The de Puisaye Settlement 1799
Text from the plaque
In the fall of 1798 some 40 exiled French Royalists under the leadership of Joseph-Genevieve, Comte de Puisaye (1754-1827), emigrated from England to Upper Canada. The following year they were given rations and agricultural implements and settled along Yonge Street in the townships of Markham and Vaughan. However, these members of the nobility and their servants were unable to adapt themselves to a pioneer existence and by 1806 their settlement, known as Windham, was abandoned. De Puisaye lived for a time on an estate near Niagara, but returned to England in 1802.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The Region of York
The Town of Richmond Hill
At a church on the east side of Yonge Street
a short distance south of Stouffville Road
N 43 55.376 W 79 26.955
Recorded September 2011. Check current access before visiting.
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Where it stands
