The Parliament Building remains were discovered in an archaeological dig a decade ago. A car dealership on the site was purchased and made into a museum with some excellent displays and a DVD on the archeological findings. Fort York has a 5 million dollar new facility. Fort York was burned and pillaged in the spring of 1813 and the Parliament Buildings were burned. There will be lots of activity around there in April. 

Northern Ontario in 1812 

There was little population in Northern Ontario and Quebec in 1812.  There were a few Seigneuries on the Ottawa River but the most activity was the work of the fur traders and their few forts. The native population was involved and this was one of the reasons the native participation in the war of 1812 was so intensive and so critical to its success. The initial battle at the U.S. Depot in Michilamacimac with native help was a critical first success for Canada. 

In 1815 when the war was ending my wife's earliest descendant came from France and travelled to support the defence of Michilamacinac. He married a metis woman which led to my wife’s grandfather on her mothers side and a remarkable family history. 

After the war Michilamacinac was given back to the Americas and the Upper Canadians were relocated to Drummond Island.  Drummond Island was later given back to the Americans and the people were relocated to Midland/Penetang. We have celebrated numerous family reunions their over the years. 

Logging and Lumbering 

In the early 1800s as the war developed the remarkable change that opened Northern Ontario took place as lumbermen arrived.  Stephen Burritt and William Merrick started on the Richelieu River. 

In February 1800 Philemon Wright (1760-1839) an American came to the Chaudiere Rapids with 50 workers including a freed slave.  He sent squared timber to British ships fighting Napoleon. He developed the square timbers and log cribs that opened the areas along our northern waterways and beyond. 

As noted the War of 1812 was fought primarily in Southern Ontario in the Niagara Peninsula.  I have been reviewing my family history with my brother the family genealogist. My 2 maternal grandparents came from United Empire Loyalist stock and fled the U.S. in the American Revolution. One of the grandparents settled in the Niagara Peninsula where a lot of the War of 1812 battles took place. He had seven children and though he died in 1804 his sons fought in the War of 1812 and they and the rest of the family suffered the incredible abuses of the war and received land as a result. What happened after the war is another story for another time.