Location of Vital Statistics

Location of Vital Statistics

Before 1805 the non-Catholic residents of Vaudreuil seem to have traveled to Montreal for baptisms and marriages. The starting place to look for the registrations of these acts is in the Registers of Christ Church Montreal. [HSAPV 1-8] [RCA – Register Parish of Montreal]

On 24 October 1805 Reverend Richard Bradford [DCBO - Bradford] secured a register and began his ministry at the Protestant Episcopal Church of Chatham, in Argenteuil county, Quebec. He remained there until he turned in the last Register on 30 August 1809 [HSAPV 1-8]. According to Rev. Royle, there are no direct mention of Vaudreuil residents in these Registers. However family names that later appear in Vaudreuil do show up as residents of Argenteuil. Of interest to us are references to the Kingsbury family [HSAPV 1-8].

Two years later Rev. Bradford returned to Chatham, and on September 12, 1811 he started a new Register [HSAPV 1-8]. He remained in Chatham until 1816 [HSAPV 1-9]. Many of the residents of Vaudreuil are mentioned in these Registers.

In 1812 and 1814 Mary Kingsbury and Charles Schneider baptised two of their children at the Ste-Madeleine Catholic church in Rigaud. [RQH 2005-03/1111770200]

In 1818 the Reverend Joseph Abbott [DCBO - Abbott] took up residence at St. Andrew's [HSAPV 2-1]. The mission was elevated to a parish in 1822. Rev. Abbott traveled the area widely, and did minister to the residents of Vaudreuil. He remained at Christ Church St. Andrew's until 1825.

In 1825 Rev. Joseph Abbott was succeeded by his brother Rev. William Abbott at Christ Church St. Andrew's. William Abbott remained there until 1859 [HSAPV 1-9]. However, Rev. Abbott would only minister to Vaudreuil until about the end of 1829 [HSAPV 2-10].

On November 2, 1829 "George Archbold, a travelling missionary" passed through the Vaudreuiil area and recorded some vital statistics [HSAPV 2-10]. Archbold wrote a report on the conditions in Vaudreuil (see Rev. Royle's Sources, G-ADT). In 1830 Archbold was appointed rector of Cornwall.

In 1829 the Mission of Coteau-du-Lac was formed, and it included the Vaudreuil area [HSAPV 3-1]. The Rev. John Leeds was in charge. He traveled to Vaudreuil every second weekend to perform services. In March 1837 the first Confirmations took place in Vaudreuil when Bishop George Jehosaphat Mountain visited [HSAPV 3-7]. On May 20, 1840 Bishop Mountain returned for the second confirmation at Vaudreuil, which at the time was still an appendage of the Coteau-du-Lac mission. [HSAPV 3-10]. Rev. Leeds recorded his last act (a marriage) at Vaudreuil on September 1, 1841.

On September 15, 1840 while visiting Vaudreuil, James Pyke baptised Nancy Stevenson [HSAPV 4-5]. He was not yet a fully ordained minister, nor had the Parish of Vaudreuil been created.

In October or November 1841, Reverend James Pyke was appointed to the newly created Parish of Vaudreuil [APV - History], [HSAPV 4-5]. At the beginning, the parish included St. Eustache, the Village of Two Mountains (Oka), and St. Martin.

William is Missing

William Schneider died in 1828. His burial should have been recorded in the Registers of Christ Church St. Andrew's by the Rev. William Abbott.

Rev. Royle does not mention his burial in his "History of the Anglican Parish of Vaudreuil", which seems like a strange oversight. After all, William was a pioneer of the community, and had shared in the purchase of the land for the cemetery.