Colonel Talbot's Whim

Talbot Settlement

In the counties of Victoria, Ontario, Simcoe, York, Wellington, Waterloo and Oxford (in other words, the central portion of the province), the population is very complex, including not only many nationalities and creeds, but also differing widely as to their race origin. "...I should say the least progressive peoples are found where there has been the least mixture. Where settlers of a kind are bunched together, they retain old customs more tenaciously; and there is something to be said in favor of Colonel Talbot's whim in connection with his settlement of Howard Township (Kent County), which he peopled on the checkerboard plan, or alternately, so that no two settlers of the same nationality should be side by side. (Source)