ARRIVAL OF THE BRITISH

Those who came after might forget, but the settlers would always remember those long, dark-shadowed days when they pushed back the forest from their dmtrsteps to make a place for the sun. (44)

After the expulsion of the French settlers in 1758 the Island went

' through a six—year lull. Like most communities on the Island, St. Peters had to begin anew. New people, new settlement practices, and a new culture were introduced to the Island with the arrival of the British. With the fall of Quebec in 1759, Ile St. Jean became the property of King George III, and being anglicized, became “St. John’s Island.” In 1763, a man by the name of Samuel Jan Holland presented an idea to the Lords

‘ Commissioners in London concerning the settlement of British North

" America. In addition to St. John’s Island, Holland proposed that a survey of the Magdalen Islands and Cape Breton be done “to encourage land

_ settlement and the fishery in British North America." (45) This proposal

I became a reality and would affect not only St. Peters but the Island in its ' entirety for many years to come.

Holland arrived on the Island in October of 1764, established his headquarters near present day Rocky Point, and was appointed Surveyor-General of the Island. By 1766, he finished his survey and had divided the Island into sixty-seven townships of twenty thousand acres each, three counties, and fourteen parishes.

Samuel Holland‘s Survey, Photo courtesy of the Prince Edward Island Public Archives.’

* Accession No. 2320—0—6-5.