On October 5th, 1792, Roger Conant crossed the Niagara River on a flat-bottomed scow ferry, and landed at Newark, then the capital of Upper Canada. Governor Simcoe, who had only been sworn in as Governor a few days previously, came to the wharfside
GOVERNOR SIMCOE.
(From the tomb in Exeter Cathedral, England.)
(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.)
to meet the incoming emigrant, who, with his wife and children, his waggons and his household stuff, had come to make his future home in Upper Canada.
“Where do you wish to go?” said the Governor.
“I think of following the north shore of the lake eastward till I find a suitable place to settle in, sir.”
“But the land up there is not surveyed yet. Should you not prefer to go up to Lake Simcoe? That is where I would like to see you take up your abode.”