[page 05] Introduction - The township system (cantons) Pascal Binet Although populated sporadically by the Abenakis from the end of the 17th century, it was not until the 19th century, with Anglo-Saxon immigration, that the settlement and history of the Eastern Townships really began and that development really consolidated with the displacement of French Canadian populations. The story begins with Alured Clarke, lieutenant governor of the province, who proclaimed a new constitution on December 26, 1791. The Constitutional Act of 1791, replacing the Quebec Act of 1774, divides the British colony into two provinces, Lower Canada(Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario), instituted a parliamentary regime and announced a new method of land concession.l On February 7, Clarke enacted that the lands in the southern part of the province, and between the line between the United States and the former lordships bordering the St. Lawrence River, were opened exclusively to English-speaking settlement. In addition, it specifies the general terms of concession: the territory to be granted is divided into cantons and must be delimited and marked under the supervision of Her Majesty's surveyor general. This was the birth of the Eastern Townships. Robert Shore Milnes, a replacement for Governor Robert Prescott, ordered in 1807 that the crown lands as yet unassigned be granted on english tenure. Although the Constitutional Act provided for a new land regime, it was Milnes who organized its distribution. Tenure, or English concession mode, is a freehold, freehold or in free and common socage, according to which the land is no longer subject to French traditions, i.e. free of rights and royalties. In other words, this means that once in possession of the land, the owner can dispose of it as he sees fit, unlike the seigneurial regime where the inhabitant does not own it and must pay an annuity to the lord.2 A generally square township has an area of 100 square miles, or about ten rows at a rate of 28 lots per row. One-seventh of the total area of each township is reserved for the British Crown and another seventh for the Anglican clergy. These reserved lands are distributed throughout the township and must have a value of approximately equal value.3 During the period following the adoption of the new land-granting method, Crown lands were liquidated for the benefit of privileged groups (speculators, timber and fur traders, and large English landowners). Instead of awarding lots to multiple individuals, the government, through a special committee of the Executive Council, only reviews collective applications made by a group of associates for a particular township. Each of these groups is under the direction of a chief who advances the funds required for the survey of that township and bears the costs of the procedure for issuing the title deeds designated "letters patent". Most of those who apply for land have to wait between eight and twelve years before they can finally obtain their title, but some heads of associates, very close to members of the government, are granted certain favours. As a result, senior officials and large English merchants in Quebec City and Montreal quickly found themselves owners of entire townships. This type of concession is also known as the Chiefs and Associates System.4 This slow, complicated and inefficient concession process led the government to subsequently use individual concessions, auctions and private companies to facilitate settlement in the Eastern Townships. This new type of concession will create new problems, including land speculation on individual concessions. As a result, land purchasers will be much more interested in reselling it at a good price or keeping it for a number of years in order to grow it rather than offering it immediately to immigrants who want to settle there. From 1802, several blocks of land were sold. This is particularly the case in the canton of Leeds.5 [page 06] Some geographical and historical notes Pascal Binet [map] Map of Leeds Township Source: Gwen Barry-Rawlings, A History of Megantic Counry: Downhomers of Quebec's Eastern Townships, 1999, page 16. Uxbridge: this would have been the name of a part of the region if the government authorities had not replaced it with Leeds in 1802. Indeed, it is the name of Uxbridge that appears on the maps of Gale and Duberger established in 1795, but it was not chosen to designate the area. 1 The name Leeds was reportedly given in honour of the Chief Justice, President of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council, William Osgoode (1754-1824). His father, William Osgood, was a native of Leeds, a major Yorkshire town in England. The name Osgood also appears in the canton's toponymy. Leeds Township was established on 14 July 1802 by Lieutenant Governor Robert Shore Milnes. It was on this date that the name Leeds was first mentioned. Located southwest of the beaurivage lordship and at the northeastern end of the Eastern Townships, Leeds Township has a total area of 63,361 acres. TI is crossed by the Osgood, Sunday and Palmer rivers and bounded by the northern edge of the Appalachian Mountains.2 "Leeds, in Buckingham County, is an uneven terrain [...] With the exception of the northwestern part, where the land is poor and very stony, this township is generally of excellent quality, suitable for the growth of any species of grain, flax, hemp and all other kinds of cultivation. n is well supplied with timber of several species, such as beech, birch, maple, white wood, elm, ash, ironwood, white hemlock and fir, and is very well watered by the Becancour which divides into several branches, and by several other small currents. [...]». 3 This is what Joseph Bouchette, surveyor-general, cartographer and geographer of Canada, says in full about leeds Township in 1815. [page 07] The first owners: great men ... but absent from the canton The absence of roads and the exclusive ownership of land to a single person or group of people largely explain the slow colonization in the Eastern Townships. This is what Bouchette adds in the same book. The township of Leeds is divided into 16 rows and consists of 310 lots, an average area of 204 acres per lot. In the Township, approximately 18,000 acres of land are reserved for the Crown and Anglican clergy over a total area of 63,361 acres (104 square miles or 269 km2). A total of 88 lots are reserved for clergy and the Crown; 222 lots remain for the settlers. To promote colonization, from the 1810s, the British government offered land with food and material assistance to the families of veterans and soldiers, who were dismissed at the end of wars or major works, including the War of 1812 and the construction of Craig Road. However, this costly project was quickly abandoned. Only a few soldiers took advantage of it and settled at the end of their contract with the army. During the 1820s and 1830s, colonization companies founded to develop the Crown's reserves. The British government ceded more than one million acres of land to the British American Land Company (BALC), founded in 1832, to promote settlement and settlement. Confident, due to balC's promising beginnings, a Quebec merchant named James Bell Forsyth founded a similar company in 1838, the Quebec and Megantic Land Company, The Constitution of Isaac Todd Joseph Frobisher Early 19th Century -- Louis Dulongpré -- M969X.77 and M393 McCord Museum Collection of Canadian History, Montreal Isaac Todd (1742-1819) was a great fur trader of the North West Company and led a very active public life. Born in Ireland and a merchant by profession, he arrived in Montreal shortly after the Conquest and quickly became involved in the fur trade. 11 entered the Beaver Club of Montreal in 1795. Also interested in land speculation, Isaac Todd acquired 760 acres of land on 14 August 1802 in Leeds Township, becoming the first landowner of that township. Like most of the great landowners of that time, Todd never set foot in the township. 11 died in Bath in 1819, England, after leaving Canada in 1815. Joseph Frobisher (1740-1810) was born in England and arrived in Canada in 1763. He and his brothers prospered in the fur trade. Joseph was one of the founders of the North West Company. A large landowner, he acquired 500 acres of land in the township of Ireland in 1802. In 1815 his heirs purchased Todd's land, owning one-fifth of the townships of Olester, Leeds, Ireland, Halifax and Inverness. At that time, this great territory was called The Frobisher's Quarter. Also a member of the Beaver Club in Montreal, Frobisher led a very active social life and acquired a considerable fortune. In fact, it was because of the complexity of his fortune that the final death of his estate was not made until 1819, nine years after his death. George Hamilton (1781-1839) came from a merchant family. After arriving in 1804, Hamilton settled in Quebec City to trade in wood. As part of the Quebec elite, alongside Ryland and Caldwell, he participated in the War of 1812 and was appointed justice of the peace in June 1814. Hamilton signed up 1,000 pounds in 1810 to help build Craig Road. In exchange, the government granted him 2S,492 acres of land in Leeds Township in 1812. He, too, never came to settle there. Reference: Biographical Dictionary of Canada (volume V pages 363-366, 901-905 V11 pages 410-415) and A History of Megantic COUllty: Downhomers of Quebec's Eastern Tonwships (pages 40-41). this company aims to promote colonization around Lake St. Francis. In September 1838 she entered into an agreement to purchase 225,000 acres of Crown land and build a path from the parishes of Beauce: Lambton Road. Forsyth intends to have nearly 70,000 immigrants settled there, within 70 miles of Quebec City.4 Strange as it may seem, and because still few settlers settled there, it was the lack of land that led to the sub-population in the Eastern Townships during the first half of the 19th century, and thus in the canton of Leeds. The vast tracts of land were the exclusive property of individuals absent and unconcerned about colonization. In addition, the lack of roads, [page 08] reserves of the clergy and the Crown and speculative practices eventually restrict the establishment of those who wish to do so. These difficulties will lead to the phenomenon of illegal squatters or occupiers. Soldiers who settled in Leeds Township 1809 Archibald MacLean 1811 John Palmer 1817 Duncan Fraser 1818 Henry Craig 1818 Francis Tracy Thomas 1819 James 1. Clouston 1820 James William Lispey 1820 James Sbarp 1820 Charles Waller 1820 Jocelyn Waller Tired of administrative delays and annoyed by the complications of access to land, many settlers did not wait for their title to be issued before settling and decided to illegally occupy land. This is how surveyors discovered with surprise that many settlers cleared and occupied land without being entitled to it. The vagueness of the survey, the absence of registration offices until 1830, the inability to identify or join the owner or his heirs partly explain this phenomenon. Although the Land Committee ordered anyone occupying land without permission to abandon it immediately, the governor must relax its regulations to allow the few settlers to remain there in light of the unsuccessful settlement of the Eastern Townships. Nevertheless, some are hauled before the courts and, because of the high costs, have to abandon the game and leave their lands. S In the canton of Leeds, a few immigrants Population St. James L. Kilnear's M. St-Pierre B. Year Total Leeds Village Leeds Township Leeds East 1831 754 - - - 1851 1958 - - - 1871 2754 - - - 1891 2450 - - 600* 1911 2237 - 1420 817 1931 2196 918 492 786 1951 2371 872 554 945 1971 1860 810 369 681 1991 2022 741 360 921 The data are from Statistics Canada and Leeds, Volume 1, p 61. *Represents an extrapolated data that could not be verified. Archibald MacLean, the first pioneer, settled in squatter. This is also the case of Mary MacLean, his sister-in-law, who, like her husband Malcolm, runs a farm without owning the title. This is the land Alexander Hall acquired in 1831. 6 The government authorities tried to solve this problem by introducing, in 1818, the system of individual concession or establishment permit (rental ticket). Under this system, the government grants settlers 200 acres of land with annuities. The settler may only have the definitive title to the property if he has built a house and cleared and cultivated four acres of land. In 1826, the policy of auctioning Crown lands and clergy reserves changed the system of individual concessions. The land sold at auction is payable in four consecutive interest-free annual instalments. At that time, in the mid-19th century, land already granted and mined was worth between $7 and $10 per acre, and crown and clergy land was sold for $0.40 per acre. This change will therefore favour buyers with large amounts of cash. Finally, in 1854, the government secularized the clergy reserves and sold the lands of the British Crown. In the same year, French Canadians began to attack the lands of the newly available Eastern Townships. And it was time because thousands of French Canadians have already left the province for the United States because of the overcrowding of the lordships. 