To message 1: The Erie canal was finished in 1825. The Rideau Canal was opened in 1832. My relative, William Porter emigrated from England in 1819 and worked on the Erie, Welland and Rideau Canals from 1820-1832. He then went to Vaughan Township, York County to farm on a lot adjacent to his brother, John who emigrated from England in 1832. I have no information on how they travelled probably from Quebec or Montreal to Toronto. Ellen Sager > From: [email protected] > Subject: SCT-ISLAY Digest, Vol 5, Issue 133 > To: [email protected] > Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2010 01:01:41 -0600 > > > > When replying to a digest message, please quote only the > relevant portion of the specific message to which you are > replying, removing the rest of the digest from your reply. > Also, change the subject of your reply to match the message > subject to which you are replying. > > ********* > > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Deaths in Canada (Carol Bell) > 2. Some indexes for Cynthia and Elizabeth ([email protected]) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:36:32 -0700 > From: "Carol Bell" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [SCT-ISLAY] Deaths in Canada > To: <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > For Cynthia: > 1816 is awfully early for immigration to Canada. None of the west was > settled at all and most of what is now Ontario was unmapped bush. Victoria > county may have been settled that early and perhaps some of the eastern > townships of Ontario. The border between Canada and the US was very blurry > at that time as well. I don't even think the canals were built until the > 30's or 40's so travel would have been very difficult indeed. Your best > bet, in my opinion, would be to look in the eastern provinces or the > north-eastern states. There is a well established Scottish heritage in Nova > Scotia and Cape Breton and it feels likely that he would land somewhere on > the east coast. Any idea what his occupation might have been? There were > some big coal mining operations in Nova Scotia as well as fishing, sealing > and ship building. Most settlers to Ontario farmed the land. Just some > thoughts. You may be able to find a transcript from his graveyard if you > can narrow things down a bit. People tended to settle in clusters, family > or friends from the same tiny area either travelled together or met up on > this side and created a new version of their old neighbourhood. Virtually > all of the older stones in the graveyard where our ancestors are buried show > the deceased being born on Islay or in Argyllshire. Many were former as > well as "current" neighbours. Do you know any Scottish neighbours or close > family names that can give you further clues? Perhaps from a tenant list? > > For Elizabeth: > Quebec is still THE major landing area for immigrants. By 1926 the whole > country was getting settled and travel by rail as well as road pretty much > as easy as it is today. Any ideas on where others from Ardtalla may have > settled or where there is a cluster of relatives? Most of the letters are > lost but folks did keep in touch, for generations. Did any of his war > buddies immigrate? Their location could give you a starting point. The > Canadian Archives have quite complete census data and the database is > searcheable but I thinkso the data has to be 90 years old before it's made > public so you may have to wait a bit for the next one in line to become > available. You might have to search all 10 provinces but if this chap was > here for any appreciable time before his death, there should be a record > somewhere. > > Good luck to you both. > > > > ------------------------------ > >