By Wayne Foster 

Unpublished Report H D 02

Fortress of Louisbourg

December, 1965

(Note: The illustrations, are available from the Fortress of Louisbourg / 
A noter : les illustrations pourrait être consulter à la
Forteresse-de-Louisbourg.) 

Table of Contents

CHAPTER V: 1800-1820

The Early Years of the 19th Century (1800-1810)

The land policy with respect to Cape Breton did not change in the early years of 1800. Grants of land still were not issued, although licences of occupation and leases continued to be. Nothing much is known of these very early years of the nineteenth century at Louisbourg except from a report from Rev. John Inglis in 1805.

We do know, nevertheless, that there was a fairly large emigration from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia in those first years of the nineteenth century. Bishop Plessis wrote to Father Jones in London on 10 November 1801 stating "Many people from Newfoundland are emigrating to Nova Scotia". The total population on 24 December of that year was 801 for Sydney and 192 for the Louisbourg district. [134]

A factor though in keeping population figures from rising very greatly in the area of the Old Town may have been an attack of smallpox in the area. A report by Major General John Despard, President, to Council on 15 January 1801, makes reference to an attack of "small pox ... in the settlement of Louisbourg and ... already fatal to some Inhabitants ... Mr. Stafford the Surgeon of this Garrison is gone there to give his assistance to such as need it, and I must say that he most willingly undertook the Journey at this Inclement Season of the Year". Despard speaks of the "Steps to be taken in order to prevent the fatal effects of this disorder which may in some measure depopulate the settlement if communicated in the natural way."[135]

The report [136] by Rev. John Inglis, a Church of England minister who visited Louisbourg in 1805, paints a rather grim picture of the remains of Louisbourg and its inhabitants:

A more complete destruction of buildings can scarcely be imagined. All are reduced to confused heaps of stone after all the wood, all that was combustible, was either burnt or carried away. Much of the hewn stone and many bricks had been carried to Halifax, Sydney and other places ... The ruins of several wharfs remain. Fourteen or fifteen old rusty cannon lay at the place where I landed. The great size of the heaps of stone indicated the magnitude of the edifices. A Mr. Keugh [Keho?], a native of Louisbourg, shew the ruins of several barracks and hospitals, of the Intendant's and the admiral's house and of various other publick buildings ... There were only four families dwelling at Louisburgh, they live in poor huts following the business of fishing chiefly - raise some cattle, but have little agriculture. They are exceedingly poor. In the town and vacinity there are fourteen families, of which more than half are protestants.

Four families in the town and a grand total of fourteen for the whole vicinity does not seem to be an indication of great habitation. In his visitation to Louisbourg in 1843, John Inglis spoke of his visit of 1805 when one of the soldiers who assisted in the siege and capture of the Fortress in 1758 was living among the ruins. Apparently he described the town as it once was. Whether this was Mr. Keugh [Keho] is not clear. [137]

Three petitions, one in 1802, one in 1809, and one in 1810 provide us with information about several of the families either in the Old Town or in its vicinity.

A petition of 1802 to Despard by Richard Laroway stated that the petitioner was married and had three children. He asked for a title to a lot at Louisbourg which he had occupied the "past six years" by the verbal permission of President Mathews. A Council meeting of 2 March 1802 stated that the petition was "compiled with in a due proportion of Lot No. 7 from which is to be reserved for fishing lots five chains from the Beach, one chain of which is to be given the Petitioner as a fishing lot." [138]

The petition of 1 May 1809 was made to Brigadier General Nepean, President of Council, by one Timothy Hogan who was born in Limerick, Ireland, emigrated to Newfoundland, and from thence to Cape Breton "when the French visited the island in 1796".

Hogan stated that he asked on the "first of last month" for a Lot of Land in Louisbourg:

Which your Honour and Council has been pleased to Acquiese to, which lot has been formerly occupied by James Kennedy Junior who eloped This County fourteen or fifteen years ago and is since dead, also for a Lot or portion of Land in the Town of Louisbourg (so called) which had been formerly Occupied by Dennis Kennedy Senior, who is dead there Seven or Eight Years back, both which places or Lots is held and possessed by Mr. Pierce Kenedy, Senior of said place, together with othe Lots Exclusive to the detriment of others who are as Good and Loyal Subjects as Mr. Kenedy. Petitioner also begs leave to intimate to your Honor and Council, that any representations of Mr. Kenedy's respecting his improvements on said places is merely trifling as it is evident that their produce has long enough ago Sufficiently Compensated him for his trouble on that account, that Mr. Kennedy has a Lot or portion of Land in the Town adjoining that which Petitioner has solicated ... for ... , Exclusive of an Extensive Lot outside the Lines or Walls, which he keeps under Cultivation, of Hay, Grain and potatoes, that the produce of the Chiefest part of the Lot formerly held by Dennis Kenedy, the present Mr. Kenedy disposes of to be different people in Consequence of which Petitioner humbly prays your [Honor] will permit him to Cut or Mow the hay off said Lot [to feed his six head of cattle] ... Petitioner begs leave also to intimate further that Mr. Kenedy has been investigating some of his Neighbours to obstruct and oppose any person of persons daring to try for lands in Louisbourg, that him and his children has made several false and unjust representations representing their improvements on the first lot, but the place they alluded to is not connected to the Lot petitioned for ...

