The Eastern Townships

The Eastern Townships covers an area of historical English settlement encompassing the old Quebec comtés of Arthabaska, Brome, Compton, Drummond, Frontenac, Mégantic, Missisquoi, Richmond, Shefford, Sherbrooke, Stanstead and Wolfe.[1] During the French regime, the Eastern Townships remained unsurveyed, as French settlers preferred to be as close to the St. Lawrence River as possible. Except for part of Missisquoi County, the area remained outside the seigneurial system. After the American Revolution, the British government preferred to maintain the region as a buffer zone between the new American Republic and Quebec. In 1792, the British decided to open the unsurveyed parts of Lower Canada to settlement. The system of freehold land tenure in Britain and the United States was employed in these areas distinguishing the Eastern Townships from the rest of Lower Canada where seigneurial tenure applied.

Instead of dividing the land into seigneuries, the British divided it into townships (10 miles by 10 miles) granted to ‘leaders’. The leader would agree to have his township surveyed into lots of 200 acres that he would then grant to settlers known as ‘associates’. The system was intended to make good land available at no cost to the government and at little cost to settlers. In theory, a leader would be granted a township only after he had demonstrated that he had enlisted a good number of associates. In practice, those in government and their friends awarded themselves many townships without having any associates to settle the land. Former Lieutenant-Governor Robert Shore Milnes was one of the largest landowners. In 1810, he was rewarded for his services with grants of 21,406 acres in Stanstead Township, 13,546 in Barnston, and 13,110 in Compton. By 1838, as few as 105 landowners held 1,500,000 acres in the Eastern Townships, only six of whom actually resided there. Corruption and speculation hindered the early development of the region and also encouraged squatting.[2]

From 1790 to 1830, the first settlers in the Eastern Townships were Americans initially British Loyalists from New England fleeing the American Revolution. American settlement was initially encouraged by the British, as it did not seem as though any other group wished to settle the region and because they desperately wanted an English presence in Lower Canada. In 1797, its population was only about 2,000 but by 1830, it had risen to approximately 20,000 people. During the period of American settlement, the Eastern Townships were closely linked to the United States and all its economic, social and religious ties were directed towards the new republic. This was evident in its transportation routes, agricultural practices and architectural styles. Settling in places that resembled the homes they fled, the Americans established farms on upland surfaces where the soil was the most fertile, light, and well drained, in areas like Stanstead, Brome, south of Shefford and along the St. Francis River Valley. Based on sheep, cattle, wheat, and potatoes, the Americans in the Eastern Townships maintained an isolated, self-sufficient group of settlers. The movement of Americans into the region started to slow down in 1825, when the Erie Canal was opened and they were able to settle in Western Canada that offered much more fertile land. Five years later, the continuous settling of Americans in the area had come to a halt.

There were three major problems with the early settlement of the Eastern Townships.[3] First, the river system of the Eastern Townships was one of the major points positively addressed in settlement literature: the implication was that they were navigable and convenient. However, the St. Francis River and its tributaries were almost impossible to travel on due to the presence of rapids, narrows, shallow areas, rocks, drops and turbulence. The complex river network of the region ensured that early populations were kept small and to the more accessible areas of the area. Secondly, the early roads in the region were so poorly built. Many early settlers sent petitions to the British Crown for financial support to construct and maintain of a decent road system, but these were ignored for the first thirty years of the nineteenth century. The colonial government believed that better roads would make the region more attractive to American settlers when it was British subjects they wanted in the area. It was not until the British population was greater than that of the Americans in the region that funding was finally granted to improve the Eastern Townships’ roads. Improved roads, funded from land taxes, removed settlers from isolation and they were able to export agricultural goods as a means of supporting themselves. This initially resulted in a rise in population in the area but the increase of taxes on land that benefited from the new roads eventually acted as a constraint on settlement. It was not until the waterways were made navigable and reliable road systems established that fuller settlement in the Eastern Townships was possible.

