North Cumberland Historical Society
Linden
Linden is a country district lying along the shore of the Northumberland Strait about 10 miles from Pugwash, 16 from Oxford and 20 from Amherst. At one time, it took in Cameron Beach, Heather Beach, Upper Linden, West Linden, Linden Corner, East Linden and Lower Linden.
Linden was initially called Goose River as the Indians used it as a game preserve and trapping ground. However, in about 1880, tired of being called the Goslings of Goose River, the citizens changed the name to Linden. The land at the beaches first belonged to the Micmac Indians and then the government gave it to James Jones in a grant and then to John Cameron.
The first white man to live in Goose River was Mr. Burnell. He built a schooner there in 1809. The first to stay was Martin Hunter, son of David Hunter of Ireland (his father had been born in Scotland) and Margaret Martin of Ulster. Their ship had been headed to Philadelphia in 1769 but was shipwrecked at Sable Island. An accompanying ship collected the passengers and unloaded them at Halifax. David and Margaret moved to Windsor, Hants County where their children were born. In 1809, Martin, their son, saw the land at Goose River and liked it. He rode to Amherst and found the grantee. He asked what he wanted for the land and the owner said, “For that horse and saddle, the land is yours.” The trade was made and Martin walked the 20 miles back with all his food and possessions and built a cabin. He went for seed grain to Baie Verte, carrying it home on his back, a distance of around 20 miles. He first lived with a Micmac woman with whom he had a number of children. He then married Ann Kirby, secondly to Mary (Polly) Berry from Amherst with whom he had six sons and three daughters and finally to Rosanna Campbell.
[From a letter by George E. Hunter, grandson of Martin]
In 1818, there was an influx of Irish settlers. John Moore, John Angus, James Burns and families were three who shipped together on the Jesse and landed at St. John and traveled through Amherst, Shinimicas and Northport and finally settled in Goose River.
The 1827 census shows 100 males and 81 females living in Goose River. Surnames include Angus, Beaton, Brown, Brownell, Cooper, Ebertson, Evens, Findlay, Hunter, Johnson, Maddison, Mickey, Mills, Mood, Morrison, Robb, Smith and Wood.
Highway 6 was known as the Amherst Pictou Trunk Road, and at one time stage coaches would have traveled it between these two places. This travel necessitated taverns - there was one near Linden Corner run by a Mrs. Mickey. She had a few young men around to tend the horses: one of them was Sandy Wilson. This road was eventually called the Post Road and then Highway 6.
The first mail was driven from Amherst to Pugwash by a coach and four horses, going one day and coming back the next. The post office was at a Mr. MacKie’s.
The first Baptist church was built in 1853. The Covenanters built a church just across from it. They were Irish Presbyterians; it was a rather austere faith, but after the death of their missionary Alexander Clarke in 1874, they were gradually absorbed into the larger Presbyterian movement. This initial Covenant church was torn down in 1919.
Their minister Rev. Mr. William Stavely Darragh and many of the congregation were in disagreement which caused a split from the Covenanters. These political divisions caused him and his followers to get locked out of the church in 1859. They joined the Presbyterian Church.
The Baptists allowed them to use their church until a new Presbyterian church was built. Called the Renwick Church after a Scottish Covenant martyr (James Renwick), land was purchased from Alexander Leslie, and the deeds were signed by John Moore, James Moore and John Burns. It was built by volunteers and finished by Henry Chapman in 1864. It was about a mile further west towards Amherst from the Mt. Pleasant Church. The church continued to be active until 2016.
There were two school districts in Linden: Upper and Lower. The Lower Linden school was about a mile north of Linden Corner on the Northport Road. The Upper Linden school was on Highway 6 across from the communication tower. It is currently used as the Linden Community Centre and is celebrating its 40th year as a hall.
Vester Burns owned the first store. John Huston owned the first blacksmith shop which was situated at Linden Corner. His wife owned the first sawmill. A later store in Lower Linden was owned by Curt Wood, and it became a gathering place for the community. It was also the only gas outlet and also had one of the few telephones.
John Moore made the first grist mill. It had large sails and used wind to power it, but it was not very successful. When he built his third building, he built near a brook and used water which was more reliable. He and his son, Samuel, ground grain and made oatmeal. The mill stones were moved to Oxford in the 1910's and used as doorstops for the Millstone Hotel.
John Moore’s son, John Jr. invented the double harpoon for pitching off hay. Eaton’s catalogued it as the John Moore fork for many years.
