John Dennis, Master Shipbuilder-- Part 2: Emigrated to Canada

After his father's death in 1782, John and his young family emigrated to Canada.  Eventually they settled in New Brunswick until fire destroyed his property there and they moved for a short time to Alexandria, Virginia.

The following year, John Dennis and family returned to Upper Canada, largely at the invitation of Lt. Governor John Grave Simcoe, who wanted him to build gunboats for the Provincial Marine (Navy).

Dennis set up a shipyard just west of York (now Toronto) at the Humber River where he built ships for the government.  One of them was the government schooner Toronto, which was called "one of the handsomest vessels, of her size, that ever swam upon the Ontario" by the Upper Canada Gazette in 1799.

--Brock-Perry