'auntie' chaos' Southern Ontario History trivia

1800 -	(Apr12) First London District Quarter Session held at James Monroe's Tavern in Vittoria, Ontario

-	(May 18) Canada 1st white child was born in Scarborough

-	(Jun 8) Canada's first lending library opened in Scarborough

1806 -	(Oct26) John Graves Simcoe died at age 54 yr in England

1807 -	District Grammar School Act

-	(Nov24) Chief Joseph Brant died at Wellington Square (today's Burlington, Ontario)

1812 -	(June18) US Pres. James Madison declared war on Great Britain with US fully expecting to win as they vastly outnumbered the British colonies

-	(Aug.16) Gen. Isaac Brock and his army along with Indian tribes from Michilimackinac, under ChiefTecumseh, surrounded and took Gen. William Hull and his 2100 troops at Fort Detroit

-	(Oct 13) Americans attacked Queenston on Niagara frontier and originally won however Brock's army counter-attacked. Brock was killed but Major Gen. Roger Sheaffe took over command and forced the Americans to surrender and retreat. American losses were close to 1300 killed, wounded and captured while the Brits only lost 100 men

1813 -	(Apr17) Americans raided and captured York and held it until May 8, but Brits exploded a powder magazine killing some 40 Americans and wounding just over 200. Military Buildings were looted, damaged and the Provincial legislative building was burned by Americans and they retreated back across Lake Ontario only to return the end of July when more damage was inflicted on the buildings. Several battles occurred on the Lake but there was really no clear winners

-	(May) Americans crossed Niagara River and took Fort George (opposite Fort Niagara) but the Brits won it back. They were overpowered and forced back from Stoney Creek (2 Am. generals were captured). The Brits were warned by Laura Secord of Queenston) of another attack planned by Americans for June 24 and upon their arrival they were surrounded by Caughnawaga & Mohawks and forced to surrender.

-	(June6) Brits head off Americans at Hamilton

-	(Nov13) Battle of Nanticoke (on Lake Erie)

-	(Dec.19) British took Fort Niagara

-	(Dec.29) Another force of Brits crossed the river and burned village of Buffalo and Black Rock.

1814 -	(May14) Americans, under John Campbell, burned Pt Dover and Pt Ryerse

-	(June) (The "Bloody Assize" of Ancaster) 19 rebels were tried for helping out the American side in the war and 8 were hanged in July at Burlington Heights.

-	(Jul25) Canadians won over Americans near Niagara Falls in Battle of Lundy's Lane. The next day the Americans retreated back south ended their invasion of Upper Canada and more or less ending the War of 1812

-	(Aug) The British army captured Washington, driving out Pres. & Dolly Madison and burning the White House.

-	(Sept.) Detroit won back by Americans in a sea battle on Lake Erie. As the British and Indian troops retreated, at Moraviantown on the Thames River, Americans caught up and killed many including Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnees. Western Upper Canada remained under American occupation until after the war

-	(Dec.25) Peace was made in Ghent and each side agreed to give back what land it had taken over the previous 2 years

1816 -	Common School Act

1818 -	(Jun13) 200 Irish settlers said for Upper Canada and eventually settle in St. Thomas, Ontario

-	First recorded shipwreck at Long Point (Young Phoenix)

1820 -	William Lyon Mackenzie, an oppositionist from Dundee, Scotland came to Canada at age of 25 yr and started his own paper - the 'Colonial Advocate' which he used to bash the 'Family Compact' a political group against the giving out of land grants to the 'enemy' (theAmericans) and many other government issues. They were an Anglican group mostly.

1825 -	Erie Canal completed by Americans from Hudson River along Mohawk valley to Buffalo on Lake Erie

1829 -	Canal from Lake Erie around Niagara Falls from Niagara River to Pt. Dalhousie (on Lake Ontario) completed

1830 -	(Nov3) Long Point's first lighthouse begins operation

1832 -	(May 24) The Rideau Canal, running from Lake Ontario near Kingston through Rideau Lake and along Rideau River to the Ottawa River, by passing the St. Lawrence River was opened. With 47 locks and cut at a 5 ft depth the 130 mile canal cost 1 million pound.

-	(Aug13) Notorious Townsend murderer Henry Sovereen is hanged

1833 -	(Jun5) Kingston Penitentiary opened

1838 -	(Jun20) American Brotherhood of Hunters fail to invade Canada

1841 -	District Councils Act (instigated by Lord Sydenham) established district municipalities with elected councils presided over by governor-appointed wardens

1842 -	(Feb28) Witch doctor of LongPoint, Ont., John Troyer) died in Pt.Rowan

1844 -	(Mar5) Toronto's 'The Globe' publishes first issue

1849 -	University Act established

-	Municipal Act (AKA Baldwin Act) began Ontario's local self-governing system that we know today. (The introduction of Regional Gov't in the late 1960s has changed this form of self-government somewhat)

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Much of the early 1800s settlements were in what today is Elgin and Essex counties along the north shore of Lake Erie

1670 -	(Mar23) French Explorers claim Port Dover and area along Lake Erie for France by raising a cross

1793 -	(June 8) First settlers arrive at Smith's Cove (Port Hope, Ont) by boat

1794 -	(Mar26) Peter Fairchild's daughter, Sarah, born. She was the first white child born in Townsend township

1796 -	(Feb 1) Upper Canada's captial moved from Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) to York (Toronto)

-	(Jun17) Scarborough settled

-	(July21) John Graves Simcoe sails from York to England

1798 -	Jemima Fairchild becomes 1st white woman to die at Long Point

Bits and Pieces of Southern Ontario History