History Articles

The following is based on information contained in Jo-Anne Brownlee’s excellent booklet, A Self-Guided Historical Tour of Clarendon, published by the Municipality of Clarendon in 2005, and Noms et lieux du Québec : dictionnaire illustré, published by the Commision de toponymie du Québec.

In 1792, the Municipality of Clarendon was planned and named after a place in Wiltshire, England. After several attempts to have the township surveyed and settled, the government commissioned a retired Bristish Army Officer, Ensign James Prendergast, to undertake this work.

Named after a county in Sussex, England, Chichester is primarily a farming and lumbering community. The municipality was incorporated in 1855 with John B. Poupore as its mayor.

The municipality is dominated by two small hamlets: Chichester and Nicabeau. Chichester, located just across the river from Chapeau, was once a thriving community with numerous sawmills, a grist mill, shingle mill, blacksmith shop and two hotels. Chichester now serves as more of a summer resort area, offering a grocery store and garage facilities.

In 1861 Thorne was separated from Clarendon and joined with Leslie to form a new municipality, with James Martin as its first mayor. At that time its population of 465 was made up of people of mixed national origin.

Ten years later, when the municipality was separated from Leslie under the mayoralty of John Rennix, it had seen and influx of German settlers.

Thorne's main village, Ladysmith, was first called Upper Thorne Centre. Later, the name Danzig was proposed, but in 1902, at the end of the Boer War, the name Ladysmith was chosen to honor a village in South Africa.

Churning butter by hand was tricky; milk was set out in pans, so that the cream could rise. Various types of churns -- dash or cradle churns -- were then used to churn cream. If the butter would not set, this was often blamed on hexing. Butter was stored in barrels in a cool place, and the surplus sold in town. It might take six days to take it there even in an express wagon: two for the trip each way, and two to sell the wooden tubs of butter at the Byward market [in Ottawa]. Eventually, however, butter and cheese were made in small, often cooperative factories.

In celebration of its 150th anniversary in 2005, the Municipality of Clarendon published a booklet titled A Self-Guided Historical Tour of Clarendon, by Jo-Anne Brownlee. Clarendon, the rural township that surrounds the Town of Shawville, is rich in history, and this interesting little publication conveys that fact through well-researched and generously illustrated texts.

1) What does the statue in the Parc du Draveur in Maniwaki depict?
a) A larger-than-life pickerel.
b) A man in a birch bark canoe.
c) A log driver.
d) A giant mosquito.

2) To what does “Pythonga” refer?
a) A legendary snake said to inhabit the northern reaches of the Gatineau River.
b) The name of a tugboat that once towed logs on the Desert River.
c) A type of spruce tree.
d) None of the above

The Municipality of Leslie was incorporated in 1860 as a part of Thorne, under the mayorship of James Martin. Seven years later the township broke away and was joined with Clapham, with George Palmer as mayor. In 1876 Huddersfield joined the other two, with the first mayor of the united townships being Francis Pelletier.

The municipality of Waltham was named after a village near Grimsby in England. Incorporated as a municipality in 1859, Waltham's first mayor was John T. Coghlan. By 1859, the Township of Bryson, named after George Bryson, amalgamated with Waltham. The town of Waltham was the terminus of the PPJ railway line and later the Canadian Pacific railway. Built in 1887, the railway offered a direct means of travel between the Upper Pontiac and Ottawa. The train would arrive in Waltham in the evening, and leave the next morning for Ottawa. The railway was vital for the region.

Rapides des Joachims was originally a mission post on the Upper Ottawa River, where an early Hudson's Bay Post was established at the foot of the long rapids. By 1871 it had become a small village doing considerable lumber business. The river steamers called there because it was, at that time, the head of navigation on the Ottawa.