Quebec Historical Geography: Difference between revisions

| link1=[[Canada Genealogy|Canada]]

| link2=[[Quebec Genealogy|Quebec]]

The present province of Québec has not always been known by that name. And it has not always included the same territory. For the sake of consistency, the name Québec has been used in most FamilySearch Wiki articles.  

'''1774–1783: '''Québec. The territory was officially renamed in the Québec Act.  

'''1784: '''Québec. The Peace of Paris of 1783 took away some of the territory and turned it over to the United States. Boundaries were more clearly defined.  

'''1841–1867: '''Canada East or Province of Canada. In 1841, Lower Canada was renamed Canada East. Between 1841 and 1867, Canada East was affiliated with Canada West (Ontario). Together they were called the "Province of Canada."  

*''Répertoire des municipalités du Québec, 1988''(Gazetteer of Québec). Québec, Québec, Canada: Ministère des Communications du Québec, 1988. (Family History Library {{FHL|971.4 E5rm|disp=book 971.4 E5rm}} 1988.) Text in French.

Genealogical research in Québec has changed so much over the past thirty years that anything written before 1970 on where to locate documents, what records are open or closed, and what published sources are best, is obsolete. Even if written before 1993, information can be out of date and misleading, so always check publication dates.  

*As of the year 2000, Québec is officially divided primarily by language: Anglophone or Francophone.<br>

*Social divisions are similar to those everywhere, urban or rural, rich or poor, long-established vs. newcomers (which sometimes translates as pure laine vs. “ethnic”)—put all the above together and the permutations and combinations can be complex, not to say daunting.<br>

Map 1: British and French Settlements in North America  

[[Image:Map11X.jpg|center|600px|Map11X.jpg]]  

While 80 percent or more of the records and books you are likely to use are in English, or have a bilingual format, when researching in Québec you will encounter some material in French. Simply put, '''you must understand enough French to use the P.R.D.H. database'''. It is not difficult, you need a vocabulary of a few hundred words at most. Entries in Parish registers usually follow a standard format, as do most legal documents. Translate one entry and you have translated almost all except for names, dates and relationships.  

If you ever studied French, any Traveller’s Phrase Book will refresh you on the basic genealogist’s vocabulary: names of the months, days of the week, numbers from 0 to 100, family (mère, père, frère, soeur, belle-mère, beau-frère, etc.). There are a number of guides written for Americans searching French-Canadian ancestry that will help you with translations of the parish register and legal forms, as well as archaic word usage and old occupations. The Rev. Dennis M. Boudreau, ''Beginning Franco-American Genealogy'', published by American French Genealogical Society (2nd printing 1993), contains vocabulary lists, sample documents with translations, and a guide through the mysterious and assorted formulas used in various ''Répertoire des mariages de''....  

Learn the four following words, you will want to recognize them when you meet them in bibliographies and catalogues:  

{| width="600" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1"

|-

|-

|-

|-

|}

<br> If you have never studied French, you have more of a problem, but not the one you may think. You need to know how French is '''pronounced'''. Phonetic spelling occurs wherever the two languages meet. A francophone Notary will usually spell Douglas with a double ‘ss’, Douglass, because Douglas with one ‘s’ is pronounced Doog-lah. The Irish Bridget family settled for a while in Lotbinière County and their name became Bridgette, so neighbours would pronounce the last ‘t’. If you do speak a bit of French, you will understand how, and not be surprised that, O’Brien became Aubry, and Sauvé turned into Sophy.  

You will have to learn to think geographically in '''both''' languages. Today, ''L’Office de la langue française'' insists every place and street name be in French and modern road maps follow their dictates. However, for almost two centuries many documents and maps used English names. St. James Street in Montréal was once the financial heart of Canada. Today it is ''rue Saint-Jacques'' and the power has shifted to Toronto’s Bay Street. Dorchester Street is now ''boulevard René Lesveque''—but that is a political change. Do not confuse a reference to St. Johns, officially ''St-Jean-sur-Richelieu'', with Saint John, New Brunswick, or St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland. We will be using a lot of the older English terminology, with some translations, in part because these are the names you may well encounter, and in part to alert you to the language divide in Québec geography.  

Nevertheless, in Québec, the ''Two Solitudes'' of Genealogy are not Language but Religion. Official vital records are either '''Roman Catholic''' or '''Non-Catholic'''.  

The process of finding '''Roman Catholic ancestors''' in Québec, whether they spoke French, English, German, Polish, Italian, Spanish, Creole or Vietnamese, is essentially the same. Finding English-speaking Irish Catholics is the same as finding Francophone ancestors. Records and sources are covered elsewhere and will be noted here briefly, or when there are exceptions or special situations in society that warrant consideration. Finding the “Others” is similar, but with certain differences. Books on the methodology of genealogical research in Québec rarely cover both segments of the population, though they often divide by language rather than religion. Local histories tend to cover a single county, city, or region of the Province and if you read one by an English writer and another by a French Canadian, you may wonder if they are writing about the same place. And speaking of place, Québec refers to the whole province, Québec City to the city.  

“English” Québec has always been a mobile society. Moreover, it is very important to understand that at the time of Confederation (1867), the '''racial balance''' in Canada East (as the province of Québec was then called) was very different from what it is today:  

The late Senator Eugene Forsey wrote these words in a letter to the Toronto ''Globe and Mail'' of 10 February, 1986. Memorize them! By “English”, he meant English-speaking peoples, both from the British Isles and the United States. He tells you where, even today, you will find most of the English-speaking peoples of Québec. If this material seems to stress geography as much as records and documents, that is because to find the latter, you will have to pay attention to the former. The hunt for '''Non-Roman Catholics''' in Québec, whatever their origins, will be treated in part, geographically.  

The major urban centres along the Saint Lawrence River: Montréal, Sorel, Three Rivers and Québec City, where merchants, and then industries provide employment for managers, labourers and tradesmen. Today, Montréal and its surrounding suburbs still matter, the English population in the other cities have shrunk and assimilated.  

