Pioneer Life on the Bay of Quinte: an Evaluation of Genealogical Source Data in the Study of Migration

The movement of people, goods, and ideas into new frontiers is one of the most important and prevalent themes in Canadian historiography.¹ For all that emphasis, however, the literature on the historical demography of the Canadian frontier does little to address the dynamics of frontier migration at the family level or to draw out the contributions of successive generations of pioneer families to the movement of the frontier itself. The difficulty of obtaining data is an obvious explanation, although a few recent studies have shown the usefulness of such sources as church registers, newspapers, residence histories, and naturalization records.² The purpose of the present essay is to draw further attention to the value of this approach by focusing on a specific Ontario example - a volume entitled Pioneer Life on the Bay of Quinte. ³ This book was published in 1904 and it contains data which permit the nineteenth-century migrations of some Bay of Quinte families and their descendants to be traced.     

On globalization,borders, and borderlands: A historical geographical perspective

Under current dialectical conditions of globalization and increased demands for security, borders are no longer just symbols of sovereignty and national histories; they are evolving into new forms and as such are taking on new functions. Yet while borders continue to exist and are arguably more fluid and dynamic than ever before, despite the once robust but now contested rhetoric of “a world without borders,” this doesn't mean that borders prior to the current phase of globalization were relatively static and stable. What is constant is the fact that borders and borderlands are always in a state of becoming and in this context, we need to address the relationship that exists between borderland evolution and the changing forces of globalization. This paper considers the important role that time‐space plays in globalization and borderland theory and in doing so emphasizes that any such effort must recognize the importance of historical geographical context. My argument is developed with reference to the Canadian‐American borderlands and the relationship between Canada and the United States that developed during the various phases of globalization that emerged after the creation of two North American polities following the American Revolution.     

Motivation and Scale: a Method of Identifying Land Speculators in Upper Canada

Land speculation played a major role in the settlement of Ontario. Its impact has been discussed in great detail but there always remained the problem of identifying individual speculators. Previous studies have identified land speculators solely on the basis of the amount of land held. This paper presents an alternative method of identifying speculators by calling attention to the motivations behind speculation and manifestations of these motivations as inferred in landholding behaviour. In addition, a typology of speculators is presented. Elizabethtown Township provides the setting for an application of the proposed method and a brief analysis of the speculative patterns that emerge.
Les achats speculatifs des terrains, ayant joué un rôle majeur dans la colonisation de l'Ontario, ont souvent été examinés en détail: le probléme de l'identité des speculateurs est pourtant resté sans solution. Dans des études déjà parues, ceux-ci ont été discernés en ne tenant compte que de la superficie des terrains qu'ils detenaient. Cet essai presente une autre méthode pour identifier les spéculateurs en examinant les mobiles de la spéculation tels qu'ils sont révéles par la conduite de Tacheteur: nous avons aussi formulé une typologie des spéculateurs. Nous avons appliqué la méthode proposée à la ville d'Elizabethtown pour analyser brièvement les mouvements spéculatifs qui s'y présentent.