The Lee MacLellan Family Story
The MacLellans in Ontario Canada
Ontario became the new home of the MacLellans, starting with Duncan Sr.'s emigration in 1819 with his wife Flora and their children. We know he arrived in the port of Ontario, but don't know the name of the ship or the date of the crossing.
Duncan settled in Elgin County Ontario, outlined in red on the Google map to the right. Elgin County is located on the shore of Lake Erie, east of Detroit Michigan, and north east of Cleveland Ohio.
Duncan and Flora were pioneer farmers, building a small farm from free forest land probably granted to Duncan in payment for his service with the military.
Elgin County became home base for the MacLellans emigrating from Scotland, but they did move around that general area (remember Scotts are peripatetic).
Sometime before 1831, Duncan and Flora had lost their son Donald and gained six more. So they moved just north of Elgin County to a larger lot on the north bank of the Thames river near the village of Middlemiss (see map to right) Middlemiss is in the SE corner of Ekfrid Township, in Middlesex County.
The larger area that encompasses Middlemiss and Middlesex County is called the Glencoe region of Ontario.
Once again they had to clear the land to create a farm.
Of Duncan's 12 surviving children, all but 3 were born in Canada. The nine children born in Canada settled on their own land not far from Elgin County, in Ekfried (center of the map to the right); or further west in Euphemia, close to Lake Huron (top left corner of map).
Duncan and Flora's son Issac (Sr.) is the MacLellan we are most interested in.
Why Elgin County? According to "The Emigrant's Directory and Guide to Obtain Lands and Effect a Settlement in the Canadas" (1833) the land in Elgin County is better than in other parts of Canada, with a surface that consists of "a deep and rich vegetable mould...intermixed with a rich sandy loam".