7 The development of the canton of Leeds really materialized in the early 1830s, and this evolution was revealed by the various censuses. In 1821, only 23 people inhabited the township, while in 1825 the census counted 163, and 754 six years later. The pioneers organized themselves, the economy developed, the institutions settled and the hamlets were born. Religious and school communities are beginning to gain a foothold in the canton, as are members of the liberal professions, merchants and industrialists. With the arrival of French Canadian immigrants and families, the population of Leeds increased considerably until the late 19th century. 8 [page 09] In administrative matters, the creation of Mégantic County in 1832 gave great importance to the township of Leeds; it was chosen as the county capital since it was the most populous township at the time. Subsequently, the government insisted a second time on making Leeds a regional centre, to the detriment of the French-speaking Beaucerons centres that had been established for much longer. The idea of choosing Leeds is a strategic choice: it is an English-speaking village located between an English-speaking environment (the Eastern Townships) and a French-speaking environment (La Beauce). He established the municipal meeting place for the Chaudière District in Leeds, and in 1844, following the judicial reorganization of the Lower Canadian District in Lower Canada the previous year. It is a travelling court, known as the Leeds Circuit Court, which stretches from Dorchester to Beauce to Mégantic County. This administrative decision encouraged a large number of institutions to settle in Leeds and several merchants and professionals to open their doors. These measures will give rise to the first beginnings of municipal and school structures in Leeds. 9 It was also for strategic reasons that the Anglican Diocese of Quebec, through Archdeacon George Jehosaphat Mountain, considered it wise to make Leeds the site of the first Anglican mission on the south shore of Quebec, on the borders of the townships and lordships. The religious communities were very prolific from 1830 and had most Protestant churches built in the 1860s and 1890s, the most prosperous years in the township. It is the Anglican and Presbyterian communities that will stand out the most in terms of the number of buildings built. 10 ------------------------------------- John Robert Lambly, a man who marked the beginnings of the township One of the first characters who made his mark in the . Mégantic County was John Robert Lambly, son of a captain and harbourmaster, born in England in 1799. He was one of the first land clearers in Halifax Township and the sixth registrar of the county registrar. He was appointed to this office by the government in 1844 and moved that year to Leeds with his family. The first registrar was Anthony Anderson, postmaster and professor at Leeds. Lambly was a notary until 1862, having served as prefect of the Chaudière District in 1841, mayor of the municipality of Mégantic County in 1854, and the municipality of Leeds-Thetford from 1855. In addition to his many administrative duties, he eds as president of the Mégantic County Agricultural Society and preacher-preacher for the Methodist church for several years. n is the father of William Harvard Lambly, also a Methodist preacher, who succeeded him as registrar in 1862 and became mayor of Inverness. John Robert Lambly died in 1863 and was buried in Leeds Village Methodist Cemetery along with several other members of his family. [photo] Lambly Family Funeral Monument in Leeds. Methodist Cemetery Source: Dorothy Nadeau Reference: Annals of Megantic County (pages 65 and 104-105); Development of a tourist heritage site for the development of Leeds and the region (pages 16-17); Leeds and St. Sylvester: Historical siee telles (pages 87 and 261) and Canmla Biographical Dictionary (volume IX page 500). ------------------------------------- Each county has a land registry office and Leeds is no exception. Thus, in 1832, when Mégantic County was created, the registrar opened its doors. Oral tradition indicates that a building was built around 1838 to serve as a registrar, and that it would have housed the court of justice, the prison and the municipal gathering place. This building would have been located on Craig Road (now Highway 269 at the exit of the village towards New Year's Eve). However, because the population of Inverness exceeds that of Leeds and the village is promised a bright future, a decision of the Mégantic County Council in 1855 made Inverness the county capital (this took place long before the discovery of asbestos that would make Thetford Mines the administrative centre a hundred years later). This decision also weakened Leeds' judicial situation, for in response to the discontent of the French-speaking population of Beauce and Dorchester, the Government of United Canada created the Beauce Judicial District in 1857 and chose St. Joseph as its capital because of its geographical central location. Leeds comes in this way [page 10] ------------------------------------- John Whyte, a distinguished and influential man in the township [photo] John Whyte Source: Angèle Poirier [photo] William Hume, Doctor, Conservative candidate in the 1884 election Source: Rothera Family, Jean-Claude Gagné For more than sixty years, John Whyte was probably the most influential man in and around Leeds Village. n was born on January 4, 1838 in Fife, Scotland, and arrived in Canada in the prime of his life in 1858. n was a contractor at the Harvey Hill mine until he left for Cariboo in the United States in 1862. Returning home the following year, he was manager of a mine in Sutton until 1865. He was a member of the Protestant Commitee of Public Instruction of Quebec, one of the five founders of the Leeds Village Presbyterian Church, a general merchant and a talented speaker in several political campaigns. His trading career at Leeds Village began in 1865 and flourished there for fifty years until his retirement. On 22 June 1859 he married Duncan Donaldson's daughter Harriet. The couple have six children: Mary Ann (John McCammon), John Duncan (Annie Amelia Craig), Andrew (Edna Roberta Marshall and May Thompson), Peter Donaldson, George (Isabell Bell Scott) and Harriet Effie (Robert McCutcheon). A competent and respected leader, John was president of the Protestant school board (for more than 30 years), a member of the Leeds City Council in 1883-84, and a candidate in three provincial elections. n was elected only once, following the departure of the honourable George Irvine in 1884. This election to!' Quebec Legislature was held on October 29, 1884. Whyte is running as a Liberal candidate against Conservative William Hume. The results of the election were very close, Whyte won by 1,249 votes to 1,226. The assistance provided by Wilfrid Laurier, then a lawyer from Arthabaska County, was no doubt very valuable to him. In this regard, several letters attest to the friendship between the two men. In the elections of 1886 and 1892 he was defeated by Conservative candidate Andrew Stuart Johnson, the influential owner of an asbestos mine in the Thetford area. Whyte's last public appearance will be at a concert at Leeds Model School. Invited by Muriel Goff to say a few words, he spoke of the need for education for all. John Whyte died in Leeds Village on September 16, 1924, six years after his wife Harriet (November 7, 1918). Both are buried in St James's Cemetery, probably in the Presbyterian part of it. Reference: Leeds and St. Sylvester: Historical sketches (pages 147-149); Annals of Megantic County (page 152); Canadian Parliamentary Companion (pages 256 and 260) and Directory of Quebec political personal 1867-1982 (page 196). ------------------------------------- to lose its predominant position as an institutional centre. The development of the Inverness Courthouse had been completed since 1860, and the County Judicial District and the Registry Office were built the following year. 11 In 1791, after much discussion, petitions and assemblies, London passed the Constitutional Act. This new constitutional law also creates a chamber of assembly in each of the two provinces. The first general election in our history took place in 1792. In Lower Canada, the population is represented by 50 MPs who share 27 counties. In 1829, the number of electoral districts was increased to 44 and the number of deputies to 84, elected by show of hands. Until the creation of Mégantic County in 1832, the area was under the responsibility of the two members of Parliament from Beauce County. 12 "However, one seems to appreciate the cabal or door-to-door, the distribution of alcohol and gold coins as well as the rallying badges... To win votes, we make promises of money, credit, stuff; bullying, lying, fighting also seem to be commonplace." 13 ------------------------------------- The name Mégantic comes from a name derived from Abenaki, Namasokantic (Namesokanjik) which means "place where one can fish". In Cree, Mégantic (Misattik) means "big wood." ------------------------------------- The population of Mégantic County, of which Leeds Township is a part, will be represented for several years by MPs from Quebec City or Montreal. John Whyte is the [page 11] last resident of Leeds Township to be elected as a member of the county (after Anthony Anderson in 1832); his successors will be influential figures in the mining industry in the Thetford Mines area. In particular, the candidate who ran against Whyte in 1884, Dr. Hume, was also another prominent figure in the township. It is not surprising that residents of the canton of the canton held prominent political functions at that time: the canton of Leeds was booming and its population was the largest in the region.14 Mégantic County would remain as an electoral district until the 1970s and 1980s, when the name changed to Frontenac. -------------------------------- [map] Kinnear's Mlll The municipal divisions of Leeds Township Map drawn by Pascal Binet -------------------------------- The Municipal Reform Act of 1840 created 24 district municipalities, each run by a council composed of one or two delegates per township elected by the population. However, the incumbents of the posts of prefect (warden), clerk and treasurer are appointed by the governor of the province. The district municipality hires employees to carry out the tasks under its responsibility: tax collection, property assessment, road surveying and monitoring, supervision of public works such as the construction of roads and bridges, and even inspection of primary schools. Mégantic County was then part of the Chaudière district and, much to the chagrin of the French-speaking populations concentrated further east, Leeds Village was chosen as the district's capital. The positions of prefect, clerk and treasurer are assigned respectively to John Robert lJunbly, notary, Frederick Andrews, lawyer, and Jean-Joseph Rény, notary. The first two lived in Leeds Village and the third in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce. 15 In 1845, a new law replaced district municipalities with cantonal municipalities, with identical powers but directly linked to the cantonal territory. Councillors are elected by the public, and then the city council chooses the mayor and hires other employees if necessary. The first municipality covering the territory of the township was created on July 1, 1845 under the name of Municipality of the Township of Leeds, under Act 8 Victoria, Chapter 40. 16 In 1847, the government added a new level to the existing municipal organization, the County Municipality. The county council is made up of two representatives per township and has taxation powers. For the Township of Leeds, the representatives were John Robert Lambly and John Hume (who is also the municipal inspector of schools). Finally, in 1855, the Roads and Municipalities Act provided the municipal organization with an integrated structure that would last for many years. At the local level, there are the municipalities of canton, village, parish, and cities and towns. The municipal councillors, elected by the population, appoint one of their own each year as mayor. Later, the mayor will be elected directly by the people. The city council has a responsibility to build and maintain bridges and roads and, as a result, has the taxing power. On August 15, 1855, the first meeting of the Municipality of Mégantic County (the ancestor, in a sense, of the MRC of L'Amiante) will be held in Inverness. 