Penetanguishene, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada — Death Register Scan, 1891 (Page 1 of 2)

The name Penetanguishene comes from the Ojibwa language meaning "place of the white rolling sands". In 1793, John Graves Simcoe visited the area and saw Penetanguishene's potential as a naval base to maintain warships to protect the newly-developed northwesterly trade and exploration route. In 1817, naval units from Michilimackinac and Schooner Town (near modern-day Wasaga Beach) were consolidated at Penetaguishene. In 1828, the main British military establishment on the Upper Lakes moved from Drummond Island to Penentanguishene. Families of Metis fur traders who had moved with the British from Michilimackinac to Drummond Island after the War of 1812 moved to Penetanguishene and settled in the town and the surrounding area.

In the 1840s, families from Quebec, attracted by promises of cheap and fertile land, joined the French-speaking Drummond Island settlers already in the area. Later, as the logging industry began to develop, more settlers arrived and Penetanguishene became the local market and meeting place for these individuals. Many of Penetanguishene's families today are descended from these Quebecois settlers that arrived in the 1800s.

This is page one of Deaths in Penetanguishene, Simcoe County Ontario. The death records on this page are a scan of 2 pages from the register of deaths for 1891. The scan is large so it may take some time to load.