January 9, 2011:Painting Source: National Gallery of Canada Painted by W. H. Bartlett, 1840 Map Source: Extracted from the 1879 Map of Elizabethtown Township digitized by McGill University The book The Orangeman by Donald Akenson tells the story of Ogle Robert Gowan who arrived in Brockville in 1829 from County Wexford Ireland. The book is an interesting chronicle of early days in Brockville and the relationship between local members of the Family Compact, Loyalists (UEL), American immigrants and the Reformers led by William Lyon Mackenzie. Ogle Gowan was the founder of the Orange Lodge in Upper Canada and eventually became a member of Parliament in Toronto. He also became the head of the Orange Lodges in North America. I'm in the process of reading The Orangeman and will add more information to a new Ogle Gowan web page soon. ... Al In his book, Surplus People, Jim Rees has described the program of assisted emigration that Lord Fitzwilliam initiated in the late 1840s to reduce the number of tenants on his estate in southwest Wicklow. Most of these emigrants sailed from New Ross to Quebec City, but few of them stayed in Quebec, where the population was for the most part French-speaking. Instead, they continued on up the St. Lawrence River to the province of Ontario (then called Upper Canada) and became part of Irish communities there. Source for above italicized text and the table below: A Story of Emigration: Southwest County Wicklow, Ireland, to Ontario, Canada by Anne Burgess
| BEDLOW, Richard and Sarah | Coolattin | Brockville, ON |
| BOWE, Sarah | Coolattin | Brockville, ON |
| BYRNE, Andrew and ROARKE, Catherine | Hillbrooke | Brockville, ON |
| BYRNE, Garret and PIERCE, Elizabeth | Ballincorbeg | Brockville, ON?; Rossie, NY |
| BYRNE, John and Mary | Coolkenna | Brockville, ON |
| BYRNE, Samuel and Ann; Mary Anne | Rosbane | Brockville, ON |
| CARR, Mary; George; John Ballykelly | Brockville, ON | |
| CLEARY, Simon and Ellen | Farnees | Brockville, ON |
| COLLINS, Patrick and Margaret | Coolfancy | Brockville, ON |
| DOYLE, James and ROARK, Mary | Hillbrooke | Brockville, ON |
| DOYLE, Michael; Thomas, Michael Jr., Mary, Ellen | Coolroe | Brockville, ON |
| FOSTER, Thomas; George; William | Ballykelly | Brockville, ON |
| FOX, Simon | Coolboy | Brockville, ON |
| GARRET / GARRETT, Thomas, Eliza and Bridget | Coolnafinogue | Brockville, ON |
| GILES, Miles and Sally | Coolroe | Brockville, ON |
| HICKEY, Patrick and Dolly | Kilcavan | Brockville, ON |
| HICKEY, Peter and family, including John HICKEY and wife Mary DORAN HICKEY, Peter and family, including John HICKEY and wife Mary DORAN BIRCH HICKEY, plus the BIRCH children | Kilcavan | Brockville, ON |
| JACKSON, Martha; Joshua; Samuel; John; Mary; Elizabeth; Joseph | Hillbrooke | Brockville, ON |
| KELLY, Thomas and Catherine | Aghowle | Brockville, ON |
| O'TOOLE, Thomas and Mary | Gurteen | Brockville, ON |
| PIERCE, Robert Coolattin | Brockville, ON | |
| RATHWELL / ROTHWELL, John | Killaveny | Brockville, ON |
| SHERIDAN, Nicholas and MULLINS, Eliza, and Eliza's father, Michael MULLEN | Carnew | Brockville, ON |
| SINGLETON, Eliza and Ally | Ballykelly | Brockville, ON |
| SINGLETON, John and Sally; William Jr. | Ballynultagh | Brockville, ON |
| SUMMERS, John and Ann | Hillbrooke | Brockville, ON |
January 12, 2011:
Ogle Robert Gowan immigrated from County Wexford, Ireland in 1829. He became the North American Grand Master of the Orange Lodge
and held a lot of influence over the Irish Protestants in Upper Canada.
E-mail Anne Burgess and Al Lewis
