1692A.4     Lawrence Goodhue ⁶  BIGELOW, son of  Levi ⁵ ( David ⁴ , Daniel ³ , Joshua ², John ¹), and Nancy (GOODHUE) BIGELOW, was born 08 October 1818 at Derbyline, Orleans co, VT. He married, at Chester, VT, Elizabeth Henry, born 28 July 1810. He worked for his father's lumber and mercantile interests in Stanstead, Quebec, and later in Buckingham, Quebec. He was active, when in the United States, in the anti-slavery movement. He made Burlington, VT, his permanent home, but due to his wife's health, made several trips to the south, seeking a kinder climate for her tuberculosis. She died 15 September 1853 at Burlington, he on 15 October 1867, also at Burlington, Chittenden county, VT. During his years in Buckingham, Quebec, he was recognized as a leader in the town, and donated the land on which St. Andrew's church and cemetery originally stood.

 Pat (Mrs. Edward) Bigelow, Fairbanks, Alaska sent me this information in a letter in 1983:  That there was a James Stewart Sr holding land in 1831 in Buckingham Twp Quebec according to land records.  She also said the township was formed in 1823 which made James Stewart Sr's family certainly a pioneer family.  This information fits with the information I've gleaned off the internet from an old newspaper - site is mentioned below: Quote from The Buckingham Post "In 1826 James Smith and his sons James, William, Rodney and John, settled on lots Nos. 13, 14 and 15 in range 6. Robert Donnelly with his wife, two daughters and grandson, Robert Ackert, came also in the same year, settling on lot 14 in the 5th range.
In the same year also a few other settlers came in, among whom were John Mar, James Stewart, John Cameron, who all settled in the 5th range on lots 13, 20 and 16 respectively."
THE BUCKINGHAM POST (also mention of Levi Bigelow 1826 farm in this piece) http://iquebec.ifrance.com/maclaren/bhampost.htm
Regards,
Elaine Bigelow
bigelowx@aol.com
................................
 THE BUCKINGHAM POST
Part 2
OPEN THOUGHTS

First Published in 1905

Republished May 17, 19?3

A copy of the Dominion Directory for 1871 lies before U9
this week. It is only a shade over 34 years since it was published
but oh' what changes ln the personnel of the business houses, the
town and other officials. The Postmaster was James Wilson; Secretary
Treasurer was Edmund W. Murray; tbe advocates were Charles Marcll
and Malcom MacLeod, Lewis O. Blondin and Joseph Lsbelle were the
notaries; the Doctors were Hi. H. Sauve and Thomas Ferguson; the
clergyman, Laurent R. Jouvent of St. Cregory's, John Rollit of St.
Stephen's, William Anderson of St. Andrew's.

The bookeepers for the lumber firms were J.W. Maclaren
for the MacLaren Company and Thomas Ritchie for l.emoyne, Gibb and
Company; the latter, witb some pardonable pretentions of being
literary, being the author of "Recollections of a Chequered Life"
and other books. HR went from Buckingham to Miontreal where he
entered into merchantile life on his own account, managing in a few
years to roll up liabilities of upwards of half-a-million dollars
with nominal assets.

John Lough was millwright for Lemoyne, Gibb and Company.
He was the inventer o£ a swage, which was at that early period
considered a wonder, but the labour of working it, combined with the
length of time consumed in swaging the Gaw, militated against its
coming into general use. A firm in Ottawa effected a slight
improvement in a couple of its prfncipal working parts, and started the
manufacture and sale of it. Mr. Lough considered the Ottawa
machine an infringement of his patent and entered suit, but he lost the
case

A clever invention in its day, but scrap heap long since became itG

resting place.

James Davis was the sadler; Joseph McClelland and Jeremle

Lahaie and George Currie were the principal carpenters; Daniel

Campbell and Peter McCoy were the Bailiffs; George D. Palmer the

constable; J.B. Lortie, the painter; Eugene Mayer, the tanner;

William Shirley, the butcher; Narcisse Jolibois owned the Gtage lin

the Uudson Bay had a Post here, Captain MacNaughton being the Agent

the Canada Plumbago Company was in operation then, Robert William

Warren being superintendent; the 'oakers were Willlam MacFarlane,

James and Arthur Kavanaugh and John Freeman.

