The Neilson Township is located in the unorganized territory of Lac-Blanc in

Portneuf Regional County Municipality Portneuf is a regional county municipality (RCM) in the Capitale-Nationale administrative region of Quebec, Canada. RCM of Portneuf has been established on January 1, 1982. It is composed of 21 municipalities: nine cities, seven municipalities, t ...

, in the administrative region of the

Capitale-Nationale Capitale-Nationale (; en, National Capital region) is one of the 17 List of Quebec regions, administrative regions of Quebec. It is anchored by the provincial capital, Quebec City, and is largely coextensive with that city's Communauté métropol ...

, in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Geography

Located on the north shore of

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

, about fifty miles northwest of

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, the territory of the township is irregularly shaped. It is an extension of the lordship Saint-Gabriel and fief Hubert. This township is part of

. This township is crossed by the Neilson River (Portneuf) and several small streams. The main water bodies are Aaron and Picard lakes.

Toponymy

Adopted around 1916, the name “Canton Neilson” (Neilson Township) honors John Neilson (1776-1848). For his work in public life, he contributed greatly to the development of the region since the early nineteenth century. Originally from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, he came to live with his brother Samuel in

, who was acquired from the ''

Quebec Gazette The ''Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph'', founded by William Brown (c. 1737–1789) as the ''Quebec Gazette'' on 21 June 1764, is the oldest newspaper in North America. It is currently published as an English language weekly from its offices in Queb ...

''. In 1793, John inherited the newspaper and printing. Upon reaching his majority in 1796, he became editor-owner of this weekly paper. In 1816 Neilson helped recruit European settlers, mostly

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, and encouraged them to settle in neighboring lordships and township in an area which later became

Valcartier Canadian Forces Base Valcartier (CFB Valcartier), now re-designated 2 Canadian Division Support Base Valcartier (2 CDSB Valcartier), is a Canadian Forces base located in the municipality of Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, north northwest of Quebec ...

. John Neilson was elected several times as member of Comté de Québec (Quebec County). He completed his final term as a member from 1842 to 1844 in the

Parliament of the Province of Canada The Parliament of the Province of Canada was the legislature for the Province of Canada, made up of the two regions of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada, later Ontario) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada, later Quebec). Creation of the Parl ...

. The name "Canton Neilson" (Neilson Township) was recorded on December 5, 1968, at the Bank of place names in

Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (English: ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicize Québec's place names and their origins according ...

(Geographical Names Board of Québec).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neilson, Township Geography of Capitale-Nationale

Geography

Toponymy

See also

References