Matthew Archibald (1745 – January 18, 1820) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

-born farmer,

tanner Tanner may refer to: * Tanner (occupation), the tanning of leather and hides People * Tanner (given name), * Tanner (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *The Tanner Sisters, also referred to as "The Harbingers of Weir ...

and political figure in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

. He represented Truro Township in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia Each General Assembly of the ...

from 1785 to 1799. He was born in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. Th ...

, Northern Ireland, the son of Samuel Archibald and Eleanor Taylor, and came with his family to

Londonderry, New Hampshire Londonderry is a town in western Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. It sits between Manchester and Derry, the largest and fourth-largest communities in the state. The population was 25,826 at the 2020 census. Londonderry is known f ...

in 1757. The family moved to Nova Scotia five years later. In 1767, Archibald married Janet Fisher. He was named a justice of the peace and became coroner for Colchester District in 1786. He lived at Bible Hill; Archibald is believed to have given the town its name. Bible Hill continues to celebrate a festival in Archibald's honor yearly to commemorate his birthday. Archibald died in

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro c ...

. His son

Alexander Lackie Archibald Alexander Lackie Archibald (March 5, 1788 – February 12, 1859) was a farmer, tanner, boot manufacturer and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Truro township in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1830 to 1843 and from 1848 to ...

also represented Truro in the assembly.

References

* ''A Directory of the Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, 1758-1958'', Public Archives of Nova Scotia (1958) * 1745 births 1820 deaths Canadian people of Ulster-Scottish descent Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs People from Colchester County People from County Londonderry Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Nova Scotia Ulster Scots people {{NovaScotia-MLA-stub