A new organization, founded at Bishop’s University in 2000 is the ''Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network''. It is a Quebec-wide “umbrella” organization linking historical societies and heritage groups, encouraging cooperation and improving communication. Full address in the [http://www.qahn.org Historical addresses] section.<ref>Douglas, Althea. "Introduction to English Communities in Québec (National Institute)," ''National Institute for Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Introduction_to_English_Communities_in_Qu%C3%A9bec_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>  

Before the coming of the railroads, few French Canadians had settled in the Eastern Townships. Some came to work on the early railroads but in spite of increasing population pressure in the seigneuries, they avoided the region as long as there were no Catholic parishes. There were no Catholic parishes because Priests were allowed to tithe only those who held lands under seigneurial tenure. The Clergy Reserves were for the support of the Protestant Clergy. This changed with an ordinance in 1839, “confirmed by an act of the Canadian Legislature in 1849”<ref>O.D. Skelton, ''The Life and Times of Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt'', editor Guy MacLean (Toronto, 1966) pages 10-15.</ref>, and once it could establish Parishes, the Catholic Church encouraged new settlements in Québec rather than see their young parishioners emigrate to find work in New England factories.  

French families gradually moved into “English” settlements, buying up a farm here or a house there as an English family moved away<ref>Bellavance, Marcel, ''A Village in Transition: Compton, Québec, 1880-1920'' (Ottawa:  Environment Canada, Parks Canada, 1982).  This small (under 100 pages) book gives an excellent and balanced account of such demographic changes.  Originally written in French, the notes and bibliography provide a very good list of sources in that language.</ref> . Francophone professionals and merchants then came to serve them and the Church supplied the schools and other social services. The Roman Catholic “Holy Name Society” became very active in English regions, adding a Saint’s name, usually that of the Parish, to that of the English founder of a town, so your map will show St-Paul d’Abbotsford, St-Felix de Kingsey, and St-Ignace de Stanbridge. Katevale became Ste-Catherine de Hatley. ''The French Canadians 1600-1900'' has a very helpful index of place names with cross referencing to deal with these changes.  

You can not settle on land you can not get to. Long before the British appeared on the scene, the French established Roman Catholic parishes<ref>See Plate 46, Vol. I, ''Historical Atlas of Canada''.</ref> and granted seigneuries on both sides of the St. Lawrence and then south along the Chaudière, Yamaska and Richelieu Rivers, on the latter, all the way to Lake Champlain<ref>Richard Colebrook Harris, ''The Seigneurial System in Early Canada (Madison, Milwaukee and London'':  The University of Wisconsin Press; Quebec:  Les Presses de l'Universite Laval, 1966) Still in print.</ref> .  

The seigneuries varied greatly in size, but most ran inland, perpendicular to the river fronts. In due course, three judicial districts were established, named for and administered from: Québec City, ''Trois-Rivières''/Three Rivers, and Montréal. Their borders also ran more or less perpendicular to the St. Lawrence. With European settlement came horses and wheels, and these require roads. During the French regime two principal highways from Québec City to Montréal were built in stages (though never fully completed) on either side of, and parallel to, the Saint Lawrence, the chief area of settlement. Others ran along the Chaudière, St. Francis and Richelieu Rivers, and several joined the Richelieu River valley to the St. Lawrence at Montréal. Superhighways they were not; overland travel was slow, difficult and uncomfortable.  

The '''St. Lawrence River''', the main highway, was navigable to ocean going vessels for at least half the year as far as Montréal Island. At the westend of the island of Montréal, the Lachine rapids prevented early explorers from sailing further west and fulfilling their dream of reaching China (La Chine). Lachine therefore became the place where travellers or fur traders took smaller vessels or canoes for travel west. Made nervous by the War of 1812, and with lots of unemployed men at the end of the Napoleonic wars, British Army engineers turned to canal building. The Lachine Canal, started in 1818, opened in 1824, was enlarged in the 1840s and again in the 1880s. The Soulanges Canal superceded a number of shallow canals, some built during the French regime. Eventually the system allowed more immigrants to move by water both into the Great Lakes and up the Ottawa river, and more wheat and timber to move down to Québec<ref>For a concise sumary of canal building see "Canals", ''The Encylopedia of Canada'', 6 volumes, editor W. Stewart Wallace (Toronto:  University Associates of Canada, 1935-37) registered edition 1940, 2nd edition 1948.</ref> .  

The Saint Francis river flows into the St. Lawrence at Lake St. Peter from the heart of the hilly country that became '''The Eastern Townships'''. ''L’Office de la langue français'' tried to change the name to ''l’Estrie'', but Québec tourist brochures now refer to ''Les Cantons de l’est''. '''The Townships''' (as we shall call them) lie south and east of the river plains of the St. Lawrence and Richelieu Rivers. Fingers of the Green Mountains and White Mountains reach north from Vermont and New Hampshire. Between the rows of hills, small rivers and lakes run north-south across the border with the United States.  

Townships, generally about ten miles square, march in regular rows, three deep along the border, then were adjusted to fit around the backs of the seigneuries. Townships were also surveyed west of the Richelieu and east of the Chaudière Rivers, along the Ottawa River beyond the few seigneuries clustered around Lake of Two Mountains (''Deux-montagnes'') and in the Gaspé Peninsula.  

Look at a good relief map of the north-eastern part of the continent and you will see the water routes used by invading armies, refugee Loyalists, and New England settlers:  

::... For a generation following the American Revolution, which terminated in 1783, the international boundary line was only vaguely known, and some considerable settlements were made by people who may have thought they were still in the United States. When the boundary became better defined, these people accepted the new nationality...<ref>Dresser, ''op.cit.'', page 93.</ref>

In the 1830s east-west travel was overland and far more difficult.  

