The custom was for a settler, upon locating on his property, to immediately create a shanty or lean-to from the boughs of trees. This would be his only shelter from the weather until the winter set in when hopefully he had his log hut built with help from his neighbours. The huts could be 20 ft x 15 ft, built of round logs for a height of 7 or 8 ft with an elm bark roof - one window and a door with the open stone fireplace serving for both cooking and keeping the house warm. By 1789, the British Govt. was not supplying the Loyalists with rations of flour, pork, beef, salt & butter; they now had to rely on their own resources, often surviving famine and disease. Within a year, the settler was expected to clear and fence 5 acres of land. Their first crops consisted of oats, barley and wheat - they relied heavily on oat porriage.

It was in the same year, 1789, on Nov. 9th that Sir Guy Carlton, the Governor General of Canada, wished to honour the men who remained loyal to Great Britain and "joined the Royal Standard in America before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783," so proposed to the Executive Council that a register of persons falling into this category be prepared. Each person so listed was then allowed to have the designation "U.E." (United Empire Loyalist) after his name. ISAIAH CAIN became one of the persons honoured, along with his family.

Now, with the inflow of Loyalists, the English settlers demanded their own government, so the Canada Act (31 Dec. 1791) was born dividing the Province of Quebec into two provinces - Upper and Lower Canada separated by the Ottawa River. The first Governor of Upper Canada, Lieut.-Governor John Graves Simcoe on the 16th June 1792 divided the Province into counties then later (1792), the names of the districts were changed (from east to west) - Eastern, Midland, Home & Western.

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