My Home Land

 

Barbotte Lake, Lake Nosbonsing, la Côte Croche, la Côte à Bélecque, la Côte du Magasin Perron, la Crique à Lévesque, Groulx Road, Guillemette Road, Dégagné Road, la Montagne des Cantin, the Booth Track, St-Thomas d’Aquin School…and other sites.

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The village of Astorville is located on the western shores of Lake Nosbonsing. The village emerged largely in the wake of the expanding lumber industry and the entrepreneurial energy of lumber baron J. R. Booth. The early lumber workers in Astorville were transients who left the area without leaving much of a trace. The first settlers who later brought their families and remained in the area are therefore credited as the founders of the settlement. Arriving in 1883 this included Cléophas Robert from Charlevoix region of Quebec and Joseph Guilemette from Quebec's Eastern Townships. Other families soon followed, many from St-Irénée - Les Éboulements area and in 1885 there was the formation of a small settlement. In 1887 the settlers built their own chapel. After very few years the number of children in the settlement was sufficient for the parent to want their own school. Separate School Section No. 2 Ferris was organized in 1892. In 1902 the settlement gained parish status with Father Antonin Astor as the first parish priest. The parish of Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, as it was called, included part of the Township of Ferris and extended into the neighbouring township of Chisholm as well.

 

With the withdrawal of J. R. Booth from the area in 1913, only those settlers prepared to make at least part of their living from agriculture remained. Road construction provided supplementary jobs for some. Hunting and fishing provided alternative sources of meat for most families. The growth of North Bay created a market for farm produce which farmers from Astorville helped to fill. Before long, and particularly after the 1934 birth of the Dionne quintuplets in nearby Corbeil, tourism stimulated the local economy and provided other sources of revenue as cottages and other tourist related industries multiplied. Through the hardships of the depression and the upheavals of the Second World War, Astorville and the nearby areas remained largely traditional rural French Canadian communities.

 

After 1950, rural electrification and better roads did much to dispel the isolation of the Astorville community. Children were bussed to larger consolidated schools. Commuting to North Bay for a job became common for those children who stayed in the area but more of them left for jobs elsewhere. The population became more mixed as others moved into the area. The former rural life of the French Canadian community of Astorville became more of a memory than a reality.

 

Françoise Noël, Nipissing University, April 2010