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  • Evans, Maria Stewart

    Evans, Maria Stewart Back to ALL Bios Dean Evans's first wife, but what else can we find?? Evans, Marie Stewart 1850 - 1903 She was the first wife of Dean Lewis Evans so the mother of Trevor Evans and grandmother of Ainslie Stephen, Phoebe Skutezky, and Trevor and Tim Evans. Said to have the nick-name “Mae the Flirt” (!) Described as Maria in her birth record, and Marie in the marriage index, (It says Marie on her plaque) her full name was Maria Stewart Bethune, born August 20 1840, the second of four children (all girls) of Strachan Bethune (1821-1910) and Maria MacLean Phillips (1826-1901). In 1873 at the age of 23, Maria Stewart Bethune married Dean Thomas Frye Lewis Evans (1845-1920) (he was one of 12 children of an Irish rector called Francis Evans). Dean T.F. Lewis Evans and Maria Stewart Bethune had 5 children: Harry Basil Ashton (1873 – 1958), Muriel Maye (1877 – 1952) Trevor Ainslie (1878 or 9 – 1938 or 9), Cyril Lewis (1882 or 3 – 1887), Ruby Bethune (1885 – 1947). The Dean had a sixth child, Lewis Evans, with his second wife Emily, also a Bethune. In 1903 she (Maria) died at age 63 and is buried in Mount Royal Cemetery. Alan Evans

  • Smith, Charles Carington & Aileen (Dawson)

    Smith, Charles Carington & Aileen (Dawson) Back to ALL Bios ​ Charles Carington Smith 1867 - 1952 & Aileen (Dawson) Smith 1874 - 1959 Charles was the third son of Robert Harcourt Smith and Amelia Jane (LeMesurier) of Quebec City. He was educated at Upper Canada College. His banking career began with the Toronto branch of the Quebec Bank. He won many awards in the 1890s for rowing and canoeing. In the early 1900s, he moved to Quebec, continuing his career with the Quebec Bank, and was a member of the Quebec Bank hockey team that won the bank hockey championships in Montreal in 1900. In 1901 Charles married Aileen Dawson. Aileen was the daughter of Col. George Dudley Dawson and his wife of County Carlow, Ireland, and was born in Toronto. Charles and Aileen had four children: Doris Amelia (1902), George Noel (1904), Herbert, (1906), and May (1908). Their daughter Doris married Jack Molson and their Molson descendants continue to summer in Tadoussac. The family moved to Montmorency Falls where they lived for the rest of Charles’s working career, which continued with the Royal Bank of Canada after their take-over of the Quebec Bank in 1917. They retired to Kingston, Ontario from where annual summer visits to Tadoussac were much enjoyed. Eve Wickwire

  • Molson, Doris Amelia (Carington Smith)

    Molson, Doris Amelia (Carington Smith) Back to ALL Bios ​ Doris Amelia Carington Smith 1902 - 1975 Born in York (Toronto) on October 15, 1902, Doris was the first of three children whose parents were Charles Carington Smith (a Quebec City banker and first generation Canadian in a family from Hertfordshire) and Aileen Dawson. Aileen’s father, the renowned McGill scientist George Dudley Dawson, also had connections to Tadoussac in its earliest days as a summer resort. Doris was raised in a sprawling Victorian house built at the top of Montmorency Falls. She had a younger brother Noel, and a younger sister May. As a girl, Doris took up figure skating, swimming, and golfing, and pursued these sports into her adulthood. The family spent their summers in Tadoussac. She was 20 years old when she was invited to a debutante party held on board the H.M.S. Hood, a military ship anchored in the St. Lawrence River at Quebec in August of 1924. There she met another of the guests, Colin John Grasset “Jack” Molson, age 21. They fell in love and were married two years later. Their son Robin was born in 1929 and their daughter Verity in 1932. Doris was small and spirited, bright and energetic, devoted to her family and her friends. She always had a much-adored dog whom she would train to do extraordinary tricks. Doris was especially known for her warmth and sociability, her concern for others, and her love for Tadoussac. Here, in the 1950s, she hosted bread-making parties where bread would be baked in their iconic outdoor clay oven, and in the 1960s and early 70s, her cocktail parties were lively occasions. Early every morning, weather permitting, she would go down to the beach for a bracing swim in the bay. Later she would rouse up friends and neighbours for picnics, or Sunday evening bonfires on Indian Rock. She was also a mainstay of the Tadoussac Protestant Chapel, where, when she wasn’t playing the organ herself, she sat as close to the organist as possible so that her singing voice would give encouragement to the player. Her faith was strong. Had Doris been able to choose the manner of her passing, she may have well chosen to go the way she did. On July 14, 1975, she was enjoying a game of golf at the Tadoussac Golf Club with her best friends when she began to feel dizzy. She sat down; her heart failed; her friends gathered around her. She was 72. Karen Molson

