A Project for a Friends' Settlement in Canada, 1796

104 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. (5-22-1790) The Friends appointed report that they had an opportunity with David England, and though he appeared Friendly, yet continued to Vindicate what he had done, therefore they prepared a Testimony against him, which was produced approved and Signed. John Dixon and John Cope are appointed to the further service agreeable to Discipline and report to next Meeting. Note.—The records of the Friends' Meetings in Fayette and Washington Counties are now mostly in the care of the Friends at Salem, Ohio, but the registers of births and deaths are missing. It is much to be desired that their whereabouts may be known, and the originals or copies obtained, to add to the other records. Gilbert Cope. West Chester, Pa., 1909. A PROJECT FOR A FRIENDS' SETTLEMENT IN CANADA, 1796. The preceding paper gave an account of an effort to form a settlement of Friends in Canada in 1789-1790. From the following letter it would seem that a somewhat similar project was being considered a few years later. The writer of the letter, Benjamin Gilbert, was the fifth child and second son of Benjamin and Sarah (Mason) Gilbert (first wife), and was born 31st of First month, 1741. John Gilbert, to whom the letter is addressed, was Gilbert's next youngest brother, born 23d of Fifth month, 1743. Joshua, the next, was born 19th of Twelfth month, 1747-48, and Caleb was the youngest , born 1754. Abner Gilbert, born 1766, was the son of Benjamin and his second wife, Elizabeth (Walton) Peart (a widow) Gilbert, and therefore a half-brother of the writer of the letter. These genealogical statistics seem needful to make the references in the letter clear to a reader. Abner Gilbert was the grandfather of our friend Gilbert Cope, of West Chester, Pennsylvania , who has kindly furnished this letter, as well as the documents in the preceding paper, on Westland Monthly Meeting. PROJECT FOR A FRIENDS' SETTLEMENT IN CANADA. 105 It should be added that Benjamin Gilbert, father of the writer of the letter, was the Friend, who, with several members of his family, and some neighbors, was taken captive by the Indians in 1780, and whose " Narrative " has gone through eight or nine editions. The most complete edition is that edited by F. H. Severance, Cleveland, Ohio. Burrows Brothers Co., 1904. See also Joseph Smith's " Descriptive Catalogue of Friends' Books," 1, 843. Westmoreland County the 6th of the 10th mo"1 1796. Esteemed Brother: After our salutation of Love to thee, thy Wife & Family I may inform thee I have been meditating on a matter which I conceive may be profitable to ourselves and others if approved and rightly conducted. I wish to proceed with counsel and advice as the matter is of great consequence and demands weighty consideration weighing both the present and the future. The matter is to form a settlement of Friends on the northwest side of Lake Earie in the British territories as there is an opening for it and the most generous terms offered by them to Settlers a man getting 200 Acres for himself So for his wife & 50 for every Child Male Children ajbove sixteen draw 200 and the whole expense to one settler but ten Dollars when the Patent is given. They consider the case of those who have suffer'd in the late war and were not disaffected to the British Government there is no doubt with me but each male of our Family may on application receive a grant for eight hundred Acres and I am not without hopes that a grant for a Township might be obtain'd for our use but if that cannot be obtained I think it highly probable that a reserve of a Township for the settlement of Friends might. It has been represented to me as a pleasantly situated Country level well watered & Timbered the soil very rich and fertile the climate moderate and healthy there are Fish in abundance. Deer, Hare, Geese, Ducks, Feasants, &c. For a more particular account I refer thee to a Letter I wrote Jesse in which I express'd a confidence that a Township grant might be...