Pickering is a city located in Southern Ontario, Canada immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area, the largest metropolitan area in Canada. This was Native Canadian territory for thousands of years. The first recorded history of this area was in 1669, when the French Jesuit missionary M. Fenelon noted reaching the Seneca village of Gandatsetiagon, on the shores of Frenchman's Bay. He wintered here, and started missionary work. Surveying of the township was probably completed by 1776. An 1813 census gives a population of 180 -- 40 more than neighbouring Scarborough. A large influx of Quaker settlers from the eastern United States came in the early 1810s. The main thrufare at this time was the...
