Huron County, Ontario

Canada

The first European to explore what became Huron County (on the eastern side of Lake Huron) was Etienne Brule, despatched from Québec by Champlain in 1610. It took its name from the French word for the local Indians (who called themselves Ouendats) although the Huron Tract itself was occupied by the Iroquois. The British kept the French name when they bought land from the Iroquois in the first decade of the 19th century.

It was not until the 1820s that a move began to settle the area, through an initiative by the Canada Company under the leadership of John Galt. Although there was significant Highland emigration here, there were also large numbers from other parts of Scotland and England, from Ireland and from Germany.

Huron became a county in 1851 and part of the northern part was split off in the 1860s to form part of Bruce County. At the same time, the townships of Biddulph and McGillivray became part of Middlesex County.

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