The Representative, Leduc, Alberta, March 15, 1978*<\/strong> Page 24<\/strong><\/p>\n The following is the first in a [four] part series on the history of Beaumont.<\/p>\n Resource material has been compiled from La Survivance June 17, 1942 issue, History of the Louise Goudreau contributed valuable notes from her class project on the village and Mrs. It is essential to understand the powerful and all pervasive influence of the church in the As well as spiritual leadership, the parish priest very often comprised the only village ties with Beaumont was the church and the church Beaumont for as long as people needed the security ***<\/strong><\/p>\n Perhaps it was because the rolling hills and little lakes and park-like nature of the land reminded With the coming of the railroad, families from Quebec, Minnesota and North Dakota settled in For many years, life in these small communities revolved around the church. The people relied Land for homesteading was sold for $10 in the area. Life was hard with few or no amenities for By the fall of 1893, the need for a school was felt. The French and English of the district built a That same spring, the community applied to Bishop Grandin of St. Albert to form their own In the fall of 1894, Father Poitras was sent by Father Grandin as the parish\u2019s first pastor. His Construction was completed in the spring of 1895. In gratitude, the parish chose as its patron However, soon after, difficulties arose. Some of the parishioners wished to change the site of At this time, the settlement underwent a change of name. A group of English settlers who lived a Now that the church was built, items for divine worship were installed. A bell weighing 800 In July 1885, a petition was sent to the government asking for weekly postal service from In the spring of 1886, Reverend Father Beauparlant of Montreal came to Beaumont and took Beaumont was gradually growing. By June 1897, the people were pleased to learn that their New settlers were moving in but some were also returning to their places of origin. Life was full As Father Beauparlant had been postmaster, the post office was then moved to the Edmond In September 1898, Father A. Ethier became rector of the parish. He was to be the first priest to The fall of 1899 saw the erection of a few buildings close to the church. This was the start of the Pg. 25<\/strong><\/p>\n the church. Prior to this, a small trading post had been maintained by Henry Lampon a mile or In 1899, a group of 38 farmers formed an incorporated company called Compagnie de Moulins Thus, Beaumont moved into the 20th century firmly established as a community with an active (To be continued)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PART 1 The Representative, Leduc, Alberta, March 15, 1978* Beaumont – An Historical Illustration By Barbara Willis Page 24 The following is the first in a [four] part series on… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-149","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beaumontheritage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beaumontheritage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beaumontheritage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beaumontheritage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beaumontheritage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.beaumontheritage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2921,"href":"http:\/\/www.beaumontheritage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/149\/revisions\/2921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beaumontheritage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBeaumont – An Historical Illustration<\/strong>
\nBy Barbara Willis<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nCatholic Church in Central Alberta and most importantly from the memories of the longtime
\nresidents of Beaumont.<\/p>\n
\nAnnette Gobeil provided a sensitive translation of French material.<\/p>\n
\nestablishment and growth of small communities such as Beaumont. The church was the very
\nreason for the village\u2019s existence, for without the church first, the district would perhaps have
\nremained scattered farms with little or no community core. The church provided comfort,
\nreassurance, strength, and hope to remain optimistic.<\/p>\n
\nliteracy and education. Many people could not read or write and the priest performed a valuable
\ncommunication link with the outside world.<\/p>\n
\nand protection offered in an otherwise fierce and hard-fought struggle to create a life in the
\nfrontier of western Canada.<\/p>\n
\nthem of their native provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Whatever the reasons, the first settlers to
\nthe Leduc district chose the Beaumont and Clearwater areas first for their new homes in the
\nwest.<\/p>\n
\nwhat is now the Beaumont area. In the very early 1890\u2019s, the Chartier, Dumont and Brunelle
\nfamilies came to the district followed shortly thereafter by the Bolducs, Morins, Juneaus,
\nDubords, Lachapelles, Lamberts, Fouquettes, Onettes, Gagnons, Charests, Royers, Goudreaus
\nand B\u00e9rub\u00e9s. By the spring of 1893, the new settlement had built up to over 20 families. The
\ndistrict was then known as Sandy Lake.<\/p>\n
\nto a great extent on the priest for his leadership and guidance. The parish of Beaumont, situated
\n15 miles south east of south Edmonton and ten miles north of Leduc, had none of the
\nadvantages of special conditions which attract settlers, such as railroads or coal mines. But
\nrather, the community owes its existence to the fertility of the land and to the church built shortly
\nafter the arrival of the first settlers.<\/p>\n
\nthose early settlers. At first, mass was celebrated by Father Perreault from the Mission of Stony
\nPlain, in private homes, usually in the Louis Chartier residence. In 1894, the community was
\nvisited by Father Lacombe who came to console and encourage the newcomers to this land.<\/p>\n
\npublic Catholic Elementary school which they named \u201cFouquette\u201d in the spring of 1894 on Mr.
