[COYNE] THE TALBOT PAPERS 39 
In 1809 the first settlers came in with the intention of settling. 
Landing from small boats at the mouth of Talbot Creek, they were 
welcomed by the Colonel on the beach, and treated with great kindness. 
It was a few miles west of Port Talbot that the Pearces, Storeys and 
Pattersons, numbering thirteen in all, established themselves in Dun- 
wich along the lake shore. They came from Pennsylvania, but were all 
of Irish descent. Stephen Backus, also from Pennsylvania, followed 
in 1810. 
The settlement of the townships lying eastward was rapidly effected 
after Colonel Burwell’s survey of Talbot Road. The line of this famous 
highway followed generally an old Indian portage path a few miles 
north of Lake Erie. The first settlers on land now occupied by the 
city of St. Thomas were Daniel Rapelje and David Mandeville, both 
of whom came from Long- Point Settlement. They were also the 
first settlers on Talbot Road. 
In February, 1811, thirty persons petitioned the Lieutenant- 
Governor-in-Council for grants on Talbot Road, almost all claiming 
to be residents of Yarmouth or Southwold. One of these, Garrett 
Oaks, in his printed reminiscences, claims to have settled on his lot 
(now part of New Sarum), in 1811, and to have aided in chopping out 
three roads, including one from Talbot Road to Port Bruce in 1810, 
the road from St. Thomas to Port Talbot in 1811, and one from Yar- 
mouth to Norwich Mills in 1812. 
Failure on the part of Talbot settlers to pay patent fees was a 
constant source of irritation to the provincial government. In 1831 
the Home Government was informed that upwards of 5,000 deeds 
on which, of course, fees were unpaid, remained to be taken out 
by settlers. The Colonel replied that for this he was not respons- 
ible, except in so far as he made it a matter of policy not to issue 
his certificate to a settler for performance of settlement duties, until 
he had performed them and was an actual resident on the lot he had 
located him for, and further, that he was opposed to settlers receiving 
their patents until after a five years’ residence on the land. After 
receiving Talbot’s certificate, a settler might postpone indefinitely tak- 
ing out his patent, and (an important matter in the early days) paying 
the survey and patent fees. In many instances a patent was not taken 
out for twenty or thirty years or even longer. 
1They were recommended for a grant of 200 acres each by order-in- 
council, December 7, 1809. Mandeville received Lot 45 on the south side of 
Talbot Road in Southwold, and Rapelje the lot lying eastward, Lot 1 in the 
8th Concession of Yarmouth. The lands were divided only by the township 
line. 
