Pioneer Papers No. 1 - 6, Simcoe County Early History (various authors) (on CD)

Cat No.:   CA0124: (See also product CA0124-DL for this "book" as a downloadable file and save the mailing cost.)

A collection of the first 6 publications of the Simcoe County Historical Society (Ontario). The publication dates range from 1908 to 1917 but the subjects discussed date back as far as 1618. (We have not been able to find any subsequent publications in the series and believe this to be the complete set.) 

In their introduction the Publication Committee say that their aim, ... was to make the subjects spread over as wide a territory as the materials to hand would permit. and we have to admit they succeeded not only in spreading their interests over the physical extents of the County but also over its history and over the diversity of the subjects reviewed.

The earliest recollections concern the establishment of missions, the relationships with the first peoples of the area and later, the development of the fur trade in the area. Next in date order are the stories of the establishment of a military presence closely followed, even paralleled, by the stories of the settlers. Many of the articles contained in this series of publications are authored by the children of the early pioneers and so are, or at least claim to be, first hand accounts. The result is a mixture of factual and anecdotal accounts including many mentions of the names of other settlers and references to their families and activities.

The mention of the claim to accuracy is included because there is also at least one instance of a dispute over some of the facts recounted by one of the early pioneers, published by one of the local newspapers. To quote an extract, You should wait until a few more of us old ones join the majority, then you will not be corrected: will give you an idea of the heat of the dispute.

The last two of the six publications carry a continuing history of Penetanguishene starting with the first recorded visit by Champlain in 1615 and following the areas history and development as a centre of military and naval activities.

This is a rare and valuable glimpse into the history of Simcoe County, of inestimable value to those whose family histories are recounted as well as to those who want to understand how the area was settled and what it was like to be one of those settlers.

Our CD publications provide you with images of the pages as printed in the original, but feature fully searchable text using the Find / Search features of the free PDF interpreter programs like Adobe Reader™, and Preview™. 422 pages of text plus 20 pages of illustrations and one street map.

We have provided a free downloadable sampler of this book on our Ontario Downloads web page. You can also reach this Sampler by clicking on the following link Sampler. You can return to this page by closing the Sampler Page when you are ready to purchase.

No. of CDs is:  1 ;   Format is:  PDF ;   Searchable?:  YES;

FastFind:  No;  ISBN No.:   1-897338-42-2;