{"id":2863,"date":"2021-03-24T04:34:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T08:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/?p=2863"},"modified":"2023-10-27T20:17:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T00:17:48","slug":"the-death-of-saint-johns-island-and-the-birth-of-prince-edward-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/2021\/03\/24\/the-death-of-saint-johns-island-and-the-birth-of-prince-edward-island\/","title":{"rendered":"The Death of Saint John\u2019s Island and the Birth of Prince Edward Island"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saint John\u2019s Island, which I believe might well have been given that name by the Basques in the Fifteenth Century, had become a source of confusion in the Early British Colonial Period. There was Saint John\u2019s in Newfoundland and also the new Loyalist settlement of Saint John New Brunswick which had been established in 1785. The Island administration and politicians began to look for a new name and very wisely rejected Governor Patterson\u2019s passionate plea for renaming it New Ireland. It was Governor Edmund Fanning\u2019s government which, in November of 1798, selected the name of Prince Edward Island in honour of the Duke of Kent, who had established himself in the most elegant style in Bedford Basin in Halifax. The Duke was the commander in chief of the British Forces in North America and would distinguish himself for posterity in 1819 by fathering a child who, only 18 years later, would become Queen Victoria. Here is an oil sketch of the twenty-year old Prince, painted in 1787 in informal rural surroundings by Thomas Gainsborough, and now in the Yale Centre for British Art collection.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2696 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1787-Thomas_Gainsborough_-_Edward_Augustus_Duke_of_Kent_-Yale-Centre-for-British-Art-small--229x300.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 383px) 100vw, 383px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1787-Thomas_Gainsborough_-_Edward_Augustus_Duke_of_Kent_-Yale-Centre-for-British-Art-small--229x300.jpg 229w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1787-Thomas_Gainsborough_-_Edward_Augustus_Duke_of_Kent_-Yale-Centre-for-British-Art-small--115x150.jpg 115w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1787-Thomas_Gainsborough_-_Edward_Augustus_Duke_of_Kent_-Yale-Centre-for-British-Art-small-.jpg 758w\" alt=\"\" width=\"383\" height=\"502\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Prince Edward arrived in Halifax in 1794, accompanied by his French mistress of long-standing, optimistically given the new name of Madame de Saint Laurent. He rented and modified a country house in Bedford Basin and lived there in the most civilised fashion. Here is a watercolour of the Prince\u2019s Lodge Estate from the collection of Henry and Barbara Dobson which was being auctioned off in 2011, and which, to my great sorrow, I could not afford. Note a round temple on a little hill, in the left of the picture.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2697 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Princes-Lodge-Estate-The-Henry-and-Barbara-Dobson-Collection-002-300x172.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 715px) 100vw, 715px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Princes-Lodge-Estate-The-Henry-and-Barbara-Dobson-Collection-002-300x172.jpg 300w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Princes-Lodge-Estate-The-Henry-and-Barbara-Dobson-Collection-002-150x86.jpg 150w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Princes-Lodge-Estate-The-Henry-and-Barbara-Dobson-Collection-002.jpg 732w\" alt=\"\" width=\"715\" height=\"410\" \/><\/p>\n<p>He was a man of the greatest culture and left his mark on the city of Halifax by promoting the construction of three round buildings, something which, to my knowledge, has never been carefully examined as an architectural phenomenon. There is a lecture there, crying out to be given. These buildings were the clock tower, still standing on Citadel Hill, Saint George\u2019s Church, an amazing round structure, and a round music pavilion in Bedford Basin that is on the edge of a railway cutting. You can visit it. The best photo of it in its original context is this one taken in 1864 and now in the collection of Trevor Gillingwater. Even then the hill was disfigured by a cutting to make room for the railway system whose construction began in 1858.