Hi all: Another possible group of immigrants to Durham county was from Ireland. My James Bigham, born 1794 in Ireland settled in north Clarke Twp. maybe around 1830. Presbyterian services were held in his barn. I note that many Irish came to this area about the same time. Does anyone have info on a possible group migration? Hi Frank, There was the Peter Robinson's group that came to Peterborough County but the following gives a little more insight into the situation at the time. It deals with Victoria County but could be anywhere in this region. <<<<<<<<<<<<snip>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> In the year 1821, the government of Upper Canada first offered land for sale in the region that is now Victoria County. During the next forty years, a hardy immigrant phalanx, at first largely Irish and Scotch swept away a wilderness of forest and swamp and established a prosperous agricultural civilization. After the war of 1812-14, a rising tide of immigration demanded the opening up of fresh territory. In 1818, the government went through the formalities of buying from the Mississauga Indians a tract of some 4000 square miles, comprising the modern counties of Peterborough and Victoria. The work of survey began at once, Emily was the first of the townships of Modern Victoria to be laid out. Mariposa came next and then Fenelon, Ops, and Eldon, in that order. Verulam, Somerville and Bexley were opened up later. From 1841 to 1861, municipal authority was centered in Peterborough, but in the latter year Victoria was given provisional and in 1863 complete independence. To the transformation of this wilderness came a virile race of white men from the far-off islands of Great Britain and Ireland. The years that followed Waterloo and the close of British's continental wars were full of distress. The economic aftermath of war pressed hard. The population of Ireland was growing beyond the safety limits of the precarious potato. The introduction of weaving machinery bought tens of thousands of Scotch and English hand-loom-weavers face to face with starvation. To cope with this distress the British government deliberately encouraged emigration to Canada. Once started the human stream poured steadily across the Atlantic. In 1814, Upper Canada contained only 95,000 inhabitants; by 1849 the population had risen to 791,000. In a single year 50,000 immigrants arrived at Quebec. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<end of snip>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>