FULL HISTORY
1800 to 1850
Before 1817
Colin Livingstone, an Irishman, had moved from Nova Scotia and was settled in today’s MacDougall Settlement.
1817
Thirty-eight-year-old British immigrant, George Gibson, applied for land along what is today Falconer Road in Notre-Dame.
1818
Unhappy, Mr. Gibson wrote to the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, describing the land as “too far remote from any inhabitants” and relinquished his application.
1819
John Armour, originally from Scotland, applied for a land grant at the freshwater end of the Cocagne River, and near today’s Falconer Road. This area would bear several names: Victoriaville, Scovil’s Mills, Cocaigne North, and finally Notre-Dame Centre. Regardless, all hamlets were located within the Parish of Dundas.
Armour was also granted land in 1820. A few years later, he and his new bride Ann moved from Dorchester to what is today Notre-Dame Centre, NB.
1821
John Coll MacDougall applied for a land grant in what is today, MacDougall Settlement. Born in 1797 in Oban, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, he left poor conditions and moved to “British North America”, now Canada.
He sailed on “The Economy” to Pictou, Nova Scotia in 1819 and stayed with his cousins for a while. He decided to return to Scotland and walked to New Brunswick to catch a ship back home. When he arrived at Pointe-du-Chêne, he found that the Cocagne River had frozen over and that his ship had already sailed.
He stayed in Cocagne and worked at ferrying people across the Cocagne River, where the current bridge stands today. One day, he walked along the north side of the river to now Notre-Dame Centre and then walked south to end up in what is today, MacDougall Settlement. He came upon a clear water spring and decided to build on that spot. He met Colin Livingstone, an Irishman who had recently settled, having moved from Nova Scotia. Their properties would share the old Beaver Meadow. John Coll lived with Colin until 1825.
1823
On May 1, 1823, Colin Livingstone was granted land in MacDougall Settlement.
1824
It is believed that the Amos family settled in Hays Village in 1824 or earlier. Thomas Amos was born March 21, 1773, in Lowther Westmorland England and died in Bouctouche in 1831. He and his wife Jane had ten children, many of whom moved to Bouctouche. Daughter Elizabeth married Charles Teed and daughter Mary wed John Colborne around 1828. John became a Trustee of the Union Church when the title of the Church and Cemetery was transferred from Bowen and Harriett Smith who had long volunteered. Colborne died before 1861 and his wife Mary died in 1890. She is buried in St Albans Cemetery, Cocagne, NB.
It is uncertain but probable that the hamlet of Hays was named in honour of Thomas Hays. A historical map shows that his land neighboured fellow landowners such as R.C. Scovil, Robert Dysart, and T.E. Smith. The 1861 Canada Census shows a Thomas Hays as being fifty-three years old and another as being twenty-eight years old, in addition to Edward Hays who died in 1869, and a third Thomas Hays shown as being two years old, all of them from Dundas, New Brunswick. Chances are they all belong to the same family.
The spelling of Hays and Hayes are often interchanged in historical documents.
About 1824/25
John Burk, Thomas Lynch, William Limen, and John Gorman settled in what is now Notre-Dame Centre. This group of Irishmen probably moved from Dorchester. Their lands were granted on November 10, 1824.
John Armour and Alex McWilliams, both originally from Galloway, Scotland, moved from Dorchester to what is today Notre-Dame Centre. John Armour, who was married with three children, had been granted 300 acres of land on September 26, 1820. Alex McWilliams was granted 200 acres of land on July 31, 1824. He was married to Catherine and the 1881 census shows her to be sixty-nine years old.
Alex McWilliams is shown on the 1861 census as being forty-three years old and a resident of Scovil’s Mills. An 1881 census shows him as being sixty-two years old. As a result, he was born either in 1818 or 1819. McWilliams was married to Catherine and father to William McWilliams.
These census records put into question the year Alex McWilliams moved to the community. Documents do show that Alexander McWilliams was postmaster of Scovil’s Mills between 1868 and 1873.
Son William McWilliams was a well-respected member of the community, active in church matters and a Trustee of the Protestant Burying Ground, adjacent to the Union Church along with Mill’s operator Bowen Smith and his wife, Harriett Smith. William is buried in the Union Church Cemetery.
1825
On October 31, 1825, John Coll MacDougall married Anne Howard Chapman and they settled in what is today, MacDougall Settlement. They met in Cocagne where they were both staying.
1825
Colin Livingstone left MacDougall Settlement with his wife for Kouchibouguac, New Brunswick, as she longed for the sea.
1826
Alexander Nevers, a merchant from Dorchester, rented land from Humphrey Gilbert, Esq., who was also from Dorchester. On this land, Nevers received permission to cut wood and to build a “double sawmill” on the south side of the Cocagne River in Notre-Dame.
In 1826, even though he owned large parcels of land in what is today Notre-Dame Centre, Alexander Nevers opened a sawmill on land rented from Humphrey Gilbert. The year before, in 1825, Nevers had opened his first sawmill in Shediac, on the shore of Shediac River. In 1833, he died in a tragic boating accident. He was forty-six years old.
Note: Humphrey Gilbert was granted land in Cocagne on July 26, 1809. He lived in Dorchester and was wealthy, owning large parcels of land which he rented. It is believed that he was a descendant of Major Thomas Gilbert, a very distinguished loyalist whose family originated from Devonshire, England. His mother was Elizabeth Tisdale (born abt 1741). They were married November 14, 1765, in Freetown, Bristol, Mass.
The Gilbert family colonized in Massachusetts under patent from the Queen, and Colonel Thomas Gilbert was in Louisburg in 1745. He was granted land in Gagetown, New Brunswick in 1783 and settled there at the age of 68.
Humphrey Gilbert was born on September 25, 1775, in Bristol Old Colony, Massachusetts. In the spring of 1783, he sailed on the ship “Spencer” with his grandfather, Colonel Thomas Gilbert, to Saint-John, New Brunswick. He later settled in Dorchester and on February 12, 1807, and married Sarah Keech (born April 5, 1783, and died May 31, 1842). She was the only child of Lt. Robert Keech, a British Loyalist born in North Castle, New York, who lived in Dorchester and died there on October 2, 1842, at the age of 83. Gilbert died in Dorchester on July 20, 1838.
Note: Alexander Nevers was born on February 4, 1787, in Maugerville, Sunbury County, NB. He was the son of Samuel A. Nevers and Isabel Howard. He married Frances Perley in November 1810, in Maugerville. She was the daughter of Israel Perley and Elizabeth Mooers. It is not clear what happened but what is known is that Alexander married for a second time, to Millicent Peters on March 18, 1814, in Grand Lake, Queens County, NB. She was born on September 7, 1794, in Long Island, Queens County, NB. Her parents were William Peters and Charlotte Haines. Alexander and Millicent had 6 children. Millicent Nevers is shown on a historical map as owning land in Hays.
Alexander Nevers was involved in a boating accident that took his life on October 11, 1833, in Shediac, Westmorland County, NB, at the age of forty-six. All six people on board drown. He is buried in the St. Martin’s in the Woods Anglican Church Cemetery, Shediac, NB. Millicent died June 8, 1861.
1826
Dundas was created from Wellington Parish, and it covered a large territory on the southern belt of Kent County. Communities such as Cocagne, Grande-Digue, Notre-Dame, Saint-Antoine, Goudalie, etc. were all part of the civil Parish of Dundas.
The Parish had a say in local governance and a responsibility to administer services such as schools. A local committee hired teachers, maintained the school infrastructure and grounds in good order, etc. As local schools were built, the district assigned them a number. For example, the district of Guéguen was designated as District Dundas 4.
1829
Andrew Johnston, who was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on January 12, 1803, landed in Saint-John in the spring of 1825. He went to Cocagne in 1826 and married Anne Spence on December 5, 1827. Anne was from County Armagh, Ireland. They had ten children born in the Parish of Dundas. He died in 1888 at the age of 85, in Victoriaville (as shown in the Daily Telegraph). Victoriaville was known to be the area surrounding the Union Church. This area would also be known as Scovil’s Mills, Cocaigne North, Notre-Dame Centre, and Cocagne Sud Road.
Early 1830s
Basile Goguen is believed to be the first settler in Guéguen. He was followed by Thomas Goguen, Hubert LeBlanc, and Raphaël Richard, all from Memramcook. As well, Aimé Langis (Rimouski) moved to Guéguen after two relatives came to teach at the Cocagne North River School or l’École de Guéguen.
Early 1830s
John Kairns (Cairns), John Christal, John Colborne, John and Daniel Crawford settled in Hays. The Crawford genealogy records show that Daniel was married to Mary Abigail Marr and that they had two sons, Jacob and William. Daniel died in 1861 and is buried in St Alban’s Cemetery, Cocagne, NB.
About 1831
Andrew Johnston received a land grant in the heart of the village and farmed this property, father to son William and later grandson Arthur.
William was born on September 28, 1828, in Cocagne, and he died in 1915. He married Margaret Jane Dysart who was also born in Cocagne, on July 29, 1856. The Johnston family have been living on this land for almost 200 years.
