John McColm Sr., his wife Margaret and their seven children, John Jr., Helen, William, Mary, Thomas, Margaret and Alexander, came to New Richmond in June 1833. An examination of the baptismal or birth certificates for Helen, Mary and Alexander reveals that they were born in Ayre, Ayreshire, Scotland.
After their arrival in New Richmond, there is no evidence as to where the family spent their first year. However, it may be that John Sr. started working immediately to settle the family on three lots (No. 26 - 33 acres, No. 27 - 42 acres and No. 29 - 36 acres) on the second range which he is recorded as purchasing for one shilling and ten pence per acre on January 6, 1835 from William McDonald, agent for the Crown. The first instalment was paid on this date and the last on December 12, 1838, with the letters patent apparently granted several years later. These lots in the 1861 census were shown as being occupied by John Jr. Lots No. 26 and 27 are now owned by Hilda Martin and Jack McColm, two of John Jr.'s descendants.
John Sr. purchased another lot (No. 2 - 66 2/3 acres) on the second range, probably sometime in the 1840's. In 1861, he was living on this property with his son Thomas and presumably continued to do so until he died five years later. This property passed out of the family when sold ten or fifteen years ago by Thomas' grandson, Norman McColm. The third McColm property shown in the 1861 census was occupied by Alexander (Sandy) McColm, John Sr.'s youngest child. This property runs down to the Grand Cascapedia River and is presently occupied by one of Alexander's grandsons, Alex Brown. Although -this property was occupied by the family before 1861, the year of acquisition is not known.
Occupiers of lots in Black Cape were not recorded with the 1861 census. Furthermore, much of the land in this area of the municipality of New Richmond is believed to have originally been acquired by speculators and later resold to the permanent settlers. Thus, records of Crown Grants were not helpful. However, a flyleaf note in my great-grandfather's Bible reads as follows:
"William McColm Junior was born in the Grand Cascapedia on July 31, 1843 and came to Black Cape in the month of April 1844..."
He came with his father, William (III), who acquired a farm on the second range, near the end of Powell's Alley, which remained in the family for about 125 years.
The wives of John Jr. and William were both born in Scotland. My grandfather recalled hearing his grandmother, Jane Stewart, William's wife, say that she came to Canada at about the age of three or four years. This would seem to be fairly accurate as she was born in 1820 in or near Campbeltown, Argyllshire and according to another note left by my greatgrandfather, she 'came to the Bay des Chaleurs in June of 1823' . Alexander's wife, Mary Willet, was born in 'Lower Canada'. As she was born in 1833 and as the Willetts by that date had already been settled for many years, it is very probable that she was born in New Richmond. Thomas' wife, Catherine Thompson from Hopetown, was also born in Lower Canada. It is likely that she was a descendant of Wm. Thompson, a Loyalist, who arrived on the coast in July 1784 on the Brig Polly.
John Sr.'s three daughters, Helen, Mary and Margaret, married three brothers, John, Donald and Duncan, sons of Angus Campbell. Angus, his brother Donald and their respective families, all from Southend (near Campbeltown), Argyllshire, came to New Richmond in 1826 and settled in Black Cape. Helen and John apparently acquired part of the original farm owned by Angus, and this they passed on to their youngest child, James Steven Campbell. Restie McColm who now resides in the house James Steven was living in at the time of his death, owns the western part of Angus' farm which is believed to originally have extended on the east side to Powell's Alley. The site of Angus' original home is thought to be located nearby, probably down the hill below the old highway and towards the shore. Although not related to the McColm family history, it is noted as a matter of interest that the site of Donald Campbell Sr.'s home is located in the field beside Loring Campbell's house, near the border between Black Cape and Caplan.
Mary McColm and her husband, Donald Campbell (son of Angus), lived on the second concession facing the end of Powell's Alley. (The next property to the east was occupied by her brother William.) Margaret and Duncan's farm was located on the third concession directly behind William's farm. The farms of Mary and Margaret are still owned by their descendants.
In the course of my research, I discovered various types of information which shed some light on the early settlement of New Richmond, and which I think may be of interest to you. However, as this was allied to my main purpose, this aspect of my research was not exhaustive.
The earliest reference to the area was found in a list of land grants made in 1765. A major survey of the coast was completed in that year and, in an effort to try and encourage settlements to be developed, large grants were made at the time, and these mainly to soldiers and merchants. The grants at various points along the coast were often in multiples of 1,000 acres, and these were usually in the range of 2,000-5,000 acres. One entry made on May 31, 1765, recorded a grant of 10,000 acres at 'Cascapebiac' to a Mr. Henry Mounier; this was probably for land situated adjacent to the mouth of the Grand Cascapedia River. However, there is no indication that he ever exercised any rights of ownership over this property, and in the 1777 census, Mr. Mounier, an Acadian merchant, was listed as a resident of Carleton.
