Kings County is located just north of St John County and the port of Saint John, the main port of entry during the Irish immigration years. As a result this county was dotted with Irish settlements with such names as Irish Settlement, Vinegar Hill, Waterford, Donegal, and Londonderry. Many Irish Catholic parishes dotted the landscape of Kings County, but as time passed, and the descendants of the original Irish settlers moved away from the small settlements, many parishes disappeared – leaving behind the cemeteries to tell their own story.

Although some of the parishes in the southern reaches of the Kennegecasis Valley were served directly from Saint John, most of the rest of the Kings county parishes were tied eventually to St Francis Xavier Parish. Located in Sussex, the heart of the county, it serves many of the small communities that surround the dairy town.

But it was not the first St Francis Xavier Parish in the region. The original St Francis Xavier church was located south of Sussex, in Ward’s Creek. Mass was said in homes in the community as early as 1832 by priests who came from Saint John. Father John Sweeny (later Bishop) served this area and found that there were enough communicants to build a church. He laid the cornerstone for the new church in Ward’s Creek, but it was his successor, Fr. Michael Wallace, who oversaw the construction. Built by Thomas Stableford for the sum of £275. It was consecrated St Francis Xavier in 1846.¹ A rectory was built at a later date.

This church served the surrounding communities until the end of the 19th century but as the families moved out of the area, it became run down and was in a very dilapidated state. No longer conveniently located for the Catholic population, Father Edward Savage, after a fire destroyed the rectory in 1897, decided to move the parish to Sussex. Completed in 1900, and blessed by Most Rev. Timothy Casey, Saint Francis Xavier continues to serve the Kings County Irish community.

 

 

Millstream is located west of Sussex and also had a sizeable Irish population at one time. Mass was said in various family homes very early on – well before the construction of a church. Although it is not clear when the first church was built here, the present structure was completed in 1888 and consecrated St Philip’s Parish by Bishop John Sweeny. It is a mission of St Francis Xavier parish in Sussex.

 

Sacred Heart Parish – Norton (source: Pax Vobis)

Other Catholic Churches were found throughout Kings County. St Michael’s Parish was first built in the 1850’s in Newtown (halfway between Sussex and Cornhill on Route 890). It was replaced in 1917 by another church and blessed by Bishop LeBlanc in 1921. In Anagance Ridge, near Cornhill and Buckley Settlement, St Gabriel’s Parish was also blessed in 1921 by Bishop Sweeny. St Patrick’s Church in Waterford (southeast of Sussex) was built in 1848 but closed in 1955. Transferred from Holy Ghost, Riverside-Albert, Albert County in 1921, Our Lady of Ransom Parish on the Fredericton Road, (Route 112) in Westmorland County, was also tied to St Francis Xavier parish in Sussex until it was transferred to St Bernard’s Parish in Moncton in 1955. It closed in the 1980’s, although the cemetery is still well maintained.⁵

 

Precious Blood Parish
Goshen

 

The parish of St Isodores Agricola in South Branch, Kings County (on Route 114 – the highway to Fundy National Park) was a mission of St Agatha’s Parish, in New Ireland, Albert County, but was also sometimes served from Sussex. Abandoned in 1908 when parishioners moved away from the area, this parish was replaced by Precious Blood Parish in Goshen, which was built in 1912 and was also served sometimes by priests from St Francis Xavier Parish in Sussex. It is well maintained and lovingly cared for by the descendants of the local Irish families. New stained glass windows have been added in recent years. A mass is held here every summer and people attend from far and wide.

Because of the large number of Catholic Churches in Kings County and the fact that sometimes they were served by a number of mother parishes, it makes it difficult for those seeking vital church records to find information. Excluding the Hampton area parishes which were served by Saint John, most of the other parishes were missions of St Francis Xavier Parish in Sussex and that is a good place for any genealogist to start when seeking Kings County information. St Francis Xavier Parish continues to be the religious centre of Kings County. It rightly deserves the title of mother church of the Kings County Irish.

