History of Embrun
Dive into the fascinating French-Canadian history of Embrun, Ontario, founded in 1845. Our photo gallery and newspaper articles offer a wonderful glimpse into its past.
Jean Clément dit Larivière and his family at work, 1878 (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique)
Founded in 1845, Embrun is a town of about 7,000 residents located some 40 kilometres southeast of Ottawa, on the Castor river. It was named Embrun in 1856 by abbot François-Xavier Michel in honour of his hometown in the Hautes-Alpes department of France. Today, these two locations known as Embrun are twin towns. The inhabitants of Embrun, Ontario, are called "Embrunois" and "Embrunoises" in French, and “Embruners” in English. Prior to 1856, the residents had simply been called "les gens de la Rivière-du-Castor", or "the people of Castor River".
Many of the original inhabitants of Embrun came from Saint-Jacques-l'Achigan in Lower-Canada (present-day province of Québec). The first settlers, Théophile Simon Ayotte and Joseph Gignac, arrived in 1845. All they found were virgin forests of pine, spruce, hardwood and cedar. The settlers mistakenly thought that the soil would be fertile, but they soon found out that the land was flooded by the river for a large part of the year, making the soil too wet to farm.
Embrun's Pioneers
By 1851, Ayotte and Gignac were joined by J.B. Lamoureux and Michel Boudrias. Two years later, a more sizeable group arrived: Joseph Michaud, Théodore Sabourin, François Gagnon le Blanc, François Gagnon le Noir, Paul Sabourin, Paul Labelle, André Sarasin, Xavier Blais, Théophile Bruyère, J.B. Desormeaux, Isidore Lavictoire, Louis Sarasin and Simon Séguin. By 1855, they were joined by Antoine Tessier, Antoine Tessier (cousins), Charles Tessier, Charles Larose, François Normand, Thomas Dazé and Alexis Carrière. The following year arrived Simon Séguin, Fabien Gauthier, Jean-Baptiste Pilon, Dominique Mayer, Germain Brisson, Joseph Brisson, Michel Beaudoin, Joseph Dufort. In 1857, Jean-Baptiste Léveillé, Xavier Léveillé, Élie Bourgeois, Séraphin Marion, Marcelle Germain dit Bélisle, Paul Landry, Théophile Lapalme, Frédéric Langlois, Pierre Lafantaisie, Norbert Lachapelle, Jean Millaire, Joseph Clément, Théophile Lachapelle, Prosper Gosselin, France Gosselin, France Leduc, Edouard Blanchard, Pierre Rémy Mailhot and Vital Emard arrived. In 1858, Théophile Lapalme, Sigefroie Lapalme, Toussaint Gagnon, Jérôme Lévesque, Joseph Lalonde, Ludger Marion, Venance Bélisle, Joseph Robillard, Honoré St-Amour, Maxime St-Amour, Jean-Louis St-Amour, Joseph St-Amour, Olivier Emard and Norbert Emard (Potvin) arrived. In 1859, the pioneers were joined by Josué Lemieux, Joseph Piché, Joseph Goulet, Jules Roy, Clément Clément, France Leduc, Michel Bourbonnais, Jules Ménard, Augustin Dignard, Joseph Brisson and Médard Bourdeau.
Josué Lemieux, circa 1880. Lemieux settled in Embrun in 1859 and became a farmer (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique).
Lucie Demers, wife of Josué Lemieux, circa 1880 (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique).
Click here to see more photos of the town’s early settlers and their descendants.
Click here to see photos of Embrun’s 19th-century families.
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Thibeault in 1880 (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique)
These early settlers spent years chopping down trees and getting rid of the beavers that made their homes along the Castor river ("castor" means "beaver" in French). The river was also their only means of transportation, roads being non-existent. The men had to travel by canoe to Duncanville (present-day Russell) to fetch any supplies they needed. In the winter, they walked there on top of the frozen river. In order to pay for goods, they started making and selling potash.
Between 1852 and 1864, Embrun received sporadic visits from missionary priests. In 1856, the residents built their first wooden chapel by the river, hoping to attract a resident priest. Prior to this, the villagers would have to travel to Plantagenet, Gloucester, Ottawa or Montebello to attend church services. As devout Catholics, they were always at church for Easter, even if that meant a 15-day trip to attend mass. When the first chapel was erected, the population of the village and neighbouring townships had reached 150. By the following year, it was clear that the chapel wasn't big enough to hold all the parishioners, so a new church was planned under the direction of missionary priest François-Xavier Michel.
The family of Jean Millaire and their friends, circa 1900 (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique)
First Schools
École St-Jean, circa 1910 (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique). The building, located in front of the church, was demolished in 1963.
Father Michel also had the very first school constructed in 1858 near the village mill. In 1869, three more schools were constructed in the village, two of them Catholic and one public (which would become Catholic later, due to pressure from the local clergy). Two years later, a fourth school was constructed near Omer Maheu's store. In 1887, the Grey Nuns of Ottawa took over the school administration (prior to this, teaching was done by laymen and laywomen). Three more schools were opened between 1892 and 1905. These schools were all quite small in size, holding about 40 to 50 students. The villagers knew that a larger school would be needed soon. In October of 1907, after years of planning, a new, 2-story school was opened, capable of holding 210 students. It was called Saint-Jean, in honour of the patron saint of Father Jean-Urgel Fourget. Two years later, the priest requested from the government, and obtained, the approval to build a bilingual model school to prepare future bilingual teachers of Ontario. In 1935, the model school was moved to Ottawa and the Embrun building was converted into a high school.
