A small village in Montérégie, booming in the early 19th century, disappeared shortly after the tragic death of its founder, who was crushed in his home.
Four kilometers as the crow flies from Saint-Anicet, in Montérégie, lie the remains of an old Scottish village called Godmanchester, also known as Rivière-La Guerre after the river that flows through it.
The river itself takes its name from François Benoît dit Laguerre, a woodsman working in the region around the turn of the century.
Photo agency QMI, Daniel Deslauriers
Montérégie is home to the remains of an ancient Scottish village called Godmanchester, also known as the Rivière-La Guerre village, in reference to the watercourse that crosses it. Only the walls remain of this church, built in the mid-19th century.
The brief history of this small village, not to be confused with the modern-day village of Godmanchester, which is about ten miles east near Huntingdon, begins around 1820 when Alexander McBain settled there and invited his countrymen of Scottish descent from Glengarry, Upper Canada, to join him.
In 1823 McBain opened a general store. Then in the same year a first wooden church was built. A little later, in 1829, two more general stores, a post office, a vicarage and even a first school were built in Godmanchester. At the height of its development, around 1830, the village had 16 families and 82 inhabitants.
“In the 1820s and 1830s the village of Godmanchester was the only town in the parish. Traders, craftsmen and seasonal workers are concentrated in this hamlet,” emphasizes Philippe Decloître, co-author of the book Saint-Anicet from yesterday to today.
“We’re getting close, but from as far away as Dundee and Hinchinbrooke [deux localités de la région un peu plus éloignées, NDLR] to sell potash there or exchange it for everyday consumer goods,” he continues.
Things go awry in the early 1830s, with the accidental death of Mr. McBain, who is struck by lightning in his home. His disappearance will result in the closure of his general store and cessation of forestry activities.
But other factors also contributed to the decline of the community. “The depletion of the canton’s pine and oak stands and the appearance of the first steamboats gradually prevented the village from being supplied,” explains Luc Quenneville, President of the Saint-Anicet Historical Society.
Photo agency QMI, Daniel Deslauriers
The President of the Historical Society of Saint-Anicet, Luc Quenneville
Added to this are the recurring floods in the lower districts. And then, around 1838, thanks to its location on the river, the new village of Saint-Anicet, with its general stores and shipyards, took advantage of steamboat traffic to ensure its development.
Today the village of Godmanchester is but a memory. On the spot one can see the ruins of a Presbyterian church built between 1847 and 1850. Their walls were solidified to keep them from oblivion. The old presbytery built across the river was demolished last year. Hundreds of former local residents are buried in the cemetery near the church.
By the way, if you look closely, you can see some foundations of shops and houses here and there. But nothing else.