British Colonies in North America after Quebec Act 1763 [3]
After the British capture of Quebec from the French during the French and Indian War at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on September 13th, 1759, it would take almost another four years for the French to cede all their territory in North America to the British under the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763. [1] By Great Britain’s Royal Proclamation of 1763, the French Territory of Canada, known as New France, would be renamed the Province of Quebec. This new province included the Great Lakes Region and the settlement at Detroit. [2]
After the War of 1812, the federal government conducted surveys of land to be used for military bounties in parts of the Northwest Territory for soldiers who fought in the war. Each soldier to be given 160 acres. Edward Tiffin, Surveyor General for the Northwest, issued a letter dated November 30, 1815, to Josiah Meigs, Commissioner of the General Land Office, in which he reported unfavorable conditions in the Michigan Territory describing the land as “so bad that there would not be more than one acre out of a hundred, if there would be one out of a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation.”
Author’s Note (2026): This article was originally published in 2019 after nearly three years of research into the probate and guardianship records of Jacob Harsen II and Frances Harsen. Since that time, I have located additional deed agreements executed among the heirs shortly after Jacob Harsen II’s death. These agreements clarify how the estate’s real property was ultimately conveyed and provide additional context that was not available when this article was first written.
Rather than remove this essay, I have revised portions of it to reflect that additional evidence while preserving the broader historical questions that first drew me to Frances Harsen’s story.
Fort Gratiot, Michigan, the outlet of Lake Huron, adjacent to Auminchaw reservation. Source: Castlenau, Francis De. (1842), Vues et Souvenirs du L’Amerique du Nord, plate. 18, fig. 3.
Beliefs, Values, Morals
“Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching underwater
You never can hit who you’re trying for
Some need the exhibition
And some have to know they tried
It’s the chemical weapon
For the war that’s raging on inside”
(John Mayer), Belief
Our beliefs form from our experiences, what we see, hear, read, and think about. They are assumptions or thoughts we associate with who we are and how we perceive others to be. They shape and form our opinions and attitudes about what we perceive to be “good” or “bad”. Values come from our beliefs. They are the things we think are important. Honesty, education, loyalty, money, faithfulness are just a few examples.
