Canoe Cove Community Association

Foreword

This history was written as a project for Canoe Cove Women's Institute, and its aim was to gather information on the early settlers of Canoe Cove; who they were; their roots and how they laid the foundation of our community.

Because much of it is hearsay there will be inaccuracies and omissions. Information has been obtained from various minute books, a school register, a church history, scrapbooks, clippings, Cove family histories and various other writings.

The early settlers were almost all Scots and if one goes back a few generations one would find that Gaelic (pronounce Gal-lic by our people) was spoken more often than not. At that time the church service was in English and Gaelic. This practise of having a service in English and Gaelic continued in some areas until 1910 and I would suppose that the same would be true of the Cove.

It is hoped that this history will give you some idea of our first settlers, and how the community evolved. If your roots are here you can be proud of your community and your heritage.

The Naming of Canoe Cove

The story has been passed down that during the hostilities between Britain and France the Indians were on the side of the British. The French occupied Fort LaJoye, now Fort Amherst, at Rocky Point. Because of the French defence the British were not able to enter Charlottetown Harbor, so they anchored off what is now Canoe Cove. The Indians took the British soldiers ashore in their Canoes and it is said that the soldiers gave the name Canoe Cove to our district.

The cove was named Allen Cove by Holland in 1765, for either John Allen Carter who was present at the capture of Louisburg or for Lieut. James Allen who was wounded there. Douglas 1925 has this as the correct name, but Canoe Cove is used and this is shown in Wright 1852 and Meacham 1880.

In Micmac Kweduna Walna 'Canoe Cove.'

In the Cove and surrounding districts, Canoe Cove was often known as 'Canna Cove.' Where the local pronunciation came from is not clear, it may have been a Gaelic influence.

No matter how you pronounce it, if you were born here you will hear the surf pound and smell the salt water in your dreams for the rest of your life. Even your descendants will feel the pull of the Cove and its proud Scots heritage calling them back to its beauty and tranquility.

Written by the Rev. Murdoch MacKinnon of Canoe Cove

Published in The Patriot, August 1933

In 1766 Prince Edward Island was surveyed and divided into 67 lots of twenty thousand acres each by Samuel Holland. Canoe Cove, situated on the Northumberland Strait, is mostly in Lot 65. Lot 65 fell by ballot to a Mr Wright and a Mr Owen. A small part is in Lot 30 which went to a Mr Murray. The Land Purchase Act did not come into force until 1873 so it can be assumed that the settlers that came before then rented their land from these men, more likely their agents, as they were absentee landlords. The settlers would set about clearing the land and building temporary log homes using the trees that they cut down. Trails were blazed from one place to another by cutting notches in the trees at eye-level. In later years when better roads were built they followed these winding trails and that is why you see some of those beautiful, meandering roads yet on the island. They were never meant for speeding automobiles but for a leisurely ride in a horse and buggy. These were the only roads for a hundred years or more.

Crops were sown initially using very simple implements. One implement used in the Highlands before settlers came to Canada was a primitive shovel type tool and perhaps this is what they used when they came here. Livestock, which would have been very scarce, was obtained and the settlers were able to make a living. Even though the living would be scanty at first it would be better than what they had back home.

Before we look any further at the early days of our Cove, let us think about why the first settlers left their beloved native Scotland. Up until the early 18th century the Clan system prevailed in the Highlands and the people looked to their clan chief for protection and a means of earning a living. In return they served him loyally and faithfully and when the chief betrayed them it was as if a father had turned against his child. The Laird owned large tracts of land obtained, maybe be by prowess in battle maybe a gift from his king and this land was handed down from one generation to another. He rented this land out to tenants some of which were called crofters, the same families being in the same places for generations. The highland soil was extremely poor and it was difficult for the crofters to pay rent and wrest a living from the stony ground. After the Battle of Culloden the English tried to wipe out the clan system and forbade the wearing of tartan. Some clan chiefs and Lowland Scots sided with the English and later joined with them in their cruel and inhumane treatment of the crofters.

