BOOK
Date1776
Geography
Keppoch;, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Dimensions41 x 26 x 4.5 cm
Object numberHF.71.12.5
DescriptionLeather bound prayer book with unnumbered pages with faint races of gilt on the edges. The cover has a C scroll and foliate tooled border on the covers and sides. The pages are folded and sewn together but have become separated from the binding. Handwritten along the top of the title page is the name Samuel Holland. This book is the The Book of Common Prayer, Psalms of David, and Rites of ordination and Consecration of the Anglican Church. Narrative
Samuel Johannes Holland was a Dutch Royal engineer and surveyor tasked with surveying St. John's Island (PEI) after the British gained control of the island in 1758. Holland arrived on the island in 1764 and took 2 years to complete his survey. He divided the island into 67 lots which were then distributed to men who were loyal to the British. This method of distributing land would be a source of contention for landholders and tenants for over a hundred years.
This common prayer book was found in a house in Keppoch, which had previously been the home of Holland's great-grandson, Robert Barker (1819-1861).
