Quebec Heritage News September 2004 __ _ Volume 2, Number 12 ___ Page 1 Military history – a special section Roderick MacLeod: Piano waited for son to come home Page 2 Did faulty charts, gauges doom bomber on anti-sub run? Page 7 A distant drum: The War of 1812 in Missisquoi County Page 8 Plattsburg Bay Naval Battle fatal to British commander Page 10 Defence: The story of Île aux Noix and Fort Lennox Page 11 The Kirke brothers and Champlain 1629: The year that Nouvelle France nearly vanished Page 14 Olivier Le Jeune – Canada’s first African slave Page 20 Englands Honour Revived: Unique ballad tells tale Page 13 Also in this issue QAHN launches Laurentian Heritage WebMagazine Page 3 TB researcher seeks traces of Mount Sinai Sanatorium Page 3 QAHN -- FSHQ conference: Two Solitudes: Myths and Realities Page 4 Revitalizing the English-speaking communities of Quebec Page 4 Potton archaeological sites sheltered from development Page 5 Bulletin of the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network Page 2 Quebec Heritage News September 2004 President’s message Music was an essential ingredient for any home Family piano waited for mother’s son to come home he theme for this issue of the Quebec Heritage News is been shot down in the African desert and was missing in action, military heritage, so this seems as good a time as any for that piano must have been a very conspicuous piece of furniture Tme to talk about my piano. indeed. It is, of course, a heritage piano. Older than me. Older than my My grandmother, who had seven siblings in the Montreal area, all house by 62 years. Already eight years old at the time it was of whom were quick to give advice, was apparently the only one presented to my grandparents as a wedding gift by the father of the among the extended family who firmly believed that my father bride – who was presumably not of the persuasion within was alive, contrary to evidence and in the face of a great many Presbyterianism that considered music somewhere between sympathy notes. She moved from what had been a family home suspect and evil. Far from it: for my great- into a smaller apartment – in, of all places, the grandfather, and one hopes the young couple, music Pickwick Arms. Significantly, her new home had a was an essential ingredient for any Victorian (or small spare bedroom for her yet unmarried son – rather, by then, Edwardian) home. Whether it was a who would, she knew, return – and enough room for practical gift for a household headed by an itinerant the piano. minister who changed rural congregations every few My father did, of course, materialize, having become years (and later a Montreal prison chaplain whose a guest (as he likes to say) of the Italian government budget favoured rented apartments) is beside the in Sulmona – only to fall off the radar again in late point. Music is music. 1943 when Italy capitulated and the freed POWs Which, of course, meant piano lessons. My two made a sprint for the tip of the Boot where the allies older uncles must have been exposed to the were advancing northward. Some were successful at instrument at some point, although the heady pace at this endeavour; my father not. Word soon reached which these boys chewed through medicine, home that he was now a guest of the German theology, and psychology doesn’t appear to have left government in a camp near Stettin – the one that was much room for music. My father and youngest not famous for the Great Escape. He was there until uncle, however, took to the piano like a duck takes to the Russians liberated him in May 1945, after which Schubert, and were soon making weekly visits to the he convalesced in England, returning ‘home’ at the home of Viola Benson. Miss Benson also lived in an end of the summer to welcoming mother, spare apartment – namely the Pickwick Arms, on the room, and piano. corner of Sherbrooke and Claremont streets in Westmount. I have That piano stayed in the Pickwick Arms until my father moved to somewhere a program from about 1935 featuring the pupils of Montreal West with wife and young son. The latter took piano Miss Benson in recital, performing such timeless classics as The lessons and practiced on this piano, often performing for his Happy Farmer and The Bobolink Waltz. The piano upon which grandmother, who was by then in her 90s; these sessions were my father practiced such numbers was by then four decades old. blissful ones for her, interrupted only occasionally by her asking I’m sure that listening to her younger sons play was a great joy for him whether he had any aspirations of becoming a minister. my grandmother. (Not that she was above applying a ruler to the When, in their late 70s, my parents moved into an apartment knuckles if she observed bad form!) This was especially so after (would you believe the Pickwick Arms?) they took the piano with her husband’s death and the marriages of her older sons. With the them. When my father gave up that apartment for a seniors’ outbreak of war in 1939 