p. 3154
As to Anticosti, this grant was also, doubtless, registered in the same register as the Isles de Mingan. The ratification of Anticosti was registered in Register “A” of the Conseil Superieur.
They again asked for peaceable possession; that the Governor of Newfoundland be prohibited from disposing of their properties; that they should be free to carry on the sedentary seal fishery without interference and that their property rights in the Terre Ferme, Isles de Mingan and Anticosti be assured to them.1
1769, Antoine Belcour de Lafontaine sold his rights of succession to the Isles de Mingan, Chicataka, and Montagamiou to Antoine Grisé.2
1771, Noel Alain and his wife, Marie-Genevieve Mingan, sold to Jean-Marie Alain and Pierre Alain all rights in Terre Ferme de Mingan and all other properties possessed by them.3
1771, The Council for Trade recommended that, in accordance with the representations of Governor Carleton, the said Governor should be authorized to grant “the lands remaining subject to His Majesty's disposal, in fief and seigniory . . . . omitting in such grants haut, moyenne et basse justice.”4
1771, the heirs Lalande and Jolliet leased the Isles de Mingan and Anticosti seigniories to Thomas Dunn and William Grant for fifteen years (1772-1787) for an annual rental of 600 shillings cy. and three per cent of the profit from the seal oil and seal skins taken or traded in the leased area.5
1772, Marie Bissot, widow of Francois Vedericque and grand-daughter of Bissot de la Riviere, sold to Thomas Dunn, her one-quarter interest in the “Seigneurie et fief de Mingan.” The lease of the seigniory to Isbister had previously been transferred by Isbister to Dunn and associates.6
1772, The Lords of Trade reported adversely to Hocquart's claim to Gros-Mecatina.7
1775, Pierre Marcoux, as attorney of Antoine Grisé, sold to William Grant the rights of succession to the Isles de Mingan, Chicataka and Montagamiou, acquired by said arise in
1769, by purchase from Antoine Belcour de Lafontaine.8
1777, Magdelaine Belcourt de Lafontaine, daughter of Jacques Belcourt de Lafontaine and Charlotte Bissot, sold to Thomas Dunn all her rights and claims in the Isles de Mingan and Terre Ferme de Mingan seigniories.9
1778, the Sheriff of Quebec sold to William Grant at public auction, 18 May 1778, “nine-twentieths of the Fief and Seigniory of the Island of Anticosty; nine-twentieths of the half of the Fief and Seigniory known by the name of the Islands of Mingan” and such “share and pretensions” as Charles Jolliet Anticosty had “as co-heir of his mother,” Claire Bissot d'Anticosty, in the Terre Ferme de Mingan seigniory.10
p. 3155
1779, William Grant acquired from Gab. Elz. Taschereau, the paternal and maternal shares of Terre Ferme de Mingan, Isles et Islets de Mingan and Anticosti seigniories inherited by Louise Therese de la Gorgéndière, Marquise de Vaudreuil.1
1779, William Grant purchased the shares of Joseph Marin, of Joseph Henry Quiny de la Motte and of Marie-Louise Marin in Isles et Islets de Mingan, Terre Ferme de Mingan and Anticosti seigniories.2
1781, the registers of Faith and Homage contain an entry purporting to be the registration of an act of “foy et hommage” before Governor Haldimand, for the seigniories of the Terre Ferme de Mingan, Isles de Mingan and Anticosti, by Francois Cugnet, as husband of Marie Joseph de Lafontaine de Belcour, Nicolas Joseph de Lafontaine de Belcour, Francois de Lafontaine de Belcour, William Grant and Thomas Dunn, claiming to be “propriétaires par indivis.”3
The Lords of the Privy Council, however, in The Queen vs. Labrador Company, state that, appended to this “document is a certificate of Cugnet himself (who appears to have held the office of Keeper of the Papier Terrier) that this foi et hommage had been presented; but it is not signed by the Governor, and therefore had no validity.” They also state that this “document contains two statements which are now known to be untrue.”4
1781, Francois Belcour de Lafontaine sold to Francois Cugnet all his rights and claims to the Isles de Mingan and Terre Ferme de Mingan seigniories.5
1784, Nicolas G. Boisseau, in his own name and as husband of Claire Jolliet Mingan; Jean-Marie Allain and his wife, Marie-Genevieve Jolliet Mingan, and other Bissot heirs sold to Thomas Dunn and Peter Stuart their respective shares in Isles de Mingan and Terre Ferme de Mingan.6
1784, William Grant made a declaration that, of the property deeded to him by the Sheriff on the 21 January, 1779, his share constituted one-half and that Thomas Dunn and Peter Stuart each owned one-quarter.7
1786, Cugnet, on his own part and on the part of his wife, Charlotte–Joseph Belcour de Lafontaine, sold to Peter Stuart, William Grant and David Alexander Grant, all their rights and claims in Isles de Mingan and Terre Ferme de Mingan.8
1788, Joseph Belcourt de Lafontaine and his wife, Marie Couillard de Beaumont, sold to Mathew Lymburner all their rights and claims in Isles de Mingan and Terre Ferme de Mingan.9
1789, Peter Stuart and his wife sold to Thomas Dunn and his wife all the rights that said Stuart and his wife had in the seigniory of Isles et Islets de Mingan.10
p. 3156
1789, William Grant, Thomas Dunn and Peter Stuart agreed to unite
their respective shares in the ownership of the seigniories of Terre Ferme de
Mingan, Isles de Mingan and Anticosti, the shares in the partnership to be as
follows : Grant, one-half; Dunn and Stuart, one-quarter each. They declared
that they owned practically the whole of these seigniories.1
The agreement recites that they have acquired all the shares except
those owned by the Baron de Castleneau and his wife and of Gilles Belcourt
de Lafontaine and the share sold by Joseph Belcourt de Lafontaine to
Mathew Lymburner in 1788.
