1822 Field Notes - Transcribed
Surveys, Swamps & Scandals
What type of trees originally grew in this area? Was it always this wet (spoiler alert – seems so!)? In 1822, a survey party set out to work in the unceded lands that had become Osgoode Township. For weeks and weeks, they hacked their way through the original old-growth forest pacing out lots and concessions. At the end of each exhausting day, the men carefully recorded their observations or ‘field notes’ into a small leather notebook - The 1822 Field Notes of Osgoode Township - now stored at the Archives of Ontario. Join this talk to consider the work of the surveyors and the information revealed by their notes, drawn from a 2022 transcription of the notebook. How did surveyors profit from this information in their times, and how we can use this data to successfully reforest our communities? Sarah Cooper Godoy is always interested in old dusty books and small ink scribbles on the page. She spent some considerable time transcribing the original document – and is happy to share her findings with the extended community.
Watch Surveys, Swamps & Scandals Museum Talk on YouTube by clicking here.
Resources to Continue your Research!
Canadian County Atlas Digital Project
Forest History of Eastern Ontario - uses field notebook survey data for research
GeoOttawa - City of Ottawa maps
Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
Shaw Woods Outdoor Educational Centre - in Eganville
South Nation Conservation Authority
Three Years in Canada - 1829 - contemporary descriptions of surveying and trees
Voyages and Travels - 1791 - contemporary record of the landscape and travel in that time
Citations for images & content in Surveys, Swamps & Scandals:
Slides # 5, 7, 17, 21: Field Notes of Osgoode, Archives of Ontario [FNB 378]
Slide # 8: *****
Slide # 9: Loyalists Drawing Lots For Their Lands
Slide # 10: Public Domain Media Search
Slide # 11: illustration on left - 1866 Proceedings of the Association of Provincial Land Surveyors of Ontario
Slide # 11: illustration on right - The Toronto Art Student League 1898
Slide # 12: 1809 Diary of Reuben Sherwood, Deputy Surveyor
Slide # 13: illustration on left - Colonial Sense - Gunter's Chain
Slide # 13: illustration on lower left: The Constructor
Slide # 13: illustration on right - frontispiece from Samuel Wyld's The Practical Surveyor, 1780
Slide # 14: WikiMedia Commons
Slide # 15: text: Library and Archives Canada - Land Petitions for Upper Canada 1763-1865
Slide # 15: illustration: Toronto Public Library Digital Archive
Slide # 16: Google Earth
Slides # 18: map from The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project
Slides # 19, 20: 1822 Map of Osgoode Township, Archives of Ontario
Slide # 21: illustration on left - Field Notes of Osgoode, Archives of Ontario [FNB 378]
Slide # 21: illustration on right - Library and Archives Canada - Land Petitions for Upper Canada 1763-1865 - March 19, 1821 letter on behalf of Wm McDonald
Slide # 22: 1822 Map of Osgoode Township, Map 4, Archives of Ontario
Slides # 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28: www.wordart.com by SMCG
Slides: # 29 - 38: The Ontario Tree Atlas & Field Notes of Osgoode - Archives of Ontario [FNB 378] & Forest Plants of Central Ontario, Chambers, Legasy and Bentley, 1996
Slides # 30, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38: Three Years in Canada - 1829
Slide # 39: Gardening Know how - alder tree image
Slide # 41: Google Earth
Slide # 43: photo by SMCG