148 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



his successor in the 3rd House being Jacob Weager, one of the Palatine 

 Gennan Loyalists. Mr. A. C. Casselman has called my attention to the 

 fact that his case was that of a non-resident representative. Dundas 

 Avas settled by Germans. Thomas Fraser lived in Edwardsburgh, on 

 the western limits of Matilda, or just across the line, and his selection 

 was doubtless due largely to t|ie fact that he was a military officer. The 

 Germans served as privates in the 1st Battalion of Sir John Johnson's 

 Eoyal iST. Y. Eegiment. Two of their officers had settled in Dundas 

 county, namely Captains Richard Duncan and John Munro. In the 

 year 1788 or 1789 the former was made judge of the Mecklenburg 

 (Eastern) district, and both had been called to the Legislative Council 

 by Lt.-Governor Simcoe, John Munro, on the 17th September, 1792, 

 and Eichard Duncan on the 17th June, 1793. Their two leading offi- 

 cers thereby being out of reach, the electors of Dundas felt called to 

 seek a representative military officer outside of their two townships, 

 and so they selected Capt. Thomas Eraser in 1796. Their representa- 

 tive in the first House, Lt. Alexander Campbell was also a non-resident. 

 However, since 1800, the Germans of Dundas have sent many of their 

 descendants as representatives to the legislature. 



There were many Erasers among the settlers of the Eastern 

 or Lunenburgh district. The U. E. L. list carries the names of no less 

 than 27 Erasers, six bearing the name Thomas, and eight that of Wil- 

 liam. Capt. Thomas Eraser, of Edwardsburg, was the member of the 

 legislature. Capt. William Eraser, his brother, also of Jessup's Loyal 

 Eangors, is entered as having residence in the eastern district. Their 

 father, William Eraser, Sr., is also on the list and was living as late as 

 1786, and probably in 1789, when the list was made up. Some of the 

 Erasers located in the Bay of Quinte district, and it is a fair inference 

 that those that had served in Jessup's Corps were from the same section 

 of ISTew York as Capts. Thomas and William, and were probably rela- 

 tives. Judge Pringle in his "Lunenburgh," states that Capt. Eraser 

 in 1788, purchased a farm at his own expense for $100, and located upon 

 it a Mr. Clark who had been teaching for two years in the Bay of Quinte 

 district. This Mr. Clark taught the first school in the Eraser district 

 in a log building erected by the settlers. The author does not state 

 which of the two brothers thus early interested himself in the education 

 of the section. 



Siormonf. — Eobert Isaac Dey Gray was elected, and he was also ap- 

 pointed the first solicitor-general for Upper Canada. He was the son 

 of James Gray, major of the Eirst Battalion of the King's Eoyal Eegi- 

 ment of New York. The father settled near Cornwall at what is known 

 as Gray's Creek. He was born in Scotland, and served in the British 



