Crofters and Habitants: Settler Society, Economy, and Culture in a Quebec Township, 1848-1881

This study examines the ways in which two highly distinct social groups - Gaelic-speaking crofters from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and French-speaking habitants from south of Quebec City - adapted to a common physical environment in the rugged Appalachian plateau of south-eastern Quebec. The author focuses on settlement patterns, population expansion and mobility, family structure and inheritance, farm production and labour, the role played by local merchants and millers, and the cultural significance of religion and education. He documents the differences which can be traced to ethnic origin, but also emphasizes the many similarities which characterized the adjustment of the two groups. Economic development in this geographical area was severely restricted by thin soil, rugged topography and a brutally short growing season, coupled with the government’s favouritism towards monopolistic lumber companies. Two viable communities did, nevertheless, take root, each drawing heavily on traditional cultural values and a history of economic resourcefulness in order to survive in an era of emerging industrial capitalism.