Carden and Digby are named after two English captains
SURVEYS AND LAND
In 1830, Charles Rankin surveyed in the Newcastle District starting from the Talbot River and proceeding north and east through Carden and Dalton. He found much poor land and concluded; “What we saw agreeing with reports of traders and they also having stated to us that the same description continued Eastwardly to water emptying into Balsam Lake and Northwardly to Gull Lake, we thought it advisable to abandoned the survey as useless”.
Page 7 The Land Between , LeCraw
Carden and Digby are named after two English captains whose heroic exertions were largely resonsible for the successful embarkation of Sir John Moore’s army at Corunna in the Peninsular War. Sir John Colborne, Lieutenant Govenor of Upper Canada from 1830 to 1836, had been one of the officers there and it is supposed that the two townships were named at his suggestion.
A large area in the centre of the township consists of tamarack and balsam plains, unbroken be any road or trail. The assessor in 1911, classified 38,acres as swamp. Marsh or waste land.
The Connors, Dexters, Gillespies, Muetaghs, Quigleys, and Richmonds were among the earliest pioneers.
The 1861 census gives the total of 329 persons.
In 1855, the township was laid out in 10 Concessions ordered from east to west and 25 lots from south to north.
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