Family History Friday

Going back in time, on the same branch of the family tree as last week, to Canada and the early part of the 1800s. My 4th great grandmother, Lucinda Flagg Cain, was born in 1808 in Prescott, Ontario, which is on the St. Lawrence River, just west of Quebec. The British opened this area to settlement in 1784 as a place for loyalists to the crown to relocate from the newly independent U.S. colonies. At least two of these loyalist families were Cains (Barnabas "Barney" and John) but no proof either way yet if either is related to Lucinda's husband, Thomas Cain. We know very little about Thomas - only his name, that he is of Irish parentage, and that he and Lucinda married when "she was a young girl."

Here are some maps. First one is of Ontario (with the small inset of Canada) and then a close up of the area where Prescott sits (in the far southeast tip of Ontario, east of Lake Ontario, across from New York state).

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Prescott continues to celebrate its British history with a Loyalist Festival each summer. [2012 ought to be extra exciting as it marks the bicentennial of the War of 1812.] 

Grenville County Historical Society maintains archives for the area. They have extensive holdings (Mom, we'll have to visit some day) including ancestral information on the Cain and Flagg families (Thomas and Lucinda's families, respectively, and hopefully). O'Doyle (Lucinda's mother's maiden name) is not on the list. She remains a mystery. 

entrance to Fort Wellington in Prescott source

this blue church was built in the 1800s on the site of an older church.

grave markers look old and interesting source