1790, Surveyor General Holland and Deputy Surveyor General Collins
stated that the Isles and Islets de Mingan seigniory extended from the Isle
aux Oeufs to the Ance des Espagnols ; that it was granted to Jacques de la
Lande and Louis Jolliet, heirs of de la Lande, on 10 March, 1679, and that
the grant was ratified 29 May 1680.2
Holland and Collins also stated that the Ile Anticosti seigniory was
granted to Louis Jolliet, March 1680, and that the grant was ratified,
29 May 1680.
1792, Thomas Dunn and his wife sold to Mathew Lymburner their
interest in the Isles et Islets de Mingan seigniory which was determined as
their share under the terms of the agreement of 12 December, 1789 ; also
that equal part which they acquired from Peter Stuart, 22 June, 1789.3
1796, Gabriel Elzéard Taschereau, as attorney of Dame Marie Thomas
de la Gorgendière, widow of Thomas Dufy, sold to William Grant all her
interest in Isles de Mingan seigniory as heiress of Fleury de la
Gorgendière Deschambault and Dame Claire Jolliet, her father and mother,
and all other rights which she might inherit in the direct or in the collateral
line, in said seigniory.4
1803, Nathaniel and Philip Lloyd entered an action against Lymburner
& Crawford claiming damages for trespass in establishing and operating
fisheries on the islands opposite St. Paul seigniory and for trapping and
cutting timber on the mainland.5
1803, Lymburner & Crawford claimed that, as seigniors of the Isles et
Islets de Mingan, they had the right to establish fisheries and cut wood on
these islands as being within the limits of said seigniory.6
The Court of the King's Bench rendered an interlocutory judgment
ordering that the litigants name a surveyor who would make a plan of the
property in dispute and report to the Court.7 In 1805, Lloyds affirmed
before De Bonné, that their financial resources would not permit their
incurring the expense of a surveyor.8 In 1808, the Court of the King's Bench
dismissed the action, each party to pay its own costs.9
1803, William Grant, Thomas Dunn and Peter Stuart leased the whole
of Terre Ferme de Mingan seigniory to Simon McTavish, John Gregory,
William McGillivray, et al ; trading “under the name and firm of McTavish,
p. 3157
Frobisher & Company,” said seigniory extending from “Cape des Cormorants
to the river Ouramane” (Olomanoshibo), for 19 years (1803-1822) for an annual rental of £500 cv.1
1803. In “Extraits des Titres des Anciennes Concessions de Terre en Fief en
Seigneurie dans le Bas-Canada” by Wm. Vondenvelden, late Assistant Surveyor
General and Louis Charland, land surveyor, it is stated that the
concession of the Terre Ferme de Mingan was made on 25 February, 1661,
to Francois Bissot de la Rivière; that it extends from cape Cormorant to the
“grande anse vers les Esquimaux, où les Espagnols font ordinairement la
“pêche” and that it is two leagues in depth.2
1804, the heirs of John Crawford, in his lifetime a partner of Lymburner
& Crawford, renounced their rights of succession to their father's estate on
the ground that it was “more burdensome than profitable.”3
1804, Mathew Lymburner and John Wm. Woolsey, curator of the estate
of John Crawford, sold to Wm. Grant “la juste moietie indivise appartenant
aux dits sieurs Lymburner et Crawford” in all their fishing posts from
Ouramanne (Olomanoshibo) river to Pieds-Noirs post in the strait of Belle-isle. As it is further stated that Grant already owned the other moiety of
the property, he thus acquired the whole.4
1805, a list of the seigniories in Quebec was prepared in the Surveyor
General's office in Quebec. Certain seigniories are described as below:5
| Name of Seignory |
Date of Grant |
Quantum of Arpents |
| Malbay or Murray Bay |
27 April, 1762. |
97,000 |
| Mount-Murray |
27 April, 1762. |
104,000 |
| Mille Vaches |