  • Rhodes, Monica

    Rhodes, Monica Back to ALL Bios ​ Monica Rhodes 1904 – 1985 Monica Rhodes was born on April 7th, 1904, in Sillery, Quebec, and died in Montreal in 1985. Her father was Armitage Rhodes (born in 1848) and her mother was Katie von Iffland of Sillery, Quebec, the daughter of Reverend von Iffland and the second wife of Armitage Rhodes. She was the sister of Armitage (Peter) Rhodes and half sister of Dorothy Rhodes and of Charlie Rhodes. Monica’s father, Armitage, died in 1909 and a couple of years later her mother took her young family to England. She lived first in Caterham, Surrey, where she attended Eothen School, along with Imogen Holst, daughter of the musician and composer Gustav Holst. After the end of the First World War, her family moved to St Marychurch, Devon and finally, after her younger sister’s marriage, to Chiddingfold, Surrey. After her Mother died in 1938, Monica studied at St Christopher’s College, Blackheath to be able to work for the Anglican Church in Canada. She served as a Bishop’s Messenger in Manitoba. She was deeply religious and after she retired, she moved to the Town of Mount Royal where she was a member of St. Peter’s Anglican Church. Monica often stayed with her sister Dorothy, Grace Scott, and at Boulianne’s Hotel during the summer in Tadoussac. Monica is interred in the Rhodes family plot at Mount Hermon Cemetery in Sillery, Quebec. Michael Skutezky

  • Barnston, George

    Barnston, George Back to ALL Bios ​ George Barnston 1800 - 1883 The following biography of George Barnston (1800 – 1883) was drawn from The Dictionary of Canadian Biography. He comes across as a hard-working and very intelligent man, who worked hard and successfully for the Hudson’s Bay Company. He developed a strong interest in botany and insects and his study in that area was recognized by professionals in those fields. There is a window in the Tadoussac Chapel dedicated to his memory. George Barnston was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and educated as a surveyor and an army engineer. He joined the North West Company in 1820 (at 20 years old) which united with the Hudson’s Bay Company a year later. Barnston started his career as a clerk at York Factory in Manitoba, then transferred to the Columbia District in 1826, where he was to assist Amilius Simpson in surveying the Pacific Coast. In that job he deemed Simpson to be incompetent and did most of the work himself. He then helped James McMillan to establish Fort Langley (near present-day Langley, B.C.) before serving in two other forts in what is now Washington State. Records indicate that from 1825 until the mid-1830s, Barnston was frustrated and unhappy. Simpson described him as “touchy . . . and so much afflicted with melancholy or despondency, that it is feared his nerves or mind is afflicted.” Barnston felt that advancement was not coming quickly enough. He attacked Simpson in a letter and even resigned, but he was deemed a valuable employee and in 1832 he rejoined the service. In 1829 he had married Ellen Matthews, a mixed-blood daughter of an American Fur Company employee and he subsequently fathered 11 children. The oldest of these was James, who, in 1847 went to Edinburgh for a medical degree. At his death in 1858, he was a professor of botany at McGill College in Montreal. George Barnston’s writings and other records of these years also reflect much personal sensitivity and introspection, and a strong moral sense which was respected by Simpson, who described him as “high spirited to a romantic degree, who will on no account do what he considers an improper thing, but so touchy and sensitive that it is difficult to keep on good terms or to do business with him. . . . Has a high opinion of his own abilities which are above par. . . .” This portrait is reflected in the one Barnston gives of himself in his letters to his friend and fellow trader James Hargrave. In the ten years following his re-employment with the HBC, Barnston served in the northern US and in Ontario where his work was well-respected and he was able to develop a friendship with his old adversary, James Douglas. It was after a year’s furlough in England that Barnston was appointed to Tadoussac in 1844, a move that he said made possible “having my children better educated, an object ever near to my heart.” It is likely that education took place in Montreal, as Tadoussac would have been a very isolated and undeveloped community at that time. In fact, Barnston described Tadoussac as “an extended, troublesome, and complicated” charge, (as Simpson had warned him it would be); one beset by free traders, smugglers, and encroaching settlement. But it was an opportunity for him to prove his abilities and justify Simpson’s confidence in him, and in March 1847 he was promoted to chief factor. He served in Tadoussac for 7 years, then later took posts in Manitoba and Ontario before retiring to Montreal in 1863. Even in retirement, Barnston did not go quietly. The HBC was sold to the International Financial Society without consulting the company officers. Barnston corresponded with the London secretary in 1863 regarding the protection of the interests of commissioned officers of the company, and travelled to England the following year on what his friend James Hargrave called the “sleeveless errand” of telling the company directors that they had “treated their old officers of the Fur Trade very scurvily.” Retirement freed Barnston to pursue scientific research, primarily in botany and the study of insects - areas in which he had already done a great deal of work in the field and as a writer. At Martin Falls, Barnston first studied insects and he also kept a journal of temperature, permafrost, flora, and fauna of the area for the Royal Geographical Society of London. On furlough in England in 1843–44, he visited several scientific societies. “Finding that I was kindly received at the British Museum,” he wrote to George Simpson, “I handed over without reservation all my Collection of Insects to that Institution, at which the Gentlemen there expressed high gratification.” Over half his specimens were new to the museum. He later gathered an extensive herbarium at Tadoussac, which he described in his correspondence with Hargrave, and in 1849–50 sent a collection of plants to Scotland. He also supplied specimens to the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.) and to McGill College. After 1857 he frequently published articles, mainly in the Canadian Naturalist and Geologist. An active member of the Natural History Society of Montreal, he served as its president in 1872–73 and later became a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1882. It would appear that in his retirement, George Barnston lived in Montreal but spent summers in Tadoussac studying the natural world. George Barnston died in Montreal in 1883, and the funeral was held at Christ Church Cathedral. The Royal Society of Canada paid tribute to Barnston as both a “diligent naturalist” and “a man of kind and amiable character, loved and respected by all who knew him.” Note: The painting at the top of this page is of George Barnston. Barnston is the central figure in the painting wearing the traditional Hudson’s Bay Company coat. Alan Evans

