New Brunswick Emigration and Immigration

Online Resources

 * Online Listing of 1500 of the first families to arrive in New Brunswick.
 * Passenger Lists, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick
 * The Old United Empire Loyalists List, index
 * A List of passengers landing in ships in the Maritime provinces
 * Ships Lists & Voyages ~ pre1830, New Brunswick GenLinks
 * 1772-1775 - Yorkshire Immigrants to New Brunswick, 1772-1775, index
 * 1785 - Return of Loyalists settled in various parts of New Brunswick in the year 1785 : apparently compiled in connection with an investigation into the accounts paid out by the government in behalf of the Loyalists This manuscript is from the collection known as the Winslow Papers. Part of this collection was published under the title, the Winslow Papers, edited by W. O. Raymond, but this manuscript was not included. Includes index.
 * 1815, 1832, 1833-1834 & 1837-1838 - Saint John, N.B. Customs House Passenger Lists 1815, 1832, 1833-1834 & 1837-1838
 * 1816-1838 - Provincial Archives of New Brunswick Port Returns - Including Passenger Lists, 1816-1838
 * 1816-1858 - Teacher Petitions Index, index and images
 * 1834 - New Brunswick, Canada, Passenger Lists: 1834 ($)
 * 1841-1849 - Irish Emigration to New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 to 1849 ($)
 * 1847-1856 - Fitzwilliam Estate Emigration Books, 1847-1856 Database
 * 1851, 1861 - New Brunswick, Canada, Irish Immigrants In The New Brunswick Census Of 1851 and 1861 Index, 1851, 1861, index, ($)
 * 1865-1922 - Passenger Lists, 1865-1922 Index and images. Library and Archives Canada
 * 1865-1922 - Passenger Lists for the Port of Quebec City and Other Ports, 1865-1922, index and images. Library and Archives Canada
 * 1881-1922, index and images.
 * 1895-1956 - United States Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1895-1956, index.
 * 1895-1954 - Vermont, St. Albans Canadian Border Crossings, 1895-1954, index and images.
 * 1895-1924 - Vermont, Passenger Lists, 1895-1924
 * 1900-1922, 1925-1935 - Ships' passenger lists for Canada, 1900-1922, 1925-1935
 * 1908-1918 - Border Entry, 1908-1918, images.
 * 1913-1918 - Report of Admissions at the Port of Grand Falls, New Brunswick 1913 - 1918
 * 1917-1942 - United States, border crossing from Canada to United States, New Brunswick, Records of Aliens Pre-Examined at Saint John, New Brunswick, Prior to Admission at the U.S.-Canada Border, 1917-1942, index and images.
 * 1919-1924 - Border Entry, Form 30, 1919-1924, images
 * 1919-1924 - Immigration Form 30A, ocean arrivals, 1919-1924, index and images.
 * 1925-1935 - Passenger Lists and Border Entries, 1925-1935 - Nominal Indexes, Library and Archives Canada
 * 1925-1935 - Border Entry, 1925-1935, images

See also, individual online lists found in Provincial Secretary Administration Records.'''

Canadian Border Crossing Records
The United States kept records of people crossing the border from Canada to the United States. These records are called border crossing lists, passenger lists, or manifests. There are two kinds of manifests:


 * Manifests of people sailing from Canada to the United States.
 * Manifests of people traveling by train from Canada to the United States.

In 1895, Canadian shipping companies agreed to make manifests of passengers traveling to the United States. The Canadian government allowed U.S. immigration officials to inspect those passengers while they were still in Canada. The U.S. immigration officials also inspected train passengers traveling from Canada to the United States. The U.S. officials worked at Canadian seaports and major cities like Québec and Winnipeg. The manifests from every seaport and emigration station in Canada were sent to St. Albans, Vermont.

Provincial Archives of New Brunswick
The major port for the maritime provinces has always been Halifax, Nova Scotia. As with the rest of eastern Canada, New Brunswick has a few scattered ship lists for the period before 1865. The few ship lists from the Acadian period can be found at the Acadian Center, Moncton University. There are a few British ship lists from about 1815 to 1860 on microfilm reels F-1697 and F-1698 at the National Archives of Canada.

