Québec - Estrie - Eastern Township - A short story - Sherbrooke - Scotstown - Lac-Mégantic - Lac-Drolet and others cities - Of our ancesters - Laprise - Mercier - Trepanier

    Estrie - Eastern Townships   

Area: 10.195 km2

Population: 309.975 inhabitants in 2010

Density: 30.4 inhabitants km2

Inhabitants: Estrien, Estrienne

Birth rate: 10.3% in 2006

mortality rate: 7.6 in 2006

Sherbrooke, Queen City and capital of the Eastern Townships

Sherbrooke and Mont Orford

Estrie is an administrative region of Quebec located along the border with the United States, east of the Montérégie and south of Centre-du-Québec. Its main cities are Sherbrooke, Magog, Coaticook, Scotstown, Lac-Drolet Lac-Mégantic and Windsor.It consists of six regional county municipalities or MRC and 89 local municipalities.

Our ancestors lived in these towns of Bury, Chartiertville, Courcelle, Ditchfield, Gould, or Audet Sainte-Cécile-de-Whitton, Lac-Drolet and Saint -Samuel de Gayhurst, Lac-Mégantic, La Patrie, Marsden, Milan, Nantes, Notre-Dame-des-Bois, Quebec, Piopolis, Saint-Romain, Scotstown, Sherbrooke, ValRacine.

The Granit, whose capital is the City of Lac-Mégantic.

Lac-Mégantic 1888

Cities of our families and ancestors

How to get there

 

Sherbrooke follow Route 112 to East Angus. A scenic drive starts in Lennoxville,32 kilometers from the border of Vermont and Quebec on ​​Route 143. Drive east on Highway 108, Bishop's past, and turn left on Spring road to the village of Ascot Corner. Ascot Corner of River Road follows the St. Francis River in East Angus along a stretch of the historic Gosford Road.

Estrie

Estrie was initially called in English "Eastern Townships", the name that the first English-speaking settlers (end eighteenth century) used to designate the region, the writer Antoine Gérin-Lajoie will translate into French by Eastern Townships in 1858, a reference to the Swiss cantons.

Its name comes from the creation of the British tenure system, township, in 1791, allowing the concession of land to Loyalist settlers who settled in the region after the independence of the United States of America. At the time, the French rural Quebec used the French tenure, the system lordships. Like most of the loyalists had settled in the part of the colony that now forms part of Ontario (and therefore Francophone west), the "Eastern Township" designation possible to distinguish this property.

In 1946, Monsignor Maurice O'Bready propose to change this unofficial designation by the Estrie term, easier to integrate into French by the Estrie adjective. Especially since the term "Eastern Townships" is a literal translation.

Located 1h45 minutes southeast of Montreal and a few hours from Quebec's Eastern Townships at the northern border of three states in the USA: Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Its neighboring tourist regions of Montérégie to the west, the Centre-du-Québec north and Chaudière-Appalaches east.

Some villages estriens (as Beebe Plain, near Rock Island and Stanstead) are downright divided into two by the US-Canadian border.

History

Estrie form a territory with an area of about 1.6 million hectares, extending lordships south of the St. Lawrence River to the US border and the river Richelieu in the Chaudière River.

Estrie road highs

Its rich soil and subsoil, the splendor of its hills and mountains, the wild beauty of hundreds of lakes make it one of the most beautiful regions of Quebec. This region, highly valued today by vacationers and tourists, was under French rule (1534-1760),a vast territory reserved for Abenaki the great Algonquin family who were turned states of New England, at the end of the seventeenth century.

In 1792, the imperial government had cut into 93 "cantons" the territory referred Buckinghamshire County and designate each section of a name borrowed from the map of England.

1792 Division Buckinghamshire Townships, born in the Eastern Townships.

It seems that we have taken at random and without much imagination efforts, affectionate vocables places in Britain and nothing in this nomenclature recalls a glorious nor a geographical feature. Note that no French name is assigned.

Referred to as High St.Francis,the hunting and fishing paradise was long traveled only by Indians and fur traders. At that time, no settlement had been made, there were only a trading post located at Grandes-Fourches, first name of the city of Sherbrooke.

Estrie wooden covered bridge

Under the English regime, from 1760, this situation remained until the declaration of American Independence. At that time, the inhabitants of New England, remained loyal to the British Crown, were forced into exile. A good portion of those people who was called"Loyalists" immigrated to Canada;the authorities then decided to grant them land in this vast uninhabited territory yet.