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2698 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Duke-of-Kents-Music-Room-photo-c1860-a-300x283.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Duke-of-Kents-Music-Room-photo-c1860-a-300x283.jpg 300w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Duke-of-Kents-Music-Room-photo-c1860-a-150x141.jpg 150w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Duke-of-Kents-Music-Room-photo-c1860-a-768x724.jpg 768w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Duke-of-Kents-Music-Room-photo-c1860-a-1024x965.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Duke-of-Kents-Music-Room-photo-c1860-a.jpg 1030w\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"566\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Prince Edward was the best thing that could have happened to Halifax. He worked on the military defences and was very supportive of the colony\u2019s various institutions. In 1798 he had a fall from a horse and returned to England to recuperate. On April 24, 1777 he was created Duke of Kent and Strathern and also Earl of Dublin. In May he was promoted to the rank of general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in North America. The Prince is remembered for many things, one of the sweetest, perhaps, is his use of the word \u201cCanadian\u201d as an inclusive description of both the English and French citizens of the British Colony.<\/p>\n<p>All sorts of important things happened in 1799. The decision to rename Saint John\u2019s Island to Prince Edward Island had been taken in 1798 and in anticipation of this, a new map, based on the Holland model, was published by H. A Ashby.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.islandimagined.ca\/guides\/discovery\/st_johns_island#:~:text=In%20late%20November%201798%2C%20during,the%20father%20of%20Queen%20Victoria\">https:\/\/www.islandimagined.ca\/guides\/discovery\/st_johns_island#:~:text=In%20late%20November%201798%2C%20during,the%20father%20of%20Queen%20Victoria<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Gone are the fantasy estates found on the Holland maps. Here new settlements are recorded, and an attempt made to show the emerging system of roads on the Island.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>1798 &#8211; <em>Prince Edward Island\/ divided into\/ Counties &amp; Parishes,\/ with the Lots,\/ as Granted by Government,\/ Exhibiting all the\/ New Settlements,\/ Roads, Mills\/ &amp;c &amp;c.<\/em>, 18.3 x 35 cm.\u00a0<em>London, Publish\u2019d as the Act directs March 1, 1798, by H. Ashby, King Street, Cheapside<\/em>. [Also called the Stewart map after use in 1806], Robertson Library, UPEI.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-2699\" src=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-PEIMHF-s--300x161.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 801px) 100vw, 801px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-PEIMHF-s--300x161.jpg 300w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-PEIMHF-s--150x80.jpg 150w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-PEIMHF-s--768x411.jpg 768w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-PEIMHF-s--1024x548.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-PEIMHF-s--1140x610.jpg 1140w\" alt=\"\" width=\"801\" height=\"430\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2701 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-publish-det-300x24.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-publish-det-300x24.jpg 300w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-publish-det-150x12.jpg 150w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-publish-det-768x61.jpg 768w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-publish-det-1024x81.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-publish-det-1140x90.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-publish-det.jpg 1268w\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"64\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1798-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-UPEI.pdf\">1798 Ashby \u2013 Prince Edward Island \u2013 UPEI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This page from Island Imagined at UPEI provides details about the new settlements that appear on this map.