The Provincial Archives has recently indexed a series of passenger lists. The sub-series RS23E consists of the passenger lists. These lists are for the following ports and years:


 * St. John—1816, 1833, 1834, 1838
 * St. Andrews—1837, 1838
 * Bathurst—1837

Provincial Secretary Administration Records
"For those hoping to use this series to find a particular ancestor, they are likely to be disappointed for these records do not contain many lists of immigrants (although there are a few, which are noted). If, however, the researcher is interested in documenting the experiences and plight of their ancestors who were involved in the several waves of immigration, this series is will prove valuable.  From violations of the Passenger Act to disease and death in the Immigrant Station at Partridge Island, this series is noteworthy for the amount of detail it contains regarding the conditions of the immigrants, especially those from Ireland, on their arrival in New Brunswick.  As well, there is a fairly detailed record of the passenger ships which arrived in the peak years of 1814 to 1867.
 * Report on Nicholson, Breen, Collins, Macan, and McGuire Families, Irish Immigrants in York and Carleton Counties, c. 1847, images
 * Report on Immigration Settlements in New Brunswick; 1863 (provides name, county of settlement, the number of acres, the year of survey, rough estimate of number of settlers as of 1863), images.
 * List of Patients at Emigrants Hospital in Saint John; 1847-1849 (includes name of patient, age, county of birth, date of death or discharge, name of ship, point of sailing, when arrived), images.
 * Catalogues of Immigrants Relieved on Poor and Immigrant Accounts; 1842 (includes name, age, county of birth, number in family, to what place removed from Saint John, names of deceased indigent immigrants, and place of internment), images.
 * General Accounts for Support of Distressed Immigrants, Parish of Saint John, 1829-1830, 1835, 1855 (not as detailed as the catalogues above but do contain some names), images.
 * Accounts for Support of Black Refugees, Parish of Portland, 1827-1829, 1831, 1835 (contain names), images.
 * Accounts For Support of Distressed Immigrants, Parish of Portland; 1827-1829, 1831, 1835, 1841 (contains names), images.
 * Accounts for Support of Distressed Immigrants; 1828-1829, 1845-1853 (contain some names), York County, images.
 * Petition of James Taylor of Fredericton Relating to Scottish Settlers Arrived on the "Favorite", c.1817., images.
 * Passenger List for the "Thetis"; 1837, images.
 * Correspondence Relating to Diseased Passengers on the "Eliza Liddel"; 1847-1848 (includes passenger list), images.
 * List of Patients in Immigrants Hospital at Shippegan, 1847, images.

Newspapers

 * Newspapers, PANB Use full-text search to find names of people mentioned in articles.

Fitzwilliam Estate Emigration Books, 1847-1856
In reaction to the Potato Famine many landlords in Ireland evicted impoverished tenants, enabling them to be rid of the encumbrance these people could become on their already struggling estates. Some landlords, hoping for a more humane way to ease the burden looked to assisted emigration, sending surplus tenants overseas with incentives.
 * Fitzwilliam Estate Emigration Books, 1847-1856 Database, index

In the years between 1847 and 1856 nearly 6000 “surplus” or unviable tenants from the Fitzwilliam Estate, County Wicklow, Ireland were sent across the Atlantic to Canada. The estate was over 85,000 acres, covering one-fifth of the entire county of Wicklow and had more than 20,000 tenants. 383 of these tenants were sent to St. Andrews, New Brunswick on the Star, their voyage funded by their landlord. They had been promised three months’ work on railroad construction in New Brunswick, after which they might be kept on. In comparison to the vast majority of famine emigrants, they appear to have been in an enviable position. However, they were received by an ill equipped emigrant welfare system and a railway company unprepared for their numbers. The experience of these emigrants highlights the inadequacies and conditions they met with upon starting a new life in New Brunswick, including periods of continued destitution and reliance on the province for support. Yet, despite these issues a large number of Star immigrants remained in and contributed to St. Andrews and the surrounding area with lasting results. This database contains the records of those families who left the Fitzwilliam Estate on the Star during these clearances.

Irish Teacher Petitions, 1816-1858
Irish immigrants in New Brunswick taught in one-third of New Brunswick schools by the mid nineteenth century, the majority quickly becoming licensed teachers shortly after their arrival and remaining in the profession. Teachers’ petitions from Irish immigrants requesting a license or payment for teaching services contain biographical information including names, country of birth, education, teaching experience, church affiliation, samples of handwriting and certificates from local school trustees or clergymen verifying the character and abilities of the petitioner.
 * Teacher Petitions Index, index and images

The records gathered here comprise 509 of these petitions and copies of licenses or certifications from 1816-1858 declaring the petitioner’s country of birth to be Ireland. These Irish records represent a small portion of the 6645 teachers’ petitions which exist in RS655 Teachers’ Petitions and Licences, 1812-1882. Researchers should be aware that documentation on other Irish teachers no doubt exist in RS655 but only those records which state that the individual originated from Ireland are included here.