Place:Madawaska (county), New Brunswick, Canada

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NameMadawaska (county)
Alt namesMadawaskasource: Family History Library Catalog
New Brunswick Panhandlesource: Wikipedia
TypeCounty
Coordinates47.42°N 68.36°W
Located inNew Brunswick, Canada     (1873 - )
Also located inCarleton, New Brunswick, Canada     (1833 - 1844)
Victoria, New Brunswick, Canada     (1844 - 1873)
source: Family History Library Catalog

Madawaska County was established in 1833 as part of Carleton County and in 1844 became part of Victoria County. It was completely separated in 1873 and named after the Madawaska River: the name Madawaska comes from the Maliseet word Medawes'kak meaning "unknown". The majority of the early settlers were Acadians who settled in the area after the Expulsion of 1755: some settlers also came from the Province of Quebec. (Source: Place Names of New Brunswick)

Image:Canada New Brunswick Counties 2.png



the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Madawaska County (2016 population 32,741[1]), also known as the "New Brunswick Panhandle", is located in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada. Over 90% of the county's population speaks French. Its Francophone population are known as "Brayons." Forestry is the major industry in the county.

Madawaska (County) is so named in WeRelate to distinguish it from Madawaska (parish) and the community of Madawaska.



History

:the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

The first inhabitants of what is now called Madawaska County were the Maliseet or Wolastoqiyik, who occupied and used the land along the Saint John River Valley north to the St. Lawrence River and south to the Penobscot River. There is debate concerning the true origin of the word "Madawaska".

The earliest European settlers were from Quebec. The area was the focus of the bloodless Aroostook War, a border dispute led by businessman and political activist John Baker.

Madawaska County was not created until 1873 when it was separated from Victoria County and named after the Madawaska River. Victoria County had been in existence since 1844. The western counties of New Brunswick were established as their populations grew. The earliest (1786) county name was was York which now only covers a small section of its original area. (Source:Place Names of New Brunswick)

Image:Madawaska County NB PMJ.png

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".
  • The earliest settlers of the Upper Saint John River Valley can be clearly verified with the databases connected to Visit of the Bishop of Québec to the upper St.John River valley, 1686 and a transcription of 1820 US Census of Penobscot County, Maine. The second link displays census results taken in 1820 of the Madawaska region where most families had originated from Quebec.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Madawaska County, New Brunswick. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.