Upstate New York and Canada: Home, Sweet Goderich (9.5.24)

I wanted to see two things as we traveled through southwestern Ontario on September 5, 2024.  One was Goderich, the town where my Hamilton ancestors lived after they emigrated from Canada, and the other was the Nauvoo Road.

This map shows Toronto, which we visited on September 4, 2024, and Goderich (starred), on the banks of Lake Huron.  The Nauvoo Road extends towards Detroit.  

The Nauvoo Road was constructed in 1846 by Mormon converts traveling to Nauvoo from Ontario.  My great-great-grandfather, James Hamilton, traveled with his family along the Nauvoo Road in 1846.  They arrived in Nauvoo in April 1846, just in time to attend the dedication of the Nauvoo Temple in May 1846.  Four Scottish and Scots-Irish convert families traveled together--the Hamiltons, Hills, Parks, and Gardners.  The Hamiltons and Hills, to whom I am related, settled Millcreek, the section of Salt Lake City where I and three of my children have lived.

Dave and I browsed through two county museums, looking for history of my ancestors or their times and places. The Lambton County Museum included log cabins from the same time period that my Hamilton ancestors lived in the area.

The Hamilton journals described clearing the heavily forested land and building log homes.

These photographs of early Goderich pioneers were taken later than the Hamiltons' time, but the cabins, horse-drawn carts, and barn raisings were probably similar.

William "Tiger" Dunlop was head of the Canadian Company Land Office in the area during the early 1800s.  I'm not sure why my Hamiltons emigrated to this spot in Ontario.  I learned that land grants were made to British soldiers after the War of 1812, and that John Hamilton, my great-great-great grandfather who emigrated, had been an officer in the British army.  Maybe there is a connection.

On our way to and from Goderich, we passed rich farmland with picturesque farmhouses and barns.  It looked like the American Midwest and, in fact, it is north of Ohio and Indiana.

When we arrived in Goderich, we visited the Huron County Museum, with its vintage jail and artifacts from Goderich history.

A curator at the museum looked in his records for James Hamilton, but couldn't find him.  He directed me to a history of Goderich County which describes its founding and history.  I will buy it on eBay.

Dave and I ate a gourmet dinner at the Cork & Coast Restaurant in a restored home in Goderich.  The waitress told us most of their guests are visitors from Toronto who want to get away from the crowded city.  "I'm not sure what they see in Goderich," she said.

We wandered through the quaint downtown.

We walked along the banks of Lake Huron and savored the glorious sunset.  Reputedly, Queen Elizabeth II once said that Goderich had the most beautiful sunsets in the world.  Unfortunately, there is no record of Queen Elizabeth II ever having visited Goderich!