Family Histories

A collection of histories of early settlers of the area. See also the GVHS Library and Archives under specific family names.

Settlers along the Eardley-Masham Colonization Road On Land Now in Gatineau Park
Account of the Colonization Road, now the Eardley-Masham Road, and the early settlers who farmed along it near Ramsay Lake.

360 Years of “The Crosses”
Story of Isaac Cross origins in England and emmigration to Canada and the generations of the Cross family in Meech Creek.

The Maxwell Homestead Story
Story of the the Maxwell homestead and family from 1871, located on chemin Maxwell northeast of Wakefield, Quebec.

The Farmers of West Hull: Connections to the Maxwells of Wakefield
Story of the Maxwells and and related families of Wakefield prepared by D. Jeffrey Brown.

The History of Our Old Log House
Story of a log house originally located on Mountain Road prepared by Chris Gardner.

North Shore Of Meech Lake
A short story of some early settler families: La Charité, Farrell, McDonnell, Finnerty, McGrath, Cross and McKelvie, and some early cottager families: Tilley, Hope and Davy by Bill McGee.

Pioneer Settlers in the Western Part of Gatineau Park
The story of early settlements west of Lac LaPêche by Bill McGee.

Settlers Along Lac Mousseau Road in Gatineau Park 1850-1910
Story of settlements from about 1850 to about 1910-1920 along Meech Lake, Lac Mousseau and Lac Philippe, now in Gatineau Park by Bill McGee.

The Ridge Road Settlers in Gatineau Park 1818-1907+
Settlements along the Ridge road, now in Gatineau Park, of early settlers (McCloskey, Ryan, Keogan, Fortune, McKinstry, Dunlop and others) by Bill McGee.
Finding Traces of the Early Settlers in Pre-Gatineau Park ^{5 MB} and map ^JPG
A presentation by Bill McGee on the Ridge Road Settlers at a GVHS event in April 2019.

The 'Jenness Property' at Ramsay's Crossing
A brief illustrated history of the 'Jenness Property' and its neighbourhood by Stuart E. Jenneiss.

Jack Harrison's The Haven ^{2.4 MB}
Images of the The Haven lodge on Lake La Peche.

La Famille Alexander et la « Meech Lake House » (en français with English)
Presentations by researcher Michel Lemaire to the GVHS in 2016 and to the Friends of Gatineau Park Annual Research Forum in 2015 on James Alexander and his family who arrived at Meech Lake at the end of the 19^th century, where they operated a sawmill.

Les draveurs de Cascades (en français)
Entrevue avec L Campbell et D B Campbell, Point-au-Chêne Qc, avril 2020

Newell Family History
Letter written by Henry Newell in 1931 about the journeys at sea from Ireland in 1832 and the hardships of settling in the new land.

Who's Which? ^{34 MB}
A Genealogical and Historical Family Record (428 pages). Book published in 1970. Author: Reby (Johnston) Dodds. Genealogical data for the Gatineau Valley families.

The following is a selection of links to other related contents on this website:

Up the Gatineau! articles
- The Pink and Moffatt Families of Hull, 1822-1938 (published in Volume 1)
- Isaac Cross and His Family (published in Volume 4)
- Brooks Hill (published in Volume 5)
- Asa Meech (published in Volume 7)
- I.B. York - A Man of Many Parts (published in Volume 8)
- The Barry Farm - a Pioneer Homestead (published in Volume 9)
- The Alexander Story (published in Volume 10)
- The Fitzpatrick Family Of North Wakefield (published in Volume 11)
- Origins of the German Settlers in Schwartz and Ladysmith (published in Volume 14)
- Brooks Hill - Low, Québec, Canada — Built 1859 (published in Volume 16)
- The Hetherington Farm (published in Volume 19)
- Browns' Farm (published in Volume 20)
- Philemon Wright (1760-1839) (published in Volume 26)

Low Down Articles articles

Text Bank clippings

Image Bank images