conveyed his share to his son Frederick Gordon Thomson . John Thomson continued to possess his share until his death on 1 June 1874. John Thomson was living at Lowerwood, , Ireland when he published his will in 1872. His will left his Lot 26 land in equal shares to be divided by; his wife, Elizabeth MacGregor Thomson; his brother, Gordon Thomson ; and his nephew, Major General Edward Selby Smith. They did not own the land for long as the Dominion of Canada purchased the Estate on Lot 26 for $10,700 in 1876. Major Peter Gordon seems to have given authority to some members of his family, such as Robert and Anthony Gordon, to make leases involving his Lot 26 land on Prince Edward Island . Two land leases dated 1 May 1792 to Richard Price and 28 May 1792 to William Schurman were made with Anthony and Robert Gordon. Both of these leases involved land along the Dunk River at Taylor's Mills which is currently known as Johnston's Bridge or the Hatchery Bridge in Lower Freetown . Some leases were also arranged solely by Robert Gordon . The Gordon land on Lot 26 was leased to new settlers but settlement progressed slowly. By 1841 there were only six or seven families living on the Gordon land with most of these holding their land by lease at Lower Freetown . By 1861 there were still only twelve or thirteen familes living on the Gordon land in Lot 26. There was an increase in settlement, however, according to Lake's map of 1863, the number of families had doubled to 27. When the Land Purchase Act was enforced in 1876, the names of the lease holders on the Peter Gordon land were included with the documents of transactions. The names and acreages involved are given. Thomas Drummond John Baker Patrick McCourt Bernard Croken Patrick Murphy John MacPhee David Cook Robert Auld Henry Stetson Andrew Stetson Matthew White Lewis Baker Lawrence Malone Henry Taylor Timothy Maxfield 200 acres 93 acres 100 acres 100 acres 100 acres 100 acres 100 acres 38.5 acres 45 acres 100 acres 54 acres 124 acres 108 acres 115 acres 40 acres 63 acres Andrew Burns 65 acres Joshua Crossman 57 acres John Arbing 60 acres William and Peter Taylor 100 acres John Lewis 100 acres Patrick Cairns 100 acres Bernard McCourt 50 acres Edward Mulligan 50 acres Patrick McKenna 25 acres William Deighan 50 acres Constance Greenan 100 acres James Johnston Sr. 100 acres George Cook 92.5 acres James Johnston Jr. 100 acres As far as can be determined, the above lands were all in South Freetown and Lower Freetown and total 2610 acres. This ended the absentee landlord period in our Freetown history. Subsequent to this, all lands were held by freehold deeds although individual farmers or landowners may have arranged leases for their land in much the same manner as in the present day. SETTLEMENT PROGRESSES INLAND The community of Bedeque began to thrive with the influx of new settlers and the population growth within the community. Bedeque became noted as a prosperous farming area where there was good soil and a nucleus of materials and skilled labourers. The Dunk River estuary provided good transport and a source of fish, shellfish and waterfowl. Since there were very few roads in the Bedeque area, the Dunk was very important to the early settlers. Settlers began to move into frontier areas in the early 1800s. For many years some of the surrounding areas as Lower Freetown , South Freetown and Freetown were included in the area known as Bedeque . Many of the early land records for property in Freetown refer to it as simply Bedeque, Lot 25, or in some cases an inland tract at the Head of the Dunk River . The first British settler to permanently reside in Freetown probably arrived in 1810. It is supposed that James Burns and family from Bishophall, Parish of Kinlaven, County of Perth , Scotland were the first residents. A land transaction dated 5 September 1810 records his purchase of 1000 acres of land from John Clark . According to James Burns ' descendants, the first Burns home was built on the north side of the Dunk in Lower Freetown (shown as code 58). 14