"For the purpose of this book, the Ottawa Valley means portions of the valley including (a) in Ontario: the Ottawa-Carleton Region, Renfrew County, and small portions of adjacent counties, (b) in Quebec: Thorne Township in Pontiac County and Bowman Township in Labelle County [now in Papineau County]."--p. 8.

"The arrival of immigrants from the eastern provinces of Prussia and other regions in northern Germany in 1857 was the start of a migration that brought approximately 12,000 Germans to the upper Ottawa Valley within the next 30 years. Today an estimated 20% of the population in Renfrew County are descendants of those settlers, and there are smaller concentrations in other counties on both sides of the Ottawa River....The primary objective of this book is to document and describe the reasons for German immigration to the Ottawa Valley in the 19th century and to offer some background on the geographical and political origin of the immigrants, on Canadian policies and recruitment activities, on Prussian reaction to these activities, on the immigration process itself and on early settlement in the reception area."--Introd. .