Saint John Almshouse Records

I have featured a number of databases on this blog from the New Brunswick Irish Portal over the last number of months (see the end of this post for a full list of links to previous articles). Another one worth highlighting is the Saint John Almshouse Records, primarily for the Irish place of origin information in these records.

This database covers the years 1843 to 1897 and is made up of two different sets of registers - St. John [sic] City Almshouse Admission Registers, 1843-1897 and Saint John Almshouse Admission Registers, 1843-1884. A number of city institutions are covered in these registers, namely the Alms and Work House, the Emigrant Infirmary, and the St. John Emigrant Orphan Asylum. These institutions were created due to the arrival of large numbers of poor emigrants from Europe, in particular Ireland.

The structure of the search facility is slightly different when compared to the websites of the commercial and non-profit behemoths. Firstly, you can pre-select the amount of information that is returned from searches. Some of the information, such as collection, page, given names, and surname is automatically returned, but there is a sizeable list which is optional. This include: admitted by, age in years, age in months, age in days, condition, nativity, date landed, died/discharged, date of death/discharge, place of origin, parish of residence, time in house, time in province, vessel, vessel type, vessel master, religion, departure, landed, and remarks. However, information was not necessarily collection for each heading.

Secondly, the collections can be filtered and they are categorized by archival number. St. John [sic] City Almshouse Admission Registers, 1843-1897 make up the MC249 collections and Saint John Almshouse Admission Registers, 1843-1884 make up the MC700 collections. It is recommended to read the introduction and 'About the Records' to fully understand this record set and database.

Many of the records for those born in Ireland return a county of origin, making this a particularly useful database to consult.

Access the database by clicking here.

Note - I have previous written about other databases from the New Brunswick Irish Portal: Brenan Funeral Home records, Fitzwilliam Estate Emigration Books, Irish Immigrants in New Brunswick Census 1851 & 1861, Teachers Petition Database, and Irish in 19th Century New Brunswick Newspapers.

Irish In 19th Century New Brunswick Newspapers

The newspaper database on the New Brunswick Irish portal is made up of a collection of articles from a range of 19th century newspapers from the province. A detailed breakdown of the years of publication is not provided for all papers, but some, such as the Saint John True Liberator was first published in 1847.[1]

New Brunswick Irish Portal Newspapers Database

It does not seem that all articles from all editions of the newspapers are included. Rather, a selection that are most relevant to the history and genealogy of the Irish in the province have been digitized. An unusual but interesting feature of this database is that the selected articles from the newspapers are divided into the following helpful sections:

"Information Wanted" Advertisements

"Reminiscences of New Brunswick"

Affairs and Conditions in Ireland

Agriculture

Assisted Emigration

Cards of Thanks and Commendations

Censuses

Cholera

Conditions in New Brunswick

Confederation and Union of the Colonies

Customs, Exports and Imports

Education

Emigrant Hospital, Almshouse and Lunatic Asylum

Emigrant Societies

Employment and Trades

Illness, Disease and Quarantine

Irish Culture

Juvenile Emigration

Legal Affairs

Miscellaneous

New Brunswick Emigration Office and Emigration Agents

New Brunswick Land Settlement and Colonization

Out-migration

Passage Conditions

Passage Notices and Other Advertisements

Passenger Act

Pauper, Orphan and Emigrant Relief

Physicians and Health Officers

Poetry

Politics

Religious Affairs

Riots

Ship Wrecks and Accidents

Small Pox

Speeches, Debates and Lectures

St. John Board of Health

St. Patrick's Society

The Famine and Irish Relief

The Fenians

Typhus/Ship Fever

Vessel and Emigrant Arrivals

Views on Emigration

Views on the Irish

A quick search of the famous (and unfortunately small number of) 'information wanted' adverts finds articles with priceless genealogical information that can be so hard to find for immigrants from the mid 19th century: year of immigration, names of family members, and exact place of origin in Ireland. Some articles in the "Assisted Emigration" section report on the arrival of the thousands of assisted emigrants from the Gore-Booth estate in Co. Sligo, while there are also articled about societies that operated in the province.

Articles in this database come from the following newspapers:

New Brunswick Courier

New Brunswick Reporter and Fredericton Advertiser

New Brunswick Standard

St. John Liberator Irish Advocate

The Freeman

The Gleaner and Northumberland, Kent, Gloucester and Restigouche Commercial and Agricultural Journal

The Herald

The Morning Freeman

The New Dominion and True Humorist

The New Freeman

The Saint John Gazette and the Weekly Advertiser

The St. John Daily Sun

The Standard or Frontier Agricultural and Commercial Gazette

The True Humorist

The True Liberator

Times

You can access the database by clicking here.

Note - I have previous written about other databases from the New Brunswick Irish Portal: Brenan Funeral Home records, Fitzwilliam Estate Emigration Books, Irish Immigrants in New Brunswick Census 1851 & 1861, and the Teachers Petition Database.

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[1] New Brunswick Provincial Archives. Introduction. Year unknown. http://archives.gnb.ca/Irish/Databases/Newspapers/?culture=en-CA: accessed 11 July 2014.

Irish Immigrants in New Brunswick Census 1851 & 1861

In the years following 1845 New Brunswick experienced an influx of Irish immigrants due to the failed potato crop in Ireland. The wave abated by 1851 but is commonly remembered as the sole contribution of Irish to New Brunswick. Yet thousands of Irish were living in New Brunswick prior to these events. In 1851 and 1861 New Brunswick conducted full censuses which were to become invaluable records documenting the makeup of the province. In particular these records highlight the “Irishness” of the province, bringing to light a substantial number of Irish persons who made their home in New Brunswick prior to the famine in their homeland. Unlike previously gathered statistics, such as those from 1841, these returns enumerated the birthplace of immigrants living in New Brunswick, identifying those born in England, Scotland, Ireland.[1]

These are valuable census records beyond the obvious notion of looking for Irish ancestors who lived in New Brunswick:

New Brunswick shares a long border with the U.S. state of Maine. Therefore, there would have been a lot of migration to the New England region and vice versa.

The port city of Saint John is in New Brunswick. Irish immigrant who stayed in the city for an initial few years in 1849-51 and 1859-61 period will be recorded.

Many Irish immigrants might be captured in these censuses who then moved elsewhere in Canada.

For more detailed information about the Irish in New Brunswick in the mid 19th century, you can read this paper by P.M Toner - The Irish of New Brunswick at Mid-Century: The 1851 Census.

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[1] Library and Archives Canada. Irish Immigrants in the New Brunswick Census 1841 and 1851. Date Unknown. Available online at http://archives.gnb.ca/Irish/Databases/Toner/?culture=en-CA: accessed 22 May 2014.