Lot 62, Prince Edward Island
Lot 62 is a township in Queens County, Prince Edward Island, part of St. John's Parish. Lot 62 was awarded to Richard Spry, Esquire in the 1767 Land Lottery, and came to be settled through the efforts of Thomas Douglas, The 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1803. Richard Spry, Esquire, was then Commodore, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet at Gibraltar 1766–1769. Becoming the proprietor, he would be familiar with then the Island of St. John, having first come out to North America in 1754, with the English naval blockade of Ile Royal and the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1756, and then serving off Quebec and in the St. Lawrence into 1759. In 1762, he returned as Commander-in-Chief, North America, quartered in Halifax.
The Board of Trade and Plantations and Richard Spry, Esquire
At the end of 1763, Sir John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, and First Lord of the Admiralty, acting for a private syndicate of London elite, suggested, for the new Treaty of Paris possessions on the Island of St. John, a land settlement scheme encouraging trade and defence, along the lines of a feudal tenancy. This the 'Egmont Scheme' was soundly rejected, strongly opposed by 'The Lords Commissioner for Trade and Plantations', so an alternative scheme offered by 'The Board of Trade' was taken up, late in 1764, and in revision came to be approved by The King's Privy Council of the United Kingdom. However, The Board of Trade Scheme was not acted upon until 1767, with the granting by lottery of the lands of the Island of St. John, to individuals having claims upon the government.Even with well-defined, and 'strict' conditions of settlement there were more many 'individuals' than just the Egmont syndicate, interested in a grant of proprietorship, than there were lots available, so The Lords Commissioner for Trade and Plantations, devised their 1767 lottery to be organized by ballot, for candidates vetted and approved by The Board of Trade.
The Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations, Volume 12: January 1764 - December 1767. Journal of July 1767 - Volume 74, Folio No. 256 - Thursday, July 23, 1767, states:
"The following distribution of the lots or townships in the Island of St. John, according as they were mentioned upon the map or survey of the island, was this day decided upon in their lordships' presence by ballot, in the form and manner set down in the minutes of the 8th instant, several of the said proponents or their agents attending, vizt." They granted: Richard Spry, Esquire - Lot 62.
In addition to being divided into lots, each lot having been commodified as to its potential market value, having their rent set on an economic value. The financial obligation being: "That the quit rents, to be reserved on the several lots, be more, as near as may be, proportioned to the value of the lands". Specifically, a "quit rent of 4s per 100 acres was reserved" on Lot 62.
So, what did Richard Spry, Esquire, get in Lot 62, as quantified by Samuel Holland's in notes attached to his survey? As to the "Quality. The soil in most cases is bad, the woods in general very bad. Approximately 10 acres of cleared land and two houses." With noted "Remarks. There are some good Marsh which would do very well for pasture or produce a good deal of hay. It is too far from the Fishing ground to have any advantage in the respect."
Sir Richard Spry, His Heirs: Mary Davy and Thomas Davy (Captain RN)
After a full thirty-five years on active service, as then Sir Richard Spry, Rear-admiral of the red, he died unmarried, on 25 Nov 1775, at Place House, in St Anthony in Roseland, Cornwall. Sir Richard's estate passed to his sister Mary and her son Thomas Davy, Captain RN, they, as coheirs assuming proprietorship of Lot 62. As an heir, honouring his uncle, Captain Davy took on the surname and arms of Spry, becoming Captain Thomas Spry, in April 1779, remaining in active service until 1783. While serving as a county magistrate, and standing as a reserved list Vice-Admiral of the Blue, in 1799, the Spry's Lot 62, amongst many, was noted, in default for the third time, as the subject of no effort to satisfy the 1767 Lottery 'Conditions of Settlement' - and became open to consideration for escheat.Sharing proprietorship of Lot 62, from 1775, the question may be why would Spry's heirs fail in their obligations of proprietorship for Lot 62. There are two early possibilities, they being pressed by the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, stemming from the principal conditions in the lottery. A first possibility is for failure to settle, the lot reverting to the Crown, for their not arranging for the required number of settlers, within the laid down ten-year deadline; or forfeiting the lot, under conditions of Distraint, for failing in the first four years to settle even one third of the lot. Arguing for Escheat, a text published by John Stewart, in 1806, recalled that Lot 62 had previously been the subject of no effort to satisfy the conditions of settlement; 1769: Lot 62 – "Nothing Done", 1779: Lot 62 – "Nothing Done", and 1797: Lot 62 – "Not One Settler Resident There On".
A second possibility is that Sir Richard's estate, and heirs may not have had any interest in paying, speculating on an eventual sale, without any actual investment, or not having the means to pay their Quit-rent and it was lost for none payment of arrears. The annual charge to Lot 62, from 1767, at 4s per 100 acres, being £40, accumulating as debt, up to 1797, would amount to an arrear of £1,200. The move to have lands forfeited for non-payment of Quit-rent became very much a political issue in PEI, this long after the initial deferral of all Quit-rent in the first five years, of the grant, and their half reduction into the first ten years.
