New Maryland, York County, New Brunswick: Census of 1871

Edited and transcribed by Rob Fisher

First Edition: January 1998, Published by AN Design Studio, Truro, Nova Scotia.

Second Edition: April 2002, Published online by Rob Fisher

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to the New Maryland Census of 1871
2. Nominal Return of the Living
3. Nominal Return of Deaths in the Last 12 Months
4. Notes
5. Map of the Parish of New Maryland in 1878

Introduction to the New Maryland Census of 1871

New Maryland is situated south of Fredericton, the capital of the province of New Brunswick, Canada. The parish, the equivalent of a township in other Canadian provinces, was set off from neighbouring Kingsclear in 1850. It comprised the villages of New Maryland, Nasonworth, Charters Settlement, Beaver Dam, and Green Point Settlement during the 1870s. It is bisected from east to west by the south and north branches of Rusagonis Stream. New Maryland was first settled about 1800 and was primarily an agricultural settlement. However, the farmers often supplemented their income by working in the lumber camps during the winter.

The population of New Maryland was 488 in April 1871. There were 81 families living in 80 dwelling homes. For those whose occupations were listed, the overwhelming majority were farmers (the enumerator put "farming" instead of "farmer" for occupation when a woman was the head of the household) reflecting the agricultural nature of the community. In addition to the farmers, the other occupations included two labourers, one hired man, one shoemaker, and one domestic servant.

The spelling of surnames and given names have not been altered to impose consistency. All possible variant spellings should be checked. Every effort, of course, has been made to transcribe the names accurately but undoubtedly some errors have crept in due to the difficulties in deciphering handwriting from the microfilm of the census. Researchers should check the microfilm for themselves if they have any doubts. The reels are available at Library and Archives Canada or may be ordered on Inter Library Loan. The 1871 census is on reel C-10381.

The enumerator's remarks and other information has been placed in end notes. The editor's notes are shown by square brackets.

The abbreviations used below are:

The enumerator of the 1871 census was James P. Sills: he did not reside in the parish but in neighbouring Fredericton where he was Deputy Surveyor of Crown Lands. He took the census from 3-10 April 1871. He left two lines blank and two other times wrote names below the last line of the page: an understandable mistake because there was an additional blank line on the form below the 20th line. These two entries were crossed out and re-entered on the last page of the census. The entries are generally clearly written although second names are often compressed and difficult to read. He was not consistent in his spelling of given names, spelling Margaret as "Margrate" for the first twenty pages before changing to the more familiar spelling. Sometimes he apparently asked how names were spelled, for when he encountered a family or two with an abundance of unusual names he wrote in the remarks column: "These marvelous names are spell[ed] from order of the parents" (page 12). Another time he noted that a person "didn't know how to spell his name" (page 20). Researchers should note that some surnames were spelled two different ways: Nason/Nasson, Hodgson/Hodgeson, and Moray/Mowry.

Nominal Return of the Living

Nominal Return of the Deaths within the Last Twelve Months

Notes

1. Born September 1870.
   
2. Separated from husband.
   
3. Born June 1870.
   
4. Editor's Note: Charles Frederick Fisher was on line 20, the last line of page 3. The enumerator wrote the name of John Moore Fisher in the additional line below line 20 by accident. Realizing his error later, he crossed out the name of John Moore Fisher and entered him on the last page, page 25, making a note in the remarks column on page 3. I have included him here with his family rather than at the end of the census.
   
5. Her second name could not be read.
   
6. Wife on line 15 [Agnes Howie].
   
7. Husband on line 12 [John Howie].
   
8. Editor's Note: Agnes Fisher was on line 20, the last line of page 5. The enumerator wrote the name of George Samuel Fisher in the extra space below line 20 by accident instead of at the top of the next page. He later crossed out the name of George Samuel Fisher and entered him on the last page, page 25 (reversing his name to Samuel Geo.), making a note in the remarks column on page 5. I have listed him here with his family rather than on the last page.
9. Born November 1870.
   
10. Editor’s Note: There are two names on line 4 of page 7. The name Mary Anne Black (age 68) is written in above that of Rebecca, female, age 31 (surname apparently Fletcher). It seems that the rest of the information in line 4 relates to Mary Anne Black. A note in the remarks column that is crossed out reads "not living in home" and probably refers to Rebecca. Above it is written "husband on page 13, line 12". This refers to Peter Black, age 68, apparently the husband of Mary Anne Black.
    
11. Born December 1870.
    
12. Born January 1871.
    
13. No property.
    
14. Editor’s Note: The name "David J." Nason is crossed out and replaced with "Mary" Nason. "David Nasson" is listed in the nominal return of deaths for the past year. The enumerator wrote down the length of the remarks column of page 12, "These marvelous names are spell[ed] from order of the parents". The spelling of the "marvelous" names is not always clear on the microfilm. The editor has done his best!
    
15. Born May 1870.
    
16. Born September 1870.
    
17. [Editor’s Note] The name "Abigail" Phillips is crossed out and "Peter Black" written in. The remarks column shows that his wife is entered on page 7, line 4. Abigail was probably the wife of the David Cowie below whose family shared the same dwelling house.
    
18. Editor’s Note: This family lives in the same house as the family of John M. Phillips above.
    
19. Born August 1870.
    
20. Born May 1870.
    
21. Born February 1871.
    
22. School now closed [6 April 1871].
    
23. Born February 1871.
    
24. Editor's Note: Unable to read or write. The remarks column states "didn't know how to spell his name" after the name Judson Phillips, but parentheses indicate that the remark relates to Christopher Rynax above instead.
    
25. Born February 1871.
    
26. Editor's Note: Parentheses possibly indicate that Mary Emma and Sarah Jane were twins.
    
27. Born December 1870.
    
28. Born January 1871.
    
29. Editor's Note: Could not read her second name.
    
30. Editor's Note: Her name is possibly "Lois" rather than "Lord".
    
31. Born in October 1870.
    
32. Born in May 1870.
    

Copyright © Rob Fisher 1998-2020