Châteauguay, Québec One Place Study

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This profile is part of the Châteauguay, Québec One Place Study.

Châteauguay One Place Study

This study focuses on Châteauguay, situated in the Roussillon County of the Montérégie region of Québec, Canada. It's history starts in 1673, when the Seigneurie was conceeded to Charles Lemoyne.

The first settlement of Châteauguay was located on what is today Ile-Saint-Bernard. In 1636, a small chapel was built in Châteauguay-Bassin near the current station; it was served by the Jesuit Fathers of Caughnawaga (today, the first nation reserve of Kahnawake). It was a good location for both the Chateauguay and Caughnawaga population. You will find many records in the registers of Saint-François-Xavier du Sault-Saint-Louis that will mention the people living in Châteauguay. But that was starting in 1735...

Before that, the residents of the seigneurie had to travel to Lachine, Sainte-Anne-du-Bout-de-l'Ile (today Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, on Montréal island), and La Prairie. We will be looking into their parish records to find our people. We will also use the help of the "Programme de Recherche en Demographie Historique ", or PRDH of Université de Montréal, now affiliated with the Drouin Institute, to gather all the information we need.

Goal of the Study

The goal is to find and document everyone that lived at one time or another in Châteauguay, with the help of Census and Church Records. Then, the records will be evaluated and a profile will be created for each individual person, or the profile will be updated if it already exists on WikiTree.

As mentionned above, we will look into the church records of Saint-François-Xavier du Sault-Saint-Louis, Lachine, La Prairie and Ste-Anne, for any Baptism, Marriage or burial that may have occured there of people of Châteauguay.

Current Members

• Andréa Boudreau, leader-coordinator
• Lynn Dunlap, assistant-coordinator

Current Tasks

"Data, data, data... I cannot make bricks without clay! " ~Sherlock Holmes

• Identifying the founding families.
• Find the first cadastres of the Seigneurie de Châteauguay, to map out who lived where and therefore, have a better understanding of the ties between the families and their neighbours.
• List all Saint-Joachim BMS that occured ~ Ongoing
• List all Sault-Saint-Louis BMS pertaining to the Châteauguay Population ~ Ongoing
• List all Sainte-Anne-du-Bout-de-l'Ile BMS pertaining to the Châteauguay Population ~ to begin
• List all Lachine BMS pertaining to the Châteauguay Population ~ to begin
• List all La Prairie BMS pertaining to the Châteauguay Population ~ to begin
• Look at Notre-Dame de Montréal for entries ~ to begin
• Extract Census information ~ to begin

A little bit of history

It's creation

On September 29, 1673, an act, by which the governor Comte de Frontenac, in the name of the king of France which he represents in Canada, gives, concedes and grants to the sieur Charles LeMoyne, escuyer, Sieur de Longueuil, two leagues of land abreast, starting ten arpents below the Rivière du Loup, going up into Lake Saint-Louis on the south side, and three leagues deep, together the Île Saint-Bernard which is at the mouth of the river. This concession is granted to Sieur LeMoyne, says the official act, "because of the affection he always showed for the service of the king and the promptness with which he always carried out the orders of the governors, either in the wars against the savages where he was noted on several occasions, either in the negotiations and peace treaties he made by their commands ... "

Charles LeMoyne de Longueuil (1625-1685) and his eldest son Charles the first baron of Longueuil (1656-1729) owned the seigneurial fief of Châteauguay from 1673 to 1706. But it does not appear that the father and son, occupied as they were with matters of war and the care to be given first to their land of Longueuil, were much interested in that of Châteauguay. However, they did what was necessary to keep the property, which would have been otherwise reversible at the crown, by building the “castle” or “fort”, and, in addition, at the foot of the hill, the small windmill. whose stone tower can still be seen, which dates from 1686 and constitutes a precious relic of those remote times, as well as an historic signification, being the oldest windmill in North America, still standing today. (Patrimoine Québec

In the survey of 1683, requested by Mgr de Laval, only 2 families and 6 other people live on the seigneurie. They were then served from Lachine, because Sainte-Anne de Bellevue, who subsequently served them, did not have her first resident missionary until 1703. Just to compare, the population of Châteauguay is now 46,264 (2013 data from Wikipedia).

Récapitulation en Français

"1673 Construction, sur l'île Saint-Bernard, d'un château que Charles LeMoyne nomme château de Guay. (29 septembre) Concession d'une seigneurie (2 lieues de front sur le lac Saint-Louis commençant à 10 arpents en bas de la rivière du Loup, x 3 lieues de profondeur, comprenant les îles de la Paix, Saint-Bernard et Saint-Nicolas) par le gouverneur Frontenac à Charles LeMoyne de Longueuil qui la nomme Rivière-du-Loup ; le territoire de la seigneurie est traversé par la rivière Châteauguay et la rivière Saint-Régis. La seigneurie prend le nom de Châteauguay (65). 1685 (Début de février) Au décès de Charles LeMoyne, la seigneurie passe à Catherine Thierry dit Primot, son épouse, et à ses 12 enfants. 1686 Construction du moulin seigneurial sur l'île Saint-Bernard par Catherine Primot. 1690 (4 août) Au décès de Catherine Thierry dit Primot, la seigneurie de Châteauguay (65) passe aux 12 enfants de Charles LeMoyne de Longueuil. "