[1] Rev. Dr. Michael McGowan, Pax Vobis: A History of the Diocese of Saint John, its Bishops and Parishes, Strasbourg: Editions de Signe, 2004, p. 67.
[2] Ibid, p. 66.
[3] Pax Vobis, p. 62
[4] Ibid, p. 71.
[5] Maurice A Léger and Oscar Bourque, Souvenir du 50e Anniversaire de l’Archdiocèse de Moncton, Sackville, The Tribune Press, 1986.

 

On November 14, 1852, Bishop Connolly announced to his congregation at St. Malachi’s church his intention to have a cathedral erected on a small tract of land on the outskirts of the city. Bishop Connolly established a committee which met on November 21, 1852. Members of the building committee were: George Carvill, John Doherty, James Gallagher, John McSweeney, John Dooley, Charles Doherty, Michael McGuirk, Thomas McElroy, Michael Finn, Henry McCullough and Timothy Warren Anglin.

Charles F. Anderson, an Anglo-Irish architect from New York, was hired to prepare plans and specifications. However the Cathedral was ultimately erected from a design by Matthew Stead. The design is English Gothic design.

The costs of the building were considered so high that volunteer labour was used to proceed with the structure. Mr. William Smith, a prominent Orangeman, was chosen to oversee the construction. It should be noted that on March 28, 1853 “fully 400 men, labourers and various trades and callings were crowded around the site of the proposed edifice, enthusiastic volunteers in the work of digging the foundation”¹.

The excavation began in the spring of 1853. The foundation stone was laid in May 1853 and by November of that year the walls were up and the roof laid. Bishop Connolly celebrated the first mass on Christmas day 1855. There were estimated to be 3,000 people in attendance.

In 1859 Pope Pius IX appointed Bishop Connolly as the Archbishop of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

On Sunday February 12, 1860 it was announced that Rt. Rev. Dr. John Sweeney, Vicar-General had been named the new Bishop of Saint John. Bishop Sweeney erected the spire in 1871 to a height of 230 feet to the top of the cross, this being equal to some 300 feet above sea level and about the highest point in the city at that time. The cross originally faced in an east-west direction and was believed to have served as a navigational aid for vessels entering and leaving the harbor.

In 1861 Rt. Rev. Dr. John Sweeney (born 1821 Ireland) would continue with the construction. Brooklyn architect, P.C. Keely’s designs were forwarded to Bishop Sweeney for the main portion of the Cathedral as well as the side chapels. Mr. Patrick Morrissey was selected to do the work plans for the confessional and pulpit and Mr. S. Lamb was chosen to plan the chapel alter. The carving of the main altar was credited to Mr. Seaborn as was the twelve-foot marble statue of the Blessed Virgin placed on the front of the Cathedral.

The new organ arrived on May 1, 1876. It weighed ten tons, was fifty-eight feet wide, thirty feet high and fifteen feet deep.

Bishop Sweeny solemnly dedicated The Cathedral on July 16, 1885. The chimes were installed in 1885 and first rang out on Christmas day of that same year. They consisted of ten bells, the largest about 3,000 lbs. in weight. They were manufactured by McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Md.

During the episcopate of Bishop E.A. LeBlanc (1912-1935) the tower of the Cathedral was repaired and consolidated by the addition of an interior concrete wall. Under the direction of Bishop Patrick Bray (1935-1953) the upper section of the north transept wall and the upper sanctuary underwent extensive renovations. A new pulpit and sound system were installed and the altar and throne remodeled and enlarged. Notably in the altar transformation was the addition of the life-size image of the crucified savior. A statue of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the Cathedral, was set in a beautiful Gothic shrine on the pillar situated on the throne of the sanctuary. During the episcopate of Bishop Alfred Leverman (1953-1968) the interior of the Cathedral again underwent extensive renovations.

