This Georgian house was built in the 1830s for Col. Charles MacDonell, an officer in the British army, who organized the Argenteuil Rangers during the 1837 Rebellion. He married Ann Turner, the niece of the English painter J.
Author’s note: From response received from visitors to the Rawdon Historical Society website, there seems to be a great interest in Rawdon during the middle of the last century. In response to this interest, I have dug out my collection of the Rawdon News Bulletins and tried to portray Rawdon as it was at that particular time. I admit to using this source extensively for the following article, but I know that the editor and his staff would give whole hearted approval, were they still here.
The tiny Lower Laurentian hamlet of Mille Isles was once a thriving town centre for an active pioneer farming community. Settlement began as early as the 1830s by mainly Irish Protestant emigrants. Today the Municipality of Mille Isles, which is only a 40-minute drive from Montreal, is a growing residential area for both commuters and second homes on its many small lakes.
Les Publications du Québec has just released a new book, titled Les ponts couverts du Québec. Produced in association with Quebec’s Ministry of Transport, the book is the first comprehensive study of the covered bridge phenomenon in the province.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This township is bounded on the north by Mille Isles, east by the Seignory of Two Mountains, south by the Seignory of Argenteuil, and west by Wentworth, and contains about 23,660 acres and the usual allowance for highways. It has several beautiful little lakes, and much fine scenery.
This place, the chef-lieu of the county of Argenteuil, is located on the North River, 9 miles from the Ottawa and 44 north of Montreal. It is also on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, -- formerly the Q. M. O. & O. Railway.