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Stanley

First impressions of Stanley, to the north of Fredericton, New Brunswick, were often unfavourable, as the Land Company's settlement road had been cut through a rocky tract, bypassing more fertile soil to either side. Its isolation also proved a disincentive to settlement, and so the Company turned to direct recruitment to populate it. About 40 children were brought out under the auspices of the Children's Friend Society, only to meet with hostility from the established population of the province. Few remained in Stanley. Labourers and tradesmen recruited, with their families, in the hinterland of the port of Berwick-upon-Tweed, sailed for New Brunswick aboard the D'Arcy in 1836. They came from Northumberland in England, and from Berwick- and Roxburghshires in Scotland. Most bore lowland Scots surnames and belonged to various Presbyterian sects. A Highland party recruited later in 1836 arrived too late in the season, aboard the Royal Adelaide, and following a hard winter in which over 40 died, most of the Highlanders were assisted on to Upper Canada.

Tavern at Stanley

Settlement of Stanley

The New Brunswick Company made four concerted attempts at direct overseas recruitment for the planned community of Stanley. The first targeted poor children institutionalized in London, the second farm labourers and tradesmen in the eastern Borders between England and Scotland. The third party was recruited, disastrously, in the Scottish highlands, and the fourth was a second party from the Borders. The first three parties were settled in and around Stanley, with varying degrees of success; the fourth escaped the Company's control and founded Harvey, south of Fredericton.

1835-1836:   Juvenile recruitment of Stanley (no families yet)
1836:           Skye settlers in Stanley (no families yet)
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