The first chapel

~To elaborate ~

Events

Blessing of the bell

On February 17th, 1743, the community of the Parish of Saint-Joachim had a ceremony to bless the brand new bell. Father Clément Lefebvre, Récollet, conducted the ceremony. In attendance, Ecuyers Sieurs de la Noüe and de Robutelle children of the said widow de la Noüe who signed herself with Miss Marie Anne her daughter

See image
Here's the transcription of the event that Father Lefebvre inscribed in the church book: Cejourd'huy 17e du mois de février de l'année 1743, Je soussigné Prêtre Relig & Recollet faisant les fonctions curiales en l'Eglise paroissiale de St-Joachim de Chateaugay, ayant pour Marguillier en charge Paul Primot, et pour Marguillier en second Jean Baptiste Caron, ay fais la bénédiction solomnelle d'une cloche pesante cent quarante une livre demandée en France, du temps de Joseph Desrochers alors Marguillier en charge, et arrivée en cette paroisse du temps de Jean LeGaud dit Desloriers successeur dudit Joseph Desrochers en la charge du premier Marguillier, laquelle cloche, y compris le mouton, le Rouët, les ferrures, les marbres ou fontaines, pesante 7 41/4 et le Bénéfice du Commissionaire montant à trente pour cent, acouté trois cent soixante livres, deux sols, six deniers. Dame Catherine LeMoine veuve de défunt Ecuyer Sieur de la Noue, en son vivant Capitaine d'une compagnie du détachement de la Marine, et Seigneur de cette paroisse, avoit par nous été prié de Nommer la susdite Cloche avec un parrain a son choix; mais elle a jugé à propos d'en deferer l'honneur à Ecuyer Sieur DePominville Enseigne dans les Troupes de la Marine... et à Demoiselle M. Elizabeth Charleu(?) fille d'Ecuyer Sieur Baron de Longûëil lesquels ont donné à cette susdite cloche le nom de Catherine Charleu(?). Nous prierons à Jamais le tres Gant de publier et de recompenser la manière egallement noble et généreuse avec laquelle ils ont agi en faveur de l'Eglise dans cette occasion; en foy de quoi nous avons signé les jour et an que dessus avec Ecuyers Sieurs de la Noüe et de Robutelle enfants de ladite veuve de la Noüe qui a signé elle même avec Mademoiselle Marie Anne sa fille; les parguillers ey dessus ont declaré ne sçavoir signer.

The English Community and St. Andrew's church

The English-speaking community began to settle at the mouth of the Châteauguay River around 1830. Initially, a lay preacher named Charles Forest visited the inhabitants and read the Holy Scriptures. In 1832, Minister Alexander Gale, a Presbyterian Reverend from Lachine, held meetings in the residences of certain settlers. At that time, the communities of Beauharnois and Châteauguay were part of the same pastoral charge. From 1833 to 1840, the Reverend Walter Roach provided regular services in the home of James Lang, located at 62, boulevard Salaberry Sud. Twenty-two families with 59 children then made up the community of St. Andrew’s.

In 1837, construction began, and the first brick church opened in 1840. The land on which it stands was donated by James Lang's sister, Mrs. John Aitken. It is located on the current site of the Protestant cemetery (18A, boulevard D’Anjou). The pews were then nothing but planks placed on crates, and by this time men and women sat on opposite sides of the church.

In 1880, a second stone temple replaced the first. Architect Alexander Hutchison designed it, and contractor John Stewart and mason Henry Nichol built it. Neighbors from the Francophone community help bring in land from Île Saint-Bernard, which is used for the construction of the building adjacent to the old one. It's located at 26 rue Dupont Ouest.

Prominent Names

Will will surely discover a prominence of surnames; namely, Reid (also written as Ride), Primeau, Faubert, Rufiange, Gendron, to only name a few. As the study progresses, statistics will be extracted and this list might change.

The Records

Census Records

The following links lead to Free Space Pages for each Châteauguay census, with partial transcriptions by Andréa Boudreau. If you have ancestors who appear on a Châteauguay census, and they are not already linked on WikiTree, please contact Andréa to have the links added.

• 1842 Census of Châteauguay
• 1851 Census of Châteauguay
• 1861 Census of Châteauguay
• 1871 Census of Châteauguay

Parish Records

The indexing of parish records will start with the records of Sault-Saint-Louis, since a lot of Châteauguay residents' baptisms, marriages and burials recorded in those registers. Then we'll move on to the Saint-Joachim records, which began in 1736.

• Sault-Saint-Louis
• Saint-Joachim-de-Châteauguay

The Parishes on Originis

• Saint-François-Xavier de Caughnawaga
• Saint-Joachim, 1736
• Christ Roy, 1939
• Saint-Jean-Baptiste-Marie-Vianney 1958-2003
• Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption 1959
• Our Lady of Perpetual Help 1962

More information

• Wikipedia page for Châteauguay, in English
• Page Wikipedia pour Châteauguay, en français
• Site Officiel de la Ville de Châteauguay
• Histoire de Chateauguay sur le site officiel de la ville de Châteauguay
• Auclair, Elie-J., Histoire de Châteauguay, Montréal, Librairie Beauchemin limitée, 1935, 239 p. : ill. carte pliée, fac-sim. ; 25 cm., Collections de BAnQ
• Moulins à vent du Québec - Patrimoine du Québec
• Mémoire du Québec - Châteauguay (municipalité de ville)