How a system of large estates shaped Island life\u2014and the struggle that brought Naufrage into the Land Question in 1834.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On this page<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot number in a family record is more than an address. It points to a land system that shaped where families settled, how they earned a living, and whether they owned the farms they worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a supported connection between that system and the Naufrage confrontation. The landlord and tenant dispute supplied the wider context; an attempt to arrest five men accused of an earlier assault on constables was the immediate trigger. Those two parts of the story belong together.1<\/a>, 4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Samuel Holland\u2019s survey in the 1760s divided Prince Edward Island into 67 numbered townships, usually called lots. Each covered roughly 20,000 acres. A lot could contain many farms and several communities; it was not a single property or a cemetery burial plot. The survey came before the land distribution of 1767.2<\/a>, 3<\/a>, 5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n The lottery allocated large holdings to selected proprietors, rather than distributing small farms to all incoming settlers. The grants carried settlement conditions and an obligation to pay quitrents to the Crown. Campbell\u2019s historical account also records exceptions and land reserved for public purposes.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Proprietor<\/strong> The owner of an estate, who could lease smaller holdings to settlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tenant<\/strong> A person occupying land under a rental arrangement with a landlord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quitrent<\/strong> The proprietor\u2019s payment to the Crown, distinct from a tenant\u2019s rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Freeholder<\/strong> A person who owned the holding rather than occupying it as a tenant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ownership could change through purchase, inheritance, or subdivision. A lot number helps locate a family broadly, but does not establish the exact farm, the landlord at a particular date, or whether the family owned or rented its land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A tenant might spend years clearing woodland, building a home, and developing a farm without becoming the landowner. Disputes over leases, rents, and eviction became central to the Island\u2019s Land Question.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Many proprietors failed to fulfil their grant obligations. Reformers argued for escheat<\/em>: returning grants to the Crown where their conditions had not been met, so land could be made available to settlers. William Cooper became a leading advocate. The dispute concerned who should control the land as well as what tenants should pay.2<\/a>, 3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n A landlord\u2019s unpaid quitrents did not automatically cancel a tenant\u2019s rent or give the tenant ownership. That gap between the reformers\u2019 demands and the existing system helped sustain the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In June 1834, more than 100 armed tenants opposed the sheriff and his deputies at Naufrage. They sought to prevent the arrest of five people charged with a previous assault on two constables. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography<\/em> places this event within growing tenant resistance and describes John MacIntosh as a moderating force.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is therefore misleading to describe the visit simply as an effort to collect rent from five farmers. The reported purpose was to make arrests on assault charges. Nor does this account establish the accused men\u2019s individual leases, debts, or landlords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lot and estate system created the wider setting for tenant resistance. It does not follow that the survey itself inevitably caused the confrontation, or that every family in Naufrage took part. \u201cNaufrage Riot\u201d is the familiar historical name; \u201carmed confrontation\u201d describes the incident without inventing details of violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MacIntosh was himself a freehold farmer in Lot 43. His support for tenants therefore illustrates how the dispute extended beyond those personally renting land. After his role at Naufrage, he entered the Assembly and continued advocating land reform.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Name note: this page uses John MacIntosh, following the family spelling supplied for this project. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography indexes him as \u201cMacKINTOSH (Macintosh), JOHN.\u201d The spelling difference is retained here to help readers locate the source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The earlier project account identifies his burial in the St Margaret of Scotland Pioneer Cemetery. His story connects the cemetery with the wider history of land and political reform; it does not place the confrontation at the cemetery.6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n The confrontation did not resolve the Land Question. Some proprietors sold farms directly to tenants; governments also purchased estates for resale. An 1853 law enabled voluntary government purchases, while compulsory purchase followed in 1875. Confederation in 1873 brought financial assistance for buying remaining large estates.1<\/a>, 2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Township numbers remained useful geographical references as ownership changed. For family research, read a lot number alongside dates, community names, neighbours, leases, and deeds. A shared lot can suggest where to investigate; it cannot prove a family relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How a system of large estates shaped Island life\u2014and the struggle that brought Naufrage into the Land Question in 1834. 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What was a lot?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why land became a political struggle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The confrontation at Naufrage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
John MacIntosh and his later political career<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Returned unopposed for the 1st District of Kings County on 16 October.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Re-elected in 1838, he served until his defeat in 1850.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Questioned government spending on estate purchases under the 1853 Land Purchase Act.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Withdrew from politics at age 67.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nChange came over decades<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sources and further reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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