  • Watt, Frances McIntosh

    Watt, Frances McIntosh Back to ALL Bios ​ Frances MacIntosh Watt – d. 1876 There is a window at the back of the church dedicated to the memory of Frances MacIntosh Watt but we have been able to find out very little about her. We know she died on July 1st, 1876 and that she was buried in Outremont, Montreal, Quebec at the Mont-Royal Cemetery. The tombstone is inscribed: FRS. MACINTOSH wife of DAVID A. WATT DIED 1ST JULY 1876 NEIL MACINTOSH, BROTHER ISABELLA McLEAN, cousin Her husband was originally named David Allan Poe and apparently changed his name to Watt. He went by Poe in the 1861 census and when he was married to Frances in 1857. However, he signed as D. A. P. Watt on the original chapel subscriber's list of 1866. David and Frances had four children, three girls, and a boy, but even in David’s obituary below the girls are not identified by name. He seems to have died in 1918. Mr. David Allan Watt Passed Away in 88th Year (Obituary) The death of Mr. David Allan Watt took place last Thursday at his residence, 285 Stanley Street. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1830, and was thus eighty-eight years of age. He was educated at the Grammar School, Greenock, came to Canada in 1846, and was one of the organizers of the Corn Exchange, the Citizen’s League, and the Montreal Art Association. He was the editor of the Canadian Naturalist. In 1857 he married Miss Frances Macintosh, his wife predeceasing him in 1876. He is survived by his four children, Mrs. F. H. Whitmore and the Misses Watt, of Montreal, and Mr. Allan Watt, of Rocky Mount, N. C.