Finally, absentee landlords who had been granted land but had never settled it proved a major hindrance to the social and economic development of the region especially after the improvements in communications. Their significant amount of land made less of the area accessible for purchase and pushed up prices for the available land. Land sold to settlers by absentees was extremely expensive and included burdensome conditions for the purchaser. These included that the land would be taken away if the owner or his heirs no longer lived on the property or that once the new owner passed away, the land would not be passed down to his heirs. These made it very unattractive to settlers and since they owned so much of the land in the Eastern Townships prevented a growth in population.

From 1820 to 1850, British settlers came to the Eastern Townships in significant number. The British American Land Company (BALC) played a significant role in attracting British citizens to the region. In the early 1830s, the BALC purchased 250,000 acres of crown reserves from the government in the townships of Shefford, Sherbrooke and Stanstead, as well as 600,000 acres of unsurveyed St. Francis territory in order to promote British settlement in the area. They did this because they wanted to ensure that the area would be English and loyal to Britain, instead of French Canadian or American. To accomplish this, the BALC published information in 1835 that was almost entirely bogus leading potential settlers to believe that the climate of the region and the condition of the soil were favourable. It also falsely stated that the area was easily accessible from Quebec City, Trois Rivières and Montreal especially as the roads leading to these major cities from the townships were extremely difficult to travel.

One of the most significant efforts made to lure British settlers into the region was the construction of Craig Road in 1809 connecting the Eastern Townships at Richmond to Quebec City, the main port for British immigrants. The settlers chose vacant lands in Shefford, Richmond, Brome, and Stanstead that did not offer the best soil since Americans had already taken the most fertile land. Another point of attraction to the area was that many Irish and Scottish settlers received 100 acres of land as well as food implements for free during their first year in the Eastern Townships. Due to the efforts of the British Crown and BALC, the Irish were the largest group of British immigrants that came to the area during this time, beginning with a population of 3,000. They were also the first Catholic group to settle the region, but this was balanced by the settlement of the Presbyterian Scots to maintain the Protestant majority in the Eastern Townships. Towards the end of the British settlement phase, the majority of the population and those who held economic and political power was British. However, British efforts to remain the dominant power in the region eventually failed because they did not want work as unskilled labourers and the younger generations were leaving in search of better employment opportunities. The French Canadian invasion of the area beginning in the late 1840s signalled the demise of British dominance in the Eastern Townships.

Initially producing potash, potato whiskey, maple sugar, wheat, rye, barley, and various fruits and vegetables, allowed settlers were able to provide for themselves and their communities. They also were able to raise cattle, pigs and sheep while participating in bartering, hunting and trapping. Once settlers were able to make use of waterpower, the construction of grist and sawmills began. [4] The first major economic activity in the Eastern Townships was the production of potash from the ashes of cleared trees. The ashes would be leached with water in order to produce strong potassium lye, which would then be boiled down in a large cast iron pot to produce a dark residue, referred to as lye salt. The salt was then refined to burn away any organic impurities, making potash, which would be transported to Montreal for export to Britain for use in the textile, soap and glass industries. As the first main crop in the Eastern Townships, most of the potash was produced in Stanstead, where many of the first settlers were established. The difficult process involved in producing potash and selling it reflects the nature of the early economy of the Eastern Townships. The land was not as good for farming as other Quebec land, and it was only when transportation routes were significantly improved and water power harnessed that industry in the region began to take off.[5] By 1844, the typical Eastern Townships village has grist and saw mills, an iron foundry, a tannery, a potash works and a whiskey distillery, as the area became increasingly diverse with the help of the railway.

Before the 1840s, there was practically no French presence in the Eastern Townships.[6] The same obstacles to British immigration also hindered French Canadians from settling in the Townships. Yet, by then, the lands along the St Lawrence River were overpopulated and the younger generation was in need of employment. As American factories in New England offered good jobs, thousands of French Canadians emigrated to the United States.[7] In the eyes of the Roman Catholic clergy, however, this emigration was equated with losing the faith, and strong efforts were made to keep French Canadians in Canada. The open lands of the Eastern Townships became the target of much political manoeuvring. Nonetheless, more and more French Canadians settled in the area, adding more cultural diversity to the region. Due to overcrowded seigneurial lands in the rest of Quebec, many French Canadians migrated south to the northern Eastern Townships of Drummond, Arthabaska, and Mégantic first as summer farm labourers and later as colonists. The French chose these specific areas because American and British settlers had already taken most of the uplands and also because the heavy clay soils of the valleys were similar to those they were accustomed to in the St. Lawrence lowlands. Once settled in the townships, the French would colonise the land, work as labourers or purchase a farm from an British family that was moving out of the region.