Kennedy's claim was upheld, however, for a note on the petition says "Cannot be complied with, it being already occupied". Another note on this petition gives us some idea of the occupation on the Fortress site. It states "It appears that the Town of Louisbourg is divided among four or five people with the exception of about twelve blocks which are herein petitioned for; so that instead of one town lot the petitioner asks for a space containing 36 lots". [139]

A petition of 1810 by Mihael Slaugherty [Slatery], "a native of Limerick, Ireland", and a resident of Louisbourg for seventeen years, with a wife and eight children, was compiled with. He has held a lot by licence of occupation, but had no woodlot. He petitioned for 200 acres of woodland in the rear of Louisbourg and got 100 acres of it. This lot would seem to have been on Louisbourg Road, 20 chains north of James Young's lot. [140]

THE LAND POLICY (1800-1820)

The land policy between 1800-1820 is confusing and there are several opinions as to its nature. Certainly, the policy was an unclear one. Susan Morse gives the date 1807 as the date that lands could be granted again in Cape Breton.[141] Her source is not given. Richard Brown states that the practice of granting lands to bona fide settlers was, for some reason not stated, discontinued in 1811 and Crown Leases Terminable at will substituted.[142] If these dates are correct, the Imperial Government must have had uncertain opinions as to the best policy with which to deal with Cape Breton. It is worthwhile to note that up until 1820, when Cape Breton was reannexed to the Government of Nova Scotia, there were no grants of land at Louisbourg (except one) but leases and licences of occupation. A document found in the Nova Scotia Archives, undated but contained in Vol. 327, a volume marked as Manuscript Documents of Cape Breton between 1810-1816, gives instructions to the Cape Breton government "to issue Warrants of Survey for Such Lands as Shall be vacant and ungranted to Such Persons or Persons as shall be desirous of improving and cultivating the same". Many restrictions and conditions surrounded the new regulation. Limits on the size of grants and the use of land were imposed. Preference was to be given to those persons who settled on land waiting for the restrictions of 6 March 1790 to be removed. [143] The regulation probably was issued sometime in the early 1800's. It may be the regulation referred to by Susan Morse in her article as being issued in 1807. If there was a change of policy it seemingly did not affect Louisbourg to any extent.

The following is a reproduction of said document: P.A.N.S., Vol. 327, Cape Breton Manuscript Documents 1810-1816, Document 143, Instructions Respecting Granting Lands.

It is our Will and pleasure and we do hereby authorize you by and with the advice and Consent of our Council of our Province of Nova Scotia to issue Warrants of Survey for Such Lands as Shall be vacant and ungraned to such Persons or Persons as shall be desirous of improving and cultivating the same provided that all and every Person and Persons who shall apply to you for any Warrant or Warrants for land shall previously to their obtaining the Same [make] it appear to you in Council that they are in condition to cultivate and improve the Lands according to the Condition Specified in these our Instructions or by establishing thereon a Sufficient number of Settlers either servants or others according to the proportion herein [described] and shall be at the Same time produce Such Proofs of their Loyalty to us and attachment to our Government as shall be required of you and our Council, and also to take several oaths required by law, and in case you shall repare [?] a Consideration of the circumstances of the Person or Persons applying, think it advisable to grant such warrant you shall issue the same under your hand and seal to the Surveyor General of Lands for our Said Province authorizing and requiring him to make or cause to be made a faithful and exact Survey of the Land in Such Warrant directed and to return the said Warrant within Six Months at furthest from the date hereof, with a Plate or description of the Land so conveyed thereunto annexed and it is our will and pleasure that the Several Persons to whom you with the advice and Consent of our Said Council shall grant Such Warrants of Survey Shall within six months be made out in due form and the Terms and Conditions required by these our Instructions be particularly and expressly mentioned therein and the Said grants Shall be requested at the Secretary's Office of our Said Province to which Registry Shall be attached a Duplicate of the Plan annexed to the original grant and a Do [Duplicate] thereof be entered in our auditors Office and also in the Office of our Receiver General of Quit Rents within three Months after signing the Same otherwise Such Grants shall be void and of none effect, copies of which entries shall be returned regularly by the proper Office to the Commissioners of our Treasury within Six months from this date hereof and you will take Care that an abstract of all Grants be every Six Months transmitted to us through one of our Principal Secretary's State and a Duplicate thereof to the Committee of our Privy Council for Trade and Plantations.

And whereas great inconveniences have arisen in Some of our Colonies from Granting large Quantities of Land to Persons who have been unwilling or unable to Settle and cultivate the same whereby the Prosperity of the Colony has been checked and retarded to the Manifest Injury Injury [sic] of the active and industrious Settlers and of the Public Interest. It is our will and Pleasure that in Granting Warrants of Survey as aforesaid. You do take especial care that the Quantity of Land to be in proportion to the ability of the application to cultivate the Same, and you are hereby required to observe the following directions and regulations in all Grants to be made by you namely that one Hundred acres of Land to be proportion to be alloted to any person being Master of or Misstress of a Family and Fifty acres for each of their children actually present at the time of making out the Grant (and in case it shall appear to you and our Said Council that the person applying for Such Warrants of Survey Shall be of Sufficient Ability to cultivate a large Quantity of Land than the real number of Persons in his or her Family would entitle Such Person to take up you are hereby allowed to grant an additional number of acres according to the circumstances of the Case - Provided always that no greater quantity than Five hundred acres in the whole Shall be granted to any one Person without our express permission and provided that if the grant Shall exceed Two Hundred acres and not otherwise the Grantee shall pay the Receiver General of our Quit Rent or to such other Officer as Shall be appointed to receive the Same the Sum of Five Shillings only for every fifty acres So granted over and above the Quantity of Two Hundred acres in the day of the date of the grant, never the less Should any Case arise in which from Special circumstances you with the advice and Consent of our Said Council Should think fit to recommend a Grant of Land to any Person over and above the Quantity of Five Hundred acres you are to represent the same to us through one of our Principal Secretaries of State together with your reasons for Such recommendation in order that our pleasure may be Signified to you thereupon.

