FIRST SETTLEMENTS

The first settlers who came to Tignish in 1799 were Acadians from the area around Malpeque Bay called River Platte who were hoping to escape having to pay rent. Around 1810 Irish settlers arrived and joined Acadians at Nail Pond and North Cape. Palmer and Edward Cunard soon started to collect rent but were in dispute over who collected from whom. Later a dividing line was drawn by Court Order. It was Palmer’s half of Lot I that became part of Palmer Road Parish.

A rapid increase in population in Lot I took place between 1827 (283) and 1855 (1,603) most of whom were born on P.E.I. (621 of 783 in 1841). By the 1830’s, a second generation of fami— lies was looking for more land (tenant farms could not be subdi— vided). Expansion into Lot II at both the eastern and western coasts can be seen by the increase from 133 in 1827 to 638 in 1855. In Lot II the percentage born on P.E.I. was even higher in 1841 (90%) at 253 of 277. About 1825, Irish Immigrants arrived, sometimes by way of Miramichi or Newfoundland. They settled at Waterford in Lot I and Miminegash in Lot 11. Some examples were William Shea, Patrick Callaghan, John McInnis, John Muckler, Simon Luttrell, and Christopher Cadigan. Acadians migrating from Tignish included Francois Arsenault, Joseph Gaudet, Nazaire Poirier, Rufus Richard, and Joseph Chaisson. Later Tremblays, Thibodeau's and Daigles came to Miminegash from New Brunswick (1835).

But the concentration of people was still mostly in Lot I. The Lake Map of 1863 shows much vacant land in Lot II and some set— tled areas without roads. This map showed settlers at Miminegash, Waterford, and Palmer Road South, mostly Irish or Scottish; and

Skinner’s Pond, Palmer Road North, and Peterville, mostly Acadian. Of the total of 110 households counted in what is now Palmer Road Parish, 85 were in Lot I and only 25 in Lot 11. At an average of six per family there would be 600 people (out of a total of 3,000 in Lots I and II in 1863) for Palmer Road and 2,400 for Tignish (parish). The Palmer Road Parish Census of 1878, just before separation from Tignish, showed only 155 families (about 900 people). Yet the parish census in 1890 showed 316 families (2,048 people). The boundaries must have included more area in 1890 than in 1878.