Q: Reading excerpts from the book 'Assisting Emigration to Upper Canada by Wendy Cameron gave me a clue that maybe my husband's ancestor Richard Adams - born 9 Apr 1814 - immigrated 1832 from Chulmleigh in Devon UK - died 26 Nov 1878 Woodstock Ontario & buried at the Anglican Cemetary Woodstock Ont - was part of the Petworth Immigration Scheme. How would I be able to prove this?
A: [From Wendy Cameron, Petworth Emigrations] -- It's safe to say that it is unlikely that this ancestor was a Petworth emigrant. Devon is well outside the catchment area. In Assisting Emigration p 207-9, Table P-2.1, a table listing known Petworth emigrants by county, the closest county listed is Somerset. The 11 Somerset emigrants were sent in 1835 -- from Bath where the wealthy circulated in and out and where they may well have had a single sponsor. You can never say never, we were unable to account for the origins of a significant number of emigrants, and we had a few late additions not included in this table, but the odds are not good. On a positive note, you can suggest that if a connection is found we would be interested in receiving a form through the website. If found, I think it will be through tracing the family and any local sponsorship they enjoyed rather by searching the sources we examined for our books.
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