And when any Persons who Shall hereafter take out Grants for any Land Shall have Settled Planted and Cultivated or improved the Said Land or any part of it according to the directions and conditions above mentioned Such persons may make proof of such sealing (?) Planting Cultivation and Improvement in the General Courts of the Counties or Districts where Such Lands Shall be certified by the Judges and Foreman of the Grand Juries of the Said Courts to the Registers Office and be there entered within the Record of the Said Patent a copy of which Shall be admitted on any Trial to prove the Sealing and planting of Such Land and every three Acres which Shall be certified to be cleared and worked as aforesaid, Shall be accounted a Sufficient Sealing (?) planting, Cultivation, or Improvement, to Save from forfeiture 50 acres of land in any part of the Tract contained within the Same Grant or Patent.

And it is our further will and pleasure that the conditions of cultivation and Settlement required to be performed and the amount of Quit Rent directed to be paid by the fourth and Sixth articles of these our Instructions, be Specified in every grant of Land to be issued by you as aforesaid that it be and also expressly Stated therein, that in case the Granter Shall not within the space of 5 years from the date of the Grant have fulfilled the Several terms and Conditions prescribed, the Same shall be void and of none effect, and the Lands thereby intended to be granted, Shall revert to us, our Heirs, and Successors.

And whereas it is understood that many Persons Since the date of our restraining order of the 6th day of March, 1790, have been induced to settle upon Purtions [sic] of our Waste Lands within our Said Province, in the expectation of receiving regular Titles, thereto, when the above mentioned restriction should be withdrawn. It is our will and pleasure that all due preference and encouragement Should be Given to the applications of Persons So circumstanced for grants of the Lands upon which they May have actually settled, or which they have received permission to occupy, Subject however to the restrictions Contained in those Instructions with respect to the number of acres to be granted and provided they do in 12 months after Public notice given by you of our Gracious intentions in this respect, apply, for, and Take out grants in proper form for the Same.

Whereas the reserving Such Tracts of Land, within One Province of Nova Scotia, where there are considerable growths of Timber fit for the use of our Royal Navy is a matter of the utmost importance to one Service, It is our will and Pleasure that no Grants whatever be made within our Said Province of Nova Scotia, until our Survey of General Woods, or His Deputy lawfully appointed, Shall have viewed and marked out Such Districts within our Said Province, as reservation to as, Our Heirs, and Successors, as Shall be Found to contain any considerable Growth of Masting or other timber fit for the use of our Royal Navy and more especially upon any of the Rivers in our Said Province, Convenient for Transportation, and you are hereby instructed to direct our Surveyor General of Lands in our Said Province, not to certify and plots of Land ordered and Surveyed for any Person or Persons whatsoever, in order that Grants may be made out for the Same until it shall appear to him by certificate under the Land of our Said Surveyor of woods, or his Deputy, that the Land to be granted is not part of, or included in any District marked out as a reservation for us, our Heirs, and Successors, as aforesaid for the purpose herein before mentioned and in order to prevent any deceit or fraud from being Committed by persons applying for lands in this respect, It is our will and pleasure that in all grants to be hereafter made for Lands within our said Province of Nova Scotia, the following Provise Exception, and Condition be inserted [therein] and provided also that no part of the Parcel or Tract of Land hereby granted to the Said and His Heirs be within any reservation hereto fore made and marked for us, our Heirs and Successors, by our Surveyor General of the woods or his lawful Deputy in which case, this our grant [being] part of the Land hereby given & Granted to the Said and His Heirs [sic] forever as aforesaid, and which shall upon Survey thereof being made be found within any Such reservations Shall be null and void to of none effect any thing herein contained the contrary not withstanding.

And whereas many parts of our Province of Nova Scotia are represented to be particularly adapted to the Growth in the Culture of Hemp and Flax, this our will and Pleasure that in every Survey for Settlement the Surveyor be directed to report whether thiere [sic] is any or what Quantity of Land contains within Such Survey fit for the Production of hemp or flax and you are to take particular care to insert a clause in every Grant of Land, where any part thereof is for for Such production, obliging the Grantee annually to Sow a proportional part of his Grant with hemp or Flax Seed.

And whereas considerable bodies of land within our Said Province are claimed or held by Persons who have not improved and cultivated the Same nor otherwise complied with the terms and conditions of their respective Grants and in most instances no Quit Rents reserved to [H.M.] have bee paid thereupon, and whereas many Loyal Subjects who may hereafter come into our Said Province may be desirous of Settling and improving the Lands which are under the circumstances aforesaid. It is our will and pleasure that you do give directions to the proper Officers that such loyal steps be taken as may effectually revert in us our Hiers [sic] and Successors Such Lands as by Law are liable to be excheated & forfeited within our said Province, either by non improvement non payment of Quit Rents, or non performance of any of the Conditions of the Grants & thereupon to grant the same to such Persons in Such Quantities and upon such conditions as by these instructions you are directed and authorized.

