Eastern District, Upper Canada

Eastern District was one of four districts of the Province of Quebec created in 1788 in the western reaches of the Montreal District and partitioned in 1791 to create the new colony of Upper Canada.

1818 map of Ontario showing the original Eastern District
1850 map of Eastern Ontario showing Eastern District

Historical evolution

The District, originally known as Lunenburg District (after Lüneburg in Germany), was constituted in 1788 in the Province of Quebec, and was described as:

... bounded on the east by the eastern limit of tract lately called or known by the name of Lancaster, protracted northerly and southerly as far as our said province extends, and bounded westerly by a north and south line, intersecting the mouth of the river Gananoque, now called the Thames, above the rifts of the Saint Lawrence, and extending southerly and northerly to the limits of our said province, therein comprehending the several towns or tracts called or known by the names of Lancaster, Charlottenburg, Cornwall, Osnabruck, Williamsburg, Matilda, Edwardsburg, Augusta and Elizabethtown...[1]

The District was renamed as "Eastern District" in 1792, and its jail and courthouse were established in New Johnstown.[2]

In 1798, the new Parliament of Upper Canada divided the District in two, which went into force in January 1800, and the new Districts consisted of the following electoral counties:

Reorganization of the Luneburg District (1800)[3]
Eastern District[4]Johnstown District[5]

In 1816, Prescott and Russell were removed from the District, to form the new Ottawa District.[6]

At the beginning of 1850, the district was abolished and replaced by the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry for municipal and judicial purposes.[7]

See also

Further reading
  • Armstrong, Frederick H. Handbook of Upper Canadian Chronology, Toronto : Dundurn Press, 1985. ISBN 0-919670-92-X
  • "Changing Shape of Ontario: Early Districts and Counties", Archives of Canada
  • Pringle, J.F. Lunenburgh or the Old Eastern District, Belleville: Mika Publishing Company, 1980
  • MacDonell, J.A. Sketches Illustrating the Early Settlement and History of Glengarry in Canada, Milton: Global Heritage Press. ISBN 1-894378-80-6

References
  1. Proclamation of July 24, 1788
  2. An act for building a gaol and court house in every district within this province, and for altering the names of the said districts, S.U.C. 1792, c. 8, s. 2, 10
  3. An act for the better division of this province, S.U.C. 1798, c. 5
  4. 1798 Act, ss. 1-6
  5. 1798 Act, ss. 7-10
  6. An Act to repeal part of an Act of the Parliament of this Province, passed in the thirty-eighth year of His Majesty's reign, intituled, "An Act for the better division of this province;" and more effectually to provide for the administration of Justice, by constituting the Counties of Prescott and Russell, under certain modifications, a separate District, S.U.C. 1816, c. 2
  7. An Act for abolishing the Territorial Division of Upper-Canada into Districts, and for providing temporary Unions of Counties for Judicial and other purposes, and for the future dissolutions of such Unions, as the increase of wealth and population may require, S.Prov.C. 1849, c. 78, Sch. A, B

45°10′N 74°57′W

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