Philip Stedman

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-176443

Notes:

On the 5th February, 1798, Colonel Brant, on behalf of the Six Nations, and acting as their legal attorney, sold to one Philip Stedman of the Niagara district, that portion of their lands known as Block number one, comprising 94,305 acres, and which, by an Act of the Legislature of the Province, became known as the Township of Dumfries. The stipulated price was £8,841.

Reminiscences of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement of Dumfries in the Province of Ontario, by James Young, 1880 Toronto: Hunter, Rose Pg. 12

As the fee simple of the Indian lands remained in the Crown, some time elapsed before the transaction with Stedman could be completed. The Indians surrendered their rights, and petitioned His Majesty George III. To issue Letters Patent conveying to Stedman the block of lands which he had purchased from them. This was finally assented to, and in the Crown Patent it was re-cited that the purchaser had given security to the Hon. David William Smith, Captain William Clause, and Alex-ander Stewart Esq., Trustees for the Indians, for the payment of the purchase money or the annual interest thereof.

It does not appear what efforts Stedman made to turn his purchase to account. Indeed, little could be done with it at that time. Upper Canada was then (1798) little better than a wilderness. When separated from Lower Canada in 1792, and given a separate government, the total population was estimated at 20,000 souls, most of whom were settled around Kingston, the Bay of Quintè the Village of Newark (now Niagara) and at Amherstburg. Kingston and Newark were the only places of any size. Toronto was in its infancy, having just been founded by Governor Simcoe, and the progress of settle-ment was extremely slow. All the interior of the Pro-vince, now cleared and cultivated, dotted over with cities, towns, and villages, and the abode of nearly two millions of people enjoying all the blessings of civilization, was then an almost unbroken solitude. It is difficult to re-alize that eighty-seven years can have wrought such a wondrous transformation!

Stedman died within a few years after obtaining the Patent from the Crown, and left neither direct heirs nor any devise of his estate. His property was, consequently, inherited by his sister, Mrs. John Sparkman, of, the Niagara district, who subsequently, on the 26th July, 1811, in conjunction with her husband, sold and conveyed to the Hon. Thomas Clarke, of Stamford, in the County of Lincoln, the block of lands obtained from the Six Nation Indians. No part of the principal money agreed upon with Philip Stedman had at this time been paid, for Clarke, on taking possession, executed a mortgage on the lands to the Indian Trustees for the payment of the £8,841 and interest.


Reminiscences of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement of Dumfries in the Province of Ontario, by James Young, 1880 Toronto: Hunter, Rose Pg. 15