Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

When the dust settled after the American Revolution, the Treaty of Paris, and the adoption of the Constitution Act of 1791, the administration of Lower Canada fell to Lieutenant Governor Alured Clarke.  Part of Clarke's responsibilities required that he put into effect the provisions of the new Constitutional Act of Lower Canada – including the establishment and settlement of our eventual Township, a task far easier said than done. 

His first step in that regard was to issue a proclamation on February 7, 1792:  “ To such as are desirous to settle on Lands of the Crown in the Province of Lower Canada ».  The terms of grant settlement were described. – “ First.  That the Crown Lands to be granted be a parcel of a Township: If an inland Township of Ten Miles square, and if a Township on navigable Waters, of Nine Miles in Front and twelve Miles in Depth, to be run out and marked by His Majesty's Surveyor (…) or under his sanction and authority. »  The proclamation also had several clauses, among which the reservation of one seventh of the total area for Protestant clergy, and another one seventh for the Crown.  No farm lot was to contain more than two hundred acres; and five acres in every hundred set aside for roads, among other dispositions. 

Theoretically, each inland township of 61,000 acres (plus roads) would ideally provide livings for 220 families.  The theoretical intention was that within this ten mile square piece of territory, each township would have a village at its geographical center, so that no settler would be more than walking distance (5 miles) of mill, store, church or town hall.  In the case of Potton, where the territory is bisected by the Missisquoi River and bounded by a lake, the theory was impractical. 

Less than three weeks after Clarke's proclamation in 1792, Jesse Pennoyer, a young man from Amenia, New York, veteran of the 4^th New Yorkers fighting for the revolution, and Jean-Baptiste Duberger, born in Detroit and educated in the Petit séminaire de Québec, were recommended as provincial surveyors.  Duberger was 25, Pennoyer, 32.  Pennoyer was an experienced surveyor, having surveyed the road from Cornwall to Kingston in Upper Canada, in addition to Thomas Dunn's seignory at Saint-Armand.  This provided the starting point to survey the remaining Crown land to the east, including the townships of Sutton and Potton. 

“ On Thursday, August 9, 1792, Pennoyer wrote in his field book: “Began the Survey of Lake Memrehabegh” by which he meant the western boundary of the Township of Potton. » 

According to Bernard Epps, Pennoyer “ would have employed the Gunter Chain as in (Thomas) Dunn's detailed instruction for the survey of St. Armand.  The Gunter Chain was four rods or sixty-six feet long and made up of one hundred links.  Each lot was therefore thirty chains (1,980 feet) by seventy (4,620 feet) making 2,100 square chains for each 210 acre lot, with the five acres in every hundred reserved for roads.  An acre was originally the amount of land a team of oxen could plow in a day, codified as four rods by one furlong (furrow-length).  That worked out as one chain by ten so that an acre of land was ten square chains. »

And so Pennoyer and his team measured and marked with cedar posts the outline of our township – “ eighty chains to measure each mile over mountains, through swamps and streams and almost impenetrable old growth forests, carrying or dragging all their supplies and camping in the woods each night in all weathers with the big black bears and the little black flies for constant companions. »  In addition to this preliminary survey of Potton, Pennoyer measured “ Potton in 1802 and again in 1804. »  Epps comments that it is unlikely that any other man explored more of the Eastern Townships than Jesse Pennoyer.  After his third time through the wilds of our Township, this must have proved true.

The maps and measurements begun in 1792, and continued in 1802 and 1804, by Jesse Pennoyer were deposited officially in due course.  That body of work formed part of the Primitive Cadastre (for the Eastern Townships) of Quebec and, as such, remained in effect until 1887, when the present Official Cadastre was deposited, which is the basis for land transactions to this day.^[1] 

With boundaries in place, the Township of Potton was then officially proclaimed when King George III signed our Letters Patent on October 31, 1797.  Our neighbouring Township of Sutton was founded in 1802.  The Eastern Townships were not known as such until 1860. 

