Background of Document
The
following words have been transcribed from an early Upper Canada document
created as “Letters Patent” which appears to have been in the possession of
the ancestors of Diane (Stein) Lawless of Elizabethtown-Kitley, Ontario and
found its way during the summer of 2004 to Mr. W. David Beatty of the historical
committee of Elizabethtown – Kitley Township, County of Leeds, Province of
Ontario, Canada.
When
the writer initially viewed this document, it appeared to hold a significance of
great importance not only to Ontario, but all of Canada as three of those
mentioned in this document had previously signed the 1786 Letter of Petition
that began the process that resulted in the Canada Act otherwise known as the
Constitutional Act of 1791, the very basis of constitutional Canada.
While not of the same level of importance, nevertheless, this is an
important and early document that remains in extraordinary condition.
It will be of much more import to
Ontario
as it is an Upper Canada
specific document and in
particular to
Leeds
and Grenville
Counties
which make up most of the
old Johnstown District, the area subject to this document.
The
question arises of why this document was in private hands.
The answer very well could be, but is doubtful, that each magistrate was
given a laboriously produced original copy of this document.
If so, then it can be assumed that twenty (20) existed at one time.
This may or may not be the case, but it would explain it being in private
hands. It is the writer’s
intention to search the family of Diane (Stein) Lawless, with permission, to
determine if there is any connection to any of the magistrates made through
these Letters Patent. This contact
has now been made and in fact a Stein family was found to be resident in 6th
Township, or what is now Edwardsburg in October of 1784.
The
effect of this document is the appointment of a slate of 29 citizens to the
position of Magistrate (Justice of the Peace), 20 within the District of
Johnstown and the duty charging of those magistrates.
The document is dated the 30th day of June 1800 and is signed
by Lt. Governor, Peter Hunter the third Lt. Governor of
Upper Canada
who filled this position
from 1799 to 1805. The
document notes that 1800 was the fortieth year of the reign of George 3rd.
George 3rd would have
been 62 years of age at this time and would live for another 20 years.
The first Lt. Governor of Upper Canada
was
Lt. General John Graves Simcoe 1792 to 1794 followed by Peter Russell as
an Administrator for 1798 and part of 1799, then Lt. General Peter Hunter
beginning in 1799. General Hunter
was also Officer Commanding His Majesties Forces in Upper and
Lower Canada
at this time.
It
should be noted that at the time of this document, the term “magistrate” had
a wider range of meanings than now. In
general, it was used to describe any public officer belonging to a civil
organization such as the Executive Council or
Assembly
who had been invested with powers and functions that were judicial, legislative
and/or executive in nature. The
courts at this time also administered District affairs such as appointing a
District Treasurer, Surveyor, Tax Collector and were also responsible for roads,
bridges and the granting of licenses. As
Magistrates, these persons could also perform marriages and did so as are
evidenced by the early marriage records of the Johnstown District.
For
some obscure reason, this document appears to be making
Johnstown
magistrates of all of the
Executive Council Members of Upper Canada as well as 20 citizens of the
Johnstown District. It may be
that Lt. Governor Hunter simply took the
Johnstown
opportunity to give all
Executive Council members the powers of a magistrate.
It may also be that all Executive Council members were made ex officio
magistrates in each separate district for some administrative reason.
Note:
There are no surviving records for the years 1795 to 1797 and for the
year 1809. These may have been lost
when the Legislative Buildings were burned at
York
(
Toronto
)
by American Troops during the War of 1812.
In retaliation, the White House was burned by British Troops.
This
document is about 27 ½ inches in width, about 29 inches in length and appears
to be of calf belly parchment commonly called vellum when of this quality. Attached
by an unusually well preserved ribbon to the bottom of the document is a Great
Seal Deputed of Upper Canada in good condition and of about 4 ½
in. in diameter and about 7/16 of an inch in thickness and appears to be made of
wax. The obverse of this seal is
from a design drawn and submitted for die making by John Graves Simcoe himself.
The reverse of the seal is that of King George 3rd as it
existed at that time. It is interesting to note that the Royal coat of arms
includes “The French Quarter” as George 3rd also claimed a large
section of France
at this time which was not
given up until the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. The
raised letters on the seal are still quite legible.
The royal devices on this seal are somewhat similar to those in a large
painting that was known to have come from the Johnstown Court House.
This late 1700’s painting was in recent times given to the Court House
in Brockville
and now hangs in one of the
court rooms in place of a present day Ontario
coat of arms.
Like most official documents of this period the calligraphy is superb as
is the syntax. Little has been lost and that little being only in the creases of
a few folds.
The
writer has been informed by Mr. Paul MacIlroy, Senior Justice Archivist of the
Archives of Ontario, that about a dozen such documents from this period survive
in good condition and that it is extremely rare to have both the seal and ribbon
so well preserved.
At
the date of this document the judicial and administrative center of the area was
at the present day location of the Village
of Johnstown, which was within the
Johnstown District. Construction of
the Johnstown District Court House and Goal was ordered by a 1792 Act of the
first Parliament of Upper Canada, then at
Newark
(Niagara-on-the-Lake).
As a result, a two story log court house was constructed with the court
being on the upper floor and the cells and offices being on the lower floor.
For
location purposes, there is a United Church on the bank of the St. Lawrence
River just at the intersection of Hwy 16 and County Rd.2.
At the time of this document, that location was occupied by a gun
battery. The District court house
was just to the west of this location where today can still be found rubble,
presumably from the foundations of the original court building which survived
for about 75 years after the court was closed in 1808 and sessions moved to
Elizabethtown.
For a time, the Court House building was used, for amongst other things, for
church services, until finally being lost to fire in about 1880.
Transcriptions from the early sessions of this court exist and can be
found on the Grenville Genweb website. It
would be in this court house that the judicial magistrates made by these Letters
Patent would sit, usually several magistrates presiding at each session with a
chairman being chosen from among themselves for each sitting.
The
original village
of
Johnstown
was laid out in 1790.
The village Streets, as the original Townships, are named after the
family members of George 3rd.
Townships such as
Elizabethtown, named after the princess
Elizabeth Caroline, are set apart from all other
Ontario
townships as being
“Royal”. These are the
townships of
Eastern Ontario
settled by the Loyalists.
Readers
of this report will no doubt wonder at the mention of
France
in the document’s
salutation as being under the rule of the British Crown and there is a reason.
Until the Treaty of Amiens was signed,
March 25th 1802
,
England
had claims over about 1/3rd
of the
territory
of
France, thus the reference.
D.
I.
Galna,
November
20, 2004
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