A number of the place-names in the mid- to upper Laurentians have come down to us from the original human inhabitants, the Weskarinis Algonquins. This tribe lived principally along the Ottawa River and its Laurentian tributaries, the Lièvre, the Petite Nation, the Rouge and the North. We can only imagine their lives, small family groups living in a hierarchy dominated by ancient traditions and coloured by myth. The summer must have been a time of plenty and of celebration.
James Crocket Wilson was born in Ireland in 1841 the son of Samuel Wilson and Elizabeth Crocket. They arrived in Montreal in the spring of 1842, five years before the Irish potato famine hit. While his father had no marketable skills upon their arrival, he taught himself the rudiments of carpentry and mechanics and eventually landed employment with the Grand Trunk Railway making railway cars. He is credited with the design of the first railway snowplough.
The Quebec government maintains a website on all the place names in the province. If you check it out at www.toponymie.gouv.qc.ca and look at how Lake Louisa got its name, you will find two and a half somewhat conflicting stories. In one, they describe a talented musician named Louisa M. Holland who performed for some surveyors in the 1840's and they subsequently named the lake in her honour.
Curé François-Xavier Antoine Labelle promoted a vision of rapid colonisation of the North-West. He envisaged French- Catholic parishes from St. Jerome north-west, through present-day northern Ontario, all the way to Winnipeg. He spoke with conviction and authority. A tall, energetic and imposing man, well over six feet and weighing more than 300 pounds, he was rarely contradicted. Wherever he was, when he spoke of his dream, people followed. He became known as L'Apôtre de la Colonisation and Le Roi du Nord. He was so positive and convinced of his mission that people were in awe of him.
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.
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 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.
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.
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
What is heritage? Webster's defines it as "property that is or can be inherited; something handed down from one's ancestors or the past; a characteristic, culture, or tradition." In its broadest sense, it would seem that heritage can include virtually everything we receive from our predecessors -- even those things that we consider as bad or negative.