X-Nico

15 unusual facts about Upper Canada


Alexander James Grant

Born in Glengarry County, Upper Canada, the son of James Grant and Catherine Dingwall, Grant received his education at the schools of Glengarry County, and until twenty six years of age, assisted his father on the farm.

Canadian cricket team in the United States in 1844

Despite the lack of preparations, a cricket match was hastily arranged, which was attended by a good number of spectators, a brass band and Sir George Arthur, the Governor of Upper Canada.

Earl of Egremont

He also sponsored the Petworth Emigration Scheme, which sent thousands of working-class people from the south of England to Upper Canada between 1832 and 1837.

Edward Baynes

During a visit to Kingston in Upper Canada in May 1813, Prévost and Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo, commanding the British naval units on Lake Ontario, became aware that there was an opportunity to capture and destroy Sackets Harbor, New York.

Edward Mott Moore

His paternal uncle was Elias Moore, who was elected to the Twelfth and Thirteenth Parliaments of Upper Canada.

Francis de Laporte de Castelnau

From 1837 to 1841 he led a scientific expedition to Canada where he studied the fauna of the Canadian lakes and the political systems of Upper and Lower Canada (roughly corresponding to the modern provinces of Ontario and Quebec) and of the United States.

Gerrit Schipper

One of Schipper's most notable subjects was Sir Isaac Brock whom he painted a pastel portrait of whilst Brock was stationed in Upper Canada.

Gore District

Gore District, Upper Canada, an historical district of Upper Canada, now the province of Ontario, Canada

Irish Quebecers

The Montreal population was more transient, attracted to labor in large construction projects such as the Lachine Canal before moving on to Upper Canada and the United States.

James Pattison Cockburn

Many works from this "mature" period cover subjects from both Upper Canada and Lower Canada with Niagara Falls producing some of the finest work.

John A. Cameron

He was born in Charlottenburg Township in Upper Canada in 1820 and grew up in Glengarry County.

John Machar

In 1827, he emigrated to Kingston, Upper Canada in order to become the minister at St Andrew's Church.

Stephen de Vere

When Colonial Secretary Earl Grey read this report, he forwarded it to Lord Elgin, Governor-General of Upper Canada and Lower Canada in the hope that these inhumane conditions could be improved.

Tadeusz Brzozowski

Later that year, Bishop Joseph-Octave Plessis of Québec wrote to Pius VII and to Brzozowski, begging that Jesuits be sent from Great Britain not only for Halifax but to work among the aboriginal people in Upper Canada as well.

The School of Restoration Arts at Willowbank

Willowbank, named after willow trees that were once located on its grounds, is an example of the rural estates of the wealthy settlers of early 19th century Upper Canada.


Act Against Slavery

The Act Against Slavery was an anti-slavery law passed on July 9, 1793, in the second legislative session of Upper Canada, the colonial division of British North America that would eventually become Ontario.

Anishinaabe Nation in Treaty No. 3

In 1873, Alexander Morris was one of three Commissioners empowered by the Privy Council to make a treaty that would open up safe passage from Upper Canada via Lake Superior and the Rainy and Winnipeg Rivers to the Prairies.

Battle of Malcolm's Mills

The skirmish was part of a series of battles fought by American Brigadier General Duncan McArthur on an extended raid into Upper Canada.

British North America

The part of Quebec retained after 1783 was split into the primarily French-speaking Lower Canada and the primarily English-speaking Upper Canada in 1791.

British-American Institute

The British-American Institute was a school started in 1842 by Josiah Henson near Dresden, Western District, Canada West, Province of Canada, as part of the Dawn Settlement, a community of fugitive slaves who had escaped to Canada.

Calton weavers

They were granted some help with their passage and free land in the Rideau Valley, a strategically important part of Upper Canada where the government was anxious to settle loyal Scots.

Cornwall, Ontario

It was later renamed Cornwall by the British for the Duke of Cornwall, by proclamation of Prince George, and in 1834 the town became one of the first incorporated municipalities in the British colony of Upper Canada.

George D. Watt

Fielding's brother Joseph had joined the Latter Day Saint church in Upper Canada and had written to James about the new church.

Gore, Quebec

The Gore Township was established in 1840, named after Francis Gore (1769–1852), Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada from 1806 to 1811 and from 1815 to 1817.

Henry Bowyer Lane

Lane's education included time at Blundell's School in Tiverton and subsequent professional training in England before he emigrated to Canada in 1841, living first in Cobourg, Upper Canada, and then in Toronto.

Henry Cargill

He was born in Nassagaweya Township, Upper Canada, the son of David Carill, an Irish immigrant.

James Bell Forsyth

Born at Kingston, Upper Canada, he was the second son of Joseph Forsyth (1764-1813) and his wife Alicia, daughter of Major James Robbins of the Royal Artillery.

John Harrison O'Donnell

He was born in Simcoe, Upper Canada, the son of John O'Donnell, a native of Ireland, and was educated at Victoria University and Trinity Medical College.

John Scoble

He came to Upper Canada in 1852 to try to assist the British-American Institute of Science and Industry, a vocational school for black people, which was being managed by Josiah Henson, a former fugitive slave.

John Short

Born in Richmond, Upper Canada and educated in Lennoxville, Canada East, he was the son of the Reverend Robert Short and Margaret Lyon, the grandson of John Quirk Short and the great-grandson of Robert Quirk Short.

King's Royal Regiment of New York

Members of the regiment were granted land along the St. Lawrence River valley and Bay of Quinte in modern Ontario and were among the first settlers of Upper Canada, later the province of Ontario in Canada.

Louis-Antoine Dessaulles

In 1847, Dessaulles began writing articles for the newspaper L'Avenir; he supported Papineau, opposed the political power of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada East, opposed the union of Upper and Lower Canada and supported annexation with the United States.

Malahide, Ontario

Malahide Township was named for Malahide Castle in Malahide, Ireland, birthplace of land grant administrator Colonel Thomas Talbot in 1810.

Robert Lorne Richardson

Born in Balderson, Lanark County, Upper Canada, the son of Joseph Richardson and Harriet Thompson, Richardson was educated at the Balderson Public School and in 1879 became a journalist working for the Montreal Star and briefly for the Toronto Globe.

Samuel Crane

Crane moved to Prescott in Upper Canada some time later and partnered with John Macpherson of Kingston in the transporting of goods and passengers.

Samuel Henry Strong

He emigrated to Upper Canada with his family in 1836 settling in Bytown (later known as Ottawa).

South Glengarry, Ontario

Alexander McMartin, from Martintown; first person born in Upper Canada to serve in the Legislative Assembly.

Alexander McMartin, the first person born in Upper Canada to serve in the Legislative Assembly, was from Martintown.

Thomas Marks

He was born in Kilfinane, the son of Samuel Marks, and came with his family to Bytown in Upper Canada in the 1840s.

Whitchurch, Herefordshire

Within the village is the Old Court Hotel which was the ancestral home of the Gwillim family, and was lived in for a while by John Graves Simcoe, first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (1791–1796) and founder of Toronto.

William Henry Brouse

Born in Matilda Township, Dundas County, Upper Canada of German ancestry, he attended Upper Canada Academy in Cobourg, Canada West in 1839, Victoria College until 1845, and received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1847 from McGill College.