17 Between 1855 and 1874, the townships of Leeds and Thetford formed one municipality. Such an association is not uncommon; the sparsely populated townships -- as is Thetford at the time -- were generally grouped with a neighbouring township in the same municipal organization. The mayors who presided over the destiny of this municipality were Robert Gullen, John MacLean (for 15 years) and John Northy. In 1881, the "eastern" part of the township separated to form the Municipality of the eastern part of the canton of Leeds, which then included the Catholic parish of Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton (11th to 15th place). In 1910 and 1911, lots 1 to 8 of the [page 12] 1st place and lots 1 to 4 of the 2nd and 3rd row of Thetford Township will be attached to the same municipality. Successive mayors head of the Municipality of Leeds Township were James Aylwin (1880), James Watkins (1885), John Allan (1887), William Wilson (1890), Hugh McCutcheon (1902), John Wilson (1917) and William T. Smith (1919). 18 ------------------------------- The mayors of Kinnear's Mills (Leeds Canton) 1929 to the Present Georges W. Thompson 1929 Georges A. Thompson 1937 John M. Allan 1955 Samuel McRae 1957 William S. Allan 1957 Russell Rothney 1967 Josaphat Vallée 1974 Marcel McDonaid 1981 Jean-Louis Prévost 1989 Marquis Bédard 2001 ------------------------------- The oldest record collection of the municipality of Leeds Township dates back to 1880, when James Aylwin was mayor and William Hume Jr was secretary. Secretaries Dr. Dave McHarg (1917) and Charles A. Fraser (1923) followed. Probably from the very beginning, and until 1883, the town council meetings were held at the Agricutural Hall in Leeds Village. TI there were two a month and they usually started at ten in the morning. From 1884, the sessions were held alternately at Kinnear's Mills and Leeds Village. 19 The first meeting at Kinnear's Mills Town Hall took place on April 12, 1884, in accordance with a resolution passed by City Council on September 3, 1883. "Moved by Councillor James Bailey Seconded by Councillor David Addley and resolved that after the next General Session of this Council to he held on the 8th day of the month of october next This Council hold haIf of its sessions at Kinnear's Mills and half at Leeds Village two consecutive sessions to be held at each place provided the Town Hall at Kinnear's Mills is completed on a suitable manner so that's Sessions of the Council can be There. The Council to furnish the Council Chamber in the new Townhall at the mill in the same manner as in the Agricultural Hall at Leeds Village." ------------------------------- The secretaries-treasurers of Kinnear's Mills (Leeds Township) 1931 to the present day R. J. Jamieson 1931 Clifford McHarg 1932 Archie McHarg 1940 Charles Montgomery 1943 Clarke Nugent 1948 Lucien Trépanier 1968 France-Anne Pomerleau 2001 ------------------------------- ------------------------------- Secretaries-Treasurers St-Jacques-de-Leeds 1929 to the present day Théodore Dion 1929 Tancrède Dion 1945 Louis-Henri Delisle 1946 Marcel Poulin 1965 Grégoire Ouellette 1977 Nathalie Laflamme 1993 ------------------------------- The main decisions obviously concern maintenance, repairs and extension of roads, contracts for winter roads, maintenance, repairs and construction of bridges. Every two years, nearly 50 road inspectors (for each row and road) were appointed, auditors, estimators, pond keepers and rural inspectors. 20 ------------------------------- Mayors St-Jacques-de-Leeds 1929 to the present day Eleusippe Lapointe 1929 Édouard Bolduc 1937 Fortunat Drouin 1943 Oscar Poulin 1943 Joseph Nadeau 1945 Miville Chrétien 1949 Augustin Vachon Nadeau 1953 Alfred Nadeau 1957 Émilien Lessard 1959 Jules Chabot 1965 Maurice Gagné 1970 Louis-Henri Delisle 1971 Roland Pomerleau 1974 Jean-Claude Gagné 1977 Guy Doyle 1984 Daniel Fillion 1994 Huguette Fillion 1998 Jacinthe Gagné 1998 Maurice Martineau 2000 Daniel Fillion 2001 ------------------------------- The last change to the municipal map occurred in 1929, when part of the Catholic parish of Saint-Jacques-de-Leeds was incorporated into an autonomous municipality, under the Municipal Code of the Province of Quebec. The township was then divided into two major administrative entities, Leeds Canton (Kinnear's Mills) and Saint-J acques-de-Leeds. This division is justified by the desire to bring decision-making power closer to the population and to increase pressure on government authorities, particularly in the area of roads. Moreover, this geographical division reflected the distribution of the population, mainly English-speaking in Kinnear's Mills and French-speaking in Saint-J acques-de-Leeds. Finally, in 1982, the municipality of Leeds Township (Leeds Canton) had its name changed to Kinnear's Mills. 21 [page 13] Settlement of villages and hamlets Pascal Binet It is still difficult to pinpoint exactly where the Amerindians set up their settlements, but it is known with certainty that they are present in the area, particularly in the cantons of Coleraine, Inverness and Arthabaska. Native Americans, including the Abenakis, travel by the rivers and live on hunting and fishing. Written sources mention their presence by helping the early settlers (teaching them the basics of hunting, trapping, fishing and sheltering) and paradoxically by the massacre of the Ferguson family, cousin of Leeds' first pioneer. 1 Apart from the few Americans who settled in the area, the first immigrants from the canton of Leeds came mostly from Europe. The settlement of the canton of Leeds is therefore, at first, almost exclusively of European origin. This population includes English, Scots and Irish and other subjects from the British Isles. Sometimes they are former sacked soldiers, merchants or tradesmen who have come to do business, or poor farmers fleeing starvation or persecution. These are the people who made up the first inhabitants of the canton of Leeds. In the Eastern Townships, there are usually three waves of settlement: the Americans, from 1792 to 1812; the British (English, Irish and Scots), from 1815 to 1854, and finally the French Canadians, from 1840. 2 Americans who arrive during this period are sometimes and too often misqualified as Loyalists. How would American Loyalists have wanted to remain loyal to the King of England thirty years after the independence of the United States? In addition, some of the Americans who immigrated to Lower Canada fought the English during the American Revolution. They cannot be Loyalists in the literal sense of the word. Even so, whether or not they are Loyalists, amencam immigrants, mostly from the states of New England, are attracted by the abundance and free land. The Mégantic County area was home to some of them, including the best known, Captain Amos Hall, who settled in the township of Ireland in 1807. None would have come to the canton of Leeds. But the true Loyalists brought an important legacy to Lower Canada: electoral counties, roads, registrars, customs, the establishment of a Protestant clergy, the organization of a militia, in short, a political and organizational culture that was so lacking before their arrival. 3 The first settlement in Leeds Township was that of Archibald MacLean, a Scotsman born in 1776 on the Isle of Mull. MacLean volunteered in the Argyle Fencibles regiment to quell the rebellion in Ireland in 1798. Arriving in 1809, he settled on Lot 11 of the 9th range, after leaving his brother Malcolm in Quebec. Their initial destination was York (Toronto), but for inexplicable reasons, after their arrival in Quebec, Archibald decided to settle in the township of Leeds. [photo] Archibald MacLean Source: D.M. McKillop, The AnnaIs of Megantic Counry, page 93. After a poor harvest due to frosts, Archibald changed places and settled on Lot 8 of the 9th range squatting. Soon after, his cousin Ferguson, his wife and six children settled on Lot 13 of the same range. But once again, the frosts destroyed his crops and he decided to leave the township to visit, on foot, relatives living in the State of New York, having only his dog and his gun. He returned abruptly, when the War of 1812 broke out, and the army asked him to serve as a scout, meanwhile, Archibald convinced his brother Malcolm to settle in leeds Township by bringing 80 to 90 families from Scotland. However, it is too late, because [page 14] Malcolm's arrival in Scotland, most of the families had left for Australia. On the other hand, Malcolm took the opportunity to marry a woman named Mary and they settled in the township on lot 16 of the 9th range. Few immigrants settled at that time. Lieutenant-Colonel John Palmer is the only other known pioneer. It has had a stagecoach relay since 1811 (palmer House), located on lots 16 and 17 of the 8th row, as well as a business in Quebec City. 4 Scene of the arrival of an immigrant family LocatIng on the lot Source: J. G. Kinnear, Kinnear's Mills, page 10. The fact that the canton of Leeds develops later, like most other cantons for that matter, is a consequence of the War of 1812, the lack of roads and climatic disasters. Late freezes from 1806 to 1809 and 1814 to 1819 curbed immigration and discouraged even some immigrants already settled. In this regard, McKillop mentions MacLean's difficult harvests during the early days of his establishment due to frequent frosts. 5 From 1815, British directly from Europe began to gain a foothold in the region: half-pay officers (reduced pay due to no longer being in business), veterans of the wars against Napoleon and poor peasants from Ireland or the Scottish Highlands. They landed in Quebec By the hundreds in these boats that came to collect the squared wood of the Canadian forests. Most immediately head to Upper Canada or the United States, but a few are attracted to the Eastern Townships. 6 In 1816, Archibald brought the first horse to Leeds. He bought it in New York State. At the same time, he also began to sell his grain in St. Nicholas through more fruitful harvests and also owned a small carding mill. During this time, Archibald MacLean again served in the army and led a troop of volunteer soldiers during the winter at Fort William. This time, the dispute led to territorial disputes over the fur trade between the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. He returns the following spring. A few years later, another tragedy struck Archibald. His brother Malcolm died accidentally in the mid-1820s when a tree fell on his head. He was buried at what would later be the Leeds Village Methodist Cemetery. Archibald takes care of Malcolm's wife and three children. He also helped several settlers settle in the township and the region by providing food and material aid. It was by helping a group of 86 Scots who arrived from the Isle of Arran in 1829 that he met Mary McKillop, his future wife, because he was still single. Some time after their establishment in Inverness, on 17 May 1832, Archibald MacLean, then 56, married Mary McKillop at St. James Anglican Church. They had four children: Archibald, John, Mary and Neil. Archibald died on September 24, 1863 and was buried in Leeds Village Presbyterian Cemetery. His wife Mary died on September 16, 1880 and was buried in Leeds Village Methodist Cemetery. 7 ---------------------------------- Children of Archibald MacLean and Mary McKillop Archibald, husband of Jane Leys, doctor and registrar in Lambton. John, farmer and mayor of Leeds. Mary, wife of Hugh Jamieson and schoolmiste. Nell, husband of Alice J. Whiting and engineer who helped build bridges in the United States. ---------------------------------- From 1826, a government immigration officer, commonly known as land agent Alexander Carlisle Buchanan, began to promote the settlement of British arrivals in the townships of Leeds, Ireland and Inverness. According to one estimate, nearly a thousand immigrants ended up in these three townships in 1831. These people. will form the nucleus of the various villages and hamlets that still exist in Leeds Township: Leeds Village (Saint-Jacques-de-Leeds), Lambie's Mills (Kinnear's Mills), Wilson's Mills and the Reid and [page 15] Beattie (Lemesurier). It is said that in order to promote colonization in the Eastern Townships, buchanan "strongly" encouraged immigrants at the port of Quebec, and managed to divert them from their original destination, which was Upper Canada or the United States. 