MICHEAU, DANIEL (1761-1818)

MICHEAU, DANIEL, non-resident land surveyor; b. Staten Island, N.Y., 29 Jan 1761; m. Hannah Scovil, of Kingston, N.B.; d. Hampton, N.B., 5 Oct 1818.

Daniel Micheau was a Loyalist who came to New Brunswick with the Spring Fleet in 1783. After the formation of the new province of New Brunswick he was appointed a deputy provincial land surveyor. In 1785 he was sent to the Miramichi to lay off approximately 135 settlers' lots along both sides of the river, between Beaubear's Island on the west and the Bartibog River on the east. The "Micheau Survey" was the first major land survey carried out on the Miramichi, and all land transactions within its bounds since 1785 have been based on it.

Micheau had planned to settle on the Miramichi but circumstances took him to the Kennebecasis, where he married a daughter of the Anglican rector at Kingston. He lived at Hampton and continued to work as a surveyor. He also had an appointment as a justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for Kings County.