Here is an article I found in the autumn 1937 edition of the McGill News. It is written by Edith! Edith was a history buff--but I already knew that.  She is cited as a source for information on  Education in Richmond County in the book Tread of Pioneers.  She was also a good writer. Her style is restrained yet elegant, much like her personality.   I think she would have LOVED this Tighsolas website! She certainly would have been thrilled that some of the Nicholson Family Letters are being used at the McGill Faculty of Education, in 2007,  to enlighten fourth year student-teachers about life in the era of suffragettes and shirtwaists. In 1937 Edith was Assistant to the Registrar at McGill. I assume, as Edith's heirs, we have reprint rights. Here's her bio on this site.

After the defeat of Montcalm of the Plains of Abraham when the English took possession of New France, it was found that there was a large tract of forest wilderness on the south bank of the St. Lawrence River known only to the Indians and coureurs de bois.

Looking forward to an influx of settlers from the Mother Country the new rulers offered this land to immigrants upon a tenure known as "full and common socage" - a system quite different from the seignorial tenure introduced under the French regime. Farmers wishing to settle in this section were requested to form themselves into small groups of about forty persons, known as 'associates' with one of their number empowered to act as land agent in arranging all settlements with the Government. In exchange for the free grants of land these 'associates' were required to accept certain obligations - such as those pertaining to expense of surveying and building roads and the construction of mills within their territory.  Since 1792 these early settlements have been known as the Eastern Townships.

During the years previous to the American Revolution, the first settlers made their way into this unoccupied area. They comprised English, Scottish and Irish colonists from the Old Land.  In 1776 and the following years, a small group of United Empire Loyalists expelled from the American colonies established new homes in this section of Quebec. A second group of immigrants to the Eastern Townships who came about the same time, contrasted oddly with the United Empire Loyalists. They were Americans who had fought against Britain in the War of Independence but availed themselves of the free offer of lands and once more found themselves under British rule.  Historians have completely ignored the fact that the large majority of the people coming from New England States were in reality "rebels" and have pictured the Eastern Townships as being peopled wholly by United Empire Loyalists.

Coming into this forest land to settle, some of the early pioneers followed the old Indian trails of foot, carrying their axes and provisions on their backs.  Others drove their oxen along the river banks to the new settlements, while a few, coming from Montreal or Three Rivers, took advantage of the frozen river to make their journey less arduous.

The settlers were faced with many difficulties. The New Englanders were a stern, hardy people, self reliant, independent and energetic, and therefore, it is not surprising that they succeeded against all odds that seemed overwhelming. They had high ideals, a devotion to freedom, and the custom of self-government.  They mingled with the Scottish immigrants, who brought as their contribution to the new land a love of education and religion. The Scots may have brought little material wealth across the ocean but they held fast to the traditions of the past, and mention of their contribution would be incomplete if it failed to include the fact that they built the first school house, and that in many places it served for a church and place of justice as well.  The grave difficulties of the settlers to find means of educating their children was expressed in a report of the Commission of Education in 1832: "Anxiety which Eastern Township people express for education and the sacrifices they make to procure it for their children are among the most marked characteristics of the population.

On May 24, 1798, Elmore Cushing came with his family to Shipton County to claim a grant of land of 100,000 acres which he had received from the British Government as a reward for an act of loyalty to the Crown in giving information on a case of high treason during the American Revolution.  Travelling by the Indian route which connected the Connecticut River with the St. Francis, via Lake Memphremagog and the Magog River, a route employed the Abnaki Indians in their many raids on the  New England settlers, the first settler made his way to Richmond County.

As the community began to grow and once the settlers had established themselves on their new lands, projects to benefit the entire settlement began to be considered. The first of these was the building of a road to Quebec City through the Townships. The route had been traced out in 1800, and when the Governor Craig realized that this route would serve as a cheap means of transporting products to Quebec City, he undertook the immediate completion of the road. At a later date, the road was extended to Montreal and provided a highway for the transportation of military troops from Quebec to Montreal.  To the people of this township the celebrated Craig road linked them with the two largest centres of Canada in that day.

Click for second page of article.