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.islandimagined.ca\/book\/export\/html\/36\">https:\/\/www.islandimagined.ca\/book\/export\/html\/36<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This map is often called <strong>the Stewart map<\/strong> because John Stewart used it 10 years later as the map for his book,\u00a0<em>An Account of Prince Edward Island<\/em> &#8230; published in 1806. There was no other map available at the time with the new name of the colony &#8211; Prince Edward Island &#8211; on it.<\/p>\n<p>We have come to the end of our long 300+ years of the story of Ile Saint Jean. The Nineteenth Century, which was about to begin, would witness the old island with the new name struggle to emerge from the grip of British Colonialism, and to explore the possibilities of unification with the other Canadian colonies to achieve an independent Canada.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>AN ACADIAN POSTSCRIPT<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The\u00a0<strong>GREAT EVENT<\/strong>\u00a0of 1799, the changing of the name of Saint John\u2019s Island to Prince Edward Island, overshadows all other events at that time. Even so, life went on for everybody \u2013 the British settlers, the Acadians and the Mi\u2019kmaq \u2013 and, at first, nothing much changed. However, the year 1799 had a\u00a0<strong>SMALL EVENT<\/strong>, which has never been associated with the great one, and that was the founding of a new settlement around a lagoon, at the southeast corner of Lot 1, next to what, in a generation, would appear as Tignish Pond on the maps. In October of 1799, eight Acadian families left Malpeque, and perhaps furtively, made their way to this carefully chosen place. There they settled around what is now known as the Green, and by 1853 the land they lived on, originally without permission, had been surveyed and placed, for all time, on a map by John Ball (PARO 1052 03)\u00a0after absentee landlords had recognised the rich fisheries potential of this harbour and begun to collect rent.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2841 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1853-Lot-1-Fishery-John-Ball-ORIGINAL-SITE-300x278.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 535px) 100vw, 535px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1853-Lot-1-Fishery-John-Ball-ORIGINAL-SITE-300x278.jpg 300w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1853-Lot-1-Fishery-John-Ball-ORIGINAL-SITE-150x139.jpg 150w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1853-Lot-1-Fishery-John-Ball-ORIGINAL-SITE-768x711.jpg 768w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1853-Lot-1-Fishery-John-Ball-ORIGINAL-SITE-1024x947.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1853-Lot-1-Fishery-John-Ball-ORIGINAL-SITE-1140x1055.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1853-Lot-1-Fishery-John-Ball-ORIGINAL-SITE.jpg 1365w\" alt=\"\" width=\"535\" height=\"496\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By 1801 the Acadians had built a log chapel and by 1826, a large handsome Neoclassical church. They placed their tiny cemetery near the water, not far from the church, and it is still fenced off and respected to this day. You can see the small green area just to the right of centre at the top of this photo.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2842 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Scan12049-c-300x197.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 551px) 100vw, 551px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Scan12049-c-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Scan12049-c-150x99.jpg 150w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Scan12049-c-768x504.jpg 768w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Scan12049-c-1024x673.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Scan12049-c-1140x749.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Scan12049-c.jpg 1221w\" alt=\"\" width=\"551\" height=\"362\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In 1811 the Acadians were followed by some Irish settlers on the west side of Lot 1. But that is another story in another century.<\/p>\n<p>This little story reminds us that settlement and development, often on a very small scale, and at times by the least expected people, was continuously taking place in what was now Prince Edward Island. This story is also connected with the fate of those Acadians who managed to escape Deportation and found ways to remain on the Island, settle down, and thrive.