All posts by Jacques Gagné

Genealogy

Protestant Churches of Beauharnois, Chateauguay, Huntingdon, Napierville, Soulanges and Vaudreuil

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This compilation covers an area south and west of Montreal, Quebec, in a triangle between the St. Lawrence River, the United States border and Ontario. Today many English-speaking Quebecers know the region as the Chateauguay Valley, but on a map of Quebec, you’ll find it as the Haut-Saint-Laurent region, or part of the Montérégie. This is an attractive area of orchards, farms and small towns.

Archaeologists have found traces of occupation by Iroquoian First Nations people dating from the 14th century. As of 1729, it became the Seigneury of Beauharnois, but at that time there were few inhabitants.

Some Americans and immigrants from Scotland and Ireland arrived in the area around the early 1800s, with most pioneers establishing themselves along the banks of the Chateauguay, Trout and English Rivers. Brick making, which took advantage of the area’s extensive clay deposits, began. Other early industries included agriculture, logging and potash.

If you had Protestant ancestors in this region, this compilation should help you begin to understand the histories of the area’s communities and counties. It outlines the histories of the churches and visiting preachers who served the religious needs of the area’s Protestant residents. It will help you search for the cemeteries where your ancestors might have been buried, and find the church records of your family’s baptisms, weddings and burials.

Thank you to Claire Lindell for editing this compilation and adding the table of contents and maps.

Protestant Churches of Beauharnois, Chateauguay, Huntingdon, Napierville, Soulanges & Vaudreuil

Genealogy

Protestant Churches of Arthabaska, Bagot, Drummond, Nicolet, Richmond, Wolfe, Yamaska

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This compilation looks at the Protestant churches in seven counties of Quebec east of Sherbrooke and north toward the St. Lawrence River, including the cities of Drummondville, Victoriaville and Richmond. The guide includes a list of names of Protestant families who settled in this area, a list of ministers who served these congregations and brief descriptions of the towns and villages where these churches were located. It guides researchers to the repositories where the records of these churches can be found. Protestant cemeteries in these counties are also listed.

Protestant Churches of Arthabaska, Bagot, Drummond, Nicolet

Genealogy, Huguenot, Quebec

French Protestant Churches in Quebec

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Among the first European settlers who came to Quebec in the 1600s were some 300 Protestants, most of them fleeing religious persecution in France. If they hoped to find religious freedom on this side of the Atlantic, they were disappointed: the Catholic Church controlled all religious matters in New France and Protestants could not even baptize their children or buy land.

Many quietly gave in and became Catholic, and families forgot that their ancestors had been Calvinists or Huguenots. Those who maintained or adopted Protestant beliefs were discriminated against by both their English-speaking neighbours and by French-speaking Roman Catholics. Many of them left Quebec. For those who remained, their churches became the centers of their lives.

This compilation includes a list of books and articles about the history of French-speaking Protestants in Quebec and a list of Protestant churches, chapels and missions in Quebec since 1600. It tells you where to find the records of these institutions and how to contact the archives of the Anglicans, Presbyterians and other denominations.

French Protestant Churches in Quebec)

 

Genealogy

American and British Isles Settlers in Western Quebec

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This compilation looks at the towns and villages settled by the British and Americans in the early 1800s in what is now usually known as the Outaouais region of Quebec. This area is north of the city of Ottawa and the Ottawa River, which forms the boundary between Ontario and Quebec.

It is an area of great beauty, with ancient hills and many lakes and rivers, but its winters are long and cold. Many settlers were drawn here to work in logging, paper mills and other resource-based industries. Today the area’s population is primarily French-speaking. Most of the region remains rural, with the only large urban center being the amalgamated city of Gatineau, which includes the former city of Hull and surrounding town.

American & British Isles settlers in Western Quebec rev25 02 2016

Genealogy

Congregational Churches of Lower Canada and Quebec

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This compilation looks briefly at the history of the Congregational church in Quebec. Many communities in the Eastern Townships had been settled by Loyalists from the United States, and many of those people were Congregationalists. Montreal’s first Congregational church opened its doors in 1831, while Quebec City had had Congregational services since 1800. Researcher Jacques Gagné also explains where the records of these early churches might be found.

Congregationalist Churches in Quebec-1

Loyalists

Saddlebag Preachers of the Eastern Townships

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Between 1798 and 1812, American circuit riders, or saddlebag preachers, travelled to Quebec’s Eastern Townships to serve the religious needs of the area’s settlers. Many of those settlers were Loyalists from New England, Pennsylvania and other states who had come to Canada following the American Revolution.

Most of the saddlebag preachers were Baptist, Wesleyan Methodist or Congregationalist ministers. During the summer months, they would criss-cross the villages and hamlets of Compton, Sherbrooke, Richmond, Shefford, Brome and Missisquoi counties, as well as the Upper Richelieu River Valley (St. John’s County, or St-Jean-sur-Richelieu) and the Chateauguay-Huntingdon region.

In September or October, they would go back to their own churches in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts. There, they deposited the books in which they had record marriages and baptisms during their travels. Today, however, these books seem to have vanished.

