Settlement
by the New England Planters
Prepared by E.L. Eaton in
January 1961
Personal Papers, shared, but not published
The expulsion of the French Acadians from Nova Scotia in 1755 and the
English settlement which followed after 1760 were but minor events in
the long struggle for power among the great European powers. In
the wars and in the treaties which provided the brief breathing spaces
between campaigns, the desires, the welfare and the property of
individuals received scant consideraton. But the skill in
conducting their own affairs, so evident in Scandinavia and Brittain,
had become so well established in the English colonies of America that
when large-scale English occupation of Nova Scotia was proposed,
tradition tells us this right to self-government was one of the
conditions guaranteed to the New England colonists. Thus it was
the new settlements at once took the form of townships, each accorded a
large measure of local authority.
The typical township contained 100,000 acres. In Horton this was
divided into 200 shares of 500 acres each, in Cornwallis 150 lots of
666-2/3 acres each. The township boundaries are recorded in Crown
Lands office at Halifax and for Cornwallis appears as well in Eaton's
History of Kings County. This township occupies the north east
corner of the present county, bounded on the south by the Cornwallis
River - or River Habitant at Canning - running west to Berwick, thence
north to the Bay of Fundy, thence along the sea shore east and south to
the mouth of the Cornwallis.
There were three distinct steps in the allocation of land within the
township. First, there were 150 one-half acre building lots in
"Town Plot", the plan of which is in the provincial Archives at
Halifax. Second, there were ten-acre lots north and west of Town
Plot. Third, there were farm lots of about 40 to 44 acres.
Finally there were wood lots and dyke lots. Many wood and dyke
lots were considerable distance away. Important among the early
officials were surveyors and lot layers by whom the various grants were
laid out.
Although great care was taken to make a fair distribution so that each
person would have a resonable amount of land, the setters quickly
exercised the democratic right to disagree and began at once to
resettle themselves on lots more to their liking. The necessary
permission to sell their lands was secured from the Governor at an
early date and Book No. l in the Kings County Registry of Deeds is
impressive evidence of the extent of this new grouping. The
ten-acre farm lots rapidly passed into the hands of a few individuals
such as the Burbidges and Bests, while many of those who sold, enlarged
their other farm holdings.
Unfortunately few of the early plans of Cornwallis Township are in
existence. However, it is evident from the descriptions of
properties in the Registry of Deeds that the township as laid out into
"divisions", each further divided into "lots", and in many deeds only
the division and lot were mentioned, with a further general reference
to "the proprietors records". In other deeds the name of the
neighbor on one or more sides is mentioned. In some the actual
measurements were given. Others are impossible to trace without
outside knowledge since such markers as "a bunch of white birches", "a
poplar stump", or "a leaning willow" were anything but permanent.
The old French road which served the Canard settlement was a winding,
devious path, skirting the dyke on the south and then swinging inland
to cross the many inlets or creeks. The same motive which prompts
the construction of our modern expressways caused the early Cornwallis
grantees to lay out an all-weather six-rod road from Minas Basin
westward along what has since been variously called Saxon Street,
Washington Street or Bently Path. This wide road was the
northerly boundary of the farm lots in Lower Canard, Canard, Upper
Canard and Upper Dyke, and each of them extended from this road
southerly, across the present paved highway, a four-rod road, to the
margin of the Canard dyke land.
Since the distance between this base line road and the dyke land varies
considerably, the width of a 44-acre farm lot also varied. In the
12th Division which estended from the Archibald Poultry killing plant
at Canard to the School Lands, now a part of the farm occupied by
Leverett Webster, just east of the Baptist Church at Upper Canard, with
the exception of lots 1-3 each original "share" farm lot was 24 rods
wide. From the School Lands, Lot 1 in the 12th Division, westward
toward Upper Dyke, the upland extends much farther out into the dyke
and Lot No. 2, "a share and a half" was 30 rods wide. In Division
14, where the Sheffield and Westhaver farms are situated, a "share"
farm lot had narrowed to a mere l8 rods but was proportionately
longer. At an early date Lots 7, 8, 9 and 10 in the 14th Division
and Lot 1 in the 15tth Division, four of them of 18 rods each and one
of 30 rods, a total of 72 rods, were subdivided to form three farms of
30, 30 and 40 rods, respectively, owned by Newcomb, Hergett and
Cox. The remaining 2 rods appears to have been taken for part of
the New Road which runs from Upper Dyke corner north to Gibson Woods,
and now forms the west boundary of the originial Lot 1 in the 15th
Division.
