When did James come to Canada? And where was his land?

From Mary Hilliards notes

·        When James Dickson migrated to Canada about 1853, he was given a grant of land by the British Government, near London, Ontario.  He settled at Granton. 

In fact, the lease on lot 20 in Biddulph indicates 1846.  James and Esther were recorded in the 1851 census and James granddaughter Margaret was born in Ontario in 1846 (dau of James C & Ann), which helps support the 1846 date.  

In February 1837 the Crown granted a patent to the Canada Company for Lot 20 South Boundary, in Biddulph.  According to the Canada Company records they leased this lot (101 acres), on March 1846, to James Dickson.  The lease was converted to sale 13 Dec 1855. 

 

Later in 1856 James took out a mortgage on his property.  Although hard to read, I believe it was for $300.  The mortgage was discharged in 1859 when James sold his lot to his son Thomas.  Within a couple of months Thomas and wife sold the same lot to brother James Campbell Dickson.  Again, in that some year James C took out a mortgage on the property.  A busy year and by October of 1856 James C and wife had sold ½ the lot to Samuel McDonald and the other ½ to Thomas Hodgins.

I have not been able to find any record of a grant of land to James Sr. from the British Government. 

Copied from notebooks of Robert Caswell in possession of Murray Caswell, now in the Saskatchewan Archives

        “A cousin Ferris[i] of Mother’s came from Ireland some time before my parents and bought 215 acres from the Canada Land Company close to the village of Granton. (I have not found a record of this purchase yet, and I think he was only a tenant leasing from the Canada Company.) He had cleared a few acres; it was heavily timbered with maple, beech, and elm. His health failed and he did not expect to live long. He wrote to my mother at Orono and told her his situation and that he would transfer the land to her if she and father would come and take care of him. They came and took possession and the cousin died before the transfer was made, however they were in possession.”

“Another person put in a claim for the land as the nearest heir. It was thrown into chancery. That court was well named. It was a small chance that it would ever get out—however my parents were in possession and they went ahead and cleared it. The claim that was put in for the land was my Mother’s brothers (her brothers, Robert and Thomas) and the claim was in the court for several years.”

Unfortunately, Andrew and Mary Jane Caswell experienced many problems when they finally took up cousin Ferris’ land in Biddulph (NB 25). Initially they cleared the wrong lot; it belonged to John Rignay.  Thomas Rignay had the W ½ of NB (North Boundary) 24 & John had the E ½ of NB 24.  Imagine the consternation and alarm at discovering all your hard work was on the wrong lot!

Then Mary Jane’s brothers disputed the claim that the Ferris lot should go to her.  According to son Robert, Andrew and family remained on the land and improved it before losing it to Robert and Thomas Dickson.   

Like lot 20, in February 1837 the Crown granted a patent for Lot 25, North Boundary to the Canada Company. The next record is when Thomas & Robert Dickson, filed their certificate of lis pendens** issued against the Canada Company for the east & west ½ of lot 25.  I have not found records to indicate how the court case proceeded.  In June 20, 1861 the Canada Company issued a grant of right of way to the Grand Trunk Railway for part of Lot 25.  
**( lis pendens - Latin term meaning “pending litigation”.  The certificate is registered in the Land Title Office and prevents the land in dispute from being transferred until after the conclusion of the lawsuit.)

  The earliest tax assessment I have a record for is 1862, in that year James Dickson (not sure if this is father or son) paid taxes on ½ of Lot 25 and Andrew Caswell on the other ½.  BUT, the county map for that year shows Rob Dickson on half the lot and Andrew on the other half.  The 1863 assessment continues with James & Andrew, but in 1864 Thomas Dickson’s name appears on half the lot with Andrew on the other half. 

No wonder Mary Jane took a stick to her brother Thomas[ii] – an act for which she was fined $5 by the courts.  This incident was in 1861 and during the family feud over cousin Ferris’s property.

  By 1865 the entire matter seems to have been settled in Andrew’s favour as his name was now listed on the entire 150 acres.  Was this because Mary Jane's brothers had left the area?

By 1861 James Campbell Dickson and family were living in McKillop, Huron County, Ontario, and by 1878 they had relocated to Green Valley, Shawano, Wisconsin.  I am not sure what happened to Robert and Thomas. Roberts daughter Mary Ann died in Big Rapids, Michigan.  I wonder if one or both brothers ended up in this area or Wisconsin with brother James.

On Oct 1, 1872 Andrew Caswell mortgaged 50 acres to the London Wellington Land and Building Society for $1100.  Oct 30, 1872 Canada Company transferred the lot to Andrew by a grant of right of way.  Andrew again mortgaged it, this time to Jno E Harding who assigned it to Thomas Birtch.  With title secured Andrew turned around and sold the lot on Mar 7, 1874, 37 acres to Alexander Grant and 18 to Joseph Lawton.  Andrew immediately moved to Palmerston and bought land with the cash received.

(Although the Court of Chancery was established in 1837, case files date only from 1869. Prior to 1881 this court functioned as a superior court of equity exercising jurisdiction over such matters as land patents, estates of incompetent persons, and guardianship. The court was headquartered in Toronto, although between 1857 and 1881 the court's justices were required to go on circuit to county towns. The Archives of Ontario has records and partial indexes for the Court of Chancery.)

---

[i] There was a family called Ferris in Biddulph at the same time as our Dicksons and Caswells.  So far I have not been able to determine where the Ferris family came from in Ireland - but is a small lead.  Either the Dicksons or Wallaces are related to the Ferris family.

 

[ii] University of Western Ontario in the Regional History Collection, Juror Returns, a reference to a petty prosecution: Thomas Dickson v. Mary Caswell, assault with a stick, May 18^th, 1861, before John McLaughlin, JP, fine of $5.