The Norwich Quaker Settlement

In 1809 Peter Lossing, a member of the Society of Friends from Dutchess County, N.Y. visited Norwich Township, and in June, 1810, with his brother-in-law, Peter De Long, purchased 6070 ha of land in this area. That fall Lossing brought his family to Upper Canada and early in 1811 settled on this lot. The De Long family and nine others, principally from Dutchess County, joined Lossing the same year and by 1820 an additional group of about fifty had settled within the tract. Many were Quakers and a frame meeting house, planned in 1812, was erected here in 1817. These resourceful pioneers founded one of the most successful Quaker communities in Upper Canada.