New Brunswick Loyalists

06/05/2026

If you look up land grants for Saint John NB that can be accessed at the Provincial Archives https://archives.gnb.ca/en-ca/collections/search you will see Parrtown and Carleton lots assigned by name to Loyalists.

🗺 Before it became Saint John, the Port City was named Parrtown. The name was never very popular, in large part because Governor Parr had personally requested the city be named after himself, which the locals thought was rather gauche.

The 1784 Loyalists thought that was so gauche, in fact, that Parrtowners refused to call it Parrtown at all. Magistrate Edward Winslow commented in a letter: "The rude inhabitants of this new country have not yet acquired a sufficient degree of gallantry to indulge [Parr's] vanity."

Letters arrived in Halifax with pointed addresses — or lack thereof — reading things like: "the two towns now settling the Harbour — names unknown."

As Parrtown neared its one-year birthday, mailing addresses seemed to be converging on a new name: "Town On St. John's Harbour."

A popular movement to change the name arose and settled around "Carleton." This was not, however, honouring New Brunswick's first governor, Thomas Carleton.

The name was meant to honour the Governor of Quebec: Sir Guy Carleton. Not only had he been one of the few competent British leaders during the American Revolution, but Sir Guy was immensely popular with local Black Loyalists — he had personally intervened to help an estimated 3,000 of them escape after the war ended.

Black Loyalists were already calling their part of the harbour Carleton in Sir Guy's honour.

Across the water, Parrtowners liked the idea. They too wanted to honour Sir Guy. In what is surely the most bizarre naming convention ever proposed in the province's history, their movement landed on renaming their side of the harbour "Guy."

One side would be called Guy.
The other, Carleton.
Together, the city would be named "Guy Carleton."

"We can only be thankful wiser counsels prevailed," snarked historian W.O. Raymond.

In the end, they simply named the city after the harbour.

📍 Check out the stories behind more unusual New Brunswick place names here: backyardhistory.ca/f/some-unusual-place-names-in-new-brunswick

05/18/2026

Today - May 18th 2026 we recognize Loyalist Day and the 241th Birthday of Saint John NB and Victoria Day.

In 1776, the 13 British colonies to the south of Quebec declared independence and formed the United States. North America was again divided by war. More than 40,000 people loyal to the Crown, called “Loyalists,” fled the oppression of the American Revolution to settle in Nova Scotia and Quebec. Joseph Brant led thousands of Loyalist Mohawk Indigenous into Canada. The Loyalists came from Dutch, German, British, Scandinavian, Aboriginal and other origins and from Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, Quaker and Catholic religious backgrounds. About 3,000 black Loyalists, freedmen and slaves came north seeking a better life. In turn, in 1792, some black Nova Scotians, who were given poor land, moved on to establish Freetown, Sierra Leone (West Africa), a new British colony for freed slaves.

• from Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship



New Brunswick was established as a separate colony from Nova Scotia in 1784. In 1785 Saint John, nurtured by its first inhabitants the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet, became a city making it Canada’s first incorporated city.

Although proclaiming May 18 as officially "Loyalist Day" is much more recent, remembering the arrival of the first ship on 18 May has been long a tradition, as this toast notes:

"The land our ancestors left, and the land we live in; both inhabited from one common parent, and enjoying, though under different governments, the blessings of freedom; may old animosities be forgotten, and the present good understanding continued."
Source: Toast given at Masonic Hall in Saint John, NB on May 18, 1833 at dinner to celebrate the 50th anniversary of landing of Loyalists in New Brunswick.

05/17/2026

The New Brunswick Loyalist Association will be at the Saint John Arts Centre 10am-2pm tomorrow May 18th with other Genealogy groups. Drop by !

If you missed us today, you're in luck, we're back at it tomorrow. On Loyalist Day - May 18 you will find DeLancey's on the move:
10:00 am - Firing a welcoming volley from the walls of Place Ft. La Tour.
10:45 am - 12 Noon - Loyalist House
12:30 pm - Wreath-laying ceremony at the Loyalist Burial Ground.
Stop by and say hello.

05/17/2026

It's almost here: Tomorrow you can take a stroll through early Saint John history. Walk in the footsteps of the Loyalist refugees who made it a city. Hear their stories and celebrate their legacy. Join us for Loyalist Day May 18, 2026 in Uptown Saint John. For the full schedule of events: https://tinyurl.com/kz2ewtxy

05/16/2026

Thank you Fredericton Loyalists!

05/16/2026

May 18th the official Loyalist Day, come visit Blue at Loyalist House, Saint John NB

05/16/2026

10/23/2025

FREE PRESENTATION - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25
250 years ago, the American Revolution began when shots rang out on The Green in Lexington, Massachusetts. Just four months later the conflict came to the mouth of the St. John River with a raid by privateers that left the tiny community's only defence - Fort Frederick - burned to the ground. Come hear the story, this Saturday afternoon at Stone Church on Carleton Street in Saint John, when we speak to the New Brunswick Historical Society. No charge - everyone welcome!