The assessment roll of 1765, from the Court of Sessions records in the
Provincial Archeves, was helpful in locating the properties. On
this list the names appear to have been posted for the most part in
sequence along the various streets. Although numerous changes had
taken place, of the 138 names on this list, only 3 are not among the
original grantees, and of these 3, 2 carried the surname of a
grantee. It is evident, therefore, that most of the sales and
purchases were made among the grantees
themselves.
Farm Lots from
Undivided Land
Only 129 lots of the intended 150 farm lots in Cornwallis Township were
taken up by the grantees. In several instances the allocations
were refused and farms were given from the undivided land not included
in the initial survery. A number of such lots were laid off in
what are now Kingsport and Medford - good land and adjacent to Minas
Basin. Others were added on Belcher Street, Stephen Chase Sr.,
receiving 44 acres just west of Lot 10 in the Second Division, granted
jointly to Elkanah Morton Jr. and Amos Bill. Archaelus Hammond
received a 4½ rod strip containing 22 acres, west of George
Smith,
Lot 10, Division One; which is just east of Canning and John and
Jonathan Rand received 55 acres just west of Hammond. Although
recorded in the Proprietors Book now in the Provincial Archives at
Halifax, many of these added farm lots lack boundaries which are
recognizable today. None of the settlers were strangers to each
other, and to be bounded by a neighbor on any side was no doubt
thoroughly clear at the time. Unfortunately many of these
boundaries were wood lots, themselves irregularly laid out and poorly
described. Thomas Rand, for example received Lot No. 3 in the
undivided land, about 60 acres equal to 44. Stephen Post received
Lot 5, bounded on the east by Caleb Rand, 60 acres equal to 44.
Simon Newcomb received Lot 6, 70 acres to make 66, in Lower Canard,
east of Nathaniel Stark, Lot 1, Division 8, and Judah Wells was
allotted Lot 8, just east of Newcomb.
North of Habitant, Stephen Loomer received Lot 9, east of Nathan
Curtis. In 1769 Book 1, page 318, the administrators of Benjamin
Woodworth deeded "shares of Benjamin Woodworth, Nathaniel Curtis and
Stephen Post on Bason of Minas, near Bass Creek between the Rivers
Habitant and Pero".
Caleb Gillet received No. 7 bounded on the west by Robert Parker -
obviously not Robert Parker's farm lot which was No. 5 in the Second
Division, just west of Port Williams. William Proctor was given
Lot No. 11, 60 acres to make 44 "bounded on the west by Caleb Gillet 34
rods." Then in sequence from west to east, each bounded by the
preceding were:
Lot No.
|
Name
|
Bounded
By |
12
|
Brerton
Poyton
|
William Proctor |
13
|
Robert
Duport |
Brerton Poynton |
14
|
John
Duport |
Robert Duport |
15
|
Joseph
Gorham
|
John Duport |
Indian Point, an old name for Kingsport, is mentioned as the location
of Lot 16, granted to Benjamin Newcomb. Robert Thompson was given
Lot 20, just east of Lot 1 in the First Division, the draught of James
Mather.
Caleb Rand was assigned 58 acres to equal 44. We have seen that
Stephen Post was bounded on the east be Caleb Rand, while the Post
property was later described as near Bass Creek.
Thus we have established the general location of all the 21 persons
who, for various reasons, failed to secure land within the original
fifteen divisions of farm lots, most of them on the good land from
Kingsport to Medford. Now, after two centuries have passed, and
the soil areas have all been mapped and classified by modern
techniques, the only disadvantage for these settlers seems to have been
the greater distance from their dyke lots, which was partially
compensated for by a larger grant of land.