Samuel Archibald, Farmer
- pshorner6
- Apr 7
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 12
Nova Scotia # 10 on 13 May 1863 cover from Halifax to St. Mary’s, Nova Scotia. Addressed to Saml Archibald Esq, Forks, St Marys. Backstamps: Halifax MY 13, 1862, Antigonish, MY 15 1862.
Samuel Archibald was 54 years old and a bachelor farmer in Forks of St. Mary’s when he received this letter from Halifax. Two years later, on July 7th, 1865, he married 33-year-old Agnes Boyd Tate in East River Saint Mary's. She had been born March 26th, 1832, in Smithfield, Guysborough County. They had three children: John Campbell, Janet Sarah, and Alexander George. Samuel died June 28th, 1877, aged 67, in Glenelg (formerly Forks of St. Mary's), leaving Agnes with three young children. He is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery, Aspen, Guysborough County.
The 1871 census, Forks of St Mary's, Guysborough, has Samuel Archibald, age 62, born in Nova Scotia, Presbyterian, with his wife, Agness B. Archibald, 39, and children John C. Archibald, 3, and Jannet S. Archibald, 1, also in the household was Mary Fisher, age 52, servant.
Samuel’s father, Alexander Miller Archibald, and his young family of four sons and one daughter moved to St. Mary's Township from Pictou. Alexander had moved with his parents to Middle River, Pictou County, about the year 1797 and, in 1812, he moved his own family to Forks of St. Mary's where he built a gristmill, a dam, and a kiln. Most of the original settlers along the St Mary's River did not come upriver. They came overland from Pictou, Colchester or Antigonish Counties following both courses of the river, the East River and the West River, moving down the river, till eventually they settled the Sherbrooke area. Alexander was born at Truro on August 14th, 1779, and died at Glenelg, on August 8th, 1857. He married on 24 September 1802, Janet "Jenny" Clarke, the daughter of William and Grizzle (Kesaig) Clarke, born at Pictou, September 17th, 1777. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Glenelg. The names and birth dates of their first seven children are recorded in the St. Mary’s Township Book. Samuel, his third son and fourth child, was born October 9th, 1809.
Samuel’s grandfather, David Archibald, was born in East Derry, New Hampshire around 1752, at age 10, he came to Nova Scotia with his father Samuel Archibald, a New England Planter, arriving on December 13th, 1762. He married on December 1st, 1778, Jennet "Jane" Miller, who was born about 1757, the daughter of Alexander and Nancy (Anderson) Miller. David and Jane lived on the Salmon River, about ten miles from Truro, where they farmed and operated a sawmill. This area of the Salmon River was given the name Kemptown in 1820 in honour of Sir James Kempt, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. For a brief time during the 1790s, David and Jane lived at Middle River, Pictou County, where David established several mills; but about 1802 they returned to Kemptown where David died on September 19th, 1818. Their marriage and the births of their first seven children are recorded in the Truro Township Book. Alexander Miller Archibald, born August 14th, 1779, was their eldest child. Historical and Genealogical Record of the First Settlers of Colchester County, chapter V, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/27958
Samuel's great-grandfather, Samuel Archibald, was probably born at Maghera, County Londonderry, Ireland, around 1719, and came to America with his father and brother in 1719 or 1720. He married, probably at East Derry, N.H., around 1743, Eleanor Taylor, who was born at East Derry around 1724. Eleanor was the daughter of Matthew and Janet Taylor and sister of Matthew Taylor Jr. who married Samuel’s sister Elizabeth Archibald. In March 1748/9, Samuel Archibald was appointed by the selectmen to report on the killing of deer in East Derry, and in 1751/2 he was appointed surveyor of highways for Windham. He purchased property in Londonderry from his father on February 13th, 1750/1, and in April 1762 he and Eleanor sold these properties and shortly after removed to Truro, Nova Scotia. Samuel and Eleanor received one and one-third rights or approximately 670 acres of land when the Truro Township grant was issued on October 31st, 1765. Part of it included their house lot, which was located beside his elder brother David’s house lot at Bible Hill. Samuel was one of the elders of the Presbyterian Church in Truro and frequently it was at his house that town meetings were held. An indication of Samuel’s devotion to and involvement in the church is found in the inventory of his estate, which was reported to the probate court on August 14th, 1775. At the time of his death, Samuel owned six books: three Bibles, a volume of Erskine’s Sermons, a book described as a Confession of Faith, and a book entitled Gospel Sonnets. Samuel and Eleanor had twelve children. David was their fifth child. Samuel Archibald died at Truro July 15th, 1774.
Samuel's great-great-grandfather, John Archibald, was probably born in County Londonderry, Ireland, about 1693. He married Margaret about 1715 in Ireland. John and Margaret emigrated from County Londonderry, Ireland, to New Hampshire in 1719 or 1720 and were granted sixty acres in Londonderry (then called Nutfield) in 1720, followed by an additional forty acres in March 1722. Emigrating with them were two sons, David and Samuel, and, beginning in 1722, seven additional children were born to them in New Hampshire. From 1728 to 1733, John Archibald served as one of the selectmen for Londonderry. Morality and discipline were of paramount importance in eighteenth-century Londonderry, as suggested by an incident from the town records. A charge was brought by John Archibald against James Moor for swearing. Moor was admonished to be more circumspect. In the New Hampshire census for 1732, which listed the head of each household and the number of males over sixteen in each household, the John Archibald household included two males over sixteen, presumably John and David. On June 8th, 1751, John Archibald made his will, in which he named his wife Margaret, his six sons, and his daughter Margaret, who was described as being under eighteen years of age. His son-in-law, Matthew Taylor, and his unnamed mother-in-law also were mentioned in his will. John died at East Derry, New Hampshire, on August 10th, 1751. Marble, Allan E., No Reward Without Effort; The Archibald Family of Nova Scotia, Halifax, 2008.
The St. Mary's River was used prior to European contact by the Miq'maq for sustenance and inland travel, taking advantage of its long length to penetrate the interior. The St. Mary's River was settled by the French who built Fort St. Marie (1654), from which the river took its name. The river's mouth changed hands to the British in 1669. The watershed remained relatively lightly exploited until the 19th Century. A valuable commercial salmon fishery, tall stands of pine and rich soil attracted Irish settlers in the early 1800's and through the 19th century the watershed was an important part of the regional economics, contributing its forests to England as lumber and the Atlantic salmon to the tables of Europe and elsewhere. Above the tide, the river flows ten miles roughly north to the Forks where it branches into the east and west branches, and through its many tributaries to its place of origin. The river originates in five separate Nova Scotia counties: Guysborough, Antigonish, Pictou, and Hants and Halifax Counties.
Glenelg is located at the forks of St. Mary's River. It was probably named after Charles Grant, Lord Glenelg, who was British Secretary of State to the Colonies, 1834-39. Previously it was simply referred to as "The Forks" or "Forks, St. Mary's." The Indian name was Mimnogun, "a black birch tree." Settlement began in 1801 on land which was part of a one hundred- and fifty-thousand-acre grant made to Rev. James Lyons and seven others in 1765. A Presbyterian Church was constructed in 1818. A new Presbyterian Church was opened July 26, 1845. A school-house was built in 1867. A Way Office was established in 1851 and a Post Office in 1858.
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