All honour to those "who hewed and endured", who lived in the close confines of Essex County harmoniously mingled despite varied origins of race, religion and cultures. On their efforts and with their blood still flowing in Essex County veins, succeeding generations have a solid base for continuing prosperity.- David P. Botsford, At the End of the Trail.

EARLY SETTLEMENT
Among the counties of Ontario, Essex was the first to be settled. All the early settlers were French and they gathered in the area which grew around Fort Ponchartrain Detroit. The settlers were either disbanded or discharged soldiers who remained to become farmers, minor officials, craftsmen and merchants, or fur traders adventurous men who penetrated the Indian country looking for furs. The soldiers were for the most part directly from old France. The fur traders were natives of Canada, with former homes along the St. Lawrence.

About 1747, permanent settlement began on the present Canadian side of the river and this settlement marked the beginnings of Essex County. The Canadian side of the Detroit River was still populated by Indians. Farms on the Detroit side were becoming too distant from the town and the protection of the Fort and so the nearest available land on the "Canadian" side was settled, that being Turkey Creek.

Lower down the river in what was later the townships of Anderdon and Malden were lands occupied by the Wyandots or "Hurons" with the Mission of Bois Blanc as a centre opposite the island of the same name, while above near the present site of Windsor was a village of the Ottawas. The Mission of Bois Blanc was eventually abandoned and re-established at what was later the Town of Sandwich. Sandwich was closer to the Fort at Detroit and safer from the attack of pagan Indians who annoyed the Christian Indians. The Mission at Sandwich became the nucleus of the present parish of Assumption.

The new settlement at Turkey Creek became known as the Petite Cote in reference to its lesser extent of coast as compared to that on the Detroit side. This name endured until later years when two other names emerged LaSalle and Ojibway, towns which grew out of the old settlement. In Petite Cote the first road in Ontario was laid out. It is now over 200 years old and is designated King's Highway No. 18.

When the river frontage in the Petite Cote settlement was taken up, settlement proceeded towards Lake St. Clair. This newer settlement was generally referred to as the Assumption settlement. Many of the French settlers married Indian women and these daughters of the forest contributed in a large way to present-day blood lines. There are those in Essex who can trace to Pottawatomie, Ojibway, Ottawa or Wyandot ancestry. The practical recognition of equality of races was of considerable advantage to a trader in obtaining favour with the Indians and from this mixture of French and Indian came most of the Interpreters and minor officials of the Indian Departments successfully operated by France, Great Britain and the United States in that region.

In the late 1700's and early 1800's the French ventured east along the south shore of Lake St. Clair and settled in the present day areas of Belle River, Rochester and Stoney Point. These communities still have a large francophone population.

OLD SETTLEMENT
The first towns in Essex County were Amherstburg and Sandwich, established in 1796 when the British had to give up Detroit by the terms of the Jay Treaty signed in 1794. Amherstburg grew as a garrison town just below Fort Malden which was established to replace Fort Lernoult at Detroit. The Fort and town were built opposite Bois Blanc Island on a plot sandwiched between the unceded land of the Wyandots to the north, the "Huron Reserve", and the Indian Department officers' lands to the south.

Sandwich grew on the south shore opposite their former situation in Detroit. Both towns received among their settlers those merchants of Detroit who chose to remain British subjects and left that place in consequence. Other early residents included craftsmen, tradesmen, shopkeepers, innkeepers and labourers both from Detroit and the eastern colonies who as Loyalists drew town lots in preference to farms.

NEW SETTLEMENT
After the close of the American Revolution in 1784, the influx of land-seekers (Loyalists from the United States and their disbanded German mercenaries) grew. Since the land at the mouth of the Detroit River (presently the Township of Malden) had been taken by former officers and men of the British Indian Department, settlers moved eastwards along the north shore of Lake Erie.

To reward patriotism, the British Court made land available for settlement on condition that the land bear certain improvements within a year and that it not be held or used for speculation. The four townships formerly known as Gosfield North and South and Colchester North and South were purchased in 1787 from the Indians and the area was named the "New Settlement" to distinguish it from the "Old Settlement" of Sandwich and Amherstburg along the Detroit River. This New Settlement extended from the boundary of Malden Township to Mill Creek, where Kingsville now stands. The name of this section was changed to the Two Connected Townships in 1790. The first settlers along this stretch included many of the Hessians who fought for the British against the American rebels and many Pennsylvania Dutch pacifists (Mennonites) who, because they did not actively support the revolution, were branded as British supporters.

