Nepean Canada 1851 Census

1851 Canada West,   Ontario Province,   Carleton County, Nepean Twp.

McGill, Patrick   age at next bday 70 yrs.,   Farmer,   b.   Ireland,   Roman Catholic  
   "     , Mary     age 37, Farmer, B. Ireland, Roman Catholic  
   ",   John Sullivan, Laborer,   age   15   b.   Nepean
   ",   Bridget Jane, age 7   b. Nepean
   ", Patrick D., age 1 b. Nepean
 pg. 2
States that Patrick McGill (age 70) and Mary McGill ( age 37) were married.  They live in a one story "Log House".   Some others in the area live in "Log Shanty".     
[My note:    Since our gt grandpa Daniel Patrick was born that year, 1851, and listed as Patrick D. McGill,   I am going to accept Patrick McGill the elder as the father of this family.   He would have died in the next 3 - 4 yrs, as Mary and the children migrated to Iowa by 1855.   Many Irish Immigrant families came first to Ontario and to Iowa by 1855.]

Irish in Nepean Area, Canada

I have been reading about the Irish immigrants in that county, where Daniel Patrick McGill was born.   Nepean's first permanent settler came to the area in 1810. However, it was the building of the RIDEAU CANAL that boosted settlement in the township with many coming about 1825.  The first settlers farmed plots that were given them and worked on the lumber drives in the winter.  It was a heavily forested area but also swampy.  Among the many diseases that ravaged workers during the building of the Rideau Canal, three of the worst were dysentery, small pox and malaria.Not only the workers but their families suffered from these diseases. We do not know if one of these illnesses caused the deaths of Patrick and Mary McGill's two baby girls, or Patrick himself.