Village, Saint-Paul parish
Origin
Colonel William Fortune had surveyed land westward along the Outaouais river up to the South Nation River. In payment for his services he was given property where the village of Plantagenet is located today. This contract also included the rights to hydraulic power from the South Nation River. Fortune exchanged his property to settle his debt with Abner and Jonathan Hagar, immigrants from Weybridge, Bermont, and Montreal merchants at the time. The lumber industry had not yet begun in the area when Abner and Jonathan Hagar took possession of the property in 1811. When the war of 1812 began, Fortune returned to England and sold his remaining commercial interests to John Chesser. With Abner Hagar in 1812, Chesser constructed a dam on the South Nation River to generate hydraulic power to operate a sawmill. For the next several years Chesser played a major role in the development of the area.
During the post war depression, Abner Hagar suffered heavy losses from his many businesses and sold his interest in the sawmill to his partner, Chesser, in 1819, so that he could focus on farming. Chesser therefore became sole owner of the sawmill.
After having fought battles in Ireland and Spain, Colonel Kearns settled in Plantagenet-North in 1820, approximately two miles from the Chesser-Hagar mill. He eventually became justice of the peace and lieutenant-colonel in the militia, and was elected as a representative of the County of Prescott in the parliament of the United Canada. Among other settlers in Plantagenet-North, there were James Molloy, Peter Georgen and William Georgen who established homes on the 8th Concession. In little time employees built several small houses around the sawmill. J.W. Marston opened a general store.
The sawmill was later sold to a Mr. Hatt, from whom the village was once referred to as Hattville, or Hattfield. Upon the opening of the post office in 1838, the village was officially named Plantagenet. Peter McMartin opened another store, and with the growing population, a commercial atmosphere began to appear. McMartin later purchased Hatt’s businesses, including the sawmill, and also became the first postmaster in the municipality. One day he sold the business to Albert Hagar, a descendant of the founder, Abner Hagar. Thus the sawmill returned to the Hagar family. Charles Larocque also opened a store and played an important role in the development of the municipality.
Property on both sides of the South Nation River were subdivided by Hatt and Chesser, McMartin owned an adjacent property. The village of Plantagenet soon became a main center for North Plantagenet.
In 1843, Plantagenet became the area’s further most post office on the Montreal route. The prior year an appeal had been made to the government to pay for the opening of a riding path that would travel from Rigaud to Hattfield.
For many years the spring waters found approximately a mile and a half from Plantagenet were known for their rehabilative properties. The quality of this water was noted in 1832 during the cholera epidemic that flourished in Quebec City, Montreal and the Bytown (Ottawa). A lumber merchant named Cameron knew about the qualities of the water, gave some to his friends who noted positive results. It is even said that those who drank from this water would not die from the Cholera epidemic. In short order this water became highly recommended and consumed everywhere between Quebec City and the Bytown. The commercialization of the water source by William Rodden continued until 1865. He was a Montreal merchant who owned 1,300 acres of land in Plantagenet.
It was also in Plantagenet that the french canadians opened their first bilingual teaching school. On the 13th of January, 1890, this school opened it’s doors to teach english to french language teachers, as well as other school subjects from the english public school system. Thirty two students enrolled in the program in the first year. The program was very successful and a second teacher, David Chenay was hired to help the principal teacher. The teaching school received many acclaims as noted in a second enquiry in 1893 by the school commission. In 1901 the teaching school was transferred to Ottawa as a replacement could not be found for professor Chenay.
In 1839, Father Pierre Lefaivre, a priest from l’Orignal, came to celebrate mass every two weeks. He would travel on foot through the forest a distance of approximately 17 miles. He had a chapel built on the property of Peter McMartin, today the location of the St-Paul cemetery. The original plan was to construct all in one building, the chapel on the upper floor, and the presbytary on the lower floor. As there was not yet a resident priest, the chapel was built on 12 foot high posts with the intention of building the presbytary downstairs at a later date. This was never done, after a number of years the chapel was lowered from it’s pedestal.
The population of surrounding Plantagenet continued to grow over the years, in 1884 a new parish was formed in Wendover, and a new one segmented off for Treadwell in 1923.
The post office in Plantagenet was established the 6th of August 1838. In 1896, the Canadian Pacific Railway constructed a bridge over the rapids of the South Nation river. Log jams would occur at this location, because of the work involved in clearing the blockage the name Pitchoff was appropriately given to this bridge area.
Extraits et photo du livre " Histoire des Comtés Unis de Prescott et de Russell". Lucien Brault M.A., PH.D., et du Conseil des Comtés Unis, L’Orignal Ont, imprimer par Le Droit, le 4 janvier 1965.