8 ------------------------------------------- The first inhabitants (except soldiers) and their origin between 1811 and 1825 1811 The Scottish Perguson Family 1812 Malcolm MacLean Scotsman 1818 TImothy Mahoney Irish 1819 Zacharias Goff English 1819-24 William Clifford ? 1819-24 William Boyd Scotsman 1819-24 William Wallace ? 1820 George Hall English 1820 Alexander Hall English 1820 J. Y. Cocke English 1820 Obidiah Uttlefield English 1820 William Blackburn English 1821 John McKickan ? 1822 Andrew J. Russell Scotsman 1822 Alexander Russell Scotsman 1822 Francis Donovan Irish v. 1822 Jobn, Scottish Dream 1823 George, Scotsman 1823 John Hume Scotsman 1823 JamesHogan Irish v. 1823-28 John Allan Sr Scotsman 1823 John Allan Jr Scotsman 1823 William Allan Scotsman 1823 Charles Allan Scotsman 1824 Thomas Bager Sr Irish 1824 Thomas Bager Jr Irish 1824 James Mann Scotsman 1824 William Moore English 1824 Robert Layfield English 1824 John King ? 1824 William Fraser ? 1825 Daniel Bamy ? ------------------------------------------- Immigrant Scots do not experience misery and persecution like the Irish. The reason for their arrival in Canada is therefore not the same; they are much more motivated by success, social advancement and prosperity. Indeed, it is known in the township that most merchants, professionals, business and business owners are Scots, including Archibald MacLean, John Lambie, James Kinnear, John Whyte, William Hume, and Englishmen such as Zacharias Goff, Alexander Hall and John Robert Lambly. As for the Irish, especially of Catholic origin, they fled their newly united country with the Protestant England that persecuted them. There is also the overcrowding of their territory, repeated shortages and, from 1845, the great famine caused by the destruction of potato crops. The number of Irish came to Canada increased during the Great Famine of 1846 and 1847, which caused epidemic diseases. This led nearly 100,000 Irish people to leave their country for Canada, transported in terrible conditions on the boats of English merchants. As many as 13,800 of them will die on boats or upon arrival in Lower Canada. Most orphans are taken in by Canadian families and many are referred to the townships of Ireland, Leeds, Inverness and Halifax. 9 At that time, French Canadian concentrations were found at the edges of the Eastern Townships and lordships near the Chaudière River. Some French Canadian families have been present in Broughton Township since 1830. Interestingly and unusually, some Irishmen were already settled shortly after 1805 in the Beauce and the lordship of St.Gilles, and towards Ireland and Broughton. It is in this last place that this small core of Irish will constitute, some fifty years later, the parish of St-Pierre-de-Broughton (separated from the canton in 1881 in East Leeds). 10 ------------------------------------------- The first Canadians French in the region between 1825 and 1848 1825 Laurent Poulin Broughton 1831 Joseph Langelier Leeds 1831 Augustin Lessard Leeds 1841 Edward Rousseau Broughton 1845 Jacques, Joseph and André Portier Leeds (Leeds East) 1845 Joseph Giguèrc Leeds (East Leeds) 1845 Isaac Perron Leeds (East Leeds) 1846 Leandre Portier Leeds 1848 Louis Mercier Leeds (Leeds East) ------------------------------------------- In the 1850s, the Government of United Canada helped facilitate access to land. In 1854 he abolished the seigneurial regime, sold the reserves of the Crown and Anglican clergy, and opened the townships to French Canadians. In addition, he solved the problem of roads by enacting the Roads and Municipalities Act in 1855. This means that the government transfers responsibility for maintaining and opening roads to existing and future municipalities. In 1857 he subjected the Eastern Townships to French civil laws. These changes were fortunate, because before the 1850s, more than 40,000 French Canadians had left the country to emigrate to the United States because there was no arable land left available (apart from English-only cantons). Beginning in 1860, English and Scottish immigrants were generally craftsmen, professionals or skilled labourers, while Irish immigrants were recruited as day labourers, labourers or domestic workers, or were attracted to land clearing and rural life, as were French Canadians. 11 [page 16] According to Gwen Rawlings-Barry's research, the first business was a sawmill and grain mill that John Lambie built on the Osgood River in 1820 in a hamlet named Lambie's Mills. His nephew James Kinnear took over a few decades later and developed the place, which later became known as Kinnear's Mills. Soon after, it was the turn of Zacharias Goff, who had arrived since 1819 and built a wood and grain mill on the Sunday River, close to the site that would become Leeds Village, around 1824. At least, that is revealed by his petition to the government in 1824, calling for the cleared land on which was a mill, a house and a barn. Oral tradition also reports that Goff sold all the equipment, mechanical parts and tools to Alexander Hall in 1835, following the flood waters that destroyed one of his buildings the previous year. According to Rawlings-Barry, Alexander Hall has already had his mill since 1822 on the banks of the Palmer River. Charles Wilson and his son William acquired the Hall buildings in 1873. The hamlet was then named Wilson's Mills, following the development of the Wilsons. IT is interesting to note that Charles Wilson was the brother of Harriet, wife of James Kinnear. William Wilson and Eleanor Chapman Arrived his family at New Year's Eve in 1832, William would have received land from the King of England, following the Napoleonic Wars. His children were: Mary, John, James, William, Charles, Maria, Joseph and Harriet. The discovery of copper mines at Harvey Hill on Lot 17 of the 15c row in the 1850s also led to a population increase and facilitated the development of the township. It was Dr. James Douglas who discovered this copper deposit in Leeds Township. With British capital, he founded a company to operate the Harvey Hill mine. Some veins contained up to 30% pure ore and nearly 700 tons were extracted between 1858 and 1864. After 1866, the mine was mined several times until its near abandonment in 1899. Other mining explorations also take place in the canton, but the deposits are not large enough to justify the extraction of ore (chrome, gold, iron, molybdenite, magnetite and hematite). 12 Soon after, general merchants, blacksmiths, carpenters, carpenters, masons, notaries, doctors, shoemakers, tailors, professors, ministers of worship, hoteliers, workers and mill operators would serve a growing population. In 1851, the population included 1958 people, 2550 in 1861 and 2,754 in 1871. As of 1881, data on the canton's population could no longer be compared because the territory was no longer the same, as East Leeds had left the canton. However, the population has sfiremented close to 3,000 inhabitants in the strongest moments of its development.! 3 According to government censuses, the economic and demographic development of the canton stagnated from the 1880s on. This also corresponds to the decline of the English-speaking population, the decline of the timber industry, which is dependent on mills traditionally operated by river water, the arrival of the railway that does not pass through Leeds, the exploitation of asbestos mines and the attraction to Western Canada and the cities. Hamlets and villages such as Leeds Village, Kinnear's Mills, Lemesurier and Wilson's Mills continue to develop, but at a slower pace than in the first half of the 19th century. [photo] James Kinnear and Harriet Wilson Charles Wilson and Frances Church Source: SAHRA, James Gordon Kinnear Fund, P086. PN-3124 -- PN/3-28 -- PN-3IS -- PN/3-6 [page 17] A portrait of the school situation 1 Pascal Binet, (based on research by Louise Gagné, Jean-Denis-Lachance, Joy Thompson Nugent, Gloria WaIIace Trépanier, Lucie Auger Berthiaume) According to the authors of the collective /La Beauce et les Beaucerons, Portraits of a Region 1737-1987/, no school policy was put in place until 1801, the year of the adoption of the first school law, that of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Science. This law gives the governor the power to erect schools, appoint school commissioners and teachers, and set their salaries. Royal schools are only built where the majority of citizens request them. Education is free, but the construction and maintenance of school houses remains the responsibility of the inhabitants. Under the almost exclusive direction of Anglican English, the royal schools quickly attracted opposition from the Catholic clergy. To remedy the situation, Parliament passed a second law in 1824, that of the factory schools. Without repealing the 1801 law, this law authorizes each factory to allocate a quarter of its annual revenues to the establishment and maintenance of schools in its parish and to assume exclusive control over it. This law therefore creates a denominational system for Catholics. A new law, commonly known as the Assembly Schools Act, was passed in 1829. It gives Parliament the supreme authority over education. Members oversee schools in their committees and distribute grants for their construction and maintenance, as well as for teachers' salaries. Some schools of the Leeds School Board (Protestant) Leeds Model SchooI Patterson SchooI Leeds East SchooI Sunday River School Photo source: BINET, Pascal et al. Leeds, 200 years of history, Thetford Mines, 2002. Taxpayer-elected trustees oversee the construction and immediate management of these schools. However, the quality of the education received and the competence of improvised politicians school administrators raise many questions. Not least, because MPs choose teachers themselves. The state of education deteriorated rapidly after 1836, when this temporary law expired, during the murky period of the patriot rebellion. The Lower and Upper Canada Union Act, which replaced the constitution of 1791, ensured the establishment of a school organization that remained almost unchanged for more than a century. As early as September 1841, a first law introduced neutrality in elementary schools and placed them under the control of municipal district councillors, appointed by the governor, and commissioners elected by the people. Thus the council (or education office) of each municipal district is responsible for the division of the parish into school districts, the sharing of funds from public schools, the collection of taxes and the preparation of the annual report. The commissioners, as well as theirs, ensure the erection of schools and the distribution of the cost among all the owners, hire the masters, [page 18] adopt curricula, approve textbooks, enact regulations, visit schools and report to the education office. In the Chaudière district, citizens elected the first school trustees in 1842 and 1843, and the first school corrumsslOns were formed. However, Mégantic County, which was part of the district at the time, was not governed by a city council and therefore could not collect taxes to build schools. It was therefore the Anglican Church that, through voluntary contributions, enabled the creation of the first schools in the canton. Beginning in 1845, a series of laws required each locality to create a school board independent of the city council. The Protestants of Leeds organized their own school board that year. In the canton of Leeds, there were three districts as early as 1831: District 1: rows 1 to 5; District 2: Range 6-10; District 3: Range 11 to 15. Schools are aimed at French Canadians as well as English Canadians, as well as Protestants and Catholics. Later, the introduction of a dissent clause allowed minorities to have their own dissenting schools and school boards. School Board of the Municipality of Leeds The school board of the municipality of Leeds, founded in 1845, is English-speaking and Protestant, as this group makes up the majority of the township's population. In 1877, the archives showed us that there were eight English-language schools and that the commission consisted of John Whyte (chair), James Thompson, John Patterson, Henry Reid, James Woodington (commissioners) and William Hume (secretary). In the archives, a letter addressed to the Honourable Chauveau, the first superintendent of public education, on 6 May 1861 by the commissioners, tells us that they oppose the annexation of part of Leeds to the municipality of St-Pierre-de-Broughton, which was in the process of being organized. ------------------------------------ The commission's eight schools Leeds School Board No Name Place Date 1 The Village School 9th range 1834-? 8th range ?