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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-06-07, Page 27it er le vi 8� 08 si.sat 68P ,88 SAVE 11'I 891 iAVE Ik) 39( y pRICEoi 1.00 r GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY. JUNE 7, 107$ —1PAG$ 141A reckon- r_ e,01 jarno wn Readers of the James Dickson, story recently published will recall a paragraph reproduced from Dickson's obituary in Huron Expositor, about certain land transactions in North Huron by speculators who had no inten- tion of complying with the set- tlement conditions. "In most cases of this kind," the newspaper stated, "Mr. Dickson succeeded in getting the Commissioner of Crown Lands to cancel sales to speculators. and the actual set- tlers, to their great relief, were left in undisputed possession." "Assuredly, if ever there was desirable lots, paid the govern - a case of—fraud and -duplicity, ment price of 10 shillings an this is one," the commission acre, and disposed of them at found in respect of one of the advances'of $4 to $12 upon the 1,685 cases investigated in 10 original price. The rule was townships of Huron, Perth and that not more than 200 acres Bruce counties. The one here should be sold to one person, referred to related to an ap- but some speculators used the plicaation, by Allan 'Lamont.., name of another member of the (spelled "Larmount" in the family; ' o'r even a fictitious comrnissioR's report) for lots name. Sometimes names for his sons,ougald and Allan Jr„ in Grey. The agent entered their names for Lot 7 in Con. VIII and Lot 12 in Con. VII. .Both men entered upon their lands, erected shanties, . did their statute labor and were assessed. Hearing that the lots had been sold "at a large in- crease in price," to two residents near Harpurhey, Mr. Lamont went to the agent, but received a denial. He wrote a letter, tees which the agent replied that he "knew nothing of this." The commission found that at the time this letter was written, the lots had in'",fact been sold and the name of John McLaughlin entered upon the agent's map. "It is abundantly proved by the Lamonts," the report states, "by - ,,,sixrespectable citizens of the township, by reports of the surveyors. and by the entries in the agent's office, that the Lamonts were at the time, and for two years previous, in actual possession of the lots." There are lots in Grey today, some in the Ethel area, and one at Cromarty, south of Dublin. The commissioners, who in - after W E. ELL1 rr av in September, 1855, en from Goderich et the shack of a Grey p settler, near the Jamestown. One mem- e. party declared that aught the lots occupied settler and had the or them in his pocket. ded, he'eaid, to build a offered the settler a farther east, awar -that if he would not the deal the visitor come on him for all e Bre,kenrtdg had settl Lots 1 and 2, l -on - I Iso tears before this tation, carrying. 11n son his back, and had shed three acres. In wing Larch, he made to Goderich through obtain pr med his settlement - May he informed Johnthe Lands agent, of his improvements, agent refused a first , saying the, to,rhip yet open. On Oct. t",-.-.. ckenridge renewed his on, but this time was the lots had been sold, one of his busipess to av in May, 1973, this rived at the same site,, a branch of the and looked over the fields where • ridge had buit his 0 years earlier. There ern steel -and -concrete nd a tittle to the south 1Keracher's general his "three comfortable at the rear, for rs of leisure. Allan know- about :tges, but sent me to of Bill King, a little g County Road 12. tractor was running, work in the fields. He ff the motor. " he said, "David idge had five sons. hall, Bruno, Jinn and y did live on Lot 5, n two, Grey, but sold, ed to the south --side of brns, Concession one: amed McQueen built a on Lot 1, Con. II. My her Gibson, who. came tland,after a stop at ig,.bought all the lurn- e for his house and m C King, the er had said, knew out the old families err descendants did. he was, on a busy day idst of spring work. Discussing events of the ing, it soon came out, is 1. He had a farm loans r Mitch Hepburn and couple of Goderich race Fisher and Will n, were great friends. n was editor of the nd dater the -Signal- d Fisher had -been officer in. --me elee- gee --thing ithoui'this I1 is that there is no Office history before reckenridge pre-empted' and -Tater agreed to there would be no en - t regard, But a mill t and operated on land tly still held by the The patent, to bears dateof JlMary McQueen; borrowed eral mortgages, in - that there was a mill, just vacant land. Then, nous transaction of all, Lamont evidently an eY settler, gave a mor - this lot in 1877 to Breckenridge, bly the man who first Lot 1. Raymond K. n s shown as owner in ,,,"�Lp��MS _y_ BER plAILS V BEFORENUJ PUT IN PLUMBING CALLS! 