Click here to see our Embrun Schools photo album and newspaper articles.
Embrun had a total of 183 families by 1859. The plan for a new church had to be revisited again to ensure its size could accommodate everyone in the village, plus others who lived nearby. By 1861, the second church was completed. The parish was called St-Jacques in honour of St-Jacques-l'Achigan, the hometown of many parishioners. In 1864, Embrun finally had its first resident priest, Father Morel. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great fit. Morel was said "to have a nervous temperament, and a lively and determined character". He did not feel at ease among the people of Embrun, "mistakenly believing that they were hostile to him". Canadians were men of faith, but they do not like to let themselves be imposed (Auclair and Forget 31).
From 1868 to 1870, the government had a large canal constructed in the northern part of the Castor river, allowing many lower-lying lands to finally drain. This meant that new lots could be cleared and new settlers could move in. Forests were slowly cut down, dispersing the animals living there, including wolves. Deforestation and the advent of the canal changed the industry focus from forestry to agriculture.
Miss Millaire and Miss Bourdeau weaving in the Millaire farm attic, circa 1898 (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique).
Wolf Tales
Speaking of wolves… Many tales are recounted about a strange wolf-like creature that appeared in the woods of Embrun in May of 1869. Though no one claimed to have seen it, it seems that everyone had heard it.
The Ottawa Citizen, 15 Dec 1934
The Ottawa Citizen, 23 Feb 1935
Father Jean-Urgel Forget with the confirmation class of 1912 (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique).
In 1891, the village of Embrun finally saw the completion of a stone church, measuring 150 feet long (inside) and 62 feet wide (outside). After the coming and going of many resident priests over the years, Jean-Urgel Forget became the seventh resident priest in Embrun in 1896, where he remained for nearly 50 years. Three years after his arrival, Forget came up with a plan to tackle the parish's debt stemming from the construction of the new church. He asked every parishioner to raise an extra calf than they normally would, and give it to him once it reached 18 months of age. It wasn't too much extra work for the residents, but the church managed to reduce its debt considerably thanks to this program. Click here to see our Embrun Religious Life photo album.
1897 construction of the New York Central Railway Bridge crossing the Castor River (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique).
Decades of relative isolation came to an end for Embrun in 1898 with the construction of the Ottawa and New York Railway line. Before the railway, houses along the river from that of Norbert Emard up to the cemetery constituted the "village". There were few businesses and farmers had to sell their produce in Ottawa or South Indian (present-day Limoges). When talk of a railway was first heard in 1897, the villagers pledged $10,000 to the project. Consequently, the rail line was drawn between Embrun and neighbouring St-Onge. It connected Tupper Lake, New York, to Ottawa, Ontario via Russell, Embrun, Finch and Cornwall.
At the turn of the century, more modern conveniences were introduced. In 1902, a telephone line was installed, linking Embrun to Russell and other towns. In 1909, sidewalks were installed on Rue Principale (main street).
Alphonse Larocque's sawmill at the start of the 20th century (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique).
The Ottawa Citizen, 30 Mar 1900
By 1910, the population had reached 2,657 inhabitants and 468 families. The town occupations included a mayor, three councillors, four justices of the peace, many farmers, one doctor, one notary, many merchants and business men and no less than eleven cheesemakers.
The middle of the 20th century saw a general population decline in Embrun, starting with the Great Depression in the 1930s. Similarly to the rest of Canada, the town suffered from rural depopulation in the 1950s and 60s, as more and more people headed to the city (Ottawa in this case) in search of economic opportunities. Another blow was dealt in 1957 when the railway closed.
Ironically, it was the growth of Ottawa which led to a reversal in Embrun's fortunes. The construction of nearby Highway 417, with the stretch between Ottawa and Vars being completed in 1972, meant that Ottawa was now accessible by car within 30 minutes. The population of Embrun steadily increased and is now a quasi-suburb of Ottawa.
Today, the town of Embrun has a small downtown with a host of businesses and a small shopping centre, three elementary schools (two francophone, one anglophone) and a francophone high school. Most of its adult residents work in nearby Ottawa, though the agricultural sector in Embrun is still present, especially in dairy and cattle.
The Marleau restaurant, circa 1930 (photo from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique)
Did you know? Singer Véronic DiCaire was born in Embrun in 1976.
2006 photo by Wikimedia Commons contributor Loghead1
2016 Census Stats:
Population: 6,918
Private dwellings: 2,542
Average household size: 2.7
Average age: 38.4
French is spoken most often at home: 52%
English is spoken most often at home: 47%
Image Gallery (1878-1950)
Unless otherwise stated, all photos and captions below are from Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique.
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Sources:
Auclair, Elie-J and Forget, Jean Urgel, Histoire de Saint-Jacques d'Embrun, Russell, Ontario, Ottawa : La Cie d'Imprimerie d'Ottawa, 1910.
Brault, Lucien, Histoire des Comtés Unis de Prescott et de Russell, L'Orignal : Conseil des Comtés Unis, 1965.
Yvon, Anne-Marie, "Villes d’ici, noms d’ailleurs : Embrun en Ontario", RCI Radio Canada International, 2013, https://www.rcinet.ca/fr/2013/12/01/villes-dici-noms-dailleurs-embrun-en-ontario/.
Statistics Canada. 2017. Embrun [Population centre], Ontario and Ontario [Province] (table). Census Profile. 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa. Released November 29, 2017.https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E.