History

For over 10,000 years before the European settlers, the area was inhabited by Micmac Indians who called the river the Lustagoocheehk (little goodly river). Basque and French fishermen came to fish in Miramichi Bay each summer from the early 1500s, but no attempt was made at settlement. In 1534 Jacques Cartier sailed across the mouth of the Bay and recorded it in his journal.

Migration during and after the Napoleonic Wars was mainly from Scotland and Ireland. It was a prosperous time for the lumber and shipbuilding industries in the area. William Davidson, Miramichi's founder, had secured a contract to cut masts for the British Navy during the war which in turn had been a boon to local shipbuilding. Heavy trade in fish and furs had also built up.

William Davidson was born John Godsman in Banffshire, Scotland in 1741. He came to Nova Scotia in 1765, and at the age of 25 he formed a partnership with John Cort and was successful in receiving a 100,000 acre land grant on the Miramichi River, with fishing and timber rights. The fishing rights were to be shared with the indigenous Micmacs. Over the next few years, fish and furs were exported to foreign markets using locally produced vessels. The 300-ton schooner Miramichi, first locally built ship launched from Davidson's shipyard on Beaubear Island, with its cargo of salmon and cod for the Mediterranean, was lost off the coast of Spain in 1774, one year after it was built.

Square rigger
Photo by Ole Larsen

The first seven families to settle in Miramichi were:

Stuart - 1775
Gillis - 1775
Munro - 1775
Markmen - 1773
More - 1769
Davidson - 1765
Cort - 1765

Daniel Dunn settled there in July 1785.

After the Acadian explusion from Nova Scotia (New Brunswick was part of Nova Scotia till 1784) in 1755, refugees headed northward. After the fall of Louisburg, more refugees came to the Miramichi from the Island of St. John (Prince Edward Island). General Boishébert, commander of the French forces, helped them reach Miramichi and in 1757 established a camp for them on what is now known as Beaubear's Island (a corruption of his name). British vessels blocked the mouth of the Miramichi Bay and during that winter over 500 persons died of starvation and scurvy and were buried there. In the spring, most of the survivors went to Chaleur Bay and Quebec to try to escape the British soldiers. Some remained on Beaubear Island and at French Fort Cove. Both of these settlements were destroyed by British forces in 1760. One would never know to visit the uninhabited and mosquito-infested Beaubear's Island today (as I have) that it once boasted a prosperous shipyard and a population of 3000. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris surrendered the French possessions in North America to Britain.

During the time of the American Revolution, American privateers began preying upon Gulf of St. Lawrence shipping, and Davidson lost more ships. Indian raids, agitated by American rebels, as well caused Davidson to abandon the area in 1777 for the St. John River area where it was safer, and where he was able to establish lumbering operations. He returned to the Miramichi in 1783, settling more families, creating a shipbuilding yard, and constructing a sawmill.

The province of New Brunswick was created in 1784. At the close of the American Revolution, approximately 12,000 Loyalists and former soldiers came to New Brunswick. John Cort died at Beaubear's Point during the American Revolution. There was much pressure to grant settlements to Loyalists, and an inquiry was conducted which reached the conclusion that all terms of the original grant had not been satisfied, thereby revoking Davidson's original grant. A much smaller grant of 14,400 acres was given. William Davidson was one of the first members elected to the House of Assembly where he served from 1785 until his death at age 50 in 1790. His grave is at The Enclosure.

After New Brunswick separated from Nova Scotia in 1784, the County of Northumberland was set up and lands were set aside for a townsite to be named Miramichi, and for a church and graveyard at Beaubear's Point (now known as The Enclosure), where the Northwest and Southwest branches of the Miramichi River meet. The first sheriff of the county decided that Miramichi was too difficult to pronounce and spell and so the name was changed to Newcastle. It would eventually become Miramichi once again when several towns amalgamated. The designated area at Beaubear's Point ended up not being used as as the town site, and instead Lot No. 3 was bought from Robert Reid, fourth sheriff, and the townsite was established in the downtown park area now referred to as The Square.

The Great Fire of Miramichi on October 7, 1825 put an end to the masting industry, but shipbuilding continued, reaching its peak in the 1850s. Vessels were built up to the 1890s but the last square-rigger was built in 1880 by C.C. Watt in the Harding yard. The forest industry succeeded shipbuilding. Most labourers worked in the woods in winter, cutting and driving the timber down the Miramichi in spring, and in the sawmills in summer. Miramichi salmon fishing is world famous. When the first Scottish settlers arrived in the 1760s, they claimed they couldn't sleep at night because of the noisy (and plentiful) salmon leaping and splashing.

Rafting lumber
Photo by Ole Larsen

At the time of the Great Fire, which destroyed 6,000 square miles, almost all of Newcastle's buildings were destroyed. Only twelve were spared. Some families left the area for Quebec, Upper Canada, the eastern U.S., Wisconsin and Minnesota. The hardy and brave residents who remained persevered.

The first church was St. James Presbyterian (now St. James and St. John United) built in 1829 by William Murray.

An Irish-born merchant, John Harkins, died in 1837 and bequeathed a sum of money to build a no-fee school for all children, rich or poor. The early colonials of means had brought tutors from Britain and sent their children to England for their higher education. The first wooden building burned in 1893, and the present stone building, Harkins Academy, built with stones from the French Fort Cove quarry, was built in 1894.

Many of its 349 passengers aboard the vessel Loosthauk, en route from Liverpool to Quebec in 1847, contracted typhus with 117 dying on the seven-week voyage, and 100 more sick and unable to take care of themselves. The captain of the ship had to land at Miramichi and sent word to the authorities of their dire need for assistance. The sick were given food, supplies and shelter and were quarantined at Middle Island. More information to be found here: Accounts from Miramichi

The railway came to the town in 1875.

The town of Newcastle was incorporated in 1899.

The people of the area travelled primarily by water until the Morrissy Bridge was built in 1914.

Morrissy Bridge Opening Day Nov 12, 1914
Photo by Ole Larsen

This area can proudly boast of two Fathers of Confederation.