Alan Rayburn (Geographical Names of New Brunswick. 1975. Ottawa) lists the community of New Ireland as follows: New Ireland: 8 mi. N of Alma. PO 1857-1893. Also PO New Ireland Road 1864-1905. Settled 1816, abandoned 1920. Today nothing remains of the community except the Roman Catholic graveyard. The road is still passable in the summer months and is the Albert County portion of the so-called Shepody Road, which was once the route from Saint John over the hills north of the Bay of Fundy shore all the way to Shepody on the Albert County coast. Like many of the other settlements of the second quarter of the 19th century it was on the higher (and less agriculturally favourable) land which still remained available - the better farmland along the major streams having been taken up by then. Many other communities along the general route of the Shepody Road - Londonderry, Donegal, Mechanic Settlement, etc. - were also abandoned through the latter years of the 19th century and first quarter of the 20th. In most cases the poor quality of much of the land for farming, combined with a general exodus of thousands of young Maritimers to the "Boston States" in search of work during that period resulted in a gradual depopulation of these more remote settlements. As the mid-20th century approached with the advance of such services as telephone and electricity, which were unavailable in such remote communities, they became less and less desirable for the younger generations to either remain or return. If your family came from New Ireland, I would suggest a couple of books - if you can find them. Long, Heather. "Good Green Hope - the Irish Catholic Settlers of Albert County, New Brunswick". 1995. Halifax, NS Hynes, Leo J. "The Catholic Irish in New Brunswick 1783-7900". 1992 ISBN 0-9696262-0-7 Saunders, Kenneth "The Rectory Murder". 1989. James Lorimer & Co., Toronto ISBN 1-55028-273-5 Hope this helps a little. Heather Long's "Good Green Hope" is an excellent compilation of mini-genealogies of most of the early Irish Catholic families of the area, but the last I knew, it was out of print. "The Rectory Murder" deals with one tragic murder in the community around the turn of the century, but also gives a good picture of the community of that time. Good luck. John Elliott > -----Original Message----- > From: newbrunswick-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:newbrunswick-bounces@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of Richard Murray > Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 4:15 PM > To: NewBrunswick@rootsweb.com > Subject: [ NB ] RE "Lost Names in New Brunswick > > > Heather, > > Your post to the list, regarding lost place names, is very much > appreciated and can be quite helpful to most of us doing research > from many miles away... thank you! > > On the same subject, does anyone on the list have an explanation > of what happened to the settlement of New Ireland, Harvey Parish, > Albert County? What made it an attractive place to establish a community? > Why was it eventually abandoned? In what time frame did that occur? > > My great,great grandparents settled there in 1824, all, except > their oldest child, were born there, including my great grandfather. > > I believe there was another settlement called New Ireland Road > what was the history of that settlement? > > Thank you in advance, for anyone wishing to address this one. > > Richard > Ontario > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NEWBRUNSWICK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >