Saint-Romain, near Lac-Mégantic, Eastern Township and Beauce, Québec, Canada

Saint-Romain

The municipality of Saint-Romain, founded in 1858 over an area of 113 square kilometers and perched in the Appalachian Mountains,has a population of about 650 and Romanoises Romanois.

 

Church of Saint-Romain

Historically, there are seven thousandyears,at the end of the ice age and the retreat of glaciers, the territory of the municipality was gradually covered with a large forest. One of the first Europeans to set foot in the region was the Father Druillettes of the Jesuit mission of Sillery during an expedition in 1646 to found a company to evangelizing mission of the Abenakipopulation.

 

However, the French had to give this land to the British after the war between Franceand England in 1713.

Gabriel Druillettes

GabrielDruillettes,priest, Jesuit, missionary and explorer, born in Carat (diocese of Limoges, France) September 29, 1610 and died in Quebec on ​​April 8th 1681.

Jesuit

Gabriel Druillettes entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus Toulouse July 28, 1629.

He studied philosophy at Puy taught Mauriac, Beziers and Puy, followed the course of theology at Toulouse, was ordained priest in 1641 or 1642 and traveled to NewFrance soon after completing his Jesuit training, August 15, 1643.

This missionary, whose name was selected primarily because of his explorations, has other titles to the memory of history. Among the Jesuits in NewFrance,none, perhaps, has made ​​an impression on the Indians too deep and too fast. No one, in any case, has allied with him the zeal devouring the gifts of miracle worker and conquering sweetness.

The sources show Druillettesfather as specialist hivernements with Indian hunters. A failure first decides his career. By September 1643, it must accompany Brébeuf among the Hurons;but is held in Quebec City by the Iroquois blockade. So we sent him to learn the Montagnais Sillery. In the fall of 1644, the Christian Montagnais ask him to accompany them to hunt.

Jean de Brebeuf

Druillettes share in November or December, also bears his luggage and chapel on his shoulders, short snowshoeing in the woods after moose layer in the dirt in the middle of dogs, sharing sagamite or the racket of indigenous and both their fasts of several days. The worst event is smoke shacks. Druillettes's eyes off gradually; he became completely blind and his companions must give a child to drive.

An old woman offered to treat him and scraped the cornea with a rusty knife. The cure is worse than the disease. In the end, the missionary assembles his people and asks them to pray with him. He begins by heart a Mass of the HolyVirgin.Suddenly, in the middle of the office, the day appears to him again, bright and lovely. Mass ends in thanksgiving and Druillettes no longer suffer eye

This is the starting point for his intercession extraordinary power in favor of the Indians, which will take him everywhere for a being amazing. Druillettes; make similar hivernements in 1647-1648, 1649-1650 and 1664-1665; these are documented, but there probably were others. He travels the woods ofnorthernQuebec,north of Tadoussac, on the southern shore, in the Matane and Notre Dame Mountains will be in Sept-Îles and goes to Lake St. John. Besides these winter excursions, he accompanied the Montagnais war and mademission regularly ​​Tadoussac during the summer. The natives flock of the most distant forests to hear his speech, take home and make themselves catechumens.

Abenaki

Father Druillettes is best known as the Apostle of the Abenaki. In 1646, influenced by Negabamatthese Indians, who inhabited the basin of the Kennebec River, asked a missionary. Druillettes father went 29 August Sillery to go home. He learned their language in three months, visited the Abenaki villages, the English settlements and even went to the Penobscot River by sea, meeting there the Capuchin missionaries in these neighborhoods. His prediction won the Indians, still supported by the amazing healings. Druillettes accompanied Abenaki hunting in the regionLake Moosehead(Maine),with the usual difficulties but gaining more and more confidence of his companions. From that moment, the Abenaki, without being baptized, were won to faith.