About 1833
It is unclear who operated the sawmill in the heart of the village following the death of Alexander Nevers in 1833. It is believed that the mill was purchased by Richard Scovil, a lumber baron and owner of sawmills and several large land parcels in the area. The sawmill would again be sold in 1848, to Bowen Smith.
1835
On April 11, 1835, David Cormier purchased land in Guéguen from Placide Dupré. Placide and his brother Gabriel settled in Guéguen.
1835
The Teed family began to settle in the area known as Teed Road. The Crawfords also lived there.
1837
The home of James Lucas in Cocagne served as relay post office (way office) for Cocagne, Saint-Antoine, and Notre-Dame. Lucas became the first postmaster of the Cocagne Post Office in 1868. Meanwhile, two years earlier in 1866, Scovil’s Mills Post Office was opened to serve the growing population of the village. The lumber industry was lucrative and an important economic generator.
1838
Humphrey Gilbert died. Property rights changed hands to his three sons: Humphrey, Bradfort and Samuel.
early 1840s
The first Acadian settlers to arrive in MacDougall Settlement were Joseph Poirier (Grande-Digue), Philippe Gagnon (Québec), Joseph Landry et Denis Landry (Cap Pelé), Hubert Lirette (Cocagne). These names appeared in the 1851 and 1861 census. Sometime later, the McGraw family settled here. They were followed by the McNeils, McKinnons, Murrays, and Duffs who settled down the road towards Scotch Settlement.
1841
On March 4, 1841, John MacDougall was granted land.
Abt 1841
The first school built was a log cabin used to teach children of the first settlers. It was located across the road from present day Notre-Dame Express store. The small school would be replaced in 1906 with a new two room school built one mile down the road, towards the mill.
1844
Land in Alexandrina was granted to Christopher Fay (Faye, Fae).
1845
Joseph Poirier built a log house in MacDougall Settlement and in 1871, sold it to Philippe Gagnon. It is known that Edouard Gagnon lived there between 1900 and 1950. Afterwards, Tilmon Gagnon lived there until 1972 when Jaddus Babineau purchased the house and accompanying land. For many years, it remained vacant. The log house was eventually moved to Grande-Digue for museum purposes. It is considered a fine example of craftsmanship.
1847
On March 4, 1847, John MacDougall was granted more land.
1848
Records show that Bowen Smith operated a mill in what is today Notre-Came Centre which he probably bought from Richard Scovil who operated other mills in the area, namely Shediac. Bowen contacted brothers William and Richard Scovil, owner of sawmills and several large parcels of land in the region. He sold them half of his rights in 1851 and the other half in 1854. Under Richard Scovil, this water powered lumber mill became one of the most important in the area, employing ten people in 1861.
Scovil’s Mills was sold in the early 1900s to brothers Charlie and Ben Lockhart who modernized it and opened a general store nearby. In 1915-16, the Lockharts sold the mill and general store to W.D. Gunter (Fredericton) and opened a large and successful lumber store in Moncton. The mill continued to operate until 1938 when it was dismantled and moved to Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. Then store manager, Calvin L. Taylor, bought the general store and, in 1945, his son Donald became a partner upon his return from the war overseas.
R.C. Scovil had built the area’s first water powered lumber mill in 1845, on the western bank of the Scoudouc River in Shediac where he owned a great deal of land. In 1871, his Shediac mill employed seventy-five workers and produced 600,000 logs and 6,000,000 feet of board and beam (madrier). It is believed that this mill was sold in 1872 to J. M. Hanington of Shediac. Unfortunately, the R.C. Scovil Shediac mill was destroyed by a hurricane known as “the August Gale” in 1873. Scovil had built a home in Shediac in 1850.
Richard C. Scovil was born January 15, 1822, in Springfield, Kings County, NB, and he died in Saint John on December 1, 1884. His wife was Pamelia C. Smith and they had at least 3 children. She died October 1, 1872. The Scovils are buried in the St. Martin’s in the Woods Anglican Church Cemetery in Shediac, NB.
Bowen Smith also hand built the first vessel to be built on the Shediac Bay and it was launched in 1817. A second vessel was launched by 1820. And by 1875, at least fifteen more vessels were launched on the bay.
1848
A. Gagnon was granted land at MacDougall Settlement on June 15, 1848.
Abt 1850
Martin Grady settled inland past Hays and Alexandrina, closer to Poirier Office. It is known that he homesteaded before settlers arrived in Poirier Office in 1876. Today, this road is known by locals as Grady Road but shown as “Graddey Road” in the Backroad map book New Brunswick. This road is located off Rive Road which starts where Poirier Office Road ends. There was a covered bridge on which crossed a branch of the Cocagne River. After years of neglect and poor usage, the bridge collapsed. Grady Road continues as a trail which leads to Hays and onward towards the heart of the village.
Martin Grady was born in 1830 in Waterford, Ireland according to vital statistics records of New Brunswick. He was married to Mathilda Warren who was born in 1844. They were both Roman Catholic and are buried in the Notre-Dame Cemetery. He died on August 12, 1900, at the age of seventy and she died in 1902 at about fifty-eight. The 1881 and 1901 Canada censuses show Martin and Mathilda as having thirteen children.
1850
On March 20, Pierre and François Bourg (Beaumont-Memramcook) jointly purchased 100 acres of land from James Black and became the first Acadian settlers just southwest of the heart of the village. They were soon joined by Mélème Bourg, Béloné LeBlanc, and Laurent (dit Hunker) LeBlanc (Fox Creek), Pierrot LeBlanc (Memramcook), Amant, Thomas et Beloni Surette (Petitcodiac).
James A. Black owned several large parcels of land in the area (name to soon change to Scovil’s Mills), but he did not live in the area. He was born in Dorchester, NB in 1790 and he died on April 10, 1863. He is buried in the Dorchester Pioneer Cemetery.
He was married to Elizabeth Etter Black who was born in 1789 and who died on June 29, 1874. She is also buried in the Dorchester Pioneer Cemetery. They had six or seven children.
James’ father was William Black Sr., and he was born on October 11, 1727, into a wealthy family living in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He became a travelling salesman in linens and draperies. During a business trip to Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, he met Elizabeth Stocks. William and Elizabeth were married there about 1758.
William was drawn to “the new world” and its many opportunities. In the spring of 1775, he chartered the “Jenny” in Hull, England and sailed to Nova Scotia with his family, wife Elizabeth and five children. She suffered injuries on the boat which may have contributed to her untimely death the following year in Amherst, Cumberland County, NS.
The Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild record the Jenny departing Hull, Yorkshire on April 10, 1775, with first stop being Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia and where the Black family disembarked. William Black was forty-three, his wife Elizabeth was thirty-six, and the five children varied between seven and fifteen.
Elizabeth Stocks Black was from Huddersfield, Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England (born in 1739). She was brought up in higher circles and took with her fancy clothing such as her scarlet riding habit and cap as well as embroidered satin dresses to “the new world”. She found little use for these fine clothes.
William did not remain a widower. He married Elizabeth Abber who was born in 1750 in Ireland, and they had 5 children. She died in Dorchester, NB in 1813 and is buried in the Dorchester Pioneer Cemetery. Following her death, William purchased a large estate in Dorchester where he lived with his son Joseph. He died there on April 11, 1821.
1850
The province took charge of post offices and employees became salaried government workers. James Lucas was postmaster at the time, a way office in his home in Cocagne, also serving neighbouring communities.
1851 to 1875
1851
On April 16, 1851, John MacDougall was granted more land.
The MacDougall family were among the early English-speaking settlers for which the community got its name. Their house was home of the MacDougall Settlement Post Office until the time of Rural Mail delivery. The cemetery on their property is where rest early settlers such as the MacDougalls,
Duffs, MacNeils, Teeds, Mugridges and others. One tombstone bears the name of MacLean, where four of the family of the late Mr. & Mrs. Hugh MacLean, Scotch Settlement, are buried. These four met their death when the family home was destroyed by fire.
1853
André Caissie settled as one of the first inhabitants of LeBlancville. He was granted land on April 19, 1853.
1853
Josiah Crawford settled as one of the first inhabitants of Hays Village, which was the area on the north side of the Cocagne River heading westward and bordering Guéguen and Alexandrina. On December 12, 1853, Crawford was granted 50 acres of land which ran to the river and next door to Robert Johnston’s home.
It is believed that Josiah was Daniel Crawford’s father. Daniel was married to Mary A. Crawford, and they had two sons, Joachomish (Jacob) and William. He died in 1861.
Jacob was born in Pugwash, Nova Scotia. On November 9, 1868, he married Henrietta Ann Gray (born 1849). He was a blacksmith, and his religious affiliation was Episcopal. They lived near the Teed family on Teed Road, and he died March 17, 1908.
William H. Crawford married Mary Abegail Marr and their son William John was born in 1871. His brother Jacob lived next door to each other. Another son, Elisha A. Crawford was born in 1864 and died in 1927. His descendants (family) donated a pump organ to the Union Church in 1985.