The difficult economic situation in 1848 had led to large-scale emigration into the United States and both political and religious leaders were looking for solutions. The settlement of the French in the Eastern Townships was made possible by the establishment of the Association des Townships, by Father Bernard O’Reilley in 1848.[8] O’Reilly, Catholic missionary at Sherbrooke, exposed the sad condition of the Eastern Townships colonists in newspaper articles and speeches and called for some sort of association to organise the settlement of the Townships as an alternative to emigration. His plea was taken up by the Institut Canadien de Montréal, an avant-garde group of young men, and the Association des Établissements Canadiens des Townships was launched in April 1848 at a huge meeting of 8,000 sympathisers.[9] The influence of both the Catholic Church and the Association helped raise the population of French Canadians in the Eastern Townships to a majority by 1860, due to high levels of immigration as well as the high natural increase rate of the French. The arrival of the railway in 1853 also encouraged French Canadians to migrate to the Eastern Townships because the entire area became more accessible. The lure of factory work also brought many French Canadians into the area, as they were more than willing to work as unskilled labourers at low wages, which differentiated them from the British. The French Canadian outlook on life was centred around the Catholic Church, which formed their disposition, ambition, and views on education. The British saw education as a tool for economic success while French Canadians believed that hard work was just as successful. This helps explain why so many British left the area and so many French Canadians stayed, making them the cultural majority in the Eastern Townships.[10]

By 1861, more English-speaking people lived in the Eastern Townships than in any other region of Quebec including Montreal. By then, this population of 89,748 had succeeded in building a network of industries, schools, churches, hospitals, banks and a university. At 59% of the total provincial population, their numbers were sufficient to ensure that, after Confederation, federal and provincial cabinet posts and a senatorship were held by representatives from this region. But the linguistic and cultural character of the region was changing. During the 1860s, the population of English-speaking settlers dropped to 46% of the total population. For the first time the English-speaking community had become the linguistic minority.

Missisquoi

Situated to the south-east of Montreal, the comté de Missisquoi is delimited to the south by the American border, to the east by the comté de Stanstead, to the north by Shefford and to the west by the comté de Rouville; and also in the south-west by Missisquoi Bay.[11] The name of the comté is also written as Missiskoui, a word of Amerindan origins meaning ‘the place where there are water birds’.[12] The comté is made up of the seigneurie de Saint-Armand[13] and the cantons of Stanbridge, Dunham and Sutton.[14] In 1831, the population of Missisquoi was 10,736 habitants almost entirely of British origin. [15] French Canadians made up only a tenth of the population of the Cantons de l’Est in 1840. [16] The area was favourable to agriculture, in particular corn, oats, rye and buckwheat, but livestock breeding was also very widespread in the region.[17] Mills for flour, carding, sawing and fulling were numerous, 83 were listed in 1844, and the area also had various industries such as potash factories, distilleries and saw-mills. [18] In the Cantons de l’Est generally, the road network was poor and led to many petitions from habitants calling for improvements.[19] However, the comté de Missisquoi was better placed with access to roads in the Upper Richelieu, Missisquoi Bay and with Lake Champlain leading to the focus of its economic activity being more directed to the east.[20]

The settlement of the comté was relatively recent. The seigneurie de Saint-Armand had been granted to Nicolas Levasseur in 1748 but it was not until 1787 that it was opened to settlement when it was acquired by Thomas Dunn.[21] Dunham was the first canton to be established in Lower Canada in 1796 and Stanbridge and Sutton followed in 1801 and 1802 respectively. [22] Certain sites were occupied before the official granting of land and some pioneers were evicted by new owners. [23] Colonisation was initially by loyalists (1775-1815) and the British settlers (1815-1840). [24]