  • Smith, George Noel Carington

    Smith, George Noel Carington Back to ALL Bios ​ George Noel Carington Smith 1904 - 1988 The second of four children and eldest son of Charles and Aileen Carington Smith, Noel was born on Christmas Day and aptly named. The family lived at Montmorency Falls, where Noel’s lifelong love of the countryside was nurtured. There are stories of fifteen or twenty feet of snow in the winter - he had his own dog and sledge to cope with this - of eating maple syrup turned to a crispy mouthful in a bowl of deeply frozen snow, and of the magic of living close to the amazing waterfall which famously produces a huge cone of frozen spray in the winter. He was educated at Lower Canada College and then Upper Canada College, graduating in 1922. The next three years were spent training at the Royal Military College at Kingston. Noel decided to make his career in the British Army and in 1925 he moved to the United Kingdom and joined the Royal Artillery Regiment. As a young army officer, he was stationed in various places within the UK. In 1929 he was stationed in India and spent an interesting and active two years there. While there he famously shot dead a ‘man-eating' tiger that had killed two people in the local village. In those days this was a wonderful thing to have done, and he became quite a local hero. Even though the Royal Artillery was highly mechanized during the 1930s, horse riding ability was apparently considered very desirable and Noel proved to be fully capable of reaching an excellent standard. He took part in many horse races, often won, and had many silver trophies to display. When he was still new to British Horse Racing, his future father-in-law bet on him. At the end of the successful race, it turned out that this was the only winning ticket, so the odds were excellent. A win that boded well for his future, no doubt. It was in 1934 that he met Mary Falconer Donaldson, the youngest daughter of a Scottish shipowner, and in 1936 they were married. Army life involved a lot of moving around, and Noel and Mary were no exception. They had four children, Charles Falconer born in 1938, and Katherine Ann in 1940, at which point Mary and the two young children sailed the Atlantic to live in Kingston, Ontario, where they stayed until 1944. After the war, and by now back in Scotland, twins Robert and Rosemary were born in 1945. At the start of the war, Noel was the adjutant attached to a reserve Technical Assistance (T.A.) unit based in County Durham in the north of England, however, within a few months, he was posted to Kingston, as a Staff College instructor. After this, he commanded an artillery regiment during the invasion and conquest of Sicily. Later experiences included Anzio and Ortona. Just at the end of the war, he spent a short time in England, before his second spell in India. Here he became the Acting Commandant of the British Army College in Quetta, in what is now Pakistan, during the months leading up to Independence and Partition; a job that involved overseeing the movement of many thousands of Hindus to the south into safety in India - a huge logistical job, involving the requisitioning of several trains. In 1947 Noel decided to leave the army and he took up a civilian post in Perth, Scotland, administering the T.A. branch of the Scottish regiment, The Black Watch. He still loved riding, and for a while became Master of the Perthshire Drag Hunt. After six years he and Mary bought an arable farm, on which they built a new family-sized farmhouse, and Noel became a full-time farmer. There followed many happy years of farming, breeding Aberdeen Angus beef cattle and Scottish black-face sheep. Noel taught his children to ride, fish, and shoot, passing on his love of sports, horses, dogs, and the outdoors. He could now enjoy fishing and shooting too, and taking part in these two sports was something he continued after he retired from farming until his death in 1988. Ann Carington Smith

  • Williams, Caroline Anne (Rhodes)

    Williams, Caroline Anne (Rhodes) Back to ALL Bios ​ Caroline Anne (Nan) Rhodes Williams 1861 - 1937 Caroline Anne (Nan) Rhodes Williams was the seventh child of Col. William Rhodes and Anne Catherine Dunn. She was born in Sillery, Quebec on January 10, 1861 and died at Tadoussac on July 30, 1937. Her family called her “Annie”, but to her children she was known as “Nan”. The ages of her brothers and sisters were spread over almost 20 years, yet they grew up actively engaged with each other. Army, her eldest brother made her a big snow house; Godfrey took her and her sister Minnie skating and sliding. They all spent summers in Tadoussac together, Nan with her dog “Tiney”. She and her brother Godfrey frequently “apple-pied” all the beds, causing bedlam in the house. Growing up at Benmore the family home in Sillery, she was surrounded by an endless collection of birds and animals - geese, chickens, bantams, rabbits, guinea pigs, ducks and ponies and even beehives. All were welcome inhabitants of her family’s farm. Her brothers, Godfrey and Willy procured a bear cub and had a pole for it to climb. The family meals often included Caribou and rabbit meat from her father’s hunting trips. Croquet was a favourite family game on the lawn. In winter, Nan and her sister Minnie traveled by sleigh through the deep snow to their lessons at dancing school. Nan was a lively young girl who always loved jokes. Her father described her as “full of play”. Nan became engaged to a young clergyman at St. Micheal’s Anglican Church in Sillery. She and Lennox Williams were married there on April 26, 1887. Her sister Gerty and her best friend Violet Montizambert were her bridesmaids. Their first child, James, was born in 1888, followed by Mary (Wallace), Gertrude (Alexander) and Sydney Williams. As their children were growing up in Quebec, Lennox served at St.Michael’s. His work always involved people and when he became Dean, and later Bishop of Quebec, his duties extended over the vast geography of the Quebec Diocese. Assisting him in his work brought Nan in contact with the many different people in the City and the Province, some of whom would go overseas to serve in the South African (Boer) War, WW1 and WWII. Winter of 1913-14 in Quebec was the last carefree time before WWI began. Nan always welcomed her children’s friends around the Deanery for supper or tea. According to one of her future sons-in-law, “On some evenings it was quite amusing. The Dean and Mrs. Williams sat in his study, Jim Williams and Evelyn Meredith sat in an upstairs sitting room, Mary Williams and Jack Wallace in the drawing room, and Gertrude and Ronald Alexander in the dining room. Mrs. Williams was a very understanding person.” This was still the age of chaperons. Before going overseas, Jim and Evelyn were married, and both enjoyed summers in Tadoussac with the family at Brynhyfryd. In November, 1916, Nan received the news that her son Jim was killed at Grandcourt, the Battle of the Somme. Two months later in January 1917, she and Lennox, accompanied by their daughters, Mary and Gertrude, sailed to England. Mary went to see Jack Wallace and Gertrude to be married to Ronald Alexander. They stayed in London at Queen Anne’s Mansions and remained there until April. After the War, Nan and Lennox continued their active life together as Lennox had been consecrated as Bishop of Quebec in 1915. The Rhodes family house in Tadoussac, built in 1860, had been left to Nan. It was to burn down in 1932 and be rebuilt the next year. Brynhyfryd remains in Nan’s family today. When Lennox retired in 1934, they had more time to spend in Tadoussac and ten grandchildren to enjoy it with them. One day, walking to town with one of her ten grandchildren, Nan discovered that her grandchild had lifted a bit of candy from Pierre Sid’s general store. She marched her back to return it and to apologize. To one of her grandchildren “Granny was always game for some fun and she had lots of energy”. Nan loved to be out rowing the boats and like others her age, she swam regularly in the refreshing salt water of the Bay. On June 30, 1937 she climbed up the path from the beach and reaching the house feeling a bit tired, she took a rest and died suddenly that evening. Micheal Alexander

