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Holland, Samuel Johannes
Samuel Johannes Holland, surveyor, cartographer, military engineer (b at Nijmegen, Netherlands 1728; d at Québec C, LC 28 Dec 1801). Holland took part in the sieges of LOUISBOURG (1758) and Québec (1759) and the Battle of STE-FOY (1760), surveyed PEI and Cape Breton Island, and founded a system of township surveys in Lower and Upper Canada. Prior to and during his service in the Dutch and British armies 1745-60, he apparently mastered the skills of an artillery officer, a military engineer, cartographer and surveyor - as well as displaying exemplary courage under fire. In 1764 he was appointed surveyor general of Québec and of the northern district of North America. After 1783, the massive influx of LOYALIST settlers following the American Revolution offered him a new challenge in Québec. Holland's system of rapid surveys to create new townships was effective and imaginative, and has proven accurate. From his vantage point on Council as surveyor general, he was able to get the colonial legislature to enact professional standards for surveyors.