The landowners found they could make more money raising sheep than renting to crofters so they evicted their tenants in the cruellest way imaginable. The factors (agents) would come to the croft usually through the day when the men were at work, put out the hearth fire which was burned all day and night using the precious milk that was needed for the family. Then they would set fire to the croft which, with its thatch roof, would burn easily. The crofters would have to leave carrying everything. That could be a sick child or old person, along with their scanty belongings. Perhaps even the roof tree and the lintel would have to be carried as they were not allowed to cut trees down when and where they wished. Their crofts were almost entirely of stone but their boards where the two sides of the roof met, the roof tree, had to be of wood.

The top of the door casing, the lintel, also had to be made of wood. They must have thought they were in heaven when they came to the forests of Prince Edward Island, with no-one to stop them from cutting down trees. In Scotland they might be evicted more than once, but they usually tried to go somewhere else after the first eviction. To raise money to go to America or Australia, they had to sell their few possessions. If they did not leave of their own accord the land owners would bind them, take them from their families, and carry them forcibly to a departing ship. Many of the ships had unkind and unscrupulous captains out to make money. They overloaded their ships and had poor and insufficient food and water aboard. Due to the filth and overcrowding disease broke out and many passengers, malnourished to start with, died on the way, or soon after landing. The voyage would last at least six weeks so that even with a kind and considerate captain and a comfortable vessel it was still a gruelling experience.

After they landed on our Island they still had to pay rent for their land but there was plenty of it, and once cleared, yielded excellent crops. They started with the scantiest of equipment, axes to clear the land and the shovel implement previously mentioned to work it up, but they persevered and our excellent farms are their legacy.

The clearing out of the crofters by the landowners to make way for the sheep was called 'The Clearances' and a more vivid example of man's inhumanity to man' cannot be found anywhere in the history of mankind.

The Scots, hard working and thrifty because they had to be to survive, were a God-fearing lot and thrived in the New World even though their hearts were breaking with loneliness and bitter memories of how they were treated in their homeland. It says a lot for their character that even though the English King treated them so brutally the Scots in Canada remained loyal to the Crown and fought on the side of the English when the American Colonies rose in rebellion. Scots descendants have been in the front lines in wars ever since. None are more feared by the enemy than the kilted 'ladies from Hell', led by the pipers whose wild music terrify the enemy but inspire the Scot to give his all.

Stories abound about 'the Scot' that was chased out of Scotland because he stole a sheep and there is a bit of stigma to it. If the rest of the of the story were told a sheep or a hare or a salmon was 'stolen' to feed a starving family that was the victim of such atrocities as the Clearances. In Scotland the crofters were not allowed to hunt in the woods, fish in the streams or in some cases they could not even take the poorest fish from the shores. Their fuel was peat and a cruel factor would keep them from getting that if he could. No wonder Canada sounded like the Promised Land and when they came to Canoe Cove they found it - more or less.

Note: The above information on the crofters was taken from On the Crofters Trail by David Craig

The early settlers we mostly Scottish Presbyterians. It is said that the more they suffered the ubiquitous 'Clearances' the more devout they became and that being so, they gathered regularly for worship from the time of their arrival. Many of the ministers in Scotland sided with the land owners and encouraged with the Clearances so that one could understand if the people turned their back on the Church. Again this emphasizes their sterling character in that the Lord was not blamed for the wrongs inflicted on them by their clergy.

Reverend Donald McDonald was sent from the Free Church of Scotland, as a missionary to Canada. Probably he was sent not so much that they wanted to give this country a missionary as a desire to get rid of him for he was an embarrassment to the Church of Scotland for his apparent intemperance. He went first to Cape Breton but apparently his behavior there was much the same as in Scotland. Two years later when he was forty two, he came to the Island and started an itinerant ministry among the scattered members of the Scottish Kirk. He was a deeply troubled man as no doubt his addiction was in severe conflict with his religious convictions. His anxiety was so great that he gave up preaching for a time in early 1828. He spent much time in prayer and reading his Bible and while he was at the home of one of his parishioners on the Malpeque Road he was released from his spiritual despondency. After that he was a new creature in Christ preaching powerfully from Murray River to Wilmot and from Canoe Cove to Rustico. When he died he had 5000 adherents, or better than 10% of the population, who were called 'McDonaldites', a term still in use today. He died in the home of William McLeod of Southport in 1867 after having served the people of the Cove as well as his other followers for over forty years. There was a log church handy at the site of the present church that was used for about twenty years for worship. Our splendid old building had its beginnings in St Catherines near the Pioneer Cemetery. After a change in plans, the lumber was rafted around to its present site in Canoe Cove. The church was completed in 1872, by Alexander MacFarlane.

