Samuel Johannes Holland | |
|---|---|
 Samuel Johannes Holland | |
| Surveyor General of North America | |
| In office 1764–1791 | |
| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | Himself as Surveyor General of Upper and Lower Canada |
| Surveyor General of Upper Canada | |
| In office 1791–1798 | |
| Preceded by | Himself as Surveyor General of North America |
| Succeeded by | Sir David William Smith, 1st Baronet |
| Surveyor General of Lower Canada | |
| In office 1791–1801 | |
| Preceded by | Himself as Surveyor General of North America |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Bouchette |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1728 (1728) |
| Died | 1801 (aged 72–73) |
| Spouse | Gertrude Hasse m. 1749 |
| Children | 1 |
| Occupation | Royal engineer |
Samuel Johannes Holland (1728 – 28 December 1801) was aDutch-bornRoyal Engineer and firstSurveyor General ofBritish North America.
Holland was born in 1728 inDeventer,[1] theNetherlands. He was baptised on 22 September 1729 in the small Lutheran Church in the Dutch town of Deventer, in the Province ofOverijssel. In 1745, he entered theDutch, or Staatse Leger artillery, and served during theWar of the Austrian Succession. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1747.
In 1749, Holland married Gertrude Hasse. They had one daughter, who is thought to have died in infancy. In 1754, having possibly made contact with theDuke of Richmond and leaving his wife behind in the Netherlands, Holland emigrated to England to seek advancement under the British flag.
In 1756, Holland, probably with Richmond's aid, became a lieutenant in theRoyal Americans, coming toBritish North America where he would spend the rest of his life. Among his first assignments was the preparation of a map ofNew York Province that would be widely used for twenty years.
In 1757, during theFrench and Indian Wars, he was promotedCaptain lieutenant and assigned to reconnoitreFort Carillon, nearTiconderoga, New York, but in early 1758, he was transferred as assistant engineer to the expedition againstLouisbourg. There, Holland made surveys of the surrounding area and prepared plans and gave engineering advice under the command of Brigadier-GeneralJames Wolfe. After Louisbourg's capitulation, Holland was strongly commended by Wolfe to the Duke of Richmond.
That winter, Holland and his new pupil,James Cook, drew charts of theGulf of Saint Lawrence andSaint Lawrence River in preparation for an attack onQuebec. He also supervised the construction of Fort Frederick inSaint John, New Brunswick. He was promoted captain in 1759, participated actively in the Siege of Quebec, and narrowly escaped death by his boats being nearly run down by aschooner.
Holland was later employed in surveying the settled parts of the Saint Lawrence River Valley and in drawing up new plans for a citadel in Quebec after the French siege was lifted.
In 1762, Holland took his maps to London where he submitted them to the Board of Trade, proposing a survey of allBritish possessions in North America to facilitate settlement, a proposal that was accepted in 1764.
On 6 March 1764, Holland was appointed Surveyor-General of North America. On 23 March, he received instructions to survey all British possessions north of thePotomac River, which includedSt. John's Island, theMagdalen Islands, andCape Breton Island, because of their importance for the fisheries.
Holland arrived in October 1764 onIsle Saint-Jean (nowPrince Edward Island)), whose territory was ceded toBritain under theTreaty of Paris (1763). The task of mapping the island lasted two years. Holland's survey divided the island into a series of townships known as "lots",parishes, counties, and "royalties" (shire towns) in advance of afeudal land system which was established on the island over the following century.[citation needed] Holland was later given a parcel of land on the St. John's Island, Lot 28, settled by farmers. Holland charged very little as an absentee landlord.
In 1767, he proposed that British explorers look for aNorthwest Passage from theAtlantic Ocean to thePacific Ocean, but his proposal was never taken into great consideration.
In 1791 he became the Surveyor-General of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and was replaced withSir David William Smith, 1st Baronet in 1792.
Holland had begun living in Quebec as early as 1762 with then 21-year-old Marie-Joseph Rollet. Their first son,John Frederick, was born in what is nowPrince Edward Island.
Although his separation from Gertrude Hasse had been amicable, he still paid her an annual allowance between 1756 and 1780. In 1784, Hasse unsuccessfully petitioned the British government to force him to renew payments.
In about 1772, Holland's marriage to Marie-Joseph Rollet was contracted as legal. The couple would eventually establish a family of ten children.
Holland died atQuebec,Lower Canada, in 1801 and buried in a private cemetery on his Holland House estate or Holland Farm.[2] This estate has since been re-developed.[3]
Holland College, a community college system in Prince Edward Island, is named for Samuel Holland, whose descendants operate Samuel's, a chain of coffee houses in the province.[4]
The Captain Samuel Holland rose, developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was named in his honour.[5]
TheHolland River, inOntario, which drains about 20,000 acres of theHolland Marsh intoLake Simcoe is named after him, as well as the community ofHolland Landing, Ontario.[6]
Samuel Holland Park and Holland Avenue inQuebec City are the only reminders of his Holland House estate.
