Project Surnames
Adair, Adrain, Allen, Anderson, Askin, Bailey, Bailie, Baird, Baker, Ballance, Barry, Beggs, Black, Boyd, Brennan, Brown, Burns, Caig, Calahan, Carleton, Carr, Case, Caughey, Clark, Clarke, Clement, Clint, Close, Cochrane, Cooper, Cousins, Cronin, Crow, Crumble, Curran, Currin, Darby, Davidson, Dempster, Donaldson, Dundas, Farley, Filson, Finlay, Finnegan, Finnigegan, Fleming, Forsyth, Gailbreath, Galbreath, Gelson, Gibson, Girvin, Glenn, Gratten, Graves, Hagan, Hamilton, Hannah, Harper, Hastings, Hegan, Henderson, Heurahan, Higgans, Higgin, Hill, Honora, Hopper, Hughes, Jacobs, Johnson, Jolly, Kelly, Kerr, Kilpatrick, King, Larmer, Laughlin, Lawson, Lemon, Little, Magin, Mahood, Mawhinney, McAtee, McAulay, McCabe, McCann, McCauley, McClelland, McClement, McClintock, McCormack, McCormick, McDonnell, McFadden, McGeean, McGeon, McGrattan, McGratton, McGuin, McGuinn, McGuinness, McKay, McKee, McKenty, McKnight, McLintic, McMagh, McMaster, McMath, McQuoid, McTaggart, McVea, McVeen, McWaters, McWhinney, Miller, Milligan, Montgomery, Moreland, Morrow, Mulvena, Murray, O'Drain, Orr, Parks, Patterson, Pentland, Piper, Polley, Reid, Robinson, Ross, Saunders, Savage, Scott, Smith, Spiers, Stevenson, Stinson, Strain, Thompson, Watson, Wilson
Amherst Island is located at the mouth of the Bay of Quinte in Lake Ontario, in Addington and Lexinton County, Ontario, Canada. The island is approximately 10 miles long and three miles wide.
The Amherst Island families were largely prefamine Irish, mostly from the Ards Peninsula, County Down, Northern Ireland. Many came from the Parish of St. Andrews, including Ballyhalbert, Portavogie, Ballhemlyn and Ballyesboro, and from Portaferry, County Down. They were largely small farmers, fisherman/sailors, skilled artisans and labourers. The Amherst Island settlers were mostly Irish Presbyterians, but included Anglicans, Catholics, and Methodists.
Other smaller numbers of immigrants inhabited Amherst Island, from Co. Antrim and Co. Tyrone, from England, Scotland, Upper Canada, and also French Roman Catholics from Quebec.
Immigration from the Ards Peninsula to Amherst Island began in the 1820s. In 1835, Stephen Moore, third earl of Mount Cashell, purchased the 16,540 acre Amherst Island, with the intent of establishing an Irish Protestant colony, and with an eye towards increasing his wealth through rents paid by those tenant colonists.
The families who travelled from Ireland to Anherst island did so largely to better themselves, and to establish a secure economic enviroment for future generations. Other mitigating factors for these Ards Peninsula families in deciding to emigrate from Ireland included: overpopulation (smaller farms), religious discord, the decline in herring fishing, marriage, and personal family tragedies.
The Ards Peninsula immigrants travelled to Amherst Island as families, using "chain migration." Some sold the appreciated value of the ”tenant rights” that their families held on land on the Ards Peninsula. They then used that money to become tenants on Amherst Island. This could be profitable, because the value of tenant rights on undeveloped land in Canada was appreciating at a faster rate than in Ireland. Many of those families then chain migrated out to mainland areas, settling around the Great Lakes in Canada and the U.S.
Key Historical Figures:
Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle: Was granted Amherst Island by King Louis of France on 13 May 1675.
Henry Tonti: Was La Salle’s Lieutenant, and who was given Amherst Island by La Salle. At that point, the island was then referred to as “Tonti Island” or the “Isle of Tante.”
Sir John Johnson: Was granted Amherst Island on 29 Dec 1788. Began the first development of Amherst Island into a tenanted estate.
Catherine Maria Bowes, nee Johnson: A descendant of Sir John Johnson. Responsible for the first wave of tenants to the island, beginning in the mid 1820s. Sold Amherst Island to Stephen Moore, third earl of Mount Cashell in 1835.
Stephen Moore, third earl of Mount Cashell, b. 20 Aug 1792. Purchased Amherst Island in 1835. Lost Amherst Island due to debt, in part, as a result of the Irish famine.
Robert Perceval-Maxwell: The son of Rev William Perceval and Ann Maxwell. Purchased Amherst Island in Jul 1857, as a free agent.
Recommended Reading:
"A New Lease on Life: Landlords, Tenants, & Immigrants in Ireland and Canada," by Catherine Anne Wilson,
Read Pages 20-82 on Googlebooks
The Amherst Island Families DNA Project is open to all individuals who have family ties to those families who lived on Amherst Island, as well as persons who seek to learn if they have family ties to the Amherst Island immigrant families.
Also, please see our sister project, the "Ards Peninsula Families DNA Project."
Ards Peninsula Families DNA Project Here