Samuel Wesley Teed and his wife Annie (Stuart) Teed lived nearby. Samuel was born April 24, 1888, to parents Thomas and Alice (Donnelly) Teed. Annie was born in 1892 to parents Edward Stuart and Katherine (McNeil) Stuart of Scotch Settlement. They were married in Moncton on October 27, 1920, and moved to Notre-Dame near the family homestead until 1934 when they moved to the Stuart homestead in Scotch Settlement. They had three children. Wesley was the son of Thomas and Alice (Donnelly) Teed and Annie was the daughter of Edward Stuart and Katherine (McNeil) Stuart of Scotch Settlement.
Note: Thomas Teed (1838-1907) met and married Alice Donnelly (1848-1928) in Saint-John, New Brunswick and most of their children were born there except for three who were born either in Notre-Dame or Shediac River. They moved to Notre-Dame sometime between 1881 and 1891, moving from Thomas’s father’s property in Shediac River. Their son, William J., was born in 1886 and married Emma B. Cobham (born in Saint-John in 1889) on October 15, 1906. Emma lived with William James Cobham and Emily Jane (Johnston) Cobham – presumed adopted as census shows her as their daughter. William died of consumption at 22 on March 22, 1908. They had one child, Atkin C. Teed, born in 1907 and he also died of tuberculosis at the age of 22.
In 1920, Samuel Wesley, son of Thomas and Alice (Donnelly) Teed, married Annie in Moncton. They moved and lived near the family homes.
1856
William Carroll and Christopher Fay were early settlers of Hays. They were both granted land on April 21, 1856. Their neighbours were the Crawfords, Johnstons, and Christals. Carroll’s daughter, Margaret Johannah Carroll, was born in Dundas in 1856. William was thirty-nine and Catherine was thirty-six. Margaret married John William Atkinson on December 23, 1879, in Moncton and they had nine children. She died in 1896 at the age of forty and is buried in the St Alban’s Anglican Cemetery in Cocagne.
Christopher Fay was born circa 1795 in Dublin, Ireland. He married Catherine Smith (born 1800) on June 20, 1819, at Parishes of Donnymore and Killbride, Co. Meath, Ireland. Their daughter Catherine was six years old, and their son James was two years old when the family migrated to New Brunswick in August 1826. Other children were John (1828), Michael (1830), Mary Ann Fay (1833), Margaret Fay (1836), Jane (1837), and Elisabeth (1840). Christopher (died March 1849), in Kent County, NB. He was also known as Christian Fay.
The 1851 Canada Census shows Catherine Fay (Fea) as being fifty-six years old, a widow, Irish, farmer, entering Canada August 1826 (same date as daughter Catherine).
1857
A. McGraw and Constantin Landry settled in MacDougall Settlement. They were both granted land on April 14, 1857.
1857
Raphaël LeBlanc first settled in Village des Fricots after being granted land on April 6, 1857. Soon afterwards, other pioneers arrived to settle: Maxime Cormier, Edouard LeBlanc, and Thomas LeBlanc, nicknamed “Thomas à fricot”. Thomas left the village in the early 1900s and moved to Western Canada.
1857
On April 14, 1857, Olivier and Annie Robichaud purchased land in Dufourville from Samuel and Marie Robichaud. They settled and were soon followed by Vital Landry.
1859
Coll MacDougall (born 1827), eldest son of John and Anne Howard Chapman MacDougall, married Mary from Prince Edward Island on January 11, 1859. Mary was born June 15, 1833, and died in 1914. Both Coll and Mary are buried in the MacDougall Settlement cemetery.
1861
A census showed Thomas Hays (age fifty-three) as living in Dundas. Also shown were Catherine Dysart (age fifty-four), Robert Dysart (age sixty), Ann Johnston (fifty-eight) and Elizabeth Johnston (sixty-one).
1861
A census showed new families in MacDougall Settlement: Fontaine, Landry, LeBlanc, McGraw, McNeil, McKinnon, Murray, and Duff families.
1861
Construction of a Catholic chapel began in Dufourville. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by a strong wind before being completed. Mass was therefore celebrated in a private home until a new church was built in 1866. Abbé Antoine Gosselin, from Cocagne Parish, was the visiting priest from 1855-1862.
1864
Peter Keenan was granted land on September 17, 1864, and settled in LeBlancville. Soon afterwards arrived Amable LeBlanc (mason from Memramcook), Simon Caissie, Hypolite Melanson (Cocagne), Beloni Richard, and André Cormier.
A historical map showed land also owned by Thomas Goguen and A. Richard as well as Peter McSweeney, R.C. Scovil and P. Keenan among others.
1864
Alexander Falconer, born in Scotland in 1828, immigrated to Canada and came to our region. In 1864, he moved from Dixon’s Point to the south side of the river, sometimes referred to as Victoriaville. He operated a water powered grist Mills next to the creek in what is today Falconer Road from 1870 until the turn of the century. He died in 1909. He was married to Sarah Geddes who was born in 1841 and who died in 1926. He was a way office postmaster in the 1870s and lastly in 1880.
1864
On December 17, 1864, Alexander and Sarah’s son, William Evan, was born. On January 26, 1895, William married Alena Christina West. William and Alena purchased the property next to the Union Church grounds, from Bowen and Harriett Smith. The 1901 Census of Canada shows that William was thirty-six years old (born 1864) and that Alena was thirty-five years old (born 1865). They had 4 children, Ethel, Kenneth, Earle, and Percy. This land remains in the hands of the Falconer family.
1865
Cocagne Parish priest, Abbé Antoine Gosselin, conducted a census of the Catholic population in Notre-Dame and recorded thirty-eight families (two hundred and thirty-five souls).
Abt 1866
A small 40 by 30-foot church was built in Notre-Dame and its construction was overseen by Father J.M. Vanier, assistant to Abbé Gosselin who was the second resident priest of Cocagne and served there until 1875. Previously, the community had been a mission of Cocagne which was served by missionaries from Gédaïc (Shediac) until 1842 when the mission was reorganised and became a mission of Bouctouche. In 1862, Abbé Henri Berthe became the first resident priest in Cocagne. He was succeeded by Abbé Gosselin in 1863.
1867
A post office was operating in MacDougall Settlement between 1867 and 1902. Archives also show that it operated between 1902 and 1934. John Coll MacDougall was postmaster for many years.
1868
The village was growing rapidly and, in this year, the way office for postal services was named Scovil’s Mills and thus, the area became known as such. The first postmaster was Alexander McWilliams and he remained on duty until 1873. He was followed by Alexander Falconer. In 1887, the post office was renamed the Notre-Dame Post Office. Later, the post office operated in an old store believed to be owned by Marc Bourque who was postmaster until 1911.
1870
Alexander Falconer opened a grist mill on the now Falconer Road in Notre-Dame. It operated until the turn of the century.
1871
Richard Scovil’s Mill in Shediac was one of the largest operations in the area. It employed seventy-five people and processed 60,000 logs, producing 6,000,000 feet of board and thick board in 1871. The hurricane “August Gale” destroyed the mill in August 1873.
Abt 1872
Sylvain LeBlanc was the first to settle in Suretteville. He built an access path to link Suretteville to the main road. Soon, Maximin Surette joined him in settling there as did Thomas LeBlanc who was granted 35 acres of land on November 6, 1872. Later, blacksmith Fred Babineau set up shop there and charged $0.80 to shoe a horse and $7 to build a set of wagon wheels. Sylvain LeBlanc was granted land on June 16, 1881.
1873
A post office opened in Guéguen with Magloire Guéguen as first postmaster. He served until 1890.
Note : The Guéguen Post Office was also referred to as Cocagne River PO. It was separate from the Lower Guéguen Post Office.
Abt 1875
Alexandrina-Nor’ouest was settled by Damien Babineau, Pierre S. Melanson, Aimé P. LeBlanc (blacksmith), Philippe Goguen, Mélème Saulnier, Jude A. Bourgeois, Jos P. Bourque, Abraham Goguen (postmaster), Albénie Bourgeois, Thomas Bourgeois, François J. Goguen and M. Surette.
An undated historical map shows land in Nor’ouest as belonging to Philippe LeBlanc, Simon Bourque, P. Melanson, Ray Pellerin, H. Poirier, Samuel Hébert, Fabien Bourque, Marie Pellerin, J.T. Bourgeois, Fabien Hébert, and Jude Hébert.
Abt 1875
A school was built in Whites Settlement.
1875
A school was built in Guéguen and known as Cocagne River North, Parish of Dundas, NB. Its name would change again in 1911.
1875 /1880
John Coll MacDougall, who was born in 1797, died on February 15, 1875. His wife, Anne Howard Chapman MacDougall, was born in 1806 and died on March 30, 1880. They had nine children.
1876 to 1900
1876 Thomas Poirier first settled Village des Poirier/Poirier Office. Soon afterwards, Jude Goguen, Fidèle Babineau, Damien LeBlanc, and Jude Babineau also settled there.
