A very early map of Stanstead, LC, landowners

Sorry for the late post. So much information, so little time to organize and interpret…

I’m back on the hunt for Jonathan M. Clark’s possible kin in Stanstead Township, and in the process also trying to master the land grant system, documents, and archives of Lower Canada in the early 1800s. For background to our search, you may want to read (or at least skim through) these posts:

• Monday: Map Day!–Lower Canada, 1802
• Deep in the Documents
• Searching the Lower Canada Land Petitions
• Monday: Map Day!-Lower Canada 1815
• Monday: Map Day!-Lower Canada Ranges and Lots

It’s complicated, I don’t yet have a full grasp of the details, but I didn’t want Monday to pass without a new map to help guide us on our way. Today’s example may not seem like much at first glance, but it’s really quite special:

Diagram of the Township of Stanstead, in Library and Archives Canada, Land Petitions of Lower Canada, 1764-1881, RG 1 L3L, Vol. 151, page 73997, microfilm reel no. C-2551, accessed online October 23, 2020. (link)

This is a black and white digital image of a microfilm of a “poor copy” of an original, hand-colored, manuscript map of Stanstead Township, Lower Canada, dating from the earliest period of settlement and land sales in the township, circa 1792-1809.

It is part of the Land Petition file of one of the major early “developers” of Stanstead, Isaac Ogden. I believe this map is Ogden’s copy of the original official survey of the township, to which have been added the names of some of the earliest landowners. These include Wm. Clark (Range 10–Lot 9) and possibly—it’s hard to read—”E. Clark” at R14–L18.

Other names that will figure in our search for Jonathan Clark’s possible roots in Stanstead include the Rix family (R12–L7) and Dr. Witcher (R10–L6).

One name missing from this map is one of the original owners of many, many Stanstead Township lots, Ebenezer Clark. We’ll come back to this map next time and add Ebenezer Clark to the map and then begin to see if we can connect his Clark family to Jonathan M. Clark of Mequon, Wisconsin.

And I still have many pages of Ogden’s and Ebenezer Clark’s land documents to wade through and understand before I can start to investigate the other early Clark families in the area. Stay tuned, much more coming…