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Settlement of the Eastern Townships did not occur until the 1790s because the territory until that time was kept as a buffer zone to ward off attacks from the Americans. Once open to settlement, a system of land tenure had to be established. Because the region was intended for British settlers, the customary seigniorial system French Canadians used that was centered around the church, was not an attractive option for the English. It was the decision to use the Leader and Associates System of the United States, the Auction System, and eventually the English Land Tenure System, that formed the geographic makeup of the Eastern Townships and distinguished the region from the rest of French Quebec. This occurred because the Leader and Associates System allotted land in equal amounts but did not structure a community within the allotment and was soon distrusted by those using it. The Auction System was adapted in 1793, soon after the fall of the Leader and Associates System, and did not focus on giving every settler an equal amount of land. Working like an auction, the person with the most money would be able to buy the most and best land in the area. Failing for the same reasons as the Leader and Associates System, the Auction System was replaced by the English Land Tenure System. This system made sense in the Eastern Townships as it gave 200 acres of land to each family and 50 additional acres per family member. It also allotted land to the British Crown and Anglican Church, which finally helped build a sense of community, yet not to the extent as the seigniorial system had done. The properties owned in the English Land Tenure System were larger than those of the French Canadians, which distanced the settlers from each other physically and communally, and the protestant churches of the British were not as centered on controlling all aspects of life as the Catholic Church was. The major problem with this system however, was the possibility of a land application being denied, which would result in a family being forced into leaving their land. On top of this, the location of the land registry office was in London, England, which meant that applications and appeals could be delayed for up to twenty years. Despite its many problems, this system was not viewed as “some prosper, others perish” and because of this, it continued to be successful in the Eastern Townships, solidifying the difference between the English and French cultures in Quebec.
In order to attract settlers to the Eastern Townships, many organizations had to publish literature advertising the area and downplaying the difficulties a settler would face once they moved to the region. This often meant that the documents were filled with false statements that made the Eastern Townships seem as though it was the simplest place to establish a prosperous life. Reverend Stewart, sent by the British Crown to establish parishes in the region, published a document about the Eastern Townships in 1812, which stated that the soil was fertile and easy to cultivate, and that there were not many hills or mountains in the area. The reason Stewart used these specific false statements was because he correctly knew that it would be almost impossible to attract settlers to an area that has as many obstacles facing it as the Eastern Townships does. He also included some truth in his document however, and explained that the waterways were ideal for establishing grist and sawmills, that due to poor transport, settlers were not able to profit by selling lumber, that the regional cash crops were maple products and potash, and that the area was in need of good roads, school teachers, a registry office, and clergymen. Stewart’s entire document is an example of the kind of settler the British were trying to establish in the Eastern Townships: quiet, pastoral, and hard working. In the early 1830’s, the British American Land Company (BALC) purchased 250,000 acres of crown reserves from the government in the townships of Shefford, Sherbrooke and Stanstead, as well as 600,000 acres of un-surveyed St. Francis territory in order to promote British settlement in the area. To accomplish this, BALC published information in 1835 that was almost entirely false. The document led potential settlers to believe that the climate of the region was favorable, as was the condition of the soil. It also stated that the area was easily accessible from Quebec City, Trios Rivières and Montreal, which was not true, considering the roads leading to these major cities from the townships were extremely difficult to travel. Continuing with their false propaganda, BALC was able to attract settlers to the area, only to have many of them leave as soon as they realized they had been deceived. Another document published in order to attract settlers to the Eastern Townships was by the Dominion of Canada in 1881. Also filled with false information, the Dominion claimed that the region was similar in climate to that of Southern France and that the soil was ideal for farming. The document also stated that the population of the area was predominantly English, even though by 1881, the majority of the population was actually French. On the more positive and truthful side, the Dominion of Canada stated that there was work available in Sherbrooke factories, that the area had an abundance of raw minerals, and they provided accurate pictures of improvements one could make on their estate over time. Although the settlement literature was designed to attract a certain type of pastoral British family to the Eastern Townships, the statements made within them were so false and they were released much too late to actually attract their idea settler.
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