Krista Luttrell

An ambitious project is underway in our next-door neighbor’s largest community. The Province of New Brunswick, Canada, is building a new museum of history and culture on Douglas Street in the city of Saint John. According to their website, they expect to complete in 2028. Although it’s been a few years since I visited this museum, I was delighted to learn it’s getting a refresh. It is already a fine establishment and offers much to its patrons.

I’d like to draw the attention of fellow Mainers and other New Englanders, especially those who are family historians or local history researchers. There are probably many more of us than not who have at least one ancestor from or a close relative living in Canada, and in one or more of the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, including New Brunswick. Many Irish left Ireland and made Canada their home; countless others stepped off a boat in a Canadian port and made their way into the United States. Some Irish and Irish Canadians served in the U.S. Civil War, the War of 1812, and Americans who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War fled to Atlantic Canadian provinces, including New Brunswick. Regardless of one’s ethnic, racial, or cultural background, Atlantic Canada, including New Brunswick, was home to the ancestors of many Maine and New Englanders. For this reason alone, I believe Mainers and New Englanders should be interested in this project and support our neighbors’ efforts to preserve this culture and history.

If you are unfamiliar with the NB Museum or have heard of it but never visited, you may be wondering what types of records are housed in its archival collections. For the purpose of providing an example for this story, I visited their website’s collections page and conducted a keyword search for “famine.” The search results generated a list, including “St. John County Alms and Work House fonds, 1843-1884.” Its scope and content description state it “…consists of registers and accounts of the St. John County Alms and Workhouse…consists of three series: Admittance Registers, Emigrant Register, and Accounts.” Lastly, its Administrative History and Bibliographic Sketch provided the following, and I am sharing in its full description, because of its richness:

“I. In 1800, the first Saint John Alms House was opened on King Square South. This building was a converted grist windmill, which was destroyed by fire in 1819. A brick building was then erected on the corner of King Street East and Carmarthen Street. As the number of immigrants arriving in Saint John requiring assistance increased, both the provincial and local authorities realized the need for a larger, central facility. In 1839, pursuant to the Alms House act of Legislature in 1838, tenders were called for a new county alms house to be erected in Simonds Parish, St. John County. The St. John County Alms and Work House, located on Little River Road on the east side of Courtenay Bay, opened in 1842. It was a substantial building with a solid rock foundation, brick walls, and a large timbered frame

II. A Board of six commissioners was appointed to supervise the operation of the Alms and Work House, replacing the Overseers of the Poor appointed by each parish; however, most authority was delegated to the Keeper and Matron. The first keeper was William Craig who was employed for seven years. William Craig was followed by Robert Reed who, in 1851, was succeeded by William Cunningham who was employed as keeper for 33 years until his death in 1884. Edward C. Wood then became keeper with Mrs. Cunningham remaining on as matron until her retirement in 1891.

III. During the “famine years” (1845-1847), 30,000 Irish emigrants arrived at the port of Saint John and many of the destitute and ill were cared for at the St. John County Alms and Work House which included an infirmary. In 1847, due to the increase in immigrants with typhus, an Emigrant Hospital was erected near the Alms House. It consisted of several buildings – one which contained 128 beds, another building that accommodated 110 beds, and there were a number of narrow sheds. The buildings were very cramped with blocked passageways. There were no coverings on the outside wall of some of the buildings which resulted in patients suffering from exposure. In the fall of 1847 there were five to six hundred patients in the Emigrant Hospital on a daily basis. The Emigrant Hospital was destroyed by fire in 1853

IV. In the 1890’s, improvements were made to the St. John County Alms and Work House including an overhaul of the interior, removal of the outbuildings, construction of a brick ell and new barn, and cultivation of 45 acres of land. In 1908 the name of the institution changed to the St. John Municipal Home. It closed ca. 1965.”

Having now read the above description, in what ways do you think a resource like this would be helpful for local and family history researchers? How does it fit in a greater historical context?

So many Irish arrived in the New World via the port of Saint John in the 19th century, especially during Famine times. It is hard to imagine “30,000 Irish emigrants arrived at the port of Saint John” during the first two years of Ireland’s calamity. A portion of these recent arrivals, some perhaps as the last living survivors of their immediate family, and friendless, were in a state of destitution and terrible disease or illness, and ended up in this institution. Some stayed briefly, some stayed a while, and some took their last breath in it. Individuals with surviving families may have had relatives who were not institutionalized and who lived in the city, or who had relocated elsewhere in the province or beyond its borders. What, if anything, could this record set share about the personal lives of the inmates? I hope to explore this record set in the new museum.

Here is the link to my “Famine” search result: website.nbm-mnb.ca/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll

The renovation of the New Brunswick Museum is a significant undertaking, and its reopening is already much anticipated with all it aims to offer its patrons. And, Saint John is an old yet vibrant little city located on the beautiful provincial coast. Worth a visit!

New Brunswick Museum
website:nbm-mnb.ca

Thank you for reading.

♥︎ Krista