Douglas Parish, New Brunswick Explained

Douglas
Settlement Type:	Parish
Subdivision Type:	Country
Subdivision Type1:	Province
Subdivision Type2:	County
Established Title:	Erected
Established Date:	1824
Area Footnotes:	^[1]
Area Land Km2:	1,443.31
Population As Of:	2021
Population Total:	5,935
Population Density Km2:	4.1
Population Blank1 Title:	Change 2016-2021
Population Blank1:	4.1%
Population Blank2 Title:	Dwellings
Population Blank2:	2,357
Timezone:	AST
Utc Offset:	-4
Timezone Dst:	ADT
Utc Offset Dst:	-3
Coordinates:	45.98°N -66.7325°W
Footnotes:	Population change reflects change in boundaries after 2016. Figures do not include portion within the city of Fredericton

Douglas is a geographic parish in York County, New Brunswick, Canada.^[2]

Prior to the 2023 governance reform, for governance purposes it was divided between the city of Fredericton and the local service districts of Estey's Bridge and the parish of Douglas,^[3] all of which were members of Capital Region Service Commission (RSC11). Douglas Parish includes the special service areas of Carlisle Road and Lower Douglas.

Origin of name

The parish was named in honour of Sir Howard Douglas, Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick at the time.^[4]

History

Douglas was erected in 1824 from Queensbury and Saint Marys Parish;^[5] the new parish included parts of modern Bright and Stanley Parishes and extended north only as far as the Nashwaak River. The boundary with Queensbury was adjusted in 1835, moving up the Saint John and running along a different angle in the interior.^[6] William Francis Ganong's map of 1836 parish boundaries shows a much smaller parish than today.^[7]

In 1837–38 the interior north of the Keswick River and South Branch Dunbar Stream was included in the original Stanley Parish, dissolved a year after it was erected.^{[8] [9]} This put settlements along the modern Route 620 in Stanley.

In 1842 the parish was extended west to Southampton Parish, adding part of Queensbury to Douglas but also affecting unassigned lands.^[10] The northern boundary was unmentioned, implicitly extended upstream along the Nashwaak River.

In 1845 the first of a half-dozen boundary changes among the islands in the Saint John River took place.^[11] While most of these changes took place in the nineteenth century, it was 1973 before the modern boundary was finalised.^[12]

In 1847 the holdings of the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company and unassigned lands to the north were erected as a new Stanley Parish,^[13] establishing the southern part of the modern boundary with Douglas. In 1850 the unassigned area to the north of the Nashwaak River and west of Stanley was added to Douglas,^{[14] [15]} an area sparsely inhabited even today.

In 1869 part of Douglas along the length of its southwestern boundary was erected as Bright Parish.^[16]

In 1952 a narrow strip of land along the eastern border was removed when the Revised Statutes updated the Territorial Division Act's boundary for Fredericton;^[17] the earlier annexation of Devon by Fredericton did not affect the parish lines in the TDA. The 1973 enlargement of Fredericton created the same situation, with the city's municipal boundaries extending into Douglas Parish but not the boundaries listed in the TDA.

Boundaries

Douglas Parish is bounded:^{[2] [18] [19]}

• on the northeast and east by a line beginning on the Carleton County line at a point about 7 kilometres east of McKiel Lake, then running south to the northeastern corner of a grant to Isaac Woodward Jouett, which is on the southern side of the Mick Road, then generally southerly following the eastern line of grants along the Currieburg Road and Route 620 to the South Branch Dunbar Stream, then downstream about 1.85 kilometres to meet the western line of Saint Marys Parish, then south about 10 kilometres to the eastern line of a grant to Daniel Sawyer, about 2.3 kilometres west of Route 148, then southeast about 5 kilometres, partly along the southwestern line of the Devon 30 Indian reserve, to meet the prolongation of Douglas Avenue, then along the prolongation and Douglas Avenue itself to the Saint John River;^[20]
• on the south by the Saint John River;
• on the west and southwest by a line running up the Keswick River to the mouth of Howard Brook, then running north 40º west to the Carleton County line;
• on the northwest by the Carleton County line;
• including Keswick, Mitchells, Upper Shores, and Lower Shores Islands and part of Sugar Island roughly north and west of the Baseline Road.

Communities

Communities at least partly within the parish.^[21] bold indicates an incorporated municipality; italics indicate a name no longer in official use

• Barton
• Birdton
• Boyds Corner
• Burtts Corner
• Cardigan
• Currieburg
• Deersdale
• Dorn Ridge
• Esteys Bridge
• Fredericksburg
• Fredericton
  • Douglas
  • Nashwaaksis
• Half Moon Pit
• Hamtown Corner
• Hurlett
• Jones Forks
• Keswick
• Killarney Road
• Kingsley
• Lower Stoneridge
• MacLean Settlement
• McLeod Hill
• Morehouse Corner
• Mouth of Keswick
• Napadogan
• North Tay
• Pughs Crossing
• Royal Road
• Royal Road West
• Tay Creek
• Tay Mills
• Upper Stoneridge
• Woodlands
• Zealand

Bodies of water

Bodies of water^[22] at least partly within the parish.

• Keswick River
• Nashwaak River
  • The Narrows
• North Tay River
• Saint John River
• South Tay River
• Southwest Miramichi River
• Taxis River
• South Branch Becaguimec Stream
• South Branch Dunbar Stream
• Little Nashwaaksis Stream
• Nashwaaksis Stream
• Regiment Creek
• Weaver Creek
• more than thirty officially names lakes

Islands

Islands at least partly within the parish.

