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Place names often seem obscure or even random, but most of the time, when the name was selected, the people choosing took their tasks very seriously. Even so, some of our townships were named for people who have since been forgotten. Although Beresford has not remained in our consciousness, his role in the Peninsular War on the Iberian Peninsula between 1808 and 1814 was crucial in the eventual defeat of Napoleon. For the entire article, click here: https://www.ballyhoo.ca/natural-history.html

The Commission de Toponymie names three pioneers who contributed to the founding of Brownsburg, George Brown, Daniel Smith and Arthur Howard. Neither Smith nor Howard had anything to do with the original concessions or settlement though. Their roles were played much later. In 1885, the Colt Firearms Company of Connecticut sent Howard and a Gatling gun up to the Canadian Militia to help put down the Métis uprising in the North-West Territories. He was hailed as a hero out west, where he met the Hon. J.J.C. Abbott of St. Andrews East, the future Prime Minister of Canada.

In the late 1870's the Laurentians was experiencing a period of growth and prosperity. A Canadian currency had been created, successfully stabilizing trade, and the railway era was in full swing. As a result, lumber was becoming a more important product along the routes serviced by rail. Up until the trains arrived, the lumber industry was more dependent upon the river systems, and that meant that the forests further away were in less demand.

Reverend Théophile Thibodeau was not a typical priest. He assumed responsibility for the parish of Ste-Agathe-des-Monts in 1878 and, while he was loved and respected in his parish and is credited with the colonisation of Archambault township and the construction of a chapel, his real passion was his homestead. It consisted of a large portion of a peninsula in Ste- Agathe's Lac des Sables known today as Greenshields' Point. As a result, four years after assuming his parish responsibilities, he managed to resign and return home.

In 1891, Viscount Émile Ogier d'Ivry passed away in Chêne-de-C?ur, France, leaving behind his wife Angèle and their three children. Angèle's biggest challenge as the dowager of an important family was to make sure the children established themselves appropriately. Raoul, her eldest son and the new Viscount had suffered from cerebral meningitis as a teenager and his intellectual ability had remained that of a 14-year-old. He was in his late twenties, and with his handicap he was not the ideal head of the family.

Vestiges of our past disappear all the time. Or they are altered beyond recognition. Countless historic landmarks have vanished from Quebec’s landscape over the years. Particularly susceptible is our architectural heritage.

An important part of the history of the French village of Ste. Agathe in the treatment there of sufferers of the dread disease tuberculosis. Two English-speakers made an imprint here: Mortimer Davis and D. Lorne McGibbon.

This beautiful stone house on the North River was constructed as a mill in 1831 by the McOuats, and transformed into a house five years later. The McOuats, prominent in the early commercial life of Lachute, ran saw mills on Davis Creek, a foundry which made paper mill machinery, and a hardware store on Main Street which boasted the first plate glass window in Lachute.

Brownsburg was named for George Brown who settled here in 1818 and built mills before 1820. Robert Morrison, from Scotland via Grenville, set up a three-storey woollen mill on Middle Creek which was subsequently run by his sons William and Albert. It closed in the 1930s.

The railway came to Arundel in the 1890s, serving Piedmont, Montfort, Arundel and Huberdeau. The station, built c. 1912, eventually became part of the CNR system. Seen here is David Flanagan, who is the present mayor of Arundel and one of the prime movers in the preservation of the old railway station.

This old schoolhouse, built c.1880 near the land of Arundel’s first settler William Thomson, had as its students the grandfathers of some of the people who inhabit the Township today. It is now a residence.

A glance down Metcalfe St. reveals the Protestant church, the English elementary school, and many houses built by English-speakers. This is the late 19th century home of the Crowes who ran the saw mill and general store. It is said that when the saw mill caught fire, the pile of sawdust burned for twenty years.

The first known non-Indian to penetrate the Arundel area was English-born Stephen Jakes Bevan, who made his living hunting and trapping furs as early as the 1820s. Settlers did not arrive in this area until much later. In 1857, Sidney Bellingham, MLA for Argenteuil, who did surveys and encouraged settlement, was given a large grant of land.

This may be the oldest existing English schoolhouse in Quebec. Built of hand-made brick, it opened in 1808 and served Protestant elementary students until 1934. Jedediah Lane, considered to be the founder of Lachute, taught in this school in 1834.

George and Lucile Wheeler came to Canada from upstate New York in the late 19th century, attracted by the lumber business; they left a legacy in the resort, recreational, and commercial airline businesses in the Laurentians north of Montreal. They were the first English Protestant settlers in the area.

From sixteen years of age, in 1905, Osias Renaud worked at the sawmill built by Anaclat Marier on the Tour du Lac. The water flowing out of Lac des Sables drove the mill. It is hard to imagine today that the outflow of the lake could keep 12 men working; twelve families fed. The Parent brothers, who had acquired the mill, installed a new 40 horsepower turbine around that time, and milled flour as well as wood. The Parents also maintained a full general store selling animal feed, hay, flour, groceries, metal work, piping and even dry goods. In the winter, the men would log.

Alter and Sima Levine arrived in Montreal in 1903 along with their seven children. They met others here who, like them, had fled the pogroms in Russia. Their new country was full of hope and freedom. There was no dark authoritarian presence watching their moves, no pogroms, and the immigrants could freely share their stories, hopes and fears. Almost drunk with a sense of freedom, a number of these new Canadians decided to establish a commune off in the countryside where they could farm and reorganise their world.

The North River's name can be traced back to the time of the granting of the first seigniory of Argenteuil in 1682. The focal area was at its mouth where it joins the Ottawa River and the early maps show the North River with the West River flowing into it. G. R. Rigby in his 1964 history of Lachute notes that early surveyors marked La Chute (The Falls) on the North just upstream of where the West joins it.

Dr. J. Roddick Byers contracted tuberculosis in Sherbrooke, where, he later acknowledged, he had been overworking, delivering four babies a night and taking no time off. He took the rest cure at the Trudeau sanitarium in Saranac Lake, New York, where he developed a good relationship with Dr. Hugh Klinghorn, an ex-patient himself who served on the ward and was devoted to the study of tuberculosis. For the entire article, click here: http://www.ballyhoo.ca/history/DrJRoddick.shtml

The town of Val David, the first settlement north of Ste. Adele, had its post office named Mont Morin in 1873, in honour of A.N. Morin. The first few families, the Ménards and Dufresnes, were larger than life, both figuratively and physically. Two Ménard brothers married Dufresne sisters and the Dufresne brother did right by a Ménard sister. It is no surprise that the Ménards' mother became known far and wide as La Mère Ménard. Though smaller than her sons, she was about six feet tall and was a woman to be reckoned with.