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Jesuit Mission to the Hurons, The
In 1728, a mission to the Huron Indians was established near Fort Pontchartrain (Detroit) by Father Armand de la Richardie, S.J. The Mission was moved to Bois Blanc Island and the adjacent mainland in 1742. In 1747 it was destroyed by disaffected Hurons and a party of Iroquois, and the next year re-established in this vicinity. The Huron Mission became the Parish of the Assumption in 1767 and was entrusted with the spiritual care of... -
Lieutenant-Colonel William Caldwell
Born about 1750 in Fermanagh County, Ireland, Caldwell emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1773. During the American Revolution, he served with the British forces as a captain in Butler's Rangers at Niagara and Detroit. In 1784, he obtained land near the mouth of the Detroit River and became one of the area's earliest settlers. Caldwell's exceptional influence with the local Indians enabled him to obtain control of some 11,000 additional acres on the north shore of... -
Great Sauk Trail, The
Part of an ancient network of Indian paths, the Great Sauk Trail, as it came to be known, extended from Rock Island in present-day Illinois to the Detroit River. It played a significant role in the communications between the native peoples in the Upper Mississippi Valley and the British in this region, particularly during the period of Anglo-American rivalry following the American Revolution. For four decades pro-British tribes such as the Sauk and the Fox... -
Newash Indian Village 1842, The
Following the Indian treaty of 1836, a Reserve along the western shore of Owen Sound was set aside for the Band headed by Chief Newash. In 1842, the Indian village of Newash, established here previous to the founding of the adjacent community of Sydenham (now Owen Sound), was rebuilt by the government. It contained fourteen log houses, a school and a barn. Wesleyan Methodist missionaries ministered to the Indians, and in 1845, a frame chapel... -
Nelles Settlement 1785, The
After receiving lands in the Grand River in 1784, the Six Nations Indians invited Captain Hendrick Nelles, a loyalist from the Mohawk Valley, to settle there with five of his sons. He and Robert, the eldest, established farms in what is now Seneca Township and built houses in which they lived until Captain Nelles's death in 1791 and Robert's removal to Grimsby. Their grants, confirmed in 1787, were later changed to 999-year leases and John... -
Indian Flint Bed, The
Some two miles west of here, on the shoreline of Lake Huron, are outcroppings of chert. Nodules of this material, released by ice and water erosion, provided the Indians with highly prized flint for their arrow points, spearheads and scrapers. Archaeological investigations in the area have disclosed numerous campsites where the nodules were fractured and chipped into desired forms. Carbon dating has indicated that these "workshops" were in existence some 2,700 years ago, and they... -
Lawson Site, The
About 1500 A.D. a Prehistoric Neutral (Late Ontario Iroquois) Indian village occupied this site. Archaeological excavations suggest that it was an agricultural community covering 4-5 acres and housing approximately 1,000 inhabitants in communal longhouses. Strategically located so that protection was provided by steep slopes leading down to Medway River and Snake Creek, the village was heavily fortified in exposed areas by palisades, earthworks, ditches and lookout platforms stockpiled with rocks. Although the existence of the... -
Long Point Settlement, The
Long Point was known to traders and travellers before the area was purchased from the Mississauga Indians in 1784. In this unsurveyed area twenty to thirty "squatters" had settled by 1791, some of whom were allowed to remain following surveys and Governor Simcoe's visit in 1795. Further land grants were made to approved applicants, including many Loyalists. During the War of 1812 General Brock raised militia volunteers here for the attack on Detroit. The settlement's... -
Founding of New Liskeard
The Little Clay Belt, the rich agricultural belt extending north from New Liskeard, was originally inhabited by the Algonquin First Nations, including Joachim "Clear Sky" Wabigijic and Angela Lapointe who lived by the mouth of the Wabi River. In 1891, William Murray and Irvin Heard settled here and two years later Crown Lands Agent John Armstrong arrived to supervise development. The abundance of good, inexpensive farmland attracted people from southern to "new" Ontario and the... -
Champlain in Ontario, 1615
In April 1615, Samuel de Champlain (c. 1574-1635) embarked from Honfleur, upon his seventh voyage to New France. Upon arrival in Quebec, Champlain was informed of increasing tensions with the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) the traditional rival of his Anishinabe (Algonquian) and Wendat (Huron) allies. He travelled west to Huronia on a diplomatic and military expedition where he visited several villages including Cahiagué, a large and important Wendat settlement. With a mixed force of 400-500 First Nations... -
Neutral Indian Burial Ground
This nearby burial-ground, one of few representative sites known to have survived relatively intact in Ontario, was used by the Neutral Indians, a confederacy of Iroquoian tribes which occupied the area around western Lake Ontario before 1655. The remains of over 373 individuals were carefully interred here in 31 single graves and 24 multiple graves. Revered by the Neutrals, these remains were typically accompanied by a variety of wares, including carved combs, pipes, pottery, beads... -
Shingwauk Hall
The Shingwauk Indian Residential School operated on this site from 1875 to 1970 as part of the Canadian Residential Schools system. An Anglican minister, E.F. Wilson, named this school for Chief Shingwaukonse (Little Pine). Shingwaukonse had a vision of creating teaching wigwams where Anishinaabe and settler children would learn from each other's cultures. In 1935, Shingwauk Hall was built to replace the former school building, known as the Shingwauk Industrial Home. The assimilationist Residential School... -
Hudson's Bay Post 1856
