Question

this old house became uninhabited and was afterward taken down by dr. cogswell, the proprietor of the property, when he divided the fields into building lots. source: history of halifax city in the sentence above, proprietor has the same or almost the same meaning as: gatekeeper landholder surveyor vendor

Explanation:

The word "proprietor" refers to an owner of a business, property, etc. A landholder is also an owner of land. A gate - keeper guards a gate, a surveyor measures and maps land, and a vendor sells goods. So "landholder" is closest in meaning to "proprietor" in this context.

Answer:

B. landholder