Telephone service was started by the Maritime Telephone Company. There were about 15 customers hooked into a central switchboard in Atlee Smith’s home in Lower Linden, his wife being the operator.
The Sunrise Trail (#6) was not kept open to cars during winter as there were no plows. One early spring thrill was when the first cars of the season came through, or tried to, and often got stuck in the mud holes in front of the school. For Minard Wood, a local farmer, this was a seasonal source of revenue, as he would bring out his team of horses and pull these early birds through the mud holes and send them on their way to the next mud hole.
Heather Beach by the 1930's was mostly miners and their families from the coalfields of Springhill who had the cottages there. They had some money to spend and were welcomed by the farmers of the area for their patronage of their produce. Cameron Beach also gradually filled up with cottagers.
In 1948, farming and some fishing and lumbering were the mainstays of the community.
Excerpted from an article in the 1948 Oxford Journal by Geraldine Moore, a book Recrossing the Portages of Life by Kurt Speth and a history by George Moore.
Some Early Civil Marriages
10-01-1865 Amherst Cum Co Pb Rev Archibald Thomson
PATTERSON David 46 B shopkeeper Linden Cum Co W J &
TRUEMAN Sarah 24 S Amherst Cum Co Amos &
25-02-1865 Shinimicas Bridge Cum Co Pb Rev Archibald Thomson
ANGUS Henry 28 B farmer Linden Cum Co S & Sarah Brennan
BRANDER Susan 24 S Shinimicas Bridge Cum Co James & Lily Brander
26-04-1866 Linden Cum Co Pb Rev Archibald Thomson
HUSTON Thomas __ B Linden Cum Co &
ANGUS Sophia __ S Linden Cum Co &
06-12-1866 Linden Cum Co Bp Rev Thomas A Blackadar
BIRD John 53 W farmer Maccan Cum Co Henry &
MILLS Demas 43 S Linden Cum Co Sherwood &
16-01-1867 Linden Cum Co Pb Rev Archibald Thomson
TINGLEY Joshua 27 B farmer Shemogue NB Joshua & Cynthia
HUNTER Lilly A 20 S Linden Cum Co Keiver & Theodosia
19-09-1867 Linden Cum Co Pb Rev Archibald Thomson
FINLEY James W 27 B farmer Linden Cum Co Robert & Annie
DAVIS Elizabeth 24 S Linden Cum Co George E & Mary
10-01-1868 Linden Cum Co Pb Rev Archibald Thomson
MCMORRIS Samuel 27 B farmer Shemogue NB William & Eleanor
HUNTER Charlotte 19 S Linden Cum Co R & Theodosia
14-01-1868 Amherst Cum Co Pb Rev Archibald Thomson
SMITH Robert Wesley 25 B miner Shinimicas Bridge Cum Co Wesley & Jane
BRANDER Elizabeth 22 S Linden Cum Co James & Lily
16-11-1868 Amherst Head Cum Co Pb Rev Archibald Thomson
BAXTER Thomas 28 B farmer Linden Cum Co Willis & Mary Ann
BROWNELL Cynthia M 18 S Shinimicas Bridge Cum Co Jeremiah & Mary Amelia
30-12-1869 Amherst Cum Co Pb Rev Archibald Thomson
SMITH Matthew A 26 B farmer Shinimicas Bridge Cum Co John W & Sarah
MILLS Janet 21 S Linden Cum Co Daniel & Isabel
08-11-1871 Pugwash Cum Co Bp Rev E B Corey
FINLEY Jeremiah 27 B farmer Linden Cum Co Robert & Amy
STUART Basa Ann 28 S Pugwash River Cum Co Stephen & Eliza
15-01-1873 Amherst Cum Co Mt Rev John Waterhouse
BAXTER Adolphus 42 B farmer Amherst Head Cum Co Augustus & Sarah
CHAPPELL Caroline 36 W Linden Cum Co Burton & Jane
12-03-1873 Leicester Cum Co Bp Rev E B Corey
WOOD Amos 25 B farmer Linden Cum Co Samuel & Maria
MILLS Margaret 25 S Leicester Cum Co Charles & Barbara
11-02-1875 Linden Cum Co Bp Rev David W Crandall
