Châteauguay

By its longevity, the Châteauguay farm holds a unique place in the history of the Grey Nuns. For over 200 years it helped to supply food for the Congregation and its works, as well as providing a place of gathering and rest for the Nuns, boarders and students of their institutions.

Acquisition and Beginning

Starting in 1761, Marguerite d’Youville leases land on Saint-Bernard Island in the Seigneury of Châteauguay to help feed the residents and patients of the General Hospital. Located on Montréal’s south-shore, the vast Seigneury belongs to Marie-Anne Robutel de Lanoue, a resident at the General Hospital. In 1765, Marguerite d’Youville acquires it allowing the young religious community to meet the growing financial and especially food requirements of the General Hospital. Indeed, since its takeover by the Grey Nuns, the General Hospital has taken in an ever-growing number of orphans, poor, and elderly.

Deed of sale of the Seigneury of Châteauguay (extract), 8 June 1765. Manuscript. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Seigneury of Châteauguay’s Fonds, L003-A-6

Until 1854, when the seigneurial regime was abolished, the Grey Nuns collected rent from the tenants, “censitaires”, who resided in the Seigneury as well as a portion of their produce made on leased land.

In 1765, the Seigneury extended over two leagues in width and three leagues in depth, bordered on the north by the Saint Lawrence River and Lake Saint-Louis, to the south near Beauharnois, to the east by the Sault Saint-Louis and La Salle, then to the west by Rivière du Loup (today the Châteauguay River).

Map of the Seigneury of Châteauguay, in Notes and plans (1747-1821)/Sister Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix, s.g.m., 1907. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, General Administration’s Fonds, G06-A-02-08-planche 12

The farm on Saint-Bernard Island, located at the mouth of the Rivière du Loup, was also part of the Seigneury. At the time of purchase, several buildings already exist on the island: a stately manor and a wooden stable, a cowshed, a barn and a windmill. Being an entrepreneurial and pragmatic woman, Marguerite d’Youville has new stone buildings erected: a stable, a barn, a henhouse, a bakery, a mill, and a dike to channel water. The simple mill at the foot of the hill on the island appears too exposed to the strong winds blowing off the lake and not easily accessible to the local inhabitants who are contractually obligated to grind their grain there. She has another one built, 70 feet long and 36 feet wide, on the banks of the Rivière du Loup.

Map of Saint-Bernard Island (Île Saint-Bernard) (1765-1900), in Relevé (revue)/Sister Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix, s.g.m., 1900. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Châteauguay Manor’s Fonds, L004-A-1-1-planche 3

Map of Châteauguay Manor and its outbuildings/F. C. Laberge, 1907. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Châteauguay Manor’s Fonds, L004-D-8-2-01

She acquires farming machinery and increases the number of livestock, seeds and develops the fertile soil of the island. At that time barely 90 of the island’s 690 acres are cleared and cultivated with the rest covered in trees of all kinds: oaks, maples, elms and walnuts.

For over two centuries, the Nuns work the land and clear the island. The financial records clearly reflect the variety of produce and the profitability of the farmland.

Farm produce, 1895-1898. Manuscript. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Châteauguay Manor’s Fonds, L004-H-02

Acquisition and Beginning

In the Fields

The Orchard

The Maple Grove

The Apiary

The Farm and Livestock

Women and Men

In the Fields