EARLY MUNICIPAL HISTORY
The early municipal history of Essex County dates back to the 24th of July, 1788 when Governor General Lord Dorchester divided the Province of Quebec into five districts, namely: Gaspe, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nassua and Hesse. The District of Hesse was comprised of all of the residue of the Province in the western or inland parts thereof from the southerly to the northerly boundary of the same, and included Detroit and Mackinaw and the country south of them to the Ohio and Westward to the Mississippi.

In 1791, Lieutenant-Colonel John Graves Simcoe arrived from England to become the first Lieutenant-Governor of the new province of Upper Canada. On July 16, 1792, Governor Simcoe divided Upper Canada into nineteen counties.

He opened the first session of the provincial government at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) on September 17, 1792. By this same proclamation Essex was made the eighteenth of nineteen counties. On October 15, 1792, the Provincial Legislature renamed the District of Hesse the Western District. The Western District comprised the counties of Essex, Kent and Suffolk.

Settlement continued in the County. On January 1, 1800 an Act for the Better Division of the Province proclaimed that "The Townships of Rochester, Mersea, Gosfield, Maidstone, Sandwich, Malden, and the tracts of land occupied by the Huron and other Indians upon the Strait, together with such islands as are in Lake Erie, St. Clair and the Straits, do constitute and form the County of Essex and Kent, together with so much of this Province as is not included within any other district thereof, do constitute the Western District".

ROADS AND SETTLEMENTS
Colonel Talbot contributed much to development in Essex County by sending Mahlon Burwell to begin surveying Talbot Road (the old Indian trail and now Highway 3). Work on the road began in 1809, was interrupted by the War of 1812, but reached Essex County in 1818. Talbot Road was surveyed to follow a natural ridge of glacial moraine which stretched from Windsor to Point Pelee. It was termed a "corduroy" road for in areas of swampy land, three inch planks, flattened on the upward side, were laid down side by side across the road.

It wasn't until the 1820's that the Ridge leading to Leamington began housing settlers. This section was opened as Talbot Road and was developed from Maidstone, Essex, Cottam and Ruthven.

Talbot also surveyed the Middle Road (Highway 98) and this road was completed in 1823. These roads were the final spur necessary to the development of Leamington and the surrounding area in the 1830's.

The settlers along the Middle Road were largely emigrants from the Old Country, especially Ireland. In the 1840's the potato famine caused a heavy migration and Essex County received its share. Along the Middle Road and up toward Lake St. Clair the "Irish Settlement" grew and fourth and fifth generation descendants remain today. The village of Maidstone was the centre of the Irish community.

Further east on the Middle Road was a small colony of Germans who were political refugees. Along the lake shore between the Puce and Pike Creeks was what was called the "Scotch Colony" from the domination of families of that race in that area.

In the next few decades the "back concessions" filled with settlers. Many of the settlers were descendants of earlier residents in the county and the remaining settlers were emigrants from Great Britain, Ireland and the United States.

BLACK FUGITIVE SETTLEMENT
An increased number of Fugitive Slaves from the southern United States fled to Essex County during the 1840's and the majority of these fugitives settled in the township of Colchester. Large concentrations of Black residents also settled in the townships of Malden, Anderdon, and Maidstone and in the towns of Amherstburg and Sandwich. The slaves were sometimes assisted in their escape by agents of anti-slavery societies and upon their arrival at Amherstburg or Sandwich, they would be outfitted with fresh clothing and provided with rations until they could fend for themselves. From Amherstburg or Sandwich the Black fugitives would begin their journey to freedom via The Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad became the first great freedom movement in the Americas. Many people did not realize that rather than a train going underground this movement was a secret network of good people, both black and white who opposed slavery. Railroad terms such as CONDUCTOR, STATION, and TERMINALS were used to confuse the slave catchers trying to recapture the escaping slaves. The image of a secret underground was so effective that in the 1800's many people actually believed that a train ran through a tunnel carrying fugitives from the south to freedom in the north. Two of these slaves, John Freeman Walls and his wife Jane King Walls travelled to freedom and settled in the township of Maidstone, presently the home of the John Freeman Walls Historic Site. Black Fugitives became small farmers, craftsmen, traders, shopkeepers, labourers and sailors. As time passed many descendants of the fugitives moved back to the United States so that now there are comparitively few in Essex County. Those few largely reside in Harrow, Amherstburg, and Windsor.

WESTERN DISTRICT COUNCIL MEETS
On the 14th day of February, 1842, the first meeting of the Western District Council, attended by representatives from the Counties of Essex, Kent and Lambton was held in the Court House, in the Town of Sandwich.

This District Council met from time to time in the Court House, Sandwich, until the close of the October Session In 1849. This was the last year of the District Council.

