Place:Chatham, Northumberland, New Brunswick, Canada

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia Chatham is an urban neighbourhood in the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada. Prior to municipal amalgamation in 1995, Chatham was an incorporated town in Northumberland County along the south bank of the Miramichi River opposite Douglastown. Since amalgamation, it has been sometimes referred to as Miramichi East. [edit] Chatham Head Chatham Head was a promontory on south side of the Miramichi River, 3.71 km N of Nelson-Miramichi, at the southern end of Chatham Parish. In 1866 it was a farming community with approximately 6 families. It had a separate post office 1922-1967. In 1904 Chatham Head had 1 store and 1 steam sawmill and was also known as Sargent. With the rest of Chatham, Chatham Head is now part of the city of Miramichi. (Source:Place Names of New Brunswick)

The impact of geography on history

At Chatham, the Miramichi River is quite wide, the water salt and tidal. Just downstream from the town, the river begins to widen into a broad estuary, where the Miramichi River gradually becomes Miramichi Bay. Because of its eastward facing location, ships coming from the British Isles in early times had easy access through the Strait of Belle Isle and across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was more accessible and safer to get to than the ports of Quebec City or Saint John, New Brunswick.

In colonial times, the surrounding lands were heavily forested; the stands of eastern white pine were especially valued for ships' masts. The river teemed with fish, Atlantic salmon the most prized. Abundant game roamed the forests, and berries were a valuable food supplement.

Scottish immigrants to the area found it familiar. The rocks in the Miramichi are similar to those of Scotland, being a part of the same formation before continental drift separated them. Seabirds and fish are often the same or similar. The Atlantic salmon, the herring gull and the common tern were found in both areas. The Scots had the technology and know-how to cut lumber, fish, farm and build ships. The Irish immigrants did not bring the same skills, as their forests had long been cut down and they did not have such a well-developed fishing industry. They picked up skills from their neighbours. As urban English immigrants did not have these skills, and farmers were used to a more moderate climate, they tended to settle elsewhere.

At Chatham, the river banks are low but not subject to flooding, and are thus well suited as a location for wharves. With a deep channel close to the shore, the largest ships in colonial times could approach the wharves. Away from the shore, the land gradually rises several hundred feet. Rainfall is quite adequate. The soil, while sandy and a bit acid, supports potatoes, root crops and apple trees. All these circumstances made Chatham an ideal location for lumbering and fishing.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Chatham, New Brunswick.

Research Tips

• New Brunswick Provincial Archives. This is the introductory page. The tabs will lead you to more precise material.
• The FamilySearch wiki. This lists the availability of vital statistics indexes for New Brunswick.
• New Brunswick GenWeb. A round-up of a lot of genealogical information at the province, county and parish level. Lists of cemeteries and monumental inscriptions can be found here.
• The Provincial Archives website titled The Placenames of New Brunswick has maps of all of its parishes and descriptions of some communities within them. This site contains "cadastral" maps for each parish illustrating the grantee’s name for land granted by the province. These maps are cumulative, showing all grants regardless of date.
• Microfilm images of all Canadian censuses 1851-1911 are online at Library and Archives Canada, as well as at FamilySearch and Ancestry. The 1921 census appears to be available only at Ancestry.
• The CanGenealogy page for New Brunswick. An overview of available online sources with links written by Dave Obee.
• More possibilities can be found by googling "New Brunswick province family history" and investigating the results.
• The word "rencensement", found in Sources, is French for "census".