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The historical development of the Outaouais has often found its origin in the Pontiac. It is within the Pontiac where the oldest traces of human artefacts were discovered, shortly after the retreat of the Champlain Sea. Archaeological discoveries found on Morrison Island revealed that the river in the Pontiac had become “the copper route”, starting from the Great Lakes and leading up to Eastern Quebec.

My Gaspesian roots come from my great grandmother Melvina Chedore Maskrey. She was born in 1865 at L'Anse Au Gascon to Alexander Chedore and Maria Flowers. I had never known anything about my Gaspesian roots until 1985 and I didn’t even know where the Gaspe was in Canada. I started doing genealogy twenty-seven years ago before the birth of my own child. Even though I never met my great grandmother I am proud to say that she had a connection to the Gaspe and I have met many wonderful people and I was able to visit that region of Canada.

Anyone with more than a passing interest in the architecture and history of the Eastern Townships, in particular that part of the Townships bordering the U.S., will be interested to know that a new book has just been published on a type of architecture that, apart from the neighbouring states of New England, is quite unique to this part of Quebec.

1. What two rivers meet at Matapedia near the head of Chaleur Bay? 2. Where did the first two permanent settlers in the Gaspé Bay area live? 3. What 3 rivers flow into Gaspé Bay? 4. What is the name of the town where Charles Robin first established his company headquarters? 5. What did the entire area surrounding New Carlisle become referred to legally? 6. Where was a Provincial Marine Biological Station and Fisheries School opened in 1948? 7. How long is the Cascapedia River?

1. The Matapedia and the Restigouche 2. Sunny Bank and Peninsula 3. The Dartmouth, the York and the St. John 4. Paspebiac 5. The Township of Cox 6. Grande-Rivière 7. About 75 miles 8. Mount Jacques Cartier in the Parc de la Gaspésie 9. Carleton 10. The Cascapedia Hotel

1) How did Lachute get its name? a) The town is named after Edmond La Chute who established a mill there in 1802. b) The town is named after a local waterfall. c) Lachute is a corruption of “The Shoot,” which referred to an annual hunt that took place here in the 1800s. d) Lachute is a corruption of the Indigenous word Lac’heutkt’ewah, which translates roughly as “good fishing place.”

1) b) La Chute is French for "the waterfall." 2) a) 3) a) 4) c) Jericho, Vermont. 5) a) 6) c) 7) b) The Argenteuil Agricultural Society, founded in 1826, has held an annual exposition ever since. The first Argenteuil County fair was held in St. Andrews East in 1826. For the next fifty years, different towns hosted the event. Since 1877, the fair has been held in Lachute. 8) a) 9) b) 10) b) These are the falls of the North River.

Compassionate Return “Compassionate leave to Canada will only be granted in very exceptional cases in which extreme hardship would be caused to the individual concerned or his dependants, if he did not return. It must be demonstrated that the hardship could not be alleviated in any other manner.”

In 1963, the water behind the new Carillon Dam was raised over 60 feet, quieting the upstream tumult of the Long Sault Rapids. It also covered the canals and any remaining vestiges of old portage trails used to bypass the rapids. A lake over 20 km long was created, stretching all the way up the Ottawa River, beyond my home in Grenville.

In the fall of 2007, QAHN launched its Cemetery Heritage Inventory and Restoration Initiative (CHIRI). Our objective was to evaluate cemeteries of English speaking communities and / or religious congregations in several areas of Quebec, including the Laurentians.

Published by the Association of Gravestone Studies (AGS)Pamphlets, $2.50 to $4.50 each (plus shipping)

This month the McCord Museum of Montreal opens an exhibit entitled “Being Irish” to celebrate over 250 years of the Irish presence in Quebec. Usually what comes to mind when referring to our Irish history is Montreal and, to a lesser extent, Quebec City, where people of Irish origin have been, and have remained prominent in large numbers consistently for over two centuries. However, less known but equally important is the Irish rural heritage in Quebec. One area, first occupied by Irish settlers, was the vast tract of unsettled wilderness, to the north of the St. Lawrence.

In Canada, heritage sites may be designated nationally, provincially and municipally. The level of designation depends on the level of significance of the site. National Historic Sites must be judged to be of national significance; provincial, of provincial significance, and so on.

Archibald McMillan, who was born in Scotland in 1762, is credited with being the first settler in Grenville. In 1802, he and his cousin Alan McMillan brought 344 adults and 104 children as Highland emigrants to Montreal, on board the vessels Friends, Helen and Jane. His plan was to set up a Highland style fiefdom in Argenteuil County, with himself as a New-World laird. When land negotiations bogged down, many of his followers settled in Glengarry and Stormont counties in Upper Canada, where relatives and friends were already established.

The 1851 census of Grenville Township identified a population of 1,200, split evenly between Catholics and Protestants. The break-down by ethnic group was 362 French Canadians, 544 English-speaking Canadians, and 187 Irish-, 77 Scottish-, 28 English- and 2 American-born immigrants.

If you had to name a première river that flows from the very heart of the Laurentians, you would surely choose the Rouge. The Rouge River runs 220 km, originating in the Réserve Faunique Rouge-Matawin, northwest of Mont Tremblant, and follows a winding course southward. Eventually it tumbles down the south face of the Laurentians and empties into the Ottawa River, just west of Calumet, near the very place I was born. The Rouge has everything; slow meandering turns, lots of white-water rapids ranging from Class I to V in intensity and several spectacular un-runnable waterfalls.

Lac Carlin, also known as Carling Lake, is just northwest of Pine Hill, Quebec, along Highway 327, in the lower Laurentians. Today it is the site of an upscale golf course and hotel…a classy resort destination.

In May 2008, I got a call from Heather (Stone) Foley, who lives in Rawcliffe, Quebec. She told me James Stone was visiting from BC. I had been a classmate of Heather’s throughout grade school in Grenville and a good friend of her younger brother, James. But I had only seen him two or three times in the intervening fifty years.

"Grenville" -- as in Grenville Township, Grenville-sur-la Rouge Municipality and Grenville Village -- trace their name back to William Wyndham Grenville, a British statesman who served briefly (1806-1807) as British Prime Minister, during the time that Grenville Township was being established and surveyed.

The death toll in a pandemic can be staggering, but a supplementary measure of devastation can also be read into the stories of survivors.