Moosehead Lake Maine

The Capuchins having demonstrated the superior of Quebec fears of a conflict of jurisdiction,  father Druillettes was not returned to Maine in 1647 or in 1648, despite the Indian authorities. But the Capuchin upper having changed his mind, Druillettes father returned there on September 1, 1650, with the given JeanGuérin.This time is Druillettes Ambassador governor of Quebec to prepare with NewEngland an alliance against the Iroquois.ILyalso did missionary work, gaining valuable friendships among the English, traveling almost all their country, and returned in the spring of 1651, with expectations that does not have much action.

He left on June 22 of the year, to exercise his apostolate among the Abenakis and continue his embassy. Frightful journey by a huge detour, since long time back had the St. John River to get to the sources of the Kennebecrepeatedly.; The Amazing effects of prayer missionary ravished Indians  they adopted him as one of their own and the English urged him to remain in the country. But he had to return in 1652, on the way eating boiled leather of his shoes, her jacket moose skin and the strings of his racket.

A worthy father Druillettes less known is that he was the true initiator the grandiose project of western missions. On the reports of Radisson and Des Groseilliers Chouartand also Indians met in Tadoussac,it is counted and, in 1655, the various tribes of these regions. In 1656, he left with Leonard Garreau to get there, having joined a band of Algonquins. Before arriving in Montreal Garreau was mortally wounded by the Iroquois and Druillettes, abandoned by the Algonquin, must turn back.

In 1661, he designed the fantastic plan to take this trip Tadoussac, Saguenay, and Hudson Bay. Claude Dablon and Guillaume Couture, he reached the line of the watershed, the lake Nékouba(Nikabau).But fear of the Iroquois, even in these remote areas, debauched his Indian guides, who came down to Tadoussac. Druillettes, body broken by so much misery, but still indomitable courage, had to wait until 1670 to fulfill his dream amount, crippled old man at 60, take charge of Sault Ste Marie.

There were repeated exploits middle age and chronic du Sault, in the Relations, lay each year extraordinary favors that illustrated his apostolate. Around 1680, the veteran of Christ is brought back to Quebec, where he died in his seventy-first year.

Saint-Romain

In fact, Saint-Romain, after its neighbor Lambton, remains one of the oldest municipalities in the region Granit. So, the first settlers of the area were Scots, mostly from the Isle ofLewis.

 

The first French Canadians arrived in the mid nineteenth century. These are the people of the Beauce underlying the parish in 1854 and named in honor of the Romanpope,who was Pope in the year 897, lasted only three months. Each settler who established it, settled on a lot that allowed him to cultivate the land and cut wood. Both activities allowed to feed the family and earn money for other needs.

 

Until the early 1960s, the city took the name of Saint-Romain-de-Winslow. The name evokes the origin of the second wave of colonists, Scots who left the Buckinghamshire Englishto settle in this parish . The word Winslow reminds JoshuaWinslow,paying agent of the British troops in Canada in 1790 and receiver general of Lower Canada in 1791.

JoshuaWinslow

JoshuaWinslow (23 January 1726 - June 1801) was a soldier, judge, and politician in New Scotia, Canada. He represented Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Assembly from 1770 to 1772.

He was born in Hampshire, Portsmouth,New  the son of John Winslow and Sarah Peirce. Winslow was a lieutenant in the regiment of William Pepperrell that attacked Louisbourg in 1745.

After the fall of Louisbourg, he was appointed Commissioner General for British troops in Nova Scotia. In 1758 he married his cousin Anna Green.

Joshua Winslow

With others, he asked a representative government in Nova Scotia. Winslow was justice and a lieutenant in themilitia.In 1764 he was appointed a judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. Winslow had planned to return to a residence in Massachusetts but decided to stay in Nova Scotia after the American Revolution had begun.

He moved to QuEBEC after he was appointed Deputy Treasurer for British forces in Quebec in 1782. Winslow served as receiver general of Lower Canada from 1791 to 1794. He died in Quebec City at the age of 75 after a long illness.

Saint-Romain

todayToday, the transformation of natural resources provides employment for a significant portion of the population of Saint-Romain. Tourism development, the resort and the outdoors are expanding in the region and are promising.

   

Population 717 inhabitants

Saint-Romain (municipality)

Area - 112.92 km2

Sun &

1844 Arrival of the first settlers from the Beauce and Saint-AnselmeSaint-Romain-de-Winslow..

1854 Opening of the records of the parish of  (April 19) Winslow Township Proclamation.

1858 (January 1) Constitution of the Municipality of North Winslow Township.

1859 Proclamation of the Township of Winslow.

1865 Appointment of the first resident priest.

1868 (12 February) Canonical erection of the parish Saint-Romain.

1923 population of the parish is 750 souls. . (September 16) Foundation of the Caisse populaire de Saint-Romain-de-Winslow

1962  municipality WinslowNorth adopts the name of Saint-Romaintragedy.;

1976 (6 November) fatalcrime; record: 1 dead; Gerard Desfossés Sûreté du Québec is murdered during a patrol check.
ÂAgent Gerard Desfossés murdered

28 years, having 4 years of service.
Gérard Desfossés Agent of the Sûreté du Québec shot dead in Saint-Romain, Saturday, November 6, 1976 during a routine check by a person who knew he was searched by warrant which had taken place at the back of the patrol car.

The Desfossés officer on patrol, stopped a car for speeding. He retrourné his vehicle to write a ticket and allowed the other driver to take place.A back seat of the patrol car. This was shot dead behind the head.

1990 The population of Saint-Romain is 657 inhabitants.

2000 population of Saint-Romain is 669 inhabitants.

2005 population of Saint-Romain is 721 inhabitants.
                                                                                                               

Toponymy

Mayflower

Winslow reminds a town in Buckinghamshire, England;also recalls Edward Winslow, Mayflower pilgrim in 1620, who was governor of the Plymouth Colony in 1643 to 1644, or Joshua Winslow, paying British troops and Receiver General of Lower Canada in 1791.

Geographical Landmarks

On the right side of basin of the St. Lawrence. At about 75 km northeast of Sherbrooke. Diocese of Sherbrooke. Regional Municipality Granite County. Tourist region of Eastern Townships. Directions: Route 108.

 

Sugaring

"Whether it is good"

Thanks to its 13 000 taps and modern facilities, the sugar bush school of Saint-Romain is an extraordinary laboratory for maple apprentices as for professionals in maple syrup production.

Saint-Romain is a wonderful village at the edge of the Eastern Townships, in the MRC du Granit. It is on public land in this municipality found one of only two maple schools that exist in Quebec. "The MRC du Granit is the second largest producer of syrup in Quebec," said Claude Roy, President of the Union of maple producers in the Eastern Townships.

"There is a significant need for skilled labor in maple, rating share Christine Bellavance, Director of Professional Education and Adult Education at the Commission scolaire des Hauts-Cantons. A study of Emploi-Québec has clearly demonstrated and this is what convinced the Department of Education to grant us a permanent approval to vocational education maple syrup.

"Fromtheory to practice

 

Opened in spring 2005, the sugar bush school covers an area of 50 hectares and has 13 000 taps. Candy is equipped, inter alia, an evaporator with oil (5 feet by 14), a separator in three membranes and two vacuum pumps ten forces. The sugar maple-school is not, strictly speaking, a school. Rather, it is a tool available to educational institutions or maple syrup for educational purposes.

The 16 students currently enrolled in a vocational diploma (DEP) in acérico-Forestry Family House Rural (MFR) of Granite are among the users of the sugar bush school. "This is an extraordinary laboratory for students," enthuses AndréCampeau,president of the cooperative who created the MFR of Granit. The school board appreciates advantage of a permanent installation. "Before, teachers were asked to move from a sugar together to form the students, says Yves Gilbert, Director of the MFR of Granit. They are happy to be able to use the sugar bush school. It is a modern sugar bush is more with a classroom, facilitating group work.

