Burlington Gazette - History by Helen Langford
Lottery Day
Tues., May 2, 1978
June 20, 1806 was a very busy day in Nelson Township. That was the date announced for the drawling of tickets and signatures of the winners for the newly surveyed land. Forty people drew their lots.
The mechanics of setting up such an administrative night-mare in days before roads, mail or newspapers makes for lively speculations!
It is more likely that many of these people were already on the land or had spoken for their preference; the recording on such data was merely done at the earliest legal date.
The complete lists are available at the Ontario Archives. I have recorded a few here, mainly names that are still well known in Nelson Township. The lots number from east to west - Lot 1 is at Townline (Burloak Dr.).
- 1. Silas Hopkins ... Lot 3 ... Conc. 1 N.D.S.
- 3. Davis O'Rielly ... Lot 16 ... Conc. 1 S.D.S.
- 4. William McCoy ... Lot 16 ... Conc. 1 N.D.S.
- 5. John Chisholm ... Lot 9 ... Conc. 1 S.D.S.
- 8. Joseph Birney ... Lot 12 ... Conc. 1 N.D.S.
- 10. John Cleaver ... Lot 10 ... Conc. 1 N.D.S.
- 13. Henry Markle ... Lot 21 ... Conc. 1 N.D.S.
- 15. Christopher Teeple ... Lot 4 ... Conc. 1 S.D.S.
- 16. George Calvert ... Lot 13 ... Conc. 1 S.D.S.
- 18. David Fonger ... Lot 10 ... Conc. 1 S.D.S.
- 23. Joseph Bennett ... Lot 1 ... Conc. 1 N.D.S. (for his wife Elizabeth)
- 24. Hugh Rose ... Lot 9 ... Conc. 1 N.D.S.
- 29. George King ... Lot 13 ... Conc. 1 N.D.S.
- 30. John Willson ... Lot 14 ... Conc. 1 S.D.S. (of Saltfleet)
- 31. William McKerlie ... Lot 8 ... Conc. S.D.S. (perhaps for wife Nancy)
- 32. Gilbert Bastedo ... Lot 12 ... Conc. 1 S.D.S.
- 38. Hugh McLaren ... Lot 8 ... Conc. 1 N.D.S.
- 37. Thomas Atkinson ... Lot 6 ... Conc. 1 S.D.S.
- 40. Mary Land ... Lot 24 ... Conc. 1 N.D.S. (drawn by her brother John Chisholm)
There continued to be tickets drawn for some years.
- 43. Isaac Van Norman ... Lot 4 ... Conc. 3 S.D.S. - Sept. 11, 1806
- 44. Ephraim Van Norman ... Lot 12 ... Conc. 2 N.D.S. - drawn by Isaac his attorney.
- 58. Medad Parsons ... Lot 23 ... Conc. 1 S.D.S. - Oct. 1806
Broken Front
- 64. Mathias Simmerman ... Lot 25 ... B.F. Conc. 4 S.D.S. - by his excellency special order - Feb. 13, 1807.
- 66. Laura Second ... Lots 7 and 8 ... B.F. Conc. 4 S.D.S. - by her husband J. Secord - Mar. 4, 1807.
- 71. Clement Lucas ... Lot 11 ... B.F. Conc. 4 S.D.S. - and part of Lot 4 and Lot 5 B.F. Conc. 4 S.D.S. - Nov. 28, 1807.
Source: Langford, Helen. Burlington Gazette [Ontario], 2 May 1978. Microfilm. Burlington Public Library - Central Branch. Reel No Missing.