Samuel Johannes Holland (1728 – 28 December 1801) was a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

-born

Royal Engineer The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

and first

Surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

General of

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

Life in the Netherlands

Holland was born in 1728 in

Deventer Deventer (; Sallaans dialect, Sallands: ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Salland historical region of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He was baptised on 22 September 1729 in the small Lutheran Church in the Dutch town of Deventer, in the Province of

Overijssel Overijssel (; ; ; ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name comes from the perspective of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, Episcopal principality of Utrecht ...

. In 1745, he entered the Dutch, or Staatse Leger artillery, and served during the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1747. In 1749, Holland married Gertrude Hasse. They had one daughter, who is thought to have died in infancy. In 1754, having possibly made contact with the

Duke of Richmond Duke of Richmond is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times in British history. It has been held by members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families. The current dukedom of Richmond was created in 1675 for Charles ...

and leaving his wife behind in the Netherlands, Holland emigrated to England to seek advancement under the British flag.

Early years in British North America

In 1756, Holland, probably with Richmond's aid, became a lieutenant in the

Royal Americans The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United Sta ...

, coming to

where he would spend the rest of his life. Among his first assignments was the preparation of a map of

New York Province The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to the G ...

that would be widely used for twenty years. In 1757, during the

French and Indian Wars The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts that occurred in North America between 1688 and 1763, some of which indirectly were related to the European dynastic wars. The title ''French and Indian War'' in the singular is used in the U ...

, he was promoted

Captain lieutenant Captain lieutenant or captain-lieutenant is a military rank, used in a number of navies worldwide and formerly in the British Army. Northern Europe Denmark, Norway and Finland The same rank is used in the navies of Denmark (), Norway () and Fin ...

and assigned to reconnoitre

Fort Carillon Fort Carillon, presently known as Fort Ticonderoga, was constructed by Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Governor of New France, to protect Lake Champlain from a British invasion. Situated on the lake some south of Fort Saint-Frédéric, it wa ...

, near

Ticonderoga, New York Ticonderoga () is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 5,042 at the 2010 census. The name comes from the Mohawk language, Mohawk ' ...

, but in early 1758, he was transferred as assistant engineer to the expedition against

Louisbourg Louisbourg is an unincorporated community and former town in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. History The harbour had been used by European mariners since at least the 1590s, when it was known as English Port and Havre à l'An ...

. There, Holland made surveys of the surrounding area and prepared plans and gave engineering advice under the command of Brigadier-General

James Wolfe Major-general James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of ...

. After Louisbourg's capitulation, Holland was strongly commended by Wolfe to the Duke of Richmond. That winter, Holland and his new pupil,

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

, drew charts of the

Gulf of Saint Lawrence The Gulf of St. Lawrence is a gulf that fringes the shores of the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Canada, plus the islands Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, possessions of France, in ...

and

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...

in preparation for an attack on

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. He also supervised the construction of Fort Frederick in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

. He was promoted captain in 1759, participated actively in the Siege of Quebec, and narrowly escaped death by his boats being nearly run down by a

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

. Holland was later employed in surveying the settled parts of the Saint Lawrence River Valley and in drawing up new plans for a citadel in Quebec after the French siege was lifted.

Surveyor General

In 1762, Holland took his maps to London where he submitted them to the Board of Trade, proposing a survey of all

British possessions A British possession is a country or territory other than the United Kingdom which has the British monarch as its head of state. Overview In common statutory usage the British possessions include British Overseas Territories, and the Commonwe ...

in North America to facilitate settlement, a proposal that was accepted in 1764. On 6 March 1764, Holland was appointed Surveyor-General of North America. On 23 March, he received instructions to survey all British possessions north of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

, which included St. John's Island, the

Magdalen Islands The Magdalen Islands (, ) are a Canadian archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Since 2005, the 12-island archipelago is divided into two municipalities: the majority-francophone Municipality of Îles-de-la-Madeleine and the majority-angloph ...

, and

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

, because of their importance for the fisheries. Holland arrived in October 1764 on

Isle Saint-Jean Isle Saint-Jean or Île Saint-Jean () was a French colony in North America that existed from 1713 to 1763 on what is today Prince Edward Island as part of the wider colony of Acadia. Colony Formation After 1713, France engaged in a reaffirmat ...

(now

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

)), whose territory was ceded to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

under the

Treaty of Paris (1763) The Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Kingdom of France, France and Spanish Empire, Spain, with Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal in agree ...

. The task of mapping the island lasted two years. Holland's survey divided the island into a series of townships known as "lots",

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

, counties, and "royalties" (

shire town A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equivalent term, shire town, is used in ...

s) in advance of a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

land system which was established on the island over the following century. Holland was later given a parcel of land on the St. John's Island, Lot 28, settled by farmers. Holland charged very little as an absentee landlord. In 1767, he proposed that British explorers look for a

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...

from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, but his proposal was never taken into great consideration. In 1791 he became the Surveyor-General of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and was replaced with

Sir David William Smith, 1st Baronet Sir David William Smith, 1st Baronet (September 4, 1764 – May 9, 1837) was a soldier and political figure in Upper Canada. He was born in Salisbury, England in 1764. He was the only son of Colonel John Smith (d.1795) and his wife Anne ...

in 1792.

Personal life

Holland had begun living in Quebec as early as 1762 with then 21-year-old Marie-Joseph Rollet. Their first son, John Frederick, was born in what is now

. Although his separation from Gertrude Hasse had been amicable, he still paid her an annual allowance between 1756 and 1780. In 1784, Hasse unsuccessfully petitioned the British government to force him to renew payments. In about 1772, Holland's marriage to Marie-Joseph Rollet was contracted as legal. The couple would eventually establish a family of ten children. Holland died at

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

, in 1801 and buried in a private cemetery on his Holland House estate or Holland Farm. This estate has since been re-developed.

Honours

Holland College Holland College is the provincial community college for the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island (PEI). It is named after the British Army engineer and surveyor Captain Samuel Holland. In 2024, about 30% of the college's enrolled student ...

, a community college system in Prince Edward Island, is named for Samuel Holland, whose descendants operate Samuel's, a chain of coffee houses in the province. The Captain Samuel Holland rose, developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was named in his honour. The

Holland River The Holland River is a river in Ontario, Canada, that drains the Holland River watershed into Cook's Bay, the southern extremity of Lake Simcoe. The river flows generally north, and its headwaters lie in the Oak Ridges Moraine. The Holland Ri ...

, in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, which drains about 20,000 acres of the

Holland Marsh The Holland Marsh is a wetland and agricultural area in Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. It lies entirely within the valley of the Holland River, stretching from the northern edge of the Oak Ridges Moraine near Schomberg to the river mo ...

into

Lake Simcoe Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly within the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century, the lake was called ''Ouentir ...

is named after him, as well as the community of

Holland Landing, Ontario Holland Landing is a community in the town of East Gwillimbury, located in the northern part of the Regional Municipality of York, in south-central Ontario, Canada. Its major road is Yonge Street (bypassed by the former Highway 11) and the commu ...

. Samuel Holland Park and Holland Avenue in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

are the only reminders of his Holland House estate.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holland, Samuel 1728 births 1801 deaths English people of Dutch descent British surveyors Canadian cartographers Dutch emigrants to Canada King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Pre-Confederation Quebec people British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession People from Deventer Colony of Prince Edward Island people Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Members of the American Philosophical Society