Old McCully Canal
1830 Cyrus and William McCully Grant
Cyrus and William McCully received a grant of 365 acres in Amherst Township on 15 Apr 1830. (Book O, p. 91. Fam Search Grant Registers film 8632288 left side of page Image 302). The grant papers included a drawing of the property. It lay north of the Denson grant and bordered partially on today's Blair Lake. On the west, the grant was bounded by the heirs of Robert Coates and the 2-acre Amherst Common Lots. In July of 1868, Cyrus McCulley and heirs of William McCulley transferred the property by deed to Jonathan McCulley. In August of 1871, Jonathan transferred the property by deed to Robert McCulley. Robert left the property to his son Harry McCulley in his will of 1878. Harry seems to have died soon after as the property was transferred again by probate in 1879.
The sales of the property exempt a small lot previously sold to James Noiles at the southwest corner and a 20-acre lot in the southeast corner. The description of this property says that its western boundary ran parallel to the old canal "now sunken" running north from the Denson line to a corner of the "big lake". Unfortunately the descriptions of the grant property in the deed do not specifically state the current owners of the properties adjacent to the grant. The southern boundary is described as the "Denson Line" and properties formerly owned by the Mssrs. Cochran. The western boundary was bordered by the heirs of Robert Coates and the Amherst Common Lots.
Cyrus and William McCully received a grant of 365 acres in Amherst Township on 15 Apr 1830. (Book O, p. 91. Fam Search Grant Registers film 8632288 left side of page Image 302). The grant papers included a drawing of the property. It lay north of the Denson grant and bordered partially on today's Blair Lake. On the west, the grant was bounded by the heirs of Robert Coates and the 2-acre Amherst Common Lots. In July of 1868, Cyrus McCulley and heirs of William McCulley transferred the property by deed to Jonathan McCulley. In August of 1871, Jonathan transferred the property by deed to Robert McCulley. Robert left the property to his son Harry McCulley in his will of 1878. Harry seems to have died soon after as the property was transferred again by probate in 1879.
The sales of the property exempt a small lot previously sold to James Noiles at the southwest corner and a 20-acre lot in the southeast corner. The description of this property says that its western boundary ran parallel to the old canal "now sunken" running north from the Denson line to a corner of the "big lake". Unfortunately the descriptions of the grant property in the deed do not specifically state the current owners of the properties adjacent to the grant. The southern boundary is described as the "Denson Line" and properties formerly owned by the Mssrs. Cochran. The western boundary was bordered by the heirs of Robert Coates and the Amherst Common Lots.
1859 James Stewart to Francis C. Smith "Old McCully Canal"
In 1859, James Stewart had sold Francis C. Smith a property bounded on the south by the road from Coates Hill to Francis Smith's place, on the west by Joseph Coates, on the north by the marsh of Joseph Coates and the Keivers heirs, and on the east by Francis Smith. This property lay "on both sides of the Old McCulley Canal." Francis C. Smith owned a large homestead that included the small pond on Smith Road south of Blair Lake. So this piece of property lay midway between the pond on Smith Road and the Sifto Salt plant. The canal must have stretched from Blair lake in a southwest direction toward the Nappan River.
In 1859, James Stewart had sold Francis C. Smith a property bounded on the south by the road from Coates Hill to Francis Smith's place, on the west by Joseph Coates, on the north by the marsh of Joseph Coates and the Keivers heirs, and on the east by Francis Smith. This property lay "on both sides of the Old McCulley Canal." Francis C. Smith owned a large homestead that included the small pond on Smith Road south of Blair Lake. So this piece of property lay midway between the pond on Smith Road and the Sifto Salt plant. The canal must have stretched from Blair lake in a southwest direction toward the Nappan River.
1882 Blair vs McCully
The McCully Canal featured in an 1882 court case between a descendant of the original McCully and his neighbour Blair. You can read this case online in a book of Reports of Cases Argued in the Supreme Court at Amherst during the term Dec 1881 to April 1882. The Rev. Samuel McCully had dredged a canal from a swampy area between Dickson Lake and Nappan Lake (probably today's Blair Lake) to the Nappan River in order to flood the marsh with fresh water and deposit soil. His descendants had continued the work. By doing this work, the McCully family had created so much new and useful land that Blair sued them for ownership. Nappan Lake was later called "the big lake" by the McCully family in deed sales. It may have also been called McCulley Lake before it was renamed Blair Lake. The Denson Line, a well-marked local boundary, figured heavily in the case but nobody seemed to remember when it had been surveyed. I've been researching the boundaries of the Denson grant, so this seems to be a piece of the puzzle. Neighbours John Smith and James K. Noiles were called as witnesses in the case. The McCulley family won their case after proving continuous possession of the property from the time of the original grant to present. They also proved that they had done the work to dredge the canal and create the land.
See Thomas Cochran's Map on this website for further information on the location of the McCully grant. If you look at Nappan on Openstreetmap, you can see what looks like a canal extending from the southwest corner of Blair Lake, but I'm not certain this is the canal.
The McCully Canal featured in an 1882 court case between a descendant of the original McCully and his neighbour Blair. You can read this case online in a book of Reports of Cases Argued in the Supreme Court at Amherst during the term Dec 1881 to April 1882. The Rev. Samuel McCully had dredged a canal from a swampy area between Dickson Lake and Nappan Lake (probably today's Blair Lake) to the Nappan River in order to flood the marsh with fresh water and deposit soil. His descendants had continued the work. By doing this work, the McCully family had created so much new and useful land that Blair sued them for ownership. Nappan Lake was later called "the big lake" by the McCully family in deed sales. It may have also been called McCulley Lake before it was renamed Blair Lake. The Denson Line, a well-marked local boundary, figured heavily in the case but nobody seemed to remember when it had been surveyed. I've been researching the boundaries of the Denson grant, so this seems to be a piece of the puzzle. Neighbours John Smith and James K. Noiles were called as witnesses in the case. The McCulley family won their case after proving continuous possession of the property from the time of the original grant to present. They also proved that they had done the work to dredge the canal and create the land.
See Thomas Cochran's Map on this website for further information on the location of the McCully grant. If you look at Nappan on Openstreetmap, you can see what looks like a canal extending from the southwest corner of Blair Lake, but I'm not certain this is the canal.