Quebec (Province, 1763-1791). Surveyor General's Office

Identity area

Type of entity

Higher-level Ontario government office (type B)

Authorized form of name

Quebec (Province, 1763-1791). Surveyor General's Office

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

    • Surveyor General's Office

    Other form(s) of name

      Identifiers for corporate bodies

      Description area

      Dates of existence

      1764-1791

      History

      On December 7, 1763, Royal Instructions to Governor Murray make mention of empowering a Surveyor General "to make a faithful and exact survey of the lands" of the colony of Quebec. Further to this, on Feb. 4, 1764, a submission was made to the King by His Majesty's Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, outlining the need for exact surveys of the North American dominions, and recommending that such lands, for purposes of surveying, be divided into Northern and Southern Districts with a Surveyor General appointed for each.

      The King approved this submission on February 10, 1764, and Captain Samuel Holland was appointed Surveyor General for the Northern District (including the Colony of Quebec). The submission also recommended the appointment of a Deputy Surveyor General for Quebec, and on September 8, 1764, Samuel Holland appointed John Collins to this position.

      Survey work in the area which would later become Upper Canada, began in 1783, with the survey of townships at Cataraqui (Kingston).

      In 1788, the territory of what would in 1791 become Upper Canada was divided into four districts - Luneburg, Mecklenburg, Nassau, and Hesse - and Deputy Surveyor Generals were appointed to each district.

      While the Constitutional Act of 1791 made no provision for the appointment of a Surveyor General, the office was maintained, with separate Surveyor Generals appointed for both Upper and Lower Canada. Holland continued as Surveyor General of Lower Canada, while David William Smith was appointed Acting Surveyor General of Upper Canada (receiving his commission in 1800).

      Places

      Legal status

      Functions, occupations and activities

      The Surveyor General's Office of the Province of Quebec (1763-1791) was responsible for the surveying and mapping of the lands of the Province and the laying out of townships.

      Address

      Internal structures/genealogy

      General context

      Relationships area

      Related entity

      Upper Canada. Surveyor General's Office (1791-1845)

      Identifier of related entity

      BA84

      Category of relationship

      temporal

      Type of relationship

      Upper Canada. Surveyor General's Office is the successor of Quebec (Province, 1763-1791). Surveyor General's Office

      Dates of relationship

      Description of relationship

      Access points area

      Subject access points

      Place access points

      Epithet

      Control area

      Authority record identifier

      BA139

      Institution identifier

      Rules and/or conventions used

      RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

      Status

      Approved

      Level of detail

      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

      Language(s)

        Script(s)

          Sources

          Thomson, Don. Men and Meridians, Vol. 1 (1966)

          Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Archives, p. 43

          Bishop, Olga. Publications of the Province of Upper Canada and of Great Britain, 1791-1840 (1984)

          Maintenance notes

          Agency not found in Canadiana Name Authorities, 1996-12-24

          Archivist(s):
          R. Anger