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2700 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-cartouche-228x300.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-cartouche-228x300.jpg 228w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-cartouche-114x150.jpg 114w, https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1799-Ashby-Prince-Edward-Island-cartouche.jpg 602w\" alt=\"\" width=\"340\" height=\"447\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"bbVIQb\">\n<div class=\"ujudUb WRZytc xpdxpnd\" data-mh=\"43\" data-mhc=\"1\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3><strong>RESOURCES<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Betts, Jonathan,<em>\u00a0Harrison<\/em>, Royal Observatory Greenwich and National Maritime Museum, London, 2007.<\/p>\n<p>Bumstead, J. M.,\u00a0<em>Land, Settlement, and Politics on Eighteenth Century Prince Edward Island<\/em>, McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press, Kingston and Montreal, 1987.<\/p>\n<p>Buote, Fran\u00e7ois J. And Buote, Gilbert,\u00a0<em>L\u2019Impartial: Numero Illustr\u00e9 \u2013 Souvenir de la Celebration du 100me. Anniversaire de la Fondation de Tignish<\/em>, L\u2019Impartial, Tignish, 1899.<\/p>\n<p>Campey, Lucille H.,\u00a0<em>Planters and Paupers: English Settlers in Atlantic Canada<\/em>, A Natural Heritage Book, A Member of the Dundern Group, Toronto, 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen, Paul E.,\u00a0<em>Abel Buell, of Connecticut, Prints America\u2019s First Map of the United States, 1784,<\/em>\u00a0The New England Quarterly, September 2013, Vol. 86, No. 4, pp. 357-397, The New England Quarterly Inc., 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Cran, Emily Elizabeth,\u00a0<em>Success on the Edge: Portrait of a Small Town<\/em>, New World Publishing, Halifax, 2000.<\/p>\n<p>Douglas, R.,\u00a0<em>Place Names of Prince Edward Island with Meanings<\/em>, F. C. Acland, Printer to the King\u2019s Most Excellent Majesty, Ottawa, 1925.<\/p>\n<p>Edelson, S. Max<strong><em>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><em>Colonizing St. John Island: A History in Maps<\/em>, internet site: https:\/\/earlycanadianhistory.ca\/2018\/11\/14\/colonizing-st-john-island-a-history-in-maps\/<\/p>\n<p>Edelson, S. Max,\u00a0<em>The New Map of Empire: How Britain Imagined America before Independence<\/em>, Harvard University Press, 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Hornsby, Stephen J.,\u00a0<em>Surveyors of Empire: Samuel Holland, J. W. F. Des Barres and the Making of the Atlantic Neptune<\/em>, Carleton Library Series 221, McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press, Montreal, 2011.<\/p>\n<p>Jefferys, Thomas,<em>\u00a0The Natural and Civil History of the French Dominions in North and South America<\/em>, Printed for Thomas Jefferys at Charing-Cross, 1760. Facsimile published by Gyan Books Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Lennox, Jeffers,\u00a0<em>Homelands and Empires: Indigenous Spaces, Imperial Fictions, and Competition for Territory in Northeastern North America, 1690-1763,<\/em>\u00a0University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Kershaw, Kenneth A.,\u00a0<em>Early Printed Maps of Canada, Vol. 1 \u2013 1540-1703<\/em>, Kershaw Publishing, Star Communications, Hamilton, Ontario, 1993.<\/p>\n<p>Kershaw, Kenneth A.,\u00a0<em>Early Printed Maps of Canada, Vol, II1 \u2013 1703-1799<\/em>, First Edition, Second Impression, Alexander Books, Ancaster, Ontario, 2002.<\/p>\n<p>Lockerby, Earle and Sobey, Douglas,\u00a0<em>Samuel Holland: His Work and Legacy on Prince Edward Island<\/em>, Island Studies Press, University of Prince Edward Island, Holland College, Charlottetown, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>MacMillan, Rev John C.,\u00a0<em>The Early History of the Catholic Church on Prince Edward Island<\/em>, Evenement Printing Company, Quebec, 1905.<\/p>\n<p>Macnair, Andrew, Anne Rowe and Tom Williamson,\u00a0<em>Dury and Andrews\u2019 Map of Hertfordshire: Society and Landscape in the Eighteenth Century,<\/em>\u00a0Windgather Press, Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Naftel, William D.,\u00a0<em>Prince Edward\u2019s Legacy: The Duke of Kent in Halifax: Romance and Beautiful Buildings<\/em>, Formac Publishing Company Limited, Halifax, 2005.