Chapter Two THE LANDLORDS

The vacated Acadian farms did not lie idle for long. By the Treaty of Paris in 1763 virtually all the former French possessions east of the Mississippi fell into British hands, and, shortly thereafter, in an effort to gain some knowledge of what it had acquired, the Imperial Government commissioned Major Samuel Holland to survey that part of these posses- sions which lay north of the Potomac. The survey began in this province, and it paved the way for the introduction of a system of landlords and tenants which was to be a feature of Island life for over a century. It is the purpose of this chapter to trace the origin and development of British landlordism in the Mount Stewart area. Major Holland, it should be noted, has had an enduring connection with this part of the Island in that his granddaughter, Sarah Mary Louisa Holland, taught school at Head of Hillsborough in 1849. She subsequently married Mr. Benjamin B. Coffin of Savage Harbour, and a number of their descendants are still local resi-

dents.

During the year 1765, from his headquarters at Observation Cove, Major Holland divided the Island into three counties and sixty-seven lots or townships which each contained between 18,000 and 20,000 acres. This arrangement then became the basis for a most spectacular lottery con- ducted by the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations in London. For some time that august body had been considering the petitions of persons “praying” for land grants on the Island of St. John, as Prince Edward Island was then called. As there were more petitioners than lots, it had become apparent that certain lots would have to be shared. The Commissioners therefore resorted to the expedient of inscribing names on slips of paper, each slip representing a lot. Some contained the name of one candidate, some two, and others three, depending upon the magnitude of the applicants’ claims upon the Crown. The drawing occurred on July 23, 1767, and Captain William Spry of Litchfield, Southhampton County, and James Barker, a resident of the Isle of Wight, became the owners of Lot 37 in which Mount Stewart is located.

The Spry-Baker Estate was bounded on the north by the sea, east and west 2 miles, 4000 feet; on the south by Lot 49; on the east by the division line of Lot 30 and Savage Harbour, 11 miles, 2400 feet; and on the west by the division of Lot 36, north and south, 11 miles, 4700 feet. Boasting 1,000 acres of cleared land and 30 houses —— the legacy of the evicted French — this was one of the choicest pieces of real estate on the Island, surpassed only by Lot 39 with its 1600 cleared acres and 34 houses. Many lots were without clearances or dwellings of any kind.

The first change of ownership occurred on Christmas Day, 1769. On that date, James Barker, by Indenture of Bargain and Sale and in consid- eration of the sum of £250, conveyed his interest in Lot 37 to his brother John of Shropham Hall, Norfolk County. It was not, however, until April 12, 1790 that John Barker and his c0aproprietor, William Spry of Litch- field, took the obvious course of determining where their respective por- tions of the lot lay. In an Indenture bearing that date the basic point of division was declared to be a black birch post marked on the west side with the letter “S” and on the east side with the letter “B”. This marker was to stand on the north bank of the Hillsborough, 8 rods from high water

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