MF – 1862.09.09 – Johnville Colonization – #86 – F12247

COLONIZATION. – The Bishop of St. John having been on a visitation lately in the county of Carleton, took occasion to visit one of the new settlements colonized by the efforts of the Emigrant Aid Association, of which his Lordship is the President, and, indeed, is the very life and soul. His report of the progress he there witnessed is highly gratifying, and should inspire with new courage and determination those who, having resolved to share in the great advantages offered to them by the Society, still hesitate or defer moving for one trifling reason or another. In June 1861 the first tree was felled in this settlement. To-day there are over 80 lots on which improvements have been made, and on 43 lots crops have been grown. The fields of wheat, oats, buckwheat, potatoes, and turnips his Lordship describes as the most beautiful and luxuriant. In one large field of oats the stumps were so completely concealed from view by the crop that he at first thought they must have been removed. Much of the oats was six feet in height, and the length and breadth and [fulness] of the heads of wheat was something wonderful. One of those new settlers has now nearly 25 acres under crop, and several have ten or twelve acres. As a proof of what may be done by a proper system of emigration and colonization, efficiently worked, we may mention that a man named Creaghan, who, with his family, came out last year in one of the vessels from Galway, is now one of the most thriving and contented of these settlers. His lease of his farm in Galway had expired, and his parish priest, having seen one of Dr. Sweeny’s admirable letters on emigration to New Brunswick, advised him to come to this Province. He did come with his family. He was not able to speak a word of English. His wife could make herself understood, and that was all. They on their arrival applied to the Bishop, who, at once, had them sent to this settlement, then just commenced, and when they arrived there they were not lost sight of, but such directions and counsel as they, strangers to the [countay], its climate, and its customs, so much required, were always given to them. This year this man has thirteen acres under wheat, oats, potatoes, turnips, and buckwheat, all splendid crops, and has much ground already chopped for next year, is prosperous, contented, independent, and happy, and very soon he will no doubt be positively wealthy.

This is but one case of the many which want of space prevents our describing, more particularly to-day. Hundreds of acres are now yielding a bountiful harvest where little more than a year ago the solitude of the dense wilderness was unbroken, and scores of families who, for years, had struggled for a mere living, have the assurance of comfort and independence. How infatuated are the working men who, with such advantages within their reach, and with such examples before their eyes, still cling to the precarious miserable existence of the towns.