After 1876
A bridge was built at Village des Poirier/Poirier Office which became fondly known as “pont des étoiles” or bridge of stars.
1879
The Cocagne River North School, which was built in 1875, opened in 1879. Located at the corner of Murray Road and Route 535, it served the children of the immediate area.
Abt 1879
It is possible that the Union Church was built in 1879 although dates used have been shown as 1889 or 1891. What is known is that Robert Ainsley and Robina Robertson were married in July 1879 and that he was commissioned to build furniture for the church. This must have occurred during or after the building process, not ten years prior. A book written on John Andrew Johnston and his descendants also provides clues that “the first records of the church date to 1879”.
Abt 1879
The Union Church and Cemetery land was donated by Bowen Smith (mill owner) and his wife Harriet Smith, with the understanding that the church would remain in the property of the community and would be available for use by all Protestant denominations. Trustees were John Colborne, William McWilliams, R. Blythe Murray, and John Crawford.
Land for a church was purchased from Alex H. Johnston for $450 as shown in a deed executed by Bowen Smith. The Union Church was built and served many protestant sects: Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist. It remains active today and is a very special heritage building.
Bowen was born around 1835 in New Brunswick. He was married to Harriett Wilson, and they had ten children. Harriett was born in Prince Edward Island in 1846 and she died at eighty years old.
In 1898, he was referred to as Bowen Smith, Esq, merchant and lumber dealer. According to an article, Mr. Smith returned from Montreal where he found the egg market dull. His plan had been to ship cases to England, 200 in one week.
Abt 1880
Two schools were built: a French school in LeBlancville which remained open until 1946 and an English school in MacDougall Settlement which remained open until 1958.
Abt 1880
Settlers from Dundas Village and Gladeside homesteaded along the South Side of the River towards the edge of Whites Settlement. They included William Crawford, Henry West, Samuel Webb, Thomas Teed, Joseph Riley, George Hope, and the Colborne families. These names are familiar to the Union Church community as they are all are buried in the Union Church Cemetery except for George Hope. They came to Notre-Dame when it was known that the Moncton-Bouctouche rail line would pass through this area.
Note: Gladeside is located app 2 km SE of Trafalgar and Dundas Village, NB. It was first called McLaughlin Road with a post office operating between 1861 and 1929. In 1866, it was a farming settlement with 24 families; in 1871, it had a population of 200; in 1898 it had 1 sawmill, 1 church and a population of 250. It was renamed Gladeside in 1929 with Gladeside Post Office operating until 1932.
1880
Andrew Lirette was granted land next to John MacDougall’s property on October 25, 1880.
1883
A historic railroad company was founded in New Brunswick with plans to build a rail line linking Bouctouche and Moncton and the communities in between. Construction started in 1886 and was completed in 1887, the rail line opened on September 1, 1887, but it did not reach Moncton until 1888, when there was an extention. The railway line was sold to the Canadian Government Railways (CGR) in 1894.
1884 to 1956
A post office operated in Poirier Office (Village des Poirier). Postmaster Jules Goguen was followed by Edmond Babineau.
1885 to 1900
Lucas Goguen operated a windmill which produced shingles in Guéguen. Several area houses were made with these quality shingles. Goguen also built barrels for storing salted vegetables, fish, and meat. Later, he built himself a boat and then several large sail boats to fish. A wealthy man, he moved his family to Cocagne Island in 1900 and built a large home in 1916. He opened a lobster cannery, personally making the cans and employing up to twenty people. In 1948, his house was one of the last to cross the ‘bridge of ice on the bay’ and be moved to the mainland, across the Église Saint-Pierre church. Later, it was bought by the Church and sold to the congregation Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur who turned this large house into a convent. The Lucas Goguen home returned into the hands of the family and served as a B&B for many years. In 2004-2005, it housed youth from across Canada associated with the Katimavik Program.
1885 to 1956
A post office operated in Alexandrina. First postmaster was T. Stephenson and the last was Raymond Pellerin.
1885
St. David’s Presbyterian Church was built at the corner of MacDougall Settlement Road and Scotch Settlement Road. It served both settlements. It was officially opened and dedicated on March 23, 1885, free of debt. It could seat 150 people with room for extra if needed. In 1975, then Presbyterian Rev J. D. Murray (Bouctouche) joined the Union Church of Canada and became the founder and first minister of St. David’s United Church. It closed June 30, 2014. It has been demolished.
Spring 1886
Father F.X.-J. Michaud (Cocagne and Notre-Dame visiting priest), Presbyterian Minister M. Murray, and Gilbert Girouard teamed together and lobbied to get a railway line built between Bouctouche and Moncton. Construction of the 30-mile-long railway line began in 1886 and was completed the following year, being built by locals. After years of slow overland and river transportation, the train greatly stimulated the area economy. The lumber industry was booming. Extensive wood operations were being carried out to produce hulled tan bark, logs, barrel wood, and cord wood. The train offered a passenger service which was a popular means of transportation for the local population. The train passenger service was offered until 1955.
1886 to 1887
The first wooden railway bridge was built over the Cocagne River at Notre-Dame Centre, close to the bridge at Scovil’s Mills. It would be replaced in 1921.
1887
On October 11, 1887, a name change saw the Scovil’s Mills Post Office become the Notre-Dame Post Office. The last postmaster of Scovil’s Mills was Laurent LeBlanc and the first to serve the Notre-Dame Post Office was Dorothée Bourque. It is believed that for many years, the ND post office was located in the small store operated by Marc Bourque and his son Dosithée. Afterwards, it has its own building.
Note: Both 1887 and 1889 are attributed by different sources as being the year the Notre-Dame Post Office was established. According to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, this post office was established in 1887.
1887
A school inspector reports that John Léger was teaching 38 students from grades one to eight at the Whites Settlement School. Magloire Cormier was the school secretary. In 1904, this school remained part of District 11, Dundas and Wellington. At one point, schoolteacher Honoré (Henry) Bourgeois had 42 students including Léo B. LeBlanc who became a famous painter.
1888
The privately owned railway line between Bouctouche and Moncton was completed. On April 29, 1888, the train made its first full run, leaving Bouctouche at 08:00 and stopping at several places including Notre-Dame at 08:52 and MacDougall’s at 09:08 before arriving in Moncton at 10:08. It returned in late afternoon, arriving in Bouctouche at 18:08.
Note: A portion of the rail line was opened on September 1, 1887, and in the next year, the line was extended to Moncton crossing the Intercolonial in Bouctouche Junction and continuing north to Bouctouche. In 1918, the Bouctouche-Moncton railway line became part of the Canadian National Railway (CNR). Passenger service was offered until 1955.
Train station attendants included Charlie Lockhart, Honoré Bourgeois, Kenneth Falconer and Ernest Wry.
1888
The building of a new Catholic church in Notre-Dame began under the supervision of Father F.X. Cormier (Église Saint-Pierre, Cocagne) and was completed under the supervision of Father Honoré Ouellet. Pierre Bourque had donated the land. Unfortunately, this church was destroyed by fire in 1945.
1889
The first area telephone was installed at the home of John Coll MacDougall. This same home enjoyed the first area battery radio in 1925.
1889
A territory was established for the new church, the parish was canonized, and the community welcomed its first resident priest, Père Honoré Ouellet, who stayed until 1897. Between 1889 and 1923, the parish of Notre-Dame served the neighbouring community of Saint-Antoine.
According to the Acadian newspaper L’Évangeline, Père Honoré Ouellet died January 20, 1898, three months after leaving Notre-Dame. One source indicated that he died in the parish of Ste-Cunégonde-de-Montréal. He had also been vicar in Cocagne, Cap-Pelé, and Shediac. He was born in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Kamouraska, QC on December 13, 1834, and his parents were Honoré and Marie (Bérubé) Ouellet.
1890s
Brothers Philippe and Félicien Bourque operated a sandstone quarry in Dufourville and the Bourque Quarry employed fifteen to twenty men. The new Bouctouche-Moncton rail line, with stops along the way, greatly helped in the economic development of the area and accommodated shipment of heavy materials such as stone.
A second quarry, the Stevens Quarry, was owned by Edgar Stevens. According to an 1890 newspaper (L’Évangeline) article, the quarry had “recently” received $1200 stone order for a building in Moncton (the now-demolished YMCA building). The Stevens Quarry was located just south of the railway bridge in Notre-Dame. A rail branch line was added to transport quarry stones. In 1895, Thomas Dobson was the quarry operator and he remained so until 1898.
Both quarries were closed by 1912. The stones from the Stevens Quarry were used to build the church l’Église Saint-Antoine de l’Hermite (1923), in neighbouring St-Antoine. Residents from Notre-Dame and St-Antoine teamed up to transport the stones to the church site since the quarry had been closed.
Meanwhile, Henri LeBlanc operated a flat rock quarry in Suretteville. His two sons, Arthur and Adélard, continued the operation for several years.