<br>{{Note | Most early place name references to townships, such as these are to townships; not the towns that today bear the same names. It is very easy to fall into the same-name town and Township trap in both Québec and Ontario<ref>Douglas, Althea, "The Township Trap", ''Here Be Dragons!:  Navigating the hazards fround in Canadian family research, A guide for genealogists'' (Toronto:  OGS, 1996).</ref>.}}  

The demography of rural Québec changed radically and rapidly with the coming of the Railroads. A new era had begun. The Townships were no longer isolated, but on a direct route from Montréal to the sea.  

As soon as the road past the farm led to the village Railway Station, the older children could catch the train to the Model School in the County town, or the Academy in Sherbrooke. Railroads are what moved most people around Québec from the mid 19th century until the 1950s. J. Derek Booth’s two volume ''Railways of Southern Québec''<ref>Booth, Derek J. ''Railways of Southern Quebec'', 2 volumes (Toronto:  Railfare Enterprises Ltd., 1985).</ref>''provides a detailed history of the lines with many maps and photographs. For the rest of the province, consult ''Lines of Country.  

In the 20th century, the importance of the railways declined as the truck and automobile took over. Railway passenger service became unprofitable after World War II and now only the main freight lines cross the Townships. Concession roads became highways, widened and paved, with corners rounded and hills smoothed. A few still wander off over the hills looking much as they did a hundred years ago, but these backroads now lead not to overgrown farms with old houses showing only traces of past prosperity, but to beautifully restored stone or wooden “heritage homes” set in well-tended gardens. “The Townships” are now prime vacation country for week-enders from the cities; another influx of “settlers” is underway. They drive out on the autoroutes.<ref>Douglas, Althea. "Québec Non-French Settlement (National Institute)," ''National Institute for Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Qu%C3%A9bec_Non-French_Settlement_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>  

Remember the words of Senator Forsey who told us where to find the “English”:  

::In Canada East, …people of English, Scotch and Irish origin made up well over 20 percent of the population in 1867. Montréal was more than half “English,” Québec City about 45 percent, the Eastern Townships were overwhelmingly “English,” and there was a substantial “English” minority in Gaspé and several other counties [Ottawa River valley].

Among the early non-French arrivals in the French colony of Canada were Irish and Scottish mercenaries in the French Army. Those who married local women were absorbed into French society and their children grew up part of it. You may have trouble recognizing the surnames; Riley became Riel, O’Brien became Aubry and O’Connor produced even more creative phonetic spelling<ref>O'Farrell, John, ''Annual concert and ball of the St. Patrick Society, Montréal, 15th of January, 1872:  address delivered on invitation of the society by John O'Farrell.'' Cover title: ''Irish Families in the ancient Quebec Records: With some account of Soldiers from the Irish Brigade Regiments of France serving with the Army of Montcalm'', (Montreal: J. Lovell, 1872; reprints - Montreal: St. Lawrence Press, 1908; Ottawa: Dominion Loose Leaf, 1924; Mayo, Quebec: Our Lady of Knock Shrine, St. Malachy's Church, 1967).</ref>  

Those excerpts of entries are from René Jetté’s ''Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec<ref>Jette, Rene, ''Dictionnaire genealogique des familles du Quebec'' (Montreal:  Les Presses de 1'Universite de Montreal, 1983).</ref>'' Dr. Jetté, among the best and most knowledgeable of Québec’s genealogists and demographers, has become a byword: “Have you looked in Jetté?” His ''Dictionnaire'' covers all the families who settled in the colony from the beginning to c. 1730, listed by surname, with all known facts. This widely available single volume is based on the early volumes of the computerized database of the ''P.R.D.H.''  

During the French and Indian Wars<ref>A collective term sometimes used to cover King William's War (1689-97); Queen Anne's war (1702-13); King George's War (1744-48) and the Seven Years War (1754-63). For details see under these headings in ''The Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature'', comp. Norah Story (Toronto, London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1967).</ref> , the French and their Indian allies raided New England settlements, and we have tales of some of them, often children, captured by Indians and carried off to Québec, baptized into the Roman Catholic faith, and integrated into Francophone society. There are many books both by and about New England captives, including Emma Lewis Coleman, ''New England captives carried to Canada between 1677 and 1760, during the French and Indian wars'', 2 volumes (Portland: The Southworth Press, 1925). Try searches under the subject heading: Indians of North America - Captivities. These non-French ancestors, once they reached Québec, can be researched as you would any Francophone Roman Catholic, which is what most of them became.  

After the Plains of Abraham  

*February 10, 1763:<br>Treaty of Paris ends Seven Years War, France cedes Canada and remaining colonies in Acadia to Great Britain.

Between the taking of Québec and the Treaty of Paris, General Amherst directed a sort of mopping up operation, using some regiments of British regulars and quite a number of Colonial Militia regiments from the New England colonies. Both groups of soldiers had a chance to look over this newly acquired territory, check out its possibilities, and doubtless meet some of the women. Some stayed.  

*1763, 7 October, the Royal Proclamation established British institutions and laws in Québec. General James Murray, Governor, planned to survey vacant land into Townships and grant land in English tenure.

Since English-speaking settlers did not pour into Lower Canada, the Assembly was destined to be dominated by French-speaking leaders and politicians, which, in turn, provided another reason for English settlers to avoid Québec.  

The English began to arrive after 1760 and trickled into Québec for almost 200 years but in the early years, the English population in Québec grew very gradually:  

The growth of the 1950s and 1960s ended and many moved on. Statistics are difficult to determine, but at least half a million “English” Québecers have departed since 1967. As their collateral ancestors did, they have spread all across the continent.  

Even in 1867 a prosperous farm could not support three or four sons '''and their families'''. Railroads meant that by the last quarter of the century, a son or daughter could work quite far from home, and commute by train, daily or on weekends. Some sons got an education, became professionals and moved to the city.  

