A Land Grant In Guysborough

A land grant given by the British Government in Canada consisted of two and sometimes three pieces of property.

The first small lot, known as a Town Lot, was ideal for settlers who wanted to open a business or store in the town area of the settlement.  For the farmers, this lot was seldom utilized since the family usually settled in the area they would farm.

A Water Lot adjoining a bay or river furnished fresh water, sanitation, irrigation and transportation.   This land often encompassed a wooded lot which provided cooking fuel, heating wood and construction timber.

In the event that a water lot did not adjoin forest, a third lot or Wood Lot, completed the grant.

The original land grant of George Strople consisted of two parcels, a Town Lot in the town of Guysborough and a 300 acre Water and Wood Lot on the southern shore of Chedebucto Bay.  While the acreage was substantial, the soil was poor and rocky.  It probably provided sufficient acreage to support George, Maria and their two sons, John George and William, but by the mid 1790's, Guysborough records indicate that George had begun to accumulate several parcels of land in the Broadcove area of Guysborough near Bolyston.  These lots were part of the Hallowell grant and had been reserved for distribution to another regiment.  It is believed that these lots went unclaimed or were sold by their original owners.

By the end of the 1700's, the family of four was living in Broadcove on the shores of Milford Haven.  These three or four contiguous lots provided homes and farms for George and Maria Strople as well as the two sons and their wives.  It was here that all of the soldier's eighteen grandchildren were born.

Our soldier's wife, Maria, died in 1806.  Our soldier, George, drowned in 1814.  The circumstances of their deaths are not known, although the death record of Maria Strople lists her as sixty years old.