Settlement In Niagara

Source

"The actual settlement of the present Province of Ontario was begun in the township of Niagara during the summer of 1780. In December of that year, Col. Butler reported that four or five families of Loyalists had built houses and begun to clear land. By the 25th of August, 1782, the number of families had increased to sixteen, who had cleared 236 acres of land. At the end of the following year, forty-six families had settled and 713 acres were cleared. In 1784 the disbandment of Butler's Rangers and the arrival of other Loyalists increased the number of settlers to 620, of whom 258 were
men. The settlement of the neighboring townships immediately began and the need of some simple form of local government was very soon felt." [Source]