NEW KINCARDINE COLONY.
The following letter written by our former townsman and Parish Church missionary, the Rev. Peter Melville, M. A., B. D., to The New Brunswick Reporter, will be read with interest by his many friends in Rothesay:—
Mr. Editor:—You and your readers will be pleased to hear that this Scottish Colony is making good progress. The crops are very good, (excepting hay,) and are likely to be gathered in safety, without frost or snow. Continue reading
NEW KINCARDINESHIRE COLONY.
The following letter has been addressed by Mr. David Burns, one of the New Stonehaven colonists, for publication amongst friends in Scotland:—
To Members and Friends of New Kincardineshire Colony, resident in Scotland.
DEAR FRIENDS,—Before I left our heather land I promised to write at times and give you some account of our procedure here, and before commencing I beg to state that I shall confine myself to what I know to be the truth—as some reports got out concerning us that had better never been heard of—many reports, Continue reading
NINE MONTHS OF NEW KINCARDINE. (By a Settler.) I may say, by way of preface, that I am quite satisfied with the territory myself, its prospects being very good for those able and willing to undertake the clearance of forest land, and possessed of a little capital. In this connection, I may state that many who arrived here almost penniless have done remarkably well, their earnings from work on colony roads and other sources having been considerable.
The land on the Kintore section is not quite so level as one would wish, but Continue reading
Letter by David Taylor dated April 14, 1873, written at Fredericton, New Brunswick; published in Stonehaven Journal, Thursday 08 May 1873
NEW KINCARDINESHIRE COLONY.— On Thurs-last, a letter was received from the Secretary of the new colony, who has gone out to make arrangements for the colonists previous to their arrival, from which we give the following extract. From it, friends of the colonists left behind will be glad to see that they are likely to meet with a very warm reception:—
Fredericton, 14th April, 1873.
Having arrived at St. John this day week, we there spent two days—leaving on Wednesday for this place—the political capital of New Brunswick. It is a city of about 6500 inhabitants, and one of the prettiest places I ever saw. Continue reading
Letters from New Kincardineshire, Victoria County, New Brunswick to Scotland
NEW KINCARDINESHIRE COLONY.
The following letter from a working man to a fellow workman in Stonehaven shows the philosophical spirit with which some persons endure the greatest hardships. It bears a marked contrast when compared with the grumbling epistles of colonists in much easier circumstances:—
Carron Terrace, Stonehaven Road,
New Kincardineshire, Victoria County, N. B.
June 1, 1873
Dear Friend,
I am happy to say that we are all well. The fact is I was not so lucky as to get away from St John with the first lot of the Colony. Continue reading
Zoomed view. Click image to go to map.
Scotch Colony area view. Click image to go to map.
This is the same combined map from NB Dept of Lands and Mines I had in an earlier post, but now it’s interactive – overlayed on Google Maps.
Zoom (controls in lower right) and scroll (drag mouse). Remove overlay for a better view of the underlying satellite photo.
It may take a while for the overlay to appear. It’s a big file.
The overlay is misaligned near the edges. Look at the underlying photo for roads, fields, and clearcuts to reorient lot lines.
The original cadastral images were downloaded from the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. I still don’t know what time period is represented on the maps. Probably after 1880 to 1980.
What’s next?
A bit of piping from last fall:
Held in Burns Hall, Kincardine, New Brunswick Canada.
“Plan of New Kincardineshire containing 25,000 acres / by Charles E. Beckwith, D.L.S. [Deputy Land Surveyor]. – 1873. – 1 sketch : pen and ink. The plan gives the names of the settlers, the number of the lot assigned to each, and the number of acres each received (100 or 200 acres). Rivers, streams, and roads are also noted. MC42-MS21-7 B. R. Stevenson fonds, Charlotte County Archives. ”
Note area on right (south) is labeled New Stonehaven, now called Kincardine and Bon Accord further east. The area on the left is labeled Kintore as it is still called.
Jean found the map at the New Brunswick Archives site.
Jean counts 63 lots in the New Stonehaven area with names on them. Of the 63, probably 10 are unmarried sons who qualified for their own 100 acre lot (the lots on the north side of Kincardine road are 100 acres.)
Were the names written down as families signed up in the (old) Stonehaven, Scotland, newspaper office?
This map was assembled by Bill Duncan from 8 pieces downloaded from the New Brunswick Archives. http://archives.gnb.ca/Exhibits/PlannedSettlements/ImageList.aspx?culture=en-CA&Link=MC42-MS21-7-1of8%7CP29-15&t=Kincardine&title=Perseverance+&p=11&of=14. There is a piece of the map missing (lot 36 in New Stonehaven) on the original scans. The gap I show may exaggerate the distance.
Plan of New Kincardineshire 1873, C. Beckwith.
I’m experimenting with overlaying this map on Google maps satellite photos: http://williamlduncan.com/GoogleMapOverlayAPIBeckwith1873_122217-1.html Zoom in on the Google map to see any mismatches between the lines on the map image and the edges of the fields visible on the satellites photo.
Jan. 12, 1894, Kincardine Colney [sic], Northern Leader: The Christmas tree which was held in the new hall was a great success. It was estimated that there was over one hundred dollars worth of presents on it. The evening passed very pleasantly with dialogues and recitations until about ten o’clock when tea was passed around and a hearty supper was disposed of, then after a few more dialogues and speeches the presents were disposed of and the fun for the evening closed by singing Auld Lang Sine [sic].
Jan. 4, 1900, Kintore, NB, Northern Leader: A large number from here attended the concert and dance at Kincardine Tuesday evening.
An entertainment and Xmas tree was held in the school room Xmas night. After the program was most ably carried out by all who took part refreshments were served of which all partook and did ample justice. The presents were then distributed from off the tree and all left about twelve o’clock after they had spent a most enjoyable evening.
Dec. 30, 1903, Upper Kintore, NB, Fort Fairfield Review: Several of the young people attended the Christmas tree and dance at Upper Kincardine Friday evening.
On Christmas Eve a Christmas tree and concert was held in the school house. At the concert supper was served by the ladies, after which the tree was stripped of its presents for old and young. On account of the disagreeable weather and the icy roads, the attendance was not as large as it would otherwise have been. But everybody enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
Jan. 11, 1905, Upper Kintore, NB, Fort Fairfield Review: The Sunday school held its Xmas tree in the schoolhouse on Friday evening. The affair was very largely attended, and an interesting program was successfully carried out by the members of the school under the skillful management of their teacher, Miss McCarthy.
Several of our young people attended the Xmas tree at Kilburn and the dance in Kincardine on Monday night.
Jan. 3, 1906, Kintore, NB, Fort Fairfield Review: A concert and Christmas tree was held Friday evening for the Sunday school. Before distributing the gifts, refreshments were serveed. A large number were present and a very enjoyable evening was spent.
Dec. 26, 1906: Kintore, NB, Fort Fairfield Review: A Christmas concert in the hall Christmas eve, also a tree for the children.
Jan. 6, 1909, Upper Kintore, NB, Fort Fairfield Review: A Christmas concert and tree was held in the hall Christmas eve. There were many outsiders in attendance and all report a pleasant time spent.
Jan. 5, 1910, Kintore, NB, Fort Fairfield Review: The Christmas tree and concert held in the hall on Friday evening for the young people was a grand success.