4:317-14, 4 V ua 524.7861 pointed Crown Lands agent in 1846 for the townships north of the Canada Company's -million-acre domain. His agency was "terminated" Oct. 15,'"1856. Charles Widder, who up to 1853 had -been er Canada Company official, was appoin- ted in Clarke's place Jan. 15, 1857. ,Clarke died Dec.• 27, 1856. He may have been in poor health during" the latter part of his agency, for he had availed himself of outside help. Summarizing the, findings, what took place was that a number of persons, including the agent's son, selected were used of actual persons, who knew nothing of it. The com- mission found those of Charles Vidian (Videan?), John Adams, clothier, and (Rev.) Alexander MacKid, so used. The commission lit laxity on the even hinted part of a previous government, noting "circumstances which appeared to us to indicate secret in- fluence at headquarters, not very favorable to the actual set- tlers." The commissioners held their first hearing at the (British) Exchange in Goderich, later in- spected assessment rolls,, and also lots where possible. M. C. Cameron was Clarke's counsel. se l . "Documents were exhibited to us, "the commissioners reported„' of lands offered for sale by iron -resident speculators, the titles to which were still vested in the Crown, and upon most of which set- tlements have been made by ac- tual settlers. "NO. 1 (document) is stated to be in the handwriting of Mr. Colin Clarke (son to the resident agent) and which is described as "list of lands vestigated complaints belonging to one person.” Then piled shirt ittVgle R. G wiin -..""`follow the' names of the and M. Hamilton. Gowan, , townships and the numbers of founder of the Orange Order in Canada, served several terms in Parliament before Con- federation., Hamilton has not been identified. The corn - mission was appointed by Hon. Joseph Cauchon, Commissioner of Crown Lands; and to him it made a 55-pageloeport. brought down in the Legislature April 17, 1857. It is printed as an ap- pendix to the Journals of the 20th year of Victoria's reign and so far as this writer knows has never been published. A copy came into possession of Frank McArthur, Britannia road E. It is important to bear in mind that many of the'first set- tlers in these Crown townships had pre-einpted their land before the"lotswere-for'AA, ex- pecting—to receive--title--•i due :-It;roliaw1d not41'nave been any great hazar'tin normal cir- cumstances, but,; as the com- missioner$ found, thee was collusion between the land agent and various persons who selected from the maps desirable lots, advertised and resold them. John Clarke had been ap- lots and concessions, arneun- ting in Howick to 94 lots, in Turnberry ,to 10 lots, and in Grey to seven, numbering in the whole III lots, or 11,100 acres." Two other lists were mainly in the names of Toronto, Barrie and Hamilton speculators. "These 11 lists, " the com- missioners found, "and they are all we have been permitted to • copy, sum up as follows: Elma, 3,300 acres; Greenock, 1,655 acres; Grey, 6;300 acres; Howick, 41,100 acres; Minto, 900 acres; Morris, 2,200 acres; Turnberry, 7,600 acres; Wawanosh, 600 acres; total 636 lots, 63,655 acres. "Here, then, are not less than 63,655 acres held. ,by non- resident land jobbers and spee.u-l.at.ors, and of this im- mense quantity 55,000 acres. are in the three townships of Grey, Howick and Turnberry . .., If to this amount should be added the large quantities sold to five Goderich men; Mr. Stayner of Toronto; Mr. Wilson of London and others, we have every reason to believe nearly one-half the whole lands were • To keep your farm running you depend on your equipment.' To keep your equipment running, depend on your Texaco Farm D'istr'ibutor. When your equipment runs rrito overtime, Texaco's fuels and lubricants keep things running smoothly Your Texaco Farm Distributor delivers top quality products and aryl ' e you can depend on VIC WALDEN FUELS Box 21, Maitland Rd. S. Goderich. 