anglicanism by Coster and married his eldest daughter. Other sons-in-law included James Carter, the chief justice; Edward Barron Chandler, member of a prominent political family; and Frank Wills, the architect of Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton and a pioneer among the architects of the Gothic revival in North America. Coster's son, the Reverend Charles, was a master in the collegiate school in Fredericton.

This letter is three pages long, written on a single folded sheet, flat size 9-¾ x 7-¾ inches (folded to 4-⅞ x 7-¾ inches). There is some rust staining from a previously placed paperclip and small split at the bottom in the fold. This item is in Very Good condition.