(?-early May 1803), surveyor. Born in Ireland, he emigrated from Ireland in 1764, and became a merchant in New York colony, and came to Canada as a U E Loyalist. Having some training as a surveyor, he obtained employment in surveying for the settlement by the British government of the Loyalists in what is now Ontario.
In the period 1784-1786, he surveyed the southern portion of the present counties of Glengarry, Stormont and Dundas, laying out the borders of the lots and concessions. He presented the results on a famous map, known as “McNiff’s Map,” or often simply “McNiff,” which includes the names of the Loyalist claimants of the lots. There is a convenient transcript of these names and their respective lots and concessions in Judge Pringle’s Lunenburgh of 1890. The map itself was described in 1993 as “probably the most widely consulted map in the Archives of Ontario.” (Ladell 76)
Patrick McNiff has left an enduring mark on the consciousness of Glengarrians, through his lot and concession lines which, apart from minor adjustments, have survived intact to this day. It must also be added, by way of criticism, that as he marked out the lots along the Raisin River, he identified them by a terminology so complicated and ambiguous that it has never ceased to give trouble. He and members of his family owned several lots in GC. (Pringle 404) He was an early surveyor of the Ottawa River portion of GC’s neighbour, Prescott County.
Later, he did surveying work in Western Ontario. When the British gave up Detroit to the Americans in 1796, McNiff, who had been living in Detroit, chose to remain put, and to continue his career in the United States. He died in Detroit. The story of McNiff’s life is dismal (at least as it appears on paper; perhaps it was more satisfactory to himself), being marked by disappointments, misfortunes, grievances, complaints, agitation and reckless feuding. He had the strange necessity, found in so many men of the late 18th century, for incessant quarrel-picking and wrangling. He is, however, for all his faults and failings of personality, probably the best-known surveyor in the history of Ontario. The writer of his life in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography notes that although Governor Simcoe spoke with exasperation and contempt of McNiff’s professional competence, in fact few errors were later found in his work.
See also Hugh Macdonell of Aberchalder (d. 1933), surveyor.
His life by Ron Edwards, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. V * his life by A. P. Walker and R. W. Code, OLS No. 46 (1931) 100-104 * MacGillivray & Ross 6, 26, 286-288, 674 * Senior: index * Ladell: index * Pringle: many refs., but esp. v, 403 ff