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Lieutenant-Colonel John Butler 1725-1796
Born in New London, Connecticut, Butler served in the Mohawk Valley, New York, in 1742. Commissioned in the British Indian Department in 1755, he served in the Seven Years' War. At the outbreak of the American Revolution, he was compelled to leave his estates, and was ordered to Fort Niagara. In 1777, he organized the Loyalist corps known as Butler's Rangers. By the end of the war, this unit, with British regulars and Indian allies... -
Niagara Baptist Church Burial Ground, The
The Niagara Baptist Church congregation was established in 1829. A meeting house was erected at this site in 1831 through the efforts of John Oakley, a white former British soldier turned teacher and minister. Initially, the church congregation mainly consisted of colonists, with a small number of Black members. The Black population of the Town of Niagara grew to about 100 due to the influx of freedom seekers after Britain passed the 1833 Slavery Abolition... -
Town of Niagara, The
Known at various times as Butlersburg, West Niagara and Newark, its first permanent settlers, including Butler's Rangers and other Loyalists, arrived about 1780. The first five sessions of Upper Canada's legislature met here under Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe between September 17, 1792 and June 3, 1796. The town was captured by American forces May 27, 1813, which burnt it during their withdrawal December 13, 1813. It was the administrative and judicial centre of the Niagara District and Lincoln County until 1866. -
Niagara Library, The
On June 8, 1800, the Niagara Library, the first circulating library in Upper Canada, was established "to diffuse knowledge" among area subscribers. Financed by this group, library services were begun in 1801 with some 80 works for circulation, many on religion and history. Under the management of Andrew Heron, a merchant, the collection was steadily enlarged, and in 1805 the books of the Niagara Agricultural Society were added. The library operated successfully until the occupation... -
Founding of Queenston, The
Following the loss, after the American Revolution, of the Niagara River's east bank, a new portage around Niagara Falls was established in the 1780s with Queenston its northern terminus. Wharves, storehouses and a block-house were built. Robert Hamilton, a prominent merchant considered the village's founder, operated a thriving trans-shipment business. Known as the "Lower Landing", it was named "Queenston" by Lieut.-Governor Simcoe. During the War of 1812, the village was badly damaged. Here lived such... -
Major John Richardson 1796-1852
This pioneer historian, author and soldier was born in Queenston. His family moved to Amherstburg about 1802, and at the outbreak of the War of 1812, Richardson joined the British army. Retired on half pay in 1818 in London, England, he published the epic poem "Tecumseh" and the celebrated historical novel "Wacousta" which established his literary reputation. In 1838, Richardson returned to Upper Canada where he published two weekly newspapers, "The New Era" (1841-42) and... -
Chicora Incident 1870, The
The St. Mary's River was the scene of an international dispute between Canada and the United States in May 1870. The Canadian government had sent an expeditionary force to quell a Métis uprising led by Louis Riel at Fort Garry (Winnipeg). It chartered the steamer Chicora to ferry troops and supplies as far as Fort William. The canal at Sault Ste Marie was on American territory, and U.S. officials refused passage to the ship because... -
North West Company Post, The
Travellers on the canoe route to the West had to make a portage around the St Mary's rapids. The North West Company established a fur-trading post south of the river by 1791. After the British abandoned their occupation of the American midwest, the company moved its post here in 1797. The depot eventually included storehouses, a canal and lock, a sawmill, and a portage road. Wharves were built at either end of the rapids for... -
Founding of Kapuskasing, The
In 1911, the National Transcontinental Railway, then under construction, reached the present site of Kapuskasing. Three years later during the first World War the Canadian government established in the area a prisoner of war camp and an experimental farm to investigate the agricultural potential of the Clay Belt. The prisoners cleared land and worked on the farm. In 1917, the Ontario Government launched near here an ambitious land settlement scheme for veterans. The detention camp... -
Wolseley Expedition 1870, The
In August 1870, a force of British regulars and Canadian militia comprising some 1,200 men commanded by Colonel Garnet Wolseley arrived in this area en route to the Red River to establish Canadian authority within the present province of Manitoba. The previous year the Hudson's Bay Company had agreed to transfer control of its western territories to Canada, and some local inhabitants, fearing loss of their lands and interference with their mode of existence, had... -
Jacques de Noyon 1668-1745
The coureur de bois Jacques de Noyon was born at Trois-Rivières and raised at Boucherville, near Montreal. In 1688, he led a trading party north of Lake Superior and explored further west than any Frenchman of his time. He ascended the Kaministiquia River, crossed Dog Lake and, through several portages, reached Rainy Lake. Near Fort Frances, on Rainy River, Noyon built a post where he spent the winter. He traveled on to Lake of the... -
Japanese-Canadian Road Camps 1942-1944
During the Second World War, the federal government forcibly evacuated Canadians of Japanese ancestry from the coast of British Columbia. In the spring of 1942, several hundred young men were sent to Ontario to help build the Trans-Canada Highway. They were accommodated in four camps between Schreiber and Jackfish. Most soon left the road camps for work on farms or in lumber and pulp mills. Others, interned in prisoner-of-war camps for resisting separation from their... -
Nile Voyageurs 1884-85, The
