Hi there!
My name is Samantha and I am from Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, Quebec. Like many other English-speaking Quebecers, I've grown strongly attached to my Anglo heritage. Ever since I can remember, I've had a keen interest in my Irish and Scottish ancestry. While I was in university, my interest in Quebec's Anglo past really took off. I began doing extensive research on the topic and began theming all of my academic essays around this idea. After years of research and countless road trips through Quebec, I decided that it was time to put something together. |
As I was researching my own village and its past, I realized that information was scarce and dispersed. The few books that I found offered very little details and lacked historical accuracy. I had to dig through archives at school, collect information from friends and family, and search through every nook and cranny of the Internet to learn about my past. That's when it dawned on me... Something had to be done. I felt that my village's history deserved to be shared and enjoyed by all. -That's when I began collecting every bit of information that I could find and have since been attempting to piece it all together on this website. As I mentioned on the home page, English-speaking communities tend to be ''related'' to one another, which is key to truly understanding our history.
I hope that you will join me on the journey and share your stories along the way. If not, I hope that this resource provides you with a better understanding of your own socio-cultural heritage, so that you can pass it on to future generations.
Please feel free to share this website with your friends and family! And please don't hesitate to get in touch with me. I look forward to hearing from you all! Thanks a million for your help!
Best wishes,
- Samantha B.
I hope that you will join me on the journey and share your stories along the way. If not, I hope that this resource provides you with a better understanding of your own socio-cultural heritage, so that you can pass it on to future generations.
Please feel free to share this website with your friends and family! And please don't hesitate to get in touch with me. I look forward to hearing from you all! Thanks a million for your help!
Best wishes,
- Samantha B.
..............................................COLLABORATORS...............................................
As the site continues to grow, I'd like to mention that none of this could be possible without the help of other research-saavy history buffs.
A huge thanks goes out to these precious collaborators who have kindly offered to share their expertise and knowledge with all of you.
A huge thanks goes out to these precious collaborators who have kindly offered to share their expertise and knowledge with all of you.
D. Clark McIntoshMy love of history has its roots in spending many summers at my grandparent’s farm along the Ste. Anne River in the old Seigneury of Bourg Louis. I have always had a keen interest in the stories about the old-timers and as I got older became more and more aware that this isolated English-speaking area had declined to almost a distant memory. I began my quest to record as much of the English-speaking history of the communities around Quebec City because I was concerned that this history would be forgotten. |
I was born in Kenogami, but spent 8 ½ years of my first 10 in Grand’Mere. We lived in the company homes near the mill that back then were occupied by English families. We had our own school as well as the Anglican and United church. We moved to the West Island of Montreal where I remained until I graduated from McGill University where I honoured in Canadian history and geography. Having never learned to speak French, I left for Toronto where I’ve lived for about 40 years.
While at McGill, I took a course in Quebec history which focussed on the vanishing English communities. I spent several months researching the history of Bourg Louis along with Valcartier. I submitted an undergraduate thesis comparing these two communities with a focus on why Bourg Louis had all but disappeared by the 1970s but Valcartier had remained a strong English-speaking community.
After graduating, I continued gathering information of several of English comminutes around Quebec City including St. Gabriel de Valcartier, Stoneham, Tewkesbury, Beauport, Shannon, Bourg Louis and Halesborough. My focus switched to genealogy and I spent a year visiting the Mormon Church archives in Oshawa going through all the church records on microfilm for these communities. As so many families were related, I began to collect all the information and entered it into a family tree data base and tried to connect all the families. I also spent many summer holidays walking through cemeteries and I began transcribing the engravings on the stones as best I could as many were well-weathered and hard to read. I completed the ‘Clark Family Tree’ and put this information into a book, which I was able to sell (for cost) to those who were interested. I spent about five years (part-time) working with my father on putting together a book on the English community in Kenogami. After completing this, we did a second one focussing on the other English communities in Lake St John including sections on Arvida, Shipshaw, Bagotville, Dolbeau and Riverbend. After this I started a book on Grand’Mere, Shawinigan and LaTuque, but did not finish it.
During the next 10 years, my wife and I began ‘exploring’ Ontario and I began to put together Township histories which included all the information I could find on all the hamlets and villages as well as photographs I could find that had historic value such as old mills, churches and one-room schoolhouses. This project basically included all the old counties from Toronto to the Quebec border.
After the passing of my wife in 2013, and officially retiring from my paying job, I focused the last several years working on the family histories (English speaking only) of Bourg Louis, St-Basile and Halesborough.
Having found the ‘Still Here’ website I contacted Samantha Bilodeau with the possibility of collaborating with her to put some of my research online so it can be utilized by people searching for their roots. There are couple of other websites on the Valcartier and Shannon Irish Catholic population but very little on the Protestant families that settled there. I am anxious to hear from anyone interested in the recording of this history. I would love any pictures or stories of the early settlers along with photographs of the people, their homes, farmsteads and the old schoolhouses, as well as the old mills.
D. Clark McIntosh
Ajax, Ontario
While at McGill, I took a course in Quebec history which focussed on the vanishing English communities. I spent several months researching the history of Bourg Louis along with Valcartier. I submitted an undergraduate thesis comparing these two communities with a focus on why Bourg Louis had all but disappeared by the 1970s but Valcartier had remained a strong English-speaking community.
After graduating, I continued gathering information of several of English comminutes around Quebec City including St. Gabriel de Valcartier, Stoneham, Tewkesbury, Beauport, Shannon, Bourg Louis and Halesborough. My focus switched to genealogy and I spent a year visiting the Mormon Church archives in Oshawa going through all the church records on microfilm for these communities. As so many families were related, I began to collect all the information and entered it into a family tree data base and tried to connect all the families. I also spent many summer holidays walking through cemeteries and I began transcribing the engravings on the stones as best I could as many were well-weathered and hard to read. I completed the ‘Clark Family Tree’ and put this information into a book, which I was able to sell (for cost) to those who were interested. I spent about five years (part-time) working with my father on putting together a book on the English community in Kenogami. After completing this, we did a second one focussing on the other English communities in Lake St John including sections on Arvida, Shipshaw, Bagotville, Dolbeau and Riverbend. After this I started a book on Grand’Mere, Shawinigan and LaTuque, but did not finish it.
During the next 10 years, my wife and I began ‘exploring’ Ontario and I began to put together Township histories which included all the information I could find on all the hamlets and villages as well as photographs I could find that had historic value such as old mills, churches and one-room schoolhouses. This project basically included all the old counties from Toronto to the Quebec border.
After the passing of my wife in 2013, and officially retiring from my paying job, I focused the last several years working on the family histories (English speaking only) of Bourg Louis, St-Basile and Halesborough.
Having found the ‘Still Here’ website I contacted Samantha Bilodeau with the possibility of collaborating with her to put some of my research online so it can be utilized by people searching for their roots. There are couple of other websites on the Valcartier and Shannon Irish Catholic population but very little on the Protestant families that settled there. I am anxious to hear from anyone interested in the recording of this history. I would love any pictures or stories of the early settlers along with photographs of the people, their homes, farmsteads and the old schoolhouses, as well as the old mills.
D. Clark McIntosh
Ajax, Ontario