  • Powel, Robert Hare

    Powel, Robert Hare Back to ALL Bios Powel Family who built the Bailey house Robert Hare Powel – 1825 – 1883 & Amy Smedley Powel – 1825 – 1908 The Powel family came from Pennsylvania. Robert’s father - John Powel Hare (1786 – 1856) was an American agriculturist, politician, art collector, and philanthropist. He was born John Powel Hare and was adopted by his mother's widowed and childless sister, Elizabeth Willing Powel. He legally changed his name to John Hare Powel when he attained his majority and inherited the immense fortune of his late uncle, Samuel Powel. He was educated at The Academy and College of Philadelphia and after college joined a counting house. As part of his job in mercantile affairs, he travelled to Calcutta and returned at age twenty-two with $22,000 as his share of the profit. Robert’s mother, Julia (De Veaux), was the daughter of Colonel Andrew De Veaux. She and John married in 1817. They had seven children: Samuel, De Veaux, Henry Baring, Robert Hare, Julia, John Hare Jr., and Ida. The couple and their young family lived on the Powel family farmland known as Powelton, in west Philadelphia, where John began efforts to improve American agriculture. Robert Hare Powel married Amy Smedley (Bradley) who had been born in 1825, in Chester, Pennsylvania. Together they had six children: Julia De Veaux (1851), William Platt (1853 who only lived one year) Robert Hare jr. (1857), Amy Ida (1858), De Veaux (1861) and Henry Baring (1864) Robert and Amy purchased land in Tadoussac in 1865 from Willis Russell and built a house next door to him (The Bailey house). The adjoining lots were connected by a gate and Mrs Powel visited Mrs Russell nearly every afternoon. These Rhodes, Russell, and Powel properties were referred to as “our three cottages” by the men and the three of them often played whist together in the evening. Mr Powel was said to be “the life of every party” and they were very generous and hospitable to young people from Tadoussac who visited them in Philadelphia, not least some of Col. Rhodes’s sons who worked in Mr Powel’s rail yards. Both Robert Powel and Willis Russell were charter members of the Marguerite Salmon Club. There were a number of other charter members, all American, Willis Russell being the only Canadian. Robert died in 1883. His obituary, taken from The Daily News of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, describes his activities during his career. “Robert Hare Powel, the great coal operator, died suddenly at Saxton, Bedford County, on Monday evening last. His death was caused by indigestion … On Monday morning he was unable to get up and continued to grow worse until about 7 o'clock in the evening when he expired. Dr Brumbaugh, of this place, had been summoned, but the train did not arrive at Saxton until five minutes after Mr Powel died… The intelligence of his sudden death was received here the same evening, and could scarcely be believed, as he had been well on Saturday and was in the best of health. Mr Powel's loss will be greatly felt in this section. He was the first to penetrate the semi-bituminous coal region in this county and the first to ship the coal to the east. He continued to develop not only the vast deposits of coal but of iron and while wealth accumulated as the result of his foresight and sagacity, he sought other channels for investing his means, thereby giving employment to thousands of workmen. He was honest and honourable in business transactions, plain and unassuming in manner, a self-made man.” 4 His widow and family continued to come to Tadoussac in the summers and it wasn’t until 1906, a year before Amy’s death, that the house was sold to Sam and Alfred Piddington.