The Municipal Council of the United Counties of Essex, Kent and Lambton met in the Court House, Sandwich, on January 28th, 1850. Representatives were present from all municipalities in the County of Essex.

The Municipal Council of the United Counties of Essex and Lambton met in the Court House, Sandwich, on January 27, 1851. This union continued for about two and one half years, the last session closing on June 23, 1853.

A receipt issued in 1858

RAILWAYS
The biggest contributors to industrial development were the railways.In 1854 the Great Western Railway connected the Detroit frontier with the east. This was the first railway to cross Essex County. (Today VIA trains travel those tracks). Lumbering was at its peak at this time.

Windsor became the terminal and forged ahead of all the other urban centres. Leamington, Kingsville and Harrow were making enduring starts. The Town of Essex was still in the forest not to emerge until the Canadian Southern Railway was constructed in 1872. Other rail lines were built about this time connecting settlers in the interim. In the 1880's the Lake Erie, Essex and Detroit River Railway was constructed by the Walkers of Walkerville to serve their extensive interests in the southern part of Essex County.

NEW BEGINNINGS

By the late 1800's Essex County had seen fur trading and logging, land clearing and farming, road building and railway development, saw mills and gristmills, railway stations and water ports. Forests were disappearing and the lumber industry was fading.

On January 26, 1897 the first session of County Council of the County of Essex (under "The County Councils, Act, 1896) was held in the Council Chamber of the Court House, Sandwich.

County Council meetings were held there until 1974, when County Council Chambers were moved to the present Essex County Civic Centre located in the Town of Essex. Here traditions from the early days of Essex County are carried on as fourth and fifth generation descendants take great pride in their mandate to maintain a prosperous and holistic way of life for the present day residents of Essex County.

First Debenture issued in 1914

GRAVES SIMCOE
GEORGE the THIRD by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, &c. &c. To all our loving subjects, whom these presents may concern:

Whereas, in pursuance of an act of parliament, lately made and provided, passed in the thirty-first year of our reign, and of authority by us given for that purpose, our late province of Quebec is become divided into the two provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, and our lieutenant governor of the said province of Upper Canada, by power from us derived, is authorized in the absence of our right trusty and well beloved Guy, lord Dorchester, captain general and governor in chief of our said province of Upper Canada, to divide the said province of Upper Canada into districts, counties, circles or towns and townships for the purpose of effectuating the intent of the said act of Parliament, and to declare and appoint the number of representatives to be chosen by each, to serve in the assembly of the said province: Know ye, therefore, that our trusty and well beloved John Graves Simcoe, esquire, our lieutenant governor of our said province of Upper Canada, in the absence of the said governor in chief, hath and by this our proclamation doth divide the said province of Upper Canada into counties, and hath and doth appoint and declare the number of representatives of them and each of them to be as hereinafter limited, named, declared, and appointed; that is to say:

That the first of the said counties...

That the seventeenth of the said counties be hereafter called by the name of the county of Suffolk; which county is to be bounded on the east by the county of Norfolk, on the south by lake Erie, until it meets the carrying-place from point au Pins unto the Thames, on the west by the said carrying-place, thence up the said river Thames until it meets the northwesternmost boundary of the county of Norfolk .

That the eighteenth of the said counties be hereafter called by the name of the county of Essex; which county is to be bounded on the east by the county of Suffolk, on the south by lake Erie, on the west by the river Detroit to Maisonville's Mill, from thence by a line running parallel to the river Detroit and lake St. Clair, at the distance of four miles, until it meets the river La Tranche or Thames, thence up the said river to the northwest boundary of the county of Suffolk.

And know ye also, that our said lieutenant governor hath also declared and appointed and doth hereby declare and appoint, that for the purposes of representation .... and that the county of Suffolk and the county of Essex, severally bounded as hereinbefore is described, shall together send one representative, that is, the said counties of Suffolk and Essex shall and may be represented together in the said house of assembly by one member; and that the said county of Kent, as hereinbefore is described, shall and may be represented in the said house of assembly by two members; of which our loving subjects and all others concerned are to take notice, and govern themselves accordingly.

In testimony whereof, We have caused these our letters to be made patent, and the great seal of our said province of Upper Canada to be hereunto affixed. Witness our trusty and well beloved John Graves Simcoe, esquire, our lieutenant governor of our said province of Upper Canada, and colonel commanding our forces in upper Canada, &c. &c. at our government house in the town of Kingston, this sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and in the thirty-second year of our reign. J.G.S.

[Signed] WM. JARVIS, Secretary

UMMARY OF THE MUNICIPAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ESSEX

SOUTHERN ONTARIO ORIGINAL COUNTY BOUNDARIES, 1792