| This area of Ontario is covered by Nipissing District GenWeb. The information presented below is merely an outline of the county and does not include what is available for genealogical research for this area. For information on genealogical research of this area please visit Nipissing District GenWeb. |
Established 1858 from unorganized territory.
"The district was named in 1858 after Lake Nipissing."5
The 1868 Free Grants and Homestead Act opened areas of Nipissing to settlement. Most of the settlers to this area were from Quebec giving Nipissing a distinct bilingual population not seen elsewhere in Ontario.
As townships were surveyed, settlers were able to obtain 200 acres per head of household, 100 acres for each child over 18. In order to keep the land they were granted, settlers had to clear the land, cultivate it, build a home and live there for a minimum of six months per year.
In the 1850's and 1860's lumbering was the main occupation that soon gave way to farming as the trees disappeared.
"Population 2,149 in 1861 and 73,415 in 1980."3
More maps of this area
Surnames
Place Names
Books
Links
Questions & Answers
1 Lovell's Gazetteer of British North America 1873
3 Place Names of Ontario by Floreen Carter, 1984
5 Place Names of Ontario by Alan Rayburn, 1997