\nJohnson\u2019s land. The first teacher was Mlle. J. Haydon.<\/p>\n
\nparish. The bishop purchased ten acres of land on a section belonging to the Hudson\u2019s Bay
\nCompany for $50. Father Lacombe chose the site on which to build the church. Mr. Chartier
\nmade a gift of 20 acres more land for the church grounds. These 30 acres were the foundation
\nof the village of Beaumont.<\/p>\n
\nimmediate task was to build the church and rectory.<\/p>\n
\nsaint, St. Vital after the venerable bishop St. Albert, Monseigneur Vital Grandin.<\/p>\n
\nthe church while others wanted it to remain as built. The Church decreed that it should remain in
\nits original location. The first High Mass was celebrated in the new church on June 30, 1895.<\/p>\n
\nshort distance from the church wanted to retain the name of Sandy Lake and this request was
\ngranted. But to commemorate the beautiful location of the Catholic parish on the ridge of a hill,
\nthe village was named Beaumont (meaning beautiful hill). The name of Beaumont was
\nsuggested it is said, by John Royer, one of the settlers.<\/p>\n
\npounds was brought from Montreal for $100. The chalice, cruets, censer and alter linen were
\nfurnished by Bishop Grandin. He took up a collection to buy the sacred vestments, stations of
\nthe cross, etc. Lastly, many parishioners contributed articles to aid in the decoration of the
\nchurch sanctuary.<\/p>\n
\nEdmonton to the Sandy Lake district. Two months later, Mr. Ludger Gagnon was named
\npostmaster. The mail was brought into Ellerslie every Friday and delivered from there to
\nBeaumont.<\/p>\n
\ncharge of the parish. He lived in the Chartier residence during the construction of a rectory
\nwhich took most of the summer to complete. The small presbytery was constructed of hewn logs
\nand only 20 feet square.<\/p>\n
\npostal service would be established on a bi-weekly basis.<\/p>\n
\nof hardships. Land has to be broken, crops were sometimes poor and markets for produce were
\njust opening, so money was very scarce. Father Beauparlant was one to succumb to the hard
\nlife. He left Beaumont in December 1897.<\/p>\n
\nBonin residence and Mrs. Bonin became postmistress.<\/p>\n
\nreally make his influence felt in the community. The year 1898 was a good year for the settler
\nboth in terms of weather and crops, and in terms of the growth of the community spiritually, with
\nthe arrival of Father Ethier, and materially, with increases in population and services. The two
\ndistricts, Sandy Lake and Beaumont, now supported some 45 French families and 30 English
\nspeaking families. The French families owned in total about 70 quarter sections of farm land.<\/p>\n
\nvillage as such. Mr. J.E. Lavigne, who in August 1898 opened a store in his house, built a store
\non the north east side of<\/p>\n
\nso from where the village was finally located. One of Mr. Lavigne\u2019s daughters opened a
\nboutique near the store. Mr. Fred Long opened a blacksmith\u2019s shop close by. Mr. Francois
\nVallee, upon retirement, had a house built in the village. These buildings, along with the church,
\nrectory, post office and the store and the Gagnon, Lavigne and Chartier homes, made up the
\nvillage of Beaumont.<\/p>\n
\nde Beaumont, Limitee (Harvest Company of Beaumont Limited). At the end of September 1899,
\nnew machinery was in full use and the co-operative results after five weeks of work was $600
\nprofit.<\/p>\n
\ncommercial base and social and spiritual life revolving around the church.<\/p>\n