5244812 disposed of to non resident speculators- - .V1fe found their prices to vary from four to 12 dollaran acre advance upon the original selling price of the lots." "In the great majority ekf cases," the commissioners .found, the complaiuta may be said to consists in disregard by the agent of the pre-emption rights of the actual settlers, and of sale of the lands they oe% cupied to non-risident settlers. The truth of these complaints, admits of au) doubt. Indeed, to such an extent was the system carried that, the agent himself was obliged to admit, and did admit to us, that he permitted - certain parties to select such lots as they chose t„o_point out, to the extent of many -thousand acres, . to pay the first instal- ment on them, and to secure them by the entry for them of the names of parties wholly unknown to the agent, and, whose names were used merely to evade the clause which. provided not more than 200 acres to one person. ''We have found upon reference to the sales as marked upon the plan in the agent's office that the members of his own family were all per- mitted ,to speculate in these lands. kis children (male and female). his son-in-law, •his brother, his nephew, the clerks in his office and in the office of his brother - in this city (Toronto), many of the mer- chants, traders, lawyers, clerks, insurance brokers and even cabmen, well know residents of this city, yes, even residents of the British Isles and of they United States of America, have had their names used for „this purpose. Is it any wonder, then, that the resident settlers should complain of the adoption of such trickery and fraud, to defeat. the patriotic and benevolent intentions of the Legislature and of the govern= menti 'and to deprive them of the hard-earned fruits of their industry and toil?" - In Concession C of Howick, Lot 35 was sold to William Leiper, and Lot :36 to Edward G...,O' Brien. Leiper was a resident settler and assessed, the commissioners found. but "the_ O'Brien whose name was used by the agent is Col. Ed- ward G. O'Brien of this city (Toronto) who at the time of the sale was an officer in the.. insurance company over which Dr. Clarke the agent's brother. presided, and who Was in reality the purchaser. The lot is inserted in the list of lands for sale. It is claimed by John McLeod, a -resident settler, who is assessed for the lot, and who has clearly established his pre-- emption right to „it. Recommen- ded, that the sale tci Leiper Ile confirmed and that the sale ti, O'Brien be cancelled for non- compliance with the conditions, and the claim of McLeod allowed. Ashfield township, the com- missioners found, was originally settled under it -Isar -tic- tinin, }"sued as far back as 11412. wifisWillian1 Hawkins, Esquire. then local agent for the Huron District . . p11y, platters were so- arranged in Ashfield and Wawanos.tt that few , lasnl, wer' advanced and little tisco titenst found to exist One of the few complaints was made by Donald McKen- zie, who entered upein the south halt pot Lot N, Cor►. XIII, Ash- field, ,nn ,1tinuary 16, 1852. In May following he informed the agent that 'he was settled upon the land and improving it About a year afterward, he called to pay the first 1n ' stalment, but the agent refused to take it, alleging that he had sold the lot to one William Newton, of Toronto. McKenzie was the only settler on the lot and the only one who had made improvements. The cons- rrii6i4ion recomniep.ded that the sale to Newton be, cancelled and the pre-emption right of McKenzie allowed. (A visit to the area failed to Allan McKeracher's general store Plowing match plans continuing for fall Plowmen's A ;Iiloli -t►ith "annual p!•• w ill he held on Sr ter, Crher iii. in flay 'l'own- sle;, on the Howard Datars 'tarn, 1.,)t .5, ("ons es -ion 12 - 1 rile r-or'th of-Dashwoo(1. A coil, Inst; c1;'\ i:- planned for September if, v%hen exi'ert • oat heti w ii! he on hand to give ,•xilert ailv I, c om the proper y,ty t„ .set :1 plow • In order- to snake the h'e,t ieb of plowing. Plans ;Ire , onipleted to hold draw for .I .tri ;1--- of heel n..ilued at ;;.I:)) Hi) : First prize - Isalf of the cat, '-ccrind }prize hind gum ter, thlrr1 little r, r L? • "Sias,. • LEGION 50 DRAW SALES OUTLETS: • BEDARD'S GROCERY • CRAIGIE'S • DENOMME'S FLOWERS • DENOMME GARDEN CENTRE a • WORSELL'S PLUMBING • WORTHY'S ESSO • JOE'S BP • SPROUL'S BP • GODERICH RESTAURANT • BLUEWATER TR CK CENTRE front. quarter. A sheeting has been called of all' the agricultural orgamizatiu s-, fair hoard- and County council for June 28th ctt in the cafeteria of ('entrll Huron Secondary Sc him). ton.'to discuss the possibility of hosting'. ,the International }'lowing Match in 1978. discover any descendants of Donald 'McKenzie • Not far away is the farm of Henry McKenzie, now taken .over by his son Neil, and the Crown deed for this property, signed in the cornet by Lord Elginnd Kincardine, is dated 1854. Much farther back than any of the situations here reviewed Is one, with a less happy en- ding, recalled by "Bill" King of Jamestown. 'MN: grandmother King,", he said "was Pennsylvania Dutch, and her people at one time owned the land on which the. city of New York was later built." 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