Note: There is a conflicting information regarding the source of stones used to build the Saint Bernard Church (Botsford Street at Gordon, Moncton – 1887 to 1891) and Mary’s Home (Mountain Road at Bonaccord, Moncton – 1908). These buildings were not built with stones from the Stevens Quarry in Notre-Dame. According to “Industrial Minerals Summary Data”, issued by NB Department of Natural Resources, in both cases the stones originated from the McSweeney Quarry located in Scotch Settlement. This quarry was owned by Edward McSweeney, a former Moncton mayor.
1890
On July 13, 1890, a fire destroyed the bridge over Cocagne River at Scovil’s Mills. It was replaced by a new covered bridge which would become known as the “Lockhart Bridge”, itself destroyed in the spring thaw of 1901. There is evidence of a replacement bridge but few details other than it was built too close to the river which posed problems and was torn down. Finally, the fourth structure to span the river at that point was a new covered bridge built in 1929. The bridge linked traffic between the two sides of the river and their surrounding communities.
1890
The first church burials took place in the Union Church Cemetery.
1893
In July, Guilford P. Goguen paid Joachim P. Goguen $1.20 for 2 lbs of tobacco according to a worker’s diary.
1893
Work records showed Charles Noel, Maxime Gallant, David Chapman, and Philip A. Goguen as having worked on the bridge over the Cocagne River in Notre-Dame.
1894
The first French school opened in MacDougall Settlement. It was located between the Elisban Gagnon store and the train tracks. Apparently, the school was burnt down following a dispute. A second and a third were built consecutively at the corner of Whites Settlement and MacDougall Settlement Road. In 1959, the MacDougall School was closed, and students were transferred to the new l’École Centrale de Notre-Dame, located across the road from the Catholic Church.
1894
The Bouctouche-Moncton railway line, owned by the Canadian Government Railways (CGR), went bankrupt. The CGR became part of the Canadian National Railway. The railway line was sold to Captain Israel J. Merritt of New York. There would be another change of ownership in 1911.
1894
On May 30, 1894, Philip Goguen exchanged $4.25 worth of potatoes and bought two sheep from Maximin Babineau for $2.50 as noted in a record of household affairs.
1895
On June 10, 1895, Maximin Babineau bought one pair of oxen for $40 as noted in a record of household affairs.
1896
On May 21, 1896, the MacDougall family home was destroyed by fire. A new home was built at the same location.
1896
In June 1896, Edward White hired several men to work: Fred Barnes, Thomas Scott, John Cochran, Silvain Goguen, Maxime Goguen, and Philip A. Goguen.
1896
On August 25, 1896, John Edgar Grady (son of Martin Grady and Mathilda Warren) married Mary Julia Murphy from South Branch, NB. He was twenty-eight years old, and she was twenty-five years old. Witnesses were Margaret Grady of Notre-Dame and Luke Murphy from South Branch, NB. Vital Statistics shows Grady as being a farmer living in Notre-Dame.
Mary Julia was the daughter of Thomas Murphy from Wexford, Ireland and Mary Ryan also from Ireland. She was born April 14, 1867, and she died on September 18, 1938, at the age of seventy-one. John Edgar was born on January 6, 1869, and he died on September 29, 1943, in Fairville (Saint John) NB at the age of seventy-four. Both are buried in the Notre-Dame Catholic Cemetery.
By the 1911 and 1921 censuses, the Grady family in Notre-Dame had shrunk down to John Edgar, his wife Mary Julia and their daughter Eva May (twenty years old).
1897
On October 9, 1897, Ferdinand Léger bought 12m of shingles for $12 as noted in a record of household affairs.
1897
Father Paul Dufour arrived in Notre-Dame in September 1897 to serve as the community’s second resident priest. He was thirty-four years old, and a time when the community was bustling and growing quickly. In 1907, he traveled to Europe and Palestine. After serving the parish for sixteen years, Father Dufour left in October 1913.
Paul Dufour was born in Madawaska, Maine, in 1864 in the parish of St David, ME. He studied at Collège Saint-Joseph (Memramcook, NB) and at the Gd. Séminaire de Québec. He was ordained in 1891 at the age of twenty-seven.
His mother was Eleonore Marie Thibodeau Dufour, born in 1824 and died May 4, 1872. His father was Narcisse Dufour, born September 15, 1815, and died March 15, 1897. His paternal grandparents David Joseph Dufour and Charlotte Pothier Dufour came from Saint Louis-de-Kamouraska, QC and they died in Saint Basile, NB.
Father Paul Dufour died January 30, 1938, in Montréal, QC. He is buried in Saint Joseph Cemetery in Old Town, Penebscot, Maine.
The hamlet of Dufourville was named in honour of Père Dufour and it serves as a reminder of his many accomplishments and great contribution to the parish.
1897
A residence for the priest was built next to the Catholic Church.
1897
A post office opened in Whites Settlement and remained in operation until 1912.
1898
According to NB Provincial Archives, “In 1898, Notre-Dame was a farming and lumbering settlement with one post office, two stores, one sawmill, one quarry, two churches and a population of 400”. Also noted was the train station on the Bouctouche-Moncton line.
It is possible that one of the two stores was operated by Phares and Helena (Coughlan) Chapman. References show Mr. Chapman as having a small grocery store in the front to the house in which they were living. This house is believed to have been one purchased later by Vera and Ray Doolan, and it was located across the covered bridge, between the old Grady property and the corner of the North side of the river road.
Notre-Dame was an important stop on the Bouctouche-Moncton railway line. It provided the services of a station, water tower and dam.
1898
Guéguen was described as being a farming and lumbering settlement with one post office and a population of 150, including Lower Guéguen. The Guéguen Post Office operated between 1873 and 1952. The Lower Guéguen Post Office operated between 1911 and 1954.
1898
MacDougall Settlement was described in archives as being a farming and lumbering settlement with one post office, one store, one church and a population of 300.
before 1900
The Village des Pishcots was settled by early pioneers Daniel Landry, Aimée Landry, Jean Landry, Dominique Landry, Dominique Lirette, Philias Bourgeois, and Lucien LeBlanc. By 1900, Village des Pishcots had been abandoned with no clear indication as to why. The hamlet was located inland between Suretteville and Falconer Road.
1901 to 1925
Early 1900s
In MacDougall Settlement, the first telephone was installed in the home of Coll MacDougall in 1889.
1901
The Catholic Church was officially named Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur and the parish subsequently defined the territory of the community of Notre-Dame. The hamlets (or historical villages) included were MacDougall Settlement, Poirier Office, LeBlancville, Dufourville, Notre-Dame Centre, Guéguen, Hays, Alexandrina-Nor’ouest, North and South sides of the river, Whites Settlement along with Village des Pishcots, Village des Fricots, Suretteville, Teed Road and Chemin des Thaddées.
1902
Anthony Johnson (Mill Creek/MacNairn) bought a farm in MacDougall Settlement. His father Thomas emigrated from Newcastle, England, moving to Prince Edward Island before settling in Mill Creek where he operated a sawmill and where his brother William operated a grist mill.
1910
The Manchester locomotive (ex. I.C.R. no. 139), built in New Hampshire in 1875, began making the Bouctouche – Moncton run and operated until the 1914 derailment.
1911
Captain Israel J. Merritt (New York, USA) sold his Bouctouche-Moncton railway line to the Bouctouche Railway and Transportation Company which was renamed to the Moncton and Northumberland Strait Railway Company. This rail line will change ownership again in 1918.
1913
The silver fox industry flourished quickly. John W. Tidd, Charles and James Teed, William Murray, and Frank Stewart started a business by purchasing a patch fox and a red fox and paying $2,000 for the pair. Their first fox ranch at MacDougall Settlement was managed by Charles and James Teed.
1914
On February 20, 1914, one of the province’s worst train accidents occurred in Scotch Settlement, on the Bouctouche-Moncton rail line. While attempting to clear the drifting snow on the railway track, the train was made up of a snowplough, followed by engine #1 manned by engineer Alex MacKee and fireman Sylvain Bourque. Next came the flanger and engine # 3 with engineer Gideon Smith at throttle and fireman George Freeman, his son-in-law. Behind was a combination baggage and passenger car with nearly 30 people, shovelers, and passengers. Four men died: owner Frank T. Hall, Sylvain Bourque (son of Antoine Bourque), Gideon Smith and George Freeman. Four were seriously injured: Alex McKee, William Bastarache, Alyre Richard, and John McFadden.
1915 to 1916
Brothers Charlie and Ben Lockhart sold their sawmill and general store to W.D. Gunter (Fredericton). The store was managed by Calvin Taylor who eventually bought it after Gunter’s death. The Lockharts moved to Moncton and opened a large lumber store which was very successful for many years.