And it is our further will and Pleasure that you do Consider of a proper and effectual method of collecting receiving, and accounting for our Quit Rents when the Same shall become payable, whereby all Frauds, Concealments, Irregularities or neglect therein may be presented and whereby the receipt thereof may be effectually checked and controuted, [controlled?] and if it shall and here appear necessary to pass an Act for the more speedily and regularly collected [sic] our Quit Rents, you are to prepare the heads of Such a bill as you may think may most effectually condure to the procuring the good ends proposed, and to transmit the Same to us, thro one of our principal Secretaries of State for our further directions therein --

PETITIONS 1811-1820

The following petitions give information not only as to habitation but to the background of the families settling around or at Louisbourg [Old Town].

The 1811 petition of Pierce Kennedy [144] is revealing as to the size of the Kennedy "clan" and their state of livelihood. The petition addressed to the "Honorable Brigadier General Neapane President of his Majestyes Council Commander in Chief In and Over the Island of Cape Briton [sic] and Its Dependances ..." reads:

The Humble Petition of Pierce Kennedy Sheweth that he has been a Settler at Louisbourg 38 years has had In that time 11 children, 5 sons, and 6 Daughters All Born & Brought up at Louisbourg of which 4 is married [,] that he has 14 Grand Children [,] that the Quantity of Land he has for his support is about 19 acres [,] that the rest on paper is an Entire rock or Morass Incapable of being Emproved [sic] - having Licences for the Same from his Excelencey Governor McCarmick that the Above 19 acres Is Not Sufficient for the Support of his Larg Family that two of his Sons has No Land the One 21 year[s] & the other 23 of Age. Your Petitioner Humbly prays that yr. Honor. W.^d Grant us 600 Acres of Land on the Uper Maira Road Distance from Louisbourg Six Miles that there is a Settelment [sic] to take Place this Spring on Mr. Hutintons Land where the French Formerly had a ferry on the above Road leading from Louisbourg to Brad or Leake that the Settelers mean to open A Road from thence to where Mr. Ingivill Farm is forks [sic] the Distance being they say Six Miles that the Distance from Louisbourg to where the Settelment is to take place is Computed to be Sixteen Miles [by] the Road Made by the French -&when cleared fit to Drive a Carriage on [,] that it will be an Easey Communication for the people Cabarouse [sic] to Come to Sydney being a Shorter way than Comeing [sic] by Louisbourg that yr, Petitioner and Sons will Clear the Road to the Above ferry - that my Loyalty and Attachment to our Happy Constitution and Best of Kings Cannot be I hope be Doubted [,] That the Character of me and Sons will bear the Strictest Scrutiney [sic]. For Honesty Soberity and Industry that my Making a beginning May be an Inducement to other Industrious-People to settel on that Road [.] that the Land prayed for are In a State of Nature being Wood-Lands Never Occupied by any Person Since the Conquest of the Island - that yr. Honors Giving Me permission to Settel to Emprove the Above Land yr. Petitioner will as In Bound --

                                                               [signed] Pray Pierce Kennedy

The composition of this document, written in a beautiful hand and signed by the writer, would indicate that Pierce Kennedy had a fair amount of education. It is interesting to note that this Kennedy had been a resident at Louisbourg for 38 years, making his time of settlement somewhere around 1773. This would seem to be correct as the Kennedys are mentioned as being residents at Louisbourg in the 1772 and 1774 Occupation chart. There is no indication that the land for which he petitioned was issued to him.

Other petitions were for land outside the Walls - on the Louisbourg Road, on the Sydney Road, and in the rear of the Town of Louisbourg. James Young and his wife (in 1811) were recommended to receive 200 acres "in the rear of the Town of Louisbourg". Michael and John Slattery, aged 22 and 24 respectively, who had been residents at Louisbourg since their birth, were recommended to receive (in 1816) adjoining lots on the Louisbourg Road. [145]

Another possibility, with respect to habitation at Old Louisbourg, seems to be associated with the war of 1812. J.G. Bourinot speaking of Louisbourg around 1868, stated that "fifty years after the fall of Louisbourg, Lord Bathurst ordered all American prisoners to be removed from Halifax to Louisbourg 'as a place of safety'". [146] The possibility of prisoners being housed in the Old Town at this time has not been further substantiated, but the possibility remains.

An interesting document giving information on land in Cape Breton was that "List of Grants and Leases, Recorded in the Register's Office" [147] on 30 July 1814. It gave the "Number of Grants entered in the Regristers [sic] Office Commencing May 1786 ending March 1810" as 278, and the number of Acres Granted as 159, 621. The "Number of Crown Leases entered commencing July, 1803 to the present date" [July 30, 1814] was 348. The "Lesses occupying during His Majesty's pleasure" was a confusing figure stated thus: "704.990 Ac". The failure of Cape Breton land policy to stimulate settlement, however, is evident from these figures.

The years 1816-1820 saw many petitions for land in the district of Louisbourg. Of outstanding interest is the petition of Pierce Kennedy Jr., on 3 September 1816, to the President of Council. The petition, asking for renewal of a lease for land in Louisbourg, reads:

The Petition ... Sheweth That your Honors Petitioner is a Native of this Island Born in Louisbourg, where your Petitioner has resided all his Lifetime, That your Petitioner's Uncle died [Perhaps Dennis, Senior, who died around 1802] and left your Petitioner his land, That your Petitioner finding it necessary to renew the said lease, and is in hopes that your Honor Will Plase [sic] in addition to the said lot owing to the deficiency of Water, allow your Petitioner, five chains up the Brook known as Lot N-6, to run Northerly to follow the course of the said Lease, That your Petitioner is now in the thirty sixth year of His Age and Wishing to Settle himself for the remainder of Life Having done a great deal of Improvements on the said Lot, In hopes your Honors Wisdom and Goodness, will Please to Grant your Petitioner his request as above stated ...

