and
Thanks to Norm DeMerchant for this document.
Following the War of 1812, the British government granted lands to those soldiers who had fought in the war. The Warrant of Survey transcribed below is a set of instructions for surveying and laying out lots for the Military Settlements in what are now Carleton and Victoria Counties (then part of York County) in July of 1817, immediately after the disbanding of the regiments which saw action in the War of 1812. (Carleton County used to include what is today Madawaska and Victoria Counties as well as today's Carleton County). This particular survey covered land along the St.John River from the Shiktehawk Stream, at Bristol in today's Carleton County, up to Grand Falls, in today's Victoria County.
The surveyor is charged with laying out lots of 40 rods (1 rod = 16-1/2 feet, or 5-1/2 yards; 320 rods = 1 mile) long along the St.John River bank, up to a maximum of 300 lots. He was also to lay out lots for people already settled on the land; and to survey the boundaries of lands that had in 1801 been granted to member of the Maliseet or Wulustukieg nation living at Tobique (which is now the Tobique Reserve).
Norman DeMerchant came across this document hidden in the back of a Primary Letter book of the Surveyor General. What he finds odd about this document is its date in relation to the date of the letter book. The letter book is located at PANB, RS637 1a.Primary Letter books 1. 1785-1789.
He wonders why this warrant, dating from 1817, was written in the back of this particular Letter Book with information pertaining to 1785-1789. This was the original "warrant of survey" for the Military Settlements in York County, (now Carleton and Victoria). He has taken a photocopy and transcribed it for the interest of everyone. (See the next section for information on the ex-soldiers who received these grants.)
Once surveyed, the land was granted to former soldiers. A list of those demobilized soldiers who were granted land from 1817 to 1822 as a result of the 1817 survey can be found in "Grantees of Kent Parish 1822: State of the Military Settlement in the Parish of Kent on the River Saint John, July 1822," on the Carleton County GenWeb site, part of which is reproduced below. I have added to the original information the dates of entry and discharge for those who served in the 104th Regiment of Foot and in the Royal West-India Rangers (sources noted below).
In 1822, the Parish of Kent included everything that is currently in Madawaska and Victoria Counties. Thus, this list includes a number of people who are in the 1851 census of Perth, Andover, and Grand Falls. Below I've included the section of the list that seems to be covered by the 1851 census of Victoria County, with links to the households in the 1851 census (either to the person on the list or to his widow).
Information given in this list includes number of women and children in each family, the regiment the person served in during the war, his rank, and the year he settled on the land.
To
Mr George Morehouse
Deputy Surveyor~
Pursuant to the Order in Council of the 2nd of May last directing that the Block of Land between Presque Isle and the Great Falls and lying on both sides of the River Saint John be appropriated for the settlements of disbanded Troops.
I am directed by His
Excellency the Lieut Governor to cause the vacant land in the said block to
be surveyed and laid out into Lots or parcels - you are therefore hereby required
and directed to proceed without loss of time and execute that Duty with all
possible expedition, in which you will adhere to the following Instructions.
1st. You will procure
the requisite number of Assistants for Chain Bearers and Axe Men & not exceeding
five in the whole on the lowest Wages that you can agree for bearing in mind
that a Ration of Provisions will be allowed to each man.
2nd. You will also procure
a Canoe to attend you, either by purchase or hire - as you may judge most expedient.
3rd.You will lay out
into lots of forty rods front at right angles to their sides all the vacant
unimproved land that you may find fit for cultivation on each side of the River
Saint John in the district above described not exceeding 300 lots in the whole,
the Survey to commence on the East side at the Sicktahawk River and on the West
side about one mile above the discharge of that River - see annexed plan No.
1. also the plans No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5. which shew all the Grants and
Surveys already made in the said extent.
4th. For such persons
as you may find already settled and improving and have Families you may lay
out Lots of 300 acres with ninety rods front, and for such single men of age
as you may find settled and improving you may lay out lots of 200 acres with
60 rods front, which surveys must be made at their own expence (sic) and placed
in their true positions on the general plan of your survey.
5th. On the 4th. of
September 1801 an allotment was made to Neville
Bernard for himself and his tribe of Melicete Indians on the
East Side of the River Saint John, begining opposite to the Tobique Rock and
running up Stream until it comes opposite to the Mouth of the Restock [Aroostock]
River, you must therefore lay out the same accordingly and lay it down on your
plan - the side lines to be arranged East and no encroachment to be made thereon.