But be careful with the term "loyalist".The land was provided free of charge based on an oath of allegiance to the British Crown. The lure of free land made ​​many Americans of various political feelings have not hesitated to take an oath to access these lands. It would be more accurate to speak of the US population for this region.

The concession of these lands was carried out as canton (township) with an area of 100 square miles (10,000 x 10,000).

This is now appears the designation "Eastern-Townships" as opposed to "Western Townships" of Upper Canada; this territory is the present province of Ontario, created by the Constitutional Act of 1791 because the Loyalists refused to live under the same law as Canadians of French origin themselves.

Loyalists

Colonization is slow to assert  the government of Lower Canada which is the current Quebec, suspicious in the place of the settlers, the Americans arrived 30 or 40 years after American independence and refused to Ontario to immorality.

Several squatters of land even before they are granted. Moreover, given that this region is not yet cleared, many Americans ignore be territory of Lower Canada during their illegal establishment. Therefore, after 1792 the large majority of the Eastern Townships settlers from the United States.

The government will leave wrestle with these few settlers  resources.It opens them until 1811 Craig Road, linking Québec in Richmond, through the townships of Leeds, Halifax, Chester, Tingwick and Shipton.

Without the help of the directors, the Eastern Townships will grow together with the states of New England. Before the arrival of the railway in the area, it is easier to trade with Boston and Portland in the US with Montreal and Quebec.

The American colonists had developed several routes passing through the mountains to communicate with the United States and to trade.

By 1840, there has been a massive influx of Irish and Scottish immigrants drawn to the land company "The British American Land Co." They occupy the area east Sherbrooke and Compton. For their part, the Irish Catholics are especially present in the city, being unaccustomed to the type of agriculture practiced in the region. Many will Richmond and Sherbrooke.

Although the first French Canadians arrived around 1812 in the region, we must wait for 1840 to see the beginnings of Francophone immigration. Their number will become significant as the years 1850-1860.

Today, the Eastern Townships of the population is predominantly francophone (almost 90).

Diligence on Craig Road in 1811

In 1810, the Way Craig Shipton relia Lévis, to Richmond, passing in the township of Chester; as the Route du Saint-François Sherbrooke and path-Stanstead, opened the first ways of penetration.

At the beginning of the XIX th century, Lower Canada (Province of Quebec), nearly all of the population still living in the manors along the St. Lawrence River. The territory between the river and the American frontier had been surveyed and the region took Township east name. That would be the next area to colonize in Lower Canada.

In 1810, Governor James Henry Craig was undertaking the construction of a road to link Quebec and Boston in the United States. He also wanted to promote colonization of a massive anglophone population. The goal was to assimilate the French Canadians.

The target was traced to the lordship of Saint-Gilles to Richmond. Here, an existing path that today is the road up to 143 Stanstead should continue the journey to the US border.

The construction of the road was begun in August 1810. It continued for 3 months. 180 soldiers were used for work. They cut trees and built several bridges to make the carriage road. Although the road is muddy and the ground is uneven in many places, this route was quite practicable to allow winter diligence service.

In January 1811 the stagecoach service was established. It would link Quebec to Boston in record time of six days. The service ended in March thaw. This service was later abandoned due to difficult travel conditions.

The 1812 war had consequences for the abandonment of Craig Road. This could now serve as invasion route for the Americans. Several bridges were destroyed and the forest took over. A report of the surveyor Joseph Bouchette reported the poor condition of the road.

Settlers them are still installed, complaining of the poor condition of the road. Despite some repairs, Craig Road will be declared impassable in 1829. To overcome this situation another way, Gosford Road was undertaken to promote colonization.

The success of Craig Road is mixed. He opened up the territory to many new residents but not as one might expect. The establishment of an English-speaking population was insufficient. The attempted assimilation of French Canadians failed. By cons they will come to live in that region and they will become the majority.

Saint-Ferdinand

Its route

For from Quebec, people had to travel to St. Nicolas and take the road to Saint-Jean Saint-Gilles.  Road Craig through Saint-Jacques-de-Leeds and Inverness Township. He then spent nearly Kinnear's Mills and then to the village of Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf. He joined the canton of Ireland (Ireland). The route of Saint-Gilles Saint-Ferdinand of Halifax is the current route

216.St. Ferdinand, you reach the village of Vianney and then we pass near the small towns of Trottier Mill and St. Helena-de Chester. Craig Road continues to Chesterville and Tingwick where he still bears his name. Township of Shipton The following step where Danville and Richmond then joined by the current route 116.

