Crofters and Habitants: Settler Society, Economy, and Culture in a Quebec Township, 1848-1881The two groups arrived in Winslow Township in the middle of the nineteenth century, when modern state bureaucracy was just developing in Lower Canada (Quebec). Little was therefore able to examine a wealth of material from the departments responsible for crown lands, public works, and education as well as comprehensive data from the registry offices and manuscript census reports. This state-generated material, as well as a rich collection of Catholic and Presbyterian church records and documents from Scotland, provides the basis for a detailed analysis of society, economy, and culture in one isolated pocket of colonization. Little focuses on settlement patterns, population expansion and mobility, family structure and inheritance, farm production and labour, the role played by local merchants and millers, and the cultural significance of religion and education. He documents the differences which can be traced to ethnic origin but emphasizes the many similarities which characterized the adjustment of the two groups. Economic development in this geographical area was severely restricted by thin soil, rugged topography, and a brutally short growing season, coupled with the government's favouritism towards monopolistic lumber companies. Two viable communities did, nevertheless, take root, each drawing heavily on traditional cultural values and a history of economic resourcefulness in order to survive in an era of emerging industrial capitalism. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
Crown Land Purchases in Stornoway | 15 |
Settlement | 45 |
Population Expansion and Mobility | 76 |
250 | 85 |
The Family | 105 |
Farm Production and Labour | 134 |
Other editions - View all
Crofters and Habitants: Settler Society, Economy, and Culture in a Quebec ... J. Little Limited preview - 1991 |
Crofters and Habitants: Settler Society, Economy, and Culture in a Quebec ... J. Little No preview available - 1991 |
Common terms and phrases
acres agricultural ANQQ ANQS appears average Barvas birth Bouchard Canada West census census reports cent Chauveau claims Colin Noble colonization congregation Cookshire Cookshire Registry Office crofters Crofting Community crops crown lands cultural curé Eastern Townships economic edited emigration families farm farmers French Canadians frontier Gaelic grist mill Highland Highland Clearances History household Hs-SH Ibid infant labour Lambton Lauzon Lewis Lingwick location ticket lots Lower Canada Macdonald manuscript census marriage married McIver McLean Megantic merchants migration minister Montreal mortgage municipal neighbouring nineteenth century offspring Ontario parish Peel County petition population potatoes Presbyterian Church presbytery Presbytery Minutes Quebec ratio recorded registers reveals RHAF road rural saw mill Scots Scottish Séguin seigneurie settlement settlers Sherbrooke siècle social Société Society South St Francis district St Romain Stornoway suggests Table Toronto Trois-Rivières UCCA upper St Francis Whitton Winslow North Winslow Township