6th.In the progress
of your survey you must pass over any tracts of land that you may (on carefull
examination) find unfit for cultivation, the fronts of such tracts must be surveyed
and measured, so as to enable you to place them on your plan and to continue
a general plan of the river.
7th.The lots must be
regularly numbered and marked upwards on each side of the River Saint John commencing
with No. 1 on the East side and No. 1 on the West side - the side lines must
be ranged East on the East side and West on the West side, and three trees marked,
or three durable marks placed on each line not less than 12 rods asunder - you
must note and report the quality of each lot as near as you can estimate.
8th. As the expence (sic) of this Survey will be defrayed by Government you must keep a regular daily Journal noting down the duty of Service performed each day - to be vouched by oath if required - and return a copy thereof to me with your report.
And you will make due
return hereon with all possible speed to any Office annexing the requisite plan
to a Scale of forty chains per Inch and returning this warrant.
Given under my hand
this 4th
Day of July
in the year 1817.
Geo Sproule
Surveyor General
Warrant of Survey to Mr Geo Morehouse Deputy Surveyor for Disbanded Officers
and Men between Preque Isle and the Great Falls.
Courtesy of .
Thanks to the Carleton County GenWeb site for permission to reproduce this list. Reproduced with permission of the Carleton County GenWeb site. The list below is an excerpt. For the complete list, please go to the original site.
As noted above, in 1822 Kent Parish included today's Madawaska and Victoria Counties. The men listed below had settled on lots that are now in Victoria County. Links at the right (column 12) are to these men or their families as they appear in Perth or Andover in the 1851 census.
I have added to the original list information on dates of enlistment
and discharge for veterans of the 104th Regiment of Foot and the Royal West-India
Rangers. The source for this information is:
104th Regiment: W. Austin Squires, The 104th Regiment of Foot
(The New Brunswick Regiment) 1803-1817 (Fredericton: Brunswick Press, 1962)
Royal West-India Rangers: Website of Mori Hillman,
"Royal West-India
Rangers"
A reprint from We Lived (A GENEALOGICAL NEWSLETTER OF NEW BRUNSWICK SOURCES published by Cleadie B. Barnett)
Grantees of Kent Parish 1822
STATE OF THE MILITARY SETTLEMENT IN THE PARISH
OF KENT
ON THE RIVER SAINT JOHN - JULY 1822
The actual state of the Military Settlement in the Parish of Kent, on the River Saint John. July 1822
Col. 1 = Number
Col. 2 = Rank
Col. 3 = Name
Col. 4 = Regiment (for information on Regiments see War of 1812 Website)
Kings = 4th Regiment (King's Own)
NB = New Brunswick Regiment
RWIR = Royal West India Rangers
10 RVB = 10th Royal Veteran Battalion
98 = 98th Regiment
104 = 104th Regiment of Foot (The New Brunswick Regiment)
Col. 5 = Women
Col. 6 = Children
Col. 7 = Lot #
Col. 8 = When Located
Col. 9 = Remarks
Col.10 = Date of Entry into Regiment
Col.11 = Date of Discharge from Regiment
Col.12 = Link to person or his widow in 1851 Census
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
| 40 | Private | Robinson Merrithew | NB |
- |
- |
59 | 1817 | . . . . . | . . . . . . | . . . . . . | |
| 41 | Sergeant | John Grant | NB |
1 |
5 |
60-61 | 1817 | . . . . . | . . . . . . | . . . . . . | |
| 42 | Private | Richard Inman | 104 |
1 |
1 |
62 | 1817 | . . . . . | 4 Feb 1810 | 24 May 1817 | |
| 43 | Private | John McDonald | 104 |
1 |
6 |
63 | 1817 | . . . . . | 3 Oct 1804 | 24 May 1817 | |