Charles E. Lockhart was born in 1871 in East Leicester, Nova Scotia. He came to Notre-Dame around 1892 and married S. Elizabeth Dysart in October 1912. Elizabeth or Bessie was from Cocagne where she was teaching school. They had four children. He died July 5, 1939, in Moncton, NB
Bent Weatherhead Lockhart (Ben) was born October 16, 1878, in East Leicester, Nova Scotia. He married Annabel Teed in 1907, in Notre-Dame. He died on October 31, 1944, in Albert County, NB
Brothers Charlie and Ben Lockhart, along with sons, developed their woodworking and lumber business into one of the largest and most distinguished businesses in Atlantic Canada. Lockhart Lumber became part of Beaver Lumber, a well-known lumber business, located near the river in downtown Moncton. Charles and Ben were the sons of Henry Bennett Lockhart and Jane (McKenney) Lockhart.
Calvin Luther Taylor was born May 23, 1887, and he married Clara Myrtle Wheaton on September 6, 1911. Calvin lived on the Old Fredericton Road at North River and Clara lived in Wheaton Settlement. They first lived in Petitcodiac then moved to Notre-Dame in 1915 where Calvin became employed at W.D. Gunther’s general store as bookkeeper and manager of the store and the mill.
Taylor purchased the store after Mr. Gunter’s death in 1937 and he operated it for many years. His son Donald became a partner after his return from serving as captain in the Carleton and York Regiment in the Second World War. He married Phyllis Bradley MacQuarrie, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.A. MacWilliam of Moncton and they lived in Notre Dame.
Next to the store was a large two-story building. The ground floor was used as a grain warehouse and the second floor was the “Sons of Temperance Hall” where meetings and social events, such as “pie socials” were held regularly. Political meetings, agricultural meetings and other important meetings were also held here. It also served as a courthouse.
The Taylors were very active in the community. Their store, the C.L. Taylor & Son General Store, was a hub and landmark. In 1938, C.L. Taylor was elected to the post of Secretary-Treasurer of the Union Church, and he served until 1950. The Taylors co-ordinated the activities of a large and busy choir known as “The 9th District Male Choir” who sang for special church events for miles around. Calvin was also involved with the Masonic Lodge (past Master of Salisbury Lodge) and served on numerous boards and committees.
1916
Alexandre Doucet settled in Notre-Dame, coming from Grand Étang, Nova Scotia. He was well-educated, prominent, and a great orator. In 1923, he was the elected Conservative Member of Parliament. Interestingly, he was the sole francophone conservative elected to the Commons and instantly, became the spokesperson for francophones across Canada in the legislature. He served on several distinguished organisations. He is buried in the Notre Dame Cemetery.
1918
The Moncton and Northumberland Strait Railway and Transportation Company (Bouctouche-Moncton rail line) was sold for $70,000 and put under the control of the Intercolonial Railway before being made part of the Canadian National Railway (CNR) system. It was important infrastructure and an efficient way to serve the busy area. It played a key part in the area’s development, facilitating trade of goods to and from Moncton and the rural surroundings. In 1965, the CNR abandoned its Bouctouche-Moncton rail line as of January 1. All except a small 1.7-mile-long trackage, known as the “Humphrey spur” or simply “Humphrey” which continues to be used in Moncton.
1918
Léo B. LeBlanc was four years old when his family moved from Moncton to a farm along the South Cocagne Road, also known as Whites Settlement. In 1972, at the age of 53, he started to paint and before long, his art became famous, valuable and in demand. In 1984, he won the prestigious “Concours national de livres d’artistes du Canada” for his book titled Au pays de Cocagne. He died May 14, 1986, after making over 300 paintings.
1919
The Notre-Dame Parish grew with the addition of several families: Thaddée Leménager, Barnabé McGrath, Edouard Richard, widow Odilon Goguen, and Théophile Goguen, all of whom transferred from neighbouring Cocagne St-Pierre Parish.
1919
The Union Church was now part of the Methodist Circuit in Bouctouche. The circuit consisted of Bouctouche, Little River (later called McKees’s Mills), Coatesville, and MacLean in addition to Notre-Dame. In 1920, Arthur Johnston was Notre-Dame’s representative on the Board of Stewards and the Society Representatives were Charles Lockhart and Mrs. Arthur (Mirinda) Johnston, Sunday School Superintendent was Mrs. W. E. Falconer who was also President of Ladies’ Aid.
1921
A new steel railway bridge was built to replace the existing wooden one. It would be torn down in the early 1970s and in its place was built a new culvert bridge and road for vehicles and pedestrians (Route 115).
1923
Alexandre J. Doucet, Honoré Bourgeois, Arsène Doucet, Delphin A. Goguen and Charles R. Doucet started canning fruits and vegetables in their new business, Maritime Products Ltd. It operated for several years. That same year, a chair manufacturing company was started, owner(s) unknown.
1923
A leafy booklet, published in July 1923, provided a detailed history of the church in neighbouring Saint-Antoine-de-Kent, NB which was once served by the church in Notre-Dame. Inside the booklet was an advertisement for the “Banque Provinciale du Canada” which listed its branches and one of them was Notre-Dame. The bank branch was located in the home of Honoré Bourgeois, manager.
1924-25
Honoré (Henry) Bourgeois was a teacher at the Whites Settlement School, and he had forty-two students in grades one to eight. One of them was Léo B. LeBlanc, who late in life, would become a famous artist. The school would be replaced in 1949.
1925
The first battery radio was owned by Coll MacDougall.
1925 to 1950
1926
On February 2, 1926, a car passed by on the main road. It could have been owned by the Lockharts, Taylors or Colbornes. This was important enough to record in a notebook of household affairs.
1926
William (Billy) Colborne sold his sawmill to Philippe Léger. It is unknown when the sawmill was built. Union Church records, which showed payment of annual pew rental, recorded Billy Colborne’s name and payment in 1926 but not the following year. William was born in 1856 and died in 1934. He married Mora Lee Wood who was born in 1872 and died in 1917 of bronchitis in her mid-forties. Billy and Mora had seven children. The sawmill was located at the “S’ curve on Falconer Road. It was destroyed by fire in 1932.
1926
The Suretteville Post Office closed.
1927
In August 1927, Mgr. J. Guéguen blessed the elevated Calvary statues during an impressive ceremony at the Catholic Church cemetery.
1929
A new covered bridge was built over the Cocagne River at Notre-Dame Centre by Ashley A. Calter of Fredericton (known as Diamond Construction in 1926) at a cost of $21,000. It was the fourth structure to span the river at that point and the oldest surviving the ravages of time. The first structure, an open bridge, burned in 1890 while the second was carried away during a winter break-up in 1901. The third, a “misfit”, survived for a while before it was torn down. It was built much too close to the river, posing all sorts of problems. The Notre-Dame covered bridge spanned at least 200 feet. It was demolished in 1981 by the provincial government.
1929
On June 27, 1929, Ralph E. Crawford died as a result of being struck by a car. He was the son of Everett and Margaret (Johnston) Crawford. Ralph’s paternal grandparents were Elisha A. and Catherine J. (Dysart) Crawford. He was only four years old.
1931
During a two-day celebration of the l’Université de St-Joseph (Memramcook, NB), a special mass was celebrated on June 14, 1931. M. l’abbé Désiré Allain, parish priest of Notre-Dame, delivered the sermon along with M. l’abbé J.P. Milligan, Chancellor of the Diocese of Saint John.
Father Allain was born in Sainte-Marie-de-Kent, NB, in 1892. He was the Notre-Dame parish priest for nearly 20 years, many of them during the great depression. On December 9, 1931, he founded the Notre-Dame chapter of the “Association catholique de la jeunesse Canadienne”. This local chapter was known as “cercle A.C.J.C.” (acégistes) and it played an important role in connecting the community. Father Allain was very dedicated to this organisation.
Meetings were held regularly for educational purposes and to discuss parish affairs. This proved to be of great value for the parish. This organisation remained active until 1941 when young men were called to fight overseas. Committee presidents were Honoré Bourgeois (1931-32, 1932-33), Alfred Cormier (1933-34, 1934-35). Raymond Cormier (1936-37, 1937-38, 1938-39) and Napoléon Bourque (1939-40, 1940-41).
1932
A few people had electricity as early as 1932 and by 1940, service was widespread but did not reach every corner of the village. This proved to be a fatal blow to several hamlets and the main reason why these areas were eventually abandoned, such as Alexandrina-Nor’ouest, chemin des Thaddées, Village des Pishcots, Village des Fricots, and Suretteville.
1932
Jimmie (John Robert) Johnston returned to Notre-Dame with his wife Edith and their daughter Anna. They had been living in Boston and moved due to the Depression and lack of work. Jimmie was born on December 25, 1897, in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Moncton on August 28, 1930. Edith Edna Geddes was born in Gladeside, NB on August 13, 1905, and she died in Moncton on July 25, 2000.
Jimmie’s parents were Robert Howard Johnston and Mary Alice Balser of Niagara, Albert County, NB. They had moved to Notre-Dame when Jimmie was 5. He attended the community school to grade 8 and then worked in his father’s logging camp as well as farm jobs in the off season. He enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1916 and returned from war in 1919. Three years later, he returned to Boston to work in a shipyard.
1932
Gilbert Léger started a bus route from Saint-Antoine to Moncton, serving Notre-Dame passengers, farmers, and merchants in need of transportation. The demand for this service was greatly reduced as cars became the preferred means of transportation, even with the terrible dirt roads.
