area into the Kingston Road, which greatly contributed to increased settlement in the area. Quaker settlement In this first decade of the 19th century, a small number of Quakers from the United States migrated to the Pickering Township. The Quakers, who were anti-war and advocated pacifism as part of their religious belief, had migrated to other parts of Upper Canada during and after following the American War of Independence. In 1807, Quaker leader Timothy Rogers bought 800 acres of land in the Duffins Creek area, at 10 shillings per acre. He arrived in Pickering with his wife, most of his 15 children, and 20 other Quaker families. They settled around what is now the intersection of Kingston Road and Mill Street, and cleared forest for farming. By 1809, the population of Pickering Township was 180 people, most of whom lived along the Duffins Creek. The writings of Timothy Rogers' son Wing suggest that the area was remained densely forested at the time, home to "thousands of wolves, bears, deer, foxes, wildcats, or lynx, raccoons, and other small animals too numerous to mention." Wing states that the settlers were most afraid of packs of wolves, followed by the bears. There had been frequent encounters between these wild animals and the settlers, resulting in deaths of humans and domestic animals. An 1805 news report in York Gazette describes how a woman called Mrs. Munger shot dead a bear that attacked her neighbour. By 1820, Quakers from the British Isles had started arriving in the area, encouraged by Rogers. The Quakers built several meeting houses, a small school, and the Pickering College in the Pickering Village. In 1842, there were 245 Quakers in Pickering Township, whose total population was 3,450. Industry and businesses Timothy Rogers built the first mill in the area, in 1810. His saw and grist mills were located around 5 km north of Lake Ontario. The dams constructed for the mills cut off the salmon off from their spawning grounds, and by the time of Rogers death, the salmon had practically disappeared from the Duffins Creek. In 1820, Alexander Wood of Toronto built the Elmdale grist mill near the intersection of what is now Church Street and Highway 401; the site was later occupied a Latter-day Saint chapel. The mill was rebuilt and changed owners several times, before being destroyed by fire in 1956. By 1825, there were two other