In 1856, the Hudson's Bay Company, faced with decline in trade at La Cloche on the mainland, obtained permission to establish a post at Little Current. A substantial log building, this community's first European structure, was built near here in 1856-57 by George McTavish, the clerk in charge of La Cloche. However, opposition from some Indians and resident missionaries to what they considered encroachment on the Reserve caused the government to rescind the Company's license... -
Manitoulin Treaties 1836 and 1862
In 1836 the Ojibwa and Odawa inhabiting Manitoulin signed an agreement with the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada which made the Island a refuge for all First Nations. Authorities hoped that native peoples on the mainland would abandon their hunting grounds and take up farming here. Several hundred did come, but resisted the government's efforts to change their way of life. As white settlement moved north, farmers and commercial fishermen demanded access to the Manitoulin area... -
Manitowaning Mission, The
In the 1830s, officials urged native peoples in Upper Canada to abandon seasonal fishing and hunting migrations and settle permanently in agricultural communities. To this end, the government established a mission at Manitowaning under the auspices of the Anglican Church in 1838. A school, houses and workshops for teaching trades were constructed. The mission encouraged farming, but crops were meagre. Few aboriginal people chose to settle permanently at Manitowaning, and in 1864 the mission was... -
Grey Owl 1888-1938
As a youth in England, Archibald Belaney was fascinated with wildlife and tales of North American Indians. At seventeen he came to Canada and soon began living among the Ojibwa on Bear Island. He adopted native dress and customs, and worked as a woodsman, fire ranger and trapper in northeastern Ontario. In the 1920s, Belaney became concerned that the lumber industry and sportsmen were plundering the northern wilderness and threatening the survival of native culture... -
Jean Nicollet de Belleborne c.1598-1642
Nicollet arrived in New France from his native Normandy in 1618-19 to work in the fur trade. To help build alliances with the native peoples, Samuel de Champlain sent Nicollet to live in an Algonquin camp for two years. The young Frenchman then came to this vicinity and lived among the Nipissing for eight years. He learned the language and customs of his hosts, gained their trust, and acted as an interpreter in dealings with... -
Robinson Superior Treaty, The
On September 7, 1850, a treaty was concluded at Sault Ste. Marie between the Hon. W.B. Robinson, representing the government, and nine Ojibwa chiefs and head men. Under its terms, the Ojibwa surrendered territory extending some 400 miles along the shore of Lake Superior, from Batchawana Bay to the Pigeon River, and northward to the height of land delimiting the Great Lakes drainage area. In return, the Indians were allotted three reserves, a cash settlement... -
Grey Owl 1888-1938
As a youth in England, Archibald Belaney was fascinated with wildlife and tales of North American Indians. At seventeen he came to Canada and soon began living among the Ojibwa on Bear Island. He adopted native dress and customs, and worked as a woodsman, fire ranger and trapper in northeastern Ontario. In the 1920s, Belaney became concerned that the lumber industry and sportsmen were plundering the northern wilderness and threatening the survival of native culture... -
New Credit Indian Reserve and Mission
Faced with the pressure of white settlement, the Mississauga Indians began considering in 1840 the relocation of their Credit River Village near Toronto. In 1847, the Six Nations Council made them an unsolicited offer of land on its Grand River reserve. Native spokesmen for resettlement, including the Reverend Peter Jones, a Mississauga chief, selected land in Tuscarora and later in Oneida township. Although several had located elsewhere, some 266 Mississauga settled on lots on the... -
Founding of Brantford, The
In the 1820s, significant improvements to the Hamilton and London road attracted settlers to the Indian lands at Brant's Ford where this thoroughfare crossed the Grand River. A thriving village soon developed and in 1830 the Six Nations surrendered its site. The opening of navigation to Brantford in 1848, the completion of the Buffalo, Brantford and Goderich Railway to the town in 1854 and the development of a rich agricultural hinterland fostered significant commercial and manufacturing growth in Brantford. -
Mohawk Institute, The
The Mohawk Institute was established in 1831 for children of the Six Nations Iroquois living on the Grand River. Pupils from other native communities in Ontario attended the school as well. Like all Canadian residential schools, the Mohawk Institute tried to assimilate its students into the rapidly growing Euro-Canadian society. To that end, it disregarded native cultural traditions and stressed instead Christian teachings, English-language instruction, and manual labour skills. This building was constructed in 1904... -
Mohawk Village
Allies of the British during the American War of Independence, the Six Nations Iroquois received extensive lands along the Grand River in 1784. Mohawks, led by Joseph Brant, established a village of some 400 inhabitants here by 1788. The community was situated at an important crossing point on the river ("Brant's Ford") and prospered as a resting place for travellers on the "Detroit path", a trail linking the Niagara and Detroit rivers. Increasingly, European settlers... -
Nodwell Indian Village Site, The
This important Iroquoian village site was discovered about 1900, and named after the family which then owned the property. Subsequent archaeological examinations have uncovered a mid-14th century village, consisting of twelve loghouses, from 42 to 139 feet in length, protected by a double palisade. It was probably occupied for about 10 to 20 years by a group of some 500 people who were predecessors of the Huron and Petun Indians. Although primarily farmers who grew... -
Bruce Peninsula Portage
The Bruce Peninsula presents a formidable barrier to water transportation between Lake Huron and southern Georgian Bay. To avoid a difficult detour to the north, aboriginal peoples developed a portage route across the base of the peninsula. The eastern section ran along high ground between here and Colpoy's Bay at Wiarton. West of here were two routes. One ran south across Boat Lake and along the Rankin and Sauble Rivers to Lake Huron. The other...