1934
There was a forest fire in MacDougall Settlement, but little is known about it. However, some information is known about the 1946 fire that resulted in MacDougall Settlement residents being evacuated.
1935
A suspension bridge was constructed by Mac Basque, Patrice Pellerin, and Thaddée Pellerin over the river at Hays, a short cut to the church, school, post office, stores, etc. It was known as “pont macbasque”. Unfortunately, ice brought down the handy suspension bridge about a year and a half later being built.
1937
John M. Bourque is credited with planting the seed of opening a credit union in Notre-Dame. An intelligent man with very little education, John was wise to see that the lack of credit was stifling growth of the community. The Notre-Dame branch of the Provincial Bank had ceased operations some years back. He was instrumental in pursuing the idea and finally getting a charter to incorporate the Notre-Dame Credit Union in 1937. It was the first Caisse populaire in Kent County and the second in New Brunswick. John Bourque was the first president and Honoré Bourgeois was the first manager. Business was conducted in the Bourgeois home.
1937
W.D. Gunter was listed as a sawmill operator in Notre-Dame, in the category of “Mills producing between 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 feet of lumber per year”, as found in the 1937 Department of Trade and Commerce, Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Census of Industry – Forest Branch Ottawa, Canada (p. 20). Gunter died in 1937.
1938
In March, parish priest, Father Désiré Allain, proposed that a parish hall be built. An so it was, that same year, across the road from the church. On August 25, 1938, the parish hall was blessed by Mgr. Melanson. It was demolished in the early 1960s after serving as temporary location for classrooms as the new school was being built.
1938
W.D. Gunter’s Notre-Dame mill was sold. He had bought it from the Lockhart brothers in 1915 / 16. The mill was dismantled and shipped to a new owner in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia believed to be the Parrsboro Lumber Company located at 24 Main Street in Parrsboro which operated between 1942 and 1971.
Calvin Taylor purchased the general store and operated it for many years. His son Donald became a partner upon his return from serving as captain in the Carleton and York Regiment during the Second World War. Next to the store was a large two-story building. The ground floor was used as a grain warehouse and the second floor was the “Sons of Temperance Hall” where meetings and social events, such as “pie socials” were held regularly. Important meeting such as political meetings and agricultural meetings were held regularly. This building also served as a “courthouse”.
The Taylors were very active in the community and their store, the C.L. Taylor General Store, was a hub of activity. In 1938, C. L. Taylor was elected to the post of Secretary-Treasurer of the Union Church, and he served until 1950. The Taylors co-ordinated the activities of a large and busy choir known as “The 9th District Male Choir” who sang for special church events for miles around. Calvin was also involved with the Masonic Lodge (past master of Salisbury Lodge) and served on numerous boards and committees.
Note: The sawmill’s operations grew as the lumber industry flourished. It was a main employer in the community and had several men working at the mill and others in winter logging camps. Employees of the mill ate three meals a day at the “cook house”, and transient workers would lodge there.
The cook house was a two-storey building. The first floor had a kitchen dining room for thirty to fifty men, smoking room and quarters for two cooks. The second floor served as sleeping quarters for workers from away. From spring to fall, Justine Bourgeois worked as a “cooker” with her aunt Minnie Gallant.
William D. Gunter was born August 15, 1886, in York County, NB. He died in Saint John on October 26, 1937, at the age of fifty-one. His wife Grace M. (Duffy) was born in 1884 and she died on October 19, 1971. They were married in 1910. He and his wife are buried in the Fredericton Rural Cemetery.
His mother, Eliza, was born on March 1, 1862, in Cardigan, York County, NB and she died August 17, 1954. His father, Herbert H., was born July 5, 1861, and he died on November 12, 1908. Both are buried in the Fredericton Rural Cemetery.
1938
Calvin L. Taylor was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Union Church and replaced Charles E. Lockhart who had held the position for the previous forty years. He held this office until 1950 when his daughter, Dorothy (Taylor) Johnston, took over as Secretary-Treasurer until 1968.
1939
On November 12, 1939, Notre-Dame marked the 50th anniversary of the building of its Catholic Church. Mass was celebrated by parish priest Father Désiré Allain, Abbé Philippe Robichaud, (originally from Notre-Dame and serving the Shemogue Church), and Abbé Placide LeBlanc (Port-Felix, NS). During the evening activities, Kent Federal Deputy Alexandre Doucet (Notre-Dame Centre) and Ernest Langis (Guéguen) addressed the large crowd assembled at the parish hall.
1939
On November 13, 1939, inaugural classes at the École d’Agriculture at Université St-Joseph (Memramcook) started with 34 students. Classes were organized in six-week semesters and ran until May 1940. The first semester finished in December 1939 and the closing remarks were made by Napoléon Bourque. In 1964, he would become postmaster of the Notre-Dame Post Office.
1945
On July 30, 1945, the Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur Church was destroyed by fire due to faulty electrical wiring. The parish hall served as location for religious ceremonies until the new church was built in 1950–51.
1945
A new school was built in LeBlancville and it remained open until 1966.
About 1945
The home and hotel, originally owned by William James and Emily Jane Cobham, were destroyed by fire. It was located near the general store and had 12 rooms for travellers to lodge and to eat. The owner, William Cobham, was a sea captain from Saint John. His wife Emily (also recorded as Emma) operated the hotel which was also known as the Cobham home.
Captain Cobham owned a vessel and was away from home a great deal. His vessel would occasionally moor at a dock on the Petitcodiac River. He was born in Parish Roscarberry, County Cork, Ireland in 1855 and died in Moncton in 1939. He emigrated from Ireland to Saint-John in 1865 and married Emily Jane Johnston on October 28, 1879, at Carleton, Saint-John. She was the daughter of Notre-Dame residents James Johnston and Ann (Chisholm) Johnston. It is believed that they had no children of their own but adopted and raised many. Mr. and Mrs. Cobham are buried in the Union Church Cemetery.
1946
A new school was built in Dufourville and it remained open until about 1966.
1946
In July 1946, there was a four-day forest fire which threatened MacDougall Settlement. It started at St-Philippe / Weisner and quickly spread to Shediac Cape and Gilbert’s Corner. Two days later, a change in wind direction put MacDougall Settlement in harm’s way and the settlement was evacuated. Scoudouc and Shediac River areas were also threatened. Seven hundred men fought this fire and after three days, with the help of lasting rain, the fire was extinguished. As far as MacDougall’s is concerned, only one building was lost, a barn owned by Arthur and Exelda Goguen. All in all, the fire destroyed approximately 35,000 square miles of forest and twenty or so houses, one barn, and cottages. A few years earlier, in 1934, a major forest fire had also threatened MacDougall’s.
1949-50
The first Whites Settlement school was replaced with the building of a new school. It was under the purview of Notre-Dame and remained open for about 15 years. With changes in school districts, students at Whites Settlement school were transferred to Cocagne.
1950/51
Under Father Emery Doucet’s watchful eye, contractor Abbey Landry (Memramcook) built a new large and modern catholic church in Notre-Dame, as per plans drawn by architects Lévesque et Venne of Québec. Arthur Landry managed the work performed by local tradesmen. The exterior red bricks came from Chipman. The “table de communion” was sculpted by the Bourgeaults of St-Jean-Port-Joli, QC while the iron work was done by Aurèle Marois. The Bourgeaults also made the church pews. The church bell was forged at Fonderie Paccard (France) and weighs 658 lbs. L’Église Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur remains a beautiful landmark.
1951 to 1975
1951
On May 30, 1951, Église Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur was blessed by Monseigneur Norbert Robichaud. On June 10, 1951, Monseigneur Daigle blessed the new church bell which came from Fonderie Paccard of France.
1952
The post office in Guéguen closed.
1954/56
A home postal delivery service was introduced in Notre-Dame. Mail was delivered by drivers who would insert letters and parcels in mailboxes next to the road of each house and business throughout the community. One route started at the Notre-Dame Post Office then onward to Hays, Alexandrina-Nor’ouest, across the covered bridges to Poirier Office, LeBlancville, Dufourville and ending where the route began, at the post office. Delivery areas grew to include Guéguen, the South side of the river road. The MacDougall Settlement mail delivery was and remains part of a different route.
With the arrival of mailboxes and home postal delivery, several small post offices were closed, such as Dufourville, LeBlancville, Alexandrina-Nor’ouest, Poirier Office, and MacDougall Settlement.
Postal delivery was first done and for many years by Joe Delaney, followed by Thomas Robichaud, M. Delaney, Olivier Bourque, Alcide Pellerin, Frank Maillet, Regis Bourque, and others.
Abt 1955
Ernest Langis opened a small store at the corner of Murray Road and it remained open until 1972.
1955
Passenger rail travel on the Bouctouche-Moncton line was discontinued.
1955
September 17, 1955, locomotive engineer, Norval Earl Johnston, drove the first ‘diesel’ passenger train out of Halifax. Norval was a long-time resident of Notre-Dame. He owned a Model T. Ford and later, a Model A. Ford. He was generous and offered rides to go vote, to the Catholic church, or elsewhere.