  • Russell, Willis & Rebecca Page (Sanborn)

    Russell, Willis & Rebecca Page (Sanborn) Back to ALL Bios ​ Willis Russell & Rebecca Page Sanborn (1814-1887) (1807-1888) Willis Russell (b. 1814) came originally from Vermont where he had been associated with his brothers in the paper, pulp and lumber business. Willis married Rebecca Page Sanborn. Rebecca Page Sanborn, wife of Willis Russell, descends from a long line of early New England colonists. Rebecca’s 3rd great grandfather, Lieutenant John Sanborn, was born in Norfolk, England about 1620 and emigrated to the colonies in 1632 with the Rev. Stephen Bachiler party on the ship “William and Frances”, settling in Hampton, NH, the town having been founded by Rev. Bachiler. Many generations later, Rebecca Page Sanborn was born in 1813 in Sanbornton, NH to John Sanborn and Dorcas Nelson. We don’t know much about Rebecca herself other than she married Willis in Franklin, NH in 1835 and 8 years later, they relocated to Quebec City where she and Willis lived until he died in 1887 and she died a year later in 1888 at age 75. An interesting historical note: Rebecca was distantly related to Thomas Nelson Page, the US Ambassador to Italy during the first Word War and a direct descendant of the Virginian, Thomas Nelson Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence. After being sent by his family to Quebec to investigate business opportunities there, Willis remained a resident of Quebec City throughout the rest of his life and found himself in the hotel business, owning the St. Louis (near the Chateau), the Albion, and the Russell House (now the Clarendon). When the doctor recommended sea air for Willis’s ailing daughter, his friend Colonel Rhodes of Quebec suggested they try Tadoussac where he had just built a summer cottage. Colonel Rhodes proposed that the Russells buy the property adjoining his and build there so the two men could continue the friendship of the two families, and the men could adjourn to the Marguerite River for salmon fishing. Subsequently, the Ste. Marguerite Salmon Club was founded in 1885 by Willis Russell and Robert Powel of Philadelphia. The Salmon Club leased all the rights on the Marguerite River along which they built 6 cottages. One of these, known as “Bardsville” still stands. A big promoter of Quebec tourism, Willis Russell wrote a book on the history of Quebec which you can still buy on Amazon (Quebec; as it was and as it is). Willis Russell was involved with the Tadoussac Hotel and Sea Bathing Company that opened the original hotel in 1864. He was a lifelong uninterrupted 45-year resident of Quebec City and died there in 1887. He is buried in Mt. Hermon Cemetery. Susie Bruemmer, Willis’s great great granddaughter, now owns the property known as “Spruce Cliff” near the Tadoussac Tennis Club. The Dewarts, Reilleys and O’Neills are also direct descendants of Willis Russell who all summer in Tad in their own cottages. Brian Dewart

