The death of General Sir Isaac Brock at the Battle of Queenston Heights on 13 October 1812 was among the reasons that the northern parts of East and West Flamborough Townships were so late to see the arrival of permanent settlers. To provide compensation to the Brock family for his death, the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada on 6 October 1817, assigned vast tracts of land in the two townships – a total of 5,000 acres in Concessions 11 to 13 in East Flamborough and 1,563 in Concessions 9 to 11 in West Flamborough. Entered in the Abstract Index Land Registry books for the two townships under the name of Daniel De Lisle Brock et al (Brock’s older brother) on behalf of the remaining brothers, William, John S. and Irving, who all resided on the Island of Guernsey in the Channel Island, England, the Crown Grants were to greatly hinder settlement until the 1860s.
As the lower concessions began to see steady settlement following the end of the war, the northern area of the townships was to remain sparsely populated due to the Brock family’s absent ownership. In September 1833, the Brock heirs transferred title to some of their lots to William Henry Draper of York (Toronto) in order to arrange to for the sale to interested settlers and settle the estates of some family members.
To complicate settlement in the northern area, by the mid-1830s, a re-surveying of lots in East Flamborough became necessary, beginning at the 11th Concession, due to early surveying errors which had resulted in a shortage of acreage in a number of lots. To correct the mistake, the total number of lots in each concession from the 11th Concession northwards was reduced from thirteen to twelve – this helps to explain why Centre Road turns to the west at this intersection. As there were no registered settlers on the 11th Concession, lots were reduced in size from 200 acres to 150 acres in order that the occupants already on Concessions 12 and 13 might receive a full 100 acres per each half lot. The overall change of the lots being re-surveyed in a north-east to south-west direction resulted in a surplus amount of land at the north-west end of the township and saw the creation of the narrowly shaped Concession 14. To compensate the Brock family for their loss of the former lots 13 in the 11th and 13th Concessions, the family received lots 1, 3, 4 and 6 – 10 in the new concession!
By the 1840s there were still serious problems with incoming settlers squatting on the Brock lots not under the control of Mr. William Draper. On 19 January 1849, all the Brock heirs and heiresses (many of the properties were now in the ownership of the brother’s children), known collectively as Ferdinand B. Tupper et al, put the remaining unsold lots in trust to a Canadian relative, George Brock of Niagara, and a year later, the properties Draper had not sold were also transferred to George Brock.
Although during the next three years, he arranged the sale of several lots and issued the deeds, John De Haviland Uttermarck of Guernsey was appointed trustee of all the remaining unsold Brock lands on 19 January 1853 – one day later, approximately 1,800 acres were acquired by John Hillyard Cameron, a Toronto lawyer. This transaction finally solved the long and complicated history of ownership of the northern lots, as almost immediately deeds were issued to settlers who had been waiting for as long as 20 years for title to their property.
Sylvia Wray is the former archivist with the Flamborough Archives. She can be reached through the Archives at archives@flamboroughhistory.com.
This article was originally published in the Flamborough Review, 8 May 2014.