-1892 Leeds Model School 9th range 1896-1945 2 The Patterson School 6th range 1877-1895 1895-1939 3 Wilson's Mills School 9th range 1830-1893 1893-1917 4 Leeds East School 11th range 1877-1884 12th range 1884-1912 5 Sunday River School 10th range 1870-1912 10th range 1927-1943 6 Reid's School 13th range 1831-1870 12th range 1870-1948 7 Warcup's Schoo 5th range 1830-1923 8 Harvey Hill School 11th range 1859-1890 ------------------------------------ Before the founding of the school board, there were already Protestant schools. They were set up as early as 1830 and were called school houses. The very first school in Leeds took place, around 1830, in a private house on Lot 14 of the 9th range, owned by John Holgate, who had obtained the patent letter that same year. William Strachan is the first teacher. A second school was opened around the same time, in Alexander Russell's house in Kinnear's Mills. We're setting up an evening class there. Soon after, a school house was built and Dr. Patterson was its first teacher. Some schools of the School Board of South Leeds (Protestant) [photo] Kinnear's Mills Consolitated School [photo] 2nd Range and Craig Road Schools [photo] School at 1st range Source of photographs: BINET, Pascal and others. Leeds, 200 years of history, Thetford Mines, 2002. [page 19] --------------------------------------- The seven schools of the commision Leeds South School (Leeds South School Board) No Name Place Date 1 School No. 1 route of range 5 ? The Model School route of range 5 ?-1923 The Kinnear's Mills Consolidated School Lowry Street 1923-1961 2 Craig Road School Craig Road ?-1923 3 3rd range school 3rd range ?-1923 4 5th range School 5th range ?-1923 5 2nd range school 2nd range ?-? 2nd range 1901-1923 6 1st range school 1st range ?-? 1st range 1901-1923 Reid's School 12th Range 1870-1948 7 Warcup's School 5th range 1830-1923 5th range 1883-1934 5th range 1937-1942 --------------------------------------- Although there were eight English-language schools in the municipality, the tier schools were closed successively between 1923 and 1944. Two will still be in operation in 1942, schools No. 1 and No. 6. In 1942, a headquarters office replaced the Leeds School Board: The Megantic County School Board. From 1943, students were referred to The Consolidated School of Kinnear's Mills. Leeds South School Board With a distinct geographical reality between the villages of Kinnear's Mills and Leeds Village, the Protestants of Kinnear's Mills created their own stage commission: the Leeds South School Board. A premise to the municipal division of 1929. The school board has five commissioners, elected in July for a three-year term, and one of them each year is elected president. The oldest known records date from April 1897. However, it is likely that it has already been in existence for a few years. The school board is responsible for seven tier schools within rows 1 to 5 at Kinnear's Mills and the Consolidated School (which includes tier schools) in the village. The most difficult decision for this school board was to close the school in 1961 and transfer the students to Thetford Mines. The last meeting of the commission took place on 29 June 1972. From that moment on, the School Board of Greater Quebec took the place of the Leeds South School Board Dissident Leeds School Municipality With the year 1904, the Catholics of Leeds declared themselves dissidents of the Leeds school board and formed their bodies of trustees to better serve the needs of their population. Michael Clancy was its first president and father J.A. Moreau, the parish priest, the first secretary. The new commission is headed by three trustees, each of whom is appointed for three years and re-elected. Trustees are generally appointed by ----------------------------------- Some schools of the dissenting Leeds School Board (Catholic) [photo] School No. 1 at Wilson's Mills [photo] Scotland 2 [photo] Convent [photo] School 3 [photo] School 4 [photo] [photo] School 8, former Harvey Hill School Source of photographs: BINET, Pascal and others. Leeds, 200 years of history, Theiford Mines, 2002. ----------------------------------- [page 20] July of each year. The oldest trustee is appointed president by the others. These were the beginnings of the dissenting Leeds School Municipality. During the period of the dissenting Leeds School Commission (or Municipality) between 1904 and 1943, eight boroughs were under its jurisdiction. In July 1943. the majority of Catholics are the school board and protestants entrust their schools to three trustees. The period from 1943 to 1961 then began with the change of status of the dissenting school municipality to that of school board. Five commissioners are directors instead of three trustees. The closure and sale of tier schools, the regionalization of secondary education and the consolidation of school boards were major events in the 1960s and early 1970s. Since 1972, the entire territory of Leeds has been part of the Amiante School Board. ----------------------------------- The school board's eight schools Dissident Leeds No Name Place Dates 1 Michael Clancy House 9th range 1905-1940 School 9th range 1940-1961 2 Methodist Chapel 9th range 1906-1925 School 9th range 1925-1947 Convent 8th range 1947-1971 Central School 8th range 1961-... (School the Bridge) 3 Maison Alphonse Poulin 8th range 1909-1910 School 8th range 1911-1961 4 School 7th range 1914-1940 School 7th range 1940-1961 5 Maison Adélard Jacques 10th range 1918-1923 School 10th range 1923-1961 6 School 11th range 1922-1961 7 School 11th range, Inverness 1942-1961 8 Former Harvey Hill School 11th range 1931-1961 ----------------------------------- The Leeds South Dissidente School Board Until 1949, the territory of the municipality of Kinnear's Mills was served by a Protestant school board: the Leeds South School Board. For the Catholic side, the municipality, minus the village, is served by the neighbouring Catholic school boards, the Leeds School Board and the Pontbriand School Board. The territory of the village is not included in any Catholic school COIDUllSSlon; it is entirely under the jurisdiction of the Protestant School Board of Leeds South. Faced with this situation, Father Louis-Philippe Duclos, appointed in September 1947 as vicar serving the Catholic mlSS10n of Kinnear's Mills, took steps as early as October of that year to resolve the problem concerning these French-speaking Catholic families. On April 23, 1949, a Declaration of Dissent was served on the Leeds South School Board. The first meeting of the dissidents of Leeds South took place on Monday, July 11, 1949. At the second meeting, the three trustees were sworn in by the justice of the peace and Albert Grégoire became the first president of the school board. Father Louis-Philippe Duclos was hired as secretary-treasurer. ------------------------------ The school board's only school in Dissident South Leeds Place Dates Armand Lachance House (churches) 1949-1951 Range 5 Road (Founders) 1951-1973 ------------------------------ For the 1949-50 school year, a temporary class was set up in a chapel room (Armand Lachance's house). As there are only church benches, children use the small bench to kneel as a bench to sit, and the bench to sit, as a desk to place their notebooks and to write. In July 1950, it was proposed to build a school. Work began in the fall and in January 1951, the new school was ready. The dissident school board in Leeds Sud had only one school under its jurisdiction. The small school at Kinnear's Mills operated until June 1973. That year, given the two registrations scheduled for September, the trustees decided to close the school while reserving the right to re-open it, as long as the number of registrations warranted. In the meantime, a service agreement has been reached between Leeds South Dissidente School Boards and Thetford Mines to allow students from the Leeds South Dissidente School Board to attend Thetford School Board schools. The Leeds Sud Dissidente School Board closed its books for good on June 30, 1983. [page 21] A portrait of the religious situation Pascal Binet, (collaboration of Robert Gagné and Jean Dagnault for the Catholic side) In the 19th century, we were led to believe that the population of the Eastern Townships was a homogeneous group because it was predominantly English-speaking. However, this is not the case at the religious level, because while French Canadians are almost all Catholics, the English-speaking community is very diverse in terms of religious denominations. We find Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists and members of other denominations of American origin. A religious portrait of the Eastern Townships, based on data from the 1881 censuses, shows a population of 62% Catholics and 36% Protestants (by Protestants, we mean non-Catholic Christians, or who do not recognize the pope as the supreme authority). Among Protestants, Anglicans are the most numerous (13%). But it is important to mention that the data vary considerably depending on the geographical location of the canton studied and the period under review. For example, for the same period, the cantons of Drummond and Arthabaska, as well as those adjacent to the old lordships of Richelieu and Beauce, are predominantly Catholic because of the proximity of the French-speaking populations. The central townships and those near the U.S. borders are predominantly Protestant, but will decline in numbers over the decades. ------------------------------------------- Statistical table on religious denominations in Leeds Township 1831-1991 Anglican Catholic Presbyterian Methodist Baptist Other Year United Church Total 1831 351 89 183 62 26 43 754 1851 545 578 603 162 55 15 1958 1871 59 838 970 320 18 9 2754 1891 483 787 931 236 8 5 2450 1911 354 1182 583 117 1 0 2237 1931 208 1540 442 0 1 5 2196 1951 67 2090 207 0 0 7 2371 1971 10 1805 103 0 0 0 1918 1991 - - - - - - 2242 This data covers the territories of St-Jacques-de-Leeds. Kinnear's Mills and St-Pierre-de-Broughton (Leeds East) are taken from Statistics Canada censuses. The 1991 data are not available. ------------------------------------------- For the canton of Leeds, out of a total population of 754 inhabitants in 1831, 88% are Protestant compared to 12% Catholic. In 1911, the trend reversed, with 53% of whom were Catholics compared to 47% of Protestants. Anglophones, however, are still the most many because they make up 62% of the population in 1911. However, ten years later, they will only make up 47% of the total population. Anglicans dominated the religious scene from 1830 to 1850, and presbyterians were the most numerous from 1850. 1 After the arrival of the first settlers, we quickly saw the first missionaries traveling through the Eastern Townships. Methodist preachers were the first to roam the newly opened townships. Initially, these preachers came only from the United States. A first circuit was established in 1799. In 1812, three itinerant preaching circuits existed, but they ceased their activity during the War of 1812. They resumed in 1821 when Wesleyan Methodist ministers from England replaced the American Methodists. 2 ------------------------------------------- Statistical table on language in Leeds Township 1851-1991 Year Francophone Anglophone 1851 7% 93% 1871 10% 90% 1911 38% 62% 1921 53% 47% 1971 89% 11% 1991 97% 3% This data covers the territories of St-Jacques-de-Leeds. Kinnear's Mills and St-Pierre-de-Broughton (Leeds East) are taken from Statistics Canada censuses. ------------------------------------------- The official churches in England and Scotland, on the other hand, have more difficulty establishing themselves. Although the Anglican Church enjoys government support, its pastors receive regular salaries from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the foundation of Bishop's College provides them with liturgical education, it is difficult to acclimatize and is ill-prepared for itinerant preaching missions. 