In 1884, the British Government decided to send a military expedition up to the Nile River to relieve Major-General Charles Gordon, who was besieged in Khartoum by Mahdist tribesmen. Appointed to command the relieving force, Lord Wolseley, who had led the expedition to the Red River in 1870, requested the recruitment of experienced Canadian voyageurs. Almost 400 volunteered, including many superb rivermen, and the largest group came from the Ottawa valley area. Commanded by Lieut.-Col... -
Lieutenant-Colonel John By, R.E., 1779-1836
Born in London, England, about 1779, By graduated from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in 1799. He was attached to the Royal Engineers in Canada (1802-1811) and later served in the Peninsular War. By was sent to Canada in 1826 to superintend the construction of an Ottawa River – Lake Ontario waterway from "Bytown" (Ottawa) to Kingston. The 123-mile-long Rideau Canal, built as a military route and incorporating 47 locks, 16 lakes, two rivers and... -
Queen's Rangers
The young province of Upper Canada (Ontario) required troops to defend it and to build public works essential to its development. The Queen's Rangers was the first regiment raised in Britain specifically for service in the colony. It arrived in 1792 and was stationed in York (Toronto) in 1793. Over the next three years, the regiment constructed government buildings and fortifications. It also cut important roads through the forest, including Yonge Street north to the... -
Chatham Blockhouse 1794, The
On this site a blockhouse was constructed in 1794 by order of Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe. He planned to establish here a small naval arsenal which would form a link in the defences of Upper Canada's western frontier and also draw the Indian trade from Detroit. The post was garrisoned by a detachment of the Queen's Rangers, and two gunboats were built; but by 1797 it was abandoned. In 1798 the province's Administrator, Peter Russell, had the blockhouse moved to Sandwich to serve as the Western District's court house and gaol. -
Harry G.B. Miner, V.C. 1891-1918
Born in Raleigh Township, Miner enlisted in the 142nd Battalion, C.E.F. in December, 1915, and the following year transferred to the 58th Battalion, then serving in France. During a Canadian attack near Amiens on August 8, 1918, Corporal Miner rushed a German machine gun post single-handed and turned the gun on the enemy. Later, with two companions, he assaulted another post and put its gun out of action, following which he again attacked alone and... -
New Fairfield 1815
In 1792 Fairfield, a Moravian missionary settlement of Delaware Indians was established by David Zeisberger just north of here across the Thames. It was destroyed by invading American forces following their victory at the Battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813. Christian Frederick Denke, who guided the homeless Fairfield Indians during the war years, re-established the mission here at New Fairfield in 1815. A small log church was then built which was replaced by a... -
Nine Mile Portage, The
Site of eastern terminus of an Indian portage from Kempenfeldt Bay to Willow Creek and thence by the Nottawasaga River to Georgian Bay. In the winter of 1813-14, a force under Lieut.-Colonel Robert McDougall followed it on the way to relieve the isolated British garrison at Michilimackinac. That summer it was developed as a rough wagon road and till about 1829 was in frequent use for transport of supplies to Penetanguishene and the western military and fur trading posts. -
Huron Fish Weirs, The
In the adjacent Narrows joining Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching are the remains of Indian fish weirs. They were noted by Samuel de Champlain when he passed here on September 1, 1615, with a Huron war party en route to attack the Iroquois south of Lake Ontario. The weirs consisted of large number of stakes driven into the bottom of the Narrows, with openings at which nets were placed to catch fish. These weirs (claies) caused... -
Henry Wolsey Bayfield 1795-1885
Born in England, Bayfield joined the Royal Navy at the age of eleven and served in many parts of the world. While stationed at Kingston, Upper Canada in 1817, he was put in charge of the Great Lakes survey. Over the next eight years, he charted the coastal waters of lakes Erie, Huron and Superior. For much of this period Penetanguishene was his base of operations. Later, Bayfield surveyed the shorelines of the lower St... -
Willow Creek Depot
During the War of 1812, the Nine Mile Portage from Kempenfel(d)t Bay to Willow Creek formed part of the vital route, via Yonge Street, Lake Simcoe, the Nottawasaga River and Georgian Bay, which linked Upper Canada with the British posts on the upper Great Lakes. Here, beside the Minesing Swamp and one mile from the landing on Willow Creek, were stored the hundreds of tons of military supplies and trade goods that maintained the western... -
Franz Johnston 1888-1949
This was the home and studio, 1940-48, of the noted Canadian painter Francis Hans (Franz) Johnston. Born in Toronto, he studied there and in the United States, and at first worked as a commercial artist. An official war artist, 1917-18, he participated in the first exhibition of the Group of Seven in 1920. With others of the Group, he captured on canvas the lonely grandeur of the Canadian northland, thus ending Canadian dependence upon Europe... -
George Richardson, V.C. c.1831-1923
Private Richardson won the Victoria Cross while fighting with the Border Regiment of the British Army in northern India during the Indian Mutiny of 1857-59. As part of a detachment sent to dislodge rebels in the hills of the Kewarie Trans-Gogra district on April 27, 1859, he displayed determined courage in having, though severely wounded, closed with and secured a rebel Sepoy [Indian soldier] armed with a broad revolver. An Irishman by birth, Richardson came... -
Honourable René-Amable Boucher 1735-1812, The
Boucher was born at Fort Frontenac (Kingston) where his father, an officer with the French colonial regular troops, was stationed. René-Amable also chose a military career and served in the Seven Years War with the French defenders of Canada. During the American Revolution, he was captain of a volunteer company of French Canadian militia and fought with the British under General John Burgoyne. In Quebec, and later in Lower Canada, Boucher sat on the legislative...