  • Barn

    ALL HOUSES Barn NEXT PAGE The Barn has a long history, it is about 150 years old! Built shortly after the main Rhodes house in the 1870's, the Barn has been Kitchen, Scullery, IceHouse, Maid's Quarters, Chicken Coop, and Summer Cottage! The "Barn" was built shortly after the main Rhodes Cottage was built in 1860, and at first served as maid's quarters, ice house, larder and kitchen for the main house. When the Rhodes Cottage burned in 1932 and was rebuilt in 1933, the new house named Brynhyfryd included a kitchen and servants' rooms. Chickens were kept in the Barn until it was converted into a summer cottage in 1934. Letter from Enid Williams, October 1981 The "Barn" has had many uses. First I understand it was built by Col. Rhodes as a kitchen for the big house. The maids slept upstairs, the kitchen being downstairs. The meals were carried over to the big house. When it rained, one maid carried the food and another carried an umbrella. When the big house was done over, the Barn became a place for the chickens. I am not sure if they kept a cow there as well. Eventually it was done over by Mr Frank Morewood and made into a house, in the year 1934. When my father-in-law [Lennox Williams] died and my husband [Sydney Williams] inherited the Barn [1959], he made a few alterations, such as the picture window. The original beams are still being used but are covered up. Mrs Williams bought some land from Mrs Dwight when the Barn was completed [1934] on the Lewis Evans side. I can't think of anything more about the Barn, but I do remember the chickens there when I was married. Sincerely Enid Williams From Michael Alexander Lots of people stayed there. During the War I stayed there with my mother. Jean and Johnny Aylan Parker, Ron, Jim and Ted and I were there when the S.S.Quebec burned at the Wharf - great view from the bedroom up stairs! Bob and Nan Leggat were there at least one summer. It was a great place for all the excess people at Brynhyfryd and quite a popular spot to be. Only thing - it was a long way from 8 o'clock morning prayers led by Grandad (the Bishop) in the Brynhyfryd living room - a command appearance for all before breakfast - every day! The Barn "The Barn" a une longue histoire, elle a environ 150 ans ! Construite peu de temps après la maison principale de Rhodes dans les années 1870, la grange a été la cuisine, l'arrière-cuisine, la glacière, le logement de la bonne, le poulailler et le cottage d'été ! La "Barn" a été construite peu de temps après la construction du cottage principal de Rhodes en 1860 et a d'abord servi de logement de bonne, de glacière, de garde-manger et de cuisine pour la maison principale. Lorsque le Rhodes Cottage a brûlé en 1932 et a été reconstruit en 1933, la nouvelle maison nommée Brynhyfryd comprenait une cuisine et des chambres de domestiques. Les poulets étaient gardés dans la grange jusqu'à ce qu'elle soit transformée en chalet d'été en 1934. Lettre d'Enid Williams, octobre 1981 La "Barn" a eu de nombreuses utilisations. D'abord, je comprends qu'il a été construit par le colonel Rhodes comme cuisine pour la grande maison. Les bonnes dormaient à l'étage, la cuisine étant en bas. Les repas étaient transportés dans la grande maison. Quand il pleuvait, une servante portait la nourriture et une autre portait un parapluie. Lorsque la grande maison a été refaite, la grange est devenue un endroit pour les poulets. Je ne sais pas s'ils y gardaient aussi une vache. Finalement, il a été refait par M. Frank Morewood et transformé en maison, en 1934. Lorsque mon beau-père [Lennox Williams] est décédé et que mon mari [Sydney Williams] a hérité de la grange [1959], il a fait quelques modifications, comme la baie vitrée. Les poutres d'origine sont toujours utilisées mais sont recouvertes. Mme Williams a acheté un terrain à Mme Dwight lorsque la grange a été achevée [1934] du côté de Lewis Evans. Je ne peux rien penser de plus à propos de la grange, mais je me souviens des poulets là-bas quand j'étais marié. Cordialement Enid Williams De Michel Alexandre Beaucoup de monde y est resté. Pendant la guerre, j'y suis resté avec ma mère. Jean et Johnny Aylan Parker, Ron, Jim et Ted et moi étions là lorsque le S. S. Québec a brûlé au quai - superbe vue depuis la chambre en haut des escaliers ! Bob et Nan Leggat y ont passé au moins un été. C'était un endroit formidable pour toutes les personnes excédentaires de Brynhyfryd et un endroit très populaire. La seule chose - c'était loin des prières du matin de 8 heures dirigées par grand-père (l'évêque) dans le salon Brynhyfryd - une apparition sur commande pour tous avant le petit déjeuner - tous les jours! 1974 James Lennox Williams 1959 Rev Canon Sydney Waldron Williams East part of property 1940 Ethel Adam (Dwight) 1911 Jonathan Dwight, Jr Previous 1950's? Before the picture window was installed 1980? That's Betty Evans talking to Enid Williams 20 More photos of The Barn below! CLICK on the first one then use the scroll arrows<> 1/20 20 More photos of The Barn below! CLICK on the first one then use the scroll arrows<>

  • Dewart, Russell and Ann (Stevenson)

