Laurentian Heritage WebMagazine

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.”

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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

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.

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