Son of a Stranded Scotsman

Nova Scotia # 10 on double franked (twice the 1/2oz. letter rate) partial cover front piece addressed to B. Skinner, ____ Cove, [Stra]it of Canso, C. B.

As scanty as the information is, we can reconstruct much from this partial cover piece. The addressee is likely Archibald Beaton Skinner, merchant shopkeeper of Plaster Cove (Port Hastings) on the Strait of Canso in Cape Breton. He was born in Gut of Canso in 1821. He married Anne Berrie Crichton on December 13, 1848, in Arichat, Nova Scotia. They had ten children in 24 years. He died on November 25, 1889, at the age of 68 and is buried at Clough Cemetery, Port Hastings, Inverness.

Hutchinson's Nova Scotia Directory, 1866-7 lists Skinner, Archibald B., merchant in Port Hastings, Inverness County.

He appears in McAlpine’s Nova Scotia Directory, 1868-1869: Skinner, Archibald B., merchant in Plaister Cove, "2 miles to Port Mulgrave, Population 100."

The 1871 census for Plaster Cove has Archibald B Skinner, age 47, Store Keeper, wife Annie B Skinner, 37, children Martha Skinner, 21, William Skinner,15, Archibald Skinner,12, Catharine A Skinner, 10, Isabella Skinner, 8, Mary J Skinner, 6, Annie Skinner, 4, Elizabeth Skinner, 2

McAlpine’s Nova Scotia Directory, 1890-1897 reflects Archibald's death in 1889, listing SKINNER, MRS. A. B., general dlr, Port Hstgs

Plaster Cove

Plaster Cove (or Plaister Cove, if said with a Scottish brogue) was the former name of Port Hastings, Inverness County, Nova Scotia. It was named so because of its gypsum outcrops. Gypsum was often called plaster because it is a key ingredient in plaster of Paris.

The name Port Hastings was adopted by an act of parliament in 1869. It comes from Sir Charles Hastings Doyle, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia from 1867-73. The village was "beautifully situated on a hill side on the north west side of Plaster Cove, and commanding a good view of the Strait of Canso to the south and south east and faced directly across by the bold promontory of Cape Porcupine about a mile distant.

For a long time Port Hastings has been a busy place, the central spot of the District for business activities. Among the leading business men of former years were pioneer Hugh MacMillan, James G. MacKeen, Geo. C. Laurence, William M. Clough, A. B. Skinner, A. H. Sutherland, Hugh MacLennan and R. J. MacDonald...

Another factor in its prosperity was the large number of American fishing vessels that made Port Hastings a port of call to secure fishing supplies and men on their way to the Magdalen Islands in the Spring and the various banks. Those were the happy old days of friendly reciprocity.

Another factor in the prosperity of Port Hastings and the district was the conveying of Her Majesty's Mails and the carrying of passengers. The late Mr. Henry A. Archibald was the contractor for many years before the railways were built to Inverness, Sydney and St. Peters. His lines extended to Cheticamp, Baddeck and North Sydney, and he took great pride in rendering satisfactory service. At one time, he had about one hundred horses. Many of his old drivers are still living and often speak very highly of the kindly interest he took in their affairs and the generous treatment accorded them." MacDougall, J.L., History of Inverness County, Nova Scotia, 1922

The Stranded Scotsman

Two sons of the Rev. James C. Skinner of Ardnamurchan, Scotland, Dr. James Skinner and Hugh B. Skinner, left Edinburgh in 1803 on the brig Aurora bound for Pictou. But the Aurora became stranded at Plaster Cove. James and Hugh passed the winter at the home of Mrs. Belhace there.

After enduring a rigorous winter, Dr. James Skinner (he had a Diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh) proceeded as planned to Pictou and settled there. But Hugh B. Skinner remained in Plaster Cove. He married Catherine Beaton on July 13th, 1812, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. They settled at Balache Point (now the eastern terminus of the Canso Causeway) and had a large family. Captain Hugh Skinner had command of a company of militia in the Second Regiment of the Cape Breton Militia in 1813. Archibald Beaton Skinner, born in 1821, was his third son. MacDonald, Rev. D., The History of Inverness County, ch XI