| Mahlon Burwell 1783 - 1846 
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A surveyor's job involved measuring the land with a sixty-six foot (20
metres) chain made of 100 links, marking the distances then mapping the area in
detail. Mahlon Burwell was the Deputy Provincial Surveyor in the early 1800's and he
mapped much of Middlesex and Elgin Counties. He first surveyed a 1000 acre (405 hectare) tract of land at the Forks of the Thames in 1808. Later, in 1826, Burwell was instructed to survey the the London town site under the direction of Colonel Thomas Ridout, the Surveyor General. Mahlon Burwell was born, February 18 in 1783, in Long Island, New England and came to Canada as a United Empire Loyalist. As part of the education he received as a boy, he studied land surveying. He married Sarah Hawn in 1809, and they had seven sons and two daughter. He was instructed by Colonel Talbot to, "Build a road one chain wide, laid out on the principle of Yonge Street with lots on each side". This famous road, called the Talbot Trail and later the Talbot Road, ran from Fort Erie to Windsor. Today's Highway 3, follows close to the pathway of the original road. When Burwell died, Colonel Talbot said he had lost his best helper and best friend.
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Information: London 200 An Illustrated History by Orlo Miller Footpaths to Freedom: The Story of Ontario's Roads Looking For Old Ontario by Thomas F. McIlwraith Centennial Review 1967 by the LMHS |
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The London and Middlesex Historical Society