Lucan Biddulph

Etymology

Comprising 40,000 acres (160 km²) of Middlesex County, the Township of Biddulph was surveyed by agents of the Canada Company in 1830. The township took its name from John Biddulph, one of the earliest directors of the Canada Company.^[3]

Until its incorporation in 1872, the village of Lucan had been known as Marystown, named in tribute to the wife of John McDonald, who was the original land surveyor of the area. When a duplicate Marystown was found to have already registered with the Post Office, the name Lucan was put forth and accepted by the postal authorities. Lucan was named in tribute to Lord Lucan, a prominent landowner in Ireland.^[4]

Settlement

Despite being more than 500 km (310 mi) to the North, in 1829 the area became a refuge for a group of free African Americans from Cincinnati, Ohio, who had been threatened by riots and job discrimination by whites in their city. A group of roughly 200 American blacks were granted refuge and land by the Canada Company and duly set up a colony named Wilberforce. This was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, settlements connected with the American Colonization Society (which was established in 1816 to settle free blacks in an African colony) in Upper Canada and/or West Africa) and was established before emancipation. The flight of refugee blacks, escaped slaves from the South, northward into Canada beginning around this time was as part of the Underground Railroad.

Most of the Cincinnati blacks came from city life and did not adapt well to the harsh farming environment. They cleared large lots of land by logging and worked hard to sustain the colony, but much of the population declined through the 1840s as many of the original colonists moved on to larger, growing urban centres such as Detroit, Cleveland or Toronto to obtain wage-based employment. A small number remained to work the land through subsequent generations.

The area was further logged and settled by whites in the 1840s and later, many from Ireland, some of whom purchased farmsteads from the departing blacks or new lots sold to them cheaply by the Canada Company. Nowadays fewer than 40 descendants of the ancestral blacks remain.^[5]

By 1850, the majority of the township's landholders were Irish Catholics, many of whom had immigrated from farming lands in County Tipperary, Ireland.

Early history

An important railway route belonging to the Grand Trunk Railway opened in 1856, passing through the village. The village and surrounding township prospered as a result of quicker access to larger marketplaces, such as Toronto farther to the east, and new immigrants settling the area.

Donnelly Massacre

Biddulph Township is known as the site of the brutal massacre on February 4, 1880 of five of the Black Donnellys, an immigrant Irish family caught up in a long-standing local feud. These events have been written about many times and is etched into the criminal history of rural Ontario; it is well-known in Canada and nearby areas of the United States.

Lucan Snowstorm

A record snowfall (aka "Snowmageddon") occurred between Dec. 4-8, 2010, affecting Huron and Middlesex counties. A total of 177 cm (68") of snow fell during a 102-hour period (it snowed on 98 of those hours).^[6]

Baconfest

The festival celebrates bacon, motorcycles, and live music. Started in 2014 by a local business, the event has increased in attendance to over 20,000 people. It is held every second Saturday in July.