The present organ was built by Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec in 1952. There are some 3,000 pipes, the largest is 16 feet and the shortest is less than one inch. On March 23, 1956, the Most Rev. Alfred B. Leverman consecrated the new Main Altar. The relics of St. Matthew, St. Andrew, St. Barnabas and St. Ambrose, which were the original relics in the old altar stone, were now placed in the new altar stone.

Among the many stained glass windows is one in the transept, on the right. The center panel St. Patrick with St. Colomba of Iona on his right, and St. Brigid of Kildare on his left.

On the right when you enter the Cathedral, you will see a statue of the Pieta (Mary holding the body of Jesus after the Crucifixion.) The statues in the back are St. Anthony on the right and St. Theresa of Lisieux on the left. All around the Cathedral, in the nave at a higher level, are the statues of eleven of the apostles. On the far side of the right transept, is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and on the left transept, St. Joseph. In the Virgin’s Chapel, in the right alcove is St. Anne with Mary as a child and in the left alcove is St. Francis of Assisi.

[1] Sister Catherine Hennessey and Anne Marie McGrath, Peter Murphy, Fred Horgan, Ronald Horgan and Bonnie Harley, The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception 1885-1985, Diocese of Saint John, privately published, 1985, p. 2.

 

_______, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, unpublished pamphlet (no date)

Hennessey, Sister Catherine and Anne Marie McGrath, Peter Murphy, Fred Horgan, Ronald Horgan and Bonnie Harley, The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception 1885-1985, Saint John Diocese, privately published, 1985.

McGowan, Rev. Dr. Michael, Pax Vobis A History of the Diocese of Saint John, its Bishops and Parishes, Strasbourg, France, Editions du Signe, 2004.

Although waves of immigration brought Irish settlers to new homes throughout the colony of New Brunswick in the first half of the nineteenth century, one of the few places to escape this historical event was Moncton, in Westmorland County. Prior to 1870 there were very few Irish families within the town/village proper.

 

There were a few families on the outskirts in Lewisville, but for the most part, the Irish settled in Moncton’s hinterland. East of the town, the Irish settled on the Shediac Road and south in Gaytons, Calhoun and McGinley Corner as well as New Ireland in Albert County. West of Moncton, the Irish were prominent on the Fredericton Road and north of the town in Irishtown, McQuades, O’Neill’s and Gallagher Ridge. Indeed, until the 1860’s, the nearest Catholic Church, St Lawrence O’Toole parish was located 9 kms north of Moncton in Irishtown. Even in the 1860’s, the nearest Catholic church was in St Anselme and not in Moncton itself.

The Irish were so few in Moncton – even during the busy shipbuilding years – that during the 1850’s, Irish Catholics gathered for the Eucharist mass at the home of Moncton’s well-known schoolteacher, Catherine Hennessey. She lived with her brother Patrick on King Street. Sometimes mass was also said at the Haggarty home as well. Priests came from Memramcook for this purpose and their visits were sporadic at best.

During the 1860’s, there were enough families in Moncton for mass to be said at the Reading Room at Salter’s warehouse on the Salter’s Wharf and later on at the Dunlop Theatre and Music Hall on Main Street.

It was not until 1872 that a small mission chapel was built on Botsford Street very near the present church to serve Moncton’s growing Catholic community. Designed by William Maher and built by Ezekiel Taylor for $1,700, the masonry was done by Théophile LeBlanc. A wooden structure, the completed mission chapel was dedicated to St Bernard of Clairvaux and unfortunately there is nothing on record as to why St Bernard was chosen. However, it was an auspicious choice for the Irish complexion of the parish would soon change with the quiet and emerging arrival of the Acadian parishioners. St Bernard was of Burgundy, France and a close friend of St. Malachy, Primate of Armagh, Ireland – who died on his way to Rome in 1148 while visiting Bernard in Clairvaux.

For a parish that was a long time coming, the early years of St Bernard’s parish were years of constant rebuilding – the parish was overcrowded from the “get go” and between 1872 and 1891 – just nineteen years – St Bernard’s built, rebuilt and rebuilt again to accommodate the growing Catholic population.

