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Glengarry County, an area covering , is a county in the province of
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
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. It is still inhabited by the descendants of 18th and early 19th-century Scottish Highland pioneer settlers from Lochaber, was historically a Gàidhealtachd community, and Canadian Gaelic language revival efforts are currently taking place there. Glengarry County consists of the townships of North Glengarry and South Glengarry. It borders the
Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...
to the south, the county of Stormont and City of Cornwall to the west, the province of Quebec to the east, and the United Counties of Prescott-Russell to the north.


History

Glengarry was founded in 1784 by Gaelic-speaking
United Empire Loyalists United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Quebec and Governor General, governor ...
, mainly from Clan Donald, whose defeat in the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
had caused them to become
refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
s from the Mohawk Valley in
upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...
,
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, and, despite the fact that most Scottish Gaels in that Colony chose to be Patriots, from
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
.
His Majesty's Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
, as represented by the Governor General of British North America, Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, hoped the new migrants would help settle and develop the area, which first became known as
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...
and later as
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
. The Crown accordingly issued land grants and helped with supplies during the first winter, in lieu of financial compensation for their confiscated properties in
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. Other veterans of the
British armed forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...
during later wars received land instead of pay for their salaries, particularly the Glengarry Fencibles, a Scottish regiment organized by Roman Catholic
military chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases, they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term ''cha ...
Alexander Macdonnell, who followed the regiment's soldiers and their families to the county and later became the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Kingston. The county was named after
Clan MacDonald of Glengarry Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, also known as Clan Ranald of Knoydart & Glengarry () is a Highland Scottish clan and is a branch of the larger Clan Donald. The clan takes its name from River Garry, Inverness-shire, River Garry where the river Garry ...
, where Bishop MacDonell and many of the soldiers of the regiment had also come from. The Presbyterian
Gaels The Gaels ( ; ; ; ) are an Insular Celts, Insular Celtic ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. They are associated with the Goidelic languages, Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languages comprising ...
of the settlement, on the other hand, were looked after in early years, by Loyalist refugee Rev. John Bethune, formerly the minister of the Gaelic-speaking Barbeque Presbyterian Church in Harnett County, North Carolina. Even so, the unlikely friendship between the Presbyterian minister and the Catholic Bishop remains legendary today. Following an 1814 visit to the settlement, Dr. D. MacPherson wrote, "You might travel over the whole of the County and by far the greater part of Stormont, without hearing anything spoken except the good Gaelic. Every family, even of the lowest order, has a landed property of 200 acres... However poor the family (but indeed there are none that can be called so) they kill a
bullock Bullock may refer to: Animals * Bullock (in British English), a castrated male cattle, bovine animal of any age * Bullock (in American English), a young bull (an uncastrated male bovine animal) * Bullock (in Australia, India and New Zealand), an o ...
for the winter consumption; the farm or estate supplies them with abundance of
butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...
, cheese, etc., etc. Their houses are small but comfortable, having a ground floor and garret, with regular chimney and glass windows. The appearance of the people is at all times respectable, but I was delighted at seeing them at church on a Sunday; the men clothed in good English cloth, and many of the women wore the Highland plaid." Understandingly, this prosperity in contrast with the escalation of widespread poverty in the Highlands and Islands caused by rackrenting landlords, the
Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulted from Scottish Agricultural R ...
, and the Highland Potato Famine, meant that Glengarry County long remained a magnet for new immigration from the Gàidhealtachd. The distinctive Canadian Gaelic dialect once spoken pervasively throughout the County has also contributed much to both Scottish Gaelic literature and Scottish traditional music. For example, poet Anna NicGillìosa (1759-1847) emigrated from Morar to
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...
in 1786 and eventually settled in South Glengarry, and a Gaelic song-poem in praise of her new home there survives. Following her death there in 1847, NicGillìosa was buried beside the (now ruined) St Raphael's Roman Catholic Church.Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020), ''North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora'', McGill–Queen's University Press. Pages 14-16. One visitor during early settlement later recalled, "Anyone who ever saw the reaping bees by moonlight was likely never to forget it; a singer would come,
sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting or reaping grain crops, or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feedi ...
in hand, follow the bent form of the racing reapers (women and men) leading the solo part of a song which they, or their forbears, had learned in the Highlands, while the workers kept up time with great glee and good time... Although the young men did not handle the needle at quilting bees, they generally put in an appearance in the evening when the girls had accomplished that feat, but at
fulling Fulling, also known as tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate ( lanolin) oils, ...
bees both sexes participated and the fulling could not be properly carried on without the songs to regulate the time for the beating of the cloth with hands and feet." Over time, however, railway expansion into the region, economic downturns, and the
Anglicisation Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
policy in the Canadian school system took their toll. It also did not help that, similarly to Gaelic-speaking politicians in other parts of Canada, political leaders from Glengarry tended to side with pro-English language policies and routinely chose to deliberately antagonise
French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...
language activists, rather than joining forces to fight for their mutual
linguistic rights Linguistic rights are the human rights, human and civil rights concerning the individual and collective right to choose the language or languages for communication in a private or public atmosphere. Other parameters for analyzing linguistic right ...
. Furthermore, soldiers from Glengarry County were deployed against the
Upper Canada rebellion The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the Oligarchy, oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the Lower Canada Rebe ...
of 1837 and the Patriot War of 1838, which resulted in a letter of thanks from the Governor General. In 1879, a visitor from Scotland enthusiastically declared that the Glengarry dialect of Scottish Gaelic was better preserved, "with the most perfect accent, and with scarcely any, if any, admixture of English", in Glengarry County and in Cornwall, Ontario than in Lochaber itself. In 1884, however, one Glengarry writer lamented, "During the lifetime of the first immigrants the Gaelic language was much in use, so much so that knowledge of it was considered a necessary qualification for the Presbyterian pulpit. The common school, however, has brought the new generation to use the English tongue, and a Gaelic sermon is seldom heard, though in some isolated areas is in some measure of use." By the same decade, Glengarry County had also become a major center for outward migration, especially to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, "In proportion to size of territory and population, the district has sent more lumbermen to
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
forests, more
settlers A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...
to
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prairies, more hands to assist and direct the construction of railways, than any other on the American continent... effective reference may be made to the settlement in Dakota, where a new Glengarry is springing up." The Glengarry Highland Games were first celebrated in 1948. They have been held annually since, during the weekend before the first Monday in August. These Games are one of the largest of their kind outside
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, attracting visitors from all over the world. The original territory of Glengarry also included Prescott County, which became a separate county in 1800. Glengarry united with Stormont and Dundas in 1850 to form the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. Canadian Gaelic (i.e. Canadian Scottish Gaelic) used to be the main community language spoken throughout the region. Though the number of speakers has steadily decreased over time and the last "fluent" speaker of the Glengarry County Gaelic dialect died in 2001, those working towards a local Gaelic language revival have formed classes for heritage language learning throughout Glengarry.


