Friday, September 07, 2007 - 07:00
Brantford Expositor
Editorial - Mr. John Gill recently published a letter in The Expositor titled, "Building site isn't subject to claim," which was quite insightful and the obvious result of hours of research.
His research surrounds the tract of land upon which Mike Quattrociocchi is building, or trying to build, four townhouses on Grand River Avenue at Jarvis Street.
There is one glaring mistake in his historical account of the land in question, however, and that mistake is the crux of the controversy.
Mr. Gill states that the Kerby-Tract was "granted" to John Smith by Joseph Brant for helping to build the Mohawk Chapel.
Considering the fact that Joseph Brant died in 1807, that would mean this transaction took place before that date. However, in Robert Burwell's survey maps dated Jan. 26, 1833, which established the boundaries of the original 807-acre Brantford Town Plot and the surrounding environs, this specific piece of land is very clearly marked as the William Kennedy Smith, 999-year lease. The south side of the river in that region is mapped out as the Kerr Family Tract which is another 999-year lease.
Surrounding the William Kennedy Smith Tract is a huge area called "Indian Lands," "Indian Settlements" and "Indian Farms." Even earlier, in June of 1830, another Burwell map exists known as the Plan of the Village of Brantford.
John Brant, Joseph's son, went with Burwell on much of his surveying of the Brantford Town Plot grant from Six Nations. This town plot surrender, by the way, was a surrender to sell with the proceeds to go to Six Nations - it was not a gift. John Brant's plan was to create kind of a "white-man reserve" in an attempt to curtail white settlers and squatters from infringing on Six Nations, Haldimand Tract land.
Brant confirmed Burwell's surveying maps to be accurate. The maps lay out the streets of the original town plot, which only go as far as the corner of West Street and Colborne Street. West of that is the Robert Biggar Plot, a pie-shaped stretch of land with its widest point along the banks of the river, but not as far west as what is now Jarvis Street. The Biggar land was sold to him outright.
West of that, which is where Mr. Quattrociocchi's townhouse project is, is where the William Kennedy Smith Tract begins. Mr. W. K. Smith was the son of John Smith. The fact that the land in question is mapped in 1833 as a 999-year lease proves that John Smith was given a 999-year lease, not a grant, for his work on the Mohawk Chapel. That lease, in subsequent years, was arbitrarily changed to a land patent by greedy government speculators, without the approval of the title holders, the Six Nations. In other words, it was stolen, without compensation. Therein lies the rub.
Jim Windle Brantford