Thomas Talbot

Colonel Thomas Talbot was born in Ireland in 1771. He emigrated to Canada in 1791, where he became personal secretary to John Graves Simcoe, lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. He later received a grant of 5,000 acres near what is now Port Talbot[?], and eventually was given responsibility for settling 65,000 acres of land on the north shore of Lake Erie, today's counties of Elgin[?], Essex, Haldimand[?], Kent[?], Middlesex and Norfolk[?]. The principal city of this region today is London, Ontario.

Talbot's administration was despotic. He was famous for writing settlers' names on the settlement map in pencil. However, his insistence on provision of good roads, maintenance of the roads by the settlers, and the removal of Crown and clergy reserves from main roads quickly resulted in the Talbot Settlement becoming the most prosperous part of the province. Eventually, however, he began to make political demands on the settlers, after which his power was reduced by the provincial government.

Talbot founded the town of St. Thomas, Ontario.