    Dewart, Russell and Ann (Stevenson) Back to ALL Bios ​ Ann (Stevenson) 1915 - 2008 & the Rev. Russell Dewart 1901 - 1997 Ann de Duplessis Stevenson was born in 1915 at 83 rue d’Auteuil in Quebec City, the daughter of Florence Louisa Maude Russell and Dr James Stevenson. The Stevenson sisters (Margaret, Ann, and Elizabeth) spent their childhood summers in Tadoussac staying at their grandmother's house in the village, the original family cottage Spruce Cliff built by their great-grandfather, Willis Russell in 1861. In 1922, Ann’s father, Dr Stevenson, had their own cottage built for his family in Languedoc Park on land given to them by their cousin, Erie Russell Languedoc. This cottage now remains in Margaret's family and is owned by Margaret's son, Dennis Reilley. In the late 1920s, Dr Stevenson built a second cottage nearby which now remains in Elizabeth's family (the O'Neill house). In 1938, Ann married a Bostonian, Russell Dewart - coincidently her third cousin (Ann was a direct descendant of Willis Russell and Russell was a direct descendant of Willis's brother, William Russell). When one of Russell’s sisters was getting married in Boston, Ann was sent to represent the Canadian branch of the family and was met at the train station by her future husband, Russell. Later, in the 1940s, Ann and Russell Dewart purchased Tivoli, the third Stevenson cottage (now the Dewart house). Tivoli has an interesting history. Shortly after World War I, Erie Languedoc had two square log cabins from the golf course moved on rollers to Tivoli's present location where she joined them together and rented it out. It was then bought from Erie Languedoc by Professor Maclean from Rochester, NY, who named it Tivoli. In 1945, Ann and Russell purchased the cottage from the professor and continued summering there every summer with their six children, Timothy, Alan, Brian, Ted, Beth, and Judy. Many years later, in the mid-1980s, Russell and Ann built their own little chalet across the road from Tivoli. Among Ann's additional pleasures were stimulating and philosophical conversations, exchanging aphorisms, delving into history, reading and writing, brisk walks, and sharing a cup of tea. Ann’s time spent with family at her summer home in Tadoussac was a source of great joy and spiritual renewal. She authored a self-published memoir Nose to the Window which included reflections, poems, letters, and anecdotes of her rich and vibrant life including much history of early Tadoussac and growing up in Quebec City. Russell Dewart, was asked to tell of his life for his 50th college anniversary and part of what Russell wrote is below: “… after getting a delayed degree at Harvard, I took the rather conventional business route of selling everything from rubber boots to investment counselling. The salesman whom my long-suffering wife married turned up a few years later in the pulpit with a round collar, but with few of the other less discernible attributes usually associated with the Ministry. I regard this complete change of direction as one of the many paradoxes of my life and makeup. Having entered the Episcopal Seminary in Cambridge at the age of forty-three it was hard for me to believe that I had spent twenty-three years as a parish priest when I retired (for the first time). While a clergyman’s life can be parochial and unexciting, I have found it a most challenging profession and one that is deeply rewarding. Perhaps the reason I say this is that the greatest joy I find in life is through my relationships with people of all ages and conditions - beginning of course with my own family and friends. The church records tell me that it has been my privilege to be called on to baptize, marry or bury some 1600 souls, and to present another 800 to the Bishop for Confirmation. These occasions for most individuals, as well as other times of tragedy and joy, are crucial and searching experiences. They are times when the clergyman is allowed to share some of the most significant moments in a family’s life together. For him, they provide the unique opportunity to do what he was ordained to do – to walk along with his people as one who serves. Because of this, and for what he himself has learned from them – these times are never forgotten. My entire Ministry has been here in Massachusetts - at Epiphany, Walpole; Grace Church, Chicopee, and St. Peter’s, Beverly. Since retiring in 1967, I have served part-time at the Old North Church in Boston where my father was Rector fifty years ago, and more recently as Interim Pastor at St. John’s, Beverly Farms. Throughout these years I have been blessed beyond measure with the kindness and appreciation of so many people in return for what little I on my own might give. God does work in mysterious ways. Other activities during the past fifty years have centred largely around my family and home. Since the war, we have spent some part of most summers at our cottage in Tadoussac, Quebec – where the Saguenay River joins the St. Lawrence. It is here where my wife came as a child and where we as a family have spent some of our happiest days. Now our children return there with their children and friends – to the place they consider their first home. We acquired our present home here, a small, cosy, New England house built originally by one Jeffrey Thistle, a planter, in 1668. Jeffrey built well but there is enough to keep me busy and happy in caring for his clapboard house and half-acre of land. It is here we expect to live out our days with occasional visits to our six children, and possibly further travel abroad if the spirit moves and the conditions are favourable. But we are quite content to remain where we are. There is a good stack of Vermont hardwood outside for our fireplaces; there are some fish left in the ocean a half-mile away. And we are surrounded by friends. Fortunately, Ann and I still enjoy good health and, most of the time, our sense of humour. We are able to pursue our individual interests and to look forward not to vegetating, but to making the most of what time is left to us in being useful and helpful to others in our own particular way. The Lord has been good to us; our life together has been a full and happy one.” Russell Dewart served faithfully as a summer rector for twenty-one years (1953-1974). He died in 1997 and Ann died eleven years later in 2008. Both are buried in the family plot in Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec. Brian Dewart

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