Although many of the early arrivals were not well documented, oral history tells us that, in 1772, some Scottish settlers arrived on the Alexander and settled at the head of the Bay. (53) In 1775 after arriving from Morayshire, Scotland, several families settled at Prince Town Royalty, others in New London, Cavendish, and St. Peters. (54) In 1792, the first Catholic settlers arrived at the Bay on the ‘Queen of Greenock.’ There are seven families documented to have arrived on this ship: Angus McIntyre, Hugh McKinnon, Neil McCormack, John McDonald, John MacKenzie, Angus Mclsaac, and Dougald O’Hanley are listed as the heads of the households. (55)

The most original artifact from the initial years of British settlement in St. Peters is the cellar of a house that still remains in St. Peters today. This house, built by Mr. Peter MacCallum in the early 18003 and currently owned by Mrs. Betty MacCallum, is approximately 190 years old. The cellar beneath the house, however, is believed to be much older. Oral History tells us that when the first Scottish settlers arrived at the Bay, instead of building homes, they built temporary shelters in the ground.

As many of the early Scottish immigrants were stone masons, Island stone was preferably used over wood. The walls, double stone and tightly knit, displayed that the work had been “done by very talented stone masons.” (56) According to John Sutherland, one unique feature of this cellar is the cellar wall, twenty—one feet long, seven feet high, and seventeen inches thick, that stands in the middle of the cellar with passage ways at each end. (57) In the Western section of the cellar, the walls were plastered, and it is in that half where the settlers were presumed to have lived. Co-existing in the other half were the animals. In the Western section of the cellar, part of the fireplace still remains. Another point of interest is that the top of the chimney was finished with brick from Scotland. (58)

The early years of British settlement in St. Peters did not prove to be as successful as the initial years of French settlement. One of the main reasons for this was that St. Peters, like the majority of the Island, was being developed by landowners who were back in England. These “absentee landowners,” happy to own a lot in the new land across the ocean, were not really concerned with meeting the requirements listed under the terms and conditions of the initial leases for their land.

Between 17 69 and I7 79, there was very little done by landowners in compliance with settling Lots 41, 42, and 56. Lot 40 had a few settlers but lacked in comparison to the numbers settled by the French during the early 1700s. (59) In Lot 56, settlement was commenced in 1784 as noted in the Lot Recipients chart, when land was granted to American Loyalists. Settlement of Lots 41 and 42 did not begin until 1793. In the first ten years of settlement, although St. Peters was lacking settlement, it was on par with most of the Island, there being

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