John Gelineau and C]ement Desiardlns were the blacksmiths

Slster St. Augustin was Superioress of the Grey Nuns Academy;

Charles Campeau was the tinsmith; the Town boasted a potash maker

in those days, named Jacques @'Aoust; it had also a cooper, 'denry

Gormley, the Montresl snd Peoples lelegraph Company were the two

lines we had then. @illiam @ough was the operator for the former,

Donald Ur for the latter.

John Tomkins was in charge of the Catholic boy's school;

the name of Antoine La Victoire figures as a resident. We mention

his hame because he was a6sociated in our memory with a strike of

mill hands whicb occurred about 3871. He was one of the working

men appointed by the strikers to meet the great moguls of tbe lumb

firms for the purpose of arriving at a basis of settlement. Tbe

agreement reached wa@ not as satisfactory as it might have been fr

the strikers' point of view and La Victoire, as the spokesman of

the strikers' deputation was tabbed with the blame of it. In shon

eDing the men's hours it lengthened that of wives at the wrong end

in the morning. The hours kicked agaLnst were long, at first from

sunrise to sunset was exacted, then the hours were reduced to cons

titute the working day which occasioned the strike we are writing

of. Work in the mills began at five o'clock a.m., and continued

until 7 a.m., then a call-off for breakfast occurred, for the con-

sumption of which one got three-quarters of an hour. At dinner the

enjoyed another three-quarters of an hour for that meal; At 1@:45

work started agaia and the hum was kept up until 7 p.m. The basis

of the settlement was an eleven hour day - from six to six with an

hour for dinner. What the men objected to ln the settlement was

the omission by the strikers' representative to insist upon the em-

ployers releasing them of the penalty for lost time.

To obtain work in 1871 it was necessary to sign the stiffest of
agreements, a clause in it being the liability of the signed
to forfeit $2.00 per day for every day, or portion of a day, he was
absent from work without the consent of his employer or the foreman
in charge of the works.
When settlement time came every man jack on the job for-
feited $5.00 for the two and a half days of strike. The dissatis-
faction of the women arose from the fact that instead of getting
breakfast ready for seven o'clock, as before the strike, it was
necessary to have it ready shortly before five o'clock in order
that the worker could get to his work sharp on time . And woe be
to the man who happened to be five minutes late, he not only got called
down for it but lost a quarter of a day besides. Work was not so
easily got in those days as it is now, and the employer was corres-
pondingly arrogant. He knew he had the whiphand and let those
under him feel it. He was a regular martinet and the foremen, taking
the cue from headquarters, abused their authority on occasions.

We were never an advocate of allowing men their own way

for there must be some sort of discipline maintained in work where

large gangs of men are employed. But this can be done without re-

sorting to the injustice of the days of the great trade depression

which ended in 1879.

Among other living residents mentloned in the directory

were James Ryan, Benjamin Paquette, Hugh Keenan, Adolphe

Charbonneau

James Corrigan, James J. Cosgrove, Celestin Labelle, Luke Lalonde,
James McAndrew, Baptiste Renaud, Theophile ROSS.

THE FARMING INDUSTRY OF BUCKINGHAM IN OLDEN DAYS

by Desmond McNamara

(A student at St Michaels) 1925-1926.

The first farmers of Buckingham were Irishmen who had
been driven from Ireland by the famine in 1847, the potato crop
having failed. They were induced to take up farming in this dis-
trict while in "shantying" (a local expression meaning to do lumber
work) along the Lievre.

(Correction: In the year 1824 Levi Bigelow of Stanstead,
Quebec, came and built a shanty on lot No. 10 in the 3rd range and
commenced to farm. This farm that he cleared was known as the
Dugway Farm. About the same time Amos Donnelly settled on lot 12,
range 5.

In 1825 the family of Isaac Kendall and Major Corning came
to Buckingham and lived in a house of Mr. Bigelow's on lot 8 in the
3rd range until 1827 when they moved to lot 14 and 15, range 7.

In 1826 James Smith and his sons James, William, Rodney
and John, settled on lots Nos. 13, 14 and 15 in range 6.
Robert Donnelly with his wife, two daughters and grandson,
Robert Ackert, came also in the same year, settling on lot 14 in
the 5th range.
In the same year also a few other settlers came in, among
whom were John Mar, James Stewart, John Cameron, who all settled in
the 5th range on lots 13, 20 and 16 respectively.