An early church secretary's minute book exists dating back to 1894. Charles MacNeill of St Catherines was the first secretary and his beautiful copper-plate script is a pleasure to read. The charge at that time consisted of Glasgow Road, Lot 48, St Catherine's, Nine Mile Creek, Stanchel and North River, Hunter River and West River. Mr MacNeill was secretary from 1895 until his death in 1916.

Reverend James MacCall was our first minister after Mr McDonald remaining for three years before returning to Scotland. For the next few years ministering elders ordained by Mr McDonald conducted sacraments of baptism and communion, Justices of the Peace performed marriage ceremonies. In 1875 Rev. John Goodwill, a returned missionary took over the church and remained until 1903 when he had to give up because of ill health. Following Mr Goodwill was: Rev. James MacDougall, Rev. Daniel MacLean, Rev. Donald Lamont 1920-1928, Rev. Archibald Murchison, Rev. D. V. O'Meara 1928-1929, Rev. Chester Robertson and Rev. Dr J. W. S. Lowery 1935-1936.

Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not held in Canoe Cove until the ministry of Rev. Donald Lamont, apparently because there was no communion table, so that all could sit around it to take communion. The first communion table was built by Bateman MacFadyen, son of John K., and the communion linen made by Mrs John K MacFadyen.

Criteria for taking communion, or sacrament, were very strict. By the way, a peculiarity of the area was that sacrament one must be 'under conviction' that is, aware of deeply remorseful for one's sin. Then one was 'set free' which meant that one realised that because of the crucifixion and resurrection one's sins were forgiven and one was 'saved.' Then one could take sacrament. Many Scottish settlers, especially in Pictou county, Nova Scotia became members of the Presbyterian Church but never felt that they were worthy of receiving communion.

Even after Communion tables were provided so that members could sit around a common table and drink out of a common cup, people still travelled to Churchill, Stanchel or DeSable to Sacrament. It was common for the people to go as far as Brae or Birch Hill for the annual Sacrament service which began on Thursday night with a preparatory service, and ended Monday morning with a thanksgiving service. These services were held once a year in each year as the Minister would not be able to arrange them more often for all churches. Perhaps it was the custom. Many romances which started at these services resulted in marriage. Of course, a new gown and a new hat were 'a must' for the ladies, especially the unmarried ones for the Sacrament season.

In 1938 application was made by Canoe Cove, Churchill and Nine Mile Creek to be received into the Presbyterian Church of Canada. (Prior to this they were Free Church of Scotland.) This was granted by the General Assembly and these congregations joined with Clyde River to form Central Parish. Rev. Thomas Goodwill was its first inducted minister serving from 1939-1948. Canoe Cove maintains some of its free being not having musical instruments in the church and the Psalms and Paraphrases were led by a singing elder called a Precentor. About 1947 the Church purchased an organ and music was heard at worship in the church for the first time.

After Mr Goodwill retired because of ill-health, students and supply took care of the needs of the congregation until Rev. Donald Nicholson accepted a call to our church in 1950 and stayed until 1956. While he was with us the church was wired for electricity in 1950.

The Cemetery

The Cemetery was started down by the shore before the present church was built. The first person to be buried there was David Potts, an English sailor whose body washed ashore. There is a gravestone at his grave but it states only that he was the son of John Potts from England. No details are available as to his ship or how his body came to wash ashore.

The Cemetery was used for the Nine Mile Creek area as well as the Cove. Some from the St. Catherine’s area used it even though there is a Pioneer Cemetery. Some of our ancestors are buried in the Argyle Shore Cemetery. The early settlers would use the cemetery of their choice, and generally their descendants would continue to use that cemetery.

At first all cemeteries had rounded graves which were not precisely aligned whether they had stones or not. This would make the cemetery difficult to care for. In the late 1920s the graves were levelled and the stones aligned so that a lawn mower could b used. Our cemetery is one of the more attractive ones, as the grass is kept mowed and extra flowers are planted to enhance its appearance.

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