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Chitticks Beach
St. John, New Brunswick. Canada.
From Cheryl Chittick to Denny Chittick
Chitticks Beach plaque. English & French.
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When my husband and I were coming from Prince Edward Island
and through New Brunswick, we just happened to stop at New River
which is just outside of St John. We were camping and stopped
at the New River campground and there just happened to be a
Chittick Beach there.
How amazing!!! Perhaps I have located your G-G-G grandfather,
who knows! There is a plaque on the beach, which is gorgeous
by the way. The plaque states that William and Alice Chittick
came from Ireland to
that spot in 1845. They had 6 children and the spot shows their
old foundation. (There are many Chitticks in the Canada 411
directory. My husband just pulled it up on the web. Perhaps
your next trip should be to Canada.)
I did talk with some people who knew the Chittick family in
the area. I talked with another old timer who offered to sell
me beach front property next to Chittick Beach!
It was a very exciting time.
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The Inscription of the Plaque found on Chitticks Beach.
Chitticks Beach is named after early settlers
Look carefully amoung the berry in the field behind you. You
will find a shallow hole in the ground and the remains of
a old farmhouse. Here is the foundation of a house built over
150 years ago. The house belonged to a family called the Chitticks.
William and Alice Chittick were amoung the first Europeans
to settle in the area. They came as refugees, escaping starvation
in Ireland. In 1843, disease ruined Ireland's potato crop,
leaving thousands without food.
The Chitticks depended on the ocean for survival
If the Chitticks had expectations of an easy life in the New
Land, they were properly disappointed. The winters were probably
harsher than they could have imagined. They were isolated
without help, and few if any neighbours. The ocean provided
them with a life, and transportation essential to vist their
close neighbors. For the Chittick family, travelling to Pennfield,
meant a 5 kilometer sail or so.
Alice, William and their six children lived off the land
with life in their front yard, the sea of Fundy. They supplemented
fishing with a little gardening, some livestock and berrypicking.
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Cheryl Chittick on Chitticks Beach, Canada.
Chitticks Beach