Castonia Settlement on the St.John upstream from Allagash

Discussion of communities in the valleys of the St.John, Allagash, and Fish rivers in what is today Aroostook Co., Maine
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ChipG
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Castonia Settlement on the St.John upstream from Allagash

Post by ChipG »

My cousin Ralph St.John provides this information about the Castonia Settlement, in Township 16, Range 12:

  • This place (Castonia Settlement) was inhabited from about 1845 to 1905, with a maximum population of about 75-100 (it was big enough to have its own schoolhouse). It's located on the upper St.John River, where Chimenticook Stream flows into the St.John, just above Schoolhouse Rapids. I guess in its hayday it was to the upper St.John and its logging operations a counterpart to what Michaud Farm was to the Allagash River.

    Among the original(?) settlers were Pierre-Basile Castonguay and Marie-Louise Bois (married 28 Sept 1819 in La Pocatiere, PQ), and their son Louis (abt 1820 - 1869).

    Other early settlers included Amable Ouellet (abt1810-1883) and Esther Gardner (1815-1893), married abt 1835 in Riviere du Loup, Que. Ouellet Farm (about a mile downriver) is named after Amable. Their daughter Marie-Desneiges (b.1836 Riv. du Loup, d.1910 Fort Kent) married Louis Castonguay in 1855, and they had seven children. Another of Amable and Esther's daughters, Christine (b.1840 Riv du Loup, d.1918) married Isaie (Nazaire) Anctil dit St.Jean (b.1840 Riv.Ouelle, d.1883 Castonia Settlement). Christine and Isaie were married in 1861 and had eight children, among them my grandfather T.A. St.John.

    Other settlers may have included: Theodore Sirois and Angelique Caron (m 1856) and children; Joseph Dionne and Semire Theriault (m 1857) and children; The Aaron Jackson Family; there were also at various times Mullins, Haffords, Nadeaus, Cyrs, etc.

    A merchant named Cunliffe ran a "supply depot" that serviced all the logging operations on the upper St.John River. Supplies were "toted in" on huge flatboats pulled by horses.

    Sometime around 1899, there was a huge "ice-out" in the spring. The flooding and ice floes destroyed nearly everything. Most residents sold their property to the large lumber companies and the settlement "disappeared". Today it takes a four-wheeler over 60 minutes on private lumber road to get there. Where once lived over 75 people, now there's a picnic table, an outhouse, and a wooden sign "CASTONIA".

If you have any other information about this settlement, photos, history, whatever, post it here or get in touch with me.

Thanks.
fred
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Joined: 05 Jul 2006 22:49

Castonia

Post by fred »

I have a good article that was in Aroostook Republican, an interview done about 1957 of aunt Easter Jackson Wife of Aron and Daughter of Will Mullins. she was oldest person in Allagash, in her 90's. she talks of her father and the big Ice Jam

Fred Hafford
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