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The following is our fourth excerpt from the "Private Journal" of Henry Joseph Martin, a resident of Stanstead, Quebec. Funding for transcription and research into this unique historical document has been provided in part by the Bélanger-Gardner Foundation of Bishop's University, Townshippers' Foundation, and through the Heritage Online Multimedia Enrichment Initiative of the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN). ____________________________________________________________________

The following is our second excerpt from the "Private Journal" of Henry Joseph Martin, a resident of Stanstead, Quebec. Funding for transcription and research into this unique historical document has been provided in part by the Bélanger-Gardner Foundation of Bishop's University, Townshippers' Foundation, and through the Heritage Online Multimedia Enrichment Initiative of the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN). ____________________________________________________________________

The following is an excerpt from a "Private Journal" kept by Henry Joseph Martin, a resident of Stanstead, Quebec. It is the first excerpt in a series of six to be published in Townships Heritage WebMagazine. Martin's diary, a large, leather-bound volume that has remained in private hands since it was written a century and a half ago, spans the period from 1859 to 1868.

Midnight in the European countryside, carrying all of their provisions, including their rifles and ammo, they waded through an ice-cold river, as they heard the sudden order to stop and stand still.

Did you know that maple syrup is the oldest agricultural product in Quebec? It all began with the native Indians who called it “Sweet Water.” When spring returned and the maple sap was running the Indians offered the boiled thickened syrup as a sacrifice to the Great Spirit. “Sugaring off” was largely a woman’s function in Iroquois communities. The men cut notches into tree trunks and small wooden troughs were stuck into the bark. In the early stages of European colonization the natives showed the arriving colonists how to tap the trunks of maple trees during the early spring.