"SugarShack

Another DEP in maple, proposed this time for adults is offered by the Training Centre Le Granit. The sugar bush school is also used for specific training courses organized by the school board or by other bodies such as the Collective Training and maple maple Granite Club. Last spring, at an open house, we have, for example, proposed a workshop on the air-water collection system which has the sugar bush. Finally, it wants to the sugar bush school available to researchers, technical advisors and equipment manufacturers who want to experience some technical or give demonstrations.

 

Maple syrup

 

It takes 40 liters of maple sap to make one liter of syrup. How thirsty! But it is easy to make syrup and other maple products: simply drill a hole in the trunk of a tree, collecting the sap in a large bucket, to escape the rangers , turn on the stove and put the bucket on the fire by arming yourself with patience.

 

The recipe:

 

• For Maple Syrup: Boil the sap at 4 ° C higher than for water, that is to say, at 104 ° C
• for the maple butter: Boil sap 111-112 ° C;
• For taffy: 115 ° C
• For hard sugar: 118 ° C;
• Finally, granulated sugar: 125 ° C.

 

If this adventure does not appeal to you, there is a much simpler option: a visit to the sugar shack!

 

These are the Native Americans who find maple syrup, long before the arrival of Europeans. They pierce holes in the trunks of maples and attach to the bottom of the notch a wooden chip that carries the sap into a container also made ​​of bark. Then they boil the sap in clay pots to obtain maple syrup, sap containing 1% to 2% sugar
                                                         Exceptional quality

The management of the sugar bush school was given to NancyBoucher,who also supports the education provided by the MFR of Granit. Like Obelix in the magic potion, Nancy fell in maple syrup when she was little. Daughter and granddaughter of maple syrup, she furthered his education with the DEP in maple offered by the Vocational Training Centre LeGranit.

"We had an excellent production," she says with pleasure. Difficult to contradict when we know that 76 of the 80 barrels classified following the first production in spring 2005 were rated AA, while the other four were classified A. A part of this success is attributable to the new manifold and therefore free from bacterial contamination, but the expertise is probably also a factor.

                                                                   Securing the Future

Christine Bellavance, School Board Hauts-Cantons, wants continuing education in maple grows over the coming years. "Training is essential for the development of maple production, she says. We will continue to explore this area by drawing such a skills profile of workers in this sector. This will provide continuing education programs and to recognize the achievements of those who already have some expertise.
"Evaporatormaple syrup

AndréPiette,agroforestry Commissioner of the Local Development Centre Granit, is also convinced that training maple has a future. "With the introduction of the quota system, producers are limited in the amount they can produce, he observed. They did so only two possibilities to improve their income: reduce production costs or improve the quality of their product in order to make a better profit. To achieve this, they must regularly update their knowledge up to date, that allow the activities they can participate in the sugar bush school. "This should enable to involve the sugar bush school of Saint-Romain for many years.

It's relentless commitment shown by the Saint-Romain Development Committee which made ​​possible the up of the sugar bush school. "In 1993 and 1994, a study made ​​us realize that a quarter of the territory of Saint-Romain is made ​​up of public lands," says Pierre Richard, Chairman of the Committee. The municipality had no power to tax that part of the territory and the only beneficiaries of the resource were the holders of timber supply and forest management (CAAF). "To protect the sugar bush, we had to sign an agreement with everyone," said Pierre Richard.

Through these agreements and many other approaches, publiclands of Saint-Romain became an "inhabitedforest".This concept, put forward by the Quebec government, is to ensure that the benefits of the forest benefit the local community in a sustainable manner. The municipality is now receiving a land revenue and a  zone controlled(ZEC) has beencreated.

The introduction of quotas has forced the committee to negotiate for the board of agricultural markets a right to produce 15,300 pounds. The syrup sold ensures the self-financing of the project. "To achieve the educational mission of the sugar bush, we had to self-finance the project, explains Pierre Richard. This quota allows us to work to ensure the future of maple syrup.

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Rural Family House Granit (418) 486-2200
Vocational Training Centre Le Granit (819) 583-5773

Alain Laprise February 6, 2014