The comté de Missisquoi elected its first two deputies in by-elections in 1829, previously it had formed part of the comté de Bedford that only had the right to one deputy. In 1829, Richard Freligh[25] and Ralph Taylor[26], both loyalists, were elected; Freligh was replaced by Stevens Baker[27] in the elections the following year and Taylor was re-elected. Between 1834 and 1838, Missisquoi elected a reformer, Ephraïm Knight[28] and William Baker[29], a loyalist.[30] The comté saw an important mobilisation of opinion, loyalist rather than Patriote, during the 1830s. Between 1834 and 1837, 18% of loyalist assemblies and 7% of Patriote meetings held in the district of Montreal were held in Missisquoi and it was the most active loyalist comté.[31] The cantons of Dunham and Stanbridge were sympathetic to the reformers while Sutton and Saint-Armand and especially the villages of Philipsburgh and Frelighsburgh were loyalist bastions.[32] During this period, the 83 active militant Patriotes organised 26-35 events while the 192 active loyalists organised 36 events. However, there was a crumbling of support for the reform movement at the end of 1836 and beginning of 1837.[33]

The major reasons for loyalist and Patriote behaviour lay in a series of events that crystallised opinion: the Ninety-Two Resolutions of early 1834, the general elections in the autumn of the same year, the establishment of comités de correspondance and constitutional associations from the autumn of 1834 to the following spring, the Gosford Commission and Russell’s Ten Resolutions in early 1837. The rejection of the Ninety-Two Resolutions led to one of the largest gatherings of the comté. Organised on 4 July at Stanbridge, American Independence Day, it attracted many Americans. Nearly 1,000 Patriote sympathisers voted for a series of resolutions calling for closer links with the United States and for boycotting British goods.[34] Among the issues that dominated debate in Missisquoi were: Crown Lands, seigneurial tenure and immigration; the election of the Legislative Council; patronage, sinecures and the salary of agents from Lower Canada in London; and especially the question of subsidies. Most important, however, were the emotional ethnic tensions between British settlers and French Canadians that were fanned by the extremism of James Moir Ferres[35], editor of the conservative Missiskoui Standard and in his inflammatory pamphlets.[36] There were two other newspapers in Missisquoi, both reformist in outlook: the Missiskoui Post and Canada Record and the Township Reformer.[37]

The most celebrated event in the comté de Missisquoi during the rebellions was the battle of Moore’s Corner, near Saint-Armand on 6 December 1837. On the evening of 6 December, a group of around 80 rebels crossed the border from the United States and moved north into loyalist territory and at Moore’s Corner they were defeated by 300 volunteers. The skirmish lasted fifteen minutes and led to the Patriote retreat across the border leaving behind their wounded who were taken prisoner. This event showed the ability of the Missisquoi Volunteers to deal with the Patriote threat without assistance from British regulars. Calm was restored to the comté by the end of 1837. The revival of Patriote fortunes in 1838 resulted in the mobilisation of the Volunteers on several occasions especially in February 1838 and in November with the tentative rising of the Frères Chasseurs. The events in 1837 and 1838 in the comté resulted in the collapse of the Patriote cause. The political life of the comté was placed in the hands of conservative deputies favourable to Union. At the same time, a new period of colonisation opened in the Cantons de l’Est that saw the influx of French Canadians, a process helped by the arrival of the railway in the region.

Shefford

The comté de Shefford is situated to the north-east of Missisquoi and to the north-west of Stanstead.[38] Bordered in the west by the comté de Saint-Hyacinthe and comté de Rouville, it is surrounded to the north and east by the comtés de Drummond and Sherbrooke. There are eight townships in the comté: Milton, Roxton and Ely to the north, Granby, Shefford and Stukely in the centre, Farnham and Brome to the south.[39]

Loyalist and Patriote activities between 1834 and 1837 demonstrated the escalation of tension in the area. From 1834, loyalist assemblies were held in Shefford. On 3 May 1834, a loyalist assembly at Waterloo denounced the Ninety-Two Resolutions. [40] Between 3 and 14 November 1834, three Tory candidates stood for election to the Assembly during the general election: Alphonso Wells[41] and Samuel Wood[42] were elected. The choice of candidate reflected the type of people who lived in the comté where the majority were British. In March 1835, a new loyalist assembly was held that was far from successful. Delegates from the Quebec Constitutional Association visit the comté de Shefford to obtain signatures on the loyalist petition of Quebec. [43] However, tensions between reformers and loyalists led to the idea of a public assembly being abandoned. On 12 March 1836, an assembly was held at Granby and habitants from the cantons of Milton, Farnham and Granby and from the region of Abbotsford attended. The 300 people present voted to establish a branch of the Montreal Constitutional Association and elected two people from each township as members of an executive committee.[44] Other loyalist assemblies were held in Shefford. This was notably the case on 6 August 1837 when they were joined by loyalists from Yamaska.[45] A further assembly at Granby was held on 23 November 1837.[46]