1956/57
The bus service line between Saint-Antoine and Moncton, with stops in Notre-Dame, ceased operating.
1958
The English school at MacDougall Settlement closed and students were transferred to Scotch Settlement school which served both communities until 1963.
1958
Notre-Dame was made up of 7 different school districts: Upper Guéguen, Hays, Alexandrina, LeBlancville, Dufourville, MacDougall Settlement and Notre-Dame. A few years back, the Whites Settlement district had joined Cocagne. The school board was responsible for school maintenance and repair as well as for the hiring of teachers, heating, and other expenses, paid for by local taxes.
1959
On January 14, 1959, the two-room wooden schoolhouse École de Dundas was destroyed by fire. Classes are held in the parish hall and in the church basement. Ten short months later, a new two storey brick school was officially opened on November 14. L’École Centrale de Notre-Dame continues to cater to francophone students from the four corners of the community. Today, it is known as École Notre-Dame. First principal was Roméo Robichaud, followed by Gérald Aucoin who remained for many years. President of the School Board was Ernest Gallant.
1959
The school at Village des Poirier/Poirier Office closed and students were transferred to École Centrale de Notre-Dame.
1959
The school at Hays closed. Little is known about it.
early 1960
The school at Guéguen closed.
Spring 1962
The first graduation at l’École Centrale de Notre-Dame had only one graduate, Claudette Gallant.
1963
English students from MacDougall Settlement and Scotch Settlement attended a new school in Irishtown, the Mountain View Consolidated School.
1963
On December 16, 1963, Bernice Gallant become the first Notre-Dame correspondent to the Acadian daily newspaper l’Évangeline.
1964/65
A non-profit association, known as « Club Athlétique de Notre-Dame, was founded by Gérald Aucoin and Ernest Gallant. Its purpose was to provide youth with sport and leisure activities. A decade later, the board of directors expanded the Club’s mandate and built a community centre with bowling alley, baseball fields, etc.
1965
The last section of the Bouctouche-Moncton rail line was abandoned on January 1, 1965.
1966
The school at LeBlancville closed. Shortly afterwards, the school at Dufourville also closed.
1966
Sisters Edith Robichaud and Stella Roach (Soeurs de la congrégation Notre-Dame, cn-d) arrived to establish a convent. Soon, two other nuns arrived and the convent of four served the community until autumn 2007. The last nuns to leave were Sister Edith who moved to the convent in Saint-Louis, NB and eventually to join Sister Stella at the Accueil Marguerite Bourgeoy in Québec.
1966
A tragic accident happened on April 21 on the outskirts of Moncton. Three Notre-Dame youth lost their lives that morning: Victor Langis, Josette Doucet and her brother Gérald. It was a time of great sorrow for the families and the community which mourned their passing for many years.
1967/1968
This is the last school year for students between grades 9 and 12 to attend l’École Centrale de Notre-Dame and thus, the last graduating class. Afterwards, high school students attended the high school in Bouctouche.
1968
The last high school graduation in Notre-Dame was held in June 1968. Graduates were Omer Babineau, Robert Babineau, Roberte Cormier, Valmond Cormier, Claudine LeBlanc, Fernande LeBlanc, Francis LeBlanc and Carol Léger.
1970s
The old train bridge was demolished in the late 1960s and this presented a golden opportunity to accommodate the growing traffic between Kent and Westmorland Counties. On the same site was built a culvert bridge and a new access road known as Route 115. Car travel on the old-covered bridge was stopped but pedestrian and cycling traffic continued to be permitted until 1976.
1971/72
With postmaster Napoléon Bourque’s retiring, the post office operations were moved to the home of Paul and Yvonne Léger. Mme Léger replaced Mr. Bourque until 1996 when Denise Richard replaced her, and the post office was again relocated into Richard’s home.
1972/73
With the old-covered bridge traffic being rerouted onto Route 115, Donald Taylor decided to demolish his general store and move his operation to in a new convenient location up the road just past the Catholic Church. This proved to be a wise decision. His son Brian took over ownership of the Taylor & Son General Store a decade or so later. In 1996, the store was sold, and its name was changed to Notre-Dame Express. Today, the store remains busy and an important contributor to the community.
1975
Local entrepreneur Adolphe Bourque constructed a new building to accommodate the growing business of the Notre-Dame Caisse Populaire. It was built on the grounds of the old two room school which was destroyed by fire in 1959. Mr. Tilmon Richard was manager of the credit union at the time.
1976 to 2000
1979
The board of directors of the “Club Athlétique de Notre-Dame” undertook the building of a large community center with leisure and sport facilities. From the beginning, the centre was very busy. Equipped with a kitchen and bar, the large hall was ideal for dancing, meals, events, weddings, anniversaries, private parties, and other activities and events. Many fundraisers were held there. The split-level basement housed bowling alleys and multi-purpose rooms for non-profits organisations such as the Knights of Columbus, Golden Age Club, ATV, literacy classes, etc. People came from afar for the music, bingo, cards, amateur nights, carnivals, cultural activities, book launchings, etc.
On the community ballfields were held two national women’s softball championships, in 1988 and in 1991. The local team did very well at both national events, especially in 1991 when the host team, the Athletes, won the Canadian Championship. The community centre underwent major renovations in the early 2000s when the bowling alleys were dismantled, and the space converted into an exciting youth centre known as Place Jeunesse Centrale.
In 2011, weight of snow collapsed the roof during the night of Wednesday, January 26. Luckily no one was in the building at the time as the evening before, the hall had been full of people playing the card game of “200”. The damage, however, was extensive. A group of volunteers teamed up to coordinate the necessary work leading to the ravaged building being demolished and the construction of a new community centre. In 2012, exactly one year later to the day, the new bigger one storey building opened its doors to the public. The Notre-Dame Community Centre remains very active.
1980s
The Scout movement was very strong in the community, and it remained active for several years. A Scout camp was built and often used.
1980
The old rectory was demolished, and in its place, a new rectory was built with space for the parish office.
1981
Notre-Dame lost an important landmark, the old-covered bridge. It had spanned the Cocagne River about 200 feet and was located near the sawmill where 40 years earlier, lumber was the main economic generator. The wooden bridge was quite visible when passing of the new bridge on Route 115 and is fondly remembered to this day. Notre-Dame has another covered bridge, at Poirier Office.
1982
École Notre-Dame expanded under the leadership of Rose-Marie Babineau and other volunteers. A new gym, cafeteria, offices, and classrooms were added.
1985
The “Église Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur” was consecrated.
1985
Résidence de Notre-Dame Inc. was built to offer retirees affordable apartments (nine one-bedroom apartments and one two-bedroom). The residence boasts a large common room with full kitchen for family get togethers.
1987
A Knight’s of Columbus charter was granted to the parish on April 5, 1987. Charitable and caring Christians founded the organisation “Chevaliers de Colomb Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur #9545. For over three decades, the Knights of Columbus have served the residents of the community by supporting local organisations and helping residents in need. Today, leadership and membership numbers continue to be strong.
1988
On November 13, 1988, veterans and community members gathered on the grounds of the Notre-Dame Catholic Church to pay tribute to those who died in the world’s great conflicts. Donald Taylor and Donat Després unveiled a commemorative monument.
1988
In the summer of 1988, Notre-Dame greeted softball teams from across Canada and their entourage as it hosted the Women’s Canadian Fast Pitch Ball Championship. Games were played on the Community Centre’s ball fields. While the local team was a strong contender, the winning team was the North Delta U-Guys, BC. Notre-Dame hosted another national championship in 1991 at which time the local team (The Athletics) won the championship title.
1988/89
The parish celebrated its 100th anniversary with monthly activities throughout the year.
1989
l’École Notre-Dame celebrated its 30th anniversary and was host to a well attended school reunion.
1990
A chamber of commerce, known as Chambre de commerce Cocagne-Notre-Dame, was founded and within on year, had over fifty members.
1991
Notre-Dame hosted the 1991 Women’s Fast Pitch Canadian Championship. Its local team the Athletics, won this national championship.
1993
Local athlete Julie Dupuis competed in the 1993 Summer Games held in Kamloops, BC and again in the 1997 Summer Games in Brandon, MN.
1994
August 17, 1994, during the Congrès mondial acadien, a private reception was held at Pépin Cuisine for dignitaries, ambassadors, and world leaders such as Jacques Chirac, then Mayor of Paris and in 1995, President of France. Pépin Cuisine was a restaurant offering local and international cuisine, catering services, and cooking classes.
1998
Local female softball player Vicky LeBlanc pitched a perfect game in the 1998 World Tournament in Japan. For a decade, she had been winning medals at international competitions and being recognised for her talent. Her status rose to Olympian in 2000 when she competed at the Sydney Olympics for Canada.
2000
In March, the postal addresses were changed from site and box number to civic numbers thereby improving efficiently and visibility, especially for emergency services such as fire and balance services.
