Rawdon, 1821
This 1821 Map of Rawdon Township, by Surveyor Joseph Bouchette, was given to me by Beverly Blagrave Prud’homme. It locates only a few of the earliest settlers but is important because it shows the roads within and passing through the township. Most settlers, who arrived before 1825, were located on or near these routes.
Below are closeups from the map; click on each image to view the entire map (in PDF format, which permits the user to zoom in.)
It records that “Marshals” were located at a portion of the south half of Lot 17 of the First Range. This name occurs only once again in Rawdon documents. Aron Foster Marshall and Moses Marshall are two names on a March 5, 1821 petition from twenty-nine “loyal British subjects who have immigrated at different periods” (LAC Microfilm C-2534, volume 109, pages 53603). They requested land at Kilkenny or Rawdon. It maybe the source of Bouchette’s map reference to the Marshal [sic] name but there is no record of their receiving locations. Of the men who signed this petition, only John Jefferies, Andrew and Thomas Smart and Zacharie Cloutier actually received tickets for Rawdon; the latter man was actually born in Lower Canada. For more about these men, see Up To Rawdon – Settlers at the Forks, on page 1067.
On the map, a branch of one of the roads from St-Sulpice Seigneury enters the First Range of Rawdon Township at Lot 17 and then loops west through what would become the Reverend Burton’s Lots 16 and 17, then as far over as Lot 14 and then back to Lot 17 South and North on Ranges 3 and 4, where Richard Finlay was located in 1820. He is not named but a settlement is indicated there on the map. Going south from the First Range, Lot 17, this road connects to another St-Sulpice Road, which ran on the south side of the Ouareau River. “Manchester Place” was on the northern side of the river at the extreme limit of the St-Sulpice Seigneury and was directly south of Rawdon Township First Range, Lots 22 and 23 Manchester’s could be accessed from the south side road by either ford or boat – a bridge is not indicated.
A “main road” into Kilkenny runs westward between Ranges 5 and 6 from Lot 17 to Lot 1. A “footpath from the settlement [of St-Esprit]” goes north from this “main road” as far as Lot 9 and south to Range One, Lot 6 and is roughly parallel to the St- Esprit River. Eventually the footpath leads to St- Esprit, in the Seigneury of L’Assomption. There is a road north from St-Esprit Settle[ment] following the “N.W. Branch of the River St- Esprit” through Lots One and as far as the Fourth Range.
The road from St-Sulpice on the north side of the Ouareau River passes through “Manchester Place” where four buildings are indicated. The mill situated here, operated by Manchester, was owned by Roderick McKenzie, Seigneur of Terrebonne – see David Manchester: Entrepreneur, on page 509. A road from Manchester’s went fairly directly to the mills of “Philémon Dugal” [sic Dugas] at portions of First Range, Lots 23 and 24 South where three buildings are indicated on the south side of the river and both sides of the road. “G. Robinson” is named at 2 / 21 and a portion of 2 / 25 is attributed to “Tho. Robinson”. No others are named on the map. Settlers at the Forks has more on these men and their neighbours.
The previously mentioned road on the north side of the river proceeds past Manchester’s. Then, from First Range, Lot 20 it goes north through Lots 18 in four ranges and west to the “village plot” at 5 / 17. It connects to the “Main Road” to Kilkenny but extends, following the river and crosses it in the north half of 9 / 11 and terminates where the river divides in Tenth Range, Lot 11. The existence of the road is significant because it made the lots through which it passed more attractive and more valuable. In 1823, many were settled on or near it including the Bagnalls and Henry Pigott.
Another road is marked from Dugas’ northwards through Lots 23, 22, 21 and then straight north to 6 / 20 before heading east and terminating at 6 / 26. Early settlers between 1820 and 1823 who followed this route included Burns, Harkness, Copping, Torrance, Smiley and Eveleigh. An east-west road also accommodated some of these same settlers; it weaves from Fourth to Fifth Ranges from Lot 19 (Read and McCurdy) to Kildare Township. It crosses the aforementioned northerly route through Lots 18 at Fourth Range, Lot 21 North (ticket in 1820 to Hugh Burns, believed to be son of John Burns).
The Glebe, which was reserved to be Church of England property and of great importance to J. E. Burton, is marked at 6 /16. (You may find the Glebe land oby clicking on any of the thumbnail maps.)