3 Indeed, the organization of the Anglican Church is based, like that of Catholics, on the presence [page 22] pastor residing in the community in his care. But these are not the conditions in this time of establishment: the Anglican cult is celebrated in private houses or, exceptionally, in meeting rooms. The first Anglican missions opened between 1804 and 1810. The Church of Scotland arrived much later, in 1840, except for the cantons of Leeds and Inverness, where it had been present since the 1830s. 4 [picture] The preacber itinerant Source: J. G. Kinnear, Kinnea,'s Mills, page 26. These itinerant missionaries live in very difficult conditions. Having no fixed home, they are hosted by the settlers they visit and with whom they must share these rustic houses, often of one room, where the wind, the cold easily enter... mosquitoes. The visit of the missionaries is, however, very important for the settlers because it gives the opportunity for the few established families to gather, to hear from the nearby villages and above all to receive the relief of the religion. As the missionary's main task is to visit the faithful, his work is mostly on the road. And given the immense territory to be covered, one can guess that an essential quality of the missionary is to be in great shape and in excellent health. He has to walk, and sometimes on horseback if he can afford it. In addition to the long distances he has to travel and which make his work difficult, we must not forget the lack of roads that makes his journey even more difficult. Before the arrival of the missionaries, settlers must go to distant parishes or wait several months, sometimes even years, before officially dedicating a marriage, blessing a burial or baptizing a child. 5 Since there is no church or building reserved for worship, this makes the missionary's work even more difficult, and sometimes even funny. "Amid the many interruptions to which the Missionary is constantly exposed in these cottage meetings; such as the fidgetiness of restless ill trained children, the noisy efforts of parents and others restraining them, the quarrelling of intrusive strange dogs, and in this instance the constant lowing of a lately born calf in the cellar just under my feet; Yet I was enabled (and I felt reason to be grateful for it) to arrest the attention of my congregation (of which a good number were young people) in number about thirty: and trust I may have been allowed to say something that will prove a savor of life on life, to those who heard me." 6 The other major surprise that awaits the missionary is the poverty of the religious beliefs of the population. In her book on missionary activities in the Eastern Townships, Françoise Noel explains this ignorance by the absence of religious activity and life in the settlement regions, especially in the Leeds region. Indeed, she reports that, around 1836, a family that has lived in Leeds for twenty years has lost almost all real contact with Christianity. This kind of problem affects the missionary's work because in addition to providing the usual relief of religion, he must first educate the population. In this respect, the fact that it is only passing through does not make things any easier. 7 The clearing and settlement of newcomers progressed rapidly from 1830; for in 1809 Leeds still had only one settler, by 1825 there were already 17 families, and by 1831 there were 108. In 1871, there were 375 families, including 2,465 English-speaking and 288 French-speaking people. This means that francophones from the old families on the banks of the St. Lawrence had come to join the English-speaking immigrants who had been the first land clearers of this hinterland. Soon enough, the concern of the archbishop of Quebec will manifest itself for these Catholics scattered over such a large territory. Whether these believers expressed a desire to practice a flourishing religion in their original parishes, or the Catholic clergy wanted to protect them from the influence of the various Protestant communities around them, considerable efforts were made to provide religious service to Irish Catholics and the first French Canadians living on these lands. [page 23] Anglicans It was the population growth in Leeds Township in the 1820s, caused by the influx of British immigrants, that necessitated the establishment of a itinerant religious service and prompted the creation of the first Anglican mission in 1831, the St. James Mission. According to the research of the Reverend Harold Brazel, a travelling missionary was present in the township as early as 1825. This is what we notice in the early registers: Winfield Sharp was the first person baptized in January 1825, and in July 1826 the itinerant missionary officiated at the marriage of Walter Campbell and Isabella Russell, Walter Hargrave and Mary Russell, John Naughton and Mary Williamson. 8 However, it can be assumed that missionaries had already visited the township of Leeds and the area before 1825. This would be the case of the Reverend Robert Raby Burrage, appointed missionary at Pointe-Lévi (Lévis and Lauzon region) in 1819, who dealt with the so-called remote regions of Quebec. Apparently, and according to Reverend Brazel, the Reverend James Lynne Alexander also visited the area from 1825, and he was the first teacher at the first school in Leeds Township in 1828. The Reverend Thomas Harvey, an Episcopalian missionary, would have assisted him for two winters, just before the church was built. It is in this same school that religious services would have been celebrated before the construction of the temple. 9 ------------------------------------------- [photo] Funeral Monument Reverend Alexander, located at the cemetery Grimsby Source: Pascal Binet Reverend James Lynne Alxander, a true founder The first holder of the Anglican mission in Leeds Township was the Reverend James Lynne Alexander. Born on 23 October 1801 in Glenhead, Ireland, County Atrim, he emigrated with his parents to Upper Canada around 1817. n stayed there for eleven years and taught in York and Niagara. It was the enchanting setting of the falls that he inspired in writing his poetry collection /Wonders of the West, or a Day at the Falls of Niagara in 1825/. This book, which describes the Landscape of Niagara with a love story as a background, is the first book written in verse in Upper Canada. In 1828, reverend Alexander was awarded a scholarship to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to study at Chambly College, which was opened that year by Anglican Bishop Charles James Stewart. On 13 Sept. 1829 he was ordained a deacon and assistant to the Reverend Salter Jehosaphat Mountain in Cornwall. In January 1831 he was appointed a travelling missionary in Leeds Village by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Upon his arrival, Alexander distinguished himself as a cultured and organized being. Indeed, despite his young age, and during his twelve years of residence in Leeds Village, he will provide the mission with important infrastructure. n chooses the location of the place of worship; he is a schoolteacher and a member of the health committee during cholera outbreaks; he built the first church in the area, the first school in the village and the rectory. nor should we forget that reverend Alexander took care of the many faithful of the various Protestant religious denominations throughout Mégantic County, until they could organize themselves. n was ordained minister of worship on January 7, 1832. Reverend Alexander left Leeds Village at the end of 1843, after having taken care to complete the work at the rectory. In 1844 he served at Binbrook and SaItf1eet, near Hamilton, Canada-West. He married Emelia Nelles (1823-1914) of Grimsby on 15 August of that same year. The couple had five children: Maria Esther (1845-1873), George Alexander (1849-1915), Charles Stuart (1851-1873), Henry Lynn (1854-1856) and John Bruce (1859-1859). Alexander retired in August 1873 in Grimsby, Ontario, where he died on 22 aotlt 1879. Reference: /The church, the rectory and St. James Cemetery in St. James de Leeds/, (pages 29-30); /Biographical Dictionary of Canada/ (volume X page 5); Correspondence by Bernard Routhier -St. Andrew's Church, April 1998 and Correspondence by Pascal Binet -- St Andrew's Church, November 2001. ------------------------------------------- From 1831 to 1945, the Leeds mission was the centre of a missionary circuit, the pastors who succeeded it also assumed the pastoral charge of the surrounding missions. For the first thirty years following the founding of the St. James Mission, the Anglican pastor served three other locations in Leeds Village: Lambie's Mills (Kinnear's Mills), Harvey Hill Mines and Broughton. In 1873 Beattie's Settlement (Lemesurler) was added and St. Sylvester and St. Giles were added in 1886. At the same time, the pastor stopped [page 24] Nelson Road School and Wilson's Mills School-House, as well as Saint-Georges-de-Beauce and Cumberland Mills. n are very active years for the Leeds mission, which is at the heart of Anglican life in the region. From 1896 to 1907, although Kinnear's Mills was no longer served by the Anglican pastor of Leeds Village, he continued to visit many places such as Frizzell Hill, King's Corner and Hendersonvale School-House. In 1917, the circuit consisted of only four locations: Leeds Village, Kinnear's Mills, St. Sylvester and Beattie's Settlement. In 1931, St. Sylvester Parish was no longer part of the mission, probably recently closed. Finally. in 1945, the St. James Mission joined Inverness and in 1971 at Thetford Mines. 10 St. James's Church in Leeds Village In March 1830, Archdeacon George Jehosaphat Mountain, following a visit to the townships south of the St. Lawrence. decided to establish a permanent mission in the canton of Leeds. The project took shape on July 5, 1831, when the diocese purchased Lot 10F from Isaac Thompson. The deed of sale mentions that the construction of the church has already begun. The builders are all residents of Leeds Village: William Church oversees the work; William Reid and Duncan Donaldson cut the wood and erected the frame, and Isaac Thompson was involved as a blacksmith. The work progressed well because the church was completed on November 26, 1831. Built piece by piece, like most dwellings of that time, St. James's Church was consecrated on February 18, 1838 by the bishop [photo] St. James's Church Source: Rothera Family, Jean-Claude Gagné of the Anglican Diocese of Quebec, the Reverend George Jehosaphat Mountain, the same one who had founded the mission a few years earlier. 11 In 1834, a school was built near the church by the Reverend Alexander. From that time on, the site really became a religious and educational centre. This one-storey building has three front-facing openings and is located on the edge of Craig Road. When the school was burned down in 1892, the St. James authorities purchased the land (lot 10G) to expand the cemetery. The right was granted in 1899. 12 In 1837, the Reverend James Lynne Alexander had his house built on a land of about five acres adjacent to the church to the south. This land, as well as Lot 10F-1, had been purchased by the pastor in 1831. The house, built entirely of stone, surprised by its imposing character, was exceptional at the time in the canton. Although this house was not yet considered a rectory, Reverend Alexander was well aware that upon his departure his successors would have a permanent and comfortable residence, worthy of the importance of this first Anglican mission in Mégantic County. And this was precisely what happened in October 1841, when he sold his residence to the Society of the Propagation of the Gospel. According to Brazel, Reverend Alexander is not only educated and educated, but he also knows how to handle the trowel. It was he who would have achieved the finishing of his house with the help of a certain Mr. Crane, a mason by trade. The two men are also said to have erected the house of Alexander Hall, now known as Wilson's Mills Post Office, around 1835. In this regard, it is interesting to note the obvious resemblance between the two buildings. 13 The rectory was inhabited by Reverend Rothera between 1888 and 1924. During this period, he underwent extensive work. In 1893, a new cover was installed and the foundations under the euisin were redone. Reverend Rothera had the long veranda added to the façade in 1914. As for the outbuildings, they were practically rebuilt from 1896: a new stable and a barn replaced the buildings [page 25] [photo] The Rectory Alexander the two epochs Sources: Rothera Family, Jean-Claude Gagné and Walker Family, Pascal Binet previous. After the departure of the Reverend Rothera, the rectory will be inhabited only sporadically. Indeed, from 1927 to 1938, the pastor lived in the rectory of Inverness. The 1939 annual report of the Church Society of the Diocese of Quebec states that: "The parsonage at Leeds reopened after several years vacancy." The reopening of the presbytery was made possible by Madame M.C. Ross of Saint-Patrice and Miss J. Wark of Leeds. In 1945, the rectory ceased to welcome Anglican pastors. Interestingly, between 1942 and 1953, the rectory welcomed young boys in summer camps called Pioneer Diocesan Camp, Diocesan Junior Boys Camp and Anglican Boys at Camp (or ABC). These young people, who come from all over the province, are 'so many to spend the summer in Leeds Village. Traces of their presence are still visible in the rectory. 