A note at the bottom says the petition was recommended in Council "Apl. 1st". [148]

Petitions [149] for land in the Louisbourg vicinity continued, although few are for land in the Old Town. The Kennedies and these other inhabitants that got licences in 1795 and 1796 seem to have had most of their land under their control. Michael Slatery [Senior] applied for a clear land title to land in Louisbourg in 1817. In 1819, William Cryer, aged 25, married, a native of Cape Breton and a resident of Louisbourg, was issued 200 acres on the south west side of the road from Louisbourg to Gaberous, near the north block House, as a result of his petition. James Young seems to have received a right to land in the "North East corner" [Louisbourg] in 1818. The following persons also seem to have had their petitions recommended: William Burke [1820], a lot on the Louisbourg Road; David Lorraway (1820) - a water lot on the south side of Louisbourg Harbour; and Michael Slattery [Sr.] [1820], an occupier of a lot for 26 years at Louisbourg, who asked for a grant of his land now held by licence of occupation.

The crown Lease of most interest, however, is that issued to Edward Kavanagh [probably the son of the Kavanagh at Louisbourg in the 1760's and 1770's] on 28 October 1817 for "a lot on the side of the Town of Louisbourg near the Devil's Battery beginning on the Shore at the Southwestern former Boundary of a lot in the occupation of John Morgridge thence running by the magnet North forty five Degrees West eighteen Chains thence West seven Chains and fifty links thence South forty three Degrees East seven Chains and seventy links thence South twenty six Degrees West two Chains and fifty links thence South forty five Degrees East twenty five Chains more or less to the Shore thence along Shore Easterly to the place of commencement containing 18 Acres and no more with Allowance for Roads & C ..." [150] He also seems to have applied for a Lot 13 on the north side of Louisbourg Harbour, consisting of 89 acres. [151]

CENSUS REPORTS OF 1811 AND 1818

The 1811 census report as given in the Nova Scotia Archives does not seem to be complete as I could find no mention of Louisbourg. The Louisbourg Women's Institute, [152] however, states that in this census of 1811 there were a total of 83 inhabitants listed for Louisbourg, all of whom were "Kehoes, Slatterys, Prices, Doyles, Kellys, Cryers, and Kennedies". Their source of the 1811 census is not indicated. There is a document dated 4 July 1812, entitled "Abstract of the number of Male Inhabitants, men and children, in each of the districts of the Island of Cape Breton", and signed by Chet A. Ward, Deputy-Secretary, that gives the number of men at Louisbourg as being 59, the number of male children as 126, the total as 185, and the number fit for military duty as 24. The whole island had only 744 men and 1625 male children, totalling 2,364, of which only 599 were fit for military duty.[153] Just how many of these male inhabitants were in the Old Town is not easy to determine. One would not expect many of the licences of occupation and leases are any indication.

In 1818 [154] the census report was of use as it gave the inhabitants of Louisbourg, although their exact position in the district was not indicated. The only families in the census we know from licences of occupation of earlier date to have been residing at the old Fortress are the Kehoes, Kennedies, and John Maugeredy [Morgridge; Maugende; Mugridge]. It is noteworthy that although Edward Kavanagh obtained land in 1817 he is not indicated as being an inhabitant there in the 1818 census. The census gives us some of the background and situations of the Old Town inhabitants referred to previously.

1818 CENSUS FOR LOUISBOURG

BISHOP PLESSIS' VISIT OF 1815

The Bishop of Quebec, Plessis, and four companions, on a tour of Catholic Missions in Cape Breton in 1815, visited Louisbourg on 19 June. They found the Old City in a state of destruction after 57 years. The Bishop spoke of the "solitude" and the "gloomy silence" at a place which had seen so many people in past years. In his diary the Bishop recorded: "What heaps of stones! You could see moats, glacis, foundations of houses, bases of chimneys, ruins of gunpowder boxes, storehouses and casemates; but nothing was entire, nothing that could be recognized with certainty ... The only people to be found now are about nine or ten Irish families, scattered around the harbour, where they settles a few years after the surrender. There is only one man, Peter [Pierce?] Kennedy, who has built his house in a corner of the city, properly so-called. The shore here is littered with a score of spiked guns ... [in his statistical notebook the Bishop recorded, 'At Louisbourg, 8 or 9 families']. Peter [Pierce] Kennedy seems to have been an influential member of the Catholic community. He pleased on behalf of the other Catholics and himself for the favor of the Bishop holding Mass on the following day a request which had been denied because of the Bishop's tight journey schedule. Plessis described the home of Peter Kennedy at Louisbourg as one of the "most respectable homes in which a priest can stay and set up his altar". [155]

The Bishop made other interesting comments of use on the ruins:

[19 June, Monday] The better-off people of the island came from time to time, as necessity prompts them, to search in the ruins of Louisbourg for bricks of good quality with which to build chimneys. But nobody seems to want any of the black close-grained stone, of which there is at the place a quantity of more than 300 fathoms all ready for use. During the last siege, these stones were cut off from a cliff which could easily yield ten times as many, if it were worked. It is hard to say whether the French undertook to break up this cliff to secure stone for some part of the fortifications, or to deprive those besieging the place as a means of approaching it. [156]

As mentioned previously, this period is not one too clearly revealed in documents of the period. Little is vividly disclosed concerning Louisbourg. Even the land documents do not give as complete a picture as might be desired. The period following Bishop Plessis' visit in 1815, (1816-1820) and the first decade of the nineteenth century seem particularly indistinct, but it seems safe to assume that no great population boom reached the confines of Old Town Louisbourg.

