New Canaan, Ontario

New Canaan
—  Town  —
Coordinates: 42°07′12″N 82°56′10″W / 42.12°N 82.936°W / 42.12; -82.936Coordinates: 42°07′12″N 82°56′10″W / 42.12°N 82.936°W / 42.12; -82.936
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
County	Essex
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)

New Canaan was a small settlement between Essex to the Southeast and McGregor to the Northwest on Maiden Road (Rt. 12) in Essex County, Ontario, today officially part of the town of Essex.^[1]

The current Town of Essex was created on 1 April 1999 by the amalgamation of the communities of Essex, Harrow, Colchester North, and Colchester South. Harrow comprises the communities of Ambassador Beach, Barretville, Belcreft Beach, Colchester, Edgars, Essex Centre, Gesto, Harrow Centre, Klie's Beach, Leslies Corner, Levergood Beach, Lypps Beach, Marshfield, McGregor, New Canaan, Oxley, Paquette Corners, Seymour Beach and Vereker.

New Canaan was initially settled in the 1820s by Afro-Americans who had escaped from slavery in the American South, many of them from Kentucky.^[2] When the freedom boundary shifted to the Canadian border with the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, additional families seeking refuge and coming along the Underground Railroad into Canada joined the original black settlers in New Canaan.

References

1. ^ The Ontario Government's site, http://www.onterm.gov.on.ca/geo/details_e.asp?letter=n&ind=401 lists New Canaan as a "displaced rural community".
2. ^ Hill, pg. 48: "From 1820s onward, refugees migrated into the townships, villages, and towns of Essex County, including Anderdon, Mersea, Gosfield, Colchester, Maidstone, Rochester, Fort Malden, Harrow, New Canaan, and Amherstburg."

Literature

• Daniel G. Hill: The Freedom Seekers: Blacks In Early Canada, Book Society of Canada, Agincourt (Ont.), 1981, ISBN 0772552835 (bound), 0772552843 (pbk.), pg. 48.