Such mobility meant that they met and married people from another township or county, perhaps settled down in a growing town, or even Montréal and, when their parents retired from the farm, the parents moved to that same place and are buried there, not near their farm.

''Carte de La Gaspésie … au “Bas Canada” …<br>S. Drapeau, Québec [City], 1865.''  

[[Image:1Quebec Map 15X.jpg|center|1Quebec Map 15X.jpg]] <br>  

As Senator Forsey pointed out, there are pockets of English-speaking Québecers in outlying regions: in the east of Québec, the Gaspé Peninsula and North Shore of the Gulf are home to the descendants of fishermen from France, the Basque country, the West of England and the Channel Islands<ref>Turk, Marion G., ''The Quiet Adventurers in Canada'' (Detroit:  Harlo, 1979) is an excellent source of information on Channel Islanders.  Her other books on these migrants include: ''The Quiet Adventurers'' (1971) ''The Quiet Adventurers in America'' (1975) with Supplements in preparation.</ref> who made seasonal visits to the coast from earliest times. Some small year-round settlements followed. When the British captured Québec:  

After the American Revolution, a few hundred Loyalists added to the population mix. Anyone working on the Gulf or Gaspé families should study Plate 54 in Vol. I of the ''Historical Atlas of Canada''. It details early settlement, seigneuries, townships, population, origins of settlers, and much that you ought to know.  

Marion Turk’s books will tell you much about the Channel Islanders. For some background on cod fishing, the economic system and social history, read Roch Samson’s ''Fishermen and Merchants in 19th Century Gaspé: The Fishermen-Dealers of William Hyman and Sons''.<ref>Studies in Archaeology, Architecture and History, (Ottawa:  Environment Canada, Parks Canada, National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, 1984).</ref> Another useful work is Michel Emard’s ''Recensements et listes de la Gaspésie 1686-1881 Inventaire et guide'' (Pointe au Genièvre: Cahiers gaspésiens, No. 3, 1980), which itemizes all known census returns and name lists, and where they are located. Yes, it is in French only, but the vocabulary required to use it is minimal. It is an inventory and list only, not actual transcripts of lists.  

Those you will have to locate in the public or private sources given. As you probably know, copies of the French ''Archives des colonies'', the British War Office and Colonial Office papers are available at the Archives of Canada.<br>  

Some settlements along the narrow stretch of coastline, south of the Labrador border running east to Blanc Sablon, are still English speaking. Harrington Harbour, for example, is a village of approximately 315 people, whose fishermen ancestors from Newfoundland settled there in 1871, so it is not on Arrowsmith’s 1846 map (opposite). “In a small place like this, everyone’s related.” That comment was made by thirteen-year-old Jonathan Cox to writer Brian Payton<ref>''The Globe and Mail'' (31 May 2000) Section R (Travel).</ref> who visited the area. His article points out how another fishing settlement, Tête-à-la-Baleine/Providence Island, was a double community, a winter village on the mainland, a summer village on the island for the fishing season. “A migration practised for generations until motorboats came into use”.  

As well as fish; fur, wood pulp, and later iron ore, aluminium and hydro-electric power brought others to this remote region. You can expect to find English-speaking traders, managers, foresters, and eventually engineers, sometimes bringing their families. Sept-Isles/Seven Islands, a fortified trading post was built around 1650 by the French, leased to the Northwest Company after 1763, taken over by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821, closed in 1859, reopened in 1870, and for a long time it was where the road ended. It shares importance with Baie Comeau which for years supplied the newsprint for Col. Robert R. McCormick’s ''Chicago Tribune''.  

The Gulf is a region where the coastal schooner was considered the normal mode of transportation. Small vessels, some classed for light-ice duty, still serve the tiny communities. Roads and railways came late to Gaspé and even later to the ''Côte-Nord''. Look at a map of the Gulf, it should be apparent that it is easy to sail from Gaspé to Québec City or Newfoundland or even Pictou or Chéticamp in Nova Scotia, but not easy to get to Halifax.<ref>Douglas, Althea. "Québec Regions of English Settlement (National Institute)," ''National Institute for Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Qu%C3%A9bec_Regions_of_English_Settlement_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>  

''Detail Showing settlements around Gaspé and the Gulf from Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and a large portion of the United States by J. Arrowsmith (15 Feb. 1846), author’s collection.''  

[[Image:1Settlements16X.jpg|center|1Settlements16X.jpg]]<br>  

Eventually, however, the south shore of the Gaspé peninsula with the fine harbour at the town of Gaspé, attracted railroad entrepreneurs.  

Another short rail line runs east from Mont-Joli to Matane, from where a ferry runs to Godbout on the North Shore. Good train service from Montréal made this section of Gaspé a popular summer colony for wealthy Montréalers.  

''Detail Showing Townships surveyed along the Ottawa River from A Map of the Province of Upper Canada … Québec to Lake Huron … James Wyld, London (1835) Map Collection Archives of Canada (NMC 94069). This map, at 58% of original size is No. 119 in the ACML Facsimile Map Series.''  

[[Image:Townships17X.jpg|center|Townships17X.jpg]]  

On the western side of the province, up the Ottawa Valley, the timber trade brought New England entrepreneurs and Irish labourers whose English-speaking descendants displayed some of their ancestors stubborn determination when they resisted the inspectors of ''l’Office de la langue française''. Follow the Ottawa River far enough and you reach Lake Timiskaming (Ontario)''/Lac Témiscamingue'' (Québec) and north of this, the mining regions of Rouyn, Noranda, Amos and Val-d’Or in the Abitibi District. This is mining and pulp and paper country, more polyglot than “English”.  

