Glengarry County, Ontario
Glengarry County | |
|---|---|
 Glengarry located within Ontario | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
Glengarry County, an area covering 288,688 acres (1,168 km2), is a county in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is historically known for its settlement of Scottish Highlanders. Glengarry County consists of the townships of North Glengarry and South Glengarry. It borders the Saint Lawrence River to the south, the county of Stormont and City of Cornwall to the west, the province of Quebec to the east, and the United Counties of Prescott-Russell to the north.
History
[edit]Glengarry was founded in 1784 by Gaelic-speaking United Empire Loyalists, mainly from Clan Donald, whose defeat in the American Revolution had caused them to become refugees from the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York. His Majesty's Government hoped the new migrants would help settle and develop the area, which first became known as Upper Canada and later as Ontario. The Crown issued land grants and helped with supplies during the first winter, in lieu of financial compensation for their confiscated properties in New York State.
Some other veterans received land instead of pay for their salaries, particularly the Glengarry Fencibles, a regiment organized by military chaplain Alexander Macdonnell, who later became the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Kingston. The county was named after Clan MacDonald of Glengarry, where Bishop MacDonell and many of the soldiers of the regiment had also come from.
Following an 1814 visit to the settlement, Dr. D. MacPherson wrote, "You might travel over the whole of the County and by far the greater part of Stormont, without hearing anything spoken except the good Gaelic. Every family, even of the lowest order, has a landed property of 200 acres... However poor the family (but indeed there are none that can be called so) they kill a bullock for the winter consumption; the farm or estate supplies them with abundance of butter, cheese, etc., etc. Their houses are small but comfortable, having a ground floor and garret, with regular chimney and glass windows. The appearance of the people is at all times respectable, but I was delighted at seeing them at church on a Sunday; the men clothed in good English cloth, and many of the women wore the Highland plaid."[1]
Understandingly, this prosperity in contrast with the escalation of widespread poverty in the Highlands and Islands caused by rackrenting landlords, the Highland Clearances, and the Highland Potato Famine, meant that Glengarry County long remained a magnet for new immigration from the Gàidhealtachd. The distinctive Canadian Gaelic dialect once spoken pervasively throughout the County has also contributed much to both Scottish Gaelic literature and Scottish traditional music. For example, poet Anna NicGillìosa (1759-1847) emigrated from Morar to Upper Canada in 1786 and eventually settled in South Glengarry, and a Gaelic song-poem in praise of her new home there survives. Following her death there in 1847, NicGillìosa was buried beside the (now ruined) St Raphael's Roman Catholic Church.[2][3]
The Glengarry Highland Games are another example of the county's historic culture, first celebrated in 1948. They have been held annually since, during the weekend before the first Monday in August. These Games are one of the largest of their kind outside Scotland, attracting visitors from all over the world. The original territory of Glengarry also included Prescott County, which became a separate county in 1800.[citation needed]
Glengarry united with Stormont and Dundas in 1850 to form the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.
Canadian Gaelic (i.e. Canadian Scottish Gaelic) used to be a common language in this region.[4] Though the number of speakers has steadily decreased over the past years and the last "fluent" speaker of the Glengarry County Gaelic dialect died in 2001,[5] those working towards a local Gaelic language revival have formed classes throughout Glengarry.[6]
Historic townships
[edit]Glengarry was originally divided east and west into Charlottenburgh and Lancaster townships, and then eventually divided into four townships. It has since been divided into North and South Glengarry.
- Charlottenburgh – now in South Glengarry Township, it was named in honour of Queen Charlotte.
- Kenyon – now in North Glengarry Township. Kenyon Township was taken from Charlottenburg Township in 1798, and was named from the English Chief Justice Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
- Lancaster – now in South Glengarry Township. Surveyed in 1784, it was first settled in 1785.
- Lochiel – now in North Glengarry. Lochiel Township separated from Lancaster Township on November 24, 1818. Lochiel was named after the chief of the Clan Cameron. This clan had many representatives among the veteran settlers.[7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Odo Blundell (1917), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland. Volume II: The Western Highlands and Islands, Sands & Co., 37 George Street, Edinburgh, 15 King Street, Covent Garden, London. pp. 186.
- ^ Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020), North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora, McGill–Queen's University Press. Pages 14-16.
- ^ Newton, Michael (2015). Seanchaidh na Coille/Memory-Keeper of the Forest: Anthology of Scottish Gaelic Literature of Canada. Cape Breton University Press. ISBN 978-1-77206-016-4. pp. 129-132, 522-523.
- ^ J. A. (John Alexander) Macdonell, Sketches Illustrating the Early Settlement and History of Glengarry in Canada, p. 150, Montreal: W. Foster, Brown & Co., 1893
- ^ McDonald, Rod (2001). "Alec McDonald". Electric Scotland. Retrieved 2006-04-26.
- ^ McDonald, Rod (2001). "Alec McDonald". Electric Scotland. Retrieved 2006-04-26.
- ^ Province of Ontario -- A History 1615 to 1927 by Jesse Edgar Middletwon & Fred Landon, copyright 1927, Dominion Publishing Company, Toronto
External links
[edit]45°15′N 74°35′W / 45.250°N 74.583°W
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