“ From 1792-1794, petitions were sent in for grants of land in Potton and Sutton, and the Government incurred expenses to the extent of £98 12s.2d. on laying out of these townships and the preliminary surveys of the same. »^[2]  One wonders the cost in today's dollar?

There were dispositions allowing the Lieutenant-Governor or his representative to grant to any person “ further quantity of Land as they may desire, not exceeding one thousand acres over and above what may have been before granted to them. » 

The document provided conditions to grantees who were not necessarily settlers, i.e. to speculators, and who, in many cases, appeared to be exceptionally well connected with those in positions of power:  “ In 1798, great excitement prevailed throughout the country from the abuses attendant on the land granting department, the members of the Board of which had granted to themselves immense tracts of territory, to the injury and distress of thousands of settlers, and to the discouragement of emigration. »^[3]  (The more things change...!)

Every “ petitioner for lands » had to make it appear that he or she “ is in a condition to cultivate and improve the land (…), subscribe a declaration to maintain and defend (…) the authority of the King … ».^[4]  Although the intent was for loyalty to the Crown, the word Loyalist is found nowhere in the proclamation, which was distributed widely: “ as far south as New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire. »  Many Americans “ looked enviously toward the gentle hills and lush valleys just north of the border (…) where (…) there were no landlords, no debt collectors, no taxes and a man could have two hundred acres on which to raise a family as he thought best simply on a promise to be good. »  (Inevitably, such utopia was short-lived!)  And such were the rules of the game!

On July 27, 1803, Henry Ruiter, as one of four leaders seeking land in the Township of Potton, was granted 27,000 acres of land here.  William Osgoode received the next largest grant of 9,800 acres in Potton, in 1815-1816.  This is intriguing since William Osgoode was also a grantee of Sutton Township of 4,300 acres.^[5]  In 1794, William Osgoode became Chief Justice of Lower Canada.  Osgoode came into conflict with Governor Robert Prescott over an attempt to sort out the issue of land grants in the region, and again with Prescott's successor.  In 1801, Osgoode resigned and returned to London.  One wonders if ever he saw his 9,800 acres of land in Potton!  In any case Justice Osgood died in England in 1824.^[6]  But that is all another story!

Jesse Pennoyer, born April 16, 1760, eventually married a Martha Ferguson and brought up a family of twelve.  In 1799, he moved to Barnston Township where he helped build and manage a saw mill, while still employed as a provincial surveyor.  He died on December 1, 1825 in Waterville, Quebec, and was buried in Hatley^[7].

 “ In 1820, Joseph Bouchette Surveyor General reported Potton to contain 59,000 acres, Reserves 17,600 acres.  At that time 3, 000 acres were supposed to be cleared (…). »^[8]

In Bouchette's British Dominions in North America, Vol.III, 1831, the following appears:

“ Potton Township in the County of Stanstead joins the eastern boundary of Sutton, and extends along the Province line as far as Lake Memphremagog.  Though the surface is mostly hilly and uneven and the land is generally indifferent, there are good situations for raising all sorts of grain as well as other productions.  Watered by the River Missisquoi and a great number of tributary streams running from the hills in almost every direction, and by many others that fall into the lake.  There are some thriving settlements on the banks of the River Missisquoi and the margin of the lake where the land is particularly good.  A few roads lead into the neighbouring townships, but they are not very good. »^[9]

Potton appears as a named Township on the Gale and Duberger Map of 1795.  We derive our name, like most of the Eastern Townships, from locations in England.  In our case, Potton is a town and a civil parish in Bedfordshire, England.  It is 17 kilometers from Bedford.  The village name was spelled Pottun in 960 AD and Potone in the 1086, Doomsday book.  It is derived from the Old English for “ farmstead where pots are made ».  Interestingly, the neighbouring parish to Potton in England is Sutton!  At the time of the 2001 Census, Potton (England) had 4,473 inhabitants living in 1869 households. (Wikipedia)