14 Since then, the church has only opened its doors for special occasions (death, births, weddings) and for an annual ceremony in July. 15 In 1968 and 1998, a few restoration works allowed rectory Alexander to get a makeover. 16 St. Mark's Church in Kinnear's Mills Until the founding of a new mission, it was the pastor of St. James in Leeds Village who took charge of all the faithful of the neighbouring townships. In 1839, a new mission was founded: New Ireland (later upper Ireland) it developed much faster than leeds. As early as 1845, Leeds covered 100 square miles of territory, had five preaching places, a church and a Sunday School. Upper Ireland covers 267 square miles of territory, has ten preaching places, three challenges and four Sunday Schools. 17 The second Anglican church in Leeds Township was not built until 1855 in the village of Kinnear's Mills, then known as Lambie's Mills. In early 1853, 28 books (£) were collected by the congregation of St. James for the future construction of a church in the nearby village of Lambie's Mills. The project was revived when James Kinnear, a presbyterian and prominent industrialist from the village, donated half an acre of land between Lots 4 and 5 of the 4th range. Two years later, the Church Society donated 20£ for the construction of a church. Reverend Robert Short, who had been in Leeds since 1856, took over the St Mark's mission in 1857. He reports that the community of Lambie's Mills is able to pay 5 shillings (corres-e-fee at the value of 0.25 pounds) for a Lay Reader (lay preacher). During the construction of the church, it is said that religious services were held in the village houses, at the old mill, as was the case for the Presbyterians. 18 In 1860, the Anglican community of St. Mark tried to find some benches for the church. At that time, their church is simply made up of four walls. The pastor in charge of this mission, William Stephen Vial, recounts the poverty and simplicity of this church: "The Holy ministeries of our religion are celebrated out of domestic utensils, and Holy baptism is administered out of a sugar bowl." Faced with the urgency of the situation and because the settlers are too [photo] St. Mark's Church Source: Eastern Townships Research Centre, Anglican Gospel Archives, excerpt from a newspaper [page 26] poor to meet the needs of their church, Reverend Vial gets 5 euros from the Church of Society.. This allows the community to acquire a pulpit, a communion table and a railing. In 1864, a path was made in front of the church and the cemetery was fenced. St. Mark's Church was consecrated by Bishop James William Williams in 1867. During the 1880s, several problems affected the Anglican community of St. Mark. The distance between the place of residence of the faithful and the church, mixed marriages, the active presence of Presbyterians and diseases due to epidemics affect many people involved in the Church. Many families who live near Lower Lreland and Inverness will prefer the churches of these villages and leave Kinnear's Mills. The Anglican community will take over and several activities will be created during the 1890s Sunday School, Bible Class, Congregational tea with entertainment. 19 In the mid-1890s, the state of the church was of concern to the faithful, in part because the bell could no longer be runred because of the weak structure. In 1897, the Reverend William Barton mentioned in his annual report that the community was in urgent need of a new church. The Reverend Thomas L. Bali is even advancing $25 for this project. 20 . The construction project became a reality in 1897, when a new church was erected in the same place as the first one. Free of all debts as early as 1899, it was consecrated by Bishop Andrew Hunter Dunn. ------------------------------ Reverend John Colin Tannar, kinnear's Mills' only resident pastor Reverend John Colin Tannar was born in Vars, Ontario, in 1868, and educated in Toronto and Lennoxville. Ordained in 1901, he obtained his first assignment at Kinnear's Mills as an assistant in the mid-1890s and then as pastor-in-chief from 1906. At that time, Kinnear's Mills was the focus of an important mission consisting of Thetford Mines and Black Lake. [photo] Reverend J.C. Tannar Source: SAHRA, James Gordon Kinnear Fund, P086/IPN-4/26 The following year he accepted the Dixville mission, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1901 he married Winnifred Symes of Leeds Village. He died on February 18, 1950 at the age of 82. Reference: According to the Quebec Diocesan Gazette, 1950 (page 23), held at the Eastern Townships Research Centre. ------------------------------ Throughout its history, the St. Mark's Anglican mission has been administered by external pastors. The only person in charge of this mission who remained at Kinnear's Mills was the Reverend John Colin Tannar. Others also lived there, but they were assistants to the reigning pastor. Tannar resided in the house occupied today by Ronald Jamieson (1060, tier 3). At that time, Kinnear's Mills was the mission hub that also included Thetford Mines and Black Lake. However, in 1907, following the mining expansion in these cities, the diocese decided to make Thetford Mines a separate mission. 21 The church has remained pretty much intact since its construction. Outside, only the bell tower and stained glass windows have been modified. 22 More recently, St. Mark's Church has been somewhat refreshed and over the years, religious services have declined; they are now only held during the summer season, four to five times a year. Since all four churches were recognized as a historic site by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in 1985, St. Mark's Church has received many visitors. 23 [photo[ Former pastor's residence at Kinnear's Mills Source: Dorothy Nadeau St. Matthew's Church in Lemesurier The third Anglican church to be built in Leeds Township is located in the hamlet of Lemesurier, also known as Beattie's Settlement. This small town consists mainly of farmers living near the post office, nine miles from Kinnear's Mills and seven miles from Leeds [page 27] Village, in 12th and 14th range. It was from 1872 that the community was served sporadically by the pastor of Leeds Village; the first to do so was the Reverend John Kemp. In 1886, twenty families benefited from the presence of the minister of worship every Sunday afternoon in the summer and on a few occasions during the winter. Until their church is built, the celebrations take place in the schools and houses of the settlers. 24 [photo] St. Matthew's Church Source: The Outlet, Flight 4, No. 139, Feb 1992 In 1887, the community of Beattie's Settlement (Lemesurier) decided to build a church. Two years later, the Reverend Joseph Rothera took over and celebrated the services in Mrs. Beattie's house. Information in the 1889 Church Society reports indicates that a small church is being built and that Reverend Rothera hopes it will be completed by the following year. Located on Lot 9B in 13th place, the quarter-acre plot was donated by Charles Wilkins to the Anglican Diocese of Quebec in 1891. The church will actually be started -------------------------------------------- Reverend Joseph Rothera, a man appreciated by all Born on October 19, 1850 in Yorkshire, England, he arrived in Canada in 1888. Loved by all, Reverend Rothera has done much for his community. After spending most of his life in Leeds Township, he retired with his wife and daughters around 1924 to Lennoxville. He died there after a long illness on January 22, 1927. He had 12 children: William Henry, Joseph, Charles, Beatrice, Ellen, Grace, Sarah Jane, Dora, Mabel Alice (deceased young), Mildred, John Percival. [photo] Reverend Joseph Rothera and his wife Sarah Halksworth Source: Rothera Family, J-C Won Reference; Annual report of the Church Society oft the Diocese of Quebec/, 1927 (page 18), and /Leeds and St. Sylvester/ ... (pages 13-14). -------------------------------------------- 1890 and completed in 1892. It was consecrated by the Bishop of the Diocese, Andrew Dunn, on December 15, 1893. It is probably because the St. Matthew's Guild, with the help of the Church Helpers Association of Quebec, was instrumental in the erection of the building, that the Lemesurier Church is named After St. Matthew. From the beginning of his visits to Lemesurier, Reverend Rothera is hopeful that the church will become an important centre of activity for the small community. In addition to the Sunday School, there are also leisure activities called Tea and Entertainment. 25 Between 1897 and 1907, service at St. Matthew was still provided by the pastors of Leeds Village, assisted by the Reverends John Kemp, W. A. Gustin and J.C. Tannar. However, the community is shrinking in number. In his 1903 report, Reverend Rothera said with regret that the Anglican community was steadily declining year after year due to the increasing deaths and emigration of several members of the community to Northwestern Canada. The places left empty thus are quickly taken up by the /French Roman Catholics/. It was this growing decline in the population that led to the decision to close the church and desecrate it in 1954. The application was signed by the Reverend John Hill, Robert Wilkin and Allan Beattie, then church leaders. Here are some excerpts from the letter written to Bishop Philip Carrington on August 10, 1954: "I am now in a position to return to you the sentence of Deconsacration of St. Matthew's Church, Lemesumr. It was a wonderful sight to behold. Former members of the congregation from Thetford, Sherbrooke, Lennoxville, Montreal and even the United States came to see the last of their Mother Church. One lady especially stood out. She had been a former Sunday School teacher, and had brought several of her Sunday School class with her, all of them in their middle age. There was many a tear shed on Sunday aftemoon, but I pointed out to them, that they are the Church, and that as you yourself pointed out so forcibly, the closing of this church, is not a church dead, but the re-birth of a new church elsewhere. 26 Today, only a monument erected in the 1990s marks the site where St Matthew's Anglican Church once stood. [page 33] Methodists As we have seen before, Methodists are the first missionaries to travel through the cantons. Before 1820, American missionaries were responsible for preaching; they were particularly active before the War of 1812. After 1820, Wesleyan Methodist ministers from England took over. In 1821, an agreement between the Methodists of the United States and those of Great Britain allowed them to preach freely in Lower Canada. British Methodists are more educated but much more conservative than their predecessors. They resort to large mass preaching that leads to the conversion of several inhabitants. In the 1830s, Methodism was well established in the Eastern Townships and had more than fourteen circuits. 1 Initially, three circuits were created by Methodists --------------------------------------- Reverend John Borland, father of Methodism in the county Reverend John Borland was born on September 23, 1809 in Ripon, Yorkshire, England. n arrived in Quebec in 1823, and in 1831 married Jane Ray, daughter of Martin, a lumber merchant from Quebec. Ordained in 1836, he arrived in the area and established his residence in Lower Ireland, where the county's first Methodist Chapelon Church was built in 1839 (Methodist Chapelon the Hill). left the area for Montreal around 1842. n died there at the age of 79 on March 31, 1888. [photo] Reverend John Borland Source: D.M. McKillop, Annals of Megantic County, 32 Reference: /Annals of Megantic County/ (pages 114 and 147) and /A History of Megantic County: Downhomers of Quebec's Eastern Townships/ (page 178). --------------------------------------- Stanstead, Dunham and St. Francis. British Methodists created new ones, including New Ireland (Leeds), established in 1835, which covered the cantons of Leeds, Inverness, Ireland and Halifax. It is the only Methodist circuit located northwest of the Eastern Townships. In 1831, there were only 231 faithful out of a total population of 2,118. In 1851, there will be 457 out of a total population of 7592. 