Editing Waterloo, Ontario (section)

=== Indigenous peoples and settlement ===
[[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Indigenous peoples]] such as the [[Haudenosaunee|Iroquois]], [[Anishinaabe]] and [[Neutral Nation|Chonnonton]] lived in the area.<ref name=WaterlooHistory>{{cite web|url=https://www.waterloo.ca/en/things-to-do/waterloo_s-history.aspx|title=Waterloo's history|date=March 8, 2021 |access-date=29 March 2021|archive-date=April 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429090948/https://www.waterloo.ca/en/things-to-do/waterloo_s-history.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the end of the [[American Revolution]], [[Joseph Brant]], a [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]] war chief, wanted [[Frederick Haldimand]] to give the Mohawk and [[Six Nations of the Grand River|Six Nations]] a tract of land surrounding the [[Grand River (Ontario)|Grand River]], in return for their loyalty to the British in the war.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|2007|pp=18–19}}<ref name=":11">{{cite web |title=Haldimand Proclamation, The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/haldimand-proclamation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805214208/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/haldimand-proclamation |archive-date=August 5, 2019 |access-date=August 27, 2019}}</ref> Haldimand's 1784 ''[[Haldimand Proclamation]]'' granted the land "six miles deep from either side of the [Grand River] beginning at Lake Erie and extending in that proportion to the very head of the said river."{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|2007|pp=18–19}}<ref name=":11" /> Haldimand, who had previously ordered for potential mill sites to be identified in the region, decreed in 1788 that mill sites would be included in the grant (which would not have been included otherwise).{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|2007|pp=15}} In 1796, [[Richard Beasley (politician)|Richard Beasley]] purchased Block Number 2 of the grant from [[Joseph Brant]] (on behalf of the [[Six Nations of the Grand River|Six Nations]]) with a mortgage held by the Six Nations.<ref name=":12" /> Block 2, 94,012 acres in size, was situated in the District of Gore. To meet his mortgage obligations, Beasley had to sell portions of the land to settlers.<ref name=":12">{{cite web | url=https://www.waterlooregionmuseum.ca/en/collections-and-research/waterloo-township.aspx | access-date=August 27, 2019 | title=History of Waterloo Township | archive-date=July 27, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727143149/https://www.waterlooregionmuseum.ca/en/collections-and-research/waterloo-township.aspx | url-status=live }}</ref> This was counter to the original mortgage agreement, but subsequent changes to the agreement were made to permit land sales.

[[Mennonites]] from [[Pennsylvania]] counties [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]] and [[Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Montgomery]] were the first wave of immigrants to the area.<ref name="cow history">{{cite web | url = http://www.waterloo.ca/150Anniversary/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=1780 | title = Our Proud History | access-date = August 30, 2007 | publisher = City of Waterloo | archive-date = September 28, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928201452/http://www.waterloo.ca/150Anniversary/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=1780 | url-status = dead }}</ref> In the year 1800 alone, Beasley sold over 14,000 acres to Mennonite settlers.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} A group of 26 Mennonites from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, pooled their resources into the German Company of Pennsylvania, which was then represented by Daniel Erb and Samuel Bricker.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}} The company purchased all the unsold land from Beasley in 1803, resulting in a discharge of the mortgage held by the Six Nations. This discharge allowed Beasley to clear his obligation with the Six Nations, and allowed the settlers to have deeds to their purchased land.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://waterloocountygenweb.weebly.com/waterloo-township.html | access-date=August 27, 2019 | title=Waterloo County GenWeb | archive-date=August 27, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190827085345/https://waterloocountygenweb.weebly.com/waterloo-township.html | url-status=live }}</ref> The payment to Beasley, in cash, arrived from Pennsylvania in kegs, carried in a wagon surrounded by armed guards.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waterlooregionmuseum.com/collections-and-research/place-names-in-waterloo-region/waterloo-township/ |title=Waterloo Township |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2013 |website=Waterloo Region Museum Research |publisher=Region of Waterloo |access-date=13 March 2017 |quote=To correct the situation, a formal agreement was arranged between Brant and Beasley. This arrangement allowed Beasley to sell the bulk of Block 2 in order to cover his mortgage obligations completely while giving the Mennonite buyers legal title to the land they had purchased. Beasley sold a 60,000-acre tract of land to the "German Company of Pennsylvania" represented by Daniel Erb and Samuel Bricker in November 1803. Beasley's sale to the German Company not only cleared him of mortgage debt but left him with 10,000 acres of Block 2 land which he continued to sell into the 1830s. |archive-date=February 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227143026/http://www.waterlooregionmuseum.com/collections-and-research/place-names-in-waterloo-region/waterloo-township/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Many of the pioneers who arrived from Pennsylvania after November 1803 bought land in a 60,000-acre tract of Block 2 from the German Company of Pennsylvania. The tract included almost two-thirds of Block 2. Many of the first farms were least 400 acres in size.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://www.whs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1930.pdf |title=History |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=1930 |website=Waterloo Historical Society 1930 Annual Meeting |publisher=Waterloo Historical Society |access-date=13 March 2017 |archive-date=February 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227233215/http://www.whs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1930.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>