residence four years ago, Quebec Heritage News (‘Ah-hah,’ you say, sensing published by the piano went back to a military aspect to this story the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network Montreal West, where I at last!) and the subsequent President Roderick MacLeod was (and am still) living enlistment of three of her Executive director Valérie Bridger with my own family – sons (the fourth was an Quebec Heritage News editor Charles Bury who, yes, take piano American by then) the Heritage Trails coordinator Dwane Wilkin lessons. Oral History Project coordinator Ron Ratcliffe piano can not have seen Heritage Portal coordinator Matthew Farfan A well-traveled piano. much action. Office Assistant Kathy Teasdale Certainly part of our With my father’s departure 400-257 Queen Street, Lennoxville Quebec JIM 1K7 heritage, as are all the notes overseas in the summer of 1-877-964-0409, (819) 564-9595, fax 564-6872 that have ever been played 1941 it went silent. When, a [email protected]; www.qahn.org on it. And all the notes not Canada Post publication mail agreement number 405 610 004 year later, my grandmother Published with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage played. received word that he had – Rod MacLeod September 2004 Quebec Heritage News Page 3 QAHN matters QAHN launches Quebec Heritage Web, Laurentian Heritage WebMagazine History, travel meet at www.TownshipsHeritage.com he Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) photographs, information on Thas just launched its long-awaited Laurentian Heritage local heritage groups, WebMagazine. The event took place (appropriately) in historic sites, and other Morin Heights, in the heart of the Laurentians. An attractions, not to mention a enthusiastic crowd was on hand to get a peek at the new calendar of events, maps, site, and to hear presentations by links, and much more.” And of Rod MacLeod, President of course, he adds, “over time the site QAHN, and Matthew Farfan, will continue to grow, with new project coordinator and editor of material being added all the time.” the new site. For his part, QAHN President Rod As part of Quebec Heritage Web, MacLeod believes the QAHN’s new Quebec-wide webmagazines will “make it a Internet heritage website, pleasure to plan trips into the Laurentian Heritage regions of Quebec, where WebMagazine is designed to information is so often hard to find serve as a window on the history or is incomplete. It will also be a of the Laurentians, a guide to the treat for desktop travelers, who can region’s heritage, past and easily spend hours browsing in present, and a way to encourage these absorbing, insightful pages.” people of all ages to visit the “It’s an exciting project,” Farfan region in person. adds. “And hopefully, it’s just the Modeled on the highly acclaimed beginning – and what a wonderful Townships Heritage way for QAHN to fulfill its WebMagazine (created by province-wide mandate!” Townshippers’ Association three Together with Townships Heritage, years ago and now administered Laurentian Heritage WebMagazine by QAHN), Laurentian Heritage – and eventually, distinctive WebMagazine is the second of webmagazines for all the regions QAHN’s innovative regional of Quebec from Gatineau to Gaspé Internet magazines spotlighting – will constitute QAHN’s the province’s history and ambitious, province-wide website, heritage, with emphasis on the Quebec Heritage Web. history and heritage of Quebec’s English-speaking The Quebec Heritage Web project and Laurentian Heritage community. WebMagazine are funded jointly by Canada Economic Says Editor Matthew Farfan, “there’s some great material Development and the Department of Canadian Heritage. in there – local Look for the new site at www.QuebecHeritageWeb.com. history, heritage Townships Heritage WebMagazine, as always, may also trails, archival and still be found at www.TownshipsHeritage.com. contemporary Left to right: QAHN Executive Director Valérie Bridger, President Rod MacLeod, and Editor Matthew Farfan, following the launch in Morin Heights. (Photo: Dwane Wilkin) TB researcher seeks traces of Mount Sinai Sanatorium I am looking for any material concerning the Mount Sinai Sanatorium for a permanent exhibition on tuberculosis. These include photographs, architectural drawings, diaries, letters, objects, and memorabilia and that you would be willing to have reproduced or to donate. This is a government-funded, McGill-based project on the history of tuberculosis in Montreal and the Laurentians. – Valerie Minnett, 514-807-5851. valerie.minnett@mail,mcgill.ca The Bulletin of the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network Page 4 Quebec Heritage News September 2004 QAHN matters Two Solitudes: Myths and Realities French and English Perspectives of Quebec History, 1837-1867 s Quebecers, our perceptions and the lessons drawn from major historical events are frequently influenced by the Alinguistic community to which we belong, be it francophone or anglophone.