15 Nov. 1653. |
84, 672 |
| Terra Firma of Mingan |
25 Feb. 1661. |
435,456 |
| Isle of Anticosti |
March, 1680. |
1,897,222 |
| Isle et Islets de Mingan |
10 March, 1677. |
16,000 |
1805, Mathew Lymburner and John Vin. Woolsey, sold to William
Grant fifteen thirty-second parts, undivided, of the seigniory of Isles et
Islets de Mingan. This deed contains an agreement to order by copy-writ,
the sale of the fifteen thirty-second parts appertaining to the estate of
Lymburner & Crawford, to clear the title of the purchaser.6
1805, the Sheriff of Quebec seized the seigniories of Terre Ferme de
Mingan and St. Paul at the suit of Ralph Rosslewin and his wife against
Lymburner & Crawford. The Attorney General, Jonathan Sewell, notified
the Sheriff “that there is due to His Majesty upon the said Seigniories for
droit de quint and other seigniorial rights the sum” of £600 cy. He instructed
him to retain the purchase price until the claim of the Crown had been
settled.7
p. 3158
1805, March 13th, a copy-writ was issued at the instance of Ralph
Rosslewin and his wife, commanding the seizure of the goods and chattels of
Lymburner & Crawford.1
1805, August 8, the Sheriff of Quebec seized and sold to William Grant
“fifteen thirty-second parts undivided in the fief and seigniory of the Isles
and Islands of Mingan . . . with all the rights in the Seigniory of the main land
of Mingan, etc., which were adjudged” on same day to William Grant. He
also seized “five forty-eighth parts undivided in the fief and Seigniory of
St. Paul” but said parts remained unsold by reason of the formal opposition
fyled by Nathaniel and Philip Lloyd.2
1806, as Thomas Dunn, acting in his own name and for Lymburner &
Crawford, undertook to pay the droits de quint, the Attorney General withdrew the opposition he had fyled re the sale of “certaines parts de Seigneuries des Isles et Islets de Mingan, et de terre ferme de Mingan.”3
The compromise was renewed on 16 May following for four months
and, on 19 September, was extended for a further period of three days.4
1806, on 22 September, the arbitrator, J. A. Panet, announced his
award, specifying the amounts to be contributed by Dunn, Lymburner and
Stuart, respectively, in settlement of the droits de quint.5
1808, the Sheriff of Quebec deeded to John Richardson, as curator of
the estate of William Grant, deceased, fifteen thirty-second parts undivided
in the Isles de Mingan seigniory and also “all the right in the Seigniory of
the mainland of Mingan” such as Joseph Lafontaine did sell to Mathew
Lymburner, 15 May, 1788.6
1808, March 16, the Sheriff of Quebec at the suit of Patrick Langan
against the estate of Wm. Grant, seized the “whole and entire Fief and
Seigniory of the Isles and Islands of Mingan” and, on same day, sold same
to Richardson, Langan, Burns, Woolsey and Lymburner.7
1808, March 22, the Sheriff of Quebec sold to Richardson, Langan,
Burns, Woolsey and Lymburner, all the rights and claims of William Grant,
deceased, and of Charles Wm. Grant in the sedentary seal and salmon fishing
posts, extending from Itamnamion to Anse-Sainte-Claire, inclusive, also the
posts of Anse-aux-Dunes, Anse-St. Claire and Blanc-Sablons.8
1808, John Richardson, as curator of William Grant, deceased, and
Chas. Wm. Grant abandoned all claims and guaranteed possession to Patrick
Langan, William Burns, John William Woolsey and Mathew Lymburner, of
the posts of fishing establishments from Itamamiou to Anse-Sainte-Claire
also Anse-aux-Dunes and Blanc Sablons, as described in the advertisement
of sale by the Sheriff of Quebec. The properties thus transferred were to
be held in the proportion of : to Patrick Langan one-half, and to Wm. Burns,
John Wm. Woolsey and Mathew Lymburner, one-sixth each.9
[1927lab]
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