I can't speak to colloquial use, but in 1852 I have an ancestor who moved from Beckwith Co to Plympton Co which is just west of London. There was also Lambton Co, Middlesex Co and several others in the area. Most of (what is now) Ontario had pretty well established names down to the County level. Once you get West of there it seems to have been called a "District" of some sort or name (Saskatchewan was the District of Assiniboia, East and West). I can't prove it to you, but I would have thought of Canada West (at that time) as anything West of the Great Lakes. Since it is pre-Confederation, Ontario was called Lower Canada and Quebec was called Upper Canada. It's not unreasonable that anything West of Lower Canada was "Canada West". Don't treat this as fact, just Canadian school-boy learning. Regards - Glen C. Bodie Personal contacts------------------------------- Web http://www.glenbodie.com Home mailto:glen@glenbodie.com Office mailto:Glen.C.Bodie@esso.com My Tree http://www.parsonstech.com/genealogy/trees/gbodie/index.htm ICQ http://wwp.mirabilis.com/7544260 Snail Mail: 76 Strathcona Ave, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4J 1G8 Fax: (603) 250-8940 (via http://www.efax.com) Thornicroft surname----------------------------- Web http://genweb.net/~thornicroft Mail mailto:thornicroft@genweb.net Query http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/surnames/tho/Thornicroft Mail List mailto:thornicroft-l@rootsweb.com Antle surname----------------------------------- Web http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~antlenf/default.htm Mail mailto:antle@glenbodie.com Query http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/surnames/ant/Antle Mail List mailto:antle-l@rootsweb.com Researching------------------------------------- A.NTLE, B.ODIE, C.OFFIN, C.OMRIE, D.EWAR, F.ARQUHARSON, F.ORD, F.REEMAN, G.RAINGER, L.AW, M.ACHRAY, M.CNIE, M.CPHAIL, M.UTCH, O.SBORNE, R.ENNIE, S.MITH, S.TERNS, S.TEWART, T.HOMSON, T.HORNE, T.HORNICROFT, T.UPPER, W.ALKER >> M.UTCH+F.ARQUHARSON info at http://www.isn.net/~dhunter/index.html -----Original Message----- From: Marjorie Bundy [mailto:bundy@onthenet.com.au] Sent: Friday, October 22, 1999 1:04 AM To: SCOTLAND-GENWEB-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Canada west In the 1851 census, Peter Mitchell says that Isabel his daughter was born and baptised in... unreadable, Canada West. (He was canny enough to have her rebaptised in New Deer) I know that some families moved back and forth across the Atlantic for work but would very much like to know what is meant by "Canada West" particularly as we have now had access to a letter sent from Lancashire to a family in "London district" Canada West, America in 1853. These two families are not in any way connected by the way. We would just like to know what was meant by the term Canada West America around that time.. WE think it might mean an area just west of Toronto around the town of London. Can anyone confirm this? Marjorie Bundy ______________________________