It is unlikely that anyone settl ed in the area until the United Empire Loyalists arrived in 1784. The 1777 census taken of the communities situated along the coast between Restigouche and Gaspe, did not contain any reference to New Richmond, Cascapedia or the surrounding area. The closest settlements listed at the time were Tracadaguiche (Carleton) and Bonaventure, both Acadian settlements.
On July 8, 1778, W. Smith, a fish merchant, resident on the south side of the Restigouche River, probably near where Campbellton, N.B. is now situated but then known as Nova Scotia, wrote to John Shoolbred, London, England, about the plundering of their fishing facilities by American privateers. Among other things, he wrote as follows:
"At Cascapediac, the Salmon Fishery is almost completely lost." (ff.137,A-773)
There were no further references to this area of the coast in his letter, but, as a matter of interest, he described the encounter at Restigouche with the Americans, including the sinking of a ship, and commented very favourably on Captain Journeaux's efforts to rout the Americans.
On August 16, 1784, Nicholas Cox, Lieutenant-Governor of Gaspe, wrote to Governor Haldimand about various matters including the following:
"Four or five Indian families are settled on River Cascapeja. One family only claims the sole right of fishing in the said river. I think it is an unreasonable claim as the said river is situated between Tracadaguiche (Carleton) and Bonaventure, in the heart of our settlements, and where the next Township in this Bay, for the Loyalists, ought to be laid out, on account of said River, and the goodness of the land, therefore said River ought to be in Common, and not monopolized by (Indian), Acadian or any other." (A-773)
Although I was unable to locate any specific evidence that settlers came to New Richmond in 1784, I found several indirect references to suggest that they did. On June 9 of that year, the Brigs St. Peter and Polly, Snow Liberty (Captain: Azariah Pritchard), Hoy St. Johns and several whale boats with a total of 315 passengers, all United Empire Loyalists, sailed down the St. Lawrence River for the Bay Chaleur. The names of the heads of these Loyalist families were recorded and are still available for examination, as are the names of those who drew lots at New Carlisle. A further 88 Loyalists came to the coast later that year but their names were not preserved.
The list of passengers brought to the coast in the above named vessels contain several surnames still familiar to the residents of New Richmond, such as Azariah Pritchard, Duncan Robertson and Alex Brown. These and other Loyalist names appear in several documents concerning New Richmond which were drawn up in the following years.
At this point, I note that another possible original settler may have been a Mr. Loubert, an Acadian from Tracadaguiche (Carleton), who in August 1784 sent a petition to the Governor asking for a grant of 750 acres at Cascapedia (ff. 137, A-773). Although Lieutenant-Governor Nicholas Cox recommended the petition, a copy of the Governor's reply could not be located. However, in 1825, the Loubert name appears in the Maria census several times, but not once in the census of New Richmond. It may be that Mr. Loubert was granted a site on the west side of the Cascapedia River which also formed a part of the area known in 1784 as 'Cascapeja'.
Certain citizens of the coast, presumably from 'Cascapeja', probably including what is now known as Maria, New Richmond and maybe Caplan, petitioned on February 1, 1788 for a common fishing ground in the Restigouche River (by having it taken away from the Mic Macs), so as to enhance the salmon fishing industry. John Duthie headed the group of 50 or 60 signers, but other familiar surnames included George Gilker, Loubert, Charles Cavanaugh, Busteed, Duncan Robertson, John Guitie and Joseph Arseneau. Most of the names on this petition were illegible.
On another petition from the coast to the Governor, dated March 28, 1802, concerning the location certificates for land which were issued to the Loyalists in 1784, appeared the names of John and George Duthie, Duncan Robertson, William Willett, John, James and Prudence Gilker, John Johnson and Azariah Pritchard, all presumably from New Richmond (ff. 94222-8, C-2567).
These location certificates issued to the Loyalists apparently gave them only the right to occupy a lot of a certain size. However, after many years of work and effort to clear and develop the land, they apparently felt justified in petitioning the Governor for the legal title to their respective properties, thereby giving them ownership as well as possession. The matter was not settled at this time as we shall see in another petition.
On September 9, 1804, Johan Wilhelm Woetzel petitioned for an island situated two or three leagues up the Grand 'Cascapediac' River which was known as Cass's Island. He said he fell in with Captain Azariah Pritchard in Halifax who encouraged him to come to New Richmond to manufacture 'hemp'(?). In a related document, Captain Pritchard said it was not an island but a point. Twenty years earlier, he added, one Cass had tried to settle there but in the springtime the freshets came. Four men, all named Cass, Josiah and three adult sons, were part of the Loyalist group who arrived on the coast in July 1784.