2 Wesleyan Methodists tend to build simple buildings that contrast with the churches around them. Like their places of worship, their preaching is rather austere, stripped of the pageants usually found in other denominations. Methodist missionaries visited many stations in several cantons. In 1832, there were only ten of them in all of Lower Canada. The Reverend John Hicks served the area until his tragic death from cholera in 1834. He had been stationed at the Methodist Mission in Quebec City since 1817. The first pastor to reside in the area was the Reverend John Borland, who arrived in 1836.' A friendly nicknamed the /Father of Megantic Methodism/, he did a great deal to spread Methodism among new immigrants. He visits the stations of Leeds, Inverness, Ireland, Broughton, Wolfe, Melbourne and St. Sylvester, travelling more than 120 miles of roads and celebrating eleven services each week. 3 Leeds Village Methodist Church [photo] Part of the Methodist Church Source: Eastern Townships Research Centre, P020//79-11-2 Each Methodist station or division has a leader (leader) and since there are few ministers of worship, it is parishioners who act as preachers. Ireland and Inverness, incorporated as a self-guided circuit in 1864, have several preaching stations: Maple Grove, Lower Ireland, Kinnear's Mills, [page 34] Inverness, Hamilton Range and Lysander. The Leeds Methodist Station, which remains the oldest in the region, initially used the small 11th row chapel in Inverness as a preaching place, as well as the stations along Craig Road to Quebec City. Several local preachers have worked in Leeds as well as ministers of worship. In fact, it was one of them, the Reverend John Armstrong, who built the Methodist presbytery (parsonnage) at Leeds Village during the years 1853-1854. He stayed there with his wife for five years. 4 In 1834, the Reverend John Hicks purchased land in the 14th range of Leeds to build a future Wesleyan Methodist church. The property would have served the faithful of Leeds and St. Sylvester. In 1848, a Meeting House was opened in Leeds Village. But it was not until 1859 that a church itself was built, on Craig Road, for Methodist gatherings. Opened in 1860, it closed its doors in 1895 due to too few worshippers. It is then a question of turning it into a place of worship for Catholics. Instead, it was used by the latter as the first school, starting in 1906. In 1926, it was transformed to house Roland Vachon's garage. Several pieces of furniture from Leeds Methodist Church can be found today at Thetford Mines United Church. The Methodist Cemetery, used from the 1820s, is still in existence and is located just across the street from St. James Anglican Cemetery. 5 Kinnear's Mills Methodist Church The village of Kinnear's Mills also has its Place of Methodist Worship. From 1864 it was part of the Ireland and Inverness circuit, the centre of which was located in Lower Ireland. Thus, several pastors worked there. After the construction of the first Presbyterian church in 1842, Methodists would have been allowed to use it to celebrate their worship as well. In 1876, the Kinnear's Mills Methodists decided to build their own church. Located on 5th-Range land, which James Kinnear finally gave to the community in 1891, the building housed the faithful until the 1925 merger of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist denominations of Canada into the United Church of Canada. The Methodist Church would then become Church Hall; The Sunday School will be held there and a community hall will be set up there. To this end, the parishioners will annex the old school of the 1st Range and then use it as a kitchen and as a shed. The Methodist faithful will have their own cemetery for several years, then it will be gathered at the Presbyterian Cemetery to become the Riverside Memorial Cemetery. 6 The Methodist church was somewhat neglected from the 1950s and 1960s. Federal government assistance in 1974 led to some urgent repairs to the building. In 1993, the Quebec government will partner with the municipality of Kinnear's Mills and community organizations in the community to carry out major repairs. The old church was then equipped with new foundations and, in 1999, the building attached to it was completely renovated to allow the installation of public toilets. Since the late 1980s, the community has made it a reception and exhibition centre for tourists who come to visit the historic site. 7 [photo] The Leeds Methodist Cemetery Source: Pascal Binet [photo] Kinnear's Mills Methodist Church Source: Pascal Binet [page 42] The heritage site of St-Jacques-de-Leeds [photo] Aerial view of the Anglican site before heritage development Source: Photographic fund of the Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications. 78.2288.23 (35) The Leeds Township Heritage Corporation is a volunteer committee that was established on March 5, 1990. It officially became a not-for-profit organization when its letters patent were issued on March 3, 1992 and was registered as a charity on April 1, 2001. The Corporation's main mandates are to safeguard, protect and publicize the history and heritage of the canton of Leeds. The Corporation has focused its efforts in recent years on the protection and development of the Anglican site of St. James Church. In 1992, the Anglican Diocese transferred the land adjacent to the cemetery for the Corporation's tourism and heritage development (lot 10F-1) to the municipality of St-Jacques-de-Leeds. In 1996 and 1998, agreements were reached between the Anglican Diocese and the Heritage Corporation to manage the cemetery, church and rectory for a period of 99 years. One of the Heritage Corporation's major projects was to save the village's former English-language school, the Leeds Model School, from demolition. In 1994, the Corporation began moving the school to the Anglican site; a project that was not unanimous. But since then, the community has been grateful to those who believed in safeguarding this heritage. In order to promote its development and to look to the future from a new perspective, a joint committee is created (Amiante Tourism, Municipality of St-Jacques-de-Leeds and Heritage Corporation). Through this committee, the Corporation obtains major projects to develop the site and restore its buildings (Hydro-Québec's Integrated Environmental Development Program, toponymic pairing with Barmainville, Regional Investment Fund). The continued involvement of the Anglican Diocese is also to be noted. In 1996, steps were taken by a private company to present plays on the site (White Chapel Theatre 1997-2001) and since 2002 a comedy and variety show (Old School Theatre). [photo] The move of Leeds Model School Source: Leeds Township Research Committee [photo] The Leeds Model School on the heritage site Source: Vicky Bolduc [page 43] [photo] St. James Anglican Church Source: Vicky Bolduc From 1997, the Anglican site was known as a heritage site and was officially opened on September 6, 1998. It was during that year that a team of animators-comedians arrived on the heritage site. This is the first in a four-year successful series for the development and consolidation of the Heritage Site and the Heritage Corporation. Finally, several annual activities were created during these years. Let's remember the lively guided tours, brunches, the family festival, concerts and the Night of Legends. The move of the Sunday River School Source: Pascal Binet In 2000, the Corporation restructured, reformulated its general regulations and established membership. A new era begins and other projects will finally come to fruition thanks to the involvement of volunteers and the collaboration of the municipality. These include the relocation of a small tier school, the Sunday River School, which was relocated to the heritage site on September 14. The hard work, dedication and involvement of several member directors deserve to be recognized because without them the corporation would not be what it is today. The Heritage Corporation has therefore remained and continues to be an organization as dynamic as ever and pays tribute to those who are committed to safeguarding and promoting the history and heritage of the canton of Leeds. The Leeds Township Heritage Corporation therefore offers historical guided tours of the heritage site through its four buildings: St. James Church 1831; Rectory Alexander -1837; Leeds Model School -1896; Sunday River School -1927. Also, the site allows visitors the opportunity to walk in its newly developed walking trails and its two cemeteries (Methodist and Anglican). The Corporation also organizes sales of local handicrafts and products at its general store and offers a comfortable 100-seat performance hall. A historic excursion to the heart of the 19th century awaits you! [photo] The furniture of rectory Alexander Source: Vicky Bolduc [photo] Rectory Alexander and the animation team Source: Vicky Bolduc [page 44] References Introduction - Les système des townships (canton) 1 LACOURSIÈRE. Jacques et autres. Canada-Québec (1534-2000). Québec. Les Éditions du Septentrion. 2000. pages 197-198. 2 LACOURSIÈRE. Canada-Québec ..., page 206. 3 KESTEMAN. Jean-Pierre. Peter SOUTHAM et Diane ST-PIERRE. Histoire des Cantons de l'Est. Sainte-Foy. Les Éditions de l'IQRC. 1998. page 88. 4 KESTEMAN. Histoire des ..., pages 88-89. 5 KESTEMAN. Histoire des ..., pages 90-91. Quelques notes géographiques et historiques 1 COMMISSION DE TOPONYMIE. Noms et lieux du Québec. Québec. Publications du Québec. 1996. page 366. 2 DION-OUELLETTE. Denise et Daniel VACHON. sous la direction de. Saint-Jacques de Leeds,' Essai économique et Répenoire des noissances, mariages. annotations marginoles et sépultures (1829-1990). Thetford Mines. Société généalogique de la région de L'AIJÙante. 1990. page 119; ROUTHIER. Bernard, Gabriel SAVOIE et Daniel Vachon. Leeds -Historique et organismes. tome 1. Thetford Mines. Imprimerie Edmond Desmarais. 1977. pages 12 et 19. 3 BOUCHETTE. Joseph. Description topographique de la province du Bas-Canada avec des remarques sur le Haut-Canada et sur les relations des deux provinces avec les États-Unis de I·Amérique. W. Faden. Londres. 1815. page 591. 4 RAWLINGS-BARRY. Gwen. A Hutory of Megantic County,' Downhomers of Quebec's Eastern Townships. Canada. Evans Brooks. 1999. page 70; YOUNG. Brian J. «.James Bell Forsyth». Dictionnoire biographique du Canada. volume IX. page 301 et KESTEMAN. Histoire des ..., pages 91-97. 5 KESTEMAN. Histoire des ..., pages 97-99. 6 ROUTHIER. Leeds ..., page 28; TURCOTTE. Renald. «La vieille maison de pierres (HaDJeau Wilson)>>. Le Bercail. volume 3. numéro 2. Thetford Mines. Société généalogique de la région de L' Amiante. page 10. 7 KESTEMAN. Histoire des ..., pages 99-100 et 237-238. 8 RAWLINGS-BARRY. A History of ..., pages 64 et 135 et ROUTHIER. Leeds ..., page 61. 9 ROUTHIER. Bernard. Développement d'un site patrimonial à vocation touristique pour la mise en valeur de Leeds et de la région. 1995 , page 16; CORPORATION TOURISTIQUE D'INVERNESS. Inverness. Canada, 1987. pages 44-45 et 112-113; BÉLANGER, France et autres. La Beauce et les Beaucerons -- Portraits d'une région (1737-1987). Société du patrimoine des Beaucerons et Corporation du 250e anniversaire de la Beauce. St-Joseph-de-Beauce. 1990, Eages 204 et 220. 10 BOURQUE. Hélène. L'église, le presbytère et le cimetière St. James de St-Jacques-de-Leeds. IJÙnistère des Affaires culturelles. Québec. 1992. pages 8-10. 11 KESTEMAN. Histoire des .. .. pages 194-195; CORPORATION TOURISTIQUE D·INVERNESS. Inverness. pages 44-46 et 112-113; BÉLANGER. La Beauce ..., pages 204 et 221-222; ROUTHIER. Leeds ..., page 45; MCKn..LOP. Dugald McKeozie. Annals of Megantic County. Sherbrooke. Progressive Publications. 1982 (c1902). pages 65 et 105. 12 KESTEMAN. Histoire des ..., page 88 et BÉLANGER. La Beauce et les ..., page 132. 13 BÉLANGER. La Beauce et les .... Eage 132. 14 RAWLINGS-BARRY. A History of ... page 27; MCKILLOP. Annois of ... pages 104-105 et ROY. Pierre-Georges. Les noms géographiques de la province de Québec. Lévis. page 264. 15 KESTEMAN. Histoire des ..., page 432 et RAWLINGS-BARRY. A History of ..., pages 223-226. 16 KESTEMAN. Histoire des ..., page 433; RAWLINGS-BARRY. A History of ..., pages 223-226; MAGNAN. Hornùdas. Dictionnaire historique et géographique des paroisses, missions et municipalités de la province de Québec. Arthabaska, Imprimerie d' Arthbaska ltée, 1925 page 449 et voir la proclaD38tion gouvernementale du 18 juin 1845 dans DESCHAMPS. C. E. Liste des municipalités dans la province tU Québec. Lévis. Mercier et Cie. 1886. pages 88 et 89. 17 KESTEMAN. Histoire des ..., page 433 et RAWLINGS-BARRY. A History of ..., pages 223-226. 18 KESTEMAN. Histoire des ..., page 433; RAWLINGS-BARRY. A History of ..., pages 227-228; ROUTHIER. Leeds.... pages 45-47 et PICHÉ. Odessa. Municipalités, paroisses cantons. etc. de la province de Québec de 1896 à 1924. Québec. Ministère de la colonisation. des mines et des ~êcheries. 1924. page 249. 19 ROUTHIER. Leeds ..., page 47. 20 Extrait des procès verbaux de la municipalité du canton de Leeds. 25 octobre 1880-12 janvier 1891. P134. Société des archives historiques de la région de L' Amiante. 21 «50e anniversaire du conseil de ville de St-Jacques-de-Leeds». Courrier Frontenac.13 novembre 1979. page 56 et Gazette officielle du Québec. changement de nom, 30 octobre 1982. 114e année. no 44; GARNEAU. Louis. <