through a lottery held July 1, 1767. John Tutle, Esq., David Forbes, andJohn Hayter drew Lot 16. It later passed into the hands of Stephen Sullivan of Broom Field Parish, NIiddlesex, England. One of the conditions of receiving a lot was settle- ment within ten years. The criteria was one European Protes- tant for every 200 acres.3 English and Scottish settlers had a variety of reasons for coming to the new land, but the com- mon desire was a hope for something better.

The ship Annabella, carrying some of the first settlers from Scotland, was driven ashore off Richmond (Malpeque) Bay (near Cabot Park) in 1770. While all lives were saved, posses- sions and provisions were not. The Nli’kmaq people and Acadians helped the new arrivals (the future settlers of the Richmond Bay area) survive the winter and find their way in the new land. The following year, 1771, saw a number of immigrants from Argyleshire, Scotland, arrive and settle along Richmond Bay. 1772 welcomed a group from Argyleshire which settled at Princetowrr.“ While the land grants stated the new settlers were to be exclusively Protestants, the majority of the 1000 settlers who came to the Island between 1770 and 1775 were Roman Catholic Scots.5

The Roman Catholic faith, which had been outlawed in Scotland for the past 150 years, had managed to survive in the highlands. But during immigration to Prince Edward Island, several uprisings in Scotland convinced the British govern- ment to crack down and convert the Catholics to Protestant- ism. Catholic bishops devised a plan to settle the Catholic Scots in the new colonies and force the Scottish Protestant landlords to stop the persecution. The threat to remove all Catholic tenant farmers from the Hebrides worked. Scottish Protestant landlords lowered their rents and allowed freedom of religion.6

The next biggest influx of immigrants came to Lot 16 in approximately 1784 when an estimated 600 United Empire Loyalists came to the Island.7 A number of resulting land grants in the Lot 16 region gave these Loyalists an advantage over previous immigrants. The Empire Loyalists had life skills

gained from the experience of being prosperous farmers and merchants in the United States.

LOT 16 UNITED CHURCH AND ITS PEOPLE