• Birch Island
• Keswick Island
• Lower Shores Island
• Mitchells Island
• Upper Shores Island

Other notable places

Parks, historic sites, and other noteworthy places at least partly within the parish.^[23]

• McBean Brook Protected Natural Area
• Nashwaak River Protected Natural Area
• Push and Be Damned Rapids
• Sills Brook Protected Natural Area

Demographics

Parish population total does not include portion within Fredericton

Population

Population trend^{[24] [25]}

Census	Population	Change (%)
2016	6,154	1.2%
2011	6,081	5.3%
2006	5,774	1.0%
2001	5,719	0.9%
1996	5,666	8.2%
1991	5,237	N/A

Language

Mother tongue (2016)^[25]

Language	Population	Pct (%)
English only	5,645	91.9%
French only	335	5.5%
Other languages	125	2.0%
Both English and French	35	0.6%

See also

• List of parishes in New Brunswick

External links

• Douglas LSD
• City of Fredericton

45.98°N -66.7325°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: Census Profile . Statistics Canada . 29 October 2022 . 26 October 2022.
2. Web site: Chapter T-3 Territorial Division Act . Government of New Brunswick . 13 November 2020.
3. Web site: New Brunswick Regulation 84-168 under the Municipalities Act (O.C. 84-582) . Government of New Brunswick . 25 July 2020.
4. Book: Ganong . William F. . A Monograph of the Place-Nomenclature of the Province of New Brunswick . 1896 . Royal Society of Canada . 231 . 17 March 2021.
5. Book: Acts of the General Assembly of His Majesty's Province of New-Brunswick, Passed in the Year 1824.. 27 March 2021. 1824. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 63–65. 5 Geo. IV c. 27 An Act for erecting a part of the Parishes of Saint Mary and Queensbury, in the County of York, into a separate and distinct Town or Parish..
6. Book: Acts of the General Assembly of His Majesty's Province of New-Brunswick, Passed in the Year 1835.. 27 March 2021. 1835. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 40–41. 5 Wm. IV c. 32 An Act to alter the division line between the Parishes of Douglas and Queensbury in the County of York..
7. Book: Ganong . William F. . A Monograph of the Evolution of the Boundaries of the Province of New Brunswick . 1901 . Royal Society of Canada . Map No. 39 . 9 November 2021.
8. Book: Acts of the General Assembly of His Majesty's Province of New Brunswick, Passed in the Year 1837.. 27 March 2021. 1837. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 82–83. 7 Wm. IV c. 25 An Act for erecting a part of the Parishes of Saint Mary's and Douglas in the County of York, into a separate and distinct Town or Parish..
9. Book: Acts of the General Assembly of Her Majesty's Province of New Brunswick, Passed in the Year 1838.. 27 March 2021. 1838. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 77–78. 1 Vic. c. 34 An Act to repeal an Act, intituled 'An Act for erecting a part of the Parishes of Saint Mary's and Douglas in the County of York, into a separate and distinct Town or Parish.'.
10. Book: Acts of the General Assembly of Her Majesty's Province of New Brunswick, Passed in the Year 1842.. 27 March 2021. 1842. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 10. 5 Vic. c. 11 An Act to alter the Division Line of the Parishes of Douglas and Queensbury, in the County of York..
11. Book: Acts of the General Assembly of Her Majesty's Province of New Brunswick, Passed in the Year 1845.. 27 March 2021. 1845. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 46. 8 Vic. c. 66 An Act to annex the Madam Kiswick Island to the Parish of Douglas, in the County of York..
12. Book: Revised Statutes of New Brunswick 1973 Volume IV. 1973. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 1–70. Chapter T-3 Territorial Division Act. The original printed version is cited separately to distinguish it from the edited version available online.
13. Book: Acts of the General Assembly of Her Majesty's Province of New Brunswick, Passed in the Year 1846.. 27 March 2021. 1846. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 41–42. 9 Vic. c. 38 An Act for erecting a part of the Parishes of Saint Mary's and Douglas, in the County of York, into a separate and distinct Town or Parish..
14. Book: Acts of the General Assembly of Her Mjaesty's Province of New Brunswick, Passed in the Year 1850.. 27 March 2021. 1850. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 142–152, 145–149. 13 Vic. c. 51 An Act to consolidate all the Laws now in force for the division of the Province into Counties, Towns and Parishes.. Book was poorly proofread, resulting in title typo and reuse of page numbers 145–152.
15. The same consolidation added the remaining unassigned parts of the province to existing parishes, mainly in York County.
16. Book: Acts of the General Assembly of Her Majesty's Province of New Brunswick. Passed in the Month of April 1869.. 1869. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 94–95. 32 Vic. c. 49 An Act to erect part of the Parish of Douglas, in the County of York, into a separate Town or Parish.. Available as a free ebook from Google Books.
17. Book: The Revised Statutes of New Brunswick 1952 Volume III. 1952. Government of New Brunswick. Fredericton. 3725–3771. Chapter 227 Territorial Division Act.
18. Web site: No. 83 . Provincial Archives of New Brunswick . Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development . 25 June 2021. Remainder of parish on maps 92–94, 102–104, 113, 114, 125, and 126 at same site.
19. Web site: 242 . Transportation and Infrastructure . Government of New Brunswick . 25 June 2021. Remainder of parish on mapbooks 243, 258, 259, 274, 275, 289–291, 306–309, 326–328, 347–350, 369, and 370 at same site.
20. The Territorial Division Act uses the pre-1973 boundaries of Fredericton; the modern municipal boundaries extended further west.
21. Web site: Search the Canadian Geographical Names Database (CGNDB) . Government of Canada . 3 July 2021.
22. Not including brooks, ponds or coves.
23. Web site: Explore New Brunswick's Protected Natural Areas . GeoNB . 3 July 2021.
24. Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006 census
25. Web site: Census Profile, 2016 Census Douglas, Parish [Census subdivision], New Brunswick ]. Statistics Canada . October 8, 2019.