Loyalist refugees had been trickling north to the harsh trackless wilderness of Canada throughout the war. The first to arrive reached Fort Niagara in 1776. Others moved up the Hudson River valley and emerged on the St. Lawrence River where they were eventually housed in refugee camps. At war's end the trickle became a flood. Not only did the ex-servicemen from several Loyalist regiments have to be resettled but so did several thousand civilian refugees. The Loyalists who journeyed to the northern shores of the St. Lawrence had many hardships as the only way of travelling was by canoe, ox cart or on foot. There were no roads - they travelled by the rivers and Indian pathways through the woods which were infested with wild animals such as bears, wolves and cougars. Not only did they have to carry their few worldly possessions of  clothing and household goods but had to camp at night by the wayside. They also had to provide food for themselves along the many miles to their destination.

From the township of Elizabethtown on the 24th of June 1789, ISAIAH CAIN and DAVID CAIN (son?) petitioned to the Hon. Commissioner for the Land Dept. for lands in the District of Lunenburg.  Quoting from the Petition -