News from our rich agriculture history

Peguis was born in 1774 near the St. Mary’s river, close to what would later become the town of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. A prominent member of the Saulteaux Ojibwa people, Peguis was the son of a chief. He inherited his father’s position as a young man. At the age of eighteen in 1792, Peguis led his band west from the Great Lakes region to take advantage of the lucrative fur trade. He and his people settled by Netley Creek on the Red River, in modern-day Manitoba. Peguis was a respected and fearsome chief who sacrificed much for the good of his band. To his enemies he was

John Reynolds Lucas was born at St. John’s River, New Brunswick on May 4, 1800. In 1807, the family moved to a farm on Lake Ontario in Upper Canada near modern-day Burlington. John’s mother Phoebe died when he was young, so his older sister Rebecca took care of the house. John’s older brothers and his father Clement fought in the War of 1812, beginning a military tradition for the Lucas family that John would continue. The war also brought British soldiers to his community, which sometimes caused tension with the locals. One day, a few British soldiers stole some of