Long before Europeans turned up on the scene, the Ottawa River was a main route for travel and trade. When white men arrived it served explorers and the fur traders. Look at a map of our “National Capital Region” and you will see two large rivers flow into the Ottawa, almost opposite each other. The Rideau River flows from the south through chains of small lakes that, with the help of a 19th century canal system, offer a route to Lake Ontario and Kingston. The Gatineau River flows from the north, again via a chain of small lakes, leading far into the Canadian Shield. This region of Québec, north of the Ottawa, is termed ''l’Outaouais'', while west of it lies “The Pontiac”, an English-speaking area. On the Ontario side of the river people refer to “The Valley”, i.e. the Ottawa River Valley. The Upper Ottawa Valley Genealogical Group serves both Pontiac County in Québec and Renfrew County in Ontario.  

Except for a handful of seigneuries around Lake of Two Mountains/ ''Deux-Montagnes, ''where the Ottawa joins the St. Lawrence, settlement was sparse until townships were surveyed. Then, in 1800, Philemon Wright, born in Woburn, Massachusetts on 3 September, 1760, became the first settler in the forested area that would become Ottawa-Hull.  

Petitions, red tape, and cheating partners aside, he secured a grant of 13,701 acres, and with “others”, 18,333 acres, in Hull township, Lower Canada, where the Gatineau River flowed into the Ottawa, across from the falls at the mouth of the Rideau River! Quite a corner lot! and of huge proportions, where he determined to create a self-sufficient farming village - and he did! He built mills, roads, a tannery, the farms were productive, settlers and workers moved into the Outaouais both to farm and harvest the wealth of the forest. In 1807 Wright floated the first raft of squared timber down the Ottawa River and on to Québec. In 1819 his was the first steamboat, the''Union of the Ottawa'', on the river.  

The legislation that allowed Roman Catholic parishes to tithe in Townships (1839-1849) also affected the settlement of the Outaouais. Philemon Wright brought in New England settlers. Then British and Irish immigrants came and petitioned for land. French Canadians moved in to work in the woods, but as in the Eastern Townships, not in family groups until Catholic parishes could be established. In the Outaouais, the earliest Anglican Mission records begin around 1823, the Catholic Mission records date from 1841.

The building of the Rideau Canal improved transportation on the Ontario side of the river, and several military settlements such as Perth were strategically located to guard the important route. Good land and easy access, meant that a number of French from Québec crossed the river to become Franco-Ontarians, though their roots were in Québec. Expect to find intermarriage between the various Roman Catholic language groups on both sides of the river, and some intermarriage between Catholics and Protestants.  

The in-migration of French-Canadians and out-migration of many “English” from Québec townships also holds true in the Outaouais. Hull and Gatineau have become essentially French cities, though Aylmer and Chelsea (suburbs of Hull) are more favoured by the “English”, and much of Pontiac County is still “English”. The Laurentian hills and lakes, north and east of Hull, now cleared of the first growth pine, have become cottage country, as is much of Pontiac county.  

Rouyn, Noranda, Val-d’Or, and Amos, the mining and pulp towns in the north of Québec opened up with the building of the National Transcontinental Railway (now CNR), which ran from Québec City to Winnipeg in a great arc, north of most settled areas, across the Laurentian shield. Look at Plate 16 in Vol. III of the ''Historical Atlas of Canada''. This is not “English” Québec. Managers and engineers might speak English, but railroad labourers, miners and workmen were recruited from pockets of unemployment in North America, the UK, and across Europe. Do not expect people to stay put, follow the rail lines.  

Map 9: Detail from Québec City, 1815  

[[Image:Quebec City Detail18X.jpg|center|Quebec City Detail18X.jpg]]<br>  

Québec City, Three Rivers and Montréal are all on navigable water and English-speaking immigrants, soldiers and sailors all arrived at the three locations by ship. During the 19th century, many arrivals wanted land to farm. Others were skilled tradesmen, well-connected merchants, “officers and gentlemen”, but some were too poor and unskilled to have any hopes for acquiring land so settled for manual labour and a “daily wage” paid when there was work to be done. All of these social classes tended to stay in the growing towns and cities along the Saint Lawrence.  

When the Judicial District of St. Francis was formed, Sherbrooke became the main urban centre for the eastern portion of the Eastern Townships. St. Johns, on the Richelieu, was a military centre that also became an urban business centre, serving the western parts of the Eastern Townships as well as the townships to the west of the Richelieu. County seats and railroad centres grew into towns.  

Remember what Senator Forsey said: “…in 1867 Montréal was more than half ‘English,’ Québec City about 45 percent”. The Montréal percentages may even have grown as immigrants from both the British Isles and Europe poured into the St. Lawrence ports between Confederation and the First World War. Québec City, Sorel and Three Rivers, however, slowly lost their “English” to the financial, industrial and transportation capital of Canada—Montréal.  

As the capital of the colony, Québec City is where you would find British military and government officials, and those supplying and serving the government. Though closed in the winter months, for half the year Québec City was the first port of arrival, and so a distribution and shipping center. A major export was the timber that was rafted down the rivers throughout the 19th century. Québec City, however, was not a railroad centre, though the Government of Canada did it’s best by building the National Transcontinental Line which ran from Winnipeg to Québec City, largely through unsettled and undeveloped wilderness.<ref>Legget, Robert F.,''Railroads of Canada'' (Vancover: Douglas, David and Charles, 1973) Chapter 9.</ref>  

This is even more true of the other smaller urban centres in Québec. The Francophone population has grown, but as the English leave they are not replaced, their institutions decline and may eventually disappear. The “English” population is also ageing, so the volunteers who run the historical society museums, the libraries, the churches and who maintain the graveyards, may be slow to respond to your enquiries.

In the last decades of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, the Provincial Government has forced small communities to amalgamate into larger municipalities. Lac Brome, in Brome County was among the first. In western Quebec, Hull and its surrounding suburbs have become Gatineau, and the entire Island of Montréal is now one city.<ref>Douglas, Althea. "Québec English Communities (National Institute)," ''National Institute for Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Qu%C3%A9bec_English_Communities_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>

Map: Plan of the Town and Fortifications of Montréal  

<br> [[Image:1Plan19X.jpg|center|1Plan19X.jpg]]<br>  

Map:City of Montréal 1830  

[[Image:1Montreal19X.jpg|center|1Montreal19X.jpg]]  

Researching English-speaking Montréalers is relatively easy as most records have survived, many are indexed and there are good runs of City Directories. It is the geography that will slow you down unless you know the city, the island, and most important, the names and acronyms of the communities and districts.  

