1802 in Canada

Events from the year 1802 in Canada.

← 1801 1800 1799 1802 in Canada → 1803 1804 1805
Decades:	1780s 1790s 1800s 1810s 1820s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Incumbents

• Monarch: George III

Federal government

• Parliament of Lower Canada: 3rd
• Parliament of Upper Canada: 3rd

Governors

• Governor of the Canadas: Robert Milnes
• Governor of New Brunswick: Thomas Carleton
• Governor of Nova Scotia: John Wentworth
• Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland: Charles Morice Pole
• Governor of St. John's Island: Edmund Fanning

Events

• The Tlingit start resisting Russian incursions into their territory.
• First Nations massacre Russians at Old Sitka; only a few survive.
• Alexander Mackenzie is knighted for his efforts in 1802 and becomes a member of the XY Company.
• Saint Mary's University is founded at Halifax.

Births

Samuel Bealey Harrison

• January 9 – Catharine Parr Traill, writer (d.1899)
• March 4 – Samuel Harrison, farmer, lawyer, mill owner, politician, judge and 1st Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada (d.1867)
• May 2 – Étienne Parent, journalist (d.1874)
• July 9 – Edmond Baird, cabinet-maker and upholsterer (d.1859)
• October 31 – Charles Dickson Archibald, lawyer, businessman and politician (d.1868)

Full date unknown

• Henry Sherwood, lawyer, local politician and 4th Premier of Canada West (d.1855)

Deaths

• April 3 – Philippe-François de Rastel de Rocheblave, soldier, businessman and political figure in Lower Canada (b. 1727)

Historical documents

War with France, Spain and Batavia is over following U.K.'s ratification of Definitive Treaty of Peace

U.S.A. is to pay U.K. £600,000 for benefit of British claimants of debts owed them from before American Revolution

"Missionary" tells "Indian" "[we] know much more of that Great Power above than you in your present State of Ignorance can possibly do"

Lower Canada

Hemp committee for District of Quebec publishes extensive instructions for growing hemp, saying it "is not so difficult as is imagined"

Montrealers petition Assembly over problems with "Apprentices, Journeymen and Servants" taking advantage of various benefits then leaving prematurely

"Several attempts to break open shops and cellars, a thing so unusual in this Country, are said to have been made"

New bilingual weekly British-American Register is to "instill into the minds of individuals sound Principles, a love of learning, of order and propriety"

"Choir of the [new] English Metropolitan Church" of Quebec City wants 12 boys and 8 young men who "will be taught singing by note gratis"

Upper Canada

Lease 200 acres of crown and clergy reserve land for 21 years at 10/- or 3 bushels wheat per year for first 7 years and higher for later 7-year periods

Nova Scotia

Author compiles opinions on "Negro Slavery" because its legality "has long occupied the attention both of the learned and unlearned among us"

Slave owner bequeaths to family enslaved "Negro Woman," "Prince," "Diana," "Jack," "Samuel," "James" and "Cloe" (last 4 valued at 90 (pounds?))

Funds needed by King's College for "an useful and extensive Library[...]highly conducive to the Success and Prosperity of this infant University"

New Brunswick

Member Ward Chipman finds Legislative Assembly disabled by members "as ignorant, as abandoned and wicked, [as should never] be again chosen"

With so many in Europe coming to Nova Scotia and Lower and Upper Canada, New Brunswick needs to state its qualities and "use[...]to the Empire"

Males 16–50 (except Quakers) must enroll in militia and muster with musket or fuzee, bayonet, cartouch box, 1 lb. gunpowder and 2 lbs. bullets

Queensbury Parish includes "a number of Poor People[...]desirous of giving their Children a small Share of Learning" and seeking Assembly's help

As prosecutor in court-martial, Edward Winslow is instructed by Lt. Gov. Carleton to "not only be firm and decisive, but [also] temperate and discreet"

British immigrant, though "farming for Maintenance to his family," owns under 1 acre and petitions for 150 acres between Maquapit and Grand Lake

Hudson's Bay Company

Abitibi House says its "lavishness of Spiritous Liquors (the chief article that gains the Natives affection) is nothing" compared with Canadians' supply

With "Mr. Best being constantly in Liquor," parcels containing "Liquor and Wine" are missing at Osnaburgh House; "Mr. Best must go home next Year"

"Capt'n. Monk and all his Gang [of Indigenous people] have been in much distress, the half of them are sick and[...]unable to hunt a long time"

Returning from Henley House, Fort Albany men bring "fine Wood for Boat building, fine Elm heels for Battaux, and a quantity of Ash for Floor timbers"

After forcing its way through Hudson Bay ice, bow of brig sailing to Churchill is lifted by rope running from masthead to pack ice to repair damage

Brig on Hudson Bay is struck by lightning, starting fire in cabin and hold and knocking men down - unhurt but "felt as if they had been Electrified"

Elsewhere

Church of England liturgy is "the fixed Form of Worship" in Prince Edward Island, but "dissenting [Protestants] shall have free Liberty of Conscience"

U.S. population is 5,172,000, with about 40% living in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts; enslaved in those states: 347,000, 1,600 and none

Thomas Jefferson hears Alexander Mackenzie is going to "North West Country [with smallpox] Vaccine Virus for the benefit of the unfortunate natives"

Of 161 Moravian missionaries who are stationed in various places, 25 are in Labrador (in 3 settlements)