During the winter of 1836-1837, the Patriotes lost ground in Shefford and they only managed to elect two deputies in the three comtés of Shefford, Missisquoi and Stanstead. It was the loyalists in Shefford who controlled the political agenda and who were better able to mobilise their forces.[47] During the rebellions, a militia was stationed in Shefford and after the Patriote defeat at Saint-Charles, loyalist militias were organised. The Shefford militia gathered at Granby, armed with weapons previously sent by Colborne to counter the Patriote threat. Loyalists organised the comté de Shefford very effectively and they were determined to obtain what they wanted: peace and the right to remain loyal to the British Crown.

Sherbrooke

The comté de Sherbrooke was established as a result of the electoral reform of 1829.[48] It is situated to the south of the comtés de Drummond and Mégantic, to the east of Shefford and north-east Stanstead. The population consisted largely of British and American immigrants. Sherbrooke contained 30 townships: Hereford, Compton, Clifton, Auckland, Emberton Croydon, Orford, Ascot, Eaton, Newport, Ditton, Chesham, Stanhope, Clinton, Brompton, Stoke, Westbury, Bury, Hampden, Marston, Melbourne, Windsor, Dudswell, Lingwick, Adstock, Whitton, Shipton, Weedon, Stratford and Garthby. The economic centre in Sherbrooke was at the confluence of the Magog et Saint-François rivers were land and settlement was developed by the British American Land Company.

The political landscape was dominated by Tories though some of those elected to the Assembly initially showed some sympathy for the Patriote position before returning to the loyalist side. The deputies from 1829 to 1838 were Samuel Brooks (1829-1831)[49], Benjamin Tremain (1829-1830)[50], Charles Frederick Goodhue (1830-1834)[51], Bartholomew Gugy (1831-1838)[52] and John Moore (1834-1838)[53]. Goodhue and Gugy voted against the Ninety-Two Resolutions in 1834. The British American Land Company profited them and their supporters. Three armed companies were organised in Sherbrooke and led by Colonel Herriot of Drummondville: Sherbrooke Dragoons, the Sherbrooke Rifles and the Queen’s Mounted Rangers.[54] They were largely financed by merchants in Sherbrooke, but had little military impact since no fighting took place in the region though their presence may have acted as a deterrent to possible rebels. There was a loyalist assembly at Sherbrooke on 20 November 1837.[55] Nineteen people were arrested and imprisoned in the prison at Sherbrooke in the autumn of 1838.

Stanstead

The comté de Stanstead, in the Cantons de l’Est (Eastern Townships) was bordered in the west by the comté de Potton, to the east by that of Barnston and to the north by the comté de Hatley.[56] South of the comté de Stanstead was the American frontier and the state of Vermont.[57] The comté was established in 1827 though the region had been colonised since 1800 when the Crown granted land to individuals such as Judge Isaac Ogden and R.S. Milnes, the governor.[58] Bouchette commented on the excellence of its lands and also the quality of its forests. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the comté produced wheat of a superior quality that was sent throughout the province. The comté is well irrigated by water: the lakes Memphrémagog and Massawippi and the Coaticook and Magog rivers. As for its roads, Bouchette stated that they formed the main connection between Quebec and the United States and that for this reason there was a continual impulse of settlers from the United States into the area. In 1831, the population of the comté was 10,306 persons: 84 in Barford, 2,221 in Barnston, 1,170 in Bolton, 1,600 in Hatley, 1,005 in Potton and 4,226 in Stanstead.[59]