Actually protected from Distraint and Escheat, by London, it is most likely that Lot 62 was 'simply' sold to discharge the accumulating debt, a land speculation inherited from an uncle, an investment gone bad. The Spry estate would have long heard of actions of the PEI Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly, pressing on the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Home Government, in its efforts to finally act on Quit-rent arrears. As in 1802, the Home Government classified Lot 62, as a 'township wholly unoccupied', and the proprietors were deemed obligated to pay fifteen years Quit-Rent, in lieu of all arrears, up to 1 May 1801. Noted as a great relief and an encouragement to sell, with a considerable reduction, having to pay £600 on a debt of now £1,340, and getting money in a sale, the Spry heirs were probably most anxious to dispose of their 20 000 acres, as were others, as nearly one third of the unsettled PEI lots were sold and transferred, in 1803.
The Scottish Highlanders and The 5th Earl of Selkirk
was born on 20 June 1771, and in Canada, he is most noted as the Scottish patron who sponsored the settlement at the Red River Colony in Manitoba. This following a settlement scheme first tried in Prince Edward Island, and a second in Upper Canada. The 5th Earl of Selkirk died on 8 April 1820, in Pau, France, where he is buried.Always favouring large-scale emigration, having advanced his views repeatedly and with enthusiasm, in the winter of 1801/02, Selkirk first put forward to the Colonial Office his belief of the need to provide new challenges to the catholic population of an oppressed Ireland. Soon recognizing that the government would not countenance the resettlement of Irish immigrants in America, Selkirk offered in the alternative the emigration of Protestant Scottish Highlanders.
Again unable to interest the British government in approving settlement in Western Canada, he then seen to be acting against the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company, Selkirk turned to Upper Canada. In this second initiative he faced a 'provincial' government, from the outset, that was inherently hostile to the introduction of a major absentee landholder, into their colony. Selkirk quickly saw the elite of Upper Canada were unsympathetic to any of his proposals, and consequently, his second Canadian scheme was not to soon be realized, when the Colonial Office refused to sanction the scheme. After furious activity on his part, early in 1803, having recruited his Highlanders in 1802–1803, the Home Office allowed they might look favourably on a settlement on Prince Edward Island, where unsettled lands could be had cheaply, without involving the Colonial Office, or the Colony.
Coming to understand the Island, learning of its potential through John Stewart, with arranged purchases from private proprietors, by July 1803, his first expedition had set out. Despite the lateness of the first season, with hindrances and disputes over land preferences, by the time he left in late September 1803, his PEI settlers were well on their way to being properly established.
Lot 62 The Early Selkirk Settlements
The first documented European visitor to Lot 62 was Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk who observed of his 'visits' in his extensive and detailed diary. He suggests, of his first visit, of Monday, 8 August 1803, that he had perhaps been over-sold on Lot 62, like many others taking it over sight unseen."At one place, I went a little into the wood, & saw large stumps – I learnt on arriving at Charlotte Town, that all this coast had been laid waste by a great fire 30 or 40 years ago: – The soil however appears very poor sand. This is Lot 62, & does not seem to answer the high description J: S: gave of this quarter of the Island – perhaps the inland part might be better:"
Preparing to leave the Island, after seeing to the settlement of his summer arrivals, making his way to Nova Scotia, he reflects more positively, of Lot 62, in his entry of 18 September 1803.
"Day light found us very near the spot where I first landed on the Island, we continued with the Ebb along shore toward Wood Islands, under a high shore apparently much better land than we landed upon further west. ... The land is good above the Bank – beech maple & birch with a few very Spruce, as on the North on Point Prim – This high ridge seems to continue all the way from Wood Islands inland to Belfast behind the low swampy ground which forms the coast towards Flat River –"
Lot 62 had come to be owned by Lord Selkirk, who started its 'settlement' in 1803, as his first three chartered ships: The Polly, The Dykes and The Oughton brought Scottish Highlanders, to the Island, some of whom found their way to Lot 62, and started two small communities that stand today.
Lot 62 - Belle Creek. Angus Bell, of Isle Colonsay, with wife, settled Belle River, PEI. Donald McDougall, a native of the Isle of Skye, with wife, settled Belle River, PEI. Alex Martin, of Isle of Skye, settled in Belle River, he a petitioner for Dr. Macaulay in 1811. Alexander Stewart settled in Belle River, PEI. Alexander Nicholson, of the Isle of Skye, settling at Belle Creek. Charles Stewart, of Skye, with wife Mary McMillan, and children, settled in Belle River, PEI. Donald Stewart, of Skye, with wife Catherine Morrison, settled in Belle River, PEI.
Lot 62 - Wood Islands. Of the first arrivals and earnest settlers, Donald Gillis, a petitioner later for Dr. Macaulay in 1811, settled on Wood Islands Road. Malcolm McIsaac, from Uist, Isle of Skye, located at Wood Islands, and Mrs Mackenzie settled on Wood Islands Road.