''The Historical Atlas of Canada, Vol. II,'' Plate 49, “Social Change in Montréal, 1842-1901, should be studied with care. ''Vol. III,'' Plate 14, shows “The Industrial Development of Montréal”, and Plate 30, shows “The Social Landscape of Montréal, 1901”. This last will give you the “Median rent by street”—important because Montréal is a city of tenants who far outnumber home owners.  

The steep hill-cum-escarpment north of Lagauchetière Street caused a discontinuity in streets and street names, as did the gentler rise above Sherbrooke Street. Both hills are shown on the 1830 map included. A single street might have had three or more names, and this has only been rationalized in modern times. You must have historical maps of the city.  

On some of these you will see how Colborne Street once turned into Windsor Street at Notre Dame West, only becoming Peel Street as it crossed Dorchester Boulevard (now politically corrected to René Levesque - except where it runs through Westmount). The city fathers were always prone to change street names. You have to be alert to this. Perhaps a change of address means the family moved, but perhaps only the street name changed. Use City Directories and check in the Street section, noting cross-streets with care, especially for census research. If you cannot find an address on a modern map, check directories and maps from the period when that address existed. For some early maps, and pictures of the city, find a copy of C.P. de Volpi’s two volume “Pictorial Record” of ''Montréal'' (1963), and for countless anecdotes and stories about historic Montréal’s people and places, search your library catalogues for books by Edgar Andrew Collard, who, for years, wrote a column for the ''Montréal Gazette'' and assembled these into many books<ref>Collard, Edgar A., ''Montreal, The Days that Are No More'' (Toronto:  Doubleday Canada Ltd., 1976) which lists other titles including:  ''The McGill You Knew, Call Back Yesterdays, Montreal Yesterdays, Canadian Yesterdays, Oldest McGill''.</ref> .  

If you do not know Montréal well, do your best to get a copy and read the suggested sections with care, it will give you a feel for how the city grew and spread, where the cultural and economic fault lines lie, and so where to look for your people. Note:  

The section on “Diversity in Mainly Working-Class Suburbs” explains a lot about where the majority of the population, both English and French-speaking, lived and worked, and why “workers from the grimy southwest of Montréal regarded their move to Verdun as a step up.“ (page 61) Understanding the subtle steps up, or down, is essential in following the moves a family might make every year or two. See section on “Moving Day in Montréal”.<ref>Douglas, Althea. "Québec English Communities in Montréal (National Institute)," ''National Institute for Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Qu%C3%A9bec_English_Communities_in_Montr%C3%A9al_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>  

These were once “English” enclaves,  

There was another building boom of luxury apartments in the Square Mile in the 1960s, and many brick mansions and grey stone town houses were destroyed. All but a handful of the mansions along Dorchester Street have vanished, but between Dorchester and Sherbrooke Streets, the rows of grey stone town houses survive; many have become boutiques, restaurants, and there are still many residential units on upper floors. Photographs and other records of most mansions and many town houses exist in the Notman Collection and Archives of the McCord Museum. Check their website.  

:“Compared to almost every other Canadian city, Montréal has a small proportion of single-family detached homes.”<ref>Quotations from Mark Abley, "Montreal on the Move", ''Canadian Geographic'', Vol. 116 No. 4 (July-August 1996) pages 48-51.</ref>

Now that 1 July (Canada Day) is Montréal moving day, there are fewer problems for family historians, but just as much chaos as some 200,000 apartments change tenants, as Mark Abley’s article amusingly describes.  

“Guy—''la rue Guy''—Guy” used to be the call of the streetcar driver at Sherbrooke Street, where Côte-des-Neiges turned into Guy Street. In Montréal, '''Public Transportation''' will often determine where a family lived. As Stephen Leacock explained it:  

By the 1920s city maps show a complex network of streetcar lines leading off to Cartierville and other island suburbs. Instead of living within walking distance of the factory or shop where they worked, a family could move to a pleasanter part of town and take jobs at places along different streetcar routes. Maps for visitors often give this information, for example''Map of the City of Montréal with Index of Streets and Numbered Charts of the Tramway Routes'' (Revised to March, 1925), published by A.T. Chapman of Montréal. ''Lovell’s Montréal Street Guide'' a booklet published annually, also contained lists of Bus and Tramway Routes. John Lovell and Sons, Ltd., a firm that started publishing in 1835, still publishes Directories, maps and Street Guides for Montréal and its suburbs.  

Two major employers were the CPR (18,000 employees in 1955), whose Angus Shops were in the east end of Montréal, a block north of Sherbrooke Street, and the CNR (15,000) whose Pointe St Charles Shops and Yards were near the river, where the rails crossed the Victoria Bridge. Workers would have had passes to use their company’s trains, so look for their homes in streets along the railway tracks.

{| width="600" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1"

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|}

<br>  

For a fuller chronology and other useful facts about Montréal, see C.P. de Volpi, ''Montréal: … A Pictorial Record,'' Vol. 1, pages 1-9.  

{| width="600" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1"

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|}

<ref>Douglas, Althea. "Québec English Communities and History in Montréal (National Institute)," ''National Institute for Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Qu%C3%A9bec_English_Communities_and_History_in_Montr%C3%A9al_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>  

Throughout the early period, 1760 to 1815, many genealogical problems will centre around members of the British military, their marriages, children, transfers and pensions.  

:'''garrison''' ''n. and v.'' '''1'''. the troops stationed in a fortress, town etc. to defend it. '''2.''' the building occupied by them. ''v.tr. ''provide (a place) with or occupy as a garrison.'''3.''' place on garrison duty.

