Elgie's compelling research culminated in her book, This Land: the story of two hundred acres in Kent County, Ontario, and her talk promises to inspire and fascinate anyone interested in agricultural history, genealogy, and the legacy of Southwestern Ontario’s farmland.
Come for an engaging midday session with Evan Abma, local historian, Chair of the Sarnia Heritage Committee, and a leading voice in documenting Ontario’s disappearing rural heritage. We are eager to learn how historical land records, assessments, directories, and census data can be layered with modern tools such as Google MyMaps to create living, shareable records of our rural heritage. This presentation may help spark ideas for how we can apply similar methods locally, building on the work already underway in our community.
Over the past several years, Evan has undertaken an ambitious research project mapping historic farmhouses across Lambton County. Using a wide range of sources—including historical land registers, tax assessments, farm directories, topographic maps, census records, satellite imagery, concession maps, and digital tools such as Google MyMaps—he has documented approximately 1,700 historic farmhouses still standing, down from about 2,000 in 2009.