Sprague Brothers Blacksmith Shop, Arthurette. Rob Sprague, Frank Sprague, Fred Sprague, James Sprague, Fred Cronkite and Gilbert Cronkite all of Arthurette; Tommy Perey, Grand Fall [Grand Sault], 1890.
PANB. https://archives.gnb.ca/Exhibits/HistoricalImages/Details.aspx?culture=en-CA&ImageID=P37-432
District of the Tobique- Birch Ridge and Arthurette
We easily recognize the place names of the communities of the Tobique, but before they came to be, this was the land of the Wolastoqiyik for thousands of years.
When we speak of the “first settlers/first communities on the Tobique”, we must be aware that we speak only of the “first non-indigenous” people to acquire land and start to build homes and communities.
Birch Ridge
Birch Ridge was settled in 1878 by John Robertson who was burnt out by the Saint John Fire of 1877. in 1898 Birch Ridge was a settlement with 1 church and a population of 100.1
The first trees that John Robertson cut were birch and they grew on a ridge and so from this fact he named the place Birch Ridge.2
The first post office (1880-1942) in Birch Ridge was kept by Thomas Knowles and the first mail carrier was Levi Campbell. He used a dog team.3
The first school house was a log building and the first school master was John Stevenson. In 1888 the Episcopal Church, St. Bartholomew’s was started. It was finished and consecrated in 1890 by Bishop Kingdon. The first clergyman was Reverend Leo Hoyt. A Baptist church was also erected within the next few years with Reverend Charles Henderson as minister. 4
Arthurette
The fledgling community of Arthurette was first identified as Campbell Settlement.5
The community was later named after Arthuret in Cumbria, England by Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore, who was lieutenant governor of New Brunswick from 1861 to 1866.6
Arthurette was the first European community to be established on the Tobique River and Tamberlane Campbell and family were among the earliest settlers to the area. Tamberlanes’s father, Edward made two unsuccessful petitions of land in 1819 (500 acres on the Wapskehagen Stream) and 1824 (500 acres at the mouth of the Odell).7
Three of Edward’s sons, Tamberlane, William and Alexander settled on the Tobique and were living in the area in 1851.
In 1866 Arthurette was a farming and lumbering community with about 95 resident families and by 1898 Arthurette was a flag station on the Tobique branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway and a settlement with 1 post office, 2 stores, 1 hotel, 2 churches and a population of 200.
1 NB Archives. https://archives.gnb.ca/exhibits/communities/Details.aspx?culture=en-CA&community=328
2 Pioneer Days of Birch Ridge. Emily Gallop. Tobique Valley Genealogy and Local History Group Archives. Plaster Rock Public School Library
3 Pioneer Days of Birch Ridge. Emily Gallop. TVGLHG Archives. Plaster Rock Public School Library
4 Pioneer Days of Birch Ridge. Emily Gallop. TVGLHG Archives. Plaster Rock Public School Library
5 NB Archives. https://archives.gnb.ca/exhibits/communities/Details.aspx?culture=en-CA&community=573
6 Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthurette,_New_Brunswick
7 Tamberlalane, Ernest A. Clarke, 1981. TVGLHG Collection, Plaster Rock Public School Library
For more history, visit the Tobique Valley Genealogy and Local History Group website.