FOUNTAIN Amos 28 B blacksmith Middleboro Cum Co Ephraim &
HOLLIS Mary Jane 20 S Linden Cum Co Timothy &
04-08-1875 Pugwash Cum Co Pb Rev John McRae Sutherland
MCDONALD William 30 B farmer Linden Cum Co William & Mary Ann Campbell
HUTCHISON Emily 29 S Pugwash Cum Co Archibald & M Stewart
27-12-1876 Pugwash Cum Co Pb Rev John McRae Sutherland
ANGUS Allison 23 B farmer Linden Cum Co William & Isabella
MITCHELL Susannah 24 S Linden Cum Co Thomas & Elizabeth
04-01-1877 Linden Cum Co Bp Rev David W Crandall
MILLS S C 22 B mechanic Springhill Cum Co Amos &
HUNTER Mary Olivia 28 S Linden Cum Co Martin &
25-01-1877 Pugwash Cum Co Pb Rev John McRae Sutherland
DUNBAR John 28 B farmer Port Howe Cum Co Alexander &
MCDONALD Maggie 17 S Linden Cum Co Robert &
04-09-1877 Head Wallace Bay Cum Co Pb Rev John McRae Sutherland
MORAN John 23 B farmer Head of Wallace Bay Cum Co John & Nancy
RIPLEY Charlotte 20 S Linden Cum Co Joseph & Sarah
07-01-1878 Mount Pleasant Cum Co Bp Rev E B Corey
MATTINSON John William 26 B farmer Mount Pleasant Cum Co William &
HOLLIS Celia 16 S Linden Cum Co Robert & Mary
12-03-1878 Pugwash Cum Co Pb Rev John McRae Sutherland
TUCKER William Henry 20 B farmer Earltown Col Co Hugh & Maria
ANGUS Anna Lucinda 16 S Linden Cum Co Thomas & Catherine
18-03-1879 Pugwash Cum Co Bp Rev Henry Bool
MCKAY John 24 B ship carpenter Port Philip Cum Co Alexander & Mary
O’BRIEN Mary E 19 S Linden Cum Co Joseph & Matilda
22-07-1879 Pugwash Cum Co Bp Rev Henry Bool
MCLEOD Daniel 22 B farmer Port Howe Cum Co Angus & Sarah
HOLLIS Charlotte 24 S Linden Cum Co William & Elizabeth
19-08-1879 Linden Cum Co Bp Rev John J Armstrong
SEIFERT Charles 35 B cloth man Lowell Mass USA Charles & Frederica
HUNTER Rosanna 35 S Linden Cum Co H B & Mary
22-12-1879 Pugwash Cum Co Bp Rev John J Armstrong
CARTER Timothy W 26 B farmer Marshfield Henry & Susanna
MILLS Mary A 21 S Linden Cum Co Thomas & Martha
27-05-1880 Centreville Cum Co Bp Rev John J Armstrong
HUNTER Harris H 25 B farmer Linden Cum Co Harris & Annie
WALKER Emma 24 S Beckwith Cum Co Duncan & Phoebe
27-05-1884 Wallace Bridge Cum Co Bp Rev Henry Bool
HUNTER Matthew L 23 B farmer Linden Cum Co Hance B & Alice
SCOTT Annie E J 23 S Wallace Bridge Cum Co James & Sarah J
11-07-1884 Pugwash Cum Co Bp Rev Henry Bool
IBBITSON Charles 21 B farmer Linden Cum Co James & Betsy
RIPLEY Lizzie 18 S Linden Cum Co Joseph & Sarah A
09-09-1884 Mansfield Cum Co Bp Rev E C Corey
WOOD James H 37 B farmer Linden Cum Co George? & Sarah
SEAMAN Eva 24 S E Leicester Cum Co Thomas & Barbara
25-11-1884 Linden Cum Co Bp Rev Henry Bool
BROWNELL James W 23 B merchant Northport Cum Co Aaron & Mary J
HUNTER Joanna S 20 S Linden Cum Co H B & Alice
08-12-1884 Port Howe Cum Co Bp Rev Henry Bool
BENT Clifford 26 B farmer Salem Cum Co John & Amelia
ELLIOTT Amelia 18 S Port Howe Cum Co Samuel & Catherine
26-01-1892 Springhill Cum Co Pb Rev David Wright
DARRAGH Wylie 35 B farmer Linden Cum Co William S & Rachel
DONKIN Joanna 28 S Great Village Col Co William & Mary
21-09-1892 Oxford Cum Co Bp Rev E C Corey
HUNTER Albert 28 B farmer Linden Cum Co William & Jane
MCKAY Rena 24 S Port Howe Cum Co Alexander & Mary
14-11-1893 Oxford Cum Co Bp Rev E C Corey
MILLS Charles A 26 B farmer Linden Cum Co John & Sarah (foster pts)
WOOD Alma J 19 S Mount Pleasant Cum Co Oliver & Rebecca