38 The Sea

Alex and Donald were married to sisters of Neil, whose wife was of Big Cape (Goose River .2‘

These three farms remain largely intact to the present day in contrast with the other ten farms within the town limits which, over the years, were divided and subdivided in a sometimes haphazard way by wills and by sales. The main road, too, as was the custom in the early days, followed the contours of the coast with the log homes built close to the shore. All of this has resulted in the present irregular street layout. Even the Line Road, built in 1843, bisecting Lot 45 north and south is not in a straight line. Chapel Street, which was built through the Fidele Paquet farm, forms a sharp angle at the southern end of Souris Line Road.

See Appendix B

Artwork by Lilian Baker.

Landlord-Tenant Problems:

It is ironic that Lot 45, with far more squatters in its southern half than in any other Lot, gained notoriety for at least three outstanding protests against the oppressive land system. Or it might well have been that settlers to the north resented those in the Souris area who were not obliged to pay rent to their “absent proprietor unknown”.

In December, 1836, the Scottish settlers to the north of the Lot and others from the Eastern Settlements met, seven hundred strong, at Hay River in the district of St. Margaret’s. They drew up resolutions to be presented to the Island Government protesting the oppression of the landlords and reques- ting “the rights of men to the fruits of their labour”.22 Three of the County Representatives: William Cooper of Howe Bay, John McIntosh of St. Mar- garet’s and J. LeLacheur of Georgetown, who played leading roles at the meeting, were later suspended by the Island Assembly and submitted to the custody of the sergeant-at-arms for the 1837 and 1838 sessions.23

Again in April of 1843, Lieutenant Governor, Sir Henry Vere Huntly, expressed his displeasure in his speech to the House thus “I regret that a riotous disposition has descended on the'eastem part of Kings County...”.“ A newspaper account of the 1843 July term of the Supreme Court at George-