1820 - 1830

During the early Nineteenth century, the population of the Louisbourg district, as it very slowly increased, became more and more widespread. Licences were taken out for land all around the harbour, in the west, north west, north, north-east, and even in the South end of the Harbor. As the Old Fortress had nothing to offer now but the possibility of grazing lots or fish lots on the shore, it could only support a few families, who, even then, were forced to obtain licences for land elsewhere in order to maintain a living. We saw this situation evidenced early in the 1811 petition of Pierce Kennedy. With the union again of Cape Breton with the government of Nova Scotia, in 1820, grants were again made available for land in Cape Breton, but the state of the island seems to have been such as to discourage people from settling there. In 1923, a report stated that Cape Breton "had few Inhabitants and no Freeholders. Its population did not then exceed 200 or 300 in number; it lay in a rude and unsettled state - had few or no roads into the interior and was in such condition that the Local Government, however anxious it might be to extend it to the elective franchise, was absolutely prevented from bringing it into exercise in the mode originally intended." [157]

A report on the Old Town of Louisbourg in 1825 by a Roman Catholic priest, Father Vincent de Paul, who was returning from France, and stayed at Louisbourg three days with his four companions, would indicate that there was little habitation except for Denis Kennedy and some others not mentioned, specifically. The Catholic father wrote of Louisbourg on 30 July 1825 the following:

I am writing to you at this moment on the ruins of the Old town of Louisbourg. There remain only two paltry houses, built of wood. One of them belongs to a man named Denis Canadee [Dennis Kennedy] who is a Catholic, and the five of us are lodged in it. The good man lent it to us for the time we are to remain here. It was unoccupied. [158]

A map of 1827 [159] entitled "Louisbourg, Surveyed in 1827 by Mr. Benj^n. Cossit, D.L. Sur^vy." shows the Old Town and the complete harbour. Dennis Kennedy is shown occupying a strip of land in the fortress confines. There are three buildings (perhaps four) indicated on this land. A strip occupied by William H. Cryer had either two or three structures of some type indicated thereupon, though one of them seems to have been on the boundary between Cryer's land and that 18 acre strip of land indicated as belonging to Edward Kavanagh. It should be noted, however, that a deed of 1825, Dec. 7, and a "release of Dower" from Sarah Kavanagh (wife of Edward) on 14 October 1825, gave possession of this land to George Slattery, whose will of 28 May 1826 devised "the lot in question to his brother John and his sister, Catherine Slattery, one half each, Catherine's share to revert to John should she die without issue." This will was never probated. John Slattery took possession of the southern half of the described lot [in the 1817 lease to Kavanagh]. Catherine Slattery, who subsequently married Mathew Kehoe, took possession of the northern half of said grant. Catherine and Mathew left three children, George, John, and Mary Ann. It seems that George succeeded to the possession of this land in some way, John married and moved away, and Mary Ann became the wife of one McMillan, and lived in the U.S.A. John died leaving a widow and children. George also died and by his will left this property to his son, John Keho, of Louisbourg. [160]

A strip of land [probably that gained in 1795] beginning at the West Gate and being for the most part just outside the "town" is indicated as belonging to Pierce Kennedy and the widow of John Burke. It may be significant to note here that Pierce Kennedy, Senior, died in 1821. By his will of 18 July 1821, he divided his real estate equally between his wife Mary, his two daughter, Hestor and Elenor, and his son William. Although Pierce Kennedy Senior in his petition of 1811, speaks of eleven children, information on only seven could be found. The wife of Pierce Senior, died intestate; Hestor Kennedy died intestate and unmarried; William Kennedy died intestate and unmarried; Ellen [Elenor] Kennedy married Richard Power; another son, Pierce Junior, died intestate and unmarried; Dennis (another child) married and had a family of 11 children. A daughter, Catherine, who married Robert Anderson, lived in Victoria County and died leaving a large family; the remaining daughter, Nancy, who married James Crowdis, also lived in Victoria County, leaving a number of children at her death. Pierce Kennedy Junior seems to have taken charge of the property after the death of his father remaining in possession until 1850 [Dennis also seems to have possessed land in the Old Town as shown in the 1827 map]. The mother, the sister Hestor, and the brother William, seem to have remained with Pierce Junior. A few years before his death the said Pierce Junior, as well as Dennis and Ellen [the wife of Richard Power], evidently agreed to a division of the lands and settled upon their respective parts. No deeds or partitions in writing seem to have been made. [161]

It might also be well to say something of William A. Cryer. He married Elizabeth Tutty, who had been adopted as a young girl by John Morgridge, and, as the only heir of the said Morgridge, she fell into possession of his land at Louisbourg at his death. The Cryers had one child, Elizabeth, who married James Price of Louisbourg, [162] by whom she had two sons, Philip and Lawrence. This family background helps explain how certain personages came into possession of land in the Old Town.

Referring again to the map of 1827, one should note the names of those that are indicated as having been settled all around the harbour. On the south-west Harbor lands we find the names of a Mr. Keho (licence) and James Kenedy. West Louisbourg had P. Kenedy possessing two large lots there. In the north-west we find the names of George Sharp, Morgan Murphy [D. Spruce written in pencil], Baldwin [Thos. Kehogh, written in pencil]; [Nicholas] Sprice; and on a lot marked no. 10, we find the names James Mum (warrant); on number 11, T[hos] Keho; and on number 12, L. Kavanagh. On the lands in the north harbour area we find the name of James Young on lot 13. (Michael) Slantery [sic]; Lauraway [purchased]; and John Townsend. On the North East Lands we find the names designated as being those of Mr. T. Townsend, Thomas Tutty and Johnathan Tutty. The extreme north eastern [sometimes in deeds spoken of as southern] part of the harbor was land in possession of a "Townsand", near the lighthouse. This map gives us, in this way, an indication that land outside the old City was receiving habitation although the numbers were not yet great enough to indicate that a new town was developing.