In 1834, John Duthie filed a petition to try and obtain a clear title to his land (lot No. 17, 103.2 acres). In his petition, he stated that he had occupied this property for 50 years. In the same year, George Duthie who filed a petition in connection with his property (lot No. 16, 92 acres) stated that he had occupied it for about the same time. These lots are located in the vicinity of where the 'airport' used to and may still be located. John P. Dymock also sought title to the land he had occupied for 40 years, as did Benjamin Cormier for land that he had occupied for 40 to 50 years.
The earliest reference to the name of New Richmond was found in a letter dated 1792 and written by Azariah Pritchard. In it he gave his address as New Richmond. The earlier references, up to 1784, were to Cascapedia, a name apparently derived from a Mic Mac word meaning strong current. I suspect the name of New Richmond was given in 1787, at the same time Tracadaguiche was renamed Carleton.
Before proceeding on to the later years of New Richmond, I would like to relate a few further details of some of the Loyalists who settled here. The most outstanding was undoubtedly Azariah Pritchard who before the American Revolution lived in Derby, New Haven County, Connecticut, where he owned a grist mill and other property. During the Revolution, he was charged with treason because of his continued loyalty to the King, and although he was not convicted, he eventually had to abandon his property. He then raised a contingent of soldiers for the British Army and was made a captain in the King's Rangers. After coming to Canada, he remained in the King's secret service and became Captain of the ship Snow Liberty. Mr. A.D. Flowers, in his book entitled "Loyalists of Bay Chaleur", Suggests that Azariah was instrumental in establishing all the Loyalist settlements along the Gaspe coast. The motivation may have been to have the settlers supply grain for the grist mill he proposed to build at Caplan. He is also recorded as the petitioner, buyer, and seller of many tracts of land in New Richmond and elsewhere.
Duncan Robertson, one of Azariah's colleagues, was described as a Loyalist refugee from New York who served in General Burgoyne's campaign of 1777 and was listed in Captain Daniel McAlpine's troop as a Sergeant. In June 1784, he sailed from Quebec for Chaleur Bay on the Brig St. Peter. He is also recorded as petitioning for a tract of land at Yamachiche (near Three Rivers), but this petition was abandoned. George Gilker, another Loyalist, was also described as a refugee from New York, and on December 25, 1783, was listed on the army payroll at Sorel.
Other Loyalists who arrived on the coast in 1784 and whose surnames are familiar to many in New Richmond include George Coull, Walter Caldwell, Wm. Garrett, Thomas M. Doran, Duncan McLennan, Donald Munro, Lawrence McKenzie, Captain George Law, David Lynd and George Johnson.
On January 18, 1791, Duncan McLennan petitioned for a 200 acre lot 'on the west side of Black Cape' adjacent to his own purchased lot. He described himself as a 'soldier of His Majesty's twenty-first regiment'. I did not discover any evidence as to when the others or their descendants first came to New Richmond.
It was not possible to list the names of all the Loyalists who came to the coast in 1784, but some, or their descendants, who settled in other communities and whose surnames are well known today include James Astle, Thomas Mann, Secord Beebe, Robert Flowers, Wm. Patterson, John Keys, John Chisholm, Sam Chatterton, Richard Billingsley, Alex Hayes, John Ross, Wm. Huntington and Wm. Campbell.
Between 1784 and 1825, some of the Acadians who arrived on the coast in the 1755-1760 period, particularly those who settled in Carleton or their descendants, resettled in New Richmond. This is evident from a comparison of the 1777 census of Carleton, then with a total population of 163 men, women and children, and the 1825 census of New Richmond which is also contained in this chapter. Some of the surnames appearing in the Carleton census were as follows:
Arseneau, Bourg, LeBlanc, Landry, Boudreau, Bernard, Dugare, Allen, Allard, LeBrun, Berthelot, Corraire, Richard, Aubertin, Gravier, Comeau, Loiset, Normandeau, Bechard, Lamontagne, Langlois, Laviolette, Barnet, Poirie, Mounier, DeDemboise, Bijault and Ianson.
An examination of the 1777 census of Bonaventure, another Acadian settlement, reveals such surnames as:
Arseneau, Bourg, Babin, Richard, Lepage, Poirier, Bernard, Gauthier, Cormier, Henry, Robichaud, Dugay and Cotter (ff. 16, A-773).
According to one source, 30 families came from Guernsey to the coast in 1776. However, I am not aware that any of them or their descendants ever settled in New Richmond, and thus, I did not pursue this point.
