Bear River is both a place and a physical river which flows north. Bear River School districts in 1880 were Bear River Road North and Bear River Road South. The area is named as such as it is reported that Roderick MacDonald killed a 600 pound bear there about 1820 after a four-hour fight.
The doctors who came early to the eastern end of the Island lived, for a
time at least, at Bear River which was more thickly settled than Souris. The
Bear River Road running north and south between Lots 43 and 44 was the
highway of the day, the connecting link from shore to shore. It was here that
Dr. John O'Shaughnessy, a graduate of Harvard College, came in 1837.
About all that is known of him is that his wife died four years later, leaving
him with six children.1
Geographical Names of Prince Edward Island by Alan Rayburn
Train Station Agents: Frank MacDougall, who was relieving agent Keith Arbing, who is noted as taking a well deserved vacation.