In the following compilation, Montreal researcher Jacques Gagné has put together whatever information he could find about the circuit riders and their home churches. Claire Lindell has edited this compilation.

If you know anything about any of the missing records, please leave a comment or send an e-mail to genealogyensemble@gmail.com.

Saddlebag Preachers-2

Genealogy

Anglican Churches of Quebec City and Surrounding Area

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The current-day province of Quebec was called New France until British soldiers defeated the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham near Quebec City in 1759. The French permanently surrendered their Canadian colony to the British a few years later in the treaty that concluded the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War.)

Following their victory on the battlefield, British soldiers stayed in Quebec City to defend the territory and British bureaucrats arrived to manage the colony. Soon British merchants, shipbuilders and their families joined them. Although the population of Quebec remained primarily French-speaking and Catholic, there was now a significant English-speaking population too.

Most of these people were members of the Church of England or Church of Scotland, or they were Methodists. Protestant church services were introduced to serve their religious needs, with the first Anglican church in Quebec City established in 1760. Eventually, new Protestant churches were erected in the communities surrounding the capital.

If your ancestors were among these settlers, you’ll appreciate a new compilation from Montreal genealogist Jacques Gagné. This compilation will help you find the baptismal, marriage and death records of your Anglican ancestors in Quebec City. Jacques has listed the repositories where these records are held if they are somewhere in North America, although some early records may be stored in England.

Anglican Churches of Quebec City

Genealogy

Presbyterian Churches of Lower North Shore and Gaspe Peninsula

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Today, most of the people who live along the north and south shores of the St. Lawrence River east of Quebec City and in the Gaspé Peninsula are French-speaking. But in the late 1700s and early 1800s, after the British took New France and began to govern it as Lower Canada, they encouraged English-speaking colonists to come to these regions of Quebec. The settlers included British, Scottish and Irish Protestant immigrants, as well as Loyalists from the United States. Many of these people were Presbyterians, and the records of their births, marriages and deaths can be found in Presbyterian church archives and various other repositories.

This compilation lists the towns and villages where these people lived and identifies the churches or missions that served their spiritual needs. These communities were located in the territories of Cornwallis, Devon, Dorchester, Hertford and Northumberland. Today, these counties are known as Bellechasse, Bonaventure, Charlevoix, Gaspé, Kamouraska, L’Islet, Matane, Montmagny, Rimouski, Rivière du Loup and Témiscouata. Most of these areas were, and still are, rural, but they include towns such as La Malbaie (formerly Murray Bay), Métis, Gaspé and Tadoussac.

Eventually, many of these people left their farms and villages and moved to Montreal, to Upper Canada (Ontario), western Canada or the United States. This compilation is designed to help their descendants track these family roots in Quebec. Thanks to Jacques Gagne for preparing it, and to Claire Lindell for editing.

Presbyterian Churches of Lower Canada North Shore and Gaspe Peninsula

Genealogy

The Presbyterian Churches: Quebec City to Sherbrooke

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This compilation, prepared by Montreal genealogist Jacques Gagné, covers communities south of Quebec City (on the St. Lawrence River) to the Maine border, and east of Sherbrooke. Hundreds of Presbyterian immigrants from Scotland, as well as from Ireland and England, settled in this area in the early 1800s, attracted by its fertile land for farming, its valuable forests, rolling hills and abundant rivers.

The area includes the present-day counties of Arthabaska, Beauce, Buckingham, Compton, Dorchester, Drummond, Frontenac, Lotbinière, Mégantic, Nicolet, Richmond and Wolfe, and communities such as Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, Drummondville and Thetford Mines.

Jacques briefly describes the settlement of these towns and villages and names the churches and missions that met the spiritual needs of the Presbyterians. Name changes are noted where relevant.

The compilation lists Presbyterian cemeteries, local historical societies, books that discuss the histories of these areas and websites of interest. It also identifies repositories, such as church archives and local resource centres, where the birth, marriage and death records of these Presbyterian communities can be found.

Presbyterian Churches – Quebec City to Sherbrooke-3

Genealogy

Presbyterian Churches of Quebec City and Montreal

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While the historic populations of Quebec City and Montreal were primarily Catholic, both cities have long been home to Presbyterian congregations. The first such churches served worshippers of Scottish origins, while Americans comprised a substantial part of the Presbyterian population in Montreal.

In this compilation, researcher Jacques Gagne has briefly outlined the histories of these churches, including the dates they came into existence, some of the ministers who led them, their locations and name changes over time. Each outline includes links to sources of information about these churches and their records.

Make sure you look at the Repositories sections on pages 14 for Quebec City and 45 for Montreal, as well as the further information links for each congregation. Also, scan the table of contents thoroughly: over the years, a number of churches with the same names (for example, St. Gabriel, St. Andrews and Erskine) appeared, moved or reappeared. Finally, you may find further information on some of these churches by searching Google Books and Google Images.

Presbyterian Churches of Quebec City and Montreal

For more information on the Presbyterian archives of Canada and how to find genealogical information there, see http://www.presbyterianarchives.ca/ and http://www.presbyterianarchives.ca/Interesting%20Facts.html

Thanks to Claire Lindell for editing and formatting this compilation.