<\/p>\n<p>Pedley, Mary Sponberg,\u00a0<em>The Commerce of Cartography: Making and Marketing Maps in Eighteenth-Century France and England<\/em>, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2005.<\/p>\n<p>Porter, Reginald,\u00a0<em>Government House and the Fanningbank Estate: A Guidebook<\/em>, The Friends of the Gatehouse Cooperative, Charlottetown, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Rayburn, Alan,\u00a0<em>Geographical Names of Prince Edward Island<\/em>, Surveys and Mapping Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, 1973.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart, John Esq., <em>An Account of Prince Edward Island, In the Gulph of St. Lawrence, North America. Containing Its Geography, a description of its different Divisions, Soil, Climate, Seasons, Natural Productions, Cultivation, Discovery, Conquest, Progress and present State of the Settlement, Government, Constitution, Laws, and Religion<\/em>, Folding map, 33 x 17 cm, W. Winchester and Son, Strand, London, 1806.<\/p>\n<p>Turner, Orsamus,\u00a0<em>The Pioneer Settler upon the Holland Purchase, and His Progress,<\/em>\u00a0Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 425-435, Oxford University Press, 1975.<\/p>\n<p>Webber, David,\u00a0<em>A Thousand Young Men: The Colonial Volunteer Militia of Prince Edward Island, 1775-1874<\/em>, Prince Edward Island Museum &amp; Heritage Foundation, Charlottetown, 1990.<\/p>\n<p>Wroth, Lawrence C.,\u00a0<em>Abel Buell of Connecticut [:] Silversmith Type Founder&amp; Engraver<\/em>, Acorn Club of Connecticut, 1926.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saint John\u2019s Island, which I believe might well have been given that name by the Basques in the Fifteenth Century, had become a source of confusion in the Early British Colonial Period. There was Saint John\u2019s in Newfoundland and also the new Loyalist settlement of Saint John New Brunswick which had been established in 1785. The Island administration and politicians began to look for a new name and very wisely rejected Governor Patterson\u2019s passionate plea for renaming it New Ireland. It was Governor Edmund Fanning\u2019s government which, in November of 1798, selected the name of Prince Edward Island in honour of the Duke of Kent, who had established himself in the most elegant style in Bedford Basin in Halifax. The Duke was the commander in chief of the British Forces in North America and would distinguish himself for posterity in 1819 by fathering a child who, only 18 years later, would become Queen Victoria. Here is an oil sketch of the twenty-year old Prince, painted in 1787 in informal rural surroundings by Thomas Gainsborough, and now in the Yale Centre for British Art collection. Prince Edward arrived in Halifax in 1794, accompanied by his French mistress of long-standing, optimistically given the new name of Madame de Saint Laurent. He rented and modified a country house in Bedford Basin and lived there in the most civilised fashion. Here is a watercolour of the Prince\u2019s Lodge Estate from the collection of Henry and Barbara Dobson which was being auctioned off in 2011, and which, to my great sorrow, I could not afford. Note a round temple on a little hill, in the left of the picture. He was a man of the greatest culture and left his mark on the city of Halifax by promoting the construction of three round buildings, something which, to my knowledge, has never been carefully examined as an architectural phenomenon. There is a lecture there, crying out to be given. These buildings were the clock tower, still standing on Citadel Hill, Saint George\u2019s Church, an amazing round structure, and a round music pavilion in Bedford Basin that is on the edge of a railway cutting. You can visit it. The best photo of it in its original context is this one taken in 1864 and now in the collection of Trevor Gillingwater. Even then the hill was disfigured by a cutting to make room for the railway system whose construction began in 1858. Prince Edward was the best thing that could have happened to Halifax. He worked on the military defences and was very supportive of the colony\u2019s various institutions. In 1798 he had a fall from a horse and returned to England to recuperate. On April 24, 1777 he was created Duke of Kent and Strathern and also Earl of Dublin. In