Historic townships

Glengarry was originally divided east and west into Charlottenburgh and Lancaster townships, and then eventually divided into four townships. It has since been divided into North and South Glengarry. * Charlottenburgh – now in South Glengarry Township, it was named in honour of Queen Charlotte. * Kenyon – now in North Glengarry Township. Kenyon Township was taken from Charlottenburg Township in 1798, and was named from the English Chief Justice Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon * Lancaster – now in South Glengarry Township. Surveyed in 1784, it was first settled in 1785. * Lochiel – now in North Glengarry. Lochiel Township separated from Lancaster Township on November 24, 1818. Lochiel was named after the chief of the Clan Cameron. This clan had many representatives among the veteran settlers.'' Province of Ontario -- A History 1615 to 1927'' by Jesse Edgar Middletwon & Fred Landon, copyright 1927, Dominion Publishing Company, Toronto


See also

*
List of Ontario census divisions The Province of Ontario has 51 first-level administrative divisions, which collectively cover the whole province. With two exceptions, their areas match the 49 census divisions Statistics Canada has for Ontario. The Province has four types of ...
* List of townships in Ontario * Canadian Gaelic


References


Further reading

* Edited by Fleming, Rae (1994), ''The Lochaber Emigrants to Glengarry'', Natural Heritage / Natural History, Inc.
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. *


External links


Glengarry County Archives
official website
Township of South Glengarry

Township of North Glengarry


{{Authority control Canadian Gaelic Former counties in Ontario * Scottish-Canadian culture in Ontario