The comté de Stanstead elected its first deputies in 1829: Marcus Child and Ebenezer Peck.[60] Unusually for the Cantons-de-l’Est, both were reformers favourably disposed to Papineau. It appears that the comté was a centre for American democratic traditions largely because of the predominantly American settlement of the area and this explains the different political attitudes of settlers compared to other areas in the Eastern Townships. [61] In 1834, during the intense debate over the Ninety-Two Resolutions, the reformers in Stanstead polled 449 votes compared to 166 for the Tories. Between 1834 and 1837, there were numerous Patriote and loyalist assemblies. In April 1834 the British Colonist and the Saint-Francis Gazette announced that a Patriote assembly would be held at Stanstead Plain that Tories sought, unsuccessfully, to prevent. [62] The assembly stated its loyalty to the British Crown but applauded the independent role of the Patriotes in the Legislative Assembly.[63] A month later, another assembly at Holland’s Mills reaffirmed its support for Papineau and his reformers. During the meeting, a Tory ex-deputy tried to convince the habitants that Papineau’s party sought nothing less than revolution. [64] The loyalists, for their part, established links with both the Montreal and Quebec Constitutional Associations.

As the struggle between Patriotes and loyalists entered its final stage, reformist enthusiasm declined while loyalists became more and more determined to create paramilitary groups to assist the regular army.[65] However, in 1838 when the government sent commissioners to administer an oath of allegiance to the Queen, they were surprised that several citizens in the comté de Stanstead refused even when threatened with arrest.

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[1] Day, Mrs. C.M., Pioneers of the Eastern Townships, (J. Lovell), 1863 and History of the Eastern Townships, Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada, Civil and Descriptive, (J. Lovell), 1869; Kesteman, Jean-Pierre, Southam, Peter and Saint-Pierre, Diane, (eds.), Histoire des Cantons de l’Est, (Les Presses de l’Université Laval), 1998. See also Little, J.I., Ethno-Cultural Transition and Regional Identity in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Ottawa 1989 and Epps, Bernard, The Eastern Townships Adventure, (Pigwidgeon Press), 1992.

[2] The most important studies on the Eastern Townships in English are by J.I. Little: Nationalism, Capitalism, and Colonization in Nineteenth-Century Quebec: the Upper St Francis District, (McGill-Queen’s University Press), 1989, Crofters and Habitants: Settler Society, Economy, and Culture in a Quebec Township, 1848-1881, (McGill-Queen’s University Press), 1991, State and Society in Transition: the Politics of Institutional Reform in the Eastern Townships, 1838-1852, (McGill-Queen’s University Press), 1997, Borderland Religion: The Emergence of an English-Canadian Identity, 1792-1852, (Toronto University Press), 2004, The Other Quebec: Microhistorical Essays on Nineteenth-Century Religion and Society, (Toronto University Press), 2006 and Loyalties in Conflict: A Canadian Borderland in War and Rebellion, 1812-1840, (Toronto University Press), 2008.

[3] See also, Premier et second rapports du comité spécial, nommé pour s’enquérir des causes qui retardent la colonisation des townships de l’Est du Bas-Canada, (Louis Perrault), 1851

[4] Booth, J. Derek, ‘Timber Utilization on the Agricultural Frontier in Southern Quebec’, Journal of Eastern Townships Studies / Revue d’études des Cantons de l’Est, n° 4, (1994), pp. 14-30.

[5] See, Manore, Jeanne L., ‘The Technology of Rivers and Community Transformation: An Alternative History of the St. Francis’, Journal of Eastern Townships Studies / Revue d’études des Cantons de l’Est, n° 23, (2003), pp. 27-40.

[6] Rajotte Labrèque, Marie-Paule, ‘Les canadiens et les Cantons de l’Est, 1820-30’, Journal of Eastern Townships Studies / Revue d’études des Cantons de l’Est, n° 2, (1993), pp. 3-14.

[7] The French-Canadian exodus that began in the 1840s was largely directed to the mid-West and and the rural communities of New England. Only when Irish immigration declined did the French Canadians move in large numbers to the factory towns of southern New England, but there were still only 266 French Canadians in Lowell in 1860.

