[ganong] origins of SETTLEMENTS IN NEW BRUNSWICK 69 



of government patronage, a town, later a city, near the centre of the 

 Province, much larger than the environmental and other conditions 

 would have developed. Moreover, in 1786, the new Government divided 

 the Province for convenience of local administration into eight coun- 

 ties, each with a central shire-town to contain the local administrative 

 offices (court-houses, jails, record and probate offices). The towna 

 (properly parishes) thus chosen were St. Andrews, for Charlotte; St. 

 John, for St. John; Kingston (changed in 1871 to Hampton), for Kings; 

 Gagetoivn, for Queens; Burton (temporarily Maugerville), for Smihury; 

 Frederidon. for York; Westmorland (changed in 1801 to Dorchester), 

 for Westmorland; Neivcastle, for Northumberland. Tn each case the 

 most prominent or populous place or village in those parishes was 

 selected as the site of the county buildings, which gave them an addi- 

 tional stimulus inducing a growtli greater than would have been the 

 ease from natural environmental and other causes; so that in most 

 cases those places have thus been aided to grow into the considerable 

 villages or towns they have since become. 



b. Occupations. The Loyalists had pursued in their former homes 

 the most diverse occupations, inicluding indeed almost every trade 

 and profession. But the conditions of life in New Brunswick made 

 only one occupation possible for the great majority, namely^ farming, 

 and to this they turned perforce. Hence the new settlements of the 

 Province formed by them were almost entirely agricultural, and there- 

 fore widely spread, following the best available lands. Second in im- 

 portance carniie, of course, trading and especially the export of lumber. 

 This with the building of vessels, which rose greatly in importance 

 in this period, caused a great growth of places situated in the 

 physiographic foci of the Province. Thus not only did St. John City 

 grow rapidly, but St. Andrews became a port of much importance, while 

 Chatham and Neivcastle on the Miramichi began to assume importance, 

 as did smaller places on most of the larger rivers. 



c. Racial character. In general the Loyalists closely resembled in 

 character their New England forerunners. They were dominated by 

 that desire for advancement, love of adventure, and restlessness charac- 

 teristic of all Anglo-Saxons, especially when they are expanding in a 

 new country. Consequently the settlers of this period extended as 

 pioneers far beyond the granted settlements, and took possession in 

 small groups or singly of points of vantage far up the St. John river 

 and at vtyious points on the dis'tant North Shore. The English and 

 Scotch immigrants, however, were more conservative, and kept rather 

 in somewhat compact communities, either in the older settlements or 



