Pioneer Origins
     

    European settlement in Willoughby Township began in 1784. The land was ruled by the British. Except for a few trails made by  Aboriginal peoples who had lived in the area for short periods of time, the land around Willoughby was wilderness.
 

    The land was surveyed in 1787. The earliest settlers in Willoughby were United Empire Loyalists, who arrived in Canada during the     War of American Independence or shortly afterward. These were settlers from America who had come to Canada to start new lives.
 

    In 1788, more settlers arrived in Willoughby from Pennsylvania. These people were known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. Like all settlers, they were given large plots of cheap land to settle. They also came because the British promised they would not be forced to fight in wars. Most of them did not believe in fighting.
 

 
Pioneers used covered wagons like this one on the long voyage to Canada
 
 

    Both the United Empire Loyalists and the Pennsylvania Dutch had to travel long, slow trips in covered wagons to get to Canada. After travelling for many hundreds of kilometres through America for weeks and weeks, the pioneers arrived at the Niagara River, near Buffalo, New York. They had to swim or use rafts to float their families, oxen, wagons and all of their belongings across the river, not far from the dangerous rapids of Niagara Falls.
 

     Other pioneers also came to Canada directly from Europe. Several families arrived in Willoughby from Germany, Switzerland, Alsace-Lorraine (now part of France). To reach Canada, they had to spend many weeks or months aboard crowded ships, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and down the St. Lawrence River.
 
 

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A recent map showing Alsace-Lorraine
It was a long way from Canada, and most people spoke no English.
 
 

    Since Canada was ruled by Great Britain, many settlers also sailed over from England, Scotland and Ireland, and started new lives in communities like Willoughby. In their old countries, most of the good land for farming was taken. Places in Canada like Willoughby offered plenty of open land that cost very little to own.
 

    The families in communities like Willoughby spoke many different languages and had different customs. Yet in order to survive the hard life in a new land, they had to work side by side and help one another. They left their old countries to help build a new one from scratch.
 
 

 A map of Western Europe. Can you find the countries where the Willoughby settlers came from?
Which countries would have been closest to Canada?
Click HERE to go to an interactive map that will let you look at countries up-close.
 
Vocabulary
Aboriginal peoples - The first inhabitants of Canada.

surveyed - land being measured and divided into plots for settlement

United Empire Loyalists - Americans who remained loyal to the Britain during
the War of American Independence. They were given land in Canada afterward.

War of American Independence - A war fought in America that created the U.S.A.

Pennsylvania Dutch - The name given to many of the German families who settled in Pennsylvania.

Niagara River - The river dividing the Niagara Peninsula (Ontario) from New York State.

St. Lawrence River - The large, important river connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean
 
 

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