[8] LaBrèque, Marie-Paule Rajotte, ‘Un 150e anniversaire; L’Association des Établissements Canadiens des Townships (1848)’, Journal of Eastern Townships Studies / Revue d’études des Cantons de l’Est, n °7, (1998), pp. 75-81. See also, Little, John I., ‘The Catholic Church and the French-Canadian Colonization of the Eastern Townships, 1821-1851’, Revue de l’université d’Ottawa, Vol. 52, (1982), pp. 142-165.

[9] Bishop Bourget of Montreal and Louis-Joseph Papineau were chosen as president and vice-president, respectively. Partisan politics and public disaffection soon led to the movement’s disintegration, but Bishop Bourget had time to start a colony at Roxton Falls in Shefford County. Other similar associations undertook various projects and colonisation missionaries remained active for almost a century.

[10] Magnan, Marie-Odile, ‘Pourquoi les Anglo-Québécois quittent-ils la province? Revue des travaux’, Journal of Eastern Townships Studies / Revue d’études des Cantons de l’Est, n° 26, (2005), pp. 9-30.

[11] Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, Mémoire de M.A (histoire), Université du Québec à Montréal, 1990, pp. xi, 19.

[12] ‘L’étymologie du mot Missisquoi’, Bulletin des recherches historiques, Vol. XI, (1905), pp. 270-277; Vol. XII, (1906), pp. 33-37; Drouin, François, Alphonse Barbeau and Prémont Jacques, Rapport de la Commission permanente de la réforme des districts électoraux, (Québec, Assemblée, nationale), 1972, p. 174.

[13] Ibid, Bouchette, Joseph, Description topographique du Canada 1815, p. 189.

[14] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 27; ibid, Laporte, Gilles, Patriotes et Loyaux, pp. 344-355.

[15] Belden, H., Illustrated Atlas of the Eastern Townships and South Western Quebec, (Cumming Publishers), 1972, p. 6.

[16] Ibid, Kesteman, Jean-Pierre, Southam, Peter and Saint-Pierre, Diane, (eds.), Histoire des Cantons de l’est, Les p. 108.

[17] Ibid, Kesteman, Jean-Pierre, Southam, Peter and Saint-Pierre, Diane, (eds.), Histoire des Cantons de l’est, pp. 137, 140-142.

[18] Ibid, Kesteman, Jean-Pierre, Southam, Peter and Saint-Pierre, Diane, (eds.), Histoire des Cantons de l’est, pp. 148-151; ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, pp. 166-167.

[19] Caron, I., La Colonisation de la Province de Québec: Les Cantons de l’Est, 1791-1815, (Q. L’Action Sociale), 1927, pp. 185, 224.

[20] Ibid, Kesteman, Jean-Pierre, Southam, Peter and Saint-Pierre, Diane, (eds.), Histoire des Cantons de l’est, pp. 104, 161-162.

[21] Ibid, Belden, H., Illustrated Atlas of the Eastern Townships and South Western Quebec, p. 11.

[22] Ibid, Kesteman, Jean-Pierre, Southam, Peter and Saint-Pierre, Diane, (eds.), Histoire des Cantons de l’est, pp. 89, 94.

[23] Ibid, Kesteman, Jean-Pierre, Southam, Peter and Saint-Pierre, Diane, (eds.), Histoire des Cantons de l’est, pp. 98-99.

[24] Fournier, Rodolphe, Lieux et monuments historiques des Cantons de l’Est et des Bois-Francs, (Éditions Paulines), 1978, pp. 8-9.

[25] DPQ, p. 295.

[26] DPQ, p. 727. Until 1832, Taylor generally sided with the Parti Patriote but changed his allegiance to the loyalists especially after he was briefly imprisoned for publishing a defamatory letter against Papineau in the Quebec Mercury; voted against the Ninety-Two Resolutions and defeated in the 1834 election.

[27] DPQ, p. 27. Voted for both Patriote and loyalist issues in the first two sessions of the 1830 parliament but in 1833 and 1834 supported the executive; did not stand in 1834.

[28] DPQ, p. 400; took part in the Patriote assembly at Stanbridge in July 1837; arrested in December 1837 on charge of high treason and imprisoned in Montreal until 11 January 1838.

[29] DPQ, p. 27; Steven Baker’s brother.

[30] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, pp. 52-53, 58.

