Eastern Townships - History

History

The first inhabitants of the region were the Abenaki First Nations. Many towns, lakes and rivers or the area are of Abenaki origin.

The Abenakis allied themselves with the French during the Seven Years' War to fight the British.

The region was part of New France until the 1763 Treaty of Paris which granted the region to the British. Shortly after the American Revolution, a few United Empire Loyalists, who fled the revolution in order to stay loyal to the British Crown, settled in the Eastern Townships. The land there was controlled by three English seigneurs: Colonel Henry Caldwell had purchased what had been the Foucault Seigneurie, which ran along the Richelieu River and a little over the present day frontier; Colonel Gabriel Christie was seigneur of Noyan; and Thomas Dunn was seigneur of Saint-Armand. The early loyalists settled in and around Missisquoi Bay. A popular misconception is that there was a huge influx of Loyalists to the Eastern Townships. In fact most of the immigration from New England happened in the early nineteenth century, thirty or so years after the Revolution. Most were farmers seeking new lands, something the townships had to offer.

Some Loyalists had moved to the area during the Revolutionary War. When it ended Sir Frederick Haldimand, the governor of Quebec, expected them to move westward with the rest of the Loyalists. He cut off the rations the government had been providing. However, they resisted efforts to be moved by force and were finally permitted to stay by Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton after Haldimand's return to England.

The status of the East Townships Loyalists was resolved when the seigneurs agreed to permit them to stay on their land for a nominal fee. The exact number cannot be ascertained, but a petition they sent to the governor included 378 names. Allowing for a family of five, this could suggest a population of about 1600 or so. The land they settled on, the present-day area of Noyan, Clarenceville and St. Armand, was not part of the Eastern Townships (which were not opened to settlement until 1791), but have since been regarded as part of the Townships.

Under the terms of the Constitutional Act of 1791, the Eastern Townships were open to settlement and a land rush followed. Most of the 3,000 or so settlers came from the United States. A few were Loyalist, at least in spirit, but most simply wanted land and had no strong feeling about nationality. Many more immigrated from the British Isles, including Gaelic-speaking Scots.

The Eastern Townships were originally part of the following counties:

• Arthabaska County
• Brome County
• Compton County
• Drummond County
• Frontenac County
• Mégantic County
• Missisquoi County
• Richmond County
• Stanstead County
• Shefford County
• Sherbrooke County
• Wolfe County

English-speaking inhabitants remained a majority in the Townships until the 1870s.

In the early 1980s Quebec was reorganized into 16 (later 17) administrative regions divided into regional county municipalities. The bulk of the Eastern Townships became the Estrie region, but Arthabaska, Drummond, and part of Wolfe and Megantic counties became part of the Mauricie–Bois-Francs region (later, part of Centre-du-Québec region), while the remainder of Megantic County became part of the Chaudière-Appalaches region, and the Shefford and Missisquoi counties became part of the Montérégie region.

As of 2012, the entire region is almost entirely Francophone (even moreso than other regions of Quebec), with the notable exception of Lennoxville; Lennoxville is evenly divided between English and French speakers and hosts the region's only English-speaking university, Bishop's University. Even though the region is now predominantly French-speaking, the influence of the Loyalists and settlers from New England can still be observed in the architecture of older buildings and the names of various towns.