And for a very good reason. Moncton was just about to undergo the largest economic boom of the century. In 1872, the same year that saw the opening of St Bernard’s mission, the railway repair shed in Shediac burned to the ground. Also, the new Intercolonial Railway, linking Halifax and Quebec City was slated to go through Moncton and not Shediac. As a result, the new repair shops came to Moncton as well as the railway itself. Moncton became a boomtown within just a few years and would remain a ‘rail town’ for the next century.

As a result, the Irish families who had settled on farmlands in the hinterlands of south-eastern New Brunswick, and beyond, began coming into town and, unlike the shipbuilding days when the men came to town and boarded for a few months a year, they came to stay and brought their families with them. Not everyone worked at the shops. Many others worked in many other facets of the economic boom, from construction to services, and the town grew rapidly.

Moncton grew so rapidly, that St Bernard’s parish outgrew the little wooden mission church that was dedicated in 1872 almost overnight. Construction began on a larger one in 1878 and it was opened on 20 April 1879. At a cost of $7,800, the new church was located on the site of the present rectory. Incredibly, it too became too small almost immediately after it was opened.

In 1882, because of the large number of Irish and Acadian families who had moved into the area, St Bernard’s parish became a full parish under the direction of Rev. Henry Alexis Meahan. He was a fitting choice. A native of Bathurst, he was bilingual and through the first three decades of it’s existence – so was St Bernard’s as it served both the Irish and Acadian populations.

Less than ten years after the construction of the second church, fundraising began for the construction of the present stone church in 1885. Construction began in 1888 and was completed in 1891. Built at a cost of $40,000, only $5,000 remained to be paid upon completion.

Gothic in design, with massive masonry, ornamented by excellent workmanship, it was aesthetically a very beautiful structure. The interior ceiling of patterned wood is one of the finest examples of craftsmanship in Canada. The structure is in the shape of a parallelogram, having an exterior length of 140’ and a width of 65’. The walls throughout are of stone, and that part of the nave showing above the aisle roofs is carried upon immense iron pillars. At the south corner on Botsford Street is a massive tower of 20’ square intended to carry a spire that was never added.¹

St Bernard’s Parish served both the Irish and Acadian populations until 1914 when the Acadians acquired it’s own parish – which eventually became the Cathedral l’Assomption on St George St.

To the Irish in Moncton, St Bernard’s has always been ‘the mother’ church – even after many other parishes followed and developed around the City. The first recorded St. Patrick’s Day concert was in 1884 and this yearly concert was very much ‘the Irish celebration of the year’. These concerts and plays were the lifeline of the Irish community and kept the Irish presence alive in Moncton right up into the 1950’s.

The Irish in Moncton kept abreast of what was occurring in Ireland through such papers as the “Freeman”, the “New York Catholic News” and the “Boston Pilot”. Subscriptions were paid not only by the parish but also by various parish societies. With time, and distance, and each generation, the Irish lost touch. The annual plays reflected very much this lost connection with the past.

St. Patrick’s Day play: “The irish Agent” 1910. From L to R, Josie Joyce, Vona McArdle, Rose McArdle, James Glynn, John Corcoran, Leo Keohan, Thomas Ward, James Hynes, Fred Elliot, Michael Foran, and Fr. Edward Connolly.

 

The earlier productions reflected the anguish and agitation in Ireland, but, as time went on and ties with the Mother Country diminished, a wide spectrum of romance, mystery and comedy, not particularly associated with the Emerald Isle, would predominate, but the intermission specialties and the orchestral music retained a definite Irish colour.²

 

St. Patrick’s Day play 1957: “See How They Run” with L to R: Betty Mahoney, Bob Biggs, Joyce Edward, Duncan Magee, Susan Kingston, Peter Rafferty, Gerry Donovan, Sam Biggs, and Boyd Clory.