The rest of the journey to the United States through the current route 143 through Windsor, Brompton, Sherbrooke, Ayer's Cliff and Stanstead.

Railways

The first railway in Canada opened in 1836, and follows a frenzied period of railway construction which did not spare the Eastern Townships in 1851 which was connected via Richmond. In 1853 this same line, the St. Lawrence & Atlantic was extended to  Maine,Portland,United States. In 1854, Richmond was connected to Charny (south of Quebec) and in 1861 it was the turn of Waterloo to be connected by the Stanstead, Shefford & Chambly Railroad.

Both companies were then absorbed by the Grand Trunk, which later became the "Canadian National Railways" (CNR), or Canadian National. Following these developments, the Eastern Townships was left with the densest rail network in Quebec.

The Hays era

In 1895, the Grand Trunk Railway is in a precarious situation. On the advice of John Pierpont Morgan, the London leaders of the firm decided to recruit Charles Melville Hays and make the CEO. His new duties will take effect on 1 January 1896 and he moved to Montreal with his family.

Hays a determination to redress the company and restructured in the direction by announcing that decisions will not be taken by the board of London but Montreal headquarters. It also decided to network restructuring by adding double tracks and grain elevators, but also by purchasing new locomotives. He finally stands out from previous directors taking his advice, nor the British administrators of the company, but men of Canadian ground.

Canada is experiencing a period of prosperity that is conducive to the expansion of its railway network. That's Hays a problem because the direction of the Grand Trunk has refused to extend westward because of the costs. Faced with a further refusal of his superiors, he resigned and joined the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1900. The company is absorbed by another which he did not share the ideas, Hays leaves in 1902 and resumed his position at the GrandTrunk.

The first French arrivals

overcrowding leads lordships bordering inhabitants of the river to look for the living space. We then see some bold loggers sink into the forest, build huts and settle there as "squatters". By 1850, the work of the Catholic clergy in favor of colonization helps stop the massive emigration of . Youth of Lower Canada to the US neighbor

is then seen thousands of French Canadian families into the last pristine cantons called at that time, "Land of the Priests"; not because these cantons Ham, Wotton, Weedon, Garthby, Stratford,  Winslow and others belong to the clergy, but rather because it preaches intensely in the occupation by the French Canadians.

Tourism

Today the name "Estrie" is used to designate the administrative region, whereas the name "Eastern Townships Eastern"means a tourist area.

Located south of the St. Lawrence River, the tourist region of the Eastern Townships Eastern part of Southern Quebec, for consolidation promoting tourism in southern Quebec regions on various international markets activities.

The tourist region has three national parks offering many outdoor

Mont-Mégantic National Park,

Mont-Orford National Park,

Parc national de Frontenac .

The National Park Yamaska ​​is found in the tourist region of the Eastern Townships, but in his party that is part of the Montérégie region.

The varied terrain, architecture typical loyalist some villages (some are part of 'Most Beautiful Villages of Quebec) and the presence of several lakes are among the tourist attractions of the region.

The Eastern Townships Appalachian hills area between Montreal and Quebec. The Eastern Townships extend from Granby, Lac-Mégantic, and Drumondville at the US border.

Estrie Bolton

From the late seventeenth century the Abenaki go there to hunt and fish. With the exception of the post to the Grandes-Fourches in Sherbrooke, the region is not settled during the French regime. Shortly after the end of the American War of Independence,many Loyalists left their homeland to Canada and settled in Missisquoi Bay, northeast of Lake Champlain. In 1791, the British governor decides to grant them the cantons.

 

The first of the 95 cantons will be granted Dunham Township, in 1796. The region takes the county name (election) of Buckinghamshire in 1792. The name changed to "Eastern Townships of Lower Canada," as opposed to "Western Townships of Upper Canada "which will be contracted to" Eastern Townships "to 1806.

This term is translated into" Eastern Townships "around 1833, and then" Eastern Townships "in 1858. The administrative region takes the official name of Estrie in 1981. This name is still controversial. The first settlers of the American, English and Irish.