| 44 | Private | Archibald McLean | 104 |
1 |
3 |
64 | 1817 | . . . . . | 25 Nov 1804 | 24 May 1817 | |
| 45 | Private | Alexander Murcherson | 104 |
1 |
5 |
65 | 1817 | . . . . . | 8 Oct 1804 | 24 May 1817 | |
| 46 | Private | Malcolm McKenzie | 104 |
1 |
1 |
66 | 1817 | . . . . . | 13 Oct 1804 | 24 May 1817 | |
| 47 | Private | John McKenzie | 104 |
- |
- |
67 | 1817 | . . . . . | 3 Oct 1809 | 24 May 1817 | |
| 48 | Private | George Smith | 104 |
1 |
2 |
68 | 1817 | . . . . . | 7 May 1809 | 29 May 1816 | |
| 49 | Sergeant | Thomas Barry | 98 |
1 |
3 |
69-70 | 1818 | ||||
| 50 | Sergeant | Charles McLaughlan | 104 |
1 |
1 |
71-72 | 1817 | . . . . . | 1811 | May 1817 | |
| 51 | Private | Michael Summers | 98 |
- |
- |
73 | 1818 | ||||
| 52 | Sergeant | Thomas Nugent | 98 |
1 |
2 |
74-75 | 1818 | ||||
| 53 | Private | Michael Dawson | 98 |
- |
- |
76 | 1818 | ||||
| 54 | Private | Henry Merritt | 98 |
1 |
- |
77 | 1818 | . . . . . . | . . . . . . | . . . . . . | |
| 55 | Sergeant | John Baker | 1 |
1 |
102-103 | 1819 | . . . . . | 7 Feb 1812 | . . . . . . | ||
| 56 | Sergeant | Henry Bowmaster | 1 |
4 |
110-111 | 1819 | . . . . . | 7 Jan 1808 | . . . . . . | ||
| 57 | Private | David Smith | 10 RVB |
1 |
5 |
112 | 1817 | ||||
| 58 | Private | William Anderson | 10 RVB |
- |
- |
113 | 1817 | live together (with 59) | |||
| 59 | Private | Henry Anderson | 10 RVB |
- |
- |
114 | 1817 | live together (with 58) | |||
| 60 | Private | William Smith | 10 RVB |
- |
- |
115 | 1817 | ||||
| 61 | Private | Thomas Whitehead | 104 |
- |
- |
121 | 1817 | . . . . . | 28 May 1810 | 24 May 1817 | |
| 62 | Private | Benjamin Hitchcock | 1 |
2 |
125 | 1819 | . . . . . | 20 Feb 1814 | . . . . . . | ||
| 63 | Private | George Dixon | - |
3 |
131 | 1819 | . . . . . | 13 Jan 1813 | . . . . . . | ||
| 64 | Sergeant | Charles Stuart | Kings |
1 |
- |
132-133 | 1820 | resides at Grand Falls | . . . . . . | . . . . . . | |
| 65 | Private | Michael Dyer | 1 |
- |
134 | 1819 | . . . . . | 11 Dec 1816 | . . . . . . | ||
| 66 | Private | James Haney | 1 |
1 |
135 | 1819 | . . . . . | 24 Apr 1813 | . . . . . . | ||
| 67 | Private | Lyman Whitehead | 10 RVB |
1 |
3 |
ABC | 1814 |
| 26 | Private | Patrick Holmes | 98 |
- |
- |
48 | 1818 | . . . . . | . . . . . | . . . . . . | |
| 31 | Private | Patrick Kearney | 98 |
1 |
4 |
53 | 1818 | . . . . . | . . . . . | . . . . . . | |
| 40 | Private | Joseph Valley | 104 |
1 |
3 |
67 | 1817 | . . . . . | 7 Jun 1806 | 24 May 1817 | |
| 54 | Sergeant | William Tomlinson | 1 |
3 |
91 | 1819 | not at home | 24 Apr 1813 | . . . . . . | ||
| 58 | Sergeant | John McGuire | 104 |
1 |
1 |
101-102 | 1817 | . . . . . | 24 Dec 1803 | May 1817 | |
| 66 | Sergeant | John Watson | 1 |
2 |
131-132 | 1819 | not at home | 24 Apr 1813 | . . . . . . |
Note on the Royal West-India Rangers: All former members of the Royal West-India Rangers in this list are included in Mori Hillman's Royal West-India Ranger page, which includes information on each person, including place of birth, physical description, age, date he joined the Rangers, and occupation.
Note on the 98th Regiment: The soldiers who fought in the 98th Regiment were involved in the military operation against Maine (Castine, Bangor, Machias ) in the fall of 1814. From New Brunswick's perspective, it was a good idea to place these men here, since they had already defeated US and Maine forces once. [Thanks to Norm DeMerchant for this information, which is from Hannay, The War of 1812]
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Last revised 08 Nov 2009
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