Kings County GenWeb  New Brunswick - Canada

 

The following items were donated to this site by Diane Campbell, of Dollard des Ormeaux, Quebec. They were items collected by her Mother, Helen Thompson Allnut, who grew up in Irish Settlement.  In the 1960s my mother found gravestones in an overgrown cemetery which she knew had been called the Irish Settlement Graveyard . She made notes of 8 individuals mentioned on the stones. Some of the family names are Hickson, Burnet, Gordon, Sargeson and Kirk. The Legend of Bull Moose Hill which was published in the 1870s in a Saint John newspaper. However I do not have an original version but one written by my grandmother Mary MacDonald Thomson after someone sent her a handwritten version of the article. I think the History of the Irish Settlement must have written by a student.   Below these items are a few items taken from a book by Robert Fellows, COMMUNITY PLACE NAMES IN NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA, to help locate the region. Original spelling of articles retained. / cbb

The Legend of Bull Moose Hill

A great many years ago the King Moose of America was followed to that hill from the huckleberry plains of Queen’s County. There he was overtaken and slaughtered. His horns had a spread of 7 feet 6 1/2 inches and his carcass weighed 1722 pounds. Since then the ghost of that mighty moose has often been encountered near the place where he fell by parties venturesome enough to visit it after nightfall. Hence the place is known as Bull Moose Hill to this day.

I found this material written back in the 1870s and published in a Saint John newspaper and pasted in one of Dr. Ganong’s scrapbooks.
(sgnd?) Grace Aiton

History of Irish Settlement
(in Joliff’s Brook District)
By Helen Thompson

The first people who came around here were United Empire Loyalists, chief among whom were the Northrup Brothers and the Vails. After a few seasons of severe frosts in the valleys the majority took to higher grounds: “Bull Moose Hill”, Irish Settlement, and back Irish settlement Road, were thickly settled.

Before the railway was built in 1886, the people had to haul all their provisions from Hatfield’s Point and some would haul a load of provisions to St. John to sell, so the railway must have been a great boon. The railway was the cause of many fires with sparks off the engine. There was a mill at Caleb Northrup’s burnt by it. There was another mill at Tom Marr’s and the mill stone was there a few years ago.

The first school in the Irish Settlement was a log one in the corner of the woods by Smith’s. I think there were two there before. The first school was built at the end of the back road. The present Joliff’s Brook School is the second that has been there.

The English Church was the largest church in the Irish Settlement It was quite large and had a steeple. It is rather strange how it fell. A high gale split the church in two and the ends fell apart and the steeple dropped into the centre. Nothing now remains of it, but the foundation. The Methodists built a church for themselves opposite the Henderson Road. Its builders have mostly died or left the settlement. In l928 it was hauled to Belleisle and now forms part of the “Belleisle Hall,” The Presbyterian church further up the road is still used occasionally.

The Back Irish Settlement road was a busy place in the early days. The Gordons, McBriertrys, Richies, Lockharts, Williams, Wilcox and Carters all lived on that road. Most of them had large families; now the whole road is deserted.

Mrs. Smith, our oldest inhabitant remembers of flax being spun in the settlement.

The first doctor we hear of was Doctor Wilson. His farm was below Smiths. He visited his patients on horseback. He left the settlement and went to live on the Creek Road.

The only store we hear of was one kept by Peggy Wilson in a house now burnt down where the McFadyens live. The people did not buy so much in those days. Sugar was made on the farm and Buckwheat was abundant on the rich new land. Wild fruits were very plentiful. Old people can still remember how the women and boys and girls used to gather at the road where the schoolhouse now stands, waiting for the pedlar who came around collecting strawberries and blueberries.

Among the settlers we hear of were the Carters, Hicksons, Smiths, Northrups, three Henderson Brothers, Allinghams, Kirks, Austins, Wilsons, and Burnets.

A bad fire swept the Settlement about l900. It started at Williams and burnt beak to the creek pasture fences. After great exertion the people saved the Presbyterian Church and strange to say it went around the school and never touched it.

On August 10th, 1900, the engine went through the rai1way bridge near where Sargeson Siding stood. The engineer was killed and the fireman was very badly hurt. The Sargeson Siding was taken away in l923.

As the Joliff’s Brook School District is a very wide one I hope some other pupils will give a detailed account of other parts.
 

The following names were taken off the headstones in the Irish Settlement Graveyard on Sept 14, 1961. The graveyard was completely overgrown with brush and small trees. It was on the south side of the road between the farms (in 1961) of McFadyens and Thomsons.

John Hickson, born 1836. Died Mar 12, 1922.

J. W. Hickson, son of John and Mary. Died May 12, 1879 aged 12 ½ yrs.

Alexander Burnet. Died May 29, 1865, aged 71 yrs.

(Helen Thomson added that this person lived on the Irish Settlement Road between the farms of what in 1961 belonged to Prices and Thomsons.)

Mr. G. Gordon, died Mar 2, 1903.

In loving memory of Mary E. Sargeson, wife of John Sargeson, aged 29 yrs. Also her infant child. Died May 6, 1897.
(Note from Helen Thomson: This family lived on the farm which in 1961 belonged to the Dickies on the Irish Settlement Rd.)

George Kirk, died Apr 7, 1911, aged 81 ½ yrs.
Isabel Kirk, his wife died Jun 3, 1910, aged 80 yrs.
(Note from H.T.: The Kirks lived on what was in 1961 the Bustard farm.)

James Ritchie, died Dec 1902, aged 64 yrs.
(Note from H.T.: Ritchie lived on the Back Road.)
 

COMMUNITY PLACE NAMES IN NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA
by Robert Fellows

The first two items below, are from across the Kings-Queens County lines and may NOT have anything to do with the last three items, (which belong with the above records) although they are not too far apart, and could easily be confused. Both records are listed here to help you to decide in which area your ancestors actually lived. (note by Cleadie Barnett)

Irish Settlement: See Waterloo Corner (Johnston Par., Queens Co.)

Waterloo Corner: Settlement, 15 mi. W of Sussex: Johnston Parish, Queens County: settled in 1819 by Irish immigrants who had fought with Wellington at Waterloo in 1812: also called Irish Settlement: today Waterloo Corner is a locality.

Irish Settlement: 11 mi. NW of Sussex: Springfield Parish, Kings County: settled about 1824: PO Thomond 1880-1913 which was named for medieval name for N part of Munster in Ireland: in 1898 Thomond was a community with 2 churches: also called Waterloo Corner: today Irish Settlement is a dispersed community and Thomond is a settlement.

Joliffs Brook: Settlement, 12 mi. W of Sussex: Springfield Parish, Kings County: PO Northrup 1899-1913 which in 1904 was a railway siding and a small settlement with a post office: today Joliffs Brook is a dispersed community.

Bull Moose Hill: Settlement, 2 mi. S of Joliffs Brook: Springfield Parish, Kings County: named for a moose that broke its neck in Alex Northrup's pasture: PO 1885-1919: in 1866 Bull Moose Hill was a farming settlement with approximately 33 resident families
including 14 Northrup and 6 Benson families: in 1898 Bull Moose Hill had a population of 80 and today it is a dispersed community.