 

After 1840, the French colonization is increasingly important and will become majority Francophones between 1871 and 1881. Anglophones represent less than 10 percent. 100 of the population. Equipped with an excellent road network since the 1820s, the region has grown considerably with the construction of the railway Grand Trunk Railways of Canada, which links Montreal to Sherbrooke in Scotstown in Lac-Mégantic in Portland (Maine) until Halifax, NS in 1853. The road and rail networks promote the exploitation and processing of natural resources including wood, Christmas trees, asbestos, granite, copper and limestone.

                                                                              

The Seven Years' War

 

During the Seven Years War between France and Britain, the Abenakis, always allied with the French, guide them through the Eastern Townships of the rivers, so often passing by the site of Sherbrooke, in raids against the strong English. When peace was signed in 1783 and soon after, when the independence of the United States is recognized, Townships the Eastern is back for a few short years Wabanaki people, who practice for generations hunting and fishing . For cons, the American Revolution attracts loyalists in the area and they begin to covet the land and to demand concessions from the government.

Colonization (1802-1834).

American Revolution

Jean-Baptiste Nolin

The first white man to settle on Sherbrooke is the site of a French Canadian named Jean-BaptisteNolin,which we know very little about, except that he settled there in 1795 and came to live in the Agriculture.

Jean-Baptiste Nolin in 1795, long before and even before Sherbrooke Hyatt's Mill, in the site of the wall in Sherbrooke, Jean-Baptiste Nolin clearing a clearing of 18 acres near the King Street West towards current Lennoxville, which is called the Township of Ascot. Jean-Baptiste Nolin is a single man; little information on him, he is not listed. Where was it? How old was he ?, We imagine that French Canadian in the prime of life and character, because this area was rough, composed of large pine trees, rocks and mountains.

In August 1799 ready Nolin oath of allegiance and passes the daily status likely "squat" to that of township-related substitute. In 1802, Nolin is not involved in the distribution of granted lots and Gilbert Hyatt earned. Since that time, no trace of Jean-Baptiste Nolin ... Would it be left for other adventures? The story does not say ...

Sherbrooke

An attempt at colonization took place in 1792 on the east bank of the St. Francis River. The place was then known as Cowan's Clearance.In 1793, Gilbert Hyatt, a native of loyalist district Schenectady in the state of NewYorkin nine associate company, was established near the confluence of the rivers Massawippi and Coaticook, near the present site of Capleton, even before the Government of Lower Canada (Quebec) officially granted them the land.

During the following two years, 18 more families are joining the first settlers. At that time, Hyatt is not interested at the site of Sherbrooke.When the crown lands finally concedes to Hyatt and his associates in 1801, no right is recognized Nolin. This therefore leaves the area.

Hyatt while claiming for himself the land that the French Canadian had cleared and there first built a dam on the Magog, in collaboration with another loyalist named Jonathan Ball, who had bought land on the north bank of the river.

Hyatt erects a first flour mill on the south bank of the river, while that Ball built a sawmill on the north shore. By building its mill, Hyatt raises in 1802 a historic gesture by giving birth to the hamlet of Hyatt's Mill, which later became the city of Sherbrooke.

At this time, the conditions are not easy at the beginnings of the colony the Eastern Townships; the newly founded villages are too far from urban centers, and the settlers are found scattered in the middle of the forest while having no access to paved roads. By the same token, people are often struggling with famine and various supply problems.Also, the development of the hamlet of Sherbrooke, was no exception to the rule, is very slow.

Many efforts are made ​​to road construction, so that from 1817 a stagecoach network to the main cities of Quebec and New England begins to develop. Subsequently, various waterway improvement projects are undertaken. Some ideas, most utopian even propose to connect by canals rivers St. Francis and Connecticut,in order to create a navigable waterway between the St. Lawrence River and the Boston area, which would become the Sherbrooke hyphen.

until 1834, despite the slight improvement in the communication network, Sherbrooke remains isolated and poorly integrated with the rest of the continent, so the area is unattractive for new generations of immigrants, which is an obstacle to its development and limit the benefits that can make traders and speculators as Goodhue and Felton.

Only in 1852, after several unsuccessful attempts to drive the railroad in Sherbrooke, begins the St.Lawrence and Atlantic activities. The promoters, all Sherbrooke initially tried to curry support among various mayors and chambers of commerce of Boston and Montreal as well as to the governors of the Canadas and neighboring States in the Eastern Townships in order to find partners for the project. BALC itself was invested by purchasing 480 shares in the railroad. Once built, the line would connect Montreal, Sherbrooke and Portland, Maine, and thus be part of the Grand Trunk  network.