May he was promoted to the rank of general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in North America. The Prince is remembered for many things, one of the sweetest, perhaps, is his use of the word \u201cCanadian\u201d as an inclusive description of both the English and French citizens of the British Colony. All sorts of important things happened in 1799. The decision to rename Saint John\u2019s Island to Prince Edward Island had been taken in 1798 and in anticipation of this, a new map, based on the Holland model, was published by H. A Ashby. https:\/\/www.islandimagined.ca\/guides\/discovery\/st_johns_island#:~:text=In%20late%20November%201798%2C%20during,the%20father%20of%20Queen%20Victoria. Gone are the fantasy estates found on the Holland maps. Here new settlements are recorded, and an attempt made to show the emerging system of roads on the Island. &nbsp; &nbsp; 1798 &#8211; Prince Edward Island\/ divided into\/ Counties &amp; Parishes,\/ with the Lots,\/ as Granted by Government,\/ Exhibiting all the\/ New Settlements,\/ Roads, Mills\/ &amp;c &amp;c., 18.3 x 35 cm.\u00a0London, Publish\u2019d as the Act directs March 1, 1798, by H. Ashby, King Street, Cheapside. [Also called the Stewart map after use in 1806], Robertson Library, UPEI. 1798 Ashby \u2013 Prince Edward Island \u2013 UPEI This page from Island Imagined at UPEI provides details about the new settlements that appear on this map. https:\/\/www.islandimagined.ca\/book\/export\/html\/36 This map is often called the Stewart map because John Stewart used it 10 years later as the map for his book,\u00a0An Account of Prince Edward Island &#8230; published in 1806. There was no other map available at the time with the new name of the colony &#8211; Prince Edward Island &#8211; on it. We have come to the end of our long 300+ years of the story of Ile Saint Jean. The Nineteenth Century, which was about to begin, would witness the old island with the new name struggle to emerge from the grip of British Colonialism, and to explore the possibilities of unification with the other Canadian colonies to achieve an independent Canada. &nbsp; AN ACADIAN POSTSCRIPT The\u00a0GREAT EVENT\u00a0of 1799, the changing of the name of Saint John\u2019s Island to Prince Edward Island, overshadows all other events at that time. Even so, life went on for everybody \u2013 the British settlers, the Acadians and the Mi\u2019kmaq \u2013 and, at first, nothing much changed. However, the year 1799 had a\u00a0SMALL EVENT, which has never been associated with the great one, and that was the founding of a new settlement around a lagoon, at the southeast corner of Lot 1, next to what, in a generation, would appear as Tignish Pond on the maps. In October of 1799, eight Acadian families left Malpeque, and perhaps furtively, made their way to this carefully chosen place. There they settled around what is now known as the Green, and by 1853 the land they lived on, originally without permission, had been surveyed and placed, for all time, on a map by John Ball (PARO 1052 03)\u00a0after absentee landlords had recognised the rich fisheries potential of this harbour and begun to collect rent. By 1801 the Acadians had built a log chapel and by 1826, a large handsome Neoclassical church. They placed their tiny cemetery near the water, not far from the church, and it is still fenced off and respected to this day. You can see the small green area just to the right of centre at the top of this photo. In 1811 the Acadians were followed by some Irish settlers on the west side of Lot 1. But that is another story in another century. This little story reminds us that settlement and development, often on a very small scale, and at times by the least expected people, was continuously taking place in what was now Prince Edward Island. This story is also connected with the fate of those Acadians who managed to escape Deportation and found ways to remain on the Island, settle down, and thrive. &nbsp; &nbsp; RESOURCES Betts, Jonathan,\u00a0Harrison, Royal Observatory Greenwich and National Maritime Museum, London, 2007. Bumstead, J. M.,\u00a0Land, Settlement, and Politics on Eighteenth Century Prince Edward Island, McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press, Kingston and Montreal, 1987. Buote, Fran\u00e7ois J. And Buote, Gilbert,\u00a0L\u2019Impartial: Numero Illustr\u00e9 \u2013 Souvenir de la Celebration du 100me. Anniversaire