By 1825, New Richmond, including Cascapedia and Black Cape, had 79 households with 446 dependents for a total population of 525 persons. The names of the heads of the 79 households listed in the census taken that year were as follows:
| Widow Cavanaugh | Gregoire LeBlanc | Jean Geer |
| William Stewart | Rene LeCouffle | Bernard LeBlanc |
| Dougald Fletcher | Dolawd (?) Duthie | Ralph Cormier |
| John Moor (?) | Autin LeCouffle | Azariah Pritchard |
| George Willett | William Cuthbert | Ralph Pritchard |
| Andrew Turner | John McGregor | John Wedgeson (?) |
| John Fallow | Joseph Cormier | John Auger |
| Samuel Gilker | Louis Cormier | Archibald McNair |
| Peter Lynd | John Crichton | John LeBlanc |
| Benjamin Thornton | Jean LeBuffe | Fleuran LeBlanc |
| Alexander Duthie | James Boston | Joseph Morin |
| Widow Duthie | Widow Robertson | Laurence Carey |
| John Duthie | George Brown | John McKenzie |
| Andrew Dean | Hugh Robertson | Johnathan Woodman |
| William Willett | Archibald Duthie | Hugh McRae |
| Willie Willett | David Nalburn | Edward Power |
| John Gilker | Hugh Smith | Patrick Wallace |
| James Crawford | Ephriam Cormier | John Johnston |
| Widow Gilker | William Chaltand | Alexander Johnston |
| William Cockrane | Benjamin Cormier | Alexander Calder |
| Gilbert McWhirter | Joseph Coin | Nicholas Boullier |
| John Dimock | Autin LeCouffle | Thomas Pakin |
| John Moore | Jean LeBlanc | Frederick Boudage |
| Edward LeBlanc | David LeBlanc | Pierre Bruce |
| Amie Cormier | Orman Geer | Joseph Bruce |
| Ephriam Cormier | Joseph D. Geer | |
| Pierre LeBlanc | Joseph Geer |
By 1831, when the next census was taken, there were 111 households and a total population of 601 persons. The new names appearing in that census were as follows:
| William McLellan | James Henderson | John Bears (sawyer) |
| Pierre Bujold | Michel Murphy | Pat Caroll |
| Pierre Babin | Wm. McGrath | Richard Hamilton |
| Pat Hall (courier) | Thomas Connor | Wm. Watson (blacksmith) |
| Donald Campbell | John Carrol | John Cruger |
| Nevin Jamieson | Pat Hughes | John Burket |
| James Powell | Wm. Taylor | Thomas Clark |
| Angus Campbell | A. Cool (sawyer) | Mich Burton |
It is noted that the 1825 census of Maria included such names as Edward Burton, Andrew Bart and Laughlin McCormick. Some new names which appeared in the 1831 census of Maria were Pat Walsh and Thomas Foran. The 1831 population of Bonaventure County was 4,995 persons.
The 1861 census was taken in great detail. It listed the name, age, place of birth and religion of every man, woman and child. The population of New Richmond, again including Cascapedia and Black Cape, was 1,510 persons, and of Bonaventure County, it was 13,092. Some of the new surnames, with some of the places of birth indicated in brackets, were as follows:
| Thomas Montgomery | Morale Barter (U.S.A.) | James Bendwell |
| Jessie McDonald | John Harrison (Eng.) | Wm. Howatson (Scot.) |
| Samuel Harriman | Alex McDonald (N.S.) | Jas. Jamieson |
| John Peebles | Edward Langwell | Henry Hardy (N.B.) |
| Daniel Sillars | Wm. Harvey | Michael Martin (Ire.) |
| Archibald McKay | Wm. Kerr | Fredrick Bourdage |
| Hypolite Morreau | John Campbell (P.E.I.) | Mary McIves (Scot.) |
| Isaac Budd | John Doddridge | David Taylor (N.B.) |
| John Parent | John Steele (Scot.) | Nicholas Boissonneault |
| Robert Brash | Andrew Fairservice |
The 1861 census taken of Maria included such names as Wm. Mowatt (born in Lower Canada), Wm. Clapperton (Lower Canada), Daniel Pidgeon (P.E.I.), Benjamin Best (N.B.), Lucy Mulligan (L.C.), and Michael O'Neil (Ireland).
During the next one hundred years, New Richmond received very few, if any, new settlers, especially from the British Isles and Europe. However, the population did increase, and this was due partly to migration from other communities along the coast, and partly to a birth rate which was somewhat higher than it is today. Industrialization within the past fifteen years brought in some new families, but these were mainly from other parts of Canada. By 1976, the population of Cascapedia (345), New Richmond and Black Cape (4,295) had grown to 4,640 persons and that of Bonaventure County to 40,724 persons (Statistics Canada).
NOTE: The folio and reel reference numbers following various paragraphs refer to source materials which are available at the National Archives, Wellington Street, Ottawa.