As a result of this development is the emergence of a first municipal government in 1841, whose 'area of influence coincided more or less with the boundaries of the judicial district of Saint Francis of the time, whose capital the Town of Sherbrooke. Along with the significant rise of the British merchant and industrial bourgeoisie in the 1840s, the Tories were increasingly part of the political landscape in Sherbrooke, opposed to the reformists, for most growers. The influence of the Tories still faded towards the end of the decade, a phenomenon mainly due to the coming to power of reformist-liberal government of Lafontaine and Baldwin,which had the effect of putting the Tories in opposition.

 

Ghent Trunk Central Railways Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke in 1920

Quebec entered the industrial era in the years 1870. It enters knees, almost. From 1860 to 1870 the construction of wooden ships collapses completely. Now, ships will be on."Quebec has not then the infrastructure to engage in this type of construction in a context of international competition."

This crisis is closely following another blow to the local economy. During the period 1840-1860, Britain has become a free trader.She gradually eliminated tariffs that favored the Quebec Wood. Fortunately, prices remain some time, which reduces the shock without preventing, however, the decline of the number one industry in Quebec.

Britain  as the only market also becomes a reality of the past. The Trade with the United States flourished and he creates a set whose Canadian Economic pricing policies influence local industrial production from the years 1870-1880. "In this context, Montreal becomes the financial and rail capital,a hub, while Quebec is marginalized."

So far,  economy Quebec's is based on skilled,skilled master craftsmen in shipbuilding or shoemaking, to name just two examples. But it also is the past. In this second half of the nineteenth century begins the mechanization of the factories and the possibility of hiring unskilled workers. In Quebec City, the footwear industry is one of the first to experience the transformation. In Montreal, several sectors already thrive on the mechanization of work, including that of metallurgy.

Some industrial start is still felt."Between 1880 and1930,and during the Second World War,Quebec is a predominantly industrial city. The port, undermined by the decline in the timber trade, turned successfully export of mining, forestry and grain, but it loses its status for imports.

"Despite the lack of competitive advantages, some industries are established and thrive: leather, tanning and footwear, metallurgy, manufacture of cigarettes ...

The dominant industry of the time will be a paper mill, the Anglo Pulp and Paper.It's the late 1920s that the British company installs the plant (the largest in Quebec) at the confluence of the St. Charles and St. Lawrence:.

Two other industrial sectors stand  The manufacture of corsets and those ammunition. At the turn of the twentieth century and into the 1930s, corsets products in Quebec account for a good portion of the Canadian market. As for the manufacture of munitions and firearms, it gains in importance, especially with the Second World War. In fact, this conflict has brought renewed energy to the Quebec economy. Even shipbuilding has taken the bull by the beast, until the Allied victory. "After 1945, only the paper industry is still important, the remaining activities responding only to local needs."
 

Scottish Highlands

Starting from the upper St. Francis River through dense forests in the mountainous hinterland, away from the north coast naked Scot. Yet the rate of Gaelic once rang out in rocky areas and crofters cabins.

 

Farm families in the Highlandsof Scotland face starvation in the 1830s landowners hoping to profit from the sale of the wool industry in the authorized agricultural land tenants to make way for the sheep. Farmers were crammed into small beachfront lots called Crofts, where they were taken advantage of the collection and processing of algae for soap. Crofters come to depend on potatoes for food. When poor harvests turned them into poor, forced the owners to emigrate.

Sixty families boarded the ship Energy in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in 1838 to homestead in the wilderness in the Eastern Townships Eastern Quebec. London-based British American Land Company property rights on Crown land more in the neighborhood and hired people to build roads, bridges and mills.

 

With much of the Haut-Saint-François district unfit to cereal crops, immigrants turn to logging. Joined by French Canadians and Irish Catholic settlers, the Highlanders built a life based on forestry and small-scale agriculture. By the late 1800s some 3,000 Gaelic speakers populous region.

This Heritage Trail leads you through one of the oldest of Quebec forestry districts and a cradle of Canadian pulp and paper. Although most of the descendants of Scottish settlers had left, their memory is beautifully preserved in churches and cemeteries and local heritage groups like Ceilidh Society of Scotstown.