Burwell, Mahlon

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: John Clarke, “BURWELL, MAHLON,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/burwell_mahlon_7E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Surveyor, militia officer, businessman, office holder, politician, and jp; b. 18 Feb. 1783 in New Jersey, son of Adam Burwell and Sarah Veal; m. 20 April 1810 Sarah Haun in Niagara (Niagara-on-the-Lake), Upper Canada, and they had seven sons and two daughters; d. 25 Jan. 1846 in Port Talbot, Upper Canada.
    • Burwell’s father, a native of New Jersey, was probably a loyalist during the American Revolutionary War; in 1786 he settled in what would soon become Upper Canada and in 1797 he received 850 acres of land in Bertie Township for military service.
    • Despite the trying circumstances under which he worked, his field-notes, maps, and diaries are detailed and contain a remarkable amount of scientific information. Such records were obviously a requirement of surveyors’ contracts, but not all supplied them. It was no doubt because of his thoroughness that Burwell was engaged to survey so much of southwestern Upper Canada.
    • During the War of 1812 he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel in Talbot’s militia regiment (1st Middlesex) but saw little action.
    • Returning home, Burwell resumed surveying. Between 1814 and 1825 he surveyed all or part of 24 townships north of the Thames River and south of it, in the counties of Kent and Essex. At first paid in cash, Burwell subsequently accepted recompense in land. Under the system of tendering to survey, his bid was invariably 4 1/2 per cent of the area to be surveyed. As a result, he built up large holdings of land in various parts of Upper Canada, especially in the southwest. He is known to have received a total of 39,759 acres, but this figure does not include whatever compensation (possibly cash) he received for 18 surveys on which the government’s record is silent. In addition, he was granted or purchased some 3,525 acres. His holdings were thus at least 43,284 acres.
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=1073
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/219869345/mahlon-burwell