How John Howison visited Chatham in 1819
The early history of settlement in Chatham-Kent, as elsewhere in Ontario, is not easy to discern. There were no newspapers, and people were much too busy and living in somewhat primitive conditions to have time to write journals or letters. Most of those things that did exist have been lost in the ensuing 200-plus years. So historians make good use of the few travellers’ journals or travelogues that have been published over the years.