Recorded for us by Carden Researcher Frances Laver
BY Watson Kirkconnell
Revised by Frankie L. Mac Arthur
County of Victoria Centennial History
Carden and Digby Townships are named after two English captains whose heroic exertions were largely responsible for the successful embarkation of Sir. John Moore’s army at Coruna in the Peninsular War, Sir John Colborne, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada From 1830 to 1836, had been one of the other officers there and it is supposed that the two townships were named at his suggestion.
Carden is a rectangular municipality, ten concessions from west to east and twenty five lots from north to south. It touches Eldon on the south, Bexley and Laxton on the east, Dalton on the north and Mara in Ontario County on the west. It lies near the edge of the granite country and therefore has thin soil and frequent outcroppings of limestone. A large area in the centre of the township consists of tamarack and balsam plains, unbroken by any road or trail. The assessor in 1911 classified 38,256 acres as swamp, marsh or waste land. Two shallow lakes, Upper Mud Lake and Lower Mud Lake lie in the northwest corner of Carden.
The chief settlements have been in the northwest and southeast corners of the township. The Conors, Dexters, Gillespies, Murtaghs, Quigleys and Richmonds were among the earliest pioneers. Irish, Roman Catholics are perhaps the dominant element in the population. The 1911 census gives the following racial classifications : Irish – 378, English – 184, Scotch – 69, German and Dutch – 90, all others – 19. The church adherents were as follows: Roman Catholic – 282, Methodist – 254, Presbyterian – 121, Anglican – 20, all others – 7.
Rohallion in the south, Horncastle in the east, Carden in the north and Dalrymple in the west have been rural post offices.
Letter to Walter D. Deverell, clerk of Carden from F.L. Weldon February 1937
The Township of Carden was organized as a separate Township by By-Law #162 of the United Counties of Peterborough and Victoria passed in the year 1860. Previous to that time the Township of Carden was joined to the Township of Eldon.