100 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Draft of Memorial in Colonel Talbot’s Autograph. 
To His Excellency Francis Gore Esquire Lieutenant Governor of Upper 
Canada &c. &c. &e. in Council. 
The Memorial of Thomas Talbot Esquire? 
Humbly Sheweth 
That your Memorialist was authorized by a report of the Honorable 
the Executive Council approved by His Excellency, the late Lieutenant 
Governor Hunter in September 1804 to lay out one thousand dollars 
appropriated by the then Legislature for that purpose on a Road marked 
on a plan annexed to the above Report by which a better and shorter 
road to the Westward would be obtained to the great advantage of the 
Public. 
That although the above sum has been advantageously expended 
yet the distance is so great as yet to require considerable expense. Your 
Memorialist under these circumstances presumes to offer a plan to Your 
Excellency which on a due consideration he has reason to believe wilt 
effect this desirable purpose without any other than the ordinary aids 
which may'be hereafter afforded to other Districts. Several of the 
Townships through which the proposed Road is to be made are reserved 
by the Crown and must in consequence of that reservation be altogether 



1This memorial, received 9th Feb., 1809, was acted upon by the Executive 
Council recommending, on 19th December, 1809, that the Crown, School and 
Clergy Reserves be removed from Talbot Road. The report was taken to 
the Governor’s Office on 21st March, 1811. On 7th December, 1809, grants 
of 200 acres each on Talbot Road wie recommended in favour of Daniel 
Rapelje and David Mandeville, both of the Township of Woodhouse. They 
were the first settlers in what is now St, Thomas. Similar grants were 
ordered on 10th August, 1810, in favour of Garret Smith, Aaron Spurgin 
and David Secord, Jr., of Charlotteville. On the 16th February, 1811, peti- 
tions for lands on Talbot Road were received from the following persons, 
all being described as of the township of Yarmouth, unless otherwise spe- 
ecified: Stephen Barton, Hosea Baker, Josephus Barber, James Brown, Asa 
Bradley (Malahide), John Barber, Benjamin Willson, Abraham House, 
Richard Mizner, James Gibbons (Bayham), David Watson (Southwold), 
James Watson (Southwold), Thomas Curtis, William Davis (Southwold), 
Alex. Cascadden (Bayham), William Cascadden (Township of Willoughby), 
Wm. Merrill, John Backen, Garrett Oakes (Charlotteville), John Axford, 
Burges Swisher (Southwold), Samuel Axford (Windham), Isaac Lowell, 
David Brush, Henry Remy (Southwold), Samuel N. Yorke, William S. Yorke, 
John T. Woolley, Frederick Eveland, William Prime Shaff (Southwold). 
These were the original settlers on the Talbot Road—east of the Townships 
of Dunwich and Aldborough, which were reserved for the benefit of Colonel 
Talbot under his arrangement with the Government. 