'''To 1871'''<br> British regiments served in Canada until the Treaty of Washington in 1871. In addition to their actual military duties, the British regiments made a large contribution to the colonies through their services as surveyors, engineers, and builders of canals and bridges. They also added immeasurably to the social and cultural life of the garrison towns and cities where they served. The regimental band played concerts, the officers organized theatrical entertainments, balls and sleighing parties. Some married (some did not marry), and children were born in a variety of towns as the regiment relocated. Some records may still be in Québec while others could be in Ontario. The records of the Anglican churches in Sorel and St. Johns (Garrison Church, 1817-1875) include many from the forts and garrisons along the Richelieu River.  

::'''militia''' ''n.'' a military force, esp. one raised from the civil population and supplementing a regular army in an emergency.

In Canada, where our '''Militia''' has a long and honourable history, this is what is meant. Do not confuse Canadian Militia (now the Reserve Army) with modern American groups calling themselves ''Militia ''(American part-time soldiers are the National Guard). The publicity the American groups received means there is always a danger that the term will be misused and misunderstood. There is more danger that a client will tell you an ancestor “served in the British Army - I have his Commission as a Major”. Almost always, this Commission is in the local Militia, indicating a certain social status, but you will not be able to find him in the British ''Army Lists''.  

Under the Lower Canada Militia Act of 1803 and the Upper Canada Militia Act of 1808, the Militia was composed of all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 50, or 60 in case of national emergency. Units were formed on a local basis, usually by County. The officers commanding the Militia were often half-pay British Army officers. Published Militia Lists, naming officers only, are quite common in Almanacs and Directories.  

Local Militia assisted British regulars to repel the invading Americans in 1812-1814, and served in 1866 and 1870 against the Fenian invasions from the United States. In the Archives there are land grant documents and medal registers recording such service. Most of the files are indexed. The county Militias were not a formal “military force”; they supplied their own weapons and turned out once a year for a day of “training”, usually on 4 June, birthday of King George III (which, of course, required many toasts to his health). Attendance was compulsory at this annual muster of the Militia with a small fine for “delinquency”. There are a few nominal Muster Rolls at the Archives, and others exist in provincial Archives.  

Changes in the Canadian militia are detailed in the article on “Militia” in ''The Encyclopedia of Canada'' (1936-40, 6 volumes). Volunteer service in the Army or Naval Reserves (Militia), with a week or two of training every summer, has remained a tradition in many English Québec communities.<ref>Douglas, Althea. "Québec British Military Settlers (National Institute)," ''National Institute for Genealogical Studies'' (2012), https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Qu%C3%A9bec_British_Military_Settlers_%28National_Institute%29.</ref>  

The American Revolution brought a lot of soldiers back to Québec, from both sides, and it also brought the first wave of Loyalist refugees fleeing war and persecution by their neighbours. Many refugees were wives and children of men fighting with the British forces. <ref>''The Loyalists of the Eastern Townships of Quebec'' (Stanbridge East, Quebec:  Sir John Johnson Centennial Branch U.E.L. Association, 1984) ''Index to The Loyalists...'', Privately printed November 1992.  Linda Corupe, U.E., 210 Allan Drive, Bolton, Ontario L7E1Y7.</ref>  

Some eighty to a hundred thousand Loyalists fled the Revolution; the majority settled in the Maritime provinces. Of those who came to the old Province of Québec, most settled to the west of Montréal and eventually forced the split between Lower and Upper Canada. The Loyalists of Lower Canada were divided between the urban centres along the Saint Lawrence where they had originally come as refugees, the Eastern Townships where some settled in the early 1790s, and a handful in Gaspé where a few of their descendants remain.  

As a result, on 26 December 1791, the ''Canada'' or ''Constitutional Act'' (passed 10 June) came into force, dividing Lower Canada and Upper Canada. In Lower Canada, this did not change much of the Québec Act, except that land tenure in the new Townships was to be English, i.e. free and common soccage, and there would be a democratically elected Assembly.  

The Loyalists entered Canada principally by way of Lake Champlain where “the existence of a seigneury (St. Armand) gave assurance that they were within British territory”<ref>Dresser, ''op.cit.'' page 93.</ref> They then travelled north up the Richelieu River, coming to refugee camps at St. Johns (St-Jean), Three Rivers and Sorel; three towns that were once far more English than they are today. Sorel’s story is curious:  

::The seigneurie of Sorel had been purchased by the Crown during the American Revolution for military-strategic reasons and, at the end of the war, Governor Frederick Haldimand founded a town on the old site of the ‘fort de Sorel’ to accommodate some of the thousands of Loyalist refugees who had flocked to the area during the conflict. The town, soon known as William Henry, was an artificial creation, established almost overnight by the decree of a central authority. It was laid out on an ambitious plan with straight, wide streets and a large central Square.<ref>Allan Greer, ''Peasant, Lord and Merchant:  Rural Society in Three Quebec Parishes 1740-1840'' (Toronto, Buffalo, London:  University of Toronto Press, 1985) page 199.</ref><br>

Of the Loyalist refugees who waited at St. Johns and Sorel, many had come from New England and New York State and had their eye on lands along the border. However, at the end of the American Revolution, there had been a reluctance on the part of the British authorities to allow settlement near the border, indeed some had thought it best to reserve the lands for future settlement by the French Canadians. Since Vermont only made up its mind to join the United States in 1791 there was not any clearly defined border in any case.  

While loyal to Britain, these arrivals were not necessarily British in outlook. A lot were not even from the British Isles; some were of German origin. Many were North American born, often over several generations, and were experienced settlers. For generations they had been moving out from the comfortable established settlements in New England to unclaimed areas where young men could find land. Many grew up with an axe in their hand and knew the ways of the frontier. They are the first settlers in the row of townships along the border, and their cultural and religious connections ran south rather than north. Do not be surprised to find records south of the border.  

