In the late-1700s, the land encompassing what would become Hyndman was mostly reserved as Crown land. In the 1790s, a few lots of land were divided and granted to Loyalists who sold the land on for a profit; being surrounded by reserved land they didn't view settlement as a possibility. In 1799, two lots of land were sold to a man named Allen Paterson, who petitioned the Court of Quarter Sessions after his purchase to release more Crown land for sale or lease to the Loyalists in order to encourage settlement on land which had potential. By 1803, the land Paterson had purchased was still registered in his name however a man named Lewis Grant had settled on the land, dammed the river, and established a flour and gristmill and oat kiln; allegedly these were the first mills erected on the Nation River, and the only mills on the river between Montreal and Kingston for a number of years.