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- For other uses of the word "Zealand", see the disambiguation page.
Zealand is a small unincorporated town in York County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is located on the Keswick River, a tributary of the St. John River, between the towns of Burtts Corner and Millville.
History
Loyalist Philip Crouse came to New Brunswick in November 1789 and settled in the Keswick Valley, eleven kilometers from the mouth of the Keswick River. There he obtained a four hundred acre land grant from the British Crown. In 1831 Philip’s son, Gould Crouse, purchased from his father two hundred of those acres and by 1840 had established an early post office. Gould named the area New Zealand (sometimes referred to as New Zealand Settlement) after the birth place of his father in Zeeland, a province of the Netherlands.
When the railroad was built through the Keswick Valley, in 1873, railroad stations were established as access points to local communities. Sometimes these community access points were quite a distance from the established community centers, since the railroad line needed to run a relatively straight path and communities had a more scattered pattern. The center of the New Zealand community was about one kilometer from the railroad station that served it. The railroad named their access point, Zealand Station.
Immediately the center of the community started shifting toward the economic and social center growing around the railroad station, and in short order the community became known as Zealand Station.
In 1962, with the dwindling influence of the railroad, the town’s name was shortened to Zealand. The nearby countryside is still referred to casually as New Zealand.
References
Crouse, R. "Crouse Family History, Second Edition" Rogue Publishing, 2000.
Simon, John “ACTS of the General Assembly of Her Majesty's Province of NEW BRUNSWICK” Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, 1840.
“Journal of the House of Assembly of New Brunswick”, New Zealand Settlement, Provincial Archive of New Brunswick, 1855.
Rayburn, Alan “Toponymy Study 2, Geographical Names of New Brunswick, 1975.
“Geographical Names of Canada" Natural Resources Canada, 2006.
Tracy, John C. “John C. Tracy Book” Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, 1927-1932.
External links
"Zealand, New Brunswick"