History Articles

1. Which town in the Eastern Townships takes its name from a Roman Catholic pope?
a) Bishopton
b) Piopolis
c) Saint-Romain

2. The name "Nigger Rock," derogatory in nature, but very old, refers to what?
a) A point on Lake Champlain said to have been a landing site for runaway slaves from the American South.
b) The auction block in Sherbrooke where slaves were sold before the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1831.
c) An old slave burial ground near Saint-Armand.

1. b) Piopolis, on the western shore of Lake Megantic. A number of Papal Zouaves were among the first settlers in this area. The Zouaves were Catholic soldiers recruited to defend Rome and Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) against the armies of Garibaldi.
2. c) An old slave burial ground near Saint-Armand, the site of a once sizeable black community. The name "Nigger Rock" is officially recognized by the Quebec Toponymy Commission.
3. c) Frelighsburg. The term "Slab City" is said to have come from the large quantities of "slabs" of wood found in the village.

1. Billy Connor was the first person to accomplish which aquatic feat?
a) Diving to the bottom of Lake Massawippi
b) Kayaking the St. Francis River all the way from Sherbrooke to the St. Lawrence
c) Swimming the length of Lake Memphremagog

2. Who built Canada's first gasoline powered automobile?
a) Henry Seth Taylor
b) Frank Sleeper
c) George Foote Foss

1. c) William Francis (Billy) Connor was the first to swim Lake Memphremagog (or at least the 40 km stretch from Newport, Vermont to Magog, Quebec). He accomplished this feat in August of 1955 in 18.5 hours. Many people are familiar with the more recent "Traversée internationale du lac Memphrémagog," which has taken place every summer since 1979 between Newport and Magog.

2. c) George Foote Foss, of Sherbrooke, in 1897.

3. a) Reginald Fessenden, in 1900. (Guglielmo Marconi had sent the first wireless messages by Morse Code).

1) What was the Abenaki name for the place later known as Sherbrooke?
a) Ktinékétolékouac (meaning "big forks")
b) Ktouchibouguic (meaning "big place")
c) Ktiketkineketouakic (meaning "big place to party")

2) In whose honour is Bishop's University in Lennoxville named?
a) Billy Bishop, the famous World War I fighting ace
b) George J. Mountain, the 3rd Anglican Bishop of Quebec
c) John J. Bishop, a pioneer educator

1) a; 2) b; 3) b; 4) a; 5) c; 6) b; 7) a; 8) a La Tribune (1910); Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke (1939); Université de Sherbrooke (1954); 9) b; 10) b

1) What beverage did early Townships pioneers derive from one of their first crops?
a) Pumpkin schnapps
b) Carrot wine
c) Potato whisky

2) Up until well into the 1830s, Townshippers complained often for better services. One of their biggest gripes was that they could not get their produce to market. Why was that?
a) Roads were terrible or non-existent.
b) They had no horses to transport their goods, and what horses they did have were lame
c) The fares on the public bus system were too expensive

1. c) Potato whisky. According to early Townships historian Benjamin Hubbard, a bushel of potatoes yielded about a gallon (4.5 litres) of whisky. Said Hubbard: "In some cases, the whisky trade was profitable, but its general tendency was to exhaust the farms and blight the prospects of the early settlers."
2. a) The roads were terrible or non-existent.
3. b) The Temperance Movement. Prohibition was a later offshoot.
4. b) The Asbestos Strike of 1949, which was unprecedented in Quebec history for its level of union solidarity.

1. According to folklore, why were round barns round?

a) Because the darkened corners found in traditional barns were thought to harbour the devil
b) Because it was harder to clean the manure out of the corners found in traditional barns
c) Because children could avoid chores by hiding in the corners found in traditional barns

2. How did Owl's Head Mountain get its name?

1. a) The idea that round barns were built that way to prevent the devil from hiding in the corners has long been associated with the Shakers of New England. Round barns in the Townships, however, were built purely for practical reasons. Greater ease in feeding and cleaning the cattle, better light, and aerodynamics all played a part.

2. b) According to tradition, the mountain is named after Owl, a local Abenaki chief.

3. c) Memphré. Named after Lake Memphremagog, sightings of the legendary beast date back nearly two centuries.