[31] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 2; see also his ‘Orientations politiques des mouvements d’alliance et d’opposition aux Patriotes dans les comtés de Missisquoi et de Stanstead, 1834-1837’, Bulletin d’histoire politique, Vol. 7, (1998), pp. 12-18 

[32] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, pp. 21, 24, 41, 58, 81, 166, 190-191

[33] Ibid, Kesteman, Jean-Pierre, Southam, Peter and Saint-Pierre, Diane, (eds.), Histoire des Cantons de l’est, p. 213; ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, pp. 107, 176.

[34] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, pp. 100-102. Ibid, Bernard, Jean-Paul, Assemblées publiques, résolutions et déclarations de 1837-1838, pp. 126-132.

[35] ‘James Moir Ferres’, DCB, Vol. 9, pp. 257-258.

[36] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, pp. 157-163. See also Millman, T.R., ‘The Missiskoui Standard: Frelighsburg’s first and only newspaper’, Missisquoi County Historical Society, no 8, (1965), pp. 17-21

[37] Ibid, Kesteman, Jean-Pierre, Southam, Peter and Saint-Pierre, Diane, (eds.), Histoire des Cantons de l’est, pp. 210-211.

[38] Thomas, Cyrus, The History of Shefford, Civil, Ecclesiastical, Biographical and StatisticHindenlangal, (Lovell Printing and Publishing Co), 1877 and Noyes, John P., Sketches of Some Early Shefford Pioneers, (Montreal Gazette), 1905 provide some background; see also, ibid, Laporte, Gilles, Patriotes et Loyaux, pp. 361-363.

[39] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 26.

[40] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 48.

[41] DPQ, p. 778; DCB, Vol. 9, p. 276.

[42] DPQ, p. 780

[43] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 71.

[44] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, pp. 90-91.

[45] Ibid, Bernard, Jean-Paul, Assemblées publiques, résolutions et déclarations de 1837-1838, p. 174.

[46] Ibid, Bernard, Jean-Paul, Assemblées publiques, résolutions et déclarations de 1837-1838, pp. 299-300.

[47] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 107.

[48] See, Kesteman, Jean-Pierre, Histoire de Sherbrooke Tome I: De l’âge de l’eau à l’ère de la vapeur (1802-1866), (Productions, GGC), 2000; Demers, Louis-Philippe, Sherbrooke Découvertes, Légendes, Documents, (Gauvin et Frères), 1969; ibid, Laporte, Gilles, Patriotes et Loyaux, pp. 363-370.

[49] DPQ, p. 111.

[50] DPQ, p. 744.

[51] DPQ, p. 333; initially supported the Parti Patriote but by 1832 was voting for the executive; voted against Ninety-Two Resolutions.

[52] DPQ, p. 347; voted against the Ninety-Two Resolutions and supported the executive after 1834.

[53] DPQ, p. 539.

[54] Montreal Gazette, 15 February 1838, 15-17 November 1838.

[55] Ibid, Bernard, Jean-Paul, Assemblées publiques, résolutions et déclarations de 1837-1838, pp. 294-298.

[56] Ibid, Bouchette, Joseph, Description topographique du Canada 1815, p. 263

[57] Hubbard, Benjamin F., Forests and Clearings: The History of Stanstead County, Province of Quebec, with Sketches of More Than Five Hundred Families, (John Lawrence), 1874, republished, (Heritage Books), 1988, especially pp. 1-40, 62-103. See also, ibid, Laporte, Gilles, Patriotes et Loyaux, pp. 355-361.

[58] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 25.

[59] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 28.

[60] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 52; see also DPQ, pp. 163-164 on Child and pp. 586-587 on Peck

[61] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 57.

[62] Stanstead Plain was founded in 1796 by Johnson Taplin, who came from New England in search of good farming land. The town blossomed in the nineteenth century, due to the influx of United Empire Loyalists and the development of the granite industry. In 1855, the village was incorporated by the Quebec legislature. The town was the main centre of commerce in the region until losing pre-eminence to Sherbrooke.

[63] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 46.

[64] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 49.

[65] Ibid, Beaugrand-Champagne, Denyse, Les mouvements patriote et loyal dans les comtés de Missisquoi, Shefford et Stanstead, 1834-1837, p. 107.