History Articles

Two competing waves of migrationto the Laurentians got under wayin the early 1840s, according to historian Serge Laurin. One, says Laurin, wasFrench-Canadian and Catholic, the other wasEnglish-Canadian and Protestant. Both occurred at precisely the same time; both followed different routes.

Curé Antoine Labelle could not have developed the upper Laurentians if he had not been empowered and supported by Ignace Bourget, Bishop of Montreal. Bourget was one of the most powerful clerics in Quebec during the 19th century. From his inauguration in 1840 to his death in 1885, he led the Quebec clergy in filling a leadership vacuum in French Canada. The Laurentian colonisation and the creation of the towns north of Ste. Agathe were among the many accomplishments of the clergy, but they could not tolerate criticism.

Lachute is at the centre of the early English-speaking settlements of the Laurentians, and many historic trails lead back to it. There is no mystery as to where its name came from, though. Both La Riviere du Nord and La Chute appeared on maps made during the French regime, prior to 1760 and the property was designated as a seigneury as early as 1682. All the same, the land where the town is today and some of its surrounding area was once described as Lane's Purchase, and was first officially called the Parish of St-Jerusalem.

1) Brownsburg is named in whose honour?
a) William Brown, who established a brewery there, the first in Canada.
b) George Brown, an early pioneer who built a mill.
c) Jeremiah Brown, a Methodist preacher.
d) None of the above. The town is actually named after a village in England.

OKA ABBEY

St. Mungo's Church (Presbyterian), a solid structure, built after the fashion of the old style Scotch country-parish churches, stands in a fine position on the bank of the Ottawa River, about midway between the villages of Grenville and Carillon.

This pleasant little village or hamlet, which has recently sprung into some prominence on account of being the site of the Cartridge Factory, and near the lately discovered granite quarry, was, in early years, made a place of no little importance by the erection of Brown's mills.

Though considerable pains were taken to obtain a more complete history of the Anglican Church here, they were fruitless... Itinerant ministers visited St.

This place is located on the Ottawa, about three and a half miles west of Grenville, and it is doubtful if the scenery around it is surpassed in beauty by that of any other village in the province. It is situated on a high, level tract of ground less than half a mile in breadth, which is bounded by the river on the south, and on the north by a mountain rising abruptly, and running parallel with the river.

The following passage, by naturalist and travelogue writer T.