“Ethnics” is what Jacques Parizeau called them after his referendum failed. The journalist George Boulanger also betrayed certain bias when he referred to Québec City’s English-speaking Jewish and Irish “ethnic communities”:  

The Irish, at least the Roman Catholics, sort of fitted in, though they are probably included in Parizeau’s accusations. As has been said, their records are the same as Francophone Catholics, but there is quite a lot of literature on “The Irish in Québec” and their sufferings during the Famine and on Grosse Isle, and their impact on Montréal, some of it quite recent.<ref>Burns, Patricia, ''The Shamrock and the Shield:  An Oral History of the Irish in Montréal'' (Montréal, Vehicule Press, 1998).  Hustake, Alan, ''Saint Patrick's of Montréal:  The Biography of a Basilic'' (Montréal, Vehicule Press, 1998).</ref> Sister Marianna O’Gallagher is the expert and you should consult her books and articles<ref>O'Gallagher, Marianna, ''Grosse Ile:  Gateway to Canada 1832-1937'' (Ste. Foy:  Carraig Books, 1984).</ref> . In the ''Canadian Geographic'' (July-August 1999) there is an article by Pierre de Billy describing the English-speaking Irish village of Shannon, 25 kilometres northwest of Québec City which so far has resisted francization.  

Jews were barred from New France, so the origins of the Jewish community in Québec can be stated with some precision.  

These were British-born, and for the most part Sephardic Jews whose ancestors had fled Spain and Portugal centuries earlier. In 1768 they organized Shearith Israel, the first congregation in what is now Canada, in conformity with the Sephardic Rite as practised in London and New York. By 1777 they had erected a synagogue on St. James Street, and the records of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue survive from 1841. <ref>Weintraub, William, ''City Unique:  Montréal Days and Nights in the 1940s and '50s'' (Toronto:  McClelland and Stewart Inc., 1996) gave that title to Chapter 8.</ref> and his ''City Unique'' will fill you in on the geography and social mores in Montréal where the largest Jewish population is found.  

The Notre Dame de Grâce (NDG) Kosher Meatmarket is not an oxymoron. It was a long-established business in NDG that no one paid much attention to until the ''New Yorker'' magazine added it to their “Favorite Business Directory” listings. That made Montréalers stop, think, and laugh at an incongruity they had accepted as a normal part of their multi-cultural city, just like the Christ-Roi Valet Service.  

<br> ''City Unique'' chronicles the importance, and then the decline in the use of Yiddish in Montréal, indeed there was a lively and important Yiddish theatrical tradition well into the 1950s. For educational purposes Jewish Montréalers fell under the Protestant School Board, though there were some parochial schools. For many years McGill University accepted a limited number of Jewish students, which, of course meant the brightest and best. This quota came to an end after World War II. For almost a century, starting in the 1880s the Jewish community developed its own social and cultural institutions, the Jewish Public Library, the Jewish General Hospital, a wide range of social welfare organizations, many of which remain though now most are government funded and so government controlled. Several organizations are making a concerted effort to record and preserve the oral history and traditional culture of the men and women who arrived in Canada early in the 20th century. The Jewish Public Library (see Addresses, under Archives) would be the place to start asking about such material. Also check the [http://www.jgs-montreal.org Jewish Genealogical Society] website or e-mail [mailto:Info@jgs-montreal.org Info@jgs-montreal.org]  

The arrival of railroads saw the growth of the black community in Montréal. In 1804 there were 142 slaves in the Montréal district, but by the time the British Parliament abolished slavery in British colonies in 1833, slavery was virtually non-existent in Canada. The flight north of escaped slaves from the United States meant a steadily increasing population, and there was also some immigration from the Caribbean, but the 1861 census shows “that only 190 Negroes lived in the lower section of the province.”<ref>Jenkins, ''Montréal'', page 372.</ref>  

The original Bonaventure Station was built in 1847 and was owned by the Grand Trunk Railway which, in 1888-89 replaced it with an impressive brick structure that dominated the corner of Windsor (now Peel Street) and St. James Streets. The CPR, not to be outdone, built a Romanesque, stone fortress, Windsor Station, also on Windsor (now Peel) Street, across from Dominion Square. Both provided work, and in particular, jobs for sleeping car porters; not great jobs, but regular, steady, respectable work. They established their families in the downtown area, between, and west of the two train stations within an easy walk of their work. “Little Burgundy” was a “salt and pepper” district on the eastern fringes of St. Henri as Mairuth (Hodge) Sarsfield, who grew up in this Montréal milieu, explains in her novel, ''No Crystal Stair''. Set in the mid-forties, the novel will bring the community to life and explain some of the social structure. The one place known to white Montréal was Rockhead’s Paradise, which brought the top black entertainers from New York’s Harlem to Montréal.<ref>Weintraub, ''City Unique'', page 123.</ref>  

The Chinese community in Montréal was not large enough to attract the notice of either Montréal historian Stephen Leacock or Kathleen Jenkins. By the 1940s when my family moved to Montréal, “Chinatown” was downtown, around Lagauchetière street, west of the Main (Boulevard St-Laurent), where a cluster of restaurants, small shops with exotic wares, and even banks with signs in Chinese characters, set the area apart. Most of the Chinese-run social institutions were centred there as well.  

Our Chinese friends had left that enclave a generation earlier, and while families or friends might move to the same part of the Town of Mount Royal or Côte St. Luc, I was never aware of any other specifically Chinese part of town. Look for professionals in University Alumni Directories, and those still in the service industries—yes, there were small family-run Chinese Laundries scattered across the city—in Telephone Books and City Directories.  

Last, but not least, the First Nations in Québec are another “Ethnic” group that have frustrated Jacques Parizeau and his friends. The population shares the province’s religious and language divisions; it relates to who they fought for in the seventeenth century.  

{{reflist}} {{Quebec}}