John Collins | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1795 Quebec |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Surveyor |
| Known for | negotiated the Toronto Purchase |
John Collins was an influential Deputy Surveyor General in the Province of Canada shortly after it was captured by the British. [1]
John Collins | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1795 Quebec |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Surveyor |
| Known for | negotiated the Toronto Purchase |
John Collins was an influential Deputy Surveyor General in the Province of Canada shortly after it was captured by the British. [1]
According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography little is known of Collins's early life. [1] Samuel Johannes Holland, Surveyor General when Collins was appointed his deputy, on September 8, 1764, wrote that he had been “imployed for many years as a deputy Surveyor in the Southern Colonys”.
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography notes he was a prominent Freemason. [1] His wife, Margaret, died in 1770, and he had at least one child, a daughter, Mary, who married John Rankin, also a surveyor.
Collins was appointed Deputy Surveyor General on September 8, 1764. [1]
His first major assignment, in 1765 was to survey the border between Canada and the Province of New York. [1]
On September 23, 1787, Collins represented Governor General Lord Dorchester in the negotiation of the Toronto Purchase. [2]
In the Province of Canada the Legislative Council's laws were not fully binding on the Governor, and the Governor appointed many of its members. Collins was first appointed to the Legislative Council in 1773. [1] And was entrusted with positions on multiple administrative committees.
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The Province of Canada was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of 1837–1838.
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was a British Army officer, peer and colonial administrator. He twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, from 1768 to 1778, concurrently serving as Governor General of British North America in that time, and again from 1785 to 1795. The title Baron Dorchester was created on 21 August 1786.
The Province of Quebec was a colony in British North America which comprised the former French colony of Canada. It was established by the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1763, following the conquest of New France by British forces during the Seven Years' War. As part of the Treaty of Paris, France gave up its claim to the colony; it instead negotiated to keep the small profitable island of Guadeloupe.
Events from the year 1787 in Canada.
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The Toronto Purchase was the sale of lands in the Toronto area from the Mississaugas of New Credit to the British crown. An initial, disputed, agreement was made in 1787, in exchange for various items. The agreement was revisited in 1805, intended to clarify the area purchased. The agreement remained in dispute for over 200 years until 2010, when a settlement for the land was made between the Government of Canada and the Mississaugas for the land and other lands in the area.
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John Collins was a merchant when he arrived in the Quebec in 1759. He was appointed as Deputy Surveyor to the Office of Surveyor General of lands by Major Samuel Holland. The Office was created to meet the need for more accurate and detailed geographical information about the territory ceded to Great Britain in 1763.
Collins had also become involved in the political life of the colony. In January 1773 he was sworn in as a member of the Council. In 1775 he became a legislative councillor, a position he held for the duration of the Quebec Act and, under the Constitutional Act of 1791, until his death.
On September 23, 1787, the British Crown (represented by Deputy Surveyor-General John Collins under the auspices of Governor-General Lord Dorchester) agreed to purchase 250,880 acres (101,527.5 hectares) of land from the Mississaugas of The New Credit (represented by three Chiefs) that comprises present day York Region and most of the City of Toronto (with Lake Ontario as the southern border, Etobicoke Creek and Highway 27 as the approximate western boundary, Ashbridge's Bay, Woodbine Avenue, and Highway 404 as the approximate eastern border, and Sideroad 15 and Bloomington Road as the approximate northern boundary).