54

LANDS AND ESTATES.

In the survey of Isle St. Jean in 1764-65, Captain Holland subdivided it into sixty-seven lo,ts, each comprising about 20,000 acres, excepting Lot 66, which contained only 6,000 acres.

Gil Gaudet, K.C., of Charlottetown, states that three of the lots were escheated to the Crown for want of fulfilment of the conditions in the original grant to the grantees. He has also contributed the following items of interest:—

“From the fall of Louisbourg in 1758, the island formed a part of what is now the Province of Nova Scotia, until it was made a separate colony in 1773. Up to that time all our public records are at Halifax, NS. However, complete copies of all these records are now on file in the Land Office at Charlottetown, P.E.I. Among these records we find a grant from Lord William Campbell, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, to Captain Samuel Holland, of Township No. 28 in the Island of St. John (now Prince Edward Island). This grant bears the date the 3lst December, 1768. This grant was registered in our records on 5th September, 1793. Then we find ashort agreement registered between Captain Samuel Holland and one Nathaniel Coffin, whereby Holland agrees to divide Lot No. 28 equally between them, but no conveyance was executed that I can find on record. This Coffin was no relation of the Hollands, although it appears they were fast friends. The agreement is dated 10th September, 1774, and registered the 5th September, 1793. Coffin was a native of Boston, Mass, and a very prominent and energetic Loyalist in the days preceding the war of 1812. He had a daughter, Ann, who married one Phillips Calbeck, who afterwards settled on the Island of St. John, and became Provincial Secretary and administrator of the government in the absence of the Governor. During the war of 1812, an American privateer arrived in Charlottetown harbour and after landing they sought out the residence of Calbeck, sacked the house, and carried away all his plate, silverware and all other articles of value they chanced to find. It is said that this was done in revenge for the activities of Nathaniel Coffin on the part of the Loyalists. Ann (Coffin) Calbeck happened to be absent from home at the time. Then they seized Calbeck and the Governor, Desbrisay, and all the government records and sailed away with them for Boston. These two parties they afterwards sent back.

“Concerning the division of Lot 28, the only other bit of history is an old plan on file in our Land Office dated on the back September 11, 1811, containing the following memorandum:——‘This lot was surveyed and divided between Mrs. Calbeck and Messrs. Holland by mutual consent, by Robert Fox, Deputy Surveyor-General, and John McGregor, Deputy Surveyor-General’. There is no conveyance on record to carry out this agreement, but it has always been acted upon. The western half of the lot went to Mrs. Calbeck, and the eastern half to the Hollands, and all titles on this lot begin there. All the Hollands now residing on this lot trace their titles direct from Captain Samuel Holland. Some of the Hollands get their titles by purchase of other Holland shares outstanding. There are no Hollands on the western part of this lot which was allotted to Mrs. Calbeck. We have in our office a facsimile of the original plan of the Island as prepared by Captain Samuel Holland.”

(A copy of this plan is also on file at the Reference Library, Toronto.)