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Many Lewis folk arriving at the Port of Quebec in 1851 joined friends and relations in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada where Lewis emigrants of the 1830's and 40's had settled. A large contingent of those arriving on August 4th , 1851 continued on to Ontario where they found employment constructing the Great Western Railway in Hamilton. From August to December the Lewis men toiled on railway construction with weather conditions and mud slides often impeding their efforts. Smallpox broke out among them during this time and, sadly, many died. At the end of their tenure in Hamilton, the group scattered to a number of locations throughout South Western Ontario, agreeing to meet at the town of Goderich the following summer.