1897-8- " 'I'RANSACTIONS. 47 



During the next year, 1786, the Governor and his Council 

 appear to have addressed themselves to the task of subdividing 

 the eight counties they had created. 



Following the division into two counties made in 1765, 

 several townships had been named by the Nova Scotian 

 executive and in addition to those already mentioned, there 

 were Hopewell, Hillsborough, Moncton, Campobello (1770) 

 Sackville (1772) and Prince William (1783), all, except Campo- 

 bello and Prince William, in the Cumberland division. 



These had all been designated townships in accordance 

 with the plan adopted by Nova Scotia. 



But the Governor and Council of New Brunswick objected 

 to the word "township." Possibly they feared it as too sug- 

 gestive of the New England Tozvn which had proved the 

 forcing house of revolt, the hotbed of rebellion. Possibly, 

 too, many of them had come from Maryland and Virginia, and 

 were thus familiar with the word Parish ; or probably it 

 sounded more English to men who shrank from having around 

 them any reminder of the cruel harshness meted out to them 

 by the successful rebels. Whatever the reason, they decided 

 upon the word Parish^ instead of township, to represent the 

 subdivisions of the county. The}^ changed Amesburg into 

 Kingston. Frant:fort was merged into Queensburg ; Conway 

 was divided between Lancaster and Westfield ; Newton became 

 St. Marys — and the twelve of the period prior to 1784 became 

 26, and these in the years intervening became, by 1891, 162 

 parishes and wards, forming the units adopted in the Census 

 work, of which 66 per cent, or two-thirds are names of persons 

 or places of English origin. 



I have not time to give in detail the place-names of New 

 Brunswick with their meanings. The name of the Province 

 was selected in honor of the reigning family the word ^tew 

 being given in accordance with the precedent established 

 when New France, New England, New Netherlands, New 

 Sweden and New Scotland (Nova Scotia) were adopted.* 



*Anyone who wishes to study more minutely the place-names of 

 New Brunswick is referred to a paper by Prof. Ganong in the Canadian 

 Royal Society's Proceedings for 1896. Ganong divides the place-nam- 

 ing period of New Brunswick into (1) The Indian period ; (2) the period 

 of exploration, 1000-1604 ; (3) the French period ; (4) the New England 

 psriod, 1760-1783 ; (5) the Loyalist period, 1783-1790, and (6) the post- 

 Loyalist period, 1790-1896. He says JSTew Brunswick is rich in Indian 

 place-names and that, with three or four exceptions, the names of the 

 rivers, lakes and harbors are of Indian origin. 