de la Fondation de Tignish, L\u2019Impartial, Tignish, 1899. Campey, Lucille H.,\u00a0Planters and Paupers: English Settlers in Atlantic Canada, A Natural Heritage Book, A Member of the Dundern Group, Toronto, 2010. Cohen, Paul E.,\u00a0Abel Buell, of Connecticut, Prints America\u2019s First Map of the United States, 1784,\u00a0The New England Quarterly, September 2013, Vol. 86, No. 4, pp. 357-397, The New England Quarterly Inc., 2013. Cran, Emily Elizabeth,\u00a0Success on the Edge: Portrait of a Small Town, New World Publishing, Halifax, 2000. Douglas, R.,\u00a0Place Names of Prince Edward Island with Meanings, F. C. Acland, Printer to the King\u2019s Most Excellent Majesty, Ottawa, 1925. Edelson, S. Max,\u00a0Colonizing St. John Island: A History in Maps, internet site: https:\/\/earlycanadianhistory.ca\/2018\/11\/14\/colonizing-st-john-island-a-history-in-maps\/ Edelson, S. Max,\u00a0The New Map of Empire: How Britain Imagined America before Independence, Harvard University Press, 2017. Hornsby, Stephen J.,\u00a0Surveyors of Empire: Samuel Holland, J. W. F. Des Barres and the Making of the Atlantic Neptune, Carleton Library Series 221, McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press, Montreal, 2011. Jefferys, Thomas,\u00a0The Natural and Civil History of the French Dominions in North and South America, Printed for Thomas Jefferys at Charing-Cross, 1760. Facsimile published by Gyan Books Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2020. Lennox, Jeffers,\u00a0Homelands and Empires: Indigenous Spaces, Imperial Fictions, and Competition for Territory in Northeastern North America, 1690-1763,\u00a0University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2017. Kershaw, Kenneth A.,\u00a0Early Printed Maps of Canada, Vol. 1 \u2013 1540-1703, Kershaw Publishing, Star Communications, Hamilton, Ontario, 1993. Kershaw, Kenneth A.,\u00a0Early Printed Maps of Canada, Vol, II1 \u2013 1703-1799, First Edition, Second Impression, Alexander Books, Ancaster, Ontario, 2002. Lockerby, Earle and Sobey, Douglas,\u00a0Samuel Holland: His Work and Legacy on Prince Edward Island, Island Studies Press, University of Prince Edward Island, Holland College, Charlottetown, 2015. MacMillan, Rev John C.,\u00a0The Early History of the Catholic Church on Prince Edward Island, Evenement Printing Company, Quebec, 1905. Macnair, Andrew, Anne Rowe and Tom Williamson,\u00a0Dury and Andrews\u2019 Map of Hertfordshire: Society and Landscape in the Eighteenth Century,\u00a0Windgather Press, Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2016. Naftel, William D.,\u00a0Prince Edward\u2019s Legacy: The Duke of Kent in Halifax: Romance and Beautiful Buildings, Formac Publishing Company Limited, Halifax, 2005. Pedley, Mary Sponberg,\u00a0The Commerce of Cartography: Making and Marketing Maps in Eighteenth-Century France and England, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2005. Porter, Reginald,\u00a0Government House and the Fanningbank Estate: A Guidebook, The Friends of the Gatehouse Cooperative, Charlottetown, 2015. Rayburn, Alan,\u00a0Geographical Names of Prince Edward Island, Surveys and Mapping Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, 1973. Stewart, John Esq., An Account of Prince Edward Island, In the Gulph of St. Lawrence, North America. Containing Its Geography, a description of its different Divisions, Soil, Climate, Seasons, Natural Productions, Cultivation, Discovery, Conquest, Progress and present State of the Settlement, Government, Constitution, Laws, and Religion, Folding map, 33 x 17 cm, W. Winchester and Son, Strand, London, 1806. Turner, Orsamus,\u00a0The Pioneer Settler upon the Holland Purchase, and His Progress,\u00a0Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 425-435, Oxford University Press, 1975. Webber, David,\u00a0A Thousand Young Men: The Colonial Volunteer Militia of Prince Edward Island, 1775-1874, Prince Edward Island Museum &amp; Heritage Foundation, Charlottetown, 1990. Wroth, Lawrence C.,\u00a0Abel Buell of Connecticut [:] Silversmith Type Founder&amp; Engraver, Acorn Club of Connecticut, 1926. &nbsp; &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2863"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6333,"href":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions\/6333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regporter.com\/pei\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}