Using a rich collection of contemporary sources, this study focuses on one group of English immigrants sent to Upper Canada from Sussex and other southern counties with the aid of parishes and landlords. In Part One, Wendy Cameron follows the work of the Petworth Emigration Committee over six years and trace how the immigrants were received in each of these years. In Part Two, Mary McDougall Maude presents a complete list of emigrants on Petworth ships from 1832 to 1837, including details of their background, family reconstructions, and additional information drawn from Canadian sources....

Collected from published, archival, and private sources, these letters place the Petworth immigrants in the context of their times and challenge the image of English immigrants to 1830s Upper Canada as officers and gentlewomen. Wendy Cameron, Sheila Haines, and Mary McDougall Maude have carefully annotated the letters to sketch the stories of individual writers, link letters by the same author or members of the same family, and explore the connections between writers. What eventually happened to some of the writers is also revealed in this engaging collection. English Immigrant Voices...