Thomas O. Haliburton around 1829 described the Old Town and it is not an impressive spectacle that he portrays. His references to the "few straggling dwellings", "a few miserable huts scattered along the shore", and to grazing sheep seem ample enough evidence for his contention that the "whole scene is melancholy". He attempted to analyse the reason for its desolation and the following was his conclusion:

It is not easy to give a reason for the continued desolation of Louisbourg. A harbor opening directly upon the sea, whence egress is unobstructed and expeditious, and return equally convenient at all seasons; excellent fishing grounds at the very entrance; space on shore for all the operations of curing the fish; every advantage for trade and the fisheries is offered in vain. The place would appear to be shunned by tacit consent. The shallops come from Arichat and St. Peter's Bay to fish, at its very mouth, but no one sets up his establishment there. The merchants resort to every station in its vicinity, to Menadou, the Bras d'ors, St. Anne, Ingonish, nay, even Cape North, places holding out no advantages to compare with those of Louisbourg, yet no one ventures there. The fatality that hangs over places of fallen celebrity, seems to press heavily upon this once valued spot. [163]

LAND PROBLEMS AND LAND POLICY

The system of disposing of Crown Lands in Cape Breton after the union of 1820 was a problem to all responsible officials. Thomas Crawley, who was offered the position of Commissioner of Crown Lands in Cape Breton by the Lieutenant Governor in 1827, expressed his views of settlement in Cape Breton:

The tracts of land held by grants or under licences from the Crown, constitute but a small portion of the really settled part of the Island. Of those tracts a large proportion remains unoccupied and uncultivated, the titles by which they are held subjecting the land to the heavy charge and delay of eacheat??, in addition to the usual expenses on a grant, before the applicant can attempt settling without the risk of losing his labor; and for this reason, the granted tracts are among the least improved of any land in Cape Breton. The remaining and by far the greater part of the country consists of Crown Land, of which part again is really settled and cultivated, by persons who applied many years ago, and are having received favorable answers to their petitions, have remained ever since without any other authority; part by others holding warrants of survey, or tickets of location, long ago expired; another part, and those particularly in the northwestern side of the Island, about Judigne, Mabou, and in that neighbourhood, by persons possessing the authority, but who, having had lots laid out for them by the deputy Surveyor of the district, consider their possession perfectly safe, at least as long as the deputy remains in office. An extent of cultivated land, however, is that occupied by indigent settlers, emigrants from Europe and others, who being without the means for making applications for leave to settle on land, and equally unable to pay for the survey, have seated themselves at random, and labored hard for existance, being impelled to this unlicenced proceeding by the imminent danger of starvation ... The needy emigrants are the people who serve as pioneers and rough workers, who clear the way and prepare the country for those who may succeed them with longer purses. This is what is really seen to take place in Cape Breton.

He goes on to explain how the needy settler arrives, cannot afford to make applications for land, clears, plants and lives the first year on that crop. His lot improved each year; he moves when the new owner takes over and pays him for his labor. He moves to a new lot and continues this process, improving two or three farms for people who have taken out grants, and who become permanent occupants. From his savings, the money paid for his improvements, he is enabled to make "a regular application in his own name for a grant of the crown lands and he eventually becomes a lawful proprietor and cultivator." [164] His approval of the last form of settlement seems to have been wholehearted, but he apparently thought there were many abuses to be corrected. The instructions of 1827 by the Nova Scotia government provided for grants of land using "the principle of sale". This roused great opposition, and arguments were presented showing how the poverty of many in Nova Scotia would prevent them from acquiring lands. One such argument against this principle referred to the effect it would have had on Cape Breton, and, how, as the result of vigorous protest, especially by Thomas Crawley, it was changed:

If those instructions were inapplicable to Nova Scotia Proper, they were doubly so as regards Cape Breton, in as much as that Island was in a greater degree than the rest of the Province, occupied by irregular settlers, whose poverty had prevented their making application for the land on which they were settled, and who, consequently, could not be expected to purchase under the new regulations; and on referring to a copy of the instructions to Mr. Crawley, to whom the Lieutenant-Governor then (1827), offered the situation of Commissioner of Crown Lands, that gentleman so forcibly expressed his opinion; that their tendency would be to retard the lawful settlement of the country by the increased expense of obtaining grants and to create much suffering among the numerous class of the population ... just alluded to, that it was not deemed expedient to extend the new system to the whole of Cape Breton ... [As a result of much argument], authority was given to the Surveyor General to grant licences of occupation [in Cape Breton] ...[165]

There were other defects inherent in the system of distributing Crown Lands. "One of the principle defects in the system" was the "difficulty experienced in inducing persons settled on lands under the authority of warrants of survey to complete their titles ... Several years indeed, commonly elaps[ed] between the issuing of a warrant, and the taking out of a grant". [166]

There is available a list of all the applicants for grants of land at Louisbourg by 1827. It does not, however, show those people who had not begun paying their fees - only those whose fees were partly paid or paid in full by 1827. Those inhabitants listed seem to have paid, for the most part, their complete fees. The three Old Town owners listed are William A. Cryer, John Cryer, and Matthew Keogh [Keho?].