John Prlce and Mr. Page settled on lots 21, 22 and 23 of

the same range. About this time also came Solomon Newton, who

settled on lot 13 in range 8.

In the year 1825 or 1826, Marcus Childs from Stanstead,

Que., took up land in the Township on lot 12, in range 4, and

returning home sent Simedore Noyes and his brother, harreD, to do

settlement duties on his land.

The first year theey raised a splendid crop of corn and,

as there was no way of grinding it, they, with Captin J. Smith,
who also had raised a large crop, drew it with an ox sled to the
Basin, put it in a canoe and started for the nearest grist mill
which was in Hull. They got as far as Kettle Island the first night
and there camped and early next morning continued their journey,
arriving at Hull somewhat later in the day.

From this time on settlers rapidly came in the townshlp
among whom were numerous Irish who settled in what is now known as
Connaught. They would have suffered a great deal only for the
kindness of Levi Bigelow who advanced clothing and provisions for
which he did not get pay for many years About this time Thomas
Burke and family came into the settlement and Levi Bigelow built a
house for them to live in, in which Mrs. Burke also opened a store.

In the same year, 1827, Onisimus Larwill a native of St.
Andrew's, Que. came to Buckingham, being a tinsmith by trade, and
settled on lot 17 in the 2nd range. Other settlers were Mr. Jamieso
who with his sons, Thomas, Adam and William, located on lots 4, 5,
and slx of range 7; John Pearson, with his sons, John Thomas,
William Daniel and Angus, settled on lot 2 of range 7; in 1829 Samuel Lough
and Lewis Dunning settled on lots 7 and 8 in range 6.

The land around Buckingham was sure to meet every man's
taste for some prefered hilly soil, and others liked the flats or
valleys better, for every man has his own idea about farming.
Each man, who desired to farm, had to procure it from the
Crown land agent who had the land surveyed and then would give the
owner the proper titles to it. Once on his land, the farmer's first
act was to build a shack and then clear up the land; it was a hard
and difficult task and it took a lot of time, but when he stuck to
it, his clearance gradully enlarged as the years went by.

The farming implements were of the simplest kind, nor were
they abundant; the prlncipal ones were a plow and a harrow. A yoke
of oxen were his ever reliable friends in tilling the ground, in
hauling his firewood or his logs, etc. As soon as possible he
would build a log barn to store his crops and a log stable for his oxen.
He had to fill up the holes between the logs with earth to keep out
the cold.

The principal articles cultivated were hay, oats and
potatoes, and when his crop was ready to be harvested he would
gather it in and make a "Bee". to thresh or flail it, i.e., beat
the grain stalks with specially prepared sticks to knock off the
grain.

During the winter season he would haul firewood and feed
his stock. The young men always went to the shanty for the winter.
Work being scarce during that season they would leave in the fall
after the harvest and return for seeding in the spring.
In the meantime, the older farmers would visit each other
now and then and their talks would generally be about the hard work
they had put in in bye gone days.

In the early spring they would make maple syrup, the
spouts were made of wood and also the buckets. They would boil the
sap in large iron pots; this was a slow and tiresome job but it was
the only way known in those early days.

The first parish priest of Buckingham, Father Brady,
settled on a farm about a mile east of the town. This farm is now
owned by one of his nephews, Mr. J.P. Brady of Angers.

The people at flrst had no roads for travelling, only a
path through the bush, so the Government decided to build a road
north of the Ottawa River for the farmers and lumber companies.
The work was confided to a contractor who was supposed to
build a road through the bush alike for carriage and cart.
After a few months' work the road was finished, his
biggest job had been to cut down tbe trees and when this was done, he
had two men to hold him on a cart and if he could pass without
falling off, he would say it was suitable for traffic; the trees were
cut but the stumps remained. Such (with a little exaggeration)
were the country roads at the time.

"Fair Day " was a day of rejoicing in those days. It was
celebrated on the 20th of October was a long looked for day by the
farmers who would come to town, trade horses, sheep or other cattle
talk and joke, and even quarrel and squabble some times.

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