Guysborough County Genealogy

A Brief Description of Guysborough County

Guysborough County is located on the northeast corner of mainland Nova Scotia, Canada.  Border on the northeast by Canso Strait and Chedabucto Bay, on the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Halifax County and on the northwest by Antigonish and Pictou Counties.  The county as it is today was established in 1836. From 1759-1784 it was part of Halifax County and between 1784 and 1836 part of Sydney County. The land area is 4,044.22 km², population in 2011 was 8,143 which was a drop 50.8% from 16,555 in 1871.  See Wikipedia for more information on the population and county. The major ethnic origins from a survey taken in 2011 of some of the communities in the county where Canadian, Irish, English, Scottish, and French, this website will try to reflect that in its content. See the gazetteer for location information and history of places within the county.

The first people of the area where the Mi'kmaq.  They used the area for hunting and fishing; the Salmon River was a major route to southern Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for them.  It is rumoured that Prince Henry Sinclair was in the area in 1398. The French fished in the area as early as 1504 and Canso was a well used fishing station by 1609.  Besides use of the Canso area, the first settlers in the area were at Guysborough.  See the time line for how the county was developed.