Thomas Crawley not only had much to say concerning settlement, in Cape Breton in general, but of settlement in Louisbourg, specifically. In writing to the Lieutenant-Governor on 19 June 1827, he referred to the results of a survey of the harbor of Louisbourg to show how carelessly the land there had been issued, allowing a few people to occupy land which could have been occupied by a much greater number:

... it appears that about thirty Persons possess under Grants and Licences, chiefly the latter, a place that might have accomodated three or four hundred families of fishermen; and so little has the confidence of the public been considered that there is not a reserved landing place from the entrance to the head of the Harbor; for the Reservations made by His Majesty's late Surveyor General of Woods and even the military Roads are all included in the Licences. The Road leading to Gabbarus which formerly commenced at the shore, passed through No. 15 and crossed the old military Road is closed by the possessors of the front Lots, so that the Settlers in the Rear are debarred from all access to the shore except by going round the Pond at the west angle of the Harbour, for which indulgence they must be indebted to the occupiers of the soil ... The Tract distinguished by 30 was granted, by mistake, to James Townsend on whose representation that the Grant did not include the land he had chosen, a Licence [was] given to him for 31, containing the same quantity of land, four hundred Acres, which with the hundred acres assigned by Licence to John Townsend at No. 28 makes nine hundred acres that his family possesses at the head of this noble Harbour ... All the Licences except that for 31 were given during pleasure only and for the purpose of improvement, which after a lapse of six and thirty years is found not to exceed in any instance, three acres, unless shewing the mortor and robbish of the Buildings that were destroyed for the sale of the Bricks, over the Lots on the site of the Town, be admitted as an exception ...

The only land now at the disposal of the Crown is in the rear of the Town, to the westward of it, No. 29 and the space between 33 and 34 which is so poor and rocky that it presents few inducements to settle on it, except on the shore where fishermen, seafaring persons or traders might be accommodated with small lots.

Should it be thought desirable to provide for the establishment of an extensive fishery, I should beg to suggest as a remedy to the effects of the prodigality and seeming carelessness that prevailed in the disposing of the Lands in that Harbor, if any alteration can be made when Grants are issued, to reserve a space of one hundred feet wide all round it, and roads at convenient distance between the Lots to enable fishermen to procure fuel and brushwood for their flakes ... This would not occasion much inconvenience or loss to the present occupants, who, if their trifling improvements be considered, would have little cause to complain of being required to yield something for the accomodation of the Public, after the enjoyment, for so many years, on such easy terms, of larger Lots than they had any right to expect in a situation so advantageous ... [167]

Crawley's letter gives a lucid view of the situation; his suggestions of reserving all land around the harbour and between the lots for the encouragement of the fisheries seem to have had merit. Unfortunately, little action seems to have been taken to implement them. Conspicuous was the reference to the Old Town, in which Crawley alluded to the destruction of the mortar and ruins of the Fortress Buildings for the sake of the Bricks that were still usable for usage. This fact seems to account for the rapid disappearance of many of the old French structures by such a relatively early date.

Crawley's suggestion of smaller lots for persons residing at fishing stations extended even to the south-east side of Louisbourg Harbor, in the area of the Old Town. In answering a request on 5 November 1827 for his opinion with respect to petitions of William Tutty and John Cryer for lots in Louisbourg Harbor, Crawley commented:

I would beg leave to suggest for his Excellency's consideration the accomodation that might be afforded to fishermen, seafaring persons and traders, if the vacant Land on the South East Side of the Harbor were laid out in Lots of one chain wide and five in depth with convenient streets, like those in the Harbor of Menadou, and if the farm Lots on the north and the western sides were limited to 50 Acres, at the most, for the convenience of the same classes of people --- A water Lot of one chain wide, on the beach for Cryer is perhaps of that kind which his Excellency would order to be laid out in every part of the Harbor were the shores now, for the first time, to be divided into Lots ---

The lot of William A. Cryer in the Old Town is mentioned: "The small Lot of about nine acres, described in Cryer's Petition between Kavanaghs' and Kennedys' Lots, held under licence, does not appear to be of much importance unless an entirely new distribution could be made of the Land about the site of the Town ---." [168] As previously mentioned, his recommendations do not seem to have been implemented, much to the loss of Old Louisbourg.

The policy undertaken by the Government of Nova Scotia was one that Louisbourg had seen since 1760. Grants for lots at the Old Town were forbidden. A letter on 14 October 1830, from W. Hill, Deputy Provincial Secretary, to Thomas Crawley as Surveyor General of Lands in Cape Breton read:

His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor having had under his consideration applications of William A. Cryer and John Cryer for grants of Lots at and near Louisbourg and having adverted to the known intentions of His Excellency Sir James Kempt touching grants at that place while he administered the Government of this Province as well as to the propriety of such a decision. I am commanded to acquaint you as well for your information and guidance as for that of the parties concerned and future applicants that His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor is pleased to direct that no applications shall be allowed for Grants of Fish and other lots on the site of or in and about the Town of Louisbourg. His Excellency, however, will authorize on proper occasions of Licences of Occupation revocable at the pleasure of the Crown. [169]

With the unsettled land situations as it was, it is of no great surprise to find that in 1830 the total population in the County of Cape Breton was only 18,700 with 445 at Sydney and vicinity, and 158 at Big Loren and Louisbourg. [170